Chapter Text
Daniel Jasmine Nightingale had been on the Bat’s radar for two months now- and yet, none had managed to make contact. This is particularly frustrating because of how easy he is to spot in a crowd.
Let’s back up.
Two-Face, for all his criminal enterprising and murdering, was still the Gotham City District Attorney. He never stopped showing up to work, despite all his.. changes after the Maroni incident.
And he was a damn good attorney.
Half insane, half deformed- Harvey Dent was still Harvey Dent.
And Harvey Dent wanted some fucking coffee.
He stepped out of his car, stumbling briefly on the sidewalk- exhausted from his fight with the Bat the night prior.
Harvey had, initially, planned to go to Starbucks- but his goons wouldn’t shut up about some internet cafe called ‘The Daily Grind’ that opened on Park Row.
The place had an honest to god bell on the door, and it made a rather pretty sound as he pulled the door open.
Absolutely nobody looked up, and the barista didn’t even flinch as Two-Face himself made his way up to the counter and stared at the menu for a solid minute and a half.
“I would like a medium flat white with two shots of espresso, in a to-go cup,” he said, pulling his wallet out of his pocket.
“That’ll be $4.25, you can swipe your card here.” The teal-haired teen turned the screen around, and Harvey stopped when he saw the options for tipping.
He pulled his coin out, passing it through his hand for a moment before flicking it into the air.
Heads .
He tapped 20%, and put his coin (and card) away after paying.
Harvey stepped to the side while he waited, observing the clientele. In the corner there were three darkly dressed, scruffy teenagers crowding around a laptop- attempting to share a pair of earbuds.
Close to them was a couple that could only be described as sickeningly sweet, quietly smiling and drinking iced teas with their unoccupied hands intertwined.
Harvey’s eyes then fell on the final occupant of the store, and he almost spit out the coffee he’d yet to even receive.
The roughly 15 year old boy was fully occupying a single booth, his legs kicked up as he leaned over what looked to be a thick college binder and a silver laptop coated with NASA stickers.
He slowly sipped from what looked to be iced coffee with a lot of milk, while a steaming cup of hot coffee cooled next to him. The genius choice of drink aside, Harvey was more ‘captivated’, so to speak, by the boy’s appearance- at least what he could see, as the child had a silver mask covering the left half of his face.
His hair was split down the center of his scalp- the right side black, and the left stark white, almost glowing. His exposed features showed sunken blue eyes, and pale skin with raised electrical scars and a smattering of freckles.
“Sir?” Harvey was shaken from his- admittedly weird- staring by the barista, who was holding out his drink.
He took it with a curt thank-you, and quickly walked over to the boy’s table.
“Excuse me, young man?”
The boy looked up, blinking lazily like a cat as he studied Harvey’s face.
“Yes?” He questioned, and Harvey took note of the vocal fry and slight echo before posing a question of his own-
“Can you type?”
The boy looked at him like he had two heads (haha), and gestured vaguely to his open laptop.
Harvey nodded and pulled out his business card, dropping it on the table.
“You start Monday.”
The boy finally started, sitting up straight and picking up the card, reading it over quickly.
*Harvey ‘Two-Face’ Dent, District Attorney*
On the back was his business email, phone, and office address.
“Start.. what?” The kid asked, slipping the card into his hoodie pocket, briefly adjusting and tugging at his sunflower lanyard by the ID tag attached.
“You, young man- what is your name?”
“Danny.”
“Danny, you are going to be my new stenographer.”
“Your what?” Danny raised his eyebrow, which could be either in shock or confusion- Harvey couldn’t tell without seeing the other eye.
Harvey decided to go with the latter.
“My stenographer, my court reporter- you will transcribe what’s spoken during preliminary hearings and trials, and-“
“I know what a stenographer is,” Danny interrupted, “But why me?”
“Well, I feel a bit of a kindred spirit, don’t you?” Harvey said with a smile.
Danny snorted. “I definitely feel some sort of spirit.”
Harvey could sense a deeper joke there, and his smile grew. “In any case, be at my office Monday morning at 7:15am for orientation.”
He took a sip from his coffee and turned to leave- before stopping and turning back to Danny.
“And leave the mask at home.”
——
Danny blinked in surprise as the Two-Face left, the little fairy bell jingling over the glass door.
He pulled out the card again, studying the quality of the ink and paper.
Son of a bitch, he has his own watermark.
He thought about what Dent had said.
Leave the mask at home..
Danny reached up to his face, feeling the metal plate affixed to his Hel-ish side.
Ever since he was really 14, he had worn it every day- any time he wasn’t asleep in bed or out fighting ghosts, he was covering up with turtlenecks, gloves, and of course his custom made mask.
Thank you, Manson fortune.
He should have figured Two-Face would be interested in him, but a real, legal job?
Well. Mostly legal. Considering the terrorism and mass murder.
It rubbed his Obsession the wrong way, the prospect of working for a man who caused so much suffering- but he needed money.
Gotham was a tough city to live in, but it was the only place apart from Amity that had enough ambient ectoplasm to keep him alive .. So to speak. And with every application coming up negative, and his next rent payment coming up..
Danny set his alarm for 6am Monday morning.