Trigger warning for violence

Another short chapter, but considering it's the second one in a week, I'm okay with that. I'm not sure I've updated so quickly ever. So, yeah, if you went to this chapter without reading 13, you'll want to do that. Thinking about it, I could have put these two chapters together, but then you still wouldn't have either at the moment. I'm not sure if I'll continue doing short chapters, but whatever. Not my best chapter, but I'm writing again and that's enough to make me happy.

There have been two updates this week. Don't miss last chapter before you read this one, if you haven't yet read it 3

The first two days in San Francisco were uneventful. Danny was glad he'd already had his wallet when he reached the city and realized how hungry he was. He had enough money to buy food every day for about a week and a half if he didn't spend it on anything else. He couldn't afford a hotel if he wanted to stay for more than three days. The first night, he slept on the roof of a public library. San Francisco wasn't too cold for Danny at night – in fact, it was perfect.

The next day, he skipped lunch to buy a new shirt for five bucks and wash the one he'd been wearing. Once it was dry, he wasn't sure what to do with it. He didn't have a backpack or anything besides his pockets. Finally, he just tucked it into the waistband of his jeans, letting it hang out. He'd seen weirder things and styles here in California so he doubted he would draw much attention. He could use the extra as a pillow that night.

His plans to sleep on the library roof again the second night were sabotaged by the wind. It came off the bay and felt like it chilled Danny to the bone. He wasn't cold enough to give in and get a motel room and phasing into some office building or someone's house to sleep just felt like it would be weird and he'd get caught. He needed to find some roof or wide ledge away from the wind.

To his surprise, the 5th building he checked had an empty ledge that was wide enough to set up a table. It was on the lee side of the building and was absolutely perfect. He couldn't have planned a better place. Finally, things were going his way for the first time since Dad died. He balled up his extra shirt under his head and drifted off.

"Hey, kid!"

Danny jolted up at the unfamiliar voice, blinking in the morning light. He'd slept way too long.

A woman leaned out of the window connected to his ledge, set into the building. Her dark hair covered most of her face, but he could tell she was closer to Mom's age than his own. "Want to explain how you got up to my pad?" She sounded amused.

Scrambling for words, Danny blurted, "It was the wind. It… blew me up?"

She laughed and a gust of wind blew her hair back to show obviously old, burn scars over a closed eyelid that was much more concave than it should be. Danny's own eyes widened for a moment. He didn't think there was an eye under there.

"You can see it better under the light."

Realizing he'd been staring, Danny colored. "Sorry."

"No, it's really fine. Just come inside. I have a pizza coming."

Danny hesitated. He didn't know how to get off the ledge without exposing his powers at this point, but he didn't want to answer the questions she probably had. Then again, free food sounded great. He hesitated a split second more before deciding that free food was worth it. "Sure." Carefully, he stood. Sometime while he'd slept, the wind had shifted direction and was now blowing perpendicular to the ledge. He straightened, and his extra shirt began to tumble off the side of the building. Reflexively, he dived for it. He realized his mistake when he went headfirst off the ledge himself.

Oops.

His whole body tensed up for a moment as he adjusted to the sudden drop. He tried to catch his breath, so he could concentrate enough to transform.

Something yanked on the back of his shirt, stopping him midair. The halt knocked the wind out of him and he struggled to breathe as he slowly rose. What was going on? Panic gripped him as he realized the one person who would have followed him here that could fly- Vlad. He didn't know what Vlad would do to him, but he doubted the man would be happy. The person released the back of his shirt and Danny landed on the ledge on hands and knees. He immediately shoved himself to his feet and twisted, ready to face Vlad.

It wasn't Vlad. That shouldn't surprise him as much as it did. Instead it was a woman. She had the same large nose as the one inside the building, but this person's eyes were more angular. She held a pizza box in one hand.

"Are you okay?"

"Good catch, Becca. Now can both of you come in so I don't have to come out there?" The first woman called out.

"Give him a second," the second woman replied, before repeating, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Danny at this point wanted to just be far away from this situation.

"What're you doing up here in the first place? You could have died."

Shrugging, Danny headed for the window. "I think I should just go."

The first woman stepped back from the tall window to allow Danny in. The teen hopped inside. "Why don't you eat first. I'm Melissa and this is my cousin Rebecca."

Rebecca followed him inside. "How did you get up here?"

"How did you get up here?" Danny countered. She couldn't have caught him from the ledge.

"I have levitation. You were on my usual landing pad."

"What?" She'd said that so matter of fact, it caught Danny off guard.

"Levitation. It's what I do. It's not much, but it pays the bills." Rebecca set down the pizza box, opening it.

"Wait, who pays you to fly around?"

"Contractors through the Power Company." She passed Melissa a napkin and piece of pizza, then offered one to Danny. After a second, he accepted it.

Quickly, Melissa added, "They're always looking for new talent, so if you need a job, kid, they'll hire you."

Danny paused as the other two started on their slices. "I don't think I could be an electrician. Too much experience with electrocution."

The women both laughed around their slices. "It's not an electric company." Rebecca explained, "It's the Power Company as in people with superpowers. So it's like a temp agency for people with abilities."

"Nope, not for me, sorry, no powers here. Totally normal. No powers whatsoever, I've never even seen anybody with powers." Danny immediately announced.

There was another awkward pause and Danny quickly filled his mouth with pizza. The women began a soft conversation and he pulled out his phone to find something to do with his hands, only to realize it was still off. He'd turned it off the first night so it wouldn't go off and give him away. It was probably time to call Mom and tell her he was fine, if she'd even noticed he was gone. The logo popped up and he slid it in his pocket so it could start up. Taking another slice of pizza, the teen pretended he wasn't eavesdropping.

"Well, there is a rumor that the Wizard has… acquired something that will make him more powerful than ever."

"That's the one with illusions, right?"

"Yes, among a few other things."

"Well, what did he get?"

"This isn't confirmed, but I heard he somehow got a hold of a key to the Ghost Zone."

Danny choked on his pizza. "Wh-argh!?"

The two of them looked at him.

Swallowing hard, Danny gasped out, "Who has a key to the Ghost Zone?"

Rebecca hesitated. "I didn't know you could hear us. That's confidential information."

"This is important, please!" Danny put down his half eaten pizza.

"Woah, what's the Ghost Zone?" Melissa was frowning.

"How do you know about the Ghost Zone? It's highly classified." Rebecca set down her own slice.

"It's important, okay!?"

"Kid, calm down." Melissa was frowning. "Talk to us."

Danny huffed and whirled towards the door. Adults never took him seriously and he was sick of it. He'd find this guy and the key on his own.

A hand landed on his shoulder and immediately Danny ducked and turned, taking a defensive stance. "Let me leave."

"Becca, just let him go. He's just a kid."

The woman slowly and placatingly lifted her hands in response. "You're okay. No one's attacking you. You're free to leave."

Danny watched them for a moment before sprinting for the door. They didn't stop him. He ran down the hall and threw the door to the stairwell open. He wasn't sure if they were going to come after him. He actually doubted it, but better safe than sorry. The door slammed behind him.

His heart was still pounding when he walked out the front door, but that was probably more from taking about twenty flights of stairs down than from panic. For a moment, the teen leaned against the wall of the building, just catching his breath. He needed to find out who that Wizard guy was and get that key. If Danny was taking something from a villain, it wasn't technically stealing, right? It was more like confiscating.

First things first, he had to get away from this building. He straightened and started quickly down the street. He'd find an empty alley and transform, then go hunt down Wizard. The street sloped down into a hill and Danny broke into a jog. The alley near the bottom looked promising. He continued gaining speed as he descended, nearly at a sprint as he turned the corner to the alley.

Something slammed into his windpipe and Danny hit the ground hard, head bouncing off asphalt and concrete. Pain exploded between his eyes and in his chest. Retching, he rolled onto his stomach to try and push himself up. He could only take a single breath before his face was shoved into the pavement, scraping hard. There was a knee in his back and he couldn't move. It couldn't be that woman he'd met, right? She didn't seem strong enough. He tried to push himself up, anger filling him.

"Don't. Move."

Ice flooded Danny's veins as Vlad spoke from above him. The man's knee pressed into his spine.

"What were you thinking, you stupid boy. Tell me what you were running from."

"Vlad, get off-"

"Now." The word came out as a nigh inhuman snarl. Danny swallowed as best he could.

"Nothing."

The grip on his head tightened and Danny grunted in pain. "Don't. Lie."

"I wasn't running from anything!"

Danny's spine ached as Vlad's knee ground into it. "Then why were you running?"

"Get off!"

This time Vlad lifted Danny's head by his hair before slamming it back into the ground. Danny yelped.

"Daniel, if you do not answer me, you will regret it. Mouth off again, and you will wish you'd never heard of San Francisco. Why. Were. You. Running?"

Everything was spinning and Danny wasn't sure he could think straight. He let words spill out of him, not even sure of what he was saying. "Wizard, he's some guy, I was gonna find him, these girls said he had a key, it was to the Ghost Zone, he was a bad guy so it wouldn't be stealing, but I need it, I need to get that key, I was gonna change and find him and I was gonna confiscate because it wasn't stealing and…" He trailed off as Vlad yanked the teen to his feet. He blinked hard. He was seeing double. There was a Plasmius on either side of him. He looked wildly between them. One was still gripping his neck. He closed his eyes tightly. When he opened them, the second Plasmius was gone, but the original still hadn't let go. He tried to jerk away. "Let me go."

Plasmius's eyes flashed a darker crimson and his grip tightened. With his free hand, the man grabbed Danny's arm and turned the two of them intangible before flying up. Danny struggled futilely for a few minutes as Vlad flew up and to an office building. They phased through a window and Plasmius dropped Danny.

The teen landed hard with a crash on a small stack of two by fours. His mouth stretched wide, gaping with pain, and he rolled over, breathing hard for a minute. What was Vlad's problem? The man was psychopathic. Slowly, Danny sat up and looked around. It looked like the floor they were on was under construction. The carpet had been torn up and there was exposed framing everywhere. That explained the wood. Danny's eyes focused on Plasmius's back as the man transformed into a human. The coat was missing from the man's suit, though he still wore a waistcoat. He stood perfectly still and stiff and Danny swallowed.

"Did you even think before you came here, Daniel?" Vlad's voice was monotone and anger surged in Danny. Vlad had no right to treat him like this! Everything would be better if Vlad just stopped interfering.

Danny's hands balled into fists and he snarled, "Shut up. I don't care what you-"

He couldn't breathe.

Faster than he knew Vlad could move, the man had Danny slammed against the wall. Danny heard something crack and his body spasmed once.

"Watch. Your. Mouth. Boy."

Danny's jaw worked for a moment as he desperately searched for air. The older man's hand pressed harder on the teen's chest.

Harshly, Vlad continued, "Have you lost your mind, Daniel? You have no idea of what could have happened. You are fifteen! Did you honestly think it was a good idea to run off alone to a large city without a word to anyone!? You have no idea of how the world works!" Vlad pulled back slightly before slamming Danny back into the wall. The boy's vision was fading into gray. "We had no idea where you were or what had happened to you. I thought- Haven't you put your mother through enough? You are irresponsible and idiotic! You have no idea of what's after you and you go gallivanting off to here!? I swear, the next time you pull a stunt like this-…" Danny couldn't tell what Vlad was saying anymore. He knew the man was still talking, but he felt like he was listening underwater. His vision had faded until he wasn't sure if he was still in Jump City. Was he in Jump City? Everything felt like a cable channel that had lost reception.

He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. It all went black.

So not my best chapter (I'm not feeling quite up to snuff but oh well), but it's done and out and I hope you like it. Let me know what you liked and didn't like and thank you for reading 3 I don't know when the next chapter will be out, but I'll see you when it is.