October 25
Both boys got in position. Neither one taking a particularly defensive stance, not giving any hint to what their plan was. It wasn't their first spar, they've spent way too many hours playing in the BatCave before Alfred would have to come in and make them take a break.
The team watched on, the ever-present agitation still mudding the mind link. No doubt were they pissy about Robin being Phantom's sparring partner. Really, it was their own fault. They could have volunteered as well but of course, that would involve actually interacting with Phantom and getting their asses beat for a second time. Their initial meeting in Belle Rêve was still too fresh on their minds to take a blunder like that.
"Are you ready?" Canary asked, looking over both Bats. She wasn't quite sure what to expect. Robin had always been rather meticulous at holding back during practice. He may be the youngest, and the smallest, but he's been fighting meta-criminals for a good 5 years now. The point isn't injuring team members so, out of everybody, he had the most unspoken restrictions. Now being up against a clone however, it begged the question of how it will end up playing out.
One excited and one bored hum echoed across the room, identical smirks adorning their faces as they waited for the signal. "Ready to lose?" Robin taunted, making a show of cracking his knuckles and neck.
Phantom stage-yawned, stretching out like a sleepy cat. Sharp canines yet again on display, eliciting a wave of unease through the link once more. "If you were any less threatening, you'd be a dandelion, birdie." He laughed as Robin puffed out in discontent.
The moment Canary's whistle sounded, the room was engulfed in dense smoke. Dual cackling echoed from all corners of the room. Little crackling explosions came from all directions, effectively disorienting the bystanders as they tries to figure out where the two had gone. As the smoke slowly dissipated, it became clear neither boy had remained on the platform.
"Tt, copycat." Robin grunted from up above. The two of them had found their way up to the ceiling. Perched on different hanging lamps, they stared at each other with smiles brighter than the lights themselves.
Phantom snorted, casually kicking his feet. "That's what we call the improved version." Neither of them were showing just how genuinely serious they were actually taking it.
Rule 1 of Bat sparring, mind games are all fair game, especially when there are spectators
Robin rolled his eyes, dismissing the brag with a lazy throw of a batarang. "Improved on no level but dumbassery." He muttered, not even surprised Phantom dodged it by simply flipping backwards and around the lamp to land in the same spot again.
"Ah," he sighed contently, "So you admit I'm on your level, just better." Phantom did nothing to attack him back, just sitting there, dangling his legs like they were having a cozy chat.
Robin, however, let out an annoyed huff. "I never said that!" Attempting to cover up Phantom's cackle, he threw some minor explosives his brother's way. Even if they did hit, it wouldn't have done him any harm. It was more so to get that giggly bitch moving into a better spot for him to do anything.
The small flash only lasted a second, but it was more than enough for to Phantom to get up and twirl around the supporting wires. "Magique." He whispered, laughing at the sea of emotions down below. He was more than aware that the team was watching his every move. The least he could do for his reluctant audience was put on a show.
Carelessly, he threw another smoke bomb out. Timing it just right, it exploded right between the two of them, clouding them in darkness once more. Not that it mattered for them at least, more than used to working in the dark foggy air of Gotham.
Still, Robin had gotten the silent message. Using the smoke as nothing more than some nice decoration, they let themselves fall backwards. With the small smoke trail behind them, they immediately shot out a grapple to get over to the other's spotlight perch. Nearly missing the other by a hair, they had effectively just switched placed by the time the smoke fully cleared.
And that is how their game of ceiling lamp chess-tag began. Flipping over to different lights, they competed on who could do the most extravagant move without getting hit by random projectiles. Of course, they only got one move to get closer before the other could make their move.
Was Bruce going to yell at them for wasting resources on a game of tag?
Most likely.
Was he going to appreciate how much their Batwatchers were utterly seething the entire time?
Oh you betcha.
"All of this over some stupid cookies?" They heard Artemis mutter over the link. Robin half expected Wally to speak up and defend the holy treat that is Alfred's baking but the redhead stayed quiet. Sparing him half a glance he could tell the speedster was 5 seconds away from just zooming up there and stepping in to ruin their fun.
"Must be some cookies." Connor grumbled, glare zeroed in on Phantom. He almost laughed, reminded of their first meeting when Connor tried to use laser vision. The glares were quite the match, though the situation was the total opposite.
"You know," Robin called out, dangling upside down from one of the supporting wires and pulling everybody's attention back to the main event. "It's a shame your moves are about as bland as your personality." Fully ignoring he basically shaded himself, Robin cackled as Phantom did a completely useless triple axel as he jumped over to a different lamp.
Landing perfectly in an overly graceful attitude, he remained still for a breath longer for no reason other than to show off. They hadn't been practicing the most random things for nothing after all.
Taking a shallow breath, Robin leapt from the wires he was tangled up in. Trying to outdo Phantom, he went for however many spins he could manage before landing on the exact spot they had both been slowly inching towards without making it too obvious.
"I'd offer you a battle strategy," Phantom called out, prowling on his lamp. "but it seems like you enjoy failing more." He teased, grinning as Robin pouted. Ever so carefully, Phantom tapped his leg. Just out of view and not quite touching either, he gave the signal for their game to actually start without the others noticing.
Without a warning they both leapt forward trying to reach the other. The chess part completely forgotten, their game of tag fully started. Launching himself right at Robin, Phantom landed square on his chest before pushing himself off again. Falling backwards, he shot out a grapple to zip up all the way to the ceiling. With the claws Robin had oh so graciously given him, he anchored himself into the rock above.
Craning his neck in an inhuman angle, Phantom stared down at his brother. Robin had recovered from the push, moving back just enough to fall back to the last lamp on the edge of the grouping.
Not letting Phantom breathe for long enough to form a new plan, Robin threw flashbang pallets up. Forcing Phantom to choose between blinding himself and dropping down, he smirked when the ghost did exactly as he hoped.
Phantom landed two fixtures away of the faulty light with a slight bounce. Neither could quite hide their smirk but considering they were supposed to be in a genuine spar, not a single person below clocked their plan.
In a final frontal attack, Robin rushed forward, prompting Phantom to do the same. "You know, these aren't as stable as the ones in the BatCave." He taunted right before throwing a batarang at the supporting cables of the broken light. As if it had been an ill timed mistake, Phantom had done the exact same.
With the light now crashing down below, their landing spot had disappeared.
Phantom fell down the newly created hole first, cackle echoing after him as he went. Robin was about to grapple out to safety when he felt something attach to his chest. "Ah-ah-ahh." Phantom taunted, pulling the trigger on his own grapple that he had attached to Robin's logo. Being one of the most supported parts of the entire suit, it made for one hell of a grapple point in emergencies. Before he could even slice the wire off, it pulled taut, dragging him down along with Phantom.
Wrapping his arms around Robin, he quickly threw down a pillow pallet so they could land softly. Bouncing off the sudden foam, Phantom backflipped one too many times to be necessary, ending in a triumphant pose as if they were competing in an actual gymnastics competition. His brother on the other hand wasn't as lucky as he stumbled from the sudden crash and release.
Catching himself before actually tripping, he panted slightly, trying to regain the breath that was slammed out of him. "Playing dirty huh?" He joked, only to look up wide eyed as Phantom pulled out a trigger from behind his back.
"Oh," He mockingly cooed, feigning innocence as he twirled the release button to whatever he had planned. "If you thought that was dirty, I guess I should apologize." Following his gaze, Robin looked down at his chest. Right where the claw had attached, and two more across his chest, were their new boosters. Before anybody had even a chance to react to the new development, Phantom pressed the button.
In an instant, the boosters activated, sending Robin flying into the wall behind him. With a heavy thud, he connected with the stone. Using the extra grip from the claws, he locked himself in to prevent falling as his focus slowly broke through the shock. "No fair, we're still testing those!" He gruntled discontented. "B literally only cleared them for trial a few days ago." Ironically, at the same time Danny got cleared for fieldwork but that was something they'd laugh at in private later.
Phantom bounced a few steps closer, matching the same excitement Robin held before their spar. "Aww, is somebody pouty they didn't think of it themselves?" He cackled harder as Robin sneered up at his brother, who was still doing a victory cheer.
Scratching the wall as his clawed hands balled, Robin growled out. "You are toast, Phantom."
"Oh yeah, you and what toaster?"
Using his self-made anchor points in the wall, he used it as a launching pad to jump Phantom. "The one you blew up yesterday when you tried to figure out how," He was relentlessly throwing hit after kick Phantom's way, letting his frustrations take the lead. "And I quote,"
Phantom dodges every attack by a hair, moving in perfect sync with Robin while trying to get a hit in of his own.
"ThE tOaSt ToAsTs WiThOuT bEiNg ToUcHeD bY tHe ToAsTy BiTs!" Robin exclaimed, not giving out as he sent a flurry of fists in any direction he saw an opening. "I couldn't even have toast for breakfast. I had to eat sad soggy bread because of you!"
Phantom blocked every hit to the best of his ability, which wasn't all too amazing when up against a pissed off bird with 5 years of combat experience compared to his barely 6 months and a bit of training in recent weeks. "It was for science!" He defended himself, half-pouting along the way. "Toast is the root of all evil and you know it!"
Growing more enraged and suppressing his matching amusement, Robin picked up the pace. "You could have just googled it!" The more he went in, the more he could tell his brother was starting to fall behind. Hand to hand was never his strong suit after all. He had powers and a big mouth to do the hard part for him.
Which is exactly what they had been training for these past few days. There weren't all too many metas in Gotham that Robin got to beat up on the regular. He had to get his practice in somewhere, and what better way than to claim fighting with one's brother as educational enrichment?
He was almost certain the only reason Bruce and Alfred allowed it was because it was also helping Phantom learn how to defend himself without powers.
That still left him with his biggest asset, however. That big mouth and need for theatrics to get on the opponents nerves. At least he was sure his brother could take over a Robin shift if he ever needed a stand in. Their skills of pissing off people was evenly matched.
Phantom cackled, bordering on insanity as he tried to swipe Robin's legs before flipping backwards to create some distance between them. Against all logic of combat, he dropped his defense completely, replacing it with a nonchalant shrug. "Now where's the fun in that?"
Robin didn't hesitate to jump at the golden opportunity that had presented itself. Forgoing the usual banter they both had expected, he went in for the metaphorical kill. Not like he could actually re-kill a ghost, nor did he want to at the moment. Though the constant cackling did make it quite tempting...It also explained quite a lot about the usual nightly routine he got himself into with the already quite murderous Gotham rogues.
Pushing himself more than he had before, he couldn't stop the smirk from showing as he started pushing Phantom back. One defensive step at a time, he was gaining ground and getting Phantom more and more off center. His brother got a few lucky hits in, he always did, but they weren't enough to fully counter the years of experience bubbling to the surface.
Finally he got to silence the cackling as he managed to swipe Phantom's legs out from under him. Not one to go down alone, he once again grabbed onto Robin to fall together. Unfortunately for him, Robin did not care one bit. Continuing his assault, he didn't even care when the cushion under him known as his brother vanished from the material plain.
Phantom laughed, keeping up an act of defending himself while letting the punches pass through him. "Oh no, micro aggressions." He laughed harder as Robin screeched indignantly.
"We're the same size, you cunt!" Robin kept up the punches, taking his usual satisfaction at besting his brother and getting some sweet revenge on him. If he would actually be allowed to do so. "Turn tangible again so I can beat your ass." His demand went ignored as Phantom stuck his tongue out.
"Nuh-uh."
Robin stilled for just a moment, caught off guard by the childish tone. "The fuck you mean nuh-uh?!" Phantom's eyes were fully hidden by the mask, but he was damn sure they were absolutely gleaming in joy as Robin started up his futile attack.
Phantom laid still, rather cozy on the platform as he propped his head up. "I don't have to listen to you, I'm older." Adding crossed ancles as well, he well and truly looked like he was about to take a nap.
Robin's annoyance grew, not so accidentally scratching the panel beneath him as it created a horrible sound. Phantom cringed, sending half-hearted death glare at the frustrated bird. "I have more experience!" He tried to counter, still not giving up on punching that smug smile beneath him.
Scoffing, Phantom rolled his head again. "Says who?"
"Says life?"
"HA!" Phantom cackled once more, the haunting vibrations bouncing off the walls. "I have more experience at life." He stated so smugly, his face contorted so much it almost looked like he was smiling through the pain of eating a lemon whole.
Robin's attacks stilled once more, fist still firmly phased inside of Phantom's head. "Are you sure about that?!" He yelled incredulously while staring at his arm. Leaving it right where it was, he leaned down slightly, just to empathize that it very much was inside his brother's head at the moment.
Before any more damage could be caused to the training room, Canary stepped in to physically pull the thrashing bird off their resident ghost. Brushing off the imaginary dust, Phantom couldn't hold in his laugh as Robin dangled in the air like a feisty little alley cat. Kicking and clawing at the air, he was left in that same position until he stopped for long enough that Canary trusted he wouldn't just jump Phantom in .5 seconds upon release.
Not even needing to say a word, she stared them both down. Hands on her hips, she gave off enough level of disappointment only Selina and Alfred could rival. Phantom wholly ignored her again, not really caring for the wrecked lamp laying off to the side. It was annoying how it kept buzzing on and off this entire time. At least now it stopped.
Robin refused to let up, even while being stared down. Taking his one and only chance, he punched Phantom in the arm before Canary could stop him. The boy in question didn't even seem to have felt it. "I won. That means I get all the cookies." Robin sulked, cheeks puffed out as Phantom snorted softly.
"Might want to get your head checked, birdie." He bent down, levitating back up into a cross legged position just to do so. "I very much won after you got to first base with the wall."
Robin growled, fists balling up yet again as he grinned. "And then I won by actual skill instead of cheating."
"Ain't cheating when it was within the rules." Phantom shrugged, lazily checking his claws for any damage after hanging from actual rock earlier. "You went out of bounds first." He propped up his head again, leaning on his open palm as he enjoyed riling up his brother some more. "I'll take my offerings with the utmost gratitude, swearsies." He held out his pinkie, snickering as Robin slapped his hand away.
"I demand a rematch, you cheated-"
"It's not cheating if it's-"
"Because rules are definitely meant to be followed. Sure."
And so, completely disregarding why they were even there in the first place, the two of them highjacked the training session. Setting up a tournament for the cookies, they kept mental score of who won the most by the end of training. Nearly breaking out into yet another argument as they ended up tied by the time Canary kicked them into the Zeta just to get rid of them.
Letting out a deep sigh, she dragged her hands over her face. If this was how every training session was going to be, she might actually go into early retirement just to escape these two demon spawns Batman had brought into their lives. Maybe all the cryptid rumors had some merit to it after all.
NEW ART : chapter 3, Danny's intro
art by my friend Iso over on tumblr
https://www.tumblr.com/isosceles-is-never-here/777772035729489920/um-sorry-to-interrupt-but-would-you-mind-going