(Un)Dead Beat Dad (Chapter 6)
New chapter out! enjoy <3 chap 1 Chap 5 Chap 7 Ao3 link
Warning!! mentions of nightmares and crying, also 5k words under cut!!!!
Jason stared into Danny's room as his heart skipped a beat, his bed is empty. Jason ran through the room and tore blankets off, ripped doors open and another garbled cry sounded out, from a different place in the apartment, his own room, he ran to his door and pulled it open, gun drawn and cocked, ready to fire at whoever was inside, stopping to see Danny curled into a shaking ball in his bed, just like he did when he had nightmares when he was with Bruce. He surveyed the room before lowering his guns and setting them on his table, walking over to Danny and sitting down on his knees next to the bed. Jason took a breath and carefully placed his hand on the boy's shaking shoulder, his eyes flying open as he sat up and let out another strained shout, immediately flinching at the pain it caused; tugging his stitches. He scooted back on the bed, an ecto-blast in his previously burnt hand, frying it more beneath the bandages.
Jason lifted both his hands up to show he didn’t have anything to hurt Danny with, easing forward and placing one of his empty palms on the blanket next to Danny. After a few minutes of calming breathing exercises and Danny’s hand clenched tight around Jason's Jacket, Danny only had salty tears and shuddering shoulders.
“Danny, hey, Danny, look at me,” Jason pleaded in a small voice, “Take another deep breath for me.”
Danny looked across the room with glazed eyes, signing ‘don’t need to’ as more glowing tears fell on Jason's comforter. Not that he minds, of course.
“Humor me. Just, say, five more deep breaths, okay?” Danny nodded and did as Jason asked, his shoulders slowing with their shivering each time. A silence filled the air, only interrupted with a shaky breath from the small boy, “Do you want to talk about the nightmare?” Danny vigorously shook his head ‘no’, and Jason immediately reassured him it was okay, he won’t push.
Jason saw Danny’s eyes unfocused, staring into the corner of the room. He turned and looked as hard as he could, nothing. Not even that strange feeling he had in the back of his throat when that lady came to drop Danny off. Jason let out a hopeful breath of air and whispered Danny’s name again, he got a slow blink in response. Seeing Danny could still hear him, he carefully laid his palm on Dannys shoulder, who leaned into his touch seemingly unknowingly. Jason thought for a moment and put his free hand on Dannys other shoulder. The boy leaned over into his arms, Jason physically feeling the room's temperature rise back to normal levels. He led the small boy's head to his chest and with a lot of shifting and squirming eventually sat on his bed with Danny’s head tucked tightly into his chest, the rest of the boy curled into a shivering ball in his lap. Jason rubbed circles into Dannys back and whispered small words of comfort to him as the room temperature rose more and the shaking died down.
Not long after, Jason felt the shivers stop and the room float at a normal temperature. The boy in his arms still felt cold to the touch but that seemed to be his normal state, at least now it didn’t hurt to touch with is bare hand. Jason sighed and felt the soft muted rumble of the boy under his hand as his comm beeped in his ear, Oracles voice flooding in.
“Sooooo… hot toddy, you gonna explain that cutie that's on your lap doing- what is that, purring?” Barbara asked with a tease.
Jason froze. Fuck. The rumbling abruptly stopped and the boy squirmed under his hand with a whine from his chest?
“Oh, Danny, are you okay? Are you in pain?” he tilted his head down to get a better look at the boy, who twisted up and opened his glassy eyes, nodding his head.
“Do you want tea? Hot chocolate?” Jason rubbed his hand up and down Danny's back in circular motions, as the boy nodded and leaned into his chest. Jason sat up and tucked the boy into his side, walking towards the kitchen.
“So his name’s Danny?” Babs said, a smile in her voice. The boy pulled his head back and his ears twisted and flicked, his face contorting in confusion at Jason's mask.
Jason huffed and reached a hand up, clicking the comm and camera off so babs couldn't hear or see, “Just my sister, she usually helps during my patrol but right now she’s just being nosey.”
Danny’s ears flicked again and he brought his hand up to sign where Jason could see it, ‘she’s gone?’
Jason sighed and sat the small boy down on the counter and turned the lights on, dimming them immediately after Danny flinched, and smiled at him. “For now, yeah. How are you feeling?”
‘Tired, my throats dry and my chest hurts’ Danny lifted his hand and rubbed his red puffy eyes.
“Then let's fix that, how do you feel about some chamomile with a bit of soy?” Danny nodded and smiled.
A chirp filled Jason's ear and Barbara's voice filtered into his ear via the mask, “He’s so darn cute!”
Danny’s eyes darted to the floor, his face and ears flushing green, squirming in his seat on the counter.
“Oh my god Jason, he’s adorable!!”
Jason huffed a laugh and shook his head, placing a kettle on the stove and turning it on, spinning around to a cabinet and opening it, “He can hear you babs.”
“Really?! Oh hi Danny! You are so stinkin’ cute! You look so much like Jason did when Bru-” her voice cut off with a click as Jason took off his domino and tossed it on the table.
“Okay, enough of the overbearing sister,” Jason said with a chuckle, grabbing a chamomile and a green tea bag and tossing them into their respective cups, spinning around and leaning against the counter, facing Danny, “Did you not like your room?”
Danny shook his head side to side, ‘I like the room, it was just…’ He sat there with a nervous look on his face and rubbed his neck, a nervous tick clearly.
“The nightmare?” Danny nodded his head with his eyes glued to the floor. Jason hummed and reached forward, ruffling the small boy's fluffy hair. “Don’t sweat it, kid. Happens to the best of us, even batman.”
‘Even,’ Danny stopped for a second and looked at Jason nervously, ‘Even you?’
“Yeah Danny, even me.”
The small boy got a smile on his face and looked further, tilting his head towards the kettle on the stove, pointing at it.
“Done?” a nod, “Alrighty, lets get some tea and head to bed.” Jason poured the teas and added soy milk and honey to their [respective] mugs, stirring them and handing a batman themed mug to Danny.
Danny took a cautious sip and smiled, not too hot, just the right amount of sweet, he thought. He looked up and nodded. Jason sipped his own tea for a bit before grabbing both mugs in one hand and Danny with the other, holding the boy on his hip.
He walked into Danny's room and set the mugs down, carefully tucking him into his bedsheets hoping the boy didn't see the mess he made looking for him and clicking the light off next to the bed. He smiled and stood up before a soft tugging on his jacket pulled him back. He spun around and saw Danny lift his hands in the light drifting in from the hall.
‘Can you, stay? Please?’
“‘Course I can, kid. You go ahead and try to fall asleep, I’ll be here,” Jason sat down on the foot of the bed and put a hand on Danny’s shoulder, “Goodnight, kiddo. Sweet dreams.”
Danny smiled and curled in on himself, the soft purring erupting from his chest after a few minutes, lulling Jason into a sleep of his own at the foot of Danny’s bed.
••••••
Danny woke up with a start, scanning the room for a second before remembering where he was. Jason's apartment. His own new bed. He felt a weight in his hand and saw a larger hand holding his own. He followed it down and saw Jason's face, calm and asleep. Danny pulled his legs out of the covers and crawled over to Jason's sleeping body, and curled into his side. For some unknown reason, Jason felt familiar, Danny could feel the ectoplasm inside of him calling out to Jason, telling Danny to stay with him. Jason felt sick. Danny wasn’t exactly sure why, but Jason needed help, he felt like he had ectoplasm inside of him, and not the good kind either.
Danny was broken from his thoughts by a shifting from the large body next to him, Jason groggily wrapped his arm around Danny and pulled him closer, a small nearly indistinct rumble coming from his chest. Danny smiled and let his body make its own accompanying rumble and closed his eyes again, letting sleep wash over him in Jasons arms.
••••••
Danny woke up again to the feeling of something moving beneath him and opened his eyes, seeing Jason standing up and draping a throw blanket on top of him.
“Just heading to take a shower, I’ll be right back Danny, go back to sleep.” Jason said with a smile. Danny nodded and closed his eyes again, hearing Jason start the shower a few rooms over and drifting back into a calm sleep.
••••••
A window lock flipped and the window slid open, three girls quietly sliding inside, one in a green suit jacket and pants, one in black pants and a black shirt with a cat on it, and another in short shorts and a baggy gray shirt with a red duck on it. The one in green slipped and knocked an empty mug off of a side table, stilling when it hit the floor and staring at the blond girl who dramatically shushed her with a well manicured finger,the one in black on the fire escape rolling her eyes and whispering “amatures” under her breath. The one in black climbed with a practiced ease in and slid the window closed, walking over to the counter, seeing the sink and counter with dishes in sets of two. The one in the gray shirt pointed to two empty hot chocolate cups on the living room table, she runs over to the one in green and gasps, grabbing her hands and shaking them, squealing and jumping up and down.
“Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! I knew it! That’s why he wasn’t at gi-” the girl was cut off by the feeling of cold metal on her temple, before a loud sigh from where the gun was held and it lowered.
“Damn it Harley, I thought you were trying to rob me or somethin’, text me next time you wanna break into my apartment.” Jason said with a huff, uncocking the pistol and laying it on the counter.
“We were worried Jason! What were we supposed to think when you missed girls night and didn’t say anything! No text, no call, no pigeon-”
“Okay okay I get it, I’ll text you next time. Now get out. I have a shower to finish.” Jason said in fond annoyance, the three girls just now looking him over and seeing him in just a sloppily thrown on towel, water still dripping from his soapy hair as he turned around and walked back into the bathroom with a heavy sigh.
Harley turned to Ivy and started laughing, ivy joining in and leaning against the counter for support.
Ivy calmed down after a minute and laid down on the couch, which was, kinda scratchy? For some reason? But ignored it when Harley jumped in the air and landed on her with a loud ‘oof’, Salena dropping into a lazyboy chair.
Harley grabbed the remote and scrolled around different apps, turning on a show about some devil in california solving crimes, whatever. All of them watched the show for a while until they heard the squeak of a door- not the bathroom either-, freezing and turning to look at the door.
They looked lower as a small body came out of the room, an old and used blanket hanging off of a small child in worn down striped blue pajamas. The kid yawned and rubbed their eyes, walking forward a few steps before opening their eyes and seeing all three girls in the living room. Seeing them all the kid’s eyes flew open and started watering, they spun around fast and ran back into the room they were in, accidentally dropping the blanket and slamming the door closed behind them.
Selina turned around to the two girls on the couch with a shocked expression on her face, “Did Jason skip out on us because he has a kid?!”
Ivy sat herself and Harley up, confused. “Yeah, yeah I think so, and we just-”
“We just scared the shit out of that kid, who is now crying.” Harley said, jumping off of the couch and running towards the kids room, sitting down at the closed door. Selina and ivy ran behind her, Selina slowing down to grab the blanket .
“Hey, kiddo, My names Harley Quinn and the other girl’s are my friends, Pamela Ivy, my wife, and Selina Kyle, we’re both really good friends of Jason. We were worried about your, uhm,” she turned to look at Ivy who shrugged and mouthed ‘dad?’ before spinning back to the door, “your dad, so we came to see if he was okay because he didn’t visit us yesterday.'' All three of them went quiet, only the sounds of the tv in the living room and Jason's shower in the apartment, as well as the quiet sniffling and hiccups of the boy on the other side of the door. There was no answer.
Selina stepped forward, smiling at harley before she spoke, “Hey, kitten, when you were going back to your room, you dropped your blanket,” Selina pulled up a corner to look at the poorly sewn in initials, “J.T-W.’ and smiled, “this blanket, it was your dad’s before, right?”
A soft sniffle was heard. Selina sat down next to Harley, “Do you want it back? I swear I’ll just hand it to you, no tricks or anything.”
There was a moment's pause before the door creaked open just enough for the boy to look through with watery eyes. His hand signed through, ‘Promise?’
“Absolutely, yes, I promise. Here, see?” Selina held up the blanket to the boy, who quickly grabbed it and pulled it through the door. Selina smiled and pulled her hands to her lap, “nice to meet you, kitten. How are you?”
The boy wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and leaned against the doorframe, opening it a little more, ‘tired’
“Me too, I didn’t get much sleep last night.” the girls behind her giggled and she glared at them, the boy lifting his hand up.
‘Me too” the boy yawned.
“Did you stay up too late watching movies?” Harley asked with a smile.
He shook his head no, ‘Nightmares. But Jason helped.’
“Oh, he helped? What did the little mother cat do to help?” Selina said with a smile, leaning on her hand.
‘He made me tea, and held my hand, fell asleep with me.’ He wrapped his blanket around him tighter.
“Awe he’s so good at this! Jay has come so far! And, what’s your name, little nestling?” Harley asked with a smile, slowly reaching her hand forward to push the door open, waiting in case the boy pushed the door back shut. But he didn’t. He let her push the door open, and he sat down, the blanket wrapped tighter around his shoulders as if it was a shield from the girls.
Ivy smiled and leaned against the wall, looking at the kid in the door, “It’s okay, I promise you. We’re just here, passing by.”
The boy looked up, scanning all three of them to see if they’re lying to him, but didn’t see anything, so he lifted his hands up ‘D. A. N. N. Y.”
“Lovely to meet you Danny. Are you hungry?” Ivy asked, smiling to Danny, who nodded at the floor.
“Well then pumpkin, let’s get you somethin’ to eat!” Harley said, jumping up, smiling, slowly reaching a hand down to Danny to hold. He looked at her and smiled, nodding, grabbing her hand and being pulled up, wincing at the stretch on his nearly healed stitches.
“Are you okay there, kitten? Are you hurt?” Danny looked up at her and nodded, rubbing his chest before quickly lifting his hand up to sign, his ears flipping down and his eyes going wide, ‘not Jason's fault! Jason helped’
The three girls looked at each other and smiled, “Of course he wouldn’t honeybunch, Jason is the sweetest happiest guy I know, I'm glad he helped you out!” Harley smiled and squeezed Danny's hand twice, Danny smiled in recognition and squeezed her hand twice.
They walked into the kitchen and Harley glanced down to Danny for permission before picking him up by the armpits, sitting him down on the kitchen counter and spinning around to the fridge, where Ivy was already looking through. Selina leaned against the counter and smiled at him, running her fingers through his hair.
“Kinda choppy, yeah? Did Jay cut it?” Danny nodded, smiling, “oh I can tell, it kinda sucks doesn’t it?” Danny's shoulders shook in a silent faux laughter, his fangs showing off in a not-so-human grin, Selina laughed alongside him.
“So, sweetums, what are ya hungry for?” Harley said, giving him some buttered toast to hold him over until the breakfast was done.
Danny held the toast out to Selina, ‘Can’t have a lot of solid food, throat’s hurt too’
Ivy smiled and looked towards Danny, “So what are you thinking then?”
Danny looked off in the distance for a minute before he smiled ‘Eggs! And… yogurt.’ He kicked his legs.
“Sure thing cupcake!” Harley ruffled his hair and spun around to the stove, cracking some eggs and adding just a little cheese, not to hurt his throat. Ivy opened the fridge and grabbed a milk carton, pouring a small glass for Danny, who drank it greedily- must have been really thirsty crying from the nightmares. Ivy spun around from the fridge with a small cup of yogurt and a small spoon that Jason definitely did not have last time they came.
The sound of a man chuckling tore them all from their little trance they were in, and Danny spun around to look at Jason, smiling cheekily up at him with yogurt around his mouth. Jason brought his hand up and wiped Danny's mouth with his hand, wiping it on his pants and walking around to the other side of the counter where he jumped up to sit on the other side of Danny.
“So, why is there a new show on my Tv and you guys in my kitchen, making breakfast?” Jason asked, smiling fondly down at Danny.
“Well I don’t know ragamuffin, why do we come here to check on you and find you have a kitten of your own?” Selina said teasingly, running her fingers through Danny’s hair.
Jason sighed and hung his head, chuckling again and looking up, “that’s a long story, now how did you get Danny to trust you so fast?”
Harley spun around fast with a small plate of cheesy scrambled eggs in her hands, walking over to Danny and placing it in his lap, “We actually scared him first, but we were able to explain how we know you and all that jazz and he trusted us!” She said with an overly cheery smile.
Jason smirked and turned to Danny, “and what’s the real reason you trusted them?”
Danny smiled and lifted his hand, ‘they’re in your apartment, they’re comfortable, and they haven’t been shot, so you definitely like them.’ He nodded, reached his hand down, grabbed the small fork and started eating the eggs, a little hot but they felt nice in his throat.
“Well A for analysis, kid.” Jason said with a puff of laughter
Selina chuckled and used her nails to scratch Danny’s head, a smile making its way to his face, “he’s definitely yours, ragamuffin.”
Ivy stilled where she stood in front of the stove, spinning around to face the others, “Wait, is he? Is he, yours, yours?”
Jason paled at his spot on the counter, “No no no! At least I don’t think so, er, not that I know of no.” He blushed and looked off to the corner of the room, the girls (and Danny, the traitor) giggling at him.
Harley spun around in a buff Santa apron- where did she even get that?- hands full of plates, “alrighty then loves! Time for breakfast, where should we sit?”
They eventually all decided on the living room to keep watching that new show Harley put on.
“So, kitten, what do you like most?” Selina asked, smiling down at the boy in between her and Jason on the loveseat.
He looked up at her questioningly, she chuckled and set her plate down on the small table in front of the couch, “like your interests, stuff like that.”
Danny made an o shape with his mouth and lifted his hand ‘Space! I really like space. I think zombies are cool, too,’ which made Ivy have to stifle a laugh that Jason playfully flipped her off for, ‘and aliens, I really want to meet an alien.”
“That’s pretty cool Danny. I’m, personally, into plants and all of that type of stuff. Harls loves binging shows, like this one. Have you seen it before?” Ivy said, smiling and leaning back in the single lazy-boy she and Harley were sharing.
‘Nope, not yet. Is it good?’ Danny signed.
“I sure hope so!” Harley cheered. They all sat in silence for a while, both Selina and Jason slapping their hands over Danny’s eyes during specific.. scenes. Not that he minded, it was sweet they wanted to contribute to his proper consumption of media, even if he was completely ruined already. They were all broken from their trance by a knock at the door.
“Expecting someone?” Selina asked. Jason looked over and shook his head no. He looked down at danny and made a shushing motion with his hand, reaching underneath a side table for a pistol taped to the bottom, lifting the other to sign, ‘whatever you do, stay quiet and out of sight, if you need to leave with the girls do that and I’ll meet up with you later, okay?’
Danny nodded back and put his finger to his lips imitating what Jason did earlier. Jason cocked the gun and stalked to the door, staying low to the ground and near silent. He stood up to look through the peephole, letting out a soft grunt as he couldn’t see who was on the other side, he slowly unlocked the door before flinging it open and immediately pressing the gun to the forehead of a man at the door holding a package.
“Damn it Dick, why didn’t you tell me you were coming over?” Jason sighed, lowering the gun from his older brother's head and dropping it on a small table he kept at the front of the house. “Fuck are you even here for?”
“Is it too much to say I was worried about my little bro?” Dick said with a smile, completely unphased by Jasons gun.
“Yes, piss off.” Jason said with a sigh.
“I just wanted to check on you, you’ve been acting weird and I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Dick said in a concerned tone.
Harley chose that moment to jump over the couch and jog over to the two, “I know right? First Jay says he's making his little patrol circle smaller, then, he goes and skips out on girls night!” Harley puffed air from her mouth and a strand of hair flew up dramatically, “Don’t you worry about it Dickie, the girls and I are checking up on him though, and you!” Harley poked a nail to Dicks chest, “are interrupting our mani-pedis! So,” she reached out and pulled the large box from Dick and held it in her arms, “I’m gonna take this, and I’m gonna make sure big bird here is doing alright, alrighty?”
Jason just sighed and hung his head, “you satisfied yet, Dickie-bird?” Jason asked, tilting his head up and showing off a small smile to his older brother.
Dick, bit his lip and looked him over for a second before nodding, “yeah, yeah alright you’re good. Just make sure to call me if you need anything, okay?”
“Yeah, I will.” Jason said, slowly closing the door on Dick until his hand stuck in the door.
“You promise Little wing?”
“Yeah, I promise Dickie.” Jason huffed and finished closing the door after Dicks lingering hand slipped from the door, his footsteps receding in the hall. Jason spun around and walked back into the living room, seeing everyone staring at him. “... What?”
The girls and Danny started giggling, all four of them laid out in a circle on the floor, different nail polishes set up while the TV played a movie that recently came out. Jason rolled his eyes and sat down with them, picking up a black and shaking it hard before lifting it up to see the color in the light better. Selina pulled it from his hands and smiled, “Oh no Ragamuffin, we’ve got a plan for you, you just watch the movie.”
“Yeah! We’ll take care of your nails and you just sit there!” Harley said giggling.
“Well what am I supposed to do?” Jason asked, Danny just tapped him and thrusted his hands forward with a blue/green shimmer nail polish in his hands, a small clip pinching his sensitive nose closed. Jason smiled and picked up the polish, “alrighty then kiddo, let’s get these nails done.”
It took about an hour and a half for everyone's nails to get done, Jason struggling between using his left and right hands to paint Danny's fingernails while the girls did his. In the end, Danny smiled big- a little too big- at his nails, holding them up to Jason's heavily decorated nails. The girls went all out on Jason's nails, all black with his pointer and middle finger red, the black nails with silver skull and flower decals and his red nails with lines and numbers painted on them to look like bullets. Jason held them up next to Danny's and posed for a picture with him.
Danny carefully signed to Jason, ‘is this what happens every girls night?’
“Yes of course! But this big dummy here,” Harley leaned on Jason's shoulder, “always messes them up during patrol!” she finished with a giggle, before realizing what she said and stilling in place, the two other girls also going ridgid.
Danny just smiled, ‘it’s okay, I know He’s Red Hood.’ each of the girls let out a puff of breath.
“Wait, did he tell you who we are? Or, anyone else?” Ivy asked, concerned.
Danny shook his head side-to-side, ‘nope. Well, it's obvious you’re Poison Ivy and, obviously, Harley Quinn, but I'm not sure who Selina is.’
“Oh, well I'm Catwoman, but you can just call me Selina.” She said with a smile.
Danny beamed and leaned forward, ‘you’re catwoman?! The burglar?!’
“Cat-burglar, but yes that’s me.” Selina said, happy to see such a small kid so excited to meet her.
‘That’s so cool! What's the prettiest thing you’ve stolen?’ Danny said, starting up a game of 20 questions with Selina, while Ivy tugged on Jason’s arm to talk to him in the other room. Danny could most definitely hear them, but it was the thought that counted- not to mention that Danny was too interested in the story about Bruce Wayne’s mother’s pearl necklace that Selina still has to this day- than eavesdropping on Jason and Ivy.
“So,” Ivy tucked herself inside the kitchen and faced Jason with worry, “He’s cold. Really cold. He has long pointed ears and his eyes can become slits, his chest vibrates and- He’s just… He’s not…“
“Your business.” Jason said with certainty, “I’m taking care of him, I’ve worked with Danny on trust and keeping him healthy and feeling good. Ivy I love you and I love hanging out with you, thank you for your concern but I’m taking care of him. When he first got here he was…” Jason furrowed his eyebrows and clenched his fist, “Not in a good condition. I don’t mean to be rude and I’m sorry if I’m coming off that way but whether or not he’s human is neither of our businesses, just so long as I can take care of him and give him someplace he doesn’t have to be scared-” Jason got cut off with a hand on his shoulder.
“Jason. I may not understand how exactly you feel like that when it comes to human- or nonhuman- children, but I know the idea. Don’t worry Jay, I just want to make sure my friends are okay. Tell us if you need anything when it comes to Danny, you know we have your back.”
Jason let out a breath and hung his head, “I’m sorry I got defensive.”
Harley, who apparently came into the kitchen when Jason wasn’t watching, let out a huff, “Well of course you did! Someone else was butting in on the way you’re parenting your kid and not in a nice way- sorry Ives- and you wanted to defend your kid!” Harley leaned to her tippy toes and patted Jason's head, ignoring his very flushed face and walking back into the living room, jumping back into the conversation with Selina and Danny.
Ivy smiled softly, “I’m happy you found someone to make you happy. I used to think you needed to settle down with Roy or Artemis, but finding a kid and giving him your home is what really made you happy. Huh. Don’t worry, you’re nothing like Bruce was, you’re better already.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
hope you enjoyed! reminder the past and future chapter links are at the top of the chap, as well as the Ao3 link <3
sorry for the late update, and as always, my lovely roaches:
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Don't Sneak up on People with Swords
@im-totally-not-an-alien-2 made a prompt about Danny sneaking up on Jason Todd and @sky00asara made a comment in the tags about what would happen if Danny did that to Talia. So here is my version of that! Enjoy.
Talia al Ghul watched her beloved from afar. He was out, again patrolling his city for those he considered wrong doers. Her son was by his side. She scowled at how Damian’s fighting style had changed, softened in the company of her beloved. Despite her love for the man under the cowl, he had a tremendous ability to take even the most ruthless of killers and change them to spare the undeserving. He had even tried it with her.
She was hidden on the roof of an abandoned tower nearby. The tower had succumbed to fire and was now condemned until the city got around to destroying it properly. For now it made the perfect place for her to observe her beloved and her son work undisturbed.
“Excuse me?”
Talia whirled, drawing her blade as she spun. Her blade moved fast enough to almost cut the air itself yet the small shape ducked under her stroke and back-pedaled quickly to move out her range.
“Jeez! Why is everyone in this city so jumpy!”
The voice more than anything made her realize that the person who had somehow snuck close enough was an actual child. Their black hair and blue eyes made her wonder if this was another of her beloved’s adoptees. Except surely this boy was too young to catch Bruce’s eye?
“Well maybe you should not sneak up on people?” Talia hissed, her voice soft yet stern. To say nothing of how a child who couldn’t be older than five had snuck up on her at all.
“Well maybe you shouldn’t brood on the roof of my home!” The child snarked back, just like one of the Bat’s brood would, completely unafraid of the blade still in her hand. Talia raised an eyebrow at him then looked around at the burnt skeleton of the building they were standing on.
“This building is not fit for human occupation.”
“Neither was the last place I lived.” He said dismissively. “This place hasn’t even killed me yet, so it’s practically a paradise.”
She was tempted to take the child’s words as sarcasm, yet something in the way he spoke made her think he meant it more truthfully.
“You’ve died before?” Talia asked. She relaxed her hold on her blade, allowing it to rest at her side.
“Oh yeah, I die all the time.” He said, then he looked at her curiously tilting his head first one way, then another. “You’ve died too, huh?”
She nodded, now examining him closely, looking for the signs she would recognize. She could see the hint of a scar on the boy’s palm that might have caused a death.
“What is it with this town that so many people have died and come back?” The boy asked, apparently rhetorically as he didn’t let her answer. “First the stabby Robin, then the stabby Batgirl, then Batman, and even Red Hood. It’s like everyone I run into is contaminated.”
Talia’s eyes widened.
“You can sense those who have utilized the Lazarus Pits?” She would have to inform her father about this child. He could put the entire League of Assassins at risk. The child before her just shrugged.
“I have no idea what that is. Red Hood mentioned some kind of pit as well, but I’ve never seen anything like that. I just know y’all are contaminated with ectoplasm, though not enough to make a core.”
“What is this… ectoplasm?” Another name for the Lazarus Waters? Had there perhaps been a Pit outside of League control? In the midwest somewhere based on the boy’s accent.
“Oh it’s this stuff.” He held his hand out and Talia couldn’t help keep her expression of shock withdrawn despite all her training as his hand filled with the glowing green light of the Pits. He held the Pit Water in his hand then tossed the glowing orb to his other hand in a half juggle as if he weren’t carrying the League's greatest secret and weapon.
Nevermind telling her father about this child, he could never learn of him. If Ras had the power this child had under his control the world would never survive. There was only one option. She needed to train this child to wield this strength. With the stealth he displayed in sneaking up on her and his power over the Pits themselves he could make an assassin like the world had never seen. He could be the next Head of the Demon under her guidance. She knelt down to the boy’s level, slipping her sword back away as she did so.
“Tell me, young one. Are you living in this death trap of a building all by yourself?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry, I’ve got it taken care of. I know I’m little, but that just means people are less likely to notice me. I’m able to steal all the food I need from that big box store down the street.”
“Oh of that I have no doubt. My name is Talia al Ghul. What’s yours?”
“Hmm. I’m Danny.” The boy seemed hesitant to trust her, which to be perfectly honest was probably a very smart thing to do, but at least she had a name for this gift of Lazarus.
“Danny, how would you like to come live with me? You won’t have to steal any more, or worry about food ever again, and I could train you how to fight even better than the Bats.”
He narrowed his eyes at her, looking her over closely.
“Would I get a sword?”
“If a sword is what you want, then once you were trained in its use I would acquire one for you.”
Danny looked like he was about to nod, but then he froze, his head tilting to the side as if he was listening to something. His eyes widened and Talia tensed.
“Uh-oh. Fruit Loop incoming. I gotta go.”
Talia half turned as she heard the sound of one of her beloved’s grappling lines catching on the building’s edge. By the time she had turned back to face him, Danny had completely vanished. She hadn’t even heard him leave. She stood and scowled as her beloved landed on the rooftop next to her.
“Talia.” He grunted at her, glaring all the while.
“Beloved. Must you ruin every nice thing in my life?” Talia snarled back. The boy, Danny, had the gift of Lazarus at his beck and call and Batman had scared him off.
Bruce looked momentarily stunned at her fury, but quickly hid it behind his mask. However Talia couldn’t care less about her beloved right now. She just needed to lose him so she could return to find the boy. The boy who would change the world with his power.
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