Chapter 2

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Danny never could have imagined the mind-numbing boredom that came with faking his (second) death.

When the ambulance finally jerked to a stop, Danny felt like he'd been stuck on that stupid gurney for hours.

Worse, the sheet they had draped over his body tickled his face, making it hard to keep from twitching.

What was the point of that sheet anyway? The only thing it did was add imaginary distance between the dead and the living.

What, do they have a problem with dead people or something?

He willed his body to stay limp as the paramedic wheeled him into the building, pulled him from the gurney, and zipped him into a black bag that lay on a cold, hard metal table.

Once there was no longer audible conversation in the room with him and any footsteps had receded into the distance, Danny pulled his hand up towards his head, feeling around for the zipper that split the bag down the middle.

Tracing his finger along the zipper, he found the small gap where it met the side of the bag. Hooking his finger through the hole, Danny moved his arm outward, increasing the size of the gap and causing light to flood into his eyes.

Gasping his first breath in what felt like forever, Danny sat up and worked the zipper down past his legs, effectively freeing himself from the bodybag.

While he didnt technically need to breathe since he had half died, it was still a satisfying sensation to feel the air push through his lungs. It had also become a bit of an unconscious habit, as people were generally creeped out by a teen that didn't breathe.

Scanning the room, Danny swung his legs off of the table. Apparently they had decided dead boys dont need shoes, as his were nowhere to be seen.

No cameras. Dead guys can't even get proper security around here.

He sighed, dropping his feet to the cold linoleum floor before nonchalantly walking towards and phasing through a wall.

On the other side, he found himself in an empty white hallway. The whole place smelled like disinfectant, which was giving the half-ghost both bad vibes and a major headache.

Danny went invisible, walking through walls at random until he found one that led to the outside.

Right as he stuck his head through the exterior wall, a freezing hand caught hold of his wrist from inside the building.

Pulling himself to be yet again fully inside the sterile halls, Danny turned his attention towards the woman who had latched onto his arm.

Her skin was ghostly pale, tinted a slight grey as though someone had put her into a silent movie.

Her voice, though, was anything but silent. It sounded as though someone had run sandpaper down her vocal cords, leaving it croaky and uncomfortable.

"Please, please help us!" She cried hysterically, tightening her grip on him as though he would flee at the sight of her, "Please, they're coming for me next!"

This shocked Danny, to say the least. What could possibly cause a ghost to be this terrified? It wasn't like they could die a second time.

"Woah, you're alright. Its okay, just bre- calm down. I can help you if you explain what's wrong."

"Its- They're not- They're taking them!" She finally managed to get out.

"Who's taking what?"

"The doctors! They're taking our organs! Please, we're so scared. You don't feel fully dead... a coma? A medium? Either way, if you can interact with them, you can make them stop!"

"A lot of people are organ donors, though. Maybe they're being used for transplants?"

"If they were for transplants, I doubt they'd be handing them off in coolers to strange people behind the hospital. Jerry looked through their cars, and they were full of guns. You can't tell me that's standard hospital procedure.

"Ah," Danny stated simply, "That doesn't sound very good. I'll look into it for you, I promise."

The woman hesitatated for a moment, most likely not trusting him to stick to his word, but relinquished her grip on his wrist.

"I'll hold you to that."

Danny nodded, phasing back through the exterior wall and into the parking lot.

What to do now...
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After the initial impact of the information he had been given, Danny decided that the best thing to do was clear his mind.

What better way to get a moment of peace than a quick meal?

He wandered through the streets of Gotham until he found a decent burger place called Batburger.

Danny often used his intangibiliry to hide small objects inside his body. Most items were extremely uncomfortable to carry this way, but the stash of dollar bills he kept in his calf was extremely useful.

Gross, but useful.

After he got his burger, Danny thought it would be a great idea to sit on a rooftop to think while he ate.

Not like sitting on a rooftop has caused any problems before.

He ate alone, with only the sounds of the city to keep him company. It was eerily similar to all those sad meals he and Jazz had eaten throughout their childhood, their parents never having prepared food for them.

At least it wasn't toast now.

As he was finishing up his meal, he was still debating what to do about the hospital situation. On one hand, it wasn't his problem, and he had no reason to get involved.

On the other hand, he couldn't just ignore someone who had directly asked him for help. He may have given up on the hero lifestyle, but he would never be able to give up on people.

At that moment, a flash of color danced across his peripheral vision.

Pushing aside his inner turmoil, Danny's mouth twisted into a sharp grin.

He watched as nightwing, the eldest child of the bat clan, raced across the city's skyline. As the man leapt acrobatically from building to building, one idea solidified in the halfa's mind.

Maybe he didn't have to be the one to deal with this problem.
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Please let me know if you see any spelling/grammar errors in this story! I'm typing this all on my phone and it's hard to check myself sometimes.

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