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It was nearly four am when Danny finally got off work, and he was exhausted. If the planetarium didn't pay their security guards so well, he would have quit ages ago, but it did, so there he was. The fact it was so close to his apartment also helped, as it meant Jazz wasn't nearly as worried as she had been when he first announced he was moving to Gotham. Of course, after listing nearly five hundred things that could go wrong, she immediately started coming up with plans upon plans for all of it, just to make sure he was as safe as he possibly could be in the City of Crime. And while, at the time, he'd just rolled his eyes in fond annoyance, having lived here for almost five months, he'd started appreciating his sister's concern.
Still, though, he didn't think either of them could have even hoped to have thought of this. Danny stared at Red Robin, struggling to sit up after swinging face first into the wall, in shock. "D-did you seriously just do that? I'm not hallucinating, right?" Danny asked incredulously, visually scanning the vigilante in an almost absent-minded fashion. He was gearing up for a sarcastic quip about Tarzan and watching where he was swinging when his eyes caught on something. "Ah frick, you're bleeding, and you're probably concussed. Hey, man, can I come closer? Are you cool with that?"
Red Robin shook his head slightly, grimacing at the action, but kept trying to stand up. "No, no, I got it, I'm good, I can keep going, don't worry, alright? I'm—if the—why is the world spinning? Could it please just stop for a second, I'm trying to not lose my dinner here—I've got this, okay?" Of course, as he said that last bit, he nearly faceplanted back into the wall. Danny sighed at the stubbornness on display. Was I ever that stubborn? He pinched the bridge of his nose briefly before shaking his head and walking over to the stumbling vigilante.
"Sure ya do, Tarzan. Come on, up you go, I'll just take you to my apartment so you're not an easy target for whatever criminals happen across you," he said. He thought about it for a second then shrugged and picked the guy up in a bridal carry. "Can you tell one of the other bats you need a pickup? There's no way I'm letting you try swinging anywhere with a possible concussion."
"Comms are always—I have a tracker, too—wait, I'm not supposed to say that—what's your name? Where're you taking me?"
That's some seriously disjointed rambling, Danny thought worriedly. "My name's Danny, and I'm just taking you to my apartment down the street from here. I'll keep my window unlocked the entire time, we'll be on the third floor. I'm going to do my best to patch you up while we're waiting for someone to come get you, but I need you to stay awake at least until we get inside, okay? Can you do that for me, kid?" That'd hopefully give whoever is on the other end of those comms some peace of mind.
"'m not a kid," Red mumbled in reply, resting his head gingerly on Danny's shoulder and wincing with every sudden move.
Danny snorted. "With your size? Sure had me fooled." Boy, was he glad he lived so close to the planetarium. "Alright, my building is coming up, how's your head?"
Red let out a small whine. "Everything's tilting and blurry, 'n my ears are ringing, 'n my nose hurts, why does my nose hurt? Concussions don't affect the nose, I've had enough concussions to know that much, why—"
"—That'd be because you swung face first into a brick wall. You likely broke your nose, or at least bruised it very badly. I think the elevator got fixed this week, do you want to chance it or should I just take the stairs?"
"Elevators never work right when you need them, why do they never work when you need them to? Someone should look into that, maybe do some research. Is it magic? Are Gotham elevators cursed to break at the worst possible moment? But no, Wayne Enterprises elevators always work, same with Drake Industries and the precinct ones, and the bell tower ones only break down if there's a rogue attack, but—"
Danny sighed. "Stairs it is."
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When Jason first heard the Replacement eat it over comms, he would admit, he started laughing. But, though he'd never admit it to anyone, the longer the kid went without responding to B or Babs over comms, the more worried he grew. Especially when the comms started picking up someone else's voice.
"D-did you seriously just do that? I'm not hallucinating, right?" That's the first thing the guy, Danny, had said, the thing that caught their collective attention. Red Robin hadn't just biffed it on some random wall, he biffed it in front of someone, and everyone else was conveniently busy at the same time. Tim was down with a stranger right there, with no backup in sight. If that wasn't a grim picture, nothing was. It was certainly no laughing matter, which Jason had kindly acknowledged by stopping his laughter.
"Who's closest to the planetarium?" Babs asked over comms, the sound of frantic typing an uneasy background hum from her end.
"That'd be me," Steph whispered softly. "Unfortunately, I'm neck deep in my stakeout and the perp just showed, I can't leave without having to fight my way out."
"Father and I are still in pursuit of Killer Croc through the sewers. We will be unable to come to Red's aid in time," Damian said. The little demon spawn didn't sound even the slightest bit winded, despite having been chasing the rogue for the better part of half an hour. Jason was reluctantly impressed, the brat had improved again.
"And with Nightwing currently in New York and BlackBat still in Hong Kong—"
"—That leaves me," Jason hummed as he shot another goon in the foot with a rubber bullet. "Give me a minute and I'll be done here, I can leave cleanup to Gordon's men this time. Just let me know where to go when I'm done, yeah?"
The typing paused for a long moment before Babs spoke again. "You sure, Hood? I know your relationship has gotten better over the past six months, but I'm sure we can make something work if you—"
"O, I love ya, but I'm sure. We don't know what shit might happen to Red between now and when one of the others can make it to him. I'm almost done here, which means I'll be free, so it makes sense for me to be the one to go. I can handle it, trust me."
Babs sighed. "If you're sure, Hood. Looks like they're headed to an apartment building about two blocks south of the planetarium. If Danny is to be believed, they'll be on the third floor with a window unlocked. I'll tell you which apartment as soon as they stop. Be safe, and please hurry."
Jason snorted. "You got it, O." No more dead Robins, no more dead Robins, no more dead Robins...
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Danny sighed and sat back on his couch. "Well, kid, as long as you get some rest and don't do anything too strenuous for the next few days, you shouldn't need a doctor. When your ride gets here, I'll go over more of what to expect so I can guarantee at least someone knows the do's and don't's," he said. Red had been mostly silent since they got up to Danny's apartment, responding when asked a direct question and complying with simple requests, but aside from that, nothing. He hoped it was voluntary and not a sign of a worse concussion than he initially thought it was, but if the kid was just resting his mind a bit, then he wasn't going to complain. He looked the kid over yet again, trying to make sure he hadn't missed anything. Without taking off the domino, he couldn't do much about the nose beyond cleaning up the dried blood, but a bag of frozen peas was doing its best to calm the swelling down. Letting out another sigh, Danny stood up and started walking away. "You can go ahead and fall asleep, if you want. I'll just be in my kitchen making myself something to eat." Maybe some coffee, while I'm at it, I want to actually be coherent when the kid's ride arrives.
He was in the middle of digging through his freezer for the frozen waffles he was sure he had in there when Red finally spoke up. "Why are you helping me?"
Danny paused and pulled back from the freezer to look at the kid. Reclined against some pillows with a blanket drawn over him, Red Robin looked exceedingly young. He couldn't pin the kid's exact age, but he didn't look a day older than sixteen. When Danny was that age, he'd been learning the benefits and obligations afforded to him as the crown prince of the Infinite Realms. Now, nearly six years later, he was the uncontested king of an entire dimension, living on his own in an unfamiliar city, working swings as a security guard at the most heavily secured planetarium in the country, and trying to figure out why the streets reeked of corrupted ectoplasm without any backup whatsoever. Why was he helping Red out?
"... Where I'm from, we had our own city protector for a good few years. He wasn't exactly well liked for most of his run, so if someone saw him get injured, they'd usually leave him to his own devices. Only a small handful of people actually cared to help him, and I can't say I was one of them. I wanted to, I just didn't know how." Danny sighed. "Seeing you get hurt reminded me of his earlier days, back when he had almost no support at all, but this time, I could help instead of ignoring the problem. I guess, in a way, I'm trying to make up for my actions back then... Does that answer your question?"
Red seemed to consider him for a moment before he nodded and relaxed further into the pillows behind him. Danny nodded in return before turning back to the freezer. He had some waffles to find.
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Jason parked his bike in the alley behind Danny's building and looked up to find the window he'd been invited to use. It wasn't that difficult, what with it being the only window on that side of the building to have the blinds open with the lights on. He stared at the window somewhat incredulously. Was it left like that just so he'd be able to find it easier, or did Danny always leave the blinds open? Talk about a security risk. He shook his head and shot his grapple gun at the roof. Maybe he'd mention it if the guy checked out. If not, well, he wouldn't mind coming back later for some payback.
Checking that his line was secure, he quickly made his way up the building, tapping on the window to announce his presence. There was a clatter and a muffled curse that echoed slightly through the comm which reassured him that he was in the right place. Opening the window and quickly climbing through, he soon found himself standing across from a somewhat shabby looking couch with a well bundled and banged up Tim trying to glare at him from around the pack of peas he was holding to his face. From the left, a black haired, blue eyed guy about B's height and Dick's build walked out of a small, partially enclosed kitchen area, rubbing his hands on a bright green dish towel. The guy, who could only be Danny, was wearing a planetarium security guard uniform that was looking a bit rumpled, with a small spot of dried blood on his shoulder.
Danny finished sizing Jason up and smiled. "You must be Red Hood, I'm Danny. Please, feel free to check Tarzan over. I promise I didn't inject him with anything or try to remove his domino, but I know how much my word probably means to you. While you're doing that, I'm just gonna go finish up my breakfast, then we can talk, yeah?"
Jason grunted and walked over to his brother the Replacement, watching Danny walk back into the little kitchen area out of the corner of his eye. Kneeling down by the couch, Jason started carefully checking Tim over while talking softly. "Oracle pulled the apartment's lease, a Daniel Fenton is listed as the current inhabitant. His rep sheet is fairly clean, all things considered. From Amity Park, Illinois, youngest child of the Doctors Fenton, his middle school records were all over the place until ninth grade when things settled down. He moved to Gotham five months ago and started working at the planetarium as a security guard a week later. Anything suspicious happen while you two were alone?"
Tim paused to gather his thoughts before speaking. "He... He carried me up two flights of stairs like it was easy. And he knew exactly how to check for and treat a concussion. He never once tried to figure out who I am under the mask, even went so far as to have me check my own nose so it didn't seem like he was trying to take my mask off. He had me keep talking until we got to his apartment, and told me everything he was going to do before he did it. Aside from some sarcastic comments and slight name calling, he was really respectful and answered any questions I asked as honestly as could be expected. The only thing that can't easily be explained away is how he was able to carry me all the way up here, but even then, maybe he works out or something, I dunno. Maybe he's just a stand up guy who decided to help someone in need?"
"Hmm... Maybe... Well, so far you look to be alright, but we'll have to have Agent A check you over again when we get back to the cave, just to be sure. Any dizziness or blurry vision still?"
Tim shook his head. "Not much, anyway. The ringing in my ears cleared up about ten minutes ago and the blurry vision followed about five minutes after that. The dizziness started clearing up shortly after laying down. I could probably stand and even walk a little bit right now, but I'd rather stay down until it's time to go, just to be safe."
"Sounds good," Jason replied, just as their host walked over to the little dining table he had just outside the kitchen. He set a plate of food and a container of coffee creamer down before going back to the kitchen for a large mug full of coffee. Once he was situated, he propped his head on one of his hands and looked at the two vigilantes just across the room.
"So, he check out?" Danny asked, nodding at Tim.
"As far as I can tell, yeah. So, whatcha want to talk about?" Jason asked, standing up to put himself between his brother Tim and the Wayne adoption bait that was preparing to doctor his coffee.
Danny nodded as he grabbed the creamer. "Right, well the kid—" "—Not a kid—" "—said something about having had some prior experience with concussions, so I assume you guys have experience with treating them, but just in case, I'm going to go over what to keep an eye out for. For the first twenty-four hours or so, someone will need to keep an eye on him just in case—" Jason lost track of what Danny was saying as the guy opened the creamer container and the pit suddenly started screaming in the back of his head. He watched in horror as this seemingly average guy nonchalantly poured a generous helping of pure Lazarus water into his coffee, wiped the excess off the container with his finger, and licked it like it was syrup. Whoever Daniel Fenton was, there was no way in hell he was as unassuming as he looked. No one just had access to Lazarus waters, fuck, no one just casually consumed them, either, not even Ra's Al Ghul himself.