When You Accidentally Kill a Clown pt 14.
Pt.1 pt.13 Ao3
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Jason had alot on his mind.
For starters, apparently his boyfriend had a kid, which, great! She seemed awesome and that was totally okay. But then there were the concerning things he had overheard from the phone call. Like the bit about cloning, which would make Dani- well at least it was somewhat better than the alternative. Suffice to say, he and Danny had alot to talk about later.
All this had led to the very strong urge to find this 'Vlad' character and shoot him where it hurt. (Well it would probably hurt no matter where he shot him but the point still stands.)
Luckily, Jason didn't have to spend long trying to hide this fury before getting an alert from Oracle about some super-powered lunatic tearing up the upper east side. Now that usually wouldn't be his problem, but beating up bad guys is, shockingly, a really good stress relief, so he took the out.
Hopefully Danny didn't take him leaving so suddenly the wrong way.
Unfortunately, Jason didn't really have the mental bandwidth to actually think all these thoughts while also getting shot at by a green floating maniac.
"Oracle, please tell me you have something on this guy, I'm almost out of tricks," he yelled, not waiting to watch the round he unloaded sail right through the guy, before diving behind a half melted car.
"Tt, you may be out of tricks, Todd, but I am not," Robin called as he vaulted over Hood's makeshift shelter. Giving him a satisfying view when seconds later he sailed back overhead and crashed into a storefront, as a chorus of, "Names, Robin," crackled over the intercomm.
"Lucky shot," he grumbled, stumbling over to Jason who had to stifle a laugh at how the kid's face was scrunched up in annoyance. "Not a word. Oracle?"
"Sorry boys, nothing yet. I'll keep trying but all I'm hitting are dead ends."
Robin scrunched up his nose and sighed in annoyance, "So what's the plan then?" He asked.
Hood was about to snap back that 'how should he know' when someone else spoke.
"The plan is: you focus on getting civilians out of the way while we take out big, mean, and corrosive over there." Okay, Red Hood would never admit that he jumped, but to be fair, Robin did too. The voice had come from directly over his shoulder and no one should be able to sneak up on two trained vigilantes that easily. Especially not Damian.
They turned in unison to find two floating teenagers, no more than 17 and 13 each, with floating white hair, and green, green eyes. They were nearly identical, all the way down to the black and silver jumpsuits emblazoned with a flaming D insignia, or were they p's? It was hard to tell.
They were clearly heros of a sort, but Jason didn't recognize them so they were either really small time and in Gotham for a visit, or they chose the wrong city to jumpstart their heroing careers.
"Why are you dressed like a traffic light?" The younger one asked, blowing and popping a blindingly pink bubble as she floated closer to Robin, "I thought the bats were supposed to be discreet."
"That's none of your business," demon Brat growled, "Touch me and you're dead." The girl's hand paused, halfway outstretched toward Robin's cape. She didn't back off, though, until he pulled a birdarang.
"Woah there," she said, holding up her hands and floating backwards as if to calm him, "You're a little late on the dead part, but let's go easy on the knives, eh?"
The guy, now standing next to Hood as he watched the scene play out, snickered.
Robin scowled, "Who are you?"
The guy beamed and raised his hand like he was waiting to be called on in class. "Ooh! I know this one! Uh, hi, my name's Phantom," he gestured grandly to himself and, grinning, took a small bow, and that's Stray," he continued, "We are ghosts, like you, but we're here to help with that." He finished off the whole thing by pointing at the guy stomping around the streets and shooting acid.
The little one- Stray- nodded and popped another bubble. "Yeah, basically, our job is to beat up the ghosts who escape the zone and cause mayhem. We're just cool like that. But don't worry, y'all aren't causing to many issues so you're good."
"We are alot more expirienced than you though, so you guys should just stick to evacuation while we take care of the combat part," Phantom added as he flipped a -was that a soup thermos?- in the air.
Somehow Robin's frown managed to get deeper.
"We do not need you're assistance with combat," he scoffed, "and I find it unbelievable that you two have more experience than I do."
Stray's eyebrows shot up. " Oh okay, sorry didn't relise you were good on your own. I guess that's probably why you just flew through a window and can't seem to land a single hit," she sassed back, hands planted firmly on her hips.
"Tt, a slight miscalculation. Besides, I have no doubt I could take you in a fight easily, much less the flying green bozo over there."
"Oh yeah?" She replied, her nose twitching slightly, "You wanna go traffic light?"
"Bring it," he growled, dropping into a fighting stance.
Then they were at each other's necks. Damian was tackled off his feet almost immediately, making it less of a standard fight and more of a knock-down, drag-out brawl, and Phantom was just watching. No, not even just watching, he was cheering them on, meanwhile Jason was still trying to wrap his head around what they had said.
"Wait, waitwaitwait. Rewind," he said, causing the ghost to turn toward him distractedly without pulling his eyes from the wrestling demons. "What do you mean 'ghosts like you'? Were not ghosts" At least as far as Hood knew he wasn't a ghost. Zombie plausibly, but he had gotten better, so not a ghost. No walking through walls and spraying people with goo, and he definitely didn't float and/or glow like these people.
Phantom snorted and turned toward him fully with a roll of his eyes.
"I don't mean like ghost, ghost," he snorted, "at least not what most people think of ghosts. But you've both clearly died before, and you have cores, however small, so- ghost," he explained, trailing off with awkward jazz hands.
what?
"What?"
Phantom looked like he was about to respond, but was cut off when a large glob of plasma careened into their makeshift shelter and melted the remains into the ground.
The demons, now rolling on the ground, froze, and Phantom let out a low whistle.
"Right, forgot about that. Stray, come on." The girl popped up from the ground, sporting several new bruises and a manic grin.
"Time to kick butt now, Dad?" Hood's brain froze. 'dad?' Phantom just let out a drawn out sigh as he mussed up her hair in a way that seemed oddly familiar.
"Oh so no I'm 'dad'," he grumbled before turning back to Hood. "You're good on the plan, yeah? Cool, see you in two shakes of a ghosts tail." He punned, then they were off, shouting insults and throwing punches that actually managed to hit.
Hood took a few seconds to process what the fresh hell just happened as Robin stood up and spat some blood from his mouth. He was also sporting fresh bruises, aswell as a small cut on his forehead. Impressive.
"Tt, they are adequate," he muttered, turning on his heel and heading for the nearest building where civilians were still trapped.
Hood sent a quick message to Oracle and B that they had help and to focus on civilians, before following as the fight raged on overhead.
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"So is it just me or does Red Hood seem kinda familiar?" Dani asked, ducking an ecto blast and moving in to land a solid hit.
Danny raised an eyebrow and shot a widely at their opponent. "What do you mean?" He asked in response, frowning as the shot missed.
"I don't know, I think it's his core? I feel like I've met him before, but I'm pretty sure I would know if I had."
"Huh, strange. Hey Acid Breath! When was the last time you took a shower? You're stinking up the whole street." The Ghost roared in response as they showered the area in corrosive ectoplasm. "Damn, sorry, didn't mean to strike a nerve. How'd you get here anyway?"
"AAACCCEEE!!" now what could that possibly mean?
"Sorry I don't know anyone called 'Ace'," Danny called, stopping long enough to keep their attention off Dani as she went in for another attack. "You wouldn't mind introducing us, would you?"
"RAWR!!!" Okay, that was a no then. Finally, Dani struck, landing a solid hit to their back before getting smacked to the pavement twenty feet below.
Danny yelped, fumbling with the thermos on his belt before promptly souping the poor sap and flying down to his clone.
"You good kid?" He asked, wincing as Danny scowled up at him and spat out her wad of gum.
"Just peachy," she replied with a sarcastic smile as she took his offered hand. "I thought you promised me a fight."
Danny squinted at her and looked around at the carnage and smoking crater they were currently standing in.
"Was that not? A fight?"
The kid snorted and rolled her eyes, "I meant like a fun one, like with Ember or Skulker. This guy was no fun, no finesse. The closest thing I got to a fight was that brawl with the traffic light."
Danny sighed and ran a hand down his face, "Sorry? We'll see if Robin's still up to fight, either that or we can spar later?"
"Hmph, fine. But don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're old and you're bones are creaky."
Danny gasped, old? Him? "Oh you're going to so pay for that comment kid."
"Oh yeah?" She asked, planting her hands on her hips and raising an eybrow.
"Yeah," Danny grinned back, with equal levels of Fenton sass.
Their standoff lasted about twenty seconds before Dani's gaze focused on something behind her original.
"What's with the guy in the leather furry suit? He's staring at us."
Ancients, could he not do one thing in this city without attracting this guys attention? Apparently not. Batman stared at Phantom and Phantom stared back. Danny groaned.
Unfortunately, with the fighting now finished and most if not all civilians safely removed from the street still dripping with ectoplasmic acid, Danny probably should, *shiver,* talk with the local heros, including the Bat himself. There was no way Danny would be able to walk out of this without setting up several more flags for the furry brigade to hunt down.
But as much as he dreaded it, for some reason Danny obeyed when Bats stared him down from a nearby roof, his eyes communicating a clear talk now or I will make your life hell, though he would probably do that anyway.
"Ugh, here comes the hard part," Danny mumbled as he motioned for Dani to follow him up to the roof. "Batman," he greeted with a curt nod when they landed. At least they were on equal ground now and it didn't feel like he was being looked down upon.
Dani landed behind him, just as Robin, Red Hood, and Red Robin materialized next to Batman.
"Hey, Traffic Light!" Dani beamed, pulling an arm across her chest to stretch her shoulder, "You wanna go again? That fight wasn't too enriching."
Robin scowled at her and shared a look with his- father? Partner? Boss?- whatever their relationship was, Batman had a hard set to his jaw, but Robin looked, not exactly pleading, but more that he wouldn't back down. Somehow Batman lost the stare off.
"Very well, your form could use improvement and I am an excellent teacher," he said, taking a few steps away from the group. In no time at all they were fighting again like they hadn't even stopped.
Robin tried calling out the flaws and tactics in the fight, but was quickly, fully, engrossed on not losing his ground or footing as Dani attacked with more brute, unrelenting, strength than with tact.
Batman stared very dissaprovingly, seemingly ignoring Danny. Danny cleared his throat in an attempt to, Ancients forbid, draw the Batman's attention back to him.
"Don't worry, Stray won't hurt him, at least not more than some bruises or maybe a small sprain if he's not careful." Shit, maybe he shouldn't have said that. The stare Batman gave him chilled Danny to the bones.
"Sorry," Danny muttered, with a sheepish grin he held out his hand, "I'm Phantom by the way, I don't think we've met."
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There was something about Phantom that felt vaguely familiar, Hood just couldn't quite put his finger on it. Aside from the fact that he could've sworn he'd seen this guy before, the ghost felt familiar. The vibes that seemed to exude from the glowing teens somehow felt cozy, in a way.
It was so weird. There was no way to explain it. It felt like- finding someone who was just like you, someone who shared your interests and tastes. It felt like community, like people you can rely on and a place to come home to.
The feeling was so sudden and out of place it made him want to punch something. But like in a positive way. Like when he used to wrestle with Dick or B, way back when. Something in Jason's chest seemed to sing, or more like contentedly rumble. It was something he was used to feeling around-
Hood watched as Phantom ducked his head with a nervous smile, his outstretched hand wandering back to rub at the back of his neck as he avoided Batman's glare.
"Not much for social niceties then, eh?" He asked, shooting honest to god finger guns at The Batman, personification or 'revenge and 'the night'. B's mouth drew into a tight line as he studied the ghost.
"Uhm, sorry for like, invading your territory and stuff, I'll try not to let it happen again," Phantom said, attempting to bring his eyes to meet B's gaze.
"Hn," B grunted, "Gotham is no safe place for meta's, besides, we've got the heroing thing taken care of. We don't need help."
Finally Phantom managed to lock eyes with the bat, he looked taken aback.
"Yeah, sorry. No. You kinda did need help with this one, thank you." Phantom's confidence grew as he proceeded to explain just exactly why he and Stray were needed there. Citing the Bats' underpreparedness, as well as a bunch of ghost politics stuff that was hard to follow.
Batman listened raptly.
And yeah, no. Jason had to be entirely wrong. This couldn't be him, sure the face shapes were nearly identical, and the same freckles, and actually if it weren't for the color change and differences in age they could be the same person. But they couldn't be.
Sure Jason's boyfriend could be a bit... odd, and boisterous sometimes. But he really couldn't imagine him being able to scold motherfucking Batman with that much confidence.
But still it nagged at his brain. It really was a long, long shot, that was really, very, highly, unlikely. And Jason really, probably shouldn't have said anything, but he did.
"Danny?" Phantom faltered and the way he froze at the name was almost confirmation enough. His green eyes flicked around the rooftop, then fixed on Red Hood. For a moment his mouth pulled to a slight frown and his brows furrowed, even the noise of the kids' fighting ceased as Stray- come to think of it, that was probably Dani- stared dumbfounded, with a hint of surprise. The two 'ghosts' shared a look then melted into.... laughter?
One double take later and sure enough they were laughing. It was actually kind of unsettling, all echoey and reverberating as if they found the statement absolutely hilarious. If he didn't know better, Hood would've thought they had gotten Joker gassed or something, but he did, and suddenly felt very awkward at even entertaining the notion.
Batman grumbled.
So yeah, whatever, he gad been wrong. He shouldn't have said anything. But did they really have to keep laughing like that?
Phantom was doubled over and clutching his stomach, while Stray went intangible and rolled out from under Robin, who'd had her pinned, giggling uncontrollably.
Eventually, Phantom managed to straighten out and wipe a tear from his eye.
"Who's Danny?" He asked with a few residual giggles tainting his voice. "I don't know a Danny," it was said with such ease, but something felt forced, and his eyes kept flickering around.
"Pft, yeah," Stray snorted, floating a bit to lean her elbow against her partner's shoulder, "His name's Bill actually. Y'know, like inviso-Bill?"
Phantom sobered up completely and fixed her with a glare as the kid devolved into another laughing fit.
"Its not," he said seriously, "I've been going by Phantom for thousands of years, that one nickname is not going to stick." Yeah, if there was any doubt left that he'd been wrong, allegedly existing for thousands of years probably blew that theory out of the water.
"You wish," Stray forced out between giggles, causing Phantom to sigh.
"Anyway," he emphasized, clapping his hands together as he forced a smile, "Ghost problem solved, so we should probably get going then. Right, Stray?"
"Sure thing, Bill," She snickered, but followed as he slowly drifted away form the rooftop, "cya around traffic light!"
Phantom rolled his eyes once more before they both shot off. In seconds they were gone.
B turned toward Hood, mouth already open to ask a question, but he was already gone too. He'd done his part and he could debrief later. For now he had a boyfriend and his kid to get back to.
Fifteen minutes later, Jason was back outside Danny's door with a whole new set of emotions swirling about in his head. He took a deep breath and opened the door.
Danny turned form their game to look at him with his ice blue eyes, and smiled. He patted the spot on the bed next to him as Dani threw a card down with a small shout. She followed Danny's gaze and twisted to look back at Jason, blowing a strand of black hair out of her face and grinning.
"Ay, welcome back! Glad to see I'm not a deal-breaker!" Jason chuckled and took the seat, cuddling up into Danny's side. What gad he even been thinking. There was still alot of concerning things to talk about, but being a ghost/superhero was something he could cross off the list.
-even if their similarities still nagged at his brain
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Woop, finally did it! And with Jason's suspicions successfully waylaid, we're going to take a (planned) break, while I get swamped down with all my other projects + school.
Hope you liked.