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Chapter Text

Damian Wayne was no stranger to kidnapping, especially not as Damian Wayne. However, coming face to face with a man with almost shining eyes, a spring in his step, and smiling far too much for it to be decent was an even more unusual occurrence.

Usually, these people outsourced. 

“My dear boy,” The man said, his voice utterly smooth and cajoling, even with the underlying hint of malice threading through it. “Come in.” He gestured to the open car door. 

Damian, obviously, pulled back, even though the area was otherwise fairly isolated, albeit not enough to let him showcase some of his fighting skill. Instead, he let his hand fall to his pocket and pressed the emergency beacon.

The man tutted, still looking more amused than annoyed. “You know I wouldn’t do this without a plan, don’t you? I set the vultures on your father, and they’re ready to open the portal and overwhelm him at any moment.” He raised an eyebrow. 

Damian froze. Vultures? Portal? Was it possible…? But no, Batman could handle anything, even a couple of ‘vultures’, no matter if they were assassins or otherwise. 

But a portal…

Damian swallowed and stepped forward again. 

“Good boy,” The man crooned patronizingly, and followed him into the car. “Take us back,” He said to his chauffeur. 

Damian watched him carefully, taking in everything. He was still not in costume, so he’d have to be careful, but if there was any indication— 

But not, father would be okay. It would be fine. He had the others, too, and for all Damian loved to pretend otherwise — to annoy them, of course — his siblings were some of the best vigilantes in the business. 

He relaxed. Yes, everything would be fine, and he’d be back home as soon as possible, too. In the meantime, he’d watch this man carefully and find out exactly who he was and what he wanted. 

“You’re certainly very quiet today, aren’t you?” The man asked. “Did the threat against your pathetic father finally work?” He laughed.

Damian scowled. “Don’t you dare!” He snapped before he could stop himself. 

The man’s laugh petered off into a sigh. “Pity,” He said. “I suppose I should have expected it.” He shook his head. “Really, your sister is far more malleable than you.”

Damian’s heart started pumping faster. What? Sister? Did he mean Cassandra or Stephanie? Or Barbara? No, none of them were malleable, right? But if this man had actually managed to grab one of them first—

They stopped outside a hotel, and Damian realzied, suddenly, in his panic, he had missed the rest of the conversation. He never would have, usually, but over the years, he’d gotten very attached to his family. And if this man was threatening them…

No, he reminded himself again. His family was strong. They would more likely pummel this guy than be kidnapped by him. 

It would be fine. And once they were back, Damian would find a way to frame it into something about it being his own choice and it would be an awe-inspiring story to rub in Tim’s face. 

He carefully and easily followed the man — “Mr. Masters,” one of the staff of the hotel called him — keeping note of exactly where he was taking Damian. Though why his kidnapper would be blase enough to take him somewhere this public was beyond him, but then, he could not fathom how the man’s mind was working. 

If it was working. Damian was frankly doubtful it even existed. 

Masters led him to a suite on the top floor. It was a fancy one, the kind his father would probably get if he ever stayed at a hotel, which meant that Masters was rich. Masters… had he heard that name before?

He frowned. 

“Oh don't be so glum, dear boy,” Masters said, sounding gleeful and patronizing. 

Damian scowled. “Don't call me ‘dear boy’,” He snarled immediately. 

The man laughed. Maybe it was the laugh, maybe it was the way he held himself, but Damian finally knew. “Vlad Masters!” He exclaimed, shocked. After all, though sleezy, Damian hadn't actually gotten any dangerous vibes from the man the first time he'd met him with his father at a gala. True, it had been for barely a few seconds, but Damian prized himself on his gut instinct. 

His siblings were most definitely not going to hear about this. 

“Well, of course, Daniel,” The man said. “Who did you expect? Surely you're not catching your father's stupidity, are you? No, that can't be,” He continued, pacing. “Ah! Are you perhaps so calm because you've come to the logical conclusion?” He sounded totally excited. “Are you finally ready to renounce your father and join me as I finally have your mother fall in love with me?”

What in the everloving— his mother? Why in the world would Talia Al Ghul give Vlad Masters the time of the day? And why would it even matter to Bruce Wayne, considering he'd officially moved on and was pathetically in love with Selina Kyle?

No, wait, had he called him Daniel? Was this seriously mistaken identity? 

Timothy would never let him live this down. 

“I'm not—”

Of course, considering how he'd mistaken him for someone else, Vlad didn't do the smart thing and let him speak. “Of course not,” He said. “You never do. It must be Jack's senseless genes making their way to your DNA.” He made a tutting sound. “Pity, really.” 

Damian tried again. “I'm not— ” He started. 

“Joining me? Yes, you've said,” The moron said. 

No wonder this Daniel didn't want to join him. Masters was completely insufferable. 

Fortunately, his family must have realized exactly how close he was to homicide, because there was the sound of shattering glass and Batman swung in, his visage as back and daunting as one might except of the Dark Knight, anger rolling off him in quiet waves that Damian could only recognize from years of working with him. 

Though (now) confident in their love for him, Damian still felt a warmth in his heart when something like this happened, the child inside his heart laughing in relief. 

Not that he would be saying that out loud. He had a reputation to keep. 

Vlad Masters put on the most bland expression possible. “Can I help you, Batman!” He asked coldly, and Damian had to raise his eyebrows at the change in tone. Insane though he might be, apparently Vlad Masters still held a level of fondness for this ‘Daniel’ that Damian hadn't clocked without the comparison. Interesting. 

“You kidnapped a child. In Gotham. That's my business,” Batman growled.

Vlad waved a careless hand. “Oh, no, my dear Batman. This is my godson, Daniel. And we have an… understanding, so it isn't truly kidnapping, you see.” He smiled, and it was completely insincere. “No need for the Justice League to get involved, right, Daniel?” 

And there was a pointed hint in his voice that made Damian think that he was right — that this Daniel really would have played along to keep the League from interfering. 

But he wasn't Daniel. “No,” He said sharply. “We don't.”

Vlad turned to him in sudden shock. “Excuse me?” He demanded, meeting Damian's eyes for the first time. 

And then he stilled, the exact moment before Batman said, gruffly, “That's not your godson. That's Damian Wayne.”

“Oh, butter biscuits,” Vlad said, looking between the two in drawing horror, as if realizing exactly how big of a mistake he had made. 

Batman lunged, but then, right as he was about to grab the man, he slipped through the floor, intangible. 

Chapter Text

“—and it is partly because of that that I even came to Amity to run for mayor, considering Amity is one place that Batman remains unaware of."

Danny and Tucker fell to the floor, laughing, and Sam clutched her stomach in pain from the same hysteria. 

Vlad sighed. “Yes, yes, do laugh. It's like I have all day to listen to you.” 

Danny wiped a tear from his face. “You seriously mistook this guy for me?” He asked incredulously, still chuckling. “What, the lack of ghost powers and not immediately fighting you wasn't obvious?”

“I mean,” Sam said, straightening. “He's not wrong, though. The kid actually does look a lot like you.”

“Kid?” Vlad said, scoffing. “He's the same age as you twits.”

Sam stuck out her tongue in his direction. 

“Clones?” Tucker suggested.

“No,” Vlad said. “Bruce Wayne may be a fool, but he isn't that big a fool. And if someone had cloned Daniel—”

“Would've been you, yeah, we know,” Danny said drily. 

“Doppelgangers, then!” Tucker said. “You know there's supposed to be, like, eight people all over the world who look like you.”

“Not that I don't love any story which humiliates you,” Sam said, cutting off the argument. “But  why are you telling us this? I'd have thought you'd take it to your grave.”

Vlad was almost pouting as he answered. “I would have,” He admitted. “Unfortunately, I require your help. We must go to Gotham. Bruce Wayne, in his quest to track me down for the kidnapping of his son, seems to have acquired a portal to the ghost world that I believed to have been destroyed.”

The three teenagers exchanged worried looks, the atmosphere souring. 

“How did he even…?” Danny asked, looking dumbfounded. 

“You know,” Tucker said. “It kinda makes sense. There's been some chatter online about Bruce Wayne funding Batman.”

Sam whistled. “Oh, you're done for,” She told Vlad. 

Vlad stared at her, deadpan. “That may be, but so are your precious infinite realms,” He drawled. 

“... Fine,” Danny said finally. “But only because we can't let the government get access to it.”

“Especially with you as the king,” Tucker joked. “That's gonna be a definite dethroning.”

Danny made a mock-considering face. “You know what—”

Sam shoved him, rolling her eyes with a smile, and then turned to Vlad. “We're in. What's the plan?”

Getting into the Wayne manor gala wasn't as difficult as Danny had expected. Sam, with the eager support of her parents (who were finally glad she was showing some interest in their ‘high society life'), had played it off as ‘inviting her friends to ease the process', and though her parents had hated that, they'd grudgingly accepted, especially after Sam ‘reluctantly’ told them that she'd ask Vlad to sponsor her. 

The Mansons, being huge fans of the Millionaire Mayor (or was it billionaire? Who even knew at this point?), had agreed immediately, and off to Gotham it was. 

It was important to note that Jack and Maddie hadn't put up a fight at all, and the Foleys… well, they were better than Danny's parents, but it still hadn't been that hard. 

That day, all of them walked in together, Tucker and Danny all scrunched up in Tuxedos (Tucker more than Danny, considering how many times Vlad had tricked Danny and Jazz into coming to his shindigs over the years) and Sam looking so incredible in her black dress and smoky makeup that Vlad had forced upon her that Danny had to pick his jaw up from the floor. No one was allowed to comment on it unfortunately. 

Regardless, Tucker slipped in with Vlad as the frontline, with Vlad meant to serve as distraction (hello, kidnapper), and Tucker meant to slip away to an obscure corner and get access to the security network. 

Sam and Danny, on the other hand, entered together, and though Danny was given some odd looks, they vanished immediately after he met their eyes and sent them hesitant smiles, most of the people shaking their heads. And since no one wanted to meet his eyes, doing the next part of his plan was easy. 

He slipped away from Sam, who seamlessly slipped into conversation with another person, and vanished to a corner, making sure no eyes were on him. “Any cameras?” He asked under his breath. 

“Nope,” Tucker said over the comms. “There’s only one currently operative, and it's pointed in the opposite direction. But it's gonna change soon so be quick.”

Danny went invisible. 

“Ugh,” Vlad said. “Personally, I—”

“Oh, shut up, Fruitloop,” Sam whispered furiously, and then her voice changed as she turned to who was apparently her current conversation partner. “Oh, no, Mrs. Mandolin. I'm perfectly fine with my current accessories.”

Danny wanted to laugh at the gritted teeth in her voice, but he had important things to do. “Alright-y,” He said, slipping through the wall and into a long hallway. “Let's see.”

“If there's no ecto-signature—” Tucker tried to say. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Danny said absentmindedly. “We kill Vlad. I heard Sam's suggestions too, Tuck.”

“Well, pardon my desire to protect your responsibilities!” Vlad protested.

“Yeah, right,” Danny scoffed. “You'd be just as screwed if we don't get it and you know it. Heck, you might be even more so. Didn't the Waynes get your tech?”

Vlad fumes silently and Danny continued sauntering through the hall. The ecto-signature Danny could feel pointed down, but since they were on the ground floor, that meant this place had a basement that wasn't strictly on the blueprints Tucker had somehow pulled up before the gala started. How to get to the basement…

“Wayne alert,” Tucker said, sounding smug. “Vlad, I mean.”

“I guessed from your tone of voice, you stupid–” He cleared his throat, sounding utterly smooth. “Mr. Wayne! What a pleasure to meet you and you son for the first time!”

Danny wanted to laugh but he had more important things to do. He peered into another room, saw nothing, then continued, making a beeline for the stairs. “It makes sense why the Guys in White didn't catch it,” He mused to his friends. “Since the whole of Gotham’s chock full with bad ectoplasm, this small hint of stable stuff would be hidden from their notice.”

“True,” Tucker said. “But thank the ancients they aren't here. I don't have the capacity to deal with ’em right now.”

“Mood,” Danny said. 

“What’s a mood?” A new voice asked, sounding both chipper and amazed. “And you're actually using gen z slang? I'm impressed, little D!” 

Danny froze. What the fudge—

The three on the other ends of the comm swore, then fell silent as Danny slowly turned around. “Um. Hi,” He said. 

Dick Grayson, the eldest son of Bruce Wayne and a literal cop, smiled widely, though unlike what Danny had seen of him in pictures and TV, he looked tired and bleary. “Dami,” He said, voice teasing. 

“Don't call me that,” Danny said, because that seemed to be the way to go?

He heard face palms from the other end of his comms. 

Dick, though, just huffed a laugh and reached over to ruffle his hair. “Right, right. You grew up.” He started walking, limping slightly, and Danny realized he was injured. No wonder he seemed dazed. “Ditching the party?”  He asked.

Danny wondered whether it would be worth the risk. “Bored, “ He said, because he loved living on the edge. “Figured I'd go downstairs.”

Dick shot him a questioning look, then shrugged and nodded. “Yeah, I'm not in the mood for galas, either,” He gestured onward. “Come on, then. Let's run before Bruce finds you and pulls you back,” He added jokingly. 

What a stroke of luck, honestly! Danny, a smile inching to his face despite a desire to maintain the sternness he'd studied to keep on since they'd confirmed how much he looked like Damian Wayne, eagerly followed the older man's relaxed gait all the way. Besides, the guy's back was turned! It'd be fine. 

He followed him all the way to a corner closet, jiggled the handle in a few different ways, then opened the door, tilting his head in that direction. “Go in,” Dick said, holding up his ringing phone. “Gotta take this first.”

Danny nodded and walked in, wondering who was on the other end for the man's usually relaxed face to be so stiff, then decided it wasn't his business. He was here for one thing only – the portal. 

Danny stepped inside, saw the dim outline of the stairs and started walking down, the ecto-signature of the portal growing more detectable with every step. 

His heart rate increased. A few more minutes and they'd be done with this stupid charade. Thank the ancients, because he has so much work pending, it wasn't even funny. Not only was Jazz trying to convince him to get into Yale (yeah, right), but he was also swamped with ghost work from his unwanted position of ghost king, not to mention Clockwork and Frostbite’s trainings and the continuing ghost attacks from new and emerging idiot ghosts who couldn't be bothered—

“Oh, crud,” Danny said, jerking to a stop as he came into the light and facing a literal bo staff. 

“Who are you?” Asked Red Robin, hastily dressed in a mask and his costume but his weapon steady and deadly, probably. “You're not Damian.”

Behind him, Danny immediately sensed Dick coming down, cutting off that route. 

Fun. He'd just been trapped. 

“Dann—at—nned?” Tucker asked, his voice cutting off. 

They must have communication blockers there. It would make sense, considering these guys were obviously funding the Bats. Hello, they had the Bats on speed dial! They lived under the Waynes’ place! 

Wait… were they the Waynes?

Ignoring the errant thought for a moment, Danny let his eyes sweep the room, trying to figure out a away to run, and his gaze immediately fell upon the half built portal in the middle of the floor. It was half a sphere, but, more importantly, the ecto filter and the power cube were still to the side, piled up with a couple of other items. He wouldn't be able to lug the entire thing away, but for now that would have to do. 

“Who are you?!” Red Robin demanded again, this time more harshly. “A clone? A shape shifter?”

Well, there was nothing else to it, then. “Would you believe he's the clone?” He asked aggressively, shrugging. And then, just as Red Robin narrowed his eyes and shifted to look at Dick for a fraction of a second, and Dick made a sound of confusion, Danny made a break for it, using his intangibility to slip past Red Robin, sliding on the floor. 

Red Robin almost caught him, his superhuman reflexes actually, well, superhuman, but Danny was still intangible. 

Red Robin swore and vaulted after him, but Danny, with a few seconds head start, reached the two things, grabbing them and holding them to his chest. 

But it was two seconds too slow. 

A sharp blade of immediately hit his arm and he stumbled, dropping the stuff and collapsing, 

Red Robin reached him, then, and Danny, who couldn't transform, not without revealing his status as an ecto-entity and ruining what they were there for in the first place had to defend in his human form.

He wasn't a slouch – years of fighting Skulker and Walker and getting lessons from his mom has paid off – but Red Robin was much, much better, especially since Danny's aim was still the things he'd dropped. His intangibility helped, though, and, because metas were still more acceptable thank ghosts, he let only part of his powers show (perk of getting so used to them – thank ancients for Frostbite and Clockwork's training, this once) and, as a last resort, just as Red Robin was about to grab him and ruin everything, Danny shot a ghost beam in Dick's direction. 

It clipped him in the side, the man not expecting the attack, nor fast enough in his obviously injured state to react. 

“Dick!” red Robin shouted, immediately concerned. 

It took just a moment for him to turn back, professional to his best, but that was enough for Danny. He lunged for the items, grabbed them, and let himself lie on the floor for a second, heaving as he tried to turn his body intangible.

And then, as he finally did and started sinking through the floor, the filter and cube clutched to his chest and Red Robin jumping towards him, hands outstretched, he saw who else had entered and met the eyes of the identical looking Damian Wayne.

“Holy Ancients,” He said, and then he was gone, in the sewers, and running as fast as his legs could carry him. “Damn it!” He complained. 

“Danny?” Sam called, sounding worried, finally reaching him. “What happened? We haven't been able to hear anything!”

“Communication blocks!” He shouted, huffing as he ran. “Get out! They caught me! Going Ghost!”

“Oh, butter—” 

Chapter Text

“I am never going back to Gotham,” Danny insisted. 

“But it had to be cool meeting him, right?” Tucker asked. 

Sam reached out to punch Danny in the arm. “You still deserve that, idiot,” She said. “Can't believe you're making me agree with Vlad. You should have left before you met him!”

“Met who?” Jazz asked, poking her head into Danny's room. “Another ghost-person?”

Sam and Tucker exchanged looks. 

Danny groaned. “It's a long story.”

Jazz, who loved to be a big sister and annoy the life out of him, smirked and came in to plop herself on the bed next to them. “Well, mom and dad aren't in today — apparently a new client reached out to them. So you have me all to yourself, Baby Brother!”

Danny made a face. 

“Look at the bright side, Danny” Sam said. “At least Vlad’s no longer here to make things ten times worse.”

Danny made a worse face. 

Jazz frowned. “Is he annoying you again?” She asked sternly. “I thought you two had a truce now.”

“Nah,” Danny said. “It's cathartic annoying him so we're on a balanced revenge plan these days.”

Tucker grinned. “Though he definitely owes us one now.”

Danny lost his 'worse' face in favor of a grin. "Which I totally told him as I slammed the door in his face."

Tucker laughed.  

“Really?” Jazz asked. “What happened?”

“We went to Gotham,” Sam said. 

Jazz blinked. “I'm sorry, what?”

“We had to,” Danny assured her. “Apparently, these guys that Vlad pissed off a few years back – and we really need to tell you that story–”

Sam and Tucker nodded vigorously, snickering. 

“–got hold of one of Vlad's old ghost portals.”

Jazz paled. “Ah,” She said. “And you got it back, right?”

They nodded. 

“Good,” She said, shaking her head. “But what does that have to do with whoever you met? Who did you meet?” Her expression brightened. “Wait, did you meet Dr. Quinzel? She's being used in a case study I'm doing for this one course—”

“We didn't meet Harley Quinn,” Sam said. “Though that would've been cool. I heard she hangs out with Poison Ivy and she's awesome.”

“I don't know,” Tucker said. “I actually like the Vigilantes more than the anti-heroes—”

“I met my doppelganger!” Danny said, just to put an end to that conversation. Ancients knew how long that would go.

“Oh, yeah,” Sam said. "That, too."

“Doppel—” Jazz frowned. “Some cloned you?”

“Not as far as we know,” Danny admitted. “We checked. Damian's got history since he was way younger. And he's not exactly a doppelganger. He's got green eyes, for one, and his face is shaped just a little differently.”

“So you say,” Tucker said. “Looks the same to me.” 

“That's because you haven't seen him in person,” Sam said. “I agree with Danny.”

“Hmm,” Jazz said, deep in thought. “I wonder whether he's really a doppelganger then, or your bio family. You know, it could be—”

Everything came to a screeching halt. 

“I'm sorry,” Danny sputtered. “What the fudge?!”

“What?”

“I'm adopted?!” He demanded. 

“He's adopted?!” Tucker and Sam shouted at the same time. 

Jazz just looked mystified. “We both are, remember? Mom and Dad told us when you were, like ten. They couldn't have biological children since the ectoplasm they worked with changed parts of their DNA. So when they found me– oh,” She added because Danny must have looked even more confused. “They found me after I fell out of a portal, apparently.”

“Oh,” The three said for lack of anything else to say. 

Jazz rolled her eyes. “And then, a few years later, they found you, apparently, on a trip to some mountains for a ghost hunt. I was apparently staying with Aunt Alicia that weekend because I was sick.” Her brows furrowed. “You really don't remember?”

“No!” Danny protested. “When did they—”

“Oooh,” Jazz interrupted. “Okay, I remember now.” She giggled. “You were too busy mooning over your first meeting with Sam. You didn't hear a word they said.”

Danny and Sam went completely, utterly red. 

Tucker burst out laughing. 

Both his friends shoved him off the bed and then resolutely did not meet the other's eyes. 

“Seriously, though,” Danny said, after recovering somewhat. “Adopted? I could be related to Bruce Wayne?”

Jazz froze. “I'm sorry, you what?”

“They're totally the Bats, though, right? Because—”

The funny thing was, the longer Danny and to live with it, the easier it got to manage. With Maddie and Jack calling to tell them they'd be home in a few days, Danny even had time to get used to the idea and practice not telling his parents. Because they were obviously going to tell him to get to know the Waynes and considering he'd literally just become their enemy, that so wasn't happening.  

Besides, he was happy as he was. He had a great sister, amazing friends, and loving parents, if a bit wacky. 

Who needed bio families? 

Danny grinned and moved on. 

Jazz, who saw him do so, shrugged and accepted it because “It's your choice, Danny,” which was more than she'd have given him even a year ago, so maybe college was helping. 

In the meantime, Danny had extracted another itemized and agony-filled IOU from Vlad for the Gotham trip, gotten another training session from his ghost mentors, taken down a few ghosts (but what else was new?), and even managed to narrow down his options for the future. 

He'd always wanted to be an astronaut, but since his accident happened, he'd realized he'd never pass the physical. But he still loved space, so he'd decided to narrow down to some engineering-related options in that field.

Jazz had smiled widely at him in pride so he had to be doing something right. 

“Mom, Dad,” He said the morning after they'd returned. “I've decided what college I want to decide on.”

Maddie brightened. “Really?” She asked. “Oh, Danny, how lovely!” 

“And don't worry about the costs, Danny boy!” Jack boomed, looking just as excited. “We got a new client and he's dying to work with us! We're going to be rich!”

Danny stilled, memories of the last time that had happened flashing through his mind. 

Jazz apparently remembered too. “Wait—”

“Speaking of whom,” Maddie said primly, turning to look at the door. “Aren't they supposed to arrive about now?”

Jack waved a hand. “Airports,” He said vaguely. 

Maddie huffed. “Bruce said he would be using his private jet, remember, darling?”

Oh crud. “Bruce?” Danny asked, voice cracking, all thoughts of college forgotten. 

“Bruce Wayne!” Jack boomed. “Great man! Like Vladdie!”

Maddie laid a hand on her cheek in modest happiness. “They said we were the best in the business and that Bruce had to meet us. He apparently found some tech he'd like us to look at. Such a nice man.”

Danny snapped his head to look at his sister in panic, and she looked back with the exact same expression. 

And because fate hated him with a passion, the doorbell rang. 

“Oh!” Maddie exclaimed. “They're here! Let me go get them.”

Danny made a break for the stairs… only for his dad's strong hands to clasp around his shoulders. “Don't be scared, Danny! They're harmless!”

Yeah, as harmless as Batman. 

The sound of the door opening gave way to footsteps, and Danny, for lack of any other method, twisted from Jack's hold and ducked behind him, instantly typing SOS-Waynes-here to Tucker and Sam.

“Hello, Mr. Fenton,” Said Red Robin’s voice, who they'd surmised was Tim Drake. 

“Tom!” Jack said happily. “Call me Jack, why don't you?”

And that prompted the rest of the family coming in, introductions included, switching from the Waynes – which included Bruce, Tim (obviously), Dick, and Cassandra – to Jack and Jazz–

And then Danny heard an audible gasp and he knew his mom had just seen Damian. 

“Oh my,” Maddie said, coming closer. 

“Wow!” Jack exclaimed, and then Danny was pulled out from behind him, there to face his doom. “Doesn't he look exactly like you, Danny?”

Danny cringed. “... Hi?” He waved awkwardly. 

The tension skyrocketed, all the Wayne's looking directly at him, especially Damian. 

“Maybe– maybe we should sit,” Jazz said faintly.

“Good idea,” Maddie said, arm crossed in front of her. 

They sat. 

At this point, stuck between a rock and a hard place, Danny was half sure this was safer than without his parents. 

Bruce's expression tightened. “What's the meaning of this?” He asked, all growly, so different from how he'd greeted Jack just seconds ago, that Danny was half sure he'd forgotten he wasn't Batman. 

Dick, who seemed to have some tact, elbowed him. “What Bruce means,” He said, sounding strained, is that we didn't expect…” he gestured in Danny's direction cautiously, eyes always on him, even if from the corner. 

Honestly, Danny didn't blame him. After shooting him with a ghost beam the last time they'd met…

He'd fought back for less, really. 

“Neither did we!” Jack announced. “How strange.”

“Isn't it?” Maddie asked, the stood and peered at Damian. “You don't look exactly the same, though,” She said, echoing Danny from earlier. “Your face structure is a little different, and you have green eyes. Our Danny has blue.”

“What?” Dick sputtered. “No, he doesn't. He has–” And then he looked at Danny again, his eyes flaring. “... Blue eyes.”

Bruce Wayne snapped his head to look at Danny drinking in how he looked, much to Danny's awkwardness. 

“Mom?” Jazz said delicately, coughing. “Remember?”

Maddie frowned and then, at Jazz's furious gesturing, it occurred to her. “Oh!” She said. “Oh, yes. Don't worry, Mr. Wayne. Danny isn't a clone.” 

Jack's eyes widened. “Is Damian?” He asked in shock. 

“I just said they weren't exactly alike, Jack,” Maddie reminded him calmly. “They're brothers.”

The Waynes choked. 

Danny sank further into his seat.

“Excuse me?” Damian said icily. 

“Yes, I suppose you wouldn't know,” Maddie said. “We actually found poor Danny abandoned on a mountain when he was a baby. We were hunting ghosts in the area and his cries drew us to him. We couldn't very well leave him, could we? So we adopted him and brought him home.”

Jack laughed. “Never thought we'd meet the other family,” He agreed cheerfully. “Thought you all were dead!”

“We, uh, met Damian for the first titme when he was ten,” Dick said faintly, unable to tear his eyes from Danny's face. 

In fact, none of them were able to, not even Damian, who seemed to look more thunderous by the second. “I have a brother?!” He demanded. 

“I'll need to have a talk with Talia,” Bruce muttered in some shock. 

“Weren't you here about ghost stuff?” Jazz said, trying to change the subject. 

Everyone ignored her. 

“And you're a meta?” Tim asked. 

Danny cringed even more. “No!” He squeaked. 

“Of course not,” Jack said. “Our Danny's as normal a boy as boys can be. With added ghost hunting, of course!”

“And he just decided on what major he's choosing for college!” Maddie shared excitedly, because apparently meeting the bio family meant sharing everything.

Bruce blinked and finally, actually, looked. “You did?” He asked softly, like he couldn't believe it.

Tim and Dick rolled their eyes. 

Danny sighed. “Um, yeah,” He said. “Aeronautical Engineering.”

“Why?” Damian asked bluntly. 

Danny shrugged. “Always wanted to do something for space,” He said wistfully.

There was a short silence, and then, of course, his ghost sense had or go off. Luckily, he'd learned to keep his frost breath low key. 

Unluckily, his eyes hadn't gotten the memo.

“Eyes,” Cassandra said. “Meta”

Crud. 

“Oh, look!” Danny said desperately, running to the door and pulling it open to see his friends dragging— yes. A dressed-up Vlad, no doubt getting ready to make another move on his mom. “I'm sure you haven't met our mayor, have you?” He asked, pulling in a protesting but unresisting Vlad. “Mayor Vlad Masters, meet Bruce Wayne.” 

“Oh, butter biscuits—”

And then he ran.