Danny and Kid Flash led the way through the complex to the exit Robin found for them. Kid Flash being their ears and Danny being their eyes. However as they walked his ghost sense went off. He paused and looked to the door beside him.
"What's wrong sweetie?" Maddie asked, forgetting that he couldn't hear her.
"Rob, what's in the room next to me?" Danny inquired.
"Hold on. Raquel, take your next left and wait for a sec. Okay, Danny. Er… lab. With creatures?" Robin answered. Danny scowled.
"Danny, what's wrong?" Kid Flash prompted.
"Ghosts," Danny growled and kicked open the door.
"Danny!?" Kid Flash exclaimed. Danny took in the room and saw a dozen low level ghosts in cramped cages.
"Wally, be my ears. Really don't want these guys to know I have a weakness," Danny ordered. Kid Flash blinked in surprise and nodded.
"Ghost boy?!" a few of the ghosts called in disbelief. Kid Flash repeated what the ghosts said over the mind link.
"That's right. I've got a deal for you," Danny replied. The ghosts stared at him as he walked confidently over to the cages and scanned the locks.
"How 'bout getting some pay back on the Guys in White?" Danny suggested. The ghosts grinned.
"Sounds good halfa. What's in it for you though?" one of the ghosts retorted and Kid Flash repeated it over the mind link. Danny shrugged.
"I don't know. A distraction while I get out of here. The happy feeling that you lot won't get ripped apart. Maybe having a bunch of ghosts that owe me one. Take your pick," Danny answered. The ghosts shared looks and then turned to him.
"Look kid, the door's lined with ecto-ranium. How are you going to get it open?" another ghost inquired and Kid Flash relayed the question. Danny raised an eyebrow.
"You're doubting me. I seem to remember a lot of ghosts saying it was impossible to beat Pariah Dark," Danny commented. The ghosts nodded, conceding the point.
Danny charged his hand with energy.
"Back up. I'll try this first," Danny warned. The ghosts complied and Danny fired. The energy hit the lock and fried it but also sent sparks back into the cage, hitting the ghost inside. The ghost yelped and glared at Danny. Danny glared right back and nodded encouragingly. The ghost pushed the door and it swung open.
"Alright then. Attack me or my friends and you'll wish you were in Walker's prison. Only the Guys in White and the people that look like ninjas. Understood?" Danny told the ghosts.
"Understood," the ghosts chorused and Kid Flash informed Danny of their agreement. Danny then blasted the rest of the cages.
The ghosts surged out of the room together.
"Heads up. You're about to get some ghostly back up. If they start to attack you, tell them you're Phantom's friend. Should stop them," Danny announced over the mind link.
"How did you manage that?!" Artemis asked.
"Easy really. I made a deal. Freedom and a chance for pay back, for safe passage and maybe a little respect," Danny answered. He turned to Kid Flash.
"Thanks. I really didn't want them to know I'm practically deaf. I'd never hear the end of it," Danny remarked with a small smirk. Kid Flash grinned.
"Hey, you got us some extra back up. Besides it wasn't a big deal," Kid Flash replied, forgetting that Danny couldn't hear for a moment. Danny frowned in confusion and tapped his ear. Kid Flash groaned and repeated himself over the mind link. Danny nodded.
"We should keep going," Danny told the group.
Danny's loved ones watched Danny with surprise but said nothing. It didn't take long before they reached the fire door Robin directed them to.
"I'm sorry. But how do you know where you're going?" Jack inquired. Danny frowned in irritation, getting annoyed at being unable to hear everyone unless they shouted. He didn't like taking over the mind link just to talk to his family and friends. The team needed the mind link for the mission. So Danny let Kid Flash take over the conversation and closed his eyes and focused completely on his duplicate. It wasn't doing too well. The fight had gotten even more vicious. The ghosts arrived to even up the numbers but a good number of Guys in White agents had arrived too. He was barely holding on to his duplicate. Artemis was running out of arrows and Aqualad was starting to tire. Superboy was still going strong but without the others he'd easily be overwhelmed.
Kid Flash glanced at Danny before turning to his loved ones.
"We have a telepath on the team. She linked us all up telepathically. That's how I've been talking to Danny even though he's deaf. One of our team is in the control room and he's co-ordinating everyone," Kid Flash answered. The adults nodded in understanding to the speedster before noticing their son.
"Danny?" Maddie called worriedly.
"Hang on," Kid Flash interjected.
"Danny, is something up?" Kid Flash inquired. Danny shook his head without opening his eyes.
"Just focusing on my duplicate. Is it important?" Danny replied.
"No. I think your parents are just worried, that's all," Kid Flash informed him. He turned to Maddie.
"He's fine. Just focusing on his duplicate," Kid Flash relayed.
"He's still got that duplicate going?!" Tucker exclaimed. Kid Flash nodded.
"I guess," Kid Flash replied.
"But how? If he can't hear and he's here, how is he controlling it?" Sam asked.
"Members of my team have been giving him warnings over the mind link the whole time. He wanted to keep it going to give them a better chance against those guards," Kid Flash explained.
"Danny can duplicate his form!?" Jack exclaimed. Jazz, Sam and Tucker nodded.
"Yeah, took him ages to figure it out," Tucker answered.
"So, he had to learn to duplicate. It wasn't like his ghost ray and wail and so on," Kid Flash realised out. Sam and Tucker shook their heads.
"No. If only. He was practicing for months," Sam confirmed.
"Yeah, remember that time he tried to duplicate and ended up with two heads?" Tucker recalled with a smirk.
"How could I forget? And then the cyclops eye when he reverted without merging back together," Sam retorted. Tucker chuckled.
"I'm still surprise Danny never got me back for hitting him," Tucker remarked.
"Probably didn't bother since it fixed the problem," Sam mentioned. Tucker hummed in agreement.
"That's amazing! What else can he do?!" Jack boomed excitedly.
"Dad, maybe we should keep it down," Jazz interjected. Kid Flash blinked before he blushed.
"Yeah. This can wait," Kid Flash agreed with regret, despite his interest in what Danny could do. Danny suddenly gasped and held his head and opened bleary eyes.
"Ow," he muttered. Everyone turned to him.
"Danny?! What's wrong?!" Maddie exclaimed, rushing to her son's side. Danny blinked and shook his head.
"Uh, I'm fine. Duplicate just failed. Since most of my focus was on it, it was a shock. Headache," Danny explained and rubbed his temple as a splitting headache came on.
"You sure?" Kid Flash asked. Danny scowled at him and tapped his ear. Kid Flash rolled his eyes.
"You sure?" Kid Flash repeated telepathically. Danny nodded.
"Like I said, it's because I was focusing on it so much. Usually my focus is split evenly and it doesn't hurt or anything when it's destroyed. I lose energy, but that's it. But it wasn't 50:50 this time. It was more 25:75. So I was more linked and in tune," Danny explained and noticed the number of confused faces. He smirked.
"It's nothing. Just a headache," Danny concluded.
Maddie backed away from her son but kept a close eye on him.
"But that'll clear up the mind link a lot," Danny remarked. Kid Flash nodded in agreement.
"Wally, Danny. Ready to go?" Robin asked.
"Yep. Give the word," Kid Flash answered.
"Zatanna, M'gann, Raquel. You ready with Icon and Plastic Man?" Robin inquired.
"Yeah Rob," Zatanna confirmed.
"Alright. Artemis, Kaldur, Conner be ready. Now!" Robin announced. Danny and Kid Flash pushed open the doors.
"Go," Kid Flash ordered Danny's loved ones as the fire alarm began and the sprinklers activated. They blinked in surprise and ran out into the weak afternoon sunlight. Danny jumped into the air and Kid Flash ran with the others.
Not a very exciting chapter I'll admit but we did get to see Danny freeing some ghostly captives.
Also Danny's loved ones, but more so his parents, are learning about what Danny is capable of.
But will everyone get back to the Bioship without any issues?
Until the next chapter.
