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It was so late it was technically early, though the sun was still a ways from coming up, and patrol was winding down.
"I could go for a burger," Steph said into the comms.
"Same," Tim agreed. "How about you, Hood?"
"Sure, I could eat."
"Great!" Tim swung onto the roof, landing near Jason. "Because I happened to find this local mom-and-pop place downtown that's open 24 hours, and I know how you love supporting local businesses."
"Local is always better than fast food."
Steph gasped, "How dare you say that about my beloved Batburger!"
Jason was about to snark back when he felt a chill run up his spine, his extra sense sitting up and taking notice of Someone nearby. His head snapped to the side, scanning the nearby rooftops.
"What? What is it?" Tim asked quietly, looking in the same direction as Jason.
There, a slightly shorter high rise two blocks over, a faint glow on the roof. Jason grinned under his helmet, then took off in a dead sprint. Still one moment, moving at his top speed the next. There were shouts of surprise and the pound of feet behind him, but Jason ignored that. He reached up and turned off his comms, no one would interfere.
He leapt between buildings, landing in a roll and up on his feet running again in barely the blink of an eye. He wasn't even trying to be quiet, his prey already knew he was coming. When he landed on the same roof as the glowing figure he turned around and grinned at Jason, showing off glinting fangs and flashing peridot eyes. He laughed, echoes bouncing all around Jason, then turned his back on Jason and leapt for the edge of the roof.
Jason didn't hesitate, he ran after his prey and launched himself off the roof, grapple already in hand. Danny was in free fall, but Jason didn't have that luxury, already turning his fall into a swing while Danny flipped into a forward roll that had his feet pointing to the ground. Danny slowed, just enough not to break his legs on landing, and started sprinting the moment glowing boots met asphalt.
Jason adjusted his swing to be headed in the same direction, pulling out a second grapple so he could safely get down to street level without free falling for half the building. This time when he landed there was no rolling, simply running as hard as he could after Danny.
The chase started in earnest then, Danny's laughter bouncing off the buildings around them the whole time. Somewhere nearby was the sound of an engine revving.
Danny gave a bounce, then darted down an alleyway. Jason turned a little, aiming for the corner at the entrance to the alley, using the wall to kick himself off and change direction. There was a chain link fence blocking off the latter half of the alley, Danny skipped through it like an illusion. Jason had to kick off the wall again, using the momentum from his speed to flip over the fence and land on his feet, already running again. Behind him he heard tires squeal, Jason ignored it as he kept running through back alleys.
"Hood! Report, what's going on?" His comms had come to life, Barbie must've hacked them.
Jason reached up and turned them off, then had to quickly twist to the side to avoid running right into a pair of bins next to a stoop. Ahead of him Danny's glowing figure was close, grinning as he locked eyes with Jason while floating backwards. He twisted and turned down another side alley. Jason wall kicked once more to keep his momentum up. He was getting closer, he might actually catch up. His prey was skipping, laughing as he kept just a little too far ahead, the prick.
"Jason!"
"Not now, Barbie!" Jason slapped his comm off again. Danny hopped up onto a half wall and ran along it before dropping to the other side and heading into the narrow space between two buildings. Jason simply leapt over the wall, running through the narrow space and out into the street on the other side. Danny was skipping down the middle of the street, laughing. Jason put on some extra speed, sprinting as hard as he could.
"Shit," Danny called, suddenly stopping. He ducked as Jason tried to reach for him and backtracked, headed for an alley.
Jason slowed just a little, paying more attention to their surroundings than a moment ago. As he entered the alley he saw what had gotten Danny to change course, there were two figures standing in the middle of the alley, one of them holding a gun to the other's face. "Oh hell no!" Jason hollered as he ran right for them, fist raised. The guy with the gun looked up, only having time for his eyes to widen and mouth drop open in shock. Jason punched him square in the face without even breaking his stride.
Danny laughed, bounced off a wall, and sped back up, Jason followed. Behind them tires squealed and an engine cut off. The pair of them ran out into the street, Jason running as hard as he could while Danny continued to laugh and skip.
"I think Jason cold clocked him," came from the comms. Jason reached up and turned it off again.
They were in an older area of Gotham, Jason nearly tripped over a tiny set of steps on exiting the alley Danny detoured down. Stone benches and dividers, stairs, rails, and pointless brick walls littered the area. Danny hopped up to run along one of the half walls while Jason leapt over benches and bike racks, throwing in a few flips and rolls for the added flair. Danny went to slide under a handrail, Jason just managed to catch up and leapt right over him, ready to reach out and grab Danny on landing.
Except Danny flipped up over the rail and started running down the stairs. Jason was already running when he realized, so he ran to the other rail, pulled out a pair of stolen batarangs, and used them to grind the rail. He wasn't dumb enough to run down the stairs, that's how you broke an ankle. Then again, he was pretty sure Danny wasn't actually touching the stairs at all. Jason leapt as he came to the end of the stairs, aiming right for his prey. Danny laughed and leapt backwards, spinning and skipping away from Jason's reaching hands.
Danny led him back out into the middle of the street, where Jason could go at full speed again, determined to catch up. A pair of bikes revved their engines as they pulled up next to Jason, Tim on one side and Steph on the other. Jason did not have the patience for this tonight.
"Jason!" Tim called, "What's going on?"
Jason started pulling his jacket off, having to slow his pace to do so. It didn't matter, Danny was currently skipping oup the side of a building like some kind of anime character. Once Jason finally managed to wrestle his jacket off he threw it in Tim's face. While Tim dealt with that, Jason unlatched his helmet and tossed it at Steph.
"Stop following me," he hollered over his shoulder as he pulled his grapples back out. He aimed at the building opposite of the one Danny was on, grappled as high as he could go, then aimed at Danny's building to get the rest of the way up. He ended up overshooting the roof he was aiming for, soaring through the air right over Danny as he ducked and scrambled to start running. Jason landed in another roll, already up on his feet and running in a wide arc to start the chase again.
Danny laughed as he skipped from rooftop to rooftop, floating gently in a dreamlike way only someone who could choose to ignore gravity could do. Now free of his helmet, Jason huffed and puffed as he chased after his prey. The wind ruffled his hair and cooled his face as he ran full tilt across his latest roof, the feeling of free fall as he jumped to the next roof was exhilarating. Jason grinned as Danny leapt across a gap a little too far for Jason, he used his grapple to bridge the gap.
The next building Danny jumped to was much taller than their current one, he landed on the fire escape and started leaping up it. Jason grinned, confident he had Danny this time. He used his grapple to get to swing around to the side of the building so Danny couldn't see him then use it to get to the roof almost instantly. Jason rushed to the side of the roof the fire escape was attached to and peeked over the side just in time to watch Danny leap up onto the roof himself. Danny jogged into the middle of the roof and spun around, expectantly waiting for Jason.
Jason used the shadows to his advantage, silently moving around behind Danny. When Danny frowned and started back for the edge of the roof Jason leapt, tackling Danny.
Danny landed flat on his back with a rush of breath, staring dazedly up at Jason's grin. Then Danny laughed and rolled them, flipping Jason onto his back and sitting over him. Jason grabbed Danny and twisted, knocking Danny back onto his back and putting him in a hold. Danny tried to squirm his way out so Jason rolled Danny up into a firmer, more complicated hold that had Danny contorted into a pretzel.
"Do you give?" Jason asked between panting breaths, sweat dripping down his face.
"Never!" Danny declared while laughing.
"Yeah?" Jason pressed down on Danny, who only laughed harder.
"Jason!" Tim called as he ran up, his bō staff out and pointed at Danny.
Jason groaned.
"Hood, report," the fucking Batman barked as he also ran up, batarangs out and ready to throw.
Jason looked around to find Spoiler and Robin flanking them, everyone with weapons out and pointed at the pair.
Danny groaned and let his head fall against the ground, going intangible to escape Jason's hold and hide his face in his hands.
"Oh my god, take a fucking hint and fuck off," Jason demanded while glaring at the Bat.
"Toldya it was flirting," Stephanie declared happily. "Didja see the wrestling? So gay."
Danny's bright green blush glowed even through his hands. He sank down into the roof and disappeared.
"Hood," Batsy growled.
Jason stood up and dusted himself off. "You goddamn cock blockers." He turned and pointed at Tim, "I expected better from you."
Tim had the good grace to look away as he put away his staff.
"Who was that? What are his powers?"
"No," Jason stepped up to Batsy and poked him right in his armored chest. "I stay out of your love life, you need to stay the fuck outta mine." He pushed the man back, then turned and headed for the edge of the roof.
"Jason," Bruce called.
"Fuck off." Jason leapt off the edge of the roof and started the long trek home. The adrenaline from the chase was already starting to wear thin, he just wanted to shower and fall into bed. What a shitty night, he'd finally actually caught Danny, only for it to end like that.
Jason's mood flipped like Harvey's coin when the building his current favorite safe house was in came into view. Standing on the fire escape's landing, right next to his own window, was Danny himself. With a grin Jason used his grapple to swing onto the fire escape, the metal loudly clattering and groaning at his sudden weight. Jason pushed Danny up against the wall and boxed him in.
"Well hello there," Jason crooned.
"Hello yourself," Danny crooned right back, wrapping his arms around Jason's neck.
"I thought my family had scared you off."
Danny scoffed, "I'm not afraid of them."
Jason chuckled and leaned in close, whispering into Danny's neck, "Could've fooled me."
Danny pouted up at Jason when he pulled back. "So mean, and after I let you catch me."
"Let nothing, I worked to catch you."
"Yeah," Danny agreed with a smirk, "you did." He pulled them through the wall and into Jason's apartment.