Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tim Drake quite enjoyed living a normal life for once. Between growing up in an empty mansion and jumping across Gotham’s rooftops, normal wasn’t something he was familiar with. 

When the Bats had gotten a tip claiming two scientists were attempting to punch a hole into another dimension, Bruce had asked one of them to visit a small town in Illinois to check for anything suspicious. Tim was quickly elected the one to go, something about him needing a break and sleep. 

Turns out the two scientists were Bruce’s old college friends, the Fentons. Self proclaimed ectobiologists with a 16 year old daughter named Jasmine. Bruce had reached out to them and was met with excitement from the couple at meeting one of “Brucie’s” kids. 

Tim’s name during his planned stay with the Fentons was Daniel James Fenton, nephew to Maddie and Jack Fenton. The story told to Maddie and Jack was that Tim needed a break from the city for a while and wanted to go to a place with new surroundings while not getting the publicity that came with being Timothy Drake, son of Bruce Wayne. The story for everyone else was that Danny’s parents died in an unfortunate car wreck so he was sent to live with family in Amity Park. 

Meeting the Fentons was an interesting experience. The parents were wearing bright colored hazmat suits and pointed a glowing gun at him when he showed up. Said gun was quickly knocked away by a redhead with teal eyes, who he would soon come to know as Jazz. 

Despite the Fentons’ ramblings about ghosts and the OSHA violation on top of the house, it was the most normal life Tim had experienced in a while. Maddie and Jack weren’t the most attentive but they cared for him like he was their own. They gave him nicknames and included him in conversations (sure the names weren’t based on his actual name and the conversations were centered around ghosts most of the time but it was more than Jack and Janet had done). And to be honest, he appreciated the sense of normalcy, no constant threat of his life from rouges or his family back home. 

He should have known it was too good to be true. 

Tim had been writing daily reports to Batman, informing him on the status of the Fenton’s portal. They claimed it would lead to the dimension of the dead. The Ghost Zone. He nearly lost his mind when he found out they were building it in the lab they have in their basement . 

He had been keeping an eye on their progress and predicted it would be completed any day now. When he questioned Jazz about it, she held fast to the idea that ghosts didn’t exist. Privately, Tim agreed with her. 

When Maddie and Jack exited the lab disappointed and defeated, Tim immediately reported that the portal was a failure. After sending the report off, he picked up his phone and remembered his friends were coming over that afternoon. 

Sam Manson and Tucker Foley. An interesting pair to be sure. Sam was an unstoppable force that put up with no one’s bullshit. Tucker was a fellow tech nerd who could keep up in conversation about anything electronic related. He had met them when he was new to town and they kind of stuck together since then. 

He had told them about the portal and in true teenage fashion, they wanted to see it for themselves. Not that he blamed them, a portal to another dimension? Who wouldn’t want to see that? 

Hearing the doorbell ring, he walked down the stairs and opened it to reveal the two. 

“Hey guys.”

“Hey, Danny. So where’s this portal you’ve been talking about? I’ve been dreaming about it every night since you told us!” Tucker exclaimed, eyes wide with excitement.

“I brought my camera. I figured this kind of thing should be documented. We’ll be the first teenagers to see an interdimensional portal,” Sam said, waving her camera around.

“It’s downstairs in the basement. Just be careful not to touch anything, we’re not actually supposed to be down there.” 

“Yeah, yeah, safety and all that.” 

The teens walked down the staircase toward the seemingly failed portal. Tim always got the creeps from being down there, this time being no different. A sense of dread filled his chest. He walked over to the closet with hazmat suits for him and Jazz. He picked up the white one with black gloves, boots, and neck collar. 

“Smile!” Sam shouted as she took a picture, blinding Tim with the flash.

“Okay. I showed you the portal, can we get out of here now? Maddie and Jack could be back any minute. Besides, they say it doesn’t work anyway.” 

“Come on, Danny. A Ghost Zone? Aren’t you curious? You gotta check it out.”

Tim sighed. “Fine. Five minutes and then we have to go back upstairs.”

“Put on that suit and I’ll take a picture of you inside.” 

Tim put on the suit and went to walk toward the portal before being stopped by Sam.

“Hang on,” she ripped off the sticker with Jack’s face on it. “You can’t go walking around with that on your chest.”

He smiled at her before turning back to the portal. It looked impressive from the outside. The inside was dark and he couldn’t quite see where he was stepping. He made sure not to go in very far. As he was turning around, his foot caught on a wire and he stumbled towards one side of the portal. Reaching out to catch himself, he felt a click under his palm. He had just enough time to look up and faintly see the “ON” and “OFF” by his hand. 

Next thing Tim knew, he was screaming and full of pain. His muscles were tight as electricity coursed through him. Distantly, he thought he could hear his friends shouting for him. He hoped they would be okay. That whatever was happening to him would stay contained and they would make it out of this unharmed. 

One moment he was standing in the portal, the next, Tim was laying on the floor in the lab. He blinked and tried to sit up. His entire body ached and didn’t feel quite right. 

“...Danny?”

Tucker. He’s okay at least.

Tim groans. “What happened? How am I still…?”

“I don’t know, just, look.” Sam pointed down at him.

When he glanced down, he noticed his suit had been inverted. Confused, he looked back up at his two friends.

“Dude, your eyes and hair, they’re different.”

“What?” Tim scrambled towards the mirror. The first thing he noticed was his hair. A stark white as it flowed through the air, almost defying gravity. Second was his eyes. Gone were the blue he spent 14 years of his life with. In place were glowing green irises. Lazarus green. There’s no way the Fentons built a Lazurus pit in their basement, right? That shouldn’t be possible. 

“You’re a ghost,” Sam said, shock evident in her voice.

“No, ghosts don’t exist. This isn’t- it can’t be,” Tim responded desperately.

Tucker reached out to him. “Look man, regardless of what it is. Something happened and now you’re-”

Cutting off Tucker’s sentence, a bright flash coming from Tim’s midsection turned into a white ring that split in two, turning him back to normal. 

“What the hell?” 

Tim took a few deep breaths. “I don’t know. Maybe it was some sort of side effect from being shocked? What matters is that I'm back to normal now so it doesn’t matter anymore.”

Sam and Tucker looked at him with concern but decided to drop the subject. The trio’s attention quickly turned to the portal, now full of a swirling green. 

“The Ghost Zone. They did it. They actually did it,” Tucker pointed out with awe. 

“Let's just, get out of here and go upstairs. I don’t want to be around it any longer than I have to,” Tim said, backing up from the portal.

The teens went upstairs and stopped by the front door.

“So what now?”

Tim shrugs. “My aunt and uncle will be thrilled it’s working. It’s their life’s work. I don’t know what I’m going to tell them yet. Maybe that the on switch was inside the portal and I saw it and figured I’d try to turn it on?”

Sam and Tucker’s jaws dropped. 

“The what was where ?!”

“Yeah, for all their genius, they really don’t think things through. I just don’t want them to know about whatever that inverted thing was. They’ll think I’m possessed by a ghost or something.” 

“Okay, Danny. Make sure you get some rest, alright?”

“I will. Don’t worry guys, I’m fine. I’ll see you both tomorrow, okay?”

Sam and Tucker both waved before leaving. Tim shut the door and rested his forehead on it. 

The portal worked. It wasn’t a failure. He should tell Bruce. This mission wasn’t for nothing. A portal to the realm of the dead or wherever it may lead was a threat that needed to be dealt with. He’ll message him tomorrow. Tim could still feel the electricity running through his bones and he just wanted to sleep. 

Before he went to bed that night, his computer dinged with a new message. Tim got up to check, in case it was important.

Affirmative. Return to Gotham to give a detailed report. 

He hesitated before responding. 

“So when is Tim getting back? The portal was a dud, right?”

“Calm down Dickhead, he’s only been gone for a couple weeks,” Jason said walking around Dick to get to the showers in the cave. 

Bruce was still facing the Batcomputer. “Actually, he asked to stay a while longer. Says the fresh air has been good for him.” 

Jason whipped his head around, “What? We’re talking about the same person, yeah? Tim, technology reliant and caffeine fueled? Why the hell would he want to stay in the middle of bumfuck nowhere?” 

“Yeah, that is unusual for him.”

“Perhaps he has finally realized his presence is not needed here.”

“ Damian .” 

“Tch.”

Bruce closes his eyes and sighs. These kids will be the death of him.

A month goes by. A month of falling through floors and dropping beakers in chemistry. A month of not being quite dead but not being quite alive. He’s been keeping track of his pulse, body temperature, and anything else that might be unusual. Unusual feels like an understatement. He should be dead. Why isn’t he dead? 

A hand lands on his shoulder, pulling him out of his spiral. Only to be pulled into another one when he realized it’s Sam who grabbed him because he’s currently halfway through the floor . 

Taking deep breaths and focusing on the idea of being solid (and isn’t that a weird thought), Tim (Danny?) managed to pull himself out of the floor and stand next to Sam. 

“Thanks. I didn’t realize I went intangible. And in public too.”

Sam smirked at him. “No problem. That’s what we’re here for. Making sure you don’t lose your head. Or your legs.”

“Oh ha ha. I’m not that hopeless.”

“I beg to differ,” Tucker announced and he pointed to Danny’s feet which were floating five inches above the ground. 

“Oh come on!”

Chapter Text

Two years went by fast. Once Lunch Lady showed up, it was all downhill from there. The ghosts kept coming through and Danny had to deal with it. After all, it was his fault they were there in the first place. 

It was almost reminiscent of his days as a vigilante in a gloomy city on the east coast. Except this time he was on his own. There was no mentor or adult to be responsible and level headed. Sure he had his friends and allies but a bunch of untrained teens was different from a team of trained vigilantes. Instead of reporting back to a leader every night, Danny was the closest thing they had to a leader. 

When the attacks started, Danny tried to keep his friends out of it. They were civilians and untrained. It was his responsibility to protect them. Though, he quickly learned that he couldn’t do it on his own. He was so far out of his depth and he was alone. He didn’t have his family for backup. So when Sam and Tucker, and eventually Jazz, offered help (more like forced it upon him), he let them. At first they kept out of the way during fights but as the situation escalated, his friends and other Amity Park citizens learned to defend themselves and their town. From both ghosts and humans. 

He hadn’t been in regular contact with his family since about six months after the ghosts showed up. It was a steady decline. Daily messages turned into weekly and then the rare occasion when one of his brothers would check in. He found himself missing them on the quiet nights when he couldn’t sleep. He wondered what they would think of him now.  

He’d changed since they saw him last. Dying would do that to a person. And well, he saw how well it turned out for Jason. It’s better off with them not knowing. Thinking he’s just living the midwestern dream. That and he wouldn’t want to try to explain how it feels like Tim Drake died in that portal. 

Danny Fenton feels like the kid he never got to be. The teenager with normal friends, that gets detention for falling asleep in class after a late night of video games. Though most nights it’s ghost fights instead of games. He hasn’t been Tim in two years. To everyone around him, he’s Danny. And lately, he’s been Danny to himself too. Maybe that’s what happens when you send a fourteen year old undercover for two years. Even though he’d only been in Amity that long because he chose to be. 

Ever since the accident, he seemed to be having an identity crisis. Although he shouldn’t be surprised seeing as he’s got four identities now. Regardless of the fact that two of them are inactive. 

On one hand, he’s happier as Danny Fenton. Tim Drake wouldn’t fit in in Amity Park. It’s silly because he knows he’s the same person, it’s not like he acted that much differently in one city or another. Right? But something about Tim just didn’t feel right anymore. 

Danny considered talking to Jazz about it. She found out about Phantom during the whole Dan fiasco. She’s the only one besides Jack and Maddie who know about him from before. He’d been meaning to tell the rest of Team Phantom but the longer time went on, the harder it got to bring up. How was he supposed to start that conversation? “Hi, I’ve been lying to you the past two years and my name isn’t even Danny, sorry.” Like that would go over well. Sam and Tucker would feel betrayed. Valerie would kick his ass back to the Ghost Zone. She found out he was Phantom after a particularly bad fight with Undergrowth about a year ago. Luckily, they already had a truce so the fallout wasn’t too bad when he came clean about everything. 

At the very least, he was glad he was crowned after both Jazz and Valerie found out. It was already hard to tell people close to him that he was half dead with a secret identity as the resident ghost hero. He couldn’t imagine having to add High King of the Infinite Realms to that conversation. 

The group found out around the same time he did when Clockwork showed up with Fright Knight shortly after his 16th birthday declaring that he was of age to take the throne. For now, because of his halfa status, he had come to an agreement with the observants to make a council that can deal with most of the Ghost Zone matters while he lived out the rest of his human life. The council consists of Pandora, Frostbite, Dora, and a couple observants. Since they had experience ruling their own domains, Danny asked them if they wanted to help him with overseeing the kingdom until he dies fully and can rule for the rest of his afterlife. They oversee the Zone and only come to him with weekly updates or issues that only he can deal with. 

Danny had a secondary, more personal council that’s purpose was to keep him sane. Team Phantom now consisted of Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Valerie, and himself. And occasionally Wes and Ellie. They kept watch over the town and more recently, tried to keep the GIW in line. They weren’t a big threat until they tried to destroy the Ghost Zone. That’s when the teens realized they might be in over their heads. So far they had been managing but between the ghosts and the government, they were stretched thin. 

A buzz on his desk pulled him from his thoughts. He glanced over to see a text from Vlad. 

Vlad was a complicated subject. He was a crazy fruit loop that had gotten better over the last couple years but Danny still couldn’t bring himself to fully trust him. They had a shaky truce due to their mutually assured destruction if one exposed the other. Vlad still wanted Danny as his son but had backed off on the kidnapping and threatening. Their new agreement to stay out of each other's way had been helpful for Danny. Vlad being the mayor means that he had a leg to stand on against the GIW. Which Vlad had been funding until a year ago when he backed off for an unknown reason. He had been cagey when prompted about it so Danny ended up backing off, just grateful for one less person after him. 

Call one of those meetings of yours. I will be at the Keep in 45 minutes.

Danny’s eyebrows furrowed as he read the text. He wasn’t surprised Vlad knew about his personal council and their weekly meetings but he was surprised at his calling of one. Usually the fruitloop just showed up and gave him information if something was wrong. But for him to want to discuss it in the Ghost Zone without a heads up of what it’s about. Well, it couldn’t be anything good. 

Sighing, Danny stood up and pressed a button on the side of his phone that would send a meeting alert out to his friends. Might as well get this over with. 

There is a room in Phantom’s Keep that is designated for Team Phantom meetings. It’s exactly what you would picture a group of teens would set up as a war meeting room. A large round table in the center of the room, maps of Amity Park and the Ghost Zone on one wall, a TV with game consoles and bean bag chairs in front of it, and a snack bar, courtesy of Tucker. It doubled as a hang out room when they needed a break from the human world. 

Valerie was the first to show up after Danny and Jazz. He nodded to her in greeting and went back to studying the maps. They had red pins in buildings where they had first aid kits stashed around town. With the GIW getting more aggressive, some of those buildings were no longer in existence. 

Sam and Tucker entered shortly after and took their seats at the table. 

“Why the sudden meeting? Is everything alright?” Sam asked.

Danny turned around and sighed. “I got a mildly disturbing text about half an hour ago and I called a meeting as soon as I had mentally prepared myself.” 

“Mentally prepared yourself for what?” Tucker had a curious look on his face. 

“For the unfortunate news I bring,” Vlad said from the doorway. 

“What is he doing here?” Valerie activated one of her guns and aimed it at the billionaire. 

“Stand down, Val. He’s the reason I called this meeting,” Danny said, putting a hand on her shoulder. 

She huffed but put the gun away, still glaring at him. 

Vlad walked around the table and stood behind one of the empty seats. 

“I asked Daniel to call you here as I have some upsetting news to share. As you may recall, until recently, the GIW was funded by Dalv Co. The reason I pulled my funding is that those bumbling idiots were beginning to develop plans to build a portal. I’m sure you can imagine why I couldn’t allow that to go through.”

“They were what ?!”

“Are you kidding me?!”

“They only got that far because you funded them in the first place!”

A thud sounded in the room and the group turned to see Danny face down on the table looking like he wanted to be anywhere but there. 

“Okay. As unpleasant as that is. If you aren’t funding them anymore then there shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Vlad shakes his head. “I’m afraid not, Little Badger. You see, recently someone else picked up funding for the Ghost Investigation Ward.”

“Who in their right mind would pick up funding for a sketchy ass organization who hunts ghosts?”

“The Justice League.” 

Chapter Text

The Batcomputer was filled with files regarding Amity Park and their ghosts . Courtesy of the Ghost Investigation Ward. Bruce rubbed his temples, warding off the slowly building headache. 

The small government organization had contacted the Justice League proposing a funding pitch. Funding in exchange for weapons and information. It would seem that for nearly two years, they had been fighting off ghosts in a small town in Illinois. The same small town one of his sons had been living in. 

Tim had not informed him of the situation. Two years ago, Bruce got a message declaring the portal a failure. It was followed by a request to stay in Amity Park. Tim claimed to have wanted to enjoy a normal life for once. After everything his family had gone through, Bruce was glad at least one of his kids could get out. Now he’s wondering if that was truly the case. 

Why didn’t Tim inform him earlier of the threats? Was he compromised? Being held hostage by the Fentons? No matter the case, Bruce was going to help his son and that town. 

The files the GIW had sent over were full of reports detailing the ghosts as non sentient beings that wrought havoc across the town, causing countless injuries and property damage. Any visuals captured were too blurry to get a good view of anything. 

Bruce typed out a message to Jason and Dick calling them to the cave. 

Ten minutes later they pulled into the cave on their respective motorcycles. 

“What’s up, B?” Dick asked, getting off his bike.

“I thought I told you three calls a month. You hit the limit last week.” Jason crossed his arms once he reached the Batcomputer. 

“I need you two to go on a mission to Amity Park, Illinois. The JLA was contacted two days ago requesting funding to fight a threat in the town. After looking into it, the damage done is great and they are in need of assistance. Photo and video evidence isn’t clear so I’m sending you two to investigate the town and make sure the funding will be used properly.”

Dick had a troubled look on his face. “Amity Park? Isn’t that where Tim is? Wouldn’t he have said something if there was a problem?” 

“Hold on. What kind of threat are we talking about here? And why do Dick and I have to deal with it?”

“I am sending you and Dick as you’re the most experienced aside from myself. This is a new threat that doesn’t have much history to reference. The group that contacted us has identified the threats as ghosts.”

“... Ghosts ? C’mon Bruce, aren’t we a little old for spooky stories?”

“Regardless of what it is, people are being hurt and the town is being destroyed. You two need to check it out and report back.” Bruce paused for a moment. “And check on Tim while you’re there.”

“I haven’t heard from him in a while, have either of you?” Dick asked.

“No, I figured Replacement didn’t want anything to do with us.” 

Bruce pursed his lips but said nothing. 

Dick sighed. “Alright. Better get packing then. When do we leave?”

“Four hours. I’ll send you the files.”

“The fucking Justice League ? Vlad! What the hell?!” 

“It’s not like I wanted this to happen, Daniel .” 

“What the hell did you want to happen?! First you were funding them, even as they made laws against our very existence. Then, you pulled funding so suddenly that they turned to the Justice League! The Justice League, Vlad .” 

Sam got up and grabbed Danny’s hands, which were pulling at his hair as he paced the room. 

Tucker spoke up as he typed away at his PDA. “Danny, dude, I know this isn’t ideal but, we’ve been through worse odds with far less. What’s up with you? 

Danny glanced over at Jazz who had furrowed her eyebrows and was looking at him concerned. After a moment of hesitation, she nodded her head at him. 

While she didn’t know the full story, she knew he was from Gotham and thought it would be good to tell the others after two years. She’d been bugging him about it for a while now. Looks like he’s about to find out if his doubts were unfounded. They already kept his Phantom identity a secret, what’s one more?

He looked towards Vlad, contemplating, before taking a deep breath. 

“I…haven’t been completely honest with all of you.” He returned to his seat at the table, as did Sam. “I know you’ll have questions but please, I just, I need to get this out now or I doubt I ever will. My name isn’t Danny. I’m not even a Fenton.”

Danny closed his eyes and grimaced. “Until two years ago, I was Tim Drake, adopted son of Bruce Wayne. I came to Amity to get away from Gotham and all of the rich socialites. To focus on being a normal teenager. Or at least that’s what we told the Fentons.”

He opened his eyes in time to see Jazz’s expression falter. He never told her the actual reason he went to stay with her family. 

“What I’m about to say can never leave this room. I wouldn’t be telling you guys this if it weren’t for the circumstances.” He took a deep breath. Bruce would kill him if he knew what he was about to do. “Gotham has a large group of vigilantes that operate under Batman. One of them was Red Robin. Red Robin was me.”

Tucker’s jaw dropped and the entire table was speechless. Vlad looked like he was realizing just who he was going after the past couple years. 

“I was sent to Amity Park to investigate the Fentons and their portal. B found out they were trying to access another dimension and wanted it stopped. I told him the portal was a failure and I wasn’t surprised, seeing as they were trying to access the world of the dead. And then the accident happened. And…I didn’t tell Bruce. I should have. Maybe he would’ve been able to help me, been able to stop all of this. But I didn’t. I told him I wanted to stay in Amity to be a normal kid for once. And I wasn’t exactly lying. Despite falling through floors and dropping beakers in chemistry, it was the most normal I had had in my life. Until the ghosts showed up. 

“At that point I was confused and scared. I didn’t understand what had happened to me and I didn’t want Batman leading his crusade into Amity. Sometimes he gets an idea in his head and won’t listen to reason. I was scared he would make everything worse. The dead and living don’t mix well. And after my older brother, Jason, died and came back, things weren’t great. He had been revived in some sort of corrupted ectoplasm and wasn’t himself. Bruce nearly killed him. Jason’s gotten better, at least the last time I had checked. 

“But after a while I realized that my family or the Justice League would have made the situation here worse. They don’t understand. And if they got overshadowed? I couldn’t take that risk. And now that they’re getting involved after all this time?” Danny clenched his fists. “It doesn’t mean anything good for the ghosts or this town. Especially if they’re teaming up with the Guys In White. They’ll have biased and inaccurate information which is only further backed by Maddie and Jack’s research. And they’re stubborn enough to not listen to us if we tried to warn them. They’d think I was compromised or something.”

The room lapsed into silence while everyone processed his words.

“I’m sorry for not telling you guys earlier. I wanted to. I really did. But once I felt ready to, so much time had passed that I didn’t know how to bring it up. Even to those of you newer, I trust Team Phantom with my life. You don’t deserve the secrets and lies.”

Sam put her hand on his shoulder. “Danny, it’s a lot to take in but you’re still our friend. We’ve been through so much together. Nothing’s going to change that.”

“Yeah, dude. You couldn’t get rid of us if you tried,” Tucker said with a grin.

Valerie nodded to him. “I haven’t been in the know that long but I have been around long enough to know that sometimes secrets are the only thing that keep us safe. I wouldn’t hold that against you.” 

Jazz took a shaky breath before smiling at him. “I knew you were hiding something, I just didn’t realize it was something like this. Thank you for trusting us, Danny. With everything.”

 Danny gave them a teary smile. It felt like a weight had been taken off his shoulders. 

“As touching as this is, I must ask why you have decided to entrust me with this secret as well,” Vlad said, interrupting the moment. 

Danny crossed his arms and frowned. “Yeah, you’re not exactly up there on my most trusted list. But, you are the only other one who’s like me. Not counting Ellie. You’ve kept our existence secret for this long. And you wouldn’t have come to us about this if you could handle it on your own. If we’re going to figure this all out, we need to work together. And we can’t do that with such big secrets being kept. We have one chance at this, we can’t screw it up.” 

Vlad hummed before nodding in acknowledgement. 

“Alright, Tucker, can you make a secure group chat for us to communicate that won’t be intercepted by the League?”

Tucker nodded, already typing away. “Of course I can, who do you think I am? I’ll call up Technus and we can get a server set up here in the Zone. Anyone with normal non-infused tech won’t be able to get through.” 

“Great. Once you get that set up, add in everyone here and I’ll talk to Wes and see if he can help keep a look out for anyone they might send. They shouldn’t be too hard to spot since they’ll most likely try to act normal which means they’ll stick out like a sore thumb. Keep an ear out too, Amity Parkers love to gossip about tourists and others who don’t know the protocols. For now, we’ll watch out for any JLA members and keep an eye on the GIW. If anything happens, let me know. We need to keep each other updated. We’re going to make it through this.” 

Chapter Text

Danny walked through the halls of Casper High looking for Wes. The conspiracy theorist hadn’t exactly mellowed out over the years but he had quieted down on trying to expose Danny as Phantom. Once the threat of the GIW became more prominent, Wes started watching what he said about ghosts. A conversation between the two teens shortly after this change had revealed that Wes wanted people to know that the truth had been staring them in the face the whole time but that didn’t mean he wanted Danny to get hurt. 

He was still reluctant to join Team Phantom officially, seeing as once the threat of the GIW disappears, he “will show everyone the truth once and for all.” Or so he said. Danny still believed he would come around eventually. 

Once Danny caught sight of the red head, he pulled him into an empty classroom. 

“Wes! I’ve been looking everywhere for you. We had a meeting yesterday and-”

“You know, I’m not actually part of your hero club, right? How many times are you going to drag me into your messes?” Wes asked, exasperated. 

“As many times as I need to. And to be fair, I tried to give you an out but you just kept insisting that I was Phantom and that means that my problems are now your problems,” Danny said with a grin. “But seriously, something happened. We found out the Justice League is funding the Guys In Wh-”

“The Justice League?!”

“See that’s what I’m saying! Everyone thought I was overreacting yesterday when we found out but having the JL here would be a bad time for everyone.”

“Well yeah, I mean especially since you actually know them. And I’m guessing they don’t know you’re Phantom?” Wes raised an eyebrow in question. 

“Uhhh, why would I know them? I’ve never had any reason to know the Justice League. I mean come on, I live in Amity Park, I don’t exactly get out much,” Danny said with a nervous chuckle. 

Wes gave him a blank stare before groaning. “Please don’t make me go through this again. You, Danny Fenton, are Danny Phantom who is also Timothy Drake, adopted son of Bruce Wayne, who is Batman, which makes you Red Robin.”

Danny quietly whispered, “What the fuck?”

“It’s really not that hard to figure out. You show up right after Tim Drake goes to a boarding school outside of the country and do nothing to change your appearance. I already had a theory about Bruce Wayne being Batman which only solidified once Red Robin completely disappeared. I know you staggered the appearances so he and Tim Drake wouldn’t leave at the same time but it was still a suspicious time frame. Then once Phantom showed up, the fighting style was too similar to Red Robin’s despite the fact that you clearly had no idea how to control your powers.” 

The two sat in silence for a moment while Danny processed the information. Somehow he thought the roles would be reversed during this conversation. 

“Have I really been that obvious? And why haven’t you been broadcasting that information like you have with me and Phantom?” 

“Lucky for you, everyone in this god forsaken town is an idiot. If they couldn’t realize you’re Phantom, they wouldn’t even dream of the other things. And it’s one thing to expose a small local hero in a town no one knows, but it’s a whole other to expose a group of vigilantes from Gotham. I don’t want to know what kind of threats come with finding out those identities. So if Batman ever asks, I know nothing. You hear me, Fenton? Nothing,” Wes finished, pointing his finger at Danny’s face. 

Danny put his hands up in surrender. “Right, nothing. Believe me, I don’t want B finding out about any of this either. I told the rest of Team Phantom yesterday and I was going to tell you but you beat me to it. On that subject though, the JL is likely going to send someone to scout out Amity. We need your help to keep an eye out if you’re willing.” 

Wes sighed and crossed his arms. “Sure, what the hell. I don’t have anything to lose anyways. And it’d be pretty cool to know I’ve outsmarted the Justice League.”

Danny grinned at him. “Thanks, Wes. I’ll add you to our group chat. It’s on a secure server so only we can access it.”

“If you must. See you around, Fenton. You’ve made me late enough for class as it is,” Wes waved as he walked out of the room. 

Danny let out a breath and added Wes to the chat. 

Phantom Menace: Good news guys, Wes is on our side

All Seeing Eye: I’m disappointed in all of you

All Seeing Eye: How did none of you know who he was? Tucker, you especially

Too Fine: My bad for not thinking a billionaire's son would be in Amity Park of all places

All Seeing Eye: Yes your bad

All Seeing Eye: HE DIDN’T EVEN TRY TO HIDE IT

Phantom Menace: Hey I tried

All Seeing Eye: Not good enough

Chaos: Ladies, ladies. You’re both beautiful. Now stop blowing up my phone before I kick both your asses

All Seeing Eye: Sorry Sam

Phantom Menace: Sorry Sam

“God, what a dump,” Jason stated, glaring out the car window. 

Dick kept his eyes on the road. He didn’t want to deal with the paperwork that would come from crashing a rental car. “It’s not that bad. It has…personality…to it.”

Jason huffed. “Yeah, sure. Let’s just get done what we need to and get out of here.”

“C’mon, don’t you want to see what made Tim want to stay? There’s got to be some charm to it.”

“Doubt it. Turn left here. Hotel’s a few blocks down.” 

Dick pursed his lips and followed the directions. 

The hotel wasn’t anything spectacular. For a town as small as Amity Park, he was surprised there even was one. 

Once he and Jason got their bags to their room, Dick sat down on one of the beds and thought of what to do first. As much as he wanted to see his brother, they were in town for another reason. The GIW and the whole ghost situation had top priority. After they get a grasp of the situation, then they could see Tim. 

“We should probably split up tomorrow and cover more ground that way. I can deal with the Ghost Investigation Ward if you’ll scope out the town?” Dick suggested.

Jason sighed and sat on the other bed. “Works for me. If I don’t have to see any stiff government suits immediately after getting here, that would probably be better for everyone.”

“Sounds like a plan. Then afterwards we could meet up and surprise Tim. And see if he’ll tell us why he kept all of this a secret.”

Chapter Text

Dick pulled into the parking lot outside of the facility. He was dressed in simple black clothes and had put on a domino mask before he approached the entrance gate. He was there as a Justice League ground man since having Nightwing show up out of nowhere would raise too much attention and they were still under informed about the situation. He walked up to the front doors and was greeted by two agents in stark white suits. He never thought wearing black would make him stand out so much.

One of the men reached out for a handshake. “I’m Agent K, this is Agent O. We’ll be showing you around for today.”

Dick put on a charming smile. “Pleasure to meet you gentlemen. You can call me John.” 

“John. Good to have you here. We’re thankful for the Justice League taking an interest in funding our work. Once our last sponsor pulled funding, we had to cut our research right on the edge of a breakthrough,” Agent O said as he opened the door to lead them inside. “Most of us have been working without pay since then as we’re all dedicated to the extermination of ghosts in order to keep civilians safe. The problem is we can no longer build new weapons and protective devices to keep ghosts away. Which is why we reached out to the Justice League.”

Dick nodded along as they passed many hallways, all identical to each other. It seemed as though the white suits were the standard uniform. They entered a room at the end of the hall that was filled with computer screens and filing cabinets. 

“This is where we keep our information and records. We’re going to give you a brief rundown on ghosts and the counter measures we are taking to keep this town safe,” Agent K said, pulling up some files on the screens. 

“The most important thing to keep in mind is that these ghosts are evil. They are impressions of post human consciousness that got stuck here. They can’t feel emotion or pain, any displays of these you may see are tricks to get you to let your guard down. These are vicious beings with no regard to human feeling or property. We instruct civilians to evacuate in the event of a ghost attack. Evacuation isn’t always possible so we have been working on making devices that will harm ghosts and protect humans.”

Photos of Maddie and Jack Fenton appeared on the screen alongside diagrams of silver and green devices. 

“The Fentons are the leading scientists in ectobiology. They were the ones to prove the existence of ghosts and begin making weapons against them. We have been partnering with them since we first came to Amity Park. Their research and inventions have allowed us to make the advancements we have as well as mass producing some of these devices for civilian use. Some of these include the Fenton Wrist Ray and Lipstick Blaster. It gives civilians the ability to defend themselves during an attack. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to distribute these as we’d like to due to the lack of funding and materials,” the agent concluded with a dejected look on his face.

Dick looked at the files and scanned the titles briefly. “Hmm. Any other threats besides the ghosts? Are they intelligent enough to attempt sabotage against your work?”

The agents’ facial expressions appeared as though they’d sucked on lemons. “They have the capability to organize and work in groups. They have done so before to destroy our research. Though we believe it to be under the direction of one ghost in particular. Phantom.”

A blurred photo took up all the screens. A boy with a glowing green aura, white hair, and green eyes. Dick tensed at the shade of green. 

“Most of the town is divided on their opinions of him. He is dangerous and has lured all of Amity’s youth into seeing him as a hero,” Agent O sneered. “But make no mistake, he has shown his true colors before. Kidnapping the previous mayor, robbing a museum, and endangering the lives of many. Due to his influence, we have encountered problems when in the presence of the teenagers of this town. They openly attack us and defend the ghosts, especially Phantom.” 

“All of them? Surely there are some who see through the act,” Dick asked, hoping that Tim wasn’t one of them.

“Yes, all of them. Even the Fentons’ own kids. In fact, we believe them to be involved on the human side of the organized attacks. We lack proof and the Fentons don’t appreciate us accusing their children of conspiracy but Phantom keeps getting ahold of unreleased Fenton tech and the only two who could do it would be Jasmine and Daniel.

“Some of the attacks have been here in the facility. Our specimens are always stolen before we have the chance to fully study them. We have videos recorded of what we have studied so far, unfortunately we-”

An alarm started blaring in the room accompanied with flashing green lights. Agent K grimaced. “Ghost attack in town. Tour is over for today. Agent O will escort you out. We’ll be in touch,” he stated before bolting out the door.

Agent O started walking at a fast pace out the door and down the hall. 

While Dick followed, he looked around at the agents rushing around before funneling into a door on the right. “Ghost attack?”

“Yes. Our sensors picked up a spike in ectoplasmic activity near the burger place.  We haven’t identified which ghost it is yet but Phantom will likely make an appearance. I advise you to keep your distance until the area has been cleared,” the agent informed as they arrived at the front doors. He gave a final nod before turning and running in the direction the other agents had gone to.

Dick frowned. Jason was out scouting the town. He got in the rental car and dialed his brother’s number. It went to voicemail as he pulled out of the parking lot. 

Jason had been wandering around the town for the past half an hour. The most notable places he had passed were the park and the zoo, which had the last two purple-back gorillas in the world. Many of the buildings had damage to them that looked anywhere from a year or two old to destroyed in the last week. So far he wasn’t impressed by the town. And not a single ghost seen so far. Jason was pretty sure this whole thing was going to end up being a scam and a waste of their time. 

He sighed and glanced up as he approached a fast food restaurant. Nasty Burger? It’s like they want to go out of business with that kind of name. Although he might as well take a break from scouting and see just how bad their food can be. 

As Jason reached for the door handle, a cardboard box came flying at him. 

“Beware! I am the Box Ghost!” 

Jason ducked in time to dodge the box as it crashed into the front doors. When he looked up he saw a couple dozen floating boxes surrounding a…blue man in overalls? What the hell? And why were the boxes glowing a shade of green he hated almost as much as the Joker?

For a moment, he was frozen in shock as he watched the man throw boxes across the parking lot and at the building. It looked like they were all empty so no real damage was being done. Was this one of the ghosts? He pulled out his phone to call Dick while keeping his eye on the threat. 

When he glanced down at his phone screen, it kept glitching and didn’t have service. Pocketing the phone, he looked around for any people who may have been caught up in the attack but all he could see was a group of teens filming the ghost. As he was about to call out to them, another voice spoke out. 

Chapter Text

 “This is the fourth time this week, Boxy! I swear to the Ancients, I will stick you in this thermos for a week!” 

 Jason turned his head to see another flying glowing person approach the floating man in overalls. This one had white hair that appeared to almost defy gravity. He watched his hands light up green as he dove at the blue man. 

 “You cannot trap me in your cylindrical device!”

 “Oh, yeah? Watch me,” the white haired ghost looked more annoyed than anything. 

 As he pointed a- was that seriously a thermos?- at him, the boxes changed direction and began flying towards the newcomer. Said newcomer merely raised an eyebrow and pressed a button on the side, emitting a bright light in the direction of the blue ghost. 

 Jason watched as the man disappeared into the device and the other figure began surveying the damage. Although other than a bunch of boxes littering the streets, there really wasn’t any problems that he could see. Giving a nod to the cheering teens, the ghost flew off. 

 He took a second to watch the locals go about their day as if nothing had occurred. While strange, Jason wouldn’t exactly call what he had just witnessed a threat. Is this seriously what Bruce wanted them to check out? 

He sighed as he turned back to the burger place. As he opened the door and went inside, he didn’t see the white vans pull up behind him. 

The fast food joint smelled like any other, like grease and health violations. 

“Welcome to Nasty Burger. What can I get for you today?” A teen girl was at the counter, looking tense and glancing out the windows. 

“Could I get two burgers, a large fries, and a soda?” Jason ordered, handing over a twenty. 

“Coming right up, would you like extra Nasty sauce with that?”

Jason blinked. “Uh, I’m good, thanks.” He glanced around at the customers, who were undisturbed by what had happened outside. “Is what happened out there normal? I’m visiting family from out of town and didn’t realize they weren’t pranking me about the ghosts.”

The worker looked him up and down before frowning, a look of recognition on her face. “Yeah, welcome to ghost central. It’s been a problem for the last couple of years but we get by. Everyone’s used to it by now.”

 “Seems like an…interesting problem to have.”

 The girl, Valerie, according to her nametag, scoffs. “What you saw out there was just Boxy. He’s more of a nuisance than anything else. You’ll know when there’s an actual threat. Like the Guys in White,” she said, nodding towards something behind him.

 Jason turned his head and saw a group of people in white suits in the parking lot. They were walking around with clunky hand held devices searching for something. “Guys in White?”

 “Yeah, a whole lot of creeps if you ask me. They come around after ghost sightings and start accusing people of being ghosts.” Her eyes narrow as the agents begin to enter the restaurant. 

 Jason turns back around but keeps an eye on them as they move about. An increasing beeping sound accompanies one of the agents as he approaches him. Jason turned to look at him and saw the radar on the device lighting up. 

 The agent looked up and started reaching for the weapon at his side. Before he could grab it, a hand shot out and grabbed his arm. 

Valerie looked at him with a glare. “No harassing the customers.”

“This man is in violation of the Anti Ecto Acts, he needs to come with us.”

“Not if he’s in here. The Nasty Burger is one of the few places in Amity that you can’t touch. If you have a problem then take it up with Mayor Masters but for now I need to ask you to leave.”

The agent glared before turning around and motioning to the others to leave as well. Jason watched them walk outside and linger in front of their vans. 

“They’re not going to leave anytime soon, are they? And how am I violating the Anti Ecto Acts? I’m not a ghost,” Jason asked Valerie, still keeping an eye on the agents.

“Afraid not. They’re a stubborn bunch,” Valerie turned to look at him. “My guess is you’re ecto contaminated. Their scanners pick up any ectoplasm above normal levels. Most of the town is contaminated at this point but some more than others. The mayor had to make some places around town be ‘safe spots’ where no one has to worry about being arrested. While they can’t do much to us because we’re human, they can still come after you and hold you without release for as long as they want. It’s best to avoid them if you can and head to a safe zone if you’re able. There’s a list of locations online.”

“So they have a free card for basically kidnapping people? How often does that happen?”

“Often enough. They don’t bother the locals much anymore since the ghost boy will free them anyways. Although their presence has increased lately. I hope no idiot has decided to sponsor them again, that wouldn’t end well for anyone.”
 
 “Why? What would happen?”

 “They’d have more power. They would keep researching things that should be left alone. It’s not the place of the living to mess with the laws of the dead,” Valerie paused and looked between him and the vans. “My shift ends in 15. I got a friend who works on signature suppressors for those that are contaminated. It’ll stop them from tracking you down again if you’re interested.”

 Jason stopped for a moment. “Sure, let me just text my brother so he doesn’t freak out.”

 “No worries, I’ll meet you when I finish up. Just don’t leave the building. The second you step foot outside, you’re free game.” 

 Dick threw on a hoodie and took off his mask while he drove away from the facility. Jason’s phone was still going to voicemail. 

 The information he learned was concerning. How did a threat this big go unchecked for so long? What made Tim not report any of it? Was it a mind control situation?

 Dick creased his brow as he started passing by dozens of empty boxes on the road and on the sidewalks. As he turned a corner, he saw the GIW’s vans surrounding a fast food joint. Before he could get closer, his phone chimed. Pulling over, he grabbed his phone and saw a text from Jason. 

 Something’s not right about the GIW

 Following a lead 

 Meet you back at the hotel

 Dick sighed in relief that his brother was alright. He glanced back up at the vans to see the agents lurking outside as if waiting for something. He thought for a moment longer before turning around and heading for the hotel. 
 

Chapter Text

 Valerie was distracted as she was taking off her apron and grabbing her purse from her locker. It certainly hadn’t taken long for the Justice League to send someone to Amity. They knew the Bats coming to town was a possibility, but out of so many heroes, why did it have to be them? She really hoped Danny knew what he was doing. As she walked back towards the front, she pulled out her phone to warn the group chat.

 Red Rage: Jason and at least one more brother is in town

 Red Rage: GIW got their eyes on him. I’m bringing him to Fenton Works to get a signature blocker

 The Brain: My parents left a few minutes ago. I’ll get the blocker ready!

 Phantom Menace: Heading over for distraction, meet you at FentonWorks

 She put her phone away as she looked up to greet Jason. “When the vans start pulling out, we’re going to go out the back door. If we cut through the neighborhood then it should be a straight shot to my friend’s place.”

 Jason nodded. “How long until they leave?”

 As he finished asking, the agents started firing into the sky and climbing into their vans. The sound of tires screeching could be heard from the speed they left in. Jason turned back to Valerie with suspicion in his eyes.

 She shrugged. “I called in a favor. Now c’mon, once they realize they’re being led on a goose chase, they’ll start looking for you.”

 Jason spoke up as they left out the back. “Why are you helping me with this? What if you get caught?”

 “Better than leaving you to fend for yourself. You’re a tourist, they can make you go missing and by the time someone notices, it would be too late. Especially considering you got contaminated somewhere that isn’t Amity. Once they realize that, you won’t have a chance,” Valerie responded as they passed through the neighborhoods. 

 The pair grew silent as they approached the OSHA violation that was Danny’s home. Jason was agape in shock as he looked up at the Ops Center. Valerie herself wasn’t fond of the Fenton’s home since her suit created just enough of a signature to set off the defense system half of the time. She glanced to the side of the house in time to see Danny’s bedroom window slide closed. 

 “That can’t be legal,” Jason says after a moment. 

 Valerie chuckled bitterly. “A lot of what the Fenton’s do shouldn’t be legal. Now c’mon, we want to get this done before they get back.”

 “Wait, if we aren’t meeting the Fenton’s then why are we here?”

 “Trust me, it’s better this way,” she said with a smirk as she knocked on the door.

 Jason wasn’t sure if following a teenager into a hazard disguised as a building was one of his best ideas. It couldn’t be worse than Gotham but between this and the creeps in white, he was really starting to be on edge.

 The door opened to reveal a red headed girl that reminded Jason of Babs. Jasmine Fenton, if he recalled correctly. It was possible that Tim was here as well. He didn’t know how he felt about that. The two hadn’t talked much since Tim left Gotham. Even before that, their relationship had been tense. Jason could only hope this wouldn’t end terribly. 

 “Val, hey! He’s down in the basement getting it set up,” Jasmine said as she let them in. 

 “Thanks, Jazz. I gotta split but take care of Jason here, the suits took interest in him. I’ll catch you guys later!” 

 Jason tensed as he watched her leave out the front door. He never gave his name to her. He looked back at Jazz who was watching him closely.

 “You’re one of Danny’s brothers, right? Odd time for a visit,” she questioned as she motioned for him to follow her. 

 “Haven’t seen him in a while, Dick and I were passing through and decided to stop by. How’s he been?” Jason asked as they descended down the stairs. 

 “You know you could just ask me yourself. I do have a phone, y’know,” a voice called from the basement they arrived at.

 Jason glanced around the room and spotted Tim sitting at a desk with metal parts strewn across the surface. The basement looked just as bad as the top of the house. Lab equipment everywhere and a clear lack of safety. He focused back on Tim, observing how he’d changed since they last saw each other. He looked paler, face a bit more defined, and some scars and burns on his arm. Nothing major, just the kind you would see on reckless kids. The most notable things to Jason though, were the faint smile lines on his face and the barely visible crows feet around his eyes. Any doubt about Tim leaving Gotham vanished. His little brother had clearly built a life there and was enjoying it. He’ll be damned if anything ruined it for him. 

 “Damn, kid. Ever heard of lab safety?”

 Tim laughed. “What? It's not like it’s gonna kill me.”

 “It damn well could. Look at all these wires laying about. And don’t get me started on whatever that is,” Jason retorts, pointing to the wall of miscellaneous items. He would almost call it a weapons wall but there’s a baseball bat, fishing pole, and thermos hanging from it too. 

 A sigh came from beside him. “Danny…”

 “I know, I know. Anyways, long time no see, Jay. Heard the GIW was on your ass. They’re the worst. They just keep coming back, like roaches. I hate roaches,” Tim says while tinkering on what looked like a metal bracelet. 

 “They been much of a problem?” Jason asked.

 “Eh, government officials, you know how it goes. They’re more annoying than anything. Especially since their sponsor backed out, they haven’t been able to do too much damage,” Tim shrugged as he snapped a panel back into place. “Now, it sounds like you have an ecto signature, I won’t bore you with the science of it all. You probably ran into a hotspot at some point and it left traces on you. This bracelet,” he holds up the ugliest excuse for jewelry Jason has ever seen, “will disrupt their scanners and basically make you invisible to them. You’ll be an ordinary person.”

 “Isn’t that thing a little obvious?”

 Tim smiles. “This was a little last minute so I didn’t have time to make you a custom one. I can put it on your ankle though. It does need at least 30 minutes to sync to your ecto signature so you’ll have to hang around for a bit to make sure it’s working right,” he explained while standing up and moving towards Jason. 

 “Fine by me. Gives us time to catch up too. How’ve you been?”

 “Oh y’know, just being a teenager. I’ve been really liking it here. I’ve got my friends and an annoying older sister,” he said, sending a playful smirk towards Jazz.

 She shook her head with a soft smile on her face. “Not nearly as annoying as you, baby brother.”

 “Hey! I’m only two years younger than you!”

 Jazz laughed. “I know but you’re just so easy to rile up. I’m going to head up and leave you two be. I’ll send you the signal if Mom and Dad show up.”

 “Thanks, Jazz,” Tim waved at her as she retreated up the stairs. He turned back to Jason and waved towards his leg. “Let’s get this on you. Those guns won’t kill humans but they’ll definitely sting.”

 Jason complied and lifted his left leg to the desk. “You seem happy here.”

 Tim got to work on attaching the gadget to Jason’s ankle. “I am. I can go to a normal school and have a normal life without worrying about anyone using me for my name. Quite the opposite actually. The Fenton’s are the town crazies. Well, until they ended up being right anyways. But it’s…nice. I can go to the park with my friends and not have to be paranoid about the paparazzi watching my every move. I can just be myself.” 

 “I’m glad to see you’re doing good, Tim. It’s a hard thing to get out of Gotham and find happiness.”

 Tim paused his work. “I actually…prefer going by Danny nowadays. It feels…more like me. Like I finally know who I am,” he glanced at Jason briefly before returning to his tinkering. 

 Jason hesitated for a moment. He had assumed that this was just another alias. Like Alvin Draper or Caroline Hill. “Okay…”

 “I just- as Tim Drake, I feel like I’m playing a part. The perfect son, the third Robin, the…” Tim sighed. “When I came here it was just another case but then, I fell in love with this town, it’s people. I felt like I had a home and it’s more sturdy than anything I’ve had before. I love my friends and the Fentons, and I love being a Fenton myself. No one cares where I came from. They just accept me as me. I can’t lose that.”

 Jason put his leg down as Tim- Danny finished placing the anklet. “Kid, you can be whoever you want to be. You’re still family and if this is where you want to stay, no one’s gonna stop you. If they try, they’d have to go through me first. Our life ain’t easy. For you to get as clean of a break as you did, it’d be a hell of a thing to waste.”

 Danny smiled up at him from his spot at the workbench. “Thanks, Jason.”