Work Text:
Danny looked up at the building, towering over him like some sort of looming villain, then looked back down at the door, with a screen next to it.
‘ID not recognized’ it displayed, with an explanation underneath. He sighed, and swiped his worker ID for what must have been the millionth time.
It displayed the same error code, and Danny resisted the urge to destroy the screen. When he took on this job, all he wanted was to get a bit of money while he waited for the anomaly he had to fix, cause there was no way in hell he was living here for a whole three months without some sort of income. He hadn’t signed up to be a janitor at some strange tower and faked his credentials to get locked out, no sirree.
Danny took a deep breath, swiped his card again, and stood there for a few minutes before taking the only reasonable approach left.
He decided to break in.
Now listen, is it really breaking in if you’re supposed to be there? Debatable. And is it really breaking in if it’s the only way to complete your job that you must do inside, and therefore not get fired? Also debatable. Really, it was fine that he was breaking in, cause no one was here to tattle, so all he has to do is erase the footage of him getting in, and there’s no way for him to get in trouble! That might be illegal though.
Anyway, he simply looked all around him, tucked into a corner, and went ghost, phasing through the walls.
He brushed his shirt off as he turned back, and was about to try and get the door open to get his cleaning supplies through the door, when he heard a loud clang, and blinked a couple times as he watched a grown adult climb across the ceiling. They were looking all around themself as if they were sneaky, which they weren’t, evident by the loud clangs and muttered curses each time they messed up.
How they didn't notice Danny was a miracle, but he quickly tucked back into the shadows from his position by the front door, and stared as the intruder clambered their way towards the end of the room. Why they didn’t just walk across the floor Danny had no idea, but they were getting close to being out of sight, and therefore much more capable of doing something unsavory, so Danny shelved the plan to actually do his job, and switched back to his ghost form, following them as quietly as he could.
Now, you might be saying to yourself, ‘But Danny, you’re an intruder too! What makes you different?’ And to that, Danny would respond: He has no idea. This person has an aura of unease, and death, but that doesn’t necessarily make them a bad person, just an unnerving one from Danny’s perspective.
As he rounded the corner, he watched the intruder climb into the air vents, and facepalmed. If he wasn’t sure they were either a vigilante or a criminal, he definitely was now. Only someone stupid or trained by media would use the vents to get around, cause those are like the least structurally sound part of the ceiling, due to the fact they’re only supposed to hold air, which weighs significantly less than a fucking person .
Sighing, Danny rose off the floor, and followed the person as they slowly moved through the vents, making their way to the east part of the tower. He slowly trailed after them, rolling his eyes as they swore every time they got stuck, which was quite often, as they were about half a foot too wide at the shoulders to be pulling these kinds of stunts.
Danny’s attention was taken from them as they entered the next room, and he stopped in his tracks.
Sitting on the couch, doing some sort of equation on a piece of paper, was a kid. Well, maybe not a kid, possibly a young teen, but still young compared to Danny’s couple centuries, so he could freely call them a kid.
He covered his ears as the intruder broke their way out of the vents, and slammed into the ground. Now that he looked at them, they were wearing a weird, probably purposefully ugly outfit, and now that he was this close to them, without the vents in between, he could smell the bloodlust wafting off of them in waves.
Danny ignored the shiver that went down his spine as he noticed their eyes, which were glowing green, the exact shade of the lazarus pits. Is this- He barely had the time to even assume this was who he was waiting for before the intruder walked towards the kid, and upholstered their gun. Danny froze for a moment, then quickly turned back, landing on poorly-dressed-anomaly’s shoulders, and jumping off, standing in between the kid and them.
They groaned, and stood, rubbing their shoulder. “What the fuck?!?” They stared at him, and tilted their head. “Where the hell did you come from!? And who the fuCK ARE YOU!?! No one was supposed to be here!”
Danny scoffed. “That’s my line, poorly dressed anomaly.”
Looking down at themself, Danny almost let out a sigh of relief as he felt the pit wane from their body, and get replaced by pure, unrelenting annoyance. Good. “What the fuck do you mean, ‘poorly dressed’? I look fine!! And what does anomaly mean, jackass?!”
“Uhh, you look like shit, and you’re an anomaly. Either you aren’t supposed to be here in the universe sense, or you aren’t supposed to be here in the ‘you’re supposed to be dead’ sense. I can’t really tell at the moment, but either way, fuck off?”
They stared at him for a moment, and let out a scream of frustration, stomping around a bit.
“You’ve ruined everything!! I was supposed to injure the little fuck behind you, and then get out of here! How are you even here!? I locked every door, and overrode the system!” Danny’s smile fell, and he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to calm his soul. Poorly-dressed-anomaly stepped back, and put their hands up, their breath quickening.
Danny stepped closer, and didn't even try to mask his soul, he just let the rage pour out, billowing across the floor and catching hold of their own soul, overwhelming the previous hold that the lazarus pits held with a new motivator. Fear.
“Woah, I didn't mean to do anything to you, this isn’t even about you!” Their back was against the wall now, and Danny had stopped walking, standing still as he tried to shut off the power emanating from his soul, all the while ignoring the gaping hole in their own.
They threw their mask to the ground as they settled onto the floor, and Danny stood over them as they took quick breaths, very much not getting enough oxygen for their brain. He set a hand over their chest, where their soul was located, and pushed, feeling through their soul for the knot. Once he got a hold of it, he gently unwound it, and pulled the remainder of the pit from inside. He smiled contently as they collapsed, unconscious but breathing, finally free from what ailed them.
Stepping back, he turned to check on the child who sat frozen on the couch. Shifting into the most human form he could, and suppressing every emotion flowing from his soul but comfort, he leaned down to speak to the child.
“Fear not, for you are safe. They will never harm you while I am here.” He bowed his head, and turned back into his ghost form, floating over to the intruder to check on them one last time, before hiding in the wall just in time to miss the people charging in.
“Tim!! Are you alright, what-” The black-cloaked person froze, and slowly walked over to the intruder, clearly stunned. “I-” They leaned down, and checked their pulse, wrapping them in their arms after they heard a heartbeat.
“B, is that really- Nevermind, I’ll get back to you in a moment. Tim, what happened?”
Danny watched as the kid looked out at the room with giant eyes, and a soft smile. “An angel saved me.” They softly said, and Danny smiled, floating away.