Danny hadn’t expected that defeating Pariah Dark would make him the ghost king, and give him a truckload of paperwork. If he had known, he would’ve let Vlad fight him. He despised paperwork with a passion. So, when the Justice League summoned him asking for help, he made it clear he would as long as three of their members would assist him with a task. Admittedly, he had been in his big scary king form so there may have been some slight confusion.
Batman surveyed the room full of paperwork, the teenager who looked like he was about to cry, and back to Martian Manhunter and Wonderwoman. Then, he sat down and started sorting through the paperwork.
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How To Balance Your Daytime And Nighttime Activities So That You Don't Burn Yourself Out More Than You Already Have
"Hey, Tutelary," Robin said about an hour after everyone had left the Manor, Phantom included.
"Yeah?"
"I'm not gonna have to ask 'when' you're from, right?"
Phantom blinked in surprise, halting in place for a second. "No, why?"
Robin hummed. "Just making sure."
He shook his head. "Alrighty, then."
Phantom continued on his way to Bludhaven, clearing the distance in ten minutes. Working from the outside in, he circled the city invisibly, keeping an eye and ear out for anything going on.
It seemed like news of Nightwing hadn't gotten out yet, but that was sure to change quickly.
The others, he could hear, were all spread out around Gotham. Batman was with Robin, Nightwing and Batgirl were alone. Someone was humming, someone else was fighting, and Batgirl was talking to someone on a rooftop.
Phantom wondered how they could do this with all the noise in the ears without getting distracted.
Still not knowing how to mute his comm, or if that was even possible, he kept himself completely silent, only letting his manual breathing be heard. When he had to take someone down, he made sure to keep the noise they made to a minimum.
An hour after sunset, Batgirl said, "Tutelary?"
"That's my name,"
"What're you dong? You're really quiet."
Was he? He hadn't noticed. He was actually being a bit louder than he was used to. "'m just reading a book."
"What book?" Batman asked.
That surprised Phantom. He kinda figured B-man would get mad at them for talking on comms, even if that's the whole reason he was allowed one anyway. He didn't have time to think, so he said the first one that came to mind, "Psychology for Dummies."
A beat.
Robin and Nightwing snorted. "What?"
He nodded to himself. "You heard what I said."
"Why're you reading a psychology book?"
"Screw that, I didn't even think there was one in the Manor!"
"There's not." If Phantom wasn't mistaken, then there was the barest hint of smugness in Tab-nam's voice.
"There isn't?" He asked, "I wouldn't know. Alfred showed me to a room, and I stayed in there the whole time. I've been reading on my phone."
Batman hummed. The others made noises of understanding.
"Why psychology, though?" Batgirl asked again.
He shrugged, despite her not being able to see it, and stopped over a mugging he needed to stop soon. "My sister got me into it. It's not really my thing, but the way the human works is fascinating."
"Really?" Robin asked, half distracted, "Care to share?"
"And spoil this absolute page turner for you?" he gasped dramatically. Nightwing huffed through his nose.
The others started up a quiet conversation about something or other while Phantom swooped down and grabbed the mugger in a choke-hold, covering his mouth and nose so he couldn't make much noise.
There was a pause in the conversation just as the guy went down. Phantom tied him to a lamppost.
"Are you sure I won't have to ask when you're from?" Robin asked again, "Because I feel like that's a conversation we'll need to have eventually."
"Why would I lie to you about time travel?" Phantom said, "Besides, Nightwing can affirm for me-"
"I can?"
"-I was born the same year as you, Robin."
"Hm. I don't-" There was explosion in Gotham and all three lines cut out.
Fictober23 Prompt: 23 - "No, you won't understand, ever."
Fandom: DPxDC
Rating: T
Warnings: Mentions of experimentation, death, and torture as well as mentions of character death
A/N: Well… this turned out not like I originally wanted it to go. It was once again a self runner while writing. I also advise to have read Prompt 13 before, since this is kind of like a continuation of it.
Duke was worried. Danny hadn't been to school for a couple of days now. That was not a good sign. The library incident had only happened a week ago and Duke had made leaps in his friendship with Danny because of it. The other Meta had opened up to him, well sort of, there was still a lot Duke was aware that he didn't know. But that was beside the point. Point was Duke had now a valid friendship with Daniel 'Danny' Nightingale, one that allowed him to be very worried right now.
Which led to him asking their teachers to give Duke all the materials Danny had missed out on for the promise that he would bring this to Danny's home. This was also how Duke got Danny's address. Even with their budding and reinforced friendship, Danny had pretty much avoided telling or showing Duke where he lived.
This was his chance now. No he was not going to allow any of his siblings to install any sort of heavy surveillance in or around his friends apartment that would breach privacy rules, but he would allow Babs and Tim to keep an eye on any surveillance camera already in existence. It was nice knowing that his family had his back when it came to the safety of his meta friend, but as it was with his family, if not watched they would end up on the side of extreme measures a little too quickly.
Now he understood why they said not to tell Bruce about his friend's status yet. That would have made it worse. Not that his siblings sometimes also already tended to reach into that dangerous area between still okay and too far into paranoia.
Either way Duke was now standing before his friend's registered apartment, schoolwork in hand and ready to knock on the door only for his stomach to drop when he realized that the door was not locked and a gap wide open. It wasn't like Danny lived in Crime Alley but the area he lived in was still not that safe to just leave your door unlocked.
His worries doubled.
After the library incident, Danny had told him about his situation a little. He lived alone separated from his sister, his only family left, in Gotham. He was forced into hiding after a severe incident in his home town through which he lost his parents. Because these Guy's in White still kept their eyes on his friends and sister he couldn't even risk getting into contact with them. Leaving Danny completely alone.
Duke hated that, to think that because of his Meta powers Danny was forced into such an extreme situation. He had wanted to explain to Danny that there were rights in place to protect him but the other Meta had changed the topic too quickly for Duke to bring it up. Explaining just a little bit who these GIW, Guy's in White, were. Though for some reason he couldn't believe that that's what these people were really called, he didn't press further.
Danny was still not opening up to him completely about the entirety of his situation or who these GIW people really were but he had shared enough for Duke to give his family an incentive to look into these people. He knew they had found out some things about this group of people but Duke had yet to take a closer look into that file and the power point Tim had apparently prepared on that whole topic alone.
Either way the door was open and unlocked, Danny hadn't come to school for several days either now too and Duke was worried! Excuse him for only knocking once while shouting Danny's name before just stepping into the apartment when he did not get an immediate answer.
"Danny?!"
He shouted once more once inside and taking a couple steps in he stopped appropriately when he heard a weird squishy sound under his feet. Looking down he realized he stepped into what looked like green goop.
"What is…"
He looked at it closer and then noticed that the green goop was also glowing and spread around the floor in a way you find blood in horror movies. Duke swallowed and placed the schoolwork in hand on the hall table before carefully continuing his way into the apartment, following the green goop.
"Hey Danny? Say something if you are here?" Maybe Duke should have taken Dicks offer to get driven to this apartment, if there was an intruder in his friend's apartment then Duke would at least have some sort of backup. He looked around the place though and nothing indicated an intruder or that a struggle had happened here. So maybe the green goop was just that green goop. Maybe Danny just spilled one of his science projects?
But the moment he reached the main living area he threw all these hopeful thoughts out of the window.
"Danny!"
He rushed to his friend's side having found him sitting against his living room wall. A bigger green puddle of goop was on the ground before Danny and a lot of it appeared to be smeared on his hands and forearms. The shirt he was wearing was clearly ripped and in tears and there appeared to be a wound on Danny's leg, leaking a mix of green and red blood.
The other meta had his head resting on his knees not at all reacting to Duke's calls and light touches to the shoulder. "Danny, hey, Danny? Comeon, can you hear me?"
He started to look around, wondering if Danny had a medkit anywhere in his apartment. He was already fumbling to get his phone out when the other suddenly slapped it out of his hand, glowing green eyes glaring at Duke. "Don't call anyone."
"Okay, but then at least tell me where your medkit is." Duke cooperated, he could find another way to contact his siblings later, for now Danny's health took priority and Danny clearly did not want for duke to call anyone additionally to help.
"It will heal by tomorrow." The other meta stubbornly said but that didn't help Duke's worry.
"It might heal by than but it still hurts doesn't it? So where is-"
"Just let it go!" Danny hissed burying his face in his knees again and Duke sighed.
"Danny, please."
"No." Duke let out another sigh at his friends refusal, and here he thought his friendship with was making progress.
"Can you at least tell me what happened? You didn't come to school and I got worried that these Guy's-"
"They didn't catch me." Danny cut him off once again and Duke felt some of his worry replaced with relief, but there was still a lot left. Before he could voice his next question Danny continued to muttered something, barely loud enough for Duke to hear.
"They killed him." Danny sounded so defeated and his voice was shaking slightly. Duke instinctively reached out a hand. "They killed him, I barely managed to get his core out of there but once I got here it broke anyway. I thought they didn't have a facility here but they have, there were so many and I only got one of them out and yet he still died and…."
"Hey, hey, hey, slow down. Danny, what are you talking about?" Whatever relief Duke had previously felt it vanished in an instant when Danny had muttered the first three words. He could only image the worst of things and from the sounds of it there was something, a facility that did something to Metas like Danny.
"The GIW built an experimentation facility here. They are resuming their damned experiments here." Dukes eyes narrowed. Not for long, he thought, once his family knew where they were that place would be raised to the ground in no time.
"Danny, can you tell me where that place is?" Probably not the best of times to ask his friend this but Duke would make sure that someone was going to take care of that place and that all the Metas there were going to be saved.
"It's no use. You won't be able to do anything." Danny instead muttered and Duke tightened his hold on the others shoulder, trying to make it as comforting of a touch as possible.
"Danny there are Meta rights, laws that protect us. Please, give me the location and I will make sure that someone is going to take care of it." That someone being his family, that he could promise his friend.
Instead of the trust he hoped Danny would give him, the other slapped his hand away and glared at him heatedly. "No! That won't work!"
"I know its, scary and I understand that it's probably hard to trust-"
"It won't work! It never will for us! We are not protected by law!"
"Danny, you are protected by law! The Meta rights are there to pro-"
"I AM NOT A META!" Danny suddenly burst out springing to his feet and distancing himself from Duke, his eyes glowing a vivid green. "I am not a Meta. I am not protected by your damned law, nore are the others! They can hunt us, experiment on us, hurt us and no one will give a good damn about it because we don't count as sentient!"
The other was breathing heavily and Duke couldn't help but get up and reach out in worry once more. Everything Danny had said was still running though his head and he wasn't sure what to make of it, but what he was sure about was that his friend needed help.
"Danny, it's okay. How about you explain it to me? Why wouldn't the Meta rights protect you? What makes you so different? I am I will be able to understand once you explain it to me and then we-"
"No. No, you won't understand, ever." Once again Danny sounded so defeated that Duke really wanted to just grab his friend and hug him. But instead he watched his friend closely, noticing how he clutched at his left wrist, for the first time Duke noticed the Lichtenberg scarring that was running up the other's arms from his hand peeking out between the tears of Danny's shirt. "You won't understand what it means for the law to declare your existence as illegal, to be trapped in their facility, to only be a number to get experimented on, to only be a number among many, to not be seen as sentient, to-"
Duke didn't care anymore as he lunged forward pulling the other into a hug. Ever since the library incident he had known that Danny needed help. He had assumed Danny was a Meta in hiding but it seemed his friends situation was so much worse than he originally thought.
"I will help you, I promise. We will free the others and then get rid whatever law declares you as an illegal existence." He pulled back enough to force Danny to look at him, seeing how the other was staring at him with suspicion and distrust but also there was hope in the others now blue eyes. "Explain it all to me Danny, I promise, Meta or not, I will find a way to help you."
(I've been kicking this idea around for a while, so here's this.)
✦
Mistaken Species
Phantom gets mistaken for a greater ice demon by a wannabe wizard going on a "gotta catch'em all" spree, and is subsequently sealed inside said wizard's book of magic as a potential binding summons/familiar. Danny goes missing for months? Years? Regardless of how long, somehow, someway, the book falls into Constantine's hands --He probably stole it in a game of poker. Yes, stole.-- then he pretty much just stashes it in the House of Mystery for safekeeping like all the other magic items that have been confiscated by the JLD.
It isn't until a world ending heat related threat appears, that he excavates the book and proceeds to make a familiar's contract with what he thinks is a powerful ice demon. What he gets instead is a very confused, very scared, and very exhausted Danny. Unfortunately for both of them, the familiar's contract still binds despite Danny being the wrong species of supernatural creature it was intended for. They are now stuck with each other for an indefinite amount of time.
Luckily, on the other hand, Phantom is still suited to handling the task he was summoned for and whoops ass and saves the day with his ice powers in little to no time at all. The Justice League are shocked by how quickly and efficiently the kid handled everything where they struggled in comparison.
Constantine has to explain the mix up to both the Justice League and to Danny--hes still very confused, not so much scared, and very tired--and how this ghost child is now stuck being around Constantine, and subsequently the Justice League Dark/Justice League whenever he's called in to help.
Shenanigans ensue as well as the majority of the JL trying to make his stay as comfortable as possible. Danny keeps dropping info bombs on how screwed up his human/hero life and his relationship with his parents is, and eventually help him contact his friends and sister, who have been worried sick about him over the years he'd been missing.
This is how the Justice League learn about what a dead zone (ha) Amity Park is and then step up to handle situation with the guidance of Phantom himself.
✦
Notes:
The amount of time Danny's been missing, as well as the guidelines of the familiar/summons contract are up to you to decide!
(Do I use Constantine too much for these prompts? He just fits so well in so many different au scenarios, it's kinda hard not to keep throwing him into the story.)
Danny ends up back in time. How does he know? Bc in fulfilling his obsession for space he had learned about the rates of decay for the various stars and by looking up he was able to not only see a very visible difference, he was able to get a pretty good idea on how far back he was.
As it was, the only chance he had of getting home was if a natural portal opened up or if clockwork came to get him. Which he hoped happened rather soon... Why? Bc he was surrounded by dinosaurs - approximately 65.5 million years in the past. And he could already see the beginning signs of the asteroid that would spell the end of an age in the sky.
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How To Balance Your Daytime And Nighttime Activities So That You Don't Burn Yourself Out More Than You Already Have
Getting to Gotham as fast as he could still took way too long. In the few minutes it had taken, there was still radio silence. He'd tried several more times to get a response, but nothing.
Logically, because there was an explosion, there should be smoke billowing from somewhere, so that's what Tutelary Phantom? looked for. The smog covering the sky and the smell of everything made it hard, but it soon became obvious that there wasn't any smoke.
"That doesn't make sense," he panicked slightly, "There was explosion! Explosions always have smoke!"
Still invisible, he flew over Gotham, searching the rooftops for any of the four vigilantes. When that offered no results, he decided to fly through every building, sending silent apologies for invading everyone's privacy.
Halfway through his search, he stopped. If anyone was hurt, they'd head back to the Cave. He wasn't allowed down there, but Alfred was.
He turned and retreated back to Wayne Manor.
As soon as he was back in the guest room, Phantom dropped back into Danny and he threw the door open, sprinting through the hallways and sliding down the banister to get to the ground floor quicker.
"Alfred!" he shouted, "Alfred, something's gone wrong!"
Alfred came out of the kitchen and raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong, young sir?"
"There was- there was an explosion on-on comms," he panted, "and no one's an-answering me!"
Alfred didn't let any emotion show, somehow managing to keep calm in the face of whatever was going on. He did, however, put the towel that was over his shoulder on the thin table in the hallway.
"I'll see if I can reestablish contact in the Cave," Alfred said, "You go back into Gotham and look for them yourself."
Danny blinked. "How did you..?" He shook his head. "Don't tell the others?"
"Of course."
"Got it."
"I will join your line shortly, Tutelary. Be swift."
"Understood." Turning away, he let the cold light wash over him again before flying through the walls of the Manor and back over to Gotham Proper.
There still wasn't any smoke in the air, nor were there any sings of fighting. Against his wants, he stopped a few crimes he saw, but nothing too big. He wasn't ready to take anything big like that on by himself.
Ten minutes, later, Alfred joined his comm line with no news on any of the others. He couldn't contact them, their trackers were offline, and none of them had come back in for a medical check.
There was a quiet hum from Alfred that had Phantom stopping short. "What? What is it?"
"Have you looked at Arkham yet?"
"Arkham? As in the prison? The one that took over Mercy Island? That Arkham?"
"You know your Gotham History well."
"I got bored one night," he said, "I haven't checked there, no."
"Best do so,"
Phantom nearly fell out of the sky. "Sorry? You want me to go to Arkham?"
"It's the only place neither of us have looked, right?"
"I mean, yeah, but-"
"We will have contact the entire time," Alfred said, "It is only a scout mission."
"And if I find them?"
"Try to get one of them free. They will do the rest."
"And if I don't find them?"
"Then you come to the Manor and we work from there."
"Right," Phantom nodded, "Right. Just go investigate the creepy revolving door all on your own. No biggie."
Gulping, he flew towards the island, his hesitations slowing him down.
Just as he reached the only bridge left to the island, Alfred asked, "How old are you, Tutelary?"
How To Balance Your Daytime and Nighttime Activities So That You Don't Burn Yourself Out More Than You Already Have
Batman has an insane patrol schedule. Danny knew this, somewhere in the back of his mind, but it was only just settling in for him.
"You're gonna be dead tired tomorrow," he warns Dick, "You were tired for only being out for two hours longer than your new normal, going from sunset to sunrise is gonna knock you out. I can't drive, Dick, so we'll be stuck in Gotham for another day if you pass out."
Dick patted his head with a smile. "I'll be fine. I'll vene bring ya back some Bat Burger, okay?"
Danny blinked. "Bat Burger?"
"You've- You've never had Bat Burger?" Louder, he called to Barbra and Tim who'd just come back from wherever the Cave entrance is with a comm for Danny, "Danny's never had Bat Burger!"
Barbra gasped dramatically. Tim clutched ay imaginary pearls. "You've never had Bat Burger?!"
"That sounds like an exclusively Gotham thing, and I am decidedly not from Gotham."
It was quiet for another moment as the three stared at him. Finally, Dick blinked. "Have you always been Midwestern?"
"As far as I know, why?"
His head tilted slightly to the left. "Your accent just seems..."
"Much more prevalent." Tim finished.
"Yeah, that."
“I don’t know what you guys are talking about. I’ve always talked like this.” A lie. He was hiding his accent from everyone so that tracking him down would be ever so slightly harder. Danny shrugged, “Right, Barbra?”
She shook her head. "No, you leave me outta this. As far as I know, you've sounded like this the whole time and these two are only just picking up on the accent."
Good job, Danny. Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss your way into their hearts.
"Anyway," Barbra continued, holding her hand to Danny, "This is a comm. It'll keep you patched in until we come back up to the manor after patrol. If you get tired of us or when you sleep, just take it out and put it on your nightstand; we'll take it back down in the morning for you."
"Are you sure you don't wanna come to the Cave?" Tim asked.
Danny shook his head, the comm now sitting in his left ear. "Mister Wayne already hates me, I'm not gonna go into his space. Besides, I'm already intruding as it is."
"I just don't want you to be bored."
"It's alright, I'm sure I'll find something to occupy myself with while you guys are out. And, isn't the whole point of me being on comms so that you guys can talk to me?"
"You're right," Dick agreed, "We'll see ya when we get back."
"Alright."
Occupy himself with? Yeah, he's going back to Bludhaven. Another problem he just realized, though: How is Bat Tech going to react to/around Phantom? Danny figures he has about two minutes to figure it out or he's gonna have to bench himself for the night.
There was no one around, so he ducked into the nearest room to transform. It was a quick lightshow, as always, but not enough to draw attention of anyone passing by.
Except Alfred. Alfred probably knows.
Alfred won't tell Bruce, right?
Right?
Probably not.
Hopefully.
Focusing on the comm revealed no static, though there was no sound either. Was someone trying to talk to him already? Hopefully not. That'd be upsetting.
There was a soft crackle before: "Danny, can you hear us?"
Phantom allowed a small smile of victory. "Yeah, loud and clear, Barbra."
"Call me Batgirl right now, okay? Tim's Robin, and, as you know, Dick's Nightwing. And, if you really need him, Bruce is Batman."
"Got it."
"We don't use real names on comms," Robin said, "Do you have something we could call you?"
That's probably a fish for what his hero name used to be. All three of them - Tim, at the very least - were hung up on the 'not anymore' of his denial and it really showed. He could make it easy and tell them to call him Phantom, but he really does not want them finding out his childhood right now. So, "Tutelary."
"'Tutelary'?" Nightwing asked.
"It's Greek," Batgirl said, "Tutelaries are deities or patrons of protection."
"Aw, that's cute," Robin cooed teasingly, "But you aren't doing much protecting from the Manor."
Phantom - is he really ready to give up that name? - blushed green, "Shut up. Protection Spirits are a big deal where I'm from!" Yeah, meaning most people don't actually think they're protecting them, but who really cares about technicalities?
"And that would be..?" Batman spoke up, his voice coming out much more 'gargle glass' over the comms than was probably intended.
Phantom smirked. "The Midwest." Limits options, but not specifically but he figured he could throw them a bone. Though, that's the only one he's giving Mister Wayne.
Speaking of, "I'll try not to be a distraction, Mister Batman sir, but I won't make any promises."
Nightwing, Batgirl and Robin were all sniggering. Batman was quiet for no more than a few seconds. "Stop getting distracted; We're leaving."
"Yes, sir!"
Phantom listened closely, focusing on the Cave below the Manor. Batman and Robin had gotten into some kind of assault vehicle-race car mix and were driving out into Gotham Proper quickly. Nightwing and Batgirl were both on motorcycles, leaving out a different way but just as quickly.
"Have fun out there, you guys."
Nightwing laughed, "We'll bring ya back some Bat Burger."
Part 15 Part 17
Real quick, before you move on, a quick Thank You to @bianca-hooks123 for the idea for Danny's name Tutelary. I hadn't even thought of using that until it was suggested, so thanks <3
How To Balance Your Daytime and Nighttime Activities So That You Don't Burn Yourself Out More Than You Already Have
They had planned to leave before Bruce got back to the Manor, but plans change all the time and it wasn't Danny's fault!
Alfred had invited a friend of Dick's, Barbra Gordon, to the Manor for dinner, meaning that Dick had to stay if he wanted to see her. And since Dick was staying, Danny was staying. Tim wasn't about to leave Danny to Bruce's mercy, so he was staying for dinner, too.
Bruce Wayne arrived at Wayne Manor exactly three and a half minutes after six in the evening. He entered the kitchen exactly ten minutes and five seconds after that.
The air was tense.
Dick had been tense since Danny first roped him into coming to Gotham, only getting worse as they got closer to the building they were now sitting in. Now that Bruce and Dick were in the same room, it was like the rope had frayed to the point of snapping with a light breeze.
Bruce sat at the head of the table with Tim to his left and down a chair. Dick sat at the foot of the table, Barbra sitting to his immediate right. Danny sat on the unoccupied side of the table, directly in the middle.
No one was saying a word.
Danny was on edge.
Finally, "Dick," Bruce said.
"Bruce," was the response.
As if the spell had been broken, though the awkwardness remained, Barbra cleared her throat and said, "It's good to have you back in Gotham, D."
Dick smiled at her, soft and happy and relieved. "It's good to see you, Babs. How've you been?"
"The same as usual. Though, Condiment King again!" She glared when Dick started laughing. "Yeah, sure, laugh it up, Wonder Boy. It took three hours to get that mustard out of my costume! It's easier to get blood out of white carpets-!"
Bruce pointedly cleared his throat, bringing all attention to him. "As good as it is to see you, Dick, who've you brought with you?"
Barbra flinched back slightly, having forgotten Danny was even there. Oops.
Danny grinned at Bruce, hiding his nerves behind his favorite fake-it-'til-you-make-it smile. "My name's Danny, it's nice to meet you Mister Wayne! I have to say, you're a lot less smiley in person than you are on the internet."
He hummed. "I apologize. Today's been an off day."
"No need," Danny waved off politely, "I get it."
"I have to say, Daniel-"
"'Danny', please. My name's Danny."
To his credit, Bruce didn't even skip a beat. "Then, call me Bruce. I must say that I didn't expect Dick to have taken anyone in."
Danny chuckled a bit. "I think it's less of him taking me in and more of me kind of letting myself into his house."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I noticed he wasn't doing too well, so I figured I'd step in to help where I could before he got himself hurt." 'Or worse' was heavily implied. "I imagine Tim did much the same with you?"
Tim stiffened as Bruce sighed. Well, that's not a good sign.
"Yes, though Tim doesn't live here."
"He has a room, though, right?"
"Of course."
"Good. I can't imagine having to travel with the kind of injuries you guys get at night is very fun." Here, he turned and looked Barbra in the eye. "Honestly, you deserve a prize for traveling from here to wherever you live after getting injured."
Barbra smiled sheepishly, "Thanks? I don't really come here, though. Only on occasion."
Bruce interrupted before the conversation could continue, "What do you mean? Dick's the only one of us who could possibly get hurt on the job." He shook his head. "Honestly, why did you ever join the BHPD? It's too dangerous."
Oh, Danny had to put a stop to that right away!
"Sorry, to jump in here, Mister Wayne, but I know what all of you moonlight as." He ignored Bruce's narrowed, sharp glare. "You're Batman, Dick is Nightwing, Tim is Robin, meaning that Barbra has to be Batgirl and, if I'm right, Oracle."
"Who are you?" Bruce demanded. He didn't ask because asking is for people who aren't paranoid enough to have six levels of security at the front gate alone.
"I just told you: Danny." He unflinchingly met Bruce's glare. "Not good enough for you? I'm Danny, personal caretaker of vigilantes who refuse to take care of themselves, bookkeeper, cook, unlicensed medical unprofessional, et cetera. Though, don't call me a therapist because that's my sister. Is that a better answer?"
Bruce hummed.
The meal itself was somehow even worse than before Alfred had brought out the food. Glares were being thrown and concerned glances shared. It made the food taste bad, which was probably a war crime.
Danny had been raised with manners, so he'd thanked Alfred for making dinner. He even offered to help with clean up, though he backed down when he was refused. He knows better.
After dinner, the group had gone back into the very same drawing room as before. Dick and Barbra cuddled together on the couch, Bruce and Tim took the two armchairs, and Danny sat on the floor in front of the now lit fireplace.
"So, Tim," Danny started, "You working on any interesting cases?"
Tim seemed to perk up a bit. "Yeah, actually. It's a murder-"
"We're not at liberty to discuss anything with you, Daniel." Bruce's voice was gravely, almost the voice he used as Batman, as he spoke over Tim.
Danny's eyes narrowed. "I believe I told you my name is 'Danny', not 'Daniel'."
"Well, seeing as I don't actually know you, and you have offered up no sir name, I'll stick with calling you whatever I'm comfortable with, especially in my own home."
"This isn't a fight you wanna pick, Mister Wayne. You might want to rethink your choice."
"I am well aware of what battles to fight. However, you're mistaken. This isn't a battle. I'm merely stating that I will be calling you 'Daniel' until you offer up your sir name to be called by."
Danny very obviously looked Bruce up and down. "I guess my parents were right; You can't ever believe everything you read on the internet."
"Oh? Why do you say that?"
"Because you, Mister Wayne, are horrible with children."
The temperature in the room dropped. Bruce's glare hardened even more. He appraised Danny, assessing him and filing away everything he could find. "Speaking to me like that in my own home is quite the move."
"Are you threatening me, Mister Wayne?"
"Not at all," he denied. "What are you really doing here, Dick?"
"I wanted to come meet Tim," Dick lied.
"Don't lie to me."
"What, I can't even come meet your newest Robin?"
"After the way you treated Jason?"
Dick stood quickly, Barbra scrambling to her feet. "After the way I-! You're the one who let him put on my old uniform!"
Bruce stood to his full height, looking down on Dick. "Me? You barely even talked to him! I spent as much time as I could with him!"
Danny blocked out the already out of hand yelling match and grabbed Barbra's and Tim's hands, leading them out of the room. This was not how he was hoping this would go at all.
He could still hear the yelling, even in the foyer.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to Tim and Barbra, "I didn't expect this to happen."
"It's alright," Barbra said, flinching when she realized that she could hear both men's voices almost clearly.
"No, it's not. I dragged Dick here to apologize to Tim. We were supposed to leave before Bruce even left Wayne Enterprises."
Tim shook his head. "We should've anticipated something like this would happen."
"Yeah..."
The three sat together on the steps, Bruce and Dick's voices carrying through the wood and marble.
"Hey," Barbra said after a few minutes, "How do you know about the Cave being under the Manor?"
Danny blinked at her before turning to Tim. "There's a cave under the Manor?!" He glared playfully at his friend. "You didn't tell me that your base of operations is a cave under Wayne Manor!"
"If it makes you feel any better," Tim offered, "Dick named it the Bat Cave."
