Chapter Text
Danny awoke to an eerie chiming nudging his brain into wakefulness. He bolted up and stared straight ahead at a grandfather clock. A very unfamiliar grandfather clock. In fact, the whole room was unfamiliar. He didn’t even remember going to bed, the last thing Danny recalled was fighting with…someone. There was an explosion and the Guys in White were there, something…something happened but he couldn’t recall any of the details.
A pit started forming deep in his stomach. Where were Sam and Tucker? He remembered seeing them there, they needed to go to the lab for something. Jazz told him not to go, that their parents had been looking for him but Danny ignored her. He only got brief flashes before a headache overtook any desire he had to continue that line of thinking.
Something had happened though, he needed to get information. The first thing he did was take stock of his condition. He remembered pain, deep and pulsing. But upon further inspection he was, thankfully, injury free. His body felt lethargic and heavy, as if he’d just gone nine rounds with Aragon but there were no outward injuries to justify how sore he was.
Danny glanced back up at the clock, it was one a.m.. Everyone was probably sleeping right now. He ignored the thought in the back of his head that told him usually Sam, Tucker, or Jazz were at his bedside when he woke up after a tough fight.
The room was large, certainly not his, and, if he was being honest, it was kind of creepy too. Glancing at the bedside table he saw a phone on it. It wasn’t his phone, it looked kind of like one of Tucker’s PDAs but with a lot less buttons.
Danny picked the thing up and messed around until he got to the messages. He thought maybe he could get some insight as to who this phone belonged to that way. To both his great shock and horror, there was only one person in the recent messages. That information wouldn’t have been so bad on its own, if the sole contact wasn’t Vlad Masters. Danny cringed, whoever this phone belonged to they had to live a sad life to only have Vlad texting them.
Blatantly ignoring said person’s privacy, Danny clicked on the message and read the latest text.
>> Daniel, I will need your assistance in the lab on Saturday, 6 a.m.. Do not be late.
Creepy. It couldn’t be…him that the fruit loop was talking to, right? Danny didn’t even recognize what type of phone this was, there was no way it belonged to him. Uneasiness settled over him so he jumped out of bed, found the light switch and began snooping.
The room was mostly devoid of any personal effects, so he moved on to the closet. That too was also relatively empty; a couple of sweatshirts, a suit, and a school uniform hung above him. Casper didn’t have a school uniform, Danny didn’t know if any schools in Amity had one. He examined the jacket closer and read “Gotham Academy” on the crest sewn onto it.
Unfamiliar with the school, Danny did what any teenager did when they didn’t know something–he looked it up online. Which really, only made things more confusing because Gotham Academy was located in Gotham City, New Jersey. He wasn’t passing geography so he couldn’t be sure but he’d never even heard of “Gotham City” before.
New Jersey was hundreds of miles away from Illinois. Hopefully the uniform was the one that was far from home and not Danny himself. It gave him another idea, he used the phone and clicked on the map application so he could see his current location. After waiting a couple of seconds for the map to render, Danny nearly died a second time.
He was in Gotham. He was in some random city, sleeping in some random person’s house halfway across the country. As if it would do him any good he quickly typed in ‘Amity Park, Illinois’ into the search bar and felt his breath stop. Amity didn’t show up, the map tried offering similar named places but there was no Amity Park . He searched again on the internet, nothing .
Danny’s heart felt like it was pounding out of his chest, breathing too fast and uselessly as panic overtook him. Where was he, what was going on, why was nothing making sense? Why didn’t he remember what had happened before this? There was nothing here to ground him. No Jazz waited to ambush him into talking about his feelings. No Sam to rationalize away his building catastrophic thinking. No Tucker there to pick up the broken pieces and bring casual familiarity back with a lousy joke.
Just as his panic began to reach its peak, he felt the familiar presence of Clockwork appear before him. “Calm down Daniel,” his disposition, as usual, was calm and impassive. Danny bit his lip to try and stifle the growing urge to scream. “You are not in your dimension anymore, it was necessary for the timestream.”
Clockwork’s company was only comforting in the way a life boat was. He himself did not mean any harm but he only showed up when the ship was already sinking.
“What do you mean “not in my dimension”? What happened? I can’t remember what was going on before I got here. There was a–a…” Danny trailed off, a hand coming to his head. Images flicked through his mind too quickly to make sense of. Eyes scrunched tight in pain and breath picking up pace again, he felt tears forming from the agony building in his head.
“Your memories have been sealed, do not try and force yourself to remember. You have come to this dimension for a multitude of reasons. I don’t have much time so listen carefully.” Clockwork spoke deliberately and composed in the face of Danny’s rush of alarm.
Taking a stuttering breath Danny righted himself up. His ability to adapt has always been good, it had to be after all the reality changing experiences and knowledge he’s become privy to. He rubbed the heel of his palms against his eyes, he was overreacting. Danny had been to different dimensions, time traveled, he’d already died (half-died?) once for ancient's sake. Maybe it was the forced amnesia–that was new.
Clearing away the residual panic, Danny looked to Clockwork, “How do I get back? Is everyone okay?” And wasn’t that where the hysteria came from anyway? Something bad had happened before he woke up in this too big of a room. Something was inexplicably wrong.
Clockwork remained taciturn and aloof, a far cry from warmth but at the very least Danny could depend on his integrity. “As I said, there is not much time. I’d advise you to not pry too deeply into your situation.” As if that wasn’t too tall an order. How was he meant to be content being in the dark? “Regardless, to avoid the collapse of this timeline there are things you need to know.”
Danny waited for Clockwork to continue, when he did it was not at all what he had expected from the ghost. “You must blend in here. There are forces that will bring destruction to not only this realm but many others if they become aware of your circumstances.”
Clockwork asking Danny to do what basically amounted to nothing was surprising. No time travel quest to go on to right the timeline? No big baddie to destroy before the world implodes? “That’s it?” Danny asked disbelievingly. It was a bit anticlimactic compared to his usual adventures.
“That is all,” Clockwork nodded. “The Daniel Fenton in this world is different, however. You are the adopted son of Vlad Masters, he is not the same as the Plasmius you knew in your reality.”
Danny made a face of disgust, “Vlad is my dad ?” This dimension was awful.
“Adopted dad,” Clockwork clarified. Danny waved the unnecessary correction away but the master of time continued unperturbed. “The Danny of this world had never become a halfa. Your relationship with Vlad is not necessarily one of sworn enemies.”
Danny raised an eyebrow at that, “Not necessarily?” he asked skeptically.
“You will find out in due time. Until then, I must take my leave. Remember, Daniel, do not raise suspicions. Everything is the way it’s supposed to be.” With those last fleeting remarks, Clockwork was gone.
Danny granted himself a couple of minutes to decipher his emotions. Jazz would have been proud. The dread of his lost memories threatened to break his composure but Clockwork’s warning cautioned him to not force himself to recall what happened before he came to this place. That and the still pounding headache he’d been left with. It was probably made worse by the panic attack he had earlier though.
Nevertheless, he needed information. Thankfully, he had a long night ahead of him (like hell he’d be able to go to sleep at this point) and access to the internet. Gripping the– his – phone, Danny began to wade through the details of this new dimension.
Danny had been in Gotham for a total of eight hours and he could safely say he hated it here. Ignoring the fact that he now lived with Vlad (not that he’s even seen the man since he woke up), the Danny of this world was even more pitiful than him.
He had no friends, no hobbies, no social media even for Danny to get some insight into his personality. Clockwork had said this universe’s Danny had never become a halfa but he might as well be a whole ass ghost with how invisible his presence was. On one hand, that made blending in a bit easier since there wasn’t really anyone who could call him out if he acted out of character but on the other, it was incredibly frustrating to be even more of an outcast.
Lack of social life aside, Gotham was an interesting place. It was riddled with crime, violence, and corruption. And how could he forget, masked vigilantes who, despite their dark and ominous presence, were generally well loved by the public. Danny couldn’t really relate. Phantom was enemy number one to some people in Amity Park.
But Batman wasn’t really that important to Danny. Clockwork had said blend in so he was going to keep his own vigilantism to a minimum. After all, ghosts didn’t seem to be an issue here in Gotham.
What was important to Danny though was school. He’d never really enjoyed school that much, especially after the portal accident when it became just another chore he needed to take care of, another place full of people he needed to tell more lies and excuses to. But starting here at Gotham, while daunting, was indescribably exciting.
Danny didn’t have to work himself out of failing grades and missing assignments. He didn’t have to face the social humiliation of being the weird ghost hunter’s kid. He didn’t have Dash shoving him in lockers between every passing period and teacher’s staring down their noses at him because he’d shown up late again. Most importantly, he didn’t have to be on edge at a moment's notice, waiting for ghosts to attack and having to carry the entire town's safety on his back. It was freeing. A break he didn’t really know he needed.
All of that was well and good, and even with the fresh start, Danny still had stayed up all night looking into his situation. When he’d first woken up in this dimension he’d felt like he’d been hit by a bus, one panic attack and manic all night search for information did little to ease the ache.
So when Danny got to his first class (thankfully ‘other him’ had a picture of his schedule on his phone), he found a random desk in the back of the classroom and promptly made a pillow with his arms and closed his eyes. He was no stranger to sleeping in class, old habits were hard to kick after all.
Not even two minutes later, he was rudely interrupted by a tap on the shoulder. He looked up to a guy with black hair, much more tamed than Danny’s, and dark blue eyes. Eyes that were grumpy with dark circles making them look even more irritable.
“You’re in my seat,” he said shortly, pointing to the seat Danny was in as if to emphasize.
Danny shrugged, grabbed his stuff and slid into the next desk over. He closed his eyes, tried to get comfortable in the stupid uniform he had to wear, and settled in for at least a thirty minute nap. Thankfully, no other sleep-deprived teenagers forced him to move so he’d count that as a win.
By the time the bell rang signaling the end of the class he’d just slept through, Danny was feeling much more refreshed. Certainly he could use a good eight hours more but he’d take what he could get. Moving to leave with the rest of the class, Danny couldn’t help the feeling of someone watching him. When he turned around to check, though, there was only students packing up their belongings.
The rest of the school day passed without much excitement. He got lost a couple of times, embarrassingly, the school was huge. Of course, he’d also sat in the wrong seat for every single one of his classes which made him look like an absolute moron but there really wasn’t much he could do about that one.
Lunch was an adventure, Danny forgot to bring money because he didn’t even know where to get it. He hadn’t seen Vlad and the wallet he did own just had his ID in it. Danny never really remembered to bring packed lunches either, especially with the risks he would have had to take opening up the Fenton Works fridge. So penniless and luncheless, he walked into the cafeteria and promptly walked right back out. Might as well explore the Academy while he had the chance, it wasn’t like he hadn't missed a meal or two before.
All in all Danny would say that his first day at Gotham Academy was an overall success. He learned the lay of the land a little better and didn’t stir up too much trouble. In fact, it had all gone surprisingly smoothly. He supposed he has ‘other Danny’ to thank for that, the guy was probably always a bit weird to other students. Being a loner made it really easy to blend in even when he should have been sticking out like a sore thumb.
After school found Danny wandering the city streets of Gotham. He didn’t have any money so he couldn’t really do much, but there was a free museum and Danny could also do some general sightseeing.
The city itself was massive, especially compared to Amity Park. People bustled around everywhere, everyone had an air of guarded indifference as they rushed from place to place. It was a bit intimidating but if Danny was going to be living here for the time being he needed to know more about Gotham.
He meandered through the city park, passed by Wayne Enterprises (the tourist guide he found online recommended that one), and decided to end his personal tour at the Gotham City Museum. At this point it was nearing seven p.m. and Danny knew he should be heading home soon but at the very least he’d be okay in a museum, it’s not as if it was a dangerous place to be.
Oh how wrong he was about that. Not even thirty minutes after arriving at the museum did all hell break loose. Danny heard gunshots echo around the high ceilinged building as citizens screamed in fear, coving their heads and running in panic.
Who the hell holds up a museum?!
He got his answer just a few moments later when thugs dressed as creepy clowns came storming into his field of view laughing and demanding everyone shut up and sit down. Danny was reminded again why he hated Gotham. The ringleader, Joker, if the research he did last night was accurate, began monologuing to the cowering public trapped in the room with him.
Danny was honestly more confused than afraid. To be fair, he dealt with bizarre things on a regular basis. He also dealt with creepy villains so it wasn’t too hard to take it all in stride.
A strangled cry from the woman next to him broke him from his reverie, he snapped his head in her direction, his dumb stupid ghost obsession cringing at the pure terror on her face.
One of Joker’s goons was up in her face, terrorizing her and laughing as she began to panic even more. Danny didn’t even think as he swung his fist directly into the henchman's face using a little bit of ghostly power. The idiot fell on his butt and Danny took that opportunity to try and calm the woman down.
“Are you alright?” He turned around to face her as he asked in the most soothing voice he could. She blinked at him for a second until her tear filled eyes widened and she stumbled back blindly as if to get away from him.
Danny knew that could only mean one thing, the cliché: ‘he’s right behind me, isn’t he?’ situation. Turning around slowly Danny felt the cold metal of a gun harshly pressing into his forehead, “Everyone is a hero these days, aren’t they?” The Joker said with a sneer and a manic look in his eyes.
Before Danny could respond, the gun flew out of Joker’s hand and was pinned to the wall. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Danny took a step back before Joker could grab him as a hostage.
After narrowly dodging the Joker’s grasp, they both looked over to see two masked heroes poised for a fight. Danny couldn’t hide the excitement he felt to get to see this city’s heroes in action up close like this. The Joker, on the other hand, looked downright murderous. At the very least, he had completely forgotten about Danny at that point. So while the heroes and villains fought, Danny rammed himself into a corner and watched the chaos unfold.
Batman and Red Robin were impressive, Danny couldn’t imagine taking on all those criminals without any powers. They both worked together seamlessly as a team, it felt like the entire fight had been choreographed by an action movie director. Danny wondered if that’s how he looked when he fought the ghosts back home. Then he thought better of it when he remembered how many times he was sent flying through buildings or created craters after getting slammed into the street. Nobody needs to know about that here though, he figured sheepishly.
The fight was nearing its end as most of the Joker’s goons had been incapacitated, the big bad himself had already fled the scene with Batman following shortly after to hunt him down. Without warning, Danny felt a stray bullet whizz past his head and embed itself into the wall behind him. It flew so close he could feel a small twinge of pain on the cartilage of his ear.
“Are you okay?” Red Robin was abruptly up in his face, the last of Joker’s henchmen knocked unconscious.
Danny did the first thing that came to mind, rubbing the back on his neck abashedly as he looked over at the bullet hole and then back at Red Robin, “That was close, huh?” An awkward chuckle bubbled out of his mouth.
Red Robin didn’t say anything, just looked him over once more before grappling away, to where Danny could only guess. Shortly after the vigilante left, the police piled in, securing the criminals and directing the civilians.
After getting the okay from the police to leave the scene and walking home Danny raided the pantry, shoveled food into his mouth, and made his way to his room before collapsing on the bed. With his first day in Gotham complete, Danny could only imagine what else this godforsaken dimension could throw at him.