Going Ghost! (Young Justice)

[Third Person Pov]

Danny descended the grand staircase of Wayne Manor, his footsteps echoing softly against the polished steps as he made his way toward the training area below. There, he found Dick Grayson pushing himself through a rigorous solo session on the expansive obstacle course. Sweat glistened on his skin under the bright overhead lights, his muscles straining with each fluid movement. Dick leaped gracefully over a series of swinging barriers, twisted mid-air to avoid a set of automated punching dummies, and landed with cat-like precision on the padded mats on the far side, his breathing steady but heavy from the exertion.

"What's up?" Dick called out as he grabbed a nearby towel, wiping the sweat from his face and neck with a quick, practiced motion. He flashed a friendly grin, though his sharp eyes already picked up on the serious set of Danny's shoulders.

"Is Bruce around?" Danny asked, vaulting effortlessly off the side of the metal railing in one smooth motion. He descended the remaining distance to the floor with an almost weightless grace, his feet touching down without a sound.

Dick shook his head, slinging the towel over one shoulder. "No, he's tied up with the Justice League right now." He tilted his head curiously, studying his friend. "Why? Is something going on? Please tell me something's going on—I'm dying of boredom just training by myself down here."

Danny hesitated for a second, then launched into it. "That's what I'm trying to figure out too. I need some help investigating something... It's about Ember." He proceeded to fill Dick in on the details—the suspicious record label meeting, the eerie vibes Ember picked up, and the nagging feeling that something wasn't right.

Dick stared at him for a long moment with a perfectly straight face, the towel now draped casually over his head like some kind of improvised hood. His expression was unreadable, save for the faint twitch at the corner of his mouth.

"What?" Danny questioned, shifting uncomfortably under the intense gaze. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

A slow, teasing grin finally broke across Dick's face. "Batman would be proud of that level of paranoia," he said, his voice laced with amusement.

"Ughhh, come on, stop," Danny groaned, rolling his eyes dramatically as Dick burst into a full cackle, the sound echoing through the cavernous training room. "I just want to be sure nothing sketchy is happening. Better safe than sorry, you know? Especially in a city like this."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Dick replied, still chuckling as he snatched up the towel again. He gave it a playful twirl and snapped it toward Danny in a mock attack—only for it to pass harmlessly through his intangible form. "Just give me a moment to get changed, and we'll dive into this."

A short while later, after Dick had slipped into his sleek Robin gear, the two of them were huddled together in the dimly lit glow of the Batcomputer. The massive screen cast flickering shadows across their faces as Robin's fingers flew across the keyboard with expert precision, pulling up databases and search algorithms at lightning speed.

"What's the name of the record label Ember was heading to?" Robin asked, his focus never wavering from the display.

"Gotham Records," Danny replied, leaning in closer. He added sarcastically, "Real original name, right? They really went all out on the creativity there."

Robin let out a scoff of agreement. "Tell me about it." He scrolled through the initial results, his eyes scanning lines of text rapidly. "Founded in 1946... headquartered in Central Gotham... standard corporate history, yada yada yada." He waved a hand dismissively at the boilerplate information. "So far, it's the usual Gotham fare—rising stars caught in scandals with their managers, a few overdoses here and there, the occasional leaked contract dispute. Nothing that screams 'organized crime' on the surface."

"Can you say that with any less emotion?" Danny quipped, shooting Robin a weirded-out glance.

"Sorry," Robin said with an apologetic shrug and a quick grin. "It's just... this is Gotham. Tragic stories like that aren't exactly headline news anymore. They blend into the background noise."

Danny nodded thoughtfully, his mind racing. After a beat of consideration, he suggested, "Maybe we can run a scan on girls who've been reported missing recently and cross-reference them with any connections to record labels. If there's a pattern, we'll probably spot it there."

"That's not a terrible idea at all," Robin acknowledged, his tone shifting to something more focused and professional. His fingers danced across the keys as he initiated a deeper hack into the GCPD's recent case files—specifically those digitized and accessible through the Batcomputer's secure backdoors. "Hold on, let me see what I can pull up."

The screen is filled with scrolling data, police reports, timestamps, and linked profiles. Robin's expression grew more intent as he worked. After several tense minutes, he broke the silence. "Hmm. Looks like you weren't just being paranoid after all." His fingers kept moving, eyes darting across the glowing monitor. "In just this past month alone, over twenty girls have been reported missing across Gotham. A solid quarter of them had recently signed contracts and were officially tied to Gotham Records' roster—up-and-coming singers, aspiring artists, all fitting a similar profile. Young, talented, and eager to break into the scene."

Danny leaned forward in the console, his glowing green eyes narrowing at the scrolling data on the massive Batcomputer screen. "What? If so many of these girls have been reported missing, how come we haven't heard anything from Commissioner Gordon yet?" he asked, looking genuinely bewildered. "He would have already called Batman, wouldn't he? This seems like the kind of thing that should light up the Bat-Signal."

"Not necessarily," Robin replied, his tone calm and matter-of-fact as he leaned back, arms crossed over his chest. "Missing persons case reports are a pretty low priority around here, especially in Gotham. They're not treated as seriously as they should be. Most of the time, the GCPD is stretched thin dealing with actual supervillain attacks, mob hits, or rogue gallery chaos. These cases often get filed away unless there's clear evidence of foul play. Especially since most of them don't turn out to be anything truly serious. In a lot of instances, the girl just ran away from home—either to escape an abusive household from fathers or husbands, or they bolted to chase their dreams in the big city, or even eloped with someone their family didn't approve of. Gotham's full of broken homes and desperate runaways."

"Hmm, I see what you mean," Danny said, staring intently at the glowing screen, his expression growing more thoughtful. The blue-white light reflected off his face, highlighting the subtle lines of concern etched there. "But still… a quarter of them being directly connected to this record label company? That's suspicious in and of itself. The numbers don't lie."

"I completely agree," Robin said, nodding as he shut down the more sensitive windows with a few quick keystrokes. "I've pulled everything I could find online and through the usual back channels. This definitely feels like it requires a more personal touch." He stood up from the console, stretching his arms with a determined glint in his eyes.

"Espionage?" Danny asked, a growing grin spreading across his face, equal parts mischief and excitement.

Robin nodded firmly. "Espionage."

"Ooooh, I love me some breaking and entering," Danny said, rubbing his hands together with theatrical glee.

"You're starting to sound like a villain," Robin said dryly, rolling his eyes.

---

A short time later, Danny was soaring through the hazy, neon-streaked skies of Gotham, carrying Robin effortlessly by the shoulders. The Boy Wonder's yellow cape billowed dramatically behind him in the night wind, his arms crossed over his chest, clearly still upset about something.

"Are you seriously still upset about what I said to Tula?" Danny asked, unable to hide the amusement in his voice as he adjusted his grip for a smoother glide. "About me being inside you, I mean?"

"Yes," Robin replied with a perfectly straight face, not even glancing over. "I'm forbidding you from overshadowing me any time soon. Or undershadowing. Or foreshadowing. Or backshadowing. Or side-shadowing. Any kind of shadowing is now officially forbidden."

Danny chuckled, the sound carrying lightly on the wind, but before he could fire back a retort, a familiar voice cut through the night air.

"Where are you guys going? Did you actually manage to find something?"

Danny and Robin turned mid-flight to see Ember approaching from the side, her fiery hair trailing flames like a comet as she flew toward them. She stopped abruptly in front of them, hovering with her hands planted firmly on her hips, her expression a mix of curiosity and impatience.

Danny offered an awkward smile, trying to play it cool. "As a matter of fact, we did. They don't exactly have a clean record—Heh, get it? Clean record? Since they're a record label company?"

Both Robin and Ember fixed him with matching straight, utterly unimpressed expressions, the silence stretching just long enough to become painful.

Robin turned toward Ember with a smirk. "This is the guy you like, by the way."

Ember let out a heavy, theatrical sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Yes, I'm aware. My standards aren't exactly up to par with what they used to be."

"I'm right here, you know," Danny protested, now the one leveling them with a deadpan stare.

"We know," they both stated in perfect monotone unison.

Danny sulked visibly, his shoulders slumping even as he continued carrying Robin through the air. "I don't really appreciate it when you guys start talking about me like I'm not even present."

"So what were you guys able to find?" Ember asked, her tone turning more apprehensive, as if she wasn't entirely sure she wanted the answer.

Danny and Robin quickly filled her in on the details—the string of missing girls, the suspicious pattern linking many of them to Gotham Records, and the lack of serious police follow-up. "Right now we're heading over there to see if we can find any more evidence or clues that might lead us to those missing girls," Danny finished.

"Damn it all to hell…" Ember growled in frustration, her flaming hair flaring brighter with her rising anger, sparks dancing in the night.

"Want to come with?" Danny asked, feeling a pang of guilt.

"Fuck it, why not," Ember grumbled, crossing her arms. The flames in her hair reacted wildly to her annoyance, crackling with intensity. "If they can't make me a star like I want to be, then I'll sure as hell burn them all to kingdom come."

"I'm not sure—" Robin started to interject, a note of uncertainty creeping into his voice at the idea of adding the volatile ghost to their stealth mission.

"If it makes you happy, sure, why the heck not," Danny interrupted cheerfully, flashing a thumbs-up.

Robin let out a long sigh of surrender, shaking his head as the trio continued their flight through the shadowy skies of Gotham toward the gleaming, deceptively respectable headquarters of Gotham Records.

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