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What is this some sort of ghostly mating ritual?
Cassandra Cain was in a pretty good mood today it was a quiet night on patrol the day before so she managed to get a good nights sleep, Alfred had made her favorite breakfast, she was currently having fun practicing for a ballet with other students and to top it all off she had a date with her boyfriend that evening.
She should have realized it was too good to be true.
She had been just finishing up one of her performances and was getting her hoodie out of her gym bag (technically it was one of Danny’s NASA hoodies but he had given it to her after one of their dates because she was cold) when a large group of thugs came busting into the theater where they were practicing. At the head of the pack was the Clown prince of crime himself. She quickly triggered a distress beacon hidden in her gym bag as she stood up and turned towards the thugs.
The Joker looked at the group of kids and teens and his ever present grin grew more cruel.
“Well what do we have here? A ready made audience for my next performance? Grab ‘em boys.” As the Joker was saying this Cass quickly grabbed the youngest dancer who was only 10 and pushed her behind herself but she was not quick enough to act before the thugs had started grabbing some of the other kids who were coming out of their shock and screaming crying and trying to run. Unfortunately Joker had noticed Cassandra and her lack of fear which caused a glint of anger to appear in his eyes.
“Well aren’t you a brave one? Come on now no need to hide your fear let it out let me hear how you scream.” As he said this he walked closer pulling out a razor blade and stroking the side of her face with it.
Cass attempted to scream if only to keep the Joker as calm as possible until her family showed up unfortunately Cass selective mutism decided that this was the perfect time to rear it’s head. In the background she noticed the thugs tying the rest of the dancers and staff up to use as hostages.
“SCREAM!” Cass felt the Jokers backhand and she forced herself to ignore her instincts to fight back so they wouldn’t hurt her friends and let herself fall to the floor as Joker continued to kick her while yelling at her to scream.
Her whole world turned to pain but she refused to fight back so as to protect the kids. It stopped for a moment and she glanced up to see if he got bored.
“You there give me that!”
Instead all she saw was the Joker taking a crowbar from one of the thugs and returned to her as he dragged it along the ground making a horrible scraping noise.
Thankfully it seemed one of the thugs recognized her and spoke up.
“Hey boss I think that’s the one Wayne girl, you know the one that has that speech problem? I don’t think she can scream right now.”
The Joker paused and Cass thought he might listen to Bill. (Cass whole family has beaten him enough to recognize his voice.)unfortunately it seemed not to be.
“That girl can still talk so I’m sure I can make her scream. HA HA HAHA HAA!”
The thought that, That laugh would probably end up in Cass nightmares was the last coherent thought before he started hitting her with the crowbar and she quickly used her arms to shield her head but she still felt the heavy blows raining down on her body. The ones hitting her torso didn’t seem to be as painful as the ones hitting her legs and then before she could wonder why she felt a massive snap in her leg as her bone finally gave out and broke under a particularly hard hit. Tears filled her eyes despite her pain tolerance as she wondered if this was what Jason went through when through the haze of her pain she heard the windows shatter and one of the thugs screamed
“It’s the Hood!”
Speak of the devil Cass couldn’t help but think as she heard the sounds of a struggle and then saw the Jokers signature purple suit pants run out the back with a couple goons while Hood was beating the rest of them.
Her head was spinning from the pain but she still noticed when Jason (when did he take off his helmet) bent down next to her to check her injuries.
*Why aren’t you chasing after him?*
She had barely managed to sign towards her brother but the feeling of safety was already causing her to drift off but she still managed to hear his response and it made a pleasant warmth spread through her heart as she drifted into unconsciousness.
“Because you’re more important than that clown.”
Danny had been having a pretty bad day he had only gotten 2 hours of sleep from ghost attacks, that led to him falling asleep during his English test which caused him to fail and get a detention then he had to deal with another one of Vlad’s plans to kill his dad and marry his mom. (Still creepy) but he at least had his date tonight to look forward to. Danny was still not entirely sure how he ended up with such an amazing girlfriend, not only was she gorgeous and super sweet but she was also a badass vigilante which means she understood if he had to leave to take care of a ghost back home. He was well and truly in love with her even if he was scared to actually say it to her for fear of coming across to strong. As he was flying home to get ready for his date in Gotham he got a message from Cass.
Princess : I'm so sorry I think we're going to have to postpone our date :'(
Undead Popsicle: What happened Cass? Was there a breakout from Arkham?
Princess: No the Joker attacked my ballet practice and broke my leg while I couldn't fight back because of hostages. Now I'm on bedrest see.
Danny felt a flash of red hot overprotective rage surge through him as he looked at the picture she sent. It was a offset selfie allowing him to see several bruises on her arms as well as the obvious cast on her calf with her brother Jason sitting at the side of her bed in her room in Wayne manner still in his Red Hood outfit sans helmet. but it wasn't the injuries themselves that enraged him because he knew these things can happen when you fight superpowered crazies, no what pissed him off was the lingering fear in her eyes. The strong, brave, beautiful, girl that he loves was clearly rattled by the fact that she was injured while unable to fight back. he quickly pushed the rage aside so he could respond.
Undead Popsicle: Well what about instead of the amusement park I get some movies and snacks and we have a movie night and cuddle?
Princess: That actually sounds really nice as long as you don't mind Jay hanging around Bruce benched him out of fear that he'd kill the Joker so he's been standing guard.
Undead Popsicle: Sounds great I will grab the supplies and head over there.
Princess: See you soon
Danny quickly rushed home and started gathering everything they would need and a few extra things including a blanket that he had been making for her birthday it was black with her specific Bat symbol and inside it was his logo. A little cheesy but what makes it really special was a pretty new power he discovered where he can push his ectoenergy into cloth to give it properties of his own powers like his NASA hoodie he gave her that he put some of his durability in. The blanket however he had been pouring his healing factor into and while it wouldn't be as good as his own healing it could still shave a few weeks off her recovery.
After he finished packing he sent a text to his friends, parents, and Jazz to let them know the change of plans and to remind them to call him if a ghost to strong for them to handle showed up. With that done he changed back into his ghost form and stored his bags in the same pocket dimension he usually keeps his thermos in then turned intangible and shot off well past the speed of sound towards Gotham.
While he was flying he made a plan on a surprise he could do for Cass and as he entered the city limits he put it into action by asking some Shades for directions. As he entered the building invisible and intangible he was struck by the overwhelming feeling of rage and despair in the air as he looked for his target. as he phased through another door he saw him.
The Joker.
Danny quickly used his ice to freeze the door shut and as it was the only door he was able to begin the plan. He started by spreading out his ghostly chill rapidly cooling the small dressing room Joker was in. The Joker noticed immediately as his breath started to fog and his mirror started frosting over.
"Which one of you idiots turned down the temperature?!" he yelled and he went to throw open the door only to find it completely stuck. His surprise at the door didn't last long because Danny flew across the corner of the Jokers vision causing him to jerk in that direction Danny did this a few times before passing over the lights in the room shattering them and casting the room in darkness.
While he was doing this he was feeding some of the local shades some of his energy so that they can manifest enough to crowd the Joker with swirling whispers he couldn't understand. "Come out and fight me you damn coward your cheap tricks won't scare me!" The Joker said with one of his signature laughs.
While he did this Danny slowly rose from the floor behind him no longer in his standard hazmat suit instead he wore dark iron sabatons, black leather like pants, a pitch black tunic under more dark iron chainmail with a flowing cloak that was white on the outside while the inner lining was almost like looking into the ghost zone with swirling green patterns that moved and flowed with the cloak, and to top it all off was a jagged green crown that cast his face into shadow only revealing a fanged grin and two glowing green eyes.
The Joker noticed the increase in light and quickly turned while shooting the gun that he keeps on himself right at Danny who just let the bullets pass through him by changing the shape of his body to allow the bullets to pass without actually hitting him including one where he let it pass where his eye was all while giving a massive fanged grin. Danny savored the look of horror in Jokers eyes as his gun clicked empty before he lunged right at the Joker basking in the terror filled scream before he silenced it. Later when the goons finally got through the door all the saw was the Jokers gun sitting in the middle of the floor completely empty.
Jason Todd was having a roller coaster of a day between his baby sister having a ballet that she invited him to (Ok she invited the whole family but she asked him in person and had Alfred give the invitations to the rest of the family) to her being attacked by the Joker to him learning that she only had some bruising and a broken leg (the amount of worse situations that ran through his head as he rushed to help her were staggering) to finally being told that he was off the search because Bruce thought he would kill the clown (ok he probably would considering the amount of guilt he currently feels for not having already done that and the self loathing from blaming himself for his favorite siblings injury's) it was safe to say he could use some relaxation.
So he sat in a chair beside Cass bed and watched over her as she texts her boyfriend. And wasn't that an interesting thought he still remembers the baffled face's Bruce and Replacement made when the kid sat them down and told the whole family that he figured out their identities though he wouldn't lie and say he wasn't surprised himself when the kid revealed his own secret ID as a sort of Quid Pro Quo. The kid then gained his personal approval when he approached him separately from the rest of the bats and helped purify the taint of the Lazarus water that was still inside him (turns out the stuff was just severely corrupted Ectoplasm which his second form was made of). So when Cass signed about how he was coming over for a movie night instead of their previously planned date and she told him that she would like him to stay and watch movies with them he gave a genuine smile and decided to tease her something only he gets to do out of all their family (Alfred could but is way too much of a gentleman).
"You sure? You can't make out if I'm sitting there."
Jason was rewarded with a massive blush and a pillow to the face. He couldn't help but to laugh at her reaction and felt his guilt ease up as she started laughing alongside him.
The two of them fell into a comfortable silence after that while they searched for a movie of one of the many streaming sites that they had. A little while later as they were playfully arguing about the type of movie they should watch, Jason felt a cold chill run down his back and paradoxically it didn't make him uncomfortable because he recognized it as a side effect of the way Danny purified the Lazarus taint and he knew that it was the ghost boy himself (it only worked on Danny unfortunately as he had discovered when he flew Cass down to Amity in the batwing one weekend).
"Look alive your boy toy is here." This of course earned him another blush and pillow to the face. Which is what Danny saw as he was let into the room by Alfred.
"I am not even going to ask what that was about he probably deserved it. How are you feeling princess?" Danny watched her reply as he came over and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Well I've got a few things that might make you feel better. First things first I got your favorite tea that Alfred is brewing a fresh cup of downstairs. Second I've got all your favorite snacks for our movie night and third, this was supposed to be a birth day present but it will be more useful now." Jason watched as he pulled each item out of thin air still not used to his pocket dimension and watched as joy filled his sisters eyes with each thing until he pulled out a homemade blanket that clearly had a lot of care and effort put into it.
*It's beautiful! I love it!* Cass signed with tears in her eyes.
"While I'm glad you like it there's more to this blanket. See recently I've developed a new power that allows me to imbue objects with my ectoenergy and this lets them have a weaker effect of one of my powers, the downside is how long it takes to make it useful, this blanket is the strongest effect I've made yet I've been pouring power in it whenever I get a chance for months and its only half as strong as my version of the power, which in this case is my regeneration. It wont have you back to full strength in the time I would be but it will speed up your recovery by weeks."
Cass and Jason both stared in awe at the blanket. With the severity of the break and how much Danny tends to underestimate his powers the time it was estimated to take to heal will probably be closer to a minor fracture and only six to eight weeks if that compared to the six to eight months they thought it would be. Cass grabbed Danny a pulled him into a tight hug as her eyes filled with tears of joy.
After she pulled away Danny started rubbing the back of his head. "Um... there was actually one more thing, after you sent that photo I was really angry and I couldn't just let him come back and hurt the woman I love," Jason quickly shot a look at Cass and knew she noticed it too but Danny was rambling and didn't seem to realize what he said. "And so I got the help of some shades, there were a lot that didn't like the guy, anyway they helped me track him down and scare the shit out of him and then well..." as he trailed off Danny pulled a towel wrapped around something from his pocket dimension and sat it on the foot of the bed before unrolling it revealing... a pair of what Jason thought was two off white femurs.
"I stole his bones. His leg bones so he won't ever be able to walk again..." Jason stared in awe then started looking between his flabbergasted sister and an increasingly sheepish Danny. Before Jason could think of something to say Cass grabbed Danny and pulled him in for a passionate kiss then as she pulled away she spoke out loud for the first time since before this all started "I love you too." Danny's eyes widened as realized what all he said in his ramblings.
The two just stared into the others eyes doing that super sweet thing where they communicate without words. It was adorable.
So as an older brother Jason felt it was his solemn duty to ruin it. "What is this some sort of ghostly mating ritual? Giving the person you love the bones of their enemy?" The two shot him matching glares before Cass pulled Danny to sit next to her on her bed and Jason decided to get funny and put the bones into Cass flower vase. This caused a new round of laughter as they all settled in for a movie.
Later as they were halfway through the second movie of the night Danny got a text. "Sorry Princess duty calls Undergrowth decided to attack and he's a bit to strong for me to leave it to the hunters back home." His voice was truly apologetic but Cass just waved it off before pulling him in for another kiss before he flew off through the walls. The two siblings watched the spot where he left.
"If you don't marry him I will." Jason said as soon as he was out of earshot which once again got him a pillow to the face.