Chapter Text
Tim just came back from patrol and wanted to check over the new evidence he got for his case. Before he stopped in his tracks and looked dumbfounded at the dead body of a teenager. A teenager who had his guts and organs spilling out of him. There was already a huge, larger than normal blood puddle under him.
Some of the blood was splattered onto nearby cabinets, but there was no indication of how he got in or why he was just laying there. Tim carefully made his way to his camera, making sure to not destroy any evidence.
The teenager was prime adoption bait, if he wasn't dead. Blue eyes, black hair and a mystery of how he got in here. His first choice of action, after recording his findings, was to check the security camera. It looked like he just fell through the sealyng, but that couldn't be, there was no hole in it.
He also seemed dead the moment he hit the floor, because right before he still tried to keep his organs inside of him. Tim then took a blood sample and ran it through the DNA analyzer. It matched with one Daniel Fenton from Illinois, but strangely enough his file didn't specify from what city he was.
What was also interesting is that he was declared dead two years ago, but the body was fresh. Even still slightly warm, as if it was still trying desperately to keep him alive. Tim flipped him over to determine what exactly caused his organs to spill like that. It was an autopsy scar, but that wasn't the only scar. There were multiple tissues missing.
Tim narrowed his eyes at the kids face. He could have sworn he seen movement in his eyes, which now that he looked at them one was missing. He shook of the strangeness, that one remaining eye looked at him and decided to give the kid some peace by closing his eyes.
"Don't worry, I will figure out what happened to you" Tim promised to the body. Before feeling a bit childish. Why the heck was he talking to a dead body?
Daniel Fenton didn't answer, he was dead after all.
But it still gave Tim a mystery that he couldn't ignore. What happened to Daniel Fenton to end up here in Gotham, in his nest of all places. He decided to check the cameras of the street right above the nest, exactly right before Daniel Fenton fell inside.
Who the fuck was wearing completely white suits here in Gotham!? Is that some new rogue gang? They shot at the injured teenager with blasts and glowing nets. Daniel Fenton stumbled over a plastic bag and just fell through the floor. Causing the white guys to curse and report with com lines that they lost him. Lost Phantom, from what they mouthed on the recording.
Why would they call him Phantom? Why was he declared dead? Even though until now he was moving, very injured but moving. Was he a Meta? Tim glanced at the unmoving body of one Daniel Fenton. There was no way a normal person could survive an injury like this, that long at least. Was he a victim of Meta experimentation?
Tim put Daniel's body into a freezer, to keep it safe if he needed to get further evidence from it. Then he cleaned up all the spilled blood and kept some more samples in a smaller fridge. Before he finally decided to go after the trail that was left behind above ground.
It lead him towards an apothecary. The front door was barely hanging on his hinges and seemingly burnt by energy blasts. Apparently Daniel Fenton tried to find things to patch himself up with. Before he got interrupted and ran away, leaving multiple blood patches on the shelves and blast burns. The blood rail told him the story of him crashing multiple times against both shelves and even walls in an attempt to dodge.
He came in through back door and exited through the front. So Tim back tracked even further, coming to a white van that was flipped on its side. Someone already stole its tires and other parts that seemed to be able to be sold. Tim took a picture of the license plate and looked around inside. There was Lazarus water.
Were they trying to revive Daniel Fenton? But why? What was so special about him? Did they only succeed halfway? But why leave him open like that? Or what flipped the van over?
It looked like something collided with one of the inside walls. Tim took some samples of the Lazarus water here and picked up a folder. Phantom it says on the cover. Were they stupid? To leave something so important behind?
Tim's eyes widened Phantom was a ghost possessing the body of Daniel Fenton. Apparently The White guys were the ghost investigation Ward and classified him as extremely dangerous. Though what puzzled him was why they were trying eliminate ghosts of all things. He knew that the Justice League Dark had a ghost and that he was like any other person, if you see and interact with him.
So he did not understand why they called ghosts evil beyond repair and apparently made a whole ass law, about hunting them down and destroying them. Tim took the file and got back into his nest. Daniels body was still in the freezer and didn't move.
It made Tim also wonder why Phantom decided to possess Daniel Fenton. The only time he had read about ghosts possessing people was to get a message across. Was Phantom's message a danger to the Ghost Investigation Ward leader's? And there funders?
How did they miss this? How did the Justice League Dark miss this? The law was valid. Ecto entity's are as it turns out not only ghosts. Which was concerning. If- if that Lazarus water was Ectoplasm, as Phantom's file stated, then Jason might be targeted. Hell maybe even Damian and Bruce or he himself. They had all been around Lazarus water enough to be contaminated.
The only savings grace that they have is there reputation. Because the news would make a fuss about it. Tim delft more and more into this law and Phantom file, to make a briefing about it.
That's when something banged against the inside of the freezer. It was weak and almost unnoticeable, but Tim paused in his typing.
He looked over at his freezer where he had put Daniel's body in and it happened again. He walked over and opened it, but it was still in the same position, though it seems like it was regenerating.
Wounds had closed themselves, with a green shine. Tim touched the generated part curiously, with gloved hands. Only for them to be frozen over as soon as he made contact.
"Huh, maybe you're not so dead after all" Tim concluded and retreat his hand.
Daniel Fenton didn't respond.
"I will leave the door unlocked, so don't destroy my freezer" Tim declared and closed it again.