Cass (Orphan): Play?
Danny (Albatross): Hm?
Tim (Red Robin), already suspicious: âŚShe wants to scare criminals with you.
Danny: Oh! Iâd love to!
Tim: You two should make people think Iâm haunted. Donât let yourselves be seen. Justâ make it weird.
Cass: Fun.
Danny: That does sound like fun!
Later that night...
Gothamâs air was thick with fog. The kind that swallows sound and makes every shadow feel like itâs watching.
A lowlife stumbled through an alley, breathing hard.
Red Robinâs voice carried through the dark â calm, unhurried, almost mocking.
âThereâs no point in running.â
The guy spun around, gun shaking in his hand.
âLike hell there iââ
Cass dropped down behind him, silent as a thought, flipping over him and yanking his jacket over his head before melting back into the shadows.
He ripped it off, gaspingâ
âand his legs went out from under him.
He hit the ground hard. When he blinked through the stars in his vision, Red Robin was already standing there.
Not running. Not even breathing hard. Just there.
âTold you,â Tim said, voice low. âNo point in running.â
The man screamed.
A few streets away...
A group of goons huddled beneath a flickering streetlight, muttering nervously.
âMan, Iâm telling youâ heâs haunted. My cousin swearsââ
The light flickered once.
A man vanished.
They froze.
The light flickered again. Another one gone.
Someone whispered, âThis isnât happeningââ
Flicker.
Gone.
Each time the light blinked, another body disappeared. No sound. No movement. Just empty space where a person used to be.
By the time the light steadied, only one man was left.
He didnât even try to run. He just whimpered, âPleaseââ before the light blinked once moreâ and he was gone too.
Up on the rooftop, Cass and Danny were grinning like kids whoâd just pulled off the best prank in the world.
Danny: That. Was. AWESOME.
Cass: Fun.
Tim, trying not to smile: You two are terrifying.
Back at the Cave...
Steph: Red, why are there rumors youâre haunted? I just passed two goons who looked ready to confess to gravity.
Tim: I was⌠the distraction.
Steph: From what, exactly?
Danny pops up beside Tim, cheerful as ever.
Danny: From me!
Cass, appearing on his other side:
And me.
Danny: We played a game. See how many we could take out without being seen.
Steph: So you terrified Gothamâs criminal network... for fun.
Danny: Yup!
Cass: Fun.
Steph, sighing but smiling: âŚYou know what? Iâm not even mad.
Now there are whispers in Gothamâs underworld.
Some say Red Robin made a deal with a ghost.
Others say he died and came back wrong.
But nobody knows for sure â because the ones whoâve seen glowing blue eyes in the dark?
They donât talk about it.
And if you ask Red Robin, he just smiles.
âItâs just a rumor.â