Conner, Zatanna and M'gann walked into the kitchen after school. Danielle was already there struggling through an assignment left for her to do by Red Tornado.
"Hey, Dani. What're you doing?" Zatanna greeted the girl. Danielle looked up and blew a strand of black hair out of her eyes angrily.
"Trying to do this stupid homework. I can't figure it out. I blame Danny. I told him I don't do school!" she growled, frustrated. Conner and Zatanna shared confused looks as M'gann started to make a pot of tea.
"Hey, what happened to the sugar?" she asked, noticing the damaged pack.
"Probably Danny. He's been trying to get his telekinesis right," Danielle answered before throwing her pencil angrily on the table.
"Why don't you ask RT or Danny for help?" Conner inquired, looking at the page himself to see what was wrong.
"RT's busy. Some kind of meeting or whatever. And I don't want to disturb Danny when he's trying to train. Besides, I'm not asking him to help me," Danielle answered with a stubborn scowl. Zatanna rolled her eyes.
"Dani, if you're having trouble you should ask for help. If you want, we could take a look," Zatanna offered. Danielle sighed and looked at Zatanna gratefully.
"Please," she relented. Zatanna smiled and sat down beside the girl and began to explain where she was going wrong on the maths problem.
M'gann set the pot of tea on the table and handed them a cup each. Garfield walked in with Cujo, looking tousled and worn out.
"Never let Cujo see a squirrel. Danny wasn't kidding when he said Cujo's strong," Garfield announced to the room before untying Cujo's makeshift lead. The green dog sniffed the air before running over to Danielle and jumping on to her lap.
"Hi to you too Gar," M'gann giggled. The furry boy smiled and sat down beside her.
"Hey, how was school?" Garfield amended his greeting.
"Dull," Conner replied.
"School's school you know," Zatanna answered before nodding to Danielle as she worked out the sum.
"Oh! So that's where I was going wrong. Thanks Zee. But I still blame Danny," Danielle thanked Zatanna causing the teens to laugh.
"Where is Danny anyway?" Garfield asked after his own chuckling abated. Danielle gathered her things and shrugged.
"Last I heard, he was in his room trying to use his telekinesis properly," Danielle answered. Garfield nodded.
"Should we go and get him?" Garfield suggested.
"I don't know. What if we cause him to get hurt because we interrupt him," Conner interjected.
"I doubt you'd do that. Ghost telekinesis is about concentrating and using our own energy to manipulate objects. At least that was how Danny explained it. Most we'd do by interrupting him is make a mess and maybe annoy him," Danielle replied.
"So let's go," Garfield decided.
Danielle followed the green boy with Cujo running after them. The teens glanced at each other before shrugging and chasing after them. Danielle propped her school stuff under one arm and knocked on the door mockingly before opening the door. The teens caught up to them and frowned as they saw the room was unoccupied.
"Huh? Could have sworn he was in here. He was practicing his telekinesis," Danielle muttered and gestured to the number of things still scattered around the room on the ground.
"Maybe he tried to practice his teleporting instead. You know as a break," Garfield suggested.
"Maybe, but Danny prefers to do that outside in case he teleports into a wall by accident and he likes to have someone around in case he hurts himself," Danielle reminded them.
The group of five shared concerned looks as Cujo sniffed the nearest thing on the ground, the thermos. He glanced at Danielle and saw that she looked worried. The green dog then sniffed the room again and then ran out of the room following the scent. His barking drew their attention and they chased after him, shouting to the deaf dog to stop.
Cujo ran through the cave and phased through a closed door.
"What is that dog doing here!?" a male voice shouted in alarm.
"Cujo!?" Danny exclaimed. The group stopped and blinked in surprise.
"Isn't that where RT had that meeting?" Garfield asked Danielle. She nodded and scowled suspiciously at the door before pushing it open. The room was in disarray. The Justice League members had jumped to their feet and Cujo was growling protectively at them in his adult form. Danny blinked in confusion at the dog before getting to his feet.
"Hold your fire. Sorry," Danny called to the Leaguers. He stepped in front of the dog and the monstrous dog looked at him. Danny smiled and rubbed the dog's chest. The dog's growling stopped and he began to pant happily and wag his flaming tail. The dog flopped on to his side and waited for a belly rub.
"Sorry, Cujo's deaf too. Even more than me actually and he's really protective," Danny explained over his shoulder as he obliged to Cujo's request. Some of the Leaguers chuckled nervously.
"Well, at least he waited until we were finished," Superman remarked before noticing Conner in the doorway.
"Hey Con. School over already?" he asked.
Conner blinked in surprise at being addressed so unexpectedly. He and Superman had had a much better relationship since New Year. He was even offered a home with the Kryptonian's family but the clone wanted to stay at the cave for now. He did visit often though and had a good relationship with Superman's loved ones. Conner nodded uncertainly.
"Uncle J'onn!? What are you doing here?" M'gann called out, smiling at the adult Martian. J'onn smiled at the girl.
"There was a meeting. Perhaps we should wait for the others before explaining," J'onn replied, glancing at Batman who nodded in agreement.
Cujo shrank down to his puppy size and Danny stopped giving the dog attention. Cujo yapped at him and tried to encourage the teen to rub him again. Danny chuckled before turning to see the others in the doorway.
"Oh hi, school over?" he asked. The teens nodded and frowned suspiciously at him.
"Well, if the meeting's over, I'll leave," Doctor Fate decided and Zatanna watched the lord of order disappear in a bright golden light sadly. Danny noticed the light and frowned in thought.
"Batman, you said that Zatanna's dad was Doctor Fate's host right?" Danny inquired. Batman nodded.
"Well, that means it's a form of possession. If you want, I could try to shift the balance so that Zatanna's dad has more say if not complete control," Danny offered. Everyone blinked at him.
"You could do that?" Green Arrow gasped. J'onn relayed the question telepathically. Danny shrugged.
"Not sure. It depends on how different this is to overshadowing. I have pushed overshadowing ghosts out of people in the past. I could try," Danny replied.
"We'll keep that in mind Danny. But for now there's no need," Batman decided giving Zatanna an apologetic look. It was an unnecessary risk for now that Batman wasn't prepared to take, especially without a reason. Zatanna didn't seem to notice though, she was staring at Danny like she'd never seen him before. She had given up hope of seeing and talking to her father, Nabu would not release her father until Doctor Fate wasn't needed and the hero would always be needed.
Hmm… what do you think? If Danny were to try would he be able to help Zatara?
Will Batman allow the halfa to try?
But for now let's focus on Danny joining the team.
Until the next chapter.
