Mochakri

Once, Danny and Valerie were in Indiana exploring the Fort Harrison State park. Valerie got a brand new camera and demanded that Danny use a portal to take her somewhere to get some nature shots. It was a nice day until Danny was hit by a falling tree after pushing Valerie out of the way. (Stupidly so because she was already jumping away from the falling foliage. All Danny managed to do was jump directly under the tree and to his death)

Three hours later, Danny was sneaking out of a rural Indiana’s hospital morgue when an intern caught him. Danny had crawled out of a body shelf and was halfway done getting redressed when the man walked in. Valerie was busy distracting the main medical examiner to give Danny time to slip away and didn’t notice the intern wandering to the autopsy room.

Danny was standing there embarrassed. Shelf door swinging open behind him with his shoes and coat in one hand, pants and belt unbuckled, and dried blood and leaves still tangled in his hair. The two of them stared at each other without speaking for a long minute before, without breaking his expression, the intern fell back in a dead faint and Danny and Valerie were able to skip town without further incident.

Valeries pictures turned out great. And she said it wouldn’t have been a vacation without Danny doing something stupid. So at least she thought it was funny.

(Well, there was an article about a ‘zombie’ escaping the hospital and the intern quit his job and became a pediatrician, but Danny was sure that had nothing to do with him.)

Now it was time for College! Everyone in his friend group took two years off after high school to deal with the Fenton Portal (finally convincing his parents that opening a rift into another dimension was not the best thing for scientific inquiry) and dealing with the general politics on in the Ghost Zone.

Finally, after two long years of endless meetings, arguments, debates, and discussions. They are free to explore their studies!

Each of them got into great schools too! Valerie was particularly impressive with her multitude of full ride scholarships for her Criminal Justice degree to nearly any college in the country. Danny wasn’t even sure when she had the time to apply for all of them. She chose Columbia University in New York. Tucker told Danny to keep it to himself, but the CIA, FBI, and NSA all had their eyes on Valeries impressive skill set and obvious intelligence.

Tucker was excited to go to Metropolis University for his double major of Software Engineering and Computer Science.

Sam was at Gotham University for Environmental sciences.

Jazz was with Tucker in Metropolis working on her master's degree in psychology.

And Danny was following Sam to Gotham for his own degree in Engineering with a minor in Space studies and Astronomy.

Gotham was a different kind of city compared to Amity Park for sure. Due to the high mortality rate that comes with living in the most cursed city in the world (as opposed to the Most Haunted city in the world), Gotham had no less than 11 public hospitals each with their own morgues as well as the fancy private hospital reserved for the upper of the upper crust of the city and of course the hospital morgue within Arkham Asylum.

Danny and his unfortunate habit of dying and not staying dead found it to be perfect. With the high death rate of the city, corrupt doctors/coroners/ and others, and rampant crime rate. He’d be a single undead tree in a forest of bodies. Danny paused mid-thought. He may have lost the metaphor somewhere, but the basic deal was;

Gotham big+ Lots of bodies = Danny’s dead/undead shenanigans would go unnoticed. Even with Batman and the rest of the flock…crew…clan….

What was a group of bats called again? A quick google search told him it was called a Colony.

So even if the Batman colony got suspicious, there were so many people and bodies the chances of them catching him was almost nothing. It was perfect.

Jazz told him a better solution would be for Danny to just avoid dying in the first place, But Danny was too familiar with his own luck to think that was possible for long.

Danny looked around at his new apartment. While Sam’s parents ensured she got a luxury penthouse apartment 5 minutes from campus. Danny had to find his own apartment. Sam offered him her spare bedroom but Danny declined.

He wanted to strike out on his own. And he wanted to get a room set up for Dani when she visited. His little cousin/daughter/sister/clone was a free traveling spirit, but Danny made she sure knew that she was always welcomed home with him, and that he’d always have a place ready for her to visit.

Danny was happy with his apartment. A 6th floor walk-up two bedroom. Cheap laminate flooring, rattling appliances, a window with a rickety fire escape that squeaked in the wind. It wasn’t the best living situation in the world. But it was a 40-minute walk from Gotham University and was in his budget. (There was another closer building with cheaper rent, but Tucker looked into the landlord and found connections with a trafficking ring, so it was vetoed)

Danny pulled open a portal to his lair in the zone and began shuffling his moving boxes and furniture through. Who needed a moving crew?

By the end of the day, Danny was pretty happy with his progress. He got his couch, bed, desk, dresser, and TV stand all assembled and arranged. He’d finish up Dani’s room furniture tomorrow.

His stomach growling alerted Danny that he had missed lunch and a look at the clock told him he could still manage to snag a late dinner if he picked something up now.

Another google search told him that most takeaway restaurants nearby stopped delivering at 9:30pm for ‘Delivery employee safety’ which was fair. Another glance at the clock told him it was 11:45pm way too late for takeaway but a nearby place had a late-night pick-up option. Nice. He was in the mood for some Chinese too.

His order placed, Danny grabbed some of the cash he had found stuffed in in the cushions of the couch earlier and a black coat he’s pretty sure he stole from Vlad to be petty. He couldn’t catch a cold, but people gave him weird looks if he went out in December without a jacket. He slipped the coat on. A little long on him and old fashioned looking, but it’d be fine for a quick food run. With a quick flick of the lock Danny was headed down the apartment stairs.

Gotham was dangerous in the middle of the day but at night if felt particularly eerie. Danny followed the glowing map on his phone to the Chinese restaurant. Luckily for him it was only two blocks away and the girl at the counter had his food ready when he arrived. She was pretty but kept staring at him with a strange expression on her face. Maybe Vlad’s coat was too weird?

Whatever, he could smell the egg rolls and orange chicken in the bag. That’s all Danny cared about now. With a wave Danny bid the restaurant goodbye. He’d definitely be back if the smell of the food was any indication.

On the walk back to his apartment, Danny was so distracted with pulling an egg roll out of the container to munch on that he didn’t notice he wasn’t alone.

Danny was yanked violently into an alley as he passed in-front of the opening. He dropped the egg roll he had in hand.

“Hey!”

“Shut up! Give me your wallet!” The mugger yelled at Danny waving a gun around in his face. His voice was hoarse, a heavy smoker judging by his yellowed teeth. Danny blinked at the man blankly. “I only have cash.”

The man’s face turned red. “You little Fucker! Hand the fucking money over!”

“Okay. Fine just give me a second.” Danny switched his takeout back to his other hand to reach into his pocket for the cash and change left over. The rustle of the plastic bag made the mugger flinch slightly. “Hurry up!” His dark eyes darted wildly around the alley nervously.

“Okay, okay.” Danny usually would have used intangibility or maybe just invisibility to avoid this guy but the last thing he needed was for a rumor about a meta in the neighborhood to circulate. That’s a quick way to have Batman on his tail. It’d be too much trouble for just the $35.75 left in his pocket. And the guy looks like he really needs the money. He might as well cooperate and head home for the night.

As Danny tried to pull his hand out of his pocket, his hand got caught in the excess fabric around his wrist stuck in the pocket. “Oh, wait uh” he tugged his hand loose. The man across the alley looked half a second from losing his cool. His feet shuffled like he was getting ready to run. Danny extended the crumpled bills toward the jittery man.

But when the man extended his own hand to snatch the money a thump from behind startled him.

BANG!

Danny got a glimpse of Batman’s shadowy face before a flare of excruciating pain erupted from his neck. “Ughk!” Instinctively, Danny dropped his bag to grab at his neck. He felt the food spill over his shoes. Dang it. He was looking forward to that. Hot blood sprayed through his fingers. Gross.

Danny would have sighed if he could have. His first day in Gotham and he ends up dying. Jazz is not gonna let him live this down.

The mugger who shot him looked horrified. “It-I thought it was unloaded!” He yelled before running out of the alley, the money he grabbed Danny for falling and fluttering around the alley in his haste to escape.

Batman caught Danny as his legs gave out beneath him. Danny felt the head rush that came with blood loss. Weird. He expected there to be more pain when it came to getting shot. Maybe he was in shock already? Gloved hands covered his own and pressed onto the bullet wound. Danny knew it was pointless. He lost too much blood already and judging by the spurting the bullet hit an artery.

Lightheaded, Danny slipped his hand out from under the heavy glove on his neck to grip at Batman’s wrist. Poor guy looked distressed even through the mask. “Hold on. The Ambulance is coming.”

“S’okay. It’s okay. Not…fault.” Danny tried to tell the hero that it was an accident. The mugger didn’t mean to shoot him. The blood filling his mouth made his words gurgled.

“Don’t try to speak. Help is coming.” Batman had white lenses covering his eyes. But Danny heard the emotion under his gravelly voice. The man was trying not to cry. The least Danny could do was comfort the poor man. His grip on Batman’s wrist tightened. He used his quickly numbing fingers to pat his hand comfortingly.

“Acciden…S’okay. S’okay.” Black spots filled his vision. The haze of death that he was familiar with began to creep in. Pulling air to his lungs was getting harder. His grip on Batman loosened and fell slack. Batman caught Danny’s limp fingers. One hand still on his neck, the other holding Danny’s hand.

“I’m…I’m sorry.” Batman said. Danny could faintly hear ambulance sirens. Too far away to help.

“S’okay…” with the last slurred word Danny fell back into that dark, fuzzy, place of sleep while his corpse stayed in that Alley cradled by Gothams Darkest Knight.

Batman sat in the Alley cradling the young man in his arms. Early to mid twenties. Male or at least male presenting. Black hair. Before they closed, he saw blue eyes. Thin. Athletic. He had his whole life ahead of him. And now because of a mugger and Batman’s inattention, he was dead.

Batman looked up as two paramedics entered the alley. “Mugging. Gunshot woods to the neck. Nonresponsive.” He backed away as they kneeled in the spilled Chinese food to check the man. “No pulse.” The female EMT said. The male had his hand on the victim's neck. In the same position Batman’s was in a moment ago. “No vital response. He’s gone.”

“Let’s call homicide.” The female sighed. “I’m guessing the mugger got away?” She looked back up at Batman.

Only to be met with an empty alley. Batman gone.