When Bruce got word from Damian that they had captured one of the ghosts, he rushed back to the manor as fast as he could. It was a surprisingly quiet night anyway. He drove into the cave and parked the Batmobile, and looked around to see Tim and Grayson standing around some strange cage.
He walked over and raised a brow at the glowing green cage. And then at the human-like form inside it, unconscious. Dick (still in costume) pushed himself off of the desk he had been reclining on. "We caught one."
"I can see that." Batman responded dryly. "Why is it in the cave?"
Tim crossed his arms. "See, I said the same thing."
"What did the demon brat tell you?" Dick asked.
Batman walked around the cage, slowly analyzing the ghost within. "That you had shot a ghost out of the sky, and then thought it looked smart, so you brought it inside, thus endangering all of us. Also, that none of it was his plan." Batman answered. He noticed the small burn on the back of the ghost's shoulder where it had been leaning up against the bars.
"Okay, well I thought we could be asking this thing what has been going on with all of the ghosts attacking the cave." Dick gestured towards the white-haired ghost. "It would make sense, seeing as it was going to the same place all the others were."
Batman said nothing and nodded. "It's being burned. What are these bars made of?"
Tim walked over and looked at something on his wrist hologram that he pulled up that sowed the schematics of the cage he had downloaded. "A bunch of common metals that are quite strong. And the bars have a very thin ecto-ranium casing. They are all energized by ectoplasm by that wiring." He pointed to the top of the cage. "It also powers the lock that holds the door."
"It seems ecto-ranium is a ghost repellent. I am assuming they are unable to phase through."
"That's what makes it a containment device." Tim nodded.
"Cage is more like, I don't even know why they call it a containment device, besides the pathetic attempt at making it seem more humane." Damian said simply as he walked further into the light from the entrance to the cave from the manor.
Dick gestured to the cage and back to Damian. "We get it, you don't like the cage, but like I said it won't be here long."
"Anything else I should know?" Batman asked.
"Grayson was able to take it down with a couple of shots from one of those blasters." Damian pointed to the few weapons on the shelf. "It seemed to weaken him. It had a stronger effect on him than it did the other ghosts for some reason."
Dick nodded, "It was strange. It was like the moment the shots electrocuted him, he lost his energy. That, or he's not as powerful as the other ghosts we came across." He crossed his arms.
Tim turned back to his monitor. "That doesn't make sense. From my readings it shows he is much more powerful than the creatures we fought for the rest of this month. I guess he's more stable than the other ones?" He put his hand to his chin. "Or it has something to do with the electricity used in those weapons when I rigged them up. A weakness maybe?"
"Seems like." Batman nodded. "Maybe different types of ghosts have different weaknesses. This one seems to give off a lot more cold energy than the other ones."
Tim sat up and pulled up another file showing a reading of the cage. It looked like a bio scan. It showed zero life signs. "This ghost has been emitting cold as its body heals. Also pulling in heat from around it." He pulls up a scan of a ghost wolf that they had fought last week. "But these ghosts gave off heat and pulled in cold." Both scans showed the heat map of both creatures, the temperature coming from something in the center of their chests.
Tim pointed to that glowing orb. "I believe it is their power source, but we could ask this ghost when he wakes up." Tim spun around after logging out of the scans.
There was a quiet groan from behind them. They turned around towards the cage to see the ghost within start to move around. "He's stirring." Dick pointed out.
Batman nodded and walked closer. "Robin, Nightwing, I want you to go upstairs while I talk to it." His expression is not changing.
Robin raised his eyebrows. "Why?"
"It would be better not to overwhelm him. Two would be enough, and Tim has done the most research on these things." Bruce responded.
Damian looked between his father and the ghost before starting to walk out the door with a pout on his face. Dick walked up next to him and tried to put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Don't worry little bird, we will be a part of it next time."
Damian rolled his eyes. "I'm not worrying." He shrugged his older adopted brother's arm off.
Dick just shrugged, and when he made it to the elevator he grabbed onto the door and called out behind him, "Hey, B! That cage's instructions said that if you stand too close the ghost could possess you or something, so I would stay back if I were you." He then went fully into the elevator with Damian rolling his eyes for making him wait.
Batman didn't take his eyes off of the stirring ghost for Dicks warning. But he did take a small step away from the cage. 'Just in case'. Tim chuckled before sitting down in the chair in front of the bat computer, spinning it around to face the cage, still far enough away that the ghost wouldn't focus on him.
After a few minutes, the ghost opened his eyes. First, they were slow and groggy like he had just woken up from a nap. But then they shot open and the ghost jumped away from the green bars his shoulder was up against, he was clearly being careful not to touch any more of them.
His eyes scanned over the room quickly, his back was towards Batman and Tim at the moment, his eyes zipping around the room assessing the situation. Something similar to what the Robins would do if they were in a situation like this, although they would be showing much less panic than this ghost was showing towards his captures.
As he scanned the room, he eventually turned fully around and his eyes landed on B, who was standing away from the cage. The ghost jumped and 'floated?' back away from where the Dark Knight stood. A light bit of fear sparked in his eyes.
)-(
Danny looked up at the Dark Knight from his corner of the Fenton ghost cage. The man didn't move, his gaze unwavering from him, assessing him. They seemed to be in a staring contest for a few seconds before Danny's eyes caught onto the boy who was sitting in a chair behind Batman.
The boy looked about the same age as Danny. He was wearing a red, gold, and black suit and a cape similar to Batman's. Danny glanced at the domino mask that showed the boy's assessing expression, similar to Batman's.
How did he get here? He was flying, looking for a ghost and following his ghost sense. But he didn't find anything. And when he flew close to the edge of the cliff just out of town he got shot out of the sky. He didn't see who shot him, or remember anything of what happened after.
They seemed to have Fenton Tech, and other tech that seemed to be modified by someone. Most of this stuff wouldn't work otherwise. He could see the wall and table that had a bunch of ripped-apart ghost weapons on it. It seemed like they were in the midst of being rewired.
Batman must have noticed his staring, because he huffed slightly and brought Danny's attention back to him. That snapped Danny out of his stupor. "Where am I?" Danny asked, his eyes narrowing.
"In a secure location." Batman answered simply, giving him a short answer that wouldn't explain any more than it needed to. "You are a ghost, correct?"
Danny looked the tall man up and down and straightened his back so as to not look so vulnerable while captured. "Yeah, what do you want with me?" Danny tensed up as he stepped a little further back.
"What do you know about Gotham City?"
Danny's form didn't move. "It's gloomy I guess. Haven't been there often."
"Why are ghosts attacking Gotham?" He asked.
That did shock Danny slightly. Ghosts were attacking Gotham? Is that why his ghost sense went off earlier, and why Batman had all of this hunting tech? "I have no idea what you are talking about." Danny responded quite defensively.
Batman's eyes narrowed slightly, as if scanning him to tell if he was lying or not. Danny shifted slightly under his gaze. "Okay, Mr. Batman, sir. If that is all you wanted to know, and I know nothing about it, maybe you could just let me go." Danny shrugged. "I won't be any trouble, promise."
Batman's expression didn't change. And that just made Danny more uneasy. Were they ever going to let him go? Maybe he could find a way to escape. He knew how these cages were made and he had escaped from them before. He just needs some time. And for Batman to be out of the way.
"What were you doing in Gotham?" The Dark Knight asked, ignoring Danny's previous comment.
"Just hanging out. I don't have any real reason to be here. Wanted to see the sights, I guess." Danny shrugged trying to play it off. It was a lie, but he couldn't tell him anything about his parents or the ghost hunting convention, there could be a chance he could figure it out.
Once again Batman's expression didn't change. That was annoying. Normally Danny was really good at reading people. Especially ghosts. It was much easier for them to read each other with their cores and their emotions. But with humans, it was much harder, especially this one.
There was a slight pinging sound coming from Batman's belt, and The Dark Knight took his eyes off of Danny and reached to his belt. Danny let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Only to tense up again when Batman spoke. "I will be back."
---
Notes
Beta read by gamma_radio (ao3)
Here's the next chapter! This story will be updated once every one or two weeks, and it won't be abandoned, I do have my plan mapped out. It will be fun! I hope the pacing doesn't seem too fast. <3
Please tell me what you thought of this chapter! I love to hear from you guys. What do you guys think will happen next? :3