"What the hell do you mean he's coming on patrol?" The younger Bat yelled, turning fully towards the man, a glare firmly on his face, anger and disbelief hiding the surprise at the near casual comment.

"I mean I am going to take him with us tonight to see how he does. I had planned this a long time ago and was going to do it but then everything came up, so we're doing it now." Bruce said calmly. He, too, turned towards the other. They were both sitting at the kitchen table, Danny still sleeping (hopefully), Dick had been bent over a bowl of cereal and Bruce reading a book, however both activities were abandoned in favor of the conversation.

"You can't possibly think that's a good idea. Bruce, he's already been through a lot, you want to add fighting crime to that extensive list of things that give him nightmares? Because, if you haven't noticed, Gotham's crime isn't very pretty." Bruce sighed, finally placing down the book he was reading and leaning forward, folding his hands on the table and leaning his weight on his elbows.

"We have to go back. With everything that has happened recently, we haven't been on patrol in weeks, and we have to go back at some point. And Danny has to come because there is nowhere else he can go, he's safer with us than alone here. Besides, based on what he's seen, do you really think seeing a mutilated corpse or someone trying to kill him is really going to affect him? Dick, he's too far gone to be scared of that type of stuff." Dick glared for a moment longer before sagging in defeat.

"Yeah, I guess, but-"

"But you don't want to risk his life now that you just got him back. I get it. I don't want him to be at risk either, but this is the best option. It could teach him how to fight back better, could protect him in the future." If possible, Dick deflated even further.

"Fine. But he stays with us. No testing him by having go ahead of us, no letting him scope something. He is with us." Bruce chuckled.

"Understood. But when he's trained a bit better, we will have to split up. But for now, he stays with us."

"What are you talking about?" a small, hesitant voice spoke up from behind Bruce. The man didn't falter when he turned around in his chair and picked the boy up and placed him into the seat next to Dick. The teen in question had spilled milk from his cereal all over his lap when he jumped at the abrupt appearance. Danny, seeing the mess, looked dryly at his brother.

"I thought you were 'fearless'." Dick looked up and sent a light glare over to the boy as he mopped up the liquid off his pants.

"I'm not afraid, you startled me. Who wouldn't be startled when a small child appears out of nowhere?" Without a beat, Danny glared back at the 'small child' part before pointing over to Bruce, who was clearly amused, at the two.

"He doesn't count. He's unshakable." Before Danny could respond, Bruce cut in.

"Not 'unshakable' just observant." Turning to Danny, he stated, "have you been working on your English? You sound a lot better." While he still had a thick accent and some words were mispronounced, he was talking in complete thoughts and sentences. Danny shifted and avoided his gaze before he nodded. Bruce and Dick narrowed their eyes in suspicion.

"What did you do?" Dick asked.

"I didn't know how else to learn." Danny mumbled, looking at his lap.

"What did you do?"

"I snuck into Bruce's office to look at his books." Both exhaled a sigh of relief, relaxing after the confirmation he hadn't done anything bad or stupid.

"The business books? I thought we got you some books to learn from." Danny looked up and pouted.

"Those were for kids." Bruce cracked a smile and Dick laughed at the boy's words.

"Danny, you are a kid." The boy glared at the amused Bats.

"Am not." Dick just rolled his eyes while Bruce just huffed a small laugh. Danny went to retort but suddenly remembered his initial curiosity that had prompted him to interrupt in the first place.

"What were you talking about?"

He watched the nonverbal cues on each of their faces carefully. He watched them flick their eyes to each other without moving from their positions and observed as they continued their activities with only a miniscule hesitation on Dick's part. The boy narrowed his eyes as he carefully honed all his enhanced senses on the two humans and waited to see if anything was out of the ordinary.

After his...adventure…he decided he shouldn't be more relaxed, he should continue to live as he always had.

Carefully.

It wasn't as if he didn't trust these people, because he did. He trusted them, and that fact, if he didn't dwell too much on the potential consequences, warmed him and made him happy.

It's just...with trust comes overestimation, a lesson he learned the hard way.

They couldn't protect him from the GIW. (They failed once, who says they won't again.)

They couldn't protect him from nightmares or flashbacks. (How can they protect him from the haunting memories, lingering scars, and dark voices that echoes in his head?)

They couldn't protect him from the powers that sometimes make him curl up in the middle of the night in agony as he slowly released small amounts of energy at a time so his core doesn't overheat, freeze, or overcharge and kill his human half. (What can they do? They don't know anything about ghosts, let alone Halfas.)

They certainly couldn't protect him from the virtually unknown threat of Pariah Dark and his army. (He isn't even sure he could survive that, whatever it is.)

They were only human. Trained or not, this was just outside their capabilities.

It was outside his too.

Danny trusted them to take care of him, to not hurt him intentionally, to not betray him, to try and help him. He did.

He just couldn't rely on them to be able to protect him from the demons shadowing him. Because he was the only one, on this blue earth and beyond, that completely understood. It was not their fault. It was not anyone's.

It was just a cold, hard fact. The harsh reality of this-of his life.

Oh well.

'You are one messed up kid.'

"Danny, we want to talk to you." His eyes temporarily flashed their vivid green color in shock.

God dammit. He needed to stop that.

He tilted his head in confusion at Bruce as he turned in his chair and folded his hands over the now-closed book. Sparing a quick glance, Dick had also cleaned up his breakfast and mirrored the other's position. The boy used a considerable amount of willpower to keep himself from narrowing his eyes and tensing.

'Think they're going to kick you out? Tell you they think you were more than they bargained for? Ooh, what about give you back to the GI-'

He shifted his gaze back to Bruce, careful to keep the unguarded, not suspicious look on his face.

"You remember when we explained what we do? The vigilante thing?" Danny nodded, fighting the automatic irritation at the tone. He hated that tone.

"Well, we normally do that every night, go on patrol that is, however with everything that has happened, we haven't gone out in a long time. We need to go out tonight, and start getting back on schedule when it comes to patrolling."

'They are going to ship you off somewhere. God just get to the point will you?'

Danny wondered why he felt so irritable today, maybe the annoyance and feeling as if they are hiding something from him? Mentally shrugging it off he waited semi-patiently for the two to spit it out.

"Well, the problem is we can't leave you alone. We don't want to risk another abduction." Bruce trailed off again and Danny sat, waiting for the point of the conversation. His mind worked a mile a minute trying to connect the dots so that he could understand the conversation.

"We want you to come with us on patrol tonight to see if you can start coming with us permanently. If you want to, of course. If you don't we can come up with an alternative." Danny knew there was no alternative. The boy was curious what it would be like, a more childish part of him was excited at the prospect, but overall he didn't want to jump into it unprepared, no matter how much he may want to.

He was not the type to let his emotions make his decisions, it never worked out.

"What do you do on parole?"

"Patrol, not parole. Usually we stay on the rooftops of buildings and look for people to help. Every once and awhile, when a bigger threat than street criminals come, we are signaled by a good friend of mine."

"What would I do?"

"You'd stay with us and we'd fight the criminals, however if there is something bigger, you won't fight. You would have to remain in your ghost half to disguise yourself from the bad guys." Dick answered that time.

"You would have to remain in your ghost half" He couldn't do that. Not that he didn't want to (he didn't particularly like the idea, but he could handle it) but he couldn't.

That was how they found him last time.

He said as much. "That's how they found me last time." Dick turned to his guardian, clearly unaware of that fact. Bruce however, didn't seem concerned.

"Yes, but when we infiltrated the facility you had been kept at, we found and took their tracking technology. We reverse engineered it and found a way to hide your signature from all of their technology."

"When the hell did you do that? Why didn't I know about this? Who did you go with? I didn't even know you had found the facility!" Dick stood up leaning over the table and towards Bruce, speaking in rapid fire. Danny was processing the information and considered the risks of going out. He stayed silent and observed the other two before giving his answer.

"A few days ago. None of the Young Justice team was informed and only a few of the Justice League had gone. We didn't want to draw attention, or get your hopes up. It was classified." Dick huffed, clearly upset, but not having a good retort. He collapsed back into his chair and crossed his arms, pouting slightly.

"So, Danny, what do you think?"

Danny nodded, giving a small smile.

After all, 'hope for the best, prepare for the worst' they say.

Danny giggled, sitting cross-legged on the cold floor of the Batcave. Ace was sitting behind him and the large dog had his head resting on top of the boy's spiky white hair, leaning all his weight on the eleven-year-old, who didn't seem to mind due to his powers. The boy was playing with one of the dog's large paws. He was dressed in a long sleeved black shirt and black sweatpants, and no shoes (not that the Bats knew that, he ditched the shoes as soon as they went to suit up.) The clothes were slightly smaller than the clothes he normally wore,not nearly as baggy. They fit him well, still large, but less like he was swimming in the clothes. He had two wristbands on each arm. They were tight enough that they couldn't move up and down on his arms, but they weren't too tight, they supposedly hid his ecto-signature.

The dog pulled his paw from the boy's hand and it landed on his knee. Lifting his head, the Great Dane sniffed the Halfa's pure, white hair, eliciting another giggle from the half ghost as he went cross eyed in an attempt to look at the dog.

Danny wasn't really sure why, but the creature seemed to take a liking to him. Danny had been hesitant at first, sure about his belief that dogs hated him, but he was wrong.

It wasn't just the dog, but the bats that usually stay dormant on the ceiling of the cave tend to come down and land in his hair or on his shoulder. Like two are doing now that the dog had moved to place his large head in his lap. Danny glanced to his left shoulder to see a small, black bat perched there. He could also feel the prick of another bat on the top of his head.

He didn't really understand why the animals liked him. But he liked them too so it was okay.

A minute or two later, another two bats flew down and landed on his other shoulder and his hand that rested on the Great Dane's head. Danny slowly lifted the bat to not startle it. It was young, and small. Danny smiled at it and lifted his other hand, palm facing up, and prompted the bat to his other hand. The bat moved, and Danny gently cupped his hand to keep the creature from falling.

Danny was whispering in Romanian to the bat, and even though he knew the creature didn't understand, it somehow looked intrigued at his words.

"Odată ajunsese un miller care era sărac, dar care avea o fiică frumoasă.Și sa întâmplat că a trebuit să meargă și să vorbească împăratului și, pentru a se face el însuși, el ia spus el, 'Am o fiica care poate sa faca paie in aur.'"

(Once there was a miller who was poor, but who had a beautiful daughter. Now it happened that he had to go and speak to the king, and in order to make himself appear important he said to him, "I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold.")

"Împăratul ia spus mițelului: 'Aceasta este o artă care mă iubește bine, dacă fiica ta este la fel de inteligentă cum spui, adu-o mâine în palatul meu și o voi pune la încercare'"

(The king said to the miller, "That is an art which pleases me well, if your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her to-morrow to my palace, and I will put her to the test.")

"Și când ia fost adusă fată, a dus-o într-o încăpere plină de paie, ia dat o roată rotitoare și o tambur și a spus: 'Încetați să lucrați, și dacă mîine dimineața devreme nu ați făcut această paie în aur în timpul nopții, trebuie să muriți.'"

(And when the girl was brought to him he took her into a room which was quite full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel and a reel, and said, "Now set to work, and if by to-morrow morning early you have not spun this straw into gold during the night, you must die.")

"Apoi el însuși a închis camera și a lăsat-o în ea singur. Așa că a stat fetița săracului miller, și pentru că viața ei nu putea să-și dea seama ce să facă, nu avea nici o idee despre cum paiul putea fi rotit în aur și ea a crescut din ce în ce mai înspăimântată, până când în cele din urmă a început să plângă"

(Thereupon he himself locked up the room, and left her in it alone. So there sat the poor miller's daughter, and for the life of her could not tell what to do, she had no idea how straw could be spun into gold, and she grew more and more frightened, until at last she began to weep.)

"Dar, odată, ușa se deschise și, din când în când, a venit un bărbat și a spus: 'Bună seara, miller de stăpână, de ce plângi așa?'"

(But all at once the door opened, and in came a little man, and said, "Good evening, mistress miller, why are you crying so?")

"'Vai', răspunse fetița, 'trebuie să mănânc paie în aur și nu știu cum să o fac.'"

("Alas," answered the girl, "I have to spin straw into gold, and I do not know how to do it.")

"'Ce vrei să-mi dai,' spuse manechinul, 'dacă o fac eu pentru tine?'"

("What will you give me," said the manikin, "if I do it for you?")

"'Colierul meu,' spuse fata."

("My necklace," said the girl.)

"Micul bărbat își luă colierul, se așeză în fața roții și se repeziră, se rotește, se rotește, trei rotații, iar bobina se umplea, apoi se așeza pe alta și se rotește, de trei ori, și al doilea era prea plin. Și așa a continuat până dimineața, când toate paiele s-au rotit și toate rolele erau pline de aur"

(The little man took the necklace, seated himself in front of the wheel, and whirr, whirr, whirr, three turns, and the reel was full, then he put another on, and whirr, whirr, whirr, three times round, and the second was full too. And so it went on until the morning, when all the straw was spun, and all the reels were full of gold.)

"Împăratul a fost deja acolo, iar când a văzut aurul, a fost uimit și încântat, dar inima lui a devenit mai lacomă. Avea fiica militarului luată într-o altă cameră plină de paie, care era mult mai mare, și îi poruncise să se rotească într-o singură noapte, dacă își aprecia viața. Fata nu știa cum să se ajute singură și plângea, când ușa se deschise din nou, iar micul bărbat apărură și spuse: 'Ce-mi vei da dacă aș desface acel paie în aur pentru tine?'"

(By daybreak the king was already there, and when he saw the gold he was astonished and delighted, but his heart became only more greedy. He had the miller's daughter taken into another room full of straw, which was much larger, and commanded her to spin that also in one night if she valued her life. The girl knew not how to help herself, and was crying, when the door opened again, and the little man appeared, and said, "What will you give me if I spin that straw into gold for you?")

"'Inelul de pe degetul meu,' răspunse fata."

("The ring on my finger," answered the girl.)

"Micuțul a luat inelul, a început din nou să rotească roata și până dimineața a strâns toate paiele în aur strălucitor."

(The little man took the ring, again began to turn the wheel, and by morning had spun all the straw into glittering gold.)

"Împăratul se bucura dincolo de măsură la vedere, dar totuși nu avea suficient de mult aur și a pus fiica militarului într-o încă mai mare cameră plină de paie și spuse: 'Trebuie să te întorci și în cursul acestei nopți , dar dacă reușiți, veți fi soția mea '"

(The king rejoiced beyond measure at the sight, but still he had not enough gold, and he had the miller's daughter taken into a still larger room full of straw, and said, "You must spin this too, in the course of this night, but if you succeed, you shall be my wife.")

"Chiar dacă ar fi fiica unui miller, credea el, nu am putut găsi o soție mai bogată în întreaga lume."

(Even if she be a miller's daughter, thought he, I could not find a richer wife in the whole world.)

"Când fetița era singură, manechinul se întoarse pentru a treia oară și spuse: 'Ce-mi vei da dacă îți voi roti și pațul de data asta?'"

(When the girl was alone the manikin came again for the third time, and said, "What will you give me if I spin the straw for you this time also?")

"'N-am mai rămas nimic pe care să-i dau,' răspunse fata."

("I have nothing left that I could give," answered the girl.)

"'Atunci promite-mi, dacă ar trebui să deveniți regină, să-mi dați primul copil.'"

("Then promise me, if you should become queen, to give me your first child.")

"Cine știe dacă se va întâmpla asta vreodată, se gândea fiica millerului și, neștiind cum să se ajute singură în această strâmtoare, îi făgăduise manechinului ceea ce voia și, pentru că a făcut din nou paiul în aur."

(Who knows whether that will ever happen, thought the miller's daughter, and, not knowing how else to help herself in this strait, she promised the manikin what he wanted, and for that he once more spun the straw into gold.)

"Și când împăratul a venit dimineața și a găsit tot ce dorea, a luat-o în căsătorie și fiica măcelarului a devenit regină."

(And when the king came in the morning, and found all as he had wished, he took her in marriage, and the pretty miller's daughter became a queen.)

"Un an după aceea, a adus un copil frumos în lume și nu a dat niciodată gânduri manechinului. Dar, dintr-o dată, a intrat în camera ei și a spus: 'Acum, dă-mi ce ai promis.'"

(A year after, she brought a beautiful child into the world, and she never gave a thought to the manikin. But suddenly he came into her room, and said, "Now give me what you promised.")

"Regina a fost lovită de groază și ia oferit manechinului toate bogățiile regatului dacă i-ar părăsi copilul. Dar manechinul a spus: 'Nu, ceva viu este mai scump pentru mine decât pentru toate comorile din lume'"

(The queen was horror-struck, and offered the manikin all the riches of the kingdom if he would leave her the child. But the manikin said, "No, something alive is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world.")

"Apoi regina a inceput sa planga si sa planga, astfel incat manechinul o pasa."

(Then the queen began to lament and cry, so that the manikin pitied her.)

"'Îți voi da trei zile, timp", a spus el, 'dacă în acel moment veți afla numele meu, atunci vă veți ține copilul'"

("I will give you three days, time," said he, "if by that time you find out my name, then shall you keep your child.")

"Prin urmare, regina se gândea toată noaptea la toate numele pe care le auzise vreodată, iar ea a trimis un mesager peste țară pentru a întreba, pe larg și pe larg, despre orice nume care ar putea fi. Când manechinul a venit a doua zi, a început cu Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar și a spus toate numele pe care le știa, unul după altul, dar la fiecare om micul a spus: 'Nu este numele meu.'"

(So the queen thought the whole night of all the names that she had ever heard, and she sent a messenger over the country to inquire, far and wide, for any other names that there might be. When the manikin came the next day, she began with Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar, and said all the names she knew, one after another, but to everyone the little man said, "That is not my name.")

"În cea de-a doua zi, a făcut întrebări în vecinătate cu privire la numele poporului de acolo și a repetat manechinului cel mai puțin ciudat și curios. Poate că numele tău este Shortribs, Sheepshanks sau Laceleg, dar el a răspuns întotdeauna: 'Nu este numele meu.'"

(On the second day she had inquiries made in the neighborhood as to the names of the people there, and she repeated to the manikin the most uncommon and curious. Perhaps your name is Shortribs, or Sheepshanks, or Laceleg, but he always answered, "That is not my name.")

"În cea de-a treia zi, mesagerul sa întors din nou și a spus: 'Nu am reușit să găsesc un singur nume nou, ci când am ajuns la un munte înalt la capătul pădurii, unde vulpea și iepure s-au împrăștiat noapte bună acolo, am văzut o casă mică și, în fața casei, un incendiu ardea și, în jurul focului, un om destul de ridicol se sărind, a sărit pe un picior și a strigat:"

(On the third day the messenger came back again, and said, "I have not been able to find a single new name, but as I came to a high mountain at the end of the forest, where the fox and the hare bid each other good night, there I saw a little house, and before the house a fire was burning, and round about the fire quite a ridiculous little man was jumping, he hopped upon one leg, and shouted,)

"'Astăzi mă coacem, mănâncă mâine,
în următorul timp voi avea copilul tinerei regine.
Ha, mă bucur că nu știam nimeni
că Rumpelstiltskin sunt stil!'"

("Today I'll brew, tomorrow I'll bake,

Soon I'll have the queen's namesake,

Oh, and how hard it is to play my game,

For Rumpelstiltskin is my name!")

"Vă puteți imagina cât de bucuroasă a fost regina când a auzit numele. Și, după aceea, micul bărbat a intrat și a întrebat: 'Acum, doamnă regină, care este numele meu?'"

(You may imagine how glad the queen was when she heard the name. And when soon afterwards the little man came in, and asked, "Now, mistress queen, what is my name?")

"La început ea a spus: 'Numele tău este Conrad?'"

(At first she said, "Is your name Conrad?")

"'Nu.'"

("No.")

"'Numele tău este Harry?'"

("Is your name Harry?")

"'Nu.'"

("No.")

"'Poate numele tău este Rumpelstiltskin?'"

("Perhaps your name is Rumpelstiltskin?")

"'Diavolul ți-a spus asta! Diavolul ți-a spus asta', a strigat micul om și, în mânia lui, și-a aruncat piciorul drept atât de adânc în pământ încât pătrunde întregul său picior și apoi în furie a tras la el piciorul stâng atât de tare, cu ambele mâini, încât sa rupt în două"

("The devil has told you that! The devil has told you that," cried the little man, and in his anger he plunged his right foot so deep into the earth that his whole leg went in, and then in rage he pulled at his left leg so hard with both hands that he tore himself in two.)

Eventually, Ace was looking at him and the other animals were staring at him as he told the folktale. He remembered that his foster parents used to tell him all kinds of stories, however more kid-friendly ones. Eventually he found a book in his adoptive sister's room. He had read many of the short stories in there and it was more interesting to him than the others. Every once and awhile, he recited one to himself. This one was strangely his favorite.

After his story, the bats started chirping at him softly and Ace's head rested back on his lap, his cold, wet nose nuzzling his palm on his free hand. He watched the bats as they spoke to him, and smiled.

A minute or so later, Dick and Bruce reentered dressed as Robin and Batman. They stopped in their tracks to look at the peculiar scene in front of them. Danny had noticed they were back, and so had the animals that were perched on him. The boy looked at the bats, confused. Usually the nocturnal creatures would fly away when more people had entered, this was the first time they stayed. Perhaps it was the story? That was a first too.

Shrugging it off, metaphorically speaking seeing as he didn't want the animals to startle, he smiled up at the two.

"Bats, have you ever actually seen the bats that live in here?" Robin asked, still looking at the boy.

"No."

"Huh." Batman seemed to recover from his shock and smiled back at the child on the floor.

"Danny, we have to get going." Danny nodded and Ace lifted his head off of the Halfa's lap. He lifted in the air, landing softly on his feet. The bats seemed to have gotten the message and chirped one more time before flying back up to the ceiling. The one on his hand, however, didn't move. Danny lifted his hand and smiled at it, gently nudging it to the edge of his hand and lifted his hand closer to the top of the cave. After a little more gentle coaxing, the small creature took off.

"Okay then. Let's just go." Robin mumbled. Batman rolled his eyes.

"You've seen weirder things. Stop being dramatic."

The three sat on the edge of a tall building. Batman and Robin were crouched on the ledge and Danny was laying on his back, with one swinging leg dangling off the building. Both Bats were watching the streets below carefully while the Halfa watched the stars. Danny had thought it was going to be more exciting.

He was so bored.

What happened to Gotham's streets being one of the most dangerous places at night?

They had been out here for over a half an hour and so far nothing had happened and Danny was about ready to sneak away and wander around. He had always been an adrenaline junky. At least he thought so, never really had the opportunity to test that hypothesis.

Robin glanced over to the Halfa, sensing the boredom. A pang of amusement and sympathy ran through him. He remembered the slow nights when he was first learning. Standing from his position, he walked along the ledge with impeccable balance towards his little brother. Sitting down with both his legs over the edge he looked over at the half ghost, who was now sitting up looking at the teenager.

"Sorry, bud. It's a slow night. Sure something will happen soon enough," Noticing the look from the elder bat, he quickly amended, "not that we want crime to happen. Slow nights are good because they mean that no one is committing crime, which is good," he trailed from his babble with a nervous chuckle.

Batman looked over to his two wards before noticing something. "Danny, what happened to your shoes?"

The boy turned to Batman sporting a too-innocent look on his face. "I don't like shoes." Batman simply sighed and went back to watching the streets below. The three lapsed into silence again.

After a few more minutes, Danny spoke up abruptly. "Is that the signal you talked about?" He pointed to a bright white light in the shape of a bat that shone clearly in the cloudy night sky. The other two immediately stood, Robin pulling the child up with him. They made their way to a building that had the source of the light.

There was a man standing next to an elaborate looking light when they arrived. Danny didn't really like meeting new people. The boy in question turned invisible as soon as his brother let him go and stepped up next to Batman.

Invisible to the human eye, the boy silently walked with bare feet, conjuring a sharp icicle in his right hand. He circled the man, observing him carefully.

The man was tall with a broad frame. He had glasses perched on his nose and reddish, short-cropped hair with a matching mustache on his upper lip. He wore a trench coat and his posture - folded arms, standing tall - radiated authority. Danny could detect no obvious malicious intent, but then again, the strange man hadn't seen the Halfa yet.

He spoke with a deep voice, tone as serious as Batman. The boy watched the three interact. All three were serious and had blank looks on their faces as they discussed something Danny didn't care enough to listen to. The boy continued to circle the man before stopping, still invisible, directly in front of him. The sharp, makeshift weapon was clenched tightly in his hand.

After a considerable amount of time, Danny snapped to attention when he heard his name mentioned by Batman.

"This is Danny," the boy watched, amusement heavy in his green eyes as he floated up and perched his elbow on the stranger's shoulder, leaning his head in his palm, icicle held loosely in the fingers of the hand holding his head up. The stranger didn't notice the now-visible boy. Said boy and man watched Batman turn quickly to Robin.

"Where's Danny?" The teen floundered for a minute and stumbled over his words in an attempt to answer. Batman looked at Gordon and sighed when the boy waved.

"Danny."

"What?" The man startled so badly that Danny had to turn intangible to avoid being hit by a flailing arm. The boy floated over to Batman and landed at his feet, plopping down cross legged. He melted the tip of the icicle and then put the now-dull tip in his mouth. Batman sighed and gently nudged Danny with his foot to get his attention. The boy craned his head so the top leaned against the Dark Knight's leg.

"Danny, this is Commissioner Jim Gordon. He's a good friend of mine. I trust him. I need you to stay with him while Robin and I go take care of an Arkham prison break." Danny glanced at the man who was trying to regain his composure before letting a faux innocent smile bloom on his face and nodding in acknowledgement. Batman bent down and lifted the boy to his feet, forcing Danny to drop his ice, then nudged Danny over to the man. Danny walked over and stood next to him, watching the two leave.

Before 'Commissioner Jim Gordon' could get a word out, Danny's innocent expression turned to a smirk. He looked up at the man and winked.

Then he was gone. Because there was no way in hell that he was going to miss whatever this was. The last thing he heard as he was flying after the Bats in 'Commissioner Jim Gordon' cursing.

This was going to be so much fun.

So...somehow, he lost the Bats. He got a bit distracted and next thing Danny knew he hadn't a clue where the other two went. So he wandered around, eventually hearing faint laughter. The boy gently handed in front of a large, abandoned warehouse where the laughter was louder.

'Abandoned warehouse. So cliche.'

He phased through the locked front door (yes, he just walked into the bad guy's possible secret lair using the front door) and looked at the scene in front of him.

It was certainly a...new...experience.

There were splashes of color (paint?) covering the walls and the floor was littered with various weapons, from guns to bloodied pipes. He didn't see anyone, presumably since they were around the corner where the voices were coming from. The boy quietly stepped further inside, looking around and was careful not to step on any broken glass or weapons. He started, luckily managing to keep himself from making noise, when he felt a cold, wet nose nuzzle and sniff his left palm and another warm presence poke at his right side.

He stood frozen, not breathing, eyes clenched tight. He finally, after one animal started rubbing its head against his palm and the other animal nuzzled his side the same way, he managed to look down.

Surrounding him were two very large brown creatures with black spots scattered over their fur. They resembled dogs, and he could tell they were part of the wolf family, but the actual name of the species eluded his mind. The creatures were sitting around him, seemingly trying to get him to pet them. He did, very carefully, start to pat their matted fur. Their pelt felt grainy and dirty, probably from being in a warehouse without being bathed in a long time.

As he pet them, he relaxed slowly, and soon he sat cross legged on the ground and was giggling quietly at the animals. One sat directly in front of him, practically towering over his small frame, with its head dipped to sniff his slightly dusty and dulled white hair while the other was on its back, head laying on Danny's knee. Danny patted the creature's belly and watched as its tail wagged left to right. It struck him as strange that the animals acted so much like domesticated dogs rather than act like the wild creatures like they were.

When the creature-hyena!-smelling his hair huffed Danny giggled louder at the strange sensation. He froze, remembering that he wasn't alone and was trying to be silent for a reason, he waited for indication of his cover blown. The voices had silenced and Danny could hear two sets of footsteps-one male and one female-started to come towards him. The hyenas moved, one now sitting at his right side with a large paw on his knee, and the other now laying down normally with its chin resting in his lap. Danny softly fisted his right hand in the fur of one, his other hand following suit as he leaned to the large animal, trying to shield himself from the people.

When he finally saw the two criminals, they stared at each other in shock.

One-the male-had stringy green hair and a painted white face with a big red smile drawn on. He was wearing a purple suit and black gloves. He wasn't overly muscular, yet he was still two times Danny's size. The other was wearing a skin tight black and red jester suit, complete with the hat and black domino mask over her eyes. Her face was painted as well, and she held a large mallet in her hand, casually resting on her left shoulder.

After a moment of silence, the woman dropped the top of the mallet on the ground with a thud and put her hands on her face and squealed. Danny tilted his head, which seemed like the wrong thing to do seeing as she ran towards him.

Danny was still getting over his shock at the two people's appearance to do anything as the woman hugged him tightly from behind, mindful of the hyenas still draped over the small boy.

"He's. So. Adorable. Can we keep him?" The man eyed Danny before he nodded. The woman squealed again, hurting Danny's sensitive ears.

"Who are you?" Danny managed to get his voice back.

"Names Harley. That over there's Mistah J." Danny just nodded, still uncertain of the sudden events. He eyed the two and shrugged deciding that he could handle them if they were to try anything. And he was so bored and didn't want to go back to the 'Commissioner Jim Gordon.'

"Well, kid, seems like Bud and Lou like you." The man gestured to each animal respectively. He laughed a bit hysterically, clapped his hands, then turned around. "Have fun, Harley, I'm going to get ready for our playmate. Should be here soon." He called over his shoulder. Danny craned his head in an attempt to see the woman with her arms still around his chest.

"Is that the Joker? My brother mentioned the name once." The woman, Harley, nodded and smiled.

"I mostly call him puddin'. He's waitin' for the Bats to show up." Danny decided not to mention that he lived with the Bats. He had a feeling that mentioning it would ruin his fun.

He and Harley played with the hyenas for an hour before the sound of fighting came from the area that the Joker disappeared to. Harley giggled and looked down at Danny, who was laying on his back trapped on the floor by Bud who was lying comfortably on top of him.

"Looks like they're here."

"You don't seem that upset that your plans are being foiled." Danny pointed out, not even attempting to get up from under the hyena.

"Buttercup, this is the plan. It's fun!" She grabbed her mallet and rushed at Batman as soon as he turned the corner. Danny watched, leaning against the chest of Lou while Bud shifted, now rubbing his head against the Halfa's side.

The fight didn't last long, however Harley did get some good hits in. Faintly Danny could hear sirens coming and anxiety wormed its way into his chest. He pushed it away as the man cuffed the two criminals and the vigilantes caught sight of him.

"Danny you're supposed to be with Gordon." The boy shrugged. The Caped Crusader sighed and gently dragged Danny to his feet, ignoring the growling of the hyenas, and started to walk out. Danny smiled and waved back at the animals that were whining after him.

As soon as they entered the cave, a small dark blob charged at Danny. The boy managed to catch the bat before it crashed into him. He cupped the flying animal in his hands and smiled as it chirped at him rapidly. Danny turned his gaze to Bruce who was rubbing his eyes like he had a headache.

"Can I keep him?" The boy asked eagerly. Bruce sighed sharply, eyes clenched tight. He nodded and Danny smiled. He transformed back to his human half and the bat perched himself on the top of the child's head and buried himself in the bark mop of hair.

"His name's Phil." The man just grabbed Danny's hand and started leading him to the elevator without a word.