Chapter Text
Disclaimer: not mine
Chapter 10
Bruce silently approached the house, Damian at his side, Dick and Steph taking the back, Cass hanging back to reinforce whoever may need it. He wished Jason and Tim were with them but it made sense for them to remain in Gotham. Danny would need Tim’s support since it was his parents they were taking down. And Jason was the most death-touched of all of them due to the linger issues from the Pit, he would be too vulnerable to their weapons. Thankfully, he hadn’t had to argue with his son over his presence, Jason had been the one to say he wasn’t coming. He was remaining in Gotham as Tim’s backup just in case Danny’s escape had been tracked. As worried as he was about the effect the GIW’s weapons could have on Jason, he wore heavy body armour and would simply shoot the agents.
The comm clicked, the signal given, and they moved into the building. They found the Fenton’s upstairs thankfully rather than having to risk the bottleneck of the stairs down to the lab.
“Batman?” Dr Madeline Fenton stared at him in surprise before smiling. “Hs the GIW called on the Justice League for help capturing Phantom?”
“Dr Madelin Fenton, Dr Jack Fenton you are under arrest for illegal weapons supply, illegal experimentation on extra-dimensional lifeforms, assault with a deadly weapon, child neglect, and quite a number of other charges including possible war crimes.”
“What?” Jack Fenton stared at him in shocked confusion. “They’re just ghosts.”
“You’ve obviously been misled by that nasty ghost, Phantom.”
“Phantom is considered to be missing,” he told them. “We will be thoroughly examining your lab to ensure you are not the reason why. After looking over the information on this town, he is on the list as a protentional Justice League recruit.”
“He’s a menace!”
“He is a hero,” Batman growled. Getting reports on the local hero had been difficult but easier for the recon team.
“The GIW will sort this out honey, it’s just a misunderstanding,” Maddie soothed her husband.
“The GIW is an illegal group that has kept this city locked away from the rest of the country, all members are facing their own charges. The so-called Anti Ecto Acts do not exist,” Damian sneered, hand on his katana. But he hadn’t drawn it yet which was good.
The Fenton’s charges were preliminary, more information on their actions were needed but that was for the various legal teams.
Danny had moved away from the screens. He didn’t want to see or hear it, he didn’t. He just hoped they went peacefully.
“Go Supes!” Jason’s voice called him back though, and he realised they’d switched to watching someone else’s feed. Superman’s? Oh, that had to hurt! But Agent K so had it coming.
He moved to stand beside Tim’s chair, watching as base after base fell to the Justice League, snickering when Sam took out an Agent sneaking up on a hero Danny didn’t recognise.
“Friend of yours?” Tim asked.
“Yup, Sam Manson.”
“Manson?” Tim asked in surprise, and Danny nodded. “Well, that explains why they haven’t appeared at any galas lately.”
It felt like it took only moments but also forever but eventually, it was done. The GIW was done, at least in Amity Park. Maybe there were bases elsewhere but the JL would find the records and deal with them. His parents were under arrest…he…he was free?
Kon glared at an Agent who was trying to wriggle out of his restraints and the man went still, though he glared at him in return.
“Are you Superboy?” a voice asked and he turned to see the redhaired young woman whose photo had been shown around.
“It’s Supernova now but yeah. You’re Jazz Fenton, right?”
“How?” she blinked at him and he grinned.
“We were shown your photo to ensure you were safe. Your brother is in Gotham with his brother, safe and sound. They’re being protected by the Bats who didn’t come.”
She sagged slightly in relief. “Thank you. I assumed he’d made it since…” she waved her hand around. “So what changed the JL’s minds about the Acts?” she asked, eyes narrowed.
“No mind changing needed, we’d never heard of them because they never passed. All of this was illegal. The GIW isn’t a government agency, they have no authority.” He shot a smirk at the restrained agents who glared at him, making noises behind their gags. Gagging prisoners wasn’t exactly procedure but it had been to spare everyone’s ears because they were very loud.
“Not legal?” she whispered, and Kon moved to catch her elbow, worried about how pale she’d become.
“Let’s get you sitting. Hey Nightwing!” He yelled to the oldest Bird, and Dick looked over, eyes widening slightly under his domino as he obviously recognised her.
“Supernova, Ms Fenton.” Dick took her other arm and they sat her down in the shade.
“Danny’s really safe?” she asked.
“Yes ma’am, he’s with Red Robin and Red Hood as well as Mr Drake-Wayne. They’ll keep both boys safe.”
It always sounded so weird when one of the Wayne’s talked about their family like that. He was glad he didn’t have to worry to the same extent. Conner Kent wasn’t really a blip on anyone’s radar and Lex wasn’t forcing publicity on him as Kon or Conner.
“He really made it out,” she whispered. “I mean…he called me before all this but it was two seconds to warn me to not go home. Our parents?”
“In custody,” Dick answered gently.
“Good,” she stated, surprising them both a bit.
It was over…well, mostly. There would be trials and things but the threat was gone. They were safe. And they had called Drake-Wayne Danny’s brother, had they not been told that Danny was his clone? Then again, that was private information and a clone could pass as a twin easily. Hearing that Danny really was safe, that two of the Bats were protecting him, was a relief.
“If you want to see your parents, we can arrange it. We’ll also get you an escort home to pick up whatever you need. The house will be sealed off for the investigation,” Nightwing explained, tone gentle. Years of dealing with victims, except she wasn’t a victim.
“There’s not much left at the house, I’ve been slipping our stuff out, Danny and I both have been for months. The plan was for me to get a place and he’d keep most of his things with me even if he couldn’t officially leave home. All the important paperwork is out.” They’d done that first, she just hadn’t remembered the paperwork on Danny’s ‘birth’ till she’d been patching him up that time.
“Well, now you can apply to college if you want, live your life. This is going to be a media circus, there’s people who will guide you through it, maybe get you a new id if you’re worried about your parents crimes influencing your future. We can get you to Gotham if you want to join your brother.”
Jazz went to say yes but then hesitated. She loved Danny, he was her little brother but…they’d been forced into a bad family life together for so long that sometimes she felt more like his mother than his sister. And if they were pretending to be actual brothers… She shook her head. “He deserves to get to know his brother without me interfering. We’ve been stuck together for so long…I think we both need to work out who we are without each other. We can call and visit.”
Tim watched the incoming reports, relieved the family was mostly unharmed. A few bruises, B had taken a glancing hit with a blaster and apparently it burnt a little even through armour.
“Red?”
“Yeah O?” No names on comms and Danny didn’t know who Oracle was. He hadn’t asked anyone’s ids though Tim figured he had worked most of them out. Except Babs wasn’t obvious like the rest of them.
“Picking up some odd movement on cameras coming over the bridges into the city. Some very white vans.”
He could feel his brothers freeze behind him where they’d been sparring to work off some energy. Jason had been giving Danny some tips since he hadn’t had a lot of formal training. She sent him the feeds and he brought them up, the temperature dropping before he could say anything to Danny. He glanced back to see the slight glow in his eyes.
“GIW?” he asked, and Danny nodded tightly.
“How…how many people do they have?” Danny asked, and Tim frowned. That was a very good point.
“O?”
“Batman left some gifts on their computers and I’ve just gotten through, sharing to you,” she answered.
Tim brought up the link she’d sent him and went to work as well, digging ever deeper. He frowned as some things seemed to almost open before he could do anything. “What the hell?”
And then Danny chuckled even though his tension was still obvious. “Tucker’s helping you. He’s the only reason you guys got in from outside of Amity in the first place. Your systems don’t have ectoplasm in them.”
“Right,” Tim murmured. They’d have to do something about that, but for now he was focused on… “There. Looks like they picked up a spike near Gotham and sent out twenty agents to check it out. travel time via road checks out. Looks like they don’t know it’s you at least.”
“Do you want to move to the Cave?” Babs asked.
Tim considered it, looking at Jason who shook his head.
“We’re safer remaining in place,” Jason offered. “If they can track Danny then best not to leave a fresh trail through the city. Can they track you?”
“They shouldn’t be able to.” Danny glanced nervously at the computer, and Tim muted the system so she couldn’t hear them.
“They can track you as Phantom though?”
“Yeah, but I haven’t transformed except that once so it should have faded especially with the high ecto levels in the city. But if they see images of you, they might realise we’re related, and if they know about the others being shut down…”
“Then they’ll come looking for me to find you. I’ll call Bernard and get him to join us and then put the Nest and the building in full lockdown.”
“What about the other residents?” Jason asked, and Tim snickered.
“Kind of want to dare the agents to try them?”
“Timmy?”
“Let’s just say a few people followed me hope from Europe when I was looking for B.”
Jason stared at him blankly before he got it, his eyes widening. “Ra’s?”
Tim shook his head. “They used the chaos I caused to ‘retire’. Still, wanna be agents vs retired assassins?”
Jason laughed. “Every tenant?”
“Nope, but enough. There’s some ex-cops, a granny who wields a very mean handbag – pretty sure she carries bricks in that thing, and I’m relatively sure that one of the tenants is an ex-vigilante from like pre-Bruce’s taking up the Bat.”
“There are vigilantes older than Batman?” Danny asked, surprised, and Tim nodded.
“Not a lot and not very well known. B was really the first to go big. But yeah, everyone in the building can handle themselves or is surrounded by neighbours who can. Every apartment also has a saferoom built in. Gas and explosion proof.”
“So if the GIW isn’t legit, why risk coming to Gotham?”
“They probably figure this place is so crime riddled that no one will look twice.” Danny shrugged. “Would the cops do something?”
“About idiots in white shooting randomly at people with alien looking guns? Even Gotham cops won’t overlook that. They might run for it, but they’d report it. The Commissioner’s clean and works with us, he doesn’t officially know our id’s but we’re pretty sure he has at least a clue,” Jason explained.
And then a call came through via Dick. Jasmine Fenton was safe and sound and the older Fenton’s were being taken to the Watchtower for now.
Barbara tracked the white vans as they split up, searching through Gotham. They were getting a lot of attention. She dropped some hints to the police department and Mayor’s office. These were more of the idiots who the Justice League was hunting, that would keep anyone official from helping them. If they set up somewhere, she wanted to know so some of the League could drop by and round them up.
Bruce checked the message from Barbara. The GIW was in Gotham. He glanced at Clark and the other man joined him, looking at the message.
“Who do you want with you?” he asked, and Bruce wanted to say no one, but that shot had burned. How much more damage would they do to Jason or Damian? Cass?
“Wonder Woman, one of the Lanterns, and Captain Marvel should be enough. Keep the Fenton’s under strict guard.”
“What’s going on there, you don’t usually take things so personally.”
Bruce moved away from everyone and Clark followed. “Their son is how we found out about this…their adopted son.”
“B…don’t tell me this is a Damian situation.”
Bruce shook his head. “We’re not related.” He took a breath. “He’s Tim’s twin, separated at birth. The Drake’s were only interested in an heir.”
Clark hissed. “Did Tim know?”
“He found out a few years ago but never approached since his life seemed happy. He lost track around the same time things here started getting bad. He’s with Tim and Jason, worked out their id’s. Apparently he helps Phantom behind the scenes, which explains why the ghost hero is spotted with Fenton tech.”
“So there’ll be another bird on the streets soon?” Clark teased, and he glared at his friend.
“While he does appear to have some level of training, likely via Madeline Fenton, I won’t encourage it. If he wants it, then he’ll have to pass the same tests as the others.”
Clark didn’t break bones or even leave bruises, but he wasn’t gentle when he pushed the Fenton’s into their cells. He’d heard enough of their ranting to last a lifetime on the ride up; he was very grateful for the soundproofing on the cells. He’d considered putting them in a larger one together given they were a married couple but, in the end, decided they were too dangerous to let them try to plan. They might seem kind of dumb but they had managed to open an interdimensional portal after all.
He made his way to the meeting room to wait for the others so they could debrief. He doubted Tim’s brother would be mentioned and he was sure that Bruce had sanitised the files to ensure no photos would include him but it wouldn’t remain secret forever. He figured the kid would take back his birth name to give some separation from the couple who were facing life sentences.
Was the boy anything like his brother? He imagined what things would have been like with two of them and nearly shuddered. Tim had made his life difficult enough for a while because of how he’d reacted to Kon…if there’d been two of them working together? Would they have split Robin between them to drive people crazy or would he have made his own identity? He nearly chuckled at the mental image of Bruce back then trying to deal with twins.
Danny forced himself to take slow, deep breaths. His every instinct screamed to transform and go after them himself. No, he had to stay and keep his brother safe, he couldn’t let them track him to Tim. He hadn’t meant to bring them to Gotham, how had it happened? He’d bused to Gotham! That one brief transformation should not have been traceable given Gotham’s ectoplasm levels. So if it wasn’t him, what had they detected?
He watched the screens as the Bats and some extras surrounded the building the agents seemed to be congregating around. That was Wonder Woman! Pity no Superman, then again it sounded like he had issues with clones.
Taking these agents would be easier than the bases back in Amity, right?
TBC…