Dani let out a sigh as she waited for the newest victims, er adopted family, to enter. She swung her legs back and forth from the chair; for one she didn't like sitting still for long, the other reason was that she couldn't reach the floor anymore. It was actually really starting to bug her, being so short. After Danny had stabilized her she started getting sick. Apparently her new stabilized form wasn't compatible with a twelve-year-old body. She had gone into the zone to see if being surrounded by ectoplasm would make her feel any better, it had helped a little bit but not much in the long run.
While there she ran into Clockwork who explained what was going on. Without even being asked he helped her by de-aging her. So instead of a twelve-year-old with a fourteen-year old's mind she was an eight-year-old with a fourteen-year-old mind. Yay right? Well after Clockwork helped her out she went back to traveling and seeing the world. After a few months of that though she got tired. Tired of stealing, tired of being alone, tired of not having a place to go back to. Yeah she knew she could always go back to Danny and he would except her in an instant, but she really didn't want to bother him. He has helped her so much already. So she went back to Clockwork to see if he could help her again. He agreed to help her and fabricated a background for her, as long as nobody tried to dig too deep into the information nothing would seem out of place. Then she got put into her first of many orphanages.
After that she bounced around a lot. She didn't get to stay with one family very long. Either they couldn't handler her personality or they couldn't take the almost constant ghost attacks sent by Vlad. Not that they knew they were being attacked, she shielded the families as best as she could, no they would just see the aftermath. She would come out of the fights with cuts and bruises and the surrounding area would have craters and scorch marks. So the families never really lasted long. Each time she got sent back she got sent to a different orphanage. The newest one she was in was located in Gotham, the most dangerous city in the US.
Which leads her to now, waiting for the family to come and pick her up. Apparently the family that was attempting to adopt her now was super rich and famous. The Wayne family was influential and went back generations in the area. The current head of the family must also love adopting kids because, if she actually got to stay this time, she would be the eight kid he's adopted. She was honestly hoping that this one would actually work out. If this one didn't work out she was thinking about going back to the zone for a while and hang with Clockwork. Continuously transferring orphanages was super tedious!
She was brought out of her thoughts as the door opened. She looked up and saw three people enter the room; the lady that ran the orphanage, a man who looked to be in his late thirties, and another man who seemed late teens/early twenties. The older man sent her a kind smile. The younger man sent her a grin so bi it took up his entire face. To be honest it kinda creeped her out. She shifted in her seat a bit at his overly happy face.
"Danielle this here is Bruce Wayne and Richard Grayson, his first adopted son. This will be your new family." She said in a fake happy voice.
Dani rolled her eyes at the lady making Richard stifle a laugh "It's Dani, with an i. Not Danielle." She explained.
The lady dropped her fake nice act "I'll just let you three talk while I finish up the paperwork. Try not to come back within a week this time Miss Masters."
Dani glared at the lady's back. She hated that she was a Masters, it makes her blood boil. Why Clockwork hadn't put Fenton as he last name she would never know. But as Clockwork always says, everything is as it should be. To retaliate she stuck her tongue out at the cold hearted woman. Why the lady ran and operated an orphanage when she dislikes kids she would never know.
"Ugh that woman almost makes fruit loop status." Dani growled out, mostly to herself.
Richard however heard her and let out a long laugh "Fruit loop status? What is that?"
Dani let on a small blush "It's just something my cousin and I use to call crazy or wacky people." Dani turned to Bruce "It's nice to meet you Mr. Wayne." She said politely.
Bruce frowned slightly "Dani I'm going to be your dad from now on, but if you don't feel comfortable calling me that yet please call me Bruce." He said.
Dani gave him a look and slowly said "Alright then."
Richard practically jumped in front of her "I'm your oldest brother, you can call me Dick. There is also Barbara, Jason, Tim, Cassie, Stephanie, and Damian. You'll meet them when we get to the house though. We figured it would be a bit much if we all came here to greet you." Dick rambled on.
Dani slowly raised one eyebrow as he talked. He could really keep talking couldn't he? Dani couldn't stop herself from commenting "Do you have an off button? 'Cuz you talk a lot. Almost as much as Tucker and that is saying a lot."
Dick deflated looking like a kicked puppy. "Aw my new baby sister was mean to me Brucie." He whined.
Bruce rolled his eyes "I'm sure you're used to is by now Dick." He turned his attention back on her "Well shall we get going, I can just have the lady send the finished paperwork to the manner."
Dani put a hard look on her face. "Before we go I gotta know one thing. I know my file has been shown to you; so why do you still want to adopt me? Most just find me to much trouble to even try. The past couple people that tried all had it in their minds that they were going go 'change' me. So what do you get out of this?" she really didn't feel like going through another, oh if you just stop being yourself you'll be fine, houses.
Dick had a shocked look on his face, like he couldn't believe she would ask that. Well when you have a 'father' like Vlad; who wants to melt you down into a pile of ectoplasm, you tend to have some trust issues. Well not like he would know that anyway. Bruce had a serious look on his face.
"Yes I saw your file. In fact, when I showed interest in adopting you it was the first thing they showed me. I will try to be as honest with you as I can Dani. The adoption agency tried to talk me out of it, saying you would hurt my reputation. I wouldn't have it, everyone deserves a chance, and my reputation isn't the most important thing to me. I, however, have no intentions of trying to change you in any way. What I do is take in kids who have potential in them and try to make their lives better. By giving them a chance. That is what I did with the rest of my kids and I'd like to do that for you as well."
Dan I sat there thinking in silence. If what he said was true, then she might have actually found a place to stay. However; he doesn't know about the ghosts that come after her. Skulker was one of the more common ones sent by Vlad. Since she didn't have a thermos she usually ended up beating him by pure luck and desperation. The box ghost was another annoying almost daily appearance. Seriously how did that guy get out of the ghost zone so often to bother both her and Danny? Vlad has also sent other after her of course, he wants to see what made her so different from the other clones he tried to make. There were that annoying vulture trio that worked solely for Vlad. Then there had been that weird circus ringmaster fruit loop that one time. She really hated that staff of his, it made her mind all fuzzy and she couldn't control herself. How he kept getting it back when Danny kept breaking it she had no idea. Danny had ended up saving her that time, he had heard about Freakshow's break from prison and had come after him. Then of course there were other ghosts that got sent after her. Or she ran into them by accident around the natural portals, though she usually ran into them by pure coincidence. She did really need to get a thermos from Danny. Anyway she got way off course. She really hoped that Bruce was telling the truth and that he could handle seeing her after the fights. She didn't think her personality would be a problem this tie considering how many kids he's adopted. But for now she had absolutely no plans to become attached to anybody as of yet. She would see if she could make it through the week first.
Dani crossed her arms over her chest "Alright I'll give you a chance." She jumped down to the floor and started walking toward her bags "Let's get outa here then. This place kinda really sucks."
Dick let out a laugh, a gleam in his eyes. "We'll just have to give you a VIP exit then."
Dani was about to ask what he meant when he picked her up and placed her on his shoulders. Dani let out a squeak of surprise hugging his head to keep her balance. "Hey let me down!" she shouted at him.
Dick simply let out another laugh "No can do Princess you are the VIP today."
Dani let out a growl "I can walk by myself ya know." Dick chuckled in reply.
Bruce shook his head at them, simply used to Dick's antics by now. He grabbed her bags and followed Dick out the door. A smile came to his face as he watched Dani try to hide herself behind Dick's head in embarrassment. His eyes narrowed slightly however as he thought of the girl's circumstances.
She was a strange case that was for sure. Her file had appeared on his screen out of nowhere with a simple note stated 'help her.' It was signed with a stopwatch symbol. He had been uneasy at first, thinking it a trap and trying to figure out who had hacked the bat cave. Then he started investigating the girl himself. She seemed to just come out of nowhere about a year ago. According to her file she was Danielle Masters, eight years old, taken from her home because of an abusive parent. Her father had no custody privileges at all, though there were no records showing a court case had taken place. She had a tough and snarky personality and got in fights a lot. Nobody ever witnessed the fights or saw the people she fought with. She simply disappears for a while and then reappears with cuts and bruises. There would usually be coinciding damage to a place nearby, indicating a large fight had taken place. The site looked more like the aftermath of a battle between two meta-humans however. His working theory was that her father wants her back and was sending people to grab her. Somehow she was beating all those people sent after her. Why she never said anything about the people attacking her, he couldn't fathom. The thing that confused him though was her father was Vladimir Masters, one of the richest people in America. He was suspicious of Masters in how he gained his money, he came into it way too fast for normal circumstances. Businessmen simply gave their companies over to him without a fight, which is something that doesn't just happen. Vlad appeared often at the balls and parties that he himself appears at. He had never mentioned a daughter to anyone, not once. He shook himself out of his thoughts as they reached the car.
The ride to Bruce's house was an amusing experience. Dick was doing everything he could to get his new sister's attention. Dani was trying to ignore her new brother as best as she could. Dani was currently winning. After ten minutes of her successfully ignoring him he finally said something that caught her attention.
"Why don't I tell you a bit about your other siblings. So you'll at least have a bit of an idea of what you're getting into."
Dani finally faced him a bit and shrugged "Sure why not."
A smile appeared on his face as it was the first time she had commented back the whole ride. "Alright then! Barbara is the oldest of us, but she was adopted third. She has bright orange hair and a personality to match. She is really smart too. She used to be really sarcastic and snarky when she was younger, but she's mellowed out a bit now. She's still a blast to hand out with though.
"I'm the second oldest but I won't talk about me. After me comes Jason. You can ignore Jason all you want to. He's a bad influence. He swears a lot, drinks, and picks fights with Tim and Damian. He had no concern for his own safety, or others at times. All in all, he's corrupted!
"The next is Cassie; well her full name is Cassandra, but she likes being called Cassie. She's kinda the peace keeper between us all. She's very protective over those she cares about, but then I guess we all are.
"Stephanie can be a bit mistrusting of people at first, but she's really nice. She usually stays out of the way of all of us, especially when a fight breaks out.
"Tim is extremely smart. He fights with Jason a lot though. He's really good with technology and gadgets. He's usually pretty calm unless a fight starts between him and Jason, well or Damian.
"Lastly is Damian. He's well… he takes a very long time to get used to. He had a loud mouth and he doesn't hold back on what he wants to say. He says exactly what he wants to say, no mincing of words at all. Though once you see past his tough and rude exterior you'll realize that he's actually a very nice kid. He just had a tough time growing up and he had to mature quickly." Dick explained.
Dani thought over all he said before saying "You guys fight a lot then huh?"
Dick shriveled in his seat and looked out the window comically "More than I'd like us too, yeah. Despite appearances though we do all get along very well."
Dani let out a small laugh, it seemed like she was going to a lively house and maybe she would actually get to stay there this time. She hoped to Clockwork that this was the place she could stay for good.