masterpost, I am... so migrained. pls no editing, I know there are issue
Danny is pacing like he’s a Speedster. Every so often his eyes dart to the tube that the other him is in. Bart winces even as he think of the person in the tank like that. It’s not fair, not to Danny or to this… this Phantom.
But Bart still keeps himself between Phantom and Danny.
That’s also not fair.
Bart just… Danny’s upset, and Bart hates that. He hates that Phantom makes Danny upset. He hates Phantom, even though he shouldn’t. Bart lets out a breath and tries to let go of his hate too. It will just make him feel bad if he keeps it all inside, like none of his insides can sit still even when he’s not moving. Bart wraps his arms around his stomach. .
Phantom tilts his head, his white hair floats with the motion. He’s watching Bart.
“Sorry, handsome, but this is too much science for me,” Constantine is saying to Bruce where they are looking over the consoles nearest the tank.
“Hn.” Bruce grunts back. “We’ll bring Robin in. He studied cloning after Superboy.”
“The Yeti’s,” Danny says. It’s the first thing it’s said since seeing Phantom. “Um, one of the yeti’s might be part of their science staff. Their leader was my doctor.”
Constantine smacks his palms against his thighs. “Well, I better go talk to them all then. Do you want to come with?” He asks, eying Danny.
Danny looks from Constantine to Phantom to Bart. “I…”
“I’ll come,” Bart promises, holding his hand out.
Danny takes it and doesn’t let go, not even as they enter underground parking garage. It’s dim down there. It feels dimmer still after the blinding white of the rest of the facility. Down there in the concrete things suddenly feel more grungy. More real.
The ghosts linger through the space. Some are up in the cross beams, tucked away into nothing but glowing eyes. Some drift, listlessly, through the space. Others group together down at the floor, seemingly alive but for their translucency. It’s these groups that react when Danny walks in.
‘Phantom’ the ghosts whisper, the word coming from everywhere and nowhere. One of the yeti rise. They seem smaller than most of the others, but hold themselves strongly. There’s only a faint tremor that gives away the strain of they have been through.
“Phantom,” they say with a slight tip of their head. “I am glad to see that you remain. There was a time when I thought that they had tested you too far.”
“That’s not… I’m not…” Danny takes in a deep breath and lets it out. “I’m not who you’ve been feeling. They broke it. They broke it and they took it.” Danny’s voice hisses like the ghosts’.
Bart doesn’t let go of his hand.
The yeti reaches out, like they want to touch, but they don’t move closer. “Is it…?”
Danny shrugs even as he shakes his head. Bart swears he can feel Danny’s confusion and grief swirling in the air. Danny’s free hand clutches at his chest. “They—it’s—they healed… or filled in… There’s another Phantom. No. The core is Phantom. I don’t… I don’t know who I am.”
The yeti’s eyes flicks to Bart and Constantine before they step forward. Their large hand was careful as they tilt Danny’s chin up. “You are still our Phantom, even if there is a new neverborn.”
Danny’s eyes were wet with tears that he swallow back. “I’m not whole.”
“We will see you to Frostbite; you will heal,” the yeti says confidently.
“I’ll be different,” Danny says like that was a warning enough to take back the gentle offer.
They yeti just smiles. “You are a half. You are different every time that we meet, that is not new. We will see you to Frostbit. You will heal.”
The tears finally spill free. Danny struggles to hold back a sob as both him and Bart are pulled forward into the yeti’s arms. Bart is mostly through the yeti, but Danny is held tight like the ghost is a solid thing. Danny lets go and cries.
masterpost please no editing or concrit, I still cannot focus to edit with this headache, but I can write!
Danny’s resting his chin on the blob ghost that’s cradled in his folded arms, and listening to the others tell stories, mostly at the expense of their teammates. Robin is busy at his laptop. He’s been working for ages trying to save Technus. Danny’s grateful. All of these people trying to help save ghosts.
Save dead people.
Danny rubs his nose against the hoodie he wore. He refuses to wear any sort of super suit, even the domino feels like too much. He isn’t a hero anymore. How can he be? He doesn't know how dead he is anymore. Somethings that…
Things that should be easy…
He flexes his hands. His still healing skin pulls taut. The skin is startling pink, and Danny wonders if it will fade out to white like the rest of his scars.
“Are you okay?” Superboy asks. His words are quiet, but everyone zeros in anyways.
Danny shrugs. “It hurts. Being here hurts.”
“It hurts?! What do you mean it hurts? Why didn’t you—” Bart’s babble is cut off by Superboy shoving Bart back by a hand on his cheek.
“Are you okay?” Superboy asks again, calmly, but with a serious sort of pinch between his brows. He’s been different today, still distant but more… attentive, somehow.
Danny lets out a slow breath and nods. “Yeah. It’s like an old bruise or something. I think it’s because… I think it’s close. My core, I mean, I think that it’s close. The hallow of it aches.”
Superboy scowls, but it’s Super Girl who says, “That… doesn’t sound good.”
Danny gives a little snort at the understatement of it. The problem is, he doesn’t know what to do about it. Even if they find what’s left of his core it could be too broken to put back in. Maybe he can’t even put it back in. No one has said that’s even how it works. No one has said he could be whole again.
Half again.
A whole half and a half.
A half and a half to be a whole whole whole—
“Hey!”
Danny gasps in a startled breath. Superboy’s hands are pressed against Danny’s cheeks and there’s warmth suddenly, so much warmth. His exhale is as shaky as he feels.
“Okay, yeah, like that, keep breathing,” Superboy says. He’s close enough for Danny to see the little flakes of brown in the otherwise perfectly blue eyes.
Danny does his best to listen, but he doesn’t really feel that in control of what his body is doing right then. He’s pretty sure that he just had another panic attack. He tries to turn and look at the blob he’s holding, wanting to make sure he didn’t hurt the little thing, but wavers when Superboy moves his hands away. It leaves him cradling the blob and slumped against Superboy’s chest.
If he had the energy, he would’ve been painfully embarrassed.
As it is, Danny can only manage a weak smile for Barry and Wally as they suddenly appear in the room. “I’m okay.”
Superboy makes a derisive noise that says what he thinks of that claim.
“I—okay, I mean… I didn’t hurt myself, not like that last time,” Danny says. He makes an aborted move to try and sit up, but just ends up surprised by the fact that one of Superboy’s arms is around him. Danny blinks down at the ring covered fingers. But Superboy doesn’t even like him?
“What? No? I don’t… it’s not like I dislike you,” Superboy protests.
Oh. He maybe said that part out loud.
“Yeah, you’re sort of out of it,” Bart says from between the Flashes.
Barry reaches out and brushes a chunk of sweaty hair from Danny’s forehead. Danny closes his eyes at the touch. “Can you tell us what set you off? And if not that’s okay! But we don’t want whatever it is to keep eating at you.”
“My core. I was thinking about my core and… and I don’t know if it’s here and what you all found and—” Superboy’s arm tightens across Danny’s chest, and he sucks in a breath. “Sorry. It’s just…”
“No, you’re allowed to be upset,” Barry says, as patience as ever with him. “We do have something to show you, but we needed to secure and clear the area first. It should be almost done. Can you drink some water and have a few bites of a bar first?”
“Yeah, I can try,” Danny agrees because of course he does. He doesn’t want to be trouble for Barry and Iris. They’ve been so kind to him, opening up their house, taking him to doctors, never getting mad at him… he just needs things to calm down, just for a little bit.
Danny sips at more of the water than he eats the bar. The slightly off peanut butter taste wrapped in dubious chocolate turns his stomach a little, but he manages a few bites by the time he’s finished most of the water.
Barry has zipped back and forth a few times, and he’s back now, smiling tensely. “Okay, we’ve got the clear to go into the room. Flash and I are going to take you, but do you want Impulse to come too?”
“Yes, please,” Danny says quickly. He sits up and this time Superboy lets him. He makes sure to sand firmly and not waver, but Bart is by his side just in case. It’s nice, to know that he can break and people will be there to catch the pieces.
They go through the halls at normal speed. Danny keeps his eyes at their feet, following Barry, flanked by Bart, and with Wally behind them. Danny doesn’t need to see these halls again. He doesn’t need to be back here other than getting his core.
His core, they were taking him there now.
There was enough of it left to show him.
That was something.
It would be enough.
It had to be.
It was…
Except it was…
“Phantom,” Danny whispers, pressed up against the tube.
Phantom’s eyes snap open. That bright green gaze finds Danny’s instantly. A pale hand lifts, moving slowly through the ecto mixture in the tube. It presses against Danny’s, that damn glass in between. The glass fogs up where Danny breathes against it.
masterpost please no editing or concrit, I literally cannot get my brain to read over my own work right now to edit ;-;
Constantine drains half a bottle of water before he starts talking. “These people were batshit, but they were smart. Dangerous fuckers. Never seen tech work with magic and other realms like this. Can’t be confident that absolutely everything is shut down, but no one should just… trip on their face into the realm of the dead.”
“I… well, that’s good, I guess,” Barry says with a blink.
Bart feels a little sorry for him. Barry, who’s totally crash with most stuff, still really struggles with magic and things. Danny has helped that, but, like, it’s an uphill race. Bart’s leg jiggles faster with impatience.
He was banished to the corner of the break room when he arrived and told to sit and hush. Which, like, is okay. He can do that. For a bit. He’s just there waiting for the go ahead to zip off and bring the rest of the team to the site. The site being called safe is a big step that way. The adorable blob he was handed when he sat made what Bart had to guess was a happy warble as they jiggled.
(Maybe Barry would let them keep one, as long as Bart and Danny promised to take care of it.)
“We believe that all should continue to travel in duos or trios,” Dianna says. Bart can’t help but straighten up. Dianna just sort of commands that. When she fixes him with a stare he almost wilts though. “I would also suggest that our younger members travel with more senior members.”
Bart waited a beat, and then says, “But we can be around then.”
“I don’t think that was the take away from that, Impulse,” Barry says. He looks like he just bit into one of Wally’s extra hot burritos by mistake.
Bart shrugs. “It’s what I took from it.”
“I am sure that Robin will feel the same,” Bruce says, all dark and brooding like. “All Young Justice members must be accompanied by at least two Justice League members. And there will be no going into the main lab until both the Dark team and Afterimage feel like it is right to do so, is that understood?”
Bart nods quickly. “Yep, I mean yes. Can I go get them then?”
Bruce gave a long pause. Bart’s leg jiggles. “Flashes, go with Impulse to bring Young Justice. The break room will do.”
“Yes,” Bart hisses and he’s off.
Then back.
He carefully sets the ghost back into one of the paper boxes with the others.
“I, um… forgot,” he mumbles, and then he’s really off. He comes to a screeching stop in the Young Justice Lair™. Tim is, of course, at the computer. Kon, Cassie, and Danny are at the table, and Cassie is mid some sort of story about the siege and Danny looks at least not 100% miserable. “Hey guys! So, me and”—Barry and Wally come to a stop slightly more elegantly— “them are going to take you to the site. We have to stay with an adult, and I think they’re going to keep us in a break room, but like…”
“Will they tell us more about what’s going on?” Danny asks, now looking 100% miserable.
“Or at least let me look for Technus in their main server?” Tim asks, without looking up from the computer.
“Um,” Bart says helplessly, “maybe?”
“Robin, you’ll have to talk to Batman about that,” Barry says, “but helping Technus is one of our goals today. Afterimage, yes. You’re one of our most informed heroes on this, your knowledge will be helpful. But we need to make sure that you stay safe while we all work. That includes taking breaks when you need to.”
“I’m not a hero,” Danny mumbles.
“Maybe not right now,” Barry agrees, “but you’re family. We’re here for you, and we want you safe.”
“We’ll look out for you too,” Kon says. His voice is softer than Bart is used to, smaller somehow.
Danny gives Kon a shaky smile.
“Okay,” Wally says with a clap of his hands. “Robin, I’ll come back and grab you after we take the others. Have whatever tech you need to help Technus ready to go.”
Tim gives a little wave of confirmation.
Bart, who’s smoothest, takes Danny, who is still new to traveling this way. Wally gives a sweeping bow to Cassie, who rolls her eyes, but lets Wally pick her up. This leaves Kon for Bart. Bart holds out his arms with a grin. Kon sighs, but uses enough TTK for Bart to ‘pick’ Kon up and zip off after the others. When they come to a stop in the break room, Kon hops down the same way he does in battle. It’s like he expects the copy machine to bite him or something.
(Considering where they are, Bart figures that’s not exactly out of the question.)
“Emotional support blob delivery!” Dick calls as he saunters in.
“What?” Cassie asks.
“Emotional support blob. I’m totally giving a box to Dinah for therapy reasons,” Wally answers.
Barry opens his mouth and then closes it as he considers it. “Not a bad idea, hold that thought.” And then Barry is off to get Tim.
“Blobs?” Cassie asks. She picks one of them out of the paper box Dick is holding. It hangs from her hands, slowly oozing down towards the ground.
“They’re, um, they’re basically emotionally charged ectoplasm,” Danny says. He’s standing with his back up against the wall, watching them all. “Ectoplasm is what makes up the Infinite Realms. Sometimes if there’s a emotional high in an area or if a ghost is ended, they form in that ectoplasm and coalesce into the little guys. They’ve got about the same sort of mental processing as a frog.”
Cassie tilts her head to follow as the eyes of the blob slip down to the bottom. “Do their eyes always shift like that?”
Danny shrugs. “Yeah, sorta. They’re not as… formed because a ghost’s form is just latent memory of who they used to be or want to be or are within death. The blobs ghosts don’t have that. Sorta the same as will-o-wisps and stuff.”
“Weird,” Cassie says. “Like, cute, but weird.”
The non-speedsters (except for Danny), all rock slightly in the breeze as Barry reappears with Tim.
“Which way is B?” Tim asks, right down to business.
Dick has to get in Tim’s way to stop him from wandering off. Dick places a hand on Tim’s chest. “Nope baby bird! You’re staying right here in kiddy jail, okay?”
“Not, not okay,” Tim says. “I have to try and fix Technus. Have you found a central computer? Where is it?”
“Just wait, okay? Once we have everything secure, we can deal with that,” Wally says.
Bart frowns at him. “Constantine said it was!”
“He said the building was,” Barry says. He squeezes Bart’s shoulder. “But you know that’s not the only things to worry about in a rescue operation.”
Bart glances to Danny, then quickly down at the ground. “I, right.”
“Who… who have you found?” Danny asks. His voice breaks around the words.
“Not everyone is sticking around to give names,” Dick says. He gets close enough to hand Danny a blob ghost. He clutches it tightly ad Dick continues. “There are a few yeti. Some amazonians, Wonder Woman is furious about that one. She’s heading to talk with them. Green Lantern is trying to get a list of the others since this is a cross realm issue. There’s one ghost that is helping a lot, she’s a lunch lady.”
Danny sucks in a sharp breath. “Does she… is there… is Boxy with her? I, um, he’s in overalls and a knit cap.”
“I, yeah, I think I saw him with her,” Barry says.
“Okay, that’s good.” Danny’s shoulders drop so suddenly that that he wavers on his feet. Kon steps forward to help steady him with an arm around Danny’s shoulder. “I, um, I can help identify the ghosts, not all of them, but a lot. The yetis are friends and I trained with the amazons. And others were… rogues, I guess? But they were just being ghosts. Like Boxy. He just… he’s the box ghost. He likes to collect boxes.”
“I’ll make sure to bring him one of the paper boxes, okay?” Barry offers. He’s using his talking to victims voice. “We might take you up on that, and I know that you probably want to see them, but some of them are in rough shape, and we want to give them some time to rest.”
In other words, Barry doesn’t want them to see the gore of it all. Bart doesn’t know if Danny gets what Barry is really saying, but Danny nods anyways. “You’ve at least… all of the… everything is stopped, right?”
“There is one that seems in a stasis, but the ghost isn’t in any harm that we can tell. We’ve left the computers on for Technus,” Wally says. “That one we will need your help on, okay?”
Danny nods again, slowly.
“Well then!” Barry stands with his hands on his hips. “I’ll bring some waters and snacks, but settle in. And yes, Robin, I’ll talk to Batman about getting you into the system, alright?”
“You all enjoy the blobs,” Dick says. “I’ll get a box to Boxy, and then check on how settled everyone is. Like Flash said, just have a seat, okay?”
“Yep, we can do that!” Bart chirps and put on his best smile. Kon lets out a soft snort, but Bart just ignores him. He holds his smile until all of the adults leave. “Right. Sorry that they’re really not letting us go anywhere yet…”
“You’d think they’d trust us of all groups in evil labs,” Cassie says. She throws herself into a seat, blob ghost held up over her head. It rotates slowly like some weird lava lamp.
“Why would they do that?” Danny asks.
“Because of me,” Kon says simply. He guides Danny over to one of the chairs, doing that mother hen things he does sometimes to Tim. “The pretty much raided the lab I was in and save my ass from a life of serving a megalomaniac billionaire.”
“The billionaire to evil lab pipeline is real. My godfather had one. He cloned me,” Danny says concernedly. “They took him too. He’s like me. Was like me. I’m pretty sure they ended him.”
The silence after was pretty awkward. Bart was glad Kon broke it. “What happened to clone?”
“Most of them destabilized, turned into ecto,” Danny says, squeezing the blob ghost in his hands. “One survived, I’m hoping that she’s still out there somewhere. He had more still in tube but not… you know, people yet? They used the bodies for tests.”
“Oh.” Bart sat on the edge of the table. “I’m sorry.”
masterpost cw: the JL are going into the GIW facility so there's mentions of experimentation. Nothing is too graphic though.
The GIW really are overconfident bastards.
Barry tries not to cuss about this whole thing around the kids. It isn’t that he thinks the kids haven’t heard cussing, or even that cussing doesn’t have its place. It’s more that he’s worried if he starts that he won’t be able to stop. The kids didn’t need to deal with his frustrations over this. They need him to be strong.
Most of the time.
Right now is about wrecking these overconfident bastards.
Barry can feel the anti ghost shielding. Moving through it is like pushing through a door strung with clingfilm. It slows him down, but it doesn’t stop him. Wally is fractions of a second behind him. Barry would have rather had Wally at the other locations where there would be less chance of being shot at, but there had been no convincing the Titans of staying away completely.
Wally takes the left path as Barry takes the right. Something about them coming through the shielding triggers the alarms. Something about them says ‘ghost. Barry tries not to think about it, because he can’t afford to think about it right then. They have a mission.
Locking the GIW out of their own armory is ridiculously simple. Again, overconfident bastards. He avoids taking out any of the agents just yet, just to cut down on panic. Next step was to find the security room. Wally made it there first. Two agents are passed out on the floor. Barry leaves the computers to Wally for the moment and focuses on securing the agents with zip ties. He uses their ties as gags. Which really, white suits? Overconfident bastards.
“Security room is secure,” Wally says. His voice is an even double through the comms. “Relay the time to breaching.”
“Five minutes,” Bats replies.
“Armory is locked up. There didn’t seem to be any exterior guards, but not promises,” Barry added. There was a soft noise of confirmation back.
Barry crosses his arms, foot tapping. Five minutes was an eternity for a speedster.
“Did you feel it?” Wally asks.
Barry nods. “Coming through the barrier? Yeah.”
Wally nods. “There’s also a feeling of, like, static shock when touching the goons.”
“I just thought that was the ugly carpet.”
“It is really hideous carpet.”
An eternity later, and far too much time staring at the carpet, the rest arrive. After grabbing the hard drive that they hope Technus has moved onto, Barry and Wally speed back to their teams and then forward again, mapping out the facility and taking the odd agent out as they go.
The full alarms are blaring now. The GIW are doing the equivalent of shredding the documents, except it’s trying to wipe data. There are Bats making sure to stop that. That one is easy. Harder is stopping the GIW from destroying the active experiments. From destroying the ghosts that they have pressed into cages and test tubes and machines that Barry doesn’t look too closely at but that turn his stomach.
Most of the human shaped ones rise with a wail as soon as they’re freed. Some vanish. Others swoop through the building. The ghost of a lunch lady embraces another that looks like a dock worker of some sort, but it’s hard to tell with the pieces that hang off him like dripping skin. Something large and white and furry attacks an agent.
Barry doesn’t stop them.
“Flash,” Wally says across the comms. “Left side, big lab.”
The strain in his voice is enough that Barry rushes to his nephew’s location, arms full of weird, blobular ghosts that rumble like purring cats. He’d been grabbing them out of one of the machines—at least grabbing the ones that weren’t… bits of green are stuck to his suit like mashed up jelly. The ghost coo as Barry zips at full speed.
Bits of green go flying as he slams to a stop next to Wally.
One of the blobs rumbles deeper and nuzzles Barry in a weird sort of comfort. Absently, Barry dips his chin down to shield it. He doesn’t look down. He can’t. His eyes are glued to what he’s seeing in the large tube in the center of the room.
“Is that…”
“…It looks like it, right?” Wally asks. His voice isn’t above a whisper. “Danny said they had his core, but I didn’t…”
“How could we?” Barry asks back. Ludicrously, Barry says the first thing that comes to mind. “We’re going to have to move. We don’t have enough bedrooms.”
Wally barks out a surprised laugh and covers his mouth quickly. It’s not the time to be laughing. Barry bites his lip to stop his own, slightly hysterical laugh.
The blobs purr.
The Flashes watch the floating figure in the tube. The figure that has Danny’s face, a glowing sphere in their chest, and fades to nothing before their feet can touch the ground.
masterpost please no editing, I know there are issues, I am in migraine land and all my joints hurt. ty <3
Barry raises his chin up defiantly at the look he was getting. “No, I can’t just put them down.”
“I didn’t ask,” Bruce says, voice monotone.
“You were thinking it,” Barry says. He clutches the armful of the blob ghosts to his chest.
Several purr in response.
Bruce doesn’t sigh, but there’s the implied sigh in his words. “You don’t read minds, Flash.”
“I don’t need to be able to read minds to know what you’re thinking right now,” Barry argues. “The little guys are traumatized! They were just stuck waiting to be made into paste.”
Bruce stares back silently from behind is cowl, judging.
“Can we not?” Wally snaps. He clutches his own blob ghost tight enough that it squeaks and quickly relaxes his grip. Well, not his, blob ghost, just the one that has found its way to him. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have…”
“Hey, it’s alright,” Barry says, voice carefully softened. His comforting victims voice.
It rankles.
“Is it?! Because I think what it is, is that they’ve got part of our family here in a fucking tube to keep experimenting on! What I think it is, is that he never really made it out!”
The noise in the room quiets at his out burst. Dick is looking from across the room with worry in every line of his body. Barry isn’t looking at him at all.
“Flash,” Bruce says, voice firm.
Wally hunches his shoulders. “That was unprofessional, I know.”
“You don’t have to stay in this room,” Bruce offers instead of ripping into Wally’s outburst. “If you wish to stay on site but away from here, there is a boardroom.”
“I… yeah. I’ll go—I can get some waters and stuff for it too for everyone. Maybe these little guys will settle in too,” Wally says. He has to stumble through the words, but it’s better to have something to do. “And I’ll stay out of the way until I calm down.”
“Flash. Both of you,” Bruce says. They look to him, of course they both do. Bruce just commands attention. “This is understandably hard. It will be for your whole family. Focus on making sure your family is alright. If we need your expertise, we will ask, I promise you that.”
After a moment, Barry nods. “I’ll try to settle the blobs in the boardroom so that they’re out of the way.”
“That would help,” Bruce agrees.
“And I’ll try to keep the younguns away,” Barry says with a sigh, because that was a whole thing.
“Keep them to the boardroom if they don’t stay away. All of them,” Bruce advises. “Wonder Woman and Zatanna are speaking with some of the ghosts, and Constantine is making sure that the building is safe from realm bleed. Until we know matters are secure, Young Justice need to stay out of the way and as a group. I am counting Afterimage as part of that group.”
Barry nods. “We’ll make sure they know that.”
Wally thinks they’re both was more confident in keeping the kids contained than they should be, but doesn’t open his mouth. (He’s still feeling a little hysterical.)
“Boardroom is this way,” Barry says and zips off. The little ghosts hang on easily for the whole walk, even through the super speed. In fact, the ghosts seem happier after the trip.
Wally sets the ghost he had been holding down on the table. It’s sleek and dangerously black in the bright, white room. Wally hates it. He hates this whole place. “I, um, saw some paper boxes in a copy room. They might be good for these little guys. I’ll just—”
He leaves before Barry can say anything back.
The copy room is empty. There’s a pile of papers that have been briefly lit on fire that still stink of smoke, but no one is trying to deal with looking through them yet. It lets Wally sit down. His head down drops down between his knees and his hands wrap behind his neck. He breaths in.
There was another Danny.
He breaths out.
They still didn’t know if there was a consciousness there.
He breaths on.
If there was, had Danny know anything outside of this torment?
He breaths out a long, slow breath.
One piece at a time.
One piece at a time and backed by their family: by Barry and Iris and Bart. But they’re also by their extended family of heroes: by Bats and Supes and the Amazonians and everyone else. This would be hard, but they would handle it together.
“Alright,” Wally says to no one. He stands with a stretch, all the way up on his tiptoes, and then shakes it out. He’s feeling a lot better as he grabs the empty paper boxes that were waiting for recycling. There’s less than he wants, but the little blobs do seem to like being squished. And it was at least something. “One piece at a time.”
masterpost had to rewrite this one a few times so hopefully it works now. no editing please, I know there are going to be tense errors.
“It’s a location!” Tim says with a jolt. His chair rocks back, and Bart scrambles to push it the other way. The wheels land with a clank and Bart rushes back to Danny’s side before anyone really probably notices, other than the sound. Kon does shoot Bart a look, but Kon’s the one who named looking after Tim when he’s in a sleepless deep dive like this ‘protect the nerd’.
And Bart is!
But he’s also… there’s Danny.
Danny who is there at least this time, but is quiet and shy. Bart wants Danny to feel okay.
He wanted Danny to like his friends. His team.
(Maybe they could be Danny’s team too.)
“It's a location,” Tim repeats in breathless excitement. “Technus is pinging us a location in his calls.”
“What location?” Danny breaths.
“The location,” Tim says as he flings maps up onto the monitors. “Look, these are the GIW locations that we know of. All either part of an existing government locations or by the book rented facilities. There’s nothing there that matches what we know we should be seeing scale wise. The only place that gets close is Amity Park, and we know that’s been scaled down. Afterimage was found here. His path matches leaving Amity Park. The timing of the GIW scaling down operations match Danny’s escape. So where did they go?”
“Let me guess, the location,” Cassie drawled.
“Excatly!” Tim says, ignoring the sarcasm. “Technus has been pinging us back ‘Phantom’, right? But it’s not just us he’s been pinging. He’s been sending… like this electronic echo out with it. That echo keeps going, lighting up slightly at the other locations that we know of. But right here? Right here it goes dead.”
Tim’s finger is jabbed into the middle of nowhere Missouri.
“Anti ghost shielding,” Cassie says as she leans forward. “It’s one of the things GIW claims that they were developing as an act of protection. It makes sense that they wouldn’t want angry ghosts getting into somewhere that they were experimenting on them.”
“Or getting out,” Bart chirps.
“Or both,” Tim says. “I bet that’s where where we’ll find what we need.”
Kon crosses his arms and leans back into the couch. “They won’t let us go. You know that, right? They’ll want to handle this at the JL level.”
“That didn’t stop us when we rescued you,” Cassie pointed out.
“Yeah, but…” Kon shoots Danny a look. Bart hasn’t asked yet, but something about Danny twiggs Kon out. He’s trying, though.
“Technus needs you online,” Danny says, his soft voice interrupting all their thoughts. “When the raid happens, he’s going to need Robin’s help before they erase him. Maybe people to go into those other locations. His core might still be physical.”
“Mop up duty,” Kon grumbles.
“Search and rescue,” Danny argues. “He didn’t deserve this. He doesn’t deserve to be ended. And he’s helping.”
Kon sighs and scrubs a hand through his hair, messing up the black curls. “Yeah, no, you’re right. Sorry. Just… lab experiments are a thing with me.”
“Yeah… me too,” Danny says.
Tim looks between them before he decides something and nods. “I’ll inform the Justice League of what I’ve found. Both myself and Oracle will be online and ready when the raid happens. “Wonder Girl, you’ll take point in the field. Afterimage, you’re benched for this one.”
Danny blinks back at Tim. “That’s… I’m not… I’m not even a hero…”
“Sure,” Tim says with a wave and a jaw cracking yawn. “You’re still benched. You can sit on comms though.”
“Right,” Danny mumbles and leans into Bart’s side.
“Right,” Bart agrees even if there’s really nothing to agree too. It’s more that he just… it would be cool if Danny was on the team too, even if it was only sometimes. But Bart knew that was up to Danny and what they found out there.
masterpost, please no editing or concrit, this is a first draft and I am dead today.
“Hey Danny,” Barry says as he sits on the edge of the couch. “How are you?”
Danny tucks his feet up to give Barry more room. It’s been a… weird day. Danny’s felt jittery all day, oscillating between pacing and crashing on the couch. He knows it’s worrying the others. His new family. Family… he doesn’t know if…
What if the Justice League really does take the GIW down? Would it be safe for him to reach out? Not to… to Jazz. But Jazz… she would tell. She would think that they deserved to know. His parents hadn’t done anything illegal. They had reported him through the proper government channels, just like they were supposed to. They weren’t the ones who cut into him.
(At least he thinks they weren’t.)
Tucker and Sam, they can stay quiet. It’s too much risk while the GIW is around but after, if there is an after… He can let them know he’s okay. Okay enough.
Yeah, he was… okay.
“I'm okay. I know I’ve been,” Danny waves a hand, trying to encompass everything that was happening, “but I’m okay.”
“Okay, that’s good,” Barry says. Danny knows Barry doesn’t believe it, but maybe he’s trying to. “Do you want an update today, or should we wait?”
Barry and Wally have been really good about asking that. They let Danny decided day by day if he wanted to hear about what was going on with the GIW, if he could hear about it. They didn’t get mad either when he changed his mind and needed them to stop. Today though…
“Yeah. I think that would help.” So far everything had been more… bureaucratic than Danny had expected. Which made since, the Justice League didn’t want to actually fight the government. On the front face, at least, they were trying to get ghosts protected under the Meta Protection Act. On the backside, the Bats were still digging into the code. Danny didn’t know what to think of them yet, but they were working hard for him. He tried not to think too much into the whole Technus thing. It was hard.
Barry leans over his clasped hands. “On the political side, we’ve finally made some grounds. The politicians are busy trying to sort out how the GIW even came to be, but the League has permission to act against any active harm we can prove. We’re allowed to protect ghosts now under the meta act.”
Danny scoots himself up until he’s mostly sitting. “Technus?”
“We don’t have any proof he’s an intelligence yet. But, the Bats are trying!” Barry says, his smile an effort. “He’s still acting as a firewall of sorts, but Oracle says his behavior has changed with the newest news. He’s started sending a code they think means ‘Phantom’ with increasing frequency. I’m going to trust them on this, they’re the code people.”
Danny twisted his fingers together. “If… they’ll run. If they think you’re after them they’ll run. They’re not like… It’s not just a job, not them them, they’re… um, zeal?”
“Zealots,” Barry offers.
“Yeah, they’re zealots. They won’t stop just because it’s, you know, illegal now. They’ll gather what they can and run. Maybe even end Technus, totally this time. And I don’t want…”
“I know, kid, I know,” Barry soothes. “We’re going to do everything we can to protect Technus. And we’re going to try and get your core back too. We’re the Justice League, this is what we do, okay?”
Danny takes in a breath and lets it out slowly like Dinah has been teaching him. He gives a little nod. “Yeah, you’re the Justice League.”
masterpost please no editing or concrit, this is a first draft <3
“Stop fidgeting,” Dick murmurs.
“I’m not fidgeting,” Wally hisses back.
“You’re a Flash you’re always fidgeting.”
“Then how do you expect me to stop?”
Dick rolls his eyes and pulls Wally into his arms. He presses against Wally’s back, arms over his, and holds Wally’s fidgeting hands still. Dick’s chin perching on Wally’s shoulder is the last part of the puzzle. Wally breaths out a sigh and finally relaxes.
“There you go,” Dick says, words stuffed full of satisfaction.
“Oh shut up,” Wally says back with absolutely no heat. He leaned his weight back against Dick, who wasn’t even supposed to be there. He probably knew that Wally would need the support so that he could be Danny’s support. But showing up as Nightwing. “He might guess you.”
Dick shrugs, shifting them both. “I know. We’ve talked about it. He’s one of you, it’s fine.”
Wally almost argues that Danny isn’t even adopted yet, but he didn’t want to risk hitting a sore spot with Dick even though it’s not the same at all. They communicate, unlike the Bats. It’s why they were there. There was a new concern that Danny was still actively injured in a way that they didn’t know how to handle. But Danny and medical personal…
“You’re fidgeting again.”
“Shut up.”
The door opened and Danny came out, Bart at his side and with basic back domino on his face.
“W—Flash?” Danny asks, wide eyes shifting to Dick. Danny tilts his head. “And…”
“Nightwing,” Dick answers with a smile, “as well as who you’re thinking. It’s nice to formally meet you, Afterimage.”
Danny shifts on his feet like he’s some how ended up in the wrong hallway after therapy. “Yeah… same.”
“Come on,” Dick says as he starts to peel away from Wally. “I have someone who wants to meet you.”
“Don’t worry,” Bart whispers (or tries to) once they start walking. “We’d never introduce you to someone bad.”
“I’m not worried,” Danny lies.
They’ve all been learning over the last several weeks how afraid Danny is all the time. Well, not all the time anymore. Seeing Dinah has been amazing for Danny’s overall mental health. They still had so much work to do, but there were more moments of Danny being relaxed rather than strung tightly. The dependency on Bart being near was a little concerning, so they’re going testing if any of the family will do. Iris was first up with a shopping trip.
Well, assuming he didn’t backslide with this.
The door slid open and the four of them entered a conference room. Bruce stood from the table and, when it was clear that Danny wouldn’t enter further than the door way, walked closer.
“Hello, Danny. I’m Batman.”
“I know.” Danny blurted out. “I don’t—I mean, sorry. Ancients. Just, I think everyone knows you are! I didn’t mean to be rude!”
Barry pouted. “You don’t care if you’re rude to me.”
Danny’s head whipped that direction. “Have I been rude to you?!”
“Flash,” Wally admonishes.
Bart waves his hands. “No! I didn’t mean it like that. Just… don’t want you to like Batman more than Flash.”
The last part was mumbled so quickly that it was a blur of words. Everyone in the room blinks. Wally is the first to react, trying to hold his laughter and failing.
“Don’t worry Flash!” Bart chirps. “I like—well, okay, I like Robin best, but…”
Wally can’t help it, he’s laughing so hard that he’s leaning on Dick, who’s not much quieter.
“I like you better than Batman, sorry Batman, just, I was surprised!” Danny says quick enough to make a Speedster proud.
“Aw, thank you Afterimage!” Barry says. He’s almost quicker than his words to Danny’s side. He stops for a moment to make it clear that he’s offering a hug, and then with Danny’s little nod sweeps him up into a hug.
Wally, wiping away tears, catches a tick of a smile on Bruce’s face. Not that Wally has doubts about Bruce, but it still helps settle Wally to see it. They all know that if they press on Danny, they would have more information. Danny knows the Ghost Investigation Ward. He knows Amity Park. He knows this case. Danny knows things they need to know. And they just have to press for that information. But they don’t, because pressing might very well break Danny and it’s not worth it. Not when Danny is already safe.
Eventually they get settled at the table, Danny is sandwiched between Bart and Bart. Dick and him serve as the bridge from Flash into Bats. Along with Dick and Bruce, Babs is on call with them and Tim sits on the other side of the table next to Bart. The size of the room and number of chairs was clearly carefully chosen. Well, it was the Bats.
Bart is excitedly telling Danny about Robin and Tim about Afterimage, clearly hoping that the two will be quick friends. It’s leaving Tim looking fond and Danny looking bemused. Wally is pretty sure it will work out but right then, they do have things to talk about.
“Hello Afterimage,” Bab’s says from the screen. “We wanted to give you a brief update. Thanks to the tip, we’ve been able to interact with what we think might be this Technus.”
Danny leans forward immediately. “You have? He’s… he’s still…”
“We’re not sure of anything,” Tim says quickly. “But whatever is there isn’t just a normal artificial intelligence. And it’s way beyond what should be at a random government agency.”
“And,” Babs adds, “there was a… response to us sending ‘Phantom’ to it.”
“Him,” Danny corrects. “Even if… even if he’s not left… not enough left to be him, he still deserves… he was still…”
Wally’s leg starts bouncing.
“Him,” Babs says softly. “We think that mentioning Phantom caused him to pause. He’s not letting us in, but he’s not kicking us out of the ground we have gained anymore.”
“It’s like a stalemate right now,” Tim says. “If there’s anything else you know to pass on that would be great.”
“Otherwise we’re trying to build up sort of call and response with Technus that might unlock a different line or type of communication,” Babs says.
“The other thing that we’d like to address,” Bruce says when the quiet hangs too long in the air, “Afterimage, you’ve spoken about not knowing how many parts of Technus are left. What should we be look for? If there is any way to help him, we will try our best to do so.”
Danny fidgets with the cord on his hoodie.
Wally’s leg bounces faster.
Dick reaches over and puts his hand on Wally’s leg, squeezing his knee reassuringly. Wally tries to trust the process.
“It’s called a core,” Danny says, finally. His words are quiet, wobbly, forced… but he meets Bruce’s cowled gaze evenly. There’s a stubborn little jut of his chin as he continues. “A core is what makes up a ghost. They can project another form, what humans would see them as, but a core is what it all comes back to. They hooked Technus’ core up to their servers, but he… he fought them. So they broke him into pieces again and again and again—”
Bart reaches out and squeezes Danny’s hand and Danny takes a breath that gasps like he hadn’t breathed in hours.
“Sorry,” Danny says. “When his pieces were small enough that he couldn’t fight them… well. I don’t know if they kept the others or sent them to other places or… he fought them. He didn’t deserves this.”
“Of course not,” Bruce says. There’s a weight to his words that makes it feel real.
“We’ll look into it,” Babs promises and Tim is nodding along to her words.
“Afterimage,” Bruce continues. “You’ve spoken about a part of you being taken. From a standard human template, you seem whole, though you have not been scanned for internal organs.”
Danny juts his chin again. “Ask.”
Wally’s bouncing leg freezes in place.
“Afterimage, are you a ghost?”
“Part.”
Dick squeezes his knee.
“While you were held by them, did the GIW take your core?”
