Chapter Text
The first thing he noticed, was that it was pouring. Buckets of rain. He was still in his ghost form, but once he turned back to human he’d be immediately soaked for sure. Awesome.
The second thing was that Cujo, predictably, tried to dash through the portal while it was open. Danny, knowing he would try this as he’s done countless times before, swiftly swooped to catch him mid-leap and held the dog like a baby against his chest.
Cujo whined, but Danny tried to give the sternest look of disapproval he could muster. Cujo whimpered again.
“Buddies. My good boy. No.” He kissed his forehead, ignoring Cujo’s attempts to wiggle free. “I promise, for real this time, I will let you come with me. After I survey the area. Cool?”
Cujo did not look appeased. Danny didn’t blame him.
“This could be dangerous, I’m serious Cujo.”
Cujo growled, and Danny huffed out a laugh. “Give me a few weeks and I pinky-promise double dog swear I’ll let you come visit, okay?” He set Cujo down, who looked despondent, but with one last look over his shoulder, obeyed, turning to cross back through the portal Danny had purposefully left open. Danny sighed as the portal closed, feeling the Ring burn with power. Damn. He wiped a couple tears away. Cujo was really good at making him feel guilty for this, every single time. But Danny couldn’t let anything happen to the pup, and Lady Gotham herself had said many ghosts haunted the city’s streets. It wasn’t safe. Not yet.
Given that he needed to get a feel for the area, he supposed it made sense to scout out the city as a ghost first. That way he could observe it in secret, to humans at least. But he should probably be careful about running head-first into a ghost’s potential territory. Sub-territory? Whatever. He had no idea how things worked here—which was part of the problem. But he had already opened a portal, and despite Lady Gotham’s and Fright Knight’s assurances otherwise, he was still a bit nervous about fully trusting this process. It was safer to wait and see that the portal didn’t attract the GIW before letting his ghostly signature run rampant throughout the city. Still, first he needed somewhere safe to transform.
Danny took a moment to actually take in his surroundings. The gray haze of heavy rain partially obscured his view, but he was definitely in the midst of the city proper, as he predicted. There were tall buildings all around him and a semi-busy street that cars occasionally zoomed past, splashing the sidewalks in dirty water. Danny grimaced, floating intangibly down the well-worn paths to somewhere less flooded. There weren’t many people out, but that wasn’t a surprise, given the weather. He eventually found an alley with a dead-end, sequestered on either side by a convenience store and a run-down apartment. Only some scattered lights indicated people lived there at all. Perfect. He floated down the alley towards the back exit of the convenience store where a small awning would partially protect him from the watery onslaught. After a quick look-around, he smiled to himself before forcing his shoulders relax as he carefully levelled his breathing. He closed his eyes, bracing for it—then he let the rings of light envelop him in a familiar surge of cold energy.
f*cking Ancients—
He hissed, bringing a hand up immediately to rub at his eyes, but then flinched and pulled away when that only hurt the tender skin more. Honestly, Danny really should be used to the pain of post-fight transformations by now, but somehow, it always took him by surprise how much it hurt.
“sh*t,” he breathed, beginning to fan his face rapidly as his eyes began to water. His ghost-half almost never felt pain from injuries after the initial blow, so it was always shocking how much was dulled out during the healing process.
Danny was suddenly brought back to the present time, away from the endless, timeless protection the Realms had lulled him into, to remember it was just a few hours prior he had been nearly crushed to death and shot twice by ecto-weapons. He began cataloguing injuries again, feeling out how much everything had healed from the renewed energy of fresh ectoplasm. His legs felt blissfully free of any pain, not even being stiff. His lower back and face though, burned like a motherf*cker. The back of his head was throbbing with hot pain. Injuries from ecto-weapons, to his great disappointment but absolutely no one’s surprise, took the longest to recover from. He silently cursed the GIW’s name for the millionth time.
Danny fumbled with the backpack to pull out an umbrella, opening it with a thwoop before throwing his hood up and pulling it as low as it would go to cover his eyes. A bit of the bright, neon green was in his field of view, providing some much needed serotonin in the form of a little blob ghost doodle that was wearing a birthday hat. The doodle was upside down, but still, much appreciated. His eyes were still watering and the tear streaks they left stung his cheeks. He took a deep, settling breath, before stepping out into the grimey alley and towards the small storefront, feeling the rain whip about him in a way that made the umbrella feel almost redundant.
Even just the twenty-odd paces to the door left him mildly waterlogged.
The harsh, LED lighting made him blink in contrast to the growing darkness around him. Around dusk then, good to know. What a great time to arrive in Gotham. He nodded once at the cashier who eyed him suspiciously as he made his way to the restrooms in the back.
He shoved open the door, throwing back his hood and dropping his backpack to the floor in a rush to get to the mirror.
Danny grimaced at the reflection. Ancients damned. He held the sink for support, clenching until his knuckles were white.
There was a giant red splotch of reddened skin centering his face like he was the target of the world’s worst game of laser tag. The burns had obviously healed considerably, since there weren’t blisters or that shiny texture to them, but it was still noticeable as hell. It could have passed for a natural discoloration probably, but it wasn’t quite smooth enough to pass. The circumference passed over both his eyes, around the temples, and down his cheeks to end below the mouth—marking the edges of where his face had been disintegrated.
Danny closed his eyes, leaning over the sink and breathing heavily. Don’t think about it, it’s fine, it’s healed, it’s fine—
He scrunched his nose as if to prove that fact to himself, but it hurt to crinkle the skin. At least pain meant it was there. He hesitantly touched the back of his head, feeling the tenderness there too. Danny guessed he was lucky his hair hadn’t been burnt off. He spent a few minutes just breathing, in and out slowly. I’m in Gotham, this will be good for me, I’m going to be happy, I’m going to heal—I can do this.
Finally he looked up again, nodding to himself. He removed the scribble hoodie, hanging it on the peg on the door instead of tossing it on the floor. It was probably disgusting in here, but he tried not to think about it. The shirt he had been wearing, a gray NASA tee, was torn in several places and similarly covered in dirt. His jeans were also ripped to sh*t, but that at least could be passed as a fashion statement. Yay, guess I’ll need some new clothes too. Damn that explosion. This shirt had been comfy. He pulled it off, tossing it in the trash, and turned to examine his back. Yep, there was a gnarly mark there too, roughly circular with uneven edges. These better not f*cking scar. They wouldn’t even be cool looking like his Lichtenberg scars. Plus, a facial scar would be way too recognizable.
He sighed. He’d wait until the ghost was clear (heh) with the GIW before ramping up his healing. The Ring’s ecto-signature was merged with his and would definitely light him up, on the off-chance this plan didn’t work. He wanted to trust the other ghosts, he really did, but he couldn’t quite stamp down that run-away-now-they’re-coming-to-get-you feeling that had kept him alive for so long. Half-alive. Whatever.
Danny reached down to dig through the backpack and pull out his med kit. He sighed again when he realized it was leaving behind a pile of loosened dirt and blew his hair out of the way with a huff of annoyance. Everything he had needed a good wash, himself included. His hair was filthy. Actually—a weird idea came to him and he paused his rummaging to consider it. Well. f*ck it. I’ve done weirder. He grabbed up the stuff, backpack included, and walked intangibly out the wall and back into the empty alley where it was still raining in sheets.
Danny stood invisible, feeling silly but ignoring the feeling for now, as he let himself become tangible again so Gotham’s rain could wash away the dust and ash and sweat from the past week. It wouldn’t replace a proper shower, but it sure as hell was refreshing, save for the stinging bite of the rain hitting the burns. He lowered his head to give his face some reprieve, but continued to wait in the rain. The repetitive pelting against his back was actually kind of relaxing, so he let himself enjoy it for several more minutes. Finally he decided to raise up the backpack and try and wash off as much dirt from it as possible, then repeated it with the hoodie. Good as new. Once satisfied, he pulled on some power to go intangible once more, focusing on just letting the rainwater pass to instantly dry himself.
Danny grinned to himself. At least being a little freak also came with its perks.
He wiggled back into the hoodie, returning through the wall back towards the bathroom, thankfully remembering to at least check it was at least still unoccupied. Just in case someone had weirdly broken into a locked restroom—that would’ve been the cherry on top to the ‘sh*ttiest way to start over in a new city’ sundae he was currently building.
Danny sighed again, trying to push back the negative thoughts. All this was the normal aftermath of a bad fight—none of this had even happened in Gotham. And injuries aside, Danny felt good right now. Danny hummed, re-adjusting his supplies and grabbing some aloe vera cream—burns should be protected but most medicines only increased the chances for infection. The unknown-but-exciting vibe to this whole thing suddenly had him feeling giddy again, and he chuckled as he got back to work. Face smoothing into a more serious expression, he leaned close to the mirror and started applying cream to the skin, wincing even with the careful touches. It stung more, causing him to tear up, and he kept having to wipe away the excess liquid with his sleeve. It was hard to get the small grooves, particularly around his eyes, but he did the best he could.
Finished, he used both hands to rapidly fan his face once more, looking up to try and stop any tears from falling and messing up the medicine. Ow. Blinking should not have to hurt.
Suddenly, multiple pings from his pocket start going off in quick succession. He frowned as the noise kept going without pause, before belatedly realizing it was all the messages coming through with the returned signal. Aaaand that would be my friends and probably sister, probably freaking the f*ck out. Woops.
Deal with it in a minute, he told himself, re-opening the tube and turning to apply it to the burn on his back. It was easier to rub it across the flat area and he let it dry before dropping his hoodie. Step one complete.
Step two would require a bit more attention to detail. He took out his makeup bag, first grabbing concealer and then contour and setting powder. Making sure the aloe had dried enough, he dabbed the skin with his finger to see how it would handle—it did hurt, but not much, and didn’t quite sting the same way. Good enough. He spent several minutes applying the makeup, trying to make sure it blended reasonably well with the surrounding healthy skin, and attempted to add some handmade blemishes to make it look more natural. Finally he finished with the powder and stood back to look at his handiwork.
It was passable, especially at a glance. Danny had learned how to do his own makeup years ago, originally starting with just eyeliner. But it worked marvels for covering up injuries too, so it was a win-win on his part. Packing up, he shoved everything back into the backpack, only pausing to pull out a spare shirt. He grabbed a black one at random but snorted when it unraveled to reveal ‘too punk to die’ written across the chest. He threw the scribble hoodie back on instead of the vest, deciding comfort was the greater priority at the moment.
Okie dokie, time to go try his hand at not being on the run.
Leaving the store, he bought a Gatorade in exchange for hogging the bathroom for what was probably close to half an hour, before exiting. The rain had slowed to only a drizzle, apparently having been one of those ‘hard and fast’ type storms. Nice he had been able to snag a good soaking, then, too. The sun was fully set, street lamps and store signs blooming to life accordingly.
That’s when he realized he didn’t have a plan for…literally any of this. In the past it had always been the same—find cheap food, good food, and sleep spot options. Now he had a lot more to think about, and it wasn’t like he could just ditch this place if things went belly up. So it was probably better to keep a low profile right? Blend in? At least until he got his bearings.
Danny looked up and down the street, feeling lost. Hm.
Not having literally any clue of where he should go or where in Gotham he was even at, he wandered back over to that dead end alley mostly to get off the street, leaning against the brick wall of the apartment building to pull out his phone. It was as waterproof as it was shockproof, so he didn’t mind the dripping water running down the screen as he punched in the pin.
[88 Unread Messages]
“Damn, guys…” He quickly swiped to open them, seeing It was the four-way chat that had blown up, plus a handful of texts from Jazz. He opened up the group chat first.
Tuckerbell
PHANNY AREYOU OKAY
Undergoth
WHAT THE f*ck HAPPENED
Tuckerbell
DANNY
DANNY THERES A f*ckING VIDEO
https://chitter.com/a-demon-saved-my-life-but-then-almost-got-me-killed
Undergoth
DANNY
ARE YOU ALIVE
TEXT ME BAKC RIGHT NOW OR ILL KILL YOU MYSELF
Tuckerbell
Danny I’m so scared please let me know you’re okay
Jazz hands
Guys stop he literally went through a portal
Undergoth
Not gonna lie Jazz I didn’t watch the full thing, I panicked when he was shot
Jazz hands
Oh, that’s reasonable then. I’m worried too. Danny text us back when you’re able to, okay?
Tuckerbell
Yeah man seriously that looked like it hurt
Danny startled at seeing the thumbnail of the link showing a blurry photo of his face.
“Fuuuck—” he quickly scrolled higher up, browsing through the rest of the messages. All roughly on the same vibe of panic, worry, anger, and disbelief. He paused at what seemed to be a live reaction of the video.
Undergoth
HOLY sh*t YOU TOOK A LASER BEAM HEAD ON?
WHAT THE f*ck IS THAT THING
SINCE WHNE ARE THERE EVIL f*ckING ROBOTS
Tuckerbell
That’s an android
Undergoth
SINCE WHEN ARE THERE EVIL f*ckING ANDROIDS
Jazz hands
Since when does the US have laser technology?
Tuckerbell
We don’t, not at that level. It looks more like heat vision I think
Phanny you’re so badass but what the f*ck
Jazz hands
Danny I’m mad as heck right now but God I’m so proud of you. I screamed when that little boy ran away from his parents
Undergoth
Isn’t it weird none of the other heroes noticed that sh*t?
Tuckerbell
They were busy not dying Sam
Undergoth
Okay but that’s part of their job
Tuckerbell
Danny what happened with the Justice League?
Jazz hands
Do you think they’ll recruit him
Undergoth
He’s on the run from the gov Jazz what do you thinjk
Jazz hands
I forgot they’re government funded…
Undergoth
WAIT A f*ckING MINUTE HOW DID THE GIW SHOW UP SO FAST
Tuckerbell
PHANNY WEREN’T YOU ON THE WEST COAST JUST THIS MORNNG
Undergoth
f*ck
YEAH HE WAS
Tuckerbell
THAT’S WHAT THEIR SHIPS LOOK LIKR RN??
Undergoth
I’m going to kill somebody
Jazz hands
Same
Tuckerbell
Same
Danny chuckled, but he was shaking a little. The lingering buzz of the alcohol, still making him feel tingly, couldn’t stop the barrage of anxieties he had been holding back. What did the Justice League want with him? Hopefully not much… although it wasn’t like Phantom would be making any public appearances anytime soon. Or, ever, more likely. Well, sure, villain attacks were pretty high in Gotham, but there was also all the Bats. What was the chances of Danny getting caught in something big like that again?
He quickly switched chats to see what Jazz had sent him separately.
Jazz hands
Danny, we’re here for you. I hope you’re okay. I’m sorry you had to get involved
Once this settles down, you should come visit me in Chicago. We can make it a short trip, but I miss you. I’ll make fudge
Stay safe. Love you.
Danny smiled, eyes feeling watery again. Then he remembered he was wearing makeup and quickly went to wipe them before they could smudge his cover up. He clicked back over to the group chat, licking his lips as he thought what to say but blanking. He had to say something, but where the hell was he supposed to start? Well, probably just that I’m safe, right?
Phanny pack
I’m okay guys, sorry for worrying you. I swear I was there by accident
I can’t believe that lady was recording me the whole time. What a bummer
At least the video looks bad
He hummed, tapping his fingers against the phone.
Phanny pack
So got news btw guess where…
“Hey, sh*thead.”
Danny paused, looking up at the unexpectedly close voice. Two men had appeared from around the corner, stopped now and staring at him. The one directly in front of him was poorly concealing a wooden bat at his side.
Danny raised a brow. Hello, Gotham.
“Hey.” Better to keep this short. For emphasis, he went back to typing, but just started pressing random letters on the keyboard so he could watch them out of the corner of his eye. Hopefully they’d just leave him alone.
“Hey, sh*thead, I was talking to you.”
Danny barely repressed a sigh. He knew this city was the crime capital of the world, but did it really have to live fully up to the name? Right now?
Danny tucked his phone in the hoodie pocket, discreetly phasing it out of this dimension. He wasn’t risking the phone again, especially not now.
“Yeah, and? What do you want?” He did his best to keep his face neutral, to keep his voice from being too antagonistic. But Danny had been living on the streets a long time now, and he wasn’t stupid. These guys were looking for a fight.
“I haven’t seen you around before.”
The second thug behind him was eyeing him up and down, probably seeing a lanky guy in baggy clothing and already jumping to conclusions.
“Really? How convenient, ditto man.” He smirked, unable to keep a lid on the sarcasm. f*ck me. He should probably taking this more seriously. Be safe, Jazz had said. Sure, sounded great in theory, but in practice? Much more difficult. But seriously, two wannabe gangsters with a baseball bat didn’t really compare to evil androids or GIW ships, so it was hard to dig up even a single f*ck to give. He had been sipping co*cktails of pure happiness like, an hour ago, and he was just given some really good news, so he wasn’t about to let these idiots ruin his mood. He was trying to stay positive after all.
Thug one, however, really didn’t like that. He glared, approaching Danny slowly and bringing the bat to the front—a visible threat.
Danny sat up from where he had been leaning against the wall, but otherwise didn’t back up. Part of him was actually craving a brawl, but this wouldn’t be a nice little ghost brawl—this was a human picking a fight. Fighting with mortal, breakable humans was usually a bad idea, he tried to remind himself. What he should be doing was laying low and getting a feel for the city. Danny had spent so much time running from place to place, he had gotten in the habit of not caring what impression he made on the locals. But now it was different, he needed to make things work in Gotham. But at the same time, it wasn’t like he could just let himself get mugged.
“Well,” Thug One started, “that’s a real problem, you see. Because this is my turf. You don’t come down this street without my permission, got it? So. What’re you doin’ round here?”
“Just—” passing through—that was his go-to answer. But that wasn’t true anymore, he would be staying in Gotham. Should he lie though? What if he ran into these thugs again? “Sight-seeing.” He finished lamely, before wincing harshly. That was very likely the worst possible explanation he could have given in that moment.
“Sight-seeing, eh? Look at this, Tank, punk’s sight-seeing,” the head guy repeated with a sneer, laughing. The beefy man behind him grinned.
Yeah, that was a mistake. Way to blend in, Danny.
Danny gave a precursory look up to the narrow rooftops. Wouldn’t that be a way to reunite with the Bats. No such luck though—which might’ve been a good thing, actually. Talk about embarrassing.
“Well, y’know, I’m all for seein’ some sights m’self,” Thug One started again, and Danny snapped his attention back to the duo—no, make that trio. A third guy with a mohawk stepped around from the opposite corner, cutting off the best escape route. Great. “And I’d love to see some green, if you know what I mean. Gimme your wallet and I’ll let you off this once for slipping into Gunner’s territory.” Gunner, seriously? Gunner and Tank? Talk about lame. Ancients these creeps were cliché as f*ck. Danny supposed he was lucky Gunner had a bat and not, you know, a gun.
And pff, territory?
Danny had to stop himself from grinning at the irony. That would most definitely get him shot, if they did happen to have a gun hidden somewhere. If only they knew how Gotham’s territories were really divided. Danny could already feel the several overlapping energies of ghostly territories thrumming beneath the encompassing death-grip of Lady Gotham’s.
Danny spread his arms out instead placatingly. “Sorry pal, got no money to steal.”
It wasn’t technically a lie, all of Danny’s cash was stored in another plane, currently. Usually near the ribs.
Thug One’s (Gunner, right) demeanor turned serious, eyes narrowing at Danny’s lack of cowering. “Liar. I’d cut your losses now if I were you, punk. Give up the backpack and you can walk away in one piece.”
Danny raised a brow. This wasn’t a very impressive mugging.
“If I were you, I’d cut your losses and schedule an appointment with a dentist or something. I’m pretty sure your teeth aren’t supposed to be black.”
The man’s face went red. He gripped the bat raising it higher. “Last chance, sh*thead.”
Ancients. Danny briefly stopped to think of actual, defenseless civilians having to deal with sh*t like this on a daily basis. Having no training, no powers, and probably living off a dirt poor salary, based on the state of the apartment exterior. This wasn’t just some chance encounter—it had obviously been planned near the convenience store. And it was assholes like this that made so many other people’s lives truly miserable. He thought of Lady Gotham, Earth-born, and decided his earlier hunch was almost certainly correct.
Danny’s patience, one moment perfectly intact, instantly dissolved.
Corner thug, the mohawk one, had begun to inch further into the alley so Danny was slowly being flanked, but he ignored the motion for now. This is probably a bad idea. Normally Danny preferred finding the smarter solution to problems like these, but Danny was still a little tipsy and he was tired of letting people walk all over him.
He leaned in forward slightly, no longer smirking but giving his best look of forewarning, and whispered loud enough for the other two to hear:
“Nah.”
Thug One and Mohawk Man took this as their cue, both lunging simultaneously. Danny dodged, turning so he wouldn’t back directly into the assault from behind, which turned out to be fists that were now adorned with brass knuckles. Uncool, guys.
Danny only had a second to assess before Thug One was following up with another downward swing—this time Danny twisted to let the bat whiz past his shoulders, before grabbing the base of his weapon and pulling hard—the added momentum sent him flying in the opposite direction.
Danny heard him hit the wall but was already spinning to face Mohawk Man, who took the perceived opening to throw a punch. This time Danny skimmed to the side so he was grabbing the f*cker’s wrist. Might as well practice some of the techniques Pandora taught him.
He twisted the wrist counterclockwise away from the man’s torso before locking it in with his other hand and pushing downwards. The man dropped to one knee with a howl of pain and Danny dropped the wrist lock to shin-kick his ribs. He fell gasping to the ground.
Danny whipped his head back at the sound of rattling to see Tank pulling out a length of chain. Oh, f*ck that. Tank sent the metal whipping through the air towards Danny’s head so he ducked, remembering to check himself on using his powers. What caught Danny off guard though was the immediate follow-up from Thug One, who was bleeding from the brow but apparently back in the fight.
Danny was a second too slow and the wood slammed into his face, sending him reeling several steps.
“sh*t—”
Danny backed up some more, disoriented and bringing his arms up clumsily for cover as his eyes begin to water. Ow, fuck, yep, face still hurts. Thug One was already moving in with another swing but Danny blinked through the bleary vision and rushed forward to meet him, raising his leg into a broad kick that landed solidly in the solar plexus—Thug One flew backwards, narrowly missing Tank who jumped out of the way in surprise.
Once he was sure Thug One was staying down, he turned harshly to Tank, who now looked apprehensive. Danny forced a grin to his face, ignoring the bloodflow.
“Wanna try that again?”
Tank dropped the chain and ran.
This apparently came as a shock to Gunner, who yelled out in dismay with what little air had returned to his lungs. Mohawk Man seemed to have finally gathered his wits as well and pushed himself off the ground, taking off after Tank.
Danny blew his hair out of his face, which was searing with pain, and tilted his head to look down at Thug One. Gunner looked torn between being angry and being scared at the altered circ*mstances. Danny decided it could be useful if the man was a little more scared.
He knelt down to where only Gunner could hear him, leaning in so he was eye-to-eye with the man.
“You’re going to leave your weapon when you leave here, and I don’t ever want to see you attacking people out here again.” Danny, who was still feeling the rush of the adrenaline, briefly let his eyes flicker to an ectoplasmic green, before blinking back to blue. “Capiche?”
Gunner, the color drained from his face and looking thoroughly terrified, nodded aggressively and pushed himself off the ground, bolting.
Danny stood, letting the slow rain massage the tension of the fight away from him. Belatedly, he brought up the black part of his hoodie sleeve to dab out the blood running from his nose. It hadn’t quite broken, but it had definitely hurt. Ancients, I’m going to have to redo the makeup again. f*ck me.
“Impressive. Whatever you said to him seemed to be sufficient.”
Danny yelped, turning with a jump behind him to see Robin—well, one of the Robins at least, standing behind him. Danny had superhearing and he hadn’t heard Robin move at all, or even heard him arrive. How the hell was anyone that stealthy? He blinked again, brow furrowing as he realized he was looking down at the vigilante, rather than up. It was only in that moment that Danny realized with his earlier trip to the future, it meant he had only met the older-versions of the Bats. Which also meant the younger ones were like, definitely child vigilantes. Not that Danny should be judging, but still—had he known that about them?
This Robin was wearing the typical red, black, and green uniform with the yellow ‘R’ on his chest and a cape that was inlaid with yellow fabric (yellow? Seriously? How could they possibly be stealthy wearing yellow?). He had darker skin and his hood was pulled up over his masked eyes, not unlike how Danny’s hoodie was pulled low. Danny’s eyes flickered to the weapon at his side—a sword. Ah, katana Robin, then. Good to know. sh*t, he was staring.
Reality slammed into Danny a moment later—holy Ancients, it’s Robin!
Then, the indignation hit.
“Hold up, did you watch them pick a fight with me? And didn’t help me out?”
Robin gave him a cold, unimpressed stare. “Tt, of course not, don’t be ridiculous. I was merely en route to see what the commotion here was, to find you already in the midst of resolving it.”
Danny could tell Robin was analyzing him. He kind of wanted to shy away from it, but he also kind of wanted to just reach forward and give him a hug. But Robin might stab him or something, who knew. The Bats were all kind of twitchy.
“Is there something the matter? If you’ve broken your nose, I can help you to a clinic. You may even be concussed, as you seem to be exhibiting slower than normal response times.” His stilted, formal tone was kind of unreasonably adorable, in a weird way. Maybe it was only because Danny knew Katana Robin was the youngest, though. Was that part of the ‘Robin’ act or just how he talked?
Danny blinked out of it, trying to feign nonchalance. “Oh! Haha, uh, nope! I’m okay thanks! Wait, did you say I was impressive?” Danny grinned, but then winced at the motion, bringing a sleeve up to his face once more.
“Stop that, let me see your injury.”
Danny let Robin guide his hand away from his face. Huh, it was so weird being the taller one of the two. Danny was so used to being the little guy. All the Robins in the future had been taller than him (except Red Robin, they were about the same height), but yeah, that was twenty years from now, so that made sense. And part of him was really debating if he should try to reveal himself to Robin now, or, well, not do that. Was it too sudden?
Robin, oblivious to Danny’s internal crisis, was focusing on his job, looking only briefly before pulling out a mini first-aid and handing several individually packaged wipe cloths to Danny. “These are dosed with disinfectant, but you seem to have successfully avoided breakage.” He then pulled out what looked like a laser pointer, muttering a quick “hold still,” before shining a small flashlight directly into Danny’s pupil.
Danny flinched back, closing his eyes on instinct, before the light was gone. Seeing Robin’s disapproving look, he righted himself, now prepared as the light appeared in his other eye.
“Good. You don’t seem to have a concussion either.” He was already putting the kit away. “However I would urge you to be more careful in traversing this area.”
Danny began ripping a wipe open, but he felt like he was on autopilot. Like this was a level of a video game he had already played but didn’t remember the correct actions to take.
“I thought you said my fighting was impressive,” Danny tried again, smirking. Robin in particular, Danny recalled, was the slowest to open up. Very reserved and also extremely judgmental.
Even behind the mask, Danny could just tell Robin was rolling his eyes.
“I observed your persuasion skills to be impressive, not your fighting. I didn’t witness much of the fight, but even so: Don’t let that foolish arrogance prevent you from protecting yourself. In all likeliness you were merely lucky more than skilled. The only impressive feat here is that you managed not to get yourself killed, if I am to speak honestly.”
Ouch.
Danny chuckled, nodding along to avoid the full lecture. “Sure, sure, got it. Safety. Can do.” Danny gave a thumbs up.
Robin looked nearly ready to scold him again, probably for not treating this very seriously, when his earpiece suddenly buzzed to life and he tilted his head minutely to the sound.
“Robin, rendezvous at Main Street, armed robbery at Tungsten Bank.”
Danny’s chest exploded in emotion at hearing that voice. He felt himself go still as the blood drained from his face, eyes widening. That was Bruce. Batman.
Robin gave him an odd look—right, normal humans wouldn’t be able to hear that at all. Danny swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat, backing up a pace as Robin took out his grappling hook.
“You’re alright here, correct?”
Danny, fumbling to try and find his words, just nodded again. Robin paused, apparently sensing the odd vibe, but turned anyways to more pressing matters, aiming high towards the nearest rooftop.
“Wait!”
Robin turned abruptly back to him.
Danny froze, unsure what to say.
“Robin, acknowledge. What is your location?”
Robin clicked his tongue. “Do you require assistance?” he pressed.
Numbly, Danny shook his head. Robin only hesitated a second before putting a hand to his earpiece, refocusing. “On my way.”
Then he was gone.
◇◆◇
“f*ck me!”
Danny threw his arms at his sides, frustrated, doing a full turn in the alley to face away from where he had botched his first meeting with Robin. He sighed loudly, exasperated at himself. Overall, it hadn’t been that bad—but Danny still felt stupid. He acted way too obvious. To be fair, it was doubtful Robin would even remember the awkward interaction when there was surely much more going on in Gotham, but still.
It was just, he hadn’t expected to run into any of the Bats quite that soon. And it was kinda scary how easily he had been snuck up on. Danny was a halfa and had been training his situational awareness for years. He tisked to himself. Now that I can go back to the Realms whenever I want, I’m gonna go see Pandora soon. I’m feeling rusty.
First though, he needed to wait a few days to make sure the GIW didn’t, by some freak means of science, show up from portal number one.
Danny sighed again, running a hand through his hair. Oh well.
Danny took a moment to gather the discarded weapons the thugs had left and throwing them in the dumpster behind the convenience store. Then he went back inside, washed the blood off his face and the hoodie sleeve, before reemerging with fresh makeup once again. He bought another Gatorade from the now-sympathetic looking cashier.
“Okay, me, round two.”
This time, instead of waiting around, he set off in a random direction, hands bunched in the hoodie pocket. He casually swept the area for ghosts as he went, curious if his ghost sense would work if the entire city was haunted by Lady Gotham.
It was completely dark now and the streets seemed busier now that the rain had died down. Danny began to spot small groups of huddled people, most wearing dark clothes like him and speaking in hushed voices. Every once in a while he passed a crowd of women in colorful, promiscuous clothing, and made sure to veer around them so they didn’t feel threatened. A couple even called over to him, but he waved his decline with a tight smile.
Danny tried his best to take in the tall buildings, the dimmed lighting, all of it, while trying to not completely look like a tourist. If he was too obvious about being lost he’d probably get almost-mugged again. Every once in a while a car would zip past like the devil was on its heels, and Danny didn’t feel bad at all about letting himself go briefly intangible to avoid getting splashed.
In terms of sleep spot options, the area was dismal. There only seemed to be rows after rows of tall buildings, each with a narrow, dirty alley to accompany it. Passing one such alley, Danny paused as his next exhale came with a familiar puff of cold breath, and he tensed, turning to face the alley. Hm, guess that still works after all. It, like all the others he had passed, looked dark and foreboding. Trash littered the ground and there was puddles of foul-smelling mud scattered across the ground. Danny glanced behind him to the rusty street sign, reading:
‘Park Row’
Not having any better ideas, Danny took a step into the alley.
Danny shivered. This was definitely someone’s haunt. Danny heard a rattle and stopped, keeping his hands in his pockets to try and seem as polite and non-threatening as possible to the ghost.
“It’s alright,” Danny said softly in ghost speak, “I’m not here to disrupt your territory.” Sub-territory? Danny really needed to figure that out.
What Danny didn’t expect was for a bright green blob ghost to float up from inside a trashcan, wearing the lid like a hat. Danny laughed at the unexpected scene, feeling the tension leave his shoulders.
“Oh, hello there. Up to some late-night snacking, are we?”
Danny crouched, reaching his hand out and making a chittering sound like one would to get a feral cat to come near you, but blob ghost version. The blobby phased out of the trash can with a clang as the lid fell back into place. A real cat bolted away at the sound, taking off into the shadows. The ghost came to sniff his hand and Danny giggled. “All’s you’re missing is a birthday hat, and the prophecy would come true.” Danny supposed a trashcan lid would suffice.
When the blobby finished investigating, it rubbed against his hand affectionately, chirping excitedly.
“Good ghost.”
It wasn’t exactly surprising to him that the ambient ectoplasm in Gotham was nasty enough to need some local helper-cleaners. The blobby squealed happily at him, preening, before turning with an audible squelch and disappearing through the wall.
Danny huffed with a laugh, pushing up to stand once more and peer down the alley. Something still didn’t feel right. Danny involuntarily shivered again, but decided if the ghost haunting this stretch of the city didn’t want to be greeted, he wouldn’t push.
He turned away to continue walking, glancing back only once to check it was still empty.
◇◆◇
The night was going surprisingly well so far, Jason conceded to himself. Sure, sirens were going off somewhere, but they weren’t in his territory, so he didn’t let himself worry about it. All the other Bats had the rest of Gotham to worry about, leaving Jason only to patrol Crime Alley and the surrounding blocks he had claimed. So far the only ‘incident’ of the night had been the demon brat cutting through his turf on his way to Main, and Jason having to stop himself from cussing him out for it. They all knew how much it bothered Jason but did it anyways. ‘Your so-called territory is too big, Jason, we can’t avoid it entirely when we have work to do’.
Whatever.
He was just finishing his third sweep of his normal patrol route and so far, he’d only shot one person (nonfatally—even though B would probably still chew him out for it. It was dumb that Batman could break a man’s arm and several ribs and that’s fine, but Red Hood shoots someone in the leg and suddenly it’s a big ‘ol moral conundrum). But people needed to know, if you f*cked with folks in Hood’s territory, you got shot. It was a very simple design. Elegant, even.
Jason rolled and landed on the roof adjacent to the higher one he’d just jumped from. The air tonight was brisk with the coming of autumn, making the rain from earlier that much more annoying. Now everything was just damp and cold. It didn’t help that calm nights like this tended to put him on edge. Absently, he took off running again to clear the distance to the next building. Out of habit, he checked the streets below for any sign of foul play, but it was just the usual crowds out and about. He could just feel the cool air through all of his layers—meaning it was definitely chilly but not cold yet.
Jason was resting with one foot on the ledge, taking the moment to rest, when he felt that horrible tug in his chest telling him to circle back to Crime Alley.
Jason closed his eyes for a second, willing it to leave, but of course it only got stronger. He balled his hands into fists, trying to breathe through the irrational anger that flooded him out of nowhere. He had learned long ago the weird feelings he got from the Pits couldn’t be trusted the same way his gut instinct could. It was different, and as far as he could tell, entirely random.
Still, the pull didn’t go away—it was like an itch that only became worse the longer he tried to ignore it. He was reminded of spider’s silk, and of a bug caught in the web, the wriggling vibrations thrumming back to him in hopes of sating some sick hunger. Some nonexistent hunger, more like.
Jason growled, irritated at the turn of emotions, and strode angrily away from the ledge and began sprinting towards the familiar, damnable alleyway.
Jason had long since gotten used to the nonsensical urges the Pits drove in him, even if none of the others seemed to understand why he couldn’t just ignore it when it came up. Jason desperately wanted to be able to ignore it himself, especially knowing nothing would be there. There never was.
But as always, he couldn’t.
Nearing the alley, Jason slowed to be able to move more silently, another deeply ingrained habit he couldn’t will himself to ignore. He slowed to a crawl, walking on the tips of his armored boots to inch his way closer to the ledge. Crime Alley was always fairly dark, so at least he didn’t have to worry about having enough shadows to conceal him.
Peaking over the edge, Jason was expecting the same dumb feeling for checking for something that wasn’t there—like a parent checking underneath the bed ‘cause the kid insisted there were monsters, but it was Jason checking the most avoided alley in Gotham ‘cause his brain insisted there were trespassers.
Which might’ve been why, when he looked to see there was someone standing alone in the alley, Jason nearly stumbled in his surprise. No one came down this way—not unless they were terrified or unusually desperate.
Or stupid, maybe.
Jason briefly caught what was probably a cat taking off down the alley, but focused his attention back to the mystery figure. The figure who, strangely enough, had just been kneeling by the entrance—for which, why? Everyone in Gotham knew that this alley was the main intersection between every major criminal hotspot in the Narrows; it wasn’t just to scare people, Crime Alley had earned its reputation.
So, what the f*ck?
Jason watched as the figure finally stood and went to leave. That irrational desire to drop down and start a fight came again so strongly, Jason nearly shuddered, but he held it together and reigned it in. It made his blood feel like it was boiling, close to bubbling out. But unless the person was doing anything against Hood’s rules, like sampling drugs to kids or dealing weapons, there was no reason to be so angry. And yet, here I am, pissed like a motherf*cker. Jason fingered the gun on his thigh holster but didn’t draw it. It wasn’t necessary. It wasn’t.
The figure, hooded and wearing dark clothing (typical), drew back to the entrance, looking strangely back towards the alley like they were waiting, or something.
Jason’s bullsh*t-ometer was now well into the red.
When they finally went to leave, it was second nature to follow.
He made sure to trail at a decent distance, just to account for the unlikely chance they knew how to spot that kind of thing. They didn’t seem to be walking in any sort of purposeful direction though, simply meandering at a relatively slow pace, stopping periodically to watch the street. Jason was just considering that maybe the person was just wandering aimlessly, or potentially high on something, when he saw the moment they spotted a dull orange glow that indicated a street encampment. They suddenly seemed more focused, straightening as they began crossing the street towards the camp with more surety.
Jason’s eyes narrowed, and he crossed over to follow. No one would be harassing the homeless community on his watch.
Jason let himself linger a block or so away until the figure rounded the corner into the side street by the fire, before looping around to make it to the rooftop that would give him the best vantage point. Once settled, he was relieved to at least realize the person hadn’t made any moves—they were just leaning against the wall on the inside of the alleyway, watching the other people huddled on the ground or near the fire. Jason frowned to himself, realizing the person probably wasn’t a threat—they were probably just homeless. Nothin’ wrong with that.
Feeling more relaxed now, Jason was finally able to curb the anger so it didn’t sprout into a full-blown Pit Rage. He felt himself settling, relaxing on the brick roof as he watched the people below.
At some point, the mystery figure decided to walk up to the nearest person—an elderly man with graying hair who was huddled with a dirty blanket, hands outstretched to the fire. They even waved, seemingly pretty non-threatening.
They spoke in a low voice and the older man didn’t seem alarmed or anything, so Jason wasn’t worried. Eventually they dropped their hoodie—and Jason was finally able to see it was a guy, fairly young looking. Maybe around Jason’s age or younger. Possibly thin, but it was hard to tell with how the baggy hoodie enshrouded his frame. His jeans were ripped well-past the point of usage—Jason idly wondered if he was cold or not, but the temperatures wouldn’t be getting low enough tonight to be dangerous. Hood would probably do another donation event with winter coming up—he didn’t like people freezing to death in his territory. Just ‘cause people here were poor didn’t mean they deserved that kind of death.
Now that he was sure the potential for threat was gone, Jason was only half paying attention to the people below, letting his thoughts wander. Bruce would almost certainly want Jason to come stay at the manor with the holidays approaching, but it always made Jason uncomfortable. Sure, they were both at least trying to work through everything that had happened. But he didn’t like to leave the Narrows often. The Bats all thought it was just paranoia, but it was deeper than that. These streets had been his home far longer than Wayne Manor had—even when he had been Robin, he had always felt a little uneasy living there—just, too big, too extravagant… too much. But Jason would have to show up in some capacity, though, or he’d be accused of not trying or whatever. He guessed he had a few months to figure it out, at least.
Jason’s attention suddenly snapped back to the camp when he saw two children he recognized get up from where they had been huddled, either asleep or just still. They were both very young, under ten, and Jason knew they didn’t have anyone looking after them. Jason watched as the older of the two, a girl who went by Papaya for famously stealing a papaya from some rich bozo who’d gotten lost, began approaching the hoodie guy from behind.
Jason winced, watching as she crept closer, clearly intent on trying to pickpocket something. He’d have to remind them later to only steal from people who you knew didn’t have a weapon. Approaching strangers like that could be very dangerous—but at least, Jason was here if anything went awry. Jason’s hand fell back to the gun, hoping he wouldn’t need to use it.
Unexpectedly though, the man turned right before the girl was about to reach him. Despite the slow and obviously purposeful movement, she squeaked, jumping back a little in fright. Jason was tense, ready to spring into action if needed.
The man, at least immediately, didn’t retaliate.
He seemed to be considering something, but then knelt down. Jason upped the noise sensitivity on his helmet to be able to listen in.
“—there. Sorry I scared you. My name’s Danny. Do you need help with anything?”
The girl stared at Danny, suspicious. Jason eased a little, feeling a tad calmer. On one hand, Jason knew stealing would piss most people off, and just getting angry would be one thing. On the other hand, if anyone tried to hit one of his kids, he’d probably shoot them. Jason didn’t care what the circ*mstances were, they were still just kids.
The girl drew back a little, even though Danny didn’t reach forward or anything.
“It’s okay, I’m not mad—just, I’d prefer if you asked.” Danny paused, then chuckled a little wryly. “Although I’m sure that doesn’t normally go over well for you either, actually, so nevermind.”
She stood back, not trusting him. Good.
Finally, she spoke up. “Hungry.”
Yeah, Hood would be holding some donations soon. Also wasn’t there a food kitchen down the street? He should do more to make sure everybody knew where to find it. Especially the little ones.
Danny nodded, pulling his backpack forward to reach inside.
Hood squinted, feeling his pulse shoot up suddenly.
Danny withdrew what looked like homemade biscuits or granola bars of some kind—they were only packaged in Ziploc bags.
The girl stubbornly shook her head, looking disappointed. Jason relaxed again. Atta girl. Never trust unlabeled food.
Danny, it seemed, just as quickly understood.
“Oh right, sorry—” he put them back, digging a little more, before pulling out some individually packaged off-brand granola bars, and held them out. Now Hood could see the girl considering.
Danny sat them on the ground between them, before pulling out two bottles, setting them on the ground next to the bars. “You can check the seal, they’re unopened.”
He pulled his hand back and Jason could see they were both red Gatorades.
Jason hummed approvingly.
“Sorry if you don’t like it, but maybe your brother does?”
Ah, so he did see the other one.
“If not, you can leave them. Won’t hurt my feelings,” Danny continued.
Finally, he seemed to reach into his hoodie pocket, before pulling out several ones’ worth of cash. Jason’s eyebrows shot up. Most people in the Narrows never let other people know if they had money on them.
Danny sat the cash by the food before backing away, letting the girl know she could take them. She was staring at him with awestruck eyes—Jason felt his heart melt a little.
“Papaya,” the girl said quietly.
Danny seemed to be taken off guard by that, before laughing. The older gentleman, Jason noticed, also laughed at the scene.
“Sorry, ‘fraid I don’t have any fruit.”
She shook her head, and Jason felt himself smiling slowly.
“I’m Papaya. Or Paya. That’s my name.”
Jason was smirking now, almost wishing he could have seen Danny’s expression, but he was still facing away from Hood.
Danny chuckled, recovering. “Oh! Yeah okay, my bad. Nice to meet you, Paya.”
He waved, and she quickly gathered the spoils and went back to sit near her brother, who had been watching nervously.
Danny had gone back to leaning against the brick wall, too far away from the fire to really feel the heat. But the general atmosphere of the alley had lightened considerably—no one liked it when fights broke out, but especially at the camps, which were informally designated as safe spaces. Danny pulled out a phone and began typing on it, so Hood took that as his cue that all was well here and stood to leave, brushing off his pants.
Just before he was about to hop down to the next building, Jason thought he noticed Danny turn his gaze minutely in his direction, or at least up to the rooftops of the building Jason was perched on.
Jason froze, trying to decide if Danny had spotted him or if it had just been a coincidence. But then he looked away again, going back to his phone. Jason waited several minutes to see if he would do it again, but he didn’t.
Hood decided to call it chance and finally jumped down to land on the adjacent roof, shaking off the odd feeling.
Yeah, quiet nights always put him on edge.
