Ch.23: Do You Want That?
Batman crawled in the window, as always, and quickly scanned the dark room for the one that lived there. He quickly spotted Danny lying on the couch, sleeping peacefully. The teen's laptop sat quietly on the coffee-table in front of him. A fluffy blanket was over his body and half his face was buried in a pillow. One of his hands was tucked under his cheek while the other was wrapped around his chest. Danny's lips were slightly parted, breathing through his mouth. His body rose and fell with each breathe he took.
If anything, Danny looked kind of… cute. But Batman wouldn't allow himself to think that way so he dismissed the thoughts about leaving the teen be and exiting the apartment, walking towards the slumbering teen with a purpose.
Gently, Batman rested a hand on Danny's upper-arm and shook him just a little. "Danny."
The teen, as most would, took a deep breath in his sleep as he moved onto his stomach, slipping his arms under the pillow and burying his face within the fluffiness. The breath eased from his lungs slowly and he stilled, content to lay like that in his sleep.
Batman rolled his eyes and moved his hands to glide across Danny's back. He gently shook him, calling the teen's name again. Danny remained still and quiet (which, in his case, was a blessing directly sent from the Good Lord above).
The Dark Knight rolled his eyes as Danny slept through his calls and shakes. It was the one time he actually needed the teen and he wasn't waking up. Figures.
Irritated and in a hurry, Batman smacked the back of Danny's head and yelled his name, a little loud but not loud enough that the neighbors would awake.
Danny finally stirred and he turned his bleary head to the side, looking up at the wide awake Batman with drooping eyes. He groaned upon seeing his handler and threw the blanket over his head, snuggling deep into the uncomfortable couch and the wonderful blanket and pillow he was using. Easily, Danny began slipping into sleep again, the black tendrils of oblivion pulling him into its embrace.
Batman put both his hands on Danny's back and began shaking him hard. "Come on! Wake up, you lazy bum!"
"Leave me alone, you sick, nocturnal creature. Some of us like sleep." Danny whined at him, trying to squirm away from the older's grasp but failing. He kicked his feet in exaggeration and let out a long groan when Batman continued to wake him up.
"Batman~! Leave me alone~!" Danny whined.
The Dark Knight did not leave the boy alone. "I told you I need you."
"You're Batman! You don't need anyone!"
Batman rolled his eyes. "There's a ghost problem and your powers would be much appreciated in stopping it."
Danny twisted onto his back and began kicking out at Batman. "It's just a ghost! It'll go away eventually! They always do! Now, please, let me sleep!"
The teen shifted onto his side, back to Batman, and threw his blanket over his head again. He snuggled deep into the couch, creating a cocoon around him with the different but soft fabrics around him. Danny groaned in pleasure when his assailant stopped his assault and left him be.
Batman, glaring at the teen, walked over to the door and leaned against the wall, hands crossed over his chest. Casually, he flipped the light switch on.
Danny's reaction was instantaneous.
"MY EYES! THE LIGHTS! OW! CRAP! CRAP-CRAP-CRAP-CRAP-CRAP! CRRAAPPP! WHO PUT THE ENTIRE FRIKKIN SUN IN MY ROOM!?"
He screamed bloody murder, convulsing under his blankets while he tried to claw his eyes out. The teen kicked his blanket off, screeching at the top of his lungs, and began trying to hide his precious eyes from the burning light of the fluorescent bulbs above him.
The Dark Knight watched without any mercy and with a completely straight and irritated face. Not even Danny launching himself off the couch and rolling around on the ground made his irked aura disappear, watching the boy spazz mercilessly.
Danny finally stopped convulsing but remained on the ground, rubbing his eyes in a fruitless attempt to get them to stop hurting. Hesitantly, the boy finally dropped his hands and blinked multiple times to regain his sight back. He rubbed them again before moving his hands away, squinting as he looked around. Danny glared at Batman irritated while the Dark Knight stared at the boy with no emotion.
"That hurt." Danny stated, still squinting with a huge frown on his face.
In response, Batman smirked darkly at the teen, still leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
Danny's glare continued and he asked "You're not gonna let me get out of this, are you?"
Batman shook his head, mouthing a long and sarcastic 'no-o-o'. He pushed himself off the wall and walked into Danny's kitchenette, rummaging through some cabinets for something.
Danny didn't even bother to ask what he was doing. Instead, he said "I'm not going to be much help. I'm tired and my bed is literally calling to me and-"
SPLASH!
Batman had walked out of the kitchenette and threw a glass of water into Danny's face.
The teen only closed his eyes and frowned in response to the water being shot at his face. He remained sitting in his position as the water dripped off his chin and glided down his face. Blue eyes finally opened and wandered up to meet Batman's dark, smirking face.
Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip… Patter, patter, patter, patter…
"Are you fully awake now?" Batman asked, his dark smirk still playing on his lips.
Danny gave short nods in quick succession, tongue pressed firmly against the inside of his cheek as he nodded. "Yeah… I'm awake now…"
"Good." Batman stressed as he walked towards the window. "That means you'll be fine to tag along then."
Danny pushed himself off the ground with a grunt before he trudged after his cruel and sadistic handler. As he changed into his ghost form for the first time in forever and followed after, face and hair still soaking wet, he said "I'm killing you for that later."
Batman patted Danny's back in mock sympathy mumbling "Yeah, yeah…" before he pushed Danny through the window abruptly, sending Danny sprawling to the ground outside the window. Batman followed after and landed on his feet silently.
Danny shot a dirty glare up at his handler. "I hate you sometimes."
"I'm aware." Batman stated as Danny got up beside him. The Dark Knight grabbed his grapple, shot it, and took off. The teen followed behind, flying leisurely after his handler while he made sure his hood was safely on his head, shadowing his face so he couldn't be recognized.
Batman led the boy to the last site of the ghost with the teen looking over his shoulder bored.
Danny, as he looked over the wreckage with drooping eyes, spotted something that made his head tilt to the side with mild recognition. His brain tried to supply an answer for who the owner to the belonging, a green net, was. It took a couple of minutes, as his mind was still trying to process not being sleep anymore, but his tech-savvy brain finally came to a conclusion.
"Was the ghost a robot? With a green, flaming mohawk? Likes to call people degrading names like 'whelp'?" Danny asked the Dark Knight, giving the hero a dry and tired look.
Batman nodded once. "That was him."
"Wonderful… The ghost's name is Skulker. He's supposedly the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter but he honestly back the name up with evidence. He has killed a few rare creatures, I'll give him that, but I wouldn't say he was the best unless he killed you or something." Danny explained casually, waving his hand around.
The Dark Knight stared at Danny dryly. "Thanks."
Danny gave a sarcastic thumbs up before looking around again. "Skulker's really annoying and hates my guts-"
"Surprise, surprise." Batman stated sarcastically.
"-and refuses to let me stand in a room with his girlfriend alone."
Batman furrowed his brows and asked "What?"
Danny cackles in his signature fashion and replies "Skulker's got a girlfriend. She's hot but not my type. But I know he can be…possessive…so every time I see her, I hit on her just to tick him off. One time, he threw a knife at my head… Good times."
"How you're still alive amazes me."
"What can I say? I'm special like that."
Batman rolled his eyes and took a breath. "Moving on. Do you have any way you can track him?"
BOOM.
Danny and Batman looked off into the distance, towards the sight of a small mushroom cloud rising into the sky. Flames danced under it, casting shadows across the black and grey clouds and streaking them crimson. It was a relatively small explosion but it was still an explosion.
The white-haired teen looked up at his handler and sarcastically said "I have this power that makes the area around a ghost explode. I forgot to tell you about it but-"
SMACK.
"OW!"
"Please… Shut up." Batman stated while Danny stuck his tongue out at him. The two easily took off in the direction of the small explosion, one running and the other flying. In record time, they approached the sight and looked over the edge of the building.
It was a truck that had exploded. It seemed no one had been fatally injured but they had just gotten there, so it was hard to tell. The ghost they had been looking for, Skulker, was floating high above the ground. He seemed to be searching for something but no one could figure out what.
Danny grinned. "He's going to kill me for this."
Before Batman could ask him what the heck that meant, Danny fell a few steps back before sprinting forward, jumping from the building, and tackling the ghost to the ground, all the while flipping off so he wouldn't still be on the ghost upon impact.
Skulker crashed into the ground while Danny landed in a silent crouch, far from the crash site. When the robotic specter climbed out of the rubble, he saw his attacker in his crouch, waving flirtatiously at Skulker while the teen smirked under his hood.
"You."
"Hey-y-y-y Skulker~! Long time no see, am I right?" Danny replied, standing from his crouch and casually putting his hands on his fists. The teen was wearing his annoying smirk that could tick off even the happiest of people. The batting of his glowing peridot eyes further increased Skulker's irritation.
An evil glint in his eye, Danny asked "How's Ember, Skulky? I haven't seen her in awhile."
Instantly, Skulker was trying to shoot Danny down with a very large ray gun. The teen jumped over the blasts while simultaneously trying to get closer to the robotic ghost. Danny occasionally shot his own ecto-blasts at Skulker but mostly saved his energy for getting closer to do some real damage.
While Danny ticked villains off and attacked them, Batman stuck behind to help the civilians out of the area and to protect them from oncoming, flying debris. Batman could only smirk in amusement when he heard everyone asking each other who the new hero was.
Irony.
Danny flew forward, dodging a missile, and rocketing forward. He slammed into Skulker and the two crashed into the ground. Danny fell off the bigger ghost but easily got back up, panting but smirking as usual. Not tired in the least, Danny asked his enemy "What the heck are you even doing here, Skulker?"
"I'm trying to find my prey that got away earlier!" Skulker yelled back at the boy as he, too, got up.
Danny shrugged, said "Sucks for you", before inky black covered his eyes, his lips twisted into a dark smirk. He watched as Skulker tried lashing out at the illusions Danny had made just for him but the robotic ghost could not escape his own mind. Danny watched him fall casually and pass out, as all people did when they were victim to the illusions too long.
Once the ghost was out, Danny let his nightmare abilities leave his mind as he heard a bunch of guns getting cocked behind him. He turned on his heel and saw a good part of the Gotham's cops aiming their guns at him.
And standing right beside Commissioner James Gordon was none other than General Nate Olsen.
"Crap…" Danny mumbled, his smirk being replaced with his frown. He turned, ready to retreat, but he ran into the Dark Knight's chest. Danny glared up at his handler while Batman rolled his eyes and turned him around to face law enforcement.
Olsen, glaring at Danny because he knew the white-haired teen was Danny, stalked forward with a heated expression. The teen rolled his eyes in annoyance, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly. Batman placed a hand on his shoulder and tightened his grip around it, making sure Danny knew not to do anything stupid in his irksome way.
The general grabbed the front of Danny's vest and brought him close to his face. "What else don't I know about?!"
"I also have a pet dragon. I'm sorry I never told you." Danny answered sarcastically, mimicking a sullen look but his eyes were sparking with mirth.
"Please stop acting like an ass." Batman moaned.
Danny's mock look of sadness was replaced with an amused grin, which he shot over his shoulder towards his handler.
Batman sighed in annoyance, wondering what else Danny was going to do to trash his own crappy reputation.
The teen looked back to Olsen. The general's eye was twitching and he still had Danny's vest in a tight hold, glaring at the boy with a fire like never before.
"Let go of me." Danny ordered, voice serious with steely eyes to match.
Olsen leaned towards Danny's face and, tone filled with mockery, he said "No."
The teen shoved his own face in the general's and let the black inkiness slam over his green irises. Olsen screamed immediately and stumbled back, getting far away from the angered teen as he looked around blearily. People tried to help him but he lashed out at the good Samaritans.
Batman roughly shoved Danny back and to the side, yelling a strict "Stop it!"
Danny's concentration broke and the black retreated from his eyes again. The teen glared up at the Dark Knight for interrupting him but took another step back to put distance between him and the general. The teen fixed his hood more on his head, looking away, and crossing his arms over his chest again.
Olsen regained his bearings again rather quickly and glared at the silent boy. Mumbling a long "You…", he tried to rush the teen but Dark Knight stood in his way, the black-clad hero standing between the two antagonists with eyes of steel.
"Get out of my way so I can kill that piece of filth!" Olsen yelled at the blockade that was Batman.
"No. I am fully aware he shouldn't have done that but you baited him so both of you are at fault. Just. Drop it." Batman ordered, voice firm and his tone serious.
"If he does something like that again, he's going-"
"I know, Olsen. But you're not helping with the reform at all. You're not even giving him a chance to let him fix his wrongs and he just took down a criminal. You need to back down and let me work with him." Batman stated before he turned on his heel. As he walked past Danny, he grabbed the teen's arm with a tight grip in warning and pulled him along. "Let's go."
Danny followed behind in a jog and, for once, kept his mouth shut. Keeping his place slightly behind his handler, Danny matched the older's pace and kept up with him as the Dark Knight stalked away from the site.
"What about Skulker?" Danny asked quietly, casting his gaze over to the downed ghost.
Batman stopped. "What do you think we need to do?"
"Get him back to the GZ but I don't have a portal-gun on me." Danny answered, frowning uneasily.
Batman took something from his belt and gave the small ray-gun to Danny. The teen looked it over and studied the design. He opened one of the circuit panels and studied the wiring before he gazed up at his handler dryly. "You made a smaller portal-gun designed after my original design? Really?"
The Dark Knight shrugged. "Just in case I ever needed it."
Danny sighed and rolled his eyes before shooting the ghost with it, efficiently sending the ghost back to its home, before he gave it back and the two took off again.
Once back at the teen's apartment and after the boy transformed back into his human half, Danny thought Batman would just make sure he got back inside but the Dark Knight followed him in. Danny tensed his shoulders, like children did when they knew their parents were mad at them and were waiting for the perfect opportunity to yell at them.
"You just had to tick Olsen off."
"I told him to get out of my face." Danny retorted, glancing over his shoulder at the Dark Knight.
Batman glared at the teen. "You have more self-control than that."
"That dwindles whenever he shows up."
"I couldn't tell." Batman said sarcastically.
Danny waved the older hero off. "Look. I did it. I can't undo it now. So Olsen hates my guts more now. Fine with me."
Batman grabbed Danny's chin and turned the teen to fully face him. Danny tried to throw Batman's hand off but his grip was tense and hard, keeping him right in place. The boy glared up at his man-handler heatedly.
"You better start caring before Olsen decides to order your demise. I'm trying to keep you off death-row but you're making that so hard. If you keep pushing his buttons, he's not going to keep giving you chances. He's going to think his superiors made a mistake by letting you live! If you keep doing what you did earlier, he's going to think you have no self control over yourself and that you should be dead." Batman stated sternly.
Danny grabbed at Batman's hand around his chin with a grimace. "So what? If he wants to kill me, I'll just go AWOL on him like I do everyone else!"
"Don't you get it?! If he says it, I'm going to be the one to have to bring you in! After he says it, I'm not going to be able to help you anymore Danny! It's going to be on my head too! Do you want that?!" Batman yelled, tightening his grip on Danny's chin as his heated and steely eyes looked down at the boy.
Danny went quiet and his grip around Batman's hands stayed but slackened. His blue eyes fell to the ground and he mumbled "You're hurting me."
Batman relaxed his grip but refused to release. He tilted Danny's head up, trying to get his blue gaze back at his own but the teen remained staring at the ground. "Are you going to answer me?"
"…no…"
"No what? No you're not going to answer me?"
"No, I don't want that!" Danny yelled, eyes flashing back up to Batman's. His own eyes were misty but he was heated too.
"Then help yourself Danny because I can't do everything." Batman stated, releasing the teen's jaw-line and retreating from the apartment.
Danny rubbed his aching chin before sniffing and falling back onto the couch. He crawled under the blankets and pulled them around him tightly. He balled himself up, sniffed again, and fell asleep with the Dark Knight's words echoing around in his skull.
Thanks to these people for favoriting and/or following: Gabriel Novak, Orpheus Thanatos Messiah, Ethiopian1987, Demon Stones.
Thanks to these people for favoriting and/or following me: Demon Stones.
Reviews:
KuriMaster: Thanks~! :D Danny's being an anti-hero cause he's still actively working on the Dark-Net, not taking jobs but still working on it which, ultimately, aids criminals. He's so fantastic that way... (*rolls eyes* What are we going to do with you, Danny?)
Grava: So do I... XD
Anime Hotty Lover. 18: Yep. He's asking for it.
Roselin: :D Glad you laughed a ton! I love it when people laugh!
Scheffelman: Always. He Supes.
YumiStar: XD I know, right? They're the best trio ever!
Expergiscimini: I was thinking the same. XD
Guest of Honor: Danny is Danny and he shall remain that way. XD
Shadow: I think we all wish that would out when we're at the mall. XD I get it. My dad was Navy. And is that enough sabotage for Olsen? XD ...dude...you're so nice to me!
Poohbearmorris: :D You're so wonderful to me! Glad you enjoyed!
Sarra Torrens: XD Glad you enjoyed~!
BrownHari2918: That last part. I said it sarcastically. XD
Astroshadow: We can't do anything cause we're just the readers (...and writer...)!
Bibbledoo: I think we all would have happily done that. XD
Ninuhuju: It's not too bad! I just wanted Danny to have a wake-up call!
H. H. Xia: He has perfected that method, hasn't he? XD
KainVixenheim: *shrugs* Whatever.
The Keeper of Worlds: That job is a pain... Even Danny respects that. XD