Ch.21: Witness Protection

Batman perked when his computer alerted him to a call. He was a little surprised though. Not many people called him and he was unaware of any world-crises going on. The Dark Knight picked it up with his ever-stoic face and hid the small bit of surprise he got when General Olsen appeared on his screen.

Batman didn't think the general would ever use the number he gave him.

"General." Batman greeted. "Is there something you need?"

"Do you know where that little pest is?" Olsen questioned, eyes narrowed at him in suspicion.

The Dark Knight raised an eyebrow. "And by 'pest', you mean Danny, correct?"

"Yes. Who else would I be talking about?"

"I don't know. But no, I currently am unaware of Danny's whereabouts. I thought you were scoping out an apartment where you could keep tabs on him." Batman answered.

Olsen growled. "We did give him an apartment. But one of the troops was doing a routine check to make he was in there but he was gone. We thought you might have something to do with it."

The Dark Knight shook his head. "I haven't and wouldn't have taken him anywhere without your permission. Danny got out all on his own."

"Wonderful."

Batman rolled his eyes. "When was this routine check of yours?"

"Half an hour ago." Olsen answered, very irked to have someone under his watchful eye disappear.

"And when was the routine check before the most recent?" Batman asked.

"We have one every two hours. There's a troop stationed in another room down the hall from his, which is why the checks are so widespread." Olsen explained.

"Didn't you give him a laptop?" Batman asked.

Olsen nodded. "We did and we've already tried tracking it five times. Nothing comes up. He's off our radar."

Batman sighed, annoyed.

"The bright side is that he's only got a two hour head-start. With the inhibitor bracelet on, he can't get too far and he's easily recognized since his face was posted all over the media a month ago. Danny can't exactly walk down the street without being noticed. Something should show up soon." Batman assured.

Olsen nodded before saying "I would appreciate it if you keep your own eye out for the maggot. We barely captured him last time and the guys I've got searching for him aren't coming up with anything."

"Understood. I'll watch out for him and see if anything turns up anywhere." Batman stated, ready to cut the connection.

"Wait."

Batman stared up at the general expectantly.

"If you find him, make sure he knows if he does something like this again, he's going to be right back where he started." Olsen stated, voice firm and no nonsense.

Batman, knowing the general meant death row, nodded but was tense. "I'll make sure he knows."

"Good." Olsen said before he cut the connection first.

Batman sighed before he walked towards his vehicle of choice.

Why was Danny so irritating?

The Dark Knight gazed over the apartment complex Danny had been setup in but had abandoned. Or, at least, everyone thought he had abandoned it. For all they knew, he could be somewhere inside the building and everyone was searching in all the wrong places.

Looking over the records for the complex, Batman found that a few people had checked out that morning while others had checked in. Only four checking ins were in the two hours between Danny's routine checks. One of them was even down the hall from Danny's room.

Batman crossed that one off his list. The teen wouldn't be stupid enough to rent an apartment right next to a soldier's.

That left three rooms. One was on the top-most floor, another was a floor below his original level, and the last was on the ground level. The question now was which would Danny choose?

The top floor room had a very high price and was advertised as 'luxurious'. That one was immediately crossed off the list. The one on the floor below the original floor Danny had been in wasn't anything special but it was apparently bigger than a couple of other apartments. That was crossed off as well, since Danny didn't believe in excess space.

That left the ground floor. It was a little bigger than most apartments but not as huge as any of the others. It was also rather dull, which would suit the teen rather nicely.

Batman swung over to the ground floor window that had a wonderful view of the alleyway. The curtains were shut unevenly over the window and the Dark Knight could see that it was unlocked. Loud music was muffled by the glass.

The Caped Crusader surmised that the teen was an idiot sometimes.

Opening the window quietly, Batman moved the curtains aside and looked in. The music immediately met his ears and he was vaguely surprised it was techno instead of the teen's usual heavy metal.

Danny was sitting at a small table with his back to the window. He had a toolbox in front of him and various tools were scattered about him. The stereo the teen was using sat on a counter in the dinky kitchenette in the apartment. Unlike at his other places, Danny had all the lights flipped on and the simple laptop he had received from Olsen was sitting on a coffee table, open but blank.

Batman slipped in and closed the window behind him, quietly closing the curtains over the window again. He walked up behind the teen and Danny's blue eyes immediately traveled up to meet his in his hilarious position.

Danny was trying to get the inhibitor bracelet off. One screwdriver was pointed down into the circuitry and being held in place by Danny's teeth. His free hand, as the other was out of commission for the moment, held a pair of thin pliers that were playing with a couple of wires. His blue eyes looked like a deer in a headlight.

The Dark Knight stared at Danny's way of working dryly. He asked "Are you having fun?"

"Pwease hep mah." Danny asked, batting his eyes. His words were slurred and muffled by the screwdriver in his teeth. He smiled hopefully up at the Dark Knight.

"I'm not quite sure I want to."

"Pwease~." Danny whined.

"That would be aiding a felon."

Danny scoffed to the best of his abilities before he said something about Batman having done that already, many times too. The Dark Knight retorted that Danny was a now federal problem though and that he didn't mess with the government. Danny replied with a muffled 'are you kidding me?' and a 'come on, it itches'.

Batman rolled his eyes before relenting and holding the screwdriver in place. Danny opened his jaw and retracted from the tool. He looked over the Dark Knight's hand and into the bracelet's circuitry before playing with the pliers, maneuvering some of the wires around and snipping others in half.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" Batman asked.

Danny shrugged. "Not really. I'm winging it."

"And if this doesn't work?"

"I'm having my hand cut off and replaced with a scythe. How cool would that be?"

Batman sighed. "That would not be cool by any means."

"I know. I was joking. Calm yourself." Danny replied, staring intently into the bracelet's insides. He snipped another wire and the green sections of the inhibitor dulled and turned off. Danny yelled "A-ha!" and threw his pliers hand in the air victoriously.

"It's still stuck to your hand." Batman stated, putting the screwdriver down and pointing to the bracelet still locked around Danny's wrist.

The teen nodded and said "I know. But I can do this, at least."

Danny his wrist intangible and the bracelet fell from the limb and clattered to the table. Some of the broken wires spilled from the open panel in the bracelet and fell onto the table as well. A few pieces of metal scattered about also.

Batman picked up the bracelet and studied the damage. "You turned this into nothing but a piece of scrap. That's amazing in a clumsy way."

Danny smiled. "But it's off. So it worked."

Batman rolled his eyes again before replacing the damaged piece of equipment down on the table again. Turning to the teen, he asked "Is there a reason you're hiding from the people that are giving you a second chance?"

"And by 'second chance', you mean keeping me as a glorified prisoner right?" Danny asked sarcastically and shook his head.

"They're making sure you try to reform." Batman stated.

Danny scoffed. "Breathing down my neck 24/7 only makes me want to do more illegal things just to tick them off and to see if I can get away with it! And I know I can because I stole that toolbox from the shop across the street last night!"

"You did what now?"

"Uh… Nothing."

"Danny…"

"Anyways, it was getting uncomfortable! So I snuck off. Technically I'm still within their boundaries. They just don't know that." Danny answered, smiling nervously.

Batman did have to give him that. Being watched constantly was irritating and Danny was only a few floors away from his original apartment. And for someone like Danny, that kind of attention was like saying "I challenge you to break the law without me catching you."

The Dark Knight looked around the room, willing to let Danny win that fight, when he spotted the blaring stereo. He pointed at it and asked "Did you steal that too?"

Danny gave that nervous smile of his and responded "I'm not going to answer that for fear of getting slapped."

Batman thwacked him upside the head anyways, earning a loud yelp in return. Danny glowered up at him and mumbled some nasty words under his breath.

"On another note," Danny started, still rubbing his head while he scowled. "can we keep this just between you and me? They find out I'm only three levels down, those horrendous routine checks are going to start and I'm going to go insane. I didn't answer the door for one of those checks cause I was in the shower and a bunch of armed soldiers busted into the room as if I was holding a hostage or something."

Batman mulled over the answer, silently laughing hysterically about that unfortunate encounter. "As long as you let me keep tabs on you so I can report your whereabouts to Olsen, I will."

"How often are these tabs going to be taken?" Danny asked.

"Just call me once a day and you'll be fine." Batman answered.

Danny groaned. "But that means I have to remember to do it~!"

"Do you want to call me or do you want a soldier breaking down your door every two hours?"

Danny glowered further and answered "I'll call you…"

Batman smirked and said "Good dog."

"Aw heck no! I am no one's pet, fool! Get over here so I can sock you in the head!"

Batman waited patiently for Olsen to pick up. He drummed his fingers on the table in front of him absently to cure his boredom. On the fifth ring, the general picked up and looked expectantly at the Dark Knight, as if he had been waiting for the call since Batman had decided to call him half an hour earlier.

"Batman." Olsen greeted.

The Caped Crusader nodded and plainly said "Olsen."

"Have you found the little maggot?"

Batman nodded again and answered "I have."

Olsen waited expectantly for the Dark Knight to hand over the info. "And where is he?"

"He's under wraps." Batman answered vaguely.

Olsen shot him an irritated expression. "And that would be where?"

"It would be in a location I know. He's not doing anything outside the law so you don't have to be worried about that." Batman answered, excluding the little excursions Danny took to grab a stereo and a toolbox.

"I would appreciate it if you told me where he is."

Danny's face appeared on the screen and he waved. "Don't worry, you big hypocrite! I'm in a better place now."

Olsen growled at the teen and sternly asked "Where are your coordinates?"

"Calm down, Olsen! Yeesh! You're going to grey prematurely! I'm on 187 Never Gonna Happen Lane." Danny answered sarcastically, smiling cruelly and holding up one of his thumbs. He batted his eyes cutely and tilted his head obliviously.

Olsen slammed his hand down on the table in front of him and started shooting off a list of swears while Batman sighed and shook his head in exaggeration. Danny listened with a stunned face.

Once the general was done, he glared at the teen heatedly while breathing heavily.

Danny began clapping sarcastically, that stunned look still on his face. "Wow! I haven't heard such a colorful vocabulary in years! That is one heck of a mouth you got there, General! Ever thought about becoming a sailor because you'd fit right in!"

"Boy, when I get my hands on you, I'm going to-"

"Ok, that's enough from both of you. Thank you Danny for insulting your superior and General, you should just think of this as witness protection. Danny being the witness…" Batman trailed, looking between the two with an exaggerated expression.

"He is my responsibility and I need to know where my responsibility is at all times! Now give me your coordinates right now!" The general yelled.

"Olsen, he's my responsibility now. He always was. I know where he is and what he's doing. That should be enough." Batman stated, glaring at Olsen.

The general took a few calming breathes before hissing "The first sign he's done something outside the law, he's getting put right back on death row, understood?"

"Understood." Batman answered.

Olsen nodded before cutting his connection. Batman turned his steely eyes towards Danny's face.

The teen looked at him confused. "What?"

"Is there something you wanted?" Batman hissed.

"You told me to call you so I did! I thought that deal started today! Sue me if I didn't know he was calling you too!" Danny responded.

"I know you knew he was already talking to me." Batman stated.

"…ok fine but I didn't mean to show my face. I accidently pressed the wrong button and wallah! Here I am!" Danny replied, frowning.

Batman took a breath and said "Thank you for calling. I'll talk to you tomorrow morning, alright?"

Danny nodded before waving and cutting the connection. The Dark Knight fell in his seat while rubbing his face, wondering why he got stuck with all the strange people.

Thanks to these people for favoriting and/or following: Senrod2, LARIEN-BLACK, WhoCares97, Ummmmmno530, DarkRaptor4.

Reviews:

KuriMaster13: :D Thank you~!

Scheffelman: Yeah, pretty much.

Guest of Honor: I hate fireball candy... They suck. All that stuff might appear, we'll see.

Chicaalterego: Hm, that could work. But with how many times I've dimension-hopped, I'm starting to lose my mind. Wonderful. XD

KainVixenheim: I'll think of a prank or revenge scheme later. I'm tired right now. You know Danny can annoy people.

Roselin: There's nothing wrong with that! XD Glad you enjoyed!

Anime Hotty Lover. 18: Danny wouldn't dare! XD

The Keeper of World: Thank you, I try! XD Yeah Dark-Net!

Expergiscimini: XD Have fun with that.

Kimori Takahashi: Batman might be able to do something about him! We'll have to see. XD

YumiStar: I know, right? Dang it, Batsy. Look what you're doing!

Poohbearmorris: XD I'm so happy I made you laugh! And Danny wouldn't dare kill his baby!

Sarra Torrens: Knew someone would appreciate that. XD

Ninuhuju: They thought he'd listen with the thought of death over his head. :)

Shadow: Aw, thanks! And I thoroughly appreciate the tidbit of info that you gave me~! XD

H. H. Xia: Nope. Because he's Danny like that. XD

Bibbledoo: It's totally deadweight. Poor Batsy.

Eirena Gaia: THE STORY CAN WAIT. TRUST ME. XD I'm glad you finally understand!

Grava: Danny hides. "What did I do?!"

Random Person: Because he's Batman. Yeah for Danny~!

Guest(1): Uh-huh! XD

Allietheepic7: That would be Danny for ya. XD