Sing to Life
By JadeRabbyt
Danny Redux
Danny floated over the dumpster, shielding his nose from the blast of its stench. "Ugh."
"'Ugh' is right." Tucker glanced anxiously back at the road from the end of the narrow, trash-filled alley, its grimy brick walls imprisoning them on three sides. "Okay. We checked it out. Now let's get out of here before we get mugged."
Danny shuffled some of the trash around with his plasma beams. Banana peels, a mutilated VCR, beer cans… "I was sure something was supposed to happen here. There's been a ton of sightings of that ghost gang right in this area." It didn't look like he'd be sighting anything except dumpster trash tonight. Danny searched the windows of the buildings around them for signs of anything unusual, but Sam quietly spoke up before he could finish the investigation.
Sam's voice wavered. "Turn around, Danny."
He did, and there at the other end of the alley were four ghosts toting a variety of weapons— a chain, some brass knuckles, a knife and a club.
"Four?" Danny was sure he'd heard of five. At least, he thought he'd heard of five.
Tucker and Sam padded back, trying to keep calm in spite of the fact that these ghosts clearly meant business. "I think four ghosts is pretty good. Don't you Sam?" Tucker's voice wavered, and Sam nodded her agreement. Danny flew down and looked them over. They snarled up at him, floating to meet him fifteen feet in the air. If Danny read his ghosts right… He was in trouble. These were humanoid alright, but barely. They were more hyena than human in how they snickered and sneered.
Four of these guys was definitely more than enough. Danny geared up his beams and started shooting as they leaped at him, roaring and swinging their bone-breaking weapons.
XXX
Sam sucked in a breath as she helped Danny to his feet. "You really got hit that time. Are you sure you're okay?"
Danny nodded, his sore neck aching. He zapped human and stretched the parts of his body that didn't hurt too badly. With any luck he'd be better in the morning, but in the meantime he was in desperate need of an ice pack or six. "Ow. Ouch. Yeah, I'm okay." He grimaced as she brushed a tender spot on his shoulder blades, pulling himself away. "That's alright. I'm okay." He leaned against a hallway door, catching his breath. The fight had taken him into an old, oddly familiar apartment building, but at present he didn't care how familiar it looked. Half the buildings on the block looked exactly like this, and he had more immediate things to worry about. Such as, possibly, a cracked rib.
Danny looked up as Tucker thudded up the wooden staircase. "Sorry I'm late."
"How many?" Danny glanced pointedly at the thermos in Tucker's hand.
"Three."
"Three is good." Sam rested a careful hand on Danny's shoulder. "You did great. I mean, for how tough those guys were, that was fabulous." She took a closer look at him. "But you're sure you're alright? I mean, I can always—"
Danny politely brushed her off. "Yes, I'm fine. Really. Let's just get out of here before somebody in here calls the cops."
The three of them managed to leave the building without attracting too much attention. Danny had some trouble on the stairs that required a prop from Sam, who, in Tucker's opinion, looked a little more concerned about Danny than could be explained by his injuries alone. Tucker contented himself with a smug smile as they passed into open air. Sam was too preoccupied to give him a dirty look, and Danny was too distracted to notice anything unusual.
After a block, he could walk well enough on his own. The three friends beat it out of the ghetto and had a good start on heading home when Tucker became inexplicably glued to a newspaper stand. "Anybody got a quarter?"
Sam fished some change out of her pocket and tossed him one. With a clink and a slam, Tucker nabbed the paper and poured over the front page, reading as they continued on their way.
Danny flicked the corner of the page. "Are you going to tell me what's so interesting or should I buy my own paper?"
Tucker rustled the paper shut. "Well, you know. I didn't think Sam would be interested."
She rolled her eyes. "Just tell us."
"G&M is going public next week!" Tucker pointed to a front-page color shot of a couple geezers posed against the company logo, both dressed in the nicest suits and grinning like fools. "They've got a killer new kind of computer coming out. It's supposed to be able to trounce everything made before, even solving this old challenge about the most efficient sales trip a guy can make through all these different random cities, or something like that."
"Wow that's exciting," said Sam, who was clearly not very excited.
"Nah, you don't understand. This thing is built on an entirely new kind of computing technology—quantum computer is what it's called—and these two guys pretty much invented it." Tucker got a starry-eyed look. "Their company is named after 'em, uh…" Tucker snapped his fingers, trying to remember. "Gardener and McKinley! Those're their names. Anyway, they started this company, and everybody thought they were crazy, but now it looks like they'll be millionaires!"
Danny didn't even bother to worry over the familiarity of those names. He must have taken one too many knocks to the head that night. "Your idols, Tuck?"
Tucker folded the paper and stuffed it in his backpack. "You might say that."
Sam laughed, glancing up at the rich blackness of the night. "A millionaire computer wizard. I guess there are worse dreams to follow."
Danny swung his arm leisurely at his side, his fingers just happening to brush Sam's own. Neither of them gave any indication of noticing. He smiled, the bruises and false memories retreating to the wings. "I'm sure there are bad dreams. But not for us." He ignored the puzzled looks from Sam and Tucker and took a breath, glancing at the few pedestrians still out.
Some were kids like him, others middle-aged adults with their hands in their pockets and their hats pulled low. They all had people they cared about and wanted to keep safe, be they families or friends or some mix of both. Maybe some of them had less than others, and maybe they also, like him, took a hard knock every now and then for their sake. Whatever the case, people cared about each other. Danny knew he was being a sap, but he couldn't help finding reassurance in such notions. Without quite knowing why, he felt happy just to be alive.
A/N: Not over yet. The next chapter really more of a quant aside than an 'official' part of the story, since technically I've resolved everything with this chapter, but I wanna add it in anyway. So there. -delivers spittlicious raspberry- Thanks to all reviewers for your support and glorious compliments, and for not freaking out about the science. I remember trying to give a book report in my freshman English class about a book on string theory I'd just read... Ye gad, glassier eyes I had never seen in my life! So, many cookies to you guys for keeping open minds and clever brains.