Alfred! The kids broke the Batcave!

We all just stare at the computer.

Danyal was right; of course, this situation needed clarity. Otherwise, I would have dismissed the notion of Mother throwing him into the Grand Canyon.

It's just unbelievable.

I doubt I would have believed him, but it's right there. Right in front of me, what could have been his final moments? It's as if I've been struck.

We absorb what we've seen in silence until Todd breaks it, mumbling, " Talia, what the fuck," repeatedly under his breath. Pennyworth was unperturbed for once, allowing it. Not that I can blame him. My attention switches to Father as a light pitter patter comes from him strumming his fingers.

His face is void of emotion, but his eyes a raging fire; he turns to Drake, " Where do the coordinates lead to?" as he's gone into, as Richard and Todd like to call it, Daddybats.

Drake leans over the controls as he brings up a map, " Amity Park, Illinois," he finishes with skepticism, " the most 'Haunted city in America,' whatever that means."

Richard throws in his two cents, " Sounds like one of those tourist trap gimmicks."

I hear Drake "hum" in consideration before his fingers fly over the keyboard bringing up strings of code. It's all going well until the back of the screen starts to glow a toxic shade of green, Lazarus green. Drake clenches his jaw and pushes Father out of the chair as he exclaims, "we're being back hacked!"

I glance toward Father, looking for an explanation when he situations himself behind Drake, watching the code intensely, " that shouldn't be possible. We have better defenses than the Watchtower."

" Yeah, well, try telling them that," he says, gesturing to the screen. Drake, barely able to keep up, huffs in frustration as the code distorts and fills with symbols unknown. " What is this–" he grounds out as the computer makes a high pitch whine filled with jumbled noises. Then all of a sudden, the screen goes off.

" What just happened?" I demand, just as all the cave lights go out.

" They got in," Drake says into the pitch dark with a hint of worry.

" Is there a way to kick them out?" I ask.

Father interjects, " only through the main console, but that's what they took us down from."

Richard starts up a wrist computer and types away furiously, "We can't do anything now. They've locked us out of the system."

" We could–" Drake starts to suggest as the computer, and only the computer, comes back to life. Illuminating the cave in an eerie green glow.

It starts running through some kind of diagnostics, all of which are in that same weird script as before. It's hard to distinguish, but with every passing moment, they look less garbled, even throwing in a couple of English letters. Until It just goes blank.

Father barks out, " Find a mask!" We all start scrambling.

The code falls off the screen and fills with weird color static. It was as if a rainbow had combined to make never before seen shades of green, blue, and purple. The Computer lets out a ringing, whirling sound, almost as if static was scratching a chalkboard, " W̷h̸a̷t̶ ̵a̶r̶e̷ ̷y̵o̵u̴r̴ ̴i̴n̵t̵e̷n̵t̶i̷o̷n̶s̶ ̷w̸i̷t̸h̵ ̶A̸m̴i̶t̶y̶ ̷P̶a̶r̴k̴?̶"

Father growls out, " What have you done to our system?"

The rainbow screen glow lessens, and the whirling goes down to just a whisper, " B̸a̵t̸m̵a̸n̸?̷" The voice chokes out as if unbelieving.

Our bodies tense, waiting for the voice to continue, for their intentions to be known, but all we receive is silence. I raise an eyebrow at the others, waiting for someone to say something. But they do nothing, " Are you to tell me," I ask, disbelieving, " that you were unaware of whom you were hacking?"

The voice, void of static, stammers, "Ahki?" A voice, his voice, deeper than the years before, but thanks to the video, known as good as my own.

" Danyal?" I throw out unbelieving.

He laughs lightly, nervous, " I guess this means my message went through."

I could hear Drake's jaw drop at the revelation. Then, he squeezes out in indignation, " What did you do to the bat computer!"

The screen changes once more, revealing Danyal. If I were to describe his appearance, it would be gauntly, but his eyes look alive.

They're sparkling as if they're a sky full of stars.

He's sitting down, and behind him is a glowing, distracting, distorted sign and a cloudless sky.

" In my defense," he says, " your the one who entered my backdoor."

" Your backdoor?"

He nods though he makes a face at the question, " Well, yeah, I mean, I didn't set it up alone, though I had a part in it."

Father interjects, " That still doesn't explain why you were back hacking."

He stares at father as if he were stupid, " You were using, for you, an unknown backdoor into a government agency."

Pennyworth chips in with a tone making it known he won't take no for an answer, " Young Master Danyal, would you care to expand on that?"

His hand makes its way to the back of his neck, " Um, not to be rude, but who exactly are you? I recognize Ahki and know the names of the others and Father, of course, but I don't have yours?"

He straightens up, " My apologies, young master; I am Alfred Pennyworth, the family butler."

Todd snorts, gaining everyone's attention, " While he's one hell of a butler, Alfie's a bit more than that.

I nod in agreement, " He raised Father. He is family."

Danyal breaks out into face breaking smile, " then, in that case, it's nice to meet you, Gramps," causing Pennyworth's face to redden, " and as for an explanation, you entered a backdoor connected to the GIW, the ghost investigation ward, better known to those around here as the guys in white."

Drake's hand goes to his chin and stares at him intensely, " But that doesn't answer why the GIW is connected to Amity parks city records."

" Is nobody going to question that there is a government agency dedicated to ghosts?" Todd cuts in, " it's ridiculous."

Danyal laughs, " they're even worse in person. They wear all white, with big black sunglasses."

Todd smirks, " let me guess, they're the type of douche that wears them even indoors."

Danyal shoots him finger guns, " got it in one."

I huff," Danyal, why, is there a GIW?" trying to get him back on task.

He gives me the same look he gave Father, " For the ghost, of course."

I cross my arms," there is no such thing." After all, we would have seen some by now if there was. But, with all the people the league has put down over the years, wouldn't one of them come back to haunt us?

His eyes narrow, " There are definitely ghosts, but shouldn't you all know? Attacks have been going on for a while; hell, it got so bad at one point I sent in a league request. The whole town got dragged into the realms for ancients' sake."

" What name is your request under?" Father asks.

" Daniel, the American spelling," he emphasizes, "and the surname Fenton."

Richard starts going through files on the wrist computer when he glances at Danyal, " I can't reach the files. You've got us locked out."

He blushes, " My bad!" he messes with his computer, and the power comes back," I didn't mean to go that far. The GIW was trying to ping your location. I wasn't sure who was using the connection, but I didn't think anyone hacking into their organization was trying to help them. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that."

" And if we were allies of the GIW? What would have happened?" Richard asks.

He shrugs, " You would have stayed locked out of your system and had your files gone through and deleted. Standard practice, ya know–" Danyal gets cut off by an iridescent blue mist escaping his mouth and puts his head in his hands as he groans.

My eyes narrow, remembering his video, ' I was in an accident. It's changed me in ways that I can't really describe, but Dami, at the end of the day, I'm still me. I may not always look like me, but I am still me.' He has always reacted dramatically, though not subtly, when things go astray. I can't help but worry, "What's wrong?

Danyal ignores me and starts looking around for something. When he faces the camera again, we see his eyebrows raise as he starts to say, " Cu–" but gets cut off as he is thrown back to the roof's edge. Standing over him is a large green smudge, its image distorted.

We hear Danyal call, laughing, " Down, Cujo! Down! Shrink!" and watch as the green smudge becomes no bigger than Alfred, the cat. Danyal picks up the smudge, still laughing, and brings it back. He pets it absentmindedly as he introduces us, " This here is Cujo, the ghost dog."

" Danyal, son, you're holding a smudge," says Father.

Danyal looks down in surprise until his eyes widen, " Ooh yeah, I forgot about that. Technology doesn't always work well with ghosts. Sometimes, w–," he stammers, "they mess with it. But he's a ghost scouts honor."

I doubt he was a scout, but I don't press that issue. " You never explained what the GIW does," I say, hoping to get back on track.

He recites almost robotically, " The Ghost Investigation Ward, better known as the GIW, is an organization dedicated to the investigation, removal, and extermination of all ecto- entity or ghost activity."

" That sounds like…." Pennyworth starts under his breath.

He nods in grim agreement, " they're performing governmentally approved genocide."

" How long have they been active?" Father asks.

" By my count," Danyal starts, " around a year, maybe a year and a half at the most. They just showed up out of the blue and raided Fenton works. They were at odds with Jack and Maddie for a while, but they eventually compromised and set up a contract between them."

" And Jack and Maddie Fenton are your adoptive parents?" Drake asks, compiling information.

" Nah," Danyal says, looking offended at the thought, "they're just fosters. They tried to make it official a few years ago, but I wouldn't sign the papers. I claimed amnesia when they found me, so the social worker put Fenton as a placeholder. I've been with them since. Their ghost hunters, or as they call themselves, ecto-biologists."

Drake pulls up their files on the computer, " Is any of this true?"

" Depends on what it is. Their inventions work, but they don't always do what they expect. I've been modifying what I can over the years to keep them from hurting anybody, but I can't catch everything. Though when it comes to their science, its all bull shit–"

His curse took me by surprise, " How bad is it?"

" It's all biased, and it's the work that allowed them to enact the anti ecto laws in the first place."

" Anti- ecto laws?" Father interjects.

" It's what allows the GIW, Fentons, and just about anyone else to do what they want. During that brief stent of Lex Luther as president, they got put in place."

Father continues, "have there been any repercussions?"

Danyals eyes darken, " Nothing I haven't been able to handle so far, but that could change any time. The GIW has escalated. Ghosts have been going missing. I've found who I could and returned them home, but some are still MIA. The realms aren't taking these actions lightly. If this continues, it could cause a war."

I look at the others before tentatively asking, " and how exactly would you know that?"

He gives me a sad smile, " well, you didn't think you were the only one still involved in the nightlife, did you?"