#building ballasts

~@~

Phantom smiled as he flew through the cooling, almost-autumn air, the sky still painted in a purple indigo ombre from the setting sun. He only had a week and a half before school started again, so he wanted to enjoy what time he had left of summer vacation; and what better way to relax than patrolling his haunt, making sure it, and all of its inhabitants, were safe? Phantom was so glad he finally had an explanation for that deep itch that protecting others scratched. Sure, it was because of his ghostliness, the implications of which were still a little uncomfortable to think about sometimes, but at least he knew there was an explanation for it, that he wasn’t just crazy.

A shadow shifted in his peripherals and Phantom immediately braced himself for an incoming attack. His ghost sense hadn’t gone off but ghosts weren't the only ones attacking him regularly, and they were being nicer to him lately anyways. Besides, a quick reaction time had saved his half-life more often than he’d care to think about.

What he didn’t expect was to see Batman on a random rooftop a ways off.

Phantom had felt like he was being watched for most of the summer, so Batman had probably been in Amity for about as long. Since Phantom hadn’t actually seen him earlier, Batman must have kept himself hidden the whole time he'd been here, so Phantom only saw him now because Batman wanted to be seen. Which means he probably wanted to talk, since the alternative is a fight and it would probably be more obvious if that was his goal.

Phantom hesitated. He was supposed to meet up with the rest of Team Phantom for patrol, and they’d be suspicious if he was too late, would probably go looking for him, and if Batman had wanted to talk to all of them, he would’ve shown himself to all of them. Nodding to himself, Phantom turned to face Batman and held up his hands, both index fingers pointing up, extended his left hand at arm’s length, held his right hand to his chest, then moved his right hand towards his left hand. Finally, he pointed towards the center of town. It was sign language, loosely meaning “I’ll meet you” and a general direction for where. While he didn’t use them often himself, since he was usually the one fighting, they had all learned some hand signs in case they couldn’t talk for one reason or another, and Phantom recognized them well enough even if he didn’t practice them much.

Batman nodded sharply and Phantom smiled, giving a playful salute before taking off again. He’d just have to convince the Team to patrol separately tonight so he could talk to Batman alone without raising suspicion.

-

Thankfully, it hadn’t been all that hard to convince them to split up and Phantom headed into town, quickly found Batman again, and floated at eye level a careful distance away. Sure, they’d been on the same side against Pariah earlier that summer, but that was an apocalyptic emergency so there was still a non-zero chance Batman agreed with the Anti-Ecto Acts. It had been a month and a half, there was no doubt he knew about them by now.

“Hello again, Batman,” Phantom greeted. “To what do I owe the honor?”

“You didn’t seem surprised to see me,” Batman stated in lieu of his own greeting.

“I had a feeling you were here but couldn’t really confirm it,” Phantom shrugged, playing it cool but not taking his eyes off Batman. “So, do you need something or is this more of a personal visit?”

“A bit of both,” Batman admitted. “Is there somewhere more secure we can talk?”

Suspicion rising along with one eyebrow, Phantom hesitated.

“... Sure, follow me.”

Confidant Batman would keep up (and wouldn’t shoot him in the back), Phantom flew off to the Library, the tallest building in the area he was supposed to be patrolling. On the Library’s roof, Phantom “sat” cross legged in midair a few feet from a small table with four chairs and a patio umbrella, letting Batman decide if he wanted to sit or stand. Batman looked around suspiciously.

“It’s already closed for the night and the janitors don’t come around until later. Plus, the cameras are just for show, they’re not even plugged in,” Phantom explained his choice. “I have to at least pretend I’m patrolling my section. So. Why are you in my territory? Illinois is pretty far from New Jersey.”

“You and your team have been doing well, considering what you have to work with,” Batman started without preamble, apparently electing to stand. Phantom sat up a little straighter at the praise. “However, you are all young and untrained. I have reason to believe the situation here is going to shift soon and I don’t want you four to deal with it alone. I have Oracle looking into the GIW but communication is difficult with the media blackout they’ve established-”

“Media blackout! Tucker totally called it.”

“- But what little I’ve managed to discover on my own is troubling, to say the least,” Batman continued as if Phantom hadn’t said anything. “That will take time and legal action to take care of, but it will be taken care of. Unfortunately, there is a more time sensitive issue that concerns me. The Doctors Fenton meet the criteria of supervillainy and I intend to arrest them for it.”

“WHAT!?” Phantom cried in shock. “No no no, there must be a mistake! My- the Fentons aren’t villains! They’re just eccentric and misguided!”

“They regularly shoot to kill at the town’s local hero,” Batman stated flatly.

“Like I said, misguided,” Phantom argued with a helpless shrug. “They think they’re doing the right thing, and it’s not like they’re the only ones.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time a genius turned into a supervillain because they thought the ends justified the means,” Batman barreled forwards, ignoring the bait to distract him. “They are a danger to those around them, regularly causing far more property damage than you or your rogues, their ideology is at risk of classifying more than just ghosts as non-sentient, which is concerning enough on its own, and they are, at best, neglectful of their children’s safety.” Batman narrowed his eyes. “And that’s not even counting their interdimensional crimes.”

Phantom froze, eyes wide.

“... interdimensional...?” he choked.

“They punched a hole into another dimension and began hunting and experimenting on the native residents of said dimension,” Batman spelled it out and Phantom cringed as he realized Batman wasn’t wrong.

“It sounds really bad when you say it like that,” he shrank away, hands fidgeting nervously. Batman narrowed his eyes.

“Regardless of their beliefs, Phantom, such acts are grounds for war,” Batman emphasized and Phantom stiffened. “If we don’t take care of this problem ourselves, someone else will, and the rest of the planet may get caught in the crossfire. As a hero yourself, I’m sure you understand that I cannot let that happen.”

Phantom looked away, eyes wide and unseeing as the implications set in. He felt a thousand miles away from his body, thoughts buzzing as he couldn’t breathe. Thank his ghostly biology that he didn’t need the oxygen in this form.

“You’ve done well keeping the peace so far,” Batman said, a little softer. “And I know it’s hard to betray loved ones-” Phantom’s head snapped up. “- But you must recognize that they will inevitably do something that cannot be undone. Yes, it might be done to you, and you will forgive them because they’re your parents, but it might be to Ember, or the Box Ghost, or any number of the peaceful ghosts that inhabit this town. I’ve seen you release the ghosts they do catch, but what happens if you’re too late? You can’t be everywhere, Phantom. You’re already running yourself ragged trying to plug leaks, and that's without school taking up more of your time and attention. As heroes, we have a responsibility to anticipate problems and solve them before they happen if we can, not just clean up the aftermath.”

Batman paused to let Phantom process this, his face saying everything Batman needed to hear of his racing thoughts, before he finally settled into somber acceptance as he floated limply a foot lower than he started. He gave a hollow chuckle, with a smile to match.

“Shoulda known you’d figure me out,” Phantom murmured, focusing on the revelation that was easier to swallow. “Can’t hide anything from the World’s Greatest Detective.” His fake smile fell as he curled in on himself. “I know they’re not the best parents, but they’re still mine...”

“I know,” Batman said in an empathetic rumble, accepting the implied surrender before he straightened. “Once they’re arrested, they’ll have a choice. They can go to court and face trial, or they can take the plea deal they’ll be offered.”

Phantom looked up, a fragile hope in his eyes.

“They would still, technically, be serving a prison sentence, but they would be able to work at the Justice Foundation as reforming villains as a form of community service, directly supervised by Justice League heroes and trusted affiliates. Despite their beliefs, they are still brilliant scientists, and humanity can still benefit from their work, but they will lose custody of you and your sister, as is standard procedure for any dependent of a reforming villain.”

Phantom’s face fell at the thought but he didn’t interrupt.

“You won’t be cut off from them, though,” Batman continued. “There would be generous visitation available, but it would be entirely on your terms. They could request to see you, and you would be informed of the request, but they couldn’t demand it; you would never be forced to see them if you didn’t want to, though you could visit them as often as you’d like.”

There was a beat of silence before Batman looked away.

“Honestly, I would’ve wanted to get you two out of there anyways,” his tone was suddenly more disdainful than clinical. “Not only is that entire house a deathtrap, to say nothing about their lax lab safety, but it’s only a matter of time before they find out about your condition, or your sister’s contamination reaches a threshold where they no longer see her as their daughter. You’re a smart kid, Danny, I know you can see it. Denial is only going to get someone hurt.”

Phantom’s eyes widened in shock, then horror as reality sank in.

“I hadn’t... thought about Jazz being in danger...” Phantom trailed off, barely audible as his hands covered his mouth. “We have some contingencies for me, but...”

“I would prefer to have your cooperation with this,” Batman continued, back to distant but determined. “But I will be arresting them in the next few days, with or without your help.”

Phantom flinched but didn’t object.

“Since they will be arrested as interdimensional supervillains, the Justice League will be in charge of placing you and your sister with a foster family. We will ensure you two stay together, at least, with either a League hero or a trusted associate. However... I would like to take you in myself.”

Phantom’s jaw dropped, slowly turning to face Batman.

“You have a lot of potential as a hero, as do the rest of Team Phantom,” Batman continued, with the ghost of a smile. “However, since only you and your sister are being displaced right now, I would like to train you two personally if you’d like to continue on this path. I will accept if you decide you want to be placed with someone else, and I won’t force either of you to join Gotham’s nightlife if you decide to focus on your civilian lives instead, but know that the offer stands. I want you to have as much say in your future as I can reasonably give you, considering the circumstances. Take some time to think, but your sister also needs to know. I had planned to tell her tonight as well, unless you’d prefer to tell her yourself.”

“This is... a lot,” Phantom said slowly. “As much as I’d like to be there when you talk to Jazz, I’m going to need time to process all of this and I don’t think I can finish that before Jazz would need to know.” He took a deep breath he technically didn’t need. “I’m gonna go ahead and patrol while you go talk to Jazz. Oh right! What about Sam and Tucker? They’re part of Team Phantom, too, and you said we all have potential, so...”

“I did,” Batman nodded. “However, they still have families to return to, while you and your sister are being displaced immediately. The Justice League will be keeping an eye on them, though. They are capable individuals, despite their age, but more than that, they have proven to be highly motivated to change the world for the better. That drive is hard to come by and is far more important than any superpower. They’d likely become heroes even without our intervention.”

“Yeah,” Phantom said quietly, smiling slightly despite himself, full of pride for his two best friends. “Yeah, ok. I think I can live with that.”

“Have a good patrol, Phantom,” Batman nodded as he turned towards Jazz’s section, obviously knowing where to find her already. Just how much did he know, anyways?

“Yeah, you too,” Phantom replied reflexively before screwing up his face, Batman already long gone. “Or something. Close enough,” he sighed and flew off.

He had a lot to think about.

-

Team Phantom reconvened around midnight.

The Box Ghost was the only troublemaker tonight and Sam had proudly announced that she’d handled him all by herself; they were all supposed to call Phantom for backup if they had to fight a ghost, but Sam always liked to push her limits. While praising her, Jazz and Phantom had shared a look, a silent acknowledgement that Batman had, indeed, spoken to them both.

Neither said anything to Sam or Tucker.

The siblings managed to act relatively normal, at least nothing that couldn’t be explained away easily enough, and said their good nights as they all headed home, Sam and Tucker on their scooters while Phantom transformed so Danny could ride back with Jazz in her car, citing that he was just a little tired tonight, nothing to worry about. They trusted Sam and Tucker, of course they did, but this was a little too personal to share just yet, even with them. At least, not before they could talk to each other first.

Finally alone, the car was quiet and tense as Jazz drove even slower than usual, neither knowing where to start.

“Guess you were right,” Danny’s whisper was deafening in the silence. “You and all your psychobabble. Even Batman thinks we’re in danger with mom and dad, and he lives in Gotham.”

“I’m sorry, little brother,” Jazz breathed, eyes locked on the road.

“’s hardly your fault,” Danny shook his head. “You took care of me more than they ever did.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

“It wasn’t your job.”

They lapsed into silence again. Neither really wanted to rehash the old, tired argument; there was too much going on right now.

“I feel awful admitting it,” the steering wheel creaked in Jazz’s grip. “But I’m... relieved that they’re being arrested.”

Danny bristled, biting back the compulsion to defend their parents, before slumping into his seat with a defeated sigh. Jazz would’ve known the words were empty anyways.

“He asked for our help,” Danny said, looking out the window without really seeing anything. “I won’t stop him, but I don’t think I can help him, either. Even though I realize now that you’re in danger, too, I-I don’t know if I can betray them like that. It goes against everything in my core...”

Danny’s voice cracked at the end, tears pricking at his eyes. Jazz bit her lip hard to keep herself from breaking down, too; she had to keep it together, keep her eyes on the road ahead. For Danny. She swallowed hard.

“You won’t have to,” she finally said as she pulled into the driveway, turning to him. “I’ll take care of that part. I’ve been compiling evidence for years, planning to take custody of you as soon as I legally could.”

Danny stared at his sister in shock.

“You were gonna...” he trailed off. Ruin your life for me, was left unsaid. He huffed as the tears escaped, roughly wiping them off his cheeks with the heel of his palm. “Honestly, I really shouldn’t be surprised. You’ve always put me first,” Danny’s voice was scratchy with barely contain emotion. He gave her a grim, joyless smile. “I guess, if it means you can finally take care of yourself instead of trying to raise me, I can’t be too mad about all this.”

“Not to mention you can finally get a mentor out of it,” Jazz suggested hopefully. “One that’s human, and isn’t a crazy fruitloop!”

They both laughed so they wouldn’t cry, exiting the car. Before Danny opened the front door, though, Jazz pulled him into a tight hug, which he returned immediately, despite his surprise. Neither commented on the other’s trembling.

“Whatever happens,” Jazz took a shaky breath. “Just know that I love you, ok?”

They left Steph’s car in the nearby parking garage, in one of several spots labeled “Wayne” near the entrance. It was pretty late, so it’s not like anyone would care that they used the spot even if they weren’t counted among Bruce’s kids. Which now included Jazz and Danny. It was still a wild thought for the siblings to be considered “Waynes”. The three entered the lobby, which was empty except for the lone receptionist who greeted them with a practiced, customer service smile.

Forgot to link to AO3 lol

-

“Hello, Miss Stephanie Brown,” he said. “Two guests?”

“Yup!” Steph chirped. “Sorry I didn’t schedule them ahead of time, Carl, this was kinda last minute.”

“That’s alright,” the receptionist, Carl, shrugged, letting the customer service mask fall as he turned to the computer. “I’ll fit you into my busy schedule somehow. Minors?”

“Yup.”

“Names?”

“Jazz Fenton and Danny Fenton.”

“And should I use Mr. Wayne’s info for the rest?” he glanced up with a knowing smile.

“Eheh, yeah,” Steph chuckled nervously. “Nobody knows yet, though, so I’d appreciate if you could keep this under your hat for now.”

“My lips are sealed,” he smirked, then chuckled. “Dude seriously has a type.”

“Type?” Jazz asked.

“I’ll explain on the way up,” Steph grinned almost apologetically. “It’ll be a long elevator ride.”

“Alright, here are their Visitor Badges,” Carl handed two badges to Steph before winking at the siblings. “If you plan on sticking around, you’ll probably get official badges at some point; all of Mr. Wayne’s kids do, even if they don’t work here.”

After some “thank you”s and “fare wells”s, Steph led the siblings back to an area with half a dozen elevators.

“So, type?” Jazz asked as soon as the doors closed.

“Right, so,” Steph typed 89 on a keypad, since having individual buttons for at least 90 floors would be ridiculous, and scanned her own badge when prompted by a flashing yellow light, which turned green as they started moving. “Just like Bruce himself, the first three kids B adopted, Dick, Jason, and Tim, are all boys with black hair and blue eyes,” Steph pointed at Danny. “And the rest of us have either black hair or blue eyes,” she pointed to her own blue eyes. “And all of us have some kind of tragic backstory, a surprising amount of which is actually public knowledge, so most of Gotham likes to tease that someone with those qualities is ‘adoption-bait’ for ol’ Brucie Wayne. Throwing Batman into the mix, we added being, or wanting to be, a teen vigilante to the list, so you two definitely fit the profile. Honestly, you two look like mini-mes of Dick and Babs!”

Steph laughed with a shrug while Jazz and Danny shared alarmed looks. Could something so shallow have influenced Bruce’s decision to take them in? Were Jazz’s turquoise eyes considered close enough to blue or was she just here because of her connection to Danny? Would he have sent them away if they’d merely looked different? Was their position so tenuous?

“Hey, don’t think about it too much,” Steph backtracked, realizing how uncomfortable they both suddenly were. “It’s just a coincidence, not any kind of rule, ya know? B doesn’t attach to people lightly, so once he claims someone as ‘his’ there’s no going back.”

“That is a pretty weird coincidence, though,” Danny said, trying to ignore his discomfort. “Anyways, we’re picking up Tim, right?”

“Yup,” Steph chirped, hoping the subject change would ease the sudden tension in the elevator. “His office is on the 89th floor, just under B’s on the 90th. On paper, it takes up the entire floor, but~,” she winked as she held up her hand, whispering conspiratorially. “There’s a hidden lab behind it!” Steph giggled as the siblings smiled, Jazz’s slightly more forced than Danny’s. “We all try to sneak up on each other whenever we can, so stay quiet and follow my lead, ‘kay?”

“Quiet as a ghost,” Danny smirked and Jazz rolled her eyes. She knew stealth wasn’t her strong suit, almost as bad as her aim was at first, but if she wanted to be a hero in Gotham she’d have to learn fast. She looked up in surprise when a hand was offered to her; Danny was still smirking but with a softness that made her smile back. “Don’t worry, Jazz, I got you.”

Jazz took the offered hand and Steph cocked her head in clear curiosity.

“It takes more energy to hold someone else, especially in human form, but I can reduce our noise by flying and being intangible,” Danny shrugged at her unasked question.

“Oh yeah, those powers would make sense for a ghost, wouldn’t they?” Steph nodded as the elevator slowed to a stop. “We’ll have to talk about it later, though, we’re here.”

The elevator doors opened with a quiet chime sound and Steph’s entire energy shifted; still playful, but with an edge to it. Focused. Precise. Despite the lack of costume, Batgirl took in the reception area at a glance, smirked that it was empty, and held a finger to her lips for silence before moving as quiet as any ghost. Danny glanced at Jazz, confirming she was ready before extending his weightlessness to her, his own legs dissolving into a ghostly tail as they followed Batgirl into the lobby.

Instead of taking the obvious route past the secretary desk to the office doors, Batgirl veered left, past a small waiting area, and opened a mostly disguised door to what looked like a janitor’s closet, climbed the side of a deceptively sturdy storage rack, and scanned her badge again next to the air vent. Neither sibling had even seen the scanner. The grate slid aside and Batgirl nimbly pulled herself up into a sort of crawlspace while Danny followed by pulling Jazz up through the ceiling floor? And they both had to stifle gasps as soft light illuminated the neatly organized treasure trove of crime-fighting equipment, from Batarangs to smoke pellets to spare domino masks and so much more.

The space was just tall enough that Batman might be able to sit up straight on the floor without hitting his head, and not quite wide enough for Danny to spread his arms out fully; just enough room for a bat to arm themself in an emergency. Steph couldn’t quite suppress a snicker at their expressions, but inspecting the stockpile would have to wait as Batgirl put a finger to her lips again, reminding them to be quiet before heading off in a crouch. She somehow made the awkward movement look graceful and was only slightly less silent now, though that was probably due to the enclosed space, and Danny pulled Jazz behind her, both siblings careful to keep all of their still-intangible limbs inside the small, corridor-like saferoom, trying to not be distracted by the very cool, tightly packed gadgets that lined one wall. They both had a million questions but the mission came first, even if it was as simple as scaring a teammate.

The thought continued to be wild that the Bats were now considered teammates, even if they hadn’t met them all yet.

Shaking his head to return to the task at hand, Danny stopped behind Batgirl as she climbed back down another fake air vent and into another closet, though this one had more lab-type equipment rather than cleaning supplies. They floated down through the floor ceiling? to hoover behind Batgirl as she very carefully opened the door a crack, peaking out into the room, and Steph’s playful glee flared before being squashed by Batgirl’s training. With one last glance at her two shadows, Batgirl opened the door quietly, still crouched, and entered the room to hide behind a chair. Danny turned himself and Jazz invisible as well as intangible, pulling his sister through the wall and up to the ceiling to have a good vantage point.

Instead of pristine white walls, like they’d seen in movies and on TV, the “lab” looked more like a mechanic’s garage, with grey, concrete walls barely visible behind the plethora of mounted power tools, and two sturdy, but messy, work benches in the middle of the room with plenty of walking space all around. A young man with black hair, presumably Tim, was typing away at a computer on the far wall before walking between the two work benches to examine some kind of gadget and Batgirl took her opportunity. Springing over the work bench Tim had his back to, Batgirl attempted to tackle him, only for Tim to whip around and jab the gadget at her, making her yelp in surprise and pain. Stumbling to the floor but managing to stay on her feet, Steph burst out laughing.

“Jeeze, Tim, what is that?!” she grinned. “It packed a punch for a joy buzzer!”

“Technically, it’s a taser,” Tim shrugged, holding up a metal cylinder, about as long and thick as a marker, with two little prongs on one end.

“But it’s so small!”

“Yeah, I’ve been trying to get it small enough to fit in a gauntlet,” Tim said, opening a side panel on the taser. “But this is as small as I’ve gotten it so far without compromising the battery capacity so it’ll have enough charge for more than just one strike at full power. I hit you with about half. But seriously, Steph, did you really think I wouldn’t put sensors everywhere after last time? I knew you were here the second you stepped off the elevator! I don’t see the new kids, though,” Tim glanced around. “You didn’t just leave them in the lobby, did you?”

“No, they’re here,” Steph glanced around, too. “They were right behind me.”

“So-”

“JESUS!” Tim cried at the whisper far too close to his ear, whipping around with the tiny taser and Danny giggled from somewhere above the two bats.

“- does this mean I win?” Danny finished his question, grinning as he let the invisibility drop, “laying” in midair with his chin propped on his hands, floating down to eye level. He’d even managed to get his legs to reform so they could be casually kicking behind him; the classic pose of a giggly schoolgirl on her bed. He’d been careful to keep out of the likely strike zone of the taser, knowing how badly electricity affected him, but he couldn’t help his ghostly need to spook.

Steph doubled over with laughter, leaning heavily on the workbench, as Jazz stood up from the corner Danny had dropped her off in and couldn’t help but smile at her brother’s antics. Even Tim chuckled as he recovered from the sudden adrenaline rush.

“Yeah, ok, you win this round, newbie,” Tim conceded with a grin of his own. “But it won’t be happening again! So, I take it you two are Jazz and Danny, huh?”

“And you’re Tim, right?” Danny nodded as he returned to the floor and held out his hand.

“That’s me,” Tim confirmed, taking Danny’s hand as Jazz came up behind him. He held out his hand to her, too. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

“Likewise,” Jazz said, giving Tim’s hand a firm shake. “So, are you the brains behind a lot of Batman’s gadgets?”

“Some,” Tim chuckled. “A lot of what I do is just proof of concept, though. Lucious makes it all come to life.”

“Head of R n D, right?” Jazz confirmed. “Bruce mentioned him as someone we could trust.”

“The man’s a genius,” Tim nodded sagely, before he grinned at them. “As for you two, you get to help me beta test my brand new WE phones! If they can survive everything the Waynes put tech through, not to mention the bats, then it’s good enough for general consumption!” Tim explained as he headed back to the computer. “I was putting the finishing touches on the programming when you all showed up, but they should be good to go.”

“You have been going on about this project for months,” Steph said. “Finally got some working models?”

“I still need to think of a name,” Tim confirmed with a gleeful grin as he held out two phones like nothing the siblings had seen before. “The whole front is a touch screen and it’s just as powerful as a laptop, but small enough to fit in your pocket! Obviously, I’m going to integrate it into our tech, but there’s still some bugs to work out. Which is where you two come in!”

Jazz and Danny gingerly took the devices while Tim continued to gush excitedly about it, and Steph started herding them all to a door.

“The button on the right side turns it on,” Tim continued as they entered a fairly normal, if spacious and fancy, office. “And there’s a bunch of programs I can show you later, but the most important ones are the normal phone functions, like calls, text messages, and contact info; it wouldn’t be much of a phone without them! I’ve already entered a lot of important information in them, like all of the Gotham Vigilantes’ civilian phone numbers and emails; I was in the middle of entering addresses when you all got here, though I guess it might be better to let them trust you with that themselves anyways. There’s also a few ‘emergency contacts’ the average civilian wouldn’t have access to, and a built in panic button that won’t be in the base model, at least. A lot of the data I’m looking for is figuring out what shortcuts I can get away with for the public version before they start breaking too often, so don’t worry about being gentle with them since stress testing is the whole point, to see what fails first and most often.”

“You promised I’d get to help beta test them,” Steph pouted dramatically, then cried, “I thought what we had was special!” as she held the back of her hand to her forehead. Then she grinned and shrugged. “But I guess I can’t be too mad,” she returned to normal as she ruffled Danny’s hair and put a hand on Jazz’s shoulder. “We needed to get these little fledglings connected and these happened to be available. You are gonna have to make this up to me though, Timmy~”

“Sorry, Steph,” Tim shrugged, not sounding very sorry. “But I have already started putting together the next upgrade, so once I get some data from these two, it’ll be all yours, I promise.”

“Good!” Steph chirped, all smiles again. “So, you goin’ to the Cave or the Nest?”

“May as well go to the Cave, since you have to go there anyways,” Tim said. “More efficient. You two haven’t seen it yet, right?”

“Not yet, we haven’t had time,” Jazz confirmed. Danny lit up at the idea of seeing the infamous hideout, but Jazz would never admit just how excited she was, too.

“Even if you have field experience, there’s no way B will let you on the streets of Gotham until he’s trained you a bit himself,” Tim smiled, amused. “But somehow I doubt we’d be able to keep you two out of the Cave if we tried.”

“So~,” Danny sang as soon as the elevator doors closed. “Which hero are you~?”

“Until recently,” Tim spat bitterly. “I was Robin, the third to hold the title. Now Damian’s decided it’s his birthright, and as soon as B was gone getting you two, Damian made a power play and Dick didn’t back me up at all while he was subbing as Batman. Kid’s not even supposed to be on the street yet, he hasn’t been cleared for active duty. For now, I’m going by Owl Light,” Tim smirked wickedly. “Just ‘cause Dick hates the old Court of Owls so much.”

“Wow,” Steph grinned. “You’re still super salty over that, huh?”

“Can you blame me?!” Tim asked, indignant. “I worked hard for that title! Then Dick just gives it to that brat to shut him up! Fuck both of them,” Tim pouted, arms crossed. “And B, too, for not being more firm about it.”

Jazz frowned at the swear word but didn’t bother correcting Tim. Now was not the time; she’d rather not get her head bitten off, thank you very much. Danny glanced at her when she said nothing and barely contained his snicker at her sour disapproval, earning him a glare in return. Danny covered his mouth to muffle the escaping laugh.

“And if all of that happened while Bruce was in Amity, he probably only just heard about it,” Jazz subtly led the conversation in a different direction. “That explains his slip-up earlier. He said you and Oracle would have to set up a secure communication between us and the rest of Team Phantom before we can really talk to them again. Has he said anything to you about it yet?”

“No, but he’d probably ask Oracle first anyways,” Tim shrugged, letting the topic go for now. “Communication is definitely her forte and she’ll ask for help if she needs it.”

Danny suddenly snickered again.

“Bruce mentioned the possibility of taking a trip back there if you need to set up something physical,” he grinned widely. “I have to introduce you to Tucker, he will freak out! He’s Team Phantom’s tech whiz, and not only are Oracle and the third Robin his favorite heroes ever, but Tim Drake is his techie idol.” Danny turned to Jazz. “Can you imagine his face when he finds out that two of his favorite famous people the same person?!”

“Not that you have to tell him right away or anything!” Jazz was quick to assure. “Bruce said he wanted to keep identities separate for now, but yes, Danny, I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to meet Tim,” she smiled warmly at the thought. “As a hero or a civilian doing Gotham’s heroes a favor, whichever story would make more sense.”

The elevator doors opened and hero talk was put on hold as they wished Carl a good night and returned the visitor badges. Back in Steph’s car, Tim had claimed shotgun and the siblings took the back seat.

“By the way, what do I win for scaring you?” Danny asked, smirking at the memory.

“Bragging rights, mostly,” Steph shrugged as she pulled out onto the street.

“It started off as just pranks but B actually encourages it, to a degree,” Tim said. “He knew we weren’t going to stop, so he turned it into a training game instead. It works as both stealth training and situational awareness, not to mention practice prepping for both scarer and victim, with low stakes besides teasing from the winners and embarrassment for failure.”

“And honestly? Embarrassment is a surprisingly good motivator,” Steph chuckled, then grinned. “Remember that time Dick actually managed to sneak up on B? He jumped through the roof!”

“Yeah,” Tim snickered and turned back to the siblings to elaborate. “That is the only time any of us have managed to sneak up on him. He’d been up for almost a week straight on a case and none of us could convince him to rest, but the fact someone actually got him finally made him realize how bad it was. He was out for almost 24 hours after that.”

“You’re hardly one to talk, though,” Steph teased. “Mister I’ll-Sleep-On-The-Weekends!”

“I said that one time!”

Steph just laughed, turning her attention back to the road.

“Anyways, B’s been a lot better about remembering his limits since then,” Tim continued. “He’d always gotten on us kids about work-life-balance stuff, going on and on about how ‘fatigue will wreck your reaction time’, or we ‘might miss something if we’re too tired’, or whatever, but he’d never really taken his own advice before that. At least now he’s less of a hypocrite when he lectures us.”

“It sounds like he has his own, unique way of showing he cares,” Jazz said with a bittersweet smile, turning to Danny who had one to match. It had been a long time since their parents had cared about how much sleep they got.

Then Danny smirked, leaned over the middle seat, hooked his arm around Jazz’s, and pulled her close so they were leaning against each other.

“And we wouldn’t know anything about odd ways to show we care, now would we, Jazz!” Danny fluttered his eyes at his sister, who barked a laugh before covering her mouth and laughing more normally.

“Nope, wouldn’t know a thing, little brother,” she smirked, twisting to plant a kiss on Danny’s head. He beamed for a second before pushing her away with a dramatically affronted look.

-

Two days.

It barely took two days for Jazz and Danny to end up in Gotham.

Neither sibling could sleep after initial contact so they ended up holding each other in Jazz’s room until the sun finally rose, desperate for any comfort they could get. Deeming it close enough to morning to be awake, they got dressed and tried to eat breakfast, only to be interrupted by Jack barreling into the kitchen, grabbing some granola bars while rambling to himself about fueling a breakthrough with wide, manic eyes, and was gone again before either sibling could react. Their father had barely acknowledged they existed. Jazz and Danny silently agreed they weren’t hungry anymore and left.

Team Phantom met up at Sam’s mansion, Sam and Tucker quickly getting over their annoyance at being up so early when informed of last night’s surprise meetings with Batman himself during patrol. While initially upset at being left out of the loop and not getting to meet Batman, the two grumbled understanding that Jazz and Danny wanted to talk to each other first, and it’s not like they kept it secret for long. Admitting what had happened, and what was going to happen, finally broke through the numb shock the siblings had been stuck in all night and they spilled everything; sharing as much of the exact conversations as they could remember and letting all of their feelings out until well past lunch. The siblings were, understandably, a hot mess.

After being force-fed some soup, the only thing their nerves would let them keep down, Jazz and Danny had a long debate about how to spend their parents’ last days hours? of freedom. They didn’t know when Batman would pull the trigger, just that it was “soon”.

While she felt incredibly guilty, Jazz decided that she needed to drop the rope; she wanted to remember their parents as they used to be, equal parts eccentric scientists and loving parents, instead of the over-zealous ghost hunters they had become. While they had always been focused and driven in pursuit of their goals, they had still made time to support and bond with their kids; but even back then, they were headed down a dangerous path, and once the portal opened, they had been locked into a stead spiral towards ghostly levels of Obsession. Danny wanted so badly to disagree, to give them one last chance to change, to get one last hug, one last “I love you” out of them, but ultimately he knew it was a losing battle as long as they had access to their precious ghost science. He was convinced to stay with the family that had always been there for him.

Jazz needed him right now, and the people who lived in that basement lab were practically strangers to the siblings. They weren’t the parents Jazz and Danny remembered, not anymore.

In a daze, Danny couldn’t remember how they’d gotten to Nasty Burger as the sun set, and barely managed to choke down some fries while Jazz’s milkshake sat unfinished and melted. At some point, Jazz received a text from an unknown number. She sighed but didn’t question how Batman had gotten her phone number, and told him about their decision. Batman said the arrest would happen as soon as he returned to town, having left to retrieve a few extra League heroes, and that everything in the house would be seized; if there was anything they couldn’t live without, they should retrieve it now. Due to radiation readings Batman had taken earlier, everything that could be replaced, would be, as soon as they arrived at their foster home, whoever that might be with.

Sam and Tucker waited in the Fenton’s living room, giving Danny and Jazz some privacy to pack before they would spend the night with Tucker’s family. What couldn’t Danny live without?

Clothes could be replaced.

Bedding could be replaced.

Posters and decorations could be replaced.

Knick knacks, model rockets, toys, games, books, all of them could be replaced.

Even his awards had been tainted, his latest achievement years old by now.

When was the last time he’d gotten something meaningful from his parents?

He left with his favorite astronomy encyclopedia, filled with sticky notes and loose papers, and a change of clothes for tomorrow in his backpack, already in his pajamas.

Jazz’s selection was equally bare; a change of clothes, her laptop instead of a book, a binder of evidence to be handed over to Batman, and Bearbert.

Sam and Tucker didn’t hide their surprise well, or their sadness, at how little the siblings wanted to take with them but didn’t push it. Danny and Jazz grabbed a bug-out-bag each on their way to Tucker’s house and they all faked smiles for his parents before holing themselves up in his room. Danny asked Jazz to tell Batman that he wanted a copy of whatever they end up pulling from the lab computers; now that he’d made his decision, he couldn’t bear seeing his parents, even in passing. They seemed to have no intention of leaving the lab, though, and Danny wasn’t sure if he’d be allowed to return after their arrest, assuming he would even have time to. Jazz asked to be informed when the heroes arrived in town, and reminded him to shut down the Ghost Portal before he left. Batman had easily agreed to their requests. Sam and Tucker drifted off at some point, but sleep evaded the siblings once again.

As the second day dawned, the Fentons’ arrest was all over the news, having gone down around three that morning. They had resisted. It was not quiet. Jazz was suddenly glad for the media blackout so no one outside Amity would hear about it.

Batman came to collect the siblings at some point and the rest of the day was a blur of answering round after round of questions with various heroes and law enforcement; Danny didn’t bother remembering where they’d come from, or if they’d all come from the same place, but refused to tell them more than the bare minimum. He didn’t trust any branch of the government with the truth, and didn’t trust his sleep deprived brain to keep it hidden from them, so he just silently stared at the would-be interrogators. He barely answered more of the heroes’ questions, only really speaking freely to Batman. He was the safest option since he’d figured out everything else anyways and seemed undeterred by what he’d learned, and knew better than to reveal secrets. Danny was finally reunited with Jazz as they were strapped into a transport; he couldn’t be bothered to care what kind of vehicle they were in, let alone where they were going, but they were with Batman so it was probably fine.

They both passed out leaning against each other.

-

Danny didn’t remember being carried to bed, but he must’ve been since he woke up in one and knew he definitely hadn’t fallen asleep in one.

Light filtered through his eyelids but he couldn’t bring himself to open them yet; just a few more moments of peace. He heard quiet breathing nearby, slow and steady, and felt hands loosely clasped around his own. The fear of being vulnerable hadn’t even had time to settle before he recognized Jazz’s presence and a tension in his core uncoiled. He hadn’t even known it was there until it wasn’t anymore. 

Jazz was here. 

She was safe. 

He could handle anything else.

Memories from the past few days began filtering into his consciousness, unbidden, and he groaned. Jazz’s hands reflexively tightened around his as she was pulled from her own oblivion.

“Hey,” Jazz breathed, accepting her fate of being awake.

“Hey,” Danny smiled, finally opening his eyes. He chuckled. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks, little brother,” she deadpanned, rolling her eyes but couldn’t stop her own smile. “You always know just what a girl wants to hear.”

“I aim to please,” he grinned back before his smile fell. “So, we’re in Gotham now, huh?”

“Yeah,” Jazz confirmed, looking around. The banter had been a nice reprieve, but the real world demanded their attention. “We did agree to stay with Batman for now, so we must be in his house. I don’t remember if he told us his civilian identity yesterday, but judging from this room, he’s definitely wealthy.”

“I mean, he’d have to be,” Danny said, glancing around as well. “You’ve said yourself that his gadgets can’t be cheap. What? I listen to your superhero rants!”

“Only sometimes!” Jazz retorted, pushing him away with her hand over his entire face, pulling back before he could lick it, just as she had expected him to. She sat up, grimacing as she realized she was still in yesterday’s clothes. “Shoulda grabbed another set of clothes,” she muttered, heading to the bathroom. That was attached to the bedroom.

Holy shit, this room was huge!

Danny sat up, finally taking in his surroundings. He was in a king-sized, four poster bed, the kind he’d only ever seen on TV, and the rest almost looked like a fancy hotel room. There was a desk that held both of their backpacks and the bug-out-bags to his left, an entertainment unit with a flat screen TV that was bigger than anything available to the general public facing the foot of the bed, and a dresser to his right that was probably empty. Otherwise, the room was vast and vacant, impersonal but not necessarily cold. A guest room, then; they’d probably get permanent rooms later. There was a large window with the curtains still mostly drawn to the right, next to a door to the bathroom that Jazz had entered, and on the other side of the room was a door that he assumed led to the rest of the house, next to another, smaller door that almost blended into the wall; he wasn’t sure what that one was for. He heard the toilet flush and started to get up for his own turn when there was a knock at the door.

“Who’s there?” Danny called as Jazz reentered the room.

“Don’t start, Danny,” Jazz pleaded.

“The butler,” responded the posh, British voice on the other side. Jazz sighed. Danny grinned.

“The butler who?”

“The butler who would like to deliver some fresh clothes.”

It wasn’t exactly a joke, but Danny appreciated him playing along anyways, snickering to himself while Jazz opened the door.

“Good morning,” the butler nodded to both of them. “I'm pleased you both are already awake. My name is Alfred Pennyworth, head butler of Wayne Manor-”

“Wayne?!” Jazz gasped. “I was right! Uh, sorry, my name is Jasmine Fenton, but please call me Jazz,” she smiled, ignoring her embarrassed blush and holding out her hand to shake. “But you probably already knew that, right, sorry-”

“And I’m Danny,” he took pity on his sister, interrupting her spiral before it got too far as he came up behind her. “You said something about clothes?”

“Yes,” Alfred gently shook Jazz’s hand with a nod and a warm smile, gracefully ignoring that his spiel had been interrupted and gestured to the rolling cart beside him. “It came to my attention that neither of you brought a sufficient change of clothing with you. These have been generously donated by other residents of the manor, though we will need to acquire more clothes of your own soon.”

“Right, I... wasn’t really thinking that far ahead,” Jazz rubbed the back of her neck self-consciously.

“Same, so don’t feel too bad,” Danny shrugged. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom and then you can shower first.”

“Thanks, Danny,” Jazz smiled, accepting both sets of clothes as Danny wandered off. “I’m kind of surprised you didn’t put us in different rooms, though,” she mentioned as she went to spread the clothes out on the bed to assess them.

“Despite being unconscious, you both displayed distress when separated, even for the short trip inside,” Alfred revealed, face technically neutral but with a sadness in his eyes as he took a single step into the room. Jazz’s eyebrows shot up as she looked at him in alarm. “From what I understand, yesterday was quite the ordeal and we didn’t want to cause unnecessary stress. As much as I would like to allow you both to rest today, there is still much that must be done, but only after I’ve made sure you are both sufficiently fed. Press this button when you are ready for brunch and I will send someone to collect you. Do you or Master Daniel have any food allergies or preferences I should be aware of?”

“Um, first and foremost, don’t call him ‘Daniel’, he hates it,” Jazz said quietly with a grimace as she took the device, glancing over her shoulder at the bathroom door. “As for food, no allergies that I can think of, but Danny hates toast and I prefer lighter foods in the morning. Otherwise, we’ll both eat just about anything that we don’t have to fight first.”

Jazz froze, then cringed; she did not mean for that to come out. Alfred raised an eyebrow at her but didn’t comment.

Danny exited the bathroom, saving Jazz from embarrassment once again.

“Alright, your turn, Jazz,” he announced and Jazz took her escape, patting his shoulder as she passed.

“As I mentioned to Miss Jazz,” Alfred addressed Danny as he approached. “There is much to do today, but that can all be discussed after brunch. I gave her a button to call me once you are both ready. Miss Jazz mentioned your aversion to toast but no food allergies to speak of; are there any other preferences I should be aware of, Master Danny?”

“Ummm, I don’t think so,” Danny replied. “Jazz prefers veggies and stuff over meat, though, especially in the morning. Not that she doesn’t like meat, but it always had a habit of uh coming back to bite us.”

Danny shrugged with a helpless grin but didn’t miss how Alfred stiffened slightly. He wondered how much the butler had been told about what ecto did to meat.

“I see,” Alfred said slowly. “I await your arrival in the Family Dining Room, then, Master Danny. Welcome to Wayne Manor.”

-

Almost an hour later and armed with generic T-shirts and sweats, Jazz and Danny had pressed the button a few minutes ago and were taking stock of the bug-out-bags when they heard a knock.

“Who’s there?” Danny asked again, grinning at his sister’s groan.

“Uh, tank?” the voice on the other side of the door said, unsure.

“Tank who?” Danny’s grin widened.

“I haven’t even done anything yet!” the voice cried and Danny giggled like the chaos gremlin he is. Jazz just sighed and opened the door. The voice belonged to an African-American teen with buzzed black hair and brown eyes, waving a greeting with a bright smile.

“Hey, Alfred told me to- uh to get you,” his cheery greeting faltered partway through as his eyes flashed gold, looking at them in surprise. He shook his head to clear it and smiled apologetically. “I’m Duke Thomas, also pretty new to Wayne Manor, so I know it’s a lot to get used to. Come on, I’ll show you to the Family Dining Room.”

He gestured to follow and started walking away while Jazz and Danny shared a look, confused and mildly concerned, before following. Batman himself had left them here, so he obviously trusted Duke, right? But how much did he know? About the Fentons? About Batman?

“My name is Jazz,” she introduced herself, walking next to Duke and opting to play it safe with secrets, as well as ignore his earlier oddness. “And this is my brother, Danny. We really are in Bruce Wayne’s mansion, then?”

“Yeah, I was already asleep when you two got here or I would’ve greeted you then.”

“It’s alright,” Danny replied, falling into step on Duke’s other side. “Apparently we were both dead to the world anyways.”

Jazz rolled her eyes at the phrasing.

Two quick turns and the three were greeted by a hallway with giant windows to a big, enclosed courtyard, complete with a fancy water fountain in the middle. Jazz hid her awe better than Danny did as Duke chuckled at them.

“That was my first reaction, too,” he admitted. “Just wait ‘til you see the rest of the Manor.”

“I knew the Waynes were rich but I wasn’t expecting knowing it and seeing it to be so different...” Jazz trailed off, snagging Danny’s wrist to drag him away from the window he’d stopped in front of. Danny suddenly snickered.

“What were you saying the other day?” he grinned a little too wide, too sharp, as he turned to Jazz. “About rich, fruitloop mentors?”

“Hey, just because Mr. Wayne is rich doesn’t automatically make him a fruitloop,” Jazz scolded lightly. “I, at least, am withholding judgement.”

“Fruitloop?” Duke repeated slowly. Jazz looked somewhat embarrassed but Danny shrugged, grin returning to normal.

“Our godfather, Vlad Masters, is the definition of a rich fruitloop,” Danny informed him. “Our parents are blind to it, but he keeps trying to kill our dad, marry our mom, and take me as his protégé. Which is kinda weird, you’d think he’d go after you, Jazz, since you look so much like mom.”

“Yeah, well, that’s misogyny for you,” Jazz deadpanned. They both knew exactly why Vlad was after Danny, but keeping this secret almost felt like second nature by now.

They all turned into a wider, impossibly fancier hallway.

“Jeeze, how much farther is it?” Danny complained. “I’m starving.”

“Don't worry, we're almost there. The Family Dining Room is just at the end of this hallway,” Duke assured them. “I warned you this place is massive. I asked for a map when I moved in but I guess it hasn’t been a problem until now, so I’ve been trying to map it out on my own. I’ll show you what I have later. I already ate a few hours ago, so I’ll just be snacking, the rest is all yours.”

Duke pushed the double doors open and led them inside a large room with a long table and a lot of chairs. The siblings paused in the doorway, hesitating, while Duke continued into the room. Danny was finally able to tear his gaze away from the mansion itself long enough to notice the forced casualness in Duke’s movements that betrayed how uncomfortable he still was here and glanced at Jazz. She glanced back, confirming they’d both noticed, and that it somehow made them feel a little better.

“You kept calling this the Family Dining Room?” Jazz asked, hesitating another second before taking a seat at the end of the table closest to them, facing the large windows. “That implies there are multiple dining rooms.”

“The Banquet Hall is through those doors,” Duke gestured to the other side of the room, taking his own seat opposite Jazz, his back to the windows. “And there’s another room or two above us specifically for eating, too, though I don’t remember what their proper names are. Those are the only ones meant for food, but I assume any of the Ballrooms could be used for food too, if necessary.”

“That also implies multiple ballrooms...”

Danny had just taken his seat next to Jazz when the single door in the middle of the wall behind them opened, revealing Alfred and a rolling cart. Jaws dropped and eyes wide, Danny and Jazz had only ever seen so much food at buffets; eggs in every form imaginable and omelets with various filling; waffles, pancakes, and French toast; bacon and sausage, both regular and turkey, and even Canadian bacon; pigs-in-a-blanket and biscuits with gravy on the side; hashbrowns and diced potatoes with peppers and onions; chopped fruit in every color of the rainbow, with both oatmeal and yogurt to mix it in; a wide variety muffins and bagels with cream cheese of various flavors; and were those mini quiches? While mostly breakfast-type items, there were some lunch dishes as well; namely a platter of sandwich materials, including lettuce and slices of various meats, cheeses, and vegetables. There were also several pitchers of drinks and a few things they couldn’t readily identify but looked very fancy and, frankly, delicious.

“Good morning again, Miss Jazz, Master Danny. Thank you for retrieving them, Master Duke,” Alfred acknowledged all three of them as he began unloading the smorgasbord onto the table in front of the drooling siblings. “I don’t know when last you two ate at all, let alone a decent meal, nor am I certain which items you would like more than others, so I made a bit of everything. Eat as much as you’d like, there is always more, and don’t worry about wasting anything you don’t like, it will be taken care of. Growing bodies require nutrients and you are both far too thin. I won’t stand for it. Master Duke, I know you ate not long ago but you are also welcome to whatever you’d like.”

“Thanks, Alfred,” Duke nodded with a bright smile. “I think I’ll just snack on some of these fruits.”

“Very well,” Alfred nodded. “Please inform me if you need anything, or if something is not to your liking for future reference.”

Alfred cleared his throat for their attention, which they all had to drag away from the impressive spread.

“I really do mean that,” he continued a bit quieter, voice full of sincerity. “I take great pleasure in providing for this family, and I promise, whatever your request, I am more than happy to fulfill it. You will never be an inconvenience to me. Now,” his back straightened, his British poshness returning. “I will be in the kitchen, and Master Bruce has been informed that you two are up and will be joining us in about an hour. All business and serious topics will be discussed then and not a moment sooner.”

With various sounds of assent, and a chorus of “thank you”s, Alfred bowed and left.

“While we eat, would you mind telling us about the rest of the family?” Jazz asked, filling her plate and dutifully ignoring Danny already shoveling food in his face. “I know he’s adopted a lot of kids over the years but I’ve never paid much attention to celebrity news.”

“Sure!” Duke said brightly. “I’ve met all of them at least once, but the easiest way to make sure I don’t miss anyone is by order of adoption. So, first is Richard Grayson, usually goes by Dick-”

“By choice?” Danny paused, fork halfway to his mouth, and Jazz elbowed him.

“Yeah,” Duke chuckled. “I asked him about it once; he said English wasn’t his first language and nobody realized what dick meant until it was too late and he was already attached to the name. He’s pretty cool, though, currently working as a cop in Bludhaven, just south of Gotham. Barbra Gordon isn’t officially adopted, since her dad is still around, but she may as well be. Next was Jason Todd, who went missing for a few years, but now he’s back and does not get along with Bruce. It’s apparently better than it was when he first came back but that’s hard to believe considering their current relationship. Then there’s Tim Drake, current Co-CEO of Wayne Enterprises. His family’s mansion is actually nearby but Bruce took him in after both his parents died. He’s kinda weird but an absolute genius. Stephanie Brown is also not technically adopted, but hangs around often enough to be considered one of Bruce’s kids anyways. She has way too much energy but she’s great at parties, and I think she’s in charge of taking you guys shopping later. Cassandra Cain is nice but really quiet and uses sign language more often than not. She’s been trying to teach me but it’s been slow going. Last but not least, is Damian Wayne. He was just dropped off in January this year and is apparently Bruce’s bio-kid, which Damian loves to rub in all of our faces. His mom taught him a ton of martial arts stuff and he is not shy about using it. And then there’s me. Three or four months ago, my parents got caught up in one of Joker’s schemes and were exposed to a ton of chemicals that really messed them up. They uh, they’ve only recognized me as their son once during visits so far. I’m... not ready to talk about it yet.”

Jazz and Danny froze when Duke mentioned chemicals and curled in on himself slightly. They glanced at each other with matching looks of horror.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Duke,” Jazz said quietly, Danny nodding his agreement as he tried to not choke his unchewed mouthful. “You don’t have to say anything before you’re ready, but we’d be more than happy to listen once you are. Our parents had a lab in the basement since before I was born, so we’re both very familiar with the effects of chemical exposure.”

“Dodging trauma, though,” Danny said with a too-bright smile. “Thanks for the run-down. That is a lot of kids. You said Dick isn’t in Gotham but do any of the others live in the mansion?”

“Not really,” Duke shook his head, gratefully returning the smile as the siblings resumed eating at a more respectable pace. “Right now it’s just Bruce, Alfred, Damian, me, and now you two. Everyone but Dick lives in the city somewhere, but Cass and Steph are roommates and live in the same building as Barbra. And if you think that’s a lot, don’t even get me started on the extended family! Not to mention family friends that may as well be family! Those I have not all met yet but I’ve heard good things about them.”

“What’s Mr. Wayne like?” Jazz asked between bites.

“Well, first he’s gonna tell you to call him ‘Bruce’ or just ‘B’, ‘cause family shouldn’t have to be so formal,” Duke chuckled before humming, carefully considering his words. “Bruce is... interesting. The ‘Brucie Wayne’ you’ve probably seen on TV is actually just a mask he wears so everyone underestimates him. He says people are easier to manipulate if they think they’re the one in control, and Tim has adopted that strategy, too. It’s honestly kinda creepy seeing them both go from bubbly airhead to dark and serious as soon as the door closes. Despite being good at public speaking and manipulating social situations, Bruce isn’t great at communicating. Dick says it’s ‘cause he assumes he knows what others are thinking instead of just asking them, and assumes everyone else knows what he’s thinking so he doesn’t have to say it. Everyone I’ve asked says he’s a lot better than he used to be, though; I was told to remind him to think like Brucie to get him out of his own head. He does care, though, and doesn’t even mind saying it, he’s just really bad at remembering to say it.”

“I can only imagine he grew up being alone a lot,” Jazz nodded. “If I remember correctly, he’s an only child and his parents died when he was pretty young, right?”

“Yeah,” Duke nodded, looking away. “Not my story to tell, but I don’t think he ever got over losing them, not that I blame him.”

“Hm. Do you know what time it is?” Jazz asked, silently agreeing that the topic felt a bit too much like gossip. “How long do you think we have until Mr. - I mean Bruce gets here?”

“I think we have, like, ten minutes before we should start looking for him,” Duke said, looking at his watch. “Give or take. It was only an estimate anyways.”

-

Exactly ten minutes later, Bruce Wayne had entered the Family Dining Room. Duke politely excused himself, despite his obvious curiosity, while Bruce led Danny and Jazz to a cozy sitting room, back past the hall where their guest room was. Armed with a folder, a spiral notebook, the binder Jazz had given Batman, and both a pen and pencil, Bruce sat in an armchair opposite a large, L-shaped couch the siblings had claimed, coffee table in the middle. Thankfully, the large window made them feel less trapped, like they could escape if they felt they needed to, and the two beanbag chairs in front of the window made the room feel more lived in, rather than an untouchable showroom in a magazine.

“I’m glad you both look better than when you arrived,” Bruce began. “But before we make more plans, I wanted to confirm that you both do want to stay here in Gotham.”

The siblings looked at each other and Danny shrugged, leaning back and letting Jazz lead the conversation.

“All things considered, that is probably the best course of action,” Jazz sat up a little straighter, easily stepping into the familiar role of caretaker. “At least for now.”

“You still have reservations, then.”

“A lot has happened very quickly,” Jazz deflected, looking away. “We haven’t really had a chance to examine all of our options.”

“I see,” Bruce nodded, picking up the folder first. “Then that’s probably the best place to start. As promised, we’ll make sure you stay together no matter where you’re placed, and I assume that decision will mostly be affected by your plans for the future, and the most important factor to narrow possibilities is whether either of you want to continue being heroes. If yes, you will be placed with a League hero who will be in charge of your training, but if not, you will be placed with a trusted, non-hero associate unless there are specific reasons not to. Everything else will fit around that choice.”

“Well, I kinda have to,” Danny interjected, then hesitated. He glanced at Jazz’s binder, then sighed, folding his arms tightly over his chest; Batman or not, Bruce would probably need to know at some point. It’s not much of a secret that he funds the Justice League, and if he was trusted with that binder, he probably had some manager-type duties, or at the very least was in charge of their case.

“It’s really personal, so don’t ask about it unless I bring it up first,” he continued, looking away uncomfortably. “But I’m sort of hard wired to protect others. I will literally go nuts if I can’t. So, wherever we end up, I’m gonna have to do hero stuff.”

Danny really didn’t wanna open that can of worms right now.

Unfortunately, Bruce’s attention had zeroed in on Danny as he said this, locked onto the mystery dangled in front of him, and Danny barely resisted the urge to shrink into the couch under the intense scrutiny. Jazz cleared her throat and Bruce’s eyes snapped to hers, getting caught in her protective glare as something seemed to click in his brain. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and visibly pulling himself back.

“In that case, these are the League heroes who have agreed to potentially foster you two,” Bruce forced himself to ignore the temptation as he handed a stack of papers to Jazz, since Danny made no move to take it. Of course he had prepared for the possibility that they didn’t want to stay. “Not all heroes are ready for the commitment of being a full-time mentor, and fewer still are equipped to take care of fosters, no matter how independent. Each page is a hero with some general information, as well as a list of pros and cons for each choice, and a description written by the heroes themselves. The profiles are hardly comprehensive, and their civilian identities have been redacted unless it’s already public knowledge, so look through them and let me know if you have any questions.”

With that, Bruce traded the folder for Jazz’s binder and sat back to study it, occasionally writing in the notebook; trying to give them some amount of privacy while still being readily available. Jazz began scanning each paper, looking for any obvious deal-breakers, while Danny sat up to look over her shoulder.

After several minutes of careful scrutiny and silent communication, a stack of eliminated candidates was placed to one side of the coffee table while Jazz spread the remaining handful of profiles out in front of them. She cleared her throat to get Bruce’s attention.

“Ok, first important question,” Jazz said while Danny leaned back again. “Whoever we pick, will we still be able to consult with other heroes for more specific training?”

“Yes,” Bruce answered immediately, returning the binder and notebook to the table. “Regardless of their primary mentor, all League heroes have agreed to help train the next generation, including those who don’t want a full-time sidekick of their own.”

“Ok, that does make me feel better eliminating options,” Jazz nodded, looking back at the papers. “The Atom is a scientist, which will be closer to what we’re used to, and he works with the Justice Foundation so we’d be close to mom and dad, but the environment could be triggering as well as limiting Danny’s ability to fulfill his Obsession since Atom’s not out in the field much. Zatanna seems like a good choice, too, now that we know that there’s a connection between ecto and magic, but with her identity being public our parents are more likely to find out about Danny’s condition, and we want to tell them ourselves, if it’s going to happen at all. Since you’ve confirmed that we can seek specialized training without committing to live with them, I can safely eliminate them from the list,” Jazz put their profiles on the eliminated stack. “Which leaves just the three founders of the Justice League.”

She squirmed uncomfortably as she glanced over the three remaining profiles on the table.

“I feel... for lack of a better term, ‘entitled’ by picking one of them, but they are the best choices to cover both Danny’s needs and my own. Superman would probably be the best match personality wise, and it’s common knowledge that he isn’t human so he’ll understand having non-human needs, but from what I can tell he was raised among humans on Earth, most likely in rural America, so he probably isn’t equipped to handle how... quirky Danny’s biology is, so as much as it pains me, he’s also eliminated.”

She moved his paper to the eliminated stack as well and Danny hid his disappointment that he wouldn’t get to live with an alien.

“That leaves Batman, who has already expressed an interest in taking us in, and Wonder Woman, who has connections to magic as well. Both would be great options as a mentor for Danny, so what about me? I could take or leave hero work, but I very much want to go to college, specifically in some area of psychology, and as much as Washington D.C. has some good options, and working with Wonder Woman would be really cool, Gotham has some of the best psychology programs in North America and I was already considering going to Gotham U long before any of this hero stuff happened. What do you think, Danny?” Jazz turned to her brother. “And before you say ‘you trust my judgement’, I don’t want facts and figures from you, I want your opinion about how you feel.”

Danny’s mouth snapped shut, cut off before he could even start, and sat up to look at the two final papers on the coffee table. What did he feel? Part of him still wanted to take Superman out of the eliminated pile, but Jazz was right; they could easily consult with an alien so he didn’t need to live with one, too. The magic connection was good, but he already had Frostbite and could easily talk to other Justice League magic users so, again, he didn’t necessarily need to be in such close contact with them. So, ignoring ghost hero stuff, who would he want to live with? Who would take care of his daily needs best?

“... Batman does seem to be the obvious choice,” he finally admitted, looking away. “I mean, he knows a lot about ghost stuff already and didn’t seem put off by it, he’s familiar with the situation at Amity Park and with our parents, he’s had plenty of experience training sidekicks, even if none of them had powers or whatever, and we are already here...”

Danny trailed off with a shrug. He felt like a spoiled, entitled brat just expecting for the Batman to take care of him. Their parents had never said that raising them was annoying, but they didn’t really have to for the siblings to feel like they were always in the way. Picking Batman made logical sense but it still made him very uncomfortable, so he leaned against Jazz’s shoulder, still looking away. Jazz sighed and leaned in, too.

“I know it’s a trauma response of neglect,” Jazz said quietly, not really seeing the papers she was staring at. “To minimize natural needs when the bare minimum felt like a luxury. But it feels like we’re asking for too much, being too inconvenient, even though it’s literally being offered to us...”

Bruce had been silently studying the siblings as they thought out loud, mentally cataloguing what they valued and what they didn’t even think to consider.

“Have you made your decision?” Bruce asked quietly, face held in a careful neutral. He wanted them to make this decision for themselves, not just accept what was expected of them.  

Danny and Jazz shared one last look before Danny nodded and Jazz’s expression hardened with resolve as she nodded back, sitting up straight and looking Bruce in the eye.

“Yes,” she said. “We’ve decided to stay.”

“Then let’s get started,” Bruce smiled, barely hiding his delight.

“First, we’ve kind of been dancing around it, so I do want to confirm,” Jazz scratched the back of her head self-consciously. “You are Batman, right?”

Bruce huffed in amusement.

“Yes, I’m Batman.”

“Ok, and a follow up question, who else knows?” she continued. “About you and about us. Who do we have to be careful around?”

“Most of the Gotham vigilantes know that I’m Batman, and as such will easily deduce your identities if they see you in the field, though I’ve restricted as much information about you two as I could so that you could choose who to trust about what on your own terms,” Bruce assured and both siblings relaxed minutely. “Besides myself, Oracle knows the most out of anyone, through her investigation into the GIW, and I can’t control who she tells, but I’ve only revealed the basics to everyone else: your names, that your parents were arrested for unethical science, and that I offered to foster and train you both, if that’s what you want. All of my children are vigilantes, though Duke and Damian are still in training, and all of them have been trained as detectives so I can’t control what they may have discovered about you on their own, either; though, with the media blackout, they probably didn’t find much more than I did before arriving in Amity. I’ve warned them all to not overwhelm you both while you settle, so they’ve agreed to stagger their introductions, and I’ve let them take care of how that will work amongst themselves. From what I’ve been told of their plans, they’ve delegated different aspects of helping you settle as part of their introductions, on the assumption that you would be staying, of course. Aside from my own children, there are plenty of other Gotham vigilantes as well; while I have asked them to give you time to adjust, it will be up to them to respect that request. Outside of Gotham, I am very careful about who I trust with my civilian identity.”

Bruce took another stapled packet of papers from the folder and handed it to Jazz.

“I have a tiered list of people you are likely to interact with and approximately how much they know about me,” he explained, because of course he had a tier list of who’s close to him. “But a general guideline would be ‘the closer they are to the core of the Justice League, the more of my secrets I trust them with’ and I trust both Superman and Wonder Woman implicitly. I’ll leave it to them how they want to introduce themselves but I’m sure they’ll want to visit soon. I haven’t told Justice League Dark more than they already knew when we first met, Danny, but I don’t know how much they’ve researched on their own since then. Alfred knows everything and was trained as a military field medic, so he usually patches us up after patrols. For anything more serious or specialized, we see Dr. Leslie Thompkins, and most of our equipment is designed and fabricated by Lucious Fox, head of Research and Development at Wayne Enterprises. We don’t keep much from either of them, though they usually don’t ask anything beyond the scope of their expertise. Although, speaking of Dr. Thompkins, we’ll need to get both of you in to see her sooner rather than later, preferably before school starts, which we also need to discuss.”

“Isn’t that, like, a week away, though?” Danny grimaced. He didn’t particularly like the idea of a doctor examining him, on top of his world up-ending, and now going to a new school? It was all happening too fast; let him catch his breath first!

“A week from next Monday, yes,” Bruce confirmed. Today was Friday. “I know it’s not a lot of time to adjust, but I don’t want either of you to miss school or enter a school year part way through, which is a good way to be singled out and ostracized in a place like Gotham Academy. The media doesn’t know that you exist yet, but you will inevitably gain media attention simply because of your connection to me; however, I want to avoid making it worse if at all possible.”

“You’re right,” Jazz admitted. “I’ve read studies about social dynamics of various age groups. If we start even a week late, cliques will have already started to form and we’d be seen as outsiders even more than we already will be, a label that would likely follow us for years in a community as connected as a single city’s elite. I only have one year of high school left, so it wouldn’t be as big of a problem for me, but Danny would have to endure at least three years of that.”

“The only reason I was ok being an outcast at Casper High was because Sam and Tucker were there, too,” Danny admitted, rubbing his face. “Not that I want to schmooze with rich kids, but it’s better than the alternative...”

“You won’t have to reveal your connection to me right away,” Bruce offered. “No one will connect Fenton to Wayne for a while, hopefully not until we can announce it ourselves. Clark Kent is an amazing reporter and my usual go-to if I need help controlling a narrative for the media. Clark is well known for his integrity and has helped each of my kids with their public debuts, except for Dick since I adopted him before I met Clark, but we don’t need to worry about that immediately. The more pressing matters are getting you two enrolled, which will require a doctor’s appointment, and the immediate need for daily necessities. I will also need to put together a training schedule for each of you- no, first I should confirm, Jazz, do you want to be a vigilante in Gotham? You will need some amount of training either way, but if not, I will focus on things like self-defense and what to do when you are inevitably kidnapped.”

“’When’?!” Jazz balked and Bruce just nodded, very serious.

“Even if you were regular citizens, being held hostage is a fairly common occurrence in Gotham. Being connected to someone as influential as Brucie Wayne, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll be targeted.”

“I guess that makes sense...” Jazz grimaced. “Well, if I’m going to be in danger anyways, it may as well be on my terms. I’ll be a hero, though I may have to pull back to part-time once I get into college.”

“That’s reasonable,” Bruce easily agreed. “In which case, I will need you both to compile a list of your current skills and abilities, as well as your proficiency with them, and Danny, that will include a list of your powers. I observed many of them myself, but I’m sure I didn’t see all of them or their extent, nor do I know how they work. I’m not used to training those with superpowers, so I’ll need to know which heroes would be the best match to consult for them, especially for any powers you’re less familiar with.”

“Ok,” Danny warned. “But that’s gonna take a while.”

Bruce blinked, then narrowed his eyes, suddenly much more Batman than Bruce Wayne.

“Explain.”

“So, I have a wide variety of ghost powers,” Danny started, sitting up. “Most of which I don’t use regularly because they’re just so specialized that they’re only really useful in very specific situations. I use like five powers regularly, and they’re all kinda related anyways, like invisibility and intangibility are almost always used together. Then I have a handful of other powers that I can pull out in a pinch; some of them I don’t even remember doing, but Sam and Tucker swear I did at least once so those should probably be included, too,” Danny rolled his eyes, gaining momentum. “But for most of them I just didn’t have time to focus on training them to the point of being useful while trying to keep up with the constant ghost attacks, the schoolwork, remembering to eat and sleep, making sure our parents didn’t go off the deep end and do something I couldn’t fix, and I didn’t even have a social life because I just didn’t have time! And on top of that, I keep on developing new powers!” Danny cried, waving his arms around. “Or at least new ways to use old powers, if nothing else is working!”

Danny sighed, rubbing his face with both hands.

“Sorry for the rant,” he shook his head. “It’s just frustrating to always feel like I’m behind the curve.”

“You prioritized dealing with the immediate problem,” Bruce nodded thoughtfully, unbothered by the erratic tirade. “While understandable considering the situation in Amity, such a strategy will only be detrimental going forward. You implied Sam and Tucker have been keeping track of your powers?”

“Yeah, Sam’s got a notebook and I think Tucker has a spreadsheet or something, tracking separately since they couldn’t come up with a system they both liked and just swap notes,” Danny nodded, trying to ignore his embarrassment at getting so worked up. “They kept track of some medical stuff too, so I can get all of that next time I call them. Which reminds me, when can I call them and how much can I tell them? I don’t wanna lie to them if I don’t have to.”

“Hm,” Bruce frowned. “I know you trust them, but I have limited influence over the situation due to the media blackout and I don’t know them well enough to fully trust them myself yet. You can tell them that Batman is training you and that you’re staying with Bruce Wayne; it isn’t a lie, per se, but I’d like to keep my identities separate for now. Most people theorize that Bruce is at least funding Batman, so it would make sense for Batman to trust Bruce to facilitate your healthcare since they already know your health is complicated and would likely be expensive.”

Danny clenched his jaw, narrowing his eyes at Bruce; he knew the implied accusation of being inconvenient was just in his head, but it still made him bristle. He ignored the discomfort and sighed, looking away, not willing to die on this hill.

“I don’t like it,” Danny grumbled. “But I can see your point. Fine, it’s a reasonable request so I won’t tell them. I can’t stop them from figuring it out on their own, though.”

“Fair enough,” Bruce nodded, accepting the compromise. “I’ll ask Oracle to help set up a secure communication channel with them-”

“Tucker is really good a tech stuff,” Danny interrupted. “It might help to have them working at it from both ends.”

“Hmm,” Bruce tapped his chin in thought. “It will be difficult to coordinate around the blackout before the connection is secured, and I was too focused on your situation to set up anything more permanent before leaving. I’ll speak with Oracle. Depending on the solution she decides to use, we may need to set up something physical in Amity Park anyways. If so, I can send Rob-” Bruce froze, then sighed. “I can send Owl Light to Amity with the plan and equipment, and you two can accompany him.”

“Really?!” Danny perked up, ignoring the slip and the hero name he didn’t recognize. “We can go visit?!”

“I don’t have enough information to give you a timetable,” Bruce said. “But yes, I see no reason to keep you from them. Until we can access that list of powers, we will focus on your human form and non-ghost abilities along with Jazz and Duke.”

“Why?” Danny asked, cocking his head. “I’m not gonna be out there as a human, right?”

“There will inevitably be situations when you can’t use your ghost form for one reason or another and I need to know that you can still handle yourself appropriately. I’ve seen too many heroes with powers be useless without them because they weren’t prepared. I don’t know what may cause the situation, but I know that it will happen, and you will be ready.”

“Ah,” Danny thought back to a few times when he was stuck as a human during a ghost attack. “Well, when you put it like that...”

“Besides, with or without superpowers, there are plenty of skills that you will need in order to survive being a hero in Gotham,” Bruce smirked slightly. “Such as detective skills and how to interact with the media and the general public, both as a hero and a civilian; not to mention a crash course on Gotham’s rogues and the differences between small town and big city dynamics. You won’t be lacking things to do without the list.”

There was a quiet chime sound and Bruce pulled out a PDA-style cell phone, checked it, nodded, and returned it to his pocket.

“That can wait until later,” Bruce continued, a spark of amusement in his otherwise stoic expression. “Steph is here to take you clothes shopping and she’s getting impatient.”

-

“This is gonna be great!”

Stephanie Brown bounced out the Manor’s front door with Jazz and Danny in tow. She had wanted to invite Duke and Damian, too, since they also didn’t really have enough clothes in her opinion, but she couldn’t find Damian and Duke had managed to wriggle out of it, so it would just be the three of them. Steph assured them that she was the least likely of Bruce’s kids to be recognized in public, not to mention she wasn’t technically adopted so people probably wouldn’t care as much even if she was recognized. This wasn’t even something the siblings had considered might be a problem until she mentioned it.

Duke was right, though, Steph had energy to spare. It was actually a little overwhelming. Thankfully, it was the kind of overwhelming that they were used to; sure, that excited chatter was usually more scientific in nature, but it was familiar enough to be soothing so Jazz and Danny were happy enough to let her lead.

Taking them to a bulk clothing retailer first, they got the basics like underpants, bras, and undershirts, both tank top and t-shirt styles; all in a variety of plain colors.

“I grew up pretty poor, too, so I know how ingrained thrifting can be as a habit,” she’d explained. “But I’m not gonna let you two shut down with the culture shock of suddenly having cash to burn. We can use this to ease you into it, and we need a good base to build on anyways, then we can splurge on fancy, special pieces! I mean, we are building this wardrobe from scratch, ya know?”

They spent barely an hour at the bulk store, most of which was figuring out what sizes and shapes best fit their body-types; something neither sibling had ever considered, but it turns out Steph was really good at. Ditching their borrowed clothes for some of the plain ones they’d just bought, they hit the mall next and she dragged them from store to store, grabbing everything they showed even a passing interest in and hiding price tags as often as she could.

She got better at finding things they’d like as she got to know them. Anything and everything with a ghost or superhero theme for both siblings. Space, star, and alien stuff for Danny. Cute animals and simple patterns for Jazz. Danny loved all of the shirts with puns that made Jazz groan. Jazz swore she didn’t like the frillier items, with lace and bows, but didn’t fight against them as hard as she could have. A few nicer items, like button-up shirts and slacks for both, and a few simple but classy dresses and skirts for Jazz. Steph noted that Danny seemed drawn to a few feminine items, too, but he panicked slightly when she brought it up so she backed off and just filed the information away for later; now wasn’t the time to push boundaries.

All told, as exhausting as it was, both Danny and Jazz were honestly enjoying themselves, allowing Steph to disarm them with her playful excitement and genuine interest.

They had to make a few trips back out to her car, but after one last stop at a beauty salon for some basic toiletries like nice shampoo, and promising to take Jazz back for some makeup when they have more time, Steph decided they should take a break around dinner, opting to forgo the Food Court in favor of the nearby Batburger.

“Every item is named after a Gotham vigilante?” Jazz asked while Danny snickered to himself about the punny names as they both looked over their menus. It wasn’t exactly fancy, but as a sit-down, diner-style restaurant, it was a step up from regular fast food while still being affordably priced.

“Yup!” Steph chirped. “Tim came up with the idea to boost our image, make us more approachable to the average citizen while still being intimidating to the bad guys. They do stay away from using the rogues for anything, though, so we don’t encourage that kind of behavior, but we sometimes get specials based on other heroes, too! Those are always fun! Bruce is footing the bill, of course, and Alfred made me promise to feed you well before he let me take you, so order as much as you’d like.”

“So, it’s ok if I order two entrees?” Danny asked, letting a bit more hope leak into his voice than he meant to.

“Sure,” Steph chuckled. “Duke mentioned how much you two ate at lunch so I have no doubt you’d finish it, and even if you don’t, we can just take it with us.”

A waiter, in a polo and slacks uniform that seemed to be styled after one of Robin’s old outfits, took their order and Jazz decided to finally broach the topic they’d all been skirting around.

“So, uh,” she tried to be casual. “How much does everyone know about, um... our situation? Bruce said he tried to keep it under wraps but with everyone being trained detectives, well...”

“Yeah, we didn’t exactly become heroes to mind our own business,” Steph chuckled quietly, glancing around. “Now’s not really the place to go over who’s who, though, just in case, but Babs hasn’t been quiet about the dirt she’s dug up on the GIW. Sick bastards.”

Jazz and Danny stiffened while Steph glared out the window. The siblings flinched when the waiter returned with their drinks and suddenly Steph was all smiles again as she lightly flirted with him. He seemed slightly uncomfortable, though, and Steph immediately backed off without drawing attention to it as he went about his job. Danny couldn’t help but think back to what Duke said about Bruce and Tim’s airhead act and how quickly that switch can be flipped. Those two might not be the only actors in the family.

“On a safer note,” Steph smiled at them. “I am so glad I got to be the first one to really get to know you two! It was a hard won position, but totally worth it. But alas, all good things must come to an end and all the good clothes stores are gonna be closed by the time we’re done eating. We got a good start on your wardrobes, at least-”

“’Start’?!” Danny balked.

“-and someone else called dibs on helping you decorate your rooms," Steph grinned at the interjection. “Tim asked if we could pick him up from WE, though, if you don’t mind one more stop. I think he wanted to get you patched into our network and stuff, so we could keep you in the loop about plans instead of kinda springing it on you like we did today.”

Food arrived and small talk was had. Jazz and Danny agreed Nasty Burger was better but recognized their clear nostalgic bias. When questioned about the name, Jazz said it was a locally owned burger joint that used to be the Tasty Burger when it opened but it was vandalized at some point and the owner was too cheap to fix it. By the time it was sold, everyone knew it as Nasty Burger and the new owner decided to lean into it, rebranding everything to match. Small town quirks at their finest.

Finally back in Steph’s car, Danny was tired of waiting.

“So, which hero are you?” he asked from the back seat as soon as the doors were closed, not bothering with subtlety.

“I’m Batgirl,” Steph chuckled as she started driving away. “And your hero name is Phantom, right?”

“Yup.”

“Gonna keep it or try to rebrand in a new city?”

“Huh,” Danny cocked his head. “I hadn’t actually thought about that. With the media blackout, it’s not like anyone outside Amity is gonna recognize Phantom, or at least no one living.”

“I can see pros and cons for both, and it’s good to keep your options open,” Steph nodded, glancing at Jazz in the passenger seat. “What about you, Jazz? I don’t remember hearing a hero name for you.”

“Oh, I don’t have one,” Jazz said. “No one on Team Phantom did besides Danny, and even then it was only really while he was transformed so our parents didn’t find out, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have bothered at all. Everything’s been happening so fast, though, I haven’t really had time to think about something like a hero name.”

“Cool, cool,” Steph nodded distractedly, then chewed her lip, hesitating. “Would you... consider being Batgirl?”

“What, but, wait-” Jazz stuttered in shock. “That’s your hero name!”

“I know, but I’m 23,” Steph shrugged. “I feel like I’ve outgrown being Batgirl and I’ve kinda wanted to change names for months now but couldn’t find a good excuse to. Passing the name to you would be perfect! And I wouldn’t have to feel like I’m abandoning it, ya know?”

Steph gave a nervous, embarrassed chuckled as Jazz stared at her with wide eyes, shock turning into awe, then contemplation as she looked out the front window. Steph sped up slightly as the light turned yellow and Jazz and Danny both kissed their hands and touched the ceiling with it in identical motions.

“What was that?!” Steph laughed, glancing at them both as they looked at her in confusion.

“What do you mean?” Jazz asked, legitimately not sure what Steph was talking about.

“The touch the ceiling thing?” Steph kept laughing but was now almost concerned. “That was like creepily in sync, guys.”

“Oh, that,” Jazz suddenly understood and looked away, embarrassed.

“Wait, do you not kiss the ceiling when you drive through a yellow light?” Danny asked, almost incredulous, but quickly noted Steph hadn’t done it with them.

“Everyone in Amity does it,” Jazz shrugged, still looking away. “I guess I never realized it was just an Amity thing.”

“Is there a reason for it? Like a superstition?”

“I... don’t think so?” Jazz cocked her head and Steph noted it was the same way Danny did. “I never really thought about why, everyone just did it, so it’s probably like a ‘knock on wood’ type of superstitious tradition.”

“That’s honestly kind of adorable,” Steph was still grinning. “I might have to steal it. Just ‘cause.”