It had been about a day since Phantom had been brought to the watchtower and he was already getting a lot worse. He was coughing up blood more frequently, occasionally he'd actually throw it up which is why he'd been in the bathroom for five minutes now. Batman still hadn't gotten to question him more and with the way things were going he might not get to at all.

The only thing Batman had learned since he first got there was that Phantom hadn't killed anyone three days previous to this. That meant he hadn't killed for four days now so he had three days left, maybe, and they couldn't seem to stop it. Phantom had finally come out of the bathroom and the heroes hated to admit it but they actually felt bad for him.

Yes he was a killer and yes this was his own fault but it looked like he was in a lot of pain, even though he wouldn't admit it. Now that Phantom was out of the bathroom Batman took him to the interrogation room again and called in Dr. Fate. Phantom had already shifted to a relatively comfortable position in the chair and when the two Leaguers walked in he spoke immediately.

"I'm not getting up nor am I moving."

Batman spoke, "You don't have to." He closed the door and Phantom coughed, it was mostly just blood that was still stuck in his throat but it hurt. Batman looked at Fate, "Have you ever seen anything like this?"

Fate hummed, "I've seen curses similar to this but this one is different, it's purpose seems to be causing pain rather then simply killing someone."

Phantom spoke, "No shit, that sadist is using it as a plot point so it has to be like that, it's so unoriginal."

The two heroes looked confused and Phantom just waved them off, Batman looked at Fate again, "Can you get rid of the curse?"

"It's too dangerous without knowing the exact nature of the curse, or who cast it."

Phantom coughed a little, "I could have told you that, like I said, it's a plot point."

The two heroes still looked confused but once again didn't question it, Fate looked at Batman, "I will look into it but I can't guarantee anything."

Fate then left and Phantom shifted again to a slightly more comfortable position as Batman sat down across from him. Batman looked at the killer, "You kill other killers."

Phantom laughed a little, "Getting straight to the point I see, yes I kill other killers, that's how I decide who to kill."

Batman eyes narrowed slightly, "But why did you start killing?"

Phantom sighed, "That was the deal wasn't it?" He groaned, "Fine, but I can't guarantee you'll like the answer." He shifted a little again, "So when I was younger I was basically made into a lab rat, needless to say, I hated it. I kept trying to escape, one day I took it too far and killed someone, and it was fun, because I could hurt those bastards back."

"So I killed them, I killed every last one of them and when it was over I told myself I wouldn't do it again. But it was like a drug I'd already gotten hooked on, try as I might I just couldn't stop, so I started going after criminals and haven't stopped since."

Batman raised an eyebrow, "So the first time you killed someone it was in self defense?"

Phantom shrugged, "I guess, but everything after that wasn't, I wanted to hurt them back and I did. I mean I kind of let them off easy since I just killed them immediately but still, I do not regret it at all."

Batman didn't seem phased at all, with everything he'd already heard this wasn't as shocking as it would have been just yesterday. "Who were the people you hurt?"

Phantom hummed, "Some branch of the government, why do you care?"

"Because I want to know who thought it was okay to experiment on someone, let alone a child."

Phantom laughed, "Then you should talk to the bitch I was going to kill, she might be worse then those guys. No, scratch that, the guys that experimented on me only hurt me so she is worse, I really wanted to kill her."

Batman stood up, "Superman will take you back to your room, don't cause any trouble."

"Couldn't even if I wanted to, but that isn't my room, it is a glorified cell."

Batman stood up without saying a word and Phantom tried to get up but his stomach seemed to twist painfully and he fell to his knees. He coughed violently and blood splattered across the floor, when Batman move to help Phantom gestured for him to stay away. After a few more horrible coughs the blood stopped and Phantom laughed a little, "Okay, I'll admit, that hurt."

Batman actually looked slightly, very slightly, concerned, "Is there any way to help?"

Phantom stood up and wiped the blood away from his mouth, "Anything you try will just make it hurt more, or worse in general, just forget about it."

Meanwhile, while Phantom had been coughing up blood the team had stared in horror from outside the room. They'd heard that Batman was going to question Phantom and wanted to hear what the killer had to say. Upon seeing how miserable Phantom looked while going through this they felt just a little bad.

However Robin felt absolutely horrible when he saw this, Danny was dying and in pain and he couldn't do anything to help. They left before Phantom and Batman left the room, Superman took Phantom to his room while Batman went to do some research. They just sat in a room in silence, this was probably one of the worst things they'd ever seen happen to someone.

No one even tried to talk, hell they barely moved, Robin was the first to stand up and he left the room. He'd been going over this whole situation in his head all day and he'd finally come to a conclusion. He went to Danny's room and knocked on the door, he heard the killer talk on the other side, "Enter at your own peril."

Robin opened the door and Danny was laying in bed on his side, he looked pale and was clearly exhausted. Robin pulled up a chair and Danny sat up, "I have to say I didn't expect this, so what's up?"

Robin was silent for a minute and Danny looked worried but he waited for Robin to talk and the hero took a breath. "You know, this whole thing was a lot to process, I found out that you're alive but you've been murdering people. When Batman and I went to track you down I never expected this, and I had no idea what to do."

"I mean I'm a hero, I'm supposed to catch the bad guy and hand them over to the police so the law can decide what to do with them. But then I found out about all of this, and I shouldn't like you because you've killed people but I do. I had no idea what to do, I'm happy your alive but caring about you is bound to end badly."

Danny looked like he was about to try and hold Robin's hand but thought better of it and didn't move. "Look, I know this whole situation isn't easy, and I didn't intend on letting it happen at all, letting you think I was dead seemed to be the better option. So I don't expect you to go against everything you believe in or to choose me, I mean this is your life."

"I know I'm not exactly a good person nor do I think what I've done is right in the slightest, I'm going to die soon anyway so it's okay, you don't have to choose."

Robin felt like he was about to cry hearing all of that, "But that's the thing I already did." He took a second to breathe and Danny looked confused and worried, "When I thought you died the first time it hurt. But last time I had to just assume you died, I didn't watch you slowly die right in front of me while feeling helpless the whole time."

"I don't want to watch you die, I don't want to lose you again, Danny I can't lose you again."

Danny was quiet for a few seconds, "Richard you know what I would have to do to live."

Robin felt a few tears fall from his eyes, "I don't care, I know I should but I don't care because I don't want you to die, I want you to live."

Danny was silent again as Robin cried, Danny gently made Robin look at him, "If you want me to live then I will, until you don't want me to anymore."

"That's never going to happen." With that small statement Robin kissed Danny and the killer kissed back, Robin didn't regret his choice.

*****

Hello! So, this is long overdue but I have a question for you. I've been writing a story, yes I know it's shocking, and I want to post it. Problem is it's different from pretty much everything I've posted on here thus far and didn't know if you guys would want to read it. So I ask you this, do you want to give this new story a shot or forget I ever mentioned it? I leave the decision to you.