Wally looked up from where he was slumped on the couch as the Zeta tube started to life, and was standing in front of it before it had finished announcing the arrival of the Flash. He swallowed hard and opened his mouth, not quite able to get any words out, but his eyes asked all the questions he needed to. Barry silently pulled his nephew into a hug before motioning off to the conference room with a tilt of his head.

"How is Dick? Can I see him? Noonewilltelluswhereheisorwhat'sgoingon," Wally begged once they were in private, his words running together in his rush to get them out.

Barry put one hand on Wally's shoulder and sighed as he pulled his response together. "He's being kept up in the Watchtower's medical bay, but he's not allowed to have any visitors right now. Wally, he was beat up pretty badly, but most of his injuries aren't too serious."

"Most?"

"He apparently took a couple of blows to the head. There's no skull fracture luckily, but he does have a severe concussion and some brain swelling." Flash paused to take a deep breath before continuing. "They can't really judge how bad it is until he wakes up…" He trailed off as his gaze wandered to the floor, unable to say the last part but Wally heard the unspoken "if he wakes up" anyway.

Wally's eyes widened and he blinked furiously as he tried to keep any tears from spilling.

"Batman's about to call for a briefing. Do you think you're up for it?" Flash asked, eyeing the younger hero critically. Wally let out a shuddering sigh, running his hands over his face as he pulled himself together and nodded.

Batman, Red Tornado, and Black Canary were already waiting in the briefing room when Wally and the Flash arrived. The rest of the Team trickled in one by one after them. Even though the mission was technically a success, a despondent silence filled the room.

A mostly recovered M'Gann was the final one to arrive, accompanied by Artemis.

"How is Valerie doing?" Artemis was asking M'Gann as they walked in.

"She's awake, but has a broken arm and a mild concussion. She was really mad when Black Canary called her Dad," the Martian answered, cringing at the memory of an irate Valerie.

"Did Canary really just out someone's secret ID to their parent?" Artemis asked incredulously.

"No, he already knew her secret identity," Black Canary broke in firmly, startling the two girls who hadn't noticed her presence before then. "Although he doesn't like her ghost hunting," she elaborated, "so she tries to keep it a secret from him when she can. Her injuries will probably keep her down for a few weeks at least." Everyone fell into uncomfortable silence again after that.

"Is Robin coming?" Aqualad finally asked when a preoccupied Batman did not start the meeting right away.

"No." The gruff and final tone of the response indicated no further information would be forthcoming on Robin's location.

Therefore, despite Aqualad's urge to ask for more details, he moved on to his next question, "Where is Dick Grayson? How is he doing?"

"He is in a secure location, which is not being disclosed at the moment in case one of the other ghosts tries to come for him," Batman answered brusquely. "There had been no change in his condition. He is critical but stable, and still unconscious." All the heroes exchanged discouraged glances, the grave mood of the room becoming oppressive.

"Bruce Wayne has been informed that we have found his ward," Batman continued, "but otherwise we are keeping Dick Grayson's rescue a secret for now, until we determine if there are further threats to his life. Of course, his kidnappers will know he is gone, but they do not know if he survived." He then turned to the Flash. "What else did you find?"

The Flash turned on a hologram in the middle of the table, showing a reconstruction of the structure he and Icon had gone back to investigate once the Team were safely on the bioship and on their way home. "It's completely self-contained, with its own internal power source," the speedster explained. "From what we could tell, there were no entrances or exits. The only way in would be for someone who could teleport or who could phase through solid objects, like J'onn or myself."

"Or ghosts," Wally commented under his breath.

"There is more to this than we know at the moment. I find it hard to believe a ghost would build such a technologically advanced structure," Aqualad observed.

"Well, there was that one robot-like or power-armored type ghost out there, so they do have some kind of technology…," Artemis countered.

Batman nodded at them. "Both valid points. What else do we know?"

"The blood the Team found in the forest was not Richard Grayson's," Red Tornado informed them.

"I know," Batman acknowledged. "He did not have enough blood loss to account for the pool of blood that was encountered."

Black Canary was the one to state the obvious, "Therefore, someone else – human – was in those woods."

"And severely injured, or possibly dead," Wally pointed out with concern, but also glad that that sickening pool of blood had not been Dick's after all. "But whose? And why?" he added.

No one had an answer to that. "I need to be able to interrogate the ghost," Batman finally growled.

"Is that possible to do safely?" Black Canary worried. "Without it escaping?"

"I think," Wally spoke up, "that based on the tech the Fentons were showing us, it should be possible. But we'll need to talk to Mrs. Fenton again."

Batman grunted an acknowledgment. "Work with Aqualad and Red Tornado on it. Notify me when the arrangements are in place."

They all nodded agreement, and The Team began to file out at the implicit dismissal. Batman turned down the hall in the opposite direction with a swoosh of his cape, when a gentle hand on his shoulder stopped him. He looked to find Black Canary there.

"Bruce," she said quietly, "you're too close to this. You need to let someone else take over from here. Go, be with your son."

He turned to face her, his voice equally soft. "There's nothing I can do for him there. I failed him. I should have searched sooner, found him faster. I am not going to fail him a second time. I have to make sure there isn't someone out there who is still going to come after him and try to hurt him again." He pulled away from her hand. "I will make sure he is safe now that I have him back," he said with finality, and strode down the hall.

Some quick conferring with Red Tornado and a couple of calls to Mrs. Fenton later, and they had a plan to construct a ghost containment unit. Red Tornado agreed that the best suited and most secure place to set it up, at least that was readily available, was Mount Justice. Wally just worried about convincing Batman of that, especially considering Mrs. Fenton would have to be there to ensure it was constructed properly. They could not afford to give Phantom any chance to escape.

Wally almost died of shock when Batman agreed without a second's hesitation. "The sooner, the better," was all Batman said before walking away.

So, Wally found himself on the doorstep of Fenton Works, this time in full uniform, there to take the ghost hunter and her equipment to their secret base.

"Oh, KF - Kid Flash!" Maddie exclaimed once she opened the door. "The goggles make so much more sense now."

"That's right, got to protect the eyes when running at the speed of sound," Wally said nonchalantly. "Actually, I've been wondering about your goggles…"

"Well, eye protection is also important when doing lab experiments or fighting ghosts." Wally nodded. "Plus, they shoot lasers," Maddie said offhandedly. Wally started to laugh, then realized Maddie wasn't laughing with him.

His jaw dropped. "Wait, you're serious?"

Maddie smiled. "Uh huh."

The ghost containment unit was set up inside half of an old interrogation room, with a one-way view panel into the room such that someone could either be in the room to talk with the ghost, or observe from outside. There were cameras too, of course, but Batman tended to prefer direct observation. Something about being there in the moment revealed more than a video feed could.

Batman stood stoically to the side as Maddie Fenton finished the last test on the integrity of the ghost shield. "That should do it," she said, standing up and raising her goggles. "Everything appears to be in full working order."

His own observations of the setup agreed, so he took the thermos from its place on his belt. He hadn't let it out of his sight since the Team had turned it over to him. Bruce looked at the thermos, having a rare moment of uncertainty, although nothing was betrayed on the Batman's face. The ghost was captured at the moment, and unable to hurt anyone else. Should he really risk changing that? He knew his motive weren't pure – part of him was seething inside, consumed with an urge to punish this thing which had kidnapped and almost killed his son. The more rational side of him though also knew that this ghost had not been working alone, and therefore a greater danger possibly still remained. He had to find out what it knew.

Batman moved forward and, taking the cap off the thermos, plugged the thermos into the port on the side of the containment unit. Mrs. Fenton stepped to the back of the room, her hand ready on an ectoblaster. He pushed the button.

The thermos opened and a stream of blinding blue light shot from it, spilling out a foggy figure that slowly solidified as the light faded. Batman, standing behind the faintly glowing plexiglass wall, caught a glimpse of red eyes before they suddenly were replaced by neon green and the ghostly teen collapsed to his hands and knees on the floor. He – it – shook his head slowly as if to clear it then slumped back to a sitting position. When the ghost finally raised its head and opened its eyes again, it blinked in shock for a moment at the figure watching it.

Batman waited silently, evaluating the ghost. He did his best to tamp down his anger beneath the impassive façade of the Batman, but he wasn't sure if he could trust himself to speak yet.

"Batman!" The relief and hope in the ghost's eyes momentarily took Batman aback. "Is…," the ghost's voice was rough as if from overuse even through the echoing quality of it, "is Dick ok?"

Batman's jaw clenched. His plan had been to tell the ghost that Dick was dead, that it had succeeded, so as to encourage it to tell him its plans and to keep Dick from further danger. But as it turned out, he couldn't bear to say the words. The possibility was still too high that they might yet come true. Instead he simply forced out a dispassionate, "No."

Phantom swallowed hard. "I'm sorry… but I wasn't in control of my actions... at least most of the time. Plasmius… the vampire ghost… he has this rock that can control ghosts, including me…. He made me attack the town and the Fenton's… and attack those heroes earlier…" it babbled frantically, trying to explain.

"And what about kidnapping Dick Grayson?" Batman interrupted.

Phantom's eyes fell to the floor, unable to take the accusing stare of the Bat, his shoulders slumped with guilt. "I…" he began but couldn't quite come up with the words before another figure stepped out of the corner of the room, catching the ghost's attention and startling him as he obviously hadn't noticed her before.

"What did you want with him?" Batman demanded again, but Phantom's attention was completely taken by Maddie Fenton. Batman noted with sharp eyes how a word seemed to get stuck in the ghost's throat before it sucked in a deep breath and began to hyperventilate. The fact that the ghost was breathing being only the second most interesting part of its reaction.

The ghost finally looked away from the ghost hunter, curling into itself. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"The things you did to that boy are unforgivable," Batman growled once more.

The ghost couldn't stand the Batglare and quickly looked away to the floor. Phantom swallowed hard, his face scrunched up as he hugged his knees to himself.

"What? Are you going to pretend to cry now to gain sympathy?" Maddie exclaimed heatedly.

Phantom turned his head away, trying to hide the tears that were indeed starting to form around his closed eyes. "Stop. Leave me alone," he choked out hoarsely. "Please, just stop."

"Answer the question. What did you want with Dick Grayson?" Batman demanded.

The only answer was a slight shake of the ghost's head.

Batman's face hardened as his eyes narrowed. "Fine. The Fenton's have some tests they want to run."

Suddenly they had Phantom's full and piercing attention. He stared at Batman with wide eyes. Batman wasn't sure, but it seemed they were full of desperation more than the fear he would have expected. "Not them," Phantom objected, nearly hysterical. "Anyone else, any of you… you can do whatever you want to me. Just not them," he pleaded.

Batman turned toward the door and gestured for Maddie to leave ahead of him. As he too walked out, he said, "Then think about answering my questions."

AN: Um, so, a year since the last chapter... sorry. I probably should have reread and edited this a bit more, but I've certainly kept you waiting long enough. Wish I could say they'd be more often but I don't know when the next one will be. This isn't actually due to more time from the stay-at-home order (between working full time from home and having to help my kids with their "distance learning" it feels like less time - although no sports or scouts at the moment so maybe it actually is more), but it is possibly a byproduct of getting slightly more sleep without my commute. And now I'm rambling. At any rate, thank you to everyone who's reviewed, followed, and favorited. This story has gotten way more attention than I ever thought it would, and every time one of those comes in it reminds me I should be working on this (cue more guilt now). I know some people thought after last chapter we were almost at the end of the story, when in my plans that was just the halfway point. I'm still working on it...