Chapter Text
Since he was there anyway, Danny couldn't resist checking in on his parents' new workspace before he left.
"Phantom?" Bruce demanded, when he didn't emerge immediately after finishing up with the warden.
"Just checking in on the lab situation," Danny assured him, darting through the walls toward the area that Bruce had sent people to set up. "I won't be long."
Bruce grunted in displeasure. "Keep your line open," he ordered. Bruce's orders, Danny was learning, were pretty distinct from his instructions. "If you go silent, I'm coming to get you."
Which neither of them wanted, Danny filled in silently. It would be a much more elaborate production for Bruce to get into Blackgate than it was for Danny. "Yeah, I'll keep it open."
An 'unused storage space' - meaning a room previously used for conducting deals, which the prison obviously couldn't admit to Batman - had been converted into a rough laboratory space over the course of the last few weeks. It didn't have anything on the setup Danny's parents had had at home, of course - they'd poured over a decade of time, thought, and resources into that space - but it was Bruce setting it up, so it was still pretty decently supplied. And not only was the lab itself biometrically locked, but so was the computer, the file cabinet, the cold storage, and the cage enclosing the shelving units.
He looked through everything with interest. It looked like Bruce had brought in a variety of metals his parents were used to working with, as well as industrial chemicals, once meticulously stored; Danny was irritated to realize that his parents had already messed that up, and there were bottles outside the chemical storage and volatile elements stored too close to each other, away from their designated places.
"It's been like, a week, how have the messed everything up already?" he muttered. Bruce grunted. "It's not like they have anything better to do... seriously, would it kill them to practice a little lab safety once in a while? I'm getting a copy of the poster you put up for Tim and sticking it up in here, I swear to God..." He reached in to fix them.
Bruce snorted softly. "I'll get one," he said, sounding briefly amused, if still terse.
"Thanks." Unfortunately, Danny meant it. He straightened out the chemical storage, checked to make sure they hadn't messed up the cold storage too, fixed that, and turned to check out the rest of the room.
It looked like most of the machining tools they used at home were here too. There was a centrifuge - a normal sized one - and a decent array of chemistry equipment, including a decontamination shower with an eyewash station and a first aid kit under the computer desk. Against the wall, a large table held everything from graphing paper to pencils and pens to rulers and protractors; there were already papers full of calculations resting on the surface, not put away. Danny sighed, and put those away as well.
"Out of their house and still cleaning their lab," Danny muttered. Bruce grunted. At least there wasn't any ectoplasm - they'd need to submit a request whenever they needed some of that, which meant that first they'd have to actually do the math and finalize their blueprints and do most of the work before they could try to make a functional copy. Bruce had set up a whole process.
He investigated the rest of the lab. The prison had placed a camera in an upper corner; Danny made a mental note to discuss how to handle it with Tim, since tampering with the feed might be more effective than destroying it outright. In the meantime, he placed four cameras of his own, making sure there would be no blind spots, and then three bugs by the door, computer, and storage shelves. He ducked into the computer and placed a bug there too for good measure. Its data was being stored on a Batcave server, but better safe than sorry.
Danny was just coming out of that when the door opened, and he glanced over. Maddie froze for a split second, then composed herself, stepped inside, and pulled Jack with her so they could shut the door before they lingered outside too long. Danny gave her a small smile, keeping his distance, and was grateful when Maddie kept Jack from lurching forward.
"Ph-Phantom? Is everything alright?" Maddie asked, stumbling slightly over his hero name as she wavered between worry and confusion. Danny nodded, hopping back to drift away from the computer and instead crossing his legs to spin and face them, setting his hands on his lap.
"Yeah, I just wanted to check out the lab space," he said, leaving out the bugs he'd placed around the room, which was the main thing he'd wanted. "It's not bad. More stocked than I thought it would be."
"It certainly is," Maddie agreed cautiously, not crossing the room to come closer. Danny didn't take it personally.
Jack, with no such reservations, punched the air and grinned. "We'll have that phaseproof cloth developed in no time!" he assured Danny, booming with enthusiasm. "Might take a bit more math than usual, but hell, I built my thesis on math!"
Danny believed it. He smiled, small and wry.
"You have to be more careful with your lab space though," he warned them, jerking his head toward the chemical storage. "This isn't Amity Park, and if you hurt yourselves in a freak explosion, these people are not going to help you. And leaving stuff out is pretty risky when anyone can just blow open the wall." The lock on the door was just to keep people from casually walking in for a look around, especially while his parents were working; it still wouldn't be difficult to force their way through. It was the locks on everything else that would provide actual security - which wouldn't work if everything was just laying around like usual.
Jack's smile faded, and Maddie's look of disappointment was unmistakable.
"Is that all you came in for?" she asked, making Danny freeze. "D- Phantom, it's fine. Jack and I are experienced scientists and engineers, we're not going to hurt ourselves working with ordinary chemicals, or machine parts for that matter. As for security, there's a lock on the door! I'm not sure how much more you need."
Frustration burned through Danny's veins, and it took effort to keep most of it off his face. As it was, his mouth tightened.
"You and Jack went to Urgent Care a couple times a month, and usually not for ghost attacks," he snapped. "There were explosions in your lab several times a week. I don't know why you insist on pretending like you're immune to lab accidents. You're really, really not."
"You sound like Jazz," Maddie sighed. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you're becoming more cautious, given who you're training under... but you really don't need to worry. I already looked at the first aid kit Batman provided, and it's impressively thorough. We can handle any injuries we get ourselves."
"We only went to Urgent Care because Jazz insisted, remember?" Jack chuckled fondly, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck in the same nervous gesture Danny had. "It really was never that serious. The only times we really needed the ER were..." He trailed off.
"For Danny," Danny finished for him, with as little open condemnation as he could manage. It still came out nearly frigid, and both his parents flinched.
They were right, he supposed, in that they usually avoided the types of serious accidents Danny got into, for the sin of not being aware enough of his surroundings. On the other hand, they pretty regularly brushed off things like shortness of breath, chest pain, and infected burns as minor while Jazz quoted statistics and differential diagnoses at them, until they finally took pity on her and went.
They held that stalemate for a long moment, staring at each other. Danny crossed his arms, silently daring them to keep brushing him off, as if an accident in their lab hadn't mutated him nearly beyond recognition.
"Well, now it doesn't matter whether or not you need to go, because it's not happening," Danny said at last, cold and terse. He'd been more focused on the guards than the medical staff when he'd spoken to the warden, but he was almost regretting that now. Almost.
"Phantom, pull back," Bruce ordered before either of his parents could respond, making Danny jump at the suddenness. "You need to get some rest before you train today."
Abruptly, Danny deflated, letting out a heavy sigh. He lifted a hand to his ear. "Yeah, I'm on my way back." He met his dad's eyes, then his mom's. "Just... be careful, okay? It's fine if you take your time with it, just- try not to hurt yourselves. I'll see you later."
Not wanting to listen to either of their responses, Danny turned abruptly, went invisible, and took off, leaving through the wall closest to Bruce.
On Monday, Danny skipped lunch and went to the nurse's office instead.
"Sorry," he apologized to both Damian and the nurse, covering his eyes with one hand to try and stop his head from pounding so bad. "I was hoping it would go away, but it's just gotten worse... it's weird, I was fine this morning." He felt hot too, like he had a fever, and his nose and throat felt itchy. It was probably a bad cold; he and Tucker had traded them back and forth so many times that he was pretty familiar with them, although the headache he got wasn't usually this bad.
"He did not give you permission to take his temperature," Damian said sharply.
Alarmed, Danny dropped his hand to see the nurse getting way too close with an infrared thermometer. He scooted away hastily and gave her a crooked half-smile.
"I'm fine, I just need to get home," he assured her quickly, leaning back onto his hand. "I'll get checked out there." He waved his wrist, taking advantage of the visual reminder that he shouldn't be seen by normal doctors.
"Ah, that's right," the nurse sighed, thankfully putting the thermometer away. "You're the 'medically complex' one. Should I call your doctor, then?"
Danny shook his head, wincing when the movement aggravated his headache. "No," he said hastily, mortified by the idea of bothering the Justice League team over this. "No, I just need to get home. I'll be fine, really."
"He made his wishes clear," Damian added - it really was useful to be more assertive sometimes, Danny noted ruefully.
"Alright, alright," the nurse agreed, lifting one hand in surrender. "I'll call Pennyworth. Let me know if you need anything."
Danny sighed in relief when she left, and resisted the urge to lay down. Instead, he brought up one knee so he could hide his face against it, wrapping one arm around it to block out as much light as possible. "Thanks," he said without looking up. "This set in really fast."
"Tt." Damian looked disinterested, his binder open on his lap as he filled out a worksheet. "Your 'meek' attitude is unnecessarily troublesome."
Danny managed a ragged laugh. "Hey, I don't want to hear that when Brucie's personality is, you know, the way that it is." Looking at the news reels, it felt like Bruce spent more time pretending to be stupid than he spent on every other PR move put together.
"Tt." Damian sounded bad-tempered just at the mention, and quiet fell over the room, leaving Danny wrestling with the urge to lay down to give his aching head a rest.
It was then, in a moment of quiet, that Danny started to feel fear bloom across the school in a way that felt viscerally familiar. He sat bolt upright, migraine forgotten, and Damian did too.
"What is it?" Damian demanded, suddenly tense.
"Rogue attack," Danny breathed, staring straight ahead as he tried to get a feel for where it was coming from and where it was heading - could he refine his fear sense? Later. "We need to get going."
"Yes," Damian agreed grimly, shutting his binder and tossing it aside. He got to his feet quickly, but Danny swayed when he stood up, something that suddenly took on a much grimmer implication than a simple cold.
"A-ah..." Danny groaned, stumbling as he tried to step forward. Damian reached out to steady him. "Should we..."
His first thought, and their best bet, was to disappear from the room with his powers, keeping anyone from finding them. But it was already too late for that. Danny gasped as fear burst like a gusher in the office beside them, and a moment later, the door banged open, hitting the wall. A large man, wearing an odd exoskeleton-like harness, barged inside. The Joker logo on his jacket was the final nail in the coffin.
Silently, Danny hit the panic button and phased it into his forearm. His heart started to pound.
There was no time to panic. Without hesitation, Damian lunged for the goon, who moved much faster than was human-typical and not only blocked Damian's blow, but countered, hitting Damian with unnatural force. Damian moved with it, absorbing most of the force with the ease of long practice but wide eyes. He was still knocked off his feet and halfway across the room.
Danny's eyes locked onto the Fenton branding etched onto the joints of the exoskeleton. He was absolutely certain his parents had never made anything that looked quite like this, but there was one thing... something about the shape, with that kind of enhanced speed and strength... a bell was ringing in his head, but it was pounding too much for him to make the connection. He spent a moment too long thinking about it, staring at the familiar logo.
"Fenton, move!" Damian snarled, rolling to get to his feet.
With a gasp, Danny shot ice from under his feet toward the goon and jumped backward, onto the bed. He just barely kept his balance, but the goon slammed his foot down so hard that the floor cracked and reached for him anyway. He jumped backward, off the bouncing mattress, and wasn't able to stay upright this time. His head bounced off the windowsill, and he saw stars.
By the time he recovered his bearings, it was too late. There was a needle in his arm, and the plunger was being pushed down, flushing a cold liquid into his arm. His body shuddered as he felt it take hold, and a tingle spread outward from the injection site.
"Heck," Danny mumbled, unable to summon anything else.
"Sorry, kid," the goon said grimly, dragging him to his feet by one arm and shoving him out the door. "You're on stage today. Joker's orders."
"On stage?" As far as Danny knew, Joker had never attacked any of the Bats in their civilian personas before, and he'd tentatively placed Joker in the same category as his rogues in that respect - he knew, but he didn't care. Except...
His head throbbed, and he grunted in pain, head dropping. Squinting through bright light, he tilted his head to look back at Damian, who looked furious with the turn of events, fighting the grip of the second goon that had appeared. Equally unhappy, Danny struggled to pull away, but his muscles weren't responding like he wanted them to, making his efforts weak and clumsy. Every time he managed to fight off a little of the goon's grip, it tightened, and he felt like his wrist was going to snap.
It would be worth it to get away from... whatever nightmare the Joker had set up for him. He wasn't ready. Had he gotten to Jazz, or Danny's parents? Was Duke okay? He must have seen what was happening nearly as soon as it started, but had he had time to act? What about Bruce? There were ways to block even the panic button's signal, weren't there? Danny's heart raced.
Danny could barely walk straight, his tingling extremities going numb. It made struggling difficult.
All around them, Danny could sense frightened students being marched around in waves, whole classes being moved around. They were all being moved toward one place, he realized - he couldn't identify it with his clumsy fear sense, but there was one place he could sense where frightened people were accumulating, building into a pulsing epicenter.
As they got closer, he realized what the goon had meant when he said Danny was expected on the stage.
It was the auditorium.
Damian swore quietly and yanked at the hands restraining him, trying to twist free, and then going the other way and trying to grab a knife Danny knew he kept hidden in his jacket, to no avail. Damian kicked him, and in return, the goon gripped him hard enough to make him swear again, face tightening.
Danny, meanwhile, could barely keep up. It felt like an icepick had been driven from one temple to the other, and he was starting to get a bad feeling about why. He dug his heels into the marble, but it just made his legs nearly fall out from under him as he was pushed along. His stomach twisted, threatening to bring up bile.
But the Joker was in that room.
Danny tried to bring up his ice again, and his stomach sank as he realized it wasn't responding. That meant the injection had been one of his parents' formulas. But the exoskeleton... something about the exoskeleton was bothering him...
Exoskeleton.
Exoskeleton.
...Ectoskeleton?
No time to figure it out. They were dragged into the auditorium, and Danny caught a glimpse of Duke, collapsed and unconscious against the wall of the audience section; more goons, all wearing the same Fenton-branded exoskeleton, lined the walls and the crowd, keeping hundreds of students hushed and silent. The goon holding Damian dragged him in that direction, while the one twisting Danny's arms back forced him toward the stage. The fear in the room was thick enough to choke on.
"Ah, the star of today's show!"
A shudder ran down Danny's spine, and he lifted his head to see the Joker, grinning broadly, his eyes resting on Danny. Even from halfway across the room, they glittered with malice. Danny wanted to throw up.
"Since you're new to Gotham, I'll explain to you how things work here," Joker all but cooed. "You see, I am the Joker, and I do whatever I want. And Batman, silly, vain man that he is, tries to stop me... but it doesn't seem that Batman is here, does it?" He looked around comically, making a dramatic expression of surprise. Danny pushed back weakly, trying not to be dragged up the stairs, then hissed as he was yanked anyway and hit his shin on the sharp edge. "What a pity! We'll have to show him what he's missing, won't we?"
Danny was already breathing hard when he was shoved onto a metal chair, and for a moment, he just stared at the wooden stage floor, too afraid to look up. Joker didn't like that; Danny gasped as cold fingers dug into the soft part of his jaw and yanked his head up, forcing him to look at the screens that had been set up around the stage, showing... Danny, from different angles, his eyes wide and skin white with fear, chest heaving.
"Smile, Daniel James Fenton," Joker cooed. "You're on camera."