AN: Here it is! The long-awaited sequel to Double or Nothing! I am super excited for this guys. I've never really written older characters before, but Danny and Nightwing are both around my age in this, so it shouldn't be too hard, right?
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Right?
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Anyway… I hope you guys like this first chapter! Though I should prolly warn you that this is going to focus less on the team than the first one and starts to vear into more exclusively 'Batman comics' territory, but it is still a Young Justice story. So yeah. Consider yourself warned?
I don't own Danny Phantom or Young Justice. Man does it feel good to type that again!
"Are you in position?"
Nightwing peered around a crate as he waited for Danny's response. What was it with criminals and their obsession with hanging around docks late at night? At least it wasn't a warehouse, that would be even worse.
"Yep. Seems like the deal is going down in the warehouse off of 6th Street."
Nightwing refrained from groaning as Danny's voice came through the comm link. Looks like he had spoken too soon. Tonight would end up being yet another warehouse takedown. Fantastic.
Still, Nightwing wasn't entirely sure what he had been expecting. This was Gotham after all. If it wasn't some psychopath who was planning on killing half the city, than it was some mobsters in a warehouse. There really was no in between.
The only reason he was even in Gotham was because Bats had called in a favor. Nightwing wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but Batman couldn't patrol tonight, so he had asked Nightwing to come back, if only for one night. Try as he might, Nightwing hadn't been able to come up with a reason to say no. So here he was, crouching behind a stack of dirty crates preparing to raid yet another warehouse. The only brightside was that Danny was there too. And that they were stopping crime. That was always a good thing, regardless of the situation.
"Alright. I'll take out these guys and make my way over there. No need to leave reinforcements just laying around, ya know?"
Danny snickered. "Uh… pretty sure they are going to be laying around once you're done with them. Or would 'strewn about' be a better way to describe their unconscious bodies?"
Nightwing rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile. Hearing Danny joke around never got old, even after all these years.
"Quiet. I need to concentrate." He whispered as he snuck up on his unsuspecting targets. Danny's disbelieving snort rang clearly through the comms.
"Yeah right. The day you need to concentrate to take out guys like that is the day I stop being your partner."
"Maybe." Nightwing admitted, climbing up onto a stack of crates. He grinned as he spotted the group of criminals. He was in the perfect position to drop down into the middle of them. "But still. It's unprofessional. One of us has to be a responsible adult."
"Fair." Danny said. Nightwing could practically see his smirk. "Though it's cute that you think you're the responsible one."
"Working." Nightwing said in a sing-song tone of voice. Danny laughed.
"Alright, I'll shut up. Give 'em hell."
"With pleasure," Nightwing said with a dark grin. The men never knew what hit them.
"Well?" Danny asked as Nightwing ran up to him. "Which was it?"
"What?" Nightwing wasn't entirely sure what Danny was talking about.
"Their bodies." Danny groaned, as if it should have been obvious. "Come on, were they strewn about, or was it more of a laying around situation. I've got to know. I'm all invested now!"
"Ah, right." Nightwing placed a hand on his chin, pretending to think about it. "I would say it was more like they were… pounded into the ground."
"Oh really?" Danny raised an eyebrow. "Not holding back, are you?"
"What can I say?" Nightwing said with innocent shrug. "Someone was bothering me right before the fight, so I had a lot of pent up aggression to spend."
"Shame on that person." Danny said blandly. Nightwing laughed, shoving the halfa lightly.
"Enough joking around. What's going on?"
"Well, we've got a pretty big group." Danny turned back to the warehouse, switching into serious mode. "Looks like two gangs are trying to join up so they can beat back a rival group that's been encroaching on both their territory."
"That's not good." Nightwing muttered. "The last thing Gotham needs is another gang war. We barely survived the last one."
"Yeah, we should probably be pretty careful here." Danny looked unusually worried. "I mean, taking these guys off the street would be good, but it would leave a not insignificant power vacuum in the Gotham underworld. We might just end up empowering the rival gang that they're worried about."
Nightwing frowned. Danny was right. This was a delicate situation, one that had the potential to end up causing disaster.
"Well, there isn't much we can do from out here." He finally said. "Let's head in and see if we can get some more information. At the very least, we need to know what gangs we are dealing with."
Danny nodded and grabbed onto Nightwing. Soon they were both invisible and inside the building. Danny set them up on some rafters before letting his invisibility drop. In theory, it may have been better for him to keep it up, but in practice it was just a waste of energy. Nightwing could practically turn invisible all on his own, and besides. No one ever looked up.
The two heros watched as the meeting got underway. It was clear that neither of the gang leaders trusted the other, and the meeting quickly fell apart. As more and more threats were yelled, Nightwing began to worry that they would have to intervene just to stop the two gangs from killing each other.
Just as things were reaching their breaking point, a loud voice cut through the arguing.
"That's enough!"
Everyone fell silent, looking around in confusion. Nightwing and Danny did the same, searching for the source of the unfamiliar voice. Danny spotted him first, grabbing Nightwing's arm and pointing.
Standing on a rafter opposite from them was an unfamiliar figure. He was wearing a leather jacket and combat trousers, but his most notable feature was the red helmet he wore. It completely covered his face, leaving Nightwing with no hints as to his identity. Yet for some reason, the figure seemed oddly familiar.
The gangsters finally noticed the strange man. Soon, every gun in the building was aimed at him. The man seemed completely unconcerned about the danger he was in.
"I hate to interrupt your meeting," the man drawled, "But I thought I should tell you that it was completely pointless."
"Pointless?" One of the gang leaders sputtered. "What give you the right-"
"You see," the man interrupted. "That rival gang you guys are so worried about? Well, they aren't really a problem anymore."
The man reached down to pick up a duffle bag that had been sitting next to him. He tossed it down to the gang leaders below. The men looked at the bag uneasily before gesturing to one of their lackeys. The man inched forward, unzipping the bag and looking in. He immediately blanched, dropping the bag with a cry and backing away. Several other men approached to look into bag, only to react in the exact same way.
Nightwing and Danny exchanged a nervous look. Neither could see what was inside the bag, but they could tell that it was bad. Nightwing was about to suggest that Danny check it out when one of the gang leaders spoke up.
"What is the meaning of this? Are those…"
"That's right." The strange man seemed amused by the reactions of the gangsters. "It's the head of the leader of that rival gang of yours. Plus a few other mob boss heads thrown in for good measure. Do you like them? It only took me a few hours to collect them."
Nightwing swallowed. If what that man had said was true… He needed to tell Bruce about this.
"I don't believe it." One of the gang leaders said shakily. "There's no way that one person could do all of that. You're lying."
"Do you really want to test that theory? I mean, I'm being nice here. I could have just added your head to that bag, but instead I'm giving you the opportunity to join me without the need for violence. I already control all the area around your territory, so it wouldn't be hard for me to completely crush your little group. But if you would rather have your independence, I'm perfectly fine with leaving. Just know that the next time that you see me, I won't be so nice."
"It won't be an issue." One of the gangs leaders snarled. "Because you're gonna die right here."
The man laughed. "Ah, you're funny. Don't worry, I don't expect an answer right away. I'll give you a few days to think on it. Besides, you two have bigger problems to worry about."
"What problems?"
"Oh, I dunno. Problems like the two heros that are watching this whole thing go down?"
The strange man suddenly looked straight at Nightwing and Danny, drawing every criminal's attention to them. Shouts broke out amongst the gangsters as they realized that one of the Bats was in the building. The room dissolved into chaos, with weapons being fired in almost every direction. Danny grabbed onto Nightwing, turning them both intangible. The strange man who had given them away somehow disappeared in the confusion.
"What should we do?" Danny asked, sounding extremely casual for someone who was being fired at. Of course, that made sense considering the fact that bullets couldn't really hurt him. Nightwing was equally calm as he considered the situation.
"Let's go. Something tells me that these guys aren't going to be a problem for much longer. It's that red hood guy that we have to worry about. Let's see if we can track him down."
Danny nodded and phased out of the building, leaving the behind the angry criminals. Nightwing couldn't help but chuckle at how confused they would be when they realized that they were gone. Having Danny around really helped out the Bat mythos. Before, people just thought the Batfam could turn invisible and go through walls. Now, with Danny's help, they actually could.
Danny landed outside the building and Nightwing immediately got to work. He looked around, gauging where the man must have exited the building.
"He must have used that window," he said after a quick assessment. "Unless he's a ghost like you and can go through walls."
"Not a ghost, though you are pretty close."
Nightwing and Danny both spun to see the strange man standing a few yards away. Danny immediately went into a fighting stance, gathering ecto-energy in his hands. The green light lit the otherwise dark scene, giving it an otherworldly feel.
The man held up his hands, showing that he was unarmed.
"Relax. I'm not here to fight."
"That's not what it looked like when you gave away our position." Nightwing said evenly.
The man shrugged.
"I knew that those guys were nothing compared to you. Though you did get out a bit faster than I was expecting. Course, I didn't realize you had Casper with you. That makes a whole lot more sense."
Danny growled at the Casper comment. He was still sensitive about his nebulous species. He didn't mind friends joking about it, but strangers? That was a sure fire way to tick him off.
"What are you playing at?" Nightwing asked. "Trying to take over all the gangs in Gotham? Surely you know that will end in disaster."
"Well, you never know until you try." The man said with a casual shrug. "And don't worry, I'm not doing this to try and expand business. I actually intend to curtail it, to make it less destructive."
"What, so you're some kind of anti-hero?" Danny asked dubiously.
"Call it what you like." The man said carelessly. "Crime is never going to go away, no matter how many criminals you arrest. It's better to control it, to curb it's more evil tendencies. And if certain people don't feel like being controlled…"
"You simply kill them." Nightwing finished the sentence.
"What gave it away? Was it the bag full of heads? I know that was a bit overkill, but if there is one thing the Bat has taught me, it's that criminals respond well to intimidation tactics."
"Why are you bothering to tell us this?" Nightwing demanded. "Surely you know that we won't condone such behavior."
"I'm warning you." The man said, serious for the first time. "Don't get in my way. I wasn't lying when I said that I didn't want to fight you, but I will if I have to. We have the same goal, so just let me do my thing while you do yours, alright?"
"That's never going to happen." Nightwing said quietly. He wasn't sure why he was still talking to this man. Normally he would have attacked by now, but for some reason he was hesitating. He could tell that Danny was confused as well by the uneasiness in his posture. Danny didn't want to fight this man either. What was it about this man that seemed so familiar?
"Yeah, I figured you would say that." The man sighed. "You always were the goody two shoes of the family." The man slumped slightly. It was hard to tell with the helmet covering his entire face, but he seemed genuinely upset at Nightwing's words.
The strange melancholy that had overtaken the man left swiftly and he straightened back up.
"Well, I've said my piece. Remember this the next time we meet."
Before Nightwing could react, the man retreated into the shadows formed by Danny's light. He ran forward, but it was too late. The man was already gone.
Danny relaxed slightly, letting go of the energy he had stored in his hands.
"What just happened?" He asked, staring into the darkness.
Nightwing frowned, running the conversation through his head. Nothing was adding up. There were things that the man said that just didn't make sense. And then there was that haunting familiarity.
Nightwing scowled at the ground. He hated this feeling. He felt like he had all the puzzle pieces, just not a picture of what the puzzle was supposed to look like. It was incredibly frustrating.
He shook his head sharply, letting out a huff of air. He wasn't going to get anywhere just standing here.
"Come on. Let's call it a night. I need to talk to Batman about this regardless."
Danny nodded, grabbing Nightwing and taking off toward the Batcave. As the pair flew through the Gotham sky, Nightwing couldn't stop asking the same question over and over.
Who are you?
AN: Yes, that one scene was inspired by Under the Red Hood. I just thought it was a really cool look into that character's… character. And no I'm not saying his name, just in case you somehow don't know who he is. For anyone who knows anything about the Batfam, it should be pretty obvious, but hey. If you only know about these characters from Young Justice, you may not know, so I won't spoil it. Just in case.
So yeah. I hope you guys can tell what this story is going to be about. I am so pumped! I hope that it lives up to everyone's expectations!
See ya later!
