Bats and Ghosts Part 4
Rating: T [alcohol and cursing]
Pairings: None [Still maybe DaniellexDamian if you squint, though I'm starting to wonder if I'm accidentally making a ship, lol]
Ages: Turns out it's not easy to find the Batfamily's ages easily. So this is how it is for this piece: Bruce: 35-38, Dick: 23, Jason: 20, Tim: 17-18, Damian: 14-15, Barbara: 22-23, Dan: 24-25, Danny: 14-15, Dani: 12-13. [I'll eventually add Cass, Stephanie and others when I figure them out more]
Summary: Bonding for Humans is different than bonding for Ghosts. Bonding for Bats is also different from most Humans and Ghosts and bonding for Ghost Bats is even more unique, but then again that's why we read about these guys.
He could hear all of them whispering about him. It was annoying, but Dan honestly didn't care all that much. So what if he'd randomly gotten in on Wayne's inheritance by joining the family? Clockwork knows he didn't do it for the money.
"I wonder if he'll adopt me," A random passerby murmured.
"Pfft, shut up, Frank."
Dan was downtown, near Selina's apartment and some of the seedier portions of Gotham. He felt more comfortable buying his liquor here though, the other liquor store never seemed to have the right brands for him. He tried his best not to flinch at the high-pitch trill from the bell on the door when he walked in.
He ignored the glances of the people inside before he moved down an aisle and began searching for his favorite whiskey. He reached down to pull at his pants since his jeans were sagging a bit; he needed to get a belt. After selecting his drink and re-positioning his leather jacket after it had risen up from him leaning over, he walked up the counter and paid.
Before long, he was back on the street, making the long walk back to Wayne Manor. As he loped along, he quickly took notice of the group of three men that were following him. Dan grumbled to himself and took a cliché turn down a dark alley. They couldn't see the dark grin he was giving off since he was facing away from them. If they had been facing him head on, they would've seen the bright white reflection of his teeth and fangs.
"Hey there, Mr. Wayne."
Dan let his smile relax and stopped grinning; he stopped walking and put down his bottle at the same time.
"You're going to help give us a piece of the Wayne Company pie, buddy."
Dan looked over his shoulder and snorted. "Don't you know Batman always stops anyone that have ever kidnapped any of Wayne's family? What makes you think he won't bust your faces in?"
"We're willing to take the risk. We've got the Penguin backing us."
"And?"
"And what?"
Dan sighed and turned to face them fully, putting his arms up like he was part of a hold-up. "Oh no… looks like I'm being kidnapped." The sarcasm dripped from his voice.
One of the men got angry and began to approach Dan. "So we've got a smart guy here, huh? Well we'll make sure you don't laugh again-" The man started to slow when he finally reached Dan and realized something important that the three men hadn't noticed before…
Dan chuckled a deep rumbling laugh and patted the man's head, the poor guy barely made it to his chin. "Don't worry, little fella. I'm sure you just got lost. You want me to take you to your mommy before a bad man caves your face in?" Dan made his intentions clear when he punched his own palm of his hand with his other, making a satisfying pop each time. "Beware…" Dan rumbled.
Needless to say, Dan was alone in the alleyway before long.
"Damn… I wanted to have a reason to punch one of them." Dan sighed and vanished, teleporting home with his precious bottle.
zz
Bruce watched quietly as Damian and Danielle fought against each other. Danielle was a quick study and was getting closer and closer to being allowed to be in the field. Currently she was wearing a device that negated her ghost powers, seeing as Bruce wanted to make sure all the hybrids could fight without them.
Damian dodged a swipe made by Danielle and managed to then sweep her legs. The girl yelped as she struck the ground and then groaned as Damian stood over her.
"Still quite sloppy. I'm not sure she'll be ready any time soon, father."
Danielle opened her eyes and glared at Damian as he tried to walk off. She swung her body up into a spin and hooked her foot around Damain's before he could get too far away. To his credit, he almost saved himself, but ultimately he fell onto his chest as Dani jumped up. "What was that? I couldn't hear you from all the way up here."
"It seems she may be closer than you think, Damian."
"Tch." Damain tutted. He then hurriedly got up and marched away. Danielle frowned as Bruce walked up behind her.
"I didn't mean to make him that mad. Me and Danny taunt and tease each other all the time…"
Bruce patted her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. He'll get over it, once his pride allows it."
zz
"And some sweets for you, Miss Danielle." Dani smiled up at Alfred as the butler put down the plate of cookies. She was already holding her glass of milk when she reached for one of the sweets. At that moment, Damian walked in.
"Alfred, where's Grayson. I know he's here because father told me, but I didn't find him in his room."
Alfred looked up and chuckled. "Currently, I believe Master Dick is in the Rec room with Master Daniel. I think they were or at least Master Dick was attempting to bond with one of his new siblings."
"Mm." Damian replied. Danielle sat quietly before she took in a breath and spun on her chair. Damian blinked in confusion when she held out a cookie.
"Sorry about earlier. I wasn't trying to make you mad. I forget sometimes that not everyone thinks like me. The only person I used to train with before you and Bruce was Danny and well… we find humor in the same things for obvious reasons."
Damian hummed and took the cookie before sitting next to her. "Apology accepted."
Dani nodded slowly and frowned before looking back at the plate to have another cookie.
"It appears as though I also owe you an apology. You are quite talented and have improved. Fenton taught you well."
Damian was surprised by the radiant smile that came to Danielle's face. Alfred leaned back from peaking around the corner of the kitchen and smiled at the picture on his camera.
zz
"So you really did grow up in a circus, huh?" Danny asked, watching as Dick swung from bar to bar.
"You bet! Have you ever been to the circus before, Danny?" Dick huffed out as he balanced in a hand-stand over one of the bars and then swung and let go, flipping into a perfect landing.
Danny frowned a bit, before he chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Well once, but I wouldn't say it was a good experience… Actually it was one of my worst. I think it was one of the moments were I felt the most sub-human."
Dick walked up to Danny and frowned. "Why's that?"
Danny gave a sad smile. "Freakshow. He was kinda like my Joker, back in my world. He was one of my only human villains and the first time I met him he had this staff that could control ghosts."
Dick felt a flush of anger immediately.
"Let's just say it didn't help the reputations of ghosts when I started robbing banks and blasting at cop cars." Danny shifted nervously. "I don't remember much of it, mostly just random bursts of various emotions, but Sam told me as much as she could. He forced me to perform in front of people like I was his slave. He was parading me and the other ghosts around like we were prizes and he told Sam and Tucker that ghosts were always meant to serve humans. He even dressed me in a grim reaper costume. I mean… the point of his circus was to embrace the weird and unique… but… I've always wanted to be normal." Danny wrapped his arms around himself. "That night, I was the freak I was terrified people would see me as."
Dick sat down next to Danny and offered his arm. Danny looked up at him and after a moment, the hybrid scooted sideways and into a side-hug from Dick. "You're not a freak, Danny-"
"Maybe in this world I'm not… but in my old world, I was," Danny murmured.
Dick sighed and rubbed the boy's left arm. After a couple of minutes, Dick smiled. "How about I give you a good memory of a circus to counteract the bad?"
Danny looked up and cocked his head. Dick cooed a bit internally. "Like what?"
zz
"Master Dick, Master Daniel? Dinner is read-" Alfred began as he opened the Rec room door, only to see both young men swinging from the trapeze bars, laughing.
"You're a natural, Danny!"
"Well ghosts do have perfect equilibrium." Danny commented before grasping Dick's hands. The older boy swung his young brother and watched him preform an impossible series of flips that involved a heavy use of antigravity that was poorly hidden.
"Cheater!"
"No way! That was all skill!"
"I saw you floating, Ghost Boy!"
Alfred lowered his camera and exited to go put their dinners in the microwave for later.
zz
"Then, I pointed my finger at him like a gun and he seemed so surprised when fire came out. I felt it was perfect irony. His white suit turned black pretty quick, if you catch my drift," Dan huffed, downing another shot of whiskey.
"Pfft, a flamethrower out of a finger…" Jason rubbed his chin with one hand and held his shot class with the other. "I might make me one of those." He narrowed his eyes. "Fit a thin tube all the way up through a glove…"
Dan lifted a brow and snorted. "You'd catch yourself on fire long before you could put something like that to proper use."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, Red hoodie."
"For the last time, don't call me that, asshole."
"This asshole can kill you in a hundred different ways."
"Only a hundred? Child's play."
Dan and Jason found themselves glaring into each other's eyes before they noticed Tim staring at them.
"Great, now you both have a drinking buddy that can help you continue your bad habits through positive reenforcement," Tim grumbled and moved to walk out of the room.
Dan and Jason locked eyes. "You wanna prank Drake instead?" Jason asked.
"Oh yes."
zz
Tim was walking down the hallway and headed to the library to look up something for research of his own, when he spied the bucket perched on the door.
"Okay, who propped the bucket up on the door to the library?" Tim called out. He briefly heard a bit of snickering before his message was finally heard. Whispered voices, that weren't really all that quiet, started up.
"Damn it. I told you it wouldn't work."
"Hey, at least I offered an idea!"
Tim walked around the corner and found his two brothers sitting on the floor giggling and snickering. They'd had a bit too much liquor it seemed, but at least Dan wasn't trying to prove he could fly again. That meant they weren't completely drunk.
"Right, and what was the point of this?" Tim asked, cocking a brow as he gestured towards the bucket.
"You always ruin the fun," Jason grunted and gave the younger boy a glare.
Dan only snickered and then started to laugh loudly.
"What the hell are you laughing about?" Jason asked.
"Don't bother, Jason. He's probably just laughing at something silly and can't stop."
Dan froze and looked at them both. A grin split his face. "Ghost powers, BIATCH!"
Tim watched Dan press his palm against the floor and suddenly he found himself halfway through the ground. He was literally torso up, on the first floor and torso down, dangling through the basement's ceiling.
Jason's mouth popped open and Dan started to howl in laughter, tears streaming down his face.
"Holy shit!" Jason yelped and then started to howl as well.
"Shut-up!" Tim shrieked with irritation and exasperation. "Yeah yeah, ha ha you got me! Let me out!"
Batman rounded the corner, and Robin was right behind him with his arms crossed. The Dark Knight spoke before he'd come up on the small group. "Is there a reason that there is a pair of legs sticking out of the ceiling of the Batcave?" Batman took down his cowl and locked eyes with an embarrassed Tim.
"Bruce, tell Dan to pull me out!"
Dan and Jason fell into another fit of roaring laughter when Bruce and Damain had arrived. They were still laughing when Alfred took a picture of them and then retrieved Danny to have him pull Tim out. They were still there after all of them left the two laughing on the floor. The Batfam let the two sleep off their drinks there too.
zz
Omake
"What are we going to do?" Danny whispered. He kept having the tendency to grip Dan's arm, while the larger ghost would shake the boy off and then the process was continuously repeated.
"Not panic, for starters."
Phantom and Wraith had found themselves captured by a few of Gotham's worst villains. The Joker, Penguin, Harley Quinn, and Two Face were using the two as bait for Batman and the others. Now, you may be asking how they managed to capture two very powerful ghosts, when they did not yet have access to the ghost weaponry that Wayne Tech was developing, which still irritated Wraith. All the ghosts kinda felt like it was the equivalent of manufacturing kryptonite for sale, even if Blood Blossoms were worse. Back to the issue at hand, the ghosts had been trapped in a magic circle, created by a random sorcerer one of the villains had contracted, most likely Penguin. Dan could tell he was getting tired though, since the sorcerer wasn't nearly as powerful as others they knew.
"You see, you've brought about the Batman's end!" Penguin grinned. "This time, he'll die and it'll be all because of you, gentlemen." At that, Penguin began a traditional bad guy cackle.
"Hold up."
Everyone froze and looked at Wraith. "Wraith!" Danny yelped, before his mouth was smothered by Wraith's massive gloved hand.
"What!?" Penguin snapped.
Wraith let go of Phantom and crossed his arms. "Okay, if I'm going to fight villains, than I'm at the very least going to have the pleasure of fighting good ones. Lesson One, NEVER do an evil laugh before you do something, only during the act or after. You just look stupid if you botch it after the laugh but before the act. That is a moment that fearful people won't forget. You won't be that pyscho that used to keep them up at night, you'll be that guy that failed miserably and made a fool of himself. So just do yourself a favor and remember that I warned you."
"What the hell, Wraith!?" Phantom whined.
"What? It's painful to watch them fall into a pitfall like that," Wraith snorted distastefully.
"Yeah, be quiet Casper. Wraith here understands us. I mean, and I thought the gun slinging zombie Robin was a pyscho, HA HA HAH HAAAA!" Joker cracked and gave a big smile. He looked at Wraith. "Whadya think of my laugh, Wraithy?"
"First, Don't call me Wraithy or I'll pull out a random organ from your body. The surprise will be which one it will be. Second, yeah your laugh is psycho. I still think laughing before is unsafe though. This is another problem I need to address-"
Danny simply groaned and banged his head against Dan's back.
"You're too chaotic. I mean I know it's your thing and you are smart, but you're greatest weakness is your emotions. You're greatest strength is that you're unpredictable. It's the opposite for someone like Lex though." Dan grinned, showing his fangs. "I'm the perfect combination of both. I'm smart and in control of myself most of the time, but I'm still just unpredictable enough to where you don't get a second try at stopping me."
"Who the hell is this guy?" Two Face asked and looked at Penguin. The short man only shrugged.
"The guy who ruled the our old world, thank you." Wraith snapped, staring at the two.
Before anything more could be said, Batman, Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Batgirl, Phantasma, and Robin dropped from various locations in the lair.
"Batsy!" Joker cried out. "I'm loving you're newest boy toy! Can I keep him!? I think I'd have more use for him than you would!~"
Phantom looked back at his family before pointing at Wraith. "Batman! Wraith is teaching villains how to do their jobs better! AGAIN!"
Batgirl glanced at Wraith. "Seriously?"
Wraith shrugged while his arms were still crossed. Everyone looked over when Red Hood cocked his gun and aimed right between Joker's eyes. "No, you can't have him. Get you're own drinking buddy, you bastard!"
Wraith chuckled. "You heard the man. Besides, I'm hungry." Phantom was buffeted when Wraith let out a wave of power, shattering the tired sorcerer's concentration and breaking the magic circle. Wraith looked up and grinned at Penguin. "Told ya. You shouldn't have laughed. Ya jinxed it."
Well this was fun, especially the Omake. Which for these little Bats and Ghosts one shots, will kinda be sections that have slightly out of continuity moments. In other words, a fanfiction of a fanfiction. So when you see Omake, remember that these events may be a bit out of continuity to Bats and Ghosts. Still fun though.
See ya next time and please do offer any ideas for what you'd like the Phantoms to do in the DC world and who you'd like them to meet. Otherwise I'll just keep trucking along my way. :)
NoSignal to Nameless Panda: I'd agree that Nocturne wasn't once a human. He's probably an idea or lore based ghost. Though I always wonder if he can cause nightmares. He prefers to feed on good dreams, so is bad dreams for some other ghost or is that somehow the Fright Knight's territory? And no problem! All reviews and opinions should be heard.
