Ch.10: Burning Red, Angry Acceptance

Danny stood atop a building's edge, tightly holding onto the high-tech gun he stole from Stagg Industries. The hand he used to hold his prize with was tighter than the rest of his muscles. The rest of his body were taunt and the green eyes behind his mask were narrowed dangerously. Growling angrily, he glanced to his sides, wondering if his little 'buddies' were ever going to show up.

Frankly, he wanted to have been able to take one day off before he jumped back into another fray but no, the mission needs to proceed apparently.

Sure, it had been two days since his last 'I accept!' heist but come on, Danny liked his breaks… Was that so much to ask for..?

Somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of Danny's mind, he knew the answer to the question. However, the part of his mind that was irrational and overemotional kept his reasonable side quiet by pointing an imaginary gun called 'insanity' at its head.

Sighing for the umpteenth time since he'd begun waiting, Danny's peridot green eyes bore holes into the ray-gun he was staring down. His irritation was ever-growing. The nineteen-year-old was thinking about giving King's offer the middle finger and leaving altogether. Sure, Bats would be ticked at him but the white-haired teen wasn't dealing with the kind of crap he was being tossed.

Now, Danny never practiced punctuality. But he always expected it from other people, especially high and mighty bad guys. They loved their image too much for that kind of thing.

As he begun pacing along the side of the building, Danny's grip on the trigger of the ray-gun tightened. It was very tempting to use it just to get some tension from his body and take his mind off the fact he'd been in the same spot for the past forty minutes without knowing if his associates would show up anyways. He had hoped that tonight would be the night and that he wouldn't waste his time waiting for nothing.

Growling, Danny turned sharply again and began stalking down the ledge again.

The nineteen-year-old also knew it wasn't the Cloaks' absence that was ticking him off. No, he'd been riled up since before the heist began. Even a little before that, as well. Having another actual, legit fight with the Dark Knight could do that to a person.

Man, they had been passing some insults tonight. Their quick tongues allowed for them to have such words on hand. Some of the names they called each other were so unexpected and hurtful that the little Robin listening nearby had been quiet and shocked the entire argument, silently watching as the two opponents broke their already fragile relationship down even more.

What had even started the fight? Danny couldn't remember. Really, the only things he remembered about that fight were the insults he said that he thought would never come out of his mouth (no matter how mad he was), the insults thrown at him by his supervisor, the excuses they made, and the completely horrified look on Damian's face.

Everything about the fight still pricked at his heart and mind. His cheeks felt hot and something burned in his stomach. His muscles felt ready to spring at even the smallest of annoyances and his mouth was ready to start firing words he didn't mean. The only thing he wanted to do was yell his voice out or beat the crud out of something.

However, such resources were not available to him.

Stopping abruptly, Danny pointed the ray at the sky, fully prepared to fire the weapon a thousand shots per second. Angry tears pricked at his eyes, burning like fire.

Danny wasn't even sure why his tear-ducts were suddenly overflowing. It's not like he felt remorse or sad or guilty or any of the emotions one would feel when accompanied with the small droplets of water. No, all he felt was sizzling anger and burning hatred. His mind was still thinking up hurtful names to call the other, though he'd left the other's presence hours ago.

The white-haired teen's hand ached to pull the trigger. His overemotional side told himself he'd only do it once. He'd only fire it at the sky once. Then he'd be ok. He'd go back to normal. Everything would blow over like it usually did. Everything would go back to the way it usually was, back before they started having these fights.

The reasonable part of his mind whispered that it wouldn't be once; he would lose it; it wouldn't just be the sky. He was more likely to ravage the city to the ground with the weapon than just use it one time. His reasonable side told him to either destroy the piece of machinery before he finally pulled the trigger or give the weapon to Batman: someone who would never let him do such a thing.

Danny growled again, his mind coming to the decision it was going to pull the frikkin thing anyhow.

"I see someone's not too happy today."

The glowing eyed male turned to barrel to the source of the voice, quick as a bullet. His jaw was clenched, trying to keep all the insults he was so ready to shoot to himself. It wasn't the right person; he shouldn't waste perfectly good, hurtful words on the wrong person.

But then again… Seeing King with his lackeys surrounding him made his rage burn brighter for some reason or another. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered why but realized he didn't really care. Everything seemed to be irritating in that moment.

"Where were you?!" Danny hissed, shooing away the sight of ice-chick's hands glowing blue and the others holding him at gun point. But he was doing the same thing. "This is the fourth heist I've done to get your attention! It should have been the second!" Danny jumped down from the ledge and stalked forward, pressing the gun to the older's forehead. He hadn't given any time for King to say anything. "Well?!"

Behind King, the red-cloaked girl's fiery blue hand was pointing at Danny's head, as well as the other five's weapons.

However, Danny didn't seem to acknowledge his apparent danger. Any other might back down in fear of their life but no, not Danny. Not right now, when his anger was keeping the hurt from the foremost of his mind and keeping it from picking at his heart. The anger kept away the guilt too, keeping his mind focused on the other's fault when he should be focusing on his own.

King, with his grey-blue eyes, bore holes into the shorter teen's white lenses, silently wishing he could look into the other's orbs to get his point across. If he were anyone else, he might have put his hands up in surrender but he was not anyone else. "I think you need to calm down."

"That doesn't answer my question!"

"Keep yelling at me and you won't receive one." King hissed back, eyes flashing dangerously at the younger.

Danny growled up at his opponent, green starting to shine through his lenses. "I do what I want, when I want, and how I want. If you think that because I'm only interested in your offer that I'll listen to you, you're dead wrong. If you think I won't blast this stupid thing through your head, then you're just dead."

"If I die, you die with me, little fool." King responded easily, shrugging to the Cloaks behind him.

"I'd like to see them try." Danny hissed, voice lowering dangerously.

King narrowed his eyes at the boy, taking in the stance the male was standing in and the way his muscles were coiling like a snake. He listened to the younger's heavy breathing and the rise and fall of his hysterical voice. So much emotion, so much energy, yet so little care for his actions.

"Will you put your new plaything down first, at least? I don't appreciate having a gun pointed at my head." King asked, clasping his hands behind his back and straightening his spine out further.

Danny didn't move for a few seconds before he shakily pointed the barrel at the ground. His glare, though hidden behind white lenses, was still aimed at the older, masked figure. King could feel it through the mask; he didn't even need to see it.

"Answers. Now." Danny hissed before turning on his heel. He walked a few paces away before he began pacing back and forth beside the ledge. The nineteen-year-old's head was bowed towards the ground, a million thoughts rushing through his mind while his ears perked for any sound that would come from King's mouth. His finger still ached to pull the trigger, getting worse every minute.

As soon as Danny's weapon was dropped, the Cloaks hesitantly dropped their own weapons. Each gun was pointed towards the rooftop of the building while the Crimson Cloak dropped her hands to her side; the angry, glowing ice died from her fingertips, leaving them cold and bare.

King watched the nineteen-year-old pace, wondering if he had made a mistake with this one. He could deal with an irritating, pain in the butt. But an angry youth? Now that would be a challenge to work with.

"As to why we're only catching up to you know, the answer is quite simple. You're hard to predict. We weren't even sure if you would even be here tonight." King stated harshly, trying to bring the other to reason. "I told you I would find you and I did, didn't I?"

"Not in enough time!" Danny yelled, peridot eyes boring holes into the ground in front of him as he paced. "I waited at each site for, at least, an hour before I left, just to make sure you really weren't coming! I wasted all that time for nothing! Do you know what I could have done with that kind of time?! So much! Like, hack into President's systems to see if he's some kind of scumbag or something!"

"What you do with your time is not my problem." King said, glaring at the pacing male.

Danny laughed hollowly, stopping and grinning madly. "No, of course not! Silly me! Why on earth would I think doing something reasonable, like setting up a meeting place and time, would be worth it? No, trying to track one of the most untraceable people in the frikkin country is a great idea! Yes! Thank you for making sense!" Danny screeched. The green light from his eyes was starting to really shine through his white lenses.

"Will you stop yelling? Someone is going to hear you." King reprimanded, gesturing around the area around him. Skyscrapers towered above them and the people were walking along the sidewalks under them, cars driving up and down the streets. If Danny got any louder, he might be able to get the pedestrians' attention.

Danny threw his head back and laughed, bordering the line between 'burning fury' and 'total hysteria'. "You think I care?! Really? I was fully prepared to blow your brains out earlier! What makes you think I care about a couple of passer-bys?!"

King's blue-grey eyes flashed dangerously. "You need to calm. Down. Now."

Danny growled, falling back into his earlier anger and irritation instead of falling into fury-induced insanity. "Yeah, let's tell that to the trigger-happy, angry person! Genius idea! Because it's always worked before splendidly!"

"I don't know who or what made you so riled up and, frankly, I don't care." King stated, voice firm and stance tense. "But if you don't get your act together, consider this more wasted time on your part because we will leave and you can consider the offer terminated."

Danny growled low in his throat, unhappy at being threatened in such a way. No anxiety for an uncompleted mission showed up, though. If he was thinking straight, he would know that he was doing one of the worst possible acts ever. He needed to get back on track and stay grounded, even though that was proving to be rather difficult on his part.

The nineteen-year-old stopped pacing opposite of the older male. Though his body was rigid still, he fell back into an old stance easily with one hand on his hip and his choice of weapon leaning against his shoulder. The white-haired teen took a few calming breathes while he allowed his eyes to stop glowing so brightly with emotion, returning his mask lenses back to their usual white.

"There. I'm calm." Danny hissed, voice low and edgy. "Now about your stupid offer…"

King nodded in recognition, eyes calm and cool again. "Shall I assume you accept the position, seeing as you have been waiting for us for who-knows-how-long?"

"Yeah." Danny replied, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest loosely. For the first time in a long time, the grip he had on his choice weapon was lax and his hand wasn't eager to pull the trigger. Though it was still simmering, his anger wasn't as fiery as it was a second ago and was much more controllable than before.

King nodded, a small, pleased smile gracing his lips behind his painted mask. He turned, heading over to the side of the building with the Cloaks following behind like lost puppies. "Good. If you will just follow us, we'll head off to our transportation and drive to our base."

Danny scoffed but slowly followed after his new 'comrades'. "After all the wonderful escapes you all have made in helicopters, you drove here? Why not take the chopper? It's probably much quicker than, say, a truck or a van."

"While the helicopter is much quicker, it is also much more expensive." King stated, glancing over his shoulder while stopping at the edge of the building. His lackeys went ahead of him, easily gliding down the side of the building on ropes. "It is also much more conspicuous. No, I much prefer the helicopter for quick escapes, if need be."

"Just make it quieter." Danny said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world while walking up beside the older.

King glared at the younger dryly. "Are you an engineer?"

"I know how to work on motorcycles and how to hotwire most kinds of vehicles. Other than that, no. My skills are more focused around computers, equipment, weapons, and other hardware of the sort." Danny explained, shrugging his shoulders.

"Then we're not making the helicopter quieter." King said, taking one of the ropes in his hands and following after the Cloaks already hitting the pavement.

Danny rolled his eyes behind his mask, mentally listing off a bunch of engineers that could do something as simple as make a helicopter quieter. Most of the engineers-for-hire on the Dark-Net weren't even evil. They just didn't care and wanted to make a quick buck. Tucker could be counted among those people and would probably upgrade the helicopter if you offered enough cash.

As he stood above on the ledge, Danny was almost tempted to kick the grapple off the side of the roof, sure to make King fall to the sidewalk and go splat! He didn't do it, of course, but it felt good to think of something devious again, something more along his thinking if a bit darker than usual. It meant his anger was beginning to die down more and he was thinking straighter again. Though not quite there all the way yet, he was simmering down.

Danny quietly floated down after the Cloaks and their master, landing on the ground silently. King was standing beside a black van (which, to Danny, was pretty conspicuous because everyone was always suspicious of black and white vans) while the Cloaks piled in the back. The red-cloaked girl was in the driver's seat, turning the van on.

King gestured for the white-haired teen to get in the back and follow the other five in.

Grumbling under his breath, Danny followed the other Cloaks' examples and climbed in the back after them, falling onto one of the benches lining the edges on the van. Across from his, the blue-cloaked second-in-command stared at Danny through their mask. Beside Danny, two of the green cloaks were pressed together in their seats, away from the wolf-masked boy. Sitting beside the blue-cloaked figure, the other uneasy green Cloaks huddled together as well.

"Well…" The blue-cloaked figure started, shoulders rigid but masculine voice casual. "Welcome to the Cloaks. We do hope you enjoy stay with us."

Don't know about you guys but that's usually how my temper goes. I either explode in someone's face or simmer for a good, long while then explode. It gets to the point where I literally think the only word good for it is 'insanity' just because it's so nerve-racking. *shrugs casually* We go further into the fight later!

Thanks to these people for favoriting/following: Darkhorse Douglas, 16ckelman, Sarra Torrens.

Thanks to these people for favoriting/following me: Popcornbubbles77.

Reviews:

Anime Hotty Lover. 18: Oh, I feel ya. Names are so weird sometimes. XD Glad you're enjoying!

KuriMaster13: You're probably one of the few that can't wait for THE THINGY. XD Oh, a lot more trouble than you think.

Guest of Honor: ...except that is probably one of the most annoying things in the world...

Pegasus Sword Master: You would think Batsy would learn, right? XD ...oh my gosh, thank you for pointing out that point. May I hug you?

IWasNeverReal: Always~! :D

Dani: If he didn't find out now, Bats sure will in the future. XD I've said it twice and many other times to other people: not answering guesses. Why does everyone feel the compelling need to guess? It's seriously annoying after I told everyone...

KainVixenheim: Either way, Danny's in for a would of hurt. XD Same. I'm very indifferent to... Everything. I'm not a good friend to have sometimes.

BoyDragon1: XD Yeah, I made it kinda big... It's fun to read though!

BringbackDannyPhantom: Just making sure. XD No one wants to be Danny when Batsy's mad at him... XD

Oblitus Angeli: King's in one of the universes, although I'm so happy you're oblivious. No worries. He's not an OC. XD Oh, you know I'm going to do that! Not necessarily kill a character (seriously, my body count is already ridiculous) but it does get darker. And, hilariously enough, Dark-Net/Borderline was inspired by a picture that wasn't even that good. XD

16ckelman: XD Happens to the best of us! Oh definitely, as we have just seen...