I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting sick of the typos in this thing. If anyone wants to help me get rid of them (beta-work!), drop me a line!

That would take longer, so I might start grouping scenes and posting several per update. That would make for better continuity but it might slow down production…

(I'msorrythechapternameisawfulisn'tit.)

x.x

Someone was saying Danny's name. Aqualad was standing above him. Danny sat up, cotton-mouthed and sleepy-eyed. He was on a couch in a large, bare room. A television stood against the opposite wall. The ground and the walls were pristine, as though they had been recently painted and installed. There was no sign of anything foodlike, his hungry belly pointed out.

"This is our base, it is safe here," said Aqualad. He had swapped his white clothing for a red shirt with black markings, similar to the marks – gills? – on his neck. A green arrow on his shirt caught Danny's attention. It seemed out of place against the red.

"Hi. I'm, er, hungry. You have food here right?" Danny asked.

"In the kitchen," Aqualad answered. "You can smell it from hallway," he gestured towards the door with a webbed hand. Danny stared at the hand, and tried not to.

Aqualad noticed. "Do you have anything else to ask?"

"Uerh…" Danny muttered, his eyes drifting up from the hands to rest on the arrow again. It looked like a sticker. "What's that?" he asked.

"The Team needed to know we would not forget our fallen friend," he answered. "It is a token to her."

Danny's heart felt a little bit leadened. "Oh," he answered. Eager to get away from Aqualad, he walked through the door and went looking for the kitchen.

Kid Flash was leaning against a counter and peering into a steaming pot. He had a bread slice in one hand, a bread slice in his mouth, and the other hand scratched at his chest. Danny stilled instantly, framed in the doorway. Kid Flash's fingers revealed an arrow as they whizzed back and forth. Danny began inching away.

Kid Flash shifted, and spotted Danny. Danny stopped, deer-in-the-headlights. He smiled awkwardly. Hopefully it looked friendly. Kid Flash scowled and he stepped away from the pot. "You hungry?" he taunted.

Danny dropped the smile. "That—is why I came to the kitchen," he answered with a shrug.

"Good, I was just finishing here."

Kid Flash vanished, and the pot's steam rippled in his wake. For a moment, Danny waited for Kid Flash to attack him, but he had truly disappeared and he didn't seem to be coming back. Danny inspected the pot. Six eggs were jiggled by the boiling water in the pot. How much longer would they be cooking for?

"He'd better not be coming back for them," Danny muttered to himself as he set the kitchen timer to five minutes. With luck, that would be alright. As he stared down at the pot, he caught sight of the black material that covered his chest. It was bare of anything.

His mind went to Aqualad and Kid Flash – both with those arrows, both part of something together. "Where did the arrows come from? I suppose they're for Artemis," he mumbled.

"They are. Meg—Miss Martian made them and Robin provided the adhesive," said Superboy.

Danny started and spun around. "Oh? Imagine that!" he scratched his neck and then stifled the action, forcing his arm down by his side. His eyes dropped to the arrow on Superboy's shirt. Longing caught hold of him. "Where is she?" he asked.

Superboy showed him the way to Miss Martian's room (Danny swore he'd paused to listen to figure out where she was), and opened the door. Scraps of green littered the area around Miss Martian like leaves surrounding and Autumn tree. She smiled at them… but it seemed affected.

"Oh, Phantom! Superboy? Did you want something?"

"Phantom wanted to see you," Supeboy answered before leaving him.

Danny touched one of the green pieces of cloth, suddenly not sure what he wanted to say. It would be a… violation to ask for an arrow. He didn't know Artemis at all. He didn't even know why the arrows were associated with her.

"I—I'm sorry," Miss Martian broke the silence. Danny's brow creased, he was the one who was stepping out of line. He looked up. Miss Martain nodded earnestly and touched her hair.

"I don't—know what happened with your friend. The Wolf? I didn't." She squinted, and shook her head. "I didn't mean to hurt him! I don't know how—it was levitation! I wasn't supposed to ki…"

She thought she'd killed Wulf. Wulf, who'd endured Walker's shock collar with dignity. It didn't make sense. Miss Martain couldn't have killed Wulf! Danny let go of a shaky sigh and touched her shaking shoulder.

"Miss Martian? I don't think… I don't think Wulf died because of you."

"Really?" Miss Martain asked hopefully. "I hope you're right." She looked tiredly down at the green scraps of fabric. Silence sat between them, and Danny refused to break it.

"Would you like a sticker?"

A sticker? Sure enough, there was a little arrow on Miss Martian's chest. Danny stared it, his breath stuck in his throat. An arrow, like all the others?

"Not—Hello Megan! You think I mean an arrow, right? That would be a bit silly, wouldn't it? How about a paw—for Wulf?" Miss Martian rambled. She smiled nervously.

Danny agreed, and she got to work. The silence gave Danny time to think. His parents had often theorised that a ghost was created by a soul dying with unfinished business, and would vanish upon fulfilling that business.

If that was what had happened to Wulf – if Wulf was Wolf – then Wulf probably known he'd disappear. He knew he'd strand Danny. Had he done it on purpose, so that Danny would be forced to help his old friends?

"It's done!" Miss Martian said. Danny took the sticky paw as Miss Martiain explained how to attach it. It was simple, made entirely out of diamonds, but to looked nice: Miss Martian had cut it well. Yet, Danny found himself hating it.

He put it on his chest and rubbed it to make it stick. The paw moved under his fingers. It wasn't meant to do that. He rubbed harder, anger building. The paw came away on his fingers.

He closed them, scrunching his fingers.

"It's okay," he said before Miss Martian said anything. She looked uncertain. "Really."

"Miss Martian, Phantom to the kitchen," Aqualad's voice came over the intercom.

But, looking at the rest of the team comfortably standing in the kitchen, he realised it wasn't.

Robin stepped forward and began speaking as soon as they entered. "We've got a plan, but first we need to have a little sparing session. Phantom, we don't really know how you work, I mean, we know you float and glow and can walk through walls, but we need to know better. So we're going to have a fight. All of us, against you."

Danny's eyes widened in alarm. "Um – I'm still hungry!

The intercom spoke again.

"Recognised: Martian Manhunter: 07;"