in my student era

Danny started to get up, but Tim waved at him to sit down again and set the delivery bags on the coffee table in front of Danny. “I got it. You’re is the super deluxe burger with fries and a pop.” He handed Danny a box, then a bag, and a cup. “Don’t know why you wanted a fountain drink, we’ve got plenty in the fridge.”

Danny shrugged, “I guess I like when it has cardboard taste in it.”

Tim nodded, less like he understood and more like he couldn’t argue, then took his own food and sat down on the couch next to Danny but with plenty of space between them. They sat in silence for a few minutes as they ate their burgers, then Tim suddenly asked, “So, you like your room? I know it looks hotel-impersonal right now, but we can get some decorations for it when we go get you more clothes.”

“Right.” Danny took another bite of burger so he didn’t have to talk. He didn’t want to have to stay there long enough to need more clothes or decorate a room. But he couldn’t be rude, Tim was just trying to help him out.

After a few more minutes, Tim cleared his throat and said, “So, what kinds of things do you like? Hobbies or interests or?”

Danny tried to stay chill as he said, “I’m kinda into astronomy.”

“Oo, the solar system or deep-space?”

“Yeah, so,” Danny found himself rubbing the back of his neck and looking at the floor. People generally loose interest once he starts explaining too much, “I’ve kinda wanted to be an astronaut my entire life and have worked on engineering and stuff like that. Back home, I’ve got model rockets and blueprints for shuttles, and prints of my favorite galaxies.”

“What are your favorite galaxies?”

“The Milky Way, of course.”

Danny paused to take a breath and Tim repeated “of course.”

“And also, uh Hoag’s Object which is a ring galaxy. The Tadpole galaxy, which is a disrupted spiral galaxy so it looks like it’s got a tail sticking out of it. The Godzilla galaxy, which is the biggest galaxy we’ve observed so far.” Danny gave the short version, and since Tim looked like he was actually still listening, Danny continued, “There were also two prints of dark matter globules, “God’s Finger” and “God’s Hand” – and I still had one of my first posters of the solar system, the one with Zoove on it – the temporary quasi-satellite of Venus, but I kept my official solar system map up-to-date. And a simplified schematic of the Hartman 2 – it was a rocket launched on my birthday when I was seven, but I was too young to know that it wasn’t a NASA mission, it was just a rich guy’s vanity project that barely left the launchpad.”

“Hate it when that happens.” Tim commented and Danny laughed with him. “But this is all good to know, would you want a map of Mars too? I know how to get an accurate one, with all the cities and stuff labeled.”

Danny’s eyes lit up, “There are cities on Mars?”

Tim chuckled, “Yeah, our Martians made contact some time ago – on accident, actually.”

“Martians are real?” Danny literally had to grab his head with this new information.

“Yeah, a couple of decades ago, there was a near-extinction event,” Tim said and turned on the TV – that connected to the internet, and pulled up new articles on The Martian Manhunter, and Earth’s Sister Planet. “Manhunter – which is just kinda what they call police on Mars – he got nabbed by an experimental teleportation device and got stranded here on Earth. He’d got trapped in the beginning of a huge plague that we now know killed almost two thirds the Martian population. Their entire society pretty much collapsed and they’ve been trying to rebuild ever since, but it’s slow-going. Our technology has actually really been rapidly increasing ever since we found out too, both so that Manhunter could get back home and also so we can help the Martians.”

Danny had gotten up off the couch to get closer to the screen – almost too close to be able to read it. “Years? More than two?”

Tim gave a slightly hurt smile, “Yeah, is any memory coming back?”

Danny didn’t answer, just turned back to skim more of the articles in front of him. Something itched at the back of Danny’s head, and he didn’t even realize he’d spoken when he asked, “Where’s Dad?”

Tim had shown Danny his dad, Jack Drake, and it was just Danny’s dad, Jack Fenton. It made no sense and Danny assumed that the first thing Tim would want to do is confront Jack Drake about a seemingly secret child, from a seemingly second family. But Danny hadn’t seen or heard from the man at all, and the apartment was Tim’s, no parents or siblings to be found.

“Right…” Tim said and started to pick up the trash of their lunch. “Dad died a couple years ago. Mom too a little before that.”

“Oh, I’m-” Danny turned to look at him, but Tim was already walking into the kitchen. “Sorry.”

Tim shrugged. “In all honesty – I probably don’t miss him as much as I should. He tried to be a good dad, but only after Mom died. And I just, wasn’t ready for it. Neither of them had been hugely present in my life. They loved me, and took care of me, but they were busy with work, so…”

Danny sighed, “yeah, me too.”

Then he realized, he didn’t want Tim to get the wrong idea, “Wait, but my dad isn’t dead? He’s-” Danny suddenly felt something wrong, “alive…”

“Is he?” Tim asked, then noticed Danny’s confusion. “Are you okay?”

“I- I just felt it…” Danny said, trying to put his feelings into words. “I can feel there’s something missing… I didn’t really believe it before, but I can feel a hole in my memory. Something should be there, but it’s not… I don’t – I don’t know if my dad’s still alive or not.”

Tim sighed sadly, “So… I’ve also been asking around, and I’ve got a theory about all this.”

Danny gave him a confused look, unsure if this was a desperate attempt at distraction to stop Danny from spiraling or what. "A theory?"

"Yeah, so I personally know Superboy."

Imagine being rich enough you could call some superman to come figure out why you have a half-brother, like the obvious solution doesn't exist.

"And a couple of years ago, there was a bit of an... issue? Where a bunch of parallel realities were collapsing for reasons I'm still not fully sure of - but it was kind of like... do you know what a wave function collapse is?"

"Schrodinger's Cat stuff, right?"

"Exactly! So, there were a whole bunch of parallel worlds that collapsed into one reality, but it didn't do that cleanly." Tim continued. "Some people who should be dead are alive, some people exist who's parents don't, and so on."

"You... think I'm a leftover of a reality that doesn't exist anymore?"

"It's just my current working theory!" Tim defended, "But it's really hard to check that kind of thing, but our dad is the same guy, just a little different. Your home city doesn't exist, but Gotham City has existed for both of us. Your Mars doesn't have Martians on it, the minute differences in our timelines might have just made it not as lucky as ours. And, you know, Dad would never cheat on Mom like that."

Danny didn't want to believe that, but everything Tim was saying made sense. There were discrepancies in the reality Danny knew, but, his entire reality? All his friends and family and even the people he didn't like but would still miss? "I don't want my home to have never existed."

"It's just a theory!"

"That some superman told you?"

"Superboy," tim corrected, "he witnessed the form collapse."

Danny rubbed his face and sighed, "And how... how would you prove this?"

Tim looked like he was completely sure already, but offered, "There's a special type of radiation that people from parallel realities give off - it's usually unique to their reality, but if someone's from a... "dead" timeline, that all registers as the same even if the individuals are from different realities."

"Okay, so, how do we test for that radiation?"

"I'll call Superboy. He should be able to connect us to someone who has the tech that can do that!" Tim said cheerefully. "And if not, if you're from a living reality, we'll be able to get you back home."

Danny nodded, but again... "I don't really believe all this. Like, parallel dimensions and stuff? It's just, sci-fi bullshit." Danny said, but the look on Tim's face was, sad. It was almost the condescending look Dad would give Danny when he said ghosts were 100% real even though they'd never actually seen one. "But, I guess it's worth looking into."

"Don't worry, Danny. No matter what happens, I'll be here to take care of you."

Danny got a wave of positive emotions from that, literally just good vibes he couldn't define if asked. Jazz had said the exact same thing to him, all the time, and it felt like, even if she wasn't physically there, her spirit was...

“That’s not…” Danny started, but then got that distant look on his face he gets sometimes. Tim thinks he’s remembering stuff, but he’s not sharing. “Actually, that is impressive, isn’t it?”

“Duh! yeah, it is.” Tim said and ruffled Danny’s hair, that Danny seemed to like. “He can fly! And lift cars, and shot lasers out of his eyes!”

“Yeah, yeah, he’s cool – just not very alien.” Danny said, but he was smiling again, teasing even.

“Sorry not all aliens look like the xenomorph,” Tim said, but then something moved in the corner of his vision, and he turned to see a familiar jumpsuit flying towards him, “But speaking of.”

Tim waved at the quickly approaching dot and Kon came to a stop in front of them. “Hey there, Tim. Nice to see you took my advice of not falling off crumbling buildings.”

Tim nodded politely, “Of course, Superboy. It’s really expensive to rebuilding crumbling buildings.”

Kon laughed and turned to look at Danny, “And you must be Tim’s little brother! It’s nice to meet you.”

“Hi. I’m-” Danny smiled politely, offered his hand out for Kon to shake, and took a few steps forward… right over the edge of the building.

“Woap!” Kon said, flying forwards slightly and taking Danny’s hand while using the contact to move Danny back onto the helicopter platform. “Man, is falling off of buildings a genetic trait?”

Danny laughed half-awkwardly, “Oh, sorry, I just, like, forgot the ground ended there.”

Kon laughed too, “No problem. I’ll be sure to catch both of you.” He said with a wink at Tim.

Tim cleared his throat and got back on track, “Right. But, you set something up for us to test that theory, right?”

Kon nodded, “Yep. Though, I’m surprised Wayne Industries doesn’t have a transdimensional radiation scanner.”

Damn it, come on Kon, Tim’s trying to play normal for Danny.

“Wayne Industries… that’s where you work at, isn’t it, Tim?”

“Yep! That’s where I am legally employed.” Tim said and tried to get Kon on the same page.

“Employed?” Kon asked confused, but Tim’s pretty sure he’s playing it up. “You own like, half the company.”

Tim face-palmed, and the look on Kon’s face meant he knew exactly what he was saying.

“Wait, like, own-own? Like, you’re The Guy In Charge?” Danny curiously asked.

“I don’t own most of it – we have over a hundred share owners. But me and Bruce are co-CEO’s, so we run the place. And, we developed some of the tech in the trans-dimensional radiation detector, but W.I. only has access to the prototypes, that have a high error rate, not the finished product, that was given to the Justice League for situations like this.” Tim tried to answer all questions and fill any plot holes so Danny wouldn’t get the wrong idea.

“Ah, that makes sense.” Kon said, meaning he was agreeing to play along with Tim’s normal guy act.

Danny just kinda looked at him for a moment, then said, “That’s pretty cool. Isn’t Wayne Industries one of the biggest companies in the world? And you’re just 18, that’s really impressive.”

“Thanks.” Tim said and gave Danny another head-pat, then turned back to Kon, “Now that that’s settled, where do we need to go from here?”

“Well, I can carry both of you over to Metropolis, if you want, or-” Kon pulled out a pair of blindfolds, “We can go the fun way.”

Tim tilted his head, he could guess, but he had to ask, “The fun way?”

Kon grinned at Danny, “Hey, you wanna use a teleporter?”

Danny grinned widely, “Yeah!”

“Wait, is that safe?” Tim said, but he made sure Kon heard “We can’t do that. Danny’s not in the system, and I don’t want him added.”

“Well, we use it all the time, and no one’s gotten hurt yet.” Kon answered, and didn’t get Tim’s meaning. But then he added, “Batman’s out of town, so it’s not like he’ll know we used his Zeta Tube.”

“What’s a Batman?” Danny asked.

Kon had the biggest look of shock on his face, then got a little too close to Tim, “You didn’t tell him about Batman?”

“I don’t want to scare him off.” Tim said through gritted teeth, trying not to shove Kon out of his personal space.

Kon grinned widely and turned back to Danny. “Listen, Batman is Gotham’s designated superhero, he’s got like, 20 sidekicks, no superpowers, which somehow makes him so much more scary. I wouldn’t be able to come hang out with you guys if he knew I was coming. He hates meta-humans.”

“No, he doesn’t hate meta-humans. He’s had 8 proteges, and more than one of them is a meta-human he helped train to use their meta-powers.” Tim corrected, at Danny to make sure he wouldn’t be scared of Batman – that would make things so much worse. But, then of course, he said to Kon, “He doesn’t like other Superheroes in his city because you get in the way as much as you help.”

“Sure.” Kon said with a knowing smile. “Still, you guys want to go the short way or long way to JL headquarters?”

“The teleporter – Zeta Tubes, right?” Danny asked and with a nod from Kon continued, “Are those the ones that kidnapped Martian Manhunter?”

Kon barked out a laugh and nodded, “Yeah! But that was, what? Thirty? Forty years ago?”

“I’m sure the glitches have been worked out.” Tim said.

Danny nodded and then slowly asked, “So, could someone, hypothetically, use one to visit Mars?”

“Not yet.” Tim answered before Kon could, “They only work on-world to low-orbit. You still have to use an actual ship for a couple months long trip in order to get to Mars.”

Danny nodded in understanding, “Okay, cool. Then whichever way you think it best, Tim.”

Tim smiled at the trust Danny had in him, “Right, then-”

“Zeta Tubes it is!” Kon interrupted and handed a blindfold to Danny and Tim, “Come on, it’ll be fun!”

Danny took one only after Tim did, and Tim whispered to Kon, “You’re not taking us to the cave, are you?”

Kon shook his head and mouthed for Tim to read, “Public access tube.”

Tim nodded and put the blindfold on – then took it off while Danny was still wearing his.

“Hop on,” Kon said and pulled Danny into a piggyback ride, then held his hand out Tim to take. It was funny hearing Danny make all kinds of surprised sounds as Kon took them the short distance to the public access Zeta Tube.

Tim pretended to take his blindfold off when Danny did and Danny didn’t look impressed – “It’s a phone booth?”

“Well, no one uses them anymore,” Tim said, knowing that Danny came from just barely less advanced technology. Danny freaked out when Tim offered to get him a smart phone, saying Tim didn’t need to spend that much money on him, even when Tim explained that cell phones aren’t that expensive – hopefully now that he knows Tim’s rich, Danny will accept the phone.

“Really?” Danny asked and stared in wonder as Kon held the door open for Tim.

“You go first.” Kon said, with an implied, “and give Danny an access profile so he can use it in the future if there’s an emergency.”

Which, Tim nodded and went in first, coming out the other side in the Hall of Justice, and using the time-delay to make an access code for Danny that would label him a special civilian guest, not a random guy off the street nor a hero. And seconds later, Danny came through.

“Wow, that… feels interesting.” Danny said and looked back up at the Zeta Tube behind him.

“It tingles the first time.” Tim said cheerfully, then worried for a moment that he gave away his secret identity, but Danny didn’t seem to notice.

Danny hummed in agreement and rubbed his arms until the hair stopped standing on end while Kon came through.

“Alright, step one is done.” Kon said, then started walking away from the Zeta platform. “Now, to the lab!”

Tim walked next to Danny and enjoyed watching Danny’s face react to everything in the Hall of Justice. They weren’t in the museum part of it, but it was still a pretty cool place to walk around.

“It’s got spaceship vibes, right?” Tim offered.

“More like space station vibes, but yeah,” Danny agreed.

Then they got to one of the fairly normal examination rooms. It looked like a normal clinic office, just with a few extra examination machines. Danny looked a bit apprehensive about it. “Nervous about something? It’ll be toned down from a normal doctor’s check-up.”

Danny still looked worried and said, “I, um, I don’t…”

“What? Have you never been to a doctor before?” Kon teased, and then Danny nodded.

“Wait, seriously?” Tim asked.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck, “My parents just never found a doctor they liked, so they decided to take care of everything themselves.”

“How?” Tim asked before he even really registered what he’d said.

Danny shrugged, “They had a bunch of medical equipment as part of their research – so if Jazz and I got sick, they’d take care of it.”

Tim just kinda shared a look with Kon, because, “You’ve never, ever been to a doctor?”

“Maybe when I was really little?” Danny said, “Like, I had all the vaccinations that are required to go to school. And my parents even gave us extra ones to cover other stuff too.”

There was a beat of silence, and all Tim could say was, “Well, at least you’re vaccinated.”

Kon clapped his hands for attention and said, “Right, well, let’s get this dealt with, and then we can worry about – that.”

They got Danny onto the examination bench and Kon pulled out the scanner. He helpfully commented, “So, someone being dimensionally displaced has actually happened quite a bit.”

“Yeah, Tim said you witnessed the wave form collapse for that.”

“Witness is a way of saying that, yeah.” Kon answered and the scanner beeped to let them know that it didn’t need more information… and then it let them know that it was done comparing Danny’s signature to the database they had, fast enough that Tim and Kon already knew what the result was. The signature the machine matches against first.

There was a long beat of silence before Kon finally said, “Sorry, Danny, but – you’re from a dead timeline, there’s nowhere for you to go back to.”

Danny stared at him – stared past him at nothing, and it looked like he stopped breathing. Then Kon suddenly shouted and went to grab him, “Danny!”

Kon’s hand passed through Danny and he fell down through the examination bench – through it. He was panicking, still not breathing.

Tim practically jumped after him, not trying to touch him, but trying to get his attention, “Danny, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay.”

Danny started sinking into the floor, only stopping when Kon touched him, just a finger on his shoulder, to activate his tactile telekinesis and stop Danny from falling through the floor. Suddenly, a bright flash of light nearly blinded Tim and Danny was sitting there, in a black and white jumpsuit with white hair, tan skin, and green eyes – his entire body glowing, his eyes particularly bright.

Danny looked terrified, he clearly wasn’t in control. He was practically begging, “What’s happening? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but it’s going to be okay.” Tim tried to reassure. Danny was a meta, it looked like he didn’t know he was a meta, it must have manifested during the two year memory gap.

“No, no, I can’t- I can’t be a ghost. My parents-”

“Danny!” Tim practically shouted and Danny finally focused on him. “Listen, Danny, whatever is going on, I’m going to be here for you. I promise, we will figure this out. You’re going to be okay, I’m going to take care of you.”

Danny stared at Tim for several minutes, then he suddenly breathed again. More light flashed and Danny was back to normal. And Tim suddenly found Danny grabbing onto him. Danny was mumbling and it took a few moments for Tim to realize he’s just repeating “I’m sorry” over and over again.

Tim hugged Danny close and answered back to him, “It’s okay. I’m here. You’re going to be okay.”

Once Danny got more control of himself, he let go of Tim and more consciously said, “Sorry.”

“It’s a lot to take in.” Tim commiserated. He looked up and it looked like Kon had let them have some alone time at some point. He took a breath and stood up, offering his hand to Danny, “Come on, lets go home.”

Danny looked pained – Tim should have picked a better word. “Sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“Hey guys.” Kon was suddenly back in the room, “Ready to get outta here?”

Danny nodded and accepted Tim’s hand to stand back up. He was shaky and clearly exhausted, leaning on Tim for balance. They walked back to the Zeta platform, Danny stopped, and stumbled back a bit with fear in his eyes. “Danny, you okay?”

“Yeah, that’s – that’s what brought us here?”

Tim nodded, “Yeah, the one in Gotham has it’s structure hidden, but it’s the same thing.”

Danny was clearly still scared of it, and squeezed Tim’s hand to reassure himself. “We don’t have to use it if you don’t like it.”

“It’s fine.” Danny said and walked up to it.

Tim quickly made sure it was still connected to the “public” Gotham location and sent Danny back quickly. But, before Tim could go himself, Kon grabbed his hand. “Tim – Danny’s heart fully stopped, it was not beating for that entire panic attack. Everything else stopped too, for several minutes, his body was practically dead.”

Tim nodded in understanding, and walked through the Zeta Tube, “Thanks. I’ll figure it out.”

Kon didn’t follow them and Tim just called them a car back to the apartment. Danny was quiet, too quiet, dead quiet, until they got back into the apartment, where he apologized again. “I’m sorry, I just – don’t know what happened. One minute, I was fine and then I just… I don’t know.”

“Hey, it’s alright.” Tim said and pat Danny’s shoulder – he responds well to physical affection, so Tim will give him as much as he needs. “Like I said, we’ll figure it out together, and no matter what, I’m with you.”

Danny gave him a tired smile, then wandered off to his room.

Tim sighed and threw himself onto the couch. He wanted to scream because – that was a lot. Danny is from a dead timeline, everyone he’s ever known doesn’t exist anymore. Danny is a meta-human who can phase through solid objects and has some kind of second form. Danny can go several minutes with no vital signs at all.

Tim pressed his face into a pillow and groaned loudly into it. Then his phone buzzed, and he worried Kon was telling him something else about Danny, but it wasn’t him.

Danny started to get up, but Tim waved at him to sit down again and set the delivery bags on the coffee table in front of Danny. “I got it. You’re is the super deluxe burger with fries and a pop.” He handed Danny a box, then a bag, and a cup. “Don’t know why you wanted a fountain drink, we’ve got plenty in the fridge.”

Danny shrugged, “I guess I like when it has cardboard taste in it.”

Tim nodded, less like he understood and more like he couldn’t argue, then took his own food and sat down on the couch next to Danny but with plenty of space between them. They sat in silence for a few minutes as they ate their burgers, then Tim suddenly asked, “So, you like your room? I know it looks hotel-impersonal right now, but we can get some decorations for it when we go get you more clothes.”

“Right.” Danny took another bite of burger so he didn’t have to talk. He didn’t want to have to stay there long enough to need more clothes or decorate a room. But he couldn’t be rude, Tim was just trying to help him out.

After a few more minutes, Tim cleared his throat and said, “So, what kinds of things do you like? Hobbies or interests or?”

Danny tried to stay chill as he said, “I’m kinda into astronomy.”

“Oo, the solar system or deep-space?”

“Yeah, so,” Danny found himself rubbing the back of his neck and looking at the floor. People generally loose interest once he starts explaining too much, “I’ve kinda wanted to be an astronaut my entire life and have worked on engineering and stuff like that. Back home, I’ve got model rockets and blueprints for shuttles, and prints of my favorite galaxies.”

“What are your favorite galaxies?”

“The Milky Way, of course.”

Danny paused to take a breath and Tim repeated “of course.”

“And also, uh Hoag’s Object which is a ring galaxy. The Tadpole galaxy, which is a disrupted spiral galaxy so it looks like it’s got a tail sticking out of it. The Godzilla galaxy, which is the biggest galaxy we’ve observed so far.” Danny gave the short version, and since Tim looked like he was actually still listening, Danny continued, “There were also two prints of dark matter globules, “God’s Finger” and “God’s Hand” – and I still had one of my first posters of the solar system, the one with Zoove on it – the temporary quasi-satellite of Venus, but I kept my official solar system map up-to-date. And a simplified schematic of the Hartman 2 – it was a rocket launched on my birthday when I was seven, but I was too young to know that it wasn’t a NASA mission, it was just a rich guy’s vanity project that barely left the launchpad.”

“Hate it when that happens.” Tim commented and Danny laughed with him. “But this is all good to know, would you want a map of Mars too? I know how to get an accurate one, with all the cities and stuff labeled.”

Danny’s eyes lit up, “There are cities on Mars?”

Tim chuckled, “Yeah, our Martians made contact some time ago – on accident, actually.”

“Martians are real?” Danny literally had to grab his head with this new information.

“Yeah, a couple of decades ago, there was a near-extinction event,” Tim said and turned on the TV – that connected to the internet, and pulled up new articles on The Martian Manhunter, and Earth’s Sister Planet. “Manhunter – which is just kinda what they call police on Mars – he got nabbed by an experimental teleportation device and got stranded here on Earth. He’d got trapped in the beginning of a huge plague that we now know killed almost two thirds the Martian population. Their entire society pretty much collapsed and they’ve been trying to rebuild ever since, but it’s slow-going. Our technology has actually really been rapidly increasing ever since we found out too, both so that Manhunter could get back home and also so we can help the Martians.”

Danny had gotten up off the couch to get closer to the screen – almost too close to be able to read it. “Years? More than two?”

Tim gave a slightly hurt smile, “Yeah, is any memory coming back?”

Danny didn’t answer, just turned back to skim more of the articles in front of him. Something itched at the back of Danny’s head, and he didn’t even realize he’d spoken when he asked, “Where’s Dad?”

Tim had shown Danny his dad, Jack Drake, and it was just Danny’s dad, Jack Fenton. It made no sense and Danny assumed that the first thing Tim would want to do is confront Jack Drake about a seemingly secret child, from a seemingly second family. But Danny hadn’t seen or heard from the man at all, and the apartment was Tim’s, no parents or siblings to be found.

“Right…” Tim said and started to pick up the trash of their lunch. “Dad died a couple years ago. Mom too a little before that.”

“Oh, I’m-” Danny turned to look at him, but Tim was already walking into the kitchen. “Sorry.”

Tim shrugged. “In all honesty – I probably don’t miss him as much as I should. He tried to be a good dad, but only after Mom died. And I just, wasn’t ready for it. Neither of them had been hugely present in my life. They loved me, and took care of me, but they were busy with work, so…”

Danny sighed, “yeah, me too.”

Then he realized, he didn’t want Tim to get the wrong idea, “Wait, but my dad isn’t dead? He’s-” Danny suddenly felt something wrong, “alive…”

“Is he?” Tim asked, then noticed Danny’s confusion. “Are you okay?”

“I- I just felt it…” Danny said, trying to put his feelings into words. “I can feel there’s something missing… I didn’t really believe it before, but I can feel a hole in my memory. Something should be there, but it’s not… I don’t – I don’t know if my dad’s still alive or not.”

Tim sighed sadly, “So… I’ve also been asking around, and I’ve got a theory about all this.”

Danny gave him a confused look, unsure if this was a desperate attempt at distraction to stop Danny from spiraling or what. "A theory?"

"Yeah, so I personally know Superboy."

Imagine being rich enough you could call some superman to come figure out why you have a half-brother, like the obvious solution doesn't exist.

"And a couple of years ago, there was a bit of an... issue? Where a bunch of parallel realities were collapsing for reasons I'm still not fully sure of - but it was kind of like... do you know what a wave function collapse is?"

"Schrodinger's Cat stuff, right?"

"Exactly! So, there were a whole bunch of parallel worlds that collapsed into one reality, but it didn't do that cleanly." Tim continued. "Some people who should be dead are alive, some people exist who's parents don't, and so on."

"You... think I'm a leftover of a reality that doesn't exist anymore?"

"It's just my current working theory!" Tim defended, "But it's really hard to check that kind of thing, but our dad is the same guy, just a little different. Your home city doesn't exist, but Gotham City has existed for both of us. Your Mars doesn't have Martians on it, the minute differences in our timelines might have just made it not as lucky as ours. And, you know, Dad would never cheat on Mom like that."

Danny didn't want to believe that, but everything Tim was saying made sense. There were discrepancies in the reality Danny knew, but, his entire reality? All his friends and family and even the people he didn't like but would still miss? "I don't want my home to have never existed."

"It's just a theory!"

"That some superman told you?"

"Superboy," tim corrected, "he witnessed the form collapse."

Danny rubbed his face and sighed, "And how... how would you prove this?"

Tim looked like he was completely sure already, but offered, "There's a special type of radiation that people from parallel realities give off - it's usually unique to their reality, but if someone's from a... "dead" timeline, that all registers as the same even if the individuals are from different realities."

"Okay, so, how do we test for that radiation?"

"I'll call Superboy. He should be able to connect us to someone who has the tech that can do that!" Tim said cheerefully. "And if not, if you're from a living reality, we'll be able to get you back home."

Danny nodded, but again... "I don't really believe all this. Like, parallel dimensions and stuff? It's just, sci-fi bullshit." Danny said, but the look on Tim's face was, sad. It was almost the condescending look Dad would give Danny when he said ghosts were 100% real even though they'd never actually seen one. "But, I guess it's worth looking into."

"Don't worry, Danny. No matter what happens, I'll be here to take care of you."

Danny got a wave of positive emotions from that, literally just good vibes he couldn't define if asked. Jazz had said the exact same thing to him, all the time, and it felt like, even if she wasn't physically there, her spirit was...

“That’s not…” Danny started, but then got that distant look on his face he gets sometimes. Tim thinks he’s remembering stuff, but he’s not sharing. “Actually, that is impressive, isn’t it?”

“Duh! yeah, it is.” Tim said and ruffled Danny’s hair, that Danny seemed to like. “He can fly! And lift cars, and shot lasers out of his eyes!”

“Yeah, yeah, he’s cool – just not very alien.” Danny said, but he was smiling again, teasing even.

“Sorry not all aliens look like the xenomorph,” Tim said, but then something moved in the corner of his vision, and he turned to see a familiar jumpsuit flying towards him, “But speaking of.”

Tim waved at the quickly approaching dot and Kon came to a stop in front of them. “Hey there, Tim. Nice to see you took my advice of not falling off crumbling buildings.”

Tim nodded politely, “Of course, Superboy. It’s really expensive to rebuilding crumbling buildings.”

Kon laughed and turned to look at Danny, “And you must be Tim’s little brother! It’s nice to meet you.”

“Hi. I’m-” Danny smiled politely, offered his hand out for Kon to shake, and took a few steps forward… right over the edge of the building.

“Woap!” Kon said, flying forwards slightly and taking Danny’s hand while using the contact to move Danny back onto the helicopter platform. “Man, is falling off of buildings a genetic trait?”

Danny laughed half-awkwardly, “Oh, sorry, I just, like, forgot the ground ended there.”

Kon laughed too, “No problem. I’ll be sure to catch both of you.” He said with a wink at Tim.

Tim cleared his throat and got back on track, “Right. But, you set something up for us to test that theory, right?”

Kon nodded, “Yep. Though, I’m surprised Wayne Industries doesn’t have a transdimensional radiation scanner.”

Damn it, come on Kon, Tim’s trying to play normal for Danny.

“Wayne Industries… that’s where you work at, isn’t it, Tim?”

“Yep! That’s where I am legally employed.” Tim said and tried to get Kon on the same page.

“Employed?” Kon asked confused, but Tim’s pretty sure he’s playing it up. “You own like, half the company.”

Tim face-palmed, and the look on Kon’s face meant he knew exactly what he was saying.

“Wait, like, own-own? Like, you’re The Guy In Charge?” Danny curiously asked.

“I don’t own most of it – we have over a hundred share owners. But me and Bruce are co-CEO’s, so we run the place. And, we developed some of the tech in the trans-dimensional radiation detector, but W.I. only has access to the prototypes, that have a high error rate, not the finished product, that was given to the Justice League for situations like this.” Tim tried to answer all questions and fill any plot holes so Danny wouldn’t get the wrong idea.

“Ah, that makes sense.” Kon said, meaning he was agreeing to play along with Tim’s normal guy act.

Danny just kinda looked at him for a moment, then said, “That’s pretty cool. Isn’t Wayne Industries one of the biggest companies in the world? And you’re just 18, that’s really impressive.”

“Thanks.” Tim said and gave Danny another head-pat, then turned back to Kon, “Now that that’s settled, where do we need to go from here?”

“Well, I can carry both of you over to Metropolis, if you want, or-” Kon pulled out a pair of blindfolds, “We can go the fun way.”

Tim tilted his head, he could guess, but he had to ask, “The fun way?”

Kon grinned at Danny, “Hey, you wanna use a teleporter?”

Danny grinned widely, “Yeah!”

“Wait, is that safe?” Tim said, but he made sure Kon heard “We can’t do that. Danny’s not in the system, and I don’t want him added.”

“Well, we use it all the time, and no one’s gotten hurt yet.” Kon answered, and didn’t get Tim’s meaning. But then he added, “Batman’s out of town, so it’s not like he’ll know we used his Zeta Tube.”

“What’s a Batman?” Danny asked.

Kon had the biggest look of shock on his face, then got a little too close to Tim, “You didn’t tell him about Batman?”

“I don’t want to scare him off.” Tim said through gritted teeth, trying not to shove Kon out of his personal space.

Kon grinned widely and turned back to Danny. “Listen, Batman is Gotham’s designated superhero, he’s got like, 20 sidekicks, no superpowers, which somehow makes him so much more scary. I wouldn’t be able to come hang out with you guys if he knew I was coming. He hates meta-humans.”

“No, he doesn’t hate meta-humans. He’s had 8 proteges, and more than one of them is a meta-human he helped train to use their meta-powers.” Tim corrected, at Danny to make sure he wouldn’t be scared of Batman – that would make things so much worse. But, then of course, he said to Kon, “He doesn’t like other Superheroes in his city because you get in the way as much as you help.”

“Sure.” Kon said with a knowing smile. “Still, you guys want to go the short way or long way to JL headquarters?”

“The teleporter – Zeta Tubes, right?” Danny asked and with a nod from Kon continued, “Are those the ones that kidnapped Martian Manhunter?”

Kon barked out a laugh and nodded, “Yeah! But that was, what? Thirty? Forty years ago?”

“I’m sure the glitches have been worked out.” Tim said.

Danny nodded and then slowly asked, “So, could someone, hypothetically, use one to visit Mars?”

“Not yet.” Tim answered before Kon could, “They only work on-world to low-orbit. You still have to use an actual ship for a couple months long trip in order to get to Mars.”

Danny nodded in understanding, “Okay, cool. Then whichever way you think it best, Tim.”

Tim smiled at the trust Danny had in him, “Right, then-”

“Zeta Tubes it is!” Kon interrupted and handed a blindfold to Danny and Tim, “Come on, it’ll be fun!”

Danny took one only after Tim did, and Tim whispered to Kon, “You’re not taking us to the cave, are you?”

Kon shook his head and mouthed for Tim to read, “Public access tube.”

Tim nodded and put the blindfold on – then took it off while Danny was still wearing his.

“Hop on,” Kon said and pulled Danny into a piggyback ride, then held his hand out Tim to take. It was funny hearing Danny make all kinds of surprised sounds as Kon took them the short distance to the public access Zeta Tube.

Tim pretended to take his blindfold off when Danny did and Danny didn’t look impressed – “It’s a phone booth?”

“Well, no one uses them anymore,” Tim said, knowing that Danny came from just barely less advanced technology. Danny freaked out when Tim offered to get him a smart phone, saying Tim didn’t need to spend that much money on him, even when Tim explained that cell phones aren’t that expensive – hopefully now that he knows Tim’s rich, Danny will accept the phone.

“Really?” Danny asked and stared in wonder as Kon held the door open for Tim.

“You go first.” Kon said, with an implied, “and give Danny an access profile so he can use it in the future if there’s an emergency.”

Which, Tim nodded and went in first, coming out the other side in the Hall of Justice, and using the time-delay to make an access code for Danny that would label him a special civilian guest, not a random guy off the street nor a hero. And seconds later, Danny came through.

“Wow, that… feels interesting.” Danny said and looked back up at the Zeta Tube behind him.

“It tingles the first time.” Tim said cheerfully, then worried for a moment that he gave away his secret identity, but Danny didn’t seem to notice.

Danny hummed in agreement and rubbed his arms until the hair stopped standing on end while Kon came through.

“Alright, step one is done.” Kon said, then started walking away from the Zeta platform. “Now, to the lab!”

Tim walked next to Danny and enjoyed watching Danny’s face react to everything in the Hall of Justice. They weren’t in the museum part of it, but it was still a pretty cool place to walk around.

“It’s got spaceship vibes, right?” Tim offered.

“More like space station vibes, but yeah,” Danny agreed.

Then they got to one of the fairly normal examination rooms. It looked like a normal clinic office, just with a few extra examination machines. Danny looked a bit apprehensive about it. “Nervous about something? It’ll be toned down from a normal doctor’s check-up.”

Danny still looked worried and said, “I, um, I don’t…”

“What? Have you never been to a doctor before?” Kon teased, and then Danny nodded.

“Wait, seriously?” Tim asked.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck, “My parents just never found a doctor they liked, so they decided to take care of everything themselves.”

“How?” Tim asked before he even really registered what he’d said.

Danny shrugged, “They had a bunch of medical equipment as part of their research – so if Jazz and I got sick, they’d take care of it.”

Tim just kinda shared a look with Kon, because, “You’ve never, ever been to a doctor?”

“Maybe when I was really little?” Danny said, “Like, I had all the vaccinations that are required to go to school. And my parents even gave us extra ones to cover other stuff too.”

There was a beat of silence, and all Tim could say was, “Well, at least you’re vaccinated.”

Kon clapped his hands for attention and said, “Right, well, let’s get this dealt with, and then we can worry about – that.”

They got Danny onto the examination bench and Kon pulled out the scanner. He helpfully commented, “So, someone being dimensionally displaced has actually happened quite a bit.”

“Yeah, Tim said you witnessed the wave form collapse for that.”

“Witness is a way of saying that, yeah.” Kon answered and the scanner beeped to let them know that it didn’t need more information… and then it let them know that it was done comparing Danny’s signature to the database they had, fast enough that Tim and Kon already knew what the result was. The signature the machine matches against first.

There was a long beat of silence before Kon finally said, “Sorry, Danny, but – you’re from a dead timeline, there’s nowhere for you to go back to.”

Danny stared at him – stared past him at nothing, and it looked like he stopped breathing. Then Kon suddenly shouted and went to grab him, “Danny!”

Kon’s hand passed through Danny and he fell down through the examination bench – through it. He was panicking, still not breathing.

Tim practically jumped after him, not trying to touch him, but trying to get his attention, “Danny, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay.”

Danny started sinking into the floor, only stopping when Kon touched him, just a finger on his shoulder, to activate his tactile telekinesis and stop Danny from falling through the floor. Suddenly, a bright flash of light nearly blinded Tim and Danny was sitting there, in a black and white jumpsuit with white hair, tan skin, and green eyes – his entire body glowing, his eyes particularly bright.

Danny looked terrified, he clearly wasn’t in control. He was practically begging, “What’s happening? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but it’s going to be okay.” Tim tried to reassure. Danny was a meta, it looked like he didn’t know he was a meta, it must have manifested during the two year memory gap.

“No, no, I can’t- I can’t be a ghost. My parents-”

“Danny!” Tim practically shouted and Danny finally focused on him. “Listen, Danny, whatever is going on, I’m going to be here for you. I promise, we will figure this out. You’re going to be okay, I’m going to take care of you.”

Danny stared at Tim for several minutes, then he suddenly breathed again. More light flashed and Danny was back to normal. And Tim suddenly found Danny grabbing onto him. Danny was mumbling and it took a few moments for Tim to realize he’s just repeating “I’m sorry” over and over again.

Tim hugged Danny close and answered back to him, “It’s okay. I’m here. You’re going to be okay.”

Once Danny got more control of himself, he let go of Tim and more consciously said, “Sorry.”

“It’s a lot to take in.” Tim commiserated. He looked up and it looked like Kon had let them have some alone time at some point. He took a breath and stood up, offering his hand to Danny, “Come on, lets go home.”

Danny looked pained – Tim should have picked a better word. “Sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“Hey guys.” Kon was suddenly back in the room, “Ready to get outta here?”

Danny nodded and accepted Tim’s hand to stand back up. He was shaky and clearly exhausted, leaning on Tim for balance. They walked back to the Zeta platform, Danny stopped, and stumbled back a bit with fear in his eyes. “Danny, you okay?”

“Yeah, that’s – that’s what brought us here?”

Tim nodded, “Yeah, the one in Gotham has it’s structure hidden, but it’s the same thing.”

Danny was clearly still scared of it, and squeezed Tim’s hand to reassure himself. “We don’t have to use it if you don’t like it.”

“It’s fine.” Danny said and walked up to it.

Tim quickly made sure it was still connected to the “public” Gotham location and sent Danny back quickly. But, before Tim could go himself, Kon grabbed his hand. “Tim – Danny’s heart fully stopped, it was not beating for that entire panic attack. Everything else stopped too, for several minutes, his body was practically dead.”

Tim nodded in understanding, and walked through the Zeta Tube, “Thanks. I’ll figure it out.”

Kon didn’t follow them and Tim just called them a car back to the apartment. Danny was quiet, too quiet, dead quiet, until they got back into the apartment, where he apologized again. “I’m sorry, I just – don’t know what happened. One minute, I was fine and then I just… I don’t know.”

“Hey, it’s alright.” Tim said and pat Danny’s shoulder – he responds well to physical affection, so Tim will give him as much as he needs. “Like I said, we’ll figure it out together, and no matter what, I’m with you.”

Danny gave him a tired smile, then wandered off to his room.

Tim sighed and threw himself onto the couch. He wanted to scream because – that was a lot. Danny is from a dead timeline, everyone he’s ever known doesn’t exist anymore. Danny is a meta-human who can phase through solid objects and has some kind of second form. Danny can go several minutes with no vital signs at all.

Tim pressed his face into a pillow and groaned loudly into it. Then his phone buzzed, and he worried Kon was telling him something else about Danny, but it wasn’t him.