Insignificantly evil (DP and Batman crossover)

Old dead end

The little turquoise boy slept soundlessly in Superman's muscular arms. It was hard for the hero to look at this child other than with compassion. After all, this child was verbally abused by the whole village, he was in the dark about his family and there was certainly much more. If he hadn't seen him blow a hole through the man's chest with his own eyes, he wouldn't believe an innocent eight year old could kill somebody.

What made him even more dangerous was the fact that he knew about them. He knew their names and if he did only a little bit of research, he could spread it to the world. Bruce tried to be kind, he even overlooked the secret identity thing, but he swept it all away after the stunt the boy pulled.

The city lights came into his view, a sign they were finally home. The jet maneuvered gracefully between all the rocks and landed soundly on a platform. Superman landed shortly after, waiting for the Bat to escort the boy to the Watchtower to process him. After the engines were turned off, the blue flame still lingered in the air for a few seconds.

As the black figure reached the blue one, a voice interrupted them. "Found anything interesting, Master Bruce?" Alfred emerged from the shadows and made his way towards the two figures. When Clark turned to face the butler, the mentioned man gasped and looked at his master with many questions in his eyes.

"Oh my." He clasped his hands together as he strolled forward to get a better look. "Is that Phantom's child?"

"We don't know his origins yet, but I intend to find out." Bruce have a side glance to the child and strolled forward to the zeta-tube. He typed in his coordinates and in a flash of bright light, he and Superman were gone.

The halls of the space headquarters were buzzing with life. All superheroes, the young and old ones were talking together or just admiring the view. Nobody really paid any attention to their two newcomers, until a tall built man dressed in all black didn't cross their path.

"Welcome father." The now 20 year old Damian Wayne greeted his father, looking over at the child with only little interest. "You saved another kid?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually no, he killed a man." The man in blue responded for his friend as he proceeded to the interrogation room. Only now did Damian look fully at the boy. He froze for a second, the striking similarity with Phantom was a bit overwhelming. The same question crossed his mind "Did Phantom have a child?" There was no point of asking now, the Bat was going to interrogate him on so much more than just family tree.

The mere presence of this new ghost made Damian angry. If he was in for a murder, there was no way the big and the small ghost couldn't be related.

"Father, I would appreciate if I could take the lead interrogator position." The young adult looked at his parent with hard eyes and got a small nod in return.

By the time they got to the interrogation room, their suspect was waking up. Zephyr's eyes flattered, his red orbs searching his new environment; grey walls, a mirror and sealed door. A tall young man was sitting in a chair right in front of him and another one stood in the corner, the same one that drugged him.

"Let's start simple, what's your name!" Damian asked and looked into his empty report. He was determined to fill it out.

"Zephyr." The ghost replied shyly, not comprehending the whole situation. He was being drugged and questioned somewhere for no reason. He only killed a man, there's no harm in it, right?

"Age?"

"Around eight?" The boy answered with his own question. He was never told his date of birth so he was roughly guessing.

"Family?"

"Grandpa." Zephyr looked up at his interrogator, but reverted his gaze back down after the piercing look he had received.

"Name?"

"I told them already, I don't know. He's just grandpa." Damian didn't seem very satisfied with the answer he had received so he decided to push a little.

"Who are you protecting?" He asked, hatred dripping from his tongue. "No one!" Zephyr squealed.

"Don't lie to me you murderer, give up his name or I'll make you." The man suddenly leaned forward and grabbed the boy by his collar, pulling him closer. "Speak!"

"I don't know." The child cried out, tears forming in his eyes. He wanted to get out, but he was tied down by ghost proof chains. There was no way of getting out of those.

"Tell me." Damian roared, drawing a small dagger from his belt. Frightened Zephyr was thrown back into his seat by his own gravitation after the man holding him released his grip.

"That's enough!" The Bat growled, pinning his own son to the table. "You're making this too personal."

"How am I making this personal?" Damian sneered as he tried to wiggle out of his father's iron grip.

"Daniel." The name stilled his trashing. "You're blaming the disappearance of Daniel on this child. He may have murdered that man, but there is no contention between them."

"I'll prove otherwise." Damian deadpanned and walked out of the interrogation room. After his angered exit, Bruce decided to cut his session short. This boy wasn't going anywhere so he decided to go prepare some materials, see if something would strike his memory.

"Red hood, requesting assistance." The bat called upon his another son who came there in minutes. "Take him to Phantom's holding cell." He ordered before he disappeared in the hallways.