Ghost in Gotham

Chapter 11: Such a Hoot!

Robin's POV

After swinging to the roof, I sat down. Question swarmed my mind. 'Okay, this 'Danny' has to have some kind of combat training. But I've never seen that kind of stance! Secondly, how does he have that weapon? It looks like a taser, but I know it isn't any normal one. Even if he's into mechanics, no one should be able to make a weapon that effective. He's just a middle-class guy, so he couldn't have bought it. And-'

"Robin", Bruce called for me, "Get up, we still have the whole night for patrol. Don't let a run-in with 'Daniel' stop you." Bats would usually be softer with kids, but mostly included the really young ones. Besides, Daniel's a suspect of radioactive use.

Bruce was right, I shouldn't worry about it. It only means that I have more information on him that I can upload into a personal file. But to know more of him, I should get closer with him...

Danny's POV

I was a little wrong, it seems like the alley cuts my time to my apartment for seven minutes. But I was running, so I near to see the exact time in my average walking speed. Wow, can't believe I've gotten this smart just by spending a year in the GZ. Maybe there should be  a school there! Not like Poindexter's high school (they learn basically nothing). Like, "The Academy of Emerging Ghost!" It seems like a cool idea.

I saw a few packages near my door. It was probably more things to fix. I go ahead and pick them up, making sure they're all addressed to me.

I nervously reached out to the doorknob. Ember's pretty scary when she's mad. If I use the wrong words explaining it to her, she may go ballistic!

I twist the knob, ready to see Ember in front of it, looking expectantly. Weirdly that never came.

As I went into the apartment, bits of fluff and clumps of stuffing seemed to be everywhere. There were scratches on the door.

When I went to the living room, my couch seemed to be in ruins. That's when I saw Ember. But her hair seemed to be a mess (even if it's fire), she seemed to be missing a shoe, and she looked like she went from Unworld and back.

Unworld a nightmarish dimension where you have no human or ghostly abilities. It's a place that'll eternally torment you with it's endless void of nothingness until insanity gets the best of you. All you'll ever feel is pain and suffering. Thoughts of fear and loneliness will cloud your thoughts. At least, that's what I've heard. Nobodies been to Unworld and back,  many ghosts have different interpretations of it. Heck, even Clockwork, or the Observants, don't know how it looked like. A ghostly legend says Pariah Dark had access to it by a special staff called the Staff of Unworld, which he used to send traitors to Unworld.

But as I saw Ember, Spooky seemed to be screeching and swarming above her. I widen my eyes. I never thought he- I mean she would do such a thing! I should let her out more...

I gave out a small whistle. Spooky seemed to stop, look at me, then swoop down onto my shoulder. Ember was taking deep, long breaths.

"You're... owl is a.... nightmare!" Em yelled between breaths. It kind of reminds me of human kids. Let them be taken care by a completely different person for a little while, and everything goes downhill.

I started to snicker at her distress. "So Ember, I bet you had such a hoot with Spooky!" I started full on laughing.

Sigh, I use to love this side of me. It reminded me of my younger, naive self.  I'd always make pun after pun, taunting my enemies and going straight into danger. But every good memory of the past just led to a painful one. Fighting the ghosts makes me feel bad 'cause they're my friends now. The most painful ones were remembering the ones with friends and family. But I keep reminding myself of their existence so I could never forget them. And just leads back to how they died... How I saw their bodies in the rubble... How I couldn't do anything about it...

NO! I am to stay distracted from that subject. My stay shouldn't be always clouded with memories of the past. I should keep my chin up, and my eyes towards the future.

"Shut up." She said through gritted teeth. She started to fix her hair.

"You could say owl  hell broke loose!" I said, tears coming out my eyes by now because of how much I was laughing. Ember seemed to have found her missing boot, 'cause she threw it at me. That certainly shut me up. Women's greatest weapons- their pointy shoes and their purse.

I started to walk off to the kitchen, but Ember held me by the shoulder.

"No, no, no! You are to tell me everything and explain." She said, giving me a look.

I sighed. I then made hand movements that meant 'Come with me and into my room for reinsurance.' We made our way to my room.

I closed my door, looking outside suspiciously.

"So start explaining." Ember commanded, taking a seat on my bed.

I let out a sigh. "Okay, a little while before I left the GZ, I discovered my blood wasn't normal. I started when old Frighty wanted to train a bit differently..."

>Flashb-

"Hold on a minute!" Ember yelled.

"What is it?" I asked a bit frustrated. She caught me off mid-flashback!

"But that thing  away." She pointed at Spooky, eyeing it suspiciously. And in return, Spooks gave out a small screech and reached her beak to Em finger, almost biting it off. But, thankfully, Em retracted in time.

"Fine, fine." I got up and set her down on my work desk. I sat myself down, ready to continue my story.

>Flashback<

"Sir Phantom! Get up, we're doing some different training!" Fright Knight told me. Though I always appreciate the training, his training is brutal!

"Fine, fine." I reply, getting my sword. But as reached for it, Fright Knight slapped it out of my hand. To be honest, that really hurt. His hand is literal metal!

"Daniel, did I tell you to pick up your sword?  No. We're doing hand to hand combat today." He aid, putting up his fists. I gently rub my hand, making sure it wasn't that injured. There was only one weakness with my healing factor: It doesn't work in the GZ.

"I though you said we were doing something different?" I questioned. "We already did this a week ago."

"We are. Turn human and fight me." He ordered. I widen my eyes at the command. It was only a few weeks since I had gotten over my fear of turning back.

Yes, that used to be my biggest fear. People hated me for being two thing. A human and a ghost. So I chose a side, the ghost side. I realized how disloyal and trustworthy humans can be. I feared that staying human would transform me to be that awful creature again. I use to believe that the only faith ghost deserve was staying in the Zone. But now I realized that I'm not the only ghost that isn't bad! In fact, the only bad ghost are Pariah and Prince Aragon, and maybe a few others. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz were the only people I could trust, but they were gone...

I took deep breaths. I saw the white rings around me, ready to turn me into my original self. And I  did. I wasn't wearing my usual shirt and jeans. I was wearing a long-sleeved red shirt with a yellow leaf pattern, along with black jeans. It was the last thing I wore.

I brought my fists up, ready to give it my all. But that was also the day when I'd make my biggest discovery.

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How was that for a chapter! I gave it my all! I never thought so many people would read what I have! 5k! Never I would believe it would be like this!

Oddly enough, I haven't thought of a Bat Fact for today. So just deal with these numbers as a substitute.

4 5 1 4