Chapter 17: Honestly, what did he expect?

"Who cares that my contract says I have to show up at this stupid thing? I need sleep, not to deal with passive aggressive millionaires."

Selina glanced at Danny impassively as they joined the steady stream of attendees entering the Gotham Convention Center's ballroom. They walked along as elegantly as Danny could manage (since Selina somehow managed to glide as she went, and in high heels, no less). He wasn't sure if it was a good thing their arms were linked; while it was natural since he was her escort for the event, Danny hoped he wouldn't drag her down if he tripped.

"If you wanted to sleep so much, you shouldn't have driven to go get Constantine yesterday. It wasn't your assignment anyways."

Danny sighed softly. He knew that, but it didn't cause him to feel regretful for going. "If I hadn't, that little girl would never have seen him before she died. It's not like the rest of the organization could find him. They'd been trying to contact him for five months." He paused to say a polite hello to a guest who had called out his name, and caught Selina nodding her head in her own silent greeting. "Besides, I showed up, so you can't comment on my actions. I'm only really here to help you piss off Bruce Wayne, apparently; lord knows why."

Selina laughed, her smile drawing several flashes from the cameras of the press where they lined the walls. "He ran into his bitch of an ex recently."

"And?"

"And a little birdie mentioned that he let her kiss him before they… parted ways."

"'Let her?'" Danny echoed incredulously. "How do you know that?"

He looked over soon enough to catch her roll her eyes. "Trust me, that man is always in control of a situation." She huffed, drawing a hand up to tuck a lock of hair back behind her ear as they finally made it into the ballroom. "Anyways, your purpose is to bait him into staking his territory."

Danny shut his eyes and groaned. "Please tell me that wasn't literal." Her mischievous grin was not the reassurance he had hoped for. "You realize he could have me mysteriously disappear, right?"

"Like I didn't find you the last time that happened," she replied casually.

"'Last time was a bunch of moody Gotham young adults," he muttered as they made their way onto the dance floor, where many guests were swaying to a gentle waltz. Apparently, Selina wanted to make sure they were seen as soon as possible.

Danny was very much regretting his decision to go along with this. He could already hear the whispers spreading of their arrival (a 'lovely' reminder that he was starting to become known on the internet).

Isn't that the villain guy with Selina Kyle... it mean he's on the job right…. hope she doesn't drag him into that triangle… what will Bruce Wayne think about them…

He shook his head slightly to lose focus on the intrusive comments. They were only setting him on edge more. "This is worse than tracking down Bane."

His sarcastic comment was met by Selina's low laugh. "At least you have your priorities set."

"Yeah, I try not to drown in shallow attitudes like these."

The thief merely raised an eyebrow in response. "You and Bruce would get along well, if only you weren't terrified to meet him," she teased as he dipped her along with the steady rhythm of the song. "Speaking of…" She tapped his left shoulder as he pulled her up, and Danny didn't have to turn to know whose gaze was currently boring a hole through the back of his head.

"Mr. Wayne, what a pleasure to meet you," Danny said as politely as he could. He was treating this as just another villain encounter… and he really hoped Bruce Wayne wouldn't be able to read his mind and learn Danny compared him to villains.

"Charmed." The impeccably-dressed man gave him a bland smile before turning towards Selina. "Selina."

"Bruce," she shot back in the same monotone.

Ever the one to try and moderate, Danny tightened his grip on Selina's waist and began to move their impromptu trio to the seating area. "Maybe it'd be best to take this off dance floor?" He asked rhetorically. To his relieved surprise, neither member of the rocky relationship fought against his suggestion, and they quickly found themselves standing next to an empty table.

"You didn't mention you'd be making an appearance tonight," Bruce said in a low, questioning voice.

Danny almost winced at the poison behind Selina's innocent smile. "You didn't mention you'd seen Talia lately."

Talia? Danny was ready to question, but as he decided it was not a optimal query if he wanted to continue living, an arm nonchalantly draped over his shoulders and steered him away from the tense confrontation between Selina and her… whatever Bruce was.

"I think it's best that you sit this one out," a familiar voice suggested with a bubble of laughter easily heard under their words. The white stripe in his hair gave him away. Danny had no idea he had gained an invitation to the event. Maybe he was here on a mission.

"Nice to see you too, Jason. I hope your day's been as incredibly awkward as that situation was for me," he said in a mocking tone.

The blue eyed man gave him an amused grin. "Enjoy the show?" Danny assumed he was referring to the ongoing relationship spat.

"Selina does not seem to like this 'Talia' very much," he observed vaguely, keeping his opinions out of the discussion.

Jason groaned in annoyance. "That old man is the only one who likes Talia at all." His attention shifted slightly and eyes dilating like he hear something far away and was trying to hone in on it. "Cass!" He called, adding to Danny, "looks like you get to meet everyone. My condolences."

Danny fought the urge to escape from the current situation; the feeling of dread that was sinking onto his shoulders mirrored that of an antisocial teenager about to be thrust into an extended family potluck.

He nearly jumped out of his shoes (he would've if he hadn't had enough practice with the disappearing acts his roommates pulled) when a shorter, Asian girl appeared in front of them out of nowhere. Her steely eyes surveyed him closely. Danny wouldn't have been surprised if she was mapping out the various ways to subdue him from the naturally defensive way she held herself, despite her sleeveless black gown.

'Cass' nodded once in recognition of his presence before spinning on her heel and slipping her way around the throng of guests. Jason didn't seem to find her silence out of place, and moved apart from Danny so they could better maneuver through the crowd to wherever Cass was headed. He knew they had arrived when Cass stopped next to a tall red-haired woman.

In total, there were six people that formed the huddle Danny found himself joining as Jason shoved him in their direction. Besides Cass and the redhead, there was also a tall dark-skinned boy and… three very familiar Gotham residents. The tallest male winked at him, and Danny could hear Jason sigh in exasperation behind him.

"The Asian one is Cassandra, the ginger is Barbara – not totally sure why she's here – the black guy is Duke, and you've met Dick, Tim, and Damian," Jason said in a low voice, pointing at each figure as he said their names.

"Wait…" Danny narrowed his eyes accusingly at the three guys in the group, even as they studiously struck up a conversation amongst themselves to avoid him. "Dick? Tim? Damian?" For the first time in his whole interaction with the super-powered world, Danny felt like he was in over his head as it all clicked. "Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me."

"What is it?" Duke (or was it Luke? No, he was pretty sure they had said Duke) asked.

Cass shrugged. "He figured it out."

Danny ignored her and turned around to look back at Selina and Bruce Wayne. How could he be so stupid?! "And that's 'Daddy Bats' back there with Selina?" He asked to the whole group, an eyebrow raised as he waited for some sort of confirmation.

"Welcome to the family?" the red-head, Barbara, asked sheepishly, although her grin showed how much she was enjoying this.

"No, no more siblings please," Danny heard one of the group mutter under their breath, but he couldn't tell who it was from. It didn't matter to him anyways, as he was too busy wracking his brain to figure out why Barbara's voice sounded so familiar. She somehow deciphered the meaning behind his confused stare and offered him an answer.

She crossed her arms proudly. "Remember Superman's visit?"

Oh right, the warning phone call. "Right, thanks. Hope you didn't get in much trouble for that."

"Nah, it was fine." She leaned towards him and began to stage whisper. "Besides, I heard you called this kiddo 'Red Robin like the restaurants' and life's been pretty fun aft-" She stopped talking as a flurry of commotion from the ballroom's entrance drew their attention.

It took a few seconds to reach them, but by then, they could hear a lone, chilling laugh over the cascading silence. Danny could feel the tension in his companions skyrocket as the owner of the laughter sauntered his way towards the elevated rise of the orchestra, his hands held behind his back displaying his leisurely demeanor.

"Joker?" Danny whispered, not actually searching for a response.

"Joker," Tim replied affirmatively. Danny was slightly surprised, as Jason was closer to him and he more expected him to speak up, but a quick glance showed a hatred in his eyes that was probably too consuming to be distracted from.

The Joker leaped jauntily onto the orchestra rise, sending the front row of flutists scrambling in every direction away from him. The rest seemed to move in slow motion as they broke out of their shock and began to flee from the pale man in the purple suit (actually, Danny was surprised by how nice it was). He pulled at his jacket to straighten it, and reached up with one hand to twist the faux flower on his left lapel as he began to speak to the crowd of frightened attendees.

"You know, when I heard there was a gala for the 'high and mighty' who donated money to Gotham, I was heartbroken when i didn't get my invitation. After all, who else here has reinvigorated Gotham's construction economy as much as I have?" The Joker flung out his arms dramatically as he paused, his uncontrollable laugh filling the air once again. Its rise and fall set Danny on edge, and he began to slowly creep backwards behind the cluster of Batkids.

"But enough about me! There's someone here, one of those 'rising internet celebrities' I'm sure we'll all forget about by next week, that I have a bone to pick with." It seemed to defy all logic, but the Joker's grin stretched even wider than before. "Oh Daaaaanny Boy! The Joker's calling!"

This Joker is based off of Mark Hamill's Joker, if that helps with understanding the way I wrote him. Thank you for being so patient and for the constant stream of support that continues to come in. I hope you liked this chapter with this very-long awaited appearance. :)