Chapitre 11: Chapter 11
Summary:
It's time for Danny to have a talk with his dad and grandpa about Amity Park and the events that happened there. The Bats learn a lot of stuff that they don't like, and Danny presents them with a breathtaking gift.
**Edited for continuity**
Notes:
Sorry, no beta today. Everyone here is sick with the crud. I hope the chapter is good anyway! Thank you all for reading!
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Chapter Text
That evening, after supper, Jason and Bruce took Danny into library for a quiet discussion. Bruce looked over at his grandson, who had his head tilted as he tried to read the titles on the spines of the books. The older man cleared his throat. "So, Danny, I thought it was time to get to know your situation better. Are you willing to talk about it right now?"
Danny sat up and cocked his head like a bird. "Huh? Um, sure. What do you wanna talk about?"
"I'd like to talk about Amity Park and what has been going on there. I've researched it, and there is literally no information about the town anywhere. My colleges have also come up blank in their investigations. You are the only link to what is happening in that town."
Danny thought his grandpa looked really serious. "Um, ok. Amity Park is a ghost town. Not like the empty ghost towns, but it's a town full of ghosts. Or it was. I dunno if the ghosts will still come with the portal gone."
Batman raised an eyebrow. "Portal? What kind of portal? Can you please tell me what you know about it?"
"Um, my old family, the Fentons were scientists. They studied ghosts and stuff. Their big project was to make a portal to the Ghost Zone so that they could learn more about the people that live there."
"What's the Ghost Zone, Danny?" Bruce asked.
"It's where all the ghosts live. Sometimes it's called the Infinite Realms." Danny happily answered his grandpa's question. He was proud when he saw Bruce making notes about what he said. "It's a whole 'nother dimension!"
"Your adoptive parents made a portal to another dimension in your house?" Bruce wasn't sure what was more terrifying: the fact that these people had actually opened a portal to the afterlife…or the fact that they did it in their home.
Danny nodded, totally missing Bruce's horror. "Yep, it was in the basement!"
"And did it work?" Jason was curious, until he saw the look on Danny's face.
The child had tears in his eyes. He was gripping the pillow under him with white knuckles. "It didn't work—at first…" Danny swallowed. "I…I made it work. I turned it on. That wasn't fun at all."
"What's wrong, buddy? Why does the memory make you so sad?" Jason pulled his son into his lap.
Danny stared hard at the floor. No one said anything for a long moment. Finally, the child sniffled and started speaking quietly. "See, Momma Maddie and Daddy Jack were really smart about a lot of stuff, and they taught me lots about working in a lab. They let me help them with the 'portal and all. We finished it, but it didn't turn on...and I did something stupid."
Jason squeezed his little boy. "That sounds harsh, kiddo. You said you didn't know that the thing was gonna hurt you. It wasn't your fault. Can you tell us what happened that day?"
Danny kicked his feet against the couch. Tiny tears dripped down on Jason's pants. Bruce looked worriedly at Jason. Just what had this child been through??
Danny somehow found his courage. "Momma Maddie and Daddy Jack waited to let me help them turn on the portal, but it didn't come on. We were all real upset! I went and pushed all the buttons and stuff. Nothing happened until I touched the wall inside. I promise I was wearing my safety suit...but it didn't help. The radiation and 'lectricity were too much. Daddy Jack saved me, but he got hurt some too. It WAS my fault." He couldn't look his dad and grandpa in the eyes.
"What happened then?" Bruce's voice was ever so gentle.
"There was a big spark of 'lectricity, and it hurt me real, real bad. It was the worst thing ever! I think I kinda died…" He trailed off with a sniffle and sighed. "Then, the portal opened and a bunch of ghost energy filled the portal and filled me up too. It made me turn into a halfa."
"What's a 'halfa'?" Jason needed to know.
"A halfa is a half a ghost and a half a human. That's why I can change. I can go ghost, and I can go human too. The other ghosts don't like me much 'cause of that."
"So, that's why you had the Lazarus water in your blood…" Bruce blew out a breath that he hadn't realized he was holding.
Danny shook his head. "I dunno about Lazarus water. The green stuff in my blood is ectoplasm. All ghosts are made of ectoplasm—so is the whole Ghost Zone."
"Oh damnit!" Jason huffed. "Ra's gets into enough trouble with just those tiny pools of the green shit. If he had access to an entire realm full of it…" He didn't finish his thought.
"It's ok, Dad. Momma Maddie was extra super careful and made plans to keep bad guys from getting the portal. We all had buttons hidden in the house to keep bad guys from stealing it."
"What did those buttons do?" Bruce kept his voice carefully neutral.
"They made the portal blow up." Danny said matter-of-factly.
"Is that…how your other family died, Danny?" The Bat needed to know.
Danny sniffed again. "No. The bad people killed them with a gun, so I had to blow up the portal by myself."
Bruce couldn't bring himself to even imagine what his grandson had gone through. He reached out and put his hand on top of Danny's. "You're safe here with us, you know."
Danny looked at Bruce with sad eyes. He repeated what he had told them on his first day with them. "That's what they said too."
Jason squeezed Danny in a firm hug. "Kiddo, I promise you that when we find out who these 'bad guys' are, they are going down. We are NOT going to let them hurt you again!"
"Danny," Bruce used his most soothing voice. "Do you know the name of the people who are after you?"
Danny nodded. "Yeah, they're the GIW—the Guys In White. 'Cept I think they have a different real name. Maybe like 'Ghost Investigation War' or somethin'."
Bruce quickly tapped that information into his phone and sent it off to Oracle. He looked at his grandson. "They can't get you here. I promise."
"But they have guns! And they killed Momma and Daddy and Jazz!"
"They aren't going to kill us." Jason's rage was barely contained. "People have tried to take us out before and failed every time. We just keep coming back stronger. We're going to figure this stuff out, alright kiddo? I don't want you to worry about anything. We'll handle it."
"What if the bad ghosts come after me? Or Fruitloop? You can't hurt them like normal people."
"We'll figure something out."
"Wait! I know! I forgot!!!" Danny jumped off of Jason's lap and ran out of the room.
Bruce and Jason looked at one another in confusion for several minutes before getting lost in their individual thoughts. Then, Danny came barreling back into the room with something clutched in his small fingers.
"Here, Daddy! You can use this to make stuff to fight the bad ghosts and Fruitloop! He can't catch me here." The child's eyes were bright.
"Who is Fruitloop, kiddo? Why do we need to fight him?" Jason managed to control his temper—at first.
"Vlad is Fruitloop. He wanted to kill Daddy Jack and marry Momma Maddie and make me be his son. He's crazy."
"Vlad?" Bruce stared out of the window. "Why does that name sound familiar?" He mumbled to himself. "I can only think of one Vlad, but I don't' know much about him." He looked at Danny expectantly.
"Fruitloop is a bad man. He has a portal too. He makes mean ghosts come after me and stuff. That's why you need this!" Danny held out his arms, palms up with a tiny computer drive in them."
"What do you have there, Danny?" Bruce cocked his head to get a better look.
"It's all the Fenton blueprints! Momma Maddie kept them hidden in a place only I could get them, in case something bad happened." He blew out a breath. "I thought them getting killed was a bad thing. So, I took it with me. You can make the stuff to be safe from ghosts and Fruitloop, if you want!" Danny handed the drive to Bruce, who stared at it as if it contained the secrets of the universe. Maybe it did…
Jason and Bruce looked at each other in silent communication. Danny wondered what they were thinking. His eyes started getting heavy, and he could hear his heart thumping slowly. Finally, he yawned long and wide. Jason smiled down at him. "I think it's past someone's bedtime."
"Aw, Daddy!" The young boy whined. "Not now!"
Jason booped his kid on the nose. "Yes, now. You can get your rest while your grandpa and I take a look at the information you gave us. Tomorrow, we'll be able to ask you stuff about what we learned. The sooner you go to bed, the sooner tomorrow will come!"
Danny looked at Jason suspiciously. "You're just saying that to make me go to bed…"
"Buddy, you need to learn that there is a time and place for everything. Right now, it is bedtime, and the place you need to be is in your room." Jason grinned.
"What if the bad guys find me here?"
"We've outsmarted a lot of bad guys before. These people won't be any trouble."
"You promise?" Danny was near tears again.
Bruce and Jason looked at one another. "Yeah, kiddo. We promise."
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone