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mortiferumsomnum · 2 years

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Soup Kitchens and Runaway Ghosts (Part 3)

*throws idea-fic at you guys* THANK YOU FOR LIKING THIS!!!! ASLDGKHSALKDGHLAKSDGH

Part 1, Part 2

****

When your boss tells you to come to Apartment 304 in Schnapp Avenue along the Upper West Side of Gotham, you don’t question it. You especially don’t question the grocery list that your boss listed down for you, neither do you question the need for fluffy blankets, pillows and paper bags.

You have to gather up the things in a box, get into your (stolen) car, and drive to your second location.

It’s just something you do.

The less questions you ask, the less you have to deny. That’s what Bill had learned in his life as a professional henchman.

However, after a long career of being a henchman, none had ever compared to the experience of working under the Red Hood. Sure, the guy threatens you with his guns, and shoots and misses your feet as a joke, but the man had been changing the lower-class neighborhood for better with all the control he has in the Gotham Underworld.

Bill never had to fear for his life, either. He didn’t have to worry about living a new day, and he didn’t have to worry about what wacky idea his boss had just cooked up. Now, all he worried is what kind of soup they’ll be making for the next day at the soup kitchen, and what new recipe the Red Hood’s favorite person, Jason, was going to teach them.

Honestly, Bill didn’t feel like a henchman at all. Maybe a butler-in-training, even if there was no hope for him being employed as a butler.

(In the future, Bill would fondly look back at this moment as he serves tea to a graying Alfred, who is relaxing in his bed as Jason... well, Master Jason, retold his semi-mundane day to his grandfather.)

Finally, he arrives.

*****

- ‘Congratulations! You killed someone! But not just someone! It’s multiple people!’ a voice in Tim’s head laughs. It sounds like a mix between murder-hungry Jason and that lunatic Joker.

- There had been a time before he killed someone. Well, he thought he killed him. Johnny Warlock. Although in the end, the guy was actually alive the whole time, Tim remembers punching the guy’s fake until he couldn’t hear the fake’s grunts, until he couldn’t hear the fake’s heartbeats. Warlock hurt Spoiler, hurt Steph who he was in love with that time; he broke her leg and made her scream. He was so beat up over being a murderer, it took a while to get over it. (Source: Robin #123, Die Screaming, Boy Wonder!)

- It also doesn’t help that he even met a future version of himself who killed everyone, donned in a fucking Batsuit and acting like going far and killing your enemies was the norm. To be fair, in this future, every single teen titan were killing and taking things too far, but there is nothing more frightening than knowing that you have the potential to kill so efficiently without remorse. (Source: Teen Titans vol. 4 #17-19, Teen Titans of Tomorrow; Robin Today, Batman Tomorrow; Running Out of Time)

- Now, he killed people. On accident. Fuck.

- Before heading to the apartment, he decided to head to the scene, staking out in a shadowed area while observing what was going on. It wasn’t good. There were police everywhere. Jim Gordon was talking with a bunch of... investigators? Wait, they’re not Gotham-based investigators.

- He threw a tiny drone into the air, letting it catch wind before controlling it to fly closer to where the investigators were, planting a few bugs onto them and turning up the volume in his installed listening device. He was too far to lip-read. (I’d like people to know that in this au, he has some bugs on every officer in Gotham.)

- “Look,” that was Jim Gordon’s voice, “I get that you want to take over investigating this case, but I’m not handing it to you. You don’t understand the going-ons in this city. Red Hood is a crime-lord, yes. But this situation looks like the Red Hood was being chased for things not related to crime. Excessive how these ‘government based agents’ took to chasin’ after a single rogue without a single thought of avoiding civilians. It was the Red Hood leadin’ them to a civilian-less road, from how it looks like, rather than being chased into an environment where they could go all out. They didn’t hesitate to run-down a civilian, much less avoid children or seniors. In comparison to Red Hood who took great care to staying off of civilian roads and within GCPD territory.”

- “I don’t trust any of ‘ya folks who say yer from the government to keep my city safe.”

- “Like you have been keeping it safe for all the years you’ve been Commissioner?” one of the investigators scoffed. “Letting caped vigilantes beat up bad guys, and receiving weekly break-outs while your officers do nothing but sit pretty in their car with a gun?”

- Tim bristled. Jim Gordon is the only person who’s trying to do anything to make sure Gotham citizens stay safe, trying his best to weed out all the corrupt officers no matter how slow it had been going. Things ARE getting better. It’s not like Jim likes relying on vigilantes, either. The only time he relies on the Bat is when there is No Other Option. But he has mutual respect with all the Bats.

- Commissioner Gordon only raises an unimpressed brow, which looks so much like Barbara’s. “You’re still not getting it,” he said, turning around and doing a great impression of Batman walking away like a badass, letting his long coat billow in the wind. Unlike the Bats, however, he doesn’t disappear from sight and only enters his car, driving away.

- The investigators start talking to themselves. Here’s what Tim gathers: 35 men had been killed from his little accidental murder. (Breathe in, Tim. You can brood about it later...) They weren’t just chasing after Red Hood, but they were also after a ‘Daniel Fenton’ and an ‘unauthorized clone’ possibly made from Daniel’s genes. This ‘Daniel’ also can’t be brought back to his home, because his parents have also teamed up with them.

- They confirmed Jason’s claims about these people hunting down ghosts. But Tim finds out from them how they not only aim to hunt them down, they aim for complete extermination. It’s ‘Daniel’s’ parents who wants to conduct experiments, given that any findings will be reported to these people.

- There’s... there’s just no way these people are actually from the government. If ghosts were real and the government were involved... wouldn’t that mean that there are actual laws on how ghosts are treated and dealt with?

- “Make sure to report to the boss about how much we need to spend to catch these ghosts.” Tim almost growls, clenching his fists. Because not only were they talking about getting rid of ghosts, but including the extermination of his definitely-not-but-totally-is-brother. He can’t let this happen.

- Once these investigators were done talking, they went into their own car. Tim made sure that his bugs wouldn’t be tracked for at least the next 3 days. Then, he opened his comms to a private link to Oracle.

- “O, I need you to search something. Ectobiology laws.”

- “...What?”

- “Laws on how ghosts are dealt with.”

- “Tim... I... fine.”

- After a few moments, Oracle cursed. “This can’t be real. There are actual laws on--- Tim, how did you find out about this? Does Bruce know about this? What the actual--”

- “I don’t think even Harvey Dent knows about this, and he was an attorney. What did it say?”

- “In summary? It’s all ‘kill on sight’ for any ghost. They’re making reforms for some of them, though. None of them good. It mostly involves research.”

- “Are there any research on ghosts?”

- “That are not just narrative reports from Ghost Hunters? Yeah, from Madeline and Jack Fenton. They’ve written so many of them, they’re probably the only scientific source. Ectoplasm... it seems to be similar to the Lazarus Pits...”

- Tim pursed his lips. He doesn’t know how much Jason wants to share about Daniel and the clone. “O, these people want to catch Jason. He has the same ecto-signature as the ghosts that they seem to like tracking down.” He needs to update his safe-house to avoid Jason and his new wards from getting caught. But also, “We might want to see if Robin and Batman has some kind of ecto-signature on them... Maybe even Dick from how much time he spends with them. I’ll try to nab some of the gadgets from these vans and see if we can turn them into our own tech.

- “You do that. I’ll update Batman on what’s going on.”

- Tim cuts the line off and sighs. His body suddenly feels heavy, and it’s not because of anything physical. It was a weight in his mind that refuses to lighten, only growing heavier and heavier.

- But he remembers what he told Barbara, and he remembers that Jason is waiting for him with hot chocolate in the safe-house he needs to upgrade.

- He pushes his body forward. It’s probably thanks to his training that his body is able to do exactly he needs to do, staying out of the people’s eyes while snatching the tech before it could be loaded in some government trailer. his head felt foggy, and he couldn’t feel his hands and legs. But his body was moving. And the next thing he knows, he’s already changed out of his costume, headed to Jason on foot.

***

- The Doctor, Theodore “Teddy” Sturgeon (HEH. I named him after some author. Have you read To Marry Medusa? don’t remember much of the plot, but damn I remember loving it!), checked over Danny again.

- Everything was healed. The vivisection and blaster wounds have healed into scars. Other parts of his body also showed some light scars, but the most dangerous ones have been healed.

- He sighed, rubbed a hand down in his face, and took a spare pillow. Then, he screamed into it.

- The smell of chocolate wafted around the apartment, making him feel nauseous, so he laid on the cold floor. Which, of course, made his nausea worse.

- “Hey, Doctor Teddy! Do you want some hot chocolate?”

- No. Maybe some soup. But Teddy was too nauseous to talk. So, he only groaned back.

- “I’ll take that as a yes!”

- Of course groaning was a mistake.

- The Red Hood, who was now dressed like a civilian named Jason, came back inside with two mugs. He handed one of the mugs to Dani, who took it with a smile. Everyone in the room could tell how shaky her hands were, and that’s why ‘Jason’ led Dani to one of the smaller couches for her to sit down on.

- Then, Jason sat down at another couch and sipped from his own mug. Thank you Mr. Red Hood for thinking he was pathetic enough to not have any of his own hot chocolate.

- That was when there was a knock on the door. The Red Hood laid his mug on the wooden table that was also in the room, before getting up to answer the door, Dani doing the same thing and running right after him.

- [And I’d like everyone to know that Dani is smol. Like, she reaches until Jason’s hips smol.]

- He heard Dani gasp. “IT’S BILL!!!”

- He heard the Red Hood sigh. “Timmers, why are you burritoed and carried by my best chef?”

- “Hrrrrnnngggg...”

- “I’m not... I’m not that good, man.”

- Huh... that last voice sounds familiar. Doctor Teddy took a great effort to stand up, groaning and feeling his knees click. Then, finally, the people came back in, with Jason heading straight to the kitchen with a paper bag... probably full of groceries, and...

- “Oh, shit, Bill??”

- “Teddy??”

- Dani blinked at the both of them, sitting back down at the small couch while picking up her mug. “The two of you know each other?”

- Know each other? They used to work under the same bosses during the first Robin’s earlier years! Teddy was trying to get his degree while also getting paid doing all the easy stuff, y’know, like bandaging other henchmen up?? He was there when Bill had lost two of his femurs to Batman. He’s the one who brought him to Dr. Thompkins’ hospital.

- During those years, both he and Bill were so desperate to make a living, they refused to see exactly how deep in crime the both of them were getting. By the time the third Robin came into the picture, they drifted apart... well, it’s not like the two of them were close in the first place, but whichever boss Teddy was with, Bill was there too. It just felt weird not seeing the other whenever they were working under a new boss.

- Teddy got his degree, tried practicing in legal stuff, got too sentimental with some patients, and got arrested for doing unauthorized surgeries on people who definitely needed them. After being released, there was no hospital willing to accept him anymore... that’s when the Red Hood recruited him... and the rest was history.

- Bill chuckled. “Small world, huh?” he said. Then, gesturing to Danny with his chin, he smiled at Teddy. “Looks like we’re going back to old times, eh?”

- Teddy, who no longer felt the effects of nausea, only nodded. “Yeah,” he said, smiling back. Then, he gestured to the kid that Bill was carrying over his shoulder. “Does he need help?”

- Bill shook his head. “Nah. The kid just needs a cup of Jason’s hot chocolate. He looks like he’s been under the influence of Scarecrow’s fear toxin.”

- Teddy winced. “Yeah, okay,” he said, stepping aside so that Bill could place the kid wrapped in a fluffy blanket on the small couch the Red Hood was sitting on earlier.

- Teddy squinted. “Is that... Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne?????”

- Bill nodded.

- Oh shit... he knew that the Red Hood, Jason, looked familiar. Does that mean that his name is actually, truthfully Jason?? THE Jason Peter Todd-Wayne??? Second adopted son of Bruce Wayne who died????? No... no... maybe they just look alike. And have the same name. Or the Red Hood chose that name specifically because he LOOKS like Jason.

- But that makes no sense! The Red Hood shoots anyone who disrespects the dead. He’d be a hypocrite if he wasn’t... Jason...

- Red Hood, who might also actually be known as Jason, walked into the room with a tray carrying three mugs. He handed one to Bill, then one to Timothy, who accepted it with a tired thank you, and then a mug towards Teddy. Upon accepting it (and no, Teddy did not squeak while he thanked him! *sobs* he didn’t!!), Teddy realizes that his mug was filled with good ol’ chicken soup.

- Okay, whatever. You don’t throw under the bus someone who feeds you well. Taking a sip, he inwardly cried at how good it was.

- “So, the kid sleeping on the couch is your brother?” Bill decided to ask, taking a seat on a chair he dragged from the kitchen.

- “Yeah... kinda... but we like thinking we’re siblings!”

- “Hm... how long has he been out?” Bill asked.

- Here, the small girl seemed to become smaller. Her face turned sad, and it broke Teddy’s heart because no small child is supposed to look that sad. The Red Hood... Jason patted the girl’s back to comfort her.

- “He’s been out even before she took me to check on him, Bill,” said Jason. “He’s also never woke up when the Red Hood brought him over to Doc.”

- Oh, ohhhhhh, so we’re keeping Jason and the Red Hood being the same person a secret? Okay, yeah, Teddy could do that. Wait, he called him Doc, and only Doc. He doesn’t want Bill to misunderstand that he’s being legal in his Doctor stuff. He’s as much in crime as Bill probably is.

- But he doesn’t have time to point that out, because Timothy Drake-Wayne grunted, bringing out from his blanket a plastic bag full of tech, looking a bit more lively now that he’s drunk the hot chocolate.

- “Is everyone in this room in the know about who’s chasing after... the kids?” he was looking at Jason for confirmation, who nodded.

- “The official story,” said Timothy, “is that the ‘Government Investigation Ward’ or GIW is after the Red Hood, due to his constitution being similar to that of a ghost.”

- Bill blinked. “I’m sorry... what?”

- Timothy ignored him. “Ghost is just a general term for anything that has ectoplasm. The real story is that they’re after the kids AND Red Hood, because all three of them have ectoplasmic components in their body.”

- Bill looked to Teddy with a question in his eyes. Ectoplasm? his gaze seemed to ask.

- “When I was treating Danny over here, he had some green substance in his blood,” he explained. “It both enhanced his healing and the infection, so his body was literally at war on the inside.” Turning his gaze to Timothy, he confirmed, “That green substance must be what you’re calling ectoplasm, right?”

- Timothy nodded. “It is. I don’t know the full description of what this ectoplasm does, but it seems that all three seem to naturally create ectoplasm in their bodies.”

- “When the Red Hood said to the Bats that the GIW seemed to follow him due to what he was, it mostly meant that the GIW was following them through their ectobiological signatures.” Timothy then shook the plastic to make all of their attention point to it. “The tech in this plastic bag? I took it directly from the vans before they were retrieved by the government. Once I figure out how they managed to sense ectoplasm with these things, I’m going to upgrade the security measures in this room... and then to the new safehouse we’re going to move into.”

- Bill whistled. “I knew that the Waynes were probably sponsoring the Bats behind the scenes, but to be the ones personally making their gadgets? That’s amazing.”

- Doc suddenly put the pieces together... techy... Timothy Drake-Wayne being Jason Todd-Wayne’s step-brother...

- Oh shit. That’s Red Robin, isn’t he?!?????

- “You okay, Doctor Teddy?? You’re looking a bit pale over there...” said Dani with worry on her face.

- “I’m... I’m fine.” NO I’M NOT!!! “I’m just... processing that the government... is using the people’s taxes to chase after people who are very clearly alive....”

- Dani snorted. “You don’t know the half of it! But, yeah! This IS where all the taxes are going. That’s why a whole bunch of people where me and Danny came from commit tax fraud!”

- Jason huffed. “Danny and I, Dani.”

- Dani gave Jason the stink-eye.

- Jason then pointed a thumb to the kitchen while looking at Timothy. “The dining table is clean. You could do your stuff there. There’s also extra hot chocolate on the stove.”

- Timothy gave a small thanks. But before Timothy could pass Jason, Jason took him by the shoulders and whispered into his ears that the Doctor couldn’t hear.

(”Thanks, Tim... I’ll chat with you later, yeah?”

Tim shrugged. “Or we don’t have to talk about it.”

Jason pats his shoulder. “Whatever makes you comfortable...” What else would Dick say, Jason wondered. Then, he added, “Just know that I’m here to listen when you do wanna talk.” Because there’s no fucking way he’s letting Bruce talk to Tim about what happened.

Tim was quiet, eyes shining under the dim light of the living room. “Yeah... thanks.

Nailed it.)

- Timothy then briskly disappeared into the kitchen.

***

- The investigators, who are actually known as Operative J and Operative K, using the aliases John Jones and Keith Keys, stopped their car in front of Wayne Manor, their gadget blinking and beeping softly as they stood in front of the gates. “Two ectoplasmic signatures here, over,” Operative J, John Jones, said into his comms.

- Operatives L, M and N were in front of Arkham Asylum, their own gadgets beeping softly. “One in Arkham, over.”

- Operative O, who was staking out in Schnapp Avenue, put his binoculars down. “Three in Schnapp Avenue: Daniel, the clone and an unknown man. Apartme----”

- Operative O wasn’t able to complete his report, because he was thrown into a wall, wheezing as he slid down.

- Then, he felt an electric shock to his neck, putting him to unconsciousness.

- “Operative O. Operative O, respond!”

- The Operative’s comms were crushed. Then, Operative O received another electric shock, frying any trackers he may have on his body that may lead the other government freaks to his location.

- Nightwing turned on his own comms. “O. Message Hood and Red Robin. Tell them that their location has been compromised.”

- “On it.”

- Nightwing then walked up to the unconscious Operative, picking him up by the back of his collar, and dragging him out of the rooftop. Some interrogations were in order.

****

Taglist (holy fuck there’s a lot of you *wheeze* I’m stopping the requests for tags cuz *gestures*): @203moonysello @crimsonfreakshow @quirky-gardener @ultimatebluff @8000fangirl @ashoutinthedarkness @lady-time-lord- @deathssilentapproach-blog @slytherindemonqueen @akikoyuii @ depressed-bitchy-demon @ crazylittlemunchkin @ angelheartgamer @ spicyramenstuff @ cat-in-a-fedora @ kawaiikenna @ scaehime @ kotaleartzu @ blankliferain @ xarexraven @ roseunivers999 @ mysticalcomputerdetective @ icedoverdestiny @ mlpizza @ rhyme-is-sublime @ yurijay @ distractedducky @ rosiea184 @ tinybrie @ absol-01-blog @ crystaldrops20 @ emilytopaz @ ae-vixrose

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#ASLDGHASLGDKHLGHASLG NIGHTWING MY BELOVED AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH #dc x dp #dp x dc #bill the professional henchman #tim drake #barbara gordon #jim gordon #jason todd #dani fenton #danny fenton #danny phantom #dick grayson #DAMNNNNNN THIS GOT LONG HAHAHAHAHAHAHA #Danny needs to wake up soon cuz he's missing out on all the suffering #It would be so funny if Harvey Dent knew about the Ecto-laws but didn't bother too much on it because he didn't believe in ghosts #Yes the one ectoplasmic signature is Joker in Arkham #I REMEMBER SEEING A POST ABOUT JOKER HAVING ECTOPLASM TOO AND I REALLY LOVE THOSE POSTS #Maybe it's best if Danny stayed asleep bc he'll easily be able to defeat the joker #I really want to make a Tim Drake villain origin story in this au. I am SO gonna make Tim spiral in this.#It’s not even funny. I WANT JOKER JUNIOR DAMMIT. I NEED MORE JOKER JUNIOR CONTENT!#HOW JOKER JUNIOR WOULD BE FORMED IN THIS AU. Like Joker somehow manages to convince the GIW to put him among their ranks.#BUT we'll see how this story flows cuz like Joker Junior would be a whole different story from this #...nah. I'm keeping Joker Junior. I JUST NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW *EVIL LAUGH*#Anyways if I keep Joker Junior Jason will be in for a whole lot of hurt #Because even if I'm not that good at imagery and shit I REALLY want Jason to gain Danny and Dani only to lose Tim #Is it going to be like in Batman beyond where instead of killing batman joker has JJ try to kill Jason instead?#And Jason has to watch how Tim who in this au hates the idea of killing who became scared of killing after his accidental murder #he watches Tim murder Joker who laughs loudly because FINALLY the FUNNIEST JOKE HAD BEEN MADE #HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YESSSSSSS YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS #but we'll see if joker junior fits this storyline (*sobs* i really hope it does)

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