#val becomes a halfa faster because of the ghost tech in her second red huntress suit

[christaspirit]

At first Steph just thought she was tired. She wasn’t normally this clumsy, dropping cups of water and tripping over nothing.

Then Cass found her halfway through her floor.

"...not sure what's going on..." Steph admitted.

Cass reached out her hand, and Steph took it. Cass pulled her up, and Steph's lower body returned to her room.

"Ideas?" Cass asked.

Steph pursed her lips.

"Uh..."

Her thoughts drifted over to Danny. He could go through solid objects, right?

Steph shrugged.

"Small idea," she said. "Want to meet a friend?"

Cass nodded.

Steph reached for the small thread connecting her to her soul, wherever it was. She'd traded it last for... fudge? No, that was the time before. She'd needed information on a John Doe, so Danny spoke to the guy's spirit.

She tugged it, and waited.

A few minutes later, Danny showed up.

"Need something?" he asked, white hair blowing with a wind only he could feel.

"Yeah, I just fell through my floor," Steph said. "Also, meet my best friend. Well, other best friend. Cass."

Danny smiled and waved to Cass. Then he looked at the floor.

"...seeing as it's not broken..." he trailed off. "Hm... not... sure... you aren't meta, right?"

Steph nodded.

"B had all of us tested," she said.

'who is this' Cass asked, looking at Steph.

"Oh, right, sorry," Steph said. "Cass, this is Danny. He's a ghost, the ghost king actually, and he knows I'm Spoiler. He saved me a while back in exchange for my soul, and we've been friends ever since."

Cass's eyes narrowed.

'your soul' Cass asked.

"We've been trading it back and forth," Steph said. "So, no ideas?"

"None, sorry," Danny said.

"Hm..." Steph looked around. "I've got half a pack of Oreos. Trade?"

"Deal," Danny said.

Steph tossed the Oreos to him, and Danny caught them with a slight smirk. Then, he pulled out her soul.

Every time she saw it, Steph couldn't help but feel amazed. It was a pearlescent purple, and each time they traded it, it seemed to look more like an orb. It glowed, and was really pretty. She'd tried to find jewels that looked similar, but nothing was quite as pretty.

Danny didn't technically need to make it visible to her. He could see it regardless, but he had to make it visible for her. She liked to see it though, and Danny agreed that it was pretty.

Also, it made the next part easier.

Danny tossed it to her, and Steph placed it near her chest.

Then there was a flash of light.

Steph blinked, and looked down.

...well that was weird.

She'd been wearing some work out clothes, getting ready to head down to the cave for a practice session. But now the colors were inverted, from purple to yellow, her skin pale, and her hair as it drifted over her shoulder in a ponytail was purple.

"...oh."

Steph looked up at Danny. He drifted to the floor and landed.

"...yeah, that really should have occured to me," he said.

"What just happened?" Steph asked.

"...apparently trading your soul between us has given it enough ectoplasm to turn you into a half-ghost," Danny said.

"You just killed me?!" Steph said.

"No! Half-ghost," Danny stressed. "Like me."

There was a flash of light, and Danny changed. Gone was the labsuit and the white hair, they were replaced by a NASA hoodie, jeans, and his hair turned black. His eyes switched from green to blue.

"You now have ghost powers," Danny said. "You know, I really should have noticed that your soul was looking more and more like a core."

"What do you mean by ghost powers," Steph asked, narrowing her eyes. "And how do I go back to normal? Please tell me I'm not stuck wearing this forever!"

"You aren't stuck, though it may take some work to switch between forms at will," Danny said. "I often used saying 'going ghost' to switch to ghost form. Never said anything for human, but I typically went human if I passed out. As for ghost powers, you'll have the basics of flight, intangibility, invisibility, and ectoplasmic beams. Beyond that it depends on your core type."

"And my clothes?" Steph asked. She was wearing a sports bra and leggings for crying out loud!

"Uh... my sister Ellie would know more about that than me," Danny said. "But I can help you with your powers."

"So I don't get stuck in the floor again?"

"Yes."

"Can I be a ghost?" Cass asked.

"...sure," Danny said. "You willing to play soul hot potato for... two-ish months? If we trade frequently?"

Cass nodded.

"Alright, what can I give you..." Danny muttered, digging through his pockets. "Uh... I got a dum-dum."

Cass nodded.

Danny reached out his hand, and Steph saw Cass's soul leave her body. It was shadowy, and lacked any form.

They really should've realized something was up with her soul well before this point.

"Alright," Danny said. "I can give you my phone number and we can make deals that way. Wait..." his eyes lit up, "I can do this with my friends and sister! And my ex-girlfriend!"

Steph sat straight up.

"Danny, we lost our bartering piece," she said. "We can't be trading my soul around anymore, can we."

"...oh my gosh, you're right," Danny said. "...do you want to make another one of your family members a ghost?"

"This way I don't worry about them dying," Steph said with a shrug. "I know just who to go for..."

Cass grinned next to her.

-

"...you want us to give you our souls?" Tucker asked.

"I found out that if we trade them enough times, my ectoplasm will turn your souls into a core, and you can become halfas too," Danny said with a grin.

"Not that that doesn't sound like a blast, but... how?" Sam asked.

"A couple months ago the eyeballs asked me to take an innocent person's soul," Danny said. "I saved a vigilante, we became friends, trading her soul became a bit of a joke, like we'd trade it for a bag of chips, or half a thing of oreoes, and then boom! She turned into a halfa."

"You realize that that's weird, right?" Val asked, sitting on her hoverboard.

"If you guys become halfas, ghost fights would be easier," Danny pointed out. "And you get powers."

"I'm in," Sam said.

"Same," Tucker said.

"...Danny, isn't this risky?" Jazz asked.

"I don't think so," Danny said. "She didn't have any problems until she became a halfa. You don't even have to die!"

Val just face palmed.

-

Steph had learned from Danny how to take someone's soul. She had her target. She just needed to wait.

Luckily, it wasn't long.

Tim had a tendency to stay up for several days in a row, all she had to wait for was a day when he was so delirious he wouldn't be thinking straight, might just forget the conversation later, and no one else would be willing to give him coffee.

Tim was staring at his empty coffee mug. Alfred had hidden the coffee machine an hour ago, but it hadn't taken Steph long to locate it, and quickly make a single cup of coffee. Tim tried to take another sip from his mug, as if willing more coffee to appear.

"Tim...?" Steph asked.

Cass had her back nearby, in case anyone was around. No one was, however.

Tim didn't respond.

"Tim, do you want more coffee?" Steph asked.

That got his attention. He looked at her with pleading eyes, and he looked so pathetic. Steph remembered why she had dated him in the first place.

"Please?" Tim asked.

"I'll trade you for it," Steph said.

Tim frowned.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Your soul," Steph said with a small shrug.

Tim stared at her. Steph tried to not show her worry.

Then he shrugged.

"Sure, take it," he said.

Steph grinned.

Permission granted.

She accessed the ability to do exactly this, take Tim's soul from him. You couldn't do it without permission.

Within moments, she had it.

It was sorta weird. Not at all like when she had traded her soul with Danny. She knew exactly where it was though.

She handed Tim the coffee mug, and slipped out of the batcave.

-

It was several days later, when Tim was well rested, that Steph attempted to make another deal with him.

"...waffles for my soul?" Tim asked, raising an eyebrow at her in disbelief. "Steph, your ridiculous. No. That is such an unfair deal. Besides, why would you even have my soul?"

Steph smirked, but quickly hid it.

"Ugh, fine, I'll get waffles elsewhere," she said, rolling her eyes.

She grinned at Cass as she left Tim's room.

With Tim not taking his soul back when offered, she had free reign to trade it back and forth with Danny, or with Cass even.

She'd taken Cass's soul once, for about 12 hours, before trading it to Cass again for a bowl of cereal. Dick had actually seen that interaction but thought they were joking.

-

By the time Cass had become a halfa, Steph was getting pretty good at her powers. She still didn't know what her core was, but Danny had taken a year to figure out his, so she was fine.

Cass had figured hers out almost immediately, it being shadows, which was so Cass that Steph couldn't even find it in herself to be jealous.

They had taken to pranking the family, especially if Ellie, Danny's little sister/clone, showed up.

Danny's friends were halfas by now as well, with his ex-girlfriend being the quickest to turn, surprising pretty much everyone.

They did meet up, eventually, with Danny's friends. It was a blast.

The whole soul trading buisness had mostly stopped, mostly because all the souls in question were cores, and that was a no-go zone. Even Tim's soul was. However, he hadn't had any powers on the fritz, supposedly because he hadn't had his would in so long. Steph was trying to figure out how to give it back.

Mostly they were making dumb deals for favors at this point.

Eventually, though, the whole batfam was up at the watchtower, for a meeting with the JLD. It was about some artifact they'd found, Spoiler hadn't paid attention to the details.

However, as soon as they walked in, Constantine stared at Red Robin.

"Red Robin?" Constantine asked.

RR looked up with a confused frown.

"Yeah?"

"When- why- did you... sell your soul?"

The room went dead silent.

"I... didn't?" Red Robin said, looking around a little confused.

"Well you don't bloody well have it," Constantine said.

"I never... sold it," Red Robin said.

"Red Robin," Batman said, voice low.

"I don't know what he's talking about," Red Robin said, "I-"

He stopped.

Steph felt a rising sense of dread.

"...Spoiler," Red Robin said, turning to face her. "A couple months ago, you wanted me to make you waffles."

"I often want you to make me waffles," Spoiler said.

"Well, this time, you said you'd trade me my soul," Red Robin said. "And now Constantine says I don't have it...?"

...crap.

"Spoiler," Batman said.

"Lass, do you have his soul?" Constantine asked.

"No," Spoiler said. "Though, Red Robin, I did try and give it back, you're the one that refused."

"...Spoiler, what did you do with my soul?" Red Robin asked.

"How did you take his soul?" Constantine asked. "Humans can't steal souls."

"I didn't steal it, I traded him coffee for it," Spoiler said. "Fair and square."

"Where is it?" Red Robin asked.

"With a friend," Spoiler said.

"What friend?" Red Robin asked.

Spoiler exchanged a glance with Black Bat, who nodded ever so slightly.

"Spoiler, what friend?"

The two of them vanished from sight.

"Spoiler!" Red Robin shouted. Around them, their fellow bats went on guard, and the JLD got to their feet. Fair... they had just vanished, and they didn't know where they had gone.

Too bad.

Spoiler grabbed Black Bat's hand, and they plummeted through the floors, switching to ghost form, and floating down to Earth.

-

Tim was... mildly panicking.

Apparently, his ex-girlfriend-now-not-quite-adopted-sister had taken his soul, she didn't even have it anymore, and he hadn't had it for weeks. Then, she and Cass just straight up vanished, disappearing off all sensors, and they didn't know where they were!

Also, he didn't have a soul!

How had Steph taken it?!

Constantine didn't know how to track down whoever did have it. All he said was that if Tim had traded it instead of sold it, then there should be a tether connecting him to his soul, but Tim didn't know how to find that!

What was he supposed to do?!

It's a Deal.

So! Steph is in a bit of a Bind. Literally.

Her Father had just discovered that she was the Vigilante who kept ruining his Plans, and decided to Deal with her. So he tied her up at a Bomb Site for one of his Plans and left her to die there.

No matter how much she struggled, she couldn't escape the Ropes, and time was running out. If only she had managed to get that last message out to Batman in time, maybe he would have come to rescue her.

The Timer had nearly reached Zero, when all of a sudden Time Stopped. The Ropes around her fell away, and a guy walked up to her as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Hey, you seem to be in a bit of a bind."

"Not so much anymore, was that you?"

"Yeah, bit of a Free Sample. See, I'm in a bit of a bind as well. I made a Deal with these floating Eyeballs, and long story short in order to keep my town safe I need to take the Soul of an Innocent person."

"And is that where I come in?"

"Yup, Basically I save your life, help you out with whatever you want, and you give me the rights to your Soul."

"What if I just walk away while time is stopped?"

"The building is Locked down tight, and I can't actually hold Time stopped for too long either way, it's sort of a new power to me. Without my help you wouldn't get out in time."

"So it's sell my soul or die?"

"Trust me,I don't like it either, but it's what I have to do."

"You know what, sure. You help me escape, help me take down The Cluemaster, and I'll give you my Soul."

"Then it's a Deal."

"I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."