As it turns out, it's not very hard to follow someone, even a trained vigilante, when you can walk through walls, disappear, and fly.
Was doing so a bad idea? Oh sure, 100%. Was Danny going to think for long enough to weigh the pros and cons? Not likely.
It's not like he could go and get himself much more dead than he already was.
The ghostly teen tailed Nightwing non-stop for a good half hour before the vigilante called it quits for the night.
With that stamina, he had to be some kind of freak of nature.
Ironic.
Floating invisibly after the man, Danny compiled a mental checklist of things he needed to do once he reached the bats' and birds' secret lair:
1. Get a snack. Snacks make thinking easier.
2. Figure out a way to push responsibilities onto someone more qualified. Batman probably dealt with shady business deals all of the time, what was one more?
3. Find something fun to do. His afterlife had become far more boring with no rogues to fight.
When it came to making plans, Danny generally went with the, 'fuck around, find out' method.
In this case, he sure did find out.
It soon became evident that Nightwing's destination was the giant fucking mansion that sat on what looked like a small island just outside of gotham.
This caused Danny to momentarily rethink his course of action. He and rich people didn't tend to mix well.
It got even weirder. As it turned out, there was a cave hidden behind a waterfall on the back side of the island.
Marvelling at the vast cavern, Danny's focus was immediately pulled to the literal dinosaur that sat like a trophy upon on of the many metal platforms in the vast space.
Don't touch it don't touch it don't touch it
He touched it.
Beneath the high, (stalagmite? Stalagtite? Who knows.)-ridden ceiling, Danny zipped from one wondrous sight to the next, taking it all in like an excited kid.
The halfa jumped as a voice came from somewhere below him. He had clearly let his guard down, since he hadn't heard anyone enter besides himself and Nightwing, who sat at a gigantic computer that had been built into the cave wall.
Neat. Tucker would be foaming at the mouth.
"How did things go tonight? Any news on those robberies?"
Danny had to do a quick double take, because there's no way Bruce fucking Wayne is standing in the batcave.
Maybe Wes' theories about batman having a sugar daddy weren't too far off.
There goes $10.
"Are you sure that's what you really want to talk about right now? Tim hasn't spoken to anyone since he got back from patrol. Has he told you what happened yet?"
Bruce sighed, leaning to rest against the back of the computer chair.
"He hasn't said a word. Won't even leave his room. All I got from Jason was that apparently Tim... killed a civilian."
"Are we sure about that? Timmy isn't the type to allow civilian casualties under any circumstances."
Nightwing's comment led Danny to realize that the 'Tim' they kept mentioning was most likely Red Robin.
He felt a twinge of guilt pull at his heart. Had his act really hurt the kid so badly that he refused to speak to anyone?
"Jason claims to have seen the body, so we can only assume that his information is correct."
"I understand. I'll go have a talk with him once I've finished my report."
"Thank you," came the older man's reply, "He may not show it, but the boy truly looks up to you."
With that, Bruce retreated towards an elevator in the far wall. Silence, broken only by the whirring sound of the elevator, filled the space that he had left behind, trapping Nightwing with his own thoughts.
Danny, still invisible and thoroughly uncomfortable, floated down to the batcomputer.
Hovering upside down between the vigilante and the screen, he waved his hands in front of the man's face.
Sometimes, people have impulsive thoughts in moments of boredom. In this case, Danny's brain told him that the most entertaining thing he could possibly do in this moment was shove his intangible hand through Nightwing's head.
And he did, because he could.
A shiver passed through the man's body, as though he had somehow felt the phantom touch pass over and through his body.
He stood up, turning the large chair to the side while he did so. His back made an almost sickening crack as he stretched his arms as far as he could above his head.
Apparently being weird and annoying gets results, since Nightwing was making his way into what looked like changing rooms.
Danny waited outside the door as he changed. He was weird, but he wasn't weird weird. The vigilante returned a few minutes later, sporting a much more comfortable-looking civilian outfit of a Wonder Woman t-shirt and sweatpants.
Danny snuck onto the small elevator after the man, planning to follow him to wherever Red Robin was hiding. Once he found him, Danny would discreetly tip him off about the hospital situation and leave.
Relief flooded the halfa when the elevator finally came to a stop. Apparently, Nightwing had a tendency to hum in the absence of elevator music.
Judging by the art-covered walls and fancy carpet of what looked to be the study, they had just entered the manor that sat on top of the cave.
So this is the birds' nest.
Danny allowed himself to detach from Nightwing's side, floating leisurely up through the ceiling and into a hallway.
He took his time looking around, swapping the occasional paintings and vases with others around the manor. With any luck, one of the birds would notice his little game of spot the difference and be at least a bit confused.
By the time he actually saw a person, he had rearranged at least 1/5 of the halls in the labyrinth of a home.
It was a young boy. While he had definitely not hit his teens yet, there was a certain look in his eyes that Danny found extremely unsettling.
After a moment's thought, he was able to put a name to the face. Damian Wayne, son of Bruce Wayne and popular topic for tabloids.
Mostly, the articles covered useless information, like how he was voted "cutest aristocrat", or the time he stabbed a man at a gala with a fork, with bits of useful information sprinkled in.
The boy was apparently Bruce Wayne's only biological child, having appeared out of the blue around two years ago. There was no mention of the mother's identity.
Watching the boy wiggle a doorknob a specific way before opening the door led Danny to believe that the room was booby trapped.
That must be his bedroom, then.
Which also meant that there must be more bedrooms nearby.
Phasing through walls, Danny went through three different rooms before he found the one he was searching for.
He knew it was the right one, of course, by the still-uniformed Red Robin who sat clutching his knees to his chest in the middle of the bed.
He entered the room just as the door shut, indicating that he had just missed Nightwing's speech.
The room around him looked much like a freshly tossed salad, items thrown around at random, papers littering the floor, and a shattered coffee mug that had previously rested on the now tipped-over bedside table.
Damn bitch, you live like this?
Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't a response from the puddle of cape and domino mask on top on the bedsheets.
While Danny had been judging his decor choices, the teen vigilante had risen to an upright seated position, eyes darting warily around the room.
"Who's in here? Come out before I make you!"
In a totally well thought out moment, the ghost boy snatched what looked to be a kid's spelling bee trophy from the floor, launching it directly at its owner's head.