AN: Sorry for the delay, but hopefully the chapter was worth the wait.
Thanks to 1000GreenSun, stick_fight3, and Peonywinx for reviewing.
Chapter Four: Not Quite Right
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU BROUGHT A STOWAWAY TOO?!" Cosmic Boy shouted, glaring at Bouncing Boy. "Not only did you lose our people, you brought someone back by ACCIDENT?!"
"And her little dog too," Lightning Lad added jokingly.
"Garth, now is not the time for jokes!" Cosmic Boy snapped, glaring at the other male.
"Now, Cosmic Boy, it's not that bad. We can return to the moment we left and the girl says she's used to weird things. She has mad scientist parents," Bouncing Boy said.
"Yeah! We got parents from them for the Time Bubble too. Really nice people, but they had weird machines all over," Triplicate Girl piped in.
"Why haven't you returned her? She doesn't belong here. Garth, why didn't you get her sent back right away?" Cosmic Boy demanded.
"Because the Time Bubble was disabled after we escaped the Time Distortion. We could only get it to bring us back," Brainiac 5 said as he walked into the main room. And like that, it went from heated situation to cold and very tense.
"And...you haven't made another one?" Cosmic Boy asked, his voice curt and relatively emotionless.
Brainiac 5 pretended not to notice. "Constructing a Time Bubble takes time and I need proper materials. Triplicate Girl, when are they supposed to be in?"
"Um, a week. They have to mine enough of the necessary Tirillium and you know how hard it is to get even the little bit of zoonium we need is," Triplicate Girl answered, trying to keep the nervousness from her voice as she shifted at the obvious tension.
"I'm doing what I can with what I can get now, but making a Time Bubble isn't easy," Brainiac 5 said, more focused on the pad in his hand with calculations.
"It wouldn't be if you wrote it down," Cosmic Boy muttered.
Brainiac 5 paused. "It's dangerous technology. Leaving it in a way people could get it would be not be recommended," he said in a cold, matter-of-fact tone.
"Yeah, you're dangerous enough," Chameleon Boy muttered.
One might say the tension was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Unfortunately, that would be an understatement as it was too thick for even a laser cutter as some of the eyes went to glare at Chameleon Boy and the rest looked at Brainy to see his reaction.
It had been the situation for the past two weeks, since the Brainiac 1.0 incident. Those who worked the most with Brainiac 5 had readily forgiven him. Bouncing Boy, Saturn Girl, Triplicate Girl, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, and Timber Wolf all accepted he was sorry. The rest? While the reasons varied, they were angry. Chameleon Boy, who never gotten along with Brainiac 5 in the first place, thought he might do it again. Cosmic Boy, who had always said it was a large risk in accepting Brainiac 5 in the first place, was angry that he was proven wrong in his decision even once. Even Shrinking Violet was angry, saying that Brainiac 5 shouldn't have said he overcame his past when he hadn't been able too. The rest simply didn't know him enough to be willing to trust him after what he did.
There was a lot of distrust in the Legion towards Brainiac 5, despite the efforts of those closest to him. There had been too much distance between him and the others to let them easily be forgiven.
Which is why this tension existed.
"However, I did not come to make a report on my progress with the Time Bubble," Brainiac 5 said, turning to Saturn Girl. "I checked on our guest this morning and didn't find her in her room and COMPUTO says she's not within the walls of Headquarters. I would like to make sure everything I can do now will be completed in time for the necessary materials, so I wish to ask my....'tour guide' duties be given to you, since you can track down where she has gone in the city. She's not visiting any places with a substantial amount of history to help with your search."
"I'll go look for her now," Saturn Girl promised.
"Thank you," Brainiac 5 said and promptly turned and left without looking at anyone else. For several moments after, there was silence.
And then Triplicate Girl smacked Chameleon Boy upside the head. Three times. "Both of you need to just forgive him already!" the three girls shouted, two glaring at Chameleon Boy and one at Cosmic Boy before recombining and storming out of the room.
"Trips, wait up!" Bouncing Boy said, rushing after the fuming tri-colored girl.
"Since the one we're talking about is missing, how about we find her first before you continue your lecture," Saturn Girl said coldly, giving Cosmic Boy an annoyed look before heading out the door.
Lightning Lad just shook his head before following Saturn Girl. "Angry, huh?" He asked as the door closed behind them.
"I know they're trying to get past it, but sometimes it makes me wonder if they're sincerely trying. It makes me want to brain probe them when he's around to see if they're not just acting for our sakes," Saturn Girl said, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration as she headed for the front doors.
"It'll take some time," Lightning Lad said. "Forgiveness...isn't the easiest thing." He could relate. It was hard to forgive Mekt. If he didn't prove he wanted to help Ayla by doing it, he might not have been so willing to believe him.
Not to mention the incident with Esper. He wasn't sure if he could have forgiven Brainiac 5 as easily as he had if he'd seen Saturn Girl hurt, like he'd seen Esper do. He could forgive harm done to him, but done to those he cared about? That was a lot harder.
Saturn Girl sighed. "I know," she said. After a moment, she looked at Lightning Lad and smirked. "Look at you, being mister calm and rational."
"Maybe you're just rubbing off on me," Lightning Lad said, a grin forming on his face.
"About time," Saturn Girl said, looking towards the city as she stepped onto the steps of headquarters. "So, will you be joining me in looking for our girl and her 'little dog too?'"
Really, did Bouncing Boy have to play that movie so many times just because Kansas was mentioned to make Superman 'not homesick?'
"Just as long as I'm not a munchkin thing, oh, Glinda the good witch," Lightning Lad said.
Saturn Girl rolled her eyes, but looked amused before putting her hands to her head, her eyes starting to glow. Now....where was Dani?
For several minutes, Lightning Lad watched Saturn Girl as she reached out, trying to find that one specific mind. He knew it took a bit to scope the whole city, but as the minutes kept ticking by. Too long, too long.
"Imra?" Lightning Lad asked, looking worried.
Saturn Girl blinked, moving her hand down as she frowned. "...she's not in the city."
"What?"
"She's not in the city. Anywhere," Saturn Girl said, her frown deepening.
Lightning Lad hit the communicator on the belt. "Hey Brainy, our guest, would she had enough time to get out of the city when you last saw her?"
"Not on foot," Brainiac 5 answered and paused for a moment. "Why?"
"Because Saturn Girl isn't getting a read on her."
A long pause and then an annoyed reply. "I'll put out a notice for her right away."
"Hey, is that really necessary?" Lightning Lad asked, sounding surprised. That was pretty earnest, wasn't it?
"No, he's right," Saturn Girl said, heading inside. "She's from the past. If she was determined enough to get a ride out of the city when she shouldn't have any money to get a cab isn't a good sign considering her circumstance."
She had a point. "So, search parties?"
"Looks like it."
~ ~ ~ Page Break ~ ~ ~
"This isn't normal," Phantom Girl said, pacing back and forth on the grassy hill.
"Two hours seems a bit long, but they'll come back from...wherever you guys are from. Sounded like a hard trip to make," Danny Phantom commented. After they had missed their ride, he'd introduced himself and led them to the hill he often met Sam and Tucker as a ghost. Most people didn't come by here this time of day and they looked weird. So it was better to get them off a street, especially with the van there.
"It's too long. Time shouldn't have been that long for us," Timber Wolf said, leaning against the tree as he watched Phantom Girl.
"There's no way Brainy would have missed by two hours!" Phantom Girl cried, stopping and throwing out her arms wide. "Something is very, very wrong!"
"What do you mean it shouldn't be that long for you?" Danny asked, looking at them in confusion. His ghost sense didn't go off, so they weren't ghosts. And supervillains didn't come to Amity Park because of that problem. Too many ghosts, too hard to keep out, it was just too troublesome. Neither did heroes, content to let him handle it the few that he's met.
He was still wondering why they wouldn't tell him why they were here in the first place and why they were so upset about a ride.
"Because when you come from the future, the past is only a few minute wait to leave and come back!" Phantom Girl shouted, grabbing Danny's arms and shaking him.
"Uh, Tinya, I think you said too much," Timber Wolf pointed out.
Danny blinked. "...future?"
Phantom Girl froze. "Um....can you just ignore what I just said?"
Danny looked her up and down. Then he looked at Timber Wolf. "...honestly, it's kind of a relief you didn't try to kill me."
"Why would we do that?" Timber Wolf asked.
"Long story," Danny said with a laugh. "That just means I didn't do anything stupid." He looked between the two. "So, you're waiting for a pick up from the future?"
Phantom Girl slowly let go of Danny, looking at Timber Wolf before looking at Danny again. "...yeah. We were in the past to drop off a hero and we got stuck because of some weird time distortion around this place."
"Time distortion?" Danny said questioningly, rubbing his chin.
"Do you know something?" Phantom Girl asked hopefully.
"No, but I know someone who might. Come with me. I'll have to go talk with him, but the Fentons should let you stay with them. We'll...have to approach intangible and invisible though. It's kind of a secret I'm working with them."