Dani's To-Do List

- grind breath of the wild

- meet Pamela's girlfriend

- Chinese-Mexican fusion

- Shakespearean play

- totally chill motorcycle ride

The next couple weeks after Halloween are spent going through records while trying out new video games. The days are chiller than she's used to, but it's a nice break. She's about to lose her mind over how many times whatever game she's playing crashes, though.

Since controllers are fairly low-tech, they don't get too scrambled by her ectoplasm. If they're wired, anyway, which the one Dani uses is. But she's discovered that the longer she plays and the more data stacks up in the game, the more prone it is to crash. It's so frustrating.

It's an absolute shame because half the reason she's been so content to stay indoors for the past little bit is because she got totally and completely obsessed with Breath of the Wild. Dick was right: the exploration aspect is so captivating. She's been grinding it at least eight hours a day. And the music is such a jam that half the time she doesn't even listen to her records. Dani thinks she needs to get the music on vinyl.

She does leave her room a few times a day, mostly for meals. Damian insists she gets fresh air and takes her for a walk with Titus every day. Dick has a short reprieve from work and takes her out for ice cream, but he ends up getting called in during their hangout and he has to drop her back off. She gets a little sad about that, but Steph shows up a couple of hours later and takes her out for another night of vigilantism against the booting company. They add twenty-six more boots to their collection in the garage.

Anyway, after her game crashes right in the middle of a divine beast battle for the third time, Dani decides to take a break. She hasn't been out in the city for a while, and she's itching for a new non-digital adventure.

Dani grabs a snack, redoes her ponytail, and then leaves the Manor. It's a Friday afternoon, and the entire Manor is deserted. It's hard to keep track of everyone's schedules (especially when she can't text them and find out what they're doing, she really should do something about that), but she figures Alfred is probably picking Damian up from school. She makes sure to flip the little custom-made sign next to the front door Dick ordered after Halloween that says she's out in Gotham instead of somewhere on the Manor grounds.

Dick is very serious about her flipping the sign. Apparently, he had some kind of pseudo-heart attack when he couldn't find her on Halloween? Dani doesn't really get why that night was so much more dangerous than every other night, but he seemed pretty freaked.

During the long walk into the city, Dani considers what mischief she should get into this time. She's toyed with the idea of looking for supervillain layers, but she isn't sure if Dick's old man heart can take it. She has an entire list of things she could do, but one that sticks out to her is visiting her old friend Pamela.

When Dani wanders into Robinson Park, she makes a beeline for the gardening shed. She has no idea where Pamela would be, or even if she's here, but that's her best guess. Turns out, the little shed is not only empty, but also some kind of booby trap.

Dani meets Pamela the second time the exact way she met her the first: upside down, suspended by vines.

"Hello, child," Pamela says with no small amount of amusement.

"Heyo," Dani greets. "This feels oddly familiar."

"I'd imagine so," Pamela replies with a smirk. "This kind of thing must surely be a unique experience to you."

"Well, not as unique as one might think," Dani says, lifting her arm from where it's dangling to tap her chin. "Believe it or not, this is actually the fourth time I've found myself in this situation."

"Oh stop," Pamela teases, swiping her hand in Dani's direction. "You'll make me jealous."

Before Dani can respond, there's a crash and a bang as another woman bursts through part of the wall with a giant freakin' hammer. "Jealous?! Of WHOM?!" In the wreckage of the splintered wood planks, a blonde woman in a white tee, jean bootie shorts, and knee-high black-and-red heeled boots stands, brandishing the obscenely large hammer.

The combination of the proper grammar, blonde pigtails, and giant hammer makes Dani burst into uncontrollable giggles. Hammer-lady surveys the scene and rests her piercing gaze on Dani, half-glaring. "She's a little young for you, Pam-a-lamb," she says dubiously, but from the sparkle of mischief in her eyes, Dani can tell she's joking.

"This is the young girl I told you about," Pamela said, pushing out one hip to the side and resting her green-gloved hand on it. "Who tried to smell the oleander variant I've been working on?"

"The deadly one?" Harley asks, sticking a finger into the side of her face in question. Pamela nods, and Harley returns the motion with mock-seriousness. "Ah yes! That doesn't narrow it down much, sweetheart."

Dani laughs again. Then she wiggles in her confines a little bit. She definitely could break out of them by doing a full tuck and sawing away at the vines (she'd been thinking about how to escape this particular situation since she found herself in it for the third time), but she knew Pamela wouldn't appreciate it. "Can you let me down?"

Pamela smiles with all teeth and then Dani is gently lowered to the shed floor. Once on solid ground, Dani jumps up to her feet and brushes the dust off her pants. "Is this your girlfriend?" Dani asks. "You've got a huge hammer."

"Do I?" Hammer-lady asks, twirling the obnoxiously large hammer where it rests over her shoulder.

Dani ignores her coy reply and nods seriously. "You must deliver some serious bonks with that thing."

Hammer-lady grins, smile as sharp as Pamela's. "I do like myself a good bonkin'." She takes the hammer off her shoulder and offers it to Dani in two hands. "Wanna give 'er a whirl?"

Dani feels her eyes grow wide. "More than anything else in the world." She reverently takes the hammer and holds it high. Oh wow. This is a huge hammer. She looks back at no-longer-hammer-lady, who's viewing her with something like curiosity or respect in her eyes. Maybe both? "Can I do a bonk?"

Pamela sighs and steps back. "Go ahead and ruin the wall. Harls already did a pretty good job of it, you might as well finish it off."

"Mission accepted!" Dani crows, only waiting for the two women to step away before swinging the surprisingly buoyant hammer into the rest of the wooden wall. In her excitement, she may have put just a tad too much strength into the swing, because it continues to travel to the corner, where it snaps one of the supporting beams in two. Dani shrieks with laughter as the small building shudders and starts to collapse. She feels a hand in her sweatshirt hood and is yanked backward to avoid the falling debris.

Dani lets go of the hammer to make it easier for them. It's not like she took down the Taj Mahal; it's just a tiny wooden shed that already looked two hits from breaking (and two hits later, did), so they can just move the fallen debris to retrieve the hammer.

"I like you, darlin'!"

Dani turns around to give the blonde holding her a wild grin. "I like your hammer."

"It's ridiculously heavy, sweet thing. And you just picked it up like it was nothin'!" She grins knowingly at Dani, but her only response is a serene and infinitely innocent smile. "Hm. Name's Harley."

"Dani," she replies. "Does your hammer have a name?"

Harley's wicked smile grows. "The Swing King."

Dani squints at her. "Club-Bopper."

"Queen of Hurts."

"Bop Skip and a Jump."

"Mace of Spades."

"Bop Goes the Weasel."

"Enough, you idiots," Pamela interrupts, stern and annoyed (but Dani can sense she's secretly amused. "We already went through this when you were trying to name your hammer the first time."

"Sounds like you need more hammers," Dani concludes sagely. Harley's head whips to Dani from where she'd been pouting at her girlfriend.

"I do need more hammers," Harley agrees in awe. "How have I never considered this?"

"Harley! You have three!"

"Oh, you could definitely have more," Dani agrees. "Like, dozens more."

Pamela sends Dani a withering glare. "Okay, that's enough out of you. Harley and I are retired, three mega hammers are more than enough."

Harley sticks her tongue out at her girlfriend, then smiles more gently at Dani. "Would you like to join us for some tea, hun?"

"Ooh, yes please! As long as it's not Americanized tea!"

"It's herbal," Harley deadpans. "Always. It's always herbal."

"Yum," Dani says, to be contrary, even though she's not a huge fan of herbal herself. She's tried about sixteen different kinds, and the only one she can confidently say she likes is rooibos, since it's sweet and doesn't have that unidentifiable underlying taste most herbal teas have. "And cookies?"

Harley shrugs. "I think we have Oreos."

"I like Oreos," Dani agrees, and she follows them as they start to walk down a path created by the plants peeling back from well-worn dirt. "Do you know any card games?"

"The gambling kind," Harley says, squinting at her. "And Go Fish."

"I already know how to play the gambling kind," Dani says. "Let's play Go Fish."

"You already know how to play?" Pamela asks. "Where did you learn that, exactly?"

Dani shrugs nonchalantly. "From a Russian prisoner during my stint in a Chinese prison." Both women look at her, curious. "I feel like it's not treason if you're not a citizen of the country," Dani says, holding her hands up in defeat. "But I learned some cool games."

"Maybe you should teach me some fancy Russian card games," Harley suggests.

"Do you know the Roulette one?" Dani asks.

Harley giggles so hard she snorts, Pamela smiling in amusement. "You know what, kid? I think I like ya."

"Get me some Oreos and we'll see if I feel the same way."

"See you later, hun!" Harley calls, waving at Dani frantically. Dani grins and waves back at her new friend. Harley is absolutely unhinged, and it's right up Dani's alley. Plus she got three packages of Oreos and some decent tea.

She hardly gets two blocks away before she's intercepted by a motorcycle careening into her path. Dani knows instantly who it is, given the way her ectoplasm reacts. Now that she knows Jason and Red Hood are the same person, she doesn't have to guess which one is behind the blacked-out helmet.

"Hey, wassup?" Dani greets.

Jason flips up the visor on his helmet, revealing his unmasked face. "Hey, With-an-i. What are you up to?"

"I was meeting with some supervillains," Dani replies cheerfully. "They're pretty cool."

Jason considers her for a second, likely trying to figure out if she's joking or not. After a moment of deliberation, he hesitantly asks, "Which ones?"

"Harley and Pamela," Dani answers, and his eyes light up with understanding.

"Well, they're mostly retired, so that's fine," he mutters to himself. Then he gives her a crooked smile. "You really enjoy getting yourself into trouble, huh?"

"Absolutely," Dani agrees. "What's adventure without a little trouble?"

Jason's eyes sparkle with intent. "Want to go on an adventure with me, then?" He unattaches a second helmet from the back of his bike and holds it out to her.

Dani snatches the helmet and immediately buckles it on. "Thought you'd never ask."

With a matching grin, Dani climbs onto the seat behind him. Like last time, she loops her arms around his torso for stability. "Where are we going?" she asks.

"We should start with some food. I'm starving."

Since she hadn't really eaten (unless a whole crapton of Oreos counted) since breakfast, so she agrees. They argue back and forth about restaurants for a minute before they decide on Chinese-Mexican fusion. As they expected, the food is atrocious. Truly, one of the worst ideas Dani has ever had. The only palatable item on their menu is teriyaki-rice tacos, so they end up eating four each. The worst is certainly the eggroll-burrito monstrosity that they took one bite of each and then nearly swore off all food for the rest of their lives.

"Is the appetite thing part of the whole… green thing?" Jason asks as they poke at their discarded food waiting for the churro-wontons they ordered for dessert. "I've noticed you can really pack it away."

Dani hums, full and content, swirling lo mein with chili on it around her fork. "Yeah. Any excess energy gets converted into ectoplasm. Helps us produce our own and clear out some of the gunk."

"And mine?"

"You don't have a purifier," Dani reminds him. "Otherwise, you already would've purified yourself."

"So the extra energy?"

"Is just energy," Dani answers.

"But you said 'us'."

Dani pauses, stopping the swirling motion of her fork. "Uh, yeah, I did." She deliberately starts swirling the fork again.

"Do dead people eat?"

"They can," Dani answers unsurely. She's shared ice cream with the Dairy King in Vlad's castle, stolen in the middle of the night where the kind old ghost whispered to her about cheese and bread as they ate their vanilla cones.

Jason just studies her. She can see the puzzle pieces clicking in his head. "There's someone else like us."

Dani picks up her fork and shoves the noodle-bean monstrosity in her mouth, intending to eat and feign manners to avoid answering, but she forgot just how nasty the food is. Coughing, she accepts Jason's proffered napkin that he snatched from the already dwindling supply on their table and spits her mouthful out. Without a word, Jason slides a cup of lemonade over to her.

"Just… will you tell me how common this is?"

Dani peers at him over the rim of her glass, then sighs. She really needs to be more careful about what she says around Jason, now. He's a Bat. Danny specifically does not want to get involved with any of the heroes outside of Amity Park. He wants to be left alone, and if she lets enough slip, this undoubtedly phenomenal detective will track him down for the answers Dani can't give.

"I can't tell you much," Dani says, then stresses, "at all. But, no, I'm starting to get the feeling it's not common. I mentioned before that I'm different from you, and you're the first I've ever met of you."

"And of you?"

Dani's quiet, considering. "Does it matter?"

Jason considers her right back, eyes unreadable, emotions pained. "I guess it doesn't."

But it does matter. To him more than to Dani or even Danny. "Three," Dani says before she can think better of it. "Only three."

Something like relief and horror in equal measure swirl inside him. "Are they as young as you?"

Oh. Dani gets it now. He's trying to soothe himself from the thought of there being more half-dead children who had experienced something as awful as he had running around. "No," Dani answers. "They're both older than me." She doesn't feel the need to mention Danny is only a few years older.

Jason lets out a sigh heavy with relief. "I can tell you really don't want to talk about this, so I'll back off. But just one last question." Dani tenses a little, wary of what will come out of his mouth next. "Do they need help?"

She releases her breath, relieved. "No, they don't. And trust me, one of them will never deserve help."

Jason, who'd seemed willing to drop the whole topic a moment ago, sits up straight with interest, his eyes sharp and calculating. Maybe she shouldn't have said that…?

"Your churro-wontons," interrupts their waitress, sliding a platter of cinnamon-dipped wontons their way. From what Dani understands, they're full of cream cheese frosting, not meat (hopefully). "And some tortilla-fortune cookies with salsa."

"Thanks!" Dani says brightly, seizing the interruption to stuff her face. Jason rolls his eyes at her antics and then hands the waitress his card for the bill. He also slips two twenties into her apron, giving her a flirtatious wink that has her blushing. "These are decent," Dani tells him, mouth full of wonton. "I give them an eight. They definitely need more sugar."

"They don't," Jason replies, picking one up and letting it drip cinnamon sugar sauce onto the plate below. He tries it and hums appreciatively. "Surprisingly good."

"Are you excited for our tortilla-chip fortune cookies?" Dani asks, gesturing at their little plate of cookies and salsa. "How much you wanna bet those cookies are actually sweet?"

"I'm not in the habit of funding bets I know I'll lose," Jason banters back.

They're both right: the tortilla chips are dusted with sugar, not salt. Dipped in salsa, it tastes like candied tomatoes and peppers, a weird combination of sweet and spicy that makes them both gag a little. The fortunes were pretty awful, too. Jason's read: "Joys are often the shadows, cast by sorrows." Like, what does that mean? And Dani's was even worse: "Because of your melodic nature, the moonlight never misses an appointment." What does that mean?!

"So this place gets three stars," Dani announces when they finally put themselves out of their misery and leave the restaurant.

"Three? I was thinking one."

"But their teriyaki tacos and cinnamon wontons were banger," Dani insists. "And the service was phenomenal. So good, in fact, that the server even gave you her number in case you have any further questions."

"That is not why I got her number," Jason laughs. "She gave it to me so I could take her out."

"Out where?"

Jason pauses, studying her. "On a date."

"Oh!" Yeah, that should have been obvious. "Well, are you going to?"

"Probably not," he says, still looking at her with those sharp eyes, as if trying to dissect her thought process. "I don't really have the time."

"Yeah, I guess not," Dani responds. "You have a big job." Danny could take some notes, honestly. He spends way too much time chasing after girls, time that he doesn't have. Actually, now that Dani thinks about it, Danny didn't mention any crushes the last time she went to hang out with him. It's usually one of his favorite topics of conversation. "Anyway, what next?"

"My local high school is putting on a Shakespearean play," Jason suggests, sliding his gaze over to her. He can't fool her, though. She can feel his anticipation and excitement.

"I've never been to a high school play," Dani says by way of agreement. "I did go to a play called Turandot once."

"That's an opera," Jason corrects. "And I've always wanted to see it. Was it good?"

"Magical," Dani replies. "I saw it in Istanbul. Did you know it used to be called Constantinople?"

"I did. Get your helmet on, curtains are in twenty."

Dani follows his instructions and climbs on to the motorcycle they'd approached somewhere before Dani's response to the Turandot question. "What Shakespearean play is it?"

"Midnight Summer's Dream," he replies before closing his visor and revving the engine.

Dani has absolutely no idea why she asked. She'd only known Shakespeare from one of the off-handed rants Danny and Tucker had about one of their homework assignments. She had no idea who or what Shakespeare was, but apparently it's a type of play?

When they get to the high school, Jason had apparently already bought tickets. His hurry to leave the Chinese-Mexican fusion place makes more sense now. Actually no, leaving it in a hurry was perfectly understandable before Dani found out they were going to a play.

Jason greets the usher by name, asking about his mom, and Dani gets the feeling maybe Jason had been a bit more involved in the play than he was letting on. When they settle in their seats, Dani leans over to ask, "Do you come here often?"

"I have a vested interest in high school extracurriculars."

"That's weird."

"No it's not. The more time kids spend in after school activities, the less they spend getting into trouble on the streets."

Apparently, the person in front of them has been listening, because they turn around to reveal an exhausted but bright-eyed woman. "He's a theater nerd," corrects the woman. "He's been helping with everything from sets to costumes to directing."

Dani giggles in delight.

"Is this your daughter?" the woman asks, sending a warm smile her way.

"Sister," Jason grunts, seeming embarrassed, but Dani can feel his pride. Whether it's directed at his involvement in the play or at her, she can't figure out. "Dani, this is Rachel, Owen's mom. Owen is Puck in the play; I'll point him out."

"I'm glad," Rachel laughs. "You're far too young to be a father of a child her age."

"I'm a teenager," Dani argues with a pout.

"And you're far, far too young for a teenager," Rachel amends.

Jason rolls his eyes, but Dani knows he's amused.

The lights dim, and Rachel rushes a whispered goodbye before turning back in her seat to face the stage.

As Dani learns throughout the play, Shakespeare is not a type of play, but the play writer. (Dani asked Jason what made a play Shakespearean and he looked at her like she was crazy before telling her it was the writer. She felt pretty dumb until Jason chuckled and told her he'd tell her all about theater, since he was a self-proclaimed expert.) She also learns that every line requires a paragraph of explanation before it makes a lick of sense.

And yet, Dani enjoys herself immensely. The energy on stage is infectious, bright and happy, and despite the confusion surrounding the voice lines, the story is funny and interesting. Dani watches with rapt attention, trying to limit her questions for Jason so he doesn't have to split his attention. She can feel the amount of enjoyment radiating from him, and she doesn't want to interrupt.

After the performance, Dani hangs back so Jason can congratulate the actors. He knows all of them by name, and Dani wonders if this is really the same Jason she'd heard the Waynes described.

As the Waynes described him, Jason is an angry man in a perpetual bad mood. He's grumpy and gruff and his affections lie in curt remarks and the absence of violence towards them. Dani had seen that in Red Hood, and in the Jason she met for the first time at dinner all those weeks ago. But the Jason she's with now is different.

His temper is settled, no longer simmering just beneath the surface waiting for the slightest slip of control to burst free and consume him. Dani can feel that it's been inching back, slowly but surely soaking up the emotions of Gotham, but it's only been a couple of weeks since he let it purify in the Zone so it's still fairly clean. He's softer – no less gruff, but with easier smiles and kinder eyes. His emotions flow more easily, and it's obvious to Dani he is enjoying the positive emotions he'd struggled so hard to feel the past few years.

She can tell the constant pain has scarred him deeply, but it's no longer such a gaping wound, constantly bleeding. It was tenuously closed in the Zone, and he can now think past it and experience more.

Hopefully, it will help him come to terms with his second chance at life. Maybe reconcile with his family…? She might be getting ahead of herself there, though.

When Jason makes his way back to her, he asks invites her to a cast after-party where they go for ice cream. Dani's always down for ice cream, so she immediately agrees.

Jason pays for the entire cast, refusing the director's offer to split it with him. This is a low income neighborhood (obviously, they're in Crime Alley), and Jason insists that it's his treat. Otherwise, they might not be able to do things like this.

Not for the first time, Dani wonders if Jason has access to his dad's money. They seem to have a very strained relationship, but he spends money like it's endless.

Dani and Jason stay in the ice cream place deep into the night, laughing with the cast and discussing that night's performance.

It's just past midnight when they finally wish the crew goodbye and Jason leads Dani back over to his motorcycle. They'd stayed until every cast member was safely picked up, a little past closing time for the ice cream shop. Jason even waited an extra five minutes for one of the employees, tipping her one last time with a folded twenty.

"Let's get you back home," Jason says, handing her a helmet. "It's getting late."

"Really?" Dani asks incredulously. "Your bedtime is midnight?"

Jason rolls his eyes. "I have a job I need to get to."

"What job starts – oh." The illegal kind.

"Yeah, oh."

Dani climbs onto the back of the cycle like normal, settling in for the thrilling ride home. But then she… senses something? Feels it? Imagines it? However she experiences it, there's something distinctly wrong with the ambiance. "Hey, Jason?"

"Yeah, I feel it too. Hold on tight."

Jason revvs the engine, the tires squealing as he pushes the bike into immediate high speeds. The alley is quickly replaced by the dark and mostly empty streets of Crime Alley. Jason expertly swerves around any straggling car, ignoring the honking that follows.

What is it? Dani wonders, suspecting Lady Gotham to be the culprit behind the feeling of danger she and Jason both feel.

There's no literal response, just another pulse of danger-careful.

The danger is nothing more than a shadow hanging over both their heads as they screech through the streets, weaving around other vehicles and somehow avoiding every traffic stop in the tri-state area. It's just a feeling, until –

Jason swerves sharply to the left onto the other side of the street, narrowly avoiding the incoming white van that screeched out of an alleyway, lights off and windows tinted. Jason swears, spinning the bike in a completely different direction, causing the back wheel to fishtail slightly before gaining traction. The van is close behind.

The squealing of tires is defeaning as another van comes out of nowhere to try and ram into the bike. Jason spins on a dime, going another direction. The smell of burning rubber and gasoline is thick in the air, causing Dani's eyes to tear up. Or is it the speed? Her hair is whipping behind her so violently she's sure it'll leave red marks on her neck and face.

"Who are they?!" Dani shouts over the sound of wind and road. The path ahead seems straight again, but there are bright headlights approaching from the opposite direction, the shape of another van shrouded in the vacuum of darkness behind the headlights.

"Don't know! They were tailing me a couple weeks ago, but I haven't seen them since I blew one of their cars!" Jason yanks on the handlebars to swerve them down a tight alley. Dani bites down her shriek at the dangerous maneuver – that dumpster was centimeters from tearing into their legs! They jerk out of the alley, only to find another van parked horizontally along the road, huge spotlights rising from the van roof to blind them both. The world is buzzing. Jason's whole body is rigid as he swings the whole bike around, the change in momentum nearly throwing them both from the bike. Dani tastes smoke.

Even with their instantaneous turn, they find another van in their path when they whip around. Jason swears again, turning back the way they came. Already, there are two figures blocking the narrow alley, holding up thick barricade shields.

Jason stops, resting his foot on the ground and flicking his attention between all the different obstacles. "With-an-i, you're going to do your disappearing act and get out of here, understand?" He takes one hand off the handle, reaches into his motorcycle holster, and withdraws a dark, heavy handgun. Dani hesitantly swings one leg to the side, still perched on the seat. She's not leaving, that much is certain. She just needs to figure out what's going on, how best to approach it.

Jason seems to sense this, growls in frustration, and grabs another gun, shoving it into her hands. "Shoot anything that comes too close," he orders, then gets off his bike, standing before the vehicles that pour out several more soldiers (?) in full white, in full armor and helmets with the visor down.

And suddenly Dani knows exactly who they are, and why they're here.

It occurs to her that maybe she should have gone back to the Keep sooner so she could ask Danny to make Jason a watch. It never occurred to her that danger was real.

For the first time in a while, Dani is wholly, genuinely terrified.

It's the first real threat to her fraid. She's never experienced this bone-deep terror and cold rage. She feels ectoplasm surge in her veins. Pressure builds in her core, and Dani scrambles to keep hold on her power. She's balancing on the edge of her control in a way she never has. She has to keep Jason safe, protect the home she's built here –

And then, just as Danny always warns her when dealing with the GIW, they shoot first, no questions asked.

Jason goes down with a shout of pain and a flare of an ectogun's blast, and Dani's power s.

hehehe. Get excited, cuz there are some serious reveals next chapter :)

That's all this time 'round

~Starr