Chapter 5:

Third Person:

Gear sat in her lab with a thoughtful expression on her face.

No doubt the Boy Wonder had figured out it was Quam Tu that sent the message, or at least someone pretending to be Quam Tu. Still, she hoped the message would at least plant the seed of the idea that Poltergeist had potential to be a hero inside their heads. Did she want them to go easy on him? No. Danny had to learn after all. Did she want them to capture him? That was a fifty-fifty shot. She didn't want Danny to be captured or sent away. At the same time, if the team was the one to capture Danny then the League may see the potential in him. He may be a hero again.

She knew that Danny wasn't exactly over what happened. He acted like he usually did, sure, but at night- his screaming from nightmares told her otherwise. She wasn't stupid. She knew that everything that had happened to him must plague him, but she also knew that he had to get over it sometime. After all, Danny wasn't the only one who had people die. She lost a sister/best friend, and a second family in that fire too.

She ran a hand through her hair. She knew why. Because I drink away my troubles and Danny just needs to properly grieve for those that died… But not everyone died. With that in mind, she recalled all the news she had read- Paulina Sanchez, Dash Baxter, and a few of the other A-listers survived. A few others survived, but got terrible injuries… She made a mental note that when she moved back to the States to visit Valerie. Danielle, however, was a different story. She survived since she wasn't even in Amity, but as to where she was- Gear couldn't even find out. Danielle was good at disappearing and she wasn't responding to any of Gear's calls and the GPS in Dani's phone wasn't working so Gear figured that the phone got destroyed… Kind of like Danny's future if he kept up the path he was on.

It wasn't that Danny didn't make a good thief, because he did. She just knew that he just wasn't cut out for the work. He was meant to sacrifice himself, not others, for a mission. He wasn't meant to make the odd moral decisions that sometimes came up. She was made to be a realist, a mastermind genius behind heists. She made this life for herself and she knew that she was meant to be an anti-hero of sorts, a thief, a hacker, a criminal, just as she knew that Danny was made to be a hero. Besides, Danny was… becoming a bit too dark for her liking. She noticed the way he would smirk when someone got hurt before he realized what he was doing. She noticed the way he occasionally talked bad about humans before stopping himself.

He wasn't the fun kid she remembered - even if he still made puns. He was an adrenaline junkie with an addiction- a way to 'numb the pain.' He was becoming a criminal like her and she feared that if he continued down that path then he might turn into Dan- the ghost she heard about from Jazz. Danny was meant to be a hero, not a killer.

It was because she knew that his destiny was to be a hero that she sent him to Happy Harbor. She knew that was where the heroes were- where Mt. Justice was. If anyone could get through to Danny it was heroes his own age. It was a part of her plan- get the sidekicks to notice Danny (hence why she tripped the alarm herself by hacking into the system), get them to question his status as a thief (she did this by sending the message and she knew that at some point Danny will do something like save them from a ghost or something), and get them to knock some sense into Danny.

Part Two of the plan involved her to move back to the States, specifically Happy Harbor, to oversee the plan personally. She, combined with the team, could knock some sense into Danny aka the Poltergeist aka Phantom (and hopefully no where in the near future will there be an AKA Dan added to that list).

Then Danny will become a better person than her. She didn't want the criminal life for him- he was too good for that.

It was too late for her. Besides, she thought with a smirk as she hacked into yet another government, no laws to follow is much more fun.

The next day, Danny actually woke up on time which was surprising since he had been training all night- even after fighting the 'sidekicks.' He showered quickly, skipped breakfast, and headed to school. He managed to get there before the school bell rang, giving him time to find and talk to Megan and Conner. While he was a thief, he was a thief that wanted friends and Megan and Conner were honestly becoming friends so far.

Though the events of last night still lingered in his mind. Was he becoming too arrogant? What was Gear planning? Knowing Gear, it wasn't good and there was no way she would tell him, not even if he offered her all the liquor he could steal. It's not like she can do much though, right, Danny thought to himself, she's still in France as far as I know. Granted, she actually could move back. He shook his head, nah she would have told me if she was moving back to the States. Sides I don't think she wants to leave France- she loves it there. Though she said she loved Denver too and she ended up being banned… I really need to ask her how she managed to do that…

He spaced out for a second that he didn't even realize that he reached Megan and Conner.

"You okay, Danny," Megan asked cautiously.

"Huh," Danny said, shaking back to reality, "Yeah I'm fine. So what's going on?"

Conner didn't seem that convinced that Danny was alright, but he didn't question it. Megan just smiled,

"Oh! Did you get the announcement?"

Danny looked at her confused,

"Announcement? What announcement?"

"The big football game," Megan cheered, "There's one going on tonight! Please tell me you'll come!"

Danny looked at Megan warily, not sure if he should go or not. After all, it was a football game. He never was one for sports. Megan continued to stare at him with a hopeful look. At Conner's glare, Danny gulped and shook his head,

"Sure I'd love to go!"

"Awesome," Megan cheered, "Oh there's the girls!"

Megan ran off happily. Danny turned to Conner with a sigh of relief,

"Wow, your girlfriend must keep you on your toes."

Conner offered no reply and just scowled. Danny backed off a bit, okay someone's in a bad mood… Must have had a rough night.

Danny regretted saying yes, though he did it out of fear of Conner's wrath- and because he didn't want to disappoint Megan. Still, he wasn't the sporty type, especially the type to be sitting in the bleachers at night at a football game as everyone around him was cheering so loudly that he briefly feared his eardrums would burst. He groaned into his hands. I am so not cut out for this…

He noticed that Conner was about as happy as he was. Neither of them really liked the crowds nor all the loud commotion. Megan, however, was obviously having a great time as she cheered with the other members of her cheerleading team. Danny cheered as loud as everyone else, however, when the game was finally over. Conner gave him a questioning look and he just smiled,

"Dude, it's finally over! That requires a cheer! Besides we won! I may not like sports, but look how happy everyone is!"

Danny continued to cheer and Conner looked over to Megan, who was positively glowing with pride. He allowed a small smile to make its way to his face.

"Well not that this wasn't fun," Danny said as he stood up, "But it is getting late and I have some stuff I need to do. Tell Megan I said sorry I had to bail early and that she did awesome. See ya, Conner."

After Conner gave a farewell, Danny headed off the bleachers with a plan to train. He didn't feel like stealing anything tonight- not after last night's heist. He made his way out of the football stadium only to be stopped by a few of the jocks that were coming out of the locker rooms. Well, he ran into them actually.

"Hey newbie," one of them snarled, "Watch where you're going!"

"Careful," another warned, "You don't wanna mess with us."

Danny scowled as he mumbled an apology, quickly leaving as to avoid a conflict. Stupid humans… He scowled even farther when he realized Gear was calling him on his cell.

"What do you want," he snapped into the phone.

"Whoa I was just checking up on you. What's with the attitude, Danny dude?"

"Sorry," Danny said as he rubbed his temples, "Just some stupid jocks- why is it they always go for me?"

"Look dude, do you really want this bullying to stop?"

"A bit yeah."

"If they ever hit you, say 'no, no don't do that you'll give me an erection.' Trust me, they'll stop."

"…Sometimes I wonder why I even bother asking for your advice when it comes to normal issues."