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Batman crouched, hunched over on a scratchy, dense brown carpet, held down by glowing red chains pulled taught over his shoulders. Under his cape he was tapping away at his wrist computer, his distress beacon already set off. He was in the center of a painted circle, ancient runes written in chalk around the perimeter.
Around him were other members of the Justice League: Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Black Canary; all of them also bound by chains in identical circles at points in two overlapping squares, the whole thing contained in a large outer circle ringed with more runes. In the final circle stood a tanned man with brown hair wearing black robes edged in green and a chunky gold chain with a small, green replica human skull. He was holding a book and smirking as various people in similar robes, their hoods up, moved into place around the obvious occult symbol. The whole group was gathered in what appeared to have once been an office that has since had all its furniture removed, leaving a wide open space that smelled of dust and the lingering after scent of burnt coffee.
"Welcome!" the leader said cheerfully. "Welcome, gods among mortals, so good of you to make it to this momentous occasion."
"Glad to be here," Clark snarked as he struggled to rise to his feet. He was bound in easily twice the chains as the rest of them, save Diana. It seemed they thought those two were the most dangerous
"You should be," the leader continued. "Today we are summoning Pariah Dark, the Ghost King."
Diana laughed, "How futile, those who dwell in the primordial chaos are not easily summoned."
"The regular spirits there certainly, but the more well known and powerful a spirit is the easier they are to summon. For instance, we know both Pariah Dark's name and his title, though just the title will be enough since it's unique."
"The Ghost King was sealed away millennia ago," Diana chided as if the leader were a small child who had forgotten his school lesson.
"By seven powerful beings, and here we have seven powerful beings to break his bindings."
"More powerful than the ancient spirits that locked him away?" Diana asked skeptically.
"But of course! We have among you: gods," he motioned towards Clark, "royalty," he motioned towards Arthur, "and in your case: both. We have a Green Lantern, a pale imitation of his majesty's ring of rage."
"Excuse me!" Hal growled in offense.
"And of course," the leader turned to look at Batman, "a demon straight from hell."
There were a few snickers around the circle.
"Or cryptid, or maybe just a meta, whatever Batman is."
"And me?" Dinah asked, glaring at the leader.
"A siren straight from myth."
"Right, but what about me?" Barry asked. "I'm not a god or royalty or a demon or anything else."
"Not directly, but you are an avatar of Hermes."
"No, that's the other Flash, the older one. The guy with the helmet."
"Be that as it… oh dearie me, this is a distraction! Well now, rather than argue how about I just prove what is possible through action." The leader gestured.
More chains made of red light appeared, these ones wrapped around their wrists and pulled their arms taut.
"Do whatever you want," Diana called, "you know this ritual will fail, as have the thousands upon thousands of rituals attempted before your grandmother was even a twinkle in her mother's eye."
The cult members standing behind them all stepped forward, brandishing knives with the edge of their blades glowing that same eerie red.
Batman struggled, expecting the knife to aim for his throat. Instead the cult member slashed at his inner forearm. The blade sliced through his armor like a hot knife through butter, the the cut to his flesh was only enough to make him bleed, not even at an alarming rate.
"Oh shit, I'm bleeding!" Barry called in a panic.
"That's a lot of blood," Dinah said grimly.
Perhaps at a slightly alarming rate.
The cult member tore at the gauntlet, cutting it away so all that was left of his glove ended just past where the chain wrapped around his wrist. Batman watched as the blood dripped down the chain, the circle just under where the chain attached to the ground began to glow. It was pale and faintly green, barely visible but all too noticeable in the poorly lit office. The glow spread, growing brighter as more of the circle and the runes around it lit up.
Batman looked up, concerned that the spell was actually working despite what Diana said. Was it just a bluff?
The rest of the circles weren't glowing. The other JL members were all staring down at the glowing lines under Batman, but theirs remained inert.
Thankfully the leader seemed too engrossed in his book to notice. He began chanting in a clear, strong voice, speaking words Batman didn't recognize.
The glow of the lines rapidly spread, a bright light that rushed eagerly through the rest of the lines. By the time the leader looked up the entire summoning circle was glowing.
Batman started struggling in earnest, trying to find some weak spot to exploit.
"I knew it would work! Come forth, my king!"
The lines and chains went from glowing vaguely greenish and bright red to a bright, nauseating, toxic green. Nothing good was that color.
The octagon at the center of the shape began glowing that same toxic green, the color swirling as it filled in. A figure floated up from the center.
A black, spiky crown emerged first, floating over a head of short, white hair. Thick, dark eyebrows set in a pale forehead. Eyes that glowed that same toxic green. A muzzle. A white suit, no just a neck piece over a black suit, splattered with green blood. White gloves pressed over a gaping wound. One white boot and one sock clad foot. The figure was translucent, small, thin, and frail, hunched in on themself.
When they cleared the floor the glow under them went out. The boy drifted down, he barely seemed able to hold himself up. The lines around the boy faded to a soft glow, but remained lit.
"You're not Pariah Dark!" the leader proclaimed.
The boy shook his head, then looked up and around. "Where?" he rasped. His eyes seemed to catch on the heroes, going down to their chains.
The leader glared down at his book, "I don't understand! Where did we go wrong?"
The comm in Batman's ear crackled and buzzed, Barb's modulated voice choppy and full of static, "Backup ETA two minutes."
"You're supposed to be the Ghost King!" The leader said in the same voice someone might complain to their barista about receiving a latte instead of a macchiato.
The boy turned back to the leader, "Are these my sacrifices?"
"Well, I suppose any Great Between spirit is a step in the right direction."
Did he not see the crown floating over the boy's head?
"Yes, these are your sacrifices."
Batman wished he wasn't off to the side, it was hard to see the boy's expression through the muzzle, he was sure he was smiling impishly.
The boy raised a hand. "Help me," he commanded, making a swiping motion.
The green chains vanished.
The League members all burst into action, taking on the cult members in a flurry of lightning fast punches, twirling lasso, and swishing capes. The cult members knew magic, of course, so it wasn't an easy battle, but the cultists no longer had surprise on their side.
It didn't hurt that Nightwing swung in through a window, accompanied by Zatanna, Raven, and Captain Marvel. There were curses from the cultists, spells flying through the air, but the cultists were outnumbered and outmatched. And they knew it.
Batman glanced towards the summoning circle, noting it was still lit up. The boy was at the edge of his octagon, pressed up against an invisible wall. The boy looked around desperately before slumping tiredly. Then a look came across his face that set off alarms, the look of a teenager about to do something he knows will end badly.
And there was nothing Batman could do to stop him.
The boy's face twisted up in concentration, a ring of white light appeared around his waist, then split to travel in opposite directions. The summoning circle flickered, then went dark. A normal looking teenage boy with dark hair and baggy casual clothes took the spirit's place. He took an unsteady step over the faded line, then another. He stumbled the rest of the way out of the circle, eyes firmly on the nearest emergency exit door.
The (probable) Ghost King was about to simply walk out the door and disappear into downtown Omaha. Batman couldn't let that happen.
He followed the boy, skirting around the circle. He had to duck and weave through the last remnants of the fight, but so did the boy. Batman watched as he unsteadily dodged past Nightwing tackling a cult member only to stumble and fall to his knees.
Batman was at the boy's elbow, helping ease him down onto his back. The boy groaned in pain before falling unconscious. There was a smear of dark red under the boy's hands. It was growing.
"Nightwing!" Batman ripped his torn glove off and pressed two fingers to the boy's neck as Nightwing slid to his knees next to them.
"Shit," Dick whispered harshly.
"He has a pulse, fast but still there." Batman was already pulling his emergency medical supplies from his belt while Dick cut the boy's shirt. Underneath it was a beige binder.
Dick hesitated, "It could be putting pressure on the wound."
"He wasn't wearing these when he was injured, magic. We have no idea what it looks like under there."
"Okay." Dick cut the binder and pulled it aside. "Oh my god."
The wound, a straight line up the boy's abdomen, split at his sternum into a distinctive Y-shape.
Batman handed over a disinfectant wipe, "Start cleaning."
Dick took the wipe and did a start cleaning. Diana came over and gently touched Batman's shoulder.
"You need care too."
"I'm fine."
"Will the girl be fine if you drip blood into her wound?"
"Boy," Batman corrected. But he did move aside to tend to his own wound. Clark and Barry came over to see what the hubbub was about, both flinched when they saw the damage.
"I'll be right back," Barry said before vanishing in a blur of displaced air. A moment later he was back, carrying more medical supplies, including a saline bag and an IV line. With his own wound treated, Batman set back to helping Dick with triage. Barry kept zipping back with more supplies: a roll of gauze, butterfly wound closures, needle and thread, local anesthetic, a neck stabilizer and pillow he applied himself. The others were either gathered around to watch, or off dealing with the cultists. The JLD members were inspecting the circle and the tome the leader had previously been holding.
"Bloody hell," a voice Batman didn't expect called out.
"Constantine," Batman said without looking up.
"What's all this, then?" Constantine walked over to the circle, bending over slightly and tilting his head.
"Ghost King summoning," Zatanna answered.
Constantine let out a string of curses. "I can't believe it fucking worked, thousands of years people have been trying and not a peep."
"Yes, I do wonder how it worked," Diana said while eyeing Batman.
Constantine wandered over and watched for a moment as Dick and Batman finished patching the boy up. "This the sacrifice?"
Batman paused to look up at Constantine, his white lenses narrowing. "No."
"Coulda fooled me, the kid's overflowing with magic. Between magic no less, maybe even enough to pull the Ghost King from his sealed crypt. Bloody lucky you lot were here to dismiss the bugger."
Batman gestured to the boy, "We didn't, this is the Ghost King."
There was a lot of noise as everyone else expressed surprise or disbelief, everyone except Diana.
"Hate to break it to you, luv, but to be Ghost King you first have to be a ghost, and that kid is alive and kicking."
"He transformed to escape the summoning circle." Batman went on to briefly explain the scene he'd witnessed, right down to the red blood and heartbeat.
Zatanna waved a hand over the boy, reciting a spell. Then she shook her head, "That doesn't make any sense. He has a body, a living breathing body."
"He has died," Raven offered quietly.
"Yes, and been revived, just like half the people in this room."
"What I want to know," Diana cut in, "is why Batman's blood summoned this boy."
Every magic user's eyes sharpened as they looked Batman up and down.
"Well this can all wait," Dick cut in. "He's stable enough to move now, we need to get him proper medical attention. Any other questions can wait until he wakes up. Hal."
"One stretcher coming right up," Hal said, activating his ring.
Everyone else moved back, giving Hal room to work. Dick stayed where he was, his hands moving to the boy's face. "Let's get this muzzle off first, if he has to wake up in a strange place alone, scared, and in pain at least it won't be while wearing a muzzle."
"I wouldn't do that, luv. It stayed for the transformation, right? Thing is brimming with Between magic."
"He's an injured child," Dick scolded as he worked to cut the muzzle off. "You can have it, evidence or to study." He pulled the muzzle off and gasped. So did half the people looking on, sharp inhales accompanied by eyes frantically turning to Batman.
Bruce's knees felt weak.
"Well, shit," Dinah murmured.
"That may explain things," Clark said softly.
"What?" Hal asked.
Dick dropped the muzzle and reached up to tap the comm in his ear. "Oracle, you seeing this?"
The comm in Bruce's ear came to life with Barb's voice, "… I'm seeing this. Who, exactly, am I seeing?"
"Where's Robin right now."
"In Gotham, on a stake out."
"Have him come up to the Watchtower."
"The cave," Bruce interrupted.
"B, he needs more help than we can give."
"The cave has-"
"He might be missing organs!" Dick shouted. Then softer, "You know what that kind of cut is used for, whoever did this might've cracked open his ribcage, or started to."
Bruce took a deep breath in through his nose, counted, the released it slowly. "Have Robin return to the cave, we can do a debrief before sending him up to the Watchtower."
Dick nodded and stood up, the muzzle clenched tight in his hand.
"Okay, time to get this kid some help," Hal said, using a construct to lift the boy's still form.
Clark was suddenly at the boy's side, holding the IV bag. "We'll make sure he doesn't get jostled."
Bruce quickly gathered up all the discarded medical waste, tucking what could be useful into evidence bags and the rest into disposal bags. Dick likewise was helping him clean up all evidence of the boy. When he stood Diana touched his arm.
"I'll make sure to completely conceal all magical trace."
"That'll be tough, luv," Constantine said. "That summoning was so strong I felt it half way round the world, every git with half an ounce of magic on the whole planet felt that."
"Then we will simply have to lay down false tracks, perhaps burn down the building when we're done."
Bruce stopped listening, he'd finished gathering up the traces, including the medical gloves he'd been wearing, trading them back to his normal (if damaged) gloves, and ran to catch up to Hal and Clark.
"What has Spooky all in a tizzy?" Hal softly asked Clark. Clark just shook his head.
There was a flurry of activity after that, rushing the boy (Bruce desperately wished for a name to call him) to Watchtower's medical, where he was surrounded by a flock of professionals in scrubs. Bruce tried not to equate them to a flock of vultures. Bruce and Dick properly disposed of their medical waste, then set themselves up at the observation window, watching as the medical staff rushed around the still form in the center.
Zatanna walked up and put a hand on Dick's arm.
"Shouldn't you be down there helping with magical clean-up?" Dick asked.
"I'm here to keep an eye on the supposed Ghost King, in case he takes a turn for the worst."
Clark walked up and put a hand on Bruce's shoulder while Zatanna spoke. Bruce pulled out an evidence bag and held it out, "Take this to Agent A."
Dick held out his own evidence bag, "This too."
Clark sighed, but accepted both bags.
"It'll be good to have someone there while we explain the situation," Bruce said awkwardly.
Clark smiled, "I can bring him here."
Bruce nodded.
"It'll be okay." Clark gave Bruce a pat on the shoulder, then left.
Not long after Dick pulled out a tablet and set up a secure video call with the batcomputer. Then they waited for the call to be picked up, staring into the operating room the whole while.
"Father, Richard, what is this about?" Damian sat at the batcomputer, Clark and Alfred standing behind him.
"Damian," Dick said, seemingly suddenly unsure where to start.
"Damian," Bruce repeated, "do you have an older sibling you never told us about?" He paused, when Damian's only response was a skeptical look he added on, "An older sister?"
Damian looked shocked. "Athanasia lives?"
Bruce closed his eyes, another child Talia hid from him, another child who died.
Dick, blessedly, took over. "We're not sure."
Damian frowned, "Not sure of what?"
"Not sure this is Athanasia, not sure they're even alive. We're also not sure of their gender, they were wearing a binder," Dick added thoughtfully.
Bruce tapped on his wrist computer and sent a screen capture from his mask cam to the batcomputer. It was the boy just after the muzzle was removed, indents from it left behind, face smeared with green and red.
Alfred looked dismayed, Clark just looked sad, Damian leaned forward to scrutinize the photo. He ended up shaking his head, "I was very young when she died."
"Can you tell us what happened?"
"Athanasia was two years older than me. When I was five and she was seven there was an attack on The Cradle. She defended me, kept me safe long enough for Mother to arrive. Athanasia was severely injured, Grandfather granted her use of the Pit to save her life, but…"
Dick's face softened, "Did she die before making it to the Pit?"
Damian shook his head, "She never resurfaced. Mother swears she still breathed when she was lowered in, but she never returned."
"Green eyes," Bruce stated.
"No, Athanasia had blue eyes."
"They changed forms." Bruce quickly sifted through the footage, throwing any half decent stills he could find onto the screen. There weren't many. Something about the boy caused strange glitching. He went on to summarize the events, describing the boy's appearance before and after the shift. "… and now we're on the Watchtower while the medical staff work."
There was a pause, then Alfred broke the uncomfortable silence. "We do have the results of the paternity test Superman had me run." He leaned forward and took control of the mouse, after a few clicks he leaned back again. "Congratulations, it's a Wayne."
Bruce nodded, the resemblance had been too striking for anything else.
"Talia is the mother as well. XX chromosomes."
"So this really is Athanasia," Damian mused softly.
"It would seem so," Bruce agreed.
"The blood sample you sent resulted in error messages," Alfred continued. "Fortunately the hair sample worked, though the margin for error is much higher than normal. It would seem whatever changes happened to the lad may be down to the genetic level."
"Magic has a way of throwing in monkey wrenches like that," Zatanna said with a little laugh.
"Damian," Bruce called, "if you'd like to be here when they wake, you may."
Damian nodded, "I will be up shortly." He got up and headed away from the batcomputer, Clark following in his wake.
"Will the debrief you gave us suffice as your report once transcribed?"
"Yes, thank you Alfred."
"Of course, sir. Do keep me informed."
"I'll do that," Dick offered. Bruce just grunted.
"Thank you, master Dick. I appreciate the consideration."
The call ended. Bruce sighed and went back to staring into the operating room. It seemed the commotion had mostly died down.
Someone cleared their throat. Bruce looked up to find a young woman in scrubs holding a clipboard and smiling sheepishly standing in the doorway.
"Do you have news?" Dick asked eagerly.
"Yes, mostly good news. All her organs are intact-"
"Their," all three of them corrected.
"All their organs are intact," the medical person continued smoothly. "Unfortunately it does look like the skin was separated and the beginnings of an incision on the sternum. This will cause pain while healing, so we'll need to discuss how to manage it. We were able to stitch the wound and stop the bleeding, as well as administer some donated blood. No broken bones, some minor lacerations that have been treated, no signs of concussion so far. We'd like to keep them here for observation, especially as an unknown meta can have complications."
Bruce nodded along, "Thank you."
"No problem. Once the patient has been settled we'll let you know. Has their family been found? Are you in charge of their case?"
"Ah, yes? It's a bit complicated." Dick grimaced.
"Have all their medical information filed as a member of my team under the code name Ghost King," Bruce ordered.
The medical person quickly jotted down the information and nodded, "Alright. We're moving Ghost King now, they should be settled shortly."
Danny woke slowly, confused and thoughts sluggish as molasses in February. He blinked up at the ceiling, trying to figure out what was wrong with it.
Not his.
Not his old popcorn ceiling at all, no faded glow-in-the-dark stars, no ecto stains. Just smooth metal.
Danny should be worried.
He wasn't though. He was laying in a comfortable bed, head on a soft pillow, under a warm blanket, his aches and pains were fuzzy and distant. All his many, many aches and pains.
"Are you awake?"
Danny turned his head. There was a kid close to his age sitting in a chair next to the bed. A kid in some kind of colorful costume, a mask over his eyes.
"Go back to sleep, utki, it's just a dream." He patted Danny's hand like Danny would find it comforting.
"No," Danny slurred, trying to sit up.
"Stay still, you'll tear your stitches." The boy put a hand out like he was trying to stop Danny without touching him. His other hand reached for something and the bed slowly started to lever up.
Danny lay back. The boy moved the controller to Danny's hand and let him control the bed. Danny was in control of the bed, the bed controller.
Once he was sitting as upright as he would, Danny looked back over at the stranger and tried to gather his thoughts. What did he remember last? Danny looked down at himself, spotting the needle stuck in his arm. He followed it up to find a clear bag full of clear liquid. He looked back at the strange boy, something about him was familiar but Danny couldn't figure it out. There were more people in the room, two giant men wearing dark clothes that were jammed into too small chairs, both also wearing masks so it was hard to tell if they were awake or not.
Danny looked down at his himself. His chest hurt. His chest was visible. He wasn't wearing his binder. Danny slapped a hand on his chest like he could hide it, but it hurt even through the fuzzy feeling. Right, stitches. Because he'd been cut open.
His hand slapped on his face, the muzzle was gone.
He'd been… summoned? Someone had summoned him? And the Justice League was there. The Justice League was here, that's who the man in all black with the little devil horns was. Danny was at Justice League. Danny laughed at that, something that would border on hysterical if he weren't so fuzzy.
What's in the IV?
"Utki?"
Danny looked to the other boy, "Who're you?"
"You don't recognize me?"
Danny shook his head.
The other boy sighed and reached up. Immediately two hands in black gloves (one with blue stripes on the fingers) held out little paper packets, like the kind that hold wet napkins. Danny's eyes followed the gloves up to see both of the huge men were now sitting up. Guess they weren't asleep.
The one in black was Batman.
The other boy huffed, but took one of the packets and opened it to reveal… a wet napkin. He used it to pry up the mask over his eyes. When he looked back up Danny couldn't help making a face.
"Did Vlad clone me again?"
"What?" all three strangers asked in varying degrees of incredulity.
"Who's Vlad?"
"You've been cloned?"
"Why is it always clones?"
"It's fine, they aren't even marauders anymore. And I think he's given up?" For some reason Danny just couldn't keep his mouth shut. This was the Justice League! He needed to leave. "I don't wanna be here anymore, I wanna go home."
"Yes, of course. We just need to know where your home is," the strange man Danny didn't recognize said gently with bright, shiny smile.
"Utki, you don't recognize me?" The other boy insisted. "Athanasia, it's me, Damian."
"Did you just fucking dead name me?" Danny asked, the shock of it helping him wake up a bit more. His eyes narrowed, "Wait, how do you know that name?"
"It's me, I'm Damian, your little brother," the other boy insisted.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, I don't have a little brother."
"Then how did I know your name? Why do we look so similar?"
"I don't…" Danny's head hurt. He squinted at the other boy, Damian, who had taken his hand. Danny then turned his squint on Batman. Batman and Robin, Damian had an R on his chest. If Damian is Robin, and Robin claims to be his little brother, would that make Batman his dad?
Ew.
"I don't know you," Danny said more firmly. "I don't know any of you. I want my parents!"
"Okay, we can call them," the guy with blue stripes agreed easily, too bright smile in place. "Just tell us who they are and we'll call them."
"Mom!" Danny called, his voice cracking at the volume. "Dad! Jazz!" He reached for the IV needle, because he had no idea what they were putting into him but it couldn't be anything good.
Damian and Batman both grabbed for Danny, trying to keep him from messing with the IV.
"Clockwork! Clockwork!!!" Danny put some power into his voice, but since when had Clockwork ever helped? "Wulf!!! Wulf!!! Ow!" One of them had wrapped an arm around his chest and it hurt! Hadn't Robin just warned him about the stitches? Rude! Ancients, that hurt. He put his fingers up to his mouth and whistled.
"Please calm down, we're trying to help," a dark voice said.
"Help? Help?! When have you guys ever helped?!" The audacity!
"What is going on in here?" a feminine voice asked sternly.
Everyone froze. Danny looked over to find Wonder Woman standing in the doorway.
"They tried to pull out their IV," Damian snitched, pointing at Danny.
"I wanna go home," Danny said loudly.
"And we want to get you home," Wonder Woman assured. "We just need to ask a few questions first."
"I'm choosing to exercise my right to remain silent," Danny said promptly, just like Sam taught him to. "Where's my lawyer?"
Wonder Woman laughed as she sat down, "It will certainly be harder to take you home if you don't tell us where home is. I promise, it's not those kinds of questions. Let's just start simple. My name is Diana, what should I call you?"
Danny thought it over and well, that's a pretty reasonable thing to ask. "Danny."
"A strong name," Diana said. "And do you prefer any pronouns?"
"He/him," Danny answered. Then he smiled sheepishly, "I picked my name out myself."
"And you did an excellent job, Danny is a very good name."
"It's so good all my clones use it," Danny said proudly. Then he frowned, "What's in this? I won't shun up." He motioned to the IV bag.
"Saline and pain killers, you were in very bad shape when we found you."
"Well I don't like tit, I feel weird."
"We can certainly ask the medical staff to adjust it, but wouldn't you rather just go home?"
"Yes!" Danny wanted to go home.
"Alright then, I assume home for you is the Primordial Chaos?"
Danny blinked slowly, staring at Wonder Diana in confusion. "Uh…"
"It's also called The Great Between, Place of Many Doors, The Endless Path…"
"Oh, you mean the Infinite Realms. Yeah, I could-" Danny stopped short and looked down at his hands. They were hands. He could see his fingernails. He wasn't wearing his gloves. Well, he'd taken his gloves off as a ghost before, and his skin didn't really look different. He reached up and pulled some of his hair into view. Black. He squinted at Wonder Diana, "I'm a Norman human. I cant go to the Infinite Realms."
Wonder Diana smiled, "We really should get one of the med staff in here to turn the pain meds down a little."
Batman was tapping away at his… arm? Man, these were some good drugs.
"Do you remember what happened before waking up here?"
Danny shook his head, mostly so they'd tell him their version.
"There was a cult attempting to summon a powerful spirit from the… Infinite Realms you called it?
There was a knock on the door. Before anyone could answer the door opened and a guy wearing blue scrubs covered in little Superman logos walked in. "Hello, I'm here to check on the patient."
Danny grimaced. Patient was infinitely better than test subject, but getting checked was getting checked.
"How are you feeling?" the nurse(?) asked as he walked up to Danny's bed.
"Loopy," Danny said quickly.
"That's to be expected after anesthesia. You showed signs of accelerated healing so we put you on the meta grade pain killers."
Danny sighed, but nodded.
"I can certainly turn it down a bit while we find the right dosage. If you start feeling pain again let one of us know." The nurse set about adjusting a machine next to Danny's bed. He hadn't noticed the small tube that joined his IV.
The nurse went on to explain everything Danny had been through since arriving… wherever he was (it was actually nice knowing he wasn't missing any organs), then showed Danny where the call button was before excusing himself. "Someone will be by shortly with a little something to eat. Do you have any dietary restrictions, Ghost King?"
Danny felt like he'd just been slapped. Again. He laughed awkwardly, "I'm not the Ghost King, I'm just Danny."
The nurse looked Danny up and down, then smiled. "Ah, right. Well someone will be by shortly with some easy to digest food. Call us if you need anything, Danny." He winked before leaving.
"What was that about?"
"We're quite strict on secret identities," Batman said gruffly.
Danny pressed his lips together, "But I'm blot the Ghost King." The others glanced at each other, it seemed Danny would have to spell it out. "To be the Ghost King you must first be a ghost. As you can see, I'm very alive much." Danny motioned to the IV he was hooked up to. "Since I'm not a ghost ego I'm not the Ghost King yet."
"Yet?" Batman asked.
Danny shrugged, "Everyone dies eventually."
"Not everyone who dies becomes a ghost, let alone the Ghost King," the guy with blue stripes said.
"Why not aim high?" Danny was trying to keep it casual, trying not to look like he was sweating bullets and picking anxiously at his blanket.
"Danny," Diana Woman said gently, "the cult was attempting to summon the Ghost King, and they got you. Those of us there saw you."
Damian moved forward and took one of his hands.
"Gloves aren't all that comforting," Danny said blankly, refusing to make eye contact.
"I saw you change forms," Batman added darkly. "It was clear you were trying to get out of the summoning circle."
"You were going to dismiss me, it would've sent me back." His free hand came up to clutch at his hospital gown.
"You weren't in the Primordial Chaos?" Wonder Diana asked.
"Who did this to you?" Batman asked at the same time.
Danny opened his mouth but his throat dried up, he couldn't tell them. They would… they would turn him back over probably. He tried to lick his lips, but it didn't help. "Just send me to the Infinite Realms."
Wonder Diana glanced over at Batman, then turned back to Danny. "Danny, normal living humans do not do well in the Infinite Realms."
Danny couldn't help rolling his eyes, "Sam and Tucker do just fine."
More glances back and forth. "Who are Sam and Tucker?"
Oh ancients! Abort! Abortion! "I wanna go home! Send me home!" He reached for the IV needle again.
Diana Woman put a hand over his, "We will, we promise, we just need to know where we send you is safe for you."
"It's fine!" Danny yelled, suddenly fighting back tears. "They're my parents, they promised to love me always, of course they're safe! They have to be!"
Diana Woman looked alarmed, "Did your parents do this to you?"
"No! I wanna go home! I want my…"
"We just can't stand to see that monster puppeting our baby's body."
"When you get that nasty spook out, send him back to us."
"I want Ja-…"
"You were very brave and I'm very proud of you, but I can't afford to miss classes. I'll call you when I get back to the dorm."
"I want…" Tears welled up in Danny's eyes again, threatening to spill over. He pointed at Batman, "I don't know you! You're not my dad, I don't know you!" He put his fingers to his lips and whistled again, loud and long and high. Where was Cujo? He always came when Danny needed him!
Diana Woman put a hand over his. "Danny, we understand you just want to go home," she started.
"No!" He went intangible, slipping down through the bed, then the floor below it. He let the IV needle fall out as well, only keeping on the silly hospital gown. At least it wasn't paper. But still, he didn't want to wander around in just that. He couldn't do much about that so he went invisible.
Ow.
Okay, not invisible, and flying seemed to hurt too. He gently landed on his bare feet, the floor hard and cold under his heels. He started walking, not sure where he was going but knowing he couldn't stay. He needed… he needed Frostbite! That's who would help him. He just needed to get to the Realms, and then he could go to the Far Frozen and Frostbite would help him. Wonder Diana had said she'd send him there, but she kept asking questions instead of just doing it.
If only Cujo were here, he could get to the Realms that way.
There were voices coming down the hall, two people talking softly to each other. A blond woman wearing black and a blond man wearing green. They both looked surprised when they saw Danny.
"It's the Ghost King!" The man said.
The woman frowned, "Are you okay? Should you be up yet?"
Danny dodged sideways, turning and running through the wall. It stung to go intangible, but he kept it up as he passed through a few more rooms, each well lit and containing people. Oh wait, this one was dark. Danny lit his eyes up, his core stinging again as he looked around. Some kind of conference room, a big table in the center surrounded by chairs. Danny ducked under the table and sat curled up, trying to think of what he should do next.
A cold nose nudged at his hand.
Danny automatically moved his hand to pet the furry head attached to the nose. "Cujo," he said in relief, "boy am I glad to see… you…"
That was not Cujo.
There was a little dog, glowing and see through, sitting before him. They were mostly white, with some green of various shades on their face and a black harness. The dog scooted closer and whimpered, putting a little paw up on Danny's knee.
"Oh… hello there." He went back to petting her. No, them. He doesn't know this dog, he doesn't know where he is. Getting home didn't just get infinitely harder. He just sat there for a while, petting the dog who wagged her curly little tail and scooted until she was pressed up against Danny's legs.
The room lit up as the door opened before shutting again. Danny quickly pulled the little dog into his arms, legs tensed and ready to get up and run. There was a dim light now, mostly shining on the room and leaving under the table still in shadow.
A man ducked under the table, quickly settling next to Danny with his legs stretched out and leaning back on his elbows. Danny warily looked the man up and down. Blond, white, tan trench coat, loose tie and white shirt under it. He smelled like cigarettes. Who smoked anymore?
"Hey kid," the man said, looking Danny over, "I hear they managed to… oh. Got a little friend there."
"I think it's Laika," Danny whispered, like he was afraid to admit he recognized her.
The man nodded, "Think so. Right proper church grim now, a protection spirit."
"All that and she doesn't even get to rest," Danny said sadly. Laika put her little nose to Danny's face and started licking. Danny let her.
"And if you're not the Ghost King yet I guess you're in the same boat, but a lot bigger."
Danny nodded and buried his face in Laika's fur.
"But if you go to the Great Between it's just gonna happen faster, ain't it?"
Danny had asked Frostbite about it once, after Dani had left again. She wouldn't have to worry about feeding herself in the Realms. Frostbite told him that so long as they're still half human neither of them could stay in the Realms, not long term. Humans eventually turn into ghosts if they stay too long, the lack of sunlight alone makes them sick.
"I do remember my little brother," Danny admitted.
The man didn't seem phased by the change in subject, just nodded.
"I just… I didn't expect him to remember me. He was so little, we were both so little when I died the first time. It was easier to just… forget and be forgotten. But he does, and he's here, and if he's Robin does that mean our father is Batman?"
The man hissed and rubbed a hand over his face, "Bloody hell, that explains the blasted summoning."
Danny looked at the man, waiting for him to explain what he meant.
"I wasn't there so I didn't see it, but all seven of the wannabe goody two-shoes said the circle lit up where Batsy's blood touched it and moved out from there. It's why a bunch of us mages had to spend the whole night covering tracks. We found the paint they'd used to draw the circle and drew more circles over it until we ran out. Managed to get two failed Between summonings and two successful demon summonings out of it. Then we burned the whole building down."
Danny winced, "It was that bad?"
"Kid, if people found out Batman's blood worked to summon the Ghost King even he'd have a hard time keeping it all inside him where it belongs. Not to mention it puts targets on the backs of his whole brood. After all, if it worked for him why not Robin? Or Batgirl? Or any other Gotham vigilante? And trust me, Gotham has a lot of vigilantes. I think there's more in that one city than there are in some states."
"I don't even want the stupid crown," Danny groaned. He buried his face again, Laika started licking him again.
"Well it's a good thing we already covered it up. And don't tell any of the goody two-shoes this, but we even wiped all the cult members' memories. Not a lot, just five minutes or so when you were summoned. Just pinched it right out, now they think Nightwing and friends all showed up right before they could they could get the spell going."
Danny nodded, that was good. "So, now what?"
"Now we send you home and hope you get to spend a long, peaceful life as a human before you become a full ghost and have to get to work."
"That's the problem, I can't go home."
"Yeah? So it was your parents that left you in that state?" He nodded his head towards Danny.
"No, they sold me to them."
The man waited Danny out this time.
"Not sold me out, even, they literally accepted money from those assholes when they handed me over. Said they couldn't stand to see a ghost puppeting their little boy."
The man made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. "And who'd they sell you to?"
"I can't, you'll just turn me back over to them, you have to."
"Says who?"
"The law," Danny croaked.
The man made another disgusted sound. "Do I sound like a yank to you? Like I care what American law is, it don't apply to me. What's more you know who that dog is, we're not on American soil. So fuck American law."
Danny blinked, he hadn't thought of that. "But… the Justice League…"
"Didn't turn you over for being the Ghost King yet, and they knew that the whole time. Besides that, you're Batsy's kid. The man has been known to go on a warpath whenever one of his kids gets hurt, whatever law there is won't stand a chance against him."
"Kids? How many siblings do I have?"
"Well… I'm not entirely sure. I think we're on Robin five or six, and there have for sure been three Batgirls, so at least eight, not including you."
"Ancients," Danny murmured. He was pretty sure he and Damian were their mother's only children, did the other seven all have the same mother?! "How many girlfriends does one guy have?"
The man started laughing, "I don't know kid, you'll have to ask him yourself." He let them both fall into silence after that, his shoes tipping back and forth. "So… ready to get back in your sick bed, let the poor medical staff cluck over you ruining all their hard work, and tell the rest of them the fucked up shit their government is getting up to? Again?"
"How do I know you won't hand me over anyway? The Justice League never did anything before."
"I'll he honest, mate, I've no clue what you're on about."
Danny made a frustrated sound. "The ghost attacks were near constant, there's no way someone wasn't calling to complain about them. I never saw anyone from the Justice League, not even once."
"I dunno, I never heard anything about ghosts attacking, and I'm from the magic division. You sure it got through the filters? Lots of people call 999 just to kvetch about petty things, and the cops don't show up to those."
Danny thought about it, half the time people didn't even know it was a ghost until Danny started punching them, if the fight was basically over by the time someone even called…
Pariah pulled all of Amity into the Realms, its not like calls for help would've gone through. After Danny defeated Freakshow he wiped everyone's memories. Undergrowth mind controlled everyone. Nocturn put everyone to sleep.
"What about Vortex? He was running around messing with the weather for a while before I finally got him captured."
"Weather?" The man rubbed his face, "Wait, there were several magical storms that popped up a few months ago, they suddenly cleared up before we could track down what had caused them."
"Oh my god, you guys just have no idea anything was even happening?!"
Blondie shrugged, "Seems so."
Danny groaned and buried his face in one hand. Laika whine and started licking his face again.
"So, now that that's cleared up, poor worried mother hen nurses?"
"Can I bring Laika with me?"
"Sure, why not? So long as you can get from here to there without pulling any more stitches."
"I don't know if I did, they have me on the really good drugs, everything still feels kinda floaty."
"Well, best get you back in bed and everything sorted. I hear your dad has a swanky place so I'm sure the beds there are top notch." The man scooted out from under the table, then turned and offered a hand to Danny. "Your majesty."
Danny crinkled his nose. "Don't call me that, I'm not the Ghost King yet." He did carefully scoot out from under the table and accepted the hand.
"Well if you're not king yet but you definitely will be I guess that makes you the Ghost Prince, your highness."
"Ew."
The man just laughed and led Danny out of the dim room and into the brightly lit hall. Too brightly lit, but Danny would just have to get over it. He held Laika tighter though, and she licked his face again.
"Gonna bring her back down to earth with you?" The man asked once they were in the elevator.
"Can I even do that? Doesn't she have a job or something? What'd you call her?"
"Church grim. It's an old superstition, the first person buried in a graveyard stays there to protect the dead and the church from spiritual threats. No one wanted to be stuck there, so when a new graveyard was made they'd bury a dog."
"I'm guessing they didn't move an already dead dog there."
"No, no they didn't." The silence that followed was heavy.
"Well, she has a job, I think I have to leave her up here," Danny decided.
"Not much of a job, it's not like there much she can do against Yellow Lanterns or The Reach or any other alien invaders."
"Why would she? She's only supposed to protect us from invading ghosts. Maybe she's already doing it and you don't even know."
"Sure, kid. Maybe she is."
They got out of the elevator and started walking down another identical hallway, only this time Wonder Woman was waiting outside one of the doors. She smiled when she saw them.
"You found him! Danny, are you injured?"
"Maybe, everything kinda stings and aches but it's fuzzy still." It was getting less fuzzy though.
"I'm glad you're safe, we were worried." She guided him into the room, which already seemed packed without adding three more people and a dog.
The medical people, all in colorful scrubs with various cute patterns on them, swarmed Danny. Laika laid her ears back and growled.
Danny shushed her, "It's okay, girl, they're just worried."
Laika stopped growling, but she licked her lips.
"How about I just take her while you get your check up." Wonder Woman reached for Laika, who growled and bared her fangs.
Damian turned to the blond man, "Is there something we are not seeing?"
"Ghost dog, a protection spirit."
"Her name is Laika, she came even though she wasn't the one I called. Can you not see her? She's not invisible right now."
"Most people can't see ghosts, not without a lot of effort on the ghost's part. Little thing just doesn't have the juice for that."
That made no sense, everyone always saw the ghosts in Amity. Danny looked down, Laika was really see through. He channeled some of his ecto into her.
"No!" The man held a hand out, then sighed in defeat. "You're gonna drain yourself if you're not careful, little prince."
Danny just grinned.
"Prince?" Blue stripes asked while Wonder Woman guided him to the bed.
"Well, he's not king yet."
"Is that the codename you want to go by, Ghost Prince?" Batman asked.
Danny set Laika on the bed, then sat down himself. "No, it's Phantom."
Batman nodded. Damian came and sat next to Danny and took his hand, he'd taken his gloves off. Laika sniffed around the bed before rushing over and plopping into Danny's lap.
"The medical staff are here to help," Danny told her as he pet her. "It's not easy or fun, but it's their job to make me better."
Laika huffed, but stayed still as the nurses (doctors?) approached. Blondie was off in the corner talking to Batman, Wonder Woman, and blue stripes, probably telling them about their under the table conversation. Danny couldn't hear it because the doctor(?) explained what she was doing and why to Danny, and taking care of his still fresh wound was kinda important.
"How lucky, no popped stitches. You did a good job moving carefully, especially when you couldn't feel anything."
"Thanks." Danny wasn't sure what else to say to that.
The check up went pretty fast, mostly just hooking him back up to everything, then they had him back in bed with a tray full of easy to digest food. Jello, chicken broth, a fruit salad, and some kind of porridge. All of them in small portions.
"You don't have to eat everything, in fact it's probably better if you don't, but we would like you to eat something."
Danny nodded and picked up his spoon. Laika sniffed the tray, then turned and went back to sniffing the bed before settling on Danny's legs. One of the nurses approached and offered Laika their hand. She sniffed the hand, then turned her face and ignored the nurse.
"Hello, who's a good girl?" the nurse asked. When he continued to be ignored, the nurse drooped before following the rest of the medical staff out of the room. Another of them promised to update Danny's medical file with a final wave. Which… guess Danny was really doing this now.
Damian had taken off his shoes and was half sitting half laying in the bed next to Danny. It was far more touchy than Danny had ever been allowed to be with Damian, but far less touchy than Jazz would've been. It was weird.
Everyone else sat around, seemingly waiting for Danny to finish eating. It was kind of nerve wracking.
"I'm done." He pushed the tray a little, scooting it away from him.
Blue stripes came over and picked the tray up, setting it on the table next to the bed. "Alright, are you ready to tell us everything?"
"Not really, no. But I can tell you some names." He took a deep breath, this was it, no turning back. He was about to tattle on his parents. If this didn't work he didn't know what he would do, but maybe if Damian wasn't living with Mother anymore then things could be okay. "Amity Park, Illinois. Mayor Vlad Masters. Doctors Jack and Madeline Fenton. And… the Ghost Investigation Ward, or the Guys in White. Oh, and also the anti-ecto acts."
"The what acts?" Blue stripes asked.
Danny shrugged, "It's what they cited whenever they shot at me."
Blue stripes groaned and ran his hands down his face, "Can't have anyone normal in this family."
"Oh, are you one of the dozen or so siblings I apparently have now?"
Batman glared at Blondie while blue stripes and Wonder Woman both giggled.
"Including ourselves there are only a half dozen of us," Damian said casually.
"Oh, is that all," Danny snarked back. Six kids was still a lot! Although… if blue stripes is one he seems a bit old. Maybe he's younger than he looks? It's hard to tell through the mask. "So… now what?"
"For now you stay here and do what the doctors tell you to do while you heal," Batman said not unkindly. "We'll look into these… anti-ecto acts, make sure it's safe for you to return."
"And then what?" Danny asked.
"And then you come live with us, obviously." Like Damian was so sure, like it was the easiest thing in the world.
Judging from the way Batman and blue stripes nodded, it was.