Chapter Text
"Put your hands up, or we shoot!"
Danny stared, incredulous, at the man in a ski mask in front of him. The man was over 6' and bulky. The man had a gun trained on Danny's head.
The other guy in a ski mask, shorter and wearing a scarf, trained his gun on Danny's heart.
Danny slowly put his hands up, sneaking glances around the convenience store as he did. Now that he was looking, he didn't see the clerk standing behind the counter, and some of the displays were knocked over, the candy scattered across the floor. Danny mentally berated himself for not noticing something was off before he'd pushed the door open and walked right into an armed robbery. Gotham wasn't exactly Amity Park, and Danny had gotten a little too casual about the danger posed by human crimes.
The big guy walked over to Danny and held the gun to his head. Danny knew he should've been scared, but he just couldn't find the energy to put on much of a performance. "I really needed the Monster," Danny thought.
The man marched Danny over to the counter, and then pulled his arms behind him and handcuffed him.
"Where's your wallet?" The man said, gruffly.
"It's in my left pocket- Oh, and you found it."
The man had grabbed the wallet and glared at Danny, "Now you are going to sit here and not move. If you move, my pal over there will shoot you. Understood?"
Danny nodded, and the man turned him around and sat him down. He walked over to the ATM, while Shorty kept his gun leveled at Danny.
Danny sat quietly for a few moments, but then he had to ask, his curiosity was killing him, "Why didn't you lock the doors?"
Shorty scowled at him, "Kid, you gotta be quiet or we'll put you with the other guy."
Danny shrugged but closed his mouth. Actually, where was the clerk? It wasn't like Danny knew the clerks, but he'd stopped by this place on his way home from classes often enough that he might recognize them.
A sudden sensation of cold built up in Danny's chest, and he let out a breath of condensed air. His ghost sense.
"Was that a vape?" Shorty demanded.
Danny turned to look at him, "Uh, what?" Gaslight, gatekeep, girl boss. He thought to himself.
It was then that a shade stepped through the counter. Danny stiffened, he recognized the shade as one of the clerks.
The shade looked at Danny, "What's going on? What's happening to me?"
Shorty gave no indication of seeing the shade that had stepped in between his gun and Danny. The shade looked like a washed-out version of the clerk, with a dark and bloody circle soaking the stomach of his shirt. His name tag was visible, and Danny read the name "Matt".
"Hey, is the other guy okay?" Danny asked, looking at Shorty.
Shorty narrowed his eyes at Danny, "What's it to you? Now shut up and you might get to go home."
"Am I dead?" The shade whispered in horror, staring down at his flickering hands. The lights in the convenience store started flickering too.
"Whoa, calm down, okay? It's-" Danny, started, watching Matt carefully.
"I said, stop talking! If you say another word, I'll shoot you!" Shorty looked a little anxious, but his aim was true.
Matt looked at Danny and Danny winced. The shade looked terrible, and it wasn't like Danny could blame him. The guy had just learned he'd died. "I didn't even touch the panic button. They thought I did but I didn't. I don't even like working here!"
Danny gave a slight nod, trying to be empathetic but also not trying to give Shorty another reason to shoot. Danny's ghost core thrummed with the obsession to protect, protect, protect. A part of Danny's responsibilities as king and as the bridge was to help ghosts and shades pass into the Realms if they wanted to. Matt needed help, but Danny couldn't help him right now and Danny hated the feeling it was causing.
As Danny was trying to figure out what to do to soothe the shade and not get shot, he glanced behind Shorty and saw the taller man from earlier turn towards them. Except that he'd removed his ski mask, probably to get a better look at the ATM's insides.
"Ancients," Danny cursed, without really meaning to. The man looked over at him and realized Danny had seen his face.
"You really should've kept walking, kid." Shorty said.
Danny jolted as something slammed into his chest and all he felt for a moment was pain. The world went white and then darkened.
When Danny came to again, he was being dragged to the back of the store. He let himself be moved towards the coolers in the back, and laid there quietly for a moment. The hole through his chest was slowly mending. Dying wasn't exactly something Danny could do. Not again at least. The men had moved on from the ATM to behind the counter. They were opening the cash drawers. Danny could hear them arguing.
"The Bats will be here any minute, you took way too long with the ATM!" That was Shorty.
"Well I wasn't the one who turned a robbery into a double murder! Now if they catch us, we're going to prison for the rest of our lives!"
Except Danny knew the Bats weren't coming. The panic button hadn't been pushed. He had some time to make these guys regret their life choices. Danny phased through the cuffs, and then focused on feeling the electric current from the appliances all around him, and then he made the lights shut off.
"Ah, shit," the big guy started. "I don't like this."
"Hurry up then and let's get out of here!"
Danny grinned and got up off the floor. He flickered out of visibility and the lights turned back on. Danny walked to the nearest shelf and picked up a pack of gum and threw it towards the trail of blood across the floor where he'd been moved. At the noise, the big guy glanced over, and then froze. "Uh, Lenny? Did you move the kid?"
"Did I move the kid? No, are you stupid? I've been over here the whole time!"
"Then why is he gone?"
"What?" Lenny, who Danny had been calling Shorty this whole time, shoved in front of the big guy and looked over to where Danny's body had been.
Danny made the lights flicker again and then dropped his invisibility. He grinned at the shocked faces of the men, as they saw the kid they'd murdered stand right in front of them.
"Boo," he said, with a grin that was too sharp and with eyes that were too bright.
"What the hell?" Lenny asked, pointing his gun at the kid.
"Eh, been there. Not as impressive as it sounds." And Danny cut the lights, plunging the store into darkness. He pounced at the big guy, and with little resistance, Danny overshadowed the man, and then turned on Lenny.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Lenny demanded, as Danny swung at him. Danny now had 100+ pounds on Lenny, and he used that to his advantage, landing a solid hit on Lenny's face. Lenny fell to the ground, and Danny rummaged through the bag that the man had been carrying. He found some rope and tied Lenny up. Danny phased out of the bigger man, making sure to leave jumbled memories in his place so that the man wouldn't know what had happened within the last hour. Danny quickly tied him up too, and then overshadowed Lenny to distort his memories.
With the two criminals mostly unconscious and on the ground, Danny turned to Matt, who'd been watching the whole thing.
"I'm sorry," Danny started, "You didn't deserve to die. I can help you cross over now if you want, or you can come find me when you're ready."
"I - I don't know if I'm ready yet. What happens after?"
Danny shrugged, "It depends. There's no guarantee. But it's probably better than haunting Gotham?"
Matt laughed a little at that, "Yeah, probably. My family is here though. I want to see them before I go."
Danny nodded, "Okay, there's no time limit as long as you're not causing any trouble for the living. You'll be able to find me when you want to."
"Thanks," Matt said, quietly. Matt then turned and walked through the doors. And actually through them, he phased right through the doors, the chime humming with a weird resonance.
Danny stood in the quiet convenience store. He'd need to clean up his blood and make sure that nothing made it obvious he'd been here. He didn't need any Bats on his trail. He headed towards the back of the shop, and tried to find some cleaning supplies.
The door swung open with a chime and Danny quickly turned invisible.
Red Robin walked into the convenience store. Danny mentally cursed and phased through the wall. He'd just have to hope that since the criminals were caught, Red Robin wouldn't poke around the crime scene too long.
Danny walked a few blocks before dropping his invisibility. He walked to his apartment building and climbed up the three sets of stairs. Luckily it was late enough and dark enough that even if anybody was out, they wouldn't be able to spot the bloodstained shirt.
After unlocking his door, Danny walked into his apartment and locked the door behind him. He made his way to the bathroom and peeled off his shirt. With practiced hands, he cleaned the almost-closed bullet wound and threw on a gauze pad for good measure. Danny then rummaged around in his chest for his ID and cards. After living in Gotham for a few months, he'd learned to keep his important items in a space nobody else could get to. Danny groaned a little, remembering his empty wallet was still in the convenience store. He'd have to buy a new wallet, but it was too late to worry about that today.
Danny then walked to his bedroom, and collapsed into his bed. He shut his eyes and sleep overtook him.