Capítulo 5: Chapter 5
Summary:
Danny gets medical treatment back at the Batcave, and some disturbing information comes to light. He's a what??
Notes:
My posting schedule on this story may vary now that Dannymay has started. I've got a bunch planned for this month. I hope you guys continue to enjoy the story!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Bruce and Damian arrived back at the Cave a half hour later. Dr. Leslie Thompkins had already been called in. They exited the Batmobile to the sounds of a child crying. "Please, please. I swear I'm human. I'm human. I'm human, I swear!"
Alfred's voice gently cut through the young boy's cries. "We believe you, young sir. We just want to help you. You must let us have a better look at your injuries. No one is going to hurt you here."
"It's gonna be alright, kiddo. Just let Alfie take a look at you, ok?" Bruce was struck by the tenderness in Jason's voice. It was unusual for the former Crime Lord to allow himself to sound so soft.
"Don't let them take me! Please! Please!" The boy's cries were softer, and he gripped Jason's arm like it was a lifeline.
"Hush now, Mr. Daniel. It will be alright. You must let Dr. Thompkins tend to your wounds. You will feel much better afterwards."
The child frowned at Alfred. "My name is Danny, not 'Daniel'." He stopped crying and wiped his face on his uninjured shoulder.
Leslie reached across the boy and gently coaxed his arms away from his torso. When she saw the extent of the wounds, she hissed in a breath. "Oh Danny, these are some nasty burns you have." She spoke softly. "They must really hurt. Can I give you some medicine to make the hurt go away?"
"No medicine. Won't work."
The doctor looked at her young patient. She smiled gently down at him. "Batman told me that you were different, so I brought my medicine for extra special people. I promise you it will help."
Danny warily looked at Jason, who nodded to the boy. "I trust her. She's helped me before."
A minute passed in silence as everyone took stock of the situation. Finally, Danny gave in. "OK…I guess." The boy's face dared Leslie to betray his trust.
She smiled down at Danny and pulled out her calculator to titrate the correct dosage for the small child. Then, she pulled out a syringe filled with a bright pink liquid. "This is going to pinch a little, and then it might make you sleepy, ok?"
Danny nodded. He only gave a slight grimace when the shot was administered. Everyone waited in silence for the medicine to take effect. It wasn't long before the boy's eyes started to droop.
"I want my Momma and my Daddy…" Danny's tiny voice filled the room. "But they're gooonnee..."
Batman walked over to the child's bedside. "Hey there, chum. What do you mean 'they're gone'? Did those awful people take your parents away?"
Large, teary blue eyes locked on to Bruce's. "They killed them. They killed them 'cause they wanted to take me away."
Ice flooded Bruce's veins; he couldn't find the words to make things better for Danny. A minute passed in silence. Batman was broken-hearted for the boy on the gurney. He finally spoke. "Kiddo, I know things are bad right now, but I promise you that I will do everything in my power to make things right. Do you understand?"
Danny's forlorn eyes looked past Bruce and around the table. He felt Jason's hands carding through his hair. He looked up and saw Hood's gentle smile. His face fell when he looked back at Batman. "What am I gonna do now?"
Everyone stopped and looked at each other. Alfred sniffed. "We do have that extra bedroom on the second floor, sir."
The doctor glared at the men. "Will you guys please let me treat my patient before you go on another adopting spree?"
"Who's 'dopting? I was 'dopted before…" Danny slurred.
Bruce shot a look to Robin, who nodded. He turned to go the computer and looked back. "I will use the photos from…before and get Oracle and Red Robin to assist me. They can clean up the images for face-matching…more quickly than I." The look on the teen's face said that those words had bruised his pride a bit.
An hour later, and there were still no results on the face-matching software. The DNA test was taking longer than it should to process. Everyone was tense. Danny had finally fallen asleep, and Jason was pacing, trying to brush off the memories brought up by the exposure to the strange equipment. Alfred had returned upstairs to gather refreshments for everyone. Tim had joined Damian at one of the smaller workstations; they were still trying to fine-tune the facial recognition software.
Leslie and Bruce were discussing the revelations from the boy's treatment. "I don't know what the glowing green globules in his blood are made of. It could be a part of his meta-metabolism, but I've really never seen anything like it before." Leslie pointed to her shed coat that was spattered with drying blood and green flecks.
Bruce just frowned. He had seen something exactly like it before. It appeared to be the same substance in the weapons and equipment that had affected Jason so badly. It looked like Lazarus water. But that was impossible, wasn't it? How could a human become so infused with Lazarus water that it was visible in his blood? Was the Lazarus water part of the child's ability to change forms? Had someone been experimenting on Danny? There were no solid answers, and Batman did not like it when there were no answers.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by a loud beeping sound. The DNA report was finally ready. He hurried over to the computer and pulled up the readouts. He looked at the paper and went very still for a long minute, then he sat down hard in the chair behind him.
"Bruce?" Leslie asked. "Bruce, what's wrong?"
Without turning his head, he answered with a quiet rage. "Danny has the meta gene."
Jason was casually leaning against the doorframe of the room where Danny was sleeping. "We kinda knew that already, Old Man. Anything else interesting in there? Did his ID ping or something?"
"Or something." Bruce stared at the paper report like it was written in an alien language.
"You gonna fill us in, or what?" Now Hood was sounding irritated.
Batman turned his chair and faced the room. His face was expressionless, but his anger was unmistakable. Slowly, without looking, he put the paper on the desk behind him. No one in the room dared say anything. Bruce looked at Leslie and his three sons, who were now watching him intently. "Danny is a clone."
Muted gasps were heard coming from all around the room. The silence that followed was almost thick enough to see. Slow, measured footsteps started echoing off the cave walls. Jason's boots kept a steady rhythm as he walked towards his father.
He reached Batman's side. Everyone was dreading Bruce's next words, and because no one else was asking the question that hung in the air, Hood took the initiative. He spoke with bravado that he did not feel. "Spit it out already, Old Man. Who was cloned?"
Batman turned slowly in his chair to fully face his son; his face was unreadable. He radiated tension like an overloaded high-voltage wire. When he finally spoke, his voice was grave. "You were. Someone subtly altered your DNA and cloned you, Jason."
Murmuring broke out in the Batcave. Everyone suddenly had questions and things to say. Bruce abruptly stood. "Everyone CALM DOWN. That is an order."
The room immediately went quiet, and the only sounds in the main room of the Cave were Jason's harsh breaths and the fans on the computer.
Jason stared at the floor for a long time—minutes that felt like hours. Finally, his breathing evened out, and he looked at his father with determination. "Who did this? WHY would someone do this??" His countenance demanded answers.
Bruce's eyes turned soft as he looked at his second son. "I honestly don't know why, but I have a theory as to who…"
Jason's emotions were all over the chart. He was struggling to come to terms with the bombshell that had just been dropped on him. He swallowed and found his voice. "So, what's your theory?"
The answer was unemotional, all business, all Batman. "Due to the large amounts of Lazarus water in his body, and considering it is somehow bonded to his DNA, I believe it was Ra's who cloned you."
"That motherfucker!" Jason's eyes flashed green.
Damian was too shocked to maintain his composure. "Why would grandfather clone Todd, of all people?!"
"Why does Ra's do anything?" Tim interjected. "I mean, everything the man does has a purpose. What could he gain from cloning Jason?"
Batman's level voice filled the room. "I don't know, but I'm willing to bet that those people after Danny are working with the League of Assassins."
"Then their lives are forfeit." Damian was blunt. "Grandfather does not tolerate failure."
Bruce motioned towards the Robins. "One of you call Gordon. Both of you need to go to GCPD and keep an eye on those prisoners until I can get there."
He looked at his other son. "We need to move Danny to a safer location. I'll contact the Watchtower and see who can take care of him until I can get there."
"I'm coming with you. I'll take care of him." Jason's tone left no room to argue.
"Your presence is not needed."
"The HELL it isn't! I don't care how he came to be, B. That's MY CHILD laying in the Med-bay."
"He's not exactly your 'child', Hood…"
"FUCK YOU, BRUCE! Yes, he IS! Don't feed me any of that bullshit that Supes tried to excuse himself with when Superboy came on the scene. Danny was MADE from ME. That makes him MY kid. No one else's!" Something about Danny called to Jason. When he had held the boy, he was filled with a peace so deep that he forgot all the shitty things that had ever happened to him. Besides that, Danny was HIS, damnit! He wasn't letting his only remaining blood-family just go like that.
"Jason…"
"Shut up, B. This is not up for discussion. I go where the kid goes." Jason's eyes flashed again.
Bruce knew a lost cause when he saw one; he sighed. "Fine. Just stay close until after he has been properly scanned and treated."
"Like I would go anywhere with my kid in the fucking Medbay." Jason huffed.
Bruce opened his mouth to argue again about Danny's parentage, but decided it wasn't worth it. Jason was as stubborn as they came, and once he was convinced of something, it was near-impossible to change his mind. "Alright, I'll radio ahead, and then we can leave."
Jason just nodded and went in to get Danny ready for transport.
Notes:
This work was inspired by a wonderful fic by Die_Erlkonigin6083 called "A second life".
https://archiveofourown.org/works/43138206/chapters/108413775
I highly recommend it!
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