A/N - Another chapter, yay! There's going to be another panic attack in this chapter, but it kind of makes up the entire later half of it. This is your warning. I did edit the poll to include Steve Rogers, even though I'm not planning on having a relationship between the characters until the very last couple of chapters, if at all. Okami Princess pointed the pairing out to me, and it seemed sensible. If you want it, go vote. Please enjoy!
Chapter Thirteen
Another Little Surprise
The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday passed by fairly easily. Tony had taught him a bit more about designing blueprints and using them to assemble spare parts into inventions, and had even let Danny craft some ectoplasm-based weapons for the genius. Steve had offered to go running with the teen, and the blond man had taken him on short tours around the more reputable parts of New York City during their runs. It was good for keeping in shape while he couldn't actively train.
Natasha had disappeared sometime on Wednesday, around midday, and Danny had assumed she was going to report to her boss. What Tucker had unearthed on the two agents his friend had a passing acquaintance with was nothing short of amazing. Both worked for an organization called SHIELD, and both had been recruited from a less-than-moral line of work before being offered immunity and a job by the shadow government organization.
His trust had gone up a little for Clint. They had spent a bit of time together, and made a game of target practice once the archer learned that Danny had handled guns before, even if they were fairly unique guns. Danny never won, of course, but the sharpshooter had praised his ability and was surprised at the accuracy of his shots.
The teen's trust in Natasha had stayed at the level it started at, though. Non-existent and slightly suspicious. There was nothing in the information that Tucker had dug up to indicate she was aware of his alternate identity, or paying any special attention to him. All that was marked in her file was that she had been given a few days' leave. Still, Danny had felt her eyes on him on more than one occasion, and he was loathe to let his guard down around the spy-slash-assassin.
Something Danny had found amusing was how excited and cheerful Tucker had been after breaking into SHIELD's files. It had actually proven to be enough of a challenge to need to work at it for awhile. The techno geek had even skipped school to play around with their systems and work out the most discreet way to get the information Danny needed.
One thing had led to another, and Thursday morning, Tucker had called the halfa to tell him he had broken into Tony's systems for fun overnight. He also mentioned that he was pretty sure he wouldn't succeed if the older genius was actively fighting off his hacking, and that he was also pretty sure JARVIS had gotten a general location on him.
So, when Tony casually asked about it during the drive to the tower, Danny shrugged and admitted that a bored friend of his wanted to test out the strength of his systems. It was close enough to the truth. Tucker hadn't been trying to get information when he broke into the Avenger's systems.
"You mean to tell me that your friend is the one who tried to break into my systems? For fun?" Tony asked, wide-eyed.
Danny winced. He honestly hadn't expected a bad reaction from the man. He'd thought the genius was the type to laugh it off if nothing happened. "Uh... y-yeah. Sorry," he mumbled. His shoulders were hunched and he gazed at the ground sheepishly.
"Don't be!" the genius exclaimed, slapping him on the back. "I haven't had a challenge like that in a while. Your friend's pretty good."
The teen smiled hesitantly. "So... what've you got planned for today?"
Tony shrugged, then glanced over to the others. He hadn't really planned anything, and he didn't really want to leave the tower right then. That didn't mean there was a lack of anything to do, but they had already gamed a lot, and Steve had complained about the genius constantly holing up in the workshop with the teen, so... there went two options.
A few moments of consideration passed before JARVIS, in his infinite wisdom, offered a solution. "Sir, might I suggest showing Mr. Fenton the pool or your theater?" he commented.
Tony's eyes brightened up, and he missed Danny's panicked look. "Great idea, JARVIS! I think that'd be perfect. We can send someone to go get Danny's swimsuit from the hotel, and make a day out of it."
The teen was just relieved that Tony didn't decide to go out and buy him a new swimsuit. The one he had was a set of swim trunks and a long sleeve, close-fitting nylon shirt made by Grandma Ida. She had once overheard Danny panicking about a field trip to the local pool, in sophomore year, because of his scars. The feisty old lady had presented him with the white-and-blue swim shirt a couple days later. He had never been more grateful to Sam's grandmother.
As Danny looked around at the others, he noticed that Steve and Clint both seemed fairly content and even slightly excited with the plan for that day. With a heavy sigh, the teen resigned himself to it. Hey, maybe he'd actually have fun.
An hour later found him in a miniature locker room, changing in a bathroom stall. Danny was sure the others would give him weird looks for it, but Tony and Steve hopefully still thought he was shy about his body, due to the Armani suit incident. He really didn't want to show them all the scars he had acquired.
When the the teen opened the door leading to the pool, he saw the three men already involved in a game of catch. It was a bit more... brutal... than he had expected, though. Steve and Clint weren't holding back, and Tony was stuck being the pickle in the middle. The game had an odd twist on it, where both of the blonds were deliberately spearing the poor rubber ball at the other. Occasionally, it'd catch Tony or Clint in the face, leaving red marks.
The trio was distracted from their game by Danny's laughter. Tony was left grumbling while Steve and Clint swam over to the edge of the pool. The billionaire was at a pretty big disadvantage, up against two highly trained fighters.
"Hey, Danny!" Steve greeted, shaking water out of his hair. "Want to join in?"
Clint smirked at him. "Maybe if you join Tony, he'll actually have a chance."
The raven-haired teen rolled his eyes. "Are you two tormenting him again? Steve, I thought you didn't like picking on people weaker than you?" he drawled, trying to hide his smile. He needed to be the voice of reason. Usually it was Steve, but... he had apparently decided against that, this time around.
Steve shrugged sheepishly. "Normally. Tony challenged us, though."
At hearing this, Danny shot a bewildered look at the supposed genius. "Did you seriously challenge Steve and Clint when you don't have access to your suit? You had to know you would lose!" Then he turned to the two blonds. "I'm sorry, I was clearly misinformed. Please, go on with your beatdown. That idiot needs some sense knocked into him."
While Steve only chuckled a bit, Clint cackled and jumped back into the water.
"Well, come on in. I'm sure Tony's gonna need some help soon, if Clint's reaction was anything to go by," the super soldier sighed, waving Danny towards the water.
They both jumped in, and a very intense water fight broke out. There was much splashing and laughter, and quite a bit of the pool water didn't actually stay in the pool. Danny began to relax and just enjoy himself.
A couple hours later found all four males relaxing on lounge chairs by the one-way tinted windows and enjoying a brief respite. They had played catch, held breath-holding competitions with each other (Danny and Steve were tied), and even tried to play underwater tag.
Danny had an unfair advantage, unknown to the others, in maneuvering during flight. He had trained his flexibility with Sam and Tucker, because sometimes that was the only thing saving him from some very serious injuries. That, combined with his flight experience led to the others trying and failing to tag him. Somehow, he always managed to contort his body to escape their grasp.
As they were getting ready to go back into the water for another hour before lunch, Clint noticed the scars on his calves. Danny was honestly surprised it had taken this long for one of them to notice, or bring it up, but he supposed they had been having too much fun to take notice earlier. The teen sighed as he saw the archer's eyes widen in surprise.
"Um, Danny?" Clint asked hesitantly.
"Yeah?" He was just glad that his legs were less heavily scarred than his upper arms or torso.
The archer swallowed thickly. "How did you get those scars on your legs? That is, if you don't mind me asking," he continued, trying to provide an out for the teen. He had some scars like those. Those weren't something that happened from falling out of a tree.
Now that he had brought it up, the other two Avengers turned to stare at them in shock. Steve looked pained, and Tony's face was unreadable. Danny thought he caught a flash of anger in the genius's eyes, but he couldn't be sure.
At this point, he wondered if it'd just be easier to come out and tell them everything. From what Tucker saw, SHIELD wasn't the type of agency that'd lock him away once they discovered what he was... but he couldn't. Not yet.
So, he went with the half-truth he'd already told to Tony. "It was the G.I.W. agents I mentioned before." It wasn't really a lie, anyway. A good number of his scars had come from them, once their aim started to improve. He just didn't mention the circumstances.
Tony's face darkened with anger. "So, a few hits, huh?" he growled. "You only took a few hits from their ectoblasters? That are supposed to do minimal damage to humans? I don't suppose they apologized for that, did they? You made them sound like incompetent fools who couldn't aim. I'm thinking they're more... cold-hearted lowlife bastards."
Danny winced, and took a step back from the livid genius. "Uh, I-"
"Don't defend them!" Tony snapped. "If they can do this to-to a teenager, they deserve to be in prison! This shouldn't happen! Ever! They're supposed to be government officials, but they're obviously corrupt to the point of no return."
Steve also glared, but not at Danny. He just gritted his teeth and glared out the windows. Tony was right, if those people could give a kid bad enough injuries to scar like that, they should have been put in prison the first time it happened.
Clint was wide-eyed in shock and understanding. He knew Danny had to be lying about some of it, because not all those scars visible could have come from the ectoguns Danny could build, but he didn't feel like calling the teen on it. He understood why the raven-haired teen was so afraid when they first met, and he had talked to JARVIS.
"You're afraid of agents," he muttered. "Danny, I swear, I'm not like those guys!"
The teen shot him a pained smile. "I know. Sorry."
The super soldier took a step towards him. "Are those the worst of them?" he asked quietly.
Danny's eyes filled with panic and fear. "Y-yeah, totally. I've only got a couple on my arms."
Tony called his bluff, though. "Sure. Just like you only took a few hits. Danny, you haven't been to a hospital in three years. You need to get your old injuries checked out. They could be seriously bad for your health, you might have damage you didn't know about."
The teen froze. He felt his heart stop, and his body grow cold as his instincts tried to take over and help him escape. "Nonononono," he whispered, taking harsh, shuddery breaths. When Tony took another step towards him, he shot off for the locker room at speeds nearly too fast for a human, only barely managing to limit himself.
As soon as he was in the locker room, he shot off towards the elevator and rode it up a few floors. Hopping off, he phased his way through the walls until he wasn't sure where he was anymore. He had found a place to hide, and he curled up in a ball.
The room he had stopped in was more like a closet. It was barely big enough to fit him at his full height, and a foot wider than his body. Danny pressed himself into the corner and focused on slowing his breath and calming down.
He was still in his damp swimsuit, not that the cold mattered to him, but he didn't have his phone with him. He couldn't call Sam and Tucker for reassurance, or Jazz to talk him through it. Bruce wasn't there to calm him down this time around, either. He was well and truly alone during a panic attack for the first time.
After a little while, and a lot of time spent thinking about his friends and family, he managed to mostly calm down. The darkness of the closet, lit only by the green glow of his eyes, was soothing. The quiet wrapped around him in comfort. He felt safer, now.
Danny spent another fifteen minutes in the silence and darkness, getting his bearing and trying to figure out a good excuse. Oh, how he wished Bruce didn't have to leave for work. He could have used that calm, level-headed scientist right about then.
He stood up, careful of where the walls were, and tried to find a door handle. When he didn't, he let out a heavy sigh. There was no way out without phasing through the wall, and he no longer knew where the three men were. It wasn't safe. He'd have to call for help.
"This day is turning out nicely," he thought sarcastically.
When Danny disappeared into the locker room, Tony wanted to rush after the frightened teen. He had taken a few strides towards the exit before the captain managed to pull him back. Steve and Clint both wanted to give the poor kid space, and they all knew that Danny had just needed to get away from what he perceived as a threat.
"Tony, you need to stop and think," Steve pressed, a hand wrapped firmly around the genius's arm. "Danny ran away when you mentioned him needing to go to a hospital. He felt threatened by you. Chasing after him isn't going to help."
The genius let out a cry of frustration. "Then what will?!" He threw up his arms and started to pace. "You said he felt threatened by me. Us, probably. Does he need to be alone, then? Will that fix it?"
Clint sighed. "Last time, Bruce was able to calm him down, remember? I backed off, and we stopped arguing, and Bruce brought him out of it," he commented, trying to help. "Since he isn't here, maybe being alone will help Danny feel safe again?"
Steve nodded slowly. "It sounds probable. Let's just get changed and wait in the living room. If he doesn't show up in half an hour, we can go look for him. I don't think it'd be a good idea to have JARVIS locate him."
Tony grimaced. "Probably not. Fine, we can do that. But only half an hour."
With that, the trio left the pool to get changed and await their youngest friend's appearance.
"It's been half an hour. Can we go look for him now?"
Clint and Steve both sighed heavily. An agitated Tony was not one they wanted to be around ever again. Even anger directed at them was preferable to this anxious mess of a chatterbox. He would not stop talking, and they both had the beginnings of a migraine.
"Yes, Tony, we can go look for him. Why don't we split up to cover different floors? We can work our way up from the pool floor, I don't think he would've gone far before finding a place to hide. He was in too much of a panic to wait," Steve explained, watching as the genius jumped up and ran to the elevator.
"Great, fine, let's go," Tony replied, tapping his foot.
The three of them had searched the three floors above the pool area, and came up with nothing. None of them had even seen any evidence of a damp swimsuit or footprints in any carpet, so they all reconvened on the fourth floor up from the pool.
"So, do we want to keep searching individually?" Clint asked quietly.
Tony shrugged and walked off, leaving the others to decide if they wanted to follow or not. Steve did, and Clint eventually just hopped in the elevator and moved up a floor. He thought that the super soldier probably just planned to calm Tony down a bit.
Steve had been following the genius for a couple minutes, looking around for hiding spots with a teenager in them, when he heard it. There was a quiet "hello?" coming from further down the main hall, and he tapped Tony on the shoulder.
"I hear someone. It sounds like Danny," he muttered quietly.
The duo carefully crept down the long hallway, listening to the muffled calls for attention. They reached the spot where it was coming from, and there was nothing but wall. Steve turned to head back, but he caught Tony's surprised expression.
"Danny? Are you in there?" the genius called.
A muffled, but strong reply came, "Yes! Please let me out!"
Still bewildered, Tony tapped a panel that blended in with the rest of the wall and punched in a long password. The section of wall slid open, and out tumbled the very teen they were looking for for the past twenty minutes.
Steve and Tony stared down at the boy, open-mouthed. "Wha-how-why-"
Danny looked up at the two of them, upside down and grinning sheepishly. "Um... hi?"
Tony just blinked, and exclaimed, "How the hell did you even-?! That closet was password protected! How did you even get in there?! That shouldn't be possible, you said you weren't a hacker!"
"..." Steve was still staring, open-mouthed at Danny. He tried to say something, but the words just didn't come out. Danny could almost see the question marks above his head. The poor man just didn't really understand.
"... I got lost?" Danny finally commented, cutting off the continuing rant Tony had been going on. He got two equally confused and stern looks turned in his direction. So much for his brilliantly planned excuses.
This was going to be a long day. It wasn't even noon yet.
