Probably the longest thing I've ever written. I like how it's turning out personally, but let me know how you feel! Please! I love comments!
This one is Dani meets Barbara and Duke! Dani was a personal favorite of mine so I liked getting into her mindset.
Sam: I'm impressed.
Danny: With my strength?
Sam: That you knew what "reversed polarity" was.
Call of the Wild, Season 3 Episode 10
Maybe it was the lack of sleep after flying to Gotham overnight or maybe it was the empty stomach or maybe something else entirely, but all Dani knew was her powers weren't working. Right now, she was just a normal 16-year-old human girl. And she needed sleep and a big meal, preferably one of those from a diner that cost under $10 and could feed three grown men, and a way to wash her clothes. Even though she hadn't been flying in them, she was in ghost mode then, her street clothes still needed to be freshened up every once in a while. And maybe add a shower to her list too. She may be a little stinky from that last trip through Technus' ghostly garage sale.
So right now she was wandering down the city streets, hands in her hoodie pocket, trying to look casual while she looked for the things on her mind. Maybe a sketchy motel with a diner in the same parking lot. That could do. She would just have to pick some locks instead of going intangible through a wall to find an empty room and bed. Nothing she hadn't done before, but her cousin still probably wouldn't approve. She was a little more loose with her righteousness and morals than he was. She was more accepting of picking a lock to find a clean bed for a night or swiping an apple from a mean vendor if she was hungry. As long as she didn't intentionally hurt anyone, it was fine, right? Maybe that was Vlad's upbringing coming out in her.
A worn wooden sign advertised cheap rooms on the corner of the street. It was the middle of the day, so surely no one was in their rooms, it would be fine to crash for a couple of hours. She picked one that faced away from the front office. The cleaning lady's cart was already a couple doors down, hopefully signaling she had already been in the room for the day. Dani pulled out a simple lock pick from her shorts pocket and started on the deadbolt. It was old and she was able to switch it pretty easily. Or maybe she was just getting good at this.
With a click, the deadbolt unlatched and Dani walked quickly into the room. She quickly closed the door and let out a breath she was holding. It smelled like old cigarettes, but no one was in here. No luggage or clothes was a good sign. The bed was made, the blinds were closed, and the lights were off. Dani quietly locked the door behind her, then flopped on the starchy bed comforter. She thought about using the restroom first, but a couple hours sleep sounded much better. Within minutes she was out.
With a large crash, light flooded the room. Dani was barely able to wake up, let alone change, before someone grabbed her upper arm and drug her out of bed.
"What's the deal?" she asked sleepily. She was being pulled out of the room. If it was a ghost, they would have been a lot more forceful, so she wasn't too worried. Humans were a lot easier to give the slip to than ghosts were. As soon as they weren't looking, she would phase out of their grip, just as she had done countless times before. Living on her own, traveling the world, had put her in many a similar situation.
"We don't take freeloaders," said a hotel employee, probably the manager. He wore slacks so he at least thought he was someone important. He gave her a soft push in the parking lot and huffed back towards the hotel room she was sleeping in. She was standing in front of a cop, thankfully he was blocking the sun as she looked up at him, eyes still adjusting to the change in brightness.
The policeman stared down at her and waited for her to say something. Instead, she just lazily stared up at him. When he obviously wasn't going to say anything, he asked, "Shouldn't you be in school or something, kid?" She shrugged. He did a half grunt, half sigh before putting a hand behind her back, guiding her towards his car. "Alright, let's get going."
Dani wasn't going to fight. What was the point when she was going to ditch him soon anyways? She looked up at the sky as she walked with him towards the car. It was surprisingly a beautiful day, despite it being Gotham City. Estimating she got about three hours of sleep, Dani still wasn't feeling up to full ghost potential yet. Maybe another short nap in the car or at the station would boost her up. Sometimes they had snacks and coffee there too; that would definitely help.
He slid her into the backseat of the car, very cliche, and started driving into the downtown area. Another good point there for when she takes her leave; the more people rushing around, the easier it made disappearing. He seemed nice enough, at least he didn't try to small talk. Dani thought it a good time to try and test a disappearing act, since he didn't seem super interested in her.
Placing her hand on the door, she focused some energy to start to phase out. Instead of going intangible, she got nothing. Frowning, she tried to go invisible, and again nothing. What the heck was going on? Even if she wasn't at full potential, she should be able to do basic ghost abilities.
The door handle she was gripping flew open and Dani hit her face on the seat, falling forward. She had been so preoccupied getting her powers to work, Dani hadn't noticed the car had stopped moving. The cop raised an eyebrow at her in amusement. "Come on, kid," he motioned slowly and deliberately. Dani followed briefly, thinking about ditching him, and stopped when she noticed her stomach gurled extra loud. "We can get you some lunch too. I think it's turkey sub day."
Well, a trip to the police station wouldn't be all bad then, if she could get a free meal out of it. It wasn't unusually busy here, but Dani was surprised at the amount of normal criminals here, compared to the large amount of rogues that allegedly haunted the city. Most of the people here looked like average thugs and adult bullies.
The cop motioned to a chair against a wall. "Sit here, kid, and I'll get us sandwiches," he said calmly. He walked away without even checking she sat down. He was very trusting for some reason, she noted.
"Coffee too, please!" she yelled back, giving a cheesy smile back. He just waved a hand in the air, acknowledging her request, not even questioning if she was old enough for the stuff either. While she waited, Dani just sat in the chair and observed the bullpen around her. She swung her short legs, trying to look at innocent as possible. It was loud in the open area, but a fun kind of loud where you could hear all sorts of fun stories and excitement. Dani liked it here. Too bad she was going to have to ditch him soon. Hopefully he wouldn't get in too much trouble, she thought to herself. Maybe she did have a little conscious after all.
Within a couple mins, the same cop came back, handing her a cup of a hot liquid, presumably the coffee, and a pre-wrapped sandwich. Before he had finished sitting down next to her, she already had her sandwich opened and had taken a big bite out of it. He raised his eyebrows, a little surprised, but said nothing, and started unwrapping his own sandwich.
When he finished his sandwich, he slapped his knees, turned to Dani, and said, "Come on, kid, I want you to meet someone." He didn't pause long to make sure she was following. Why not, she thought, and jumped down from her seat and followed. They traveled down one of the halls into a room, not an interrogation room, but just a room, Dani observed. The interrogation rooms were more obnoxiously bare, almost as if they were obviously trying to be suspicious by not being suspicious. There were a couple chairs on each side of the table, which sat in the middle of the room. Although there was a camera in the corner, there wasn't a two-way mirror or anything. It felt like an abandoned break or lunch room.
In the room sat a woman. She was a red head, hair in a bun, sitting in a wheelchair. The officer pulled out a chair across from her and motioned for Dani to sit. When she did, he began talking. "Detective Gordon, this is...Dani." He paused. She never gave him a last name, but also he didn't question further. "Dani, this is Detective Gordon. She'll be taking on your case from here on out. Detective, Dani here, I think she's a little more special than some of the other kids we see around here." He puckered his lips as if he wanted to say more, didn't, nodded his head and started towards the door. He paused as his hand hit the doorhandle. "Good luck, kid." He sounded genuine, even though Dani was sure he knew she was more than the average kid.
Dani gave a small wave, but turned towards the new detective pretty quickly. She knew the new person in the room was her newest obstacle. She squinted her eyes and crossed her arms. Even though she was on the small side, she tried to seem intimidating. She always could disappear on command, but it usually created new problems when she used her powers in plain sight.
The detective didn't seem to be affected by her "intimidation" methods. But she did seem calming and methodical. "Dani, it's very nice to meet you," she said. "I understand you were found alone. Is there any family or friends I could contact for you?"
As much as Dani would appreciate a hang-out with her cousin and his friends, she wasn't about to call them now. She had gotten herself out of worse situations. "No," she answered simply. She smirked as if getting one over on the detective for being short and smart.
"Is there somewhere you need to be?" the detective continued questioning. "School or something?"
"No," Dani answered again. She crossed her legs and started swinging the top one.
Detective Gordon squinted her eyes a little bit, searching for more information in the nonverbal clues, but Dani wasn't giving her much. "Really? You're what, fourteen?"
"Sixteen actually," she countered. "Finished early. Homeschooled." It wasn't a total lie, Vlad had created her with a high school level education, plus a few extra knowledge bits, but this detective didn't need to know the details. There were few people she trusted with the full details of her "upbringing."
"Right, homeschooled," Detective Gordon said. She gave a deep sigh and relaxed some in her chair. "Listen, Dani, if that is your real name, I'm just here to make sure you are bringing trouble to Gotham City." She paused a little bit to see the girl in front of her was still paying attention. "We have enough trouble here as it is. Whatever your intentions or your abilities, I want to be the first gatekeeper here to keep a firm reminder that we do not tolerate any sort of rouge behavior or foolishness." For added intimidation, Detective Gordon leaned forward and nodded firmly.
Dani cocked her head, "Who's says I have abilities?" She quit swinging her leg. This might be the moment where her life depended on her ghost abilities to get out of a bad situation. And she was not about to call Danny to bail her out. That was embarrassing.
The detective took her turn to laugh. "Come on, kid, it's practically oozing off your. Obviously you're not a normal kid, homeschooling be damned. You seem innocent enough, but The Batman likes to keep a tab on metahumans wandering around the police station in his city."
Dani started casually laughing as well. This detective was different than other ones she met in other cities. She also liked the term 'oozing' the detective used: it was appropriate to a fault, even if the detective didn't know that. "Yeah, yeah, lady. I'm just passing through so I should be out of your hair soon enough." She straightened up in the chair, back straight, hand in the air. "Scouts honor, no funny business here, Detective Gordon."
Pointing a finger, she said, "That means no mooching on empty hotel rooms too. And call me Barbara. Detective Gordon is my father." The finger pointed upwards and she winked. She wheeled away from the table and opened the door for Dani. "We can set you up with a youth shelter for as long as you need and some basics too."
Sweet! This was the best police trip ever! No accusations, free lunch, a fancy business card from the cool detective, a bed (which she probably wouldn't use, but the offer was nice), and some much-needed basics. Her supply was low after spending too many nights in Central City trying to sneak up on The Flash.
Two hours later, Dani high-fived Detectives Bullock and Montoya over a won horse race and snagged another handful of skittles from Officer Sanchez's bowl."Dani!" Detective Gordon yelled out across the bullpen. Somehow in the short amount of time, Dani had become one of the gang, easily joking and laughing along with the rough and tumble men of the GCPD. In her civilian clothes and small figure in general, she stood out. Plus, she was sitting on Bullock's desk, making her taller than the others sitting around her.
As she wheeled up, Barbara caught the end of the story, "and then I jumped out and yelled 'Boo!' He was so scared he almost peed himself!" The cops around her laughed hysterically, acting as if she was the funniest comedian they had ever heard. Dani wiped a tear from her eye, laughing, remembering the story fondly. Very few people appreciated her darker humor, but cops trying to relax were definitely a target audience for some of the more tame ghost stories she had. Dani noticed Barbara wheeling up to her and jumped down from the desk.
"Thanks, guys, for the entertainment!" Dani waved to the cops around. Some waved back casually, others still laughing went back to their desk or off to somewhere else. They knew when they were being dismissed. Barbara handed her a backpack, casual looking, but stuffed to the brim.
"I'll walk you to the youth shelter," Barbara said, "it's down the block."
"I think only one of us will be walking," Dani said with a wink. She secretly hoped the joke was received well. Sometimes she missed the mark on more unique social situations. Vlad's upbringing didn't provide her every skill possible. And traveling solo all this time hadn't filled in all the gaps yet. She slung the backpack over her shoulder with only one strap, not even looking at its contents.
"Ha ha, very funny," Barbara said, keeping up fairly easily. Her short legs were pretty quick, Barbara noted to herself. "Where will you head next, Dani?" she questioned. Even though they were out of the interrogation room, Barbara was still attempting to get answers from the young girl.
Dani looked up, imagining herself flying through the gloomy city for one last night. "Not sure yet," she replied. "Maybe Metropolis?" Dani glanced over at the detective. "Do you think the Big Blue Boy Scout is scared of ghosts? We do bare a resemblance." Dani chuckled at the ghost joke, thinking of all the puns she could test on Superman, but Barbara thought she was laughing at how similar their appearances could be.
Barbara imagined Superman doing a double take at the teenager and shook her head softly. "Nah, I hear he has nerves of steel." The corner of her mouth turned up, proud of herself for the quip. It had been a while since she had quipped with the public. It reminded her of the Batgirl days.
Dani laughed out loud, mouth wide open, eyes closed. "Good one, Babs!" Oof, that one hit a heartstring too. Barbara looked down, snorting softly.
"Thanks." When she looked up, she saw the sign to the youth shelter in front of them. "Well, looks like we're here." She fished in her jacket inside pocket and handed Dani a business card. "Call if you need anything, but no funny business," she said with one more finger point before continuing down the street.
Dani gave a mock salute and immediately threw the business card in her pocket. She threw the backpack in front of her on the ground, opening it to inspect the contents. Admiring all the new stuff from the police department, she threw on the new hoodie, "GCPD Official" it read in bold letters, pocketed some of the new toiletries with a happy satisfaction, and turned towards the building. She walked into the shelter and stopped by the front desk. It had speckled white tile floor, white walls, very classic front space looking. There were a variety of pamphlets on various life issues available in a stand on one side and some plastic sitting chairs on the other.
The lady at the desk addressed Dani with a small smile, "Hello, may I help you?"
Dani handed the backpack to the worker. "I had some things to donate." Although the thought from Barbara was very generous, Dani knew there were other kids out there that would use this stuff more than she would. She was lucky she could use her ghost powers to get by. But she wasn't above taking some of the items she would actually use, and that were harder to come by in her travels. You could find some soap and towels at almost every gas station, but a new toothbrush was something she was desperately needing.
"Oh," the lady said surprised, "thank you! This is very thoughtful of you!" When the lady looked up from setting the backpack on the floor next to her, Dani was already halfway to the door.
"Don't mention it!" Dani yelled back cheerily, swiftly opening the door and moving along the street again. She had learned to avoid additional questioning and conversation from strangers, as nice as they seem, was the easiest way to move through different cities. She walked about two more blocks before turning down the closest, darkest alleyway she could find. Once she was in the shadows of the buildings, she embraced the inner swirls of her ghost core and seized the energy.
Two white hoops emerged from her midsection, circling her body. They traveled vertically, one up and one down, changing her appearance. Now, she wore a black and white jumpsuit, her midriff showing, white boots, and one black and one white glove each. Her hair was now snow white and her eyes a glowing green. On her chest was a small logo, the same logo her cousin-clone Danny Phantom wore, connecting them in appearance. She liked having the connection to him, but also having her own design to the jumpsuit. She always thought hers was more visually appealing, even if no one saw her when she traveled since she primarily traveled invisibly or at night.
She jumped into the air and floated for a moment before shooting into the Gotham City skyline invisibly, hoping to get one tourist attraction under her belt before leaving the city.
Barbara made it to the clocktower and immediately booted up the supercomputer as she exited the private elevator. No one besides her and Batman had access to this area of the clocktower. She pulled off her jacket, placing it on the table next to the door, placed the comm in her ear and wheeled herself up to the desk.
"Come in, Signal," she called into the open comm link. The computer screens in front of her whirred to life. Immediately she pulled up the tracker app with the bug attached to the young girl she was with earlier.
"Yo, O, whats up?" answered back. She could hear the wind in his comms as well. Either he was on a tall building or he was running through the streets, doing some day patrols.
"Could you track someone for me? I put a bug on her earlier today. I'm sending you the info now." As a police officer, she didn't approve of illegally tracking someone. But she was on bat-duty now, which allowed for some bending of the rules. And being Batman-trained meant following all odd leads, despite the morally gray areas sometimes. But honestly, tracking this girl was probably one of the least offensive things Barbara had done since taking the Oracle moniker.
"Sure," he said with a small grunt, probably jumping off a ledge of a building or something. "Anything special I need to know?" She could hear his escrima stick blades being opened and a rush of wind. He must be prepping to climb up something, she reasoned.
"I think she's harmless, but I would feel better with verification," Barbara started. It would be a good idea to start a file too on the girl in the system, especially with all this new information at the front of her and Duke's mind right now. "She has powers, but, what specific powers, I'm not sure. She's alone, but doesn't seem scared or worried about it." She wanted to say more, but didn't know how to put it into words. Her hands paused on the keyboard, floating over the keys, but not pressing anything; that's how her brain felt too.
"So basically your 'bat-sense' is tingling?" Duke teased. He wasn't wrong. She chuckled back, but didn't say anymore on the matter.
"I haven't been able to pick her up on any street cameras. And she's moving really fast. Like abnormally fast." Barbara paused typing and pondered out loud, "Maybe she somehow found the tracker and wanted to ditch me so she stuck it to a pigeon or something?"
Duke found it funny that Oracle may have sent him on a literal wild goose chase. "Doubtful. What did you place the tracker in?" he asked. He may not have had super speed or strength, but he was moving fairly quickly along the rooftops. It was a clear day for Gotham standards and he was feeling great. Whomever this new girl was, he was going to catch up to her quick.
"The toothpaste cap," she replied. "It was the quickest and smallest place I could find." The tracker stopped moving on the computer. Finally, they might be able to locate their mystery guest. "She should be about two blocks ahead of you, Signal."
Duke steadied himself on the rooftop, slowing his breathing. As he approached the tracker location, he saw a flicker of something out of the corner of his eye. "What did she look like again, Oracle?"
"Black hair, blue eyes, jeans, sneakers, hoodie," she said. Maybe that meant he was close, wanting to confirm the correct person. But he sounded like he was on a rooftop, not the city street. What was this girl doing on the roof?
Duke did a double take at his target. Definitely not whom Barbara described, then. This person had white hair and was in a black and white jumpsuit.
As the daytime Bat patrol, usually a casual approached worked best, Duke had found. He walked up behind the girl and purposefully scuffed some gravel, trying to make some obvious noise. "Hey, kid, what are you doing up here?" he asked.
She immediately turned around and the first thing he noticed was her green eyes. They glowed with such an intense brightness, they burned his eyes. He gasped loudly and took a step back, slipping on the gravel, falling back. She yelped and left the field of visibility. At least to most humans. To Duke, she was a faint white glow, humanoid shaped. He finally caught himself in his stupor and stood up. "Wait!" he yelled.
Staying invisible, Dani flew into the sky. Thank goodness for ghostly invisibility, she thought to herself. She heard the yellow superhero yell behind her, but tried to forget about him. She wasn't trying to attract Batman and Associates attention while here; that was basically suicidal, even for a ghost.
She glanced back at where she had left the superhero. Instead of sitting on his butt on the roof, he was following her, grappling across rooftops when he couldn't make the jump. "Lucky guess," she muttered to herself. He probably saw her take off and was making a calculated run. So, she decided to take a hard turn to try and lose him. And instead, he also took the turn and kept following! What the heck!
She kicked up the speed. She might not be as fast as her cousin, but she could be fast enough for this race. He fell behind, but kept the course. She summoned her ghost tail, morphing her legs into one, to try and gain a little speed, even if it cost her some extra energy.
Oracle started following Signal after she heard him gasp and fall. "Signal, what is going on?" She could see him on the cameras, running, and she saw her tracker, but nothing else. What could have put him in such a panic? "You look like you're chasing a ghost!"
"I might as well be!" he said through his deep breaths. "She turned invisible on me. And she has Lazarus water eyes, Oracle. Glowing. Green. Other-worldly." He paused, letting that sink in. They both knew what kind of implications that might mean. "I'm trying to follow, but she's fast. Oh, and she flies."
Barbara pushed the bangs out of her face, holding her hand to her forehead. What had she gotten Duke into? "Do you want me to call B?" she asked. If it was serious enough to call Batman during the day, they had a problem.
"Not yet," he said, "I'm going to try and catch her and I'll let you know."
"I'm giving you fifteen minutes," she decided for him.
He rolled his eyes, even though Barbara couldn't see that, and put an extra push into his leap.
Dani kept twisting and turning in the air, but the hero kept following. This was getting annoying and she was getting tired. Between the lack of sleep and all the energy she was wasting trying to get rid of this guy, she was going to need to find a spot to recharge soon. Anywhere on a rooftop was out of the question, that's where he found her originally. She could try to hide in a building potentially. Looking down, though, Dani knew the most likely hideout was going to be underground somewhere, not that he particularly enjoyed that idea.
Before she took a dive into Gotham's underground, Dani pulled her cellphone, charged with ectoplasm, and dialed Danny's number. It went straight to voicemail. She groaned but left a message anyways. "Hey, cuz, I'm in Gotham City and I think I need some help. Call when you can!" She tried to keep it chipper, but she knew he would hear the exhaustion creeping into her voice. She stashed her phone away and took one last look at her pursuer. He was still racing across the skyline towards her, relentless.
She sighed, regretting this decision, but knowing it was probably her best option at this point. She plugged her nose, took a deep breath, and turned 180 degrees, heading straight for the ground. Darkness enveloped her and she made a quick prayer that Danny would find her quick.
Duke was thinking this was a better workout than anything Batman could have dreamed of. Surely, she would tire soon. He saw her take one last look at him, pull something that looked like a juiced-up phone, make a quick call, and then start plunging straight towards the ground.
"Wait!" he tried to call out before she phased straight into the street. He finally stopped running, his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath again. He knew if he sat down right now, he wouldn't get up for a while. When he felt like he could finally catch his breath enough to talk he pushed his finger to the comm in his ear. "Oracle?" he asked.
"Signal, are you okay? Did you finally catch up to our mystery new rogue?" she asked.
"I'm fine," he said. He pulled his upper body over the rooftop edge, glancing below. None of the civilians seemed perturbed and he didn't see a splat of a body. So probably a good sign? "But I lost her. Let's add density phasing to our list of superpowers."
Barbara checked the tracker. It still showed the same point where Duke was resting at the moment. She sighed again, knowing they probably needed extra help. "Alright, I'm calling in Batman," she decided. This was going to be a big file.