Chapter 13:
The Dark Knight glided out of his room only to be met by the red-caped wonder.
"Superman, we need to talk."
"We'll talk in my room, Batman."
They walked in silence as they made their way to the room.
"Danny…is he staying at the Watch Tower?"
"…"
"Okay…so what did you want to talk about then?"
"Did you hear the news?"
"Yeah, you mean the one when Mr. Masters placed Danny as his heir?"
"That one."
"Why is it so important? I doubt placing Danny as his heir could make the boy his son anytime soon, and I find it highly unlikely for Danny to want to be his son either, even after this." The Kryptonian could clearly tell that his trusted friend knew more than he did.
"I know… but this action wasn't random…there's something up. Remember the night Danny was almost kidnapped? He was already wanted by the most dangerous criminals and kidnappers in Gotham before I could even make it official in public…"
"Where are you getting at Bruce? That Masters could kidnap Danny? I thought the kid had ghost powers, he can defend himself with ghosts can't he? And what can making the kid his heir help I the kidnapping?"
"That's the point…Danny can only defend himself against ectoplasmic entities…not humans…Joker was human, and he didn't even bother to use his powers at all… to the point of getting himself into a very dangerous situation, Vlad Masters knows this. Danny's weakness to fight the so called 'powerless' but dangerous… he's too scared to reveal himself…Clark… he's turning him into bait…"
"W-wait a second Bruce! This seems a bit far-fetched! You mean he's making Danny more susceptible to kidnappers to get to the boy? How will he even know who kidnaps Danny?"
"Nothing a little tracking device can fix, not that I've found any, but still, Vlad has ghost powers, that alone is enough to overcome mere human beings…to get to his prize…" his voice was grim now. "This is all just speculation…but it makes so much sense to his recent moves…he didn't need to announce that to the international news, or to even arrange his will so early and shout it out to the public…"
"So now every criminal out there is after him… it's unbelievable…"
"Clark…"
"Yeah?"
"Don't breathe of this to Danny, promise me that."
The man of steel knew his friend better than to argue with the father, and usually, the outcomes were to their advantage. Somehow, he didn't feel the same way in this situation. He nodded at the dark hero.
Meanwhile, Danny was deftly evading the blunt but weird arrows coming his way, and by weird, he meant they froze stuff, exploded, shot out nets, and threw fire. When Green Arrow asked what other talents he had, he hadn't expected he meant this. Question and Huntress had left in between the shooting. He barely missed an exploding arrow when Huntress smiled at him and made him redder than Flash's costume.
His movements were precise and swift as he jumped out of the way. Being shot at a daily basis was paying off as so far he hasn't been hit. Jumping over twin arrows with a net in between, he smoothly landed back on the ground just to slide to the left to avoid another freezing arrow. He was strangely calm… very calm. Okay, I officially am a weird kid, who does not panic or feel unnatural as he deftly avoids deadly arrows being shot by a guy in tights…not to mention, refers to himself as a third person as he talks to himself, yeah, I'm definitely not weird…
"Okay kid, you're fast and agile…" Green Arrow had stopped. "Maybe we should try hand-to-hand combat…"
Danny looked a bit pale…this was going to hurt… He gulped as Siren stepped forward.
"Relax kid! I told her to go easy on you!"
Somehow, that didn't reassure the raven-haired teen who was about to come face to face with a very pretty and scary heroine.
The teen gasped as the blonde took only a split second to drive at him and throw him a punch. He barely missed it as he threw himself back only to raise his forearms to block out a series of kicks. Tired of defense, he ducks slides his right leg at her feet, hoping to knock her down. No chance, the beautiful fighter shot up and flipped behind him. He rolled out of the way in time to avoid a crushing fist heading straight at him.
"Okay, okay, that's enough," Danny recognized Wally's voice and he was relieved as he was getting tired already.
"Not bad Danny," the Siren had to comment, the teen was a natural, and he just needs the proper training. She saw the teen smile sheepishly as she helped him up to his feet, but somehow, someone this cute and adorable didn't seem threatening at all. Those baby blue eyes were way too innocent for words.
"Go rest over there kiddo, I'll go get ya some junk food," the Flash zoomed to the counter.
Danny obediently and tiredly walked to the far-end table…right beside the window. The two other adult followed from behind.
"He's getting to you isn't he?" the Robin-hood look-alike whispered to the Siren.
"He seems too child-like for a teenager, not to mention, did you notice his moves?"
"Those weren't random, he's done it before, and I'm guessing a lot."
"His eyes…smile… he's too cute for this stuff…"
"I'm starting to worry that he's too cute…"
"Are you jealous?"
"Maybe, he's a potential competition…"
The couple laughed and drew the teen's attention who looked at them, confused. They smiled back, holding in their fits of snickers. Clueless Danny just smiled back innocently and went on ahead. Luckily, he still had his backpack on when he was abducted and had left it on the table. He was starting to feel sweaty and knowingly, he delved his hand into his bag to retrieve a shirt. It was black and white t-shirt he got from Sam a while back, he never got around wearing it since he was worried it could get either burnt, torn, ripped, obliterated, disintegrated…get damaged.
Surprisingly, I didn't look as gothic as he expected it to be. It was almost like his favorite red and white shirt except it lacked the red logo in the middle and instead of red edges, it had black instead.
Rummaging deeper into his backpack, he found his mom's red goggles. Flash said there were restrooms a few steps away from their table. By the time he got back, the three adults were already seated and chatting animatedly, well, at least Flash was. He had the goggles hung around his neck, the seemingly harmless accessory was one of the few things he found cool in his mom's outfit. It shoots out ecto-lasers doubled as night vision goggles too. Seating himself with his elders, he gladly accepted a burger and dug in. As strange as it seemed to have a burger in a floating satellite full of super-powered heroes, he was perfectly calm. The fact that he was not even the slightest freaked out…further made him conclude that he was 100 a weird fourteen-year old.
The intercom interrupted his thoughts.
"All leaguers report to the main station, I repeat, all leaguers report to the main station…" it was J'ohn's voice, and then suddenly, another person was talking through the speakers.
"Black-haired teens with blue-eyes are to stay behind in the canteen where 'he' can stay out of trouble…" Danny scowled at the familiar voice that was owned by a certain billionaire who let him get 'abducted' by the two super-powered fanatics a short time ago.
The people around him chuckled at the puckering of his lips.
"Too bad kiddo, looks like you're stuck here," Wally flashed the pouting teen a grin before waving a bye and zooming off.
Green Arrow and the Siren had followed and left Danny a pat on the head before leaving him all alone. The boy groaned. He was getting treated like a baby… He was a ghost hybrid who has faced more than enough near-death situations than he'd like. He can handle a bunch of human lunatics and aliens…maybe… He bit his lip, thinking hard before coming to a conclusion. Making up his mind, he puts on his goggles and goes ghost.
"Dad never mentioned a 'white-haired teen with green-eyes' didn't he?" he smirked at the loophole in his adopted father's statement.
Lugging along his back pack, he goes invisible and heads towards the gathering. He figured no one else should be able to sense him anyway. It's about time he saw how his dad really 'worked'. He was completely oblivious to the tracking device still attached on his hazmat suit as he phased through the walls and landed behind a pillar.
Cautiously, he stayed invisible as he listened within earshot.