"There was a pulse of powerful magic during the press conference," Zatanna informed the group once they all gathered in a board meeting room across from Tucker's office. They had decided to go there instead of the cosy mayor's office due to their group's number.

"What does that mean?" Jazz asked.

"And magic doesn't exist," Jimmy interjected sceptically. Artemis scowled at the ten year old.

"You can take that one babe," she muttered, elbowing Kid Flash in the ribs. Kid Flash groaned and turned to Jimmy.

"Kid, magic's real. Trust me. I didn't believe in it either. But then I put a magic gold helmet on and got possessed by a lord of order and talked to a dead guy," Kid Flash informed the boy.

"You mean a ghost," Danny remarked, now in his human form.

"Not really. He was just kinda bonded to the helmet since there was no one to take over his job when he died and he had the helmet for so long," Kid Flash corrected.

"Yeah. A ghost. A trapped spirit," Danny retorted with a raised eyebrow. Kid Flash waved at him dismissively. Danny rolled his eyes.

"Anyway back to the point at hand. I can't track down the source of the magic. I need to put myself into a trance and properly search for it, preferably here or outside in the square," Zatanna resumed.

"Can you explain what you mean by a pulse of magic?" Spud encouraged curiously.

"As I'm a magician. I'm connected to the magical world. Not as strongly as other erm magical beings. We're kind of the bridge between the non-magical and magical worlds. Aware of magical beings but rarely in contact with any. You'd be surprised what you see in big cities with that kind of sensitivity. Anyway. Because I'm in touch with that. I can feel disturbances in the natural order of magic, especially if I'm in the area. During the press conference, there was a rush of power. It's hard to explain. It's like getting hit by a wave of invisible air that doesn't affect anything. But that kind of power had to have been a spell or a magical ritual of some kind," Zatanna explained.

Robin glanced at Danny, before recalling the halfa's sudden headache during the press conference.

"Was it after Danny finished his part?" he asked. Zatanna and Jake stared at the boy wonder.

"It was," Zatanna confirmed, stunned.

"Danny got a headache right then. It came on suddenly," Robin elaborated and turned to the halfa. Danny blinked and saw everyone staring at him.

"What? It was just a headache," Danny replied.

"Do you feel any different?" Zatanna inquired worriedly. The halfa shook his head.

"No. The headache's gone now anyway. I'm fine," Danny answered. Zatanna chewed her lip worriedly.

"Mind if I check for any magical traces on you?" she requested. Danny huffed softly in annoyance but stood up and walked over to her.

"If you must. Why can't any of you take my word on these things?" Danny grumbled.

"Because you're usually wrong," Sam told him with a small smirk, worry in her eyes.

Zatanna got to her feet and put her hand on Danny's forehead and began chanting softly under her breath with backwards words. Danny blinked in surprise but didn't pull away, folding his arms while he waited for Zatanna's verdict. Two minutes of nonstop chanting later, Zatanna dropped her hand and frowned slightly in confusion.

"Nothing. No magical traces as far as I can see. Sorry Danny," Zatanna concluded. Danny smiled and returned to his seat, shrugging as he walked and calmly assured Zatanna it was fine.

"You're welcome to uh trance or whatever in my office. Is that close enough? You won't be interrupted in there," Tucker offered. Zatanna smiled gratefully.

"Thanks Tucker. The closer I am the better because I don't have stretch my senses further than necessary. But your office is fine. If it's alright, I'd like to do it now. The sooner we know what that magical surge was, the better," Zatanna accepted before taking her leave.

Everyone turned to Young Justice, Sam watching her boyfriend worriedly. She didn't like that they were in the dark about almost everything and Danny seemed to be the target for everything.

"What's the next step then? I mean, we're gonna track down the monsters that kidnapped my son right?" Maddie wondered. Aqualad sighed.

"It may not be that simple Mrs Fenton. While that would be the desired action, the Light are elusive. And they have agents everywhere. Mostly in the higher classes. We've been trying to track down and trap the Light since New Year's and the League has been trying for longer. We will try to get justice for you both, but we might have to settle for foiling their plans," Aqualad reasoned, nodding apologetically to Danny and Jimmy.

Danny nodded in understanding while Jimmy frowned in thought, not happy that the people who kidnapped them mightn't be forced to answer to their crimes.

"Why not?" Jimmy whined softly.

"Jimmy, I think the Light are a bit like Vlad. Any win for our side, isn't necessarily a loss on theirs. We have to take our victories where we can. If that's just showing them that their current plan will never work then, we have to settle. It's just the way things are sometimes Jimmy," Danny commented, glancing at Aqualad, looking for confirmation which he received in the form of a nod.

"Any ideas on their plan then?" Tucker prompted hopefully. Danny sighed and swept a hand through his hair.

"Whatever their plan is, they needed my energy or at least ghost energy to do it. And a lot of it if their orders to Jimmy are anything to go by," Danny informed them.

"If this plan is anything like their plan last year, then they might try again to get you Danny," Robin pointed out. Danny nodded in understanding, the thought had occurred to him.

"I'll watch my back. Don't worry," Danny assured the room.

"Until we're sure that this has been resolved, I think we should have a few new rules son. No more investigating Guys in White bases," Jack decided. Danny scowled and opened his mouth to argue that he had to be at those places to get clues for any future dangers, like Project White Flower.

"I agree. And no more patrols alone, or fighting ghosts," Maddie added.

"I also think we should have at least one person with Danny as much as possible," Jazz interjected with a worried glance at her brother. Danny folded his arms and slumped in his seat in annoyance.

"Do you think they'd try to poison Danny? We might need to improve security for the kitchen. Can't hurt to tweak our security systems to include human intruders too," Jack commented to his wife. Maddie nodded in agreement.

"Good idea. And I think we should put a tracker on Danny, just in case they do get him so that we can find him again," Maddie agreed. Danny huffed loudly.

"Hello!? Right here. I don't need all that extra protection. Now I know that those guys are after me, I'll just be careful. And avoid little blinking red lights in cupboards. And I am not having a bodyguard or a tracker on me," Danny retorted sharply.

"Danny, they aren't bad ideas. The Light are resourceful. You need to be extra careful, there's no harm in taking special precautions for the time being," Artemis reasoned.

"You guys mightn't ever catch the Light. How long do I have to be in some screwy kind of protection programme? A week? A month? A year? The rest of my life? No thanks. I'm not gonna run scared from these guys," Danny replied firmly.

"Danny, we're worried about you. Will you at least agree to some of those things? At least until your energy levels out?" Sam implored worriedly. Danny glanced at her.

"What if it doesn't?" he countered realistically.

"Until you become accustomed to it then at the very least. Right now, your fighting style will be off balance. You'll be too strong or pulling back in fights. Take these precautions until you learn how to compensate, if your energy doesn't return to normal levels," Robin proposed instead. Danny sighed but agreed reluctantly.

"Fine. Dani can join me on patrols or ghost fights, I'm not sitting out though. And I guess I can agree to having a tracker. And the "bodyguard" thing, as long as it doesn't get stupid," Danny relented. The group nodded with slight relieved smiles.

"Great. We're still improving our security systems though. It's probably a good idea even without all this going on," Maddie added. Danny rolled his eyes but didn't object. Rocket offered to stay with Tucker and Zatanna at the Town Hall while Zatanna looked into that magical power surge. The rest returned to Fenton Works. The group of people camping outside the house were packing their things up but they all paused when the Fenton assault vehicle pulled up and started cheering Danny when he came into view. Danny nervously smiled and waved before he was roped into sitting down to a cup of tea with a young couple that he apparently saved shortly after the disasteroid which led to them getting together. Sam smirked and joined him as they started their new buddy rule.

The others went inside and Maddie and Miss Martian made the group plenty of sandwiches. While they ate their sandwiches and discussed security improvements and the best ways to put a tracker on Danny, Danny and Sam walked through the gradually decreasing camp. Danny politely refusing any offered meals as he wasn't hungry in the slightest. Sam glanced worried at him every time. Eventually they reached the front door and left the group of loyal fans behind to resume packing up and leaving, finally returning home.

The rest of the day was spent causally around Fenton Works. Jimmy, Jack and Maddie shut themselves in the lab to research more into Danny's elevated energy problem, calling Danny down three times to run tests that they hoped would help them to discover a potential cure. Jazz ended up talking with Robin about psychology as the boy wonder was well versed in criminology and people behaviour due to his connection to Batman. Spud, Jake, Sam, Danielle and Danny, when he wasn't called to the lab, started a video game tournament that Miss Martian, Superboy and Aqualad watched. Artemis took the time to go through her quiver and restocking her arrows while Kid Flash went from room to room looking for things to occupy himself with.

So, publicly, things are settling down. But everyone involved is still tense and ready for trouble.

Any guesses on what that magical surge was?

This chapter explained a plot hole in the previous fanfic for why Zatara and Zatanna didn't instantly recognise Jake but did recognise that he was a magical creature. So they know about magical creatures but aren't part of their community.

Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.

Until the next chapter.