#pear writes

“Dear Stephanie,

 I would like to invite you to celebrate the official adoption of my godson, Daniel. He’s been such a lonely child since the unfortunate death of his family, and it would mean the world to me if you would join us for dinner. I do hope to see you there.

Sincerely, Your Cousin Vlad Masters”

Steph held the gaudy invitation as she hiked up the steps to his mansion. It was a looming, ugly thing, designed after a medieval castle, complete with a comically large fountain. Ornate gold gilded doors met her at the top of the steps. They swung inward before she could knock.

“Ah, if it isn’t Miss Brown,” Vlad Masters said, bowing slightly. “Just in time for supper.”

“I'd hope so,” Steph said. "The invitation promised dinner."

A sickly looking teenage boy stood just behind Vlad, in a simple t-shirt and jeans. His messy black hair and deep eye bags reminded Steph of Tim when he caught a new case. Which was to say, he looked about to collapse from the slightest breeze.

“Do come in,” Vlad stepped aside to allow her through.

The entrance hall was worse than she imagined. An ungodly amount of green and yellow Packers memorabilia decorated every available space. From banners hung from the tall ceiling, to rugs and display cases.

“Miss Brown, this is my godson, Daniel,” Vlad proudly gestured to the uncomfortable teen beside him.

The kid extended his hand. “Just Danny is fine.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said. His hand was cold. “You can call me Steph.”

Danny smiled, a weak but genuine thing. It melted when Vlad cut in, announcing a tour of the mansion to “work up their appetites”.

Steph already had her suspicions about the man, but this… this was something else.

The invitation had come through the mail in a wax sealed envelope. After a brief background check and a few Google searches, Steph found that Vlad Masters was her legitimate cousin on her dad’s side, albeit distant. He also was a very shady businessman and politician. This man showed enough red flags to fill a football field, so the idea of him adopting a kid was alarming to say the least. She's only there to make sure he's being treated well. So far it isn't looking good.

“Here, we have the guest rooms…” Vlad droned on.

Steph wasn’t really paying attention at this point. The tour had already been going for half an hour. Danny looked equally bored, or possibly just tired if his half lidded eyes were anything to go by. He shivered despite the mild warmth of the mansion and became stiff any time Vlad placed a hand on his shoulder. Steph could recognise the signs of distress a mile away.

Finally, they came to the dinning hall, where steaming plates of food already awaited them. Steph took the seat adjacent to Danny at the long table, while Vlad took his place at the head. They ate in relative silence. The food was reminiscent of dishes she’d had at galas and other such events, which was to say bland and severely lacking in portion sizes. The best part was the breadsticks and even those were a bit dry.

About halfway through the meal, Vlad excused himself from the table after checking his phone. Now was Steph’s chance to talk to Danny.

“So,” Steph began. “Your godfather, what do you think of him?”

Danny picked at his plate. “Honestly? He’s kind of a fruit loop. If I had it my way, I wouldn’t even be here.”

“Oh?” Steph leaned forward. “Then, where would you be, if it was your choice?”

“Space,” Danny sighed. “Or with my friends. Hell, I’d even take my aunt’s cabin in the woods.”

The “anywhere but here” part remained unsaid. But Steph could sympathize. She had to find a way to get him out of there. Leaking Vlad’s misdeeds was easy enough, and it wouldn’t take much to get his custody revoked once Barbara was on her side. All of the legal stuff would have to be left to Dick and Bruce, but she could do it. The only thing left would be… be…

Her thoughts started to crumble. The room started to spin and her vision swam.

Danny abruptly stood and spat a curse under his breath. His next words melted together as Steph struggled to keep her eyes open. There must have been something in the food. Danny collapsed. Dark fog threatened Steph’s vision. Forget the legal system. Vlad was getting the Spoiler special when she woke up.

The dark clouds overwhelmed her, plunging her into deep sleep.

. . . . .

Danny should have known something was up when Vlad left the table. Truth be told, the entire dinner felt like a trap. The fruit loop had made a show of presenting the food with each course, taking his sweet time with getting dessert. By the time Danny realized what was happening, it was too late. The sedatives had already started to set in.

Waking up was hard, but he forced his eyes open to a dark closet. He tugged at his intangibility, but was met with a burning sensation. Of course the closet was ghost proof.

Danny struggled to his feet, all the while cursing Vlad as colorfully as he could. His foot hit something on the floor and it stirred with a groan. Oh, ancients, Steph! What kind of bullshit was Vlad planning? Drugging Danny wasn’t anything new, expected even. But this crossed a line. Stephanie was an innocent bystander. She didn’t deserve to be caught up in their feud. Once Danny got out of that closet, Vlad was in for a world of hurt.

“Ugh, please tell me you caught the number on that bus,” Steph groaned, startling Danny out of his thoughts.

It was then he remembered his eyes were glowing. He blinked rapidly until the green glow went away. If Steph noticed, she didn’t react.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Vlad,” Danny spat. “He put something in the food.”

Steph nodded as if it was expected. “I knew the generous businessman act was too good to be true,” she dusted herself off as she stood without so much as a wobble. “So, you got a game plan?”

Danny glanced at the ceiling vent, comically large and the perfect size for a person. Sometime’s Vlad’s penchant for borderline cartoonish villainy had its perks.

The use of Steph’s phone as a flashlight made it child’s play to find the camera. Steph messed with it for a few minutes before putting it back in its place.

“Say cheese!” Steph said.

Danny smiled as he was told, half laughing from the ridiculousness of it. Here they were escaping a kidnapping and Steph wanted to take pictures.

Next came hoisting each other up into the vents. Danny went first at Steph’s request, reasoning that Danny knew the mansion better than she did. But he could see the anxiety behind her eyes. He could only imagine how this might look from an outside perspective.

The inside of the vents was about as clean as you’d expect. Dust and cobwebs covered every inch, kicking up clouds with every movement.

“You’d think he’d come up with a better holding place than a closet,” Steph broke the silence with a laugh.

“At least it wasn’t the torture lab,” Danny muttered. He had half expected it after all of the vague threats the last couple days.

Again, if Steph heard him, she didn’t say anything.

Light filtered through another vent. Between the ornate metal patterns on the grate, Danny could see bookshelves and a desk. He’d expected the fruit loop to be in there, scheming as always. But his ghost sense remained undisturbed and no sound came from the room below.

Danny dropped down to the floor, phasing the grate through its screws for an easy exit. The lights were off, the curtains left open, allowing moonlight to spill across the room. If memory served, they were in the third floor study, in the west wing.

Steph whistled. “He is really dedicated to that medieval vampire aesthetic.”

“You should see the basement,” Danny said.

If the windows weren’t locked, they could climb down, break into the garage, and make a run for it. This would be a lot easier if Danny could openly use his powers, but he could make do without them. At this point, he would do just about anything to get out of there.

“Is your godfather a scientist by any chance?” Steph asked. “Cause I think I found his notes.”

Ah, fuck. Of course that idiot would leave something so important in plain sight. Ancients, don’t let it be the clone notes.

Danny all but ran to the desk where Steph had started looking through papers. File folders sat open and scattered. Among them was a black and white photo of a familiar young girl in what looked like a cryostasis pod. Was it too late to go back to the closet?

“Danny?” Steph asked.

He ran a hand through his hair. Too late to hide it now. If she read even a single paper here, his secret was already put in jeopardy.

“How much did you read?” He asked, though the answer didn’t matter.

“Enough to know he’s a piece of shit,” Steph said. “And we should take him down.”

Danny blinked. Not exactly the reaction he was expecting. But then again, Steph was oddly calm about the whole ordeal to begin with.

“You sure?” Danny asked. “We could just leave. Those windows aren’t locked and I’m pretty sure the garage isn’t either.”

Steph smiled and started taking pictures of the documents on the desk. “We will. Once we get enough evidence to put him away. What do you say?”

Oh, she was serious. 

Even if Danny got away, Vlad wasn't going to stop. Not as long as he lived free. 

Dark halls sprawled out, labyrinthine and looming. How Vlad managed not to get lost in there was another mystery. Steph added it to the list. She followed Danny down winding stairs and through secret passages. Her phone made for a lousy light in the vast dark, but it was better than wandering blind. 

A dusty, web filled passage led them to the kitchen. The lights were off, the room cold as if the industrial sized freezer was left open. 

The counters were empty. Whatever was used to knock them out, it wouldn't be found here. Vlad might have underestimated them, but he wasn't a complete idiot. Gathering evidence may turn out to be harder than Steph thought. 

“We’ll need weapons,” Steph said. “How good are you with a knife?”

“I can manage,” Danny said, climbing on a counter to reach one of many cameras scattered about the room. 

Steph picked a few good sized knives from the block and rummaged through cabinets, while Danny scrambled the security footage. One could say the kid had a talent for it. Sure, his method consisted entirely of putting his hand through the camera whenever he didn't think Steph was looking, but it got results so she couldn't complain. 

So far, Danny showed evidence of two abilities; density shifting and night vision. If the notes from the upstairs study were to be believed, he could also go invisible and fly. From what she could read, it seemed Vlad dabbled in human experimentation. She hoped she was wrong, but it was starting to look like Danny had been one of his subjects. Steph had already resolved to take him back to Gotham by then. Keep watchful eyes and all that. Now the plan just had the extra step of beating that vampire ass son of a bitch within an inch of his life. 

“We should go after the security systems next,” Steph said. “Then we hit the lab and document as much as we can.” 

Danny hopped off the counter, dusting off his hands with a nod. “Good news then. There’s two consoles for security. One in the library, and one in the lab.”

“Library first then,” Steph said, handing Danny one of the knives. “With any luck, we won’t need these.”

“Right,” Danny took it with a huffed laugh. “Knock on wood.”

They left the kitchens through a hidden door next to the freezer. A distinct lack of cobwebs and dust proved the cramped passage was more often used than the rest. It brought them up a narrow spiral staircase and through a bookshelf (seriously?) into a large two story library. 

Danny wasted no time, going through the door as soon as it was open. By the time Steph brought up her light and closed the bookcase behind them, he was on the other side of the room. 

“There should be another secret door around here somewhere,” Danny said, combing through shelves. 

“Who puts two secret bookcase doors in the same room?” Steph asked. She started checking books on the east side. 

“You should have seen this place before he rebuilt it,” Danny said. “It used to be way worse.”

She worked through a section labeled “occult”. Most of it was Lovecraft bullshit, but a few titles looked more legit. One stuck out, dust free despite its yellowing pages. The title was in a language she’d never seen before. A tug on the spine sounded a click and the distinct whirring of a mechanism across the room where a section of shelf pulled away. 

Unbelievable. 

The room was small compared to the vast library beyond it. Hung above the console on each wall, large screens displayed identical logos, bathing the space in crimson light. The console itself wrapped around the room, a ludicrous number of buttons and switches covered every inch. In the middle of it all, a single office chair waited patiently. 

“Please tell me you can work this thing,” Steph said. The monstrosity before them made the Batcomputer look simple. 

Danny shrugged. “Only one way to find out.” He took his seat and got to flipping switches. Seconds later, the screens blinked to life, displaying scenes from nearly every room in the mansion. 

One screen in particular held Steph’s attention. 

Vlad paced in and out of frame in what looked to be a trophy room. Between the football memorabilia, animal skins and glass eyed taxidermy, ancient looking relics sat in elaborate cases. It seemed the occult may have been more than just a hobby. 

“--don’t know how you did it, Maddie,” Vlad said as the speakers switched on. “That boy is far too much like his father. Perhaps I should have left him to the Realms after all.”

Danny tensed, statue still as a hologram materialized on the far side of the room. 

“Oh, you don’t mean that,” the hologram-- a middle-aged woman in a blue jumpsuit-- sounded sickeningly sweet. Her movements were jagged as static waves rippled across her form. “You couldn’t complete your work without him. Have more tea, dear! It’ll calm your nerves.”

Danny’s eyes flashed green. The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. 

On the screen, a hunched figure pushed a tea cart into frame. When they turned to offer Vlad a teacup on a saucer, their eyes were milky, face gaunt. 

“Right as always, my love,” Vlad said. He accepted the saucer and took a sip. “Hmm, speaking of Daniel…” He walked out of frame and reappeared on another camera, at a fireplace. Twin tacky football trophies sat at either end of the mantle. Vlad lifted one and pushed the button beneath it. “Shall we check on him and our guest?”

Maddie, the hologram flickered to appear at his side. “Of course, dear!” 

Steph shivered. The room had grown so cold, she could almost see her breath. Frost started to gather on the console where Danny’s hands rested on the controls. 

The fireplace in the trophy room slid back with the whir of hidden machinery, revealing a descending staircase. Vlad walked down with a calm befitting a man not actively committing various crimes. Maddie followed, her form flickering in and out of view with every step. 

As soon as they were out of sight, Danny seemed to remember how to breathe. The frost on the console didn’t melt, but faded without so much as a drop left behind. Curious. 

“Are you okay?” Steph asked. He definitely recognized the hologram. But where? Was she simply Vlad’s assistant, or was there more to the story? Vlad had called her his “love”... 

“Right, yeah,” Danny said. “Sorry.” 

Either way, he was clearly upset. And going off the sudden temperature change and flash of his eyes, his emotions must affect his powers. 

He wouldn’t meet her eyes as he worked the console, carefully selecting each switch and dial. Each camera flickered subtly, until every room-- including the one they were currently in-- showed up empty. No sign of tampering could be seen. The timestamps seemed to be functioning perfectly well at least. 

Steph whistled. “Nice work.” And it was, genuinely. For a kid with no training, and no experience, it was alarmingly good.

“Let’s see how well it holds,” Danny said. “Let’s go. We still have one more stop.”

With that, they covered their tracks and left the library behind.

. . . . . 

Anger didn’t even begin to describe what Danny was feeling. Frost coated his hands and the temperature kept fluctuating as he struggled to reign it in. 

Three months. Three months  since their deaths and Vlad still hadn’t deleted his creepy fucking A.I. Oh, when Danny got his hands on him, he was going to wish he never even made the damned thing. 

He led the way through the halls, careful and silent. With the security system hijacked they could finally walk freely. But it also meant they were limited on escape routes if they got caught. Thankfully, most of Vlad’s house staff were barely disguised ghosts, so they were easy to avoid.

As they came to the ground floor, voices could be heard from the entrance hall. A sudden chill crawled up Danny’s throat in a small gasp. His breath clouded in the dark stairwell. 

“Honestly, Ed,” one voice said. “I don’t even know why we put up with that crazy bastard.”

“He pays well,” another voice, rasping. “Besides, when was the last time you got to enjoy a good smoke? Or a drink?”

Danny tiptoed down the steps, toward the room. The door was only half closed, allowing him a view of one of the ghosts. 

The man looked like he belonged in a black and white movie. Short dark hair smoothed flat on his head, brown suit vest and matching pants, a thick cigar in one hand. His eyes glowed red when he turned to lean on the fireplace mantle. Possession. 

“It just don’t feel right,” the man said. “Feels dirty. Like making a deal with the devil.”

Another man stepped into view, in a full three piece suit and wide brimmed hat. “C’mon, Rob, it’s hardly the worst thing we’ve done. Besides, she’s already one of us, ain’t she? Doesn’t get much worse than that.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rob nodded, taking a long drag from his cigar. “I hear ya. Let’s just get it over with.”

Danny pulled away from the door as the two men prepared to leave. A moment later, the chill in the air faded. 

“Do you know those guys?” Steph abruptly appeared at his shoulder, making him jump.

“No,” Danny said once he’d recovered. He didn’t even notice she’d followed him. “But I think I know who they’re after.”

Steph seemed to consider something, her face changing for a split second. “Should we stop them?” 

Ancients, did he want to. But too many things could go wrong. Who knew what Vlad’s plans were. Besides, he couldn’t risk putting a civilian in danger. Sure, he wasn’t Amity Park’s hero anymore, but he still had a responsibility. 

Danny shook his head, resigned. “She can take care of herself,” Hopefully. “We need to focus on saving ourselves first.” Besides, if all else failed, he could come back for Ellie later. He just hoped she could wait that long. 

On the other side of the hall, they entered one of many sitting rooms. Vlad had called it a parlor at one point, but now it only served as another decoy room to throw off possible investigators. He never even touched it unless reporters were there, making it the perfect place for Danny to store smuggled Fenton tech. 

He reached into a large ugly vase and retrieved a specter-deflector, a pair of wrist blasters, and two vials of ecto-dejecto. Just in case. 

“Here, you’re gonna need these,” Danny gave Steph the wrist blasters. “It’s anti-ghost tech.” 

“Figures a place like this would be haunted,” Steph took them without so much as a blink, expertly equipping them without instruction. “Vlad really doesn’t half-ass anything, does he?”

“Only his kidnappings,” Danny said as he went for the bookcase. Moving a particularly large book aside revealed hidden Fenton-phones and extra ammo for the blasters. 

“You sure you don’t want one of these?” Steph asked, gesturing to a blaster. 

 “I don’t need them.” Danny couldn’t force himself to elaborate no matter how much he needed to. 

Instead of asking for an explanation or proof he could protect himself, Steph simply shrugged and moved on.

Thank the Ancients she did. 

The idea of outright telling someone about his powers made anxiety climb up his spine and clamp his mouth shut. Every time someone found out before, it was by accident. Even with his parents, it wasn’t on purpose. They’d walked into the lab while he was testing his abilities with Tucker and everything spiraled from there. Weeks of apologies and readjusting followed. They had just reached a point of almost normal again when--

Danny forced it aside. He had bigger things to focus on. 

“What’s the belt for?” Steph asked. 

“It’s supposed to protect against possession,” Danny said, letting the familiarity ground him. “But to someone like Vlad, it renders them powerless.”

Steph’s face changed again, almost imperceptible. A twitch of her brow, brief tug on the corner of her mouth. “So we give Vlad the belt, and beat him shitless?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Alright,” Steph said. “Let’s kick some ghost ass.”

Gran growled, biting back a retort and assessing the assorted portraits. "Which one is she?" His silent nervousness drew her glare again. "When were they made then, if you don’t know who’s who? Surely there's a date on them, or an artist’s signature."

Mayor Bronlowe shuffled away, flinching from her imminent wrath. "None, my dear—"

"Don't you Dear Woman me, Bronlowe. You're telling me they disappeared twenty years ago and nobody remembers what she or her mother or sister look like?" Gran grumbled, a sound not unlike the thunder of a summer storm brewing. "Nonsense," she muttered, trying to bring the women's faces to mind herself. All she conjured was the painting in the stairway of the Silver House. The green eyes and red hair of the unknown woman looked back at her from all the paintings; the same tilt of the corners of the eyes here; the exact shade of green there; the slight curl of the hair from there; the line of the lips from everywhere.