Chapter 11:
Third Person:
Gear smiled as she unlocked the door to Danny's (and now her's as well) house and walked straight in without bothering to knock, knowing that Danny wasn't home. He was at Mount Justice and carrying out her plan for her. She was beyond happy that he was finally getting on the right track and she hoped that he could resist the temptation to steal better than her resistance towards liquor.
She adjusted the long haired black wig she wore slightly before heading to where she knew her bedroom was. She hated wigs, but it was a necessity. She couldn't have aliases with all the same hair, or eye color, or even clothing. Thankfully, she was posing as Danny's sister and their eye color was similar enough so she just needed the wig and a wardrobe change (that once Danny sees he will probably die of laughter).
As soon as she made sure everything in her room was in place- all the way from the screens and keyboard to the blueprints to the stuffed seal named Silkie she just put down on the bed (it was one of the things she packed). She set the bag of stuff she brough with her on the ground, kicked off her shoes, went to her mini-fridge to grab a beer, and took a seat at the screens. After typing away at the various things that came up on various screens, she was finally able to sit back, relax, and take a long swig of beer as she watched Danny through the security cameras at Mount Justice (of course, due to her attention span, two screens showed two separate computer games for her to play as well).
Let's see how much he can do right before he fucks up and I have to step in…
Danny AKA The Poltergeist thought about his decisions. Gear was probably going to kill him all the way for telling Batman that he was Daniel Jack Jefferson, but the way he saw it- that name didn't matter. Gear could help him get a new one, a new life, if anything went wrong and he didn't want to get behind in school again. It wasn't like he told them who he was before he got his powers or anything like that, so what was the harm? They had no idea how to deal with a ghost so he figured he was in the safe zone. He doubted they would call anyone like the Guys In White because Batman was known for being suspicious and untrusting of anything government-related.
He walked through Mount Justice, taking in everything he saw in awe. He got a brief glimpse of things before he was taken to the interrogation room, of course, but now he got to see everything (with an escort). Finally, Kaldur showed him to his new room. Danny looked around- it wasn't as nice as his bedroom at the house, but that was to be expected. He had a basic bed, a few empty shelves, and a dresser.
"Should you stay here long enough and prove yourself, I am sure you can customize it to your liking," Kaldur explained, "As long it is no stolen items of course. I am sure you understand that we must be wary and why I am set it be your escort."
Yeah an escort that has to follow me everywhere to make sure I'm not up to no good, Poltergeist grumbled in his mind, but at least no sidekicks are at the school…
"Yeah, speaking of- I should go talk to Bats. There is something I want to discuss with them…"
"Allow me to lead you there," Kaldur said stiffly before walking off.
Following the Atlantian leader, Danny wondered how he could possibly bring up what he needed to. There was no casual way to say it. As soon as they reached where Batman was in the mountain, Danny glanced around- Robin was gone, probably in Gotham, and so was Artemis. M'gann was in the kitchen, nervous, but not paying him too much attention. Superboy was probably in the garage and KF was probably goofing around somewhere. Aside from Kaldur, Batman and Danny had plenty of privacy.
"Could you excuse us," Danny asked politely.
Kaldur looked towards Batman, at his nod, Kaldur nodded back and left.
"I suspect you don't wish to talk about your new teammates," Batman stated.
"Uhh no," Poltergeist rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "I kind of wanted to talk about high school… Look, I don't trust you, but I trust you enough to tell you that I do have an alternative ego- a secret identity. One that goes to Happy Harbor High and kind of needs an education…"
"You're a ghost," Batman said firmly.
"I'm a ghost that wants to finish his life," Poltergeist argued, "I'm asking, please?"
"Secret Identity?"
Poltergeist shifted back slightly. Gear's aliases are pretty sturdy and I am sure she did enough work on them to fool people… But can she fool the Batman's background checks? If all of this goes down the drain, can she create a new alias for me without Batman being able to track it?
"If I tell you, can I go to school?"
"Possibly."
"…I can't tell you here, Superboy could listen in…So…"
Poltergeist looked around. When he noticed that M'gann wasn't paying attention. He used a small ectoblast to write his name in the air- Daniel Jack Jefferson. As soon as Batman gave a firm nod, he made he name disappear before M'gann looked over.
"Is everything alright," she asked cautiously, eying the Poltergeist.
He smiled and gave a chipper wave. Batman didn't comment until she turned away.
"For now, you are allowed."
Unknown to Danny, the only reason Batman said yes was because he knew Superboy and M'gann as Conner and Megan were friends with Daniel… He briefly wondered how they would react to figuring out their friend is the Poltergeist.
Gear smiled to herself as she resisted the urge to mess with Danny- who was stuck in his bedroom at the mountain unless he had an escort or Batman said otherwise. It would only be for a while until he proved himself, but it was amusing to see him pace the bedroom bored out of his mind. He grabbed his cellphone out his pocket and almost immediately her cellphone began to ring.
"Yo how's my favorite idiot? Don't say my name, by the way, I'm sure the Bats is trying to trace the call- which he can't- so he's listening in through the security cameras."
She put the cell between her shoulder and her ear as she reached over to open another beer with one hand, tossing the old one away.
"I heard a bottle- are you drinking again?"
"The only thing I'm drinking is liquid happiness."
"Isn't that name of your favorite beer? Look that's not important, they said you sent them a message?"
"Yep. Nothing too fancy, I kept it short and simple cause I'm classy," Gear said proudly.
She didn't need to look on the screen to know how hard he was laughing- she could hear him through the phone.
"Okay, okay… Sorry, anyway, so you did send the message? Why?"
"Just looking out for you," Gear answered vaguely, "What it said isn't important… So you told the Bats your secret ID?"
"…Yes?"
"You realize you're an idiot, right? But no matter, if you wish to return to a path of the righteous, you should. Just be careful and don't trust too easily."
"Alright. Thanks."
"No problem Double D. But there is one other thing I should tell you."
"…What is it?"
"You are an absolute dumbass with a blabber mouth. Seriously dude! I will personally release everything embarrassing video I have on you- making sure that it does get to your school- if you tell them another thing about me! Dude, I haven't been found for a reason. BECAUSE NO ONE KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!"
Danny gulped on the phone,
"…Sorry?"
"Oh you better be sorry dude and you will be sorry. Eventually. But really was there anything else you wanted to tell them? My favorite color maybe? Favorite beer? My whole dossier?"
"I said I was sorry."
"Sorry doesn't fix the fact that the Bats has information on me. Granted, his views are a bit more gray than the others in the League, but I still doubt he'll be alright with me. So next time- keep your damn mouth shut."
Gear let out a sigh of frustration. Before she could continue her rant, because there was still a lot she wanted to say- most of it being curse words and insults- a beeping came from her computer.
"Look, another ghost is showing up on the radar."
"Another ghost on the radar? Who is it?"
"According to the security cams, it's our favorite little green blob in a suit."
She continued to type on the computer until she saw the security cameras from the road that Skulker was on- thankfully it was nearly two in the morning so there was no one there that he was harming. Though he was demanding to see the whelp.
"Crap."
"If you curse, do it right," Gear corrected, "Though this is weird- there shouldn't be this many ghosts so close together- something is up…"
"Do you think he found me?"
"Nah. I think that there was a natural portal or something," Gear lied, "Now go kick ectoplasmic butt."
"But I can't leave without an escort!"
"Then get them to come with you!"
Gear was a bit annoyed and she let out a sigh of frustration. Danny sounded annoyed as he answered,
"Alright fine… See ya."
He hung up the phone and she smirked, a bit amused. It quickly faded, however. A lot of ghosts were showing up… Vlad couldn't have found them… Right?
