"Nervous about Phantom?" I ask Kaldur.
"I have doubts. But they deal with team dynamics, not his ability."
"Alright then." Together, we walk to the launch room, where Kid and Artemis are making out. Kaldur sighs, and I stick out my tongue and crinkle my nose. "Guys…"
Artemis waves us off, but Kid pulls back, earning an annoyed look from Artemis. He has a stupid smile on his face. "Don't knock it til ya try it," he snarks back, and Artemis just gives us a smug grin. Wally sweeps her off her feet and flashes into the bioship.
I still have a disgusted look. Zatanna, who was probably watching the whole thing, walks past me, pecking me on the cheek as she goes by. My disgusted look morphs into a pleased one, and Kaldur just sighs again.
I follow Zatanna up, Kaldur following. I sit by her, striking up a conversation as we wait for our three missings.
Danny floats up a couple minutes later, giving me a nervous smile. A seat automatically pops up for him, and he hesitantly sits down it, immediately getting strapped in. He gives a squeak, pulling at the restraints.
"It's a seat belt," Kaldur calmly assures, and Danny gives a weak smile.
"You can probably phase out of it," I call over to him. He does, just to make sure he can, before settling back into the seat.
"Where's Miss Martian and Superboy?" he asks.
"Probably making out," Zatanna offers.
"Seems to be today's trend," Kaldur remarks under his breath, and the other occupants smirk.
M'gann and Superboy come through, running, out of breath. "Sorry," M'gann apologizes, floating into her driver's seat as Superboy sits in a chair that materializes. "We got caught up."
"Kaldur seems to think you were kissing…" sings Zatanna, and Kaldur sends her a glare.
M'gann just goes red and Superboy folds his arms.
"Ha! You totally called it!" shouts Wally, leaning forward in his chair. "Geez, who's next? Place your bets!"
"The only people left are Kaldur and Danny," I note. Danny just looks at me, a look that questions why I would ever say something like that, and somehow his gaze makes me chastise, "And Tucker and Jazz."
"Are we shipping them?" sighs Artemis. "Because I don't think so."
"Maybe Jazz and Kaldur," adds Wally. Kaldur gives the same look to him as Danny gave me. "Or Jazz and Danny."
Danny's reaction reminds me of Tucker's when I'd suggested it. "EW, no, no no no no no." The team looks at him in interest. "No." He pulls up his hood.
We exchange looks. Wally, of course, doesn't shut up about it, though. "Why not? Oh, I know why! Tucker said you and Sam were 'in like'. Are we shipping you two?"
"Why do we have to ship anyone?" he mumbles from under his hood. "Lemme alone."
Wally goes to say something else, but Artemis shoves a granola bar into his mouth. He gags and takes it out, starting to complain that she didn't even take off the wrapper.
When we near the coordinates, the team silences and Kaldur takes up charge. "This place has no information on any database. We're going in completely blind, as much as I don't like that. We'll split into two teams. We need stealth as our break in plan. Phantom, take Robin and Zatanna. Technical, stealth and magic. They should get you through any barriers."
I silently thank Kaldur for putting Danny on my team. And Zatanna.
"The rest of us will follow up, and if we are spotted it will allow you three to achieve the objective. Understood?" Everyone nods, even Danny, albeit reluctantly. "Alright. Miss Martian, link us up."
Roll call, M'gann calls in our heads.
The team chimes, including Tucker and Jazz, except for Danny. He looks a cross between utterly terrified and confused.
It's a mind link. Simple telepathy. We can't go deeper than what you say on the link, I inform Danny.
Okay.
He says that a lot.
Drop point approaching. Are you three ready?
We stand and move closer together, Danny hovering. I bump his clasp and the inside of his cape turns black.
? Oh, cool.
Dude, did you just think in question marks?
!# ^%$& :) ;)
No matter how serious we are, we can't help but burst out laughing at Danny's remark to Wally. How did he do that?
The mind link fills with the rest of us trying and failing to achieve what Danny did.
Exclamation point
Smiley face
Dollar sign
The and symbol
That one symbol you put in email addresses
Team, focus. We halt at Kaldur's command. And drop. A circle opens up beside us, and Danny grabs me in his right hand and Zatanna in his left before dropping through it. As we fall, I hear Kaldur go, Number sign.
I laugh on the link. It's called 'pound'!
#, thinks Danny. I laugh again.
The building rushes up to meet us, but Danny doesn't slow. We continue right through the ceiling. Both Zatanna and I can't suppress a gasp through the mind link. The sensation is strange, weightless.
We are in a hallway lined with windows, and we float down it. A couple scientists round the corner, and I squeeze Danny's hand to alert him, but he doesn't respond, just continues floating.
Phantom, the people! I shout in the mind link.
He glances over at me. We're invisible, Robin…
Oh, my bad. Sorry.
Zatanna laughs in the link.
As we float down the hall I look around for anything that can be of use. I find that in a tech support room. Phantom, that door right there!
He immediately goes right through it. There are a couple guys working on the computers, chatting idly.
Zatanna, can you do a little hocus pocus?
She scoffs in her mind. I'll hocus pocus your costume pink.
"Ekat a pan," she whispers, and the men slump down in their seats, asleep. I rush forward, Phantom dropping my wrist.
"What did you do to them?" he asks, hushed.
"They're taking a nap," Zatanna replies. "They're completely fine. No headache or anything."
I push away one of them and connect the computer to my glove, tapping on it rapidly. Random data starts streaming and I mutter some of it allowed. "Money transfer, electricity stats, programs and projects, here we go… Project Icarus, Project Growth, Project IM, Project Fire and Rage, Pr-"
"Fire and Rage?" Phantom interrupts.
"Know it?"
"Sounds familiar." And on the mind link, Jazz, Tucker-
Vision and Aparato, Jazz corrects.
Right, yeah, whatever. Do 'Fire and Rage' mean anything to you?
… Fire and Rage… Fire and Rage… Hold up, let us check. Tucker goes quiet.
Great, I'm gonna keep going, though. I keep scrolling down the list. There are a lot of projects… Geez. OH! Energy initiative! That sounds promising. Main lab research is on SL 12.
Found it! Crown of Fire, Ring of Rage, ghostly artifacts. Most of the info about them are in Danny's lost memories, but we know they're dangerously powerful. Jazz supplies.
Leave for a year and the whole world falls apart, Danny retorts, snatching my and Zatanna's wrists again. He asks where to go, and I use my computer to direct him.
Aqualad, there's another place of interest, an area with tons of energy input. SL 7, room AB. That good for a distraction?
Yes. Miss Martian, use camouflage and connect a totem to the door. Aparato, get ready.
He continues giving instructions, but the three of us focus on our mission. I point left, back towards where I saw an elevator. He gestures down with his head. Everyone else is still talking in our heads, so he leans close to me and whispers, "Down?"
"Elevator. Twelve levels."
He nods and plunges straight down.
I should've thought of that! Of course we wouldn't need an elevator if we literally can go anywhere with Danny's power! We stop in a white room with gray accents, full of machines and unfortunately, scientists.
Zatanna?
She shakes her head. Too many. There have to be three dozen, at least.
I have an idea, Danny starts hesitantly.
Shoot.
The rest of the Team quiets.
There are too many people and machines to do this quickly. I say Kaldur's group trips the alarms and the things they lock up before going to safety are the most important and we get those.
What if they don't leave? I ask.
He flashes me a grin. Did I mention how weird it is that we can see each other invisible, but no one else can? Danny's just... one of a kind. Just point me to whoever's in charge.
Gray coat, I respond immediately. Part of Batman's training. Do you think that's an okay plan, Kaldur?
It's risky. Their security overpowered us last time. This time, however, we are simply distractions… We will try. Be ready to come to our aide. Superboy…
Destroy. Got it.
In less than a minute the alarms go off. They aren't as loud as alarms normally are, just a calm beeping accompanied with intermittent flashes. The crew looks to the leader.
Danny drops Zatanna and I between a large machine and a wall before flying off.
"That's an intrusion. Seal up as much as you can before you evacuate. You know the drill, most important first."
I'm shocked by how smoothly the rest of the crew responds. I can almost hear Danny's tone of voice in this leader guy, but everyone else just hears their superior.
"Hurry it up," he barks.
We need a little more urgency, maybe a force strong enough to crash through five floors?
Somehow Superboy understands me and less than a couple minutes later he crashes through the the ceiling and down a few more floors before jumping back through the hole to his floor. Wow, can't believe you understood that.
Didn't. Was attacked.
Oh, okay, we'll hurry. Phantom?
"Out of time! All of you, out! Out!" It's relatively quiet as people rush out until, "Okay you guys. All clear."
He's the only one left. Danny exits him, and the leader has a moment of disoriented panic before Zatanna shouts, "Ekat a pan!" He slumps to the ground.
"What'd they lock up?" I ask. Danny points to an industrial size freezer. The only downside to this plan is the fact that it is locked up now.
The Team is chatting endlessly on the mind link, "look outs" and "ducks" and all that, but I tune it out.
"Ekat a pan!" cries Danny. Both Zatanna and I look at him. He shrugs. "I wanted to see if anything would happen."
Zatanna chuckles. "You have to be a magician. The words are just words."
"Oh. Can't blame me for trying."
I shake my head and go back to the door. "This could take a while," I mutter, looking at the code.
"Dude." Danny flies up and gestures to himself.
"Oh, then go ahead." He pushes his hand through, but yanks it back with a couple sparks, waving it in pain. "You okay?"
He nods, glaring. "Can't phase through it. It's ghost proof."
"Oo, then this is definitely the right place." I continue tapping on the screen, Danny moving around, trailing his intangible hands along the surface.
"Zatanna," Danny calls. "Can you help?"
She comes over, regarding the freezer. "I might break something."
"Isn't an unlocking spell at the top of your to-learn list?" he asks.
She narrows her eyes in concentration, before shouting, "Kcolnu!" The code stutters and the keypad shakes before steaming and coming unlocked. The door pops open. "Huh, that spell's never done that before."
"Must be the ectoranium," Danny comments. I look at him in question. "It's anti-ghost."
"Oh-kay." I reach inside. There are several stacks of chemicals, most of which with labels. Some chemicals throw me off- they're incredibly rare. But the ones that are all green and glowy have the label: ectoplasm. "The green stuff… It's ectoplasm?"
"That makes sense," Danny remarks. "Let's take the ones that have been altered. If we isolate what they're trying to change, we can find out what they're trying to do."
This kid was definitely born to be a hero. Or died to be one? I don't know, ghosts confuse me.
I pick up a tray of slightly different ectoplasm samples. "Will this work?"
"A06. Let's see if there are any others."
He reaches through, checking the labels of several samples. Eventually he chooses one with a much more neon color. "A018. Newest version."
I replace my tray. He hands me the one he has, and I pull out three beakers to put in my belt, just in case we lose the tray. Danny continues to look through the bottles for items of interest.
"Tell me if you see any Blockbuster or Venom containers," I call over my shoulder and go to inspect other areas. He murmurs assent.
I find mostly biological machines, perfectly appropriate for this kind of lab. But there's a pod kind of thing… I'm not sure what it's supposed to be. I circle it, trying to decide what it could be.
ROBIN! Yells M'gann over the mindlink. We need help NOW!
I look over at my two companions. They got the same message. Danny is holding a tray full of different colored liquids. He shoots over to us, handing the tray to me and grabbing us both under the arms.
The floors flash by me as Phantom flies straight up. Can you protect the vials? He asks over the mind link.
I can try, I reply. We reach the floor and Danny drops us.
Around us, destruction.
After we destroy the fight-Danny just whipped up a little ghostly magic, and the army crumbled. He used a sonic scream more powerful then anything I'd ever seen, including Black Canary.
Using his heroism did get some of his memories back... actually all.
"Guys," he shouts, getting all our attention. We'd been standing in a circle, discussing the fact that Danny got his memories back, while Danny floated, surveying his damage. "Watch." A glowing ring appears around his midsection, and separates, one up, one down, revealing a civilian boy. White hair turned black, green eyes blue, and jump suit into a t-shirt and jeans.
"What!" I cry, shocked. "A human? How could you possess a human? Jazz and Tucker, how could you not tell us?!"
Jazz and Tucker run in, having bolted here from a Zeta Beam nearby when they heard Danny got his memories back. The Team immediately sends horribly angry glances at them.
"I'm not possessing him. I am him," Danny informs. "And I know where Sam is! I hid her in the Ghost Zone!"
He raises his palm, a look of sheer concentration overcoming his features. A bubble of green energy grows on his hand, then pops, creating a spinning vortex. He shoves his hand in the portal, rummages around, then pulls out Sam. She's unconscious. His eyes glow ice blue, and a pendant on her necklace reflects that color. Her eyes open.
"DANNY!" she cries.
They kiss, much to Kaldur's annoyance.
I wonder if everyone will join in. That's what happened on New Year's.
Batman walks in. "Why didn't you tell us?" he demands of Tucker and Jazz.
"I told them not to," Danny supplies, ending his make out session with Sam.
His eyes narrow.
"I did! Secret identity and all."
"I told Mom and Dad you have your memories back and they are waiting for us at home," Jazz adds.
"It's good to have you back, dude," Tucker says with a grin.
"Tucker, do you have muscles?" Sam gasps.
He flexes in response.
"Batman, can Sam join our team?" I ask.
He looks at me. Then nods.
"You can be Chaos," Danny suggests. Sam nods. He kisses her again. This time everyone does join in. Wally and Artemis, Conner and M'gann. Zatanna gives me a wolfish smile before pulling me into a kiss.
Our team continues with four more members than what we had a year ago, Phantom, Chaos, Aparato and Vision.
Eventually, Phantom and Chaos get married and bring little half ghosts onto our team, but that's a story for another time.
THE END
I'm sorry, guys, I couldn't continue the story, but I thought I'd at least give you where it was going. Sorry it's not well-written. It's just been too stressful lately, and HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAH
JUST KIDDING
Too stressful? I literally have no life.
I swear I am kidding. Everything after the first line break is ABSOLUTE CRAP and heed it not. Can't believe I wasted twenty minutes on that crap ending!
Man, I wish it was April Fool's.
SORRY I had to. I don't know why. And because I'm sorry I put you through that, I'm going to update again so you don't all hate me and stop reading my story.