He slept in a bit longer than he intended without a ghost alarm or laboratory incident to wake him, but still took the time to enjoy the continental breakfast that came with the night's stay before checking out. He may or may not have also kept a couple pieces of fruit for later.
Danny strolled in the general direction of STAR Labs and took in the feel of the town. Overall it seemed a rather bright and cheerful place even though the current mood was subdued. A radius of at least two blocks around the lab was completely deserted – aside from the few inside STAR itself. He considered the damaged structure from a distance before ducking into an alley and going ghost. This time he remembered to turn the scanner on so his parents could receive whatever data it picked up.
Which reminded him he still hadn't answered their text... Well, he could always claim it hadn't come through. It never ceased to amaze him that his parents could invent a dozen unfathomable devices in the space of a week but still had trouble with social media and texting. His dad always said the buttons were too small for his hands – which was fair since two of Jack Fenton's fingers together were larger than a lot of smart phones on the market. Danny thanked his lucky stars that he hadn't gotten that big, though his appearance had become closer to Dan's than he was entirely comfortable with. Still, he'd be fine so long as his skin didn't turn blue and his hair didn't burst into spectral flames.
A car engine started up somewhere inside the parking garage and Danny went invisible, flying inside as Detective West drove out. Judging by the set of the man's face it was unlikely any progress had been made in his absence.
He floated into the main room and hovered behind Dr. Wells, who was (still?) staring at test results that didn't look any different than last night's as far as Danny could tell.
The latino assistant was nowhere in sight but Dr. Snow was in the makeshift infirmary glaring at the heart monitor as if it had personally offended her. West's daughter was still seated beside the gurney, though she now clutched a cup of coffee like a lifeline.
"So what does that mean?"
Dr. Snow's expression softened as she looked at the other woman, though she didn't meet her eyes.
"It means he isn't flat-lining; his heart is still beating. The equipment must have been damaged by the power outages and... everything else. I'll have Cisco take a look at it."
"But at the hospital-"
"Iris, they had trouble there too, right? You said the power flickered every time his heart stopped. What if it was the other way around and the monitor failed every time the power went out?"
There's an interesting factoid to file away. Also, Iris – another name to remember.
"Maybe..."
Dr. Snow hesitated for a moment, still not quite looking at Iris.
"You should probably go home and get some rest. There probably won't be any change for some time."
Iris shook her head.
"Barry is my best friend; he's practically my brother. I won't leave him."
And Barry. Assuming the other guy is Cisco that's all names accounted for.
"He won't be alone; I'll be here, and Dr. Wells – probably Cisco as well."
"But he doesn't know you."
Danny didn't feel the need to continue eavesdropping on that particular conversation and instead drifted back over to Dr. Wells who was now scribbling on a whiteboard – or whatever you call them when they're transparent. Sure they look cool, but how practical are clear boards really?
He'd have to come back later and take pictures of that board, but for now he'd better do some flying around the particle accelerator itself. Any remnants of that strange energy should be most prevalent there.
...
After a few loops around the building he checked in on the STAR Labs crew, finding them in essentially the same places as before. He'd seen Cisco when he went down to check out the accelerator, staring at the door into the ring but not opening it or moving from his spot the entire time Danny had been there. There was probably a story there, but he should really be making a better effort to stay out of these peoples' personal lives.
Speaking of, it was about time he visited the hospital to check on some of the others injured that night. Hopefully there was nothing to find – and obviously nothing as dramatic as the "Bang Babies" Tucker and Sam were looking into - people who developed extreme mutations and, in some cases, became the very substance they'd been exposed to – but it was a good idea to check into it. At the very least he should see if he could find out anything more about the power outages Dr. Snow had been discussing with Iris.
From what he could tell most of the injuries were commonplace, the result of car accidents and property damage caused by the energy wave and the panic it had caused. But there was one patient who caught Danny's eye.
Farooq Gibran. A quick internet search told him Farooq had been found unconscious after the explosion apparently having fallen from some height. His two friends hadn't survived that night, but their injuries seemed to indicate severe electric shock. The newspaper article he'd found didn't have an explanation but mentioned there'd been scorch marks on the concrete beneath their bodies. Now Farooq lay in a hospital bed, most of his body in either casts or bandages. Only one arm was free – well, relatively, various tubes and instruments were attached there out of necessity.
If he hadn't overheard the earlier conversation about power outages at the hospital he probably would have thought nothing of it, but the monitor connected to Farooq's pulse oximeter kept flickering. It may have been his imagination, but he thought he saw small bolts of electricity passing from the clip on his finger and into his skin each time it happened.
It was probably nothing, but Danny had this feeling...
He made sure no one conscious was within sight of them before poking around in his belt pouches, locating the power bank he kept for emergency charging situations. He considered his approach for a moment, then settled for just pushing the open port up against one of Farooq's bare fingers.
Danny yipped in surprise as the patient's eyes flew open and he sat upright, eyes an icy blue that sparked for a moment before darkening as his eyelids descended and he slumped back against the bed. One of the instruments was squealing now and Danny took his leave before the space filled with attendants, finding an abandoned public area to un-ghost and sit.
If he wasn't wildly jumping to conclusions this was a new kind of weird. Actually, it reminded him a little bit of when his schoolmates had developed ghost powers...
He shuddered. He may have been mildly envious of Sam and Tucker's exciting mission, but one anomaly was enough; the whole hospital better not be like this.
His stomach chose that moment to announce that it was time for dinner.
Big Belly Burger, here I come...