Welcome to Day 4 of Piades' YJ/DP Ficathon!
Blah, blah, university, blahblahblah, you know how it is, I shan't bore you with the tedious details! As always, thanks for letting me know which stories you'd like to see continued. Story A is another plotbunny courtesy of FoxyTeah on DA.
round 1 - day 4 - story A (civvies friendship fic)
An opportunity to visit Gotham. In the city of the Goddamned Batman. Danny was so in. Maybe he'd even get to see them! He could sneak out of the gala, turn invisible, coast along the rooftops…
Yeah. Creepy past habits and unscrupulous business transactions aside, Danny was not going to this one up.
"You're still a fruit loop," he reminded Vlad as their hired limousine crawled to a stop among lines of flashy cars outside Wayne Manor.
Vlad smirked like Danny had paid him a compliment. Ugh! Danny scowled and crossed his arms.
Fifteen minutes in, and it was apparent that Danny had miscalculated. Badly. Boringly. His suit was too hot. The collar was too tight. The people were too rich. The food portions were too small. People kept shmoozing around and he was so utterly bored.
Maybe Batman and Robin were going to start early today he thought, looking at the sun — still high in the sky.
Bruce Wayne had a son. Surely he couldn't be as boring as the adults, right? Well, yea or nay, Danny hadn't seen him anywhere. Fifteen minutes turned to twenty. Danny hid in a corner and took out his phone.
Something bounced off the wall above his head.
"Hi."
Danny jumped. His fingers went intangible and his phone slipped to the floor with a clatter. He looked up. It was another kid — around his age. Bruce Wayne's kid. He held up a flashing bouncy ball and grinned wide.
"Sorry about that —" had he noticed Danny's slip? "—You look like you could do with a pick-me-up," the kid said. "Wanna blow this place?"
"Sure," Danny said with heartfelt relief that almost drowned out his nervousness. The other guy cackled at his reaction.
"This your first party? Dick, by the way."
"Danny," Danny answered. "Hopefully, it'll be my last."
"Aw, it's not so bad if you know how to escape!" Dick said, and lead the way through a door Danny hadn't even noticed before. He got to see the expansive (and busy) kitchen. He'd only seen kitchens this big on school camps!
"Not the greatest recommendation," Danny grumbled.
And then he blinked because right in front of him was someone new. Male, red hair, T-shirt and shorts, freckles and green eyes. He couldn't, for the life of him, remember when this guy had shown up. It was like he'd just appeared out of thin air.
Dick didn't seem to notice. "Danny, Wally. Wally, Danny," he introduced. "Now, how about we get some real food."
"Pizza!" Wally crowed. Then, he paused, looking from Danny to Dick and back. He looked like he was doing mental maths for a moment.
"Uh. How are we getting there?"
Dick bit his lip like he hadn't planned this out.
"Er, Bus? I guess?"
"Have you ever taken a bus?" Wally asked.
"Have you?" Dick asked.
"It can't be that hard."
round - day 4 - story B (dramatic resume AU)
Despite the fact that it was Vlad that had invited them on this holiday, despite the fact that Vlad had paid for their hotel room in Metropolis, Danny was enjoying himself. The Metropolis museum simply had the best planetarium, bar none. Danny was just about fizzing with excitement.
He got to the museum the moment it opened… only to be confronted with an irritating little sign that said Planetarium viewings — hourly from 10 am!
So, he had two fours to entertain himself. Danny groaned and dragged his feet over to the stuffed animals. They were creepy. The vulture looked like it wanted to eat him. Danny poked his tongue at it. It clicked his beak at him.
Well, shit.
The glass shattered, and Danny ran to find a spot to transform.
How many stuffed vultures did one city have?
The museum only had one on display! But by the time Danny was back, no less than four undead vultures were attacking the guests. He zoomed up and punched one. It sqawked irritably.
Danny knew that squawk. It belonged to Vlad's favourite henchmen.
"Alright, birdbrain," he shouted. "That dead body you're overshadowing is kinda gross. How about you get outta there and face me like a man. Bird. Ghost."
The vulture took off in a cloud of feathers.
"Or… run away like a chicken," Danny shrugged and flew off in pursuit.
The vulture lead him through the streets, across the sky, and over a city park. His feathered foe settled stop a giant lightbulb monument. Danny grinned and lowered himself to eye-level with the vulture he'd been following. Sometimes, puns just handed themselves to you.
"Hey, I've a bright idea—" he started, when pain rippled through his back. It was almost (but not quite) comforting in its familiarity. It was the pain of being hit by a backstabbing fruitloop.
Danny spun around, ectoblast gathered in his palm.
White. Long, thin. Hurtling towards him way too fast. The ectoblast fizzled out of his hand and Danny was thrown back. The object penetrated slid through his jumpsuit — slid through him and into the lightbulb behind him.
Ectoplasm dribbled down his chin.
It was warm.
-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-
"This was a message," Batman said.
The young meta they'd found pinned to the Metropolis Light of Innovation monument was recuperating under the League's medical supervision. None of them was happy, but Superman was, frankly, twitching. He'd been in the Watchtower when the attack began. The attack had been fast. And both of those things sounded like excuses more than reasons.
"Then what was the message?" he asked, irritably.
"The most obvious reference is to The Light, but this doesn't seem like their style. They're more hide in the shadows than impaling kids with narwhal teeth in broad daylight. It can't be from them, so it must be for them."
He went quiet.
"And?" Captain Marvel demanded.
"This was the act of someone sending in their resume."