A/N: ...I'm a horrible, horrible person with no attention span. ...And obsessed with angst and Batman right now. Thus, this. Also, this past week was add/drop at college. I have never been so stressed out in my life trying to decide whether to keep or drop a class…. I have literally been sick to my stomach.

The Batman portion of this sort of blends together all my knowledge of Batman, so basically, Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and Damian Wayne all exist and have been Robin/Batgirl/Spoiler/etc. I state this now, because it's highly likely they will show up or be mentioned. Damian is currently at Wayne Manor, so he'll be in this as much as Bruce and Alfred.

I will say right now, Danny's true/full backstory won't come out for a long time in this. Feel free to guess all you'd like. I really wanna know what you guys can come up with :D Any and all speculations made on how Danny's ghost mode would develop is my own personal opinion, and slowly developing into a personal canon of how ghosts in general work. Frankly, I'm having a lot of fun with that, and my co-author on this is a good sounding board/skeptic for me to bounce ideas off of. A good portion of these ideas will turn up in other stories of mine.

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The Dice of Zeus Always Fall Luckily.

Amity Park, Colorado, was generally and widely known as "A Nice Place to Live!" And in a world constantly attacked by monsters, aliens, and supervillains, that was a rather impressive claim. Of course, Amity Parkers still had to deal with the daily ghost attacks, but other than one or two actual invasions, said ghosts were normally taken care of by the resident specter, Phantom, before they were that noticeable. In fact, in the hundred-odd years since it was founded, Amity Park boasted the lowest disaster and crime rate in the nation for the vast majority of them.

Or, they did, until the Tragedy of 2012. Within just a week, the population was halved. Citizens fled, not even bothering to pack before running for the next town's borders. The school was closed down, pending an investigation. The few who remained in the town found themselves haunted by the memories of the hundreds of deaths.

There were widows. There were grieving parents. There were orphans.

And among them was Danny Fenton. In all the chaos and destruction of the Tragedy, he found his whole life flipped upside-down. Gone were his parents, gone was his sister, gone were his friends. His teachers, his classmates, his neighbors, all gone.

In one week, Amity Park went from haunted to ghost town.

And Danny blamed himself. If he were only faster, if he were only there, if he only knew.

Of course, everyone he spoke to tried to convince him otherwise. The police, when they rescued him from the fire, the social services agent, Amika Ouwa, as she tried to place him in a foster home, even the ghosts, who made a deal with him to protect Amity in his stead so this didn't happen again.

He was still shocked at that. The Tragedy was actually so bad the ghosts came to him, offering to take over his role as town protector, and all they asked in return was protection from the Guys in White.

But even though his town was safe didn't mean he was.

His first problem came in the form of Amika Ouwa. The small, Asian woman certainly didn't seem like trouble, but she was far too probing for Danny's liking. There were all kinds of questions he couldn't answer if he wanted to keep his identity secret, so instead, he dodged everything she asked, generally coming off as rude when she tried to talk with him.

The second problem was somewhat tied to the first. It more had to do with why Danny was going into foster care, though, seeing as there was an adoption offer immediately upon discovering Danny's survival. The issue wasn't so much that Danny didn't want to be adopted as it was he didn't want to be adopted by him.

Because the offer had come from none other than Vlad Masters. As soon as he heard that name in connection with adoption, Danny told Amika, in no uncertain terms, that it would never happen.

Thus, the third problem. In the past two years, Danny had been in and out of no fewer than fifty foster homes, each one worse than the last. Every time he found out about his new family's secret stash or side job or hobby, Danny would call up Amika, who would then pull him out as quick as possible before alerting whatever authorities necessary. There were about twenty people behind bars all because of Danny.

And because of that, there was now a fourth problem: Amika was running low on possible foster families for Danny. Of course, Danny himself just shrugged it off, perfectly content to live on his own or stay with Amika as he did when between fosters, but Amika was determined to find him a new home. As such, they'd come down to Amika's last option.

Gotham's own Bruce Wayne.

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Alfred Pennyworth sat in a pitch black limousine right outside the Gotham City Airport. Of course, the lane he was in was not necessarily to be used for parking, as eccentric billionaire Bruce Wayne's personal butler, he did get a few perks.

But not even being Wayne's butler could make the airplanes actually arrive on time.

Alfred sighed, checking his watch once more. "I suppose the airlines are as punctual as ever…." He flicked through a newspaper, glancing over all the articles on the lowering crime rate, along with those on the various villain attacks and subsequent vanquishings via caped crusader. "Well, some things never change…."

A distinct beeping broke the relative silence of the car, and Alfred picked up his cell phone, flipping it open. "Hello?"

"Hi," a female voice murmured over the line, sounding slightly unnerved, "um, is this, um, Mr. Pennyworth?"

Alfred smiled, realizing this was the call he'd been waiting for. "Indeed it is. And, I presume, this is Ms. Ouwa?"

"Ah, yes, sir!" The woman was obviously frazzled, and Alfred was starting to hear a commotion over the phone. "We just got off the plane, and—" A crash echoed over the line, followed by some grumbling and a staticy noise that was the woman muffling the speaker. "Pick it up, don't just leave it there!" The muffle was lifted, and her voice was stronger now. "—and we're grabbing our luggage now. We should be outside in a minute or two."

He chuckled. "No worries, madam. I'm parked right out front. See you in a jiffy!"

"Thanks, we'll—" This time, she didn't bother to muffle the phone. "I DON'T CARE IF HE KICKED YOUR CHAIR ON THE FLIGHT, GIVE HIM BACK HIS TEDDY BEAR OR I'LL—!"

The phone clicked off, and Alfred blinked down at it. "Seems like an… interesting flight."

He only had to wait a few moments for a harried-looking, tiny Asian woman to come out of the airport, tugging along a huge rolling suitcase and a darkly-dressed teen behind her. The woman smiled at him, but the teen simply scowled, black hair hiding one of his two blue eyes from view. "Hello, you must be Mr. Pennyworth?"

Alfred opened the door for them, noticing as he did that the woman in the skirt suit had released the boy, who folded his arms over his chest, blocking the bright blue image on his black shirt (魂). Shaking his head, Alfred refocused on the situation at hand, turning to Ouwa. "That would be me, madam." He popped open the trunk, holding out a hand. "Let me take care of the heavy lifting, if you please."

She blinked, then handed over her bag with a nod. "Ah, arigatou. Um, is Mr. Wayne here, or are we meeting him somewhere else?"

"Oh, no, madam," Alfred replied as he loaded and closed the trunk, "he is… preoccupied at the moment. And…" he paused, trying to remember the correct term, "dou itashimashite."

Ouwa grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I still tend to slip every so often. So, where shall we be meeting—?" She cut herself off, having noticed the boy trying to sneak away and grabbing him by the ear with a hissed, "I was not joking about getting a collar and leash for you." Then, she turned back to Alfred, grinning. "—Mr. Wayne?"

Alfred smiled back, gesturing for them to head into the car. "I'm to take you to the Manor. Master Wayne should be meeting us there shortly."

Ouwa gave a slight bow. "Thank you, Mr. Pennyworth." Then she turned a slight glare on the boy. "Go on in, Danny."

He grumbled, but did so, obviously not wanting to risk receiving the collar and leash he'd been threatened with. Amika Ouwa followed him in, and Alfred shut the door behind them before getting in and pulling away from the airport. "I trust your travels haven't been too exciting?"

Danny refused to answer in anything other than grumbles. Amika, however, slapped the back of his head before grinning at Alfred. "No, not at all. We're more just hoping we'll be here a bit longer than we've been in most recently."

The teen scoffed, turning to stare out the window.

Alfred nodded. "I see. Well, if you don't mind my asking, how did you come across young Master Fenton?"

Amika glanced over at the boy before replying. "I was hired onto the Amity Park Social Services staff about two and a half years ago. I was in town for… uh, the Tragedy. Most others had left, so I took Danny's case."

Alfred glanced back at them through the rearview mirror. "I see. And how was the flight, Master Fenton?"

Danny glared back at him, also through the mirror. "Shitty."

Amika slapped the back of his head again with a reprimand of, "Language, Daniel."

"English, Ouwa," he shot back.

Alfred just smiled, trying to calm the two. "Not to worry. I understand Master Fenton's had some… interesting experiences thus far. I can only hope that his stay here in Gotham is a bit more peaceful."

The teen snorted at that. "Gotham, peaceful? Yeah, right."

Ouwa seemed to be fighting not to scowl at him. "Be polite, Danny. We are here as guests, so be respectful."

"I appreciate your politeness, Ms. Ouwa," Alfred replied with his ever-present smile, "but Master Fenton's perspective is understandable. It isn't exactly a utopia but, then, what is these days?"

Apparently, this was as much conversation as Danny could take. He turned away, glaring out the window again and steadfastly ignoring the other two.

Ouwa glanced at him sadly before focusing on Alfred again. "Yes, I'm afraid we know that all too well."

"I understand," Alfred said simply. "I must admit, I am curious, though. What actually made Gotham the choice for this young man at this particular time?"

The social worker didn't seem to be expecting that question. She blinked for a moment at the butler, then responded. "Ah, I have a friend here. She's the one who suggested that Mr. Wayne might be willing to foster Danny for a while until a permanent home may be found."

Alfred smiled once more as he pulled into the manor's driveway. "I see. Here we are!"

Ouwa gaped at the mansion, but Danny didn't seem to react at all. "Well," Ouwa mumbled, obviously still in shock, "she, ah, she mentioned Mr. Wayne was well off, but I believe she downplayed…."

The butler chuckled at her reaction. "Yes, I know it is a bit… breath-taking at first." Then, he smirked. "I am also familiar with Ms. Meridian and how she chooses her words."

She blushed but grinned. "Ah, intelligent as well." Then she opened the door to the car, pushing Danny out before her. "Come on, we must go say hello to Mr. Wayne."

By the time they'd exited the car, Alfred was in front of them again. "No need to rush, madam," he replied. "Master Wayne is never one for haste. Especially regarding a first encounter."

Ouwa smiled thinly, tersely answering, "Yes, well, while I'm sure that's true, I'd much rather head in and get this over with." She rolled her eyes. "If only because Danny's patience was already wearing thin before we got on the plane…."

Danny glared back at her. "Oh, yeah, like you weren't the one who nearly tore a guy's head off for reclining his seat far enough back that you couldn't move…."

And the blush was back full force. "Th—That's completely unrelated!"

As Danny rolled his eyes, Alfred blinked at the two. "Yes… well… I suppose we should get inside, then." He bowed politely, gesturing towards the door. "After you two."

Ouwa nodded. "Thank you." And she led the way in, Danny trudging after her, hands stuffed in his pockets and scowling.

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Danny was not in awe of Wayne Manor, he was not looking forward to meeting the billionaire, and he most certainly was not happy to be moving in. In fact, he wanted nothing more than for Amika to quit and to be shipped off back to Amity Park. It physically hurt to be so far from the town he was born (and half-died) in, and he desperately wished to be back there, even going so far as to debate stating said wish in front of Desiree.

Almost as soon as he had that thought, he shook it out of his head. Nothing was worth risking her messing with his wish. He'd probably end up in a burnt-out building if he did that.

Danny rolled his eyes at some stupid comment Amika made, still following her through the large entranceway.

"Now, I've already fixed up the guest room upstairs," the butler, what'shisname, was saying, "whenever Master Fenton is ready."

Amika was grinning. "Wonderful!" She turned back to Danny, happily saying, "Isn't this great, Danny? You're going to love it here!"

Okay, he couldn't help himself. An eyebrow quirked up at that. "Isn't that what you said about the place in Seattle?"

She immediately knew what he meant, blushing brightly. "Th—That was not my fault, and you know it!"

He rolled his eyes once more. "The fosters sold cocaine out of their garage."

"...And we haven't had that problem since then," Amika said, as though that made everything magically better.

The butler was saying something again. "...I see you've had some… interesting living spaces over the years, Master Fenton. Nevertheless, I do hope your stay at Wayne Manor will be a bit more… normal."

Danny couldn't help but roll his eyes yet again. "Yeah, 'cause it's so normal here in 'Wayne Manor.'"

And now Amika had her hands on her hips, a toe tapping. "Daniel Fenton, be polite!"

He glared back at her. "I'll be rude all I want, I think I deserve it after all the crap I've been through over the past two years!" And he stormed away, pleased to finally be away from the prying eyes. As he walked away, he tugged out one of the few things he'd kept with him, a switchblade with a curved blade. He smiled down at it, flicking it open and starting to flip it.

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A blushing Amika turned back to Alfred. "I—I'm sorry about that," she stuttered. "H—He's—Well, as he said, he's… been through a lot…."

Alfred just nodded. "No worries. I think I understand somewhat where he's coming from."

Amika's brow furrowed at that. "Oh? How so?"

For a moment, the butler hesitated. Then, "Well… let's just say this house has had its share of… hard times."

The social worker realized then that the man was referring to the tragedy in Bruce Wayne's own past. As a young boy, the future billionaire had watched his parents be shot dead before him. It didn't take much to draw the connection between the two.

"I… see." She glanced in the direction her ward had gone. "Any idea when Mr. Wayne will arrive? I'm a bit worried, what with the state he's in, that Danny will, um, be a bit rough on the house…."

Alfred blinked at her, then chuckled. "Not to worry, madam. I don't think there's too much the young man can get into around here."

Amika's eyelids dropped to half-mast. "Forgive me if I'm a bit more cynical about Danny's ability to find trouble."

A smile met her words. "Of course. We each have our own perspectives. However, this is certainly not my first time dealing with a curious youth."

She nodded, knowing he had practically raised the billionaire-to-be from birth. "I suppose so. So, what shall we do until Mr. Wayne arrives?"

The answer came from the balcony overlooking them. "Whatever you like, Ms. Ouwa."

Amika jumped before glancing up to see Bruce Wayne walking leisurely down a grand staircase. "Oh, my! Oh, hello, you must be Mr. Wayne!" She felt stupid for the statement, but politeness demanded she make sure he actually was Wayne before addressing him as such.

Bruce seemed to realize this and gave her a half-grin. "That I am." He came up next to her, pressing a very brief kiss to the back of her hand. "Please forgive me for startling you. I never truly realize how… unsettling my entrances can be at times."

She was blushing again, she knew it, but once he released her hand, she was able to regain her composure. "Oh, it's no trouble at all! I just, um, well, I suppose I should apologize as well, seeing as Danny's run off to who-knows-where."

Bruce's brows went up as he glanced at Alfred. "Oh? And which way did he run off to?"

"To the kitchen, sir," was the prompt reply.

"I see. Well, I doubt there's much mischief he can cause in there, but to be safe…." He gestured towards the kitchen, Alfred heading through first.

Amika blinked, then followed the two into the kitchen, where Danny sat in a corner, tossing his switchblade from hand to hand. She frowned, her hands once more finding their way to her hips. "Daniel James Fenton, I thought I told you to throw that thing out!"

He didn't even acknowledge the use of his full name. "Yeah, you did."

"Then why do you still have it?"

He shrugged, not even pausing as he juggled the blade. "'Cause I didn't toss it out."

Bruce chuckled. "It's fine. Is that a Hawk or a Scarab?"

For a moment, Danny just stared down Bruce, then turned back to his knife, continuing to toss it. "…'S a Hawk."

The billionaire nodded. "Nice choice."

Danny didn't acknowledge that, either, instead beginning to throw the knife in the air, plucking it back when it got close, blade still out and causing the knife to spin wildly.

Amika's eyes went wide. She could just see him miss, the blade sinking down into his skin— "Danny! Put that away before you hurt someone!" Namely, himself.

He rolled his eyes, continuing to play with the blade.

Bruce didn't seem concerned at all. In fact, he was watching closely as the knife went up, spun, then fell back down, only to be caught and sent back up again. "Actually," he said after having studied the boy for a moment, "I think he's quite skilled at knife-throwing."

Alfred was on the same page as Amika, obviously unnerved by the feat. "If you say so, sir." Then he turned to the social worker. "Will you be staying for dinner, madam?"

Amika blinked, then realized what she'd been asked. "Oh, um, no, I really should be getting to the hotel." She bowed slightly to the two who were taking in her charge. "Thank you for taking Danny in, and please keep me informed should anything happen. Danny has my number as well, should he feel the need to reach me."

Bruce smiled over at her. "There's not much need to stand on ceremony, Amika, was it?"

"Oh, um, yes," she stuttered, blushing a bit at the mention of her bowing, "and it's really more just habit, sorry."

"I understand completely, and did not mean any offense." The billionaire was still grinning, and no wonder he was a playboy with a smile like that. "You'll come to find, the more you're around us, that I try to be more casual than most people seem to think given my… surroundings."

Now Amika smiled back. "Well, that's good to know. Thank you for telling me. But I really should be going now." She turned to Danny, adding, "Feel free to call if you need anything."

He just grunted, not pausing in his knife throwing.

She sighed, turning once more to Bruce. "The same goes for you, too, Mr. Wayne. I will check in again tomorrow. Good-bye."

Bruce bowed, smiling at her still. "Sayonara, Amika-san."

She hurried out the door, trying to hide her blush.

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Once she was gone, Danny stowed his knife, stretching out like a cat before standing. He stared at the two men for a moment, then mumbled, "...You mentioned a room?"

Alfred nodded, motioning towards the stairs. "Of course, sir. If you'll follow me…?"

Danny shoved his hands into his pockets again, but followed the butler.

"I do hope you'll enjoy your stay here, Master Fenton. I understand you've had some… interesting experiences in the past, but I think this will be a nice… respite for you."

Danny snorted at that. "Yeah, enjoy your stay in the world's most dangerous city. Awesome."

Alfred tried not to show that he was hesitating. "...I admit, the area may not be heaven, but… if I may say, it has its compensations."

One of Danny's eyebrows quirked up at that. "Like what, a nice selection of fast food joints to get mugged at?"

A door in front of them was thrown open, a rather annoyed young ten-year-old staring out from the doorway, his arms crossed. He had black hair and blue eyes just like Wayne, so Danny immediately made the connection that there was a son Amika hadn't known about. "Alfred, what is the meaning of this racket?"

The butler sighed. "My apologies, Master Wayne. We have a new resident to the Manor, and—"

"And he can speak for himself," Danny interrupted, arms crossed over his chest.

The kid scowled at him. "Father did not mention a new resident to me."

Alfred glanced between the two, obviously trying to avoid conflict. "I… suppose he thought you could find out in your own time. You'll have to discuss it with him, if you want details."

The scowl just deepened. "I suppose I will." Then the kid turned and studied Danny, who rolled his eyes. "So, who is this new resident?"

Another nervous glance from Alfred raked over the two. "Do you wish to introduce yourself, sir?"

Danny shrugged. "Nah. I don't like little brats like him." He turned, ignoring whatever reaction the kid had, instead thumbing down the hallway. "My room's this way, right?"

The kid was scowling at his back. He could feel the glare trying to burn a hole through his back. "I am not a brat!"

Alfred nodded, rushing ahead to lead the teen. "Right this way, Master Fenton."

Danny followed, waving over his shoulder without glancing back. "Night, kiddo."

And angry grumbling chased them down the hall.

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A/N: Okay. That's probably going to be the average chapter length for this. Tell me what you thought, and any guesses on what "the Tragedy" is! I wanna hear/read your thoughts! Read and review, please!