Danny woke up slowly. This haziness. It was familiar. But why? Danny then fought against the fog as he realised he'd been sedated. This was how he woke up every day with the Guys in White. He instantly opened his eyes and yanked his wrists up. The room wasn't blindingly bright and his arms were free. Still half-sedated, Danny sat up and scanned the room.

"Danny? It's alright. You're in the cave. In the medical facility," Black Canary soothed the teen seeing that he'd believed himself back at the lab again and was scared. Her words were muffled to Danny but he spotted her. He breathed a sigh of relief. Black Canary. He could trust her. If she was here, he was safe.

Danny frowned. If he was at the cave… why did he feel like this?

"Danny a ghost attacked you. You were too scared to hear me. I had to stop you so I sedated you," Black Canary explained, reading Danny's confusion. Danny blinked at her and then recalled what happened before he thought he'd been caught by the Guys in White again.

"Skulker," he croaked. Black Canary blinked in confusion and then jumped to her feet as Danny got to his feet and stumbled. She realised then that the drug hadn't worn off as much as she had believed. Danny was still in the process of waking up from his drugged nap.

"Danny, you have to stop. If you try to walk around before the sedative has worn off, you might hurt yourself," Black Canary reasoned. Danny pushed her away and staggered towards the door.

"Danny!" Black Canary called with concern. Danny fell into the wall and managed to open the door.

"I… I have to find him. Might hurt… someone," Danny mumbled blearily.

"The ghost ran away," Black Canary informed him, realising what Danny was trying to do. Danny shook his head.

"No. Skulker… he's a hunter. Didn't run. He retreated," Danny retorted as he fought against the fog in his mind. Black Canary blinked in surprise.

"You can't fight anyone like this," Black Canary argued. Danny pushed himself away from the door and stumbled into the corridor outside.

"Danny, please stop," Black Canary requested, she didn't want to resort to physically stopping him if she could help it. Danny shook his head.

"I can't. He'll be back," Danny muttered as he used the wall to hold himself up as he walked.

Black Canary followed Danny and tried to talk some sense in the half-sedated and confused teen. But Danny didn't seem to be listening. He continued to stumble along using the wall as a support. Conner, using his enhanced hearing, heard Black Canary calling to Danny and alerted the others. They ran out of the kitchen to see Danny struggling to walk down the corridor. Kaldur turned to Black Canary for an explanation.

"Help me stop him. He's trying to go after that ghost I think. He's not fully awake yet," Black Canary requested. Kaldur nodded and stepped into Danny's path.

"Danny, please stop. The ghost fled. It's gone," Kaldur assured the boy.

Danny shook his head and tried to go around Kaldur but as he wasn't fully conscious, it was easy for Kaldur to keep Danny from moving past him.

"Skulker will be back," Danny muttered.

"And you're going to fight him? Mate you can't even stand," Wally pointed out.

"Please, at least wait until the sedative has worn off," M'gann pleaded.

"Besides, we have your thermos," Robin added. Danny slumped against the wall in defeat.

"Alright," Danny relented. Kaldur supported Danny as they returned to the kitchen together.

Danny fell into a seat and closed his eyes as the fog lifted.

"What do you remember from the ghost attack?" Black Canary prompted, secretly hoping that in his drugged confusion he might open up a little about what he'd been through.

"Um, my ghost sense went off. I sent Gar to get my thermos. And… then Kaldur tried to help. Skulker shot a net at me and caught me," Danny recalled. Black Canary felt the air cool.

"I… I panicked. I-I-I tried to fight it… but… I'd rather not talk about it," Danny concluded. Black Canary deflated. He still wouldn't talk about his ordeal. But she could surmise that he'd flashed back to the lab.

"Alright Danny. Maybe you can tell us more about that ghost," Artemis suggested. Danny nodded and the air warmed back up again.

"Skulker is a hunter. Self-proclaimed as the Ghost Zone's best. He's been hunting me for years," Danny began, the fog was almost gone by now.

"Hunting you!" Raquel squeaked in alarm. Danny chuckled.

"Relax. Usually I can fight him off. I just couldn't this time because…" Danny trailed off, but the others understood. Danny hadn't been able to due to his panic attack.

"But he doesn't give up on a hunt after one failed attempt. He'll know I'm off my game. He'll be back," Danny resumed after a brief pause.

Now recovered, Danny frowned and looked to the team.

"How did you guys scare him off though? Skulker doesn't give up easily, especially as I was already out of the picture," Danny asked.

"I attacked him as a gorilla when he wasn't looking," Garfield answered. Danny burst out laughing. The team blinked in surprise.

"What's funny?" Zatanna inquired. Danny took a deep breath.

"Oh, it's kind of a private joke. But when Skulker first tried to catch me I was trying to bring up my grade in school. So Sam convinced me and Tuck to watch a purple back gorilla. Skulker tried to use Sampson, now Delilah, to trap me. I figured out what he was up to and tricked him instead. But Delilah practically ripped him apart," Danny explained.

"Ripped him apart?" M'gann questioned with obvious concern. Danny waved a dismissive hand.

"What you saw is a suit. That wasn't what Skulker really looks like. But that incident is kind of a constant joke with Skulker, so Gar attacking him as a gorilla…" Danny concluded with an amused smirk.

The others were glad to see that Danny hadn't lost all the progress he'd made since arriving at Mount Justice. He was still talking to them and joking. It was a relief as there was a true worry that he'd regress back to the shut-in frightened teen in the medical facility.

"But Gar attacking him wouldn't have been enough," Danny prompted. Robin nodded.

"He ran when I got the thermos working. What does it do?" Robin admitted.

"And how did you get it?" Black Canary added.

"Jazz sent it. She's always nagging me to carry one at all times. The thermos catches and contains ghosts. But if you pull it out and the ghost sees it, usually they run for it. You need to get them to stay still long enough for them to get caught in the beam. It's impossible to escape once that hits," Danny answered with a knowing tone.

"You've been caught in one, haven't you?" Wally realised. Danny frowned in annoyance as he recalled the numerous times he'd been sucked inside a thermos.

"Let's just say my sister has a special kind of aim," Danny replied. The team laughed.

"It's not funny when you're stuck in there for six hours," Danny muttered, leading to even more laughter.

"Six hours!?" Conner gasped as he laughed. Danny sighed.

"We didn't know which button was the release button. Jazz had to get the schematics and my parents wouldn't leave the lab. Plus my dad isn't the best at remembering things like labels," Danny elaborated.

Danny rolled his eyes and stood up. He grabbed the thermos from Robin with ease and headed to the door.

"Now, I'm going after Skulker before he comes after me," Danny called over his shoulder. The team scrambled to their feet.

"Wait! By yourself?! No way, we're coming too," Robin retorted. Danny shrugged.

"Suit yourself but without weapons, you'll only be able to help by surprising him," Danny replied as he left the kitchen. The others ran after him. Black Canary watched them go with a sigh. She couldn't stop Danny from doing this. She just hoped that he wouldn't get caught in a net or something similar again. She didn't want to resort to drugging the teen again.

It was suggested that my author notes don't match the tone of the story and I should try a different way of writing them... so here goes.

I wanted to show that Danny has a long way to go yet on this journey of recovery but he has started.

We can see how much damage the Guys in White did to the halfa but we can still see the hero he was before his capture.

This chapter was easy to write for me, especially since I've had mornings where I've struggled to walk in a straight line for sleepiness or after a late college night (heh heh). But I wanted this to be a light chapter also, I think all the characters could have used it.

Anyway, let me know what you think will happen or what you think of what has happened.

Until the next chapter.