Chapter 20: Chapter 20: -Traps you in a Hospital Bed
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 medical doctor," 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.
College is tiring. Thanks for sticking around and for 340k+ views! More to come as soon as I can. I've got a list of the next few villains, but would love to hear more suggestions. Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. -Archer
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