Part eight of Clone Danny au
"Who is this person?" Red Robin asks, and Danny huffs irritably. Gotham's cool air was seeping slowly into his clothes -- he never had a problem with it in Amity, he was always moving too much to get cold.
"Does it matter?" he signs sharply, his patience suddenly growing thin with his increasing paranoia. His mouth twisted into a scowl under his mask. "I have someone who can come pick me up, they're clearly not dangerous if they're friends with me."
Red Robin held his hands up in surrender, sighing in a way that made Danny's tired, scared brain almost see red. He whirled on Batman, "Do you have a payphone anywhere? A few cents so that I can call Spirit? Please?"
Silently, Batman reached for his utility belt, popped open one of the compartments, and pulled out a few quarters. Danny made a mental note to make himself some kind of utility belt -- a fanny pack maybe? -- he needed to be more prepared for the unexpected. Like Batman was.
He pressed the tip of his fingers to his chin and gestured outward, "Thank you." he says, and takes the quarters, clutching them tightly.
"Hn." Batman grunts, a flicks the compartment closed with a silent click. "There's a payphone nearby for you to use. I will show you it."
"Thank you," Danny signs again, slumping in relief. "I'm sorry again for being here. I didn't mean to. It's my first time fighting this guy."
Batman grunts again and steps to the side, unhooking his grappling hook from his belt. "Do you not have a mentor to show you these things?" He doesn't turn away while he asks, which is nice. The living have a habit of turning away from him while they're talking (during the rare moments he sticks around long enough to chat), forgetting that Danny speaks with his hands.
He shakes his head, reaching for his own, homemade grappling hook. There was nothing like swinging through Amity's skyscrapers after a ghost, he felt like he was flying. He had to make it himself after his first dozen run-ins with ghosts where running on foot couldn't cut it. "Mentors are a privilege, you know. I'm doing this all on my own, or did the homemade costume not give it away?"
Red Robin passes around Danny with his own grappling hook, and he heard a barely-there snort of laughter from the man. Batman 'hrms' in a vaguely disapproving note, and readies his hook. "The payphone is that way, Phantom. Are you ready?"
Under his mask, Danny grins widely. Finally, something good. Perhaps flying will alleviate some of his anxiety. He holds up his hook, and nods sharply, walking over to the edge of the roof.
He watches Batman wait a moment, aim, and then off they go.
Flying through Gotham City felt much like flying through Amity Park, with its towering skyscrapers and close-built buildings. Danny bit back the holler of joy building in his throat as the wind rushed past him, blowing back the hood of his jacket and rustling through his hair.
God, he loved flying.
He watched Batman and Red Robin as well, entranced with the fluttering of their capes as they soared. It was inspiring how the two of them cut such striking silhouettes. It was memorable -- and, hey, where was Robin?
Danny wanted to ask, but with the roaring wind and the lack of freedom in his hands, he had no way of doing so. And he wasn't quite sure if it was any of his business... Regardless of how Batman and Red Robin dug into his own.
At some point they reached a stretch of air where the gap between buildings was bigger than before, and through his adrenaline-induced joy, Danny suddenly swung himself forward with more force than before.
He swung up, up, up into the air... and released himself, launching himself high high into the air. he looked down, seeing Batman and Red Robin further away and latching onto the next building.
Danny whooped loudly, confident in the wind to catch his yell before it caught the ears of the vigilantes accompanying him. His momentum began to slow, and for the length of a heartbeat he was stranded in the air, skies above and ground below. He breathed in, and like a bubble popping he began to fall again.
It took only a singular twist of his body for him to right himself and chase after Batman and Red Robin, who had turned their heads to look for him. He grinned apologetically once he caught up to them, although they couldn't see it.
It took only a few regretful minutes later to reach the payphone that Batman was referring to, and Danny mourned the loss of the sky to himself as his feet touched the ground alongside the two gothamites. "Thank you for the escort, gentlemen." He signs once he's hooked his grappling hook back onto himself and fished out the quarters. "If you could be so kind as to stand out of hearing range, that would be most appreciated."
Batman merely grunts and Red Robin nods, neither move when Danny half jogs over to the payphone. Pulling up his mask just enough to reveal his mouth, Danny inserts the coins and jabs in Ellie's number.
He waits, breath held as the dialtone rings. Once, twice, before finally there's a click and a groggy, familiar voice: "Hr'o?"
Danny can't stop the grin of relief that stretches over his face. "Spirit." He whispers, and glances back to Batman and Red Robin. His fingers tap against the phone nervously. "I need your help."
"Dan- Phantom?" Ellie says, sounding much more awake as rustling follows in the background. "What happened? Are you hurt?" There was a protective tinge layering Ellie's voice that Danny was all too familiar with.
"No, no, I'm fine." He says, trying to sound reassuring while retaining his hush voice. "I have a new rogue; a teleport ghost. he took me to Gotham and I need you to come get me."
"To Gotham?" Ellie hisses in disbelief, "Fuck, Phantom, that's miles away from here. Yeah, I'll come get you. Don't go anywhere."
Danny huffs sardonically, fingers twirling around the phone wire nervously. "Not like there's anywhere for me to go. I'll be waiting on one of the rooftops, Spirit. I'll see you then."
"See you then, be safe."
And then the phone clicks, the line going dead. Danny sighs, heavy and tired, and it turns into a jaw-cracking yawn. He hangs the phone back up, and pulls the mask down.
A silent figure approaches from the corner of his eye; Batman. Red Robin, at some point of the conversation, had left. "Is your person coming?"
Danny pulls his hood up. "Yes. They should be here... soon. Hopefully," he signs, "Thank you for your help, Batman."
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Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 4.5 (Dani interlude) Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 7.5 (Dan Interlude) Part 8
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