Unknown, the Wandering Hero
So! We all know the typical Vivisection AU, right? Danny is revealed to his parents and they take it in all the wrong ways. They capture him, Vivisect him, and eventually he manages to escape with the help of his friends.
But what about his Rouges?
Sure, we all like to think of some of the more friendly ones like Ember, or Sydney, or Johnny 13 and Kitty, but he has WAY more Evil Rouges than good ones.
Without Danny there to reign them in, the Rouges spread out across the world to fulfill their obsessions, unhampered by the Heroes and Villains of the world that have no means to fight them.
And Danny? He feels responsible. He was the one to open the Gate, he was the Sacrifice, the one to let them through. And when the going got tough he just up and left? No, that won't do.
His Obsession is Protection for a reason, and nothing has changed. All he needs to do is expand his area of focus a little.
Danny, after healing up, starts wandering the world in search of the Ghosts who have escaped into the Mortal Realm. He battles all of his old foes, as well as many new ones who he hadn't met before.
His travels take him far and wide.
He defeats Skulker in Metropolis, as he is trying to hunt down the Super Family for their pelts. They are the last of their race after all, so he is inclined to try and hunt them. Honestly dealing with Skulker was easy, dealing with the Rich Asshole who was funding him was a nightmare.
He chases down Spectra in Gotham as she tries to feed on the misery of an entire City. (Thanks to @impyssadobsessions for the idea, this Prompt specifically). She is actually a very tough fight, especially powered by both the Misery of an Entire City as well as his Own Misery, but he manages.
He defeats Technus is Central City, as he tries to Raid Star Labs for their advanced Tech. It actually took a while to beat him after he amped himself with all that Power, and he did need help from the Local Hero to deal with him. He's just thankful Technus is one of the more "Harmless" ones.
After every Victory, he sends them back to the Realms using the Banishing Spell that Sam taught him a while back (the only bit of magic he ever really managed to master).
He knows they'll eventually find their way back out, but it's all he can do anymore. It's his eternal Punishment for unleashing them out into the World in the first place. He was the Catalyst for this Situation, now he was tasked with Fixing it, no matter how long it took.
...
The Justice League is caught in a tricky situation a the moment.
In the past few months, they have been encountering more and more of these Extra Dimensional Beings known as Realms Ghosts across the World.
Justice League Dark has had some success in battling them, but even they are getting tired of having to deal with every single incident alone.
They did get approached by a Government Agency known as the Ghostly Investigation Ward that seemed to want to help, but it didn't take long to realize that their main Aim was to Genocide the entire Race. The JLA had quickly cut ties after realizing that, and took what little Tech and Information they had been able to gather.
Still, it wasn't easy to deal with these Entities.
Thankfully, they have had some outside help. An Unknown Being has been routinely showing up whenever a Realms Ghost appears and defeating them, before using a (as described by Constantine) "Rudimentary Banishing Spell held together by willpower and luck" to send them back to their home Dimension. There's honestly no way it should be functional, but he did make it work either way.
They don't know much about this Unknown, aside from the fact that he seems to be the only one able to consistently damage the Realms Ghosts. His Powerset leads them to belive he may be from the same Dimension, or at least drawing his power from the same Source, but as he actively avoids the League and takes every opportunity to not talk to them, they know they aren't getting any answers any time soon.
Over the past few months, they had affectionately started referring to him as Unknown, creative they know, because they could never get his Real Name. Sure, some of the Realms Ghosts seemed to recognize him, but they always called him stuff like "Whelp" and "Punk" and "Usurper", which were not very good names to use when referring to him. Although the last one was a bit concerning.
They had only managed to trade a few quick words with Unknown in the past few months, but it was enough to get the Gist of it. He was just doing his job, sending the Realms Ghosts back where they belonged. There was apparently a Tear in Reality letting them through, but he seemed hesitant to reveal what he knew about it.
After a few months of sparse interactions, they eventually managed to convince him to at least take an Emergency Communicator. Just in case. They even let him take it apart to look for any Tracking Devices, which earned them a small bit of trust. They took whatever wins they could.
Fortunately, it seemed he never did need it. In fact he was getting more and more efficient with every battle, defeating his foes in half the time it would have taken before.
Unfortunately, it didn't last forever. One day, the Communicator went off, a distorted voice quickly saying, "Need backup, some of them decide to Team Up" before cutting out.
They quickly rushed to his location, finding an active battlefield with no less that a dozen Ghosts battling Unknown. And he seemed to be on the ropes.
With their arrival, the combined force of the Justice League and Unknown eventually managed to defeat the Group of Ghosts. Justice League Dark volunteered to work on the Banishing Spells while the others cleaned up the damage from the Battle.
One of them approached Unknown to make sure he was ok, and froze.
During the battle, Unknown's Mask had been Torn off, and they could finally see the face of the Hero they had been working with for the past few months.
And he was a Child.
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Part 2
He has no right to be here.
He knows that.
He does.
Eddie watches as people pile into the church, all of them dressed to the nines. It's a Harrington affair through and through, and the sight of all these people that he knows Steve hates makes him feel sicker than he already is.
If he wasn't on the edge of crying he would have laughed at himself, like he had any right to judge anyone here. He's the one who dumped Steve. Perfect, wonderful, lovely Steve who just needed a few more years. He just needed to make sure the kids were safe until they graduated. But Eddie couldn't do it. He needed to leave, and Steve needed to stay.
So he ended it. Just like that. He ended it.
He hasn't seen him for three years. By all appearances, it was a good choice, the best thing he could have done for himself. Because against all fucking odds Eddie Munson ends up as a success. He's a star, a famous musician discovered in a shitty little bar. He somehow managed to actually live the dream he used to fantasize about.
He lives it up. He parties, he drinks, he fucks, he spends his early twenties being young and dumb like he always wanted.
And it's horrible. It's so horrible that it becomes hilarious to him. Because he knows why it's so bad. Of course he knows. But it's better this way, really. Because Steve deserved better than him anyway. He deserved someone he didn't run away, full of flimsy excuses of wanting to be out of the shitty town that made him. When the truth was he was scared. He was terrified about how much he loved him. Because what was he going to do when the day came when Steve realized he could do better?
Eddie wouldn't have been able to surivie it. So he left instead. Like the coward he was. He left so he could be miserable and famous but at least Steve could finally find someone who deserved him.
So it really was all for the best. That's what he tells himself, because if he doesn't he'd go insane wondering about what could have been. He has himself convinced that he made the right choice. Maybe not for himself, but at least for Steve.
He doesn't realize how bullshit all of that was until Dustin lets it slip. They're doing the normal routine. Dustin visits, Eddie spoils the shit out of him, and on the last day he asks about Steve. He always tries to keep it casual. Tries to never let his desperation to know what's happening shine through. But it always does, bad enough that Dustin can't help the pity in his eyes when he tells him.
Steve's getting married.
Eddie wasn't aware just how much words could hurt him until that moment. He'd been called every bad name under the sun, a queer, a freak, a fag, you name it and it's been said. But this is the first time someone else's words make him feel like he's dying.
He wasn't invited to the wedding. Why would he be? But he still found it. Because he's a glutton for self-punishment. He hadn't seen Steve for three fucking years, and he chooses to wait till his wedding day?
But it's too late for regret, he's already here. His eyes keep scanning the room, just waiting for him to show up. He probably looks like a creep, dressed in all black and fucking sunglasses, sitting right by the door. He's basically in a fucking disguise, mostly to stop Robin from finding him and kicking his ass.
Speaking of, his eyes widen at the sight of her. She's slipping out of a door to the side, quickly wiping at her eyes before joining the crowd of people. His eyes drift back to the door.
Eddie's on his feet before he knows what he's doing. It's stupid, maybe the stupidest thing he's ever done, but where Robin is, Steve is sure to follow.
And he's right. It leads to a small dressing room. And there he is. Just like that Eddie's in front of the only man he'll ever love. Or at least, behind him. They were alone, and Steve hadn't even noticed him yet, too busy adjusting his hair in the mirror.
He still has time to leave. Besides, he didn't come here to ruin everything. He didn't, really.
But he doesn't turn around. Instead, Eddie locks the door behind him. He takes off his stupid sunglasses and clears his throat to speak, but is immediately rendered speechless when Steve turns to look at him.
He's just as gorgeous as he remembered.
His eyes widened at the sight of him, mouth opening and closing like he can't quite believe what he's seeing. Why would he? Eddie never reached out. He ignored the times that Steve did, always too ashamed of himself to face his own mistakes.
Eddie always expected Steve to lash out when he saw him, if he saw him. Lord knows he deserved it. But he doesn't. He just looks...sad. And those basset hound eyes are almost enough to bring Eddie to tears himself.
"What are you doing here?" Steve asked, voice quiet.
Eddie hadn't actually prepared anything to say. His plan was to watch the love of his life marry someone else than drink himself into a stupor at his hotel. He...he hadn't expected to end up here. But there are a million things he wants to say to him.
I'm here to tell you I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was a coward. I'm sorry I wasn't good enough and I made it your problem. I haven't stopped thinking about you. Ever. There hasn't been a day that goes by when I don't regret leaving. And I thought, maybe, just maybe if I saw you move on with my own eyes I could let you go.
But none of that is what comes out of his mouth.
"Run away with me."
If Steve didn't look shocked to see him before he sure did now, "W-What?"
"Run away with me," He repeats. Because it's what he wants. It's what he needs. It's been three years of hell without him and Eddie can't do it anymore. He can't.
He hates that he's the cause of the tears springing up in Steve's eyes, but he can't take it back. He won't.
Steve looks away, eyes trained on the floor, "You can't do this to me Eddie. You can't."
But he is.
Eddie's made his choice. He was a fool to think he was capable of coming here without trying to steal him away. Of course this is where he'd end up. And he'll say anything to get him back. He doesn't care that he's too late. He doesn't care that this whole thing makes him a bigger piece of shit than he already was.
He'll be underhanded, he'll be dirty, he'll do anything to get Steve to leave with him, he doesn't fucking care. Because Steve Harrington is not going to get married today.
He waltzes right up to him. He grabs his chin and forces him to meet his eyes. He probably looks crazy, he feels crazy, "You don't love her like you love me."
He's never met her. He doesn't need to. The way Steve freezes up is all he needs to know that he's right.
He doesn't deny it, but he deflects, "Why are you doing this? You left me. Did you forget that part? I didn't end it. You did! A-And now what? We're just going to ride off into the sunset together? Like you weren't the one to just cut me out of your life-"
"Yes," Eddie interrupts. He feels calm, eerily so as he speaks, "We're riding off into the sunset together. Even though I don't deserve it. I never deserved you. And I was so fucking scared of when you would realize that. I let it eat away at me. So I left. Before you could do it to me. And I was wrong."
"Stop," Steve tries to step back, but Eddie won't let him. He wraps an arm around his waist and pulls him close.
He can't stop talking, even if he wanted to, "I was so wrong Steve. And I've been miserable ever since. Because I couldn't stop thinking about you. I'll never stop thinking about you. Even if you tell me to go to hell and get hitched I'll just wait for a divorce. Because you are the only one for me. And it took me too long to say that out loud. And I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry Stevie."
Steve weakly tried to push him away, but his heart wasn't in it, "Please stop."
But he can't, "I love you."
Steve's eyes are closed, a futile attempt to keep the tears at bay, but his voice comes out strong, "Eddie, I-I can't do this again. I can't. If you left me again I...I just can't."
Eddie can't help but wipe a few of the tears away for him, "Angel, look at me."
He waits for Steve to open his eyes. He looks so fucking beautiful that it hurts, especially since this may really be the last time he sees him again.
But he has one more trick up his sleeve, "Tell me you're not mine and I'll leave."
"W-what?"
"Tell me you're not mine. Say the words out loud and I'll let you go."
Steve stares at him. He's mad, beyond pissed that Eddie has the audacity to throw that in his face, but he's desperate. It was the last thing he said to him, murmured through the driver's side window of the van, seconds before he drove away.
I'm still yours, even if you don't want me anymore.
Eddie had cried the entire ride there after hearing that. And then a few days after for good measure. And here he is, completely ruthless at what he's willing to pull out, "You're mine Steve. You know you're mine."
It's such a fucked up thing to say, but it's true. But it's not the whole truth, "And I'm yours. I've always been yours. Tell me that's not true and I'll leave."
But Steve can't. He can't do it, just like Eddie had known he wouldn't. But what he hadn't expected was for him to surge up and kiss him.
It feels like he fell in love all over again, just from one simple kiss. Because it felt like magic was real and it decided to take on the form of Steve Harrington's lips. It was everything he had missed. Everything he had dreamed about. Eddie tangled a hand into his hair, helpless to do anything but kiss him back, harder and deeper. He wanted to be burned into Steve's memory for all eternity. He wanted him to always remember the moment that they came back to each other.
Because that's what this is. Eddie's certain, Steve was his, and he would never let him go again.
They only stop when there is a knock at the door, a muffled question asked that they can't hear over the sounds of their own breathing. It's enough to have them pulling away from each other, but they ignore it nonetheless.
Steve searches his face, one last test. Eddie can only guess how he looks right now, probably just as desperate and terribly hopeful as he felt. Whatever he's looking for, he finds it eventually.
Steve sighs, glancing toward the back of the room, "There's a window we can probably fit through. Because I'm sure as hell not going out there."
Now it's Eddie's turn to cry. Despite all of his confidence, the certainty that they were supposed to be together, he hadn't really expected it to work. But here they were, giggling with each other as they scurried out of a first-floor window, making a run for Eddie's car.
Eddie can't help but kiss him again before they get in, muttering against his mouth, "I love you so fucking much Stevie. I'm not going to fuck this up again. You won't regret it, I'll spend the rest of my life making sure you don't."
Steve grinned into the kiss, "You better."
There was still so much to talk about. Too much. And they'll fight and they'll scream and everything will get worse before it gets better. And Eddie's so fucking grateful to get the chance.
And for the first time in three years, he feels alive again.
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The New Gotham Rogue, Keeper Pt.1
So! When Danny was killed by the Portal, he was tossed into the Realms and the Portal collapsed behind him. All that was left was a small Spiral shaped Crack in Reality hanging in the Air, and a crater where the Portal had originally opened.
His Family and Friends assumed he was vaporized by the malfunctioning Portal and mourned his death, and Danny himself thought he was just Flat Out Killed by the Portal and became a normal Ghost.
Danny was stuck in the Ghost Zone for over a Month, coming to terms with his own Death, before something happened. The Portal Re-opened itself temporarily.
When Danny found it Open, he was Elated! He could finally go back home, explain what had happened to his Parents, maybe even find a way to live in the Human World as a Ghost!
Unfortunately, he wasn't the first one to find the Portal. Lunch Lady had reached it about an Hour before he did, and had begun attacking the students at his old school for changing the Lunch Menu she had concocted in her life.
Danny rushed to stop her, and eventually managed to beat her. Unfortunately, his Parents showed up and started attacking him too. Even after he explained that he was Danny, that he was their Son, they didn't stop. In fact, they got even more aggressive, saying that their son was dead and that he was just another Spook.
In the end, Danny had to run back into the Ghost Zone to escape his parents, dragging Lunch Lady with him.
After that, he decided that he had to become a Guardian of the Portal whenever it randomly Opened, to keep both the Humans and the Ghosts safe.
For over a year, he stopped almost every Ghost that attempted to pass through the Portal, fighting them back or stalling them until the Portal closed again. There were a few incidents where they managed to get passed him, like when Undergrowth mind controlled his old friend Sam, or when Hotep-Ra reawakened Tuckers memories from his pasts lives, but most of the time he had it under control.
Of course not all of them had to get past him, Natural Portals still existed after all, but every time they got to the Human Realm he would find them and drag them back.
Unfortunately, being the one thing standing between the Ghosts and the opportunity to fulfill their Obsessions earned him a lot of resentment.
Everybody he met hated him. He was seen as a Villain in the Zone, the one who prevented everybody from fulfilling their Purpose at every pass.
Danny was not in a good head space about it.
His mind was buckling under the pressure of it all. His duties as the Guardian of the Portal, the hatred the Denizens of the Realms held for him, the lonliness eating away at his Sanity, it was all too much. He felt his psyche cracking ever so slightly every day that passed like this.
It got better for a time in the 2nd year of his Afterlife. He had managed to befriend a few Ghosts, mainly the Leaders of certain Kingdoms who saw the necessity of his action, as well as a few others.
Frostbite, Pandora, and Dorathea were the Pillars upholding his sanity for that period of time. He finally had friends (or at least people who didn't harbor nothing but distain for him). But unfortunately, it couldn't last forever. They had Kingdoms to run, People to Lead, and they couldn't spend all their free time entertaining his selfish whims his need to talk to someone, anyone at all, so he forced himself to stop bothering them so much (they didn't think any of that)
And Guarding the Portal took most of his time as well. His Rouges had started attacking him between it's Openings, hoping to gain control of the Portal while it was inactive so they had first dibs when it did open. Danny was getting run ragged trying to keep them all away.
Eventually, he reached his second Death Day. It didn't really feel like 2 years had passed, in fact it felt like much, much longer than that, but he knew in his Core that it was his 2nd Death Day. Also, whenever he peeked through the Portal, it seemed like 2 years ago passed in the Living World, so he just went with that.
On that day, he discovered something. During a battle with Plasmius, (who was still enraged at him for blowing up his own, stable Portal), he felt something strange. A familiarity that he had never noticed before, which happened when Plasmius briefly turned Human to avoid his attacks.
After the Battle, Danny decided to investigate that feeling. It was a weird sensation, like pressure built up in his Chest that he had never noticed until that moment with Plasmius, the first time he had ever seen him Transform in person.
After focusing on it for a while, Danny felt it getting stronger and stronger until it Burst with a flash of light. And suddenly he was Human again. He was Alive again.
It was another few minutes of testing this ability out before he finally stopped and took it all in. He was a Human. even if he was half Ghost.
He was Human.
He was Alive.
A thought struck him. Did this mean he could go back home? Back to his Family? His friends? Mom and Dad? Jazz? Sam and Tucker?
In an instant he was up and running to the still Open Portal. It hadn't closed since he had beaten Plasmius, as it it felt his desire to return to the Human World.
It actually might have, considering it was a part of him. Clockwork had explained it after the whole, Dan situation. When he had first formed, a piece of his newly formed Core had broken off and become the Core of the Portal instead. It gave him a connection that allowed him to better Guard the Portal, knowing when it was Open or if somebody had used it.
Stopping at the edge of the Opening, Danny thought about all the things he would be able to do again. Hug his Parents, eat Human Food, talk to his friends. Oh God, it had been so long since he had actually talked to another person. None of his Rouges had bothered reciprocating his Quips in almost a year now, so he barely ever had anybody to talk to. Even somebody proclaiming their eternal hatred for him would be better than the endless silence.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped through the Portal with Hope in his Heart.
On the other side, he found un unfamiliar room.
It was much cleaner than his Parents Lab, with all the different Inventions placed perfectly in neat workstations. Multiple work stations. Had his parents hired some neat freak assistants? Why were there so many Work Stations?
Honestly that wasn't even the most eye catching detail he noticed. There was something else, something more noticeable.
It was the fact that everything in the entire Lab was White.
He heard a series of footsteps approaching the Lab, and before he knew it, the room was filled with GIW Agents and Scientists, all pointing their Weapons at him.
He tried to call out to them, to tell them that it was okay, that he was Human. But all that came out was the static sound of Ghost Speak. Why did that happen? He wanted to use Human Language! Why was he only using Ghost Speak? Had he...had be really forgotten how to speak?
Did he really forget the one thing basic for almost every human? How? Sure it had been a while since he spoke it, but were 2 years of not speaking English really enough for him to forget everything?
But, it hadn't been just 2 years, had it? Time moved strangely in the Ghost Zone, and it definitely felt like longer. How long had it actually been? How long had he been Dead?
Stuck in his own mind, he never saw the barage of attacks coming his way.
...
Danny was stuck in that Lab for over 6 months.
He was kept in that same room he was captured in, constantly being cut open and pulled apart before being left overnight to heal himself.
He tried to explain that he was human in any way possible, but without being able to talk it was hard. He tried writing out in his own blood at once point, but they just cut him opened even more after that, trying to figure out how the "Mindless Ghost" had managed to imitate human writing.
They never listened to him screaming in pain. In their eyes it was just a random Ghost trying to trick them into thinking he could Feel.
Every time he screamed in pain, they would berate him. "You can't feel, shut up!" "You aren't human, stop taking that form!" "You are a Ghost! You can't feel scared, get up!" "You are just a mindless blob of Ectoplasm!" "You would kill everybody here if given the chance!" "You aren't Human!" "You aren't real!" "You're just a Monster!"
"You aren't Alive!"
Even through all that Torment, he didn't stop fighting. He knew he was Human, that he was alive. There was nothing that would ever change that. Or so he thought.
Then they brought his Parents in.
They had previously mentioned them, praising them for their technical skills and cheering the fact that they had sold them the Portal, even if it had not turned back in since he came through. Then, they decided to bring them in to study the Ghost who kept imitating their dead son.
When they first walked in, Danny felt a spark of hope. Maybe they would save him, maybe they would see that he was alive, that he was real.
But they didn't. They just kept on with the same experiments as before, yelling the same things, but it hurt so much more coming from them.
He didn't last long under their study. He broke, and he didn't think he would ever put himself back together again.
...
It was at the 6 Month Mark that something new happened. As it turns out neither his, nor the Portal's absense had gone unnoticed in the Zone.
In his time trapped in that Lab, he had used his connection to the Portal to keep it from opening, using every ounce of his Willpower to force it to stay closed, no matter how much it struggled under his control.
When he was finally Broken by his Parents, he lost his grip on the Portal, and that night it opened for the first time in Months.
The first one to find him was, coincidentally, the Lunch Lady. The first ever Ghost he guarded the Portal from.
What she saw when she floated into that Room would forever Scar her memories. Danny in his Ghost Form laying strapped to an Operation Table, his organs out in the Air, his ribs spread out like an Eagle. At the center of his Chest sat his Core, exposed for the whole world to see, showing off all the damage it had received since the Scientists first found it all those months ago.
He looked up at her, and his eyes told her all she needed to know. Run.
She fled back through the Portal, horror stricken across her face. Danny managed to shut it down again after that.
Apparently news of what she had seen seen had spread around the Realms. Even when the Portal was active, nobody came through. The few times anybody did poke their head through, they saw him and left screaming in Terror.
Danny knew they would never save him. He was their Enemy, the Villain in their story, they would never risk themselves trying to help him.
And honestly he didn't know if he wanted to he helped. This was all his Fault. He was the one to open the Portal, he was the one who Guarded it for all that time, he was the one who got himself into this mess.
One time, he felt the Familiar Aura of Pandora approaching the Portal, and forced it closed before she could reach it. Her head managed to get through for a moment, but when she looked at him with those pleading eyes, begging to let her help him, he closed them as tight as he could and shut the Portal Closed, pushing her Back into the Realms.
She was trying to save him. But she didn't deserve to get hurt trying to help a waste of space like him.
He needed to get the Portal away from the Lab. It was only a matter of time before he lost any ability to close the Portal at all, before the Scientists managed to find a way to keep it open and invade the Realms. He needed to get it away from them, if only to protect the Ghosts on the other side.
He needed to do his Job, to guard the Portal. From either Side.
...
It took another month of conserving his strength before he managed to break out of his Shackles. It took a bit if trial and error, but eventually he found a way to draw the Portal into himself to transport it away.
It was technically a piece of his Core after all, he just had to slot it back into Place.
After that, he had to find a way out of the Lab. The Scientist he found wandering outside his room didn't have any Overshadowing Protection at the time, so he managed to get halfway to the Exits before the alarms sounded.
Then it was a mad dash of fighting off Guards and dodging the Security System to get to the Door. He dropped the Body when he reached the Doors.
It didn't get any easier after escaping the Building, but after several hours of chasing he eventually lost them.
He kept running though. He couldn't keep the Portal within him forever, and he needed a safe place to let it out. Hours of running eventually led him to somewhere that might work.
Gotham City.
...
Cass wasn't entirely sure that she was making the right call in this, but Croc's Body Language seemed to suggest that he was being genuine in his intentions, so she kept on following him.
In the past few Months, there had been a string of incidents where Government Agents in White Suits had incited fights and shootouts while "investigating" a supposed escaped Superpowered Prisoner. They had justified themselves by saying that the civilians they were attacking were actually Extra Dimensional Monsters known as Ecto-Entities, also known as Ghosts.
Of course a simple blood test always disproved them, but they were relentless in their "investigation". She used air quotes because they were some of the most Incompetent and Dimwitted morons the team had ever encountered, which was saying something. The only semi-competent ones where the pair of Scientists who commanded them, but even they were borderline insane, constantly ranting about how Evil Ghosts were and how they wanted to pull them apart molecule by molecule.
Unfortunately, there was nothing her Dad could do about them. They were a legitimate Government Agency, no matter how incompetent, and they hadn't been lucky enough to actually do any damage in their multitude of fights, so her Dad couldn't really force them to leave.
He had however started looking into the missing Ghost Prisoner they were chasing. If he could just find it, they could get the GIW out of the City and be done with them.
Her Dad and Tim's investigation had led him to a few short reports from a couple of months ago, describing a Humanoid figure covering in a glowing green liquid stalking the streets one night before disappearing all of a sudden. There wasn't much to work with, but the Team kept on the investigation in the hopes that they could get rid of the GIW sooner rather than later.
Unfortunately Cass, Damian, and Jason were exempt from the investigation, because for whatever reason whenever they came anywhere near the GIW, they started attacking them.
They had argued that they could take care of themselves, but Bruce had been adamant that they stay out of it. Damian had eventually relented, trusting the orders of his Father. Jason had flat out refused, but said that he would stay out of it just as long as the GIW stayed out of Crime Alley.
Cass however? She didn't want to be left out! She had more than proven that she could take care of herself, but her Dad was still too paranoid to even let her out of the House. She decided that she would undergo her own Investigation, and prove to her Dad that he shouldn't have ousted her from the Case like that.
She decided to take a different approach to the Investigation. Her Family was still combing through reports from the previous few months to see if there were any more mentions of the Figure, but she thought of something else.
After looking at the randomly reported sightings of the Entity that her family had collected, she noticed something. They were all set near Farners Markets, Grocery Stores, Restaurants.
The Entity was looking for Food.
She didn't think extra-dimensional Entities would be eating the same food as other Humans, but then again these things are supposedly impressions of Human Emotion that remain after death. Maybe it held onto the same Habits?
She decided to follow that potential lead.
Tracking stolen food across Gotham was tricky, because so many people were stealing food to survive. But eventually she got down a Pattern. It would strike at nighttime, stealing only Canned Food, and the Camera's would be covered in static for his duration in the store. Curiously, it would also take a few containers of Fudge whenever the store had it.
It was very steady for a while, and eventually she found that her list of locations matched up to the sightings the others had gathered had from the past few months.
On the day she was about to reveal the results of her investigation to her Dad, something changed.
The GIW had a major shootout, where they reported that they had found and injured the Prisoner, but it had Escaped.
The reports of stolen food matching it's M.O. stopped coming in after that. She thought that her Lead had been lost, and was mentally cursing the GIW in her head for days, before an offhand comment from one of her brother's caught her attention.
"Croc was seen stealing Canned Food recently. Didn't think he ate anything but Meat, but I guess he got a taste for Chocolate Fudge."
So, she investigated the Lead and found that Croc had taken up stealing the same type of food as the Entity did.
Quickly, she looked up the maps of every store that had been hit, as well as the Sewer Systems, and looked at them side by side. They matched up. At every single location where the Entity had stolen it's food, there was a Major Sewer Line.
And each of those Sewer Lines were in Killer Croc's territory. Killer Croc was harboring the Entity, he was feeding it.
She had solved it! The Ghost Entity was living in the Sewers!
She almost got up and ran to tell her father the news right then and there, but she paused. There were still unanswered questions, questions she wanted to figure out before telling her Dad.
Why was Croc feeding the Entity?
What connection did they have?
Why was the Entity in the City in the first place if the GIW was there as well, looking for it?
She needed all the answers before presenting it to her dad. She wanted to cover all of her Bases if she was going to admit that she went against her Dad's orders, not wanting to anger him. (She knew he wouldn't be mad at her, but old fears die hard.)
It took a while to find a way to sneak out of the House, but she managed it eventually. She roped Alfred into covering for her, saying she just needed some fresh air after being stuck in the house for almost a Month. Which was actually true.
After that it was just a matter of scoping out the spot where she had predicted Croc would be first, and waited.
It took a few tries to get the right location, but eventually she managed to find him. Croc was wary of her at first, and when she mentioned the food matching the MO of somebody else she was tracking, he flipped out!
He wouldn't let her get a word in, not that he was speaking very much, but still.
He calmed down after a few minutes of her not fighting back. She convinced him that she just wanted to talk to the one she was Tracking, whoever he was, so she could ask them for help in getting the GIW out of the City. Which was technically the truth.
After a bit more convincing, he caved and told her to follow him, before descending into the Sewers.
She was thankful that Croc was one of the more reasonable of the Rouges, and that she had a good enough reputation that he managed to trust her.
So here she was, following Croc through his Territory under Gotham, about to meet this Ghost Entity she had been tracking for over a Month now.
After a long walk, they emerged into a relatively large Room. It seemed to be an abandoned Sewer Reservoir, one of those large Rooms you see on TV that's like a giant Whirpool that characters are always getting sucked into (she hadn't had much to do while stuck in the house okay? She had been watching a lot of TV recently), except it was completely Dry.
There were a few places around that were obviously set up like different rooms in a house. A bedroom, a kitchen, an old couch and a box TV set up in front of it, and so on. This seemed to be one of Crocs more lived-in homes, which spoke to the trust he was placing in her not revealing this place to the other Bats. She felt slightly honored at that thought.
He led her to a section of the Base slightly off to the side, a room that wasn't entirely visible from the Enterance.
He stopped her at the door and called into it. "Hey Keeper, there's someone here to see you."
Without waiting for a reply, he turned around and ushered her into the Room.
It looked like a typical Bedroom, an old wardrobe was set off to the side, one of the door having fallen off. Inside there weren't that many items, just a few shirts and some pants. Closer to the center of the room, there was a Table covered with various empty cans and utensils. On three walls there were various posters and drawing featuring stars and constellations, seemingly placed haphazardly around the room with no real pattern. Most importantly, there was a Bed in the Corner.
And on that bed, was the Entity she had been tracking. And he was just a Kid.
He looked just like a normal teenager, about the same age as her, but he had White Hair and Green Eyes. He was sitting in an upright position, probably having sat up to get a better look at his visitor, and she could see the mess of bandages on his body.
The freshest ones were obviously for the wounds that had gotten him put on bed rest, a strip of clean bandages covering his stomach, with a bulge above his lower left stomach showing where he had gotten shot by the GIW.
But the rest of them, the older ones, they covered his entire main body. The bandages where old and slightly dirty, but it was obvious they had been placed in a hurry.
She was so busy studying his wounds that she almost missed Croc introducing her.
"Orphan, this is Keeper. Keeper, this is Orphan." He told the boy, "She says she wants to help get rid of the GIW."
The boy merely glanced at her before directing his gaze to Croc. A static-like sound seemed to Emit from his form, like a Trill, but against all logic she seemed to understand what it meant.
Discontent. Wariness.
Croc seemed to understand it too, and said, "Keeper, she can help get rid of the GIW. Don't you want them gone?"
Another Static Trill. Uninterest. Indifferent. Resigned.
"You can't just give up like that! If you won't fight back for yourself, at least fight back for the sake of protecting the P-", he was cut off by a wave of Static.
Anger. Displeasure. Stop.
Croc stuttered a bit. "I-sorry Keeper, I didn't mean to- I-" He was cut off again.
Displeasure. Leave.
They got the hint. Leaving the room, and walking to the exit.
Cass made one final glance behind her, meeting his eyes through the open doorway. They were cold and lifeless voids, as if he had cut himself off from all emotion.
"Sorry 'bout this Orphan. Keeper needs help, but he doesn't think he deserves it." He told her as they walked back to the surface. "He's not in a good head space right now, hasn't been since me n' Grundy found him wandering the Sewers all those months ago."
She made a questioning sound, and he picked up her meaning quickly. "Grundy is out finding more space themed stuff for his Room. Said somethin' about needing to fill an Obsession, but can't really explain it more than that."
She nodded in understanding as they reached the Sewer Drain where they had first decended into his Territory. She climbed out, but gave a final goodbye to Croc as she left.
She pointed at herself, and said, "I. Come. Back. Soon."
He gave her a slight Nod, and she leaped away.
By the time she got back to her Room in the Manor, her mind was a raving.
She was dumbfounded. Cass had originally tracked him down to make sure her theory was right before reporting it to her Dad, so that the GIW would take him before leaving and not coming back. She was dead set on getting the GIW out of the City by turning whatever entity they were chasing in.
But every intention of reporting him had left her the moment she had seem him in person. He was just a kid, a teenager like her. He was so hurt he couldn't get out of his Bed, his body was covered in bandages from presumably previous encounters with the GIW, and he was resigned to his fate.
He didn't care if he lived or died. He was just fine with letting the GIW capture him and injure him again, but there was something he was protecting that made him keep going on.
She wanted to help him.
But it wasn't because she pitied him. It was because Keeper had such a familair expression on his face when she left. One she had seen in the mirror a thousand times before her Dad had taken her in. And she swore she wouldn't let another kid keep that same expression as long as she could help it.
But there was also something else. When he was talking to Croc, and Croc mentioned that she wanted to help get rid of the GIW, she saw something flicker in his eyes. Just for a moment.
And she might be wrong, but she thought she saw a flicker of Hope.
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