Chapter Text
Danny jerked away from Vlad Master’s elbow as he tried to hold it, which resulted in the older man jamming his hand into his pocket and pressing the shock button. The specter deflectors around Danny’s wrists sent a burning jolt of anti-ghost energy through his body, making him gasp in pain.
“Act out further and it will get much worse for you,” Vlad hissed in his ear. “All I want is one nice evening to be seen with you by the elite of the elite. You will be my heir one day, Daniel, and I need to start laying the groundwork for that, even if I have to force your cooperation.”
Danny’s skin crawled and he grit his teeth. He’d been foolish. He’d let his guard down. Three years away at college and he’d thought he was done with dealing with this crazed lunatic. But no, it turns out he was just as obsessed with Danny as ever, and had just been wheedling his way into richer and more powerful social circles. Then one day he’d decided it was time, phased into Danny’s dorm while he was sleeping, and thrown specter deflector cuffs on him before his ghost sense could wake him up.
Danny looked up the hill as they headed up the path towards a ridiculously elaborate estate, one that made Vlad’s mansion look almost like a normal house. Vlad had flown them there so they had no need for the valet, so Vlad was leading them up towards the garden path that headed towards the grand stairs of the main entrance.
Vlad turned and grasped Danny’s chin hard in his fingers. His cold eyes flashed red as he let his ghost out just enough to remind Danny who was in control. “I’m not asking for much, Daniel. You don’t need to make conversation. In fact I’d prefer it if you didn’t say a word. Just hang on my arm, smile, and look pretty. Remember, you can destroy my reputation to the East Coast elite, but if you do, then I will do the same to you. And then your little GIW friends will know your true identity, and you’ll never sleep again.”
Danny glared daggers at him and tugged on the specter deflector around his left wrist. Vlad had disguised it by making him wear other silver and green jewlery that matched, on both wrists. He’d also forced him to put on this ridiculously expensive black suit, shocking him several times with the remote when he’d tried to refuse.
Now Vlad forced him to link arms with him and then dragged him up the walkway towards the stairs. Danny was busy trying to get the specter deflector loose and so he didn’t notice the raised eyebrow of the stoic older butler, but Vlad did. He yanked Danny closer to him with his arm, and shoved his hand in his pocket. He sent a weaker jolt through the remote, which shocked Danny into standing up straight.
“That’s better. Now why don’t we behave, and stop drawing attention to ourselves?”
Danny fumed behind his eyes. He knew they’d flashed green, but he blinked to get it under control as they approached the main entrance. Vlad’s threat was real. He knew that if he outed Vlad in any way- either as a ghost or as a fruitloop- he wouldn’t hesitate to make good on his promise to destroy Danny’s life by revealing his secret.
For better or for worse, they were in this evening together based on the foundation of mutually assured destruction.
The party had the annoying quiet quality of a rich-person shindig. Boring elevator music in the background played by a live orchestra, combined with the murmur of soft-spoken inane chatter, grated against his ears like glass. Everyone was dressed to the nines. All the jewlery he saw was real. Like the woman Vlad was approaching, who really was wearing a necklace with forty diamonds on it.
“Ah! Miss Grant! It’s so good to see you!” Vlad said, walking right up to her with the fakest smile Danny had ever seen. Of course she fell for it.
“Mister Masters! What a pleasant surprise. And who’s this young man?” she said, her empty eyes hardly seeing either of them as she took a sip of her drink. Danny’s core flickered in disgust. Sometimes he really regretted how it had grown to sense human auras in addition to ghosts. This woman tasted like dry cardboard. In fact, this entire room was particularly tasteless. Like eating sawdust. He tried not to gag.
“May I introduce you to my godson, Daniel. He’s been away at university and I haven’t had nearly enough chance to spend time with him, so I decided to bring him along.”
Danny gave her the least-scowling look he could muster, and it seemed to be enough, because she smiled at him and then immediately went back to talking to Vlad. The conversation was boring and torturous, so Danny let his eyes wander, taking in the grand ballroom.
He saw exactly what he’d expected to see- society’s upper elite, all dressed to the nines, surrounded by butlers and staff who were probably normal people back in the kitchen. But out here, they only contributed to the haughty atmosphere (not that he blamed them; a good job was a good job).
Even the few children in attendance looked more like showpieces than kids, parading around with perfect posture and poise, just like shorter versions of the adults they walked beside. His only solace was a glimpse of two young guys over in the corner who, while dressed as nicely as the rest of the crowd, wore faces of ‘I would rather be literally anywhere else’. Their expressions of misery and disgust was a reprieve against the monotony of all the rest of it, so Danny found himself staring.
One of them had a shock of white hair in the front that contrasted with the rest of his dark locks, which Danny’s eyes kept wandering back to, no matter how much he tried to look away. The man looked to be just a little older than him, maybe in his mid-to-late-twenties. His expression varied between annoyed and pissed off, broken up now and then by a chuckle as the younger one said things he found humorous.
The younger man had darker skin, pure black hair, and a default expression of “scowl”. But it was also broken up by laughter here and there, as the two of them shared what were obviously inside jokes about probably every single person in the room. Despite their ‘I don’t want to be here’ expressions, they seemed rather comfortable, almost as if they spent a lot of time in places like this. Or in this particular place.
“Two of Bruce Wayne’s sons,” Vlad hissed in his ear. “The host, though he is apparently away in Europe at the moment. Stop staring, it’s incredibly rude.”
Oh. They lived here. Well that explained their familiarity with the situation and also their derision of it. They probably just wanted to slink back to their rooms and be left alone. Danny desperately wanted to go with them.
“You’re the one who dragged me here against my will with nothing to do. Excuse me for being bored out of my brain. You could always just let me leave,” Danny spat.
Vlad snorted.
“Hardly. You just got me an invitation to the Grants’ summer villa next May. Which you will be attending with me.”
“I thought you said this was a one-time thing,” Danny hissed.
“I lied.”
Vlad jerked him towards another group of chatting socialites, and as they approached, reached into his pocket to press the button, sending an unpleasant mild jolt through Danny’s wrists.
“Just a reminder,” he said.
Danny made sure to force a smile as they approached the group. Vlad started chatting them up immediately, and Danny did his best to look merely bored, and not vehemently disgusted.
“Vlad Masters, former mayor of Amity Park,” Vlad introduced himself.
“Dick Grayson-Wayne, welcome to our home,” one of the men in the group said. Great. One of the host’s sons. How many kids did this guy have, anyway?
“It’s wonderful to meet you, Mr. Grayson-Wayne. May I introduce my godson, Daniel?”
Dick did something the other rich people hadn’t, and stuck out his hand towards Danny’s for a shake. Miserably, Danny stuck his hand out by rote. But when he felt Dick’s warm palm, something about the sincerity of it made his core vibrate with warmth, and caused his eyes to snap up to the man’s face. In those blue eyes he saw instantly a genuine person behind them. Nothing vapid or empty at all. He was real. More than that, he was kind.
Danny hadn’t meant to, but in those few seconds of exchange, his expression molded into a plea.
Help me
That was the first five seconds. In the next five, Dick gave his hand a squeeze of reassurance, and then lifted his eyes up to look across the ballroom, right at his two brothers hanging out in the corner. With the tiniest nod of his head, Danny knew he was communicating something to them. He didn’t know why, but in those ten seconds he felt relief. Like these well-to-do elite rich boys were actually going to help him in some way.
Which was a ridiculous thought. Regular humans would never be able to save him, even if they somehow wanted to.
Dick let go of his hand and Danny let it drop, turning his eyes away in terror. If he looked at that kind face for even a second longer, he might crack and lose his composure. The gravity of his situation was starting to sink in. Vlad was never going to leave him alone. Not for the rest of his life.
Maybe not even for the rest of his death.
“I would like to discuss that further with you, Mister Masters,” Dick said. “However, you do understand that such a conversation would contain proprietary information,” he finished, eyeing Danny as if he was an international spy.
“Of course, of course,” Vlad said, his smile even faker than before. He turned to Danny with a smile so sweet it made him want to vomit.
“Daniel, why don’t you sample the hors d'oeuvres? You look a little famished. Take your time, Mr. Grayson and I have a lot to discuss.”
Oh thank God. Danny used every ounce of self-control that he had in order to move away at a normal pace, rather than bolt at top speed. He walked over to the table and grabbed a plate, eyeing all the weird food, wishing desperately for something normal like pigs-in-a-blanket.
No such luck.
With a face that clearly said “I have no idea what I’m doing and I don’t belong here,” he started picking out stuff that looked the least weird and put it onto his plate.
“It’s all gross, huh?”
He looked up to see another kid, around his age, dressed in just as fancy a suit. He didn’t look uncomfortable in it; in fact, he looked like he wore a suit every single day of his life. But his expression was normal, like he knew how to talk to regular people. Danny’s core sighed with relief at finding someone else who had depth to him.
“I…I guess. I’ve never had anything like this, before,” Danny said, gesturing. “I kinda just want a pizza.”
The guy laughed. Danny’s core shined at how real his laughter was. This guy…actually seemed to like him.
“Try that,” the guy said, pointing. “It’s just chicken with expensive cheeses on top. It’s not pizza, but it’ll taste alright.”
Danny sighed with relief, and reached for the chicken things.
“Thanks. You do this a lot, huh?”
The guy shrugged.
“Was born rich, then my parents died, and I got adopted rich.”
Danny snorted.
“What a way to phrase your life story. Just cram the worst tragedy ever between two vapid bookends.”
The guy grinned and met Danny’s eyes. They were blue.
“Damn, called out before I even got your name.”
Danny laughed. His first real emotion besides terror in this godforsaken place.
“Danny,” he said.
“Tim,” the other guy replied with a smile. “Drake-Wayne.”
Tim waited a second to let that sink in. Another one of the Wayne kids.
“My brother sent me to check in on you, actually. You seemed like you weren’t having the greatest time.”
Danny turned around and glanced at Dick over his shoulder, only to see Dick schmoozing Vlad with rapt attention. He turned back to glance at Tim, his core feeling a warm buzz as it responded to Tim’s genuine caring.
“You guys work fast,” Danny said. “I barely had time to realize I was in trouble, before you’re already rescuing me.”
Tim laughed.
“It’s a life habit,” he said, filling up his plate. Danny copied him, picking up the same hors d'oeuvres he did, hoping to get some kind of meal out of this, at least. “Come on over to our table. We’ll keep you company.”
Danny followed him towards the corner where the other two brothers were hanging out, and nodded his head towards one of the standing tables. They came over as Tim and Danny set their plates down.
“Who’s this?” the youngest one asked.
“This is Danny,” Tim said, munching on an oyster. He didn’t bother to use the tiny silver fork thingy, but instead just picked it up with his fingers and slurped it out. Danny’s core sighed with relief as it started to realize he was safe, at least for the moment.
Vlad definitely wouldn’t send him a shock when he was talking to the sons of the host.
“I meant why is he here,” the youngest one snipped. The older one lifted up his hand and smacked him in the back of the head. Danny snorted, his core sensing the affection behind the gesture, despite the look of annoyance on the younger one’s face.
“He’s here because Dick sent him to us, dipshit,” the older one said. “Now be nice.”
“I am nice, Jason. I am simply trying to ascertain the details of whose ass we shall need to kick, should the situation arise.”
“Damian you’re jumping the gun. Not every rescue operation has to turn into violence,” the older one said.
“R…rescue operation?” Danny asked, glancing down at the shackles on his wrists, suddenly not wanting to look at them. He slid his hands off the table and hid them by his sides. All three of them followed the gesture with far too much attention, and his core felt genuine concern billow off of them.
“Damn, I just meant saving you from being bored to tears,” Jason said. “You in actual trouble?”
Danny bit his lower lip. He hadn’t meant for this conversation to go this south this fast. Dammit, he hadn’t even said anything! These guys were just incredibly perceptive. Almost unnaturally so. If he didn’t have a core to tell him that they were definitely human, he might have thought that they weren’t.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Tim said, looking at Danny with actual, real concern. “If you’re in trouble, we ca help you.”
Danny didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing.
His silence said everything.
They all looked at each other with daggers in their eyes, and his core felt all three of them flare with the same emotion at the same time. Protection.
His own protection obsession flared with recognition so strongly that his eyes flashed green. The shackles on his wrists flickered with power, sending a shock through his body. His knees buckled. He wobbled, clasping the table with his hands for dear life.
“Whoa!” Jason said, running to his side to catch him with lightning-quick reflexes. He slid his hands under his arms to steady him, and Danny’s core sang at the touch.
Safe
Then Tim’s arms were under him, too. Both of them held him up, helping him to right himself. Auras of protection and kindness were pouring off of them now, and it took everything Danny had in him to plant his feet on the ground and stand up straight.
He managed, got his balance, and they let go.
He immediately felt empty.
Stay, his core pleaded.
“You want us to get you out of here?” Tim asked, his voice soft, his face not six inches from Danny’s ear.
Yes
“You can’t,” he said, realizing that saying that was an admission that he needed to get out of here, and needed their help to do it.
But his core trusted these guys, and for better or for worse, it had never let him down before.
“Please,” Damian spat. “We have every resource imaginable. No matter how rich or powerful…”
“He’s a meta,” Danny spat out. “Shit.”
If he blew Vlad’s cover, if he blew his secret, then he would reveal Danny’s and then he would be fucked.
He watched all three of them eye each other with a knowing expression. The emotions his core felt from them were not what he expected. He’d expected them to become afraid, realize they were in over their heads, and to walk away.
Instead their emotions of protection got stronger.
Danny’s core started to vibrate.
“I…what…why aren’t you afraid…”
Tim turned to look at him incredulously, and he narrowed his eyes.
“You’re a meta, too, aren’t you?”
Danny’s face turned as white as his ghost self’s hair, and he shut his eyes.
He already knew there was no point in lying to these guys. Whatever their story was, they were perceptive as fuck and he knew they’d sense a lie a mile away.
“Listen, I appreciate you offering to help me. I really do. It’s really kind, actually. No one’s offered that in…well, ever. But that’s because no one can, okay? He’s very, very powerful, more powerful than I am, actually. He could kill you all in two seconds…”
Damian snorted.
“Maybe he’d kill Drake in two seconds.”
Tim lifted his hand and gave Damian the middle finger.
Jason laughed.
Danny’s mind was struggling to piece together their incredibly strange reactions to what he was telling them. First of all, they were believing him, as if he was talking about a recipe for apple pie, instead of “the man who brought me here has superpowers and so do I and he’s my mortal enemy.”
And then on top of believing him, they were oddly nonchalant about being told such a person was in their house.
They were, in fact, acting like metas. They were acting like they were untouchable- and now that they had decided to protect Danny, so was he.
His face flushed a deep, deep crimson. His core was growing more attracted to these guys by the second, and he tried to get ahold of himself.
Really, Danny? Gonna add your gayness factor to this situation too, on top of everything?
Well, there were four of them. Chance were that at least one of them might be attracted to guys…
What was he thinking?
“He has stopped speaking,” Damian observed.
“Just give him a minute, Dami,” Tim said, still standing inches from Danny on his left, while Jason remained just as close on his right. They really thought he was about to pass out.
They weren’t far off.
“Danny, just say the word and we can get you out of here. We’ll just slip you out the back and take you upstairs. We have safeguards in place…”
“They’ll be pointless,” Danny said. “He can move through walls. And he won’t let me out of his sight, no matter how good Dick is at distraction.”
They all turned to glance over at Dick, who was doing an excellent job of keeping Vlad’s line of sight pointed away from the table. But Danny knew that any second, he was going to get antsy and turn around to look for him.
“That’s good,” Jason said, lifting his hand to rub it on Danny’s back. The touch was incredibly soothing, more than made sense. His core was aching for safety, and Jason was offering to provide it in spades. Danny had to fight his core to keep it from purring.
“Tell us more about his powers,” Tim said softly. “We…we have meta friends who can help.”
Danny snorted.
“Would these friends happen to be four guys who are the exact same heights and builds as you are?”
He saw Tim freeze and Damian give him a stoic expression. The hand Jason was rubbing on his back stilled.
“Hey, you’re not the only ones here who can see through to the truth,” Danny said. “Though how you’re doing it without any powers is beyond me. I’m sure using mine.”
They all just stared at each other for a moment, and then Jason shrugged.
“Might as well just lay it all bare guys. He’s already telling us his secrets.”
He started rubbing his hand on Danny’s back again, and Danny closed his eyes, leaning into the touch. It felt so good to be cared about. To be seen.
“Only some of them,” Damian hissed. “He hasn’t told us any of his enemy’s powers besides intangibility, he hasn’t told us any of his own powers, though I can deduce some form of telepathy…”
“No,” Danny said. “Just…I can just…sense auras. The truth of emotions. Um. Yeah, that’s it. No thoughts.”
Jason’s hand on his back was still there, and Danny felt himself desperately wanting to lean against his whole body and just collapse.
“Look, obviously there is a lot to talk about here, but first we have to get you away from him,” Tim said. “So tell us how to do that.”
Danny lifted his hands and rested them on the table again, glaring at the specter deflectors that shackled both his wrists.
“These aren’t jewlery,” he said, pointing at one with derision. “They keep me from using my powers. With them on, I’m helpless. And he has this shocker button, where if he presses it, it electrocutes me…”
He saw rage flash behind Damian’s eyes. It surprised him. Of the four brothers, he seemed to be the least compassionate, but Danny was realizing that was incorrect. It was just buried deeper, under a layer of irritability, which meant it was also more powerful once it was drawn out.
Danny’s heart raced when he saw Damian care about him that much. Like he’d known Danny all his life and would burn Vlad to the ground for daring to hurt him.
His core vibrated with affection.
At the same time, he felt Jason’s fingers against his back stiffen and curl in anger. Danny felt absolute vitriol pouring off of him, and he knew he was about two seconds away from tearing Vlad’s head off with his bare hands. Danny’s core preened at the feeling.
Tim’s reaction was more intellectual. He reached out with his hand towards Danny’s wrist, and pulled it closer, peering at the specter deflector with a deepened frown.
“I’m guessing if we attempt to cut it, it will shock you.”
“Will it ever,” Danny said. “We need the key. It’s in my abdomen.”
“You mean in your coat pocket?”
Danny snorted.
“No. I mean in my abdomen. Intangibility powers, remember? He could have stored the key in his own abdomen, but I guess he thought it was extra hilarious to put it in mine, in order to torture me with the fact that I have they key but can’t get to it.”
“That’s…sadistic,” Tim said, his voice low and menacing. Danny felt a wave of anger from him too, then, and it made his cheeks blush deeper.
Get it together, Fenton
“So if you could use your powers, intangibility would be one of them?” Tim asked. Danny nodded.
“We have very similar powers, almost exactly the same. We’re…” he bit his lower lip, and looked into the eyes of each of them, wondering, hoping that he really really could trust them.
“If my secret gets out, I have enemies that won’t hesitate to capture me and torture me, they will make Vlad look like a bunny rabbit in comparison, I…this is so hard…”
Tim slipped his fingers from the specter deflector down to his palm, and clasped his hand. Damian clasped his other one. Jason spread his palm wide across his upper back.
His core felt safe, like it had never felt before in his life.
“We know how to keep a secret,” Damian said, with a heaviness to his words that made Danny know he could believe them.
He curled his hands back to clasp the two that held him, grit his teeth, and nodded.
“Okay.”
He took a deep breath.
“I am a ghost.”
Damain raised an eyebrow, while Tim frowned in thoughtfulness.
“More accurately, I’m called a halfa. I’m half ghost, half alive. Right now you’re seeing me in my living form. I can’t change to my ghost form because of these,” he said, gesturing with his thumb, because he wasn’t about to let go of those hands for anything. “Vlad is almost exactly the same as me. We have a few variations in our powers, but we’re nearly identical. We’re also pretty evenly matched in a fight. There have been plenty of times where I’ve kicked his ass, but also plenty of times where he’s kicked mine. The difference is that he’s evil and has no scruples and so he’ll do things like sneak shackles on me in my sleep…”
“Daniel, there you are!”
Vlad’s voice grated over Danny’s core like sharp needles. Damian and Tim both let go of his hands and casually slid back to stand normally at the table, leaving only Jason with his hand rubbing on Danny’s back. Danny was impressed with how smooth they all were about it. Had they jerked back quickly, it would have looked like they had something to hide. This way, it all looked very casual, almost like Danny and the Wayne boys were old friends who were just catching up.
Except Vlad knew that wasn’t the case.
Danny could feel his rage through his core, but outwardly he had himself perfectly composed, because this was their manor, after all.
He had to impress Bruce Wayne’s family if he was ever to be invited back.
“I’m so glad you see you’re making friends, Daniel! But can I pull you away for a few minutes? There are some people I’d really like you to meet.”
Vlad slipped his hand into his pocket, and none of the three brothers moved their eyes to follow the gesture. Doing so would have given away what Danny had told them, but each of them pretended to be looking at something completely else, as if they were all bored.
They were good.
“Sure, Vlad,” he said, using all his willpower to turn around and let Vlad hook their arms together, leading him away from safety and back into the lion’s den.
Or then again, maybe not. He watched out of the corner of his eye while Tim slipped away from the table and mingled in the crowd, briefly greeting guests, but always moving in Danny’s direction, never further than fifteen feet from him. Meanwhile, Dick walked over to the table and startedd getting info from Damian and Jason.
Vlad pulled him into another social circle, and he was introduced to several politicians and other powerful people he didn’t give a shit about. Vlad’s hand on his arm felt like a viper ready to strike, but out of the corner of his eye he saw his defenders, all of them mingling about in the room, all of them keeping a watchful eye on him.
He’s never felt so cared about in his life.
He caught a glimpse of Dick keeping an eye on him, and for some reason, it made him blush. Thirty seconds later and Vlad pulled him towards another circle of the social elite, trying to chat up the mayor of Gotham. After he was introduced, Danny’s eyes fell on the group behind them and saw Damian, his green eyes penetrating right into Danny’s skull, and he could hear his thoughts of wanting to tear Vlad’s face off.
He blushed deeper.
“Ah, just the man I wanted to be introduced to!”
Danny and Vlad turned to face the voice, and it was Tim. He was walking up to them with an expression that said ‘all business’, and his demeanor was that of a man in charge. He looked almost like an entirely different person than who Danny had been talking to just a few minutes ago.
“Vlad Masters! Tim Drake-Wayne, CEO of Wayne Enterprises. So happy to make your acquaintance.”
CEO?
Vlad looked like he had stars in his eyes. He dropped his hold on Danny’s elbow like a hot rock.
“I’ve read your proposal and heard a little bit about it from Dick. I have to say, it’s intriguing! Share some details with me over cocktails.”
“Why, yes, Mr. Drake! I’m so glad you see the value of my ideas. You see, I was thinking…”
Danny felt a gentle touch on his elbow and turned around to see Jason, who gave a nod to the side, indicating Danny should come with him. Danny turned and went with him, really, really enjoying this hand on his shoulder.
He maybe never wanted it to leave.
Jason led Danny to the edge of the room, and then around behind the orchestra. He pushed against a heavy, ornate door, with nothing but darkness on the other side. Jason led him through it and Danny happily followed him, walking blindly into a dark room with a guy he’d met only an hour ago, feeling completely safe and maybe even a little excited.
His mind jumped to wild possibilities, and hoped for a brief second that maybe Jason was leading him away to make out or something. Because damn, he thought he would really like that. But no. The lights came on, and Danny saw they were in a huge hall of some kind, full of artworks and statues, each with a plaque under it like a museum. As big as the room was, it was entirely empty, except for Damian and Dick, who were waiting for them on the far side, under the window. The door slammed shut behind them, and then the four of them were sealed in silence, the sounds of the party instantly vanishing.
Danny’s blush grew deeper as they approached the other two brothers. Damian still had that scowl on his face, but his aura was screaming to defend. Danny’s core answered back eagerly, practically making Danny want to throw himself into Damian’s arms. He cleared his throat and looked over at Dick instead, hoping for relief from the powerful emotions.
Instead, Dick was worse, because his desire to keep Danny safe showed even on his face. He gave him a gentle smile, clearly trying his best to make him as comfortable as possible, despite the intimidating nature of the situation.
“We knew Tim would be the best distraction, since he runs the family company,” Dick said. Danny nodded, eyebrows furrowing. His mind was still whirling. Tim…Tim, the regular, normal kid who’d helped him navigate the hors d’oeuvres and had a dark sense of humor, was the CEO of Wayne Enterprises?
Who were these guys?
“My brothers filled me in,” Dick continued, forcing Danny to listen. “First, I just want you to know, that your secret is safe with us.” Dick looked straight into Danny’s eyes. They were so blue. His core sighed with relief when he looked into them, and he felt immediately how sincere Dick was.
He could trust them with his secret.
He could trust them.
He looked from Damian to Dick to Jason and felt utterly, completely safe.
And maybe a little bit smitten.
“Because you have your own secret,” Danny said. “I don’t know what it is exactly, but you’re all something. Normal people freak out when you say shit like ‘My godfather is actually a supervillain and we have ghost powers.’”
Jason gave a snort and clapped Danny on the back.
“I really like you, kid.”
Danny blushed.
Not like that he didn’t mean it like THAT, he just thinks you’re funny
“You’re right,” Dick said. “I don’t think there’s any point in not telling you, because if we have to fight him, you’ll find out, anyway.”
Danny looked between all of their faces again, and gave a sharp inhale.
“You…you really are preparing to do that, aren’t you. To fight him.”
His mind was whirling. His heart was going wild. His core was fluttering with hope.
“Of course we are. What kind of asshole puts shackles on somebody just to try to move up the social ladder?” Damian spat. “I will tear his esophagus out with my bare hands…”
“Dami, it may not come to that,” Dick said. “We are attempting to find a peaceful solution.”
“I want it to come to that,” he spat, and Danny’s ghost core vibrated with affection. Violence on his behalf? Oh, he was falling hard.
“And if it comes to that,” Dick said, “We will fight him. Which is why we’ve snuck you away in here…to tell us strategy.”
Danny barely heard the rest of the sentence past “snuck you away”. He knew his blush was so deep it was unmistakable now. He tried to pretend it wasn’t there and attempted to focus.
“So, intangibility,” Dick said. “What other powers does he have?”
Danny snorted.
“What doesn’t he have? Flight, invisibility, energy beams, electric shocks, duplicates, ecto shields, ecto objects…”
“Okay okay slow down,” Dick said, “What is ‘ecto’?”
“Ectoplasm. The stuff ghosts are made of. It’s very versatile. It can interact with non-ghost objects if you want it to, but it can also phase through them, if you want it to. So unless you have some anti-ghost technology, you’re going to have a very difficult time fighting him. If you try to just punch him or shoot him, he’ll go intangible, and then he’ll shoot an energy beam in your face.”
“Sounds fun,” Jason said. He frowned and furrowed his eyes, looking at his brothers. “He definitely sounds evil, but do you think he counts as magical?”
“Sounds magical enough to me,” Damian said. “You thinking All Blades?”
Jason nodded.
“I’m definitely thinking All Blades.”
“I’m assuming this is ‘anti-ghost technology’?” Dick said, reaching out to touch one of the specter deflectors. When he did so, he took Danny’s hand in his palm, and it was warm and sure and strong, and Danny’s mind went completely blank. His heart started racing. His blush got worse.
“Um. Uh. Yeah,” he managed to squeak. His eyes flicked up to Dick’s face, and… was he blushing, too?
“You okay?” Dick asked.
Danny’s heart was going a thousand miles an hour.
Jason picked his hand up and put it on his back again, rubbing it. Danny’s blush deepened and he started to stammer.
“I. Uh. Mmmph,” he said, staring at the floor as his eyes dilated. God, he couldn’t focus, this was all so much this was…
“Don’t be so thick, Grayson. It’s obvious he has a crush on you and you’re flustering him.”
Danny squeaked and stared at the floor. Jason’s hand on his back suddenly felt electric, his fingers ghosting over his spine, sending heat straight up to his ears.
His hand was being held by one hot guy and his back being rubbed by another, and he never, ever, ever wanted to move.
“Are we making you uncomfortable?” Dick said, starting to pull his hand away.
Danny curled his fingers tight and clasped Dick’s hand.
“Don’t. Leave me.”
Dick’s eyes softened and he stopped pulling away. Instead, he stepped closer.
“You got it.”
Danny’s eyes flicked up to his and their gazes met. That blue was so, so deep, darker than Tim’s, but not as dark as Jason’s, and oh God he was comparing how all of their eyes looked…
Damian’s smartwatch pinged and he looked at it quickly.
“Guys, Tim’s lost the conversation. Vlad is looking for Danny.”
Danny’s eyes snapped up to Damian’s in fear. He felt Dick’s hand squeeze his a little tighter. Jason’s palm on his back stiffened and he curled his fingers.
“Tell us how to fight him, Danny,” Damian said, urgency in his voice, fight in his eyes, and violent protection in his aura.
“Powerful electricity is your best bet to hit him,” Danny said quickly. “Anti-ghost technology makes use of alternating currents to prevent ectoplasmic particles from passing through, or from forming into shapes. That’s what these are doing on me…”
“Can we use that to get these off of you?” Dick said, running his fingers around one of the specter deflectors. “Shock them the right way, and make them short-circuit?”
“That would work, yeah,” Danny said, swallowing. “Though it would hurt like a bitch.”
“Then let’s leave that as a last resort. How do we get the key out of you?”
Danny looked down and put his free hand over his chest, still acutely aware that Dick was holding the other one.
“It has to be phased out. A ghost has to phase it out. Other than forcing him to fly through me while phased, I don’t know. Oh shit,” Danny said, his brows furrowing. All three Wayne brothers turned to look at him with concern at the same time. “He won’t even let you fight him. He’ll just grab me and turn us intangible and fly us off somewhere. Shit, shit shit shit shit, I’m so fucked, I’m so fucked…”
Jason slipped the hand that was on his back over to his shoulder, and then wrapped his other arm around it, holding Danny tight, almost possessively. Danny’s core was thrumming. His breathing picked up.
“We’re not letting him take you anywhere,” he growled. Danny’s ears bloomed bright red and he looked into Dick’s eyes as he leaned into Jason’s touch.
“Okay, okay, I’m not imagining things, you guys are flirting with me, aren’t you? Please say you are…”
“Yes, Danny, we’re flirting with you,” Damian said. “For some reason we all find you impossibly attractive.”
All? All?
Oh God oh God oh God…
“It’s probably because he pegged us so quickly,” Dick said, running his thumb over the back of Danny’s hand. The motion sent sparks of heat up Danny’s skin. “We’re all suckers for being found out.”
Danny gave a little laugh.
“You haven’t…actually told me…who you are.”
“Robin,” Damian said. “Our father is Batman.”
Danny felt like the floor was falling out from under him. That couldn’t…that couldn’t be true, except his core could feel the sincerity, the pride that came from them at the statement.
“Speaking of, any word from him?” Dick asked. Damian checked his watch again and shook his head.
“His flight was delayed, he won’t land for another twelve hours.”
“Okay, then we’re doing this without him,” Dick said. “Take Danny down to the Batcave and try to work on getting these devices off of him. Jason and I will…”
“Daniel!” they all turned at the same time, to see Vlad Masters slamming the door to the large hall open, storming through it with Tim directly on his heels. “There you are,” he growled, marching across the room. “Typical college student, sneaking off to have a make-out session. That’s very unbecoming. And I know your parents would kill me if I let this behavior continue. You will come with me. Now.”
Danny didn’t move. All four Robins glared daggers at Vlad, three of them moving to surround him, their body language threatening and ready to pounce.
Jason stayed where he was, his arms wrapped protectively around Danny’s shoulders.
Vlad’s hand moved into his pocket, and Danny tensed, bracing himself for the pain. But some part of Vlad seemed to still be trying to keep up appearances, because then he reached out his other hand towards Danny, his smile as slick as a viper.
“Daniel, do come back to the party and mingle with me. If you behave for the rest of the evening, I won’t tell your parents about your little…escapade,” he said, his eyes darting up to Jason’s face. “And I’m sure the Wayne family doesn’t need this plastered across the morning tabloids, either. I promise not to say a word about this to anyone, if Daniel just comes back to the party with me.”
Vlad took a step towards Danny and his core revolted in disgust. He felt Jason’s arms tighten defensively around his collarbone, and he took a step back, pulling Danny with him. Danny glanced over at Damian- only to not find him. So his eyes darted to Tim instead.
“I do think we should return to the party, Mister Masters,” Tim said, trying to get Vlad’s attention. “It’s obvious Danny wants to stay here. I don’t think you need to force him to join you. You’ve already gotten my attention, and your proposal for Wayne Enterprises is very intriguing…”
Danny could see the conflict in Vlad playing out across his features. His human half, which so desperately wanted what Tim was offering- social status, power, money, a foothold in the most powerful company in the world. But fighting against that was his ghostly nature; his desire for ghostly power, which meant controlling Danny. With a flash of possessiveness from his core, Danny knew that Vlad’s human nature was about to lose.
Danny tried to warn Dick with a look but he was gone. So instead he glanced over at Tim and tensed, trying to communicate to Jason that this was it.
They both got the message. He felt Jason’s entire body grow taught, and a wave of protectiveness flow out of his aura. Tim widened his stance and loosened his tie, ready for a fight.
And high above the room, up by the ceiling, Danny saw the shadows move. He squinted, not quite able to see in the darkness with his human eyes, but his core felt two very familiar auras up there, both in a stance of ready.
“Daniel, for the last time, you will come with me, whether you want to or not,” Vlad spat, shoving his hand into his pocket. He must have dialed up the intensity, because the shock that zapped up Danny’s wrists burned his arms and shot straight up his neck. He screamed.
“Put it down! Now!” a voice cried from nowhere. Something black and incredibly fast was thrown at Vlad’s arm, slicing both his sleeve and his skin. He hissed and yanked his hand out of his pocket, clasping at his arm in pain as blood seeped from the wound. The action made him let go of the button and drop it back into his pocket, and Danny slumped in Jason's arms, his body twitching. Jason held him up easily, as if he could lift five people of Danny’s stature without trouble. He probably could.
Vlad whirled around to snarl up at the ceiling. Robin, in grey suit and black-and-yellow cape, flipped down from atop the rafters and landed forcefully on the ground, between Vlad and Danny. Another form, black with a flash of blue, landed directly behind him, rising up to reveal Nightwing. Danny’s heart was racing for about a thousand different reasons, and one of them was that Nightwing’s aura made it perfectly clear that he was Dick.
He realized that this family wasn’t just Batman and Robin, but probably a whole slew of Gotham’s vigilantes- maybe even all of them. And he, Danny Fenton, by some wild stroke of luck, was under their personal protection.
Even so, his stomach clenched and his heart leapt into his throat when Vlad’s eyes flashed bright red, revealing his rage.
“No one gets to have Daniel but me!” he cried, his ghost side clearly winning out over everything his human side wanted. It made no sense for Vlad Masters to throw away a possible rapport with the Wayne sons- but it made perfect sense for Vlad Plasmius to fight them for control over who he saw as his son.
His black rings appeared at his waist as Danny watched his transformation in frozen horror. He automatically tried to transform himself, only to have the shackles send another powerful shock through his body. He screamed again, nearly going limp in Jason’s arms. But Jason held him firmly, tightly, keeping him from collapsing to the ground.
“I said put it down!” Robin demanded, his voice full of threat as he drew a fucking sword and pointed it directly at Plasmius’s face.
Plasmius laughed and crossed his arms, floating off the ground a few inches so that he could point his toes like an evil lunatic.
“You are no threat to me, mortal.”
In a flash he darted forward, flying directly through Robin as he went intangible and aimed straight for Danny. He was fast, which was why it was incredible that Jason was faster. Before Vlad could even register that Jason had moved, he’d shoved Danny behind him and two long, bright, burning flames seemed to shoot out from Jason’s hands.
He lifted them up and Danny realized they were swords of some kind, but they looked like they were made of fire itself. Jason brought them up in front of his face and they seared Vlad’s skin as he crashed into them. He screeched, like the ghost he was, and backed away with a hiss of pain.
“What in hell are those?” he cried, trying to fly around Jason to get at Danny from the side. But Jason was just as quick as he was, his reflexes as fast as a ghost’s, and whatever those flaming swords were, Vlad could not phase through them. He tried several times, earning him several more burns. He raged, his screech echoing through the chamber. Danny heard what sounded like a fire alarm going off, and then an automated announcement over a loudspeaker.
“Attention. This is a Rogue Attack alarm. This is not a drill. Please proceed calmly and quickly to the nearest exit. Attention, this is a Rogue…”
Faintly, Danny heard screaming and shouting from the party on the other side of the heavy doors as the party-goers attempted to evacuate the building. Of course, Plasmius didn’t care about any of them, and so Danny tuned out the noise seconds later as he watched his ghost nemesis fly up to the ceiling, scream, and then plunge down through the floor.
He came up from the floor beneath Danny’s feet and grabbed him under his arms, yanking him high up into the air. He struggled, trying to punch Vlad in the face, only to have him phase his head through his shackled fists.
“Stop squirming,” Vlad said, reaching into his pocket to press the button again. Danny screamed as electricity shot through his body. He convulsed, still trying to get away, as he realized with horror that Plasmius was racing towards the ceiling. None of the human Robins would be able to do a damned thing once they passed through the roof. It was exactly as Danny had feared.
But out of the corner of his eye, Danny saw another vigilante- Red Robin, maybe? with a handheld butane torch, mounting some kind of emitter to the corner of the room, up by the ceiling. Once he was done, he put his hand to his ear, turning on a communicator.
“Robin, lockdown protocol, now!” he cried. Less than half a second later, powerful electrical jolts shot out from several emitters and crisscrossed across the entire ceiling, just in time for Plasmius to smash his face into a newly formed forcefield.
He screamed, and Danny was knocked from his arms. Danny’s eyes grew wide as the floor rushed up towards him, and he couldn’t fly, he couldn’t go ghost, he was going to become a pancake…
Nightwing appeared out of nowhere, rolling under him and then standing up with perfect balance, catching Danny in his arms with such grace he wasn’t even going to have a bruise.
“You…you set up…a makeshift ghost shield in fifteen seconds…”
“Well, technically, we’re still setting it up,” Nightwing said, pointing over at the corner on the floor, where Red Robin was hunched down over an emitter. “He was able to get through the floor. But not for long.”
Danny couldn’t help it, he swooned. He’d never seen such skill in a battle before. These guys had no powers, well, except for those fire-swords Jason had, and yet they’d prevented Plasmius from kidnapping him and were already holding their own.
Plasmius was snarling, trying to fly towards Danny, but Jason was holding him back with his blades of fire. Plasmius went entirely invisible, and Jason snapped his head left and right, trying to locate him. But Danny could still feel his core, plain as day.
“Right there!” he cried, pointing as Dick still held him in his arms. Jason swung his blades directly at that spot and Plasmius hissed, the fire searing into him and forcing him to flicker visible.
“You little brat!” he snarled. “Fine, you won’t let me have him alive? I’ll take him dead!”
He shot a blast of ecto-energy directly at Danny. Jason blocked it with his swords, but then Vlad split into two. Then into four. Then into eight. They all surrounded Danny in Dick’s arms, and every one of them powered up an ecto-blast and aimed it directly at him.
Danny tensed, lifting his arms above his head, knowing that was pointless and would do nothing. He couldn’t even access his most basic powers. Trying to go intangible earned him nothing but another shock. He grit his teeth in frustration and fear.
“Close your eyes,” he heard Nightwing’s voice soft against his ear, and even with that Dick cradled Danny’s head against his chest with his hands, protecting his eyes further. There was no time to question it, so he just did it. Even with them shut, even with his face pressed against Nightwing’s chest, he still saw the blinding white of a flash grenade, and heard Plasmius screech.
Then there was another, then a third, and they were moving. Nightwing was so fast they were on the other side of the room, and Danny saw him contemplate taking Danny out through the door, then thought better of it.
“He can’t take you out of here- we’ve got the whole room covered in an electrical field, now,” Nightwing said. “So the only goal left is to get him to somehow phase that key out of you.”
“Okay, but how…”
“We’ve got some ideas.”
Danny looked out at the room in awe. Robin was standing on the ground with a crossbow, loaded with flash grenades, shooting them in quick succession at odd intervals to keep Plasmius from being able to see. Meanwhile, Red Hood, who Jason had somehow changed into while he wasn’t looking, was slicing at each of the multiples with his flame swords, causing each of them to vanish back into Plasmius. Red Robin was sitting in the corner with a laptop, typing furiously, and Danny wasn’t sure what he was doing until he pressed enter with a flourish, and the electrical forcefield coming from the emitters started to move.
Danny stared in amazement as Plasmius was enclosed in a smaller and smaller cage, a makeshift ghost shield shrinking around him until he had less and less room to maneuver. He raged, shooting violent ectoblasts in every direction, and the ghost shields flickered as if they could barely withstand it. But then Robin kept up the flash grenades, blinging him, not able to hurt him but able to distract him.
“You guys are incredible,” Danny whispered, and he heard Nigthtwing give a chuckle.
“We try. This plan isn’t foolproof, though. That forefield isn’t going to hold much longer. Though if we can make it fail in the way we want…”
Danny wracked his brain, trying to think of a way he could help, or some weakness Vlad had, some way they could get an advantage over him. He glared at the shackles around his wrists in disgust.
“Ugh, I’m so useless like this!”
“Hardly. You gave us all the intel we needed,” Nightwing said. “And it’s going fine.”
Nightwing lifted his head to his ear and pressed his communicator.
“Red Robin, use a bottleneck protocol. Make sure he can only fit one of…himself through the hole, once he breaks through.”
“Roger.
Then he heard Plasmius roar. With a violent rage, he created his own ghost shield around himself, bright green ectoplasm glowing in a sphere, lighting up the room. With great effort he started to push it outward, shoving the forcefield further away from himself, making some of the emitters short out.
Once he created a hole in the forefield, he spun around and flew directly through it, right for Danny.
With Danny still cradled in his arms, Nightwing turned his body so that he was between Plasmius and Danny.
“He’ll just phase right through you to get to me…”
“Exactly,” Nightwing said, with a wink. “Got him.”
A smile spread across Danny’s face as he suddenly understood. He winced and shut his eyes as Plasmius phased right through Nightwing’s body, aiming to turn solid once he had his hands on Danny. But just before he did so, Nightwing turned them both, moving Danny into the part of Plasmius that was intangible.
Doing that made Danny intangible, and then they could both see the key as it floated there in the middle of his chest, beckoning them. Nightwing, who was still solid, reached his hand into Danny’s chest and pulled the key out, just before Plasmius grabbed Danny under his arms and yanked him out of Nightwing’s grasp, flying them both up towards the ceiling.
In a rage, he turned and aimed ecto-blasts towards the emitters and started shooting them. The forcefield around the entire room failed. He turned both himself and Danny intangible, aiming for the ceiling, and Danny’s heart sank as he realized he was less than ten feet from being out of reach from any of his rescuers.
He pulled back a fist and slammed it into Plasmius’s ugly face. He sneered, and then on Danny’s next punch, made his head intangible so Danny couldn’t hit him. Danny still writhed as much as he could, trying to break free of his grasp. He clawed at his hands, his useless human nails not doing much, but at least he slowed him a little.
That was until Plasmius reached into his pocket and pressed the button. He must have turned it all the way up, because the pain from the shocks was unbearable. Danny screamed at the top of his lungs, anti-ghost energy crackling across his whole body as he involuntarily convulsed. While he was screaming, Red Hood grappled up into the rafters and raced over to them, fire blades drawn. He didn’t even hesitate to plunge one straight down into Plasmius’s shoulder, causing him to scream in agony, Danny slipping from his grasp.
Danny’s body was still twitching from the electric shock. He couldn’t even put his hands out to try to break his fall. But then Red Robin was there, catching him like he caught unconscious bodies falling from the sky all the time. He hugged Danny close to his chest and then sat on the cold hard tile, Danny’s legs splaying out uselessly in front of him.
“Quick, get those things off him!” Nightwing said, tossing the key to Red Robin. The lock wasn’t simple, and Danny desperately wanted to explain to him how to…
He got it in two seconds. Danny inhaled with huge relief as one of his wrists was free. Then the other one was free, and he felt his ghost come to life.
His eyes flashed green with rage. He called upon his white rings, and felt power flow through him as he transformed into his black jumpsuit and white hair.
“Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!” Danny cried, shooting off the ground at top speed, his black tail flicking behind him in fury. He saw Plasmius getting ready to blast Red Hood in the face, and Danny plowed directly into his skull with an ecto-covered fist. He pummeled him over and over, the rage of the entire evening giving his core incredible power. He shot blast after blast directly into Plasmius point-blank, the smell of burning ectoplasm searing across his nose. Plasmius tried to block, but Danny was too close, too fast, and too angry.
“Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!” he cried, shooting a blast down directly from above him, making his nemesis’s body slam into the floor. He was on him instantly, punching his face over and over. Plasmius tried to phase through the floor to escape, but Danny chased after him, grabbing him by the throat and yanking him back up. He flipped him over his head and slammed him back into the floor, and then to his delight, saw Tim and Damian each holding one of the shackles in their hands, anger on their faces.
With a grin, Danny grabbed Plasmius’s wrist and pinned it to the floor. Red Robin was fast, snapping the shackle onto him so quickly he didn’t realize at first what had even happened. He fell out of ghost form instantly and looked down at himself in shock, confused as to why he couldn’t summon his powers.
With his intangibility gone, everyone was able to grab him now and force his other wrist to the floor. Robin snapped the second shackle in place with a triumphant sneer, and said, “Vengeance is ours, bitch.”
Danny ghost core was screaming in delight. Nothing felt as good as vanquishing his enemy, except for doing so with allies, four auras around him who were also pulsing with the delicious flavor of victory. Danny pressed his claws directly up to Vlad’s human neck and snarled at him, baring all his pointed teeth in a vicious grin.
“Should I kill you, cram you in a thermos, or send you to human jail?” he spat, each option as delightful to him as the others. The terror on Vlad’s face was priceless.
Nightwing cleared his throat.
“We would prefer not to have to murder anyone, if possible,” he said. Danny’s ghost calmed somewhat when he heard Dick’s voice. His eyes stopped glowing homogenous green, and instead resolved into normal pupils and irises.
He lifted his head and saw his four rescuers looking down at him with curiosity. He forgot all about Vlad, and floated up to their eye level with a grin.
“Danny Phantom. Nice to meet you.”
He stuck out his hand towards Nightwing for a shake. He took it, and his touch was exactly the same as it had been back at the party, back when Danny had pleaded to him for help with his eyes.
Oh, and how they had given it. How they had taken a huge risk, helping him. Not only could they have gotten killed, their secret could become exposed, because Vlad knew who they were now. Danny floated down and hovered over him, his eyes flashing green in anger.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t permanently toss you in a thermos, now that you know who the Robins are?” Danny spat. It was satisfying to see Vlad squirm in terror; he didn’t doubt that Danny absolutely would do that- imprison him forever.
“I…I…I have no reason, to expose them,” Vlad stammered, his eyes darting back and forth between each of them. “In…in fact, exposing their secret would only be to my own detriment. I…the entire point of this evening was to increase my social standing, and the way to accomplish that is not to burn one of the richest and most powerful families in the world. Even if I succeeded in destroying them, I’m certain they would retaliate and take me down with them. Which accomplishes none of my goals…”
Red Hood leaned down and grabbed the cloth of Vlad’s shirt in his fist, pulling him several inches up off the floor. His voice was low and terrifying as he spoke.
“Listen to me very carefully. I have a lot of friends in the prison system here in Gotham. I can have your stay in prison be very pleasant, or I can have it be hellish. Exposing me, or any of my brothers, will not take those friends away from me. You will suffer, if you talk. But if you hurt Danny,” he said, his voice so low and threatening it gave Danny chills, “We will all come for you personally. And that threat extends beyond your prison sentence, do you understand? Going forward, you will leave him alone. Forever. He is under our protection now.”
Vlad nodded vigorously, his face as white as a sheet. Danny’s core was thrumming as he felt Jason’s aura pouring protection off in thick waves. He almost forgot about Vlad entirely. He almost forgot his own name.
“I think he gets the message,” Nightwing said, putting his hand on Red Hood’s shoulder. He slowly released his grip, allowing the shackled halfa to lower back down to the floor. “Red, are the cops downstairs?” he asked. Red Robin checked his laptop and gave a nod. “Actually, they’re right outside the door,” he said.
“Roll over,” Red Hood spat towards Vlad. “On your stomach.”
Danny floated back so that he wasn’t in the way, and watched as Red Hood cuffed Vlad and yanked him to his feet. Danny’s core was going wild as he watched his new allies haul his enemy away, Nightwing taking one arm while Red Hood took the other, half dragging, half marching Vlad out of the room and through the heavy door, back into the ballroom where Danny caught a glimpse of a dozen or so cops waiting.