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It had been a prank, mostly. Danny had also wanted to see if it would work.
Danny found out ghosts could summon family members through rituals, and he couldn’t help but want to try it out. And who better to test it with than his older sibling? He could’ve done his parents (after he confessed to being Phantom, they had taken it surprisingly well), but he didn’t want a lecture on magic and ghost safety and then bombarded with questions on how it worked. Danny wasn’t sure himself.
So, Jazz it was. At least ignoring her would be fun.
With a satisfied smirk, Danny finished the summoning circle and watched as it started glowing neon green.
When the light settled down, Danny was surprised to see a man in his late twenties with blue eyes and a bowl of cereal staring at him.
“What the fuck? Who are you?”
“Uhh, sorry, wrong number,” Danny answered awkwardly as he smudged the circle.
“Hey, wait, kid, who are—” the man disappeared before he could finish his question. It was a good thing, too, as it looked like he had been ready to grab Danny.
“What the heck did I do wrong,” Danny asked himself as he stared at the drawing. He had done exactly as the book instructed.
He tried again, thoughts firmly on his older sister. Hopefully, he wouldn’t get some rando guy again.
The second time it worked.
Danny had been right; summoning Jazz as a prank had been hilarious.
That wasn’t the first or last time Danny summoned his sister. After the first time, he didn’t even have to do the full circle.
Unfortunately, it also meant he got random people in the summoning. One time it was a clearly sleep-deprived teenager a little bit older than Danny. He smelled strongly of coffee. He had mentioned something about sleep-deprived hallucinations before Danny had sent him back. Another time, it had been a teen his age wearing a Robin suit and with a katana. He had tried to stab Danny before he had quickly undone the spell. Another time still, he had gotten a dude who stunk of rotting garbage. Danny had sent him back quickly.
One time he firmly thought sister, older sister, and had gotten an older Asian teenage girl who stared at Danny with unblinking eyes.
Another time, Danny had tried summoning Cujo and had gotten a freaking cow instead. He had no idea why his summoning seemed to misfire half the time, and none of the ghosts knew either.
(Well, Clockwork knew, but he had been cryptic as usual.)
So, Danny decided only to use the summoning circle in case of emergencies as they only seemed to work, like maybe, half the time.
This seemed like an emergency…
****
Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. His children would be the death of him.
He had just found that all of his children had been summoned by some random teenager. They had failed to inform him about it.
“In my defense, the few times it happened, I thought it was a sleep-deprived hallucination,” Tim tried to defend himself.
Bruce glared at him, “So you were extra vulnerable.”
Tim tried to melt into the Batcomputer’s chair.
“C’mon Bruce, leave the kid alone, it happened to all of us, and none of us said anything,” Dick tried to defend his younger brother.
Bruce turned to his eldest, “Exactly. None of you said anything about this unknown. What if you had been in danger? Clearly, this…boy has powers. I’m going to have to call Zatanna, maybe even Constantine,” Bruce murmured to himself.
Jason rolled his eyes, “I regret nothing,” he said before walking off to lie on one of the beds in the med bay. He was tired, he knew Bruce wouldn’t want to let them out of his sight, and he didn’t want to have a front-row seat to Bruce’s bitch fit.
“Tt, Todd, get back here. You can’t run away from this lecture,” the Demon brat said. Jason ignored Damian. He had had a long night and wanted sleep.
Jason drifted off to Bruce’s worried voice.
He really needed to learn to chill.
****
The Fruit loop had officially lost it.
Not that he had been sane, to begin with, but at least he pretended to be normal.
Danny had spilled the beans to his parents, and while he hadn’t told them Vlad’s secret once they knew about Danny, it hadn’t been hard to figure out what had happened to Vlad. From there, it had been easy to find out who the Wisconsin ghost was, and from there, it had been even easier to figure out that Vlad had overshadowed the Amity Park population to become mayor.
Maddie and Jack Fenton were many things, oblivious, one-track-minded, and obsessed, but they weren’t stupid.
Once all those puzzle pieces were put together, they saw the bigger picture and cut all ties with Vlad Masters.
To say Vlad had taken it badly had been an understatement.
Danny dodged another pink ectoblast as he tried to concentrate on summoning his mom.
His badass mom would have no problem kicking Vlad’s ass, maybe even killing him completely.
Danny had been stupid; he thought being home under his parent’s ghost shield, and other protective gear would be enough to keep him safe.
He let his guard down, and now here he was, powerless (thanks, Plasmius fucking Maximus), clutching an ectogun.
Danny knew he had enough strength for one more summoning. Please, mom, I need help.
“Daniel, really, come here, little badger. I’m the only one who can truly understand you; I can make you powerful. I’m the only one who can help you develop your powers. Renounce your fool parents and join me.”
Danny ignored the Fruit loop. He felt the summoning working.
Danny made himself look smaller and weaker (not that it was hard at the moment) so his mom would be even deadlier.
Both halfas closed their eyes at the blinding neon green light. As it died down, they both dropped their jaws.
It wasn’t Maddie Fenton.
****
Talia Al Ghul was a deadly woman. It wasn’t boasting; it was a fact.
She was one of the deadliest assassins in the world, the daughter of the great Ra’s Al Ghul. Mother of the heir to the Demon’s Head and the Bat… and a mother who had lost a child.
A child she knew without a fact was in front of her, clutching a bulky gun as some kind of…demon tormented him.
“Who the devil are you,” the demon asked.
Talia was a pragmatic woman; she saw a gun in her son’s hands (defenseless, he was not trained. Weak) and took it from him.
“What are you doing?” the boy asked. He looked so much like her beloved.
“Don’t worry, habibi. I lost you once; it won’t happen again.”
“Enough,” the demon yelled out, “Daniel, you will—” his demands were cut short as she shot him through his head and then once again through his chest.
The demon had been vanquished by an even bigger demon. After all, Talia Al Ghul didn’t let go of what was her once she claimed it as her own. And she had at long last found her missing youngest son.
If physically possible at the moment, Danny’s jaw would be on the floor.
He had tried to summon his mom and had messed up…again.
Instead of Maddie, he got some badass ninja lady who had taken the ectogun and had ended Vlad’s afterlife. (Not that he doubted Maddie wouldn’t have done the same thing…)
What the fuck?!
Danny stared up at the lady with feigned fear in his eyes. He had to act weak and then take her by surprise. While she tried to soothe him, he planned. She couldn’t find out about his strength and powers. Danny had to play the meek boy he currently was without his powers…wait what did she say?
“Wait, what did you say?”
“Don’t worry, habibi will take care of you now. Mother won’t let anything happen to you.”
Great, another Fruit loop. It seems he’s gonna end up kidnapped regardless.
The boy (Daniel) didn’t put up a fight when she took him from the weird house and put him on a private plane not even twenty minutes later.
Talia explained who she was and how he had been kidnapped as a baby by traitors to get to her and her father. The boy listened meekly and made no sound. His eyes were full of fear, and he was trembling.
(What she didn’t know was that the shivers were a side effect of being electrocuted.)
“Here, habibi,” she took a weird machine from one of her ninja servants and took some of her spit and then some of his.
An hour later, they landed in Gotham, and Danny had a paper that said she was his mother.
Once again, what the fuck?!
One more hour, one more hour, and his powers would return. He’d summon his mom (Maddie), and then he’d clear all this up. Because there’s no way in the Infinite Realms he was adopted.
The woman had a limo up front that drove them through the worse traffic Danny had ever seen.
(He could feel his powers returning; soon, soon.)
Danny stayed quiet and hunched his shoulders while the woman stared at him.
Talia looked at the pitiful child that should’ve been as strong as his older twin brother. He had no muscle. He moved like a civilian and knew nothing of the legacy he came from. Her beloved would fix that.
Bruce Wayne had proven he could take children and make their potential shine through. His son would be no issue if he could do that with normal children.
Soon, they stopped in front of Wayne Manor. Daniel looked up at his birthright with big, saucer-like eyes. His shoulders were even smaller now. Talia couldn’t help but put her arm around the pitiful boy. She felt him stiffen under her touch. Soon, he would learn to welcome his mother’s embrace.
Talia rang the doorbell from the limo.
“Yes,” answered a posh, British voice: the butler, her beloved’s father in everything but blood.
“It is I, Talia. I wish to speak with my beloved about something urgent.”
There was a moment of silence before the iron gates swung open. She took in her son’s expressions as they drove through the Wayne property. He looked afraid. That wouldn’t do; no son of hers should ever be scared.
Danny surveyed the disgustingly huge property. He documented every little exit he could see, any hiding spot he could use, and any loose debris he could convert into an impromptu weapon. That tree had sturdy branches…
Danny followed the crazy woman out of the limo as they climbed the stairs to a mansion that would make Sam jealous. It sent shivers down Danny’s spine. The place was full of ghosts and shades.
Talia put her arm around Danny again as he trembled in front of the door. Poor boy, he must be so confused.
She didn’t have to knock. Pennyworth opened the door and didn’t even raise an eyebrow at Daniel’s presence.
“Ma’am, sir, Master Bruce and the children are in the study. If you would follow me.”
Mother and child followed the prim man in silence. Talia walked confidently while the boy shuffled his feet.
(Danny was counting his step and memorizing the route being taken.)
Before long, Talia and Danny were let into the study.
“Mother, what are you doing here? Who is this?”
Talia ignored her eldest and looked at her beloved. He had more gray hairs now. It suited him.
“Hello, beloved. This is our other son Daniel. He is Damian’s younger twin and needs proper training, so I will leave him with you for now.”
The room held its breath for a moment before it exploded into shouts.
“What do you mean he’s my twin? Mother, what is the meaning of this?”
“B, this is the kid who’s been summoning us!”
“Damn, Old Man, learn to wrap it up.”
“Another little brother?”
“I haven’t had enough coffee for this. Good God, there’s another one that’s gonna try to kill me.”
The cacophony was stopped by Bruce’s shout, “Enough! Talia, what is the meaning of this?”
Danny felt his powers return at that exact moment. He recognized almost everyone in the room.
(Summoning older sibling; that’s why it didn’t work…or rather it worked the way it was supposed to…)
Ancients did the one with the skunk hair stink.
“Well, as much fun as this kidnapping has been. Really, I give it a nine outta 10; imma skedaddle now. I’m pretty sure my parents are freaking out by now, and you do not want to fuck around with my mom.”
Danny went for the door to leave and tried to process what he had learned (really, mom and dad, you couldn’t have remembered to let me know I’m adopted?!) when suddenly the ninja woman was in front of him.
“Little one, I am your mother. By the looks of it, that little spell you did summon me, your real mother. I took care of the problem and brought you to safety.”
Danny blinked. He didn’t remember telling her he had done a spell. How observant was she?
Whatever, he’d deal with it later.
“Look, I really appreciate you saving me from the Fruit loop and, you know, killing him.”
“Talia, did you kill someone in front of this child,” the blue-eyed, black-haired man admonished.
“Nah, it’s fine. He wasn’t human anyway. Not fully anyway,” he whispered the last part.
“But I really have to get home. So, bye.”
The woman didn’t move. Danny could feel his anger rising. He had been patient enough, and he just wanted to go home and eat his mom’s fudge while asking for an explanation from his parents.
“Move or be moved,” Danny threatened in a low voice his mom had taught him to use.
“Don’t you dare threaten my mother, you heathen,” one of the boys said.
“Little one, you are obviously in danger, and the people you are with are incapable of taking care of you. Stay here with your father so he can train you.”
She put her hand on his shoulder. Mistake.
Using the element of surprise, Danny took hold of her arm and judo-flipped her behind him. He ran out the door while everyone in the room stood frozen.
Talia laughed as she stared at the ceiling. She had been tricked. Her son had tricked her into believing he had been weak before attacking. Indeed, he was an Al Ghul.
She sat up and went after her boy. She had lost him once, and, like a dragon unwilling to part with their treasure, she would be damned before she let her youngest out of her sights again.
Danny ran, glad his mom had trained him in martial arts and not relying on his powers.
“Someday, you might not be able to use them, baby. You might as well learn to defend yourself without them.”
“Thanks, mom,” Danny whispered as he got closer to the door. Suddenly, he was surrounded by seven people. Danny could tell they were all highly trained. Fuck! His powers were back, but they weren’t at full strength yet.
(What had Vlad done to the Plasmius Maximus this time that it didn’t return his powers all at once?)
There was no way Danny was going to win this fight. He did the only thing he could think of; he summoned his mom.
****
Madeline Fenton was a worried mother and a dangerous warrior. That was a deadly combination. Jack and Maddie had returned from their shopping trip to find a dead Vlad Masters and a missing Danny.
Footage showed that Danny had been hit by the Plasmius Maximus and tried to summon someone for help. He got a random woman who killed Vlad and kidnapped her baby boy.
Madeline Fenton, a doctor in Ectobiology, ghost hunter extraordinaire, and holder of a nine-degree blackbelt, was out for blood.
“We’ll find him, Maddie. No one will escape Jack Fenton’s wrath for messing with our family!”
“I know, honey, but I’m worried. Our baby is missing and powerless.”
“He’s not powerless, Maddie. You’ve taught him well. Besides, I’ve given him a few weapons to help him.”
****
Danny shot an ectoblast from his ectogun at his supposed twin. (It was on the ‘stun’ setting.)
He didn’t want them to know about his powers, so he refused to use them except to dodge and jump just a tiny bit higher than possible.
Every time he tried to summon his mom, he got Talia, and she tried to incapacitate him before he dodged.
“Yes, habibi, just like that!”
Why was this crazy woman so happy every time he hit her?!
“Talia, now is not the time,” his supposed dad said as Danny kicked him in the guts.
Danny used his ectogun to shoot the guy who stunk up the whole place (seriously, dude, it’s called body wash and deodorant), and he went down like a sack of potatoes. Huh, Danny could’ve sworn it was on stun…
He ran for the door as everyone but Talia was distracted by Stinky’s predicament.
(Talia knew Jason was fine, she had trained him, after all.)
She stood in front of the door and stopped her youngest from escaping. She grinned and couldn’t wait to find out what her little one would do now. He was unpredictable in his fighting style and thought on his feet.
“What will you do now, habibi?”
Danny thought of his mom. His real mom. The one who made him fudge and helped put glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling. The one who smelled like lavender and ectoplasm. Madeline Fenton.
He used his powers and summoned his mother.
Maddie showed up in a light show of Lazarus' green lights, and she was furious.
****
Maddie took half a second to survey the scene. Seven people surrounded them. All of them highly trained. (Some of them children). That didn’t matter. They were threatening her son. She took out her boo-staff and attacked.
“Danny, summon your sister and father.”
Bruce Wayne, the Batman, the scourge of the Gotham Underworld, vengeance personified, was getting his ass handed to him by a little red-headed civilian and his previously unknown son. And he had all his children plus Talia helping him.
Well, Jason still was out of commission…
Suddenly, he felt a tug, and he was in front of Daniel.
“Dammit, I want dad, not facial constipation personified!”
Bruce blinked at his new epithet and tried to talk to the boy. Daniel kicked his shins and ran. How the fuck did that hurt more than being thrown through a wall?!
Another tug; he was in front of Danny again. Another kick. This was getting out of control…who was he kidding? It was out of control.
Suddenly Bruce heard a whine and yell, “Nobody messes with Jack Fenton’s family!”
A blast went through the foyer, and a hole appeared on the side wall.
Bruce was about to go stop the man when a young red-haired teenage girl wearing some mecha suit attacked him with a…was that a fucking nine-of-cat tails? Who were these people?
Bruce felt weird having to fight a teenager, but she was vicious and an excellent strategist. Where was Cassandra when he needed her? Oh, helping Talia hold off the woman.
Bruce dodged a blast from the girl but ended up with a cut from the whip. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Danny dodging Dick and Damian’s attacks with flips and somersaults on par with Dick’s acrobatic training.
It was almost as if gravity was more of a suggestion for the boy instead of a rule.
Just as the fighting got to a fever pitch, and loud and firm voice vibrated through the room, “Enough.”
Alfred Pennyworth never had to yell, he raised his voice, and everyone listened. Even the manor itself stilled as the true master of the house talked.
“We will stop this silly fighting and talk in the dayroom with some tea like civilized folks.”
Everyone looked sheepish (except for Jason, who was just waking up) and nodded.
They followed Alfred like meek little ducklings.
After being scolded and sat down with tea and cookies, they got to talking.
“How could you not tell me I was adopted,” Danny demanded while throwing his hands up.
“I’m sorry, honey, we could’ve sworn we told you….” Maddie answered awkwardly, looking everywhere but at her son.
“Yeah, Dann-o, I even wrote it on my to-do list. See, it’s checked off and everything,” Jack showed Danny the list.
“Dad, that’s dried fudge in the shape of a check mark,” Danny said deadpanned.
Jack looked at the paper and, to the horror of the Waynes and Talia, licked the paper, “Huh, what do you know? You’re right, Dann-o. Sorry.”
“Seriously, dad, this is why I said I was going to tell him,” Jazz interjected, exasperated, “but you promised me you had it covered!”
“Okay, well, that explains why my summonings were out of whack.”
“Danny,” Maddie scolded, “you should know better than using ghost magic without supervision!”
“And you should know the difference between ink and fudge. Yet here we are.”
Both his parents looked around the room again.
“Sorry, Danny-boy, we really dropped the ball, huh?”
Bruce cleared his throat, “Well, yes, I would like to go back about the ghost magic, if possible?”
Danny looked at his bio-dad, angry. He had just had world-shattering news thrown at his lap, and this dude wanted to ask about ghost magic.
…Okay, fair, but Danny didn’t feel like playing ball.
“Seriously, B, have some tact,” the eldest (?) said.
“I think it’s important to ask, considering my other children hid from me that a random person was summoning them.”
“I’m not your kid,” Danny said once what Bruce implied hit him. He knew his eyes were glowing.
Everyone in the room stiffened, even his parents and sister.
“I don’t have to explain shit,” Danny said as he crossed his arms in defiance.
“Look,” Jazz started, “I think we should all just exchange numbers and come back to this when emotions aren’t running high.”
“Oh, of course, the fink is trying to play psychiatrist.”
Jazz frowned, “Danny, you’re angry. I understand that, but you can’t take that out on everyone else. You have to process your emotions.”
“Oh, I have to process my emotions. Okay, how’s this for processing.”
Danny transformed. Everyone who wasn’t in the secret stared at him in surprise.
“My parents are idiots,” he ticked off.
“Danny!”
“My birth parents are rich Fruit loops. Two kinds of people that I hate.”
“Don’t talk about mother and father that way,” his twin (Ancients, that was weird to think about.) said.
“My older sister is a fink that didn’t tell me I was adopted when she knows exactly how our parents are.”
Said sister sighed in defeat, “Danny…”
“And that dude over there stinks like rotten fruit that’s been sprayed by a skunk. Seriously, get that corrupted ectoplasm cleaned out. Your emotions must be so out of whack, and I’m not gonna be the one to do it.”
The dude looked surprised while sniffing himself.
“Danny Fenton out.”
Danny turned intangible and flew home, not really caring how his parents were gonna get home…or how awkward it would be for them to be stuck with his birth family.