Ch.10: Identities
Red Hood let his head hang and stared at the ground, eyes narrowed into irritated slits. One arm was resting against his propped leg, foot planted firmly on the edge of the building. The other hand rested loosely against his hip. He stood with his back straight, looking tall on the building from the ground, despite his handing head.
With a sigh, Red Hood turned his eyes over his shoulder to where Danny was prancing around. The music from the club under them was blaring out the windows and practically making the structure shake. This had immediately pleased the white-haired man when they had arrived a half-hour beforehand, making him dance around and mouth along to the words or, sometimes, he even sang along out loud.
The anti-hero had learned from one of his first missions with the other that Danny liked darker music with good beats; hard rock, heavy metal, and gothic stuff. Sometimes a little bit of techno or electronic music was thrown into the mix, spicing things up. However, seeing the male mouth along the words to a pop song, Red Hood figured anything you could dance to could be classified as 'Danny music.' Hell, the anti-hero theorized he could turn on a fast Korean song and Danny would know all the words. It honestly wouldn't be that much of a surprise.
While Red Hood had accustomed himself to Danny's antics really quickly because that kind of thing was a necessity to be Danny's friend, he couldn't shake off the creepy feeling he got when the white-haired man mouthed along to a song a girl sung. When he used his own voice, it was ok. But when he mouthed it and danced along to a female singer's song… All it made Red Hood want to do was shoot something, particularly the problem (which would be Danny) or himself.
And right now, as Danny paraded around and mouthed along to a pop song sung by a girl, Red Hood felt particularly creeped out by how on time he was and how absorbed he was with said song.
"…" Red Hood shook his head as Danny shimmied across the roof, following the other male with his eyes. His hands itched to shoot something but he forced the desperate feeling down. This was not a live-or-die situation. No matter how creepy Danny got, he could get out of it without a gun…
Danny did a terrible moonwalk but didn't seem to care.
…nope, it just escalated to live-or-die. Red Hood mumbled a few curses before barking "Grave!"
The ghost twisted his body around to face his friend, turning his grinning face towards the Red Hood. He continued to bob to the quick pop music but had, thankfully, stopped mouthing along to make it look like a girl's voice was coming out of a guy's body. "Yeah, Hoodie? Something the matter?"
"Yeah, there is a problem and it's, well, you." Red Hood stated seriously, turning his irritated into a stern glare. The stance he took rang of authority and the demand to listen to him at all costs. It didn't help that the two handguns strapped to his thighs were always visible, always giving off the threat that they could always be used against you.
…it was a shame Danny was never taught to respect and/or fear authority figures. Oh well. Red Hood was going to have to put up with the never ending sass.
"Oh yeah and how am I a problem? I'm actually enjoying this mission like a normal person." Danny said before beginning to mouth along to the words again. The way his eyes glinted deviously let the other man know that Danny was creeping him out on purpose. It didn't help when he continued to bob around like the annoying ass he was.
Red Hood wanted to reach up and rub his head but remembered that he still had his helmet on. It would've been worthless to even try. Instead, he mumbled profanities under his breath and closed his eyes to the monstrosity Danny was performing. With a sigh, he said "Grave, knock it off! If the media gets a hold of you doing that, you're going to be a labeled a creeper."
"Oh, look at all the fucks I give! Oh wait; that would be none."
Red Hood reopened his eyes and glared at the other. He turned on his heel and walked to the side of the rooftop while Danny twirled around behind him. The anti-hero didn't hesitate to jump off while Danny turned around and noticed his partner was gone. He blanched instantly. "Oh, we're going now! Ok! Hoodie, wait for me~!"
Actually listening for once, Red Hood waited on the balcony for the other to jump down before he kicked the French doors open. The helmeted figure ignored how Danny said he wanted to be the one to kick the doors open next time, which Red Hood thought wasn't going to happen. Kicking down doors was his thing, all the way.
Inside the balcony doors was a huge lounge. It was furnished in the typical red and gold color scheme most villains seemed to take a liking to. The furniture was the most expensive in Gotham, most of it which was custom made. The room had its own little bar with a bartender, who cleaned a couple of glasses while carefully ignoring the fifty-something-year-old man making out with a twenty-something-year-old on the couch. As the doors slammed open, the three's attention was drawn to the two walking through the doors.
Everyone froze as Red Hood and Danny stopped just inside the doors. The white-haired male instantly relaxed inside the door, crossing his arms over his chest. Red Hood stayed perfectly still and erect, instantly taking the lead with the stance. Danny seemed to have no problem with this as he smirked darkly at the two on the couch.
Seemingly as one, the three made a run for it, racing straight towards the two polished doors. However, halfway to the door, two pitch-black panthers that were easily four feet high with amber slits for eyes appeared in front of the doors. The middle-aged man stopped dead in his tracks, a scream rumbling from his throat. The prostitute and bartender had no problem escaping through the doors, as though they didn't see the big cats.
Once the doors were slammed shut, the panthers growled and smirked at the man, revealing the daggers inside of their mouths. They both walked forward, towards the man, who backed away from the growling, smirking cats.
"Now where are you going, Burt?" Red Hood teased darkly as the man turned around to face them. Danny, with his pitch black eyes, was smirking and leaning against his friend, elbow on his shoulder casually. If it weren't for their intimidating reputations, they'd almost look like they were playing a joke on a friend. Too bad everyone in Gotham knew who they were and of their glorious team-ups that usually ended in a lot of scarred and/or dead people.
"W-What do you want from me?" The man, Burt, questioned fearfully. His eyes flickered to the pistol on the table but one of the panthers jumped on the table, scaring the living daylights out of the man as the panther yowled dangerously. The second big cat and Danny both seemed to chuckle darkly, loving the man's fear.
Red Hood smirked behind his mask, loving that he practically had to do nothing for scare tactics since Danny took care of it. "All you have to do is answer some questions. We want some information that you have. You can give it to us willingly and, if you need it, we can always get the pretty kitties to help out."
The panther on the table smiled and stretched its claws out, as if agreeing with the helmeted figure.
Burt gulped in fear.
Five minutes later, Red Hood and Danny were climbing back onto the roof as the cops stormed the lounge, finding a tied up man but no anti-heroes to speak of. The two were already racing across rooftops, one laughing while the other smirked under his bright red helmet. However, they didn't make it far without being cut off by a flying bat-a-rang.
Red Hood instantly slipped his handguns from his holsters, turning the safeties off and aiming them in the direction of whence the bat-shaped weapons came from. Danny merely sighed and slapped a hand over his face. "Crap… He caught us."
"Why are you so worried? It's just the Bat."
"Hehe…" Danny mumbled nervously. "Yeah, he's also the person that makes sure I stay off death row…"
Red Hood shot his partner a bewildered expression, wondering when on earth that had happened. Danny shot him an anxious smile and mumbled "Yeah, it's a long story but Bats reports to a general every once in a while to tell him that I haven't done anything horrible but he doesn't know that I have done horrible things since then so shhhh~."
Batman chose this time to magically appear, like he always did. His expression wasn't emotionless for once but filled to the brim with irritation. His stance wasn't defensive or offensive, seemingly there to only talk as his posture was much more relaxed than either expected. His annoyed glare was set on both of the young men. "Alright, I think you two have had enough fun together."
"Hey! We've only teamed up a couple of times and caused only minimum property damage!" Danny complained, giving the older a look that said 'back-off' but failing to say anything about the men that had been killed on the job.
Batman turned the dry glare onto the white-haired male. "Shall we go over the stolen car incident?"
The two anti-heroes looked at each other in complete confusion, thinking back over the missions. Really the only mission that had involved a car was the weapons deal and that had been a pretty quiet ride for them. They only got in a few yelling-matches and mostly stuck to mocking the other heroes because it was funny. So what the heck was the stolen car incident?
The Dark Knight instantly caught onto their confused air and gave the two a blank look. "Please tell me you two know who the other's alias is…"
"Nopity."
"Uh-uh."
Batman didn't even resist face-palming for once. "The one time neither of you decide to dig up every single solitary piece of information on a person you just met!" The Dark Knight pointed at Red Hood. "I expect more from you." Batman turned to Danny. "And I expect you to stalk him 24/7 because you think it's funny."
Danny cackled at the thought. "Ha! No! I decided I'd try to make an actual real friend for the first time in years."
"And he worked with you all the time so I figured he could be trusted. … Somewhat." Red Hood said, shrugging.
Batman just stared at them for the longest time. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. The one time neither stuck to their routine, they made friends with the same person twice and didn't even know they had done such a thing. The dramatic irony wafting through the air was unbearable and the Dark Knight thought his head was going to explode.
"And why does this matter anyways?" Danny asked.
The Caped Crusader took a deep breath before quickly saying "Jason Todd, meet Graveyard. Danny Fenton, meet Red Hood. Now lose the disguises right frikkin now."
Seeing as Batman was already provoked and neither anti-hero wanted to make the situation worse for themselves, Red Hood took off his helmet and carefully ripped the mask from his face while Danny called the rings to his waist, turning him back into his human guise. The two turned to the other at the same time and they felt their eyes widen while the Dark Knight watched from the side.
"Jason...?"
"Danny…?"
…
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU FUCKING CHEERED FOR YOURSELF!"
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU CHOSE THAT FUCKING GAME TO BEGIN WITH!"
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU FUCKING TRIED TO KILL ME!" The two yelled at each other before they began physically attack each other over a game Danny played the week before.
Batman face-palmed again and left, leaving the two to brawl it out on top of the roof and possibly get caught by a random pedestrian.
Dang... They're still beat up over a game. Grudge holders, much? XD
Thanks for favoriting/following the story: Cats are my World, Sanasuke, Jaguarspot, ShiraYukiShadow.
Reviews:
KuriMaster13: I really wanted that dramatic irony to be on full force before this chapter so VIDEO GAMES~! XD Oh, I don't even want to go into that... XD
Anime Hotty Lover. 18: Happy b-day! And who wouldn't cheer themselves on? XD
Fear the Fuzzy Bear: That it is. And it really is a skill! XDDD Where is Jason's rifle, that is the question? Awww, that means a lot dude! Thanks!
Kuro-Okami13: Most of that was inspired by our conversation. XD I hate first-person shooter games... And I've never played Arkham Knight either but my friend has. XD ...I should have had it hit the TV... XD
TheBoss3254: ...you have some serious timing, you know that? XD
16ckelman: Thank you!
Oblitus Angeli: Oh my gosh, I hate two of the three games. It's ok. And who doesn't love raging at the games? Good ole Clint is gonna have to live with having a door slammed in his face. XD
Lawlipop: Ginger-Jason was not my favorite but that was actually the original version of Jason Todd. In the comics, he dyed his hair black to match Dick's. But I'm like you, I like having him being black-haired. Oh, that'll be interesting. No worries. XD
Ninuhuju: Hope you get better! I hate first-person shooter games. They suck.
Eirena Gaia: Oh gosh, they suck. Don't even bother. XD Yeah, parts of Jason knows but he's stifling them. XD Glad you enjoyed those parts!
BringbackDannyPhantom: THAT THEY ARE! XD
SweetyKinz: You were amused. That's all I want. XDDDD Man, that video-game one KILLED you. Hehehehe~! I love you, Buddy!
Jessica Jayme Bell: That he is... And they were playing Call of Duty, not Halo. XD
Jaguarspot: I already knew that. I just call everyone "dude." Ask my poor friend, Sweetykinz. XD Yeah, that is literally what I was trying to capture. :D
Poohbearmorris: It's alright! SweetyKinz does it all the time. XD