They arrived at a large complex just outside the city where Kid Flash was waiting in the bushes for the others. Danny had recovered from his concussion and was still in ghost form. He was a little worried that if he reverted that he mightn't have the courage to change back. They left the camouflaged Bioship and they took in the complex which had a massive green shield covering it and plenty of guards patrolling the area.
"Maybe we should wait until we have a plan and Batman's permission," Robin whispered with a worried glance to Aqualad. Interrupting a trap was one thing, but this complex looked like a fortress. Danny shook his head.
"I don't care what you guys decide, but I'm not leaving without Dani," Danny decided and was about to charge forward. His stubborn determination preventing any overwhelming fear from surfacing. Aqualad grabbed the half-ghost's wrist and shivered at the sudden wave of cold. But somehow, the Atlantean knew it wasn't cold because Danny was scared.
"No, that's too dangerous. Besides you can't get past that shield-" Aqualad began to reason. Danny ripped his wrist out of Aqualad's grip.
"Actually I can. I have a few tricks up my sleeve Kaldur. Now I'm in ghost mode, I can do a lot of things. I'm still confident in those," Danny argued.
"Then why didn't you use those tricks earlier?" Artemis hissed. Danny looked at Artemis.
"Because that shield came out of nowhere. I had no time to react and because my tricks wouldn't have helped me catch up to Dani," Danny reasoned.
Aqualad considered the halfa.
"This is the Guys in White Danny. Are you sure you can do this?" Aqualad asked. Danny bit his lip before hardening his expression into one of determination and stubbornness.
"I can for Dani. I can't abandon her," Danny answered. Although not happy, Aqualad nodded.
"You'll listen to me this time?" Aqualad inquired. Danny shrugged. Aqualad sighed, it was the best he was going to get and he knew it.
"Alright. Robin, take Artemis and M'gann and get into the security. Locate Danielle," Aqualad ordered. Robin nodded and the trio disappeared into the gloom. Aqualad turned to the others.
"Gar stay out here with Zatanna and Wally. You three are going to keep our path clear once we get out. We might have to fight our way out," Aqualad continued. The second trio nodded.
"Raquel, Conner, Danny. We're going to save Danielle," Aqualad concluded. They all nodded.
"Remember, use the mind link," Aqualad added. And with that the group of four crept around the trees to get closer before running for the building.
They found a quiet spot to sneak inside and ran through the shield, except for Danny. He paused.
"Come on. I thought you said you can do this," Conner called over the mind link. Danny took a deep breath and changed to Fenton, surprising the others, and stepped through the shield. He then took another steadying breath and changed back, pushing down the worries and memories that rushed to his mind. He knew he would regret repressing all these feelings and memories once this was over, but Danielle came first. Danny nodded to the others.
"I can do this," Danny replied. Aqualad nodded and lead the way to a door. He tried it but found it locked.
"Hold on Kaldur. I got it. We're in the control room now," Robin informed the leader. A soft beep alerted to the gathered heroes that the door had unlocked itself. With one last cautionary glance at Danny, Aqualad led the way inside the complex.
"Which way Robin?" Aqualad asked.
"Go straight. They've taken her straight to a lab on the first basement. There's a lift and stairs coming on up your right," Robin informed them. The group crept down the corridor.
"Man this feels just like when we saved you Danny," Rocket commented, glacing at the halfa with a smirk.
"Yeah, it was even us in this group," Superboy added.
"Can we please just focus on getting to Dani," Danny requested. Aqualad glanced at the halfa. His jaw was set and he looked tense and once Aqualad focused on the air around him, it did feel a little cold. Danny was scared but he was pushing through. Aqualad turned back to the direction he was heading with a slight smirk. He was impressed by the teen and knew that the halfa cared for his clone deeply.
They jogged down the stairs and after confirmation from Robin over the mind link, they entered the first basement corridor. Robin directed them towards the lab Danielle had been taken to.
"Before you guys go in there, there's a lot of guards and scientists. Be careful," Robin warned as they gathered around the door. Aqualad paused and glanced at his small team.
"Conner, you go straight to Danielle and free her. Carry her if you have to, we'll cover you. Raquel, the moment we're in there, take to the air and cover Conner and the rest of us. Danny, you and I are going to protect Conner and clear a path. Think you can handle that?" Aqualad decided. The three teens nodded.
"I'll be fine Kaldur. Focus on Dani," Danny replied stiffly. The air was cold to all three teens despite Danny trying his best to repress his fear.
Aqualad gave a curt nod and threw the door open. They rushed inside. At first no one noticed but then the guards pulled up their guns and began to fire. Rocket lifted herself in the air and Superboy charged straight to Danielle who was bound to an experimentation table with a scientist leering over her. Danny froze at the sight of the scientist. It was the sick scientist that had experimented on him. The overwhelming fear he'd been fighting the entire time took over. Danielle turned her frightened eyes away from the scientist and saw her rescuers.
"Danny!" Danielle shouted, pulling him out of a number of terrifying flashbacks. He pushed the fear down and regained himself. Aqualad was already fighting the guards who were turning their weapons to the traumatised halfa.
Danny shook his head and set his jaw again. He forced himself to stop his shaking knees and ran forward. Danny didn't pay attention to what he was doing. Instinct and experience took over for him and he fought the guards with his original confidence and strength. Gradually he and Conner made it to Danielle and the scientist that had been watching with intrigue.
"Release her!" Superboy commanded. He didn't want to fight the man, the scientist wouldn't be strong enough to fight the heroes.
"Why would I do that? We're going to work together to further our understanding of ghosts. Isn't that right?" the scientist replied and gave Danny a knowing smile. Danny scowled at the scientist but said nothing. Weeks of remaining quiet in this man's presence was a hard habit to break after what he'd endured to get to that point.
Conner blinked in shock and gave a slight glance at Danny. He caught the tension present and immediately understood. This scientist had "worked" with Danny. Anger flooded through Conner and at that moment he didn't care that this man wasn't carrying a weapon. This scientist deserved to be punished. Conner would just have to be careful not to punch too hard and accidently kill the guy.
The moment Superboy attacked the scientist and pushed the man away from Danny and Danielle, Danny chanced moving near Danielle.
"Danny! How did you know?" Danielle asked. Danny forced a strained smile on his face in an effort to comfort his clone. He didn't want to talk right now. It was taking an unbelievable amount of willpower to keep his terror under control. Danny examined the bonds around Danielle's wrists and ankles. They hadn't gagged her for some reason, possibly to enable them to interrogate her. That was the first thing they did to him. The bonds were designed to hold a ghost in place. But that didn't stop another ghost from touching or breaking them. He grabbed the cuff around Danielle's nearest wrist and with a display of his ghostly strength he cracked the metal and pulled it away. He repeated the action on Danielle's other wrist and then they worked together to free her ankles.
Danny helped her off the table and scanned the room. He'd unknowingly closed his terror filled mind off from the mind link and hadn't gotten any of Robin's updates, but he didn't need them to see they were in trouble. Guards were flooding the lab, guns in their hands and pointing at the teens fighting to save Danielle.
"Make sure to recapture the ghosts!" one guard shouted to his team.
Yeah… Danny's struggling. But you can't really blame him.
Will the team get out with both halfas?
Until the next chapter.
