Robins know how to comfort victims.
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"Bunny Wraith." The floppy eared, smoky blue creature of death yelled as it leaped for the young hero.
Danny screamed and vacated that spot for the safety of the rafters.
The Rabbit-like ghost paused at finding it's pray gone and looked up at Danny with big, glittering eyes. Standing on it's back legs, paws tucked to it's chest, it was hard to see such a thing being dangerous. Danny had fallen for the trap, and before he'd been able to recover the barely tangible monstrosity had lunged at him, teeth bared.
Danny tried to pull it into the thermos, but it hopped away. It made enough noise bouncing off the metallic walls that Danny was grateful for there being no one guarding he barely used warehouse. The hero ducked another lunge from the beast and flew around, thermos uncapped before the bunny could change direction. He breathed a sigh of relief when the last tendril of smoke disappeared.
A wheezing Sam and Tucker collapsed through the big empty door.
"We're here to help Danny." Sam gasped.
"Where are they?" Tucker asked, leaning against the wall.
"Nothing to help with here." Danny said, swirling the thermos around. "It never stood a..."
"Bunny Wraith!"
Another ghostly rabbit lunged from some dark corner.
Something else crashed through a window and threw Danny out of the way.
Danny leaped back into the air just in time to see the smokey beast hop around the corner. Before the hero could give chase he was given pause by the sound of uncontrollable sneezing.
"Really." Red sneezed. " You almost got beat by a smoke bunny?" The ghost let out three more sneezes, then hugged himself around his midsection and groaned. "I'm gonna be sick."
"We spoke about being nice." Sam chided, standing with her arms crossed.
She said something else, but Danny couldn't really hear her over the sound of Red dropping to his knees an being sick all over the warehouse floor.
"Er, you okay dude?" Tucker asked, approaching cautiously.
"Not gonna die if that's what you're worried about." Red tried for a chuckle, but his stuffy nose just made him sound worse.
"Not funny." Danny said. "You were fine an hour ago, what happened?"
"Was kinda funny." Tucker said, earning a smirk from the ghost and a chiding look from Danny.
Reds eyes unfocused for a moment, then narrowed sharply. " The freaking rabbit." He got unsteadily to his feet. "I'll freaking kill it." He took a single step before tipping over.
"Was that another joke?" Sam asked, catching the ghost and steadying him.
"Find a way." Red sniffled, and slowly stumbled towards the door.
"Yeah, I don't see you killing anything." Danny said, rolling his eyes.
"I hate warehouses." Red groaned.
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"Sure you don't want the bed instead?" Danny asked, peeking under the bed where Red lay in his sleeping bag.
"Sure Mom, could you bring me some chicken soup too?" Jason snarked and rolled over.
"Yeah, whatever." Danny mumbled, getting to his feet. "Do you think soup will help? I don't how ghost colds work."
"You think I do?" Red sniffed. "I don't even remember my name."
"You don't?" Danny slipped into bed.
"Meh." Red grunted, probably shifting around by the sounds Danny heard.
Danny kept himself to keep from trying to analyze the piece of information, he wasn't Jazz. "Just don't throw up on my floor."
Red was adamant he'd be better the next day, he wasn't. The ghost refused to stay home, so Danny had to bring him with to school. Then Danny had to leave the boy at the school when the bunny wraiths cropped up again. Red didn't care, he just wanted to sleep.
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He was napping in the school cafeteria when she saw him. A ghost, sleeping at her school like it was the most normal thing in the world. The other students at least knew to stay away from him by the emptiness of his table.
"What are you doing here?" Valery asked, setting her lunch down and taking a seat across from him.
"Sleeping." The ghost mumbled into his blue sleeves. "Go 'way."
"I'm not going away until you tell me what you're planning, ghost."
The ghost's head lifted just high enough that his red eyes could peek at her through his shaggy white bangs. " 'S you. "
"Yes it's me." She said, the unfocused look in his eyes making the retort softer than she'd thought it would be. He shrugged and lowered his head again. She wanted to demand answers, but the image of a soaked boy crying himself to sleep in an alley wouldn't let her. "What happened to you?"
"Bunny 'sploded in my face." he rubbed at his eyes with his sleeve.
"Isn't Phantom supposed to be watching you?" Valery asked.
"Wha'?" He looked up again and sniffed.
"I thought he was like, your guardian or something." She said.
She was surprised to when the ghost's slumped figure began shaking with laughter. "Why'd ya think s'mthin like that?" He looked at her with an amused spark in his eyes. She probably would have been more offended if he didn't look like he was about to pass out.
"Maybe because every time I've seen you he's been nearby." She glanced around the room uneasily, expecting the ghost who'd ruined her life to pop out and cause trouble. "Is he planning something at the school?"
"Hunting bunnies." The boy mumbled. "Not here."
"Then why are you here." She asked.
His eyes unfocused again and he shrugged. "School."
"What? You're gonna tell me you're a student here?" She almost laughed, but the look he shot her told her she was right. "I can't believe this."
"Not my idea." The boy said. "You gonna suck me up or something?" He sat up and stretched before settling into a relaxed slouch..
Even if she hadn't have been asked not to she would have felt bad sending him back to the Ghost Zone, he looked like a kicked puppy.
"You gonna stay outta trouble or something?"
His smile made him look just a little better.
"I guess you wouldn't know where he is now, huh?"
"Bunnys." The ghost said. "What, I'm not good enough?" He looked up with a smirk that might have been more effective if he hadn't broken into a sneezing fit.
"What happened to you?" Valery couldn't help bit laugh at the frustrated look on his face.
"Freaking rabbits." The boy growled.
"How could..." Valery was cut off but a shriek just outside the cafeteria.
The boy was on his feet and halfway to the entrance before Valery could follow.
When she caught up to him he was blinking rapidly in the general direction of Star, a blonde cheerleader gushing about over something out of their line of sight.
"What did you expect?" Valery said. "You are in a highschool filled with teenaged girls.
The girl turned and Valery was caught off guard when the Star ran up to her, a smile on her face as she tried to show Valery what she was holding. This had been Valery's friend for years before she'd been kicked out of the a-list.
" Oh my gosh Valery, look at this cute little..." Star held the thing out, but before Valery could get a look at what it was Star was screaming.
A split second later the ghost was a blur between her and her once friend.
"Rabbit!" The ghost sent the thing flying with a sweep of his hand.
When Valery could focus again Star was on the ground, looking fearfully at the smoke trail they had been left behind.
"Star!" Valery cried, rushing to the girl's side. "Are you okay?" When Star didn't respond, a seething Valery turned her attention on the ghost boy leaning against the wall. "Why did you do that?!" She demanded. "I though you were harmless, but you..." Valery caught barely a glimpse of the ghost's fave before Star rushed past her.
"Thank you!" The blonde said, throwing her arms around the ghost who had a dazed look in his eyes.
He opened his mouth, but slid sideways down the wall before he could say anything. Valery caught sight of a streak that she would of known anywhere as Phantom. For the first time she didn't care.
"Hey what's wrong?" She knelt down by the ghost.
"Rabbit." He wheezed. "Made me sick."
"It was so cute." Star sobbed. "I didn't think it would turn into a monster."
The ghost smiled gave a thumbs up. "S'okay, never'd leave a pretty girl t' ge' hurt." he said, then looked at Valery. "Be fine, jus' rest." His eyes slipped closed.
"We have to get him to the nurse." Star cried.
"No." A nurse would notice the boy wasn't human. "See if Phantom's still there."
"What would that help." Star asked, tears still running down her face.
"Whatever that thing was, it had to be a ghost." Valery said. "Phantom will know what to do."
"Star nodded and ran off while Valery laid a hand against the ghost's forehead. What was a normal temperature for a ghost? Her benefactor wouldn't be happy if he found out about this, not to mention...
" What did you do?!" Danny Fenton pushed Valery aside to his inspect the ghost.
"I didn't do anything!" Valery said, then turned to Star who had come behind the boy. "Why did you bring him?"
"Hello, ghost hunter parents, ringing a bell?" Danny said, not looking up from the ghost. "Come on Red." Danny slung Red's arm over his shoulder and lifted the ghost. Surprisingly Red was able to put some weight on his feet, even when he didn't open his eyes.
"Where are you taking him?" Valery asked, stepping in Danny's path. "You're parent's aren't known for helping people like him."
Danny's eyes widened before he shouldered past her. "Neither are you." He said coldly, without turning to look at her. He and Red disappeared around a corner while Valery stood in shock.
Their was no way he could have known. Everyone knows I hate ghosts, she told herself, and anything to do with them too. She pulled out her cell and called her father, suddenly she wasn't feeling to hot either.
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Nightwing shot a glance around the new area he found himself in. The only reason he knew that it was new at all was because his mapping software told him so. The landscape itself hadn't changed much and he was sure he'd seen a door just like that one before.
With his bat trained memory it wasn't a long shot to say that it was the same door, unless things inhere could clone themselves.
A squid creature flew by and, instead of turning to avoid Nightwing it split in two, then merged again.
One dark eyebrow twitched behind his helmet.
Any one of the things he'd seen in that place he would have been able to handle just fine under normal circumstances, there was always something weirder to see after all. Right then though, all he wanted was to find his Little Wing and get out before he was as crazy as The Joker.
No, that wasn't a very good analogy at all. Nightwing shook off the tight feeling in his chest and carried on. That cute blue haired girl had given him some tips in where to look, even if her adorable little friend had tried to sick a bunch of skeletons in him.
Nightwing was tempted to check the tracer again, any sign that he was getting closer would have made the stress worth it, but the battery was too drained. He had to be careful with the handful of uses that were left. Touching down on a nearby island, he checked his map data again. There was definitely a large mass ahead, but it was hard to tell exactly where.
He hears a little bark by his feet and looked down to see a little glowing puppy with a ball. It barked and jumped around playfully. Nightwing knelt down to pet it. Would Jason have ever wanted a dog?
"No time to play." he said with a small smile and lifted off the ground again. The playful yipping turned into a whimper, them a loud growl. The hero turned his body just enough to catch sigh of the huge green dog before he was hightailing it away at full speed.
The dog was fast, but there was no way he'd be able to catch up to a suit designed specifically for a time sensitive mission by Batman himself. Most other people wouldn't have been able to keep track of where they were going. Unlike those most people, Knighting had piggybacked on members of the flash family almost as long as He'd been a hero, he was able to steer himself in the general direction o where he'd been trying to go.
It didn't take long for him to find himself in a library. Rows and rows of books seemed to stretch on forever where spread out before him. His first thought was that Babs would have absolutely loves the place, so he took a picture to add to the next data package. His next though was that if he wanted to find what he was looking for, he'd have to get to work.
The hero plucked a hardcover book off a shelf and opened to a random page. Not a second later he found himself in a frozen wasteland.
"Friend!" A voice screamed in the distance. Nightwing groaned and made a run for it. There was nothing that made sense in that place. Nothing.
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When Valery found the ghost boy again it was near the end of her shift at the Nasty Burger. He was napping at a table with his face buried in his folded arms and a half empty bowl of soup in front of him. Danny Fenton and his friends sat at the same table, chatting over the ghost's head and occasionally making him eat more.
She watched as Danny got a call and left the table. Sam Manson softly shook the boy awake and spoke to him. Valery couldn't hear what they said, but she could tell that it made the ghost uncomfortable. He phased out of his seat and fell on the floor, laughing it off when Tucker tried to help him to his feet.
Red looked up and caught sight of her. He gave a small wave when he saw her looking. The ghost hunter looked down at her wristwatch, a few minutes wouldn't make much of a difference. She gestured to the back and got a thumbs up from the ghost before she clocked out and changed out of her uniform.
"Sup." Jason lifted one hand in greeting when Valery stepped out of the restaurant.
"Do you know that the Fenton's kid's parents are ghost hunters?" She asked, waving her arms. "Why would you be hanging around him and his weirdo friends? Unless," she brought a finger near her mouth. "Phantom sent you to spy on the Fenton's, didn't he?"
"Two thinks." Red managed to keep a cocky smirk on his face despite the fact that it looked like the rest of him was about to disintegrate, he held up one finger. "Phantom doesn't send me to do a single thing. Danny helped me out and I didn't really have anywhere to go afterwards, so I couldn't really say no."
"You'll be saying no plenty when his folks get you." Her watch beeped. "Oh no," She groaned.
"What is it?" Red asked, looking a little more aware.
"We have to get away from here before..."
"Valery my love! Please say yes!" A shrill voice called out.
Valery tried to run before the owner of the voice was in sight, but Red grabbed her wrist and pulled her through the wall and into the store room before she had a chance. She tried to ready for a surprise attack, but Red broke into a sneezing fit before she had a chance.
Valery ducked into the employees bathroom and got the ghost some tissues.
"Thanks." He mumbled and blew his nose. "What was that about?"
"Nothing." Valery said with and amused smile. "Just wondering how I was ever dumb enough to think you were dangerous."
Red snorted, leaning against the wall and waved a hand. "Say that again when I'm not trying to keep from throwing up all over you."
"Red!?" Danny Fenton's voice floated into the storage room.
"Man I'm tires of people treating me like a kid." He groaned. "Never touching a rabbit again, not ever."
"If you passed out again I'm making you meet my sister and that's really not something you want, trust me." Danny stepped into the room.
"Psh," Red smirked. "Just getting some air."
"In the stuffy storage room?" Danny asked, his eyes shifting between the two of them.
"Wasn't here the whole time." Red said. "Had to protect a damsel in distress."
"Sure." Danny said, relief evident on his smile. " Sam and Tucker thought you'd been kidnapped. "
"Huh." Red huffed. "Like anyone could take me."
"Sure they couldn't." Danny held out an arm to Red. "Need some help."
"Meh." Red led the way to the door. "You make me eat anymore soup and I'll throw up on you."
"I though you liked soup." Danny said, voice already sounding softer with distance.
"I like food, but I've only got so much room."
She listened to their conversation until she their voices faded away. The last of it she heard was.
"Just be careful around her okay. It'd suck if she disintegrated you."
She didn't get to hear Red's reply.