Ch.20: The Live I've Touched

Sam and Tucker sat in an awkward silence at the casino the former sang at almost every night as a job. Both had full glasses of alcoholic drinks in front of them: Tucker had beer and Sam had red wine. Both didn't know what to say to the other, feeling a little lost with the third member of the trio gone. The absence of Danny's never-ending mouth was something most would praise but the two missed dearly, as they loved hearing his voice and sarcasm always. It was just so endearing; it was the same way the boys loved Sam's violent tendencies and Sam and Danny loved Tucker being the oblivious one.

Sam's amethyst eyes glanced at the boy beside her, running her finger around the rim of her glass. As she looked back into her glass and admired the way the red liquid looked similar to blood, she missed the way Tucker's turquoise eyes glanced at her before journeying back to his own glass, watching the amber liquid bubble while the foam sat gently on top of the drink. Both drinks enticed the payer to drink from them, to not waste the precious stolen money they used. However, the two nineteen-year-olds didn't feel up to getting buzzed and just watched their drinks with deepening stares.

"So…" Sam drawled, still dragging her finger around the edge of her glass. "Did you do anything interesting today?"

Tucker hummed and shook his head in a negative way. "Not really. How 'bout you, Sam? Did you do anything of interest today?"

Sam shook her head the same way her cocoa-skinned friend had, staring deep into her glass. "No. I went to school because I had nothing to do. No one misses us, which isn't surprising. The day was completely and utterly boring…"

"Yeah. I figured." Tucker stated, shrugging. He took a sip of from the mug in front of him but his drink was tasteless and unsatisfying. "Do all the teachers think of us as a lost cause finally or are they still hoping we'll all magically appear as one group again?"

Sam snorted, a small smile appearing on her lips as she thought above their teachers whom they all despised with a burning passion. "Oh, we were considered a lost cause way back in week two, I think it was. All the other idiots in the class have deemed us the same way. Actually… I think we were lost causes the first week we ever went to school."

Tucker let out a small laugh. "Ha! That honestly wouldn't surprise me with the way we acted! I think we would find ourselves to be losers, if you think about it!"

"Oh, I definitely would." Sam assured, grinning at her friend with purple lips. The two laughed together, feeling a little better about themselves before they calmed. The two drifted back into silence, staring down at their beverages with even increasing disinterest. The two both breathed long sighs, glancing at each other occasionally again.

The bartender walked over, half-expecting to give the two refills before he noticed they drinks had hardly been touched. He looked between the two sitting at the bar and asked "You two ok? Usually you're all up for seconds by now."

Tucker grinned at the bartender reassuringly. "It's fine, Gary. We both just had rough days. Nothing to worry too much about. Promise."

The bartender, Gary, glanced between the two suspiciously. Rough days for the Blue Moon Trio usually meant drinking through the night before Gary stopped giving them drinks, too scared they would get drunk, drive their bikes around, and get killed. Rough days did not mean a lack of interest in alcohol.

"So where's Danny?" Gary commented, looking around as if the boy would magically appear from behind a slot machine. The phantom would walk over, smile, laugh, and order his own drink before beginning to goof around with his friends. "It's been awhile since I've last seen him."

Sam smiled uneasily. "He got a new job. It requires him to travel a lot. He doesn't get much time off and he's trying to impress his boss. Already got a promotion in the small time he's been there. Isn't that awesome, Gary? Our little boy, all grown up!"

Gary snorted. "That's wonderful, Sam. What's this job of his that he loves so much?"

"He's a… Bank inspector." Tucker answered, smiling nervously and tilting his head to the side.

Gary raised an eyebrow at that.

"Yeah." Sam agreed, nodding her head. "He, uh, inspects banks. Occasionally, he gets permission to count the money they bring in and stuff… He works for a small company that only has about a dozen teams that work around the country. They're not big or anything…"

"Uh…" Gary drawled, looking between the two in confusion. "Alright-y then… Next time you see him, tell him I said congrats."

Tucker saluted. "Oh, no worries, Gary. We'll make sure to tell him."

Gary nodded hesitantly before walking off, going over to a couple on a date and asking what they desired that night.

As soon as he was gone, Sam whirled on Tucker, saying "Really? Bank inspector?! Is that even a thing?!"

Tucker dropped his head into his arms, groaning at his stupidity. "Probably not."

Sam sighed, mumbling "And this is why Danny was our lie logger…"

The two fell back into silence: Tucker with his head in his arms and Sam hiding her face with her hands. The two stayed like that for a while again. They both perked when they heard something about the Cloaks on the TV mounted on the wall. Both looked at it, they watched it play the most recent of break-ins they had done: a DALV Corp building.

They briefly showed some video footage, showing the team of six being led by a glowing figure in a snarling wolf mask, dressed in a dark cloak that flew behind him as he ran around. The other Cloaks didn't seem nearly impressive as the dark-cloaked boy to the two friends. Danny was so much more intimidating and memorable.

Sam sighed, staring at the screen with sad, violet eyes. "I miss him."

Tucker patted her back before rubbing it in a soothing gesture meant to relax her. "I do too, Sam."

"Think we'll see him anytime soon? You know, personally?"

"…I don't know."

Jazz sighed as she fell into her seat beside the bar, rubbing her face as she took her glasses off her face and setting them of the table. Her orange hair was wet and straight, having just been combed. She would've dried it but didn't feel quite up to the task. Maybe she would have Kellie play with it later and style it in some wacky way, as young girls tended to do to amuse themselves.

The woman looked up when someone placed a cup of tea down in front of her. With a smile, she thanked him and took a sip, savoring the warmth and the taste that she gathered from the sweet liquid. Setting it back down, she smiled at her husband pleasantly while he gazed at her curiously. "Yes Rob?"

"Is everything alright?" The graying-haired man asked, leaning on the counter across from Jazz. His smile was friendly and inviting, though it couldn't hide the underlying concern laid within the depths of his eyes. Robert was more than aware of Danny's sudden shift in loyalties. The news had been a hard truth for Jazz to accept but, at the same time, no it wasn't. Danny the unpredictable little rat sure could be iffy with that kind of thing. There were some things the ones Danny loved had to pray hard about so he didn't get caught up in these bad things.

Jazz hummed, her tired smile still playing on her face as she drummed her fingers against the table in front of her. "I'm doing perfectly fine, Hubby."

Robert snorted at the teasing nickname, shaking his head and letting it drop. Looking back up, his loving but knowing smile was still there while he looked at his wife expectantly. "Now, if I remember correctly, you hate the word 'fine' because of your profession. Am I wrong?"

"Nope." Jazz answered, propping her chin on one of her dainty hands. "I despise that word. That should make you blieve that everything is fine with me. Why would I use a word I hate unless I'm serious about the context I'm using it with?"

"Maybe because you're trying to use the same technique your patients use?" Robert asked, though he was sure his answer was correct. His wife had explained a lot of psychology to him over the years and he was sure he was remembering the things she said correctly. He had even read one of those 'Psychology for Dummies' books that helped beginners out. That kind of thing happened when you married someone with a major in psychology.

Jazz sighed but kept her smile still on her face, though she knew how strained it was becoming. The orange-haired woman took another gulp from the mug in front of her, savoring the taste that flooded her mouth all over again. "Yeah… I'm still finding it a little hard to believe, you know?"

Robert wisely kept to himself that he had actually been waiting for something like this to happen ever since the day Danny showed up at his house. That little troublemaker gave him the creeps even to this day. "Yeah, I know."

"You lie."

…sometimes he forgot that Jazz could see through his lies like they were nothing more than glass. It's why it was so hard to surprise her some days.

"Ok, yeah." Robert admitted, shrugging. Jazz was giving him a not amused look while she waited to hear his excuse. "But if you haven't noticed, he likes to push my buttons or creep me out. Sometimes both. I haven't gotten to know him on a level you have. Danny is much more open with you than he is the rest of us in this weird, dysfunctional family."

Jazz couldn't deny that fact. Her conversations with Danny were always long and, though he never outright said anything about his life, she was able to piece some things together about his life. She always found a new side to the boy's personality every time they saw each other, though there was some things she didn't like seeing, like how his more prominent side of his personality under all the sarcasm was nothing more than hatred he kept lugging around. The woman was always working with him on it, though he was unaware.

"I know what you mean." Jazz admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "And it's because of the knowledge of who is he that makes it hard, though I know not everything about him is good. You know, I've seen the toddler version of him once or twice when he was over. I didn't even notice until he went back to shouting out unnecessary observations and sarcastic remarks."

"It's still so hard to imagine him innocent…" Robert commented, shaking his head slowly. Looking up again, he saw his wife was glaring at him. Quickly, the man threw his hands up in a defensive way, saying "What?!"

"Really?" Jazz questioned. The drumming of her fingers suddenly sounded more defined and ominous. "Really, Rob?"

"I'm just saying!" Robert defended. "You saw him when he was little! I've only seen a couple of pictures! My mental image of him as a kid is always laughing sinisterly, tapping his fingers together before he chucks a bomb at someone!"

Jazz stared at her husband with one of her looks. The drumming of her fingers was becoming ever more pointed and dangerous with each passing sentence. "You know, if I were anyone else, you would be on your way to Arkham Asylum, correct? That kind of image of a child points to paranoia."

"Come on, Babe…" Robert started nervously, eyes shifting in every direction. "You know you love me."

"Pushing it."

Robert clasped his hands in front of him and, with a pleading look, said "Please don't divorce me, oh wonderful wife."

Jazz snorted and leaned back in her chair. The two perked when a bunch of giggles sounded from the stairwell, quickly followed by the two children of the house. The kids raced out of the stairwell and down the hall. Levi was chasing Kellie around with soapy hands, stray bubbles flying off his hands and landing on the floor before all the bubbles popped and left a wet spot across the floor.

Jazz turned to her husband, pointing at the two. "What were they doing up there?!"

Robert shrugged, not understanding how Levi's hands were suddenly covered in soap and bubbles.

Kellie quickly raced to her mother and crawled in her lap, her black hair falling in her face while she giggled. The girl threw her arms around the woman's neck, not noticing the smile on Jazz's face. "Mommy's base, Levi!"

"Excuse me? I'm what now?"

Levi stopped in front of his mother, not daring to try and crawl after his sister with his wet hands. He whined, though giggles broke through every couple of seconds.

Robert, with a smirk, walked up behind Levi and picked him up. "Alright, how 'bout we get your hands all washed off?"

"But I'm chasing Kellie!"

"And getting the carpet wet."

Levi looked at the trail of water spots behind him, staring at them with guilty, wide eyes. He smiled and laughed when his father picked him up, carrying him to the kitchen sink to wash all the soap off and dry his hands afterwards.

Kellie looked at her mother expectantly. "Mommy, when's Uncle Danny coming over next?"

Jazz's smile instantly became strained again while Robert perked to hear her answer."Uh, I'm not sure, Kellie. It might be awhile though. Uncle Danny's doing things right now."

"Like what?" The black-haired girl asked.

Jazz scrambled to think of an answer that wouldn't upset her child. "Well… He's working for someone and making them money. It's a very long job and he hardly ever gets off."

"Aw~." Kellie whined.

Robert looked at his wife suspiciously. All Jazz had bothered to tell him about Danny's current situation was that he was doing less than legal activities again that were outside of the occasional 'clubbing', stealing, and underage drinking. What those activities were, he was unsure. Jazz had told him that she knew but didn't want him to know, simply for the fact Danny had always worked with strange people in a strange business. Robert couldn't figure out what that meant.

"I feel the same way." Jazz said to her daughter uneasily, brushing the hair out of her face.

Vlad Masters sighed as he rubbed his temples, watching the officers leave the office of his building. They had been there all morning and, even though Vlad had a pretty good idea of who was in his office, he left them to do their job. The case would undoubtedly go unsolved, since everything was still in the office and there were no finger-prints anywhere. Whoever tried ransacking it obviously had gloves on.

Once the detectives and officers were out of his office, Vlad waltzed over to his desk, fell in the chair, and began going through his drawers. The papers he had had in them were all scattered and messy. The paperwork had been recently sorted too, which angered the billionaire to no end.

If they had to go through his things, couldn't they at least put the paperwork back where it originally belonged?

Vlad sarcastically answered himself, thinking: No-o-o, of course not. That would be too hard for a bunch of thieves in a hurry.

The white-haired billionaire began the painfully long process of digging all the paperwork out of the drawers, spreading them out across the desk in front of him. Vlad found the process of sorting was just as irritating as the first time he had done it. Actually, it was much more frustrating than the first time.

While separating the sheets, Vlad wondered, not for the first time, how to kill the pest always buzzing around his head. Nothing that involved him staying out of jail came to mind though. No matter how he looked at it, the other always had that one thing hanging over his head. One day, Vlad was sure it was going to come out. It was just a matter of how long he could postpone it.

There was a knock on the door and an innocent "Mr. Masters, may I come in?"

Vlad set the papers in his hands down on the desk. "Yes Delia. Come on in."

A young brunette carefully opened one of the doors while quietly closing it behind her. With a few folders in hand, she walked over to stand in front of his desk, adjusting the glasses on her face. "Good morning. Are we going to run through the day like usual or would you want me to do something else?"

Vlad gestured for the girl, Delia, to continue with their usual, daily routine, even though the beginning of the day had been anything but normal.

Bruce started with blank blue eyes at the laptop screen in front of him; his brain didn't register the emails filling his work email up. One arm was propped on the arm of his chair, his head resting on his hand. The billionaire used his foot to rock himself back and forth; unaware he was doing the action at all. He stirred when the intercom on his phone went on, grabbing his attention instantly.

"Mr. Wayne, Damian is here. Can I send him in?"

Bruce reached out and tapped one of the buttons. "Go ahead, Stacy. I'm not doing anything important." I'm not doing anything at all.

"Ok."

The door opened a second later and Damian walked in with a backpack over his shoulder, a blank expression on his face. He closed the door behind and greeted "Father."

"Hello Damian. How was school?" Bruce asked, choosing to ignore how his emails were steadily growing to ridiculous numbers. He'd work on them later but chatting with his son seemed much more interesting at the time.

Damian shrugged, setting the backpack down on one of the sofas and walking over to stand beside Bruce as he swiveled his chair around to face him. Leaning against the desk, Damian said "It was school. What else do you need to know about it?"

"I ask because I want to see if you had a good day." Bruce stated, a small smile starting to grace his face.

Damian scoffed. "The day that happens is the day the Joker becomes sane."

"So never?"

"Exactly."

Bruce snorted, shaking his head at his son. Damian rolled his eyes at the older's response before refocusing on his face. "Has any more news on the rogue appeared? I didn't have time to look today."

The Dark Knight nodded, grin easily turning into a frown as he turned his chair towards his computer. "Not surprisingly, yes… Last night, he and one of the teams hit one of Vlad Masters DALV Corp buildings. All security guards were wounded. For the first time since Danny's cutting of ties, the entire team was caught on video-tape." As he finished the small debrief, Bruce brought up the news footage of the heist.

Damian watched with a frown of his own. "…he's wearing a black cloak this time. And his wolf mask is back. Has he already been raised to another rank, if that is what the cloaks symbolize?"

"It's possible." Bruce stated, shrugging. "But we can't be sure."

The ten-year-old crossed his arms over his chest. "I do not like this."

"Neither do I, Damian." Bruce stated, clamping the boy on the shoulder. "Neither do I."

I hated writing this chapter because I was looking forward to tomorrow's so much. Now, next chapter, we're also going to begin wrapping this story up. The end game is pretty much starting. Yeah!

I'M-A WRITING THE EPILOGUE TODAY. I'M-A SO HAPPY.

Thanks to these people for favoriting/following me: Emmarocks12469.

Reviews:

Poohbearmorris: YEAH, IT'S GONNA BE FRIGGIN AWESOME! I CAN'T WAIT! XD Awesome! Almost there, my friend!

KuriMaster13: Oh, just a little on the first two points. And you're the only one, you were just the first. ...then again, not many people rooted for him either...somewhere around, like, four out of twenty reviewers or something, you included. Yeah, heartless sounds about right.

Anime Hotty Lover. 18: Yeah, I can't wait! And that sounds like fun! ;D I shall update! No worries!

Jessica Jayme Bell: Oh my gosh, I'm super excited for comic con. Can't wait. XD No, it's entirely sleep-walking for no real reason. My sister used to do it all the time. XD

Eirena Gaia: XD My friend is awesome. And so are you! *thumbs up* Aw, you'll probably do fine~! Don't worry about it!

Jaybird Blu: I shall! :D

SomeItalian: I can't wait for comic con... XD And yeah, I got it but I'm only allowed to use it to contact my friend in another state. That's it. *shrugs*

Sarra Torrens: Danke!

Karen: Or he's simply terrified of Batsy whooping his butt. XD

Roselin: Yup. That's Danny for ya! :D And that would be part of their fight.

Oblitus Angeli: Danke~! And, whenever you get a costume, I bet it'll look awesome. :D Aw, glad you thought so because you're right. There is no logic in that. People do weird things when their psyche is messed with. XD ...what new ship?

BringbackDannyPhantom: They would never be forgotten! XD Yeah, Danny's an idiot sometimes... As for your question, we shall find out soon enough. :D

Popcornbubbles77: Aw, you too! :D Glad you love criminal Danny as well! Yeah, King kind of blows it, doesn't he? King knows something but we'll have to find out later... :D *laughs* Awkward indeed!

SweetyKinz: Hehe~! My sister used to sleepwalk. That conversation with the job thing? That happened to me with my sister. XD Night is creepy... And fantastic. GLAD YOU ENJOY MILO. Wow, you just summed that conversation down really fast. XD Omega Team is just another random team.

16ckelman: Hehehehe~! That would be a Danny-thing, wouldn't it? XD

Ninuhuju: Yeah psychological stuff! :D

Pegasus Sword Master: ...I have to look up who that character is now... I shall!