Mount Justice
June 23 14:36 EDT
Superboy still didn't know how to feel about the whole "King Phantom" situation.
He looked over to see Danny, in ghost form, completely lost in thought.
Kaldur, Z, and M'gann had seemed to come to terms with it, albeit they still seemed a little unsure of how to interact with him (since they were treating him like he'd drop sick at any second).
Artemis and Gar were definitely still unsure how to feel, which made Superboy feel less alone in this situation.
Dick was being professional about it, but he was acting more stern than normal.
Which left the walking gasoline tank, Wally. He was the most upset out of everyone and he made sure to let all of them know at any given point.
"Um… am I missing something?"
He blinked and looked over to see Rocket glancing wearily between Danny and the rest of the Team.
'Right, we're heading towards a mission. I need to refer to everyone by their alias.'
Ever since Kid and Phantom's 'argument', the tension between the half-ghost and team was so thick you could've cut it with a knife.
"Apologies Rocket, but we will have to wait to explain until we return to the cave. For now, we all need to just focus on the mission."
Phantom looked tiredly over at their leader. "I'd rather not explain anything until-"
"Well too bad, you better be up for a little show and tell," Kid interrupted with a sneer.
Both heroes had a brief staring contest, one glaring while the other had an unreadable expression. The ghost broke eye contact first, going back to staring out the window.
Miss M offered a small smile to their confused teammate. "I can relay everything to you telepathically if you want?"
Rocket looked between the speedster and the ghost and crossed her arms. "On second thought, maybe I don't think I wanna know."
The ship went silent again.
"Arrival to rendezvous in approximately 5 minutes."
Superboy had never been happier to hear how much longer until they landed.
"Thank you, Miss M. As a reminder, our mission is to assist the onsite Leaguers in tracking down the criminals located throughout the building. They also suspect there has been suspicious activity there and would like us to investigate further while we search the building. If we do end up splitting into groups, they've already been preassigned. Superboy, Beast Boy, and Miss Martian. Nightwing and Kid Flash. Rocket, Zatanna, and Phantom. Lastly, Artemis and I. Until further instruction from Batman, we stay together." Aqualad debriefed them.
"Hear that Phantom? Means you can't go running off and leave us behind again," Kid snarkily stated.
Superboy glanced over to see Phantom rolling his eyes.
"The only thing you have to worry about running off, is your mouth," The ghost retorted.
"Why you-"
"Kid, Phantom, knock it off," Aqualad scolded. "You may continue your feud after we have completed the mission, but not before. Is that understood?"
Neither teen responded but they seemed to get the message as they both backed down.
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Miss Martian?"
'Linked established. Prepare for landing.'
Abandoned Cadmus Facility
June 23 14:45 EDT
Phantom chose to lean against the ship as Batman came to greet the Team.
"Split into groups and join the other Leaguers in their search. There are not too many places they could've hidden, but we'd rather be safer in numbers. Wonder Woman, Hawkwoman, and Green Arrow are already inside. You will be searching for Klarion, Sportsmaster, and Count Vertigo."
The team split up into their designated groups and set off.
"You ready to go?" Wonder Woman asked as Phantom walked up to her, Zatanna, and Rocket.
The Halfa nodded and all three heroes flew up to the third floor, the present Leaguer ordering them to search the third and second floors for anything suspicious while she went to search for Sportsmaster.
It was mostly quiet as they began their search, only speaking if someone may have found something or needed help moving a heavier object.
As they moved further into the building, the fatigue from earlier was gradually starting to mess with him again. He discreetly tried to shake it off, mentally reprimanding himself for not taking better care of himself for the last week or so.
Passing by a well-vented room, he thought he caught a whiff of something familiar. But before he could make sense of it, it seemed to disappear. Chalking it up to exhaustion, he continued his search with the female heroes.
"Hey, Danny. What did you mean back at the Cave when you said you had to jump in before it could have gotten worse?"
Phantom glanced at Zatanna from his watch position as she searched through a filing cabinet.
He debated on telling her, before being reminded by Rocket's curious stare that it was because he didn't share before that they'd ended up in this situation.
He looked back and continued to watch the hall for any unwanted visitors. "Hades didn't like you guys to start with, and pointing fingers at him wasn't helping. What you guys didn't know is that if he wanted to, nothing is stopping him from starting an invasion or declaring war on your world at any point in time."
Zatanna stopped searching through the files and looked at the ghost teen curiously. "But you could stop him just by ordering him not to, right?"
Rocket rose an eyebrow. "Hades? 'Ordering him?'"
Phantom looked over and offered an apologetic smile. "Sorry Rocket, but you'll have to wait to get caught up after the mission. "
He then looked over to his self-proclaimed adopted sister with a more serious expression. "Unfortunately Z, it doesn't work like that. Hades rules over his realm that's technically a pocket dimension in the Infinite Realms. There's a treaty between his realm and the Ghost Zone that keeps them from interfering with the other's doings in the Living Realm and also from stepping into each other's dimensions. The only exception is during the Interdimensional Festival of Peace or by invitation. If anyone breaks this treaty, they're immediately sentenced to the Unworld."
"That explains a couple of things, but why would they even have to make a treaty like that?"
Phantom looked back into the hallway as images flashed in his mind about a previous encounter between a demon from Hades' Underworld and a feisty territorial ghost from deeper within the Zone.
"To keep the two dimensions from slaughtering each other…" he answered solemnly.
The two girls seemed to get the message and dropped the conversation as they finished searching the third floor. After finding nothing of interest, they continued to the second floor and started their search again.
A slight wave of dizziness suddenly hit him as he caught a whiff of that strange yet familiar smell again.
Rocket turned to him with a concerned look as he staggered a little. "Phantom, you good?"
He shook his head in an attempt to get rid of the dizziness. "I'm fine…" he mumbled as he managed to see straight again, though his fatigue from before was much more noticeable.
Z whipped around and immediately jogged over to him and went to check his temperature.
The Halfa found this behavior, again strange, as Miss M and a few others had almost had very similar expressions at the Cave.
The Mind Link came alive with Z's voice.
'Zatanna to Kaldur.'
'I am here. What's wrong?'
'Phantom doesn't look too good, he looks sick.' she said with a tone full of worry.
The half-ghost raised an eyebrow at the sorceress, finding her behavior much more odd and insistent than before. Now he knew something was off.
'I'm fine, something in the air just feels off, that's all.' He relayed over the Mindlink.
'Great, what's next, we find out that ghosts have allergies?'
That made him pause. That was such an oddly specific thing to comment on, even for the speedster.
'What did you say?'
'Phantom, Kid, I already-'
'I'm not-' he let out an aggravated sigh. 'KF, what did you mean by that?' He asked with forced calm.
'KF and I found a large room where a bunch of flowers was being grown under UV lights.'
The smell…
His eyes widened as he started observing his surroundings with newfound energy, his eyes and ears searching for anything off.
"You good?" Rocket asked with a raised eyebrow.
'What did they look like?' Phantom asked hurriedly.
'Why does that- wait, ghosts get allergies?'
He growled, startling Rocket and making Zatanna on edge. His paranoia did not appreciate the joke.
'Just answer the question,' he replied with an annoyed tone.
'Phantom, calm down. What's so important about the type of flower?'
He saw a glint of metal and quickly threw up a shield around the group, just in time for something to ricochet off of it.
The teen narrowed his eyes as Sportsmaster and four ninja-clad men emerged from the shadows.
'The 'walking into a trap' kind.'
'The League of Shadows is here with Sportsmaster!' Z reported hurriedly.
'We found Vertigo over here!'
'Do you guys need backup?' Nightwing asked urgently to both groups.
'We should be fine for now. Does anybody have eyes on Klarion?'
'No, nothing yet.'
'Then keep searching, we need to detain all three!'
'Nightwing, what did the flowers look like?' Phantom asked insistently as another ninja guy threw a knife at him.
'Dark red buds, almost the color of blood, black stems and leaves with purple veins.'
Phantom's eyes narrowed as more bullets ricocheted off of his shield from Sportsmaster.
'Those are definitely Blood Blossoms. What floor are they on?'
'One floor below ground level.'
'Room?'
'Fourth on the left from the stairs.'
He quickly looked behind him and saw they were three doors left from the stairs, one floor above ground level.
'How badly are they affecting you?' Aqualad asked.
'They're slowing me down. I thought I was making it up at first, but now I definitely recognize the smell.'
'Like how you thought we were making stuff up about Hades?'
He flinched as something exploded against the shield.
Ignoring Kid's comment he abruptly expanded the shield, making their attackers fly off their feet and hit the wall behind them.
'Is there any way you guys can destroy them?' He asked while we and the girls advanced. Focusing on taking out the shadows first.
'We could try burning them.' Someone suggested.
'Wouldn't that make it worse though? The smell could become more potent and travel through the vents.'
He paused at that. He never actually had thought about that before. The last time he had to deal with blood blossoms, Tucker's iron stomach digested them. This then brought up the question of whether it was the smell or the actual flower that harmed him.
A glint of a knife caught his attention and he instinctively threw up a shield.
'I don't know, I never had to think about that before nor have I gotten the chance to test it. I can play it safe and avoid that area for now.'
'Test it? Like a hypothesis? Or like a conspiracy theory?'
'Kid, I swear to whatever you believe in if you don't drop it-'
'No, no I don't think I will. You still haven't given us a good explanation as to why you threw us under the rug.'
'Kid now is not the time for this,' Aqualad warned.
Phantom dropped his shield and blasted a gun out of Sportsmaster's hand. He then shot ectoplasm at the man, causing him to stick to the wall behind him.
"What the hell is this stuff!? And why does it smell weird?"
"Better than rotten eggs…" the teen mumbled out loud.
The man raised an eyebrow at the teen, who in turn ignored him and went to help take down the rest of the Shadows.
After Zatanna managed to get the weapons away from them and Rocket and Phantom knocked them out with relative ease, the three turned to see Wonder Woman run in.
She looked confused at first before smiling and putting her lasso away. "Looks like I missed all the fun. Thank you team, you did well."
Zatanna and Wonder Woman worked together to restrain the criminals while Rocket and Phantom kept watch in case any more people showed up.
They were searching through a filing cabinet when the building shook.
'Is everything alright?!'
'What happened?!'
'Klarion got the jump on Superboy! We're going to need some backup!'
"And there's number three…" The Halfa commented.
Phantom glanced between the three others in the room. Wonder Woman looked confused, Rocket looked determined, and Zatanna seemed concerned.
More than that, he knew exactly what that look was from the sorceress. "Zee-"
'Where are you guys?'
'Main floor!'
He narrowed his eyes as he crossed his arms. "Zee, I'll be-"
"No, you stay here with Wonder Woman and make sure these guys don't escape. It's too risky," she said with a sense of finality similar to how Jazz used to scold him.
"I walked in here just fine. I'm pretty sure I can manage-"
"We came in from the third floor. And seeing how you are now (on the second?), I'd rather not take that chance."
"What are you two talking about?" Wonder Woman interrupted putting her hands on her hips.
Rocket gestured toward the door, and the group walked out of earshot of the criminals.
"Phantom doesn't feel too good because of some flowers being grown below the building. Zee doesn't want him going to help Superboy and the others fight Klarion because it'll be closer to where they're located. Frankly, I agree with her. I mean look at yourself man, you can't expect to go against Klarion like that." Rocket explained in a harsh whisper.
Wonder Woman nodded. "I agree. If these flowers are causing you to be unwell, I'd rather not have you in the building at all. But since you managed to apprehend Sportsmaster and a few shadows, I will allow you to stay."
She nodded her head toward the girls. "You two go help your teammates. I will watch Phantom."
They both nodded and took off without another word.
Wonder woman cleared her throat, making an irritated Phantom turn to her with a raised eyebrow.
She glanced over at the glaring Sportsmaster.
"Μπορείτε να με καταλάβετε?" (Can you understand me?)
The half-ghost blinked. He nodded, earning a sigh of relief from Wonder Woman as she turned to look at him.
"Είσαι καλά" (Are you okay?)
He rolled his eyes. "είμαι καλά." (I'm fine.)
Her expression softened as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Δεν μιλάω για λουλούδια. Μιλάω για σένα και την ομάδα." (I'm not talking about the flowers. I'm talking about you and the team.)
The teen's eyes went from guarded to tired. He politely moved her hand away and crossed his arms.
"Δεν θέλω να μιλήσω για αυτό." ( I don't want to talk about it.)
She sighed and there was a beat of silence. She cleared her throat, giving him a stern look. One that reminded him way too much of Pandora when she went into her 'mothering' mode.
"Πόσο καιρό?" (how long?)
"Δεν καταλαβαίνω την ερώτηση." ( I don't understand the question.)
"Πόσο καιρό είστε στη Ζώνη των Φαντασμάτων?" (How long have you been in the Ghost Zone?)
" Έντεκα μέρες?" (Eleven days?)
"Και πότε ήταν η τελευταία φορά που κοιμήθηκες?" (And when was the last time you slept?)
His eyes widened before he gave an exasperated groan and grumbled to himself about déjà vu and ancient greek mothers.
Phantom glanced over at the criminals before making eye contact with the heroine again.
"Μια εβδομάδα." (One week.)
Her eyes widened and then narrowed. She took a step forward and grabbed his arm, pulling him further away from the room with the apprehended group.
"Το ξέρει η Πανδώρα?" (Does Pandora know?)
"Όχι. Δεν ήθελα να την ανησυχήσω." (No. I didn't want to worry her.)
"Γιατί δεν είπες τίποτα; Είμαι σίγουρος ότι η ομάδα θα καταλάβει." (Why didn't you say anything? I'm sure the team will understand.)
He grimaced as he looked away. "Κάπως, αμφιβάλλω." (Somehow, I doubt it.)
The building shook violently again.
'Is everyone okay?' he asked over the mind link sternly.
'I hate to admit it, but we may need some of that giant snake mojo down here, Phantom!'
"Is everything alright?"
He quickly nodded at the Amazon and gestured towards his head.
"Can she connect to the rest of us?"
"Give me a sec."
'Miss M, Wonder Woman wants to know if you can hook up the rest of them to the Mind Link.'
There was a few seconds of silence before she spoke over the Mindlink.
'Everyone here?'
'Yes, thank you M'gann. Now, what seems to be the problem?'
'The team requires backup. Phantom are you able to help?'
'I-'
'No, he is not. Rocket and Zatanna had informed me that there is a type of flower being grown in the lower levels that are causing him harm. I refuse to allow him into battle unless they are destroyed.'
'Very well, kid flash. Destroy them. Take Green Arrow with you.'
'But what about-'
'We don't have time to worry about the 'ifs', Beast Boy. Phantom, help them detain Klarion; that's an order.'
Phantom narrowed his eyes but didn't complain or reply as he turned intangible and fell through the floor.
The scene he fell into was chaos.
Debris littered the floor, pieces of columns were missing, and some of the walls were charred. The team was attempting to and failing at taking down Klarion just as about a dozen League of Shadow members showed up.
"And here I thought I would have a challenge against you brats!"
Phantom narrowed his eyes before throwing a large disk of energy at the sorcerer, exploding on contact.
He needed to focus on Klarion, the shadows weren't his priority right now.
'About time!'
He floated down to the floor and watched as Klarion rose from the settling dust.
"See Teekyl, I told you there'd be an interesting fight today."
"Meow."
"I am paying attention-AH!"
Klarion just barely dodged another disk thrown at him before throwing a few blasts of his own.
The ghost blasted a few but ended up having to throw up a shield for the rest.
The sorcerer snapped his fingers and levitated multiple chunks of debris into the air.
"I hope you enjoyed your time off, little ghost~"
He then grinned and threw the debris toward Beast Boy and Miss Martian.
Phantom quickly dropped his shield and threw one over the two heroes. The debris fell harmlessly to the ground, the teen letting out a breath of relief seeing the two were safe.
He then threw more ectoblasts towards Klarion, the sorcerer either shooting or dodging all of them with a smirk.
"You seem weaker than before, is someone not feeling good?" The villain teased.
The sickly sweet smell from before suddenly filled the room, this time with a slightly burnt smell, and was much more overwhelming than before. Gritting his teeth he fell onto one knee as his vision swayed and his lungs ached.
"Oh? Looks like your little friends found our little garden in the basement. How unfortunate," Klarion smiled deviously.
A purple shield appeared around Phantom just as a ball of red chaos energy collided with it.
He heard Klarion growl with frustration as the Halfa turned to see Rocket with her arms stretched out towards him. Two shadow members were seen knocked out behind her.
'I got you Phantom!'
'Thanks for the save…' he breathed.
'Wouldn't have had to save you if we had known about the flowers in the first place.' Kid commented.
Rocket let down the shield and she quickly helped him fly over to where Artemis was taking cover behind fallen debris as she knocked another shadow down with an arrow.
'Kid, back in my old dimension, they're extinct,' he retorted tiredly.
'Uh yeah, but us knowing about them way ahead of time could've saved us the trouble of having to deal with them.'
He heard Artemis scoff next to him, and he honestly couldn't tell if was because she agreed with the speedster or not.
'Where are the Leaguers?' the Halfa asked.
'Went to take down Count Vertigo. They'll be back any minute. We've only got three shadows left, plus Klarion.'
'Speaking of any minute!'
An explosion went off and they turned to see Kid Flash dodge another red energy blast.
'I swear to whatever you believe in Wally if you make so much as another quip about me not telling the Team something-' Phantom groaned.
Another explosion went off and Kid Flash dashed behind a column for cover.
'Now would be a good time to use that snake, Phantom! Like asap!' The speedster urged.
He turned to see Beast Boy flying around as a falcon to distract Klarion.
The Halfa took a quick breath before turning invisible and quickly flying toward the ceiling. He turned and started throwing low-powered ectoblasts from random places around the room in an attempt to distract the sorcerer.
Remembering the speedster's comment he replied, 'I can't. Burning the blood blossoms just made the effects worse and they've severally weakened my ability to maintain any kind of power for very long. I won't have enough energy to use ecto-manipulation like that right now.'
Just as he finished his explanation, Klarion got a lucky shot and Phantom's invisible form was thrown into a nearby column, making a web of cracks appear. The collision caused his invisibility to drop as he coughed up a bit of ectoplasm.
'Danny! Are you alright?!' Z exclaimed over the Mindlink.
'Great! So even the great and powerful Crowned Prince can't help us!'
Phantom's eyes flared as he let out an annoyed growl. He kicked into his flight again and shot toward the villains, choosing to throw ice blasts instead.
'Zatanna, is there any way to stop him without Doctor Fate?' Aqualad calmly asked as he took down the last shadow.
'Yes, destroy his familiar and he won't be able to hold his physical form.'
Phantom's eyes glowed a bright blue as he threw a particularly large icicle at Klarion, who in turn squeaked in fright and dropped to the ground to avoid it.
'I found it!' Beast boy announced.
"Meow!"
The Halfa turned to the youngest shapeshifter holding a small struggling tabby cat in his gorilla form.
"Teekl! Why you-!"
Klarion through a large ball of fire towards the boy, but the latter hadn't noticed as he was struggling to keep his hold on the cat.
Phantom's eyes widened and he quickly dove to get between the fireball and their youngest member. Throwing up a shield last minute the attack exploded as it made contact, both heroes being thrown back into the wall.
The half-ghost winced as he slowly got back on his feet, having to use the wall to steady himself as the smell of the blood blossoms bombarded him yet again.
He looked over and through his slightly blurred vision, could see the shapeshifter back in his monkey-like form slowly stirring.
"Are you alright?" he rasped as he made his way over to him.
The teen dusted off some debris and dust from his suit as he stood back up.
'Beast Boy, are you alright?!'
'Yeah… yeah, I'm good sis.' The teen answered, avoiding eye contact with the ghostly hero.
While Klarion was smothering and cooing over his cat, Phantom quickly flew the other over to where Miss Martian, Superboy, and Aqualad were taking cover.
'So much for that plan. What are we supposed to do now?' Beast Boy asked.
Phantom narrowed his eyes as Klarion locked eyes with him and smiled mischievously.
'I can use my wail, but it'll deplete everything I've got left.'
Beast Boy's eyes widened. 'But won't that take out the building?!'
'Not if I'm careful and I-'
'Stop talking and just do it! We don't need a whole speech!'
The Halfa glared in Kid Flash's direction, but Nightwing put up a hand to signal for him to wait.
'After this mission, we need to discuss your behavior and team etiquette.'
He let out a frustrated growl. 'Then talk to Kid! Because he's the one-!'
'I don't care who started it, this ends now.'
'Nightwing, he-'
'Drop it, or our discussion later will turn into whether or not you remain on the Team.'
The threat took Phantom back.
What….
Kid Flash scoffed. 'It's not like he belonged here anyways…'
An all too familiar pain shot through the half-ghost's chest.
Memories flooded back into the forefront of his mind. Angry eyes violet eyes, a bright blue light, the emptiness of his old warehouse, and a feeling of sorrow as he watched his sister's car drive away from his parent's home.
With so many emotions being felt at once, he started to feel both overwhelmed and yet numb at the same time.
He was jolted out of his intrusive thoughts as he felt someone tap his shoulder.
Miss Martian looked at him with curious eyes. "You got disconnected from the link."
He… hadn't meant to do that.
"Sorry," he said in a small voice.
Her expression turned into one of concern. "Aqualad and Nightwing want you to use your Wail. The Team will get clear once you're ready, okay?"
He took a shaky breath before nodding and flew over to line up his shot with Klarion. His mind a million places at once.
Any remaining Team members quickly jumped out of the way and covered their ears as he took a wider stance.
Phantom braced himself as he took a deep breath, his eyes locked on the Witch Boy.
A flash of orange and black moved beside him and before he could register what it was, an armor-padded forearm swung toward him and collided with his throat.
He staggered back as he tried to regain himself after simultaneously having the wind knocked out of him and putting him in agony.
The half-ghost shook his head in an attempt to get rid of the black spots and blurriness in his vision.
He felt his hand forced away from his throat as it was pulled to his side. Two orange and black arms wrapped around his torso, restraining him, leaving him no room to be able to struggle successfully.
"Don't move." The man warned next to his ear, the dangerous tone sending shivers down his spine.
The hair on the back of his neck stood up right before he let out a strangled cry of pain as he was electrocuted. Remaining unaffected the orange and black-clad man held the writhing teen in place.
Phantom couldn't make out who was yelling and even what they were trying to yell as his mind focused on the feeling of his nerves being on fire.
The electrocution stopped, the teen almost falling completely limp in the man's arms as he tried to control his harsh breathing. The smell of the burning flowers filled his lungs even more, causing his legs to feel weak.
He looked up to see the Team and the now-present Leaguers glaring toward them from a distance.
"Take another step and we'll do more than just electrocute him," a familiar voice warned.
Sportsmaster appeared from behind them and pulled out a blood-red flower with a thorned black stem and purple veins.
The fresh sickly sweet smell bombarded the teen's nose, instinct making his head turn away from the offending plant.
"A flower, Sportsmaster? What are you going to do, make him sneeze to death?" Green Arrow mocked.
Sportsmaster smirked and brought the flower closer to Phantom. The ghost's eyes narrowed as he tried to struggle against the other man's hold, his intangibility refusing to work and his strength all but gone.
"Perhaps a demonstration is in order…"
The blonde villain had barely grazed the teen's face with the flower when he screamed in agony.
The pain lasted only a few seconds, but those seconds couldn't have passed slower. It felt like acid had dripped onto his skin and was slowly eating it away. It made every nerve on the left side of his body flare up, and even when the flower was taken away, the pain turned into more than a dull ache (like an open minor wound that hadn't been covered) and the heat lingered uncomfortably. Yet he knew that the only evidence of the flower being there was the pain; no burn marks, no thorn scratches, no irritation, no evidence.
The heroes looked murderous as the man tucked the flower back into his pocket, but no one dared move should the man try anything else.
"Believe us now?" The villain smugly asked.
"What does the Light want with Phantom, Sportsmaster?" Batman demanded with narrowed eyes.
"Not paid to ask questions. Now sit there and be good little heroes while we do our jobs," The man answered with a warning tone.
The blonde nodded his head towards the man holding him.
The orange and black-clad man nodded back and put a small tube full of light blue liquid into his wrist guard. He then pressed his fist against the side of the teen's neck. The teen was confused by this action until a sharp pain erupted from the point of contact, making the teen let out a strangled yelp.
He weakly struggled against the man's hold as he felt cold liquid being injected into his neck. An all too familiar feeling that sent his mind into an almost immediate panic mode.
However, the more he continued to struggle, the faster he was starting to slow down. Working within seconds he felt sluggish and heavy, and the blackness from before was creeping in faster and stronger.
Sounds of fighting and blasting were heard briefly as he felt the sensation of being pulled somewhere, like the Zeta-tubes back at the Cave.
He barely registered that the air felt different or that the man had readjusted his hold on him, or even that the room had suddenly gone quiet.
'Have to stay awake. Have to stay… awake… have to… stay…'