Altered Fates

by Gigglingskull

In Danny's eyes, his life was over. Not worth living. One day a meeting with a certain Amazon will change that. Watch as Danny regains the things he lost and more. And as Phantom becomes seen as a true hero. This is the story of new meetings and the fates that are altered because of them. NOTE: the charters listed aren't pairs, just main or important characters.

10. Breakfast and a Gift

Author notes: I'm back once again. I started the rough draft for this on 3/11/17. I had a little written before this date, but not much. So that means the update took longer because I had to actually write the story this time. I finished my editing process on 4/24/17 about 45 minutes before I had to leave for work (I still need to shower, eat, and get ready for work, but I so wanted to finish this and post it before leaving. I so have to hurry up and go.) So it only took me 44 days to finish. Keep in mind that I wasn't working on it for like all day every day. Sometimes I would be lucky to get in an hour before I had to deal with life. There have been times where I couldn't work on this for a couple of days in a row. Also I got my new puppy on 3/12/17. My family just couldn't stand not having a dog. It was like a piece of the family was missing. Her name is Luna. She is a black lab mix. I have had several people say she looks a little like a pit-bull. As I type part of this, she is laying in my lap sleeping. (Squeal) She is so CUTE! I love her, but she is part of the reason this took so long to write. My attention was on her as I have been focused on her house training and taking her out for running or walks each day for around an hour. Luna follows me everywhere like a little puppy . . .(makes a face) . . . Which makes sense since she is indeed an actual puppy. She absolutely loves me the most out of the family. You can tell by her actions towards me. Anyways. I notice not that many people, except for those I personally emailed, stepped up with a villain suggestion. Makes me feel like no one actually reads my author notes. I get it. You want to get right in to the meat of story and I do the same thing. But I asked because it would help me write the story. And I honestly thought I would be swamped with suggestions from everyone in the reviews.

Reviews:

Jebest4781: I hope they do. That's what I'm trying to aim for.

nightmaster000: Thanks. Wally will get a beat down. Shayera wouldn't have made the treat if she didn't intend to carry it out. And plus, I REALLY want to write that scene. I am not commenting on the Doritos. It is an idea I had and a h. . . .(Insert static noise before a robotic voice continues) I am sorry. The author had to be silenced.

Kimera20: Thanks so much. Yes. Danny and Megan are friends. I had that planned for a long time. I just don't see her not being his friend. It doesn't seem like what I think she would do. I don't plan on making it easy for Danny to win over the boys. Yeah, Danny would fall apart if WW freaked out on him. She is his personal hero, savior, and mother figure. So her opinion is VERY important to him.

Beatnix: I think I commented on that in chapter 8 a little. (Looking though that chapter) I never did bring that up in a true sense now did I. I will keep that in mind.

KaeterinaRomanov: Thank you. I'm glad. Your happiness makes me happy. Now you bring up a good question. Dani. I am going to be honest. I don't know if I want her or not. I have been messaging some people and someone brought up a good point concerning this. I'm not going to say what they said, but I am now unsure if I want to use her or not. I had a plan to use her, but . . . . .Only time will tell now if I use it. But if she does com in, it won't be for all long time. Maybe after season one of Young Justice is over and sometime during the 5 year gape. I'm not sure.

M.v.j.M: I love Mama Diana too. So don't worry, there will be more of her and Danny moments in the future. . . . . SPOILER . . . . And Big Sister Megan and Aunt Shayera. . . . . END SPOILER . . . . .

TBM10: The League (all the members) will discuss what they learned eventually. Not right away, but it will be happening. I'm just plan for a few more things to happen first. Dani is a toss up in the air for now. Half of my wants her for Daddy Danny and Daughter Dani moments, but the other have is like "I don't think she is a good idea now and she will take away the uniqueness that Danny has."

ILikeHotDogs: Glad I could make your day. I know that I love seeing updates to stories I like. I will admit though that I myself have been . . . less interested in reading stories and more in working on my stories.

NoSignalBlueScreen: Ivo got plans. Big great plans for the future. Also I don't think I was very subtle in his plans to be honest.

Flufflez McSugartop: I will confirm nothing . . . except for what I write.

Guest Yo Chapter 9 . 3/10/2017: Thanks. Well as Phantom he has more powers than as Danny and I know I would feel more confident with powers than when I didn't. Plus he is more confident in battle because he, even though he doesn't think so, is good at fighting.

Griffin13: Miss Martian is great isn't she. I will keep up the work to the best of my abilities.

Dodles: Oh. It will happen . . . eventually. But I hope this helps a little.

Diana walks up to Batman

D: "I have something to tell you."

B: "Yes."

BAM. Diana delivers a punch to Batman's face. He falls to the floor. Sitting up enough to look at his attacker, he spits out a tooth.

D: "YOU LEAVE MY BABY DANNY ALONE! OR I'M GOING TO REMOVE YOUR BALLS AND SHOVE THEM UP YOUR ASS! UNDERSTOOD!"

B: "Yes Ma'am."

Green223: Thanks. The means so much.

miss mysteri: Superboy has deep emotion and mental problems . . . in my option. I'm glad he has you and Megan.

Jh831: I wasn't referencing the Ghost Hunters from the Syfy channel. I'm not telling anyone what I was. But if you guess correctly, you get a virtual hug and cook from me. I like Megan and Danny too, but not in the dating sense. She is all Superboy's. I really don't think I can separate them. They just seem to work as a couple to me. Also, I feel that Conner needs Megan in his live to develop into a full person with feeling besides anger. I don't see the others getting along with Danny just yet.

Malone23: Thanks for the love. I have always felt that the Danny Phantom show never got into some of the deeper meaning stuff it presented. I know it was a cartoon and they probably didn't even know they did what they did. This is the biggest thing for me. Danny is half DEAD. That has got to be tearing him apart mentally. I mean is he alive or dead? He passes a line that many can't with just a thought. Dead one moment, but alive the next. I always felt this was a bigger deal than everyone was making it out to be.

Sora Rider X: I just thought they would work well like that. Shayera kind of reminds me of Anko from Naruto a little. And if you read any Anko and Naruto fanfictions you would notice a trend for her to be like a big sister or aunt to the orphan. That is kind of what I am aiming for. Kid Flash is going to get it in the future . . .and in the face.

RedKnight21: Thanks and Danny will . . . I just don't know when that will be.

Guest Aks Chapter 9 . 3/13/17: I will try to be as fast as I can, but greatness takes time and work. Also I just got a puppy. Her name is Luna and she is currently (meaning at the time I type this reply) sleeping in my lap.

Guest Someone Chapter 9 . 3/13/17: Thanks. I will explain when I feel the time is right.

endario: (Worried smile) Don't die. If you do, how will you read the next chapter and give me praise. Anyways. Thanks for the love, the fave, and the following. No it is not going to be Megan for the pairing. She is going to have a more big sister role. This will still cause tension with Wally since Danny is getting the attention of the girl he likes. Superboy kind of needs Megan so that he becomes more human and learns about his feelings. . . at least I thinks so. But I have got to admit that in this chapter and the next, I have set it up that with just a few tweaks, I could so have Megan and Danny paired up. But I don't want them together. I want to see little half martian, ¼ kryptonian, ¼ human babies running around.

Blaze1992: I'm not trying to bash Danny. (Holds up a Phantom plushie and hugs it). He is my favorite. I am so messaging you right now. . . . Momentarily Pause . . . Okay I'm back. I'm glad we got that cleared up. Now on Waller. I'm not to sure about what I'm doing with her right now, but she does have a vital part to play.

Guest Chapter 9 . 3/20/17: Thanks. Danny's pairing is a secret.

mayfire21: Thanks. And here is your encore.

Lord Nitro: Thanks.

bleach1990: I will try, but you never know what will happen in life. Stuff happens. I don't have any plans to just drop off. . . . Though I do have a Ben Ten/One Piece crossover that I really want to do. But I have decided to work on only one story at a time until I get to a good place that I can end it.

DasChinButton: Thanks. I will try to keep up to the standard that I have set.

Naluforever3: I have been busy living life. I have been taking Luna out more for walks and runs. I have been trying to organize my room. I've been playing with legos. I have been working. I have been .. . . You get my point? I haven't abandoned this story is all I'm saying.

---

Speaking = How do I put thrusters on a baby?

Thoughts = We're gonna pretend like that's not a problem until it's already eating me.

Telepathic Speaking = I just thought random screaming would help me out.

Other Languages = No mini chainsaws up the butt.

---

Altered Fates Chapter 10: Breakfast and a Gift

==============================The Next Morning==============================

The first thing that registered in Diana's sleepy mind was a delicious smell. It only took a few moments for her mind to wake up fully. Slowly sitting up from the couch, the amazon stretched her arms above her head and arched her back. Her movement had the effect of emphasizing her chest. It was just luckily no males were around at the time to ogle her. For if they did, they would be met with a unhappy amazonian warrior. "This couch is surprisingly comfortable with how old it is," the amazon thought as she placed her feet on the floor. She remembered the couch being there from when the League operated out of the cave.

"Good morning Wonder Woman."

Turning towards the voice's source, Diana saw Megan dressed in civilian clothes, making breakfast. The martian was wearing a white t-shirt under a red short sleeved sweater. The crop top sweater was left unbuttoned. She also had on a red skirt that ended just above her knees, white knee-high socks, and brown shoes. If it wasn't for her green skin, the red head would have looked just like a normal human.

The amazon got up and walked closer. She saw that the martian was making quite the spread. There was waffles, sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, tater tots, and toast. All of this food was cooking at the same time with Miss Martian controlling everything with her telekinesis from a few feet away.

To say the least, Wonder Woman was impressed by the demonstration of the martian's control and power. "Do you need any help?," she asked as she walked over towards kitchen's island so that she could help and watch the show of ability.

"No, I got it covered," replied Megan. When she had realized that the whole team, Wonder Woman, and Danny were at cave, she decided to make everyone breakfast. Right now, she was in her element . .. . . when you didn't count the whole heroine thing. Superheros, usually, had lives outside of their costumed work and Megan enjoyed spending her time cooking. Making large quantities of food had become easy for her since she had to make a lot of food just so everyone could have some. Wally was an eating machine and had no problem leaving nothing for other people. Plus making all of this psychically helped her to tone and develop her powers. She had to use a lot of concentration to do all of this without making a mistake or messing anything up. That is why she only did it while everyone wasn't there. At the most Megan could probably only handle talking to one or maybe two people before her concentration was pulled to thin and things went wrong. "Plus it is great training for my powers. . . Anything you want?"

"Do you have any coffee?," asked the amazon. In answer, a pot of the substance and a empty cup floated over to Diana. The cup landed on the counter as the pot hovered next to it. "Cream and sugar?" She couldn't drink the black liquid straight. It was just too strong for her tastes. She didn't know how other people could. Again, the two requested items flew over and floated in front of the amazon. Taking the floating pot by the handle, Diana poured herself a cup, added her cream and sugar before taking a drink. Sighing at the feeling of caffeine entering her system, Wonder Woman sat back and watched the martian chief cook for a few minutes.

"So . . . . I heard from a little bird that you and Danny became friends," Wonder Woman said casually while smiling at the martian.

For a moment Megan thought Diana was taking about Robin, before realizing that a hawk was also considered a bird. . . . . She was an alien visitor to the planet so not getting earth things right away wasn't that usual at times. "Yes," Megan replied with a smile. In a shy tone, she said "That is okay right? I mean he isn't a prisoner or anything . . . . right?"

"No, I think it is great that he is opening up and making friends." The amazon looked down at the brown liquid in her cup. There was a contemplative look on her face. "He really needs friends in his life right now."

"I can tell," Megan said. There was a bit of sadness in her tone. "I . . How did you meet him? I asked Hawk-Woman, but she said I should talk to Danny. . . but by the way she spoke . . . . I don't think I'm going to like the answers to my questions . . . . am I?"

"You probably won't," Diana said soberly. She didn't want to lie to the girl, especially since she was trying to be a friend to Danny. "I don't like some of the things that I know." That didn't help Megan's worried and concerned feelings. "But I do think Hawk-Woman is right." She looked the martian in the eyes. "You should talk with him." Her tone turned hopeful. "It will be good for him to open up and tell you about himself on his own."

Sighing sadly, Megan said "Okay." She wanted to know more about her new friend so that she could help him. But she did understand that it was probably for the best if Danny was the one to tell her about himself. It would be good for him to show that he trusted her with his past and to learn he could trust others again.

Sensing her dropped mood, Wonder Woman said "But if you could do me a big favor." She smiled when the Martian brightened up a bit. "If Danny is hanging around here, could you make sure he eats something?" Diana knew the teen hadn't been eating enough since the only meals he got were the ones she brought him and that was only once a day. Part of her hoped that was all he was eating, because the only other options that she could think of were that Danny was stealing food (she didn't really believe this since the teen's moral being was so high, but if he did, she wouldn't have faulted him) or eating garbage. "But that isn't enough to survive so that changes now." So when Danny was with her, Diana was going to make sure he had food and when at the cave, if things went according to with the amazon's thinking, that job would fall to Megan.

"Sure," Megan replied happily. "I love making food for my friends." She turned a little hesitant and sad. "He was really hungry last night. . . . almost like he doesn't usually get access to food."

"That is correct," Diana admitted. She felt she could be a bit honest with the martian about this.

For a moment, Megan was overcome with sadness, but the feeling was quickly pushed to the side by her determination. "Then I will make sure he has something to eat whenever he wants." Megan's tone was full of conviction. "I'm not going to let any of my friends go hungry. Ever." She had just unknowingly taken up the job that had been offered to her. Not that she would have a problem doing it if she had.

"I'm glad Danny has a friend like you," Diana said. "Having Megan in his life will help with all the pain Danny has felt and maybe bring some happiness to him."

"I'm happy to help in anyway I can," Megan replied before focusing on cooking. While conversing with Wonder Woman, she had almost over cooked the eggs and she didn't want anything to burn.

With the mood lightened again, they both fell silence. The only sound in the kitchen that could be heard was the food cooking and the clicking of utensils against pans.

After a few moments, Megan said "Everything is almost done. Do you mind getting Danny? You two, being guests and all, should have the first servings."

Putting her cup of coffee down, Diana asked "Do you want me to get the others?"

"Just Danny will be fine," Megan said. "I will send a wake up call to the others telepathically." She would have just done this with Danny, but two things were stopping her. The first reason being that she had learned that telepathically tapping into someone's mind, without their consent, was a huge break in their personal rights and considered offensive on Earth. The only exception was with the bad guys. She could access their minds to get any information she needed as long as it was in the name of duty. The second and the most important reason was that she couldn't actually contact Danny telepathically. "That's how I usually get them." She smiled. "You two will get first pickings. Then I'll call Kaldur, Robin, and Superboy. . . . Wally will be last since he will try to eat everything before anyone has any food." She wasn't kidding. She had found out the hard way what Wally's mother already knew. Kid Flash would literally eat everything and leave nothing for anyone else if given a chance. This was because his metabolism got hyper accelerated when he gained super-speed. So he had to constantly eat food to keep up his energy. This was part of the reason he couldn't keep from eating whatever he could get his hands on, sometimes not even caring about the taste. Thought this didn't really excuse him from being a jerk (this was the main reason) and eating all the food at the cave. (Another reason why Wally did this was because it kept him from eating everything at home and upsetting his mother and father. Their food bill was through the roof.) ". . He is like a vacuum cleaner."

With an amused chuckle, Wonder Woman said "Flash is the same way . . . except he holds back until everyone has what they want to eat." She then walked out of the room. It only took her a few moments to get to Danny's current lodging. Opening the door and standing in the entrance, she saw that he was still laying in bed and sound asleep. Danny was still so exhausted that he didn't even move when Diana turned on the lights. . . . The amazonian princess didn't know it but he did awaken . . . .at least partially. He just didn't awaken fully or even move since he sensed that it was Wonder Woman who entered the room. She had this calming presence that allowed him to go back to sleep, knowing that he was safe. . . . Walking up to the bed, Diana looked down at him and debated if she should let him continue sleeping or not. "He should eat something . . . Hera knows how light he is."

Giving his shoulder a gentle shake, Diana said "Danny. It's time to get up."

Mumbling incoherently, something that sounded suspiciously like "mom" that caused a small thump in the amazon's heart, Danny slowly sat up. "What tim-(yawn)-me is it?," Danny asked in a groggy voice as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

Shrugging her shoulders, Wonder Woman said "No idea." She was trying to ignore what Danny had said in his mostly asleep and clouded mind state. Diana didn't want to overreact to something he might have said, but she couldn't help looking fondly at him. "Is he starting to feel the same way as I am towards him?" Danny looked liked he was going to lay back down and go to sleep again, so pushing her thoughts to the back of her mind for later analyzing, the amazon said "But your friend, Megan, made breakfast for us and it would be rude to turn it down."

Hearing that, sleep was completely forgotten by the ghost boy. Danny quickly sat up and placed his feet on the floor. Standing up, he looked positively exhilarated at what he heard. "Cool." He walked towards the door. "You are going to just love her cooking."

With a chuckle at how excited Danny was, Wonder Woman lead him out of the room. All the while, she was considering the growing attachment she and the teen felt towards each other.

---

When the two left to get breakfast, the lights stayed on until the automatically shutoff kicked in and turned them off after a short period of inactivity had passed inside the room. This unveiled something interesting . . . and a bit disturbing. A light could be seen on the other side of the hidden two-way mirror. This made it so that the other room could be seen through the glass.

Revealing that Robin had been standing there, watching Diana and Danny talking the whole time.

The amazon and ghost had no idea that they were being watched. If they had, it wouldn't have been pretty. Danny would have been thoroughly creeped out and worried about his safety. It would have been a long time before he slept comfortably, or at all, at the cave again. That is if Diana allowed him to there. That amazonian warrior would have been one angry mama bear. And all of that would have been aimed at one bird boy. Let us just say that Batman would have needed to find a temporary partner while Robin's broken limbs healed.

Turning around, Robin said "Guys, it's time we left." His voice was sharp since he was disappointed that Danny hadn't revealed anything while talking to Diana.

On the floor behind the caped crusader were Kaldur and Wally. (Meaning Batman wouldn't be the only one needing new sidekicks if Diana found out about the spying.) They were laying on sleeping bags with a blanket to cover themselves. There was a third sleeping bag beside them that, going by the red and yellow design, was clearly for Robin.

Turns out that with all their misgivings, the guys had gotten together last night and decided that they should watch their unwelcomed house guest. They wanted to make sure he stayed in his room and didn't try anything. They also hoped to gain some information about him or discover what his nefarious plans were. They had taken shifts so that they would all get a little rest before the next day.

They had thought about asking Superboy to join them but, as a group, they had come to a consensus and turned down the idea. They were a bit nervous that the grumpy kryptonian would just flat out attack Danny and that couldn't happen. This was a stealth operation after all. Plus, they couldn't just attack Danny . . . . not until they had proof he was up to no good.

Kaldur was the first to get up. He had felt a bit bad about watching Danny sleep. It had actually bothered him enough that he didn't sleep that well. Not only did he feel a little like a perverse creep, but that it was an invasion of the teen's privacy. "But the team's safety comes before a stranger's privacy," he told himself. The thought did help him to feel better, but it wasn't enough to easy his guilty consciousness as he picked up his temporary bedding.

With a groan, Wally rolled over and said "Five more minutes." He had no problem with watching Danny sleep. So he had no guilt that kept him up like the atlantean. The only problem he had was that the sleeping bags weren't enough cushion for spending the night on the floor. The hard ground was uncomfortable so he hadn't slept very well.

"Wally, we must leave now," Kaldur said. He had his folded up sleeping bag and blanket tucked neatly underneath his arm. "We do not want anyone finding out what we did." He didn't think Wonder Woman, Hawk-Woman, or Megan would be too happy to find out about their actions.

Wally's only reply was to cover his head with his blanket.

Robin rolled his eyes before looking at Kaldur. "He has until I'm finished rolling my sleeping bag to sleep." Robin was a little slower in gathering his bedding than he normally would have been. He was being nice to his friend and planning at the same time. "We need to set up a time to go over what we observed." He was disappointed that Danny did nothing suspicious at all during his watch. "He did nothing, but sleep." And since Kaldur and Kid Flash hadn't awoken him, Robin could safely assume that Danny did nothing of real notice or importance during their shifts either.

Finished, Robin decide it was time for Wally to get up. Walking over to his sleeping friend, he gave him a soft kick to the side that rolled him out of his warm bed.

"Hey," Wally shouted. "What was that for?" His hands went and held his aching nose. He had landed on the hard floor, jolting his mostly healed but still sore nose.

"We have to leave," Robin said. He then decided to say something that would really get the speedster moving. "That is unless you want Megan to be angry at you for spying on her new best friend." He put stress on the new best friend part, since that would upset Wally the most.

That got Wally moving. He could tell that Megan wouldn't be happy about what they did. And that really frustrated and angered him. "Why is she so focused on that guy and not me?" Standing up, he grabbed his stuff and, in a huff, just let them drag against the floor as he headed towards the exit.

The three boys left the room and headed to the rooms they used when they stayed overnight at the cave. The plan was that they would say they had spent the night in their rooms. They would even go so far as to mess up the beds in their designated areas so that it looked like they actually spent the night in them. On top of that, Robin would check the cave's security cameras and erase any videos that could prove otherwise. He would then replace it with past videos, so that if someone did look, nothing would seem out of place and no one would question their cover story.

They really didn't want anyone to find out what they had done. It wasn't that they thought what they were doing was wrong. They actually felt they did the right thing to ensure the team's safety. No, the real problem was that they didn't want to upset the three females (Megan, Diana, and Shayera) that had taken a liking to Danny.

---

Getting to the kitchen, Danny and Diana saw Megan still preparing everything with her telekinesis. "That's awesome," Danny exclaimed as he walked up and stood next to Megan. Looking up at her, his eyes spoke of how amazed he was by what he was seeing. "How do you control everything?"

"Practice," Megan replied. She smiled at the way he was looking at her. "Kind of like what a younger brother might do when they seen an older sister doing something they wanted to be able to do . . . I think." She may have had twelve sisters and seventeen brothers, but they were all older siblings. She was the youngest so she didn't actually know what it was like to having a younger sibling. But the martian had a feeling that with Danny around, she would learn and love what having a younger brother was like. "I couldn't do all of this," she gestured at all the moving things, "at the same time when I first tried and if I lose focus. . ."

Just then a plate fall out of the air, heading straight for the floor. Right before it crashed, the plate stopped and unsteadily floated about an inch above the floor. The plate looked liked it would fall out of the air at any moment or if it was touched even gently.

"Good catch Megan," said Wonder Woman.

"I didn't," said Megan with a slightly confused and surprised tone.

The two females looked at Danny and saw that he had his right hand held out towards the plate.

"I didn't know you had telekinesis." Excitement rang clearly in Megan's voice. There were Martian games they could now play together since he had telekinesis. She was so excited because this was something they could do together and bond over. Plus she never got to play these games with other young martians when she was little. No one, not even one of her many older siblings or cousins, would play with her because she was a white martian. (This attitude of her siblings changed when they grew up some and realized what they were doing to their baby sister. But by the time they did and apologized for their stupid racist actions, Megan had already developed mental scars and learned to spend most of her time by herself in fear of rejection. ) The only ones who would play with little M'gann were her parents and what child wants their only playmates to be their mother and father. It would be . . . okay for a while, but eventually they would want to play with someone closer to their own age.

"I'm kinda r-really new to it-t," Danny replied in a strained voice. He slowly lowered the plate to the floor and let out a breath. "It is h-harder for me to control while in human form." A white ring appeared around his middle and changed him into Phantom. "But as Phantom," he said in a voice with a slight echo. This time he didn't need to raise his hand as he simply used his mind to pick up the plate and set it in the sink. "It is much easier to use and control." There was no strain in his voice this time. The ring appeared again and Danny was back.

"For a beginner, that is still impressive," Megan said. "I can give you some lessons . . ." Her face gained a small hesitant look. ". . . if you want."

"That w-would be great," Danny said shyly. He had always wanted to have help with his powers . . . especially when they first showed up and different parts of his body were turning intangible or invisible out of his control. It was scary and he feared that he never gain control over his powers. But the only person with experience that offered to help was Vlad. The price that insane man asked for was just too high for Danny to pay and be able to live with himself afterwards.

"Oh. This is going to be so much fun." Luckily Megan had finished cooking because she was so excited about helping Danny and the fun they were going to have that she would have dropped everything held by her telekinesis. After a moment, Megan realized she was loosing focus on what she was doing and forced herself to regain her control. "Hello Megan." She hit her palm against her head, making Danny realize that this action was a quirk of her personality. "You guys are waiting to eat." She ushered the two over to a large table with three lights hanging over it. As they sat down, Megan focused and levitated everything over to the table. With the table completely set up with everything they could need (silverware, plates, glasses, napkins, drinks, and food), Megan sat down next to Danny. Once again, Danny found himself sitting between two heroines. Megan on his left and Diana on his right. Not that he minded in the slightest. It was nice to be surrounded by people he knew cared about him.

"Dig in guys," the martian happily exclaimed.

With the go ahead, Danny helped himself to a single waffle.

Seeing that was all he took, Wonder Woman asked "Are you sure that is all you want?" There was a bit of a worried tone to her voice. She wanted to see him eat more than that. Danny was far too skinny for her liking.

Before Danny could reply, Megan said "Come on Danny, I want you to try a little of everything." She proceeded to telepathically place a small serving of everything on his plate. Sensing Danny was about to protest, Megan pouted at him. "Please, I want to know what you think of my cooking. . . .Plus you gave me so nice compliments before, I want to hear more." Simply put she was giving him the puppy dog eyes. The martian was putting her all into the look too. Since she learned he had struggle with having no food before, there was no way she was going to let him go hungry again. So Megan was going to do what she needed to do to get Danny to eat more food than the one waffle he took.

Danny looked at her pleading face and blushed before turning to Wonder Woman for help.

Only to find the amazon princess was silently chuckling at him, making it clear that she wasn't going to be any help to the young ghost boy. She too wanted Danny to eat more than just a single waffle and was happy that Megan was on the same page as her. From all the times of lifting him, Diana knew Danny didn't weigh as much as a health teen his age should have. And that was considering the fact that Danny was smaller than a teen his age should have been.

"Okay," Danny relented. He didn't know if he could actually even eat all of the food that was currently piled up on his plate. Danny had never been a real breakfast eater. He would usually just grab a small bowl of cereal and nibble on it for a bit before throwing away the half eaten food.

When Megan was sure that Danny and Diana had what they wanted, (well in Danny's case what the two females wanted to see him attempt to eat), she mentally called Kaldur, Robin, and Superboy. She knew they wouldn't have a problem with her contacting them psychically since she talked to them about it before. They didn't mind being mentally called for food since they got a free meal and it was always so good. "I prepared breakfast everyone. . . .But Wonder Woman . . . . . and Danny are here." She could feel the negative emotions emitted from her friends at mentioning Danny's name. Before any of the three could argue, she pleaded "Come on guys. Danny is really nice if you just get to know him."

"He attacked the team Megan," Robin said, a bit exasperated at the female alien. "How could you be so nice to him? Or expect us to be either?" His voice was colder than the martian was used to hearing directed at her from him.

Megan was going to defend Danny, but Kaldur spoke first. "Robin is right." Megan's heart dropped at his words. She had hoped and believed that the atlantean would at least be partially willing to give Danny a chance. The atlantean was always so understanding and trying to see things from others' points of view. That was one of the things that made him such a great leader. Megan hoped that this would apply to Danny. Because since Kaldur was the leader, if he was willing to make nice with Danny, then it would have made getting the others to be friendlier to Danny easier. "Danny, though maybe nice," he added reluctantly, "could still be a threat to the team. He could just be acting friendly so he can attack us when our guards are down."

Depressed, Megan knew it would take time for them to lighten up on the suspicion or to attempt to make friends with Danny. "I'm not asking you to be best friends with him or anything . . . just to be nicer." Sighing, she had a feeling she wouldn't even get this. Knowing what she had to do, but having hoped she wouldn't have had to, Megan pull out her big guns. "Fine be as hostile as you want to be, just don't bring that attitude to breakfast and DON'T expect anymore of my cooking in the future."

Sensing Megan was really getting upset over this, Kaldur decided to reason with her. He did not want the team falling apart over this. He knew Robin and Superboy would take his side, but Wally might be slightly different. The speedster would probably say that he was with Megan, just to get on her good side, while truly feeling like the rest of the boys. This would eventually be found out by the martian and that would further drive her from the team. Also, he remembered what Hawk-Woman said about the amazon and didn't want to see what happened if Wonder Woman felt she had to protect Danny. Plus a small part of him was worried about Megan's threat. He knew how to passably cook, but the martian's food blew anything he could produce out of the water. She was just that good. And if she was threatening to stop making food for her friends, something that was her hobby and she took great enjoyment from, Kaldur knew just how serious she was being over the Danny situation.

"Okay Megan. I promise to at least be civil toward your new friend. . . . .Robin?" Kaldur hoped his friend was smart enough to know that they should at least act nicer towards Danny . . . even thought they didn't truly meant it the way Megan was hoping. He did feel bad about deceiving the martian, but Kaldur was going to put the team's safety first over Megan's feelings. . . . Even though if she ever found out, he feared that what he was trying to prevent (the team falling apart) would definitely happen.

The boy wonder didn't disappoint the atlantean's expectations of him. "Fine." Megan was super happy to have won over two of her friends, even though it was only by a little bit. Her happy mood evaporated into thin air when Robin said "I'll be "nicer", but I'm not dropping my guard. This kid is dangerous and I'm not going to let him stab me in the back."

"That is not encouraging," Megan thought to herself with a worrying frown. She tried to stay positive. "It is better than nothing. . . I guess . . . but not what I really wanted. I want us all to be friends. . . . But at least it is something . . . Right?" She smiled to herself. "Danny will just have to win them over and I'm sure he can." The teen had already won her over and that was just because Megan gave him a chance. Yes, it helped that she could sense he had problems, but the matter still boiled down to that all he needed was a chance before they became friends.

"Thanks guys," Megan replied, appreciative even though she didn't get exactly what she wanted. "Now come on and get something to eat . . . . And remember, be nice .. . . or no more food."

Megan disconnected the psychic link with Robin and Kaldur. Her attention then turned towards Superboy. The kryptonian had been quiet the whole time the other three were speaking. "Superboy?," she questioned hesitantly as a small blush came to her face. Even though he okayed psychic contact for meals, she was still shy about linking with his mind since he freaked out so much the first time she did it. Plus, she had a crush on Superboy and it was hard for her not to blush a bit when connecting to his mind.

"Before you even ask . . . .The answer is no." From his tone alone, you could tell he wasn't going to budge on subject.

"But Superboy," Megan begged. She was hoping that her crush would be willing to give Danny a chance. It broke her heart to think that Superboy would be so cruel as to not even give the poor teen a chance. Feeling he was going to cut her off before she could explain, the martian spoke first. "Please." Superboy was stunned by the absolute sadness in her voice. He had never heard such a depressed tone from the always peppy martian. Not even when he had yelled at her during the Mr. Twister incident. Her tone reached a part of him that caused pain in his heart. The pause was enough of an opening for Megan to use it. "Can't you give Danny a chance just like Kaldur, Robin and Wally gave you when they found your pod at Cadmus?"

Superboy felt like he had been punched in the gut. He REALLY hated to admit it, but he could see how their situations were slightly similar. The three teens had no reason to trust him, just like Danny. In fact, their attempt to help him had almost ended the lives of his rescuers. If Kaldur's words hadn't reached his humanity, then Superboy would still be a puppet for Cadmus. . . . . Just like how Wonder Woman had been able to reach the distressed Danny when he was fighting the team. If the amazon hadn't showed up, who knows how that fight would have turned out. Superboy couldn't help feeling like he should try to be nicer . . . . at least for Megan's sake . . . . But he wasn't going to do a complete 180 turn in personality. He was still the same grumpy hotheaded Superboy that had problems with "being nice" to anyone after all.

The mental sucker punch to the gut was Megan's intention. She knew it was a bit below the belt to use Superboy's past against him like that, but she felt like it was the only way to help the situation. The last time the two teens had met, if it wasn't for Hawk-Woman, Megan was sure the kryptonian would have tried to rip Danny in half. "Not that it would have happen with Danny's fighting skills that he showed us, but Superboy's negative intention is what really matters."

"Okay," Superboy reluctantly said much to Megan's delight. She was so ecstatic that her crush was going to give her friend a chance.

"Thanks so much Superboy," Megan said before disconnecting the link. Her voice was full of cheerfulness that the kryptonian found pleasant to his ears. Especially since he was the reason behind it. Superboy found himself feeling . . . nice as he made his way to the kitchen.

---

While Megan was conversing with her friends, Danny and Diana had been having a talk of their own as they ate. Tasting the food, they were both delighted by how great Megan's cooking was. It was actually surprising how good a martian was at making earthling food. The amazon asked the ghostly teen how he had slept and Danny was happy to reply that it was the best night of rest he had in a long time. He had no nightmares to speak of.

But as they conversed, it wasn't lost on Danny that Megan seemed a little out of it. Though she was eating her food and smiling, something just seemed . . . off. There were times that a frown or blush would come to her face from out of the blue. There wasn't anything said that would cause those reactions in the martian. "She just seems like her mind is somewhere else."

Making use of a pause in his conversation with the amazon, Danny turned towards the martian. "Hey Megan?" When the martian looked at him questioningly, Danny asked "Are you alright? You seem . . . a little out of it." He may not have known Megan that long, but that didn't mean he couldn't be worried about his friend. "Friend. . .I never thought I would have one of those again." Danny felt both pain and warmth at the word "friend". Part of him was overwhelmed with happiness at having another chance at the precious gift that was friendship. And Danny knew it wasn't just Megan who was giving him that opportunity, but Diana and Hawk-Woman were too. But a dark piece of his mind, that sounded a bit like a young version of Dan, told him he didn't deserve these chances at friendship. Not after what happened to Sam and Tucker, his very first friends.

Megan's giggles broke Danny out of his thoughts before they could turn too dark and bring tears to his eyes. The teen had been so lost in his thoughts that he had missed Megan answering his question. He turned towards her and she said "For someone so worried about where my mind is at, you sure are spaced out." He blushed at her words, causing Megan and Diana to chuckle. "Since you missed it the first time, I'll repeat myself. I was psychically contacting my friends to tell them breakfast was ready."

"Oh," Danny said with a small nervous tone. "The guys who were so very nice and friendly," he thought sarcastically. "That's great." With how pleasant things were going, Danny had forgotten about the more . . . unwelcoming occupants of the cave. He tried to force a smile onto his face. It didn't come off as a happy expression, but more of a pained grimace.

Just one look at the teen would tell anyone he was nervous and worried.

Megan didn't need her abilities to know what he was worried about. "Danny . . ." She nervously pushed the food around on her plate with her fork. Sighing, she put the utensil down before saying "I'm sorry about the way my friends have been treating you." She was going to say more but Danny cut her off.

"You really don't n-need to apologize." It was Danny's turn to nervously fiddle with his fork. Only he didn't do it against his plate, but in the air. "You aren't r-responsible for their ac-ctions." He released a sigh. "I didn't make the g-greatest of first impressions . . now did I." A smile tried to come to his face again, but it still looked pained and forced. His body language turned nervous. "Hey M-megan." When she turned her attention to him, Danny had put down his fork and was playing nervously with his hands. He took a deep breath and clenched his hands together almost as if he was praying, before saying "I-i'm s-so s-sorry about attacking y-you guys . . . . I j-just don't know w-what came over me." He truly didn't know what happened. His hands clenched together hard enough to hurt himself. "It-t was like I w-wasn't seeing you g-guys . . . but something h-horrible." It was hard for him to explain, because his recollection of the ordeal was a bit hazy. But one of the things he did remember clearly was that he thought they were working for the GIW. He going to say this to Megan. Danny REALLY didn't want to explain who those guys in white suits were. That would lead to questions he didn't feel comfortable answering, even if Diana was the one to ask.

Looking at his sad face, Megan didn't need to be able to sense his emotions to know he was genuinely regretful. "I already forgave you so your apology, while very kind and much appreciated, is not needed." She smiled at him before pulling him into a hug.

Danny, who was still unused to hugs or kind touches after going so long without them, found that he greatly appreciated the kind gesture when they came his way. So he took the time to enjoy the warm and comforting embrace. After being released from the hug, Danny asked in a small hesitant voice "How can you f-forgive me so easily? I attacked y-you guys." The teen didn't understand how she could forgive him just like that. It seemed almost too good to be true.

"Well that may be," Megan said with a hesitant smile. "But I could tell something was wrong." She wasn't sure how he would feel about her trying to read his mind, but looking at his confused face, she decided to just tell him and hope he forgave her. "I'm telepathic and can sense your feelings. . . I hope you can forgive me for doing it without asking you." She wasn't only talking about during the fight , but all the other times she read his emotions. It was just so hard not to. Not only did it give her an advantage in helping him, but it was just so easy to do. At first, sensing his emotions was a bit difficult. But once she broke through and got the hang of it, reading his emotions was so easy it was kind of scary. It was almost like his emotions were screaming at her to read them and would not accept being ignored.

Megan didn't know it but ghosts had very strong emotions and feelings. Stronger and more powerful than the emotions many living creatures possessed. They simply felt things more intensely than the living did. Ghosts' emotions could effect their powers too. For example, intense anger could make them temporarily stronger or major uncertainty could make their powers unstable and unreliable. And once a psychic had gotten in tune with the frequency of a spirit's emotions, sensing the ghost's feelings became as easy as feeling their own limb. The difference was that the connection could be turned off if the psychic wanted to and had enough training. This was part of why Megan was reading Danny's feelings so much. She had established a link and since Megan wasn't a master in spectral mental contact, (this was the first ghost she had ever met after all), she was having a little trouble controlling the connection. The other reason was her subconscious mind. Though she knew it wasn't right to invade his privacy so often or at all without his consent, the martian's subconscious knew that she wanted to help her friend and the easiest way to do that was to sense his emotions so Megan could react accordingly.

"You are t-totally forgiven." Danny smiled sheepishly. Megan felt better, but still guilty about continuing to sense his emotions. "We w-were kind of fighting at the time so it is understandable that we did t-things we both regret." He felt like he had done worst than what the team did. "They were just trying to protect themselves." He too was attempting to keep himself safe. The only difference was that the team's threat was very real while his menace was really just in his mind.

"And about the sensing my emotions . . ." Danny thought about it for a moment. "They have been all over the place . . . and if it wasn't for Diana . . .I would have k-killed myself to escape the sorrow and guilt. . ." He still felt those things, it was just . . . He looked at Diana before turning to Megan . . . Before he felt like there was no reason to fight and try to live on, but now he had two reasons sitting right next to him. "I wouldn't mind . . . If y-you continued to . . keep an eye out for my f-feelings." He had realized that having someone who could sense how he was feeling wouldn't be a bad thing. It was what Jazz did for him. Somehow his big sister just knew what he was feeling and what to do to help him. He couldn't help missing having this in his life and subconsciously hoped that maybe the martian could help fill the void in his heart.

Sensing his uneasy feelings, Megan didn't know what to say. She still felt guilty about infringing on his rights to privacy. But when the martian sensed that he really wanted her to do this and how much it meant to him, her guilt disappear and Megan knew what to do. Gently, she took one of his hands and gave it a caring squeeze. "I . . I will do my best to be there for you if you need me." She would do her best to fill the job that was just given to her. Megan just didn't know the title of the role she was going to be filling or what it would mean to her and Danny.

"T-thanks," Danny said as he whipped a tear away from his eye with the hand Megan wasn't holding. ". . . . I hope that your f-friends are as f-forgiving and kind as you are when I apologize to t-them" Danny said, changing the topic that reminded him too much of his big sister. He planned on apologizing to the others when he saw them again. But he had a feeling they wouldn't react like the friendly martian did. "Maybe it is because she is an alien? . . . But," he looked at the martian, "I don't think being from another planet has anything to do with her kindness or friendliness. "

"I'm sure they will," Megan smiled at Danny, "seeing as they are going to nicer to you or at the very least be civil . . ." Her tone and look turned serious. "That I promise you." Danny and Diana wondered why she was so sure of that. Seeing their questioning looks, Megan smiled innocently. "I just threatened to take away my cooking for the foreseeable future if they weren't."

Danny release a small chuckle, feeling much better. "That explains your confidence." He took a bite of a slice of bacon and finding the taste overwhelmingly good, quickly ate the whole stripe. "I have never had home cooking so good or safe to eat." When either of his parents cooked, the food usually got contaminated by something they had been experimenting with. This usually resulted in the food coming to life. Once the reanimated food was dealt with, Jazz made something or they ordered out. The final straw was the time the food had looked normal enough by his parents' standers and had tasted okay . . . at least to rest of the Fentons it did. When Danny had some, everything was okay for the first few moments. But then he got violently sick. His throat burned as his stomach did flips. He had just made it to the bathroom before vomiting a bloody mess into the toilet. Something in the food had reacted violently to his ghost side. He had been able to clean up the horror scene before anyone could see it, but Jazz had been outside the bathroom door and heard all of it. Luckily she hadn't seen any of the blood. If she had, Danny was sure his protective sister would have called the police and accused his parents of trying to poison him. From than on, Jazz didn't let their parents' cooking anywhere near Danny or herself. She even when so far as to teach her little brother to cook some things so he didn't end up eating nothing but cereal all the time.

The two females decided not to ask about the "safe to eat" thing at this time. Danny was eating food and that was all they cared about. They didn't want to disturb him by bring up the past right now, fearing that it would sadden him and make him stop eating.

Wonder Woman had watched the two teens interact and couldn't be happier. "I'm so glad I asked Megan for help. She has really taken a shining to Danny and it would seem he has too."

None of the three realized how deep that bond was going to develop.

After eating a couple pieces of a sausage, Danny said "Your cooking is good enough that I would even sit down with Skulker and discuss his favorite . . . "hobbies" . . just for some of this," he gestured outward with his hands at all the food, "deliciousness."

Diana and Megan (who greatly enjoyed how much Danny clearly loved her cooking) wondered exactly who this Skulker was. From the way Danny spoke, it was clear that Skulker wasn't exactly the teen's favorite person and that "his hobbies" weren't very pleasant or appropriate to bring up at breakfast. The amazon was the one who voiced their shared questions. "Who is this . . Skulker. .," Diana wasn't sure if she was pronouncing the name right, "and what are his hobbies?" She didn't care if they were gross or not, Diana just wanted to know if this Skulker's hobbies were dangerous or harmful to Danny. If they were, then she was going to be "having words" with this person.

"He is just the self proclaimed greatest hunter in the Ghost Zone." Danny was rolling his eyes at the statement, showing that he found the words to be completely stupid. "As for his favor hobby . . . . it's hunting and," Danny picked up his fork, "his favorite prey is . . . .," and stabbed some eggs with the utensil, "me." The two females were shocked, but when they heard the next part the feeling doubled. "He liked to go on and on about what he would do to me. He was always saying things like. . . " Danny's voice gained a rough tone as he puffed out his chest. "I'm going to mount your head on my wall. . . or . . . I will skin you alive and lay your pelt at the foot of my bed." Danny stopped making fun the hunter's voice. "It was so gross. . . . and I really don't think I would make a good throw rug."

Megan's and Diana's mouths dropped open at his words. It wasn't so much what this Skulker was threatening, they both instantly decided they didn't like this guy and would beat him into the ground if they ever saw him, but that Danny was speaking about it so casually. It was as if being hunted for sport and having his body displayed as a trophy was no big deal. He was taking it so lightly that he was even joking about it.

"That must have been horrible," the amazon said once Diana found her voice. "If I ever see this guy, I'm punching his face until it caves in." Diana didn't know it, but there were a lot of people from Danny's past that she would want to cause bodily harm to. But in time she would eventually learn some of that info and just how long the list of names was.

"It was the first few times I heard it . . .," Danny gave a small shrug, "but the whole hunting me thing got old fast." His tone was that of boredom. "He would try to get me at least once a week and at most . .," Danny tabbed his chin, "almost every half hour for a whole day." Feeling finished with the explanation, Danny started eating his food, not realizing his two companions were staring him.

The two females were stunned speechless. Here this teen was making light of being attacked by a hunter that wanted to skin him alive. Either Danny was incredibly brave or extremely naive. . . . . but more likely it was a weird mixture of the two.

Before they could question him more on the issue, Danny swallowed what he was eating and directed a question at Megan. "So you can read minds?" It was actually more of a comment than a question.

Megan gave a simple nod to the question since she was still so shocked. She had been though a lot of trials because she is a white martian and considered a second class citizen on Mars, but she never faced anything worst than verbal threats. Her parents made sure of that. She didn't know if she would have had the strength to face being hunted so regularly for sport. The stress would have probably driven her insane. "He must be incredibly strong mentally and physically to handle that."

"That is so cool," Danny said with a smile, drawing Megan's attention away from her thoughts and making her blush a little. Not realizing he was the cause of her reddening cheeks, Danny continued speaking. "I wish I d-developed that power." Danny gained a dreamy look on his face. "I still hold out some h-hope that I will one day." There was somewhat of a chance that he might actually gain that power too since he seemed to develop new random abilities out of the blue. But seeing as he actually wanted telepathy, he probably wouldn't develop that power. That was just how things seemed to go for Danny. His face gained an embarrassed and shy look before he said "It would have been s-so useful at school. If I knew when my b-bully," Diana's and Megan's focus on the teen intensified slightly at the word, "wanted to shove me in a locker . ."

Megan released a silent gasp. She had only thought things like that happened on TV, not real life. "Poor Danny," she thought as the image of the teen squished in a locker came to her mind. The martian did NOT like the image at all.

". . or beat me up," Danny said, in a tone clearly embarrassed about admitting he was a bully victim.

A flash of anger appeared on Diana's face at the ghostly teen's words. It was gone before anyone noticed. "I wonder what his name is?," though the amazon. Diana wanted to know what name to add to her list of people that had hurt Danny and needed a visit from a not too happy Wonder Woman.

"I could have avoided the whole ordeal." Danny's voice had a forlorn tone to it. He had a feeling that missing an appointment with Dash would have only postpone the attack and increase the brutality of the bully's future revenge for escaping.

Megan and Diana couldn't fully believe that Danny had a bully. With how powerful he was, (Megan didn't even know the full extent of his powers like Diana did), they just couldn't see how it was possible. But after thinking about it logically for a few moments, they realized that if you striped away the powers, Danny looked like a kid that would be targeted by bullies. He was just so scrawny and short that he would have been an easy target. And if the teen wanted to keep his ghostly nature secret, with Danny did, then it wasn't like he could use his powers to keep the bullies away. That would raise suspicions and might lead to people finding out that Danny was Phantom.

"And don't even get me started about how useful telepathy would be in a fight." A thinking look came to Danny's face. "Actually. it wouldn't be too much different from me avoiding Dash," Diana and Megan took special interest in remembering the bully's name so they wouldn't forget it, "at school." A smile came to his face. "Anyways, I always thought telepathy would be so cool and useful to have."

Diana just smiled at a clueless Danny causing Megan to blush from happy embarrassment since he was basically gushing over one of her powers. "He doesn't even realize he is doing it or how it effecting the poor girl either. And he has so many powers, but is excited over one he doesn't have? That's funny."

"So Danny," Diana said to get his attention. There was amusement in her voice. Once she had his focus, the amazon continued. "What is your favorite power?" Pausing for a moment, she chuckled. "Besides telepathy of course."

Danny didn't even need a moment to think of an answer. "Flight." It was number one on the list of powers he had developed. It just spoke and connected to his heart and soul. "There is just something about being free in the sky, weightless with nothing holding you down." Danny looked upward, but he wasn't really looking at the ceiling. In his mind's eye, he was seeing the open sky and all the joy being up there brought him. "Like none of your problems mattered." There was a dreamy and whimsical tone in his voice. But that changed as he looked at his plate and continued speaking in a quiet voice. "It has been so long since I flew just for the pleasure of it." He wasn't counting when he flew during the fight with the android or the team. Those were fights, not flying just for pleasure. There were unshed tears in his eyes as he said "I miss it so much."

The longing and sadness in his voice were clear to Diana and Megan. It broke their hearts. Diana reached over and laid her left arm across his shoulders. She then gentle pulled him towards her and held him against her side, giving him an one armed hug. Danny replied to the gesture by slightly leaning into her side, instead of snuggling up to her like he really wanted to. He didn't want to be seen as pathetic to Megan for his actions.

But the martian had completely different thoughts on the situation. "Aww, they really are close. . . ." Megan realized it reminded her of her own mother when she would comfort a younger upset M'gann after she had been teased about who she was.". . .I'm seeing a mother's love here." She didn't say anything about it since she could feel how nervous he was about being teased by her. "Just like any teen when they receive parental love in front of others."

Decreasing the pressure of her hug but not removing her arm from Danny's shoulders, Diana said "Well I think you are just going to have to make some time for a flight after breakfast." She smiled down at Danny. "How does that sound?"

"Great," Danny replied in excitement. Just the thought of being in the sky again warmed his heart and eased his soul.

"If you don't mind, I know a martian game that use flight that we can play," Megan said in a hopeful and shy tone. "Well technically it is using telekinesis to simulate flight, but we can still play it if you want to." The game Megan spoke of was just one of the many that were developed to help young martians to learn to use their powers in a fun way. It was easier to teach children if they were taught in a way they found fun. The game could be played by anyone of any age. The only requirement was that you could fly. But Megan didn't get much chance to play these games in her youth. "The other children didn't want to play with the white martian." Her past started to interfere with her present. "Maybe Danny won't want to either. . ."

"I would love to play," Danny said, interrupting the martian's dark thoughts and replacing her mounting sadness with intense joy. "Playing an actual real martian game would be awesome." He really meant his words, since he loved space and all things related to it, but that wasn't the only reason he said it. "She sounded so nervous when asking me and she has been nothing but nice to me since we met. . . not counting the fight . . . How could I have said no to her, even if I wanted to? Plus I don't usually get to use my powers just for fun." He found that when he tried to have just pure fun with his powers, life usually decided to step in and hand Danny a problem.

Releasing an exited squeal, Megan said "I can't wait." Overcome with happy excitement, she quickly leaned over and wrapped her arms around Danny. He got a little scared from her surprise hug at first, but he quickly got over it and simply enjoyed the caring gesture. "After breakfast, we are going outside and having so much fun." She was just so excited. After so long, Megan would finally get the chance to play one of the games that, as a small child, she had been denied the joy of joining in and force to sadly watch from the sidelines as other children, including her siblings, happy played together. It was not a pleasant experience at all.

Seeing the two interact, Diana was proven once again that introducing them was the right choice. Unlike Danny, Diana had seen Megan's hug attack coming and had moved her arm right before the embrace landed so she hadn't been captured along with the ghostly teen. "They as so sweet together. . . . I wonder if they would make a good couple?" She imaged it and the picture just didn't sit well with her. "No. They act more like siblings. . ." She looked at the still hugging teens. "But maybe in the future . . . " Putting Danny's and Megan's future dating life out of her mind for the time being, Diana couldn't wait to see them playing in the air together.

But like most times in Danny's life, things just didn't seem to go his way for very long.

"Your game is going to have to wait."

The three breakfast eaters simultaneously turned to the source of the serious and deep voice. Megan was so surprised that she didn't release her hug on Danny. In fact, the hold was tightened. He in turn stiffened from the stranger's voice. . . . but feeling Megan's arms tightly around him, reminded Danny that there were two people with him that would have his back if anything went down.

What they saw was Kaldur, Robin and Superboy walking into the room. Kaldur was a few steps ahead of the others, indicating that he was the speaker. Robin was to his right and Superboy to his left.

What Megan, Diana and Danny didn't know was the boys had been listening in to their conversation. They were out of view around a corner. Robin had been the first one there, hiding close enough to hear but not be seen. Followed by Kaldur, who joined the masked crusader in spying on Danny. Superboy had accidentally run into them and the other two had to stop him from unintentionally revealing their location and activity. After explaining what they were doing and that it was for the team's safety, (mostly the slightly naive Megan's), it had been easy to convince the kryptonian to join them. And seeing the martian hug the teen, Superboy felt a simmering anger and longing that made him forget about being nicer to Danny. The kryptonian didn't know it, but he was feeling jealousy.

"What?!," the shocked martian said. "Why!?" There was a bit of emotional pain in her tone. She was so close to doing something she longed to participate in since being denied as a child. She wouldn't except being denied now. On top of that, a small part of her feared that they were still being unfriendly towards Danny.

So a simple answer would not satisfy the upset martian.

As Megan waited for an answer, she removed her arms from Danny and crossed them over her chest. The ghostly teen felt his nervous increase a little once freed from the safety of Megan's arms. But before he could get overwhelmed, an arm was placed on his shoulder, prompting him to look towards the owner. Diana smiled reassuringly at the teen before she too turned towards the boys with a hard look in her eyes, waiting for an acceptable answer. She too worried they were just trying to keep Megan "safe" from Danny. "If they took the time to get to know the child just a little, they too would also learn that he is no threat to them . . . Just like Megan has."

With the confidence boost from the amazon, Danny knew things would turn out okay for him. "Not like in the past."

With that thought, Danny joined the amazon and martian in waiting for the boys' explanation of "why Megan can't play with Danny."

Stepping forward, Robin said "Batman," Diana cringed in suppressed anger at the man's name as Megan slumped a little, knowing there was no use fight if the dark knight was involved, "contacted me shortly after you did Megan. He is coming in to debrief us on the results of last night's mission and to inform us about what is know about the android. Plus he has some homework to give use afterwards." He looked down at the holographic computer on his wrist as if checking the time. "Leaving us with just enough time to eat before he actually gets here." The smirk that came to his face looked like it was there because he was seeing his mentor. But in reality, the smirk was because he could separated Megan and Danny without being seen as acting "unfriendly" towards the ghostly teen was his sole reason for doing it. He still didn't trust the teen and didn't want Megan hurt. Batman's arrival just made the perfect excuse for Robin to use so he didn't have to take up the "bad guy" role. "And you know how Boss Bat is with punctuality."

Seeing the wind immediately knocked out of Megan's sails, Kaldur was about to apologize to her for indirectly ruining her plans. Not that he was truly sorry. He too was happy to put some distance between the two new friends. . . . At least until more was known about Danny. He felt that the martian was getting too invested into this friendship when it was unknown if the connection would be sustainable or if Danny was actually going to be staying. They didn't know this kid's true intentions. Thought Megan was around their ages (biologically), Kaldur felt like she was the younger inexperienced member of the group that needed protection. It was kind of like she was the kid sister that needed the team's help or others would take advantage of her good nature. And there was no way that Kaldur was going to let anyone take advantage of a member of his team.

What the atlantean didn't realize was that Megan was a capable young woman who could take care of herself. She just had an open heart that was willing to see the best in others where others weren't willing to. Yes it was a trait that might lead her into being deceived, but it would also give her opportunities that others wouldn't have since their hearts were closed off. The atlantean's lack of faith in the martian would result in problems down the road.

But before the atlantean could say anything to help relieve her disappointment, Danny did. "It's okay Megan." The martian turned towards him, as everyone else did, but Danny was only paying attention to Megan. "Y-you go do your important hero business and we can p-play your game afterwards." After a few moments a small smile came to his face. Shyly, he said "Maybe I can come and meet the dark knight himself." Danny's fan-boy was making a small appearance again. "That would be so cool."

Robin instantly shot down the idea. "Sorry." The thing was, his voice didn't sound sorry at all. He actually sounded quite happy as a disappointed look came to Danny's face. "Official team-members only." It seemed the boy wonder was still a bit upset over the whole possession thing.

Robin wasn't the only one to see Danny's disappointment. Seeing the look, Megan thought there shouldn't be a problem with the teen joining the debriefing and decided to say something. "Why can't . . ," Megan started to say, only to be cut off.

"He is correct Megan," Kaldur said. "We might be discussing information that Batman wouldn't want others to hear." He did not even glance in Danny's direction as he spoke, so he didn't see the disappointed look on the teen's face.

"If it's about the android," Wonder Woman's voice held a knowing tone, "then Danny has a right to be there." In her mind, it was only fair the teen know about the thing he fought and that almost killed him. "But knowing Batman and how he has been gunning for Danny . . . ."

"But just so Batman doesn't get his black tights in a knot." Robin had to hold back a scowl at the amazon's words. "Danny and I will stay here while the rest of you discuss the android." Diana knew this was the safest thing to do for Danny right now. Yes the teen had the rights to be at the debriefing, but she didn't want to push Batman into acting against Danny. She felt that he was already dangerously close to the edge and did not want to see what he would do if pushed to far. "Something is wrong with him. . . He is usually nicer to children than he is to anyone else. . . I think I will bring this up with Dinah. Maybe she can find out what is going on within his mind."

Kaldur could find no reason to argue with the amazon's suggestion. He got what he wanted after all. There would be no fight over if Danny could come to the meeting and Wonder Woman could handle him if something happened. So he, with the others following him, sat down at the table. Robin took the chair opposite Wonder Woman. The amazon cast a quick look at Batman's protege and had a feeling he was going to follow after his mentor's attitude towards Danny. Superboy sat across from Megan, causing a small heat to rise to her cheeks. That left a spot right across from Danny that Kaldur took. The ghostly teen couldn't help feeling nervous by the slightly intimidating look being cast at him from the atlantean. It was as if Kaldur was trying to find out his secrets just by looking at him. Danny ducked down his head and threw his focus onto his plate so he wouldn't be facing Kaldur or the look being sent his way. He wanted to put up his hood and hide beneath it, but Danny forced himself not to. He did not want to be rude to Megan, especially with the kind way she was acting towards him and after she went to the trouble of cooking all the food on the table.

With the boys seated and after they got their food, breakfast continued. . . . Only there was a lot less talking this time around. Which was weird when you considered there was twice as many people there now. But it seemed that with the male teenagers' arrival and Danny clamming up in nervousness, all the conversation had dried up too. The boys, while not being openly hostile, still radiated a nasty tension into the air.

With the unwelcoming atmosphere, Danny didn't feel like he could voice his apology to the rest of the team. "They probably wouldn't accept it anyways," he thought gloomily.

Diana sighed. "And Danny was being so talkative, but. . . " She looked at the boys, the reason for Danny going silent. "I get why. . . I kind of wish they hadn't showed up, but this is the team he might be joining . . . . then again, maybe not yet with the way their acting. . ." At the moment, the amazon didn't feel like it would be smart or safe to leave Danny alone at the cave. There was a good possibility that something might "accidentally" happen to him and the amazon warrior would NOT let that happen. "Maybe he should live with me." She cast a look at the martian. "And just visit occasionally."

With everyone having gotten what they wanted to eat and with all conversation dead for the time being, Megan decided to contact the super fast member of the team. "Hey Wally."

"Sleeping. Call back later babe," Wally replied. He had decided to actually go back to bed after getting so little rest since he was busy spying on Danny and couldn't sleep on the floor. He hadn't even bothered to take off his hero costume before getting into the bed and under the covers.

"Even half asleep, he can't pass up using one of his "affectionate" nicknames for me." Megan mentally sighed. "Well I guess you don't want any of the breakfast I cooked." The martian got the reaction she wanted.

"I'm totally awake sugar and ready for your awesome cooking."

While the martian enjoyed getting compliments on her cooking, Wally's just felt off. His words felt not so genuine and more like he was just trying to get on her good side. She knew this was only partly true, the speedster definitely enjoyed her food (he even ate it if it was totally burnt and as hard as a rock), but the martian couldn't help feeling he was just complimenting her because of his attraction to her human form. At times, she was really tempted to show him what she truly looked like, minus the white martian part, in the hopes that her alien form would be such a turn off to Wally that his attraction to her would shrivel up and die. But she didn't since she feared that her actions would somehow lead back to everyone finding out she was a white martian. This was something she didn't want anyone to know and was desperate to keep it that way. This experience was the total opposite of what she felt from getting Danny's compliments, which she enjoyed that much more knowing they were legitimately. . . especially since she knew he had issues with getting food in the past.

But there was a small problem with her plan that Megan had forgotten to take into account. She was just about to tell Wally that she wanted him to be nicer to Danny or he could forget getting any of the food she cooked for a long time, if ever again. But before Megan could actually say what the price would be to receive her cooking, Wally said "I'll be there in a couple of seconds." He then jumped up out of bed and ran over.

"Wait Wally," Megan got out just after Kid Flash showed up in the kitchen next to the table they were eating at. Sensing he was about to say something negative about Danny being there, she said "Don't you dare say a mean thing to Danny." Wally was surprised into silence by her words and the tone she used. The glare shot at him also help to silence him. "If you want ANYTHING to eat at the cave ever again, you will be nicer to him."

Now the speedster was torn. He wanted to say that Danny should be locked up or at the least not allowed to eat with them. But that would be considered "mean" and would result in upsetting Megan, the girl he was trying to get with, and him not getting anything to eat. "Megan, for whatever reason, has formed an attachment to this kid." A small flame of jealousy flared in him. He did not even like the idea of Megan being attached to someone besides him. It just felt upsetting. "Plus this alien beauty is too fine for anyone else besides me." If he had been there a little earlier, he would have seen the two hugging, and that would have causing his jealousy and anger to jump through the roof. His feelings would have made him done something VERY stupid . . . even for him.

But for once, luck was on Danny's side and Wally hadn't been there. So since he wasn't blinded by his flaming jealousy, the speedster was able to use his brain and weighted his options. Quickly, he came to a decision. "If staying in Megan's good graces means being nicer to this guy, I'll do it . . . no matter how much I want to punch him in the face as hard as I can at my top speed." This would have shattered the bones in a normal human's face, leaving them horribly disfigured . . . that is if they survived. But this didn't mean that he would actually do it to someone. There was a big difference between thinking of doing something and actually doing it. But Kid Flash had a feeling that if he did do what he was thinking of doing, Danny would survive relatively okay since the teen clearly wasn't a normal human. The only down side that Wally could see was how upset Megan would be at him. Weighing the outcomes, Wally knew it wouldn't be worth the risk. ". . . . It won't be easy, but I can fake being nice to Danny . . . at least long enough for him to prove he is up to something . . . I have to . . It is in my best intentions to go along with her. . . . for now." A growl came from his stomach. "Plus I want food."

With this all in mind, Kid Flash took the unoccupied seat next to Megan. He was using the martian like a shield of sorts to keep Danny out of his sight. The speedster may be willing to be "nicer" for Megan, but that didn't change his feelings towards Danny. "As long as Megan is around, I got to play nice, but when she isn't. . . .I'm so getting some payback."

Even though Wally didn't say anything to her, Megan took his actions as a positive response to her psychic words. The fact was, he did not plan on truly living up to what she was asking of him. If she had known his true intentions, Megan would have taken all the food way from him and telekinetically thrown him away from the table.

But Megan didn't know what was going through the speedster's head. She didn't read his mind since she trusted her friend. So with a smile, the Martian moved the unclaimed plates of food towards Kid Flash. With nothing stopping him and feeling no guilt about lying to the girl he supposedly liked, Wally helped himself and soon his plate was piled high with food. He then dug in without a care in the world.

Danny couldn't help glancing at the yellow and red suited teen from the corner of his eye. The way he ate, it almost seemed like Kid Flash was the one who had been homeless and desperate for food. It was like Wally feared the meal would disappear if he didn't hurry and eat it. Danny felt a funny comment at the tip of his lips, something like "Super-speed must help you burn off all of the food you eat", but decided to keep it to himself. With the tense and awkward atmosphere in the air, the ghost didn't want to push his luck. He feared that his innocent jab at the speedster would be replied to with extreme hostility.

So they all continued to eat in silence.

The smile that had been on Megan's face slowly fell into a frown. "This is a start, but . . ." She had kind of been hoping they would all be happily talking as they ate. "Like on Hello Megan, but . . . I guess we aren't there just yet."

"The tension in the air is thick enough to cut with a sword," Diana thought. "I almost wish I was wearing my battle armor." Her warrior instincts were telling her an attack was looming around the corner and to prepare. She feared she knew exactly who the shadow of doom was cast over . . . . Danny. The feeling made her want to just hug the teen to her side and protect him from the unknown danger. "But I can't just do that." She looked at the ghostly teen. "It would really embarrass him . . . . and he is capable of defending himself," she reluctantly thought. But that didn't decrease her want to protect him. "Plus I was kind of hoping Danny would make friends here." She looked at Megan and smiled. "He already has one." Her gaze turned towards the other teens and a small frown came to her face. "Maybe she can be the stepping stone he needs to turn them to his side. . . But if not, I know some of the other heroes of the League would love to meet and befriend this young unfortunate hero. . . . I was just hoping he would gain friends his own age."

The room was dead silent . . . . That is until Robin decided to break the silence. He decided that since he was pretending to be nicer to Danny that asking him some questions to get to know him would be the "friendly" thing to do. Even though, he was really just looking for answers to the many questions that surrounded the mysterious teen.

"So Danny," Robin said with smirk, getting the teen's, along with everyone's, attention. "How did you and Wonder Woman meet?"

The loaded question was on all of the teens' minds. Everyone turned their eyes to Danny and he shivered at all the attention. Even Megan and Diana were looking at him. Megan was also wondering the answer to the question even though she could sense his hesitation and worry over it. Diana was curious as to what Danny would say on the personal matter.

"um . I . . w-we . . " Danny didn't know how to answer the question. It wasn't like he could just say "Oh, I was just starving myself, hoping to die so I could be reunited with my loved ones again, when Diana descended like an angle from the heavens and saved me from myself." He couldn't tell them the truth. It was just too personal and he felt a bit ashamed of himself. He also feared that the hostile teens would use this info against him. But most of all, he feared what his new friend would think of him.

Knowing the truth and how painful this must be for him, Diana interrupted Danny's stumbling attempt at an answer with a hand on his shoulder. The teen stopped stuttering and looked at the amazon. She gave him a reassuring look before turning her gaze to the other teens. "We met. . ."

Danny winched as he waited for everyone to find out the truth. "I don't think I can handle them knowing." He felt like closing his eyes, but kept them open, wanting to see the reactions of the young heroes. But there was one teen's reaction that mattered the most to him. "I hope Megan doesn't take the info too badly." He feared she wouldn't want to be his friend and having someone as kind as Megan reject him would be devastating. "But I am a monster after all."

". . . late one night and shared a meal," Diana finished as she smiled at the teen. Danny felt revealed, shocked, and amazed. The amazon had actually told the truth without revealing the personal details. It was almost like lying without the actual lying part.

Diana knew that it wasn't her place to reveal his personal issues unless he wanted her to. And something as personal as his suicide attempt was something only really good friends should know about . . and that was IF Danny wanted to share the information. She hated that many, and probably eventually everyone, of the League would know about the horrible event.

Danny smiled at Diana for protecting him again.

"Y-yes we did," Danny said as he rolled with Diana's words. It was the truth after all, just missing some details, so he didn't feel bad. "We ended up t-talking and becoming . . . f-f-friends." He had to choke out the last word a little. It was still hard for him to believe he deserved friendship because of what he had done and failed to do.

The other teens took this information in and had different reactions.

Robin was suspicious. He had seen the small flinch Danny had made while Wonder Woman was speaking. His detective senses were tingling. He had a feeling that they were lying about something. "They are either lying or aren't telling us the whole truth."

Kaldur also knew that there was something that the two weren't saying. "They simply met and had a meal? And they act this close after just that? Something doesn't add up."

Kid Flash was a bit more concerned about eating, trying to ignore the Danny issue so he didn't get himself in trouble with Megan. . . . But his thoughts kept returning to the kid. "I bet Danny is lying . ." He took a large bite of a waffle, bacon, and egg sandwich he had made and aggressively chewed the mouthful. ". .and the reason the smoking hot amazon is going along with him . . .Uh . ." Wally swallowed his mouthful. "He is controlling her mind somehow."

Superboy couldn't help feeling even more jealousy flare inside him. "Here is another teen with a mentor . . . Why can't Superman except me?" His jealousy and anger was completely aimed at Danny, completely obliterating any chance of the kryptonian being friendlier or even his level of nice to Danny.

Megan was the only one that spoke her option. "Aww. That is so cute." Her words caused Danny to blush and Diana tried to smile.

"You could say that," said the amazon. "But the truth is anything but cute." Diana remember that fateful and awful night. "Horrifying is more like it."

Not getting any information he felt was of actual useful value, Robin decided to try another question. "Wonder Woman said you had a right to know about the android. . . What does she mean by that?"

By this point Diana realized that she was right about Robin following his mentor's lead on the not trusting Danny thing. "He is just using the cover of asking "friendly questions" to try to dig information out of Danny." So before Danny could even attempt an answer, Wonder Woman did. "You are just going to have to wait for you debriefing to find out . . . And I'm sure you will." She was confident that Phantom would come up at some point. He just had to, since if not for the ghostly teen hero, that fight with the android would have turned out very differently. But if the Phantom info didn't come up, which seemed really unlikely to happen to Wonder Woman, her words about Danny and the android would make someone on the team question Batman about how the teen was connected to the machine.

Frustrated at yet again being denied answers by Danny's amazonian guardian, Robin fell silent. If he was any less in control of himself or his emotions, he would have groaned and pouted at his lack of success. But he wasn't Batman's protege for nothing. He would try again at another time, when the mother hen wasn't protecting her chick.

Kaldur had been thinking of trying the same thing, but seeing the boy-wonder's failure to gain any footing in his quest for information, the atlantean decided to save his attempt for another time too.

It was silent for a few moments . . . except for Wally's eating . . . before Diana turned towards Megan and said "So after your meeting with Batman, do you mind if I join your game alongside Danny?"

"Of course." Megan beamed. "The more the merrier." Her tone gained a small bit of sadness. "If there were more people here who could fly, I would ask them to join us." But no one else on the team could fly so she never brought the game up with her friends. She still held a bit of hope that Superboy would develop flight so they would be able to play together.

"If that is the case, then Hawk-Woman can join us," Diana said. The amazon could tell that the thanagarian had taken a liking to the ghostly teen and wouldn't mind spending some time with Danny. "She did say she was going to join in today's training session after lunch." The amazon tapped her chin in thought. "She said something about having a promise to fulfill. . . ." Pondering the subject a moment, Diana decided she could hazard a guess at what that promise was about. "I could just ask her to come in earlier if she isn't busy."

Hearing the amazon's words, Wally promptly choked on his food, confirming Diana's suspicions. He knew exactly what promise the thanagarian was speaking about . . . . his beating.

Seeing Kid Flash coughing and choking, Megan started to pat his back with enough force to help free his airway. "Are you okay?" Her tone was full of concern and worry. Wally may bug her with his unwanted attention and hitting on her, but that didn't change the fact that he was her friend and she wanted to see him unhurt.

After coughing up half of an unchewed sausage that almost landed on Megan, much to the martian's disgust, Wally said "I (cough) am fine Gorgeous. Just had (cough) something caught in my throat. (Cough) But thanks to (cough) you my beautiful angle, I'm all good now."

"If he is able to hit on me, Wally is totally fine," Megan thought as she forced a smile on her face, glad he was okay, but disappointed that the first thing out of his mouth (besides half eaten food) was an attempt to be "romantic" and hit on her. "That's good." With her speedy friend okay, Megan turned to Diana and said "If Hawk-Woman can come that would be great. We could play two on two."

Wally felt dejected that the martian's attention left him so quickly. Sending a quick unseen glare Danny's way, he thought "This is HIS fault. . . . I hope he joins our training session just so I can slam him face first into the floor." Conveniently, Wally had forgotten a couple of things. First, Danny had proven more than capable of handling fighting the whole team plus a few extra people. Another forgotten fact was that he already had a training partner today and Hawk-Woman would not be letting him skip out on her personal "hands on training" method. He also completely missed that fact that it wasn't Danny's fault that Megan was more interested in her future game than the speedster's unwanted flirtation attempts. . . . . Well it might have been a little, but it was more that Danny was giving her an opening to experience something she wanted to for a long time.

With the go ahead from the martian, Diana pulled an earpiece communicator out of her pocket and placed it in her ear. She had gotten used to keeping the device near her at all times so that she could be contacted if her presence was needed else where. "Wonder Woman to Hawk-Woman," the amazon said as she tapped the earpiece.

"Shayera here. What you need Diana?" The thanagarian was at the Watch Tower doing a few mission reports, something she really didn't enjoy. So she was happy for the reprieve no matter what was being asked of her. Even certain doom was a happy alternative to paperwork. There were a couple of reports left, but she had no problem pushing them off, literally onto the floor, for later.

"I was just wondering if you would like to join me, Megan, and Danny in playing a martian aerial game?," Diana asked.

Thinking it over, Shayera decided to take up the offer. She really had no other plans today besides her appointment with Kid Flash. And seeing Danny while she was there was a plus in her book. "Sure. I'll catch a zeta-tube and be there in a few minutes. It will be fun to spend some time with Danny in an unstressful or combative situation."

"Yes, it will be," Diana agreed. She too looked forward to an peaceful time with Danny. "And I don't think one is expected to happen anytime some while the boys and their unpleasant attitudes are around." They were still looking at Danny with suspicion in their eyes. It was just they were being careful enough to go unnoticed by Danny and Megan. But the amazon was an experienced warrior and knew what they were doing.

The two adult heroines made a little small talk before saying their good byes and disconnecting.

Turning towards Megan and Danny, the amazon said "Hawk-Woman will be joining us for our game."

"Yes," Megan said in excitement as she closed her eyes and released a small squeal. Her hands were made into fists, held close to her chest, and shook a little from her excitement. "This is going to be so much fun."

The martian wasn't the only one happy about it. From the smile on Danny's face, Diana could tell he was glad to see the thanagarian again. This made Diana happy. "That means Danny has one more friend and person in his corner. . . . And I feel that he will need all the allies he can get in the future."

From there the team, Diana, and Danny continued to eat silently. Megan was slightly bouncing in her seat since she was so excited for after the meeting with Batman. She was the first one to finish and realized something. "Debriefings with Batman can take a while and Danny is just going to have to wait here with nothing to do." That is when she had an brilliant idea that would entertain and help out Danny. Turning to the teen, she said "I have something I want to give you." With those words, Megan got up from the table and flew out of the room.

Diana turned to Danny and asked "Have any idea what she could be getting for you?"

In reply, Danny shrugged his shoulders as he shook his head. "N-none"

They didn't have long to find out. Megan returned quickly and sat back in her seat. In her hands was a round object. "This is for you," the martian said as she held the sphere out to Danny.

"T-thanks," Danny said as he took the object from her. Looking at the gray ball with small glowing green circuit board like patterns, he slowly turned the sphere over in his hands a few times. The sphere was about the size of a softball. The surface was made of a clear material. Just under this transparent layer was a maze that covered the surface of the ball except for two buttons the size of nickles that were on the axises of sphere. The maze looked very complex with many difficult and challenging obstacles. There was a small metallic red marble inside the maze. Sending a confused look at Megan, Danny said "I appreciate t-this . . ." He rubbed the back of his head in though with one hand while the other held the ball in front of him. "But w-what is it?"

"It's a . . ." Megan paused and gained a confused look as her forehead tensed in concentration. "Sorry, the name doesn't translate so easily to English . . . . or any earth language for that matter." That last part got an interested look from Danny. After a moment, her look relaxed and Megan said "The closest it comes to is a teleki-ball." She smiled at Danny. "As you might be able to guess from the name, it is a puzzled used to help develop one's telekinesis. The goal is to move the little ball," she pointed at the red marble, "from one end of the maze." Megan moved her finger to one of the buttons and then slowly grazed the digit along the surface of the maze. "To the other side," her finger stopped on the other button, "by using only telekinesis."

"That s-seems really h-hard," Danny uneasily said as he looked down at the ball seated in his palms. He was a bit unconfident in the use of his newly gained power (even though he had already proven capable of wielding his telekinesis in battle) and didn't want to disappoint Megan or Diana.

"It's really not," Megan said in a reassuring tone as she placed a hand on his shoulder, getting him to look at her. "Here let me show you." She then used her telekinesis to lift the ball out of his hands. Letting the sphere float in front of her, she moved the marble through the maze. Megan quickly finished and the maze changed, growing even more complex and intricate looking. "Of course once you finish a level it gets harder to solve." Seeing the uneasy look increase on Danny's face, she said "Oh. You thought you would be starting off on this level. . . Didn't you?" She giggled as Danny tilted head to the side and looked at her in confusion, reminding the martian of a kitten she had seen in a video. "I'm sorry and I don't mean to offend, but you're just a beginner. This is the level I'm," she gestured at herself, "at and it took me a long time of practice to get there." Megan felt quite proud of this. It had really taken a lot of hard work to get to such a high level. She then grabbed the ball out of the air and pressed both of the buttons, holding them down for a solid minute. When she released them, the maze's complexity dropped down considerably. "Here," she said as she handed it back to Danny. "This is the beginning level." She didn't mind resetting the maze and losing all her progress if it meant helping her friend with his new ability.

This time when Danny looked at the maze, he actually thought he could complete it. "Do I h-have to solve the maze without t-touching the ball like you did?" This he didn't think he could do yet. Maybe in ghost mode, but not as a human.

"Not yet if you don't want to," Megan said in a comforting tone. Which changed to that of an older sibling giving advise to a younger one. "But I would recommend you try to after you get used to doing it for a bit." She smiled at Danny. "I'm positive you can do it." Looking fondly at the sphere, Megan said "I've had this since I was a young martian. It helped me as a child to develop my telekinesis." "And was one of the things that helped me temporarily forget about my loneliness on Mars." Her fond and caring eyes turned to Danny. "So maybe it can help you temporarily escape your pain too." "I think the teleki-ball will be a really great help to you. . ." There was a small pause in her sentence before, almost as an after thought, she added ". . with your telekinesis . . . . . . And I want you to keep it."

"What? Really?," Danny asked, not really believing Megan would give him something that was so precious to her. They had just met and she was already giving him not only a tool of entertainment and training, but something from her childhood. He didn't even begin to understand just how important it actually was to her childhood. How could he? They had just met. Danny didn't know that she was a white martian or the difficulties that caused her. But he did understand just how important a childhood object could be. It was just like Jazz and Bearburt Einstein.

Megan would tell him in time, after they grew closer and felt like they could trust each other with important secret details about themselves. . . . Like Megan being a white martian and what really happened to Danny's family.

"Yes," Megan said, smiling at him. "Consider it a gift for our new friendship. . . . and it is a way for you to keep occupied and out of trouble while I'm gone." Not that she thought he would actually get into trouble on his own. She smiled at him. What she didn't tell him about the game, besides its important personal meaning to her, was that it could be played by two people. One would move the red marble while the other moved the sphere. They had to communicate by telepathy to coordinate their moves. She didn't tell him this because she couldn't communicate with him psychically so there wasn't a point in bringing it up right now. "Maybe once he gets the hang of it we can work something out so we can play together . . . Like talking out loud. . . but since I'm not going to be here for a bit . . . I will bring it up later."

"T-thanks Megan," Danny said gratefully. Looking at the teleki-ball, he understood how much it represented. Not only was she giving him piece of her childhood as a gift, but a way to stay entertained and to do a bit of training when he didn't have anything to do.

"WHAT THE HELL," thought Wally. His anger and jealousy at Danny flared. "Megan is giving this guy a meaningful gift and being so super nice and touchy feely to him?" He was extremely jealous that with all the ways he had tried to get her affection, he had only attained friendship when a romantic relationship was his true goal. And here Danny was getting more attention and affection than he did in less than a day's time of her knowing him. "Does she have feeling for him?" The answer was yes, but not in the romantic sense like he feared. ". . . NO. He HAS to be controlling her mind somehow . . . She has never given me anything . . . besides food, but she gives everyone food . . . and I'm her friend. This guy is just some stranger and she is already giving him a gift." Kid Flash could not believe the injustice he was faced with. "And it's all Danny's," he mentally sneered at the teen's name, "fault."

Before Wally could make an outburst, the zeta-tubes spoke out that the cave had visitors, signaling the dark knight's arrival. Robin was a bit surprised that there was more then one arrival, since Batman didn't say he was bringing anyone with him, but it seemed he did. Luckily everyone had finished their food by this time. . . except for Wally, who planned on eating everything left on the table once the meeting was over. So everyone, minus Wally, cleared their plates and placed them in the dishwasher.

As the team was leaving, Diana and Danny (with his new toy/training tool grasped in his hands) went and sat on the couch. They really didn't have anything else they could do at the moment. Diana planned to watch as Danny played with the teleki-ball.

Popping her head back into the room, Megan got Danny's attention and said "Try to see how far you can get with the teleki-ball while I'm gone." Getting a positive response from the teen, Megan left to join up with her teammates for a meeting that would not only turn out very informative about her new friend, but also those around her.