Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Danny Johnson stared blankly at the screen in front of him. Earlier, his reaction had been due to shock, but that had faded away by this point. Sadly, that didn’t mean the contents of the email displayed on his laptop were any different.

5 year old girl… Melody Waters…. Wants to show Poison Ivy her succulent garden… terminal cancer… a few months…

It wasn’t the fact that the girl had cancer or how young she was, but more the fact that her ‘World of Wishes’ wish revolved around a notorious-- and wanted-- villainess in Gotham that surprised Danny. This job wasn’t new to him, but he’d never heard of anything like this happening before.

“Kids are strange,” he muttered, rubbing his palm against his forehead. How was he going to give this child what she wanted the most?

His search began online, scouring enthusiast forums and potentially illegal sites alike to find any word of where one might come across the green woman. He ignored any stories that reminded him of her criminal actions; none of that mattered after the point he learned of the wish he was sent to fulfill.

That was how he found himself seated in Gotham Park every night near the botanic enclosure for a week in the hopes of catching Ivy. The first three nights had passed without events, the fourth night Danny could’ve sworn a figure was watching him from the trees, and the last two had seen drunk individuals stumble along the paved walkways. He was hoping this final night would grant him the opportunity he had been waiting for; if not, he would search for another idea.

The feeling of something wrapping around his ankle snapped him out of his thoughts to leave him meeting the emerald gaze of the person he was looking for. Poison Ivy raised an eyebrow in question as she sat on the other end of his bench, watching his with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

“You’re quite persistent,” she hummed, pursing her lips and reaching one hand towards his face. “Kept me from visiting my babies for several days, you naught b-” She was cut off as Danny grabbed her wrist and smiled apologetically.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Ivy, but I need to ask you something and I’m racing against a deadline,” he said, tensing himself for an altercation.

“Make that two now.” Her warning was clear, and yet it didn’t faze him the slightest. He reached into the pocket of his trenchcoat and pulled out a folded packet of papers all revolving around wisher Melody Waters: her past and current picture, her wish statement, details on her sickness, and a drawing she had made of Poison Ivy. Danny handed them all over to the woman, who took them questioningly.

“My name is Danny Johnson and I work for the ‘World of Wishes’ foundation. Last week, a terminally ill 5 year-old girl named Melody asked to meet you so she could show you the small garden of succulents she has been caring for in her hospital room. She adores you.” He smiled as he saw Ivy ruffle through the papers confirming what he said. “I’m here to ask if you’d come in to see her at Gotham Central.”

He watched as she glanced between him and the papers she held several times before chuckling humorlessly. “I’ll give you points for effort, Mister Johnson, but your time is up.” Even with the vines now wrapping around both his legs and his chest, Danny found her theatrics slightly ridiculous. “Why are you really here? Was it the Commissioner or the Bat?”

He knew he shouldn’t, but Danny couldn’t keep his annoyance down. “Look, Ivy, the only damn reason I am here is because a dying little girl’s biggest wish is to show you her own plants. I don’t care what the hell you do the other 364 days this year, but that other day is going to be spent in Melody’s hospital room in the next week!”

The two sat in silence for several minutes following his outburst. Danny wasn’t really sure what to expect, but seeing as the vines constricting his movement has stopped creeping upwards, he felt optimistic. In an attempt to not be rude by staring, Danny turned his sights on their surroundings until she spoke.

“Well, I must make sure those poor darlings are being cared for correctly,” Ivy finally answered, flicking her wrist to remove Danny’s natural constraints. “I’ll be there; won’t tell you when-- can’t take too many risks.”

“Understandable.”

“You’d best be on your way then, Mister Johnson. Not all of the night life in Gotham is as nice as I am.” With that, Ivy rose from the bench and began to walk away down the flower-lined path, stopping every so often to lean down and stroke the blooming plants.

Danny let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding in before shaking his head and wandering off towards his apartment.

The first day passed with Danny working from home, going through his usually task of writing to celebrities and corporations on the behalf of other children and their wishes. It was nice to pretend that he hadn’t had a chat with an infamous temptress the previous night. 

The universe didn’t seem to share the same sentiment. He had only been out of the room for 10 minutes to take a shower-- 15 at most-- before walking in with a towel wrapped around his waist to find Poison Ivy seated on his couch, aimlessly flipping through TV channels with his remote.

Danny opened his mouth to say something and wasn’t proud with what actually came out. “What the hell?!” His face flushed in embarrassment as she coolly glanced over.

“What channel number is National Geographic?”

Danny blinked several times as he processed her question. “Uh… try 615...ish,” he replied lamely, before shaking his head several times to clear it. “No- wait- what are you doing here?!”

Ivy stared ahead at the television as it showed scenes of some foreign rain forest. “Needed a way to contact you. Brought you a burner with my number in it.”

“That’s… thoughtful.”

She finally looked over at him and smiled. “Of course. And, I’ll be giving you a five-minutes heads up before I arrive.”

“Thanks…”

Ivy ignored him as she stood and began to make her way towards his door. “You’re leaving out the front?” He asked, surprised.

The redhead looked at him incredulously. “You’re 19 stories up; did you think I came in through your window?” With a parting wink and smile, Ivy walked out of the apartment and shut the door behind her, leaving an exasperated Danny behind.

“Johnson!” Danny looked up from the burner phone Ivy gave him and sighed as he saw his boss stalking towards him, arms crossed. She glared at him over the top of her glasses. “What do you think you’re playing at?” Her heels clicked menacingly against the floor as she stopped in front of him. 

He chuckled and scratched the back of his neck. “I’m not sure what you mean.” No, he knew exactly what she meant, and the twitch of her eyebrow confirmed what was coming.

“Telling a sick child that she’d get to meet Poison Ivy?! I don’t pay you to make up this crap. You honestly think some evil plant bitch would show up--”

Her eyes grew wide as a vine wrapped around her mouth, effectively cutting of her rant. Danny did his best to keep a professional face and not laugh, but a few snickers managed to sneak out at the sight of goosebumps appearing on her upper arms after Ivy ran her hands on them.

“Danny, you didn’t say there would be any weeds here…” she murmured, brushing a strand of the woman’s brown hair out of her face. Danny could see her trembling and decided it would probably be best to stop it before something bad happened.

“Ivy, I think Melody’s ready to see you…” He said, gesturing behind him towards the girl’s hospital room in an attempt to redirect her attention. Thankfully, it worked. Ivy sighed reluctantly before removing her hold on his boss and moving to stand beside him, ignoring the woman as she half-walked, half-ran back down the hall. “Alright, rules: no attacking anyone, no offering to kill anyone, and no killing her garden.” The redhead looked offended that he would even ask that, but didn’t comment. “I guess we can go in, then.”

The light that came into Melody’s eyes when she looked up from her crayon drawing to see Poison Ivy walk through her door would stay with him forever. She squealed and wiggled to sit up further, smiling so brightly it was almost blinding. It was amusing to see her joy contrasted by the fear on the faces of her parents and the doctors in the room.

“They told me you weren’t gonna come!” She said happily as Ivy took her tiny hand in hers. “But I knew you would!”

Danny could tell the smile on Ivy’s face was real. “I just had to come see my little flower.” She sat down on her bed and asked to see Melody’s drawings, prompting a flurry of conversation from the girl.

“Um… excuse me, mister,” Melody’s mother said, speaking softly to not interrupt her daughter’s focus. Danny looked down at her curiously; she had tears welling up in her eyes. “I haven’t seen her this lively in so long. Whatever you did to find her,” she glanced over her shoulder towards the villainess, “ thank you. ”

That was the moment Danny knew he would continue to do whatever it took to fulfill any child’s wish, no matter what.

So the next day, when he received a request from a child wanting to meet Captain Cold, he did what anyone would do: pour himself a strong drink and start searching online for the rogue’s favorite bar.

Chapter Text

Danny might’ve been cringing internally as the man’s head was slammed against the ground, but he managed to smirk outwardly and raise his glass towards the winner of the match. The rough crowd roared its approval at the win, especially those who had bet on the victor. From his spot seated at the bar, he could see several unhappy fellows being led from the building by some menacing men; he didn’t want to dwell on that. After all, he didn’t want to call any attention to himself on his third night here-- the rogue he was looking for had yet to arrive.

Hayden Paine, nine, aggressive osteosarcoma originating from right leg, wants to meet Captain Cold because ‘freeze rays are awesome.’

It had taken a lot of digging-- and a few bribes to some teenagers hanging out on the streets in Central City-- before he first located the bar that doubled as an underground fight club. Cold had been seen there at least three times before, and that was good enough for Danny. He hoped his trip to the city wouldn’t be a waste, although the journey wasn’t too much of a hassle; the boy who had requested to see Cold was currently in the neighboring Keystone City.

Danny looked up from his drink to see the man himself enter the pub, taking a seat at the far end of the bar. He tried to ignore the nervous lurch his stomach gave. “Gimme the usual,” he heard the rogue say to the bartender, who gave the same sharp nod to him as he did to everyone else. Once the server turned away, Danny grabbed his file and approached Cold. The light glinted off of Cold’s dark glasses as he tilted his head slightly to look at him.

“Captain Cold,” he began, grimacing at his lame entrance, “my name is Danny Johnson and I’m from ‘World of Wishes.’ The other day, a boy with aggressive bone cancer named Hayden requested to meet you-”

Although Danny hadn’t been sure what to expect, he sure didn’t think the rogue would laugh in his face. Something inside Danny snapped, and he saw red as he lashed out and grabbed Cold by the collar of his jacket, pulling him forward so that their eyes were at the same level.

“Look, jackass, for some reason, all this kids wants more than anything is to see you and your frickin’ freeze gun, so I’d appreciate it if you’d SHUT your GODDAMNED MOUTH and listen to me for your fan’s sake!”

The room was silent.

Danny panted angrily as he came down from his rant, only now noticing that he had drawn everyone’s attention onto the two of them. He was pretty sure if Cold had laser vision, he’d be fried by now.

“Rogues do not harm women or children. You are neither.”

The rogue firmly removed Danny’s hand from his jacket and stood up, snatching the file from him. As a heavy hand clamped down on his shoulder and began forcefully guiding him towards the door, Danny was sure this would be his last night in existence.

His walk of dread halted after the two had walked several blocks, heading towards a more run-down section of Central City. Cold roughly shoved him into a dark alley, and Danny winced as his infamous freeze gun was drawn and leveled at him. However, the sound of it firing and him being able to move afterwards didn’t add up. He looked up to see Cold had spun around and frozen a pair of thugs who, he inferenced, had been following them for not-so-pleasant reasons.

Cold grunted. “Had to lead them somewhere unseen. Besides, I’ve got a reputation to keep that you almost destroyed back there.” Danny was sure he was being glared at now. “So what the hell did you want?” Danny wordlessly held out Hayden’s file in response, exhaling in relief when Cold took it and began to flip through the pages. “Is this some sort of joke?”

“You think any normal person would go through the struggle to find you for some prank?”

“I don’t hang around ‘normal people.’”

Danny huffed, but admitted the man had a point. “It’s not a joke. I take my job seriously; the happiness of these kids means a lot to me.” He shrugged. “You might enjoy it too-- Poison Ivy did.” He shook his head to refocus himself. “Point is, this kid idolizes you and wants to meet you. What would you lose from visiting him?”

“Ask yourself that when the cops show up. Or worse, that damned speedster.”

He’d thought of this one already. “Then visit him during the nighttime, outside of regular hours.” Neither said anything for several minutes, but Danny was patient. Not to lie, he was also mentally praying to every deity he could think of for Cold to say yes.

The rogue turned away, and began to walk out of the alley. “Midnight, tomorrow; side door of Keystone Medical. You’re not there, your loss.” Cold turned the corner and disappeared, file still in hand.

Danny considered it a success.

It was 11:55pm when Captain Cold had the back entrance to Keystone’s main hospital opened for him.

“I wasn’t about to let you break the lock on a hospital’s door,” Danny chuckled as the man walked into the building. His eyes went directly to the suspicious sack the criminal was carrying, but decided against asking about it. “This way-- he’s on the fourth floor. I told his nurse to have him awake about ten minutes ago.”

Cold didn’t really care-- he was just glad that there was no music playing in the elevator as they rode it up. “Come on, then.”

Danny held out an arm to stop him. “First: ground rules.” Cold sighed in annoyance. “No attacking or using weapons on people, no swearing, no hypothermia. Got it?” He took his silence to be affirmative. “Good.” Danny glanced into the bright room. “Hey, Hayden.” The two men entered the room, the boy’s attention already on them.

Hayden gasped in delight. “You really came!” He cried excitedly, rolling his wheelchair over to rest in front of his ‘hero.’ “You’re the best! Like ice is so cool and then you went and made a freeze-ray-gun that’s better than Mr. Freeze’s and it’s okay that you steal stuff because you’re actually nice and don’t hurt a bunch of people and you have cool glasses too can I try them on?” Danny tried to stifle a laugh at the bemused look on Cold’s face as the boy delightedly rambled.

“Don’t go telling everyone that,” he said gruffly, contrasting his action of taking off his goggles and bending down to put them on Hayden. Danny decided the two would be fine and moved outside to keep watch from the hallway.

It was a good thing he did. Several minutes later, a red blur came bursting from the stairwell and skidding to a halt in front of the hospital room, a delayed breeze brushing against Danny’s skin as he recognized the arrivee to be none other than the Flash.

Oh no. Nobody was going to get involved in his ‘World of Wishes’ child’s meeting. He quickly but quietly shut the door, cutting of both of their view’s of the room. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

The Flash gaped at him, but Danny didn’t budge. “Are you crazy?! Captain Cold’s in there with a child! You have to let me in to-”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “To what? Save him? I think you’re forgetting, the Rogues don’t harm women or children. Try again.”

The speedster’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Cold is a criminal, and I need to take him in-”

“Cold is not doing anything illegal, and is in fact fulfilling a child’s wish right now. You can continue your… disagreement with him some other time.”

The superhero apparently had enough, for he blurted out an apology before speeding around Danny, opening the door, and running into the room. Hayden, who had been laughing in amazement after a display of Captain Cold’s gun on a water bottle next to his bed, quieted as the two turned to face their uninvited guest. Cold subtly inched his way to stand in front of the boy.

“Flash.”

“Cold.”

“Why is the Flash here? I like Captain Cold better, that’s why I asked for him,” Hayden muttered in confusion. His comment drew an astonished and slightly hurt look from the Flash.

“Alright, Mister… Flash,” Danny said coolly. “A word outside, it you please.” His gaze gave no room for discussion, and the hero found himself complying with the request, albeit reluctantly. Once the door was shut again, Danny rounded on him. “As far as I’m concerned, the only one causing a problem here is you. I’m only going to ask you one more time: leave. ”

The Flash had never heard so much venom in a civilian’s voice when aimed at him, and had especially never seen one standing up for a villain. He couldn’t help but admit the other man was right though; Cold wasn’t doing anything wrong that he could tell. With one last look at Danny, he sped out of the hospital.

Chapter Text

"Alright, you have got to stop breaking into my apartment!" Danny huffed in frustration as he entered the room to find Ivy once again lounging on his couch, leaning back against its arm. She cracked one eye open to look at him.

"You didn't mention you were leaving town," she countered.

Danny sighed, not even wanting to bother with starting an argument. He dropped his bags beside the door and headed towards the kitchen, keen on eating after his flight. He nodded a hello to the blonde sitting on his counter as he fetched a glass from the cabinet and poured himself some water from the faucet. He turned back around, raising the cup to his lips, and then finally process what he had already seen.

There was a blonde woman sitting on his counter.

Danny set his glass down before he dropped it in shock.

The woman must've read his read his reaction and found it hilarious, because she began to laugh. "Nice to meet yah, mistah! Name's Harley; maybe yah've heard of me?" She smiled excitedly.

Danny opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. His stare turned into a glare as he stalked out of the room to confront the eco-terrorist relaxing in his living room. "Excuse me, but who let you bring your friend in here?!"

She didn't bother to open her eyes. "I did."

"It's not your apartment!"

"You never told me not to."

"Oh- why don't you go-- eat a plant!"

"Gladly. I'm a vegetarian."

"Then- eat fried chicken!!"

Gasp. "I would NEVER!"

Danny crossed his arms and huffed in joint annoyance and anger, determined to look anywhere but at Ivy. His gaze ended up settling on Harley curiously. She was wearing gray sweatpants with a black and red bra showing from under her open brown bomber jacket.

“What?” Her eyebrow raised challengingly. “It’s cold out.”

Danny just nodded mutely. Harley took his silence as agreement and widely smiled.

“Ivy was tellin’ me all about the kid she got to visit, so we stopped by after we saw that little girly.” Danny mentally groaned; he knew this wouldn’t be the last time he heard about that. “Say, do you know if there are any kiddies who’ve got a good appreciation for jokes?”

“Um… Ms. Quinn…”

She waved her hand nonchalantly. “Quinzel.”

“-what?’

The blonde laughed. “It’s “Ms. Quinzel;” well, it’s actually “Dr. Quinzel,” but tomato, tomahto!”

“Right…” Danny blinked a few times before he remembered what he had been saying. “ Dr. Quinzel, I haven’t received any requests for you yet, but if I do I’ll-- goddamnit!” He swore as his phone interrupted him this time. He turned away from the villainess and answered the call in a clipped tone. “Yes?”

“This is all your fault, Johnson; I am going to make you regret ever finding that plant woman, now I’ve got some girl asking about a clown lady-”

Danny couldn’t help himself from snickering as he glanced at Harley in amusement. “Don’t worry, I can reach her easily. Just text me the info.” It satisfied him that he could hang up on her for once. “Harley, some powerful being must really like you because your wish was just granted.”

Harley jumped off the counter with an excited cheer and cartwheeled out of the kitchen. “Ivy! I got a bite-sized fan, too!”

Ivy reluctantly opened her eyes to view her hyperactive friend. “Congratulations.” She winced as Harley squealed and jumped on top of her, giving her a hug.

“I can’t wait!”

Danny sighed. “I can,” he muttered.

Chapter Text

Maybe Harley wasn't so bad.

She was definitely a hassle, but as Danny watched her make a young terminal cancer patient laugh, he found himself quite proud of the woman. As he had been warned by her mother before bringing Harley in, the girl was at the age where she knew what was going to happen to her soon and had hardly smiled in weeks. And yet, Harley had thoroughly shattered that dry spell. It pains him when he has to call an end to the visit, but the girl's doctors need to administer another round of medicine.

He pretended not to hear Harley's stage-whispered parting words. "Don'tcha worry, honey; Harley'll be back real soon!" She grinned and waved excitedly as Danny led her out the door and to the elevator, the girl's giggles floating after them. He waited to speak until the elevator doors closed behind them.

"Harley?"

"Mhmm?"

"Don't get caught."

Her amused cackle drew a smile out of him as they traveled downwards.

Danny banged his head against the wall several times as he watched the news the next morning. "...absolutely delighted to find the gifts when she woke up this morning, although it appears some of the items had been listed as stolen last night. However, when the shopkeepers were informed of where the toys had ended up, they were happy to know they had been taken for a good cause. One owner requested that, 'next time, that crazy clown lady just ask. I would've given it to her for that.'"

Gotham had only one resident "crazy clown lady," and she was currently seated on his couch. He was glad that she at least looked somewhat guilty.

"Yah did only tell me not to get caught..." she muttered. Danny sighed. She was correct. It appeared he'd just have to be more explicit with ground rules next time.

"You know how I said 'no stealing' before we visited her?" She nodded. "Okay, well that now applies for after visits as well, as long as the items are going to a child. If you want to give them something, just ask me to request it as part of their 'wish.' Alright?"

"A-okay!"

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Is that all?" Apparently it wasn't, as she tossed a phone to him. He turned it over in his hands. "What's this for?"

Harley clapped her hands happily. "Burner! Just in case yah need lil' ol' Harley again!" She jumped up and skipped to the door.

Danny nodded slowly. "Thanks, Harley," he called after her as she left with a jaunty salute. Mentally exhausted, he shut of the television and lay down in the space she had just vacated on the couch, throwing an arm over his eyes to block out the light streaming through the windows. Maybe a few minutes shut-eye would help...

He was ready to chuck his phone out the window when it rang and interrupted the calm. "What now?!" He snapped.

"'What now?' Have you seen the news?! What the hell did that woman do?"

"I did see the news, and apparently it's all okay. In fact, social media seems to find the action heartwarming," he deadpanned.

His boss huffed in frustration. "Don't expect to clean up any mess you cause, Johnson."

He rolled his eyes. "Do you have a new case for me, or is that all?"

"Chris Waters, 12. Double leg amputee. He wants to play a game of HALO with... Deadstroke? Deathshot? Doesn't matter. Just find the guy."

"Don't you mean-" Danny stared incredulously at the ceiling as she hung up. "But... those are two different people?" He swore silently to himself. Two deadly assassins- what could go wrong? He needed to make a phone call. Harley, Ivy, or Cold? Danny chose a burner at random.

"What?" A hard voice demanded. Seems he called Cold.

"It's Danny. From-"

"Yeah, the crazy bastard from the bar. What do you want?"

Danny ran a hand through his hair anxiously. "There's a kid asking to play video games with Deadshot or Deathstroke," he correctly stated their names. "Any chance you know where to find either?" There was a grunt on the other hand and a minute's worth of muffled conversation before the line became clear again.

"What the hell you want with Deadshot, mate?" A gruff Australian accent demanded. Danny's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"Uh, a kid wants to play HALO with him. He recently had both legs amputated."

A bark of laughter came from the other end. "Cold said you were insane, but he didn't say nothin' bout stupid."

"Look, will you help or not?"

"Alright, alright. Place down near Crime Alley called the Iceberg Lounge. Run by seedy fat shit named Penguin," the man spat out the name before returning to his annoyed demeanor. "Deadshot stops by there when he's in town. He'll be expectin' you."

Joy, another bar. But at least he had somewhere to start. "Thanks, mister," Danny said with genuine gratitude before he hung up.

"It's Boomerang, kid, and don't mention it."

Chapter Text

The Iceberg Lounge was not merely a bar, Danny had come to realize as he sat at a table on the second floor of the establishment. The iceberg sculpture in the middle of the main floor alone made the place stand apart from other night clubs, let alone the fact that a well-dressed band was playing jazz on top of it. He had a feeling there was much more than just the restaurant, bar, and club area that was visible, seeing as the Rogue - Boomerang- had said Penguin owned the lounge. He wasn’t stupid- almost all Gotham residents recognized his name as being behind some of the city’s organized crime.

The man also had his connections, since it appeared he knew Danny would be coming. So, for the past two nights, he had been welcomed into the VIP second floor area, the disappointed whines of other guests floating up behind him. The bouncer merely nodded at Danny as he unlinked the red velvet rope before glaring at the few that tried to sneak past. Only those with permission were allowed in the “business” area.

He snapped out of his thoughts and looked up as he sensed someone approaching his secluded spot. It wasn’t without some difficulty, but Danny managed to not widen his eyes too much at the sight of the heavily armed and armored individual that sat down across from him. The red-ish eye scope the man wore did nothing to mask the glare sent his way.

“Man, you must be some kind of stupid to be looking for people like us,” Deadshot said point blank.

Danny merely sighed. “If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard a version of that…” He flicked his fingers towards the sniper scope. “Reason for that?”

Deadshot’s glare held steady. “Lesson 1: keep all eyes open when you’re in this crowd, kid.” His lips twitched upwards slightly. “There’s over fifteen people here who could kill you in the next twenty seconds.

Fifteen? Danny counted quickly and could only spot eleven, which drew a snort from the mercenary when he voiced his findings. “Ain’t that the point?” Deadshot asked, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. “That Australian bitch said you wanted to find me. Start talking.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “There’s this kid, Chris; he’s twelve. He had both legs amputated after some complications from a car accident the other week.” He pushed the file in front of him across the table, watching with interest as the other man rifled through it. “He asked to play a round of HALO with you and Deathstroke.” Danny didn’t miss the fresh glare sent his way.

“I was right- you are some kind of stupid,” Deadshot sneered. “On the off-chance you convince me, what’s saying you’ll get him to come too?”

Danny smiled innocently. “Oh, he already knows.” He flicked his eyes towards the stairs. “You think I didn’t know that he was the bouncer?” He crossed his arms. “Who else wears an eyepatch with their disguise?” Danny wasn’t going to mention it had taken hours of internet searches and another call to Cold before his suspicions were confirmed.

It was silent for several moments before Deadshot began to chuckle; Danny watched the man in amusement. “I see what the others meant now.”

“Others?”

The assassin looked up at him as he pulled out a pen and scribbled a number onto a bit of the folder he had torn off. “Congrats, kid, you’re famous.” He handed it over before standing and nodding slightly. “Contact me about when to show up.”

Famous? Danny contemplated as Deadshot disappeared into the club. Fantastic. That was the last thing he wanted. But, if it helped with the new path his job was taking, he was fine with it. He pocketed the slip of paper and made his way out of the establishment as well. “See you on Thursday,” he called over his shoulder at the bouncer (aka Deathstroke in disguise). The man’s face remained blank, to Danny’s amusement.

It took him until halfway through his drive home to realize that he hadn’t been intimidated by either assassin. He wasn’t sure whether or not that should worry him. Maybe he was going crazy.

When he walked into his apartment to find Harley and Ivy lounging on his couch again and called out a greeting to the women, he became positive that some of his screws were loose.

“Hiya, Danny!” Harley grinned. “We needed a place to relax for a while and whadya know, your place was close by!”

He raised an eyebrow and turned towards Ivy to get the full story. “Bats was on patrol and we decided to crash here for a few hours.”

Yup. That sounded right.

“Besides, now you get to finally meet our Kitty!”

“Your wha-” Danny started to ask incredulously, but stopped short when he felt someone press up against his back and place their hands lightly on his shoulders.

“So this is the new specimen the underworld’s raging about?” The woman purred, her nails pressing ever so slightly into him. Danny carefully detached himself and spun around to face the newcomer. His eyes widened as he found himself facing a woman covered only by a towel wrapped around her torso; the fabric, which he recognized as being his, barely reached the top of her thighs.

Danny crossed his arms in annoyance. “Is that my towel?” He asked rhetorically.

The black-haired beauty shrugged nonchalantly. “Don’t worry; I used a clean one.” She smirked and slipped back into the bathroom. He really hoped she had brought a change of clothes in there.

“I should just give you ladies your own keys,” he said with a sigh, moving to sit next to Ivy.

“If you’d like to make this arrangement permanent, go ahead.” She stared at the television in amusement as Harley flipped through the channels. “Who’s the latest victim of your lovely visits?”

Danny tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling. “A pair of sassy assassins.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the slip of paper with Deadshot’s number on it. “At least he didn’t give me another burner…”

“Ooh! Nearly forgot,” Harley said excitedly, reaching into a brown backpack that rested by her feet. “Selina got this encrypted cell for yah when I mentioned that yah had too many phones-” She was cut off abruptly by Ivy slapping a hand over her mouth.

“Harley!” The green woman hissed. Danny looked over to see Harley roll her eyes. “You weren’t supposed to say her real name!”

“Sowwy?” She said from under Ivy’s hand.

Danny coughed awkwardly to remind him that they were here. “If it makes you feel better, I can stick to calling her ‘kitty.’”

“Your funeral!” The mentioned woman called from the other room.

In reality, his funeral came several days later as he escorted the pair of heavily armoured assassins into the long-term recovery ward of the hospital. Danny listed off the ever-expanding rules in place for these visits.

“No shooting real weapons, no purposefully intimidating hospital staff or family members, no answering questions about killing people, no swearing, no fighting. Got it?”

Deathstroke turned towards him; Danny was sure he was glaring under his mask. “This ain’t my first rodeo, kid.”

“It is with me, so deal with it,” Danny shot back. He gave a tight smile to a visibly frightened nurse as they stopped in front of their visitee’s door. “And remember, his name is Chris.”

“Alright, alright,” Deadshot grumbled. “Get lost.” He opened the door and led the way into the room. “What’s up, kiddo?” Danny heard him ask gruffly as Deathstroke followed him in. He caught a peek over their shoulders of Chris’s eyes brightening in excitement at their arrival.

“Woah! I can’t believe you both came!” He said happily, holding out controllers for both men to use. “The lady in charge couldn’t get either of your names right, so I was worried they wouldn’t be able to find you guys.”

Deathstroke pulled over a chair to sit beside Chris. “Never miss the opportunity to show Deadshot over here who’s the better man.”

“Oh, you’re gonna be eating your words soon, old man.”

Actually, they both did. They may be the best assassins in the world, but Chris was a far better gamer than them.

Chapter Text

The next time the Gotham City Sirens showed up at his humble abode, Danny was actually expecting them. For once, he had invited the three women over.

To his surprise, Harley at least knocked before she came in (no breaking and entering necessary; he had left the door unlocked). He didn’t even bother to fully turn and greet her, instead settling with holding up a ring with three separate keys on it. Harley excitedly squealed as she snatched it from him and held them up to the light so that they glinted and clanged together.

“Are these for us?” She asked rhetorically, clearly delighted that he had actually listened to their teasing. The other two peered over her shoulders to look at the gift.

“Well don’t just stand there,” Ivy prodded as she poked Harley in the side. “Hand them over.”

Danny watched their interaction in mild amusement for several moments; by the time he interjected, each woman was in possession of their own apartment key. “Other than taking away any reason for you all to break my locks anymore… Selina, you’ve been requested by a young fangirl.” He pretended to not notice her momentary shock that was quickly covered up by continuing to speak. “She’s four and is recovering from some pretty severe burns. Her house burned down the other week,” he elaborated.

“The poor thing,” Selina murmured. There was a tinge of anxiousness in her voice that held an unverbalized fear: what can I do to help?

“Even though she’s allergic, she loves cats,” Danny added helpfully. “Like, love loves them.”

Harley nudged her teasingly with her elbow. “Seems right up your alley, kitty.” She was met with an unimpressed stare for the attempted pun, but merely shrugged and waltzed into the kitchen.

“You can do better,” he called to her, smiling as innocently as possible towards Ivy and Selina as they turned their glares on him.

“Oh, hush,” Catwoman sneered, although the action lacked any real malice. She glided over to the couch and sat down on it as far away from his as possible.

Danny snorted in derision. “Please; you still owe me for breaking into my apartment-”

Selina clicked her tongue. “Then that would make us even now."

“Uh-huh, you also used my shower and my towel. And my shampoo!”

The darker-haired woman sighed, clearly tired of his dramatics. “What, you expected me to use Ivy’s ‘all natural’ mixtures? Sometimes a little bit of chemicals is good for you.”

From the way Ivy rolled her eyes, it was clear that this argument was a usual occurrence in their trio. She remained standing by the kitchen door; Danny suspected it was to keep an eye on whatever Harley was doing. “Like I’m going to keep unnecessary toxins around her or my plants,” the redhead muttered.

“Probably smart,” Danny conceded. A comfortable silence settled between them, so Danny turned his attention back towards the television. He snickered under his breath as he heard Selina’s complaints about him watching the news. To be honest, he had only started to watch it recently. Being involved in the affairs of the law’s unfavorable meant that sooner or later, he would be caught in the crossfire- Flash showing up had been a lucky first run in. He knew it could get much worse.

Luckily, he knew that wouldn’t happen with Selina.

She showed up- no, she waltzed into the long term ward at Gotham Children’s like it was a runway. The bombshell had forgone her catsuit and instead was wearing leather pants and an oversized sweater that hung off one shoulder and read “crazy cat lady.” With the hand that wasn’t clutching the strap of an oversized Gucci purse, she lowered her large sunglasses to meet his carefully blank expression with an amused gaze.

“Something the matter?”

Danny rolled his eyes and beckoned her to follow him. “Stop making the nurses faint and come on.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “What are you talking about-” Selina stop talking and choked back a laugh as she looked around her and took in the awestruck faces on many of the staff and visitors in the waiting area. “Ah.” She coyly blew a kiss to an older teenage boy sitting next to his mother, and Danny was positive all oxygen had stopped flowing to the kid’s brain.

“Alright, we’re going to see Ashley now before you give the hospital any more patients,” he ordered, snatching her hand and leading her down the hall. He did not want to have to go on damage control before the visit even began. “Do I even want to know what you have in the bag?”

“If it didn’t set off the metal detector, do you need to worry?”

“Yes,” he deadpanned. Noticing that they were close to the little girl’s room, he slowed their pace. “Okay, ground rules: no stealing, no intentionally intimidating nurses, no swearing, okay?”

Selina sighed in exasperation. “Fine. Can I go in now?” Danny gave a mock bow and knocked on the nearest door (not randomly, he had been told the number would be 209). Selina brushed by him with a kind smile and arms wide open. “Ashley, sweetie!”

A gasp could be heard even from his place outside of the room. “Ms. Cat-lady! You came!”

“How could I not come see a cat lover like you?” There was a pause, and Danny was sure that he heard a zipper un-zip. “I brought you something special!” Oh shit.

“Meow~”

“A kitty!”

Well fuck.

“In my defense, it was a hairless kitten. You said she was allergic to them, so I found a hypoallergenic one.”

“Not the point!”

Chapter Text

When he came to and felt his the back of his head throbbing, Danny wasn’t sure he wanted to open his eyes and see the situation he was in.

Other than his head, he couldn’t feel any pain, so at least he hadn’t been attacked harshly yet. He could, however, feel the zip ties that were currently digging into his wrists and ankles and keeping him secure to the metal chair he was seated in, which sent a chill over his arms at its cool metal touch.

Maybe it was the goosebumps, or maybe he had moved slightly when he woke up, but his captors knew he was back in the waking world. “You can stop playing possum now,” a semi-amused voice called from behind him.

Danny sighed and blearily opened his eyes, blinking several times before everything came into focus. The room (though it wasn’t really fair to call it a room, it was a fricken cave ) wasn’t as bright as he expected his confines to be. The majority of the light seemed to be coming from the giant screen in front of him, which had at its base a large chair that reminded him of one a cinematic supervillain might have. This one was just as dramatic, too, or at least the person seated on it was; they spun around slowly and quietly to face him.

Aw hell. He had been abducted by a 10 year old.

“I’m not drunk enough to deal with this,” Danny deadpanned, leaning his head back with another sigh.

Someone snorted in agreement off to his right, but that wasn’t enough incentive to get Danny to move. “Tell me about it.” He tilted his head slightly to see that- most notably- the speaker had a white streak in the front of his dark hair.

That wasn’t entirely true. The most notable thing was the red bat insignia that showed through the opening of his bomber jacket. Danny looked forward again, this time seeing with total clarity that the kid before him was none other than Robin. “Ah, the Bat-brats,” he muttered, struggling against his probable concussion to remember what the Sirens had said about them. He was pretty sure there were four in town currently…

White-streak glared at his term (which Danny only then realized they all must’ve heard) but didn’t respond. Instead, a fourth and final person chimed in. “Sounds like something straight from Poison Ivy’s mouth.”

Danny smiled, his tongue just barely showing between his teeth. “Someone’s done his homework.”

“We have.” The bite-sized Robin was talking now. “Daniel Johnson, no middle name, no surviving relatives, graduated in the top 5% of your class, worked at ‘World of Wishes’ for the past three years. However, you’ve recently become involved with the criminal side of Gotham.”

“Kid, the only illegal thing I’ve been involved in is this kidnapping. Where, I would like to point out, I am the victim."

The other two individuals entered his line of vision finally, one in a red and black suit with a black cowl and the other in a black suit with a blue… triangle… thing. “Look at this as more of a precautionary encounter; we need to make sure you aren’t a threat to the people in our city.”

Danny surveyed the shorter one with a bored expression. “‘Your city?’ Excuse me, I’ve lived here longer than you’ve been alive.”

The taller one gave a suspicious cough; Danny was positive that he was hiding a laugh. “Red Robin is essentially correct, but we-”

“Wait, wait- your superhero name is a restaurant?”

Apparently he had hit a nerve. Red Robin went from being the calmest of the four to the tensest, gritting his teeth in annoyance. White-hair-streak outright chuckled at this point. “You’re a terrible hostage.”

Danny nodded his head in mock thanks; he wished he hadn’t because now his brown hair was falling in his face slightly. “What can I say? It’s my first time.”

“Enough!” The mini-Robin hissed, leaning forward in his chair. “I would remind you that you are at our mercy! Nobody knows you’re here, and nobody would miss you if your absence became permanent.”

He narrowed his eyes in confusion. Did he really think that bluff would work? “Kid, you realize the Sirens practically live at my place, right?” The silence that followed led him to believe that the four were not aware of this development.

“I fucking told you-”

“Damian! Does your father know you’re using that type of language?” An amused voice echoed around the cave; after the course of their conversation, Danny didn’t think the Bat-kids could tense any further. He was wrong. “And Dick! How come you didn’t tell me you were back in town? I had to find out from Alfred!”

“Selina,” the boys chorused, though nobody missed the quieter “Sorry, Mami” from the eldest.

The click of heels sounded as Selina walked into Danny’s view. Huh. Somehow, this was the first time he had seen her in her ‘Catwoman’ outfit. He felt her nails/claws dig into his cheeks slightly as she bent down and tilted his head upwards. “Who gave him a black eye?” He had a black eye? No wonder his head hurt.

“It was Jason!” The other three pointed at White-streak (although Danny supposed he could now call him Jason). Jason scowled at them.

“Next time one of you needs me to cover your asses, do not expect help,” he hissed.

Selina rolled her eyes. “Hold still,” she murmured before slashing at the restraints on his wrists and ankles. Danny attempted to stand up, but ended up blindly reaching out for support as he tried to find his balance. “Steady, kitten.” He muttered his thanks as she began to lead him towards the exit.

“You can’t just take him!” Damian exclaimed, jumping from his seat, but one look from Dick and he stopped in his tracks.

Danny hung his head and let out a breathy laugh, causing him and Selina to pause mid-step. “I’d love to stay, but there’s a bottle of vodka with my name on it waiting for me back at my apartment. Dick, Jason, restaurant, bite-size,” he glanced at each of them in turn, taking pleasure out of the younger two’s annoyance, “see you around town.”

“How’d you know he was there, ‘Lina?”

“Oh, Alfred texted me. He knew those boys were doing something stupid.”

Danny exhaled loudly and shifted in his sleep, causing the women to lower their voices.

“Maybe we could just put a bitty tracker-”

“Harley, we’re not surgically putting anything in him.”

“Aw, you’re such a party pooper, Red.”

The three were silent for several moments. “Could always put somethin’ in his watch?”

“...actually, that’s not such a bad idea…”

“You guys know I’m awake, right?”

Chapter Text

Danny had figured that putting some space between him and Gotham for a few days was healthy. Everybody needed a change in scenery sometimes, and he figured it was appropriate to do so after being kidnapped.

If he was being honest, this was more for his kidnappers sake than his. Red Robin and regular Robin (talk about lack of originality) probably needed a bit of time to cool off after having been bested by a civilian.

If he was being really honest, though, it was mostly for the Sirens, to make sure the new tracker in his watch worked over long distances. Some arguments you just can’t win.

Of course, there had also been the matter that he had a case out in Metropolis. Danny hadn’t originally considered it a normal one for him (not that any truly fell under that category), seeing as Lex Luthor was a well-known and respected public figure. That belief was quickly dashed when Ivy informed him that Luthor was a prominent figure in the underworld she frequented as well. Perhaps that was another reason why no one else wanted to approach the man for this child’s request.

Danny tried not to let the intimidation set in as he walked up to Luthor’s secretary where she sat behind her desk. In his opinion, she held herself much more like a bodyguard than a typical secretary. Harley’s reminder echoed in the back of his mind as he shot the woman a smile and informed her he was here for a scheduled meeting.

Trust me, that lady sure knows how to start a fight!

Start one?

Yessir, Harley said, Luthor’s the one that finishes them.

“Mr. Johnson?” The woman asked as she stood, drawing his attention back to her. “Mr. Luthor is ready to see you.” He nodded at her in thanks and walked through the door she held open for him.

“Mr. Johnson, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Luthor’s strong voice floated down from the raised area where his wide, curved desk sat. The man himself was walking towards Danny and shook his hand firmly once the two were close enough.

“Likewise, Mr. Luthor, but let’s cut to the chase so we don’t waste any of each other’s time,” he replied, hell bent on treating the business mogul the same as everyone else. Danny handed him the file folder he had been carrying, pausing for a minute as Luthor flipped through the pages containing details on the child. “His name is Ian Trent; he was recently admitted to the long term recovery ward after it was discovered he had been abused by his single father for years. Right now he’s in the protective custody of his godmother.” Danny observed the tightening of Luthor’s jaw with interest. “He’s going to be in the hospital for quite some time still; they had to reset multiple broken bones and his ribs were cracked in several places, along with a few infected lacerations…”

“I’ve heard enough,” Luthor snapped, his eyes blazing with an anger that wasn’t specifically directed at Danny (at least he hoped it wasn’t). “I will be visiting the child tomorrow and setting up a charity fund in his honor for other children who have suffered like him.”

Danny’s eyes widened in shock. He certainly hadn’t expected that to happen. “Oh, Mr. Luthor, that’s very generous but-”

“Will you need a form of contact for tomorrow?” Luthor asked him, rage still visibly simmering beneath the surface.

“Um… a phone number would be great…” Danny trailed off as he wordlessly accepted the offered business card from the man. “Does one o’clock work for you?”

“Sounds perfect.” Luthor gave him a strained smile. “I’ll see you then, Mr. Johnson.”

“So does any of that sound… normal for Luthor?” Danny stared blankly at the ceiling as he spoke loud enough for his voice to be picked up while on speakerphone. He was lying on the pristine white bed in his hotel room, chatting with Ivy as a way to pass some time.

“Sounds like a question for Superman,” she said in a dry tone, signaling the statement to be sarcastic.

“Funny thing is, you’re probably right, though,” Danny replied with a snort. “But seriously.”

He could practically hear her shrug over the phone. “Who knows? Luthor’s very private.” She paused, allowing Danny’s end to be filled with static caused by her silence. “You’re avoiding what you really called for.”

He sighed, running a hand through his hair anxiously as his shoulders sagged in defeat. Perhaps he wasn’t as subtle as he thought he was when it came to these things. “How was the funeral?”

“Fuck you for making me care about her,” Ivy snapped, her voice breaking in the process. “Her mother gave me some of her drawings and one of her succulents. Melody was a sweet thing.”

Danny hummed in defeated agreement. This was the inevitable downside to his job: the loss of his wishers, children cursed to a brief existence. Each loss left him feeling hollow, even though he knew it was beyond his control. At least this time, he didn’t have to go through it alone. “She adored you.”

“Didn’t matter much in the long run.”

“Try telling that to her family and see how far that argument goes,” he retorted. He took her lack of response to mean she had conceded the point. “What are you going to do with her plant?”

“Put it with my other succulents, of course. Can’t have it getting lonely.”

Danny couldn’t tell if she was joking or not, but at this point he had learned just to go with it. “Give it a… pat for me?”

“Sure thing. Have fun with Luthor.”

“Not sure that’s possible.”

Chapter Text

Lex Luthor had been a surprise to not only Danny but the entire hospital as well. It was strange: there had always been stares with the other guests he had escorted to these meet and greets, but it was on another level with Luthor. He was almost on a godlike tier, and part of that he found out later was because he regularly donated huge amounts of money to the Metropolis Children’s Hospital. Luthor was different from many of the heroes (or villains), though in the sense that many regular people never had an opportunity to interact with him or see him in person. In contrast, Superman was waving down at the town’s citizens every other day. Lex Luthor was far more detached from the general populous than those with the superhuman abilities.

For Ian, a little boy who had lived in fear of his own father for years , this respected figure was somehow able to do more for him in a few minutes than someone like Superman could ever do.

Truthfully, Danny thought the visit affected Luthor more than Ian. The man had been incredibly tense in the presence of the other adults there on Ian’s behalf, and yet interacting with the boy seemed to be like second nature to him. The two played with a miniature Lexcorp drone, sending it flying down the hallways and into other rooms to the delight of other children. Danny did notice that he flinched whenever he glanced at the pink scar on the boy’s cheek, which had been a parting gift from his father.

Perhaps that’s why he wasn’t too surprised by Luthor’s murmured parting words to Ian, even as they brought a hopeful glimmer into the boy’s blue eyes: “If I made it out okay, you will too.”

It was also part of the reason he wasn’t too surprised on hearing that Ian’s father was the latest victim of the lynchings that often occurred at the State Prison due to lax enforcement. While he wasn’t one to celebrate a person’s death, Danny didn’t try to stop the ghost of a smile from flitting across his face as he read the news on his phone.

His satisfaction quickly turned into exasperation as his screen showed an incoming phone call from Selina. The Sirens did not seem to be handling this long-distance thing well: Harley had spammed him with pictures of pets in cute outfits and Ivy had created and sent him a new Pinterest board about small house plants (since he needed more “green” in his apartment). Danny sighed as the phone rang for the third time and he finally picked up.

“What is it, kitty?” He asked in a slightly weary tone.

The voice on the other side of the phone, while amused, was decidedly not Selina. “No, but she was the one who let me contact you. I’m Batgirl.”

“Oh, come on,” Danny groaned, sliding down on the couch so his head and feet rested on opposite arms. “How many of you are there again?”

“Depends on the day,” Batgirl replied with a chuckle. “Just wanted to give you a heads up, though. Supes is on your six; have a fun chat!” The connection clicked off as she hung up.

Danny took the phone away from his ear and glared at it. Of course Superman was going to interrupt him during his downtime. How come the supposedly evil villains had better manners than the heroes? Life wasn’t fair.

He figured that he might as well properly greet the Man of Steel. Did Superman even drink hotel mini bar beers? Danny shrugged. He’d find out soon enough.

The hotel room didn’t have much of a balcony (there was barely enough room to walk out onto it), but Danny opened the sliding door out of politeness. There was no point in letting the man potentially break the glass when trying to enter. He leaned against the doorframe, mindlessly sipping from one of the drinks as he awaited the hero.

Danny didn’t know much about Superman outside of the normal events that merited press releases (so, all of them). He didn’t see a need to care too much about what the hero was up to on a weekly basis. He cared even less recently, but that was due to worrying more about whatever the hell the criminals he was around were up to. The world’s a big place, and Danny was only one guy.

Besides, his run in with the Batbrats had soured his feelings towards anyone associated with the Justice League. Although now, he supposed Batgirl was an exception to this along with Jason, since he has left Danny a bottle of vodka outside of his flat. It made the kidnapping experience a bit more tolerable.

Sadly, his mini-bar mini beer didn’t seem like it was going to make this encounter any more tolerable. He looked up with tired resignation at the red-caped man hovering a few feet above him.

“Superman,” he said flatly, tipping back the last of his drink.

The hero raised an eyebrow in what seemed to be a mix of confusion and amusement. “Mr. Johnson. Do you mind…?” He didn’t bother to finish his question, as Danny moved back from the doorway and gestured for him to enter the hotel room. “It seems like you were expecting me.”

“I’m psychic,” Danny said sarcastically, staring at his guest calculatingly. “Let me guess: this is about Lex Luthor?”

Superman gave him a tight smile. “You might be onto something with that ‘psychic’ power of yours.” All signs of humor vanished from his expression. “However, you don’t know the things that Luthor - or any of those other villains- have done. They’ve hurt and killed-”

Danny abruptly raised a hand as he was speaking. “Let me stop you right there. What they do outside of the few hours they visit a kid in a hospital is not my business. Mr. Luthor was a perfect gentleman yesterday and that child he visited smiled for the first time in months.” He glared at the man. “He is that child’s hero, and I don’t appreciate you coming to my hotel room uninvited and unannounced to lecture me like you’re my mother.”

Superman’s eyes narrowed cautiously. “I don’t think you understand what you’re getting into.”

Danny huffed in derision. “I’m aware of the risks, and in this case, I’m aware that the child’s father was the real villain and not your nemesis.”

“These people are dangerous-”

“Excuse me, but so far I’ve been stalked and kidnapped by you superheroes, not villains!”

Obviously Superman had been left out of the loop. “What?”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Go ask some Robins named Red and Bite-sized.”

The look on his face let Danny know Batman would be in for some questioning when Superman returned to their headquarters.

Chapter Text

Why couldn’t every villain have a home base? Life would be so much easier. Or, at least, his life would be so much easier.

It was only supposed to be a quick pit stop to find this lady for some kid who had been obsessed with the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland since watching the movie. Just his luck that it was three hours later, and he was hiking in a forest in the middle of nowhere. Deathstroke had sent him the coordinates of where she was, but it wasn’t like Danny was a seasoned tracker. Google Maps was his limit most of the time.

Now was an exception, apparently.

As he paused for a quick drink from his water bottle (thank god for his hindsight), Danny realized something that would’ve saved him so much time and effort. Wow, was he stupid. He was being watched. Hopefully, it was Cheshire.

Might as well sit and wait for the assassin to make her move. He knew she would; Cheshire wouldn’t be one to leave loose ends that might give away her position to others… Maybe he should start singing.

“Always look on the bright side of death, just before you take your terminal breath,” he began at a normal tone. Apparently, that was all she needed.

“Alright, alright: enough with the caterwauling. I’m the cat here,” Cheshire cringed, slinking out of the trees behind him. The annoyance on her face was as clear as day, especially since her ever-present mask was hanging loosely in one hand. In Danny’s opinion, the term “villain” didn’t really seem to fit her, but he supposed “assassin” was a synonym for it (at least to his boss). “What do you want?”

Danny raised an eyebrow in response to semi-rhetorical query. Her glare kept him from giving a sarcastic answer this time. “Eight year old with lymphoma really likes the Cheshire cat, hence why I tracked you down.”

He wouldn’t categorize Cheshire’s expression as ‘sad,’ but it was somewhere near that line. Her shoulders visibly slumped under the weight of what he said. “How long have they got?”

He held up his index finger in a “give me a second” gesture and pulled out a folded piece of notebook paper from his jean pocket. Unfolding it, Danny sighed as he read the child’s information. “Mina’s doctors aren’t sure, but they’re not optimistic.”

“I’ll be there tomorrow.”

It took him a moment to react to her quick response. “Damn... okay. Blüdhaven General, Children’s Ward.” He stood up and moved to start heading back down the path. “Wait, do you need my num-”

She grinned in amused. “Your burner number? Don’t worry, I already got it.” Cheshire gave him a lazy salute. “You can go back to your ‘singing’ now; if you keep it up, you’ll be able to shatter glass soon!”

“I’m not that bad,” Danny muttered in annoyance as he turned his back to the emerald clad assassin and began the trek back.

Danny closed his apartment door and slid down against it until he was sitting on the floor, his bad discarded at his feet. He was so done after tracking down the assassin that falling asleep on the carpet seemed like a good idea.

Of course, his roommates had other plans.

“It’s about time you got back,” Selina snapped from the sofa. Danny wearily looked up to see her sitting with her legs crisscrossed and a gallon tub of chocolate ice cream rested in her lap.

“Who stepped on your tail?” He sneered half-heartedly, dragging himself back up again. He left his bag where it was and plopped next to Selina on the couch. He snatched the spoon from her hand, eliciting a hiss of annoyance from the woman. Danny promptly ignored her and shoveled a heaping of ice cream into his mouth.

Harley’s voice filtered through from the bathroom. “Kitty had a run in with Bats. He must’ve forgot a goodnight kiss.”

“Shut up. You’re in there sulking because Ivy went out on the town without you,” Selina shot back, reclaiming the spoon from Danny as he glared at her.

Harley’s pout was audible in her response. “Well, there ain’t no reason tah be so mean.”

Danny sighed, grabbing the spoon back from Selina as she moved to scoop out some more ice cream. “I think I’m already planning my next trip. Who’s the farthest villain from here?”

Selina’s eyes narrowed at him. “You could always try the Phantom Zone.”

“No need to be so bitchy,” he retorted, rolling his eyes. Selina’s barbs didn’t do much to him at this point.

“Oh please, darling: I’m not bitchy– I’m catty.”

Maybe he should just stay away from women. Between superheroes and supervillains, they somehow managed still to be the most unpredictable and intimidating.

For example, if Deadshot had been the one entertaining the young children in the hospital’s play area, Danny would feel comfortable dragging him away to stop scaring the parents. But when Cheshire was the one with a little boy on her lap and several other kids sitting around her as she told a story, it became a much bigger headache.

When a popular blog run by a mother in town praised the assassin for her nurturing and caring attitude towards both the sick wish child and the others in the play area, Danny sent Cheshire and the blogger the biggest chocolate themed gift basket he could find.

The cat paw phone case that had shown up on his coffee table was a nice ‘thank you.’ The copy of “Singing: for Dummies” was not as appreciated.

Chapter Text

When Danny had bad days, they tended to be really bad. Like not “I spilled coffee on my lap” bad or “I totaled my car” or even “my dog died” bad. Really, really bad.

His day started out at around 6 A.M. when his next wish child took a turn for the worse overnight. All Cammie had wanted was to see a rainbow one last time, but the odds of that naturally occurring in the sight of her hospital window was slim, even slimmer with her having only hours left. Danny was forced to GPS track the Weather Wizard through his cell phone (seriously, villains were just as clueless as everyone else sometimes) and drag him out of bed so they could make it in time.

It was painful to stand in the corner of the room and watch Weather Wizard sit next to the frail little girl and hold her hand. She was smiling as he caused rainbows to shimmer in and out of existence with his “weather wand.” (Wow, did that make him cringe). The fleeting smile that came to his face with the thought slipped away at the reminder of why they were there.

A glance over to Cammie’s father, who was desperately trying to hold back tears from where he sat on his daughter’s other side, only made Danny’s stomach drop more. The only thing that was keeping him grounded was Cammie’s weak voice asking “Mr. Mark” to make more rainbows.

The villain did so for 28.5 minutes more until her breathing stopped and her eyes turned glassy.

Watching her father completely break down was a punch to the gut. He clung to his daughter’s hand, pleading her to wake up as his previously stubborn tears freely flowed down his cheeks.

Weather Wizard bowed his head in silence for several moments before he gently set Cammie’s still hand down and made his way around the bed to lay a comforting hand on her father’s shoulder. The man only sobbed harder.

Danny closed his eyes and rested his head back against the wall. Sometimes he really hated his job.

It was noon now. He was sitting stiffly on the couch with Ivy, both of them petting the succulents that had belonged to Melody, the little girl that idolized Ivy. She now knew what such a loss felt like, and had shown up within five minutes of hearing the news. The two of them had moved the couch so they could stare out the window in silence, watching the people of Gotham walk by like tiny ants on the sidewalks below them.

“She was seven,” Danny finally said blankly.

“Mhmm,” Ivy quietly agreed. “And Melody was five.”

“The universe fucking sucks.”

The redhead let out a sharp exhale to signal the dark amusement she found in his statement. “Yup.” They both looked down at his lap as his phone began to ring in his pocket. “Fate’s got something against you right now.”

Danny sighed and answered the call from his boss. “Johnson.”

“You’ve got a pair here. First one’s a girl, really likes the Cheetah lady for whatever reason.”

“Fine. What else?”

He could hear her grumble about it for several seconds before answering. “There’s a little boy who wants to meet that clown guy, Joke-”

Danny’s eyes widened in shock as Ivy ripped the phone from his hand and threw it as hard as she could against the wall to their right, where it cracked on impact. “Wh- what the hell did you do that for?!”

Her glare made it seem like she gained laser vision overnight. “You are not letting that crazy fucking bastard anywhere NEAR a child, do you hear me?” Her hand was clenched around one of his wrists.

He stared at her incredulously. “Ivy, you don’t seriously think I would consider that for even a second, right?” As her expression relaxed, he rolled his eyes. “I know he’s unhinged. I know he’d probably kill them. I was going to tell my boss ‘no way in hell,’” he glanced at his ruined work phone, “but you kind of beat me to it.”

At least Ivy seemed slightly apologetic for her impulsive action. “Oops.”

Danny couldn’t help but laugh at her blunt statement. “Oops indeed.” His gaze fell back to his busted phone. “Wonder Woman was last seen in London, right?”

The villainess shrugged, sitting back down and petting the succulent once again. “Sounds like somewhere the princess would be.”

“Hm. I wonder if I could borrow Lex’s private jet for this one.”

Turns out he could borrow Lex’s private jet.

“-on the plane to London now. I thought he would be in New York longer, but maybe he was just meeting with someone?”

“Definitely not the case. G-dad was still pretty stressed over it, but mainly ‘cause Artemis showed up and kept him from racing out across half the country.”

“What are you two doing?” The two teens jumped as the girl spoke from behind them, her hand on her hips and eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“...nothing?”

“Well not exactly nothing ‘cause Robin told Red Robin who told Wonder who told Guardian who told Arsenal who told-”

“Don’t you mean Red told other Robin?”

The two boys looked at each other and shook their heads in unison. “Nah!”

Batgirl sighed. “I’m not sure I care anymore. Nope. Not my problem.” She left them to their conversation. Besides, it was always best to hear these things straight from the source.

Chapter Text

The one good thing about having a phone solely for dealing with villains (other than the fact Ivy hadn’t smashed it into the wall) was that Danny didn’t have to stalk many anymore. Even better, they didn’t have to stalk him.

“Have to” being the operative term. They weren’t about to stop doing something they enjoyed (to his annoyance).

For instance, he should’ve known that even though he had planned to meet with Cheetah at the London Zoo, she would decide to abduct him straight from the airport instead. Alright... so maybe he deserved that one.

“Something tells me you didn’t want to see the lions,” he said snidely to her and she weaved in and out of traffic. She was used to city driving, that was clear, but he questioned how much practice she had with driving on the left side of the road recently.

“Are you such a dick to everyone?” She snapped back.

“Only to kitties I like. Where are we going, anyways?”

Cheetah glanced behind them and made a sharp left turn in response, causing a symphony of car horns to go off from those driving around them. “Away from the punks chasing us.”

Danny leaned his head back into his headrest with a sigh. “Please tell me it’s not the Batbrats.” He smiled as the nickname drew a laugh out of her.

“If it is, it would only be the tiny one.” She grit her teeth in frustration and swerved around a pair of cars stopped at a red light, causing Danny to cuss under his breath. “Wonderbrat is here with Wonderbitch, I know. Saw the Blue Beetle while waiting outside the airport. I assume they’re not the only ones.”

“Good to know.”  A flash of scarlet caught his eye, and he looked out the window to see the red… figure swoop down on top of a building. “Well, you were right about Wonderkid.”

“Goddamnit!” The two lurched forward as she slammed on the brakes. Danny peered up to see that a red and yellow boy was standing directly in front of their car; in a few seconds, he was joined by who Danny assumed to be Blue Beetle.

“You could’ve run them over?” He offered, receiving a grin from the hybrid. “Alright. Let’s see if I can get us out of this.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door so he could step out. Apparently, this was threatening enough for Wonderkid to land with a green bird that morphed into a boy. “Huh. Another quartet.”

“Sir, if you could please back away from the car-” Blue Beetle said, only for Danny to cut him off.

“What are you, 12? Kid, this is my rental. Mind your own business.” Danny crossed his arms challengingly. “Next?”

“Hey, mister! You’ve got a supervillain in there, so step aside and let us do our job!” The red kid said. Danny noticed he had a lightning bolt on his chest, so he figured this was a speedster.

“Good job standing up for your friend, Speedy.” Danny laughed as he heard him complain I’m Kid Flash! quietly. “Hey Cheetah, you’ve been upgraded to ‘super!’”

Cheetah threw him a not-so-nice gesture from where she sat still in the car, causing him and the green boy to snicker. “You, I like,” Danny said, pointing at the kid. “Okay, Wonderkid, what’ve you got?”

“It’s Wonder Girl,” she snapped, “and I’ve got the big guns.”

“Bloody hell,” Cheetah muttered as she finally got out of the car, watching as another figure flew down from the clouds.

Did all superhumans take lessons in dramatic timing?

“Wonder Woman,” Danny said bluntly as a greeting. He knew when to not cross a line.

Kid Flash appeared to not take kindly to his self control. “What, no sarcastic comment?”

Danny raised an eyebrow, questioning his behavior. “I tend to refrain from pissing off Amazon warriors.”

Wonder Woman seemed to find his statement amusing, as he could see she smirked at his words. “And yet you accompany this thief?”

He shrugged, doing his best to ignore that a crowd had gathered around them. They were sure to be all over the internet by now. “Just doing my job. A double-amputee nine year old girl wants to meet her. Used to run races and was nicknamed “cheetah” by her friends.”

The Amazon nodded her head in understanding. “An honorable task. I see no reason to impede your journey any further-” Danny had to keep himself from snickering at the flicker of annoyance that passed over Wonder Girl’s face “-as long as Cheetah returns the Egyptian necklace she stole from the Natural History Museum this morning.”

Cheetah only shrugged innocently when he turned to glare at her. She did hand over the artifact, however.

Well, she actually threw it at her nemesis. Not that it did anything; Wonder Woman caught it without batting an eye. After a quick farewell, the heroes were off. Danny took this as their cue to leave.

“Thanks for the heads-up on latest your criminal action,” he grumbled, climbing back into the passenger's seat. Cheetah shrugged again.

“Heard you hang with Catwoman; not my fault you didn’t expect it.”

He crossed his arms and slouched in his seat as she started the car and shot off back towards Heathrow. “Not my fault you all are compulsive petty thieves.”

Cheetah snorted and flipped her orange hair over her shoulders. “Hey, you’re the one who called me a ‘supervillain’ a few minutes ago.”

“Yeah, and it’ll be the last time I ego-boost one of you.”

“No it won’t.”

Sigh. “I know.”

“Out of all the times for you to be silent, Gar, you chose today?”

Beast Boy rolled his eyes. “Bart seemed to have that one covered. Maybe he was being a bit… impulsive.” He ducked his head down and snickered.

Kid Flash slouched in frustration. “He thought I was Speedy.”

Wonder Girl patted him comfortingly on the shoulder. “He’s not the first to make that mistake, and he certainly won’t be the last.”

“He called you ‘Wonderkid,’” Blue Beetle pointed out from where he was seated on the other side of the table. Besides Beast Boy, he was the only one who was touching his food.

Wonder Girl’s jaw clenched in annoyance at his words. “I remember.”

“I liked him,” Garfield said, biting into an apple.

“That’s only because he liked you,” Blue Beetle commented. Gar didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact.

“Now I’m starting to understand why Flash doesn’t like him too much. Or Robin,” Kid Flash added.

“Robin doesn’t like anyone,” Zatanna said as she walked by with a food tray in hand. Her commented caused all four teens to struggle to hide their laughter (because there was always a chance of Robin finding out).

Chapter Text

“Selina.”

“Pussy.”

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed loudly as the Brit narrowed her eyes threateningly. “Clearly, you both need to be on leashes.” He had just only stepped off of Luthor’s private jet, but Catwoman and Cheetah were already at it. “Weren’t dogs supposed to be the territorial ones?”

“Dogs are petty,” Selina brushed his words aside mindlessly.

“Like this isn’t?” He grumbled. He was jet-lagged; he didn’t need to deal with this on top of escorting a super villain while exhausted. Maybe if I walk off, they’ll at least follow…

It took eight minutes and sixteen seconds before Cheetah actually caught up to him at the airport parking garage. “You could do better,” she commented, adjusting her aviator shades.

Danny rolled his eyes. He was used to the remarks on every aspect of his life at that point. “And yet here I am.”

Cheetah snorted in amusement. “She taught you well.”

He raised his eyebrows in faux-confusion. “What are you talking about? That’s all from Ivy.” He smirked at her surprise and unlocked his car, ducking into the driver’s seat before she could respond. Danny had started the engine before she had even scrambled into the passenger seat.

“Running a harem out of your apartment?” She teased.

Danny wasn’t sure whether to laugh or choke on his own spit. “Not that I’m aware of,” he finally managed. “It’s more like an Airbnb at this point.” He paused as he backed the car out of the space and started them on their way to Gotham Children’s Hospital. “Or it would be, if any of the guests paid rent.”

“Two squatters must be terrible,” Cheetah replied sarcastically. She had discovered her seat controls and had now filled the car with the constant sound of whirring as she moved the seat back up and down.

“Don’t wear that out,” Danny hissed, ignoring her comment entirely. She didn’t need to know he actually had three roommates.

She sighed dramatically before leaving it so she was laying down. “If it broke, I’d just get you a new one.”

“I think it’d be easier to leave it broken than get a new seat,” he muttered. He made her flinch and glare at him in annoyance as he honked his horn at a driver who cut them off.

“Oh please, I was talking about a new car. ”

“Would you stop it with the stealing already?!”

She pointed a manicured nail at herself as she laid back again. “Thief, sweetie.”

Danny narrowed his eyes but he kept his gaze on the road, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of having gained his attention. “Don’t get too comfortable; we’re basically there.”

“Hard to get comfortable with your driving.”

Danny made sure to slam on the brakes at the next stop light.

It was always nice seeing the suppressed caring side to such notorious villains. Danny sat off to the side of the visiting room as Cheetah and the young girl played Mario Kart Wii (since she couldn’t run races anymore, she was adamant on getting better at car races instead). A few other children had joined them over the past hour, and now there was a cheering section for the players.

A lot less parents seemed nervous about this guest than some of the others he had brought into the hospital. Of course, the other visits had ended up all over the internet anyways, so he assumed people were just starting to get used to it. A few had approached him and asked the normal questions at this point: who is she, is she safe, is my kid safe. Danny just responded with a gentle smile and truthful reassurance as always: no kid would be harmed on his watch.

It was rare for Danny to be approached by a child, though; they tended to immediately gravitate towards their special visitor. Today looked like it was going to be different, as a shorter figure shakily moving towards him caught his attention.

“Chris?” He was shocked to see the boy who had played video games with Deadshot and Deathstroke walking. Chris had lost both his lower legs in a car crash, and a few weeks ago had been in a wheelchair. Now, even though he had crutches, he was most certainly upright.

Chris smiled widely. “They told me your name was Mr. Johnson,” he said excitedly. “I never got to thank you for finding both of… them,” the boy finished in a hushed voice, like they were speaking in code about a shared secret.

Danny internally cringed at being addressed so formally, but shook his head to dismiss Chris’ attempt at secrecy. “You can say their names, kiddo,” he chuckled. “And don’t worry about it. I could tell you were psyched to meet them.”

“You don’t know the half of it!” Chris reached down and pulled up one of his pant legs. “I don’t know how they did it, but Deadshot and Deathstroke found a way to get these for me! We’d never have been able to afford it,” he admitted, “but now I can walk again!”

Danny leaned down to examine the prosthetic more closely. It appeared to be a generic version - nothing obvious about it was abnormal - aside from the blatant red and black coloration that matched both mercenaries outfits. “That’s awesome,” he said with genuine enthusiasm.

Chris lifted his fist for Danny to bump. “All thanks to you.” He gave Danny a happy wave as he steadily moved over to the continuing Mario Kart competition. The current game that was being projected onto the wall showed Cheetah with a small lead that quickly vanished when she was hit with a blue shell. He laughed as she playfully traded taunts with her wishee.

He could literally feel the tension in the room increase as the villainess’ shoulders tensed and her eyes flashed in his direction. A glance over his shoulder confirmed that her unease was due to a newcomer in the room. The woman was tall with dark hair and blue eyes that matched the trench coat she wore. Danny stared at her blankly while he thought over Cheetah’s reaction again before it all clicked into place.

“Didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” he greeted, taking the gamble on his theory as the woman approached him.

“Mr. Johnson,” she nodded her head politely, “I figured it would be appropriate to meet formally after our short encounter earlier. I do apologize that your trip to London was so… hectic.”

Bingo. He offered his hand for a handshake. “Obviously I shouldn’t refer to you by your ‘professional’ title?”

She smiled wryly at his subtle sarcasm and shook his hand. “Diana is fine for now, Mr. Johnson.” Her gaze flickered over to where Cheetah was surrounded by the group of children. “She’s behaving?”

Danny’s expression was indifferent, even though he was slightly offended Wonder Woman had asked, even if it was rhetorical. “She’s not an animal,” he replied with a slight edge.

“Of course not,” the Amazon agreed. “But it is always wise to err on the side of caution when managing multiple variables.”

He snorted in derision. “Why do you think I’ve been keeping my distance from your coworkers?”

An amused smirk slid onto her face. “Minerva, try not to make your loss look so suspicious,” she said in a normal tone instead of answering. They both knew Cheetah could hear her, and the heightened sound of shouts and laughs was evidence that her revitalized gaming was proving entertaining.

Danny and Diana stood and watched the game through to its end. The young girl who had asked for her to visit was ultimately victorious, but Cheetah didn’t have a problem with that. This was one princess it was okay to be beaten by.

Chapter Text

Apparently, there were some limits to what villains Danny was able to look for on his own. He learned this the hard way via a loud lecture from Ivy and Harley after they learned of his next wisher's request.

"It doesn't matter how sick the kid is: he's unpredictable!" Harley finally shouted, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

Danny huffed in annoyance. "That's rich coming from you," he muttered.

Ivy's gaze narrowed dangerously. "Be nice."

"Well, let me do my job then," he pouted dramatically, ignoring Harley's delighted squeals over Ivy defending her.

Selina spoke up from where she was lounging in the kitchen, probably drinking a nice cup of tea while listening to the three of them argue. "Technically, there's nothing in your job description that says you have to track him down on your own."

"What, so you want to come with?"

"Don't be ridiculous," she said, leaning around the corner to actually join the three of them with her mug of tea in hand. "You don't pay enough for me to babysit."

"And you don't help me pay rent even though you've practically moved in," Danny shot back.

Selina dismissed his annoyance and her fellow Sirens' laughter with a casual wave of her hand. "Regardless, a little birdie owes me a favor, and I think he can be trusted to keep you alive. Probably."

Ivy sighed in defeat while Harley merely shrugged, leaving her position of towering over Danny to sit criss-cross on the carpet. "Well, at least he won't be goin' alone anymore."

Danny, however, was more focused on the uncertainty that he'd make it out alive. "What do you mean he'd 'probably' keep me alive?! Excuse me, but I have no desire to change my current state of alive-ness."

"Oh please," Selina rolled her eyes at his dramatics and took a leisurely sip of her drink. "Jason doesn't hate you that much."

"Just because I don't 'hate' you, doesn't mean I like you either," Jason grunted as the two of them trudged through the dark streets in Gotham's warehouse district. According to basically everyone who was anyone in the criminal world, Bane had set up shop in one of the many decrepit buildings on the outskirts of the town. No one cared enough to know what he was doing or which one he was in, though, so Jason and Danny had been checking each one over the past four hours.

Tracking down a supervillain this time felt much more… "real" to Danny. Ivy and Selina had practically forced Jason to give Danny some of his kevlar gear (in reality, Jason had nicked some of Dick's stuff instead and threatened Danny's life if he told). Danny definitely felt secure in his new outfit, but only after he had covered up the Nightwing insignia on his chest with a leather jacket.

"You like me enough to give me some help with my fashion sense," Danny snickered in reply.

Jason snorted derisively. "That's just because I couldn't be seen in public with you dressed as a prep. Think of the damage it'd do to my image." He held up a hand to stop their motion and raised his gun into a ready position as they approached the next warehouse. Danny shut his mouth quickly and drew his own handgun, although granted, it was miniscule in comparison to Jason's.

It felt strange referring to the notorious "Red Hood" simply as "Jason," since he knew he wasn't actually supposed to know any of the Bat-clan's names. To be fair, he shouldn't be rooming with the Sirens either, but his life didn't want to follow any rules anymore. He supposed it'd feel a tad more comfortable to call a companion by his last name, but Danny had a sneaking suspicion that he'd be found dead in a ditch if he asked about Jason's.

The two snuck into the old warehouse, automatically turning in separate directions to cover the entire 360 degrees. It became clear fairly fast that there was no visible threat, so both men lowered their weapons slightly.

Jason sighed. "I still can't believe you brought that peashooter."

Danny shrugged. "Not all of us have easy access to grenade launchers."

A deep voice rang out from above them. "Lucky for me." Danny's gaze warily rose to find the man they were looking for staring down at them through a hole in the floor on the next level. "Otherwise, I would feel threatened."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Jason tense and move to fire at Bane. That wouldn't end well either way, so Danny stepped forward to stop them before they could start. "Mr. Bane, I came here to ask if you could visit a sick child."

It was hard to gauge the reaction of someone with a mask on. "Why would you be so foolish to hunt me down for a child's sake?"

Danny shrugged, not having a complicated reason. "A little boy with muscular dystrophy asked to see you. You try turning down a seven year old; they can be pretty persuasive." He tried not to show his surprise and uncertainty as Bane jumped down through the hole to land on the ground in front of them. They all ignored the cracks that formed where his feet landed.

"I have heard about you, Danny Johnson. You have never before approached others with a shadow."

"My roommates are overprotective and said if I didn't have a bodyguard, they'd handcuff me to the refrigerator. So I wouldn't starve," he elaborated when the two masked men turned towards him.

"Guess my life isn't so crazy," he heard Jason mutter as he finally lowered his gun.

Bane nodded his head; whether it was in agreement with Jason or understanding at his statement, Danny didn't know. It wasn't important at this point, either. He unzipped his jacket, pulled out the folded 'wisher filer' he had on the little boy, and gave it to Bane. "Ian, that's the kid's name, his birthday's coming up next Tuesday. The hospital asks if you could come during his party to minimize interruptions in his physical therapy."

The large man read over the file's contents in a few minutes before closing it and (Danny assumed) looking in his direction. "I will see you in Blüdhaven then, Johnson. Now, if you and Red Hood would be so kind?" He gestured towards the door they came in through.

Danny gave him a polite nod of his head before he spun on his heel and left, noticing that he was several steps behind Jason. He didn't bother hurrying his pace to catch up; if Bane was going to kill him, he'd have already done so.

"You're one insane son of a bitch, I'll give you that," Jason commented once they were both outside again.

Danny laughed and began to lead them back the way they came. "And I thought you said you didn't like me."

Chapter Text

“So you just let him meet Bane?!” The youngest among them growled, leaning forward in his seat. It was only to be expected; after all, Damian was every bit as dramatic as his father.

Jason shrugged. “Didn’t really have much of a choice. Besides, it pisses you off, and that’s all the incentive I needed.”

Ignoring Barbara and Stephanie’s snickers, Damian glared at him. “You’re a dick, Jason.”

“I appreciate you noticing.”

“And this is why I tend to stay away from the manor,” Helena muttered from where she sat next to Barbara, making sure only the red-head could hear her. “It’s like watching ‘Real Housewives’ or something.”

Barbara suppressed another laugh. “Honestly, boys, what is your problem with this guy? Other than the fact that he bruised your ego,” she teased.

Tim, ever the strategist, tried to keep his annoyance towards Danny Johnson out of his expression as he gave a reason. “It is an unnecessary risk and liability to have an unsupervised civilian consistently bring dangerous villains to visit children.”

Stephanie raised an eyebrow questioningly and leaned back leisurely in her chair, resting her feet on top of the dining room table the Batkids were all seated around. “It’s not like the villains are seeking these kids out, though, and isn’t Jason going with him for Bane anyways? Wonder Woman was there to watch Cheetah, too, and it’s not like the Sirens are that crazy.”

“Deathstroke and Deadshot countered each other,” Cassandra succinctly added, shrugging as everyone stared at her in surprise for speaking up about it.

Dick returned his stare up towards the ceiling as he drummed his fingers mindlessly on the tabletop. “Connor mentioned that Superman had gone in his civilian persona to monitor Luthor when he visited that kid in Metropolis, but nothing happened at all. Well, unless you count the prison murder…”

“That didn’t endanger the kid,” Jason pointed out.

“... and Flash freaked out over Captain Cold after he was kicked out of the room, but everything was fine,” Dick finished, ignoring Jason’s interruption. “Johnson’s been lucky.”

“He didn’t let a kid meet the Joker!” Barbara supplied helpfully in an amused tone, but the glint in her eyes belied the seriousness of her words.

The room was silent for several heartbeats before Damian (of course) spoke up. “And how do you know this?”

Babs waved her hand nonchalantly. She was aware that Jason and Dick at least knew by this point, and probably Helena and Cass as well. “Ivy overheard his boss ask, broke his phone against a wall, and asked me to get him a new encrypted one so people couldn’t steal the numbers he has on there.”

“And you just did it?!”

She shrugged. “Danny’s a nice guy; wasn’t gonna let him go phoneless for long.”

“You know him?” Tim asked this time, while Damian glowered at her from his seat on the other side of the table.

Babs smiled slyly. “We’ve spoken.”

“Oh, quit baiting them, Babs.” The Batkids all turned towards the entrance as Kate Kane entered the room, followed by Alfred, who quietly waited by the doorway to observe his charges. She paused to ruffle Dick’s hair, drawing a quiet complaint from him, before moving to take the empty seat between Jason and Damian. “If you guys have such an issue with Danny Johnson, why don’t you confront him about it?”

Tim crossed his arms and huffed in frustration. “We already tried that.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “No, the four of you kidnapped him.”

Damian narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth. “Why is she even here?” He asked the room at large, gesturing at the newcomer. His question merely made Kate laugh.

“To mediate between you and Jason,” Stephanie deadpanned.

“I’m afraid you’re mistaken, Mistress Stephanie,” Alfred spoke up from his spot with a slight smirk. “That would be one of my duties.”

Jason grinned and clapped his hands. “Ten points to Alfred!” He proclaimed, which drew chuckles from the majority of the assembled Batfamily.

“Thank you, Master Jason,” the butler commented wryly, “though if you would come with me, I believe you are late to meet with Mr. Johnson and Mr. Bane.”

“Awesome.” Jason stood and made his way over to Alfred and the exit. “Ladies, nice to see you; Tim, not so nice; Damian, try a chill pill next time.”

Bane hadn’t been that big of a deal, in all honesty. Jason was wondering why he even bothered to come. He lounged in a corner of the kid’s hospital room with Danny while Bane and the kid talked about his serum and (more on Bane’s part) why there was no way in hell a seven year old would be given the addictive drug.

On the bright side, playing bodyguard was more fun than being stuck in the Batfamily meeting. From the desperate texts Dick was sending him every few seconds, coupled with the short, sarcastic ones by Cass and Helena keeping him up to date on the events occurring at the Manor, the meeting had turned into a madhouse (as usual). His phone buzzed again from where it was resting on his thigh, and Jason sighed defeatedly.

Dick is hanging from the chandelier. Damian is duct-taped to his chair. Kate is taking a business call while under the table, Cass had informed him.

I HATE THIS FAMILY, Dick had somehow managed to type.

Is there any way I can be disowned? Helena shared his annoyance towards most of his family, but at least she hadn’t had to live with them.

He had muted all of them about five minutes ago, though. The real message that had made his phone go off drew his attention with amusement.

I just walked in with Duke and it’s like last Thanksgiving all over again. How did you escape?! Luke Fox had sent, along with a picture of the room and all its chaos. Dick was indeed hanging from the light fixture, and only Damian’s head, from above his mouth, was visible through the tape he was tied down with. Both redheads were underneath the table, Stephanie looked like she was laughing on the floor, Tim had buried his head in his hands in frustration. Only Cass was still properly sitting in her chair, her expression unconcerned about the craziness around her. Duke asks to be un-adopted, Luke added.

That one drew an audible snort from Jason, enough to draw Danny’s attention away from his child and villain charges. “Everything okay?”

Jason glanced at him briefly before turning back to the phone and typing out a response to Luke and Helena: Don’t you think I’ve already tried that? “Yeah, siblings are just being dramatic again.”

He looked up in time to see Danny’s mischievous smirk. “So the dramatics run in the family?”

Jason rolled his eyes and slipped his phone into his pocket, leaving him free to cross his arms in defense. “They do in the one of us that is actually related to our parent.”

Danny was quiet for a minute as they watched Bane giving the young kid a ride on his shoulders around the hospital room. “It’s nice to see Ian excited; apparently he’s been pretty closed off for the past few weeks.” He paused again, leaning back in an attempt to be nonchalant. “Dick, Damian, and Tim – the other three who kidnapped me – they the siblings you talking about?”

“You’re a clever one, Johnson.”

Danny shrugged. “I try to be. It’s a necessity when you live with the Sirens.” A call of his name from one of the doctors who was fiddling with the devices next to the kid’s bed had Danny leaving Jason in solitude in his corner of the room.

The vigilante huffed and turned his attention towards the window overlooking Blüdhaven harbor. He wondered how Johnson would react to the fact that Bane had just given a sample of his Venom for the technicians to re-work in the lab to try and help the kid. No, he wondered how the League would react when they found out.

That though kept Jason in a good mood for the rest of the day.

Chapter Text

Knock, knock.

John Constantine stood on the other side of the door, his eyes narrowed suspiciously at the wooden structure. It wasn’t like anyone he knew would ever knock, and he was pretty sure that Girl Scouts hadn’t found the House of Mystery either (besides, it wasn’t their cookie season yet).

Maybe if he stood there longer, whatever was making that sound would go away. Not likely, but a man could dream.

Knock, knock.

John groaned, knowing that if he didn’t open it, the House probably would anyways. Defeatedly, he yanked the door wide open to find an unfamiliar brunet male facing him.

“Mr. Constantine?” The man asked in a hesitant tone. John looked down to see he was holding some sort of file, and immediately concluded that this person was seeking some sort of exorcism.

“No.” He slammed the door in his face and spun on his heel to go back to studying some ancient scrolls – or he would have, if the bloody House hadn’t decided to remove the hallway and trap him in the foyer. John sneered in ire and pulled a lighter out of his shirt pocket, shaking it at the ceiling. “It wouldn’t be the first time I burnt a building down!” Nothing came of his threat, as expected, so John settled for snatching a cigarette from his back pocket and lighting that instead.

“You know, smoking’s bad for you.” John closed his eyes and took a drag of the cigarette as the unknown man spoke up; he had stepped into the room after the House had opened the door.

John shrugged, blowing out a stream of smoke at the same time. “It’s not like I won’t be going to Hell anyways.” He moved to walk back down the hallway that had re-appeared. “A little smoke is the least of my problems. Now, what do you want?”

He was mildly surprised that the man didn’t hesitate before following him. “I came to ask if you would visit a sick child who requested your presence.”

“‘Sick’ wouldn’t be a code-word for ‘possession,’ now, would it?”

“Uh… I don’t think so?” John turned to survey his guest’s expression, but the clear confusion written across his face made it obvious that he wasn’t lying. “Here, you can take a look at her file if that would help.” He held out a manila folder, which John snatched and began to read through the papers.

Taylor Pyne, age 5, Interstitial Lung Disease, quality of life has rapidly decreased, is not expected to live past the next two months.

John’s eyes skimmed over most of the following description (lung function decreased… breathing disturbed… no cure…) and instead found himself focusing on the pictures of the small, pale girl hooked up to intravenous drips and a respirator as she slept; he wasn’t a doctor, but even he could see that the heart monitor in the background wasn’t showing that strong of a beat. The notes at the bottom of the final page, the “World of Wishes” application sheet, made his gaze slip sorrowfully back to the other man for him to confirm it.

“She’s blood type O negative. There was always basically no chance of her receiving a lung transplant, but now she’s caught pneumonia again…” John closed his eyes and smirked in despair. “She’s got a month, at tops, Mr. Constantine.”

John weighed his options. He may be damned, but he wasn’t evil. Clearly, for whatever bloody reason, this girl was fighting to stay alive to see him. He owed it to her. Well, he didn’t necessarily owe it to the girl specifically, but to everyone he had ever failed. Hell, he didn’t need to start justifying his actions now of all times.

“Well, then what’re we standing around here for?” He clapped his hands together in finality. John muttered a spell under his breath and then reached out to grab the man’s shoulder when a thought suddenly occurred. “Oi, mate, what’d you say your name was again?”

He ignored the muttered I didn’t say and merely nodded when the man replied, “Danny Johnson.”

“Danny Johnson?” John grinned at his raised eyebrow. “Don’t throw up on my shoes.” He then snapped his fingers (he would never admit it willingly, but it was only for dramatic effect), and the two disappeared from the House of Mystery.

Besides the fact that the act of teleportation he’d just been forced into had made him nauseous, Danny was really tempted to puke on John Constantine for acting before asking. Who just teleports people without saying something like ‘hey, we’re gonna be traveling in a way your mortal mind can hardly understand, so don’t be too surprised!’ Crazy people, that’s who. Apparently, Constantine fell into that category.

Danny supposed he should have expected something like that anyways. His search for the magician/sorcerer/wizard/exorcist had led him to Zatanna Zatara (he couldn’t decide if she had had awesome parents or cruel ones to name her that), and wow did she have a lot to say on the man. After he got around all of the swears, he had boiled it down to Constantine being an “arrogant, selfish know-it-all who drags other people into his own mess without fail.” She certainly wasn’t a fan.

Seeing as he was gagging on the taste of bile that had risen up his esophagus due to their unconventional method of travel, Danny wasn’t too much of a fan either.

“Thanks for the ‘heads-up,’” he muttered, glaring daggers at the man in the trenchcoat. Constantine merely shrugged and rolled his neck; Danny could hear it pop from where he was standing, and he winced slightly at the sound. “Are we at least still on Earth?”

The blonde snorted in amusement. “Well, aren’t you a dramatic one? We should be in a bathroom on the first floor of UCSF Children’s.”

Danny gaped at him in blank shock. “We’re seriously in San Francisco?!” He had driven to Vermont to get Constantine from the House of Mystery; realistically, he was never going to get back there after this.

The other man rolled his eyes. “I’m not just going to abandon you here.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Danny muttered as the two of them left the white tiled bathroom and stepped into a busy hallway. He looked around for a brief moment until his gaze landed on the sign that read Elevators/Ascensores. A quick nudge to his companion, and the two made their way into the first one that opened (after Danny had pressed the button twenty times like a little kid and John had sighed like an exhausted parent).

Both silently thanked the universe that there was no elevator music on their ride up. Silence was acceptable for them.

“Alright, just remember: no swearing, no smoking, no spells that could disrupt any electronics, and no summoning any hellspawns,” Danny informed Constantine as they exited onto the fourth floor and walked down the hall towards their wishee’s room. He only hoped they wouldn’t get in trouble for not ‘calling ahead.’

Danny expected to hear a snarky response as they came to a stop in front of room 411, but when he didn’t, he glanced over to make sure Constantine was still walking with him. His expression softened as he realized that the man’s nerves had kept him silent. “You’ll be fine, John,” Danny nodded encouragingly towards the door. After receiving a positive response in the form of a weak smirk, he headed into the room, knocking on the doorframe as he did to signal their presence. “Miss Taylor Pyne?”

“That’s me!” A small voice said, followed by a strong cough. The little red haired girl was lying back in her bed, a nurse by her side with a tray of food. The woman looked up questioningly, and appeared ready to say something, but lost the opportunity as Constantine stepped around Danny and made his way over to the free side of Taylor’s bed. “Are you Mr. Costatine?” She asked clumsily with wide eyes as he approached.

“The one and only, little princess,” he said with a wink, giving a dramatic bow. “A little birdie said you wanted to see me.”

“Yeah, you’ve got a cool trench coat and you have a funny accent and you save people like the Doctor does on TV!”

Danny failed to hide a laugh at Constantine’s bemused face. “Well, I’m not too sure about that–”

“It’s okay because I am sure,” the girl replied brightly.

Constantine shot Danny a desperate look for help, but the younger man couldn’t do anything before he was roped into a mainly one-sided conversation about unicorns, magic wands, and whether Santa Claus was really based at the Arctic or Antarctica.

Danny turned his attention to the nurse as she gestured for him to take a seat in one of three chairs against the room’s floor-to-ceiling window. “Thank you.”

“Oh no, we should be thanking you, Mr. Johnson,” the woman responded with a smile. “I recognized you from a story online.” Oh joy, he’d have to look into that when he got home. “You just made Taylor’s year by bringing that man here; it’s been a while since I’ve seen her so perked up. I know her parents couldn’t be here since they’re at their day jobs, but on behalf of all of us, thank you so much.”

“It’s no problem at all, but I’m glad he could help cheer her up,” Danny said neutrally. He appreciated the thanks, but he wasn’t seeking any recognition in the first place, and so tried to politely dissuade the woman from continuing. In all honesty, her praise made him feel uncomfortable, and so he slightly angled himself to show his focus was back on Constantine and Taylor.

He assumed the nurse took the hint, as she sat down next to him and the two of them watched with quiet smiles on their faces as Constantine made an illusion of a pegasus fly around Taylor’s head. Her joyful squeals as it nuzzled her face made even the anti-social magician grin.

Chapter Text

"Who cares that my contract says I have to show up at this stupid thing? I need sleep, not to deal with passive aggressive millionaires."

Selina glanced at Danny impassively as they joined the steady stream of attendees entering the Gotham Convention Center's ballroom. They walked along as elegantly as Danny could manage (since Selina somehow managed to glide as she went, and in high heels, no less). He wasn't sure if it was a good thing their arms were linked; while it was natural since he was her escort for the event, Danny hoped he wouldn't drag her down if he tripped.

"If you wanted to sleep so much, you shouldn't have driven to go get Constantine yesterday. It wasn't your assignment anyways."

Danny sighed softly. He knew that, but it didn't cause him to feel regretful for going. "If I hadn't, that little girl would never have seen him before she died. It's not like the rest of the organization could find him. They'd been trying to contact him for five months." He paused to say a polite hello to a guest who had called out his name, and caught Selina nodding her head in her own silent greeting. "Besides, I showed up, so you can't comment on my actions. I'm only really here to help you piss off Bruce Wayne, apparently; lord knows why."

Selina laughed, her smile drawing several flashes from the cameras of the press where they lined the walls. "He ran into his bitch of an ex recently."

"And?"

"And a little birdie mentioned that he let her kiss him before they… parted ways."

"'Let her?'" Danny echoed incredulously. "How do you know that?"

He looked over soon enough to catch her roll her eyes. "Trust me, that man is always in control of a situation." She huffed, drawing a hand up to tuck a lock of hair back behind her ear as they finally made it into the ballroom. "Anyways, your purpose is to bait him into staking his territory."

Danny shut his eyes and groaned. "Please tell me that wasn't literal." Her mischievous grin was not the reassurance he had hoped for. "You realize he could have me mysteriously disappear, right?"

"Like I didn't find you the last time that happened," she replied casually.

"'Last time was a bunch of moody Gotham young adults," he muttered as they made their way onto the dance floor, where many guests were swaying to a gentle waltz. Apparently, Selina wanted to make sure they were seen as soon as possible.

Danny was very much regretting his decision to go along with this. He could already hear the whispers spreading of their arrival (a 'lovely' reminder that he was starting to become known on the internet).

Isn't that the villain guy with Selina Kyle... it mean he's on the job right…. hope she doesn't drag him into that triangle… what will Bruce Wayne think about them…

He shook his head slightly to lose focus on the intrusive comments. They were only setting him on edge more. "This is worse than tracking down Bane."

His sarcastic comment was met by Selina's low laugh. "At least you have your priorities set."

"Yeah, I try not to drown in shallow attitudes like these."

The thief merely raised an eyebrow in response. "You and Bruce would get along well, if only you weren't terrified to meet him," she teased as he dipped her along with the steady rhythm of the song. "Speaking of…" She tapped his left shoulder as he pulled her up, and Danny didn't have to turn to know whose gaze was currently boring a hole through the back of his head.

"Mr. Wayne, what a pleasure to meet you," Danny said as politely as he could. He was treating this as just another villain encounter… and he really hoped Bruce Wayne wouldn't be able to read his mind and learn Danny compared him to villains.

"Charmed." The impeccably-dressed man gave him a bland smile before turning towards Selina. "Selina."

"Bruce," she shot back in the same monotone.

Ever the one to try and moderate, Danny tightened his grip on Selina's waist and began to move their impromptu trio to the seating area. "Maybe it'd be best to take this off dance floor?" He asked rhetorically. To his relieved surprise, neither member of the rocky relationship fought against his suggestion, and they quickly found themselves standing next to an empty table.

"You didn't mention you'd be making an appearance tonight," Bruce said in a low, questioning voice.

Danny almost winced at the poison behind Selina's innocent smile. "You didn't mention you'd seen Talia lately."

Talia? Danny was ready to question, but as he decided it was not a optimal query if he wanted to continue living, an arm nonchalantly draped over his shoulders and steered him away from the tense confrontation between Selina and her… whatever Bruce was.

"I think it's best that you sit this one out," a familiar voice suggested with a bubble of laughter easily heard under their words. The white stripe in his hair gave him away. Danny had no idea he had gained an invitation to the event. Maybe he was here on a mission.

"Nice to see you too, Jason. I hope your day's been as incredibly awkward as that situation was for me," he said in a mocking tone.

The blue eyed man gave him an amused grin. "Enjoy the show?" Danny assumed he was referring to the ongoing relationship spat.

"Selina does not seem to like this 'Talia' very much," he observed vaguely, keeping his opinions out of the discussion.

Jason groaned in annoyance. "That old man is the only one who likes Talia at all." His attention shifted slightly and eyes dilating like he hear something far away and was trying to hone in on it. "Cass!" He called, adding to Danny, "looks like you get to meet everyone. My condolences."

Danny fought the urge to escape from the current situation; the feeling of dread that was sinking onto his shoulders mirrored that of an antisocial teenager about to be thrust into an extended family potluck.

He nearly jumped out of his shoes (he would've if he hadn't had enough practice with the disappearing acts his roommates pulled) when a shorter, Asian girl appeared in front of them out of nowhere. Her steely eyes surveyed him closely. Danny wouldn't have been surprised if she was mapping out the various ways to subdue him from the naturally defensive way she held herself, despite her sleeveless black gown.

'Cass' nodded once in recognition of his presence before spinning on her heel and slipping her way around the throng of guests. Jason didn't seem to find her silence out of place, and moved apart from Danny so they could better maneuver through the crowd to wherever Cass was headed. He knew they had arrived when Cass stopped next to a tall red-haired woman.

In total, there were six people that formed the huddle Danny found himself joining as Jason shoved him in their direction. Besides Cass and the redhead, there was also a tall dark-skinned boy and… three very familiar Gotham residents. The tallest male winked at him, and Danny could hear Jason sigh in exasperation behind him.

"The Asian one is Cassandra, the ginger is Barbara – not totally sure why she's here – the black guy is Duke, and you've met Dick, Tim, and Damian," Jason said in a low voice, pointing at each figure as he said their names.

"Wait…" Danny narrowed his eyes accusingly at the three guys in the group, even as they studiously struck up a conversation amongst themselves to avoid him. "Dick? Tim? Damian?" For the first time in his whole interaction with the super-powered world, Danny felt like he was in over his head as it all clicked. "Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me."

"What is it?" Duke (or was it Luke? No, he was pretty sure they had said Duke) asked.

Cass shrugged. "He figured it out."

Danny ignored her and turned around to look back at Selina and Bruce Wayne. How could he be so stupid?! "And that's 'Daddy Bats' back there with Selina?" He asked to the whole group, an eyebrow raised as he waited for some sort of confirmation.

"Welcome to the family?" the red-head, Barbara, asked sheepishly, although her grin showed how much she was enjoying this.

"No, no more siblings please," Danny heard one of the group mutter under their breath, but he couldn't tell who it was from. It didn't matter to him anyways, as he was too busy wracking his brain to figure out why Barbara's voice sounded so familiar. She somehow deciphered the meaning behind his confused stare and offered him an answer.

She crossed her arms proudly. "Remember Superman's visit?"

Oh right, the warning phone call. "Right, thanks. Hope you didn't get in much trouble for that."

"Nah, it was fine." She leaned towards him and began to stage whisper. "Besides, I heard you called this kiddo 'Red Robin like the restaurants' and life's been pretty fun aft-" She stopped talking as a flurry of commotion from the ballroom's entrance drew their attention.

It took a few seconds to reach them, but by then, they could hear a lone, chilling laugh over the cascading silence. Danny could feel the tension in his companions skyrocket as the owner of the laughter sauntered his way towards the elevated rise of the orchestra, his hands held behind his back displaying his leisurely demeanor.

"Joker?" Danny whispered, not actually searching for a response.

"Joker," Tim replied affirmatively. Danny was slightly surprised, as Jason was closer to him and he more expected him to speak up, but a quick glance showed a hatred in his eyes that was probably too consuming to be distracted from.

The Joker leaped jauntily onto the orchestra rise, sending the front row of flutists scrambling in every direction away from him. The rest seemed to move in slow motion as they broke out of their shock and began to flee from the pale man in the purple suit (actually, Danny was surprised by how nice it was). He pulled at his jacket to straighten it, and reached up with one hand to twist the faux flower on his left lapel as he began to speak to the crowd of frightened attendees.

"You know, when I heard there was a gala for the 'high and mighty' who donated money to Gotham, I was heartbroken when i didn't get my invitation. After all, who else here has reinvigorated Gotham's construction economy as much as I have?" The Joker flung out his arms dramatically as he paused, his uncontrollable laugh filling the air once again. Its rise and fall set Danny on edge, and he began to slowly creep backwards behind the cluster of Batkids.

"But enough about me! There's someone here, one of those 'rising internet celebrities' I'm sure we'll all forget about by next week, that I have a bone to pick with." It seemed to defy all logic, but the Joker's grin stretched even wider than before. "Oh Daaaaanny Boy! The Joker's calling!"

Chapter Text

Of course they had put a bag over his head. Danny was starting to expect every stereotypical thing to happen to him at this point; he had been surprised it had taken this long to reach this point.

He was currently seated in one of those spinning office chairs, but at least his feet were on the ground to keep him from blindly swivelling around. The car ride to wherever he was had at least been in an actual seat as well (there was always the fear of being shoved into a trunk when kidnapped).

The scariest part of this encounter so far had been Selina and the Bat… family's (?) reaction. Batfamily, that's a good term. He had seen Dick and Barbara subtly restrain Jason by the wrists and Bruce had forcefully had to grab Selina by the waist when he had emerged from the throng of guests to face the Joker. He was pretty sure that the kamikaze stiletto that had sailed over the Joker's head had been from her.

Danny clapped as he approached the pale man. "Nice rendition, but unfortunately I'm not Irish," he shrugged. "Maybe use 'Daniel' by Elton John next time?"

The Joker grinned, laughing lowly under his breath. "I'll keep that in mind."

He had tried to look calm as he walked out the main doors with the criminal, studiously ignoring the corner where the Batfamily was and sending an encouraging smile to an old lady who looked close to fainting. This was probably already all over the internet, so hopefully Harley and Ivy would know what was happening. He knew they had put a tracker on him somewhere – he hoped it could withstand this real-world test.

A low chuckle from his… host… regained Danny's attention. He tried to turn his head in the direction it had come from, but the cover was yanked from his head and he blinked quickly as he tried to adjust to the brighter light.

He was in another abandoned warehouse, that was obvious. Of course he was: with the amount Gotham had, every villain probably had their own reserved space for kidnappings and murders alike. The Joker was standing before him, his sleeves rolled up and a chuckle on his lips. His purple jacket was in the arms of the stockier of the two clown mask-wearing henchmen behind him.

"Danny, Danny, Danny," the Joker muttered disappointedly. "You seem to be making quite the rounds! Now, imagine how hurt my feelings were when I wasn't called about my very own fan!" He dramatically pressed a hand against his chest.

"Uh… this very situation is a valid argument of why I didn't."

Joker glared at him for a moment, raising his finger dramatically as it to scold him like a child. "I'll allow it," he grinned, pointing at Danny as if he was giving him a point in a game. He supposed this was some sort of game for him in the long run.

"So…" Danny looked around curiously. His life didn't seem immediately threatened, so he might as well try and figure out why his presence had been 'requested.'

"Envy's a cruel mistress, don't you think?" The Joker saved him from having to come up with a question on the spot. "A one Justine Miller is having a hard time dealing with this… revelation."

Danny failed at keeping the shock off his face as his boss was wheeled out on an identical chair by one of the masked helpers. Nothing was the same about their situation, however. She was duct-taped to her chair around her wrists and chest, and her ankles had been zip-tied together. A bandana was wrapped around her mouth keeping it shut, but her teary wide eyes belayed the screams she couldn't vocalize.

"Why is she here?" Danny cautiously asked after a moment of tense silence had spread between all of them. He didn't see any other way forward.

The dramatic gasp that answered him made him infinitely more wary. "You mean you don't know?" Danny had to keep himself from rolling his chair backwards as the Joker leaned close to his face to scrutinize him. He apparently found nothing of interest and moved over towards Justine instead. "She thought she should try and contact yours truly after a certain someone hung up on her." He pinched her cheek in a playful-esque manner; the desperate squirming of his victim though showed its true intentions.

Her reaction visibly annoyed the clown, and Danny tried to think of ways to get them out of there, but his mind was frustratingly drawing a blank. It didn't matter at this point as the Joker pulled the bandana down from her mouth, letting spill a tattered trail of please no please please i'm sorry's from his boss.

"Lighten up, sweetheart," Joker grinned, reaching up with his left hand to caress her face. Danny didn't miss him reaching into his pants pocket with his other hand, but before he could react, the Joker had pulled a flower from his pocket and sprayed it in her face. "Let's turn that frown upside down!"

Danny wasn't stupid: he was a Gotham resident, he knew what the Joker's laughing gas did to its victims. Seeing it happen firsthand to his boss was a whole other thing.

Her panicked scream cut off into a wet cough as she inadvertently inhaled the poison. The fear was still clearly present in her eyes as her terrified gaze landed on him, ensuring he could see the full effect. The coughs began to take on sound, melting into a low chuckle and gaining speed. The iconic grin that stretched across her face seemed to defy all anatomical possibilities as she laughed and laughed and laughed… torture didn't have to include beatings to make one wish for death, and by the limpness of her body, Justine was already ready to accept it.

The Joker had noticed it too. "Kids these days. Shorter attention span, shorter torture span – I blame bad parenting and smartphones." He whistled and the tallest of the three masked clown henchmen handed him a pistol. Danny shut his eyes as the Joker emptied a shot into his boss' head.

He tried to ignore her lifeless form as he looked back to the Joker.

"What about the kid?" Danny flatly asked. This was not the time to focus on Justine; she was beyond saving. Hopefully, though… hopefully there was still a child he could bring home safely.

The Joker sighed. "And here I thought we were finally making some progress." He twirled the gun in his hand before aiming it at Danny and beckoning. "Well? Don't just sit there all day!" Danny grit his teeth at his following cackle but followed the order. He stood slowly, unsure if he would be stable, and steadily walked after Joker once he gained his footing. The clown men took up position behind him as they walked into the next room.

Danny hadn't been sure what he expected to find – maybe another broken body – but to his great relief, he could see the boy's breath from where he stood. He was actually still lying in his hospital bed (which he supposed made him easier to kidnap) and seemed to be asleep. Regardless of his safe appearance, Danny still flinched when the Joker moved over to stroke the boy's blond hair as if he were an interesting new pet.

"Little Sean here was diagnosed with schizophrenia," the clown explained with a dark chuckle underlying his words. "He thought I'd be the only one who'd understand what it was like to misunderstood and seen as a monster!" He paused his movement, finally letting out a full laugh. "He asked for more than he could handle."

"What do you want from him?"

"With him?" The Joker echoed, an eerie grin once again settling on his face. "Nothing! In fact," he took a step back and spread his arms wide, "you can have him. Think of it as my gift to him."

Oh, this is most certainly a trap, Danny thought as he cautiously made his way over to the bed and bent to scoop Sean into his arms. Whatever the Joker had knocked him out with at least made the kid easier to carry, and for that he was grateful. Dealing with a squirming, terrified child would've made this ordeal a whole lot scarier than it already was. Holding the boy bridal style, he turned questioningly to the Joker, unsure if he was actually allowed to leave with the hostage.

"Go on!" His captor merely ordered, shooing them away with his hands.

Danny nodded his head respectfully – despite what the Joker had done, he was at least letting him leave with Sean and that was all that mattered at the moment. He begin to stride back towards the main room, making sure not to jostle the kid in case it woke him up.

"Oh wait!" The Joker called out mockingly from behind him, his voice echoing in the empty warehouse. "I almost forgot my gift to you!"

Bang.

Of course I wasn't making it out of this unscathed, Danny cynically huffed as a searing pain shot through him.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Danny was awfully glad the heart monitor had been shoved into the wall during his impromptu wake up call for his roommates, otherwise it would embarrassingly show that his heart had currently stopped.

He was in space. Not just space, but a floating space station for superheroes.

(Danny wasn't sure if he was alive anymore.)

Apparently, neither was Harley, as she rubbed her knuckles roughly against his sternum, drawing an annoyed cry from him. "What was that for?"

She shrugged innocently. "Doctor trick. Just checkin' in that you didn't… check out." She grinned at her pun, ignoring the sighs from the Gotham residents in the room.

"Harley, enough." The order from the Dark Knight was enough to shut the blonde up, but a few lingering giggles did escape. "This is no time for jokes," the Batman continued, glaring at the Gothamite occupants of the room. "We need to decide what to do with Johnson and where to go from here."

Danny stared at the man blatantly. "Well, hopefully we'll leave me in this bed for a while…" He sighed when no one even snickered at his weak attempt of a joke. "Hey, I've known shit for weeks and haven't said a thing about Wonder Woman!" The Amazon merely shrugged when Batman turned his masked gaze on her.

"Bruce, really. He's proved he is worthy of spirit."

"Spirits can be broken." Batman rumbled. "And don't call me that."

Jason's groan rang out from the back corner of the room. "Dude, we literally all know your 'secret identity.'"

"Jason."

"Sorry."

"You're not staying with your stupid company," Ivy brought up, focusing idly on a slowly twisting vine circled around her arm. Danny knew this was one of her anger-coping strategies, and was proud of her for holding back as much as she was. "We found your boss inside the building. Clearly, there was no sense of control in there."

"How about we make you affiliated with the League? It puts a level of protection on your back," Superman suggested.

Danny was already shaking his head. "No. You realize most of the people I'm trying to find absolutely hate your hero group, right?" Danny was not willing to have the reins taken away from him. Meeting with the heroically… disinclined was important to these kids. He understood that they were responsible for some truly terrible things in some instances, but the few moments they spent with sick kids was all Danny cared about. "I'm not running a 'protect-villains-from-heroes' outfit, but I'm also not about to team up with the Justice League on this either. They'd all be out to get me, and honestly? I don't want you guys controlling me either. I'm good on my own."

Danny fell silent, breathing heavily. He hadn't been speaking loudly, but his mini-speech had managed to exhaust him. All the excitement had distracted him from his injuries, but now that the slight burst of adrenaline had worn off, he was aware of every ache in his body. Evidently, his pain wasn't hidden well in his expression.

"Alright, everyone out," Batman ordered, stepping away from Superman and Wonder Woman to clear a path to the exit. "Johnson's had enough for now." He crossed his arms as they and the Gothamites left, with each calling out a version of feel better soon! as they passed by Danny. "Harley, you too."

Harley hadn't moved from her chair next to Danny. "Aw, come on, Bats. Yah can't kick the doctor out of the patient's room!"

"You're a psychiatrist, Harley, not a surgeon," Batman deadpanned. His correction didn't seem to bother her, because she merely shrugged and patted Danny on the head before skipping out of the room. Danny tried not to laugh when she popped her head back in just to stick her tongue out at Batman.

The door slid shut behind her, and the click it made sounded as loud as a gong to Danny in the quiet room. "I assume there's something you wanted to say alone to me?" He asked the Dark Knight as he strode closer.

"Tell me," he began lowly, "if you're not staying with your company, then how are you going to continue fulfilling these wishes?"

Danny winced and let out a weak chuckle. "I hadn't thought that far ahead yet."

"Then you're being reckless. You're a scout and liaison, you're forgetting all of the vetting and compiling of actual cases that comes before you, not to mention fundraising and advertising. This is not a one person job."

Danny lay his head back on his pillow. It was easier to stare at the ceiling when faced with the problems of his fleeting plan. "Any suggestions?" It took him a few seconds to force the words out under his fresh wave of tiredness (definitely due to his IV, he was sure someone had drugged him when they saw his pain rise and for that he was grateful).

"Wayne Enterprises will be buying "World of Wishes" and donating to its budget as Bruce Wayne's latest philanthropic move. Your next 'boss' is going to be heavily pre-screened… though I think we both know you've been running solo for the most part anyways. Here's your chance. Don't mess this up."

Danny tried nodding his head, but it didn't matter. Batman was already walking out of the room by the time his eyes shut.

At first, Danny had been ecstatic to be released from the Watchtower. He was okay with heights, but he was firmly of the belief that space was not for him.

Then once he got home, he realized that besides being back on Earth, there wasn't much difference between the two situations. There was always someone keeping watch on him, or fetching him an item, or hovering around when he hobbled on crutches. If they had the chance, Danny was sure that the Sirens would bubble wrap him.

On top of that, he seemed to have a rotating schedule of well-wishers (read: babysitters for when the Sirens were busy). He was considering giving Jason and Barbara their own keys at this rate, especially since Jason had broken two of his locks. At least the ginger had the decency to pick it open each time.

If those two were absent, then there was always at least one person present to keep an eye on him. Jason's friend Roy made an appearance one day armed with bag full of poker chips (Danny had lost miserably), Wonder Woman had stopped by with a plate of cookies (that was a surprise), he had beat Cheshire at three games of chess, and someone had left a handmade "get well soon" card signed with the name "Zoe Lawton."

In other words, he was completely stir-crazy and ready to be an independent, functioning adult once again.

Two more days, and he'd be free. The first thing he was doing was taking a child's case as far from Gotham as possible.

Chapter Text

What is always on its way here but never arrives?

Since the fates apparently hated him, Danny's first case back on the job was not outside of Gotham.

"Riddle me this, Johnson, what belongs to you but is used by others?"

Danny was ready to purposefully crash the car if it meant an escape from the constant stream of words flowing from the Riddler's mouth. It was like dealing with a kid on a sugar high, just a continuous babble that never stopped. He wasn't even registering the words anymore.

"My patience," he hissed lowly, answering his riddle but not with the answer he knew Nygma wanted.

Thank god Danny could drive with one hand, because his other hand was now clenched onto that damned cane of Nygma's after the man had tried to poke him with it. "Try me," Danny hissed, sparing a second to glare at the Riddler with narrowed eyes.

Riddler slouched back in the passenger seat. "You're as much fun as Bats."

Danny rolled his eyes. This was quickly feeling more and more like a babysitting gig. He wanted nothing more than to ignore the snide remark, but he'd be lying if he said it didn't affect him at all. Being cooped up for so long had definitely worn his patience down, and he was very aware that being this bitchy meant he now acted very similar to Batman. It wasn't something he was proud of, but there were worse things he could be compared to.

"I'm touched, really," Danny replied flatly as he pulled the car into the parking garage. He was surprised he made it the entire trip without exploding. "Do you remember the rules?" They were not going to step foot inside until Danny knew Nygma was going to behave. It wasn't that he was incredibly dangerous or anything, but the criminal was a loose cannon, and as much as Danny hated to admit it, he was not anywhere near healed yet.

"Yes, yes, I know: no scavenger hunts, no unsolvable riddles, no explicitly criminal activity– we've been over this." To his ire, the Riddler had already opened the door and climbed halfway out before he had even fully stopped the car. "Let's go, Johnson!"

Danny sighed as he rushed to follow after the eccentric man. Nygma was one of the few that insisted on wearing their entire costume, and his green suit certainly drew attention as they walked into the building, no matter how normal this routine had become. He tried to ignore the flashing phone cameras as the passed through the Children Hospital's lobby, knowing that his movements were now being followed by thousands online. Despite knowing that the Justice League (read: Batman) was monitoring everything that was posted, it still unsettled him.

Today they were here to talk to a young cancer patient who had recently lost his eyes in preventative surgery. His new lack of vision hadn't stopped the boy's passion for reading, and that's why Edward Nygma had been requested to read aloud the next few chapters from some popular young adult mystery series. Danny honestly wasn't sure which of them was more excited for today.

"Mr. Riddler! I've got the book picked out already!" A happy voice called out once the two of them finally found the hospital room they were looking for.

Danny and Nygma both peered curiously at the boy sitting in the hospital bed as they entered his room. "Well done, Harrison," Nygma grinned as he clapped. "But how did you know it was me?"

The boy tilted his head more accurately in their direction, allowing them to better see the bandages over where his eyes had been. "Easy," he chirped cheekily, "I've been saying that to everyone who's walked in this morning."

"I have billions of eyes, yet I live in darkness," the Riddler began as he made his way over to an empty seat next to Harrison's bed. "I have millions of ears, yet only four lobes. I have no muscle, yet I rule two hemispheres. What am I?" He poked at the boy's leg with his cane.

"Two hemispheres, four lobes– that's a brain!"

"Correct!" Nygma leaned back in satisfaction. Danny knew that he respected intellect similar to his own, which is why he so enjoyed going after Batman. The wittiness of this kid had definitely raised his expectations of the visit. "And you've got a particularly clever one. Now, what'll we be reading on this fine day, Mr. Harrison?"

The two of them were clearly going to be fine on their own, and so Danny pulled a chair next to the door and sat down as well. There was no reason he couldn't enjoy the story, too.

What is always on its way here but never arrives?

The Riddler had read four chapters– maybe five, Danny wasn't sure, they were long and blended into each other– before the criminal and child patient had begun a heated debate about who really was the traitor in the book's boarding school. There were lots of hand gestures, Harrison had come close to accidentally slapping Nygma in the face with his movements, voices were raised passionately, and a nurse who was checking in stopped by to comment that he hadn't been this lively in weeks.

All of that had come crashing to a halt with Harrison abruptly paused and muttered, "My head hurts," before collapsing back limply onto the bed. The nurse rushed forward to check his vitals while shouting "CODE BLUE!" into her radio. Danny vaguely knew what a code blue was, and as Harrison started to shake, his assumption was confirmed. He grabbed Nygma– who hadn't moved– by the arm and dragged him out of the room just as a number of medical personnel flooded in.

"He'll be okay," Danny said as they both collapsed against the opposite wall in the hallway. He knew the words were empty (because he had no idea if the boy was alright) but with how tightly Nygma's hand was clenched around his cane, he felt the need to say something to help.

"What is always on its way but never arrives?" The Riddler whispered after the two had stood in silence for several minutes, waiting for the majority of the doctors and nurses to emerge from Harrison's room. He looked at Danny with a haunted shadow in his gaze. "Something tells me you've encountered this dilemma many times before."

Danny looked away from him, trying to fight back tears that threatened to leak free. "Tomorrow," he answered lowly. "Tomorrow never arrives for some of these kids."

"And for Harrison?"

Danny didn't answer at first. How could he answer? They didn't know what was going on in that room. "He will," he finally answered. "He'll make it," he repeated, this time with some strength to his voice.

By some miracle, Danny was right. They'd waited 15 more minutes before Harrison's door had opened, and by the relieved expressions on everyone's faces, he was going to be alright. A nurse had ushered them both back in to see for themselves while the boy was still awake, and Danny had watched Nygma lay a reassuring hand on his shoulder and promise to come back the next day to continue reading.

"We have many more tomorrows to finish reading," Nygma had said, and Harrison's smile back made Danny's day.

Chapter Text

Nina Thomas, age 11, left leg amputation due to osteosarcoma, in remission, wants to learn chess from Ra's al Ghul.

At first, Danny had wondered why someone had asked to meet a man that, by all his initial research, didn't exist. No news articles, no grainy photos, no conspiracy theories– nothing. But by this point, he knew the world wasn't that black and white. This child must have asked for the name Ra's al Ghul for a reason.

Harley and Ivy hadn't seemed to know anything about him (or at least wanted to admit they knew anything). "Ask Selina," was the response they both gave. He wished they had mentioned to remove any breakable objects from the room when he did.

"That bITCH!" Selina's first coherent shout had followed her lashing out and sweeping every glass from where they sat drying on the kitchen counter top. After a moment, her gaze surveyed the destruction she had just caused on the floor. "I'll buy you new ones."

"Without a doubt," Danny agreed, sighing defeatedly. "Can you tell me first who Ra's al Ghul is? From what I can find, the man's a ghost– meaning, I can't find anything at all."

Selina sneered at his remark. "The man's old enough to be one, too. His daughter's the one Bruce is always… tempted by." She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I can't believe he allowed this request to go through to you."

Danny silently agreed. With Wayne Enterprises now the parent company of World of Wishes, it didn't take long for him to figure out that Batman was now vetting all the villain requests submitted by these sick children. If anyone tried to search for someone at Joker-threat-level again, the Dark Knight would be handling the situation.

"Maybe it's a test of some sort? Or he might not be violent toward children?"

Selina shrugged. "Could be. Since clearly he's approved, you might as well join me for our next circus dinner. Damian will probably know something."

Danny cringed at her invitation. "Circus dinners," as they were called by the Sirens, were bi-monthly meals hosted by the Wayne butler, Alfred. His word was law, which meant everyone invited showed up and played nice for a few hours… usually. There had been the time Harley had come home covered in food from a "food fight that totally wasn't her fault!"

"Why would Damian the demon know anything?" he asked as he left the kitchen to fetch a broom. He had to clean up the broken glass before someone stepped on it.

The bite to the answer that floated back to him made Danny very glad he'd given Selina some space. "Cause Ra's is the little birdie's granddaddy!"

This Batfamily was crazy.

They proved Danny right once again when he showed up to Alfred's dinner with Selina a few days later. While the butler was nothing but lovely, the number of batkids (and other various heroes) running around gave him a headache.

After being introduced to Alfred Pennyworth ("so happy to have you here tonight, Mister Johnson") and the blonde Stephanie that was assigned to help him cook that night, Barbara had whisked him around to re-meet everyone properly. He remembered Cass from the gala with Joker, and the small Asian girl gave him a curt nod from her perch on the back of the main room's couch. Dick and Tim were locked in a fierce game of Mario Smash Bros, and their match had drawn the attention of a darker boy and blue haired girl ("Duke and Harper, nice of her to show up!" Barbara had informed him).

"Wait… I thought the black kid I met was Luke?" Danny recalled meeting someone familiar at the gala.

Barbara smirked. "You did meet Luke. There's also a Duke."

"This family makes no sense."

"You're still correct," she agreed with a laugh before dragging him around further. The two dark haired girls chatting in a corner were Helena and Zatanna; as he looked closer, he saw Zatanna's wine glass was actually floating in the air. "She does that a lot," Barbara waved her hand nonchalantly at the scene.

Danny had seen magic before – Constantine had even teleported him – but seeing it used so mundanely just made everything seem more real. "Are you sure I'm not still on the Watchtower in a coma? Because this seems like the result of some bad drugs."

Barbara shrugged. "It's entirely possible, but in the long run the cause is most likely you being overly dramatic," she proclaimed as she poked his arm teasingly. Like a mature adult, Danny responded by sticking his tongue out at her, prompting her to laugh.

"Danny!" Both of their heads turned as Selina's voice came calling from several rooms away. The two of them shared a confused look before heading back through the kitchen and into the dining room to find Selina and Damian sitting on the floor with their legs spread wide and feet touching to form a square enclosure. In between them, a small gray kitten was wobbling around, occasionally stumbling and falling. It couldn't be more than a few weeks old.

"I told Damian about your search. This was his payment," Selina explained with a mischievous smile, one that Damian mirrored as his new kitten let out a small mewl.

"Ra's will be in the courtyard at Gotham Children's on Thursday at five." An area with no cameras and the time when the nurses' shifts change over, that's clever. "He'll only play with a glass chess set," Damian informed him. "This makes us even."

And to think, Danny had been about to thank him. "You literally kidnapped me. Thanks for the help, but this does not make us even; you got a kitten out of it!" He met the kid's glare head-on until Damian huffed and turned back to his new pet.

Barbara moved to crouch down and gently pet the kitten. "Have you named it yet?"

"Maybe Diamond, since we already have Ace," Damian mused. Danny could've swore he heard Selina purr in approval.

The four of them looked up as footsteps alerted them to someone entering the room. "Oh dear," Alfred sighed as he took in the scene in front of him. "I wasn't informed of our new guest's arrival. I'm sure some warm milk will suffice as dinner for now. However, someone must inform Master Bruce of our new house pet."

Danny wished he could've taken a picture of the dread on Damian's face. It would've made a great portrait to hang on his wall.

Damian was true to his word, as Ra's al Ghul was patiently waiting at a picnic table in Gotham Children's gardened courtyard at five o'clock that Thursday. Danny had placed the glass chess set on the table before he had left to fetch Nina, and Ra's had appeared and set it up in the five minutes Danny had been gone.

"Señor Ghul," Nina grinned, bouncing in excitement in her wheelchair as he rolled her to a stop at the table. "Are you really gonna teach me?"

The secretive man gestured in a welcoming manner at the board. "White moves first."

What transpired in the next two hours was both fascinating and boring at the same time. Ra's patiently explained every piece's name and movements as the two of them played through a few slow games. Nina didn't win any of the matches (Danny wasn't surprised, Ra's didn't seem like the type to let someone win just for the sake of it), but by her smile at the end, you'd think she won every time.

(The thing about chess, however, is that it was about as interesting as watching paint dry when he wasn't the one playing it. He did his best not to fall asleep… it might've worked, but the game was slow enough that he couldn't tell if he had missed them making any moves).

Before he knew it, Ra's al Ghul and Nina had finished for the day. He made sure to become distracted by a rather plain rosebush when Ra's said he would send something along to further aid Nina in her training. He was only required to be involved for this visit, and he wasn't about to spoil any good that had been accomplished by tattling to the authorities about anything further. After a minute, Danny made his way over to bring Nina back to her ward, but Ra's held up a hand asking him to pause.

"I have one thing to ask of you, before I depart." Ra's laced his fingers together and leaned forward to rest his chin on them as he surveyed Nina. "I take great care to make my presence amount to mere whispers. How did you learn of my name?"

The young girl broke into a innocent expression, with a polite smile and eyes wide. It took everything Danny had not to burst into laughter at Nina's deviousness. "I'd visit my grandpappy at his nursing home down the street. Señor Duvall told the best stories about the Wild West. You're his father, he mentioned you a lot." She waved at Ra's, and Danny took this as his signal to wheel her away. He was sure he heard Ra's al Ghul laughing as they left the courtyard. She hadn't beat him at his own game yet, but she was certainly proving to be a strong player.

Chapter Text

While Danny's job parameters had changed very rapidly in the past few months, he hadn't expected to begin receiving requests from the criminally inclined instead of his usual child patients. The fact that this requester was currently knocking on his apartment door was even further unappreciated.

"Would you just let them in so they stop making so much noise?!" Harley's voice drifted from the living room, her annoyance clear. "They're interrupting Game of Thrones!"

"You'll be thanking them for that later," Danny muttered under his breath as he peeked through his door's peephole. He was fairly certain the man on the right was Hal Jordan (even if he didn't have his suit on now, Danny remembered his face and bravado from his time on the Watchtower). The black haired woman next to him, however, was a complete stranger. She was dressed like a biker chick, with a worn leather jacket, black and pink striped leggings and black boots. Danny thought she might've been a newly discovered model or actress from her looks, but he didn't think he was that out of the loop. "If I ignore salesmen for long enough, they're required to leave, right?"

"Oh, what is your problem now?" Danny heard Ivy huff in irritation as she came up beside him and pushed him aside with her hip to have a chance to look through the hole. "Ohhh," she hummed in agreement. "Yes, traveling salespeople definitely. They should move on soon."

Danny and Ivy tensed as one of the visitors knocked on the door again. "You know-" the woman in the hall must've been speaking right next to the door- "our rings can sense your presence." Oh, come on. He couldn't even be left alone at home? "I'm also not above creating a key to fit your lock."

"Carol, really?" That must've been Hal. Clearly, the safety of the universe was in the 'right hands.'

Danny had had enough of people breaking into his apartment by now, and he wasn't about to let Hal Jordan and his girlfriend join that list. With a defeated sigh, Danny waved Ivy away from the door, unlocked it, and opened the door.

"What do you want." It wasn't even a question at this point. Danny stared blankly at the two uninvited guests and wished he lived on a private island.

"Lovely to meet you too," Carol (the woman who just threatened his door) said in a sugary sweet voice as she walked through the door. "I see we've interrupted a gathering of the Gotham Girls."

That was certainly one way to put it, though maybe not the best way when you're already an unwelcome guest. Danny had to hold his left arm out to keep Ivy from lunging at the door and attacking Carol. He really didn't want a fight to start here because it would most certainly destroy his apartment. No matter how nature-based Ivy's powers were, he was fairly certain that's not what his renter's insurance was referring to in the "natural disasters" clause.

"What. Do. You. Want," Danny flatly intoned, hoping to direct their attention back to him. He was not enjoying how his home had somehow become his office now. All he wanted to do was eat some lunch while listening to Harley's live commentary to whatever show she was currently watching.

"No, wait; let's see where this goes," Hal said with a grin that quickly disappeared under Ivy and Carol's glares. Danny just sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Hal Jordan's mouth always had a way of getting him into situations like this.

"Carol, why don't you come in. The Green Lantern can stay outside," Ivy smiled politely as she beckoned the Star Sapphire inside and closed the door in Hal's face. "Would you like a drink? I certainly need one." Before he knew it, the two villainesses were chatting like old friends as they sat in the kitchen, drinking wine from crystal glasses that he wasn't even aware they had.

Danny still wasn't pleased. "Carol, really, what are you here for?" He asked during a break in their conversation.

"Star Sapphires fight against hate and fear to protect and give love," Carol explained. "I try and help hospitalized children as Carol Ferris, whether it means paying off med-flight debts or flying them across the country to see a specialist. But I know the thing some of these kids need most is a little extra love and support… and I can do that as a Sapphire. I heard you're the 'Villain Wrangler,'" she used her fingers to make air quotes around his newfound title, "so here I am."

Danny just stared at her for a moment. This wasn't the first person who had come to him before a request was sent out, but he was surprised at how straightforward she was. "Officially, I can't do anything without a request," he finally replied. "Unofficially, Gotham Children's has group story times every Wednesday morning. They're at 9 AM so meet me outside and I'll have it set up."

"Wonderful!" Ivy drawled, waving her hand nonchalantly. "Now that that's settled, let us know when Selina shows up and Harley finishes her episode. Can't have a talk about ridiculous men without them."

Danny had seen kids become happy and hopeful because of his visitors, but never had he seen someone affect them in the way Star Sapphire did.

He sat at the back of the playroom, watching in awe as she made her stories come to life with pink constructs from her power ring. The same pink color shimmered around her form as she entertained the dozen children seated in front of her, and Danny swore that some of the sicker children had begun to glow too – they all seemed more full of life than they had before.

He wasn't the only one who had noticed it. Several of the nurses had been whispering off to the side as they observed their charges, and one of them had eventually approached him to ask about Star Sapphire.

"Is she a healer?"

He shrugged. "Right now she is." He assumed her powers were at least somewhat similar to Green Lantern's, but to what extent he had no idea. It didn't seem she was outright healing these children, but maybe indirectly boosting their resolve or energy? He had no idea, he wasn't an expert in this sort of stuff. She didn't seem to be harming the kids, so he wasn't worried. Both the kids and Carol seemed to be enjoying themselves anyways. That's all he cared about in the end.

The nurse agreed with him. "Well, whatever she's doing is wonderful. Do you think she'd be open to coming back?"

A smile slid across his face. "I'm sure she'd like that."

As he looked back to see her with a young girl now seated on her lap and pink butterfly constructs landing on all the children's outstretched hands, Danny knew she'd be back.

Chapter Text

He had to admit, it was kinda cool that each time he had been to the Iceberg Lounge, he had been admitted to the VIP section. The first time he knew it had definitely been Deadshot's doing, but now… now he knew the top dog was meddling.

He hadn't even planned on coming tonight, but his villain-only phone had received a text from an unknown number requesting his presence for tonight. It probably wasn't a trap… probably. Either way, he knew Barbara was at least tracking his phone, so if anything went wrong someone would know.

One of the lounge's scantily dressed dancers had led him past the velvet rope and up a second stairs towards a private balcony above the larger VIP area. His assumption had been right, as they reached the top and found Oswald Cobblepot seated on a high backed, red leather chair behind a round mahogany table.

"Mr. Johnson," the Penguin said with a greasy smile, waving his hand at the free, less ornate black chair that sat opposite of him. Danny did so slowly, curiously noting that his guide had now taken up residence behind Cobblepot's throne. The woman was clearly in employment for more than her looks.

"Mr. Cobblepot, is there a reason you asked me to be here?" He wasn't trying to be rude, but was very curious. He hadn't been summoned before; mainly, the criminally inclined sought him out. He had to say, he much preferred Cobblepot's approach.

The Penguin took his time answering, pulling out a cigarette from inside his jacket and having his dancer (bodyguard) light it, before pointing it at Danny. "I hear a lot of things in this town," he stated simply, and then paused to take a drag of the cigarette. "Not everyone is accepted by World of Wishes, and thanks to the wonders that are the modern internet, there are other ways to be heard." The Penguin cackled in amusement. "Really, people just keep making my job easier! Do you know how much information people freely give out without even realizing it?"

Danny wasn't sure if it was appropriate to laugh, so he decided on wryly smiling instead. The man certainly made a point. It was part of why Danny was annoyed with how viral his work had spread, but he knew there was no way of changing that now. 'No good deed goes unpunished' and all that jazz.

"Did someone post about wanting to meet you?"

Danny's eyebrows rose in surprise as his phone vibrated in his pocket. He didn't want to pull it out during a meeting, but Cobblepot nodded his head, urging him to check. Danny opened it to see a screenshot from the same unknown number. Under a picture of a dark skinned boy in a hospital bed giving a thumbs up was the following text:

#TVW my cousin is 15 and recovering from bone marrow transplant. His favorite movie is The Godfather. How many likes can we get to watch it with Gotham's own cool king?

Danny looked back at his host. Clearly, the man found the request amusing and, considering his own presence, wanted to fulfill the boy's wish. "Nine thousand likes was all it took?"

The Penguin shrugged. "14 thousand now, and what can I say? I'm a generous man."

"I can make this happen within the week." He looked back at Cobblepot. "Am I right to assume you have the boy's name and hospital information as well?" His host grinned back at him and beckoned with his hand, signalling for his bodyguard to slide a folder across the table to Danny. He took a second to flip through the few pages, checking to make sure all the information was there. "You're all set! I'll message you with the exact time once I set it up."

Danny stood up and leaned slightly forward to shake the Penguin's offered hand. "Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Johnson. Violet will show you the way out."

Danny wasn't sure who was enjoying the Penguin's hospital visit the most: the patient, the internet, or Penguin. Jared had surprisingly hit it off with Cobblepot, and of course he just had to take a selfie with the mobster to show the world that the Penguin had seen his wish and delivered. The post made the kid a celebrity. (Funny enough, Jared didn't even notice until later, because he was way too enthralled by the Penguin's presence to check his phone).

Danny had never seen the Godfather, and to be honest he had no interest in it either, so while the two others watched the film (along with a few nurses who would pop in for certain scenes), Danny sat in the corner of the room, going through other requests and making a list of who to contact first. One was for Scarecrow (Danny needed to ask around about that first), another for Killer Croc (lovely name; didn't really help the wishee's case), and a third was a request to meet Ivy (Danny would need to run that by her carefully… he knew the loss of Melody had hit her hard and didn't know if she was ready to meet another patient).

By the end of the movie, Danny had figured out a game plan. By then, he had also strategically turned a blind eye to the Rolex that Cobblepot had slipped Jared.

He did step in when Cobblepot had tried to hand Jared a cigarette, even if it had turned out to be a candy one. Danny did not want to deal with the potential headache it would cause him.

Chapter Text

Usually, Danny shut his alarm off by the third or fourth ring, which was acceptable enough for Harley to ignore and stay sleeping. Today, however, the infernal blaring noise had been going off for five whole minutes, which was four and a half minutes too long in her opinion. This was cruel and unusual torture to her ears, and she was pretty sure that was internationally illegal (at least, in spirit it was).

She knew Ivy wasn't going to get up and deal with it anytime soon – the woman could sleep through a grenade, something that Harley knew from experience – so she took it upon herself to go and shut it off… and if she wasn't able to, she could always chuck his phone out the window. That'd work.

It was strange, too. Danny was typically the morning person in the apartment. That wasn't to say she and Ivy and Selina weren't up to join him for breakfast sometimes, but that was typically after a night out on the town. The three of them would just stay up until he left for the day and then sleep until late afternoon.

All of her confusion was allayed when Harley opened Danny's door and peeked in his room. She could see he was shivering in his sleep even under his thick comforter and the floor next to his bed had a pile of used tissues. His breathing was interrupted by sniffles and coughs every few moments, and she was pretty sure she could hear a slight wheeze.

Danny was sick.

Her first task was to walk over to his nightstand and click the "stop" button that was conveniently accessible from his lock screen before fetching extra blankets from the couch to cover him some more and leaving a glass of water within his reach. With that, Harley began a hunt for cold medicine in every cabinet and closet. She figured there had to be some somewhere, seeing as Danny was still very much 100% human.

Fifteen minutes later, she had found three first-aid kits (one each labeled for the three of them Gotham girls), a year's worth of Emergen-C, a thermometer, and two more tissue boxes. It wasn't perfect, but it was a good enough find that Harley wouldn't need to leave immediately to find a pharmacy.

By this hour of the morning, Selina had returned from her nightly shenanigans. It was hard to keep track whether she was working with or against the big bad Bats, and by the sly smile on her face as she strolled into the kitchen didn't help clear it up either.

"Harley?" Selina's expression was clouded with confusion as she caught sight of the blonde clutching the medical supplies to her chest. "Is something wrong? You're not usually up at seven in the morning."

"The doctor is in!" Harley proclaimed with an excited grin. "All that med school training is gonna come in handy now!" As she brushed by Selina on her way back to Danny's room, Harley was able to see the usually impeccable thief had smudged lipstick. That meant she was likely to be in a good mood, which meant Harley could get her to go fetch some more sick day necessities. "Glad to see you had a successful night, Kitty, but could ya go get some Tylenol, a fuzzy blanket, an iced Chai latte– no-ice-extra-milk-double-espresso-shot– and the biggest pack of tissues you can find? Danny's sick as a dog. Thanks!"

"What's the latte for?" Selina called after her– the fact that she hadn't questioned the rest meant she'd be on her way to the store shortly.

Harley shrugged– a terrible habit for that moment as she almost dropped everything she was holding. "Like ya said, I ain't used to being up this early: I need some caffeine!"

Despite Gotham being such a major metropolis, it was ridiculous how often Selina seemed to run into someone she knew. Seeing as most of the people she regularly interacted with were supers (whether they be superhero, supervillain, or super pain-in-her-ass), it was understandable that she would see them the most. What she didn't understand was why Damian Wayne was at a Rite-Aid at 7:15am in downtown Gotham.

Of course, it wasn't like Damian was there openly, because otherwise the whole world would know the Wayne heir was out and about and he'd be hounded by paparazzi and fangirls alike. He had a black baseball cap on and the hoodie of his gray sweater on top of that as well, which may have seemed openly suspicious, but it did the job of shading his face from most curious glances.

"Early robin gets the worm, or something like that?" Selina suggested as she took the spot behind him in line. The store was busier than normal, but that seemed to be a side effect of the flu season hitting Gotham.

Damian shot her a glare over his shoulder, angling himself slightly towards her as he responded. "Hilarious. What are you doing here?"

With one hand holding a basket full of medicine and tissues, Selina used her free arm to gesture at the activity around them. "Same as everyone else."

"Didn't know your two Gotham ladies could get sick."

"I've never thought about that," Selina replied in a surprised tone after she paused to think. "But no, it's Danny."

"Oooo, what about Danny?" Selina could see Damian visibly sigh as a blue haired girl exited an aisle and simultaneously handed him a full shopping basket and propped her arm on top of his head, using him as an armrest.

Now everything made more sense to Selina– Batman had mentioned last night how not all of the kids were able to patrol, and seeing Damian and Harper Row out shopping meant that they were probably the two lucky ones to not be sick.

"Harper darling, how nice to see you!" Selina reached out and pat her cheek softly, causing the girl to stick her tongue out in response. Harper was one of the newer members of the Batfamily and Selina enjoyed the sassy teenager's quips immensely.

"Hey, Auntie S," Harper replied, steadfastly ignoring Damian's angry whisper of she's not our aunt! "The rest of the crew is sick, so Grandpa A sent us out for some more stuff." (It was a routine for the Batkids to refer to Alfred as grandad when the public ear was listening as it was safer).

Oh dear. "I'll be over later this evening to bring over some leftover tomato soup for you all. I was planning on making a large batch once Danny woke up." In reality, Ivy was going to be the one making the soup. While Selina wasn't a terrible cook herself, Ivy just had a way with plants. "Now, do you mind if I cut ahead of you? I've still got a terribly complicated latte to pick up."

Harley had coaxed some water and ibuprofen into Danny by the time Selina got back, and while his fever was still over 100 degrees, it had gone down just a bit. With Selina now sleeping after her night out and Ivy still slumbering because she was not a morning person, Harley settled herself in the living room with her latte and the cozy new blanket Selina had found and she resumed her Game of Thrones binge.

Maybe Danny would be recovered by the time she finished the last four seasons…

By the end of season 5, Ivy and Selina were both awake and busy turning the kitchen into a Campbell's soup factory. Harley had never seen so much tomato soup in her life and was honestly amazed at how quickly the other two had done it (at least, once they had agreed on the best seasoning). Danny stayed sleeping this whole time.

By the end of season 6, Harper Row had stayed to watch an episode before Selina and the girl with brilliant blue hair (really, Harley was envious) had taken more than half of the soup to Wayne Manor (since apparently most of the Batkids were sick too), and Ivy had received a thank-you text from Alfred on Selina's phone. Harley had checked on Danny after every episode, and at 20 hours in he was starting to show some color again. His appetite was returning (he ate two and a half bowls of soup) but his fever was still lingering.

By the end of season 7, Harley was still awake at eight in the morning and was able to greet Ivy from her night out– something to do with raiding a climate change denier's warehouse full of illegally imported animals. She might not have been awake enough to understand the full story but she was still supportive of Ivy. Harley checked on Danny one more time (yup, he was still breathing) before going to bed herself. Selina had gone to bed at a normal hour, so she'd be able to keep an eye on him all day.

By the start of season 8, Harley had slept a full nine hours and woke up to find Danny sitting on the couch (he was still wrapped in a blanket, but this was worlds of improvement from the previous day). His fever was close to breaking, he was eating crackers, and his sarcasm was back, so Harley knew he'd be back to normal in a day or so. With plain popcorn for him, extra buttered popcorn for her, and a bowl of tomato soup for them both (they had enough left over for at least a week), the two of them sat down to watch the final eight hours of the show.

By the end of season 8, both of them had agreed to re-watch Breaking Bad next, Danny's fever had broken, and a get well soon card signed by the Batkids (while Damian had not signed it, there was a stick figure with his name on it) had been sneakily left on the apartment's doormat and was now taped to Danny's fridge.

Chapter Text

There shouldn't have been anyone knocking on his door. This was literally why Jason refused to live in Wayne Manor; sometimes he just needed some "me time." And by sometimes, that meant most of the time. Hence the reason he had this studio apartment in one of Gotham's shadier neighborhoods. It normally meant no nosy neighbors, no large gatherings of people, and no solicitors.

So whoever was knocking on his door was either a bold Girl Scout selling cookies, or someone who was here specifically for him.

How tedious.

Jason silently dragged himself away from his wonderfully comfortable bed and moved over to quickly check his security camera (and grab the extra hand gun he kept next to it just in case). To his surprise, it looked like he probably wouldn't need to use the weapon– his guest was rising internet star Danny Johnson.

Jason was fairly delighted by the newfound popularity of #thevillainwrangler hashtag just because of how tightly Bruce had clenched his jaw when he had seen it. What a wonderfully unplanned nuisance for Batman to manage.

He still held his gun casually behind his back when he answered the door. Hey, there was always the chance this was a clone of Danny… or he could've been mind controlled… honestly, it was sad how many possible threats it could be. After opening the door a smidge and surveying Danny through narrowed eyes for any suspicious signs, Jason stepped back and allowed him into the apartment.

"Mi casa es su casa," Jason proclaimed dramatically as he walked over to the couch to hear Danny out, tucking his gun into his waistband as he did. "Wait– don't take that seriously. You're not moving in here if you're looking to escape your three housemates."

Danny had cautiously followed him into the room, but remained standing in front of the couch with his hands shoved in his jacket pockets. "I do need help, but not with that."

"Oh?"

"You were in that assassin group of Ra's al Ghul's."

All signs of amusement slid off Jason's face at the mention of the League of Shadows. He sat up straighter and tensed, ready to spring into action. "What about it?"

"I need you to train me how to fight."

Well, now wasn't that surprising.

"Why?" Jason asked, still guarded but now curious.

Danny huffed heavily in annoyance, and Jason wasn't sure if it was aimed at him or at Danny himself. "I'm a liability. Me and all these kids are; Joker showed that wonderfully," he hissed the last words with something close to hatred (Jason could heavily relate to that). "But all these kids can't defend themselves– they're in hospitals. So I've got to learn to protect me and them." His eyes finally lifted from where they'd been glaring angrily at the floor, and Jason could now see the determination in his gaze. "I need to learn how to fight to keep this from happening again."

Out of all the people that would understand how it felt to be beat down and need to learn to fight again, Jason might've been the best person Danny could ask. Granted, while Danny had survived his encounter with the Joker (who'd clearly been toying with him), there were enough similarities.

"I have two conditions."

Danny seemed to be surprised he was actually agreeing to this. "Really?"

Jason smirked a bit. He could have some fun with this. "First: training is 8pm starting tomorrow, and every time you're late you owe me a bottle of gold Bacardi. Second: You listen to everything I tell you. I say jump-"

Danny sighed, but the quirk of his lips showed he found it humorous. "Yeah, yeah, I say 'how high.'"

"No, just fucking jump! The bad guy isn't gonna wait for you to ask 'how high!'"

He couldn't really complain since he had 100% asked for this, but wow was he really regretting it now that every muscle in his body was sore. He could feel soreness in areas he didn't even know could feel sore.

Training with Jason for the past week had been brutal. Danny wasn't out of shape, per say– he did regularly go for runs, but that was nowhere near enough preparation for what he was doing now, especially after his bout of sickness. They started with a mile run, but Jason also had him start lifting weights and learning basic martial arts moves. He had to pick up everything very quickly, and he was at least getting better at blocking after Jason started using a pole to attack him from farther away.

Ironically enough, Jason had also been the one to help him find his next requested villain.

It just so happened that Killer Croc (aka Waylon Jones) happened to be part of their monthly poker club (Danny was honestly amazed at how ridiculous it sounded, even to him). Turns out, the same Roy Harper that had been to visit him in his Watchtower hospital room had been sponsored by Croc when recovering from alcoholism. Now Croc was a member of the Outlaws' game night, and Jason had begrudgingly agreed to take Danny to their next one.

That's how Danny found himself seated at a table with Jason, Roy, an Amazon named Artemis, Killer Croc, and for some reason, Cassandra Cain.

"She just showed up one time," Roy said with a shrug when Danny asked about it, with Cass nodding in affirmation.

"She wins almost every time too," Croc growled, glaring at the girl. Cass merely raised an eyebrow in response.

"Perhaps not this time," Artemis countered with a grin as she accepted the cards Danny was dealing out. Since he was the newcomer and not involved in any of the group's squabbles, he had been nominated as this week's non-biased dealer.

He was sure there was a story behind that one too, but he became too focused on watching Cass win by a landslide to bother asking. The others grumbled a bit as she gathered together her winnings of $25 (each of them had put $5 in the pool), but Danny could tell that they weren't upset about it.

"Change your tells," Cass said with a shrug when Croc muttered about her being a secret mind-reader. "You too, Danny."

He was caught off guard by that. He hadn't even been playing. "What?"

"You came here to find Croc." There was no questioning tone to her words.

Killer Croc's eyes narrowed in suspicion at Cass' words as he surveyed Danny. "You want somethin' from me, wrangler boy?"

Danny wasn't too worried about his safety with so many witnesses in the room. "Maybe," he answered coolly. "When's the last time you hurt a person?"

He was pretty sure Croc laughed at that (he couldn't tell 100% by the sound, but it seemed like a fair assumption). "Last week. Some government goons tried to take me in by force for Waller, probably."

Danny couldn't exactly argue about that. The few snippets he had heard about Amanda Waller and the government from Harley and some of the other villains he had met were… not pleasant, to say the least. "Fair enough. When's the last time you hurt a kid?"

This time he was certain that Croc snarled at him. "I'm a monster but not that type of monster."

"Awesome. Roy, how's your Tuesday looking?"

Roy had been watching the conversation like an amusing tennis match with his head swiveling back and forth between them while they talked, and Danny tried not to snicker as the ginger reeled back in shock at being addressed. "Who, me? Uh… I should be free for the most part."

"Great. You're going to be coming with me and Croc to Gotham Children's. There's a child with a craniofacial malformation that wants to meet you, Croc."

It had been a bit of a hassle to get Croc into the hospital (the building was put on lockdown do keep the hallways empty so he could walk through to a lounge space unbothered), but from the happiness on the little boy's face, it was worth it.

Four year old Connor had a vascular malformation that covered his lower right jaw, the right side of his neck, and down onto the top section of his right arm. The skin was an angry red and tough to touch, but that didn't keep Connor from clambering all over Croc.

"Look, Mr. Croc, I got skin like yours! Except I'm red and you're green… we're Christmas!"

Danny had tried really hard not to chuckle at that, but he was only human. Roy didn't even bother trying to hide his laughter.

Connor was in the process of convincing the big greenie to let him hold onto Croc's hand when it was lifted in the air so he could swing back and forth when one of the two nurses in the room rushed forward to put a stop to it ("young man, Mr. Croc is not a swing set!"). Roy was still standing next to the door with one of the hospital's security guards, so Danny found himself alone with the final nurse.

Something occurred to him as he watched Croc and Connor together. "Does Connor have parents or guardians here?" He asked the curly haired nurse in a low voice. "I usually don't see them if I bring guests to visit very late, but it's the middle of the day…"

The nurse winced slightly at his words. "He's an orphan," she whispered back. "He was in his aunt's 'care,' if you can call it that." There was a slight hiss to her words, and she explained a bit more at his confused glance. "The police brought him here. The little guy thought his name was 'freak' when he first got here two months ago. She's awaiting trial."

The low growl from across the room let Danny know Croc had heard every word, but that didn't keep Connor from staring in awe as he made the sound. "Teach me how to do that! Teach me teach me!" He bounced up and down with each word.

Whatever Danny had been expecting from this visit, it wasn't to have Killer Croc sit a four year old on his knee and show the little kid how to mimic the growls he made.

"We got a secret language, Mr. Croc!"

"Sure thing, little red."

Gasp. "That'll be my name! Red Croc!"

Well. That was certainly a new one.

Chapter Text

It wasn't every day that you found out the devil was real. At this point, Danny wasn't even sure how to react to the news that he was a nightclub owner in Los Angeles. The only thing that was surprising was that the fallen angel wasn't based out of Gotham. He figured the devil would feel right at home with the greed and chaos that ran rampant in the city… then again, was Los Angeles really any different?

His hunt for the aptly named "Lucifer Morningstar" had led him back to the mysterious doorstep of John Constantine, who had promptly shut the door in his face when Danny first asked about the devil. Lucky for him, the House seemed to be on his side, as just like last time, the door swung open on its own accord to allow him entrance.

"You mean this request wasn't a prank?" Danny called loudly, hoping he would hear a response that he could follow to find the magician. The loud snort that came from the end of the hallway led him to a sitting room with bookshelves lining every wall. Constantine was flipping through an old-looking tome, his back to Danny as he approached.

"The bastard's real, all right," Constantine muttered. "A real pain in my arse."

Danny shrugged. "I find that's a common trait in the superhuman community. What's in the book?"

John glanced up at him, his eyes narrowed as if he was deciding whether Danny was worthy of the explanation. (He was.) "It's a record of dear old Lucy's movements. Lets me know what the bloody hell he's up to nowadays."

"That's… coincidentally helpful."

"Magic manages to be so every once in a while," John agreed with an amused smirk. "If I'm to bring you to him, I want to know who's been mad enough to request this prick."

Danny pulled a folded pile of papers from his overcoat and handed them over. "A thirteen-year-old terminal cancer patient. It just says she wants to ask him something, but there's a note from the nurses that they assumed her pain relievers may have triggered her belief in a 'made up man.'"

John read over the case file and frowned in interest. "Interesting. Alright, I'll take you to him, but only if we can make a pit stop at UCSF Children's on our way. I've been meaning to visit my Pegasus fangirl for a bit, and seeing as the 'Prince of Darkness' has made his home in sunny SoCal, it's not far away." He closed the book with a heavy thud and returned it to its place on the shelf as Danny tried to hide his happy smile that John Constantine had a soft spot. "I hope you're ready to teleport again, Danny Johnson!"

Danny's smile abruptly vanished as John gripped his upper arm and whisked them both away across the country.

"The amount of 'annoyed' I am at you right now is 'very,'" Danny groaned as he leaned against the sink in the hospital bathroom, willing himself not to vomit from the nausea Constantine's teleportation had induced.

"Makes us square," John laughed. Danny got the feeling John was enjoying him suffer a little too much. "It's about how I felt when you said you were looking for the Devil."

Taking a final deep breath, Danny straightened himself, checking in the mirror quickly to make sure he didn't look too sick before he led the way out of the bathroom and towards Taylor Pyne's room. "No wonder they sent me to find you; you're an evil man, John Constantine," he proclaimed jokingly. John merely winked at him in response.

When Danny had received Taylor's case, he had understood that the young girl wasn't likely to survive for long (between her needing a lung transplant, her rare blood type, and catching pneumonia, the odds weren't great). He knew Constantine was somehow responsible for her slowly improving conditions; while her lung disease was still present, she had recovered completely from pneumonia and was renamed a candidate for a transplant. It was just a waiting game now, one that seemed to include fun visits from John every now and then based on the fact that several nurses they had passed called out casual greetings to the magician.

The little redhead perked up immediately when they entered her room, and Danny was amused to hear that she still mistakenly called John "Mr. Costatine." He stayed out of the way as John pulled a chair over and sat next to Taylor, intent on continuing their fantasy story adventure about a ginger princess and her trusty flying horse.

(He made sure to stealthily take a video of John imitating a horse for the story's sound effects).

Danny truly felt bad to have to end John's visit with Taylor, but he did have a duty to fulfill for his newest wisher. After another bout of dizzying teleportation, Danny found him and John standing in the shadowed side alley of a busy Los Angeles street.

"I'm not dealing with his thug demons he has as security," John muttered in explanation at their landing spot. "Besides, he's got a back entrance for those 'in the know.'" He walked purposefully a bit deeper into the shadows to reach a cleft in the cement wall of one of the buildings, and Danny waited patiently as he knocked on the protruded section. The section of the wall slid open to form a doorway into the most expensive looking lounge Danny had ever seen in his life – and he had seen Lex Luthor's private jet.

The room was empty, so Danny wandered around it as John laid down on one of the three sleek leather couches and lit a cigarette. There was a grand piano in one corner of the room, and a wine cooler that held wines from the early twentieth century. The coffee table looked like pure mahogany… and were those diamonds inlaid in the wood?

"The bastard likes to show off," John took a long drag and chuckled at Danny's incredulous expression.

Danny sat on the opposite couch. "I mean… I should've expected it. Isn't wealth a part of the Devil's deal anyways?"

"Oooh, looks like someone's done his research!" Danny's gaze shot towards the tall, dark haired man in the impeccable suit as he walked into the room, clapping slowly in a dramatic manner. The man's eyes flashed golden dangerously as he turned his attention onto John. "I just can't seem to get rid of you, Johnny, can I?" He asked, and Danny could hear the warning to his sharp tone.

Constantine blew a cloud of smoke into the air before grinning slyly. "Always a pleasure, Lucy."

"Yes, so you always mention and yet here I am, quite aggravated!" The Devil looked back at Danny and dipped his head the barest amount in a polite greeting. "Lucifer Morningstar, and if I may guess, you must be that 'Villain Wrangler' we've been hearing so much about recently."

Danny sighed in defeat at the title. "It would seem so. I'm Danny Johnson… sorry for bringing John, but he was the only way I could find you."

Lucifer's smile tightened at the reminder of Constantine's presence. "Yes, well, then I better hear you out so he can leave even faster."

"Oi! Still here for now, Lucy."

"Tragically," Lucifer declared, looking up at the ceiling in a silent prayer to keep his temper. "So, Mr. Johnson? What brings you to my lavish abode?"

Danny brought out the case file for the second time that day and handed it to Lucifer, who took the papers and sat on the remaining free couch. "Beth is a thirteen-year-old patient with terminal lung cancer at the Coast City Cancer Center. The form says she only wants to ask you a question, but there's a footnote saying that the nurses thought her drugs were making her hallucinate and ask for 'the angel Lucifer' mistakenly." He shrugged helplessly. "If a kid can know to ask for Ra's al Ghul, I don't see why one can't ask to see you."

The three men sat in silence as Danny waited for Lucifer to finish reading over the file and John continued to inhale nicotine into his lungs periodically. In the quiet, Danny wondered what had caused the Devil and the magician to be so bitter towards each other. They reminded him of Selina and Bruce's bickering whenever "that bitch Talia" was brought up.

The crinkling of paper refocused Danny as Lucifer handed him back the file. "Interesting. I'm curious to see what she has to say." Lucifer's gaze was considerably less hostile as he turned to Constantine. "Would you like to do the honors?" He asked the blonde as rose and straightened his suit jacket.

"We're going to visit her now?" Danny was confused by how quickly Lucifer had decided. He was answered by a pair of matching smirks.

"It's one thing for Poison Ivy to visit a kid, mate. Best not to make it known the Devil showed up for a visit." John beckoned impatiently for Danny to join them, who reluctantly sighed before John teleported all three of them away.

He still despised this method of transportation, but Danny was finally starting to get a hang of it. He wasn't even nauseous when they landed in the corner of a dim hospital room; the lights were off, and it looked to be dusk by the low light coming through the windows along one wall. There was a woman seated in a chair next to the lone bed in the room, and Danny rubbed his temples in defeat as John flicked a hand and the woman slumped over, fast asleep before she could react. They now had the undivided attention of the thin girl reclined in the bed.

Beth had a knitted beanie on her head that matched her bright green eyes. Danny didn't see any hair peeking out from under it, and knew the ultimately unsuccessful chemotherapy had taken its toll. Her left hand had an IV inserted in it and was rested loosely on the homemade quilt that covered her white hospital sheets. She raised her free right hand in a cheerful wave.

"Hello Mr. Wrangler, Mr. Lucifer," she smiled cheekily, before shifting her gaze to Constantine. "I don't know who you are, but you smell like smoke." Her nose wrinkled in irritation as she narrowed her eyes at him. "That's not good for you, y'know."

John shrugged, but did take a few steps further away from her in silent apology. "I've heard." He nodded his head at Lucifer, who was closely observing the teenager that had asked to meet him "Also heard you were looking for my pal Lucifer here."

It was Beth's turn to shrug. "I figured it was worth a shot. The whole internet knows about the Villain Wrangler getting the Penguin and Harley Quinn and some others to show up for other kids. If anyone could find Lucifer, it'd be him."

Hearing Beth refer to him as such surprisingly didn't bother him as much as when other adults had called him by the nickname. The sincerity in her voice lifted Danny's spirits, and he even unconsciously stood taller.

"Well, Ms. Bethany, I am at your service," Lucifer finally said, giving the girl a sweeping bow. "You wished to ask the Devil a question?"

"Yeah." Her eyes glanced towards the woman asleep in the chair next to her before looking back at her visitors. "I only remember bits and pieces from when I was little, and my mom never told me exactly what happened to my dad, but I don't want him to come back and hurt her when I'm gone." She gripped her quilt tightly with both hands. "Can you make sure he won't?"

Lucifer regarded Beth curiously before he stared blankly at the wall and his eyes flickered black.

Beth's jaw dropped. "Uh… is that normal for him?"

"Probably," Danny nodded at the same time John huffed and agreed: "Yeah. He's just searching for your father's soul is all."

Lucifer blinked several times as his eyes returned to normal and his figure relaxed, signaling his presence was back with them. "You won't need to worry about your mother," he assured her gently. "They won't be meeting again." His words had such finality to them that Danny immediately knew Beth's father hadn't been alive for probably a long time before she asked.

Beth let out an airy, disbelieving laugh as Lucifer's words registered with her. "Oh thank God, she's safe then." She paused abruptly, realizing her choice of words. "Er, sorry: thank Devil?"

Danny and John burst into laughter. He really couldn't help himself after seeing her worried expression, and he knew John just found anything at Lucifer's expense funny. To his credit, Lucifer wasn't fazed by the girl.

"Either in this case is technically correct, although the second is much more appreciated."

Beth grinned up at him. "Thank you."

"You're most welcome! Now my dear, while your company has been pleasant, I cannot say I wish to spend any longer with my companions." He turned to glare at John, who was still chuckling. "However, they are my ride home, so I must bid farewell for now."

The tiny girl waved at them more energetically this time as Constantine moved to grab onto Danny and Lucifer, but a sudden cry of "Wait!" from her made them all freeze.

"Can I see your wings?" She asked timidly this time, not able to look Lucifer completely in the eyes as she spoke.

Danny wasn't sure what he was expecting, but by John's muttered comment of "show-off" as the Devil took off his jacket, he really shouldn't have been surprised to see a pair of white wings tear their way through the back of Lucifer's shirt.

With a wink from Lucifer and a delighted laugh from Beth, the three men vanished from the room.

@bethisbest: #TheVillainWrangler legit showed up with someone I thought didn't exist. He really can find anyone! (5k likes)

Chapter Text

"Have you seen that Disney princess movie that came out recently?" Danny asked between exhausted pants as his back slid down the cement wall until he was sitting on the pavement. Today's regimen had been harder than ever– Jason had not held back during their sparring session and Danny had just barely managed to stay on the defense.

His mentor stared at him blankly as he unwound his hand wraps. "Do I look like someone who would have?"

Danny shrugged half-heartedly. "I never assume at this point. Harley's been singing "Let It Go" almost non-stop for the past three days."

Jason huffed in what Danny took to be a laugh. "And that surprises you because…" He tossed his wraps to the side of the small makeshift gym before picking up a pair of water bottles and handing one to Danny, who sighed in relief as he pressed the cold water bottle against his head.

"Because I got a request file today from a little girl who wants to meet Gotham's ice prince, Mr. Freeze." Danny smirked as Jason choked on the water he had been drinking when he realized who that meant. "Yeah, that was my reaction too."

"You've got your work cut out for you on that one."

As it turned out, finding Mr. Freeze was one of his easier cases. For starters, Ivy had his number.

"We had a team up once. Not our best looks. I don't want to talk about it." That was all she had been willing to say on the matter before forwarding the number to him.

He had not been expecting a woman to pick up when he called. "Uh… excuse me, but would you happen to be an associate of Mr. Freeze? My name is Danny Johnson, I'm trying to contact him."

"Oh, are you that 'villain wrangler' fellow they've been talking about? My foundation has heard a lot about you!"

That phrase had been going around faster than he liked, and it seemed like he was going to be stuck with it at this point…. But dwelling on it now didn't help with his current confusion over who had answered the phone. "So... you're not Mr. Freeze though, right?"

"Sorry for the confusion! I'm Nora Fries, Dr. Fries' wife. I run a non-profit for research on rare illnesses. Why don't you come down to our laboratory, you can meet with both of us there. We'll see you in a bit!"

Danny had had several strange phone calls by this point, but somehow, this mundane one had managed to be the most surreal of them all. He stared blankly at the wall for several moments after Mrs. Fries had hung up, and apparently it was long enough for Harley to snap her fingers in front of his face to make sure he was still awake. "Hello? Still alive in there?"

Danny pushed her hand away amusedly. "Yes, thank you very much."

"So what'd he say?"

"Well, it wasn't a he, but apparently I'm expected downtown at their laboratory to meet soon."

Harley gasped. "Was it Nora?"

His eyebrows furrowed. "How did you know?"

"Don't you know? We have a Gotham girl's night out every two months!" She squealed in excitement, taking her phone out of her hoodie pocket to show him her lock screen photo. He leaned forward to look closer at the picture of the group of women clustered around a bar, all raising drinks in celebration. Harley, Ivy and Selina were all there, but Danny was also surprised to see Cassandra, Barbara, Zatanna, and three other women he didn't recognize. "See? That's Nora there!" Her finger pointed towards the only other blonde in the photo. "Let's go already! We'll get drinks on the way."

"Woah, woah– who said you were coming along?" He jumped up off the couch seconds after Harley had already begun rushing around the room to grab her shoes and her favorite metal bat. "Harley– hey, Harley!" He wasn't nearly as organized as she was, and was still putting on his left shoe when she was heading out the door.

"Hurry up, slow poke!"

The two of them arrived at Fries for the Future at the same time (Harley hadn't felt like taking Gotham transit, and so Danny had found her waiting for him next to his car in the parking garage). She did skip into the business ahead of him; by the time he entered the lobby, Harley was already sucking on a free lollipop from the front desk while the receptionist phoned Mrs. Fries to come down.

Nora Fries was tall and blonde, almost to the point of having white hair. She wore a matching blue jacket and dress suit, and the only accessory he could spot was her wedding ring, which twinkled in the light as she shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Johnson! And Harley!" She welcomed Harley's excited hug. "I haven't seen you in a few weeks, how have you been?"

Harley pouted dramatically as she pulled away from Nora. "I finally finished Game of Thrones."

Nora patted her on the shoulder consolingly, despite her amused smile. "I did warn you. We'll go out for coffee later this week and we can talk all about it then. For now, let's go down to my husband's lab– he's expecting you, Mr. Johnson."

It really felt like they were going to a stereotypical secret lair. Once in the lobby's elevator, Nora had placed her thumb on what Danny first assumed was a magnetic card reader, but was really a fingerprint scanner. The floor "B2" appeared on the screen, much to his surprise since there was no button labeled with it, and the elevator began to descend.

After the doors opened, they exited the elevator and stepped into a long, plain hallway. Nora stopped them outside of what looked very similar to a bank vault door, and handed them each a thick winter-style jacket from where a row of jackets hung on hooks next to the door. "You'll want to put these on before we go into his lab," she explained. Danny wasn't about to argue, so after the three of them had shrugged them on, Nora punched a code in the door's keypad lock and opened the door. A blast of cold air chilled Danny immediately to the bones as fog seeped into the hallway.

"Victor! You have visitors!" Nora called as she led them into the below-freezing lab.

"Just a second, darling," a deep voice called from the back of the lab.

Nora sighed, her breath condensing heavily. "Victor, dear."

Dr. Victor Fries looked up from a microscope on the far side of the room as the three of them entered his lab. Danny had seen pictures of Mr. Freeze in the news before, but this was the first time he had seen him without his domed helmet on before. He was surprised to see the man actually had a slight blue tinge to his skin– he always thought it was an effect of his helmet. However, said helmet and cryo-suit were currently lying on a table to one side of the room, next to a table full of small, cryogenic chambers.

"You know Harley, of course, and this is Danny Johnson from World of Wishes," Nora introduced them to her husband as he left his lab station and walked over to them. He paused to gently brush his wife's arm before turning to observe them.

"Harley." Victor's eyes slightly narrowed in annoyance as she jauntily waved at him, before turning to look at Danny. The scientist seemed amused by his shivering from the cold. "Mr. Johnson, you were looking for me?"

Danny could feel his teeth chattering as he began to talk, and knew he wanted to keep this as short as possible. "A young girl named Jenna is a patient at Gotham Children's undergoing a treatment you created and she wanted to meet you next week, especially because you have ice powers like her favorite Disney princess, Elsa."

Victor glanced at Nora briefly. "I think it'd be a wonderful idea," she said with a reassuring smile.

"If you insist, dear," Victor smiled slightly as he looked back at Nora, who grinned and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "But you will have to join me."

"I'm gonna get a cavity from somethin' sweet, and it ain't this lollipop!" Harley said in a rather loud stage-whisper to Danny. He closed his eyes and tipped his head back in defeat as Harley innocently smiled back at Dr. Fries' glare.

"We'll wait out in the hall," Danny muttered as he ushered Harley out they way they came.

Observing Mr. Freeze interact with a young girl wearing a Princess Elsa dress was one of the more amusing visits Danny had set up while in his position. The man was a brilliant scientist, but he didn't seem to know quite how to act around children. When Jenna had ran up and hugged Dr. Fries when he entered (despite his cold cryo-suit), the man had awkwardly patted her head before looking pleadingly at his wife for help. Nora managed to convince the young girl off of him, and soon Jenna was practically bouncing off the walls between questioning Fries about his powers and bursting into song every few minutes (and if Danny had to hear "Let it Go" one more time after this, he might scream).

That said, Dr. Fries was more interactive than Danny thought he would be. He demonstrated his freeze gun on a jug of water and a few small items for Jenna, and even let her test it out for herself… she did freeze a chair instead of the pencil lying on it, but luckily didn't hit anything else. Surprisingly, after seeing how interested Jenna was with his freeze gun, Dr. Fries had sat down on the bed next to her and explained how it functioned. It was clear the five-year-old was captivated by the impromptu lesson, even if she might not have understood everything he said. Based on the excited gleam in her eyes, there was definitely a budding scientist in the room.

Jenna wasn't the only one to take something away from the visit. While Danny knew that Dr. Fries valued hearing from the doctors and nurses caring for Jenna on how his treatment had fared, the scientist seemed more pleased by Jenna's gift of a stack of drawings.

"See? There's me with your freeze gun, woosh!, and you with a bigger freeze gun I helped you make!" Jenna pointed each detail out proudly when she first held it up for her idol to see. "And here we are meeting a polar bear because we helped freeze his home again! And here we are making a snow day so my sister doesn't have to go to school and she can play with us! And here…"

Dr. Fries had sat and gently accepted each drawing she gave him, even commenting on certain scenes when she paused for a breath during her descriptions. Once every picture was in his hands, he gave her a small smile (which was astounding because Danny wasn't sure the man was even used to smiling at anyone other than Nora). "These will go on the wall of my laboratory when I return to it. Thank you, Jenna."

Together, Jenna's wide grin and Dr. Fries' smile lit up the room.

Chapter Text

"Is that another case, Master Bruce?"

Bruce looked up from his tablet as Alfred set down several mugs of coffee and tea on the table in front of him. He gave a small smile in thanks as he lifted the black mug to his lips, pausing to inhale the rich scent of dark coffee before taking a sip. "Yes. Another one was submitted to me for final clearance yesterday afternoon." He glanced down at the dimming screen, tapping again so it'd stay awake. "Take a look." He handed the tablet to Alfred. Bruce knew he was sure to get a kick out of who had been requested.

"Oh dear," Alfred said after a moment, a wry smile slipping onto his face as Bruce leaned back in his chair. "Have you informed him yet?"

Bruce quirked an eyebrow in response and took another drink of his black coffee. "I thought it'd be a nice surprise."

He and Alfred both turned towards the entryway as they heard a loud yawn come from the kitchen. "What'd be a nice surprise?" Tim asked as he shuffled in, one hand ruffling his hair into an even further fluffy mess while the other belatedly raised to block a second yawn.

"Good morning, Master Tim." Amusement colored Alfred's tone as Tim slouched into a seat next to Bruce. He blearily accepted the red mug of chai tea that was pushed in front of him.

"Oh. Is this mine?" He took the cup and stared at it suspiciously before taking a cautious sip. His eyes closed in bliss and he leaned back in his chair. "Ah, espresso shots. Man's greatest invention."

"One of these days, I swear you're going to get an espresso-induced heart attack," Stephanie muttered as she came into the dining room from the foyer, rubbing tiredly at her eyes.

Bruce frowned, counting at the number of filled mugs that Alfred had brought out as Stephanie picked up the deep purple one. There were five left, and only four of the kids still lived in the manor full-time, including Tim and Steph. Had that many of them come back to the manor after patrol last night? Maybe he needed a few espresso shots in his drink too.

"Hey Steph," Tim muttered, sounding a bit more awake than before. He turned to look at Bruce. "What's the surprise you were talking about?"

"Oooh! A surprise?" Steph sat in the chair next to Bruce and leaned over to try and read off of his tablet. She pouted when he angled it away from her, so Bruce handed it to her with a roll of his eyes.

"Jason's been requested," he explained for Tim's sake since he couldn't see the case file.

"Jason's been requested for what?" Dick's voice cheerily called out despite how exhausted he sounded as he walked in with his arm wrapped around Cassandra's shoulders. Bruce knew Cass wasn't very fond of being touched, but by how tired she looked, he had a feeling Dick was the main reason she was on her feet. The two sat down in adjacent seats and eagerly accepted the coffees that Alfred handed them.

"I didn't realize you were planning to stay over, Dick," Bruce commented first. That at least solved the puzzle of one of the three extra overnight guests.

Dick shrugged. "There was an impromptu movie night. Harry Potter– couldn't miss out on that. Babs is here too, she'll be down in a minute."

"A sick kid asked the Villain Wrangler if he could meet Jason," Steph interrupted before they could go further as she informed the two new arrivals, knowing they both were curious but trying not to show it. The laughter from Dick had been expected, but the quiet giggle from Cass was a welcome surprise as she accepted the tablet from the blonde.

A scoff came from the doorway, and Bruce didn't even have to look to know it came from his youngest. "So Todd's finally gone rogue enough to be classed as a villain?"

Even Alfred rolled his eyes at that. "Try and have a good morning, Master Damian," he admonished as he handed the boy a mug of tea when he walked past. They all knew Damian was not a morning person.

"Thanks, Alfred," he muttered before sitting down. Despite his mood, everyone knew he wouldn't be rude directly towards the butler.

"Wow, is everyone up already?" Barbara strolled in, stretching her arms above her head with a yawn. "Didn't realize I was so slow– thanks, Alfred!" She stopped to thank the man as he handed her a pink mug full of coffee. "Did I miss anything important?"

"Jason's been requested by World of Wishes so Danny'll have to convince him to go," Tim said with a sigh, annoyed from hearing the same news repeatedly. He'd finished his espresso shot-filled tea and now had some color to his face.

Babs stared at Tim for a second before Cass held up the tablet in her hands and Babs walked to stand behind her chair so she could read it. "Oh, Danny's gonna love this," she said with a grin.

Bruce hid his smirk at her words. Danny Johnson had certainly proved to be entertaining when he ignored the security threat that the man's work still posed. He was curious as to how Johnson would convince Jason to go– he didn't have doubt that Johnson would find a way after all of the more difficult individuals he had tracked down.

His gaze turned towards the final mug left on the table. It seemed Babs was the last of the kids that had been over, seeing as conversation around the table had turned towards which of the Hogwarts houses was best (Bruce was in favor of Slytherin– but he digressed).

Steph beat him to asking about it. "Alfred, is the last coffee yours?"

Alfred shot Bruce's longest ward with a knowing smile. "No, Miss Stephanie. I prepared it for a guest who called ahead."

Bruce's eyebrows furrowed at that, especially after his butler sent an amused glance his way.

And it seemed he wasn't the only confused one. "Wait, which one of us would've called ahead? I didn't think any of us did that."

"That is correct, Master Richard," Alfred agreed with a long-suffering sigh that Bruce knew would have all the kids soon letting the butler know when they'd be at the manor. "I never said it was children."

Bruce's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he finally deciphered the meaning behind Alfred's smug smirk. "You don't mean–"

"Goooood morning, little birdies!" A voice called from the entrance hall and moments later Selina Kyle waltzed in, her heels clacking against the hardwood floor as she walked. Several voices said hello in response as Bruce rose to greet her.

"Selina," he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek as she wrapped an arm around his waist and reached out with her other hand to fist bump Steph. "I wasn't expecting to see you this morning."

She smiled slyly back at him. "The best surprises are the ones you don't expect," she teased, nudging him with her hip. "Ooh, is that coffee? Alfred, you're a dear." She blew the man a kiss as he passed her the final mug and then slipped around Bruce so she was sitting in his chair. Bruce gave her an unimpressed stare which she returned with a wink.

Yes, it was shaping up to be just another normal day in the life of Bruce Wayne.

Stephanie had known Cassandra was headed to check in on Jason that day ever since she had snickered that morning at coffee hour. She'd caught her trying to sneak out the mansion (read: take one of the "rich kids of Bruce Wayne" cars), but she had clearly needed sleep (read: she had too, so they both took a three hour nap on the couch).

They showed up at Jason's place around noon, both wearing leather jackets and dark sunglasses. They'd also dragged Tim along with them, and he was sulking behind them with his hood pulled up over his head as they stood in front of Jason's door.

Steph only had to knock three times before Jason opened the door. He was barefoot and shirtless, with only jogging pants on, and he had a glare that could kill a common paparazzo.

"No," he groaned before slamming the door shut in their faces. Cass rolled her eyes at his dramatics as they heard the door lock, but Steph was ready to kick the door down. Tim nudged her aside and pulled a lockpick set out of his pocket. He bent down and began to fiddle with the lock.

"I usually have to use this when I visit," he muttered. "Sometimes I just wish he'd just give me a key or–" He stopped talking as Cass took a cord from around her neck and stepped up next to him, dangling the cord and the key on it in front of his face. "Oh. Well, why didn't you mention it before, Cass?"

Cass shrugged. "You didn't ask." She gave him a smirk as he moved aside and sheepishly put away his tools so she could unlock the door. With a quick turn of her key, the doorknob moved and Cass pulled it open for the three of them to enter.

"Cass, you're a star." Steph gave her a high five and then closed the door behind them.

She'd never been to Jason's new place yet. It was a simple but large studio apartment, with separate sections for his sleeping area, the kitchen, and even a mini gym. Jason was currently lounging on his back in bed, faced turned toward the ceiling with his eyes closed.

"Hey Cass, other uninvited guests."

Tim crossed his arms and Steph could've sworn he was pouting. "How come Cass gets a welcome but we don't?"

"She's the only one of you with a key."

"Yeah, actually, why is that?!"

Jason groaned, moving one of his arms so it covered his eyes. "Maybe because she's the only one who respects peace and quiet." He turned to glare at Steph as she hopped up to sit on the kitchen counter, swinging her legs leisurely. "Get your ass off of there, that's where my food goes!"

"If you're putting your food directly on the counter, you've got some serious issues, Jay."

Cass snickered. "Not the biggest issue he has today," she simply said when their attention all turned to her.

Steph grinned and looked back at Jason, who was now sitting upright and staring at them suspiciously. "What do you think of the 'Villain Wrangler?'" She asked.

He shrugged. "Danny? Dude's been handling training pretty well, actually. Earlier this week, he managed to get a couple of good punches in during our sparring session. And he can run the mile in an acceptable amount of time." Jason paused as he took a drink from the water bottle lying next to his bed. "Villain Wrangler's got some fight in him. I respect that."

From the look on Tim's face, he hadn't known about Jason training Danny Johnson until now either, but apparently Cass had. (That, or it was because Cass was better at masking her surprise).

"Well," Tim said with a laugh, "that should make this even more entertaining."

Jason's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Anything anyone was going to say was waylaid by the sound of knocking on the door. They all shifted into tense stances (did Jason pull a gun out of his pants?) as the doorknob turned and the door swung open.

"I was going to use my key, but the door was unlocked…" Danny Johnson trailed off as he took in the sight around him. All things considered, he appeared relatively unfazed by the gun Jason had pointed at him, as well as the batarangs that were now in Tim and Cass' hands, and Steph wondered if this was Jason's usual greeting for him. Jason sighed and placed his gun in his waistband, which let the rest of them know they could relax as well.

"Oh come on, even he gets a key?!" Tim complained, throwing his arms into the air.

"My bed's on the other side of the room. I got tired of getting up and unlocking the door for him all the time."

Danny glanced at the bickering brothers with a slight smile before turning towards Cass and Steph. "Hey Cass. How's it going?" His smile widened at the 'thumbs up' she sent him before he looked closer at Steph. "I remember you, from the dinner that Selina brought me to at the manor. You helped Alfred cook, right?"

Steph nodded and offered her hand, which he took firmly and shook. "Stephanie Brown. And you're the Villain Wrangler?"

She was surprised by the weary sigh he gave when hearing his title. "It would seem so," he finally said.

This was interesting. She'd heard a lot about Danny Johnson, both from her family and from social media. The picture of him that she'd formed in her head wasn't one that sounded so… resigned. "You don't like it?"

"I never chose it– the name or the attention." He ran a hand through his hair sheepishly. "I just wanted to help those kids, and somewhere along the way, the Internet decided to shine a spotlight on me. I guess I should get used to it now."

"Could be worse," Cass pointed out.

"Yeah," Jason agreed from where he was pulling on a shirt from across the room. "You could be named after a restaurant–"

"I hate all of you," Steph heard Tim mutter.

At least something that one of the boys said got a laugh out of Danny. "Anyways, I'm actually not here for training today. I'm here looking for you, Jason."

"I should hope so, seeing as this is my apartment."

Steph watched curiously as Danny's eyes glinted mischievously. "You've been requested by a child through World of Wishes. Six year old boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, wants 'to be a ninja.'"

Jason let out a stream of fairly inventive swears. "If he wanted to meet a ninja, why didn't he ask for Damian?"

Danny shrugged carelessly as he pulled out his phone. "Guess he and his mom were saved by you a year or so ago. Distinctly remembered his savior wearing a red helmet." He smirked back at Jason. "If you don't want to be recognized, don't have such a flashy outfit."

"Fine. So he recognized me. Doesn't mean I'll go visit."

"No," Danny agreed. "But this video definitely means you will." He raised up his phone so only Jason could see the screen. Danny must've pressed play, because they all got to hear what was unmistakably Jason's voice belting out the chorus of "Let It Go" before he hurriedly reached out and pressed pause, glaring at Danny as he did.

"You told me you hadn't seen the movie," Danny said with a grin, pocketing his phone. "Here's the deal: you come visit this kid, and this video doesn't get sent around to every hero and villain that you know."

The four Batkids stared blankly at Danny. Steph hadn't been told that the Villain Wrangler was this devious. It was amusing to see him interact for the first time– clearly everyone had been leaving some things out of their stories about him.

Jason's glare would've made some cower, but Danny didn't seem fazed by it at all. "Fine," Jason grumbled. "Just text me when to be there."

Danny smiled brightly. "Great! With that done…" He turned to address the other three of them present. "Do you all want to join the training session today? I'd appreciate being able to practice with new people– Jason's getting a bit predictable during our sparring sessions," he joked, but Steph knew there was some truth to his words. It was always good to switch up training partners, otherwise the routine and styles would become too familiar.

Jason's good-natured eye roll let them know he wasn't bothered by the invitation. "You can only spar after your mile run. You've got to shave ten seconds off of last week's time."

Ivy glanced up at the sound of the door opening and shutting heavily. "You're back later than normal." She looked back down at her notes she'd been scribbling into her notebook. Maybe if she tweaked the formula by adding a bit of heat? Yes, that might work.

"It was a full house when I got there," Danny's voice called from the kitchen. "I got to spar with Tim and Stephanie today. Cass was there, too."

That explained him being in the kitchen, then. Usually Danny would head straight to take a shower after he returned, but on the days Jason drove him a bit harder, he always drank a full glass of water and ate an apple before finally going into the bathroom.

"What, did you finally get to fight Cassandra?"

Danny's bark of laughter was enough of an answer. "I'm not worth her time– she would beat me in a second." He strode out of the kitchen and plopped down heavily next to her on the couch, a red apple in his hand like she'd expected. "You're journaling?" He attempted to lean in to see what was written on the pages, but Ivy jerked the notebook out of his reach.

"If you must know, I'm creating a stronger antidote to my love potion. I figured it'd be good to have on hand, in case someone accidentally got into it."

Apparently she didn't have to verbalize the rest of her thoughts for him to know what she was implying. "And by that you mean 'in case Harley knocked over the vials so they shattered and caused the formula to become airborne?'"

Ivy rolled her eyes. "It was just one time. And anyways, she now knows not to do cartwheels near my equipment."

"Mhmm."

"You should go shower," Ivy muttered, wrinkling her nose as he continued to sit. "You smell like a gym mat."

"I felt like a gym mat with the amount of times I was knocked to the floor," he groaned. "Can you take a look at this first? Just want to make sure nothing's broken."

Ivy finally looked up fully from her work and her eyes widened at the deep bruise on his left wrist. "What'd you do, karate chop concrete?"

Danny's sheepish smile changed to a wince as she lightly prodded the area and moved his wrist back and forth to test its mobility. "Today's lesson was to not try and brace a fall with my hands, but to tuck and roll into the fall instead. I learned it the hard way, but now I won't forget it."

Ivy stayed silent. She knew Danny was pushing himself hard with this training; it was something that everyone who wore a flashy suit took seriously, no matter what side they were on. There'd been a general feeling of relief from those who knew Danny that he was learning to defend himself as well. No one wanted some wacko to try and pick up where the Joker had left off.

There were days where they had concern for Danny, though. He didn't have any powers and he hadn't chosen the superhero or villain life. He was a normal guy who'd been sucked into this world– their world– because he wanted to help kids. (In her opinion, that was something more admirable than anything some superheroes could dream of doing).

And yet here he was, steadily learning to fight from the Batkids of all people and coming back worse for the wear, without any major complaint.

"You can move it normally so it should be fine," she finally said, placing his hand on his knee. "Ice it for a bit after you shower."

Danny's grin was tired but thankful nonetheless. "Awesome. Thanks, Ivy." He lifted his arm up to give her a quick side hug, but the motion caused Ivy to recoil to the other side of the couch as it wafted his post-workout smell straight into her face.

"Did you roll around in an eastern skunk cabbage or something?!" She shouted, pinching her nose shut. "Shower! NOW!"

Danny's laughter trailed off as he left the room and finally went to wash up. It was times– and smells– like this that made her remember why she tended to prefer the company of plants. (At least they always listened to her the first time.)

Rebecca Narro had never seen anything like it before.

Or at least, she hadn't seen anything like it in person. She'd been on the night shift rotation during Danny Johnson's last few VIP visits to Gotham Children's, but she had seen some of his latest ones on social media. There'd been that boy who'd gone viral asking to meet the Penguin, and Nora Fries' foundation had written about an "budding young scientist" and posted a photo of the little girl's drawing of her and Mr. Freeze.

Now her shifts had changed and she found herself watching from the side of the room as the Red Hood held onto young Tyler's hands and guided him across a tabletop and then lifted him into a long jump down onto the floor. Tyler had been excelling recently in his physical therapy and was able to stand again on his own, but Rebecca and all the other nurses on the floor knew he dreamed one day of being a ninja. It was wonderful to see the vigilante helping this boy's wish come true in a way.

Every so often her gaze flitted to where Danny Johnson was seated in a chair next to the doorway. When she joined her friend and coworker Olivia in the room, Olivia had whispered that she thought it meant he trusted the Red Hood considerably, since he seemed content watching and not getting involved. He was interesting, this Villain Wrangler, who tried to avoid both the spotlight and his newfound title from the Internet.

She wondered how he had convinced someone as stand-offish as the Red Hood to visit a child for World of Wishes. Maybe he had someone the Red Hood knew convince the vigilante to come.

"Take it a little easy, Hood," Johnson said at a normal conversational level. Rebecca had been surprised at the casual tone of voice, but it seemed that the Red Hood had still heard him as he paused halfway through handing Tyler a pair of nunchucks.

"Here, put your hand on top of mine and I'll show you how to use it," Red Hood settled on instructing, his helmet pointed in Johnson's direction as he spoke. He continued with Tyler after Johnson gave a slight nod in approval.

Olivia snapped a photo as Red Hood helped Tyler gently swing the nunchucks. "It's Tyler's mother's camera," the blonde explained. "She's working and asked for photos, so I've been trying to take some when they've been too distracted to notice."

Rebecca smiled warmly. "That's a great idea. His mom will appreciate that." She glanced around the room, looking at the miniature red eye mask and plastic batarang Red Hood had given Tyler when he'd arrived, the obstacle course they'd made throughout the room, and Johnson sitting to the side. "You should take a picture of the whole room, too. That way Tyler can show his mom later– give her a 'show and tell' of the entire visit." She shrugged. "We could take a group picture of them with Danny Johnson as well."

Olivia gasped in delight. "Yes, let's! We'll wait for the end, though, so not to disrupt them."

They turned back to watch as Tyler laughed in delight as the nunchucks swung back and forth on either side of him as Red Hood guided his hand a bit faster. "Awesome! We're both ninjas now!"

"Not quite." Red Hood surprised them by pulling a red bandana out of an inside pocket in his leather jacket and tying it over the bridge of Tyler's nose so it lightly covered his lower face. "See? With this on your identity is secret, so now you're really a ninja."

Tyler's mouth dropped open and he nearly fell over in delight. "No way! Mr. Red Hood, you're the greatest!"

"Thanks, buddy. I'm glad someone finally realized."

By the wonderful smell coming from the kitchen when Selina entered the apartment, Danny and Harley were making lasagna. That was a tell-tale sign that the two of them were planning a movie night. Hopefully Harley had been too busy with cooking to have checked her phone recently. Selina would be disappointed to have missed out on a front row seat to Danny's reaction to the news.

"Well if it isn't the Villain Wrangler!" Selina said as she sauntered into the kitchen, swiping a bottle of opened rose off the counter as Harley and Danny both greeted her. "Did you check your news feeds lately?" She fetched a wine glass from a cabinet, filled it halfway, and returned the bottle to its spot before leaning casually against the counter to watch the fun.

"No, why? Ooo, didya steal somethin' pretty?" Harley asked, turning to look over her shoulder with wide eyes from where she'd been looking through the oven window at her baking masterpiece.

Selina pulled her phone from her back jeans pocket with a grin as she opened it to show the current trending hashtag and the post that had started it. "Looks like the mom of the kid you and Jason visited wanted to thank you since she wasn't there today."

Danny's eyes widened comically as he rushed over to look at her phone. "What?!"

"Oh, just take it and see for yourself." She handed it to him and watched with amusement as he read the post and began to scroll to look at the others in the hashtag. She already knew what most of them said– after all, they had been tagged as "The Villain Wrangler."

tylersmommy128: I can't thank #TheVillainWrangler enough for allowing my son to meet his hero #Red Hood! Thanks to the nurses at Gotham Childrens for taking this photo to capture the memory forever.

Beneath the text was a snapshot of Danny standing next to Jason (with his helmet on), who had both hands on the shoulders of a grinning little boy with tan skin and dark hair. Both had been reposted and liked tens of thousands times by regular people and larger media groups, but they were now joined by other posts mentioning the other visits Danny had made possible. Some of them were even made by the older kids he had helped; Selina specifically recognized one post from the boy who had met the Penguin.

jaredcorleoneee: Will never forget that Danny #TheVillainWrangler got Gotham's own boss to marathon the best movie trilogy with me! #TVW #IcebergLounge

"I… I thought only a few hundred people had been sharing this hashtag. I had no idea this became so popular," Danny finally said after he finished scrolling through the most popular page, his voice slightly shaky.

"That you became so popular," Selina amended for him. His shoulders slumped slightly as he nodded in agreement. He'd definitely need help learning to manage this newfound fame, so she made a note to speak to Bruce about it later. Knowing Bruce though, he probably was already planning something.

Harley had come up behind Danny to read over his shoulder, so he handed the phone to her. "Woah! You're practically famous," she commented in awe.

"Why does that impress you? The two of you are also famous!"

Harley pouted. "Yeah, but not Internet famous. Ivy said I shouldn't run an official 'Harley Quinn' account, so I just have to settle for running a 'Gotham City Sirens' fan account instead."

Selina stared at her friend, who was now trying to look innocent. "That's your account? Okay, wait, not important right now." She pulled the sleeve of her sweater up so she could unclasp something from her wrist and held it out for Danny to take. "It's a congratulatory present," she explained as she let the watch fall into his open palm.

Danny buckled it onto his left wrist slowly. "Is this… a Rolex?"

"Consider this recompense for breaking your locks and not paying rent before you gave us our keys," she said with a shrug, trying to remain aloof despite the clear reverence in his voice as he stared at the watch.

"Why wasn't this in a box?"

Ah. There was the cautious suspicion she'd been expecting. "I didn't steal if, if that's what you're wondering. Think of it as an upgrade from your current watch." She took another long drink of wine, watching his face to see when he would understand.

"Oh. You put a tracker in it?" A warm smile crossed his face unexpectedly. "You're worried about the attention on me, too."

"This one's special, though!" Harley interjected as she grabbed his arm and examined his new accessory herself. "I brought it to the red-headed wonder–"

"She means Barbara," Selina muttered for Danny's understanding.

"–and she found a way to add a nifty lil' panic button! And, if you turn the time and date dials away from you at the same time, it'll shoot a tiny poison dart from the twelve o'clock side!" She pointed at the top edge of the watch, where a circular groove could be made out against the silvery metal.

"We know you're combat training, but we all wanted to make sure you'd have a secret weapon of your own, just in case," Selina summed up.

Danny opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a series of beeps from the oven.

"Our lasagna!" Harley cheered as she dashed over with a pair of oven mitts to take it out.

Danny turned to Selina as Harley hummed while she placed the pan on the counter and gathered a stack of plates to cut pieces for each of them. "Thank you," he said quietly. "I've been on my own for so long, it's nice to know I have friends that want to help me."

Selina patted his upper arm reassuringly. "And thank you for taking a chance and seeing the best in all of us."

"And thank you for helping me make this wonderful lasagna!" Harley called out as she brought a pair of full dishes over to them. With just a glance towards where Harley had left her own dish, Selina could clearly see their friend had piled far more onto her own plate. The sight brought a smile to her face: she expected nothing different of Harley. "Selina, wanna join us for movie night? You can choose the first one!"

She hadn't been able to join them in quite a while and was more than happy to accept the invitation. "Alright. How about 'The Devil Wears Prada?' A film about strong women and gorgeous fashion, two things I strive to be and include in my life," she added jokingly, though they all knew there was truth to her statement.

Danny and Harley both laughed as they led the way into the living room. "Fine, but only if we can watch Sherlock Holmes afterwards."

"Oooh, it'll be like old-timey Batman!" Harley snickered. "Good idea, Dan-the-man! Remind me later to doodle a hat and monocle onto that magazine of him Selina has stashed in her nightstand." She glanced slyly at Selina. "You know, the 'sexiest man alive' one," she said in a mock whisper with a teasing wink.

Selina knew what Harley was up to, and she was more than willing to play along to lighten all of their moods. "Well if you're going to bring that up, let's not forget that he won that title three times, although I am admittedly responsible for why he's now out of the running for 'most eligible bachelor…'"

"Think they'll offer me his spot instead?" Danny laughed as they sat down on the couch together.

Yes, it was just another normal movie night in the Villain Wrangler's apartment.

Chapter Text

"A new case?" Selina asked as the recognizable ding of Danny's phone echoed from another room in the apartment. She was sitting next to Ivy on the couch, both of their attention focused on the screen as they battled each other in a new video game that included animated versions of members of the Justice League and the Legion of Doom.

Harley was bouncing in anticipation on the far side of the chair as she called out advice to both women, and Danny was seated on the carpet below them, his back resting against the space left between Ivy and Selina's legs. He was slated to play Harley next, but for now was enjoying the spectacle that the other two were giving. He was sure the new message could wait a minute more.

Ivy had chosen to play this round as Cheetah, and Danny knew Selina held a massive grudge against the cat-like woman. It was clear that she was enjoying every successful combo move that she landed against Ivy… even if she was playing as a hero. (They had to level up before being able to pit two villains or heroes against each other, as they quickly found out to their annoyance).

Ivy let out a cry of frustration as the screen flashed brightly displaying her defeat. "How did you manage to beat me as Mera? She's not even officially in the League!"

Selina smiled as she leaned backwards in triumph. "It's all in the flick of the wrist. Hm… a trident's a bit flashy, but how do you think I'd look with a staff?"

"A bit like a copycat," Ivy sighed as she handed her controller over to Harley. "Although, a collapsible one would work if you can get it in black."

Harley poked Ivy in response. "What d'ya think about my giant hammer?"

"It suits your style: bold and unapologetic."

Harley squealed happily and blew her a kiss in thanks. "Just for that, I'ma play this round as you and win!"

Selina pouted. "That's not fair." She tried to give her controller to Danny, but he shook his head as he reluctantly stood.

"I need to check my phone first, see if it's a case or something else. You go ahead and play." She nodded in understanding at his words as he walked over to where his phone was charging in the kitchen. He used his fingerprint and pass code to unlock it and open the awaiting message.

Pierce Greyson, age 11, pediatric soft tissue sarcoma, wants to ask his favorite actor Clayface for acting tips.

"Uh… is this a prank?" He closed his eyes and counted to three before looking back at what was written on the screen. Nope, the same words were still there. Lovely.

"Is what a prank? Did someone contact you for an interview?" Ivy called back.

"Or a modeling offer?" Selina's laughter cut off with a hiss, and Danny could tell without looking that Ivy had likely pinched her in the side in retribution for her sass.

Danny rolled his eyes, even though he knew they couldn't see him from the other room. "This latest wisher asks for Clayface because he wants to be an actor and learn from one of his all-time favorites."

"Ooh, that sounds like a fun time! Do you think Clayface would let me sit in on the lesson?"

Danny dashed out of the kitchen to see if she was joking, phone still in hand. "Wait… you're telling me that Clayface was actually an actor?"

Harley shrugged nonchalantly as she leaned backward over the arm of the couch so she could look at him upside down, somehow managing to still play decently against Selina as she did. "Technically speaking, he is an actor. But now he changes his whole body to fit each new role!"

Ivy stared at her with raised eyebrows. "That was perceptive of you."

The blonde grinned widely as she sat back up to look back at the television screen. "It happens on occasion."

Danny peered at her through narrowed eyes. "How exactly do you know all this?"

"When he's not filming under his new identity, Hagen's working at a bar downtown."

Selina's voice was now tinged with suspicion as well. "What do you mean, 'new identity?' I haven't heard any of the Bats mention anything about that."

"Really? I know something they don't!" Harley let out a loud cheer as she jumped to her feet and raised her arms in victory, before seeing the unimpressed stares her three flatmates were sending her and sighing dramatically. "You all take the fun out of everything. Clayface's real name is Matt Hagen, of course, but his identity he now uses for acting is Basil Karlo," she explained with a bored wave of her hand.

"What?!"

"We have a signed photo of Clayface in our kitchen?!"

Harley would've been sulking when she led the way into the bar that night if he and Ivy hadn't let her bring along her hammer. Seeing as it was in hand, she was all smiles as she waved enthusiastically towards the bartender. "Hey, Matt!"

"Harley, a pleasure as always!" A smooth southern drawl came from the man as they approached. The blonde's back was turned to them as he washed out a glass, but Danny could tell that Matt Hagen was a few inches taller than himself. The height difference only grew as he, Harley and Ivy took a seat at the bar. "The usual?" He turned around with a grin that grew stiff as his eyes landed on Danny. "Ah, Ivy!"

"Thanks! Ivy'll have–"

"A tall 'Poison Ivy's Kiss,' if I recall? Yes, that is one of the most popular– thank you for the recipe, by the way," the bartender said, bowing with a flourish of his arms. "And of course, the man of the hour! What'll it be, Wrangler?"

Danny fought the urge to sigh as he crossed his arms and leaned forward on the bar. "A rum and coke is fine." His request was met with dead silence from the other three as they all turned to stare at him. "...What'd I do?"

"He'll have the 'Secret of Atlantis,'" Harley and Ivy ordered simultaneously in the same long-suffering tone.

"Excellent!" Matt Hagen exclaimed as he grabbed three glasses from behind the counter and began to gather and pour the ingredients. "Although," he said, his faux accent now glaringly absent, "that isn't exactly what I was asking." He set the finished drinks down in front of the Sirens first, before placing Danny's down with a heavy thud. There was a dangerous glint in his eyes as he met Danny's gaze, the features of his face shifting and remodeling just enough to remind Danny who he was dealing with. "So, Danny Johnson. What'll it be?"

Danny reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folder set of papers that he had printed only a short while ago. "I'll trade you– case file for the drink?" He held out the papers for Clayface to take, finally taking a sip of the cocktail once the bartender began to read the file. He had to admit: Harley and Ivy had chosen his drink well.

"Danny told us about it," Harley gushed as she leaned over to point at certain sections she wanted Clayface to read first. "The kid wants to have you teach him about acting! And see, there's even a picture of him dressed like your character from that action flick The Chase Is On! He's got the sunglasses and everything!"

"This Pierce is a dedicated fan!" Clayface hummed thoughtfully. "I will speak to my agent at once. I can take a day off from shooting to visit this child."

Danny smiled triumphantly at the news. "Awesome. Do you think you can visit in the next week? He's got a surgery scheduled for Thursday afternoon."

Clayface nodded agreeably. "I'm sure that can be arranged."

It turned out that it was much harder for a rising star to take a day off in the middle of filming an anticipated blockbuster (especially when he couldn't reveal exactly what he was leaving to do, what with a secret identity and all). Consequently, the World of Wishes meeting with Clayface had been scheduled for early Thursday morning, before Pierce was set to prepare for his operation.

It was one of the most entertaining visits that Danny had observed. They'd been shown to an outdoor courtyard to meet Pierce, seeing as the hospital didn't want any chance of stray clay contaminating a patient's room.

The courtyard meant, however, that their meeting wouldn't be private. Some children were seated outside with family members, a few were walking with the aid of physical therapists and nurses as they took their first steps outdoors in days. The sight of the large, hulking figure of Clayface next to a small boy nearly bouncing in excitement had understandably drawn lots of attention. It took only minutes for a brave child to approach the two and ask if they could join.

"The more the merrier!" Clayface said after glancing at Pierce to ensure he was alright with this turn of events.

Pierce had grinned happily at the inclusion of his friends, and before Danny knew it, Clayface was leading a small gaggle of children in theater improvisation games. They stood in a circle and introduced themselves with an alliterative adjective to match their name by tossing a small ball of Clayface to each other (Was it technically a body part? A finger, maybe? Danny didn't know and didn't want to find out).

This had led into a game where each of them added a word to build a story, something that could quickly derail with the addition of an absolutely random word. Danny couldn't hold in his laugh when a little girl did just that by saying "mermaid," and thus throwing into chaos the previous story about a dog running through a field.

Danny was impressed with how well Clayface handled his impromptu class over the rest of the hour. It was always interesting to see the differences in every villain's interaction with kids.

When the hour was up and the nurses came to collect Pierce so he could be brought in to prepare for surgery, Clayface revealed one more surprise left in him– quite literally. His large fist drew a small object out of his chest which he held gently for a moment before holding it out for Pierce to take. It was a small, golden trophy, and Pierce held it reverently.

"One day, you'll have a larger one of a golden man to put on the shelf next to this one," he said softly.

It was clear from the look in Pierce's eyes that he believed every word Clayface had said. And honestly, Danny had, too.

Life wasn't that kind though.

It was around ten o'clock that night when Danny got the call. He'd been up having a late snack as he finished up some paperwork, seeing as all three of his roommates were out for the night and had left him a quiet workspace.

The caller ID read as Gotham Children's, and Danny's stomach immediately sank. Regardless, he answered as usual.

"Hello, Mr. Johnson. This is Mandy Greyson, Pierce's mother. The nurses are letting me call from their station…" There was a pause and a shaky inhale. "There was a complication during Pierce's operation– he had a reaction to the anesthesia."

Danny shut his eyes tightly and tried his best not to let grief overwhelm him. Not yet, at least. "Mrs. Greyson, I'm so sorry–"

"No! That's the reason I called," she said firmly. "You're the only reason Pierce was able to meet his hero. He was so happy today…" A sob finally broke through. "I was hoping you would pass our thanks along to Clayface. He made my baby's final day one of his best."

"Of course I will, Mrs. Greyson. I'll let him know."

Danny reciprocated a polite goodbye and finally let out an exhausted sigh as the other line hung up. He forcefully shut his bright computer screen and just sat there at the kitchen counter for several minutes, his head in his hands as he tried to shut out the rest of the world.

He wouldn't change his job for anything, but sometimes, it really sucked.

Once he finally felt stable enough to continue, Danny dried his eyes and picked up his phone to text Clayface. Gotham's illegal underworld was already busy by this time, so he had a habit of never calling without warning, in case the recipients were in the middle of something. He didn't want to be the one to accidentally distract them.

It seemed that Matt Hagen was working the bar again, according to his quick response, so Danny steeled himself for the difficult conversation he was about to have and pressed the dial button.

"Hagen. What's up, Wrangler?"

"Just… just Danny right now," he corrected tiredly. "I have bad news, Hagen."

"I'm listening."

"Pierce didn't make it through his surgery," Danny explained wearily as he leaned back in his chair to stare blankly at the ceiling. "His mother called me so I could pass on her gratitude to you for visiting him today. She… she said it was one of his best days."

Clayface was silent for so long that Danny pulled the phone away from his ear to check that he hadn't hung up. "Will he have a funeral?"

The question brought a ghost of a smile to his face. "I'll let you know the details when I find out."

"Right, thanks." And with that, the call ended.

Danny set his phone on the counter and finally let his welling tears spill free down his face as he mourned the loss of a little boy, taken too soon from this life.

Danny showed up to Pierce Greyson's funeral the following week with a somber group in tow. Ivy had insisted on coming with him and Hagen, seeing as she knew what both of them were going through. Harley had wanted to support all three of her friends, so she had tagged along. Danny thought it was nice of her to put her hair in a bun to hide the dyed tips (and thus keep attention off of her), but it was strange to see her out without her hair in her trademark pigtails.

The final member of their group, surprisingly, was the Weather Wizard, Mark Mardon.

Danny hadn't contacted Mardon since he visited a little girl named Cammie a few months ago. There hadn't been anything else for either of them to do in regards to that case, and the Weather Wizard frequented Central City, not Gotham. Danny hadn't even known the villain community was so casually interconnected that Mardon would even be in contact with Clayface or Poison Ivy. But apparently, word had quietly spread about the passing of Clayface's wisher, and Mardon was here to give his support as well.

The five of them made sure to stay at the back of the gathered crowd of friends and family, not wanting to draw gazes or cause a panic if they were recognized. They watched silently as the priest prayed over the casket before stepping back and allowing the mourners to line up and lay roses on the casket.

By the time they made their way to the front, much of the crowd had drifted back to their cars and begun to leave the cemetery. With less of an audience to recognize and react to her presence, Ivy pulled down the hood of her trench coat and removed her sunglasses as they approached the basket of roses and Pierce's parents.

Harley and Mardon went up first, nodding to the Greysons before taking a rose and placing it gently on the pile of flowers. Danny followed them with Ivy just a few paces behind him. He figured her presence would be more understood after he had been seen first.

"Thank you for inviting us, Mr. and Mrs. Greyson," he said with a sad smile. "Pierce left his mark on us all. He was a kind and talented boy." He slightly angled his body to gesture at Ivy. "I hope you don't mind, but a few others wanted to pay their respects as well."

Mrs. Greyson nodded shakily as she wiped at her eyes with a handkerchief, while her husband reassuringly took her hand. "Thank you, Mr. Johnson, for everything you did for Pierce."

Danny waited for Ivy to come alongside him and say a few polite words so they could both take a flower and move to place them on the casket with the rest. Clayface had asked to approach Pierce's parents alone, and the rest of them gathered together at the edge of the plot as they waited for him to finish.

"Ivy and I are taking Hagen out to eat after this," Mardon informed him Harley pulled Ivy into a hug. "We wanted to be there in case he needs to talk."

It sounded like a good idea to Danny. "Make sure you go somewhere with vegetarian options," he advised.

"Will do."

They paused to watch as Mr. Greyson warmly shook Clayface's hand and Mrs. Greyson tearfully pulled him in for a hug. When she released him, he slowly moved over to Pierce's casket. Hagen set a small medal on top of all of the flowers and stood with his head bowed for several moments before his shoulders drooped and he headed to join their little group.

"Thanks, Danny," Hagen said in a low voice once he reached them.

Danny waved off any further thanks. "Don't worry about it, Hagen. I'm glad we could all come. Harley and I will leave you three to it for now, though," Danny said, and then gestured for Harley to join him. She reached up to ruffle his hair as they began to walk back to Danny's car.

"Feel up for a movie-and-blanket fort afternoon?" Harley lightly suggested.

Danny stumbled slightly at her offer. It was her way of letting him know that she knew he wasn't alright. Just like the other three were going off to support each other, Harley was doing the same for him. "Sounds like a plan," he agreed. "But only if I get to choose the movie this time. And… thanks, Harls."

She nudged him in the side with her elbow. "Just don't mention it around Gotham, yeah? Can't let them know I'm a softie like Daddy Bats!"

Chapter Text

Danny loved his job, he really did.

But after another text from Harley– she'd been sending him memes and funny screenshots all day– he wondered again how this had managed to become his new norm. With an amused yet exasperated sigh, Danny picked up his phone and absentmindedly pressed in his key code to open his messaging app.

DannyPhantom: you do realize i still have to work, right? not all fun and games out here

ClownQween: you're working with us so of course it's all fun n games!

DannyPhantom: Harley, you robbed a STORE for your wisher

ClownQween: like i said

ClownQueen: fun ;)

Danny rolled his eyes and set his phone back down so he could return to staring at the screen before him. He'd been at his desk and going through a list of calls and messages for the past few hours. Different donors and companies all were pledging donations, sponsorships and discounts to World of Wishes and any of its wishers. Thanks to time zones, with each series of responses he sent out, it seemed a new batch had already flooded his inbox.

It was sort of nice, really. In recent weeks, he hadn't been able to come in as often as normal, thanks to the majority of his cases being far from usual. He'd been able to respond to some messages while working from home, but the office provided a lack of distractions and a quiet space. Besides, some donors and companies only picked up the phone for known business numbers, and some Danny didn't want to even deal with until he was at work.

He already brought enough work home with him, seeing as it had quite literally become his roommates.

The more time sensitive messages were dealt with first. Helping assign cases to other members, responding to offers from businesses to coordinate some large scale traditional wishes, such as family trips to amusement parks. He'd formed professional relationships with these companies before, so it was the reason he was continuing to be the person of contact involved.

After that, he moved onto spam. Danny had been getting messages addressed to "The Villain Wrangler" more and more frequently: requests from news organizations– both legit and tabloid– and even some from the same companies that fulfill wishes for World of Wishes, asking if he would put them in contact with some of the more "personable" villains. The one he was currently reading through was even asking if he was authorized on their behalf to sign a contract to allow branding with their name and image.

Danny sighed. He had no idea this would happen when he first sought out Ivy. In moments like these, with him sitting at his desk in the quiet evening office activity, it could be a lot to handle. It wasn't like there was a manual on how to be a "Villain Wrangler."

Or at least there wasn't any manual that he knew of. At this point, he wouldn't be surprised at all if one of the Batbrats had whipped up something like that.

One foot in front of the other seemed to be the best and only way to counter each new obstacle this title threw at him though. He picked up his phone again and hit the call button under Harley's name. The sooner he dealt with this message, the sooner he could move on to the others.

Luckily for him, Harley picked up almost immediately. "Hey, Harls. Do you give me permission to sign a contract allowing for 'Harley Quinn's Super Quencher fruit punch?"

"A wha'?"

Danny's brow furrows at the staticky sounds through the call. "What're you up to? Everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah! Just out walking the hyenas!"

That was unexpected. "Excuse me, did you just say hyenas?"

"Well, I can't keep them in your apartment. I read the lease's rules!"

Danny didn't know whether to laugh or sigh defeatedly. "Uh… have fun? Pet them for me."

She gasped dramatically. "Of course I will! Now," there was a pause as she hissed something away from the microphone, "what was this about? A fruit punch named after me?" A high-pitched yipping chimed in somewhere in the background, and Harley shushed them loudly. "What if it tastes bad?"

"I'm sure if you want to give the go ahead, they'll let you taste-test it," He joked, running his fingers through his hair. "You know what? I'll let you contact them yourself."

"Aw, but you said–!"

"I'm not your manager, Harley," Danny finally gave in and laughed at her whine. "But I'm sure they'll love to get a direct call from the 'Clown Queen of Gotham.'"

Another gasp. "Ooo, I'm gonna steal that from you, if ya don't mind. How'd you come up with it?"

Danny shrugged as he jotted down the company's information on a sticky note. "It was your contact name in my phone when it was given to me, so alas, I cannot take the credit."

"Waaaaait, so I've gotta give a 'thank you' basket to the Batbrats?" Harley complained.

"Tell them I say hello," Danny teased.

"Hmph! Selina can do that for both of us," Harley huffed and hung up.

One down, several dozen more to go. Hopefully there'd still be take-out spots open nearby by the time he finished.

In fact, there was a well-known pizza joint that filled to-go orders until midnight just down the block from Danny's work. While it wasn't nearly that late, Gotham's nightlife was already up and active under the cover of evening darkness. The trip home wasn't very far, but Danny was a seasoned resident, as most of the locals were. He made sure to stick to brightly lit and busy roads as he walked back to his apartment with his precious cargo: two large pizzas, one half-pepperoni and half-"everything," and the other half-cheese and half-vegetarian. (He'd learned from past pizza mistakes that it was easier to have separate options for everyone.)

There was one area he couldn't avoid on his route, though. It'd been the spot of a battle a few months ago– between whom, he couldn't remember at this point – and the lights abruptly dimmed upon entering that section of the street. Gotham was full of areas like that. So many neighborhoods played host to nightly shenanigans and never were entirely repaired due to the high corruption levels in the city and the sheer amount of damage that occurred.

Well. It wasn't perfect, but it was home.

That said… Danny should've known what would happen when he paused after hearing a commotion coming from a side alleyway.

Of course he would immediately be grabbed from behind and jerked backwards, dropping the two boxes onto the cold pavement in the process.

Gotham was a cruel mistress.

"Huh," Danny said, blankly staring at the sword gleaming at his throat. This certainly was not on his list of possibilities for how today would go. Movement in his peripheral caught his attention just in time to see a pair of figures drop down from above– a rooftop, or maybe a fire escape? He didn't dwell on it– and rushed towards him and his attacker.

"Too afraid to take us on alone?" One of them snapped.

Danny closed his eyes and tried to withhold his groan of despair. Who in the universe did he piss off to end up in this mess?

The man behind Danny huffed. "You're going to let me and this civilian go off on our way, unfollowed," he ordered firmly.

Waitwaitwait. Danny's thoughts stuttered to a halt. He recognized that voice.

"Hold on jus' a sec– Deathstroke?" He asked incredulously, doing his best to remain motionless despite wanting to turn around and see for himself.

The sword held against him didn't flinch, but one of the newcomers did as they finally stepped out of the shadows. "Oh fuck, Danny?" From the shock of blonde hair flowing from underneath the bat-shaped cowl, he knew he was looking at Stephanie.

"Danny Johnson?" The man behind him asked, clear surprise evident in his voice. The weapon finally dropped and the grip on Danny vanished, allowing him to stumble forward slightly and look around. He'd been right; it indeed was the assassin, albeit his trademark mask was slashed above his left eye, his darker red blood staining the lighter color of the fabric. No wonder the man hadn't been able to immediately recognize him; his vision was definitely not at 100% at the moment.

"Hey," Danny replied lamely, offering a weak wave as the adrenaline rush began to recede, leaving him a bit lightheaded. He crouched down to stabilize himself, only to notice something at his feet. "Oh." He frowned in disappointment. "You made me drop my pizzas."

"Of all the civvies to get involved, how is it you?" That was Red Robin coming up to flank Stepha– right, she was Spoiler at the moment.

(Yeah, yeah, so what if he knew Red Robin's actual name was Tim. Sue him for holding a little bit of a grudge.)

Red Robin's eyes narrowed at him slightly, which Danny could tell by the crease that formed in his domino mask. "What the hell are you even doing here?"

Danny met him with an equally unimpressed glare. "Oi, respect your elders. All I was doing was walking home. But, good question…" He paused and looked at the trio of supers with a cautious eye. "What are you all even doing?"

Danny could've cut the answering silence with one of Slade's overgrown knives before one of the three finally spoke up.

"It's not what it looks like?" Spoiler offered, her voice rising as she continued with her statement, knowing it was a weak attempt.

"It looks like you're fighting," Danny deadpanned, raising his eyebrow in a silent dare for her to come up with another explanation.

"...okay, then it's exactly what it looks like."

"Uh huh," Danny nodded slowly and skeptically, but what could he do? As familiar as he'd become with this underworld, sometimes the realities of its routine activities didn't hit him until he was staring at it head on. "Well… have fun with that," he shrugged off, trying to remain as impartial as possible. He didn't know what was going on, but he certainly didn't want to be around to get any more involved. "I'ma just... get my pizzas and walk away."

"Good plan, Johnson."

Danny nearly jumped at Deathstroke's unexpected growl, but tried to recover by giving two hopefully-reassuring thumbs up as he carefully crouched to grab the pair of pizzas. He did his best not to turn his back on either party as he moved, as if they were wolves and he was only a helpless deer. Alright, maybe not that bad– a deer with antlers: so with some defense, but one that would largely fail against the present company if he got caught in the crossfire again.

"Don't tell the others about this," Tim muttered.

Danny rolled his eyes as he started to back away down the sidewalk on his original path. "We are on a public street so I'm sure this is already trending on a dozen different sites, so on that note, please refrain from killing each other while you're being live streamed."

"No promises!" Spoiler called after him.

Danny gave her a mocking salute before he spun on his heel and continued walking away, now that he was at a safe distance.

At least they waited until his back was turned to resume their skirmish. He did appreciate the plausible deniability.

"Danny, is it going to be a recurring trend for you to go viral every time you leave the apartment?"

Danny met Selina's amused grin with feigned surprise as he locked the front door behind him. "How could I possibly go viral for indulging in a bit of night-time bird watching?"

"Too bad you didn't call animal control," Ivy's drawl came from the kitchen, so Danny headed in her direction to finally set the boxes down. She turned away from filling her wine glass to open the topmost box as Danny slipped behind her and stole the drink for himself. "What'd you do to the pizzas, juggle them?!"

"Before or after I almost became a shish kebab on a sword?" Danny mumbled into his glass as he watched Ivy place the slices of Harley's 'everything pizza' into containers and then stack them in the fridge. The blonde was probably still out with her hyenas for all he knew (which he didn't, because plausible deniability was a splendid thing).

"Don't be ridiculous," Selina brushed him off as she sauntered in and plucked a slice of cheese pizza from one of the open boxes. "Shish-kebabing you would be too slow for Slade. He's all about efficiency when it's not personal."

"Thanks, Selina. I feel so much better," he sassed back before sighing. "How bad is it?" It was better to know sooner rather than later if he needed to run damage control.

"Not bad," Ivy admitted. "They're officially not sure it's you– the closest cell phone video was still a bit grainy– but everyone's seemed to jump onto the idea." She pointed her slice of pizza at him as she laughed. "I think we've just found your superpower!"

"What, perfect PR?" Danny's first instinct was to scoff at the suggestion, but then he merely shrugged it off. "Could be worse."

"Next time I'm detained, you'll be my one phone call so you can send some of that 'perfect PR' my way," Selina smirked and nudged him teasingly after he rolled his eyes.

"Anddd it just got worse."

Chapter Text

"Selina?"

"Yeah?"

"Does Batman… have a sense of humor?"

She looked up over her opened menu and tipped her sunglasses down so she could stare at him incredulously. "You have met the man. You tell me."

Danny gave a thin-lipped smile and nodded in understanding. "Right. Good point."

"Why'd you ask?" She'd set the menu down and interlaced her fingers primly on the tabletop in front of her. He had her full interest now.

"Uh, about the latest wish request that's been approved for me." Danny looked back down at his phone again to make sure he was reading it correctly. "It's for Martian Manhunter?"

"What?"

"Clearly, we're in agreement." Danny frowned, scrolling through the emailed files. "Everything else seems to be in order, except, y'know– last I understood, Manhunter was one of the founding members of the Justice League."

Selina shrugged. "I'm sure Bruce had a reason for sending it to you. Although, he doesn't necessarily share those reasons with anyone." She rolled her eyes.

"Any chance you can ask him?" Danny pleaded, smiling as innocently as possible.

His housemate wasn't impressed. "Don't you have his number?" She shot back.

"Just because a number was programmed in under the name 'Batdad' doesn't mean it's actually his," he grumbled.

"Did you even try calling it, Daniel?"

Danny narrowed his eyes at Selina and pointed an accusing finger her way. "I won't forget that."

"Mhm. Just call the man before the waiter takes our order." She waved him away from the table, raising her middle finger casually in response to him sticking his tongue out at her in protest. He headed outside, not wanting to be overheard by the other patrons, and stopped to hit send and dial the number once he was far enough away.

He got an answer on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Hey, this is Danny Johnson. Uh… this number was under the name 'Batdad,' so am I correct in presuming this is Batman?" Sure, he knew Batman was Bruce (or Bruce was Batman, whichever way it went), but just in case it wasn't the right number, Danny didn't want to be hunted down by the Dark Knight of Gotham.

There was a deep sigh on the other end of the phone. "Yes. What do you need, Johnson?"

Danny got straight to the point. "Why was I sent a request for Martian Manhunter?"

"Because you've been able to convince some difficult people that what you're doing is for a good cause."

He rolled his eyes. "You say that like you heroes can't be just as difficult as villains."

"I meant the media," Batman deadpanned.

"Oh."

"Manhunter might be part of the JL, but unfortunately a lot of people are put off just because of his appearance," the other man explained. "If you've managed to create good PR for Bane of all people, you can do it for Manhunter."

"Oh," Danny repeated blankly. "Um… thank you."

"It is what I pay you for," Batman responded dryly.

"As far as I'm concerned, Bruce Wayne signs my paychecks."

Danny would swear until his dying day that he heard Batman chuckle. "Have a good day, Johnson." The phone clicked as he hung up.

When he went back inside, it was to his chagrin to find the waiter walking away from his and Selina's table. She smiled serenely up at him as he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Don't worry: I ordered us the same thing."

Danny sat down with a huff. "Fine, but you're paying."

It was just his luck that Damian Wayne opened the door to Wayne Manor when he stopped by that afternoon.

"Oh. It's you." The littlest Robin stared at him blankly for a moment longer before attempting to shut the door in his face. Danny had been expecting that kind of reception though, and he was able to stop it with his hand before it fully closed.

"I'm not here for you. I'm here for Restaurant Robin," Danny said, knowing the reminder of the nickname would hopefully cause Damian to lighten up a bit.

Damian observed him carefully before reluctantly opening the door a bit wider. "Come in and wait here."

"No problem." Danny closed the door behind himself and watched as Damian walked up the grand staircase in the foyer. He had to admit, it was interesting to see this side of the Batfamily. Even with the capes and cowls, they were just like any other siblings… although some of them were maybe a bit more sadistic than the others.

Damian returned a few minutes later, and Danny didn't even bother to hold in his laughter when he saw Cass and Jason trailing behind him, with Jason holding Tim's struggling body over his shoulder.

"He tried to protest, so I enlisted help," Damian explained with a sniff. "You're welcome, Johnson."

"Huh." Danny patted Damian's head and ignored his offended shout of hey! "You sound like your father."

"Well that's terrifying," Jason muttered. "Anyways, you asked for restaurant boy?" He unceremoniously dropped Tim to the floor.

"I would've been more willing to come down if he didn't keep calling me that!" Tim groaned as he sat up, glaring up at Jason. Jason merely shrugged.

"I wouldn't keep calling you that if you'd just apologized for kidnapping me, but here we are," Danny said. "Although… if you do me a favor, I promise not to ever mention 'Red Robin the restaurant' again."

"Done," Tim readily agreed, reaching up to shake his outstretched hand.

"I need you to get me into the Justice League Watchtower."

"Fuck!" Tim swore.

Jason cackled. "Oh, I've got to see this."

Recognized: B13, Red Hood; B20, Red Robin; Z10, Black Bat; A20, Villain Wrangler.

Danny closed his eyes and counted to three after hearing the robotic voice announce the title for all to hear. "Alright, who do I need to fight over that?"

"Barbara," all three Batbrats chorused.

"...Damn, there's no way in hell I'd win against her," he grumbled. "I'm guessing everyone heard that?"

"Everyone in the Watchtower," Tim agreed.

"No element of surprise then." Danny took a moment to look around the room they'd appeared in through the zeta tube, seeing as he'd been unconscious the last time he'd been transported to the Watchtower. It looked like something out of Star Trek: a circular landing pad, computers lining the room, and his favorite part: floor to ceiling windows showing them the expanse of space… and the little blue marble they'd just teleported up from.

It was breathtaking.

He would've stood and gazed at the sight all day if it weren't for the sound of an expectant ahem from the other side of the room. Danny turned towards the sound and was surprised to see Hawkgirl descending from the control floor above.

"This is an unexpected surprise," she said coolly as she observed the quartet. "Nice to see you healed up well, Danny Johnson. Or should I say 'Villain Wrangler?'"

"Please say Danny Johnson," he groaned, ignoring the others' snickering.

Hawkgirl cracked a smile. "Sure thing. I assume you're looking for someone?"

"He's sightseeing," Cass said.

"Hush you," Danny nudged her shoulder playfully. "Yeah, I'm looking for Martian Manhunter. Is he here?"

"Normally he'd be here in the control center actually, but right now he should be in the cafeteria. The mini-bats can lead the way there."

"Thank you," Danny nodded as he followed the others out of the room.

"Oh, can you bring me a brownie on your way back?" Hawkgirl called after them.

"Gotcha!"