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dpxdc prompt:

“HEY YOU! YOU! YEAH YOU COME DOWN HERE! I GOT SOME QUESTIONS!”

Duke Thomas was not used to people down on the streets calling out to him when he was on patrol as Signal.

Like, yeah people noticed him. Hard not to when he wore bright yellow and ran around during daylight hours. Getting noticed was kind of the point to help reduce crime. But Gothamites were very good at minding their business.

So this guy must be from out of town. He was a maybe-20 year old white guy with black hair and blue eyes (which was so common in Gotham Duke felt like studies should be done on the genetic traits) but he also had clean shoes and wasn’t wearing a rain jacket for the eventual evening drizzle. Gotham streets were too dirty to keep your shoes clean for more than a week, and these shoes did not look brand new either.

But just because he looked like an average tourist didn’t mean this wasn’t a trap.

Duke took a slow breath and then used his Ghost Sight to check the recent past and see if he’d been threatened or paid off to distract Signal for any reason.

“OW! FUCK!!” Duke quit looking. It’s not like he was even hurt by what he saw, so much as surprised and overwhelmed.

He’d seen other dimensions before. He’d seen a lot of strange and indescribable things with his powers. This guy existed in two dimensions simultaneously and somehow it wasn’t ripping reality apart. He’d walked out of a green portal into Gotham like it was an elevator door, except the portal connected to a place of green skies and purple floating islands and death and strange power in the air. The overlaying images and light paths were too much.

“I didn’t even hit’cha,” the maybe-not-a-guy said indignantly on the street below. “I’m not even planning to hit’cha. Seriously I just got some questions.”

“What are you?” Duke asked as he used a grapple to repel down the side of the building, landing just inside the mouth of an alley. “And why was everything green?”

“One, asking what someone is is rude. Two,” he just shrugged and made an I dunno sound. “And three, I’ve got a list of questions for you since local gossip says you’re the only hero in town with powers.”

“Umm. Okay? Can I get your name first at least?”

“Oh right. I’m Danny Fenton and I’m looking for a new place to live. Gotham is high on the list but I’m not trying to get kicked out soon as I settle in, which leads me to my first question,” Danny pulled a tiny notebook from his jeans pocket and flipped it open, “Is Batman prejudiced against powered people?”

“What?! No! He works with me and the entire Justice League.”

“See, you say that, but lots of people can work for a progressive business and still be prejudiced as individuals. There’s lots of chatter online and in the news about Batman hating metas and refusing other heroes into Gotham. Of course, I’ve also had personal experience with how much gossip and media can lie and skew facts which is why I’m asking you. You’ve got powers and work with the Bats and you’re dark skinned so I figure you’d have lots of practice at noticing the real difference between hatred and unintended microagressions.”

Duke didn’t even know what to say to that. How did his day turn into this?

“Um. Batman doesn’t hate powered people,” he decided on just answering the direct question instead of getting into all that. “He actually has a great deal of respect for them but doesn’t like outside heroes coming into town because they aren’t familiar with the territory and rogues which makes it more dangerous for them.”

Danny Fenton nodded along and jotted down a little note.

“Cool cool. Next: I’ve read up on what legal protections Gotham’s local government has for powered people, but how effective are those laws in action?”

“The metahuman laws are-”

“I’m not a meta,” Danny interrupted. “Don’t have the gene so those laws don’t apply to me. But Gotham has added language into its laws about powered people which is why it’s on my list of places to live. But if those laws don’t hold any weight I’ll move on to the next city.”

Well at least that was another piece of the puzzle. Maybe this guy was part human part something else, like Duke, or maybe he had a lab accident like The Flash.

“You seem to know there’s bigots everywhere, but long as the lawyer you pick isn’t one of ‘em you’ll be fine.”

“Nice. Okay next,”

“How many questions you got?”

“Figured I’d start with 20, if you were down to play.”

“Are they all along these lines?”

Danny flipped through a couple pages of his notebook, muttering as he went, “Let’s see… which businesses are queer friendly? Can I fly at night for stress relief if I’m invisible? Where can I get the best food for under five bucks?”

“Oh definitely Julio’s Tacos.”

Blue eyes looked up from the list.

“It’s just four blocks away. How’s your spice tolerance?”

“6 out of 10 on a Mexican scale, 3 out of 10 on a Thai scale.”

“You’ll be fine then. Street tacos are 3 for $5. Come on, I’ll buy this time. I want some horchata so my mouth doesn’t dry up answering all your questions.”

“Thanks,” Danny blinked in surprise.

“No prob,” Duke tapped a button in the side of his helmet, “Hey Oracle, can you lemme know if something comes up I need to pay attention to? I’m gonna talk to a civilian for a bit.”

“Sure thing,” her voice buzzed in his ear before clicking off.

“Okay Danny let’s go get some food.”

(What other questions are on Danny’s list? Most serious, some silly? What kind of clues will Duke figure out along the way? Is Danny running from something or just looking for a change? Is he willing to use his powers again to see more about this guy?) lol I just liked the idea of Danny asking Duke questions like it’s a job interview but for living in Gotham. He would wanna be super careful about making sure he’s safe somewhere and I’m sure Tucker and Sam helped with making the list.

Oh this is LOVELY!

Danny just wants to live in a place where he doesn’t have to deal with too crazy discrimination and to just be left alone. Questions about average rent cost and the consistent rogue destruction/cheap rent correlation, what are the worth months of villain activity and if they actively try to find and use powered beings to do their schemes, if the henchmen have a union, etc.

If this requires being audited back by the Bats? He’s totally ok with that, better they’re both on the same profile and communicating, Gotham being his permanent residence choice is slowly becoming more and more favorable.