Work Text:
GHOSTS IN CRIME ALLEY
Sivan5733/channahjen
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The roar of the motorcycle outside of his window woke Jason from his fitful sleep. “Damn it!” He swore. He looked at the clock and saw that he had only been asleep for an hour. All the crooks should be in bed this hour. No decent citizen would be careening around Crime Alley on a bike this time of the morning. “Great—just great” he muttered. It had to be one of the crazies.
With a groan, he pulled himself out of bed and stretched. The bruises from last night’s fighting protested, and his body begged for a hot shower. Jason sighed. No time for that—he had work to do. He started pulling on his armor, jacket and helmet. He had to be prepared for everything when dealing with the crazies.
Jason climbed out onto his fire escape a mere four minutes after being awakened. The old Bat’s training was good for something, at least. He thought to himself, as he made his way to the roof. He needed height to get an idea of the situation before he went running off into unnecessary danger.
When he reached the roof, he listened for the sound of the souped-up bike that had pulled him from his slumber. He could faintly hear it coming from the east, so he walked to that side of the roof for a better look. The infamous Red Hood pulled out a set of binoculars and began scanning the east side of the Alley for the crazy idiot making a scene in his territory. There! A bright streak of white and black flashed between two buildings at an impossible speed. Huh. He thought. There wasn’t room on that street for a bike to get up to that speed. Just what is this idiot riding, anyway?? There wasn’t anything else to do but head out, so Jason vaulted down the fire escape and headed towards his own motorcycle.
Jason mentally mapped out an intercept course for the rogue rider based on the direction and speed he had last seen him—or her at. When he got closer to the connect point, he heard the egregiously loud roar of the other bike’s engine and knew he had guessed correctly. He drove down an alley and stopped at the edge of the street, waiting impatiently for the asshole to get close enough to follow. In the distance, he could see a faint glow moving rapidly in his direction. He put his bike in gear and readied himself for a chase.
When the rogue vehicle appeared, however, the scene was like nothing Jason had ever seen before. There was a guy on what looked like a glowing vintage motorcycle, dressed in throwback gang clothing. What was even more curious was the glowing human flying behind him at speed. The flyer looked like a kid—a kid dressed in some sort of black rubber-like suit. Great. Just what he needed. A meta—or a pair of metas on his turf. This would not do. He revved his engine and took off after the pair.
Jason’s bike had been tricked out with Bat-tech, and he had personally redone the engines to the point that it was no longer anywhere near street legal. He quickly caught up to the flying kid and yelled for him to stop. The kid turned his eyes to him and kept flying. After a second, the kid shook his head and yelled back, “I’ve gotta catch this guy before he does anything else stupid. I’ve been chasing him for hours now!”
Jason let out a whistle at the stamina the kid must have to be able to fly that fast for that long. He wondered where the chase must have begun, and more importantly, where it was going to end. They were quickly nearing the borders of Crime Alley, and then it would no longer be Jason’s problem. But—damn it—he was curious now. He wanted to see how this played out. He decided to catch up with the other bike. With a flick of a switch and a turn of a few knobs, Jason’s bike went into turbo mode, and he shot forward past the flying kid and settled in right next to the glowing dude on the other bike.
“Hey, punk!” He yelled. “What the hell are you doing?”
The other rider looked over at him and grinned with nasty teeth. “What’s it look like, weirdo? I’m running the Ghost Boy ragged.”
“Why?” Jason shouted over the sound of the engines and wind.
“Why not?”
Jason had to think about that one for a second. A chase just for the sake of a chase? Yeah, this guy was nuts. “You need to get out of this town, dude. No metas in Gotham.”
“The hell’s a ‘meta’? I’m a ghost. You know, a spook, a spector, a dead person. I’ve never even heard of Gotham anyway. I’m just having some fun with the kid.”
Jason was now 100% sure that this dude was a perfect candidate for Arkham. He had to get him off of the streets. “Stop your bike NOW or I’ll make you.”
The guy laughed, and it sounded so creepy that Jason actually shuddered. “I don’t think so.” The crazy guy gave a smile worthy of the Joker. “Get him, Shadow!”
Before Jason could even process that, the “Ghost Boy” yelled “NO!” and shot towards Jason like a bullet. Jason suddenly found himself encased in a neon green bubble. It was just in time too, because something black with green eyes and wicked teeth peeled away from the glowing motorcycle and smacked hard against the green light protecting him. The former Robin was suddenly very glad that he had spoken to the younger boy first. It was starting to become clear that the guy on the glowing motorcycle was bad news. The black creature howled and banged a clawed fist on the bubble.
Apparently this was something the “Ghost Boy” had been waiting for, because as soon as this “Shadow’s” attention was diverted, he made his move on the rider. Ghost kid shot an energy ray out of his hands and it hit squarely on the front tire of the bike, which caused it to start flipping over and over again. The rider was thrown—and he was pissed.
“What’d you have to go and do that for, Phantom? It’ll take me weeks to fix that mess? I’m gonna kick your ass.”
“I’d like to see you try, Johnny. Bring it!” Phantom said as he charged an ecto-blast in his palms.
“Johnny” started charging a blast too, but Phantom was faster. His blast was almost blinding, and it hit Johnny square in the chest. The self-proclaimed “ghost” flew backwards into the building behind him so hard that it cracked the bricks around where he landed. With a quick, obviously practiced movement, Phantom pulled something off of his belt—was that a thermos??—and uncapped it. Bright white light shot out and enveloped Johnny, sucking him into the thermos with a strangled noise. The commotion caught Shadow’s attention, and the black creature turned just in time to be met with the white beam as well. As soon as Phantom put the cap back on the device—definitely NOT a thermos—the other motorcycle disappeared, and all that was left was a cracked dent in the side of the building
“Thanks for the assist, dude.” Phantom said. “Shadow was keeping me from stopping Johnny; you made the perfect distraction.”
“No problem.” Jason didn’t know what else to say, except “Is he really a ghost?”
Phantom laughed. “Yep. So am I, actually. My name’s Phantom. Danny Phantom. What’s yours?”
“Wait. You’re a ghost? I thought you were some kind of meta.”
“Nope. Just a ghost.” Jason absentmindedly noticed that this “ghost” was apparently breathing hard.
“Really now.”
“Yep. You gonna tell me your name or what? And where are we, by the way. I’m gonna have to find a map to get home.”
Jason had encountered many strange things, but ghosts were a new one for him—especially ghosts who needed maps. He shook his head. “Name’s Red Hood. And you’re in Gotham, at the edge of Crime Alley, to be precise. This is my territory.”
“Oh!” Danny said, looking surprised. “I hadn’t realized that I’d chased Johnny so far. Oh man! I’m so gonna miss curfew.”
“Ghosts have curfews now?” Jason raised an eyebrow.
“Some ghosts do, unfortunately.” Danny grumbled. “Do you know where I can get a map, or at least can you point me in the direction of Illinois?”
Hood actually laughed at that. He looked down at the computer display on his bike and pulled up a map program. “Here kid, look at this.” Jason showed him where they were in relation to where Danny needed to be. The kid looked grateful.
“Thanks so much! I owe you one! If you ever come to Amity Park, Illinois, I’ll buy you a burger or something. I gotta jet. See ya!” The kid was off in a flash, leaving Jason with nothing but a map image and dented building to prove that anything had ever happened there.
“It’s too early for this shit.” He mumbled to himself. He had a bed back in his apartment calling for him. With a deep sigh, he restarted his engine and pulled back on the road. At reasonable speeds, it was going to take him almost twenty minutes to get back to his base, and he was fucking tired. When he finally was undressed and nestled in his sheets, he closed his mind and slowly shook his head one last time before falling asleep. “Ghosts” He whispered. When he woke, he wondered if it had really happened or if it had all been some crazy dream. One day, he’d ride over and check out that building. But not today.
~fin~