First Visit

Salesman Danny

My brain did that thing where it just says "Hey wouldn't this be funny?"

There was a knock on the door. The room fell silent, nobody knocked on this door. People either entered because they could, or were summoned and then let in.

Ra's, slightly more intrigued than annoyed, told the person to enter.

The door opened, in came a tall man with a rather big box pulled behind him.

"Hello, thank you for having me!" The man glanced at the lazarus pits and slightly crinkled his nose before turning back to Ra's.

"It's good I came now, before it's too late and your pool of ectoplasm gets more corrupted. In this spirit, may I present you the Fenton Ectoplasm Filter 5.0! For all your filtering needs! If you buy the Fenton Ectoplasm Filter 5.0 subscription we will even come by to change the filter container each quarter." He pulled out what looked like a big pool filter, with added boxes, the boxes had green lines and Fenton Ectoplasm Filter 5.0 was painted over the side above the highest line.

"I could give you a demonstration, however with how contaminated your ectoplasm pool is it will take a while to fully filter it." Ra's decided to just let the man talk, giving him a nod. He watched as the filter was placed to the edge of the lazarus pool, half submerged before a button was pressed and a low humm was heard.

Lazarus water was pulled into the filter and after a minute what appeared to be lighter colored lazarus water flowed out from the other side.

"The filter can be mounted to the side like it is now, or it can float around with the added floater. If children use your ectoplasm pool I would recomend the mounted version to protect both the filter and the child from accidental damage. We do give out a 20 year warranty with every Fenton Ectoplasm Filter 5.0, we would give out longer warranties but in case of a newer and improved filter being invented in the next ten years it is reccomended to upgrade rather then repair!"

The man stood up again, letting the filter push out the rest of the lazarus water before wiping it with a cloth that seemed to also be Fenton branded. He walked over to Ra's, opening one of the boxes on the filter to show a slime-like substance that had a dark, near black, green color.

"As you can see your ectoplasm pool is very contaminated, as such I would reccomend a monthly filter clear instead of quarterly, don't worry about the contamination itself, we have a contract with the Infinite Realms and the Far Frozen to fully recycle it!"

"Recycle?" Ra's eyed the man, maybe this filter would get rid of the problem of the less and less effective pits.

"Yes! A small part will be used for research for better filtration systems, a rather big part will be used to test new medicines against corruption in Ghosts and whatever can not be used will be put into the cleansing sprout in the Infinte Realms to make sure nobody gets corrupted by accident!" He clapped his hands after he put the filter back into his box.

"If you want I can leave a pamphlet with you for other inventions and services Fenton Works offers for Liminals and Ecto Entities! We do also have a website for better overview! I would reccomend you the Fenton Ecto Cleansing Shots to get rid of the contamination in your own ecto, it works wonders and can be injected if you would rather not drink it." He opened the pamphlet and showed a small vial with light green lazarus water, calm. Next to it were two injectors, one manual and one automatic.

Ra's took the pamphlet, calmly looking through it. Two older generations of Fenton Ectoplasm Filters were in it, as well as a few other things to cleanse ecto, some circle that advertises as a floating device, as well as three generations of Fenton Thermos at the end. Those were advertised as both an ecto holding device as well as a container for mean spirited Ecto Entities.

"You sell all of this?" He looked at the man again, aside from being even taller than Ra's himself he looked rather unassuming.

"Yes! There is an order label at the end as well, we deliver per Portal so there are transportation costs listed but we do always deliver on time! Our website had more services as well, now would you like to purchase the Fenton Ectoplasm Filter 5.0 with subscription?" Ra's looked back into the pamphlet, the filter was expensive, the subscription as well, but it wasn't money he couldn't easily spend.

And if it did turn out this filter would get rid of his problems it was money very well spend.

"I just have to fill out this little form here?" The man seemed to jump towards him with a wide smile, showing fangs and a bit too many teeth.

"Yes! If you would just cross off what you want to purchase I'll take the order with me now and you'll be guaranteed delivery and installation tomorrow! Please show proof of payment upon delivery for no delays."

Damian stared at the lazarus pool, it was calm and a lighter color than usual, the only difference in surroundings was the lowly humming filter at the edge. He looked towards his grandfather while holding his hurt arm.

"Do go on Damian." So he did, the lazarus pit he knew to be bubbling was now calm like a lake. He felt the difference when he stepped in, it wasn't like the water tried to pull him under. His arm healed faster than it ever did before. His mother smiled, his grandfather looked pleased.

"It was worth investing into Fenton Works, genius inventors, their son is around your age Talia."

"Mother already has father, grandfather!" Damian protested as he climbed out of the pool.

"Yes of course, Damian. How is your newest aquisition doing dear daughter?"

"Jason is doing fine, he seems to take well to the online therapist you found for him." Ra's looked content as he thought about the website he had visited after Danny had sold him the filter.

Truly a masterpiece of a business. The front and center their inventions, a side for cyber security and programs, a shop for plants and plantcare services, as well as a therapist. Fenton Works was a marvel he gladly invested in. And if that meant he would get early access to their inventions? Well, he did like the new shield around his bases.

A Smooth Criminal

(A dc x dp prompt)

Danny moved to Gotham after high school. Went to college. Got a degree. Found out the thing he got a degree for wasn’t able to hire him because his vitals looked half dead and he couldn’t just tell them he was in-fact half dead. Danny was never going to be an astronaut. Not only that, he had massive college debt. Well fuck.

So Danny started doing odd jobs until he found a more stable income at a psychic reading service of all places. Obviously Danny couldn’t see the future. So he only took clients that wanted to talk to dead people. Which was something he could do, given he had an object that might have had some ectoplasm on it or one of the ghosts that typically hung out in the shop knew where to find the person the client was looking for. Being that this is Gotham, not many people that die here actually cross over into the Ghost Zone. Danny was going to have to look into that at some point. But for now, it meant he had only ever once had to tell a client he couldn’t help.

Now Danny before coming to Gotham, hated psychics on principle. Most were lying and telling their clients utter bullshit. But his current boss seemed to be different. Her name was Lilith and she was very much legit when it came to precognition. She often would tell him ahead of time if a client was going to be difficult and who to watch out for on certain days. On more than one occasion, one of her warnings saved him from a mugging or kidnapping.

So, Danny learned to like his life as a medium and used the money from his job to pay his rent and pay off his college debt. Lilith paid him well and the shop had enough customers to back it up. His hours were based on appointment most of the time so he had more free time to do other things if he didn’t have many appointments for the day.

The only time that the hours went to an 8 hour shift were when one of them left to go on vacation or visit family. Thats where Lilith was this week. Out of town visiting family. Because of this, the shop’s services were limited to Danny’s medium appointments. The shop almost never had walk ins since it was so busy. The only time it ever really happened was when Lilith was gone. And most of the time it was someone wanting to buy a crystal from the window display. Nothing Danny couldn’t handle.

Except that was until Red Hood walked in, oozing with toxic ecto and a shattered mess of a core, tossed a set of pearls at him and told him to get reading.

Danny tried to help, he did. The pearls were covered in ecto and seemed to be from a tragic event but there was no ghost attached to them. Whoever they belonged to had passed on to the Ghost Zone or wasn’t dead. Danny said as much and asked Red Hood if he knew his core shattered. Danny then offered to help repair it. Red Hood did not like that. Danny got punched in the face. And he did not get paid.

*that night on call with Sam and Tucker*

Danny: And then he punched me in the face! Can you believe that?!

Sam: Given that he is a crime lord? Yeah I can.

Tucker: ….

Danny: Tucker I don’t like your suspicious silence.

Tucker: *starts giggling mischievously*

Sam: Tucker what are you doing?

Danny: Tuck-

Tucker: So what you’re saying is that- you’ve been hit by, you’ve been STRUCK by- a smooth criminal. *starts playing Smooth Criminal by Micheal Jackson except the name Annie has been edited to the name Danny*

Danny: I hate you so much

Sam: *laughing hysterically*

Tucker: *singing* Danny are you okay? Are you okay Danny?

Danny: *looks into the metaphorical camera like Jim from the office*

…

Red Hood: *nearly falls off the fire escape he was using to spy when the guy from the psychic shop looks right at him*

You know what, I just saw a fic where the ghosts from the zone think he’s a baby ghost right? We’ve all seen them and they’re super fun.

But what if it was the opposite? Most ghosts develop over time and absorb ectoplasm to get stronger right?

When Danny died he had a portal open on top of him fusing his dna with the realms. So much power shoved into such a small body.

When the ghosts see him they know he’s a halfa but what if they think he’s an ancient halfa?

They believe Danny is some crazy strong old ghost that needs to be defeated before he regains control of his power or gets his memory back.

Maybe they believe he implanted himself among the Fentons to help hide while he recovers.

Maybe that’s why walker is so made when he breaks the rules, he thought he was old enough to have written them

Eventually he starts to bond with the other ghosts and one day he asks one of them how they moved past dying.

I’m thinking ember.

They’re sitting on a roof one night after a pretty crazy fight and Danny just gets super quiet and ember asks him what’s wrong and he tells her the truth.

It would be 1 year since his accident and he still didn’t know how to accept what happened. How to accept that he had died and been reborn as something new.

Imaging her looking at this ancient level Eldritch creature that all of them had been trying to stop from getting stronger and realizing

Hes just a baby, they had been trying to stop a newly formed ghost from harmonizing with his core and discovering what his obsession was and they had succeeded.

If he hadn’t even been able to accept his death then his growth had been severely stunted by their intervention.

i feel like nobody has NOTPs anymore. like if you hate a ship now it has to be for some deep moral reason and you have to justify it to everyone what happened to just not liking stuff that isnt inherently bad but just because you personally think it sucks

Gotham TikTok

AKA "Danny moves to Gotham and records TikToks with absolutely deranged captions. He films Get Ready with Me in Gotham videos, fit checks, and even A Day in the Life of a Ghost in Gotham! Except everybody is freaking the fuck out in the comments" prompt idea!

No, you don't understand, I'm obsessed. Like, what if Danny's idea of "safe" is just... anything that doesn't actively try to kill him? So Metropolitians, Star City, and Central City citizens are literally biting their nails and sweating bullets every time he posts, because what if he gets merc'd by the "Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag" Red Hood?? And that's one of the nicer villains in Gotham. And Danny's just like wow, this place is niiiiiice, I haven't even been murdered yet!

Maybe Jazz took a 12-year-old Danny to Gotham to escape their parents. Gotham's cheap, dirty, and doesn't ask questions: it's the best place to go to disappear because damn near half the city's population are either super villains, hostages, dead, or vigilantes. She gets a job at an understaffed hospital as a clinical psych intern. She enrolls Danny for online schooling because she's scared a public high school would be too easy for their parents to track.

Which leaves Danny alone for hours. He makes a TikTok account called "Danny Phantom" because, c'mon, he's a kid. And, like most kids, he doesn't really comprehend the idea of a digital footprint or that his account is public, accessible by literally anybody.

He's also a little shit. So, the first TikTok he uploads is of a man getting carjacked, but the caption reads: love to see people helping each other. remember it's always okay to ask for help! it's okay, I don't know how to parallel park, either :)

And you just see this guy in a mask shove a businessman away from his car, gesturing with his gun, before getting into the driver's seat. Except the car is parallel parked so the carjacker just slowly inches back and forth between a Prius and a Honda until he can wedge himself out of the parking space. And then gets stuck in stand-still traffic. The TikTok goes viral. It's talked about on the Gotham news and Gothamites are losing their shit, pointing out the exact moment you can see the carjacker start to soundlessly cuss through the car's windshield or the way the businessman is just... standing on the side of the road, watching with a deadpan look.

Danny doesn't know about it being on the news, but he sees all the comments, likes, reposts, and feels something. He wonders if this is what Ember feels every time people listened to her music. So, he keeps posting. Usually, it's short three-second videos of a hilariously unexpected situation with an even more deranged caption. But then he's accidentally caught in the reflection of a store front while recording and doesn't know, posts it like he always does; only for this TikTok to go viral, too. Because "Danny Phantom" is a child??

He doesn't notice the shift in his comments, but the public opinion quickly changes from wow, Gothamites are just like that huh lol to what the FUCK, kid, get inside!!! anytime he posts.

Except Danny never gets hurt. Even in the most dangerous situations, when you'd think this kid is a goner for sure, he's just happily yapping in the background. He's so different from Gothamites because he lacks that dead-eyed, despair-inducing aura of someone who's lived in a hellmouth their whole lives. (A couple people post that Danny kind of reminds them of Golden Boy Brucie Wayne, all air-headed and unrealistically optimistic, and suddenly there's memes of "what happens when you've never gotten shot in Gotham" or "how i act when Commish Gordie accuses me of shoplifting again" with them side-by-side.)

And then Danny's posts go viral again and again. Danny doing a fit check with a blond-haired woman with a checkered outfit, she ruffles his hair and kisses him on the cheek. A picture of him wearing an old jean jacket with a bright red lipstick smear on his cheek is trending for weeks. Spoiler, fully suited up in an all-purple vigilante attire, and him shoving gas station hotdogs in their mouths. He even has videos of him clearly in Killer Croc's lair, with comments of are you in the sewers??? DANNY??? and he responds, no, i'm in mom & dad's basement :) (Waylon Jones is actually sitting behind him in one of the videos, intently watching a TV show on an iPad.)

Everybody adores Danny - Rogues, Gothamites, even the Bats. (There's at least six videos of Nightwing teaching Danny how to do backflips, handstands, and other acrobatic moves. Even the youngest Robin has been caught on camera quietly talking with Danny, a shocking lack of violence that left half the city's population suffering from cuteness aggression for the kids.)

So, yeah, Danny belongs to Gotham.

But the internet is widely accessible and Danny made it so, so easy to find him. Jazz obviously didn't know he was posting videos of himself publicly; she was too tired after back-to-back 12 hour shifts at the hospital that she hadn't even checked social media in months. Otherwise, she would've told him to be careful, to never show his face or post his real name on the internet. Then again, Jazz would never have expected all of Gotham (and Superman himself, totally endeared by the kid after Kon and Jon showed him a couple TikToks) would beat the absolute shit out of anybody going after Danny.

Imagine GIW's surprise when they track down Amity's former residential Ghost only to find an entire city frothing at the mouth to protect their Phantom.

So I just had an Idea...

I love it when Fright Knight gets pulled in as Danny's guardian.

So imagine, if you will, Danny leaves for Gotham bc of college, but his parents worry over him going alone. Jazz is in an Ivy league college so she can't go with him, Sam and Tucker are doing their own things at different colleges.

But they really can't let their son go alone, he may be the ghost king and he may be really strong but that is their baby! Cue Jack asking Fright Knight to go with his son so he has some protection in crime capital. Amity Park barely has human crime after all, what would their poor boy do? He only knows how to fight ghosts, Jack is speaking from expierence here, humans are oh so fragile.

Thus, Danny finds himself saddled with a babysitter for college, reluctantly taking the ghost with him under the condition that he tries to look human.

Fright Knight acquiesces. Taking off his armor he reveals a tall man with dark grey skin and glowing purple eyes, long black hair braided back in a longsleeve shirt and pants.

He's still giving major scary vibes.

Well, it's not getting better so, eh.

Now Danny makes friends in college, he eventually gets asked out on a date by one of the batboys ( I personally hc Damian bc it would be funny). So Danny is getting picked up, only he's not the one opening the door, it's Fright Knight. Tall, intimidating-looking and scary AF vibes Fright Knight.

It doesn't matter how brave you are, or how well your immunity to scare gas is, something about the glowing purple eyes glowering down at you is scary.

And then arrives Danny, sunshine personified, waving off Fright Knight while his date wants to get the hell out of dodge while the scary guardian of his date glares like he tries to set them on fire!

Meanwhile Fright Knight is trying to gauge if this human is good enough for his king, he only deserves the best! And the kings father did tell him how fragile humans were... maybe he should send a letter to Frostbite and ask for some help.

Next

Ancient of Space

Based off of this prompt from @theglamorousferal

After Amity Park was transported into space, new rules and divisions were established. Thanks to Danny, the area slowly began to expand, incorporating nearby asteroids and lost pieces of debris that could be drawn in and added to the field. Due to the change in environment—and the exposure to external energy and ectoplasm—the residents of Amity Park began to change. As they became more and more liminal, their ears started to become pointed, and their eyes began to glow.

Not to mention, thanks to frequent interactions with ghosts, most (if not all) of Amity Park now speaks the language of the dead. Lifespans also dramatically increased—what used to be 80 to 90 years now stretches to 200 to 250. And when someone passes away, they automatically become a ghost.

Most of the adults have already turned into ghosts—though not all. Some didn’t become liminal enough, or didn’t live long enough for the transformation to take place. All the students from Casper High are now adults in their early hundreds. They know lifespans have increased because Danny asked Clockwork directly, concerned about the effects that much ectoplasm might have on the human body.

Danny has fully embraced his title as the Ghost King. He even technically made Amity Park part of the Infinite Realms. A large portal now allows travel back and forth, and ghosts frequently pass through to fulfill their obsessions or interact with the living members of their kingdom. Likewise, Amity Park residents often venture into the Realms for various reasons. It’s safe for them, thanks to an inner residential zone Danny set up—an area not meant for living, but stable and protected enough to travel through and interact with the Realms.

Back on Earth, Amity Park has become a legend. All evidence of its existence disappeared along with Danny and the town.

But that’s not the focus right now.

The Young Justice team—Wonder Girl, Impulse, Superboy, and Red Robin—was aboard a spaceship returning from a mission when they detected an unusual energy signature coming from a previously unexplored section of space. No one knew why it was uncharted; as far as they knew, the Lanterns had already mapped every accessible region.

As they approached, they expected to find maybe a destroyed planet, a dead star, or some other anomaly. What they didn’t expect was a massive floating landmass, torn straight from the ground and left suspended in space, surrounded by meteors linked to it via domes.

Suddenly, a young woman approached the ship. She had flowing white hair, Lazarus-green eyes, and pale skin. Most striking of all, she floated through the vacuum of space without a suit—breathing seemed optional.

She hovered in front of the ship's window and blew a cold breath on it, fogging the glass. Then she wrote a message asking if she could come aboard. After a brief discussion, the team decided that the best way to get answers about this strange place was to speak to one of its residents. They nodded in agreement.

Without warning, the girl density-shifted through the glass and gently floated to the ground in front of them. She greeted them in a language they couldn’t understand. Realizing this, she paused, thought for a moment, then switched to English.

“Hello,” she said. “My name is Elly. Welcome to Amity. So… what brings you here?”

Impulse, true to his nature, zipped around excitedly before stopping in front of her. “Hello, Elly! It’s great to meet you. I’m Impulse—this is Red Robin, that’s Wonder Girl, and over there is Superboy. We were flying back home and noticed this unexplored zone on our map. We got curious and came to check out the weird energy signal.”

Elly chuckled at Impulse’s boundless energy. She then offered to escort them to the main area of Amity. At first, the team hesitated, but Red Robin accepted the offer, recognizing it as an opportunity to gather valuable information.

They landed in the central district of Amity and exited the ship with caution. The first thing they noticed was the people: not too different from humans—at least, not most of them. But their glowing eyes and pointed ears gave away their altered nature.

Elly offered to give them a tour and answer any questions they had. The group accepted, unaware that the moment they entered Amity’s vicinity, all tracking and monitoring systems were disabled.

To the Justice League, it looked like all four of them had simply vanished.

(I would've made this longer but I lost motivation so I decided to finish it)

dont worry, he specializes in stem (shenanigans, tomfoolery, escapades, and mischief)

Danny on Phone: Pick up. Pick up. Pick up. Pick up, please Jazz for once in your life pick up the phone- Jazz's Voicemail: The number you have dialed is not available. Please leave a message- Danny: NO! Ugh, okay, hey Jazz, it's ya boi, Danny. Could you come to Gotham and pick me up, please? Now I know I said I could handle the summer internship, and I know you said that it was a dangerous city, and you were right, so you don't have to gloat, but I really need you to come get me, okay? Code: Green Dog. If you call back and I don't answer, they got me. Love you. Tim waiting patiently, tied up in front of Danny: Does this "Jazz" not answer their phone often? I'm sorry, it's really frustrating when they do that. Danny: She usually has her phone on Do not disturb at this hour-wait! Stop trying to emotionally connect with me, I kidnapped you! Tim: I'm not trying to emotionally connect with you. I'm just making conversation. Danny: Well, stop it! Tim: Why? Danny: Because you don't have casual conversations with your kidnappers! Tim: Really? I always do whenever I get kidnapped. Plus, you've been rather considerate. You only tied my ankles and wrists together, and when you threw me into the truck of your car, you put in a pillow for my head. Danny: How....how often does this happen to you? Tim shrugging: Once or twice a week. Danny: A WEEK!? Tim: Why did you take me anyway? Danny: Um, you know Phantom- the ghost guy? He overheard the Mad Hatter bragging about using mind control on the Waynes. He ordered them to kill you in your sleep, but when I tried to warn your security team, they didn't believe me. I took you to protect you. Tim: I see. And how does "Jazz" fit into all this? You already had me in the trunk of a getaway car. Danny: First of all, it's not a getaway car. It's a rental, and the Mad Hatter put a hit out on us. We have to leave the city, which would be tracable in a rental. Tim: Hmmm. Is this the part where you knock me out before you tell me not to fall in love with you? Danny, horrified: No. Tim: Pity.

When he said Jack my mind just went to his dad, and then to maybe his parents are dead and turned into ghosts ( or maybe just his father) to stay with him while he flees the GIW.

And his dad is just there, watching his son try to help while having trust issues due to them.

"Aww Danno, why don't you try helping them? They seem like good people!"

But yeah... Tim's dad probably makes more sense xD

Seeing ghosts in Gotham

He’s walking alone. Despite how dark it is, he’s not particularly nervous, not like the couple of people hovering in an alley.

His shift at Batburger went a little long, not that he’s complaining, he needed the money.

Everything is fine. Splendid. Fantastic. A little quiet, enough to pretend it’s a nice stroll home like it was back in Amity. Of course that all kind of goes up in flames when a dark figure drops into a crouch right in front of him. About two arm lengths away is a guy who straightens to a little taller than Danny himself. From the flickering street light across the street he can spot red, crisscross yellow, and a dark cape.

Red Robin.

Danny shakes his head and turns around.

“Nope.”

A smaller body is already standing behind him, blocking his path. The little guy with a serious face folds his arms across his chest as if challenging Danny to try to get by him.

He’s had enough tussles with Danielle to know better than to test the kid.

Danny rubs at his eyes with a hand, purposefully keeping the other limp at his side. He turns back around.

“Okay. Fine. What? What do you want?”

“You sent in a folder of information to solve the Boothe case,” Red Robin states confidently like there wasn’t any doubt it was Danny who sent it in.

He frowns. It was sent in anonymously. As in they shouldn’t be able to know it was him. Then again they are detectives in their own right even if they dress weird.

“See? This is why no one helps out the police if they’re gonna get grilled for it later on,” he complains sourly.

“That case is connected to another string of crimes we’ve been investigating. I need to know where you got your information.”

Danny glares at him for a second, actually thinking about telling him, then he remembers how quickly these guys throw people into Arkham.

“Do you not get what anonymous means?”

“What is your source?” He asks, completely ignoring Danny’s concerns.

“What are gonna do? Dangle me over the side of a building to get me to talk like you do with the criminals you guys pick up? Go ahead. See where that gets you,” he shrugs indifferently.

“You’re a runaway.”

Danny’s eyes widen in surprise before narrowing into a warning as he turns to look at the pipsqueak that spoke.

“From your poorly made fake ID and the fact you don’t look close to eighteen, you must be a runaway minor. We could bring you in to the proper authorities if you prove to be… uncooperative.”

Danny sneers in annoyance.

“Seriously?” He turns back to Red Robin. Clearly the older of the two and the one leading this investigation. “This is what I get for trying to help? Blackmail?”

“Robin can be a bit… abrasive. I, on the other hand, can appreciate a different approach.”

Suddenly there’s a couple pieces of paper money in between his fingers. Danny couldn’t see how much it was from this far away, but it didn’t really change how he felt about the whole situation.

“Now bribery? Wow, you guys really got the whole good cop, bad cop thing down, don’t cha?”

“Then what do you want?”

“For you to stop wasting your time,” Danny answers with a snap.

Red Robin pauses.

“Our time,” he repeats calmly.

“Yea. Your time. This is a dead end and you should move on.”

“And why are you a dead end?” Presses Robin.

“Because,” Danny emphasizes with a look over his shoulder, “the guy you’re really looking for, my source as you put it, is dead, okay? So you can’t go ask him questions. I sent in everything that was relevant. Find another lead.”

Red Robin’s expression remains blank as he mentally calculates his next move. Danny hopes he takes his advice and let him go home.

“His name?”

Danny folds his arms over his chest, a pathetic attempt to protect himself. He chews on his lip a minute. To tell him or not to tell him. It’s not really ratting the guy out since he’s, you know, dead. Although there is a large chance Danny’s missing something and it’s all going to lead back to him somehow.

“I didn’t kill him.”

“I never said you did,” the vigilante replies calmly, almost nonchalant.

Danny shifts his weight with nerves. He really wasn’t getting out of this without giving them something, huh?

“Greg,” he grinds out like it’s painful.

Silence for a few moments, then-

“As in Gregory Boothe?”

The victim of this whole conversation? Yes.

Danny’s silence is answer enough and the diverted gaze just solidified their suspicions.

“Gregory Boothe’s body turned up a month ago. Presumably he’d been dead for several weeks before that.”

Red lets that damning information hang in the air like Danny didn’t already know.

“So when did he talk to you? Last week?”

Danny jerks at the off handed joke, actually taking a step back and hitching his shoulders up to his ears. He grimaces at his knee jerk response, but can’t take it back. A glance toward the vigilante shows a calculating stunned expression from what he can see ignoring the mask. He looks away again finding a discarded soda can very interesting.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Demands Robin behind him.

Danny tried to resist the urge to curl even more into himself, but knows he failed without even having to look.

“You’re a medium,” Red Robin states. It’s not even a question.

Danny flinches and shoots the guy a scared glare.

“I am not one of those scam artists,” he hisses firmly.

“No,” Red agrees, “you’re not. You didn’t ask for money or attention.”

Danny stares like it’s his first time seeing him. The lack of aggression or accusations was new and a little disarming. He was genuinely confused as to why the guy wasn’t immediately going to denial or throwing him in Arkham.

“Hell of a city to hide in when you can see ghosts,” Red Robin says in a light tone like he was teasing him. The small tug to his lips just proves it.

Danny’s shoulders practically sag at the playful demeanor. A hand reaches up to rub the back of his neck self-consciously.

“Yea, well… no one was gonna look for me here.”

Which was only half the reason he chose Gotham, but it was still truthful.

“So… Greg?”

“Isn’t here right now.” Danny pauses and snorts at himself. “Please leave a message.”

The vigilante does have a sense of humor because he smirks in response to the joke.

“Is there another way to… make contact? Summoning maybe?”

Danny raises an eyebrow incredulously.

“Summoning is rude,” he says like it’s common sense.

Instead he turns to the nearest reliable ghost in the vicinity.

“Hey, Susan, can you go-“

The vigilantes can’t hear how she interrupts him because she was standing there the whole time and knows exactly what he was going to ask.

“Okay, thanks. Meet at mine.”

The ghost woman nods and flies off to go hunt down dear old Greg and Danny turns to Red Robin. He makes a casual move with his head to say ‘follow me’ and continues walking down the sidewalk past the guy and further into the old, decrepit buildings he’s been squatting in.

They already know he’s a runaway, being homeless shouldn’t come as a shock to them. Even with his two jobs, he can’t afford to rent an apartment. No wonder so many people are in poverty or in the slums.

He ducks into his rundown building, ignoring the rats scurrying away, and hops up the rickety stairs, avoiding the ones that were unstable. It was a nightmare figuring out which steps were faulty. Lots of injuries.

At the top he turns to see Red easily copying his movements up the stairs while Robin balances along the railing like a tight rope. When they reach the top at the same time Danny just stares at them for a moment before shaking his head in exasperation. Darn vigilantes. Why did Danny have to get caught up in this mess?

He turns, walking along the floor closest to the wall before getting to what he’s deemed his room.

It used to be an office from what he can tell. A desk pushed against the far wall and a ripped sofa he’s been using as a bed on the other wall. The floors were the most stable in this room which really won out.

Danny goes to the desk where all his papers are scattered over the surface. An organizational pattern only he understands as he shuffles through the pile he pulls from the cubby above the desk. It holds all the same information he sent into the police, just in its raw form with about twice the amount of useless information. Along with it is a few other ‘cases’ that sounds familiar that he just threw together into a pile. Maybe the genius detectives could decipher what he couldn’t.

“Here,” he says, holding out the stack. Red Robin doesn’t hesitate to take it off his hands.

There’s no chair for the desk anymore so he slides some papers out of the way to hop onto the desk to wait.

“No.”

The vigilantes look at him and he shakes his head and looks over to the side.

“No, Abby. I’m not wasting their time.”

Red Robin goes back to flipping through papers. Most of them were old business papers he had found in the office and just written on the back. Some were receipts or pamphlets or some other random scrap of paper he could get his hands on.

“Because yours was an accident. There’s nothing for them to solve.”

Robin watched him cautiously as if waiting for Danny to snap or suddenly turn violent. Instead he leans back on his hands in a vulnerable position which screamed ‘I don’t want to hurt anyone’.

“There is a lot more information here than what was submitted to the police,” Red Robin comments neutrally, purposefully ignoring Danny’s exasperated sigh and one-sided conversation.

Danny shrugs in defense, “Didn’t think all of it was relevant.”

The vigilante doesn’t respond.

Robin drifts closer as Danny gives a withering glare to the corner. He examines the mess of papers surrounding the teen in the low lighting.

“Are these all files of victims?”

Danny glances over them with a knowledgeable eye.

“Most.” He twists to point at the top left corner of the cubbies. “Those are accidents though… well, what sounds like accidents.”

“There should be more.”

Danny looks at the boy with a tilted head and raises brow.

“Not everyone sticks around,” he explains simply.

Then something draws his attention away across the room. Surprisingly his eyes don’t glaze over like someone with mental illness, instead they sharpen to see something they can’t. It resembled Constantine or Thomas.

“Greg, these guys wanna talk to you.”

What proceeds is a very awkward interaction with Danny as a middle man between victim and vigilante. Despite the need for a translator, Red Robin does in fact get a lead from the conversation.

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

Danny nods. “Sure, no problem. Just don’t rat me out to the police and I can help with any other case that pops up with a ghost attached.”

“You know we can help with your living situation,” Red Robin offers with a glance around the room.

“What, and put me in foster care? No thanks, I’ll pass.”

“There are other options,” Robin chimes in with nonchalance that implies he doesn’t actually care.

“You don’t pass for eighteen, but if you let me make you a new ID we could say you’re emancipated.”

Danny frowns.

“I’d have to be sixteen to be eligible for emancipation.”

“You could be sixteen.”

No, he really couldn’t. Maybe if you squint your eyes and tilt your head, but Danny is fourteen with all the baby fat and innocent face that comes with it. His license now is a clear fake to anyone who sees it, but in this city no one’s gonna question it to his face. They just raise a brow, look at him, then shrug it off and roll with the lie.

“What do you want?” He demands. All this good will and wanting to help him can’t be free.

“We want to help,” Red says too easily.

Danny stares for a second, eyes narrowed as he tries to block out the multiple voices around him.

Insurance. He wants Danny to owe him so he can keep coming back for more information.

“I just told you I would help. Why are you still trying to get leverage?” He demands with irritation.

“We want to help-“

“You want me in your back pocket.”

Red Robin doesn’t give that a response, his lips pressing together to make a hard line.

Instead of pushing, he surprisingly takes a step back and heads towards the door, papers still in hand. Danny doesn’t argue.

Robin ducks out first, blending into the shadows without even a glance over his shoulder. Red Robin pauses in the doorway.

“Don’t try to skip town,” he states like an order. Like if Danny did in fact try, he would be found and brought back.

It didn’t even cross Danny’s mind.

“Wasn’t planning on it,” he says tiredly, too fed up with the day to defend himself.

Red Robin watches him for a moment before nodding and disappearing out the room.

Danny slumps with a groan, finally sliding off the desk to shuffle to the couch, body flopping face first into the worn cushions.

It’s silent to everyone else but Danny.

“I know.”

…

“I know, Jack, but I don’t trust them. Even if he is your son.”

Danny never noticed the bug planted by Robin on the underside of the desk.