Chapter One:

Gotham was a beautiful city.

As Danny observed the scenery before him, he could understand why so many continued to hold onto to it, despite its many flaws. Sitting on the edge of a tall building, legs dangling at least one-hundred feet in the air, was strangely soothing now, doing wonders to calm his budding anger. Skyscrapers stretched on for miles around, an interminable ocean of buildings radiating sparkling lights that swept over the darkness surrounding it.

Nothing was ever still here, and before he could stop it, he found himself comparing Gotham to Amity Park. His hometown couldn't be any more different than the city that he now resided in. Perhaps in a different life, he might have still been sleeping soundly in his own bedroom, curled up in the comfort of his navy-blue astronaut bedspread. He could imagine Jazz busting into his room early in the morning, her smile lighting up her face as she shook him from his slumber…

Danny blinked out of his reverie as a loud honk of a car horn sounded from below, pulling him from his dangerous thoughts. Blue eyes glinted with a deep sadness before closing for a single moment, waiting for the familiar feeling of loss to subside.

He would never get used to how bright everything still was late at night, and he was content to observe the ant-sized people roaming the streets. All the activity and lights took away from the stars that would normally be twinkling by the hundreds back in Amity. This thought brought forth a pang of nostalgia that he elected to ignore, and instead, he focused on breathing in the polluted city air to calm his racing thoughts.

It seemed that, no matter where he went, his past continued to torture him, plaguing him with reminders of the life that he once knew.

A cold breeze gently blew past, shifting strands of raven hair across his face and soothing his growing troubles. Time ticked on slowly, but Danny reasoned with himself that he could not stay forever. This only served as a temporary escape from the adoption center—a momentary release from the stresses that it brought.

Finally, he sighed and stood up. He reached his arms out and stretched, reveling in the satisfying pull of his formerly lax muscles. Simultaneously, the bright ring of light that he was so accustomed to engulfed his torso, separating and transforming his image into that of someone else entirely. His casual attire—a simple pair of shorts and a ratty, cotton T-shirt—turned into a form-fitting black HAZMAT, his symbol displayed proudly on his chest. Shaking his now silver hair from his emerald eyes, Phantom's lips twitched into a slight grin and he walked forward slowly, one step after another, until the very tips of his toes stood precariously at the edge of the rooftop.

With one final breath, he let himself fall.

"Where is he?"

The angry demand, accompanied by brightness as light filled the room, immediately stirred several children and teenagers from their sleep. Many of them sat up in confusion, squinting blearily at the figure that stood by the open door as their eyes struggled to adjust to the sudden change.

"What? Where's who?" one child, who's bed sat closest to the door, murmured, rubbing tiredly at his eyes. His voice was quiet and thick with sleep, but any semblance of fatigue completely vanished then as the adoption worker turned her harsh stare onto him.

"Daniel Fenton. Why isn't he in bed? I swear, if none of you insolent children speak up now, I will make all of you scrub these halls clean with your own toothbrushes."

"Well, that's a bit drastic, considering I only got up to use the bathroom."

Turning to face the sudden voice, her beady eyes landed on Danny casually leaning against the wall of the hallway leading into the bedroom. He stared back challengingly, a mocking glint in his gaze that caused the adoption worker's anger to rise. "You're not supposed to be out of bed past curfew," she snapped.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Hawkes. Would you have preferred it if I peed in the corner?" Danny said, straight-faced. Despite his completely serious expression and dry tone of voice, it was obvious that he was making fun of her.

Her cheeks flushed a pale red and she took in a deep breath to control her temper, eventually managing to grit out, "please come to my office at once."

"But I thought I wasn't allowed out after curfew."

"Just do as I say!"

She stepped out into the hall, slamming the door shut behind her, and walked away furiously. Danny rolled his eyes at her dramatics and followed, catching up quickly so that he stood by her side. She stayed completely silent, her heels clicking against the floor being the only sound that echoed down the otherwise quiet corridor.

Although the adoption center held a substantial number of minors, the building itself was quite small. On the outside, it looked like an ordinary two-story home, but years of neglect had turned it into a run-down building that was practically falling apart at the seams. The walls, covered with gangly vines and dirt, seemed as if they would crumble in at any minute, a sunken in roof lying precariously above it. It was almost as if the state had found an old, abandoned home and claimed it as their own. Danny wouldn't have put it passed them.

Each room that lined the hallway contained nothing but rows of beds. The workers liked to call this sleeping quarters the North Wing, a formal title that they most likely used to come across as more official. Each section of the house was labeled either North, South, East, or West, and right now, Danny was being led to the South Wing, where all the offices were held.

They reached her own quickly, and Danny heaved a sigh as he followed her inside.

"Let me guess; you want me to wash the dishes for a month straight. Or, I know, scrub the walls with my toothbrush until they sparkle," he said, assuming the reason she had brought him here was to punish him for being out of bed.

But as she ignored his words and sat down behind her desk, he finally noticed the file that sat on top of it. It was his own, and, now thoroughly confused, he stayed silent, waiting for Ms. Hawkes to speak.

"That is not the reason I brought you here, Mr. Fenton. For that matter, I'm afraid you will be unable to do any chores from this day forward," she said, a permanent frown creasing her face. Judging by her expression, something had happened that she was quite unhappy with.

"Um, okay…" Danny trailed off, suddenly unsure. He didn't know what to say. His heart surged with temporary hope at her words, but he pushed it down as soon as it had appeared. The context of her words seemed so sudden, because, first of all, no had come to see him recently, and, second of all, no sane person would ever adopt some delinquent teenager like him without at least a meeting first.

"Someone is coming to pick you up tomorrow morning. A man is looking to adopt you, and has requested that you come stay at his home."

"Yeah, alright, I'll just go pack my thing and be out of your hair then," he said sarcastically, an undertone of bitterness coating his words. "Don't bother giving me a suitcase, my thing isn't that heavy."

"Daniel, don't be ridiculous. Stop saying 'my thing'; I like to think that we've provided you with a bit more than that."

"You're right, I'm so sorry," Danny drawled, moving to stand by the doorway. "I'm going to go pack my thing plus whatever else you seem to think you've given me. Is that better?"

She didn't respond and only looked at him with the most unamused stare that he had ever seen.

His hand slowly slid off the doorknob.

"Are you- Are you being serious?"

"Quite serious, Mr. Fenton. I've been told that you are to leave at 8 o'clock sharp."

"...and you're only telling me this now? Who the fuck even wants to adopt me?"

Ms. Hawkes was quiet for a long moment before she let out a sigh. An unpleasant grimace twisted her features, as if admitting the answer physically pained her. An eternity seemed to pass before she spoke.

"Bruce Wayne."

The next morning, Danny woke up at exactly 7 o'clock.

He felt no excitement, joy, or anything of the sort. The children around him—all orphans, without a home to call their own—would have been delighted to be in Danny's position. All of them, most likely, had at least some longing desire to be adopted and taken away from the soulless orphanage. But right now, all Danny wanted to do was sleep forever, not wanting to face what was to come. He couldn't bring himself to care that in just one hour, he would be taken away, hauled off to some mansion on the outskirts of town.

What the hell was wrong with him?

Danny was tempted to just run away before he was to be picked up so that he could live on the streets or something, but even he wasn't that stupid. Anybody with common sense could reason that living in a billionaire's home was way better than trying to survive with, quite literally, nothing to your name.

Reluctant decision made, he went downstairs half an hour later, showered, dressed, and dragging a suitcase behind him. It banged against the hardwood staircase while he walked, Danny not bothering to lift it like any sane person would have because he didn't care about the stairs, suitcase, or anybody being woken up by the loud bangs. Talk about triple-threat.

After stealing some other kid's box of Lucky Charms and downing the last of it into a bowl, he settled comfortably at the kitchen table, line of vision directly focused on the time displayed above the oven in digital green letters.

7:43

Seventeen minutes. Seventeen minutes before some jackass of a stranger waltzed into the orphanage to sweep Danny of his feet for his happily ever after. That is, if happily ever after meant literal death by a wrecking ball of 'nope' crashing into him. And seeing as Bruce Wayne was a billionaire, Danny figured that he would be on time.

Well, that's what Danny expected, at least.

However, the man that had "summoned him" arrived just about fifteen minutes early, and he definitely wasn't a tall, middle-aged billionaire that did not look his age, but rather, a slim, balding old man with a head of gray hair and a mustache to boot.

The old man smiled at Danny in one of the most genuine ways that he had ever seen, and had he not been so surprised by it, he probably would have offered a hesitant one in return. But instead, a slight grimace graced his features, and the old man, not deterred at all by his unfriendly welcome, did not lose the warmth in his gaze.

Standing at his side, Ms. Hawkes narrowed her eyes at him, a silent warning to play nice and not say anything stupid. She should have known him better than that.

"What the hell is this? The rich bastard couldn't even bother to show up?"

Welp, this is the first official chapter of the rewritten version of A New World of Bats, called "The New World of Bats" because they couldn't have the same title and I'm an uncreative person. Anyways, welcome to my new and returning readers! It's been so long, and I'm honestly really excited for this! I hope this turns out well because the last attempt at writing this was a disaster xD You can see for yourself if you want because I didn't take the story down. (And who knows, maybe one day I'll even finish the old version if I'm feeling up to it).

One thing you should know right off the bat is that I like to keep the readers in the dark about a lot certain plot points (although all of you are very smart and have come up with some amazing guesses) because you will only know what Danny knows! So if Danny doesn't know about the Batboys superhero identities or whether or not they know he's Phantom (just as an example), then it won't be mentioned until he finds out. (I hope that makes sense.)

The cover of this story is amazing fan art for ANWOB drawn by Zecnasylynch, who you can find on DeviantArt at NiBanini.

Thank you guys for sticking with me after so long! I hope you enjoy!