Curate, connect, and discover
Ghost Helpline part 11
Dick drove home in good weather(for Gotham). He had his phone pressed to his ear as he spoke with Clark, damn was B over thinking things again. “No Raven doesn’t work with the Titans anymore. After defeating Trigon we all agreed she deserved time to figure herself out I could call her but…”
He slowed the car when he came upon Drake manor a lump forming in his throat. He was sad to admit that he and Tim weren’t as close as before but surely he would have known if Tim was moving back into his old home? But there he was with Jason and Bart carrying boxes inside. He was an awful brother wasn’t he? How could he not know? Tim hated that place! He would never move back in unless-
He slammed the brakes as he got closer to the gate because that wasn’t Tim or Jason and that definitely wasn’t Bart.
“Clark I’ll have to call you back.”
— —- —-
Dick ran up the steps of the manor to the living room and was greeted with the sight of Jason pressing binoculars to the window. As Jon and Damian chatted animatedly about the new neighbors.
“Don’t be an imbecile Jon! The rich and elite do not move to Gotham unless they have something to hide!”
“All rich people have something to hide! You have something to hide! They sound like nice people!”
“Ha! So you are spying on them! What are they saying?”
Dick texted Wally as he spoke, “Everyone hold on a minute where is Tim?”
“Tt- who cares. That idiot has given away our location and put all of our identities at risk.”
“Or perhaps Master Tim have given us a grand opportunity to as you would say ‘pull a fast one’ on the media. After all excusing yourself to play with a wealthy neighbor is a good excuse to leave a boring gala. And a second pair of eyes to support your ‘accidents’ would be beneficial.”
“Tt- perhaps Pennyworth but see that I have no desire to befriend these intruders at all.”
“Mmm perhaps but either way the only way any of you will be getting information today will be to good neighbors and introduce yourselves. Thankfully for all of you I have prepared cookies as an opener.”
“Did somebody say cookies?”
Dick smiled, “Wally just in time !”
—- —- —-
Constantine was looking over the list of names Superman had handed him when the circle left on the floor began to glow. He took a long drag of his cig and felt like making a run for it.
It looks like their little helper had finished their end of the deal and found an antidote after all. John sighed he contemplated doing this exchange on his own but knew he’d be in for a lecture if he did so. From Zatanna and bats ugh.
Welp time to call the cavalry.
—- —- —-
Dick held the platter of cookies and took the lead, Jason deciding to stay home and watch in case they needed an extraction. Or more than likely to call Roy. Dick knew Jason had been dying to meet up with Roy since the dragon incident but hadn’t been able to yet. None of them had been able to relax now that Dick thought about it. Well it was fine, Dick smiled down at Wally, all this craziness would blow over soon.
The group of boys started their walk over to ex-Drake Manor. “Hhhuummhum ha ha,” Jon smiled.
“What?”
“Oh nothing Damian your new neighbors just seem really nice.”
Dick smiled, “Hey no spying alright we are just going to be two normal families making friends okay,” Dick gave a short pause, “So what they say?”
“Dick!”
“What now I want to know !”
Jon laughed, “They’re fighting over their sister.”
“Fighting?”
“Yeah apparently they all forgot to set stuff up for her and are running around blaming each other.”
Dick nodded, sibling were like that sometimes. Tho usually everyone at his house just ended up blaming Bruce.
They kept walking when they came upon the short fence dividing the land of the two well off houses. Two teens sat on the dead grass, surrounded by pieces of wood and metal. Dicks eyes surveyed the area, it didn’t look dangerous.
“God damn it Alcor! That’s not how you put a swing set together!”
“Well how would you know? And it’s not a swing set! It’s a whole cozy area for her you absolute shit head!”
Dick smiled right a swing set made way more sense. Well these boys seemed rather normal older than Damian by a few years but hey his little bro was very mature so-
“I’m going to turn you into fucking soup!”
Dick froze, okay so maybe not that normal.
“Fuck off I am trying to work!”
“Well I want to help why are you the only one that gets to build Princess something?”
“Maybe because I’m the only one that knows how to build stuff! Now get lost!”
Damian tsked under his breath, “Idiots.”
“Damian that isn’t nice, know let’s head over and introduce ourselves right okay.” Dick continued walking, he found it a bit concerning. Both of the teens had black hair and blue eyes. Hopefully his family wouldn’t scare them off.
The group approached the gate.
“Hello there, we’re Dick and Damian Wayne and these are our friends. It’s nice to meet you!”
The one dubbed as Alcor in Dicks head stood up and waved at them, “Oh hello, I’m Alcor and this is my brother Brett. We weren’t expecting company sorry for the mess.”
Damian held back a sneer, “Why ? Not expecting the party going Wayne family to be polite?” God did Damian hate fathers civilian mask.
Alcor frowned looking between all of them, “Ugh more like the fact that you guys live like five miles away from us? Did did you guys walk here?”
Dick smiled, “Oh you know daily exercise is good for you. We ugh brought cookies!”
Brett reached over the gate to grab them, “Nioce.”
“We hope you like them! They’re our favorite our butler Alfred makes them.”
The teens nodded together, alright then the type of rich where having a butler was normal then. Dick cataloged the info for later.
“Thanks,” Algor smiled, “I’ll go put these inside. Id invite you all inside but our dad’s asleep and our other brothers snuck out.”
“To Gotham?”
Alcor shrugged, “I’m sure they’ll be fine they wanted to grab food and stuff before the babies of the family get here.”
“Oh are they coming with your mom?”
“We don’t have a mom.”
“Oh Jezz I’m sorry.”
“No worries man.” Alcor turned and walked inside.
Dick coughed, “So I don’t suppose you need any help putting that swing together would you?”
“It’s not a swing,” Brett flushed, “I suppose if you’re volunteering.”
Dick hopped the fence with a grin, “Come on Wally let help the kid out.”
—- —- —-
The kid was right it wasn’t swing as much as it was a floating seat, a little nook facing the sun.
During the building Alcor came back out and pouted. On the upside he was the only brother willing to keep the small talk going.
“So does your butler make all of your guys food? The cookies are great by the way.”
“Yeah Alfred does a lot of stuff for us, why?”
Alcor shrugged, “I dunno just wondering like isn’t there supposed to be a lot of Wayne kids running around. There’s a lot of us and Dad practically makes all our food.”
Dick chuckled, “Yeah there’s a lot of us but we aren’t always home. It’s even rarer for us to all be home at the same time.” He felt himself shake off a bitter feeling, “Its nice that your dad makes time for you like that ours can’t even boil water haha.”
Alcors smile looked sad, “Yeah he’s great, we all love him a lot.”
“Don’t put words in my mouth!”
“Shut up Brett!”
Wally laughed, god Dick loved that laugh, “How many of you guys is there anyway? Cuz I gotta say my boyfriend sure does have a lot of siblings.” Wally elbowed Dick good naturedly.
“Oh I have nine siblings!”
—- —- —-
Konstelacio felt wobbly, eyes forced open. Her talk with Pandora and Ghost Writer had taken hours! Days? Time in the zone was weird. She was tired but trudged forward she needed to get this shit over with.
Konstelacio frowned to herself as she knocked on the Justice’s Leagues proverbial door, the circle. Pandora and Ghost Writer were always kind to her, they were phenomenal teachers but the constant pushing to make ally’s within her own species was beginning to annoy her. Living up to her position in ghost high society was already hard enough. Demons of her stature didn’t care about low born demons… well one did. One did but they didn’t talk much anymore, Konstelacio but at her lip. May be she should get back in touch with him?
The demon-lings head throbbed, the scar on her face felt numb. What is taking these heroes so long!!! Frustration made her head fell worse. She wanted to get this test over with. Because that what this had to be right both Pandora and Ghost Writer had left payment for the antidote up to her.
She was so screwed. Ask for something to small and look like a fool. Ask for something too big and risk the King taking interest, maybe even losing the Kings trust. She couldn’t think of anything to trade for, she needed something perfect. Something that wouldn’t seem like a disrespect to ALL parties involved.
Throb. Throb. Throb. Ugh! How many times did she use teleport? The circle began to open, she’d figure it out. She’d pass this test! She wouldn’t disappoint these people who gave her so much.
- Flash ran to grab as many prominent leaguers as he could as soon as he saw Constantine run out the door. He was not giving that British asshat a chance to do things alone with Zatanna and Batman. He trusted the trio…duo, he did! But he worried, half of the team was divided on whether the girl could be trusted or not. It made Barry feel awful, all he wanted to do was tell that girl to go home. To run away from this hero villain game for as long as she could. Honestly fuck child heroes.
Flash managed to be the last one in the room as the magician start at the circle up. This time there was little to no fanfare; no smoke, the fire around the floor comparable to a candle, and no ominous sounds. Konstelacio showed up with a ‘pop’ and nothing else. It was kinda disappointing.
Oh, oh. She does not look okay. Konstelacio leaned on her right side, covered in sweat, breathing through puffs, vibrating slowly. Except people who aren’t speedsters don’t vibrate… oh she’s shaking. Barry disappeared to grab a trash can. Please don’t be sick, please don’t be sick Barry repeated to himself.
“I got the antidote.”
“What no small talk this time Sheila ?”
“I told you not to call me that!” The demon snapped, her teeth became longer sharper. Digging in to her own lip, hands fisting at the hem of her dress. Names must be a sore subject with her Connor thought. It was understandable Connor had to work so hard to find his sense of self even without people screwing up his name, he got it he did but, “Please excuse Constantine he speaks to everyone that way … he’s British. It’s just slang. He isn’t using Sheila as a placeholder for your name.”
“Whatever,” it didn’t take a detective to see that the girl was on edge. She was on a short wick, Konstelacio was not as happy as she was the last time they had summoned her. They could only conclude that she wouldn’t be willing to be as kind as last time ether. Clark internally wondered if Captain Marvel had told her to be wary of them, if the captain no longer trusted the league as much as he always had. The notion made the invincible man sorrowful, and annoyed. Bruce needed to learn when to let things go.
Because Clark knew Bruce, knew that this was all stemming from his compulsive need to keep them safe. All of them safe including Marvel. No matter what the Bat said he knew the man cares about each and every one of them, even Hal. It was in the little things he did; Flash appreciation day, pulling extra monitor duty, asking Hal about space, answering Manhunters questions about earth sincerely. It was everything. At the end of the day Bruce was a man who cared but looking at the kid again really made it click. Bruce was probably worried about her too in his own messed up way. But if Batman didn’t let it go, if he didn’t stop- Captain Marvel would never forgive him for it.
“I found out what your mystery sickness is, congratulations you have a case of Vampire Fog.”
The league could see Zatanna and Constantine give each other a look. “And what exactly is Vampire Fog.”
“Uh uh uh no more freebies. Payment for both the information and the cure. Upfront.”
Oliver didn’t like this, but hey at least the kid had balls.
—- —- —-
Jon’s jaw dropped as he sputtered, “Ten! Ten kids!!” There were stars in his eyes, Damian’s hand keeping him from floating away. “Ten kids!”
“Yes that’s what he said Jon.”
“That’s so many! What are they like? Why did you all move to Gotham?”
Alcor laughed, “We all have our own thing I guess, they’re a pain but I love them. Two of our brothers are taking classes at the college in town and dad couldn’t bear to split us up for the whole summer.”
Dick frowned as he filed that info away, “Wait so are you guys only staying for the summer?”
“Yes.”
“Shut up Brett! It hasn’t been decided, but more than likely we’ll just be staying off and on for their classes or something,” Alcor shrugged.
Dick felt his communicator ping and if Wally’s body language was anything to go by so did his, “Well we should be getting out of your way. I can’t wait to meet the rest of you family sometime.”
“Likewise,” Alcor waved goodbye, “Good luck, hopefully we stick around long enough to see the wedding.”
Wally bursted out laughing at Dicks embarrassment, “I’ll be sure to invite you Alcor!”
“Brett to please- ouch what? You love weddings.”
The boys left as the brothers yelled at each other.
—- —- —-
Constantine sighed as he put his hand up to his head, the meeting about the little Sheila was going to be absolute Hell.
“Yo! John!”
His cigarette fell to the linoleum floor, “God damn it Boston!”