I love all the reblog additions but brain said i have GOT to put some meat into the starting point so..
no one has said just how long or extensive danny's recovery was yet. Jason still setting up his bases, having to look for men, does NOT have control of crime alley yet. but has tapped into the bat system just to know where everyone is at any given time and catch up on what all he missed, hears about this weird rouge and pings that while the dude is VERY effecient at somehow loosing the bats, the tech he has is worrying, its what he's stealing thats suspicious.. thats enough food to feed an army, and the medical stuff is mostly bandages, anti biotics and a shit ton of pain killers... and how this dude with the same body type is trying to set up connections in the alley? yeah he tails the guy home after he's done convincing a few people to let him fix their ac. pins it for later and waits for him to leave again.
The security was.. odd. Effective for sure, but also cobbled together from miss matching parts and only half finished in some places.
First thing he notices is the place is COLD like the guy did great work on the ac units but this was see your breath chilled. there are coats around that fit the guys size, as well as the bright orange suit that earned the guy his name.
Jason starts checking the rooms. Finding partialy built things, some he couldnt guess, some seemed like costomer orders from the notes he found next to them. in the kitchen he finds some sort of air filter that is collecting suspicious green stuff. but its.. its not lazurus water. he can SEE it collecting from nothing but air it LOOKS similar but it dosent give him the same feeling. infact it makes him feel hungry which is weird?? he'd look into that later..
Then? ohoo then Jason finds the bedroom. He sees all the stolen med supplies strewn about, a cup and plate that are distinctly different from the ones found in the kitchen sitting on the night stand. The contents of which smell very VERY tempting to him. a tv thats playing some documentery J'onn featured in talking about his home.
And a kid, lying very still in the bed.
a kid that wasn't breathing.
A dead kid.
Just as Jason starts to think this is some Dr freeze situation the kid whimpers. the kid mumbles and thrashes tossing the blankets off enough so jason can see his torso absolutely mummified with red tinted bandages, those.. those should probably get changed..? Those look kind of old? the guy wasnt due back for a few hours yet.. jason cant just leave the kid there..
Especially when he starts begging his mom 'to please just stop please'. yeah jason is going to stay, he's going to get the full story, but first he's going to get the kid cleaned up.
By the time the guy gets back, the kid is in new bandages, and the actual wound was.. not plesant to see.. He was surprised to find no stitches. but considering that the kid's blood sometimes flickered to the same color as the weird collection goo? He'd admit leaving it be till he has more info. same with why its kept so cold in here when the kid is kinda clammy feeling. (Danny actually has a pretty bad fever, it just seems like below average to an outsider)
Jason is very calm even with a gun pointed at his head with the demand to 'step away from my son' with what he heard the kid say in his sleep? its understandable that the guy would be a bit protective.
Jason complies waiting outside doorway patiently while the guy checks over the kid. Who Jason finally has a name for. The guy wakes him up, the kid, Danny, is clearly still out of it not even noticing jason while the guy convinces him to eat the lunch left on the plate, that he needs the Ecto, was that the collection goo?
then Jason gets thrown through a loop when danny says, "Dad..? is someone here..?"
"Whatcha mean danno?"
"My ghost sense. I feel someone.. i dont know them but they feel safe..? they want to help..? theres a lot of anger but they're also lost in a way..?"
the guy pauses for a second. "I'll check the traps Danny boy, just sit here and rest ok?"
"Ok dad.. but you'll get me if they cause trouble..?"
"Of course baby. Hey look there's a marathon of that sci fi show you love on tonight!"
"This is manipulation and you know it.."
"True. But you did say it helps right? and how many times have you used that trick on me behind my back?"
Danny grumbles but settles back under the covers.
The guy kisses Danny's hair and closes the door halfway. looks at jason and scruffs him like a kitten to carry into his work room (sound proofed after learning how much the noise bothers danny) for a talk.
Jason for his part is mostly shocked the guy picked him up so easily. only snapping out of it when some device is waved in his direction and the guy frowns at whatever its showing.
"Soo... what happened to him? I heard some things while he was sleeping. I could help. but i need the full story."
the guy sighs, and flops in a chair that creeks dangerously from the weight.
"Well if what these readings are telling me are right. And Danny's instincts are reacting to you and not someone else. I guess you should know just in case.."
Jason keeps his posture casual and non threatening. Even more invested as his own vibes are somehow involved now?
"My wife and I spent years researching ghosts, trying to catch them, study them, hunt for them.. But our theories.. they were so wrong.. I didn't realize, didn't WANT to realize any different. We thought ghosts were nothing more than after images imprinting on Ectoplasm. Non sentient, non feeling imitations of people. who existed purely to manipulate and destroy whatever they wanted. not caring about the concequinces."
"......that contradicts itself in so many ways Tangerine... I just.. How?"
"Oh trust me I've gotten the lectures about it.. i understand that now. Anyway, Danny my baby boy, he... he had an accedent in the lab.. we had tried to make a portal into the ghost zone and it just, it didn't work. But Danny was showing it to his friends one day and the power for the whole city block fizzled out and when we came home the portal was working and danny had been rushed to the hospital for electrical trauma..."
Jason has a bad feeling about where this is going...
"but then actual ghosts started showing up along with with one in particular that would always fight with them then disapear and we were so convinced that he was the one starting the fights and catching him would put a stop to things. But I was blind.. Phantom was just trying to protect his haunt, he was helping, he helped me a few times even. And Danny, had been growing so distant from us. we thought he was just going through a rebelious phase ya know?"
Jason has a VERY bad feeling now. this was checking so many familiar boxes.
"Danny finally came up to us one day and said that he was Phantom, that the accedent had killed him, but he came back too. He's stuck in between, the ghosts named him a Halfa. I felt so bad.."
the guy was crying now. oh crap this hit too close to home.
"And my wife, my ex wife now she, she didn't see it the way I did- she just- and I had to get him out get him safe."
"Ok I get it, calm down. if you're hiding out though why are you trying so hard with the neighbors? also you need to stitch the kid up he's not gonna heal like that.."
"Because I need to know if she or the GIW get close, and the best way to do that is establishing roots! Look, I'm not asking for details, Danny said its a triggering topic which is completely understandable, but for you to have these readings means you need to be on guard too. And im trying to help danny i really am. but Im in no way trained for this. Ive tried stitching him up, I do needle point as a hobby but i look at him and just freeze up.."
"It's different when its a person.. I.. I might know a guy for that.." jason sighs, he was going to talk to him eventually but with this news? he needs to move up some plans, and they'd be happy to run interference for him till he's ready..
--
The next day hood is back with what seems to be a kidnapped butler. even though Alfred seems perfectly calm after being dragged into a car with the mysterious red hood. it took all of five minutes for him to tag along willingly. jason is sort of suspicious he hasn't hit his panic button.
Hood has introduced himself to Danny and he sits next to the bed while Alfie preps for treatment and listens to the guy, Jack, who is going through his notes on what Danny has told him about ghosts.
Apparently they needed to use some specially formulated fishing line instead of medical thread, incase Danny phases them out on accedent. the tv show was actually helping. something about emotional stimulation from feeding obsessions. Danny cuts in explaining more on that, how it was a ghosts reason for staying. what kept them existing. Like a special intrest that actually tied to their wellbeing. it was frowned upon to interfere with those and thats why danny had so much trouble at home. but he just didn't know, not until someone talked to him about it. once the others realized that he was a baby defending his haunt, and didn't even know what a haunt was. they eased up and tried to be better at explaining things first.
"You're trying to build a haunt right?" Danny asks hood. "I can kinda feel it. but you havent been here for a while so the connection is weak."
"I.. grew up here yeah. but its been a while.. though that does explain the weird 'walking over my grave' sensation i get sometimes..."
"As much as I would like to know more about your new wellfare needs, lets wait and discuss this more after we patch up your new friend, yes master Jason?"
"I don- you just- *sigh* you never cease to amaze me Alfie.."
"You may have grown a fair bit since your death but you can never fool me when it comes to family. And we will be having a talk about the runaround youve been giving your father."
"Hes got another robin! he didn't learn!"
"And you have no context for the reasons why. You will sit in this house and watch over your friend when I return to make dinner. And once patrol starts I will be coming back and we will have that discussion. but for now you can assist me by holding down Danny if we find out the anesthetic doesn't work."
"Yes Alfred..."
