Chapter Text
Danny never saw herself leaving Amity Park. She always thought that between her low grades and responsibilities to the Infinite Realms, she was there to stay. Dreams of going to college sizzled out the lower her grades went as her… extracurriculars took up most of her time. Jazz still tried to convince her to apply to nearby colleges or even colleges closer to Jazz in California. Danny didn’t even want to bother. It was clear that her future was heading in a different direction.
In Danny’s opinion, Jazz always had too much faith in the younger Fenton. It led Danny to feel like she was disappointing her older sister. The ginger never had high expectations, but Danny never felt like she could live up to be a person that Jazz would be proud of.
She’d often joke about winding up homeless on the edge of an island in the Realms with a sign reading ‘Will do tricks for $’. Tucker would laugh and suggest she could take up cleaning the barnacles off Youngblood's ship for some spare cash. Sam would shove at her shoulder and remark how Danny would never survive out in the world alone.
Well, Danny thought, she wasn’t wrong.
She had no choice but to leave Amity Park, and now, she was alone, she had no money, she was cold, she was starving, and she was in so, so much pain.
She had been flying for so long so had lost track of where she was. She could only pray and hope that she was going in the right direction.
Towards answers.
Gravity had finally won the battle, and she fell through the sky. When her body had finally healed just enough for her to regain consciousness, she realized she was in a dumpster covered in her own blood. There was so much blood she couldn’t figure out where any of it was coming from, and she really didn’t want to think about the hole in the center of her chest.
Once Danny was able to heave herself out of the dumpster, she made a mission plan for herself. Something to focus on.
She’d deal with the trauma of it all later.
First, she would find out where she is. Wait, no, first, she should find something to stop the bleeding. Maybe find some clothes that aren’t torn to shreds? Okay, yeah, that’s first.
Second, she would find out where she is.
Third, maybe find some food and water.
Fourth- Well, she’d see if she made it to step three before she made another plan.
Luckily, Danny’s near-death-dumpster was just a block away from a used clothing store that just so happened to have a donation bin around the back. It was easy enough to sneak over and take what she could get her hands on.
She lucked out with an oversized hoodie and a couple of worn-out t-shirts. One of the shirts would be great for makeshift tourniquets. She also managed to grab a pair of jeans. They were too big, but some rolling at the waist and the ankle would do the trick.
After a bit of tearing and tying, Danny was sure the bleeding would stop. At least, for the time being.
The next order of business was finding out where she was.
She didn’t want to draw attention to herself by asking where she was and having people look at her like she had two heads.
So she did some wandering.
Eventually, she found herself in front of a large building with extravagant pillars and a marble staircase leading to two large doors. Large letters decorated the pediment above the doors, reading ‘GOTHAM CITY LIBRARY’.
Well, it's as good a place as any to find answers.
A drop of water lands right in Danny’s eye.
Then another on top of her head.
And by the time she lifted her head to the sky, it was as if a lake had been dumped on top of her.
Danny wasn’t sure what otherworldly being was laughing at her right now, but she’d like to blast them in the face with an ecto-blast.
The inside of the library was grand, to say the least. High vaulted ceilings with large windows overhead, which showed the heavy rain outside. Large six-globed chandeliers hung from long chains from the support arches that separated the sections of windows. The second floor looked like a maze that Danny would never get out of. Wall sconces were placed between each pillar, helping maintain the warm light.
The first floor had far fewer bookshelves. In the center of the room were several rectangular tables, some of which had a few people reading books. At the far end were two tables dedicated to public computers.
Bingo.
Danny started to make her way there when a voice stopped her.
“Is there something I can help you find?”
Danny looked over to her right and met the gaze of a red-headed woman in a wheelchair. If it weren’t for her green eyes, Danny might just think Jazz had a doppelganger.
Jazz.
Danny tried to swallow the knot in her throat.
“Um, no, uh, I was just wondering if I could use one of the computers. For uh- Homework.” She attempted a smile, but it must have seemed unconvincing because the woman gave her a quizzical look.
“Homework? The school year hasn’t started yet.”
The knot came right back.
So it was still summer then.
“I’m in summer school?” That had come out more as a question than Danny had intended. She spotted the name tag on the woman’s shirt. Barbara. Librarian.
Not Jazz , Danny reminded herself.
“Uh-huh. What’s your name, kid? I have to add it to the log for the computer use.”
“Danny.”
Barbara typed something into her laptop on her lap, only pausing briefly to look at Danny with a suspicious eye once over.
“Right then, right this way, Danny.”
She wheels off in the direction of the computers and Danny sluggishly follows, trying her best to hide her limp. She was hoping that is was only a sprain and that she hadn’t broken her ankle in her unceramonious fall.
Danny almost missed Barbara’s glance at her left foot. She pretended not to have noticed.
They reach the computers, and Barbara jots something down on a sticky note. “Here is the password. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” She turns to leave, but stops and gives Danny a much softer look. “I mean that.”
Danny nodded and watched Barbara the librarian roll back up to the front desk. Her heart ached. She misses Jazz.
Danny sniffs and wipes at her eyes. Right, she's got things to do. She sits down in the creaky old chair and looks at the sticky note.
GCPL06!
Danny punches in the password, then looks at the computer’s time and date. Then all the remaining color in her face fades.
[5:37 PM, August 13, 2016]
Last Danny remembered before… before she was taken was that it was two days after school had ended for the year which was…
Two months ago.
Danny suddenly felt sick. She swallowed down bile, then opened the search engine. The cursor hangs over the search box as her mind races with nothingness. Theres so much she needs to know. Before her summer from hell had begun, she had found something that had flipped her whole world off kilter.
A file in her parents’ lab.
Her file. Except, it wasn’t hers. It was under a different name but in it was everything about Danielle Jane Fenton.
Danielle Jane Fenton, who was adopted under a fake name.
Danielle Jane Fenton who was raised thinking her parents were hers. Who grew up thinking she had a big sister.
Danielle Jane Fenton was born in Gotham, New Jersey, on October 31st, 1999.
Danielle Jane Fenton, who was lied to.
There wasn’t much that Danny could read on the oldest papers in the file. Just small bits of information that painted a picture. She had done a mental catalogue of what she did know.
- Whoever had made the file had gone to great lengths to make sure that none of the information could be helpful.
- There was a birth certificate. The date and place of birth and the first and middle names of the mother and child were all that could be seen. The child: Elizabeth Marie, and the mother: Eliana Jordan. Born in Gotham, New Jersey on October 31, 1999, at 2:23 AM. The father’s name was completely blacked out.
- There was a death certificate for the child. Elizabeth Marie (Last name blacked out) died at 6:16 AM on October 31, 1999. Only alive for 3 hours and 53 minutes. Cause of death: Heart failure as a result of a congenital heart defect.
- This child was Danny.
Danny had no idea how to deal with her reality. She had no idea how she was born to one family, died, and then ended up with the Fentons. But it was all there.
She didn’t realize she was crying until she sniffled.
Danny shook her head and typed in her birthday.
A few articles came up.
‘STORM OF THE CENTURY: Power Outages Surge Across Gotham’
‘BATMAN AND ROBIN: Dynamic Duo Put Two-Face behind Bars’
‘GORDON RECOVERY: Commissioner’s Daughter Seen in Public for First Time Since Joker Attack’
‘WAYNE FUNDRAISING GALA: Date Finally Set! Guide on How to Donate’
There were even a few things about recent happens with the Justice League. But nothing seemed to connect to Danny. She wasn’t sure what she was hoping for. The death of a single child wasn’t going to show up in the news. She tried searching her birth name. The top result?
‘Common Names for Girls and Boys’
Nada.
She searches for her birth mother’s name. The top result is someone’s LinkedIn page from the UK.
So, Danny decided to take a different route. Get to know her surroundings. She knew that Batman was the local hero so she started there. A few sources were speculating his identity while some opposed that he had an identity at all, believing him to be an ancient bat god of vengeance. Some sources stated that Batman hated metahumans and for anyone of the like to steer clear of Gotham, else they would be chased out.
Danny wasn’t sure if she fell under the metahuman umbrella, but she supposed she was close. She’d keep that in mind while in the city.
She learned that he had several sidekicks. An ongoing debate on Twitter almost made her chuckle.
@Dickiebird Nightwing is absolutely not a sidekick. He’s an equal. And a million times more handsome than Batman thankyouverymuch
@PurplePeopleEater Bruh you can’t even see half of Batman’s face 👁️👄👁️
@NotaZombie Need I remind everyone that Nightwing fell on his ass AND THEN his face last week?
@DickieBird Ok, in his defense the ground was covered in ice
@TiredandTrying Do you guys smell that? Smells like excuses to me
@PurplePeopleEater Yup, definitely smells like scuses to me
@TinyStabbyNinja I agree with @TiredandTrying I smell excuses
@TinyStabbyNinja Who changed my username? I demand it be changed back this instant.
@BabstheBoss I vote Spoiler and Black Bat as the best
@deadlydancer Ditto
@DickieBird Well, at least we can agree on one thing… Batman sucks
@TiredandTrying Batman sucks
@NotaZombie Batman sucks!!
@deadlydancer Batman sucks
@TinyStabbyNinja This is a statement I can agree with.
@TheDukeOfGotham Batman sucks
And then several others agreed. Danny stopped scrolling on the thread when one active member on the thread started talking about Nightwing’s ass. She really didn’t want to read about that.
A recent article went over how Red Robin had interrupted a supplies drop for Scarecrow and said villain, and the supplies had managed to get away before he could stop them. It seemed to be a big concern, and a lot of people were worried about an attack. Under the article was a procedure form for large-scale attacks, reminding people how to make sure gas masks are secured properly, where shelters are, what to avoid, etc.
She read about the rivalry between Red Hood and Batman, Reddit threads of conspiracy theories on all things Gotham and Bat-centric, and then about how people were feeling safe with the Justice League watching out for them.
It all gave her a headache.
A growl interrupted Danny’s doom scroll on another Twitter thread. This one was about who was the worst Gotham villain. The consensus was Condiment King, and Killer Croc won in the category of most terrifying.
She looked down at her stomach with pursed lips. Food. When was the last time she had any?
Maybe that should be her next order of business. Danny looked up soup kitchens and found one in the East End of the city. It was about a 30-minute walk.
Thunder rumbled overhead.
Make that 40 minutes.
Danny heaved a sigh and stood up. She tested out her bad ankle and cringed when it resisted with pain. Less than likely a sprain now. The front of her fleshly stolen sweatshirt was suddenly feeling wet. Danny reached up to touch it and blanched. Blood. She needed to get out of here.
As Danny passed Barbara the Librarian, she pulled her hood over her head, wanting to feel a lot less visible.
The rain outside hadn’t gotten any less heavy, but she had no choice; she couldn’t stay here. So, off she went. Hopefully, the soup kitchen would still be open when she got there
Once the doors to the library had closed after Danny, Barbara pulled her phone up to her ear. “Hey Dick, you’re working the kitchen tonight, right? Great, I need you to do me a favor.”