After he got caught training by himself, Black Canary had decided that Danny had to be supervised when he trained. It irritated the halfa completely. The other teens had told the heroine everything they learned about Danny. Black Canary tried to comfort Danny and give him support but Danny hated being treated like glass. He nearly wanted to change to Phantom and make duplicates so he could escape for a while. But he couldn't. Changing into Phantom brought bad memories. This continued for a week.
That weekend, the team were sent on a mission, leaving Garfield and Danny in the cave alone with Black Canary for a private training session. Garfield had improved his abilities. He still hadn't thought of a name for his new self but he'd had plenty of suggestions, most were jokes from Wally though. But now the boy could shape shift into a bird and a crocodile and an elephant. He'd practiced these animals on purpose. He'd always been intrigued by flying and he wanted a form for the water. And who wouldn't want to be an elephant. Although Danny had started a running joke of "avoiding the elephant in the room" that Wally needed no encouragement to join in on.
Danny had been training his powers too but he wasn't progressing as much as Garfield. He was gaining confidence in his ghost ray again though. He had problems with his intensity but the aim usually was right now at least. His nervousness had gotten a lot better too. He only got frightened by obvious displays of anger now. Frowns and scowls rarely scared him. But Danny suspected that it was only because he was getting used to the people he was interacting with. He needed to meet a new person to test out if his regained confidence was complete or only with residents of the cave.
But Danny was starting to think that maybe he might be close to being ready to talk to Black Canary. Part of him wanted to avoid that talk like the plague. But another part of him knew he had talk about it all or it would haunt him forever. His nightmares were still vivid and nightly. But he was getting accustomed to the lack of sleep by now. He mightn't be all that fun first thing in the morning or in the evenings, but he could handle it despite what the almost permanent bags under his eyes said.
Danny was sitting in the kitchen with Wolf and Garfield that evening. He was dozing with Wolf on the couch beside him. Garfield wanted to wait up for the team and had convinced Danny to stay up with him. The boy was channel flicking, he hadn't seen a decent show for the last ten minutes to stick with. Wolf's ears pricked up and he ran out of the room, startling Danny awake. Garfield grinned and flipped over the back of the couch with the grace of a monkey.
"The team must be back," Garfield exclaimed.
"Great, now you might let me get some sleep," Danny replied as he settled back into his comfortable seat.
"Last time I listen to you. I don't get enough sleep as it is," Danny mumbled to himself. Garfield wasn't paying attention to Danny though.
Garfield ran after Wolf in to the hanger and greeted the team as they disembarked the Bioship.
"How was the mission?!" Garfield called while Wolf scampered over to Superboy. M'gann giggled at her newly adopted brother, Batman handled the paperwork for them.
"Fine, where's Danny?" Kaldur answered seriously. Garfield blinked in surprise.
"In the kitchen. I convinced him to wait up for you guys with me. But he's probably fallen asleep. Why do you guys want him? Did something happen on the mission?" Garfield answered. The mission had been to gather intel on the Guys in White in the hopes of getting them shut down another way than revealing what happened to Danny. Enough time had passed for a covert team to have a chance of infiltrating and Batman had decided that Danny wasn't going to change his mind.
Robin and Kaldur left the hanger and headed to the kitchen.
"What happened?" Garfield repeated. M'gann shook her head.
"It's nothing to worry about Gar. Robin just found out that the Guys in White are still after Danny," M'gann informed him.
"They have a trap set for him," Artemis added while she checked over her bow and did a quick arrow inventory. It was something she did after every mission, even if she didn't fire an arrow.
"But, Danny isn't going to leave the cave right? So how is a trap going to work?" Garfield pointed out. The team shrugged.
"We're not so sure that Danny hasn't been leaving the cave," Conner mentioned, glanicng up from giving his pet a belly rub.
Robin and Kaldur marched into the kitchen and saw Danny on the couch. He did look tired and was asleep. Both teens knew that Danny didn't get enough sleep and felt guilty about having to wake the halfa. Robin edged closer, unsure how Danny would react to getting woken up. Robin frowned as he saw Danny's face twitching in his sleep into a frightened and pained expression. Robin gently shook Danny's shoulder.
"Danny? Danny? We need to talk to you. Danny?" Robin called. Danny's eyes snapped open and he frantically swept his gaze around the room before calming down.
"You okay?" Robin asked. Danny rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Fell asleep for a minute there. Everything okay with you?" Danny answered with a deep sigh.
Kaldur stepped forward.
"We have a couple of questions. Have you left the cave at all?" Kaldur asked. Danny blinked in surprise.
"No. Well, unless you count taking a walk into the woods. I'm not even keyed into the Zeta tubes. Batman thought it best that there be no electronic proof that I'm here," Danny informed them. Robin and Kaldur shared confused looks.
"Do you know what an ecto-signature is?" Robin inquired. Danny raised an eyebrow and nodded.
"Of course I do. My parents have been talking about those since before I can remember. I know that they're unique to a ghost. Like a ghost energy fingerprint. Why are you asking me these weird questions?" Danny answered.
"Because when I hacked into the Guys in White database, they tracked your ecto-signature to a number of places," Robin revealed, ignoring Danny's involuntary flinch at the name of his captors. Most of the team refrained from using the name. Robin felt guilty but he knew someone was lying and data didn't lie. Danny shook his head.
"I haven't left the cave. Besides, my ecto-signature isn't always easy to pick up when I'm human. Wide radar machines don't pick it up. Specific ones can and have done in the past. But my ecto-signature is a lot stronger when I'm Phantom. And I haven't been Phantom since… well I haven't been Phantom in a while," Danny explained.
"But… ecto-signatures are unique and the Guys in White have yours on file after they-er got a sample," Robin commented carefully. Danny frowned.
"Can I see the data for myself?" Danny requested. Kaldur and Robin shrugged to each other. Robin brought it up on his gauntlet and showed it to the halfa. Danny scanned the report, not understanding most of the data but got the gist of it. He frowned to himself.
"I don't understand. That is my ecto-signature. But I haven't left the cave. And the equipment they used would only work if I was Phantom. But I haven't been- oh no. I haven't but that doesn't mean… Why did you confront me on this?" Danny muttered, turning to the two boys questioning him.
Kaldur and Robin frowned in confusion at Danny's sudden change in attitude. He looked worried, almost panicked.
"We were going to warn you to stay in the cave. There's a trap set up for you," Kaldur answered. Danny shook his head.
"Not for me. For my cousin. We have to get there. You know where it is right?" Danny retorted. Robin nodded uncertainly. Danny got up and marched to the hanger.
"Wait, where are you going?!" Robin shouted after him.
"To save my cousin. I'm not going to let those monsters hurt her," Danny replied with conviction.
Any guesses who Danny means?
Will they get there in time? How will Danny react to the trap?
Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.
Until the next chapter.
