#Danny’s trying to be intimidating but he’s a midwesterner so he has to apologize

[justwannabecat]

“This isn’t a game!” Phantom growled at him, both hands holding onto his collar. Damian did not show his surprise, though he certainly felt it. He had not expected Phantom to approach him, much less threaten him. He was wrong.

“I don’t know which Gate you guys keep coming from, and I don’t where that Gate leads,” Phantom began, his glow brightening just a little more in the darkness of the storage closet, “but I do know that you guys? Are messing with something dangerous. I know that you guys are going to either get hurt or cause someone else to get hurt, and I know that my kind will be prosecuted even further for it. I don’t want that. So I’m giving you a warning. I don’t care if you come through, but stay out of the way and keep each other safe.”

Damian blinked in surprise. That wasn’t what he expected. “There’s only one of me and it’s already hard enough. You were the first one to come through. At the very least, do your research and make sure all your friends do too, or else they might be closer to my side of the Veil than yours.”

Damian reassessed the being in front of him. This confrontation was more similar to something his father might do than an actual threat. A warning, not only of what he was capable of, but against what others might do. “Fine. Who should I speak to regarding your kind?” Because it was clear that the ‘Ectobiologists’ were useless, biased idiots. There had to be others.

Phantom’s eyes widened in surprise, likely surprised Damian had acquiesced to his request. “Oh- Um, the Fenton’s son is- nice? He and his friends know a lot, and they help me get equipment sometimes, and they make sure that their parent’s weapons aren’t lethal to either ghosts or humans. So… Talk to them?”

Damian hummed, his eyes narrowing minutely. Phantom was a terrible liar, and it was obvious he was hiding something. What it was, though, was not yet obvious. The only way he could find out was by following what few leads he had. “Fine. I’ll talk to him soon.”

Phantom nodded, looking a lot more relaxed than he had at the start of this interaction.

“Thank you. Sorry I did this like this.” He gestured to the empty closet, more specifically the locked door. “Not, like, a normal conversation. To be fair, though, I was pretty sure you wouldn’t listen if I did that. You kinda just sneered whenever someone would try telling you about it all and I needed you to know that it was serious.”

“That is,” Damian frowned, “fair.”

Phantom nodded again, quickly phasing Damian out of the storage room and dropping him off in one of the empty classrooms. “They normally sit together in the corner of the lunchroom. Most days you don’t have to worry about anyone else sitting at their table because they’re basically looked at as the year’s weirdos. It sucks, but it’s great for privacy purposes. Uh, bye!”

Damian made a mental note to approach them at lunch. At the same time though, he couldn’t help but note how Phantom was so familiar with Fenton so as to know their school lunch seating habits. Either he regularly sat with them, or…

Phantom and Fenton sounded quite similar.

Journey to another world

Gotham Academy is the least mysterious place in the entire city. Or so you would think, the place where students of all ages attend to learn (and sometimes discover that their teachers are Rogues).

On one occasion, Damian became bored and decided to explore. He didn't see the point of attending the academy when he was more advanced in his studies (Tim agreed with his brother) but his father insisted, probably because he thought he would make "friends".

So, the first chance he got: Damian escaped from class and explored. He wasn't missing anything anyway. During his exploration there was an attack from a Rogue, and he ducked into one of the lockers in an attempt to hide to put on the mask.

He was surprised when he was transported to a completely different school. One that looked very destroyed (much more than the Academy).

Forgetting about his mission, Damian explored the school with curiosity, many students stared at him in confusion and asked if he was an exchange student, to which of course, the son of the bat replied yes.

So, for months: instead of going to classes, Damian escaped to the dimension and learned from it, sometimes just because he wanted to escape from home. Of course, he didn't notice the suspicious look Danny Fenton was giving him. Nor Poindexter pointing out to the halfa that someone was using his locker as some kind of transportation, again.

Danny knew the "exchange boy" wasn't a ghost, but he had no idea where he came from. All he knew was that the boy was too proud to recognize his city as a danger (Danny had kept Damian from encountering so many ghosts), the boy snorted at the mention of ghosts and said it was absurd. Danny just wanted to avoid him being killed, and maybe close the damn portal.

The worst part was when more "exchange students" started showing up, students who were obviously taking his dimension as a vacation. The halfa growled in frustration, knowing he had a lot of work ahead.