[Third Person's PoV]
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Batman and Robin turned their heads toward one another, exchanging a quick look. Without wasting a second, they leapt from the edge of the rooftop they had been perched on. Their capes flared dramatically behind them as they soared through the air, gliding effortlessly across the street. With synchronized precision, they smashed through the window of the adjacent building, the glass shattering loudly around them. Once inside, they found themselves with a front-row view of the chaos that Danny had caused.
The scene was grim. The room was littered with unconscious bodies—thugs sprawled out across the ground, slumped against the walls, and tangled awkwardly around stair railings.
Floating several feet above the ground in the center of the room was Danny. He hovered ominously in the air, gripping the collar of a man who dangled helplessly beneath him. The thug's feet kicked lightly, unable to find purchase. Danny's ghostly green aura flickered around him like an ethereal flame.
When Danny turned to glance over his shoulder at the two heroes, they caught a chilling glimpse of his face. His eyes glowed an unearthly shade of green, and long, viscous trails of the same glowing green saliva dripped slowly from his mouth.
Just as he began to speak, a soft, peculiar sound cut through the silence—like water trickling from a loose faucet. Everyone went still. Danny looked around, puzzled, his brows knitting together. Slowly, he glanced downward, his gaze following the source of the sound.
A small puddle had begun to form beneath him.
His glowing eyes flicked to the man in his grasp—Dean. The thug's eyes had rolled back into his skull, his body limp and unresponsive. Then Danny realized the truth: the man had passed out from sheer terror... and had completely soiled himself in the process.
Danny blinked slowly, lifting Dean further away from him with a grimace. "Okay… That is disgusting on so many levels I don't even know where to begin…" he muttered, shaking his head with clear disbelief.
Robin couldn't hold it in. He burst into uncontrollable laughter. "Hehehoho! Haha—man, this is gold! You actually scared him so bad he pissed himself! That is hilarious! Hahahaha!"
But just as suddenly as he'd started, Robin's laughter stopped as he saw Batman give him a quick look. He straightened up rigidly, posture sharp and composed, his expression wiped clean in the blink of an eye.
The shift was so abrupt it was almost eerie—as if the laughter had never happened at all. "Honestly, Danny," he said, tone now serious and reprimanding, "What were you thinking? You know we needed to interrogate this guy. How are we supposed to do that now that he's unconscious?"
Danny's eye twitched in irritation. He really considered tossing the urine-soaked thug straight at Robin just to shut him up.
"Obviously I didn't mean to," he snapped, his tone defensive.
"Set him down," Batman ordered calmly but firmly.
Danny exhaled sharply through his nose but complied without argument. He floated down and gently deposited the unconscious criminal near the wall, then drifted back toward them. Batman, without saying a word, knelt down and pulled a small container from his utility belt.
Danny blinked. "Does he seriously carry everything in that thing?" he asked, more to himself than anyone else.
"Yup," Robin replied simply, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "Anyway, we saw how you scared the living daylights out of everyone back there. Gotta say—good work." He held out his fist in approval.
Danny stared at the extended fist, narrowed his eyes slightly, then let out a long sigh. Eventually, he returned the gesture with a light bump of his own.
Batman cracked open the smelling salt capsule and waved it under Dean's nose. The effect was immediate. Dean jolted awake with a loud, choking gasp. He coughed violently before launching into a scream of pure panic.
The scream intensified the moment his eyes focused on Batman looming over him, face shadowed by the cowl. "No more! No more! Please, no more! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, no more!!" he babbled, hands trembling and pushing against the wall behind him in a futile attempt to retreat.
Batman narrowed his eyes. He saw it clearly now—the haunted, broken look in Dean's eyes. The man had been thoroughly traumatized.
"If you don't want to see us again," Batman growled, voice low and deadly serious, "then tell us what we need to know. Where are the weapons you stole from the WayneTech cargo?"
Dean's whole body shook as if his skeleton was rattling inside his skin. "I-I can't say!" he stammered in full-blown panic, collapsing back against the wall. "They'll kill me…"
Danny hovered just behind Batman, phasing in and out of the wall like a lazy phantom. He had his arms folded behind his head, legs crossed, looking completely relaxed. "You know, now that I'm getting a good look at this place... I wouldn't mind sticking around for a while. Haunt the halls or something. I am technically dead, so it's not like I've got a tight schedule."
Dean's pupils shrank in terror. "G-G-Ghost!!" he shrieked. "It was Oswald Cobblepot!! It was Oswald Cobblepot who hired me and my men! That's who we work for! The Penguin! He's the one who paid us to steal those weapons!"
Dean curled in on himself like a frightened child, wrapping his arms around his knees and trembling where he sat. His voice cracked under the weight of guilt and fear. "I never wanted any of this! I was just doing what I was paid to do! That's it! So go, alright? I already told you everything I know! Take your answers and just… just take that ghost freak with you!!"
"Oi!" Danny shot back indignantly, floating slightly higher in protest. "Freak? Really—?"
Batman raised a hand, and Danny fell silent, though he continued to glare daggers at the man.
With his gaze sharp as a blade, Batman stepped forward, his voice low and probing. "What does Oswald want with the ghost weapons?"
Dean looked up, defiance briefly flashing in his eyes. "How the hell am I supposed to know?" he spat bitterly. "I'm just a hired gun! I get my orders, I follow through, I collect my pay, and that's the end of it! No questions asked."
For a beat, Batman didn't respond. The shadows clung to him like a second skin, and then—without warning—he struck. His fist connected squarely with Dean's jaw. The impact sent the man's head snapping back with a sickening thud as it smacked the wall behind him. He collapsed like a rag doll, unconscious before he even hit the floor.
Robin's eyes widened, stunned by the sheer brutality of the act. Danny's mouth hung slightly open, floating down just a bit as Bruce turned back to them with that same stoic expression, as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
In the distance, the faint but growing wail of sirens could be heard. Batman spoke without looking back. "Let's move. I alerted the GCPD—Gordon and his people will be here shortly."
Robin jogged to keep up as Batman collected the discarded weapon—a sleek prototype energy pistol laced with glowing purple circuitry, clearly a piece of advanced WayneTech tech. "Okay, but what was that about?" Robin asked, his voice somewhere between confused and disturbed.
Batman didn't answer immediately. He studied the weapon for a moment, then finally spoke, his tone colder than the Gotham night air. "For the men he killed. Some of them had families. Kids." With that, he turned and launched his grappling hook through the shattered window, vanishing into the skyline.
Robin sighed and looked over at Danny. The halfa just hovered in silence before shrugging and following after Bruce, leaving the blood-stained room and the broken man behind them.
---
Location: The Iceberg Lounge
Date: March 9th
Time: 8:47 PM
The Batmobile rumbled quietly as it pulled up in a dimly lit alley beside the towering, glamorous structure known as The Iceberg Lounge. Batman and Robin exited the vehicle swiftly, capes fluttering as they stepped out into the cool night air. Danny hovered silently upward behind them, his ghostly form phasing slightly in and out as he rose above ground level.
Danny looked up, his eyes widening as he took in the building in front of them. The Iceberg Lounge wasn't just a club—it was a fortress of wealth and vanity. Elegant spotlights painted the building in hues of pale blue, shimmering like frost. The words The Iceberg Lounge glowed proudly in bright, icy neon, casting an otherworldly glow across the line of well-dressed patrons waiting to be let inside.
"Woah…" Danny breathed, his glowing eyes reflecting the lights. "Now that's what I call luxury."
People in tuxedos, dresses, and glittering jewelry waited eagerly outside, while towering bouncers monitored the crowd with blank, unreadable expressions.
Danny floated a little higher. "Man, if I knew we were heading to a nightclub, I'd have dressed for the occasion—and maybe brought my fake ID," he muttered sarcastically.
"Luckily, we're all wearing black," Robin chimed in with a small grin, walking beside him casually.
Danny glanced over with a quirked brow. "So what's the plan here? We just stroll in like we own the place? No sneaky infiltration? No stealthy shadow work? No ghosting in through the walls?"
Robin shrugged. "Nah. We've kinda gotten used to just walking in and out of places like this when we need to. It saves time. Plus, Oswald already knows we're coming."
Danny blinked. "Cool."
As the trio approached the entrance, the bouncers instinctively tensed—but the moment they got a good look at who was leading the group, they both averted their eyes and stepped aside without a word. They didn't even pretend to acknowledge Batman's presence—almost as if the Dark Knight had simply ceased to exist within their field of vision.
Danny floated past them with a smirk curling on his lips. "Cowards," he whispered loud enough for them to hear.
The two bouncers turned sharply, shooting him a glare filled with silent warning.
"Danny," Robin said in a half-groan, half-laugh, shaking his head. "Don't provoke the doormen."
Danny shrugged, still grinning. "I'm just saying"
The moment they stepped inside, Danny was immediately overwhelmed. The interior was an extravagant display of wealth and indulgence. Lights sparkled off crystalline chandeliers overhead, casting dancing patterns across glossy floors. The bass from the speakers thudded in their chests, and every corner of the room seemed to pulse with energy and decadence.
Women in glittery bikinis weaved through the crowd with trays of neon-colored drinks. Laughter, clinking glasses, and the scent of expensive perfume filled the air.
Danny, floating just above the floor, instantly covered his face with both hands. "Oh my" he muttered, voice muffled. "How indecent…"
Robin turned to look at him and burst into a small laugh. "What, never been to a club before?"
Danny shook his head, fingers still shielding his vision.
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