TW: Graphic Depictions/PTSD/Violence/Blood/Mentions of Death

Chapter 1

Unknown

_, - -:-

The sensation of being plunged into cold water washed over him as he exited the glowing blue portal.

'Something's not right…'

The teen's eyes shot open as he tumbled out of the portal with a small yelp, landing on the ground three feet below him with a loud "oomph!"

The teen shot back a glare as he watched the portal wink out of existence.

"What happened to portals opening on the ground?" Danny groaned irritably as he slowly lifted himself off the asphalt road.

'No wonder that hurt,' he thought to himself as he looked around.

He noticed that it was a partially cloudy midday with a comfortable temperature. There was a forest to the right of him below a grassy hill, on which the road laid on top. To his left, was a dirt road that led to an old building that looked similar to a factory or warehouse. Half of the building was grey brick, the rest being concrete. Green and brown vines grew along the brick walls, and the windows were shattered, faded, and grimy.

He looked for any signs or clues as to where he could be, and as his luck would have it, there wasn't any.

The teen sighed as he contemplated on what to do next. 'Okay… Clockwork told me to find shelter first. Maybe the factory-? No, that probably isn't the best idea since it looks like it could just fall apart any second.'

There seemed to be a building off in the far distance further down the street.

'Guess that's my destination then…'

He smiled as white rings rushed over him, transforming his white hair to raven black and his eyes from green to ice blue. His black and white jumpsuit into a pair of dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black sweatshirt, while his boots turned into red sneakers as he began walking down the street.

The Halfa's hunch was right as there was a small city further down the road. Luckily, the ghost he had run into earlier in the Ghost Zone hadn't banged him up too badly, and just affected his energy levels and added to his exhaustion. Three days traveling in the Ghost Zone was not as fun without one of his ghostly allies with him as he thought it would be.

As he walked around, he thought about what Clockwork had told him before sending him off. He hadn't expected a relatively normal place, to be honest. Sure, the old ghost hadn't specified when or where he'd be going, which is semi-normal for the cryptic ghost, but he hadn't expected a completely normal city either.

"GET BACK 'ERE YA CREEP!"

Danny sighed as he facepalmed, 'I should've known better than to say anything…'

He silently, but quickly made his way over to an alleyway to see what all the ruckus was about. The teen hid behind the corner to find a woman standing over a man with a wooden bat.

The woman, who looked to have been in her late twenties, had on a sleeveless half-red and half-black corset top. She had on leggings with the diamond patterns on her right thigh and left shin. Bright blue eyes lined with black eyeliner were wide with a slightly crazed look. Her hair was blonde and tied into two low ponytails, with one side having blue highlighted ends, the other with red. She had on burgundy lipstick that matched her red and black gloves. Lastly, he noticed that she wore black combat boots.

The man looked like he was in his late 30s or 40s and was wearing the basic purse snatcher's clothes. Black beanie, black sweater, dark jeans, and black shoes.

The woman grinned down at the man, with a less-than-sane look. "Ahhh, so ya like to go around smacking ladies' asses do ya? Well, let's see how ya feel, when I smash in ya' face!"

The man's eyes shut close as the bat came swinging towards his head, but the bat never made contact. The man opened his eyes to find the onlooking teenager had stopped the bat mid-swing.

"I think he's learned his lesson, miss," Danny warned as he narrowed his eyes. He pushed the bat back towards her, taking a defensive stance between her and the man as she stumbled backward.

"Hey! I was busy trying to teach this punk a lesson kid! What gives?!" The woman challenged.

Danny crossed his arms and rolled his eyes at the woman, "Just because the guy was a creep, doesn't mean you have to go bash the guy's brains in. Let the authorities handle this guy."

Sure the lady had a strange style, and the guy probably did deserve it, but he couldn't just let this woman beat the crap out of the guy either.

A little voice in the back of his head reminded him that he did have to play it safe. He'd have to use his words to solve problems for now.

Clockwork's advice might as well have been law. He had warned the halfa to only reveal his powers when the time came. No clues as to when, no hints as to where, no riddles that could've been semi-memorized, that was it. Yep… that's his overseer.

His thoughts were interrupted by the man-dressed-burglar scrambled from behind him and began running away in the opposite direction.

The woman shouted at the man and began to run after him, Danny quickly took out an ecto-gun and quickly changed the settings to 'stick'. He hadn't gotten the chance to look for cameras, but using his powers was out of the question.

She gave out a cry of surprise as she rolled to the ground, her arms stuck to her sides by slightly glowing green ectoplasmic goo.

"Ewww, what is this stuff, kid!? It smells like burnt eggs!" She stuck out her tongue in disgust as she sat up as best as she could.

The teen couldn't help but sigh in relief to himself.

'I'm so glad that worked...'

He and Tucker had thought of different ideas for types of ecto-guns, such as sticky-ectoplasm for humans and ghosts alike. With Tucker's programming and the half-ghost's engineering, the two managed to make several prototypes (with many blowing up in their face, quite literally). And with time away from school and having to occupy his time while not fighting ghosts, Danny's had time to do some tinkering. The one in his hand was luckily one of the more successful attempts at a multi-functional ecto-gun.

Danny had an amused smile as he squatted in front of the strangely dressed woman.

"Sorry, that'll be a side effect that I have to fix. Unfortunately, since you refuse to listen to me and have intentions of seriously harming that guy, I'm gonna have to call the authorities, miss." The teen sighed as he took out the phone that Clockwork had given him to use. "Also, I'm nearly sixteen, so stop calling me 'kid'. The name's Danny."

There were a few seconds of silence before the woman's tone changed drastically. "'Ya been hurt…"

Danny snapped his head towards the woman with a raised eyebrow. "Huh?"

The young woman's eyes had gone inquisitive as well, but her smile was gone, and her expression was solemn. "Name's Harley. Harley Quinn. I used to be a shrink way back wheneva. I noticed- ok- I'm not used to using correct terminology or lingo 'cause it been a bit since I was- ya know- glasses, lab coat, pin-up, done-up, doctor lookin' shiz. Real intellectual lookin stuff, ya know?"

The teen was surprised the woman was talking so much, but his own curiosity was starting to get the better of him. He let out a silent breath of defeat, deciding to sit down and continue the strange conversation.

"I understand, but what does that have to do with you thinking I've been hurt?"

Harley smiled as she crossed her legs to try to get comfortable. "Ok, so, I had noticed ya micro-expressions. Basically, it's these little expressions that normal folk don't really see unless 'ya've been to the bore-to-death and wasting-hours-of-ya-life schools to learn. The ones I happen' to notice were ones that are usually associated with being hurt, emotionally or physically. In ya' case, both. You seriously messed up, ki-Danny."

He hummed in thought as he leaned back, letting his arms hold him up. "What about it though? Why point it out?"

She shrugged, or least as best as she could, as she explained. "I used to be in a real bad relationship. I mean real bad. Being hurt was a big reason I dumped 'im, so I guess it bothers me 'cause I get it. That's why that creep bothered me so much. I hate being seen as an object and not a lady."

"I see…" Danny contemplated. After a few moments of silence, the teen sighed and released Harley. The button making a slight ringing sound as the ectoplasm turned to liquid and dissolved.

The blonde looked surprised before smiling and stretching out her arms. She smiled brightly as she offered her hand. "So, what's ya' story, kid? You wanna get a bite to eat? I'm starvin'!"

Danny blinked with wide eyes as he took the woman's hand and stood up.

Food did sound good, but the voice in the back of his head reminded him of why he was in the city in the first place.

He gave Harley a small smile as he politely declined her offer, lying that he needed to go home soon.

"Well, in that case…" Harley took out a handful of cards from nowhere and started rummaging through them. She apparently found the one she was looking for as she yelled 'TADA!' while handing it to him.

"There's my numba since I don't live 'round here, but we will be meeting up and gettin' somethin' to eat next time we see each other. Ya pretty cool for a sixteen-year-old, Danny. See ya!"

And with that, the strange woman known as Harley Quinn was gone.

A strange experience, Danny would admit, but not an unpleasant one. 'Now back to what I was even doing here in the first place.'

The teen turned to see a paper nailed to the wall of one of the buildings, one that specifically had a glowing blue 'CW' stamp.

Danny's eyebrows furrowed as he walked briskly over to it and carefully ripped it off where it was nailed.

I don't know whether to be astounded or baffled by your incapability to follow instructions. I was aware that you fought a ghost or two on the way to the Clocktower, but what I wasn't aware of was apparently the amount of energy to think clearly.

The portal I had created for you already offered the things that you needed. Your belongings are already where you need to be.

~C.W.

P.S~ I'd advise talking shelter soon, there's a storm coming.

The teen facepalmed as he gave out a groan of exasperation, "Of course the building was there for a reason…"

Danny rubbed his eyes and grumbled to himself as he began making his way back towards the long stretch of road.

As he walked, the air became humid, and looking up, he noticed the clouds were starting to darken.

'Might be a bad one, judging how dark those clouds are. I should be able to make it back before it starts pouring though.'

As he continued walking, the visit with Clockwork was at the forefront of his mind:

"So let me get his straight. You want me to go somewhere, with inhabitants that have superhuman abilities, that also happen to live closer to Hades and Trigons' Realms, both who believe I am an abomination-"

"Yes."

"-and be around humans that are not aware of ghosts' existence-"

"Yes."

"-and live there?"

"Correct."

Phantom ran a hand through his white hair as he paced around the Clock Tower's main floor. He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath trying to regain his composure. He turned to his ghostly guardian with a look of uncertainty.

"I'm not usually one to question your motives after the mission in Salem, but why? Why would you want me to move away from what I've sworn to protect?"

The Time Master did not even blink, nor did he show any signs that Phantom's question could have swayed him.

"Because that is where you are needed."

The half ghost's frustrated groan echoed throughout the Tower. His eyes flared blue as he turned to his guardian, "Usually I would be perfectly fine with that answer since it often is just a mission that will last a few days, maybe even a week or so. But, Clockwork, you're talking about living there. That's completely new territory for me! For how long? What about Amity? I can't just up and leave. What if there's an attack? What if there's another invasion? What if-"

"Daniel."

Phantom stopped his rant and look up at the sound of his name. His eyes widened in surprise to see that the Time Ghost's usual smug know-it-all look was gone and had been replaced with a stern yet concerned fatherly look. A look that was rarely shown, let alone voiced.

"Need I remind you that you are-"

CRACK! CROOOOOOM! PANG!

The teen hadn't even realized that it had started storming. Lightning crackled and thunder rolled overhead as it started to pour. The cold rain began to seep into Danny's clothes and his raven hair became pitch black.

BOOM!

Lightning shook the very air itself, startling him and making him lose his footing on the edge of the road.

Sticks and rocks tore at his skin and clothes as he tumbled down the steep hill. He felt his leg graze a large piece of rock or metal as he tried to catch himself, only to get the wind knocked out of him as rolled off an unforeseen grassy ledge. He had finally rolled to a stop onto a riverbank, and began to try to catch his breath as he laid on his back.

After a few minutes, the teen slowly moved to get onto his feet, a sharp pain shooting up his leg. Letting out a small yelp, he sat back down and looked at his leg. He found the pant leg slightly torn, hissing as he slowly pulled the pant leg up, there was a long cut and, by the amount of blood, he could tell that the cut was deep enough for his advanced healing abilities to be in overdrive for a few hours. He quickly ripped off a part of his torn shirt and tied it around his bleeding leg.

Danny sighed as he sat back and looked out at the river, listening to the rainfall and the strong current.

'Guess I should get inside…'

He facepalmed yet again. "Yeah, and how are you going to do that, Fenton, crawl your way up the hill?"

The teen's head comically dropped as he remembered a crucial part of the whole situation. "You have ghost powers, Fenton…"

Danny grumbled to himself as he slowly picked himself up and tapped into his ghost powers and hovered up the hill and back onto the road. Once he touched the ground, fatigue hit him like a bus.

"Uggghhh, I will definitely not be doing that again…"

He carefully walked/limped down the path towards the old building and soon found himself standing in front of two rusted-metal doors.

With a loud creak and groan of its aged hinges, the door opened to a dim but spacious and mostly roofed warehouse-like room that smelled of weathered copper and steel. Well, there really wasn't much of a 'room' so much as a giant storage space. Upon further inspection, Danny noticed that the building, wasn't so much an abandoned factory as it looked to be closer to an old hanger.

On the main floor, a few branches and leaves were littering the ground, as well as some old soda cans, paper cups, and other kinds of trash. Plants had begun to grow inside, probably due to a decently sized hole in the ceiling, that allowed some of the rain from outside to sprinkle in. There were also metal ladders that led up to a grated walkway that went around the inside perimeter of the building. The glass windows were covered in dust, dirt, or vines, cracked, or broken.

In the far corner of the abandoned building, next to another hole in the ceiling, was a large willow tree. The thick branches and leaves were almost touching the semi-dry ground while swaying slightly from the draft. The ground was dry directly under the tree and its roots stuck out of the ground, creating a tangled but almost cave-like shelter around what the teen could barely make out was his duffle bag.

Danny smiled as he half-limped over to his bag and sat down next to it. He dug around inside and made a mental checklist of what all was inside.

'Clothes, check. Hygiene, check. Thermos, check. Some extra, but light ghost-hunting equipment, check. Sleeping bag, check. Oh wow, he even added a few snack bars, cool!'

The teen grabbed one of the snack bars and kept digging through the bag. After discovering that there wasn't any first aid stuff packed, which just seemed oddly convenient, he closed the bag and went back to eating. He leaned his back against the dry bark of the tree and hummed in thought as he took a second to himself.

'Even though my leg will take a bit to heal, at least I've got shelter for the night. I also have a snack for tonight and tomorrow morning, and some extra clothes while I wait for further instruction-'

The halfa's advanced hearing picked up on the sound of an aircraft lowering itself nearby.

"Now if only I could just get a few minutes to myself…" He irritably grumbled out loud.

Danny quickly hid the duffle bag under the tree roots and made his way behind the tree and metal pillar. He took a deep breath and tried to rack his exhausted brain on what he should do, only to have his thoughts interrupted by voices outside the building.

"Do you think there's anyone even here? I mean, this place doesn't look the safest and if someone or something did come by here, they probably went into the city."

Danny's eyebrows furrowed. They sounded young; too young to be out at this time of night.

"We have to at least make sure, Beast Boy. Batman wanted us to check out the location of the odd-energy source, and it was on the way back to the Cave anyways."

"Yeah, but Bats did say it only appeared for maybe a few seconds or so. That doesn't really sound dangerous to me."

Great… There was more than one person, and they didn't sound like the typical teenage rebellious type that just wanted to explore. Just his luck…

Also, what was that energy source they were talking about? Could it have been his? His ghostly aura was barely a blip on most normal radars. Maybe it was the portal? Back in Amity, it wasn't necessarily hard to tell when a portal opened up because of its particular energy readings. But then if it was that, that would still lead to problems due to him being in the same vicinity as the energy source.

Either way, he didn't think he'd be able to convince them with the 'I just so happened to be passing through' lie.

CRRREEAAAKKKK.

'Crap the door!'

"Hello? Is anyone in here?"

SMACK!

"OW!"

'Think Fenton, think! The best course of action right now would be to not draw attention to yourself.'

"Are you going to offer them a snack as well?!" a female voice harshly whispered.

"I mean, I already have one but sure," the halfa's snort echoed.

A few gasps and shuffling were heard as he guessed they were trying to figure out where his voice came from.

'Really?! That was the opposite of laying low!' he reprimanded himself.

If he'd been in better condition, he probably would've snuck out of there with his invisibility by now. But thanks to that surprise attack in the Ghost Zone, 'best' is not on the table for the half ghost.

'Talking it out it is…' he thought tiredly to himself.

"Come on out!" A baritone male voice called out.

'Young, but not that young. Must be a young adult, anywhere between 16 to 19.'

Every single muscle in his body was screaming at him to run, but the faint throbbing in his leg reminded him that he would surely be caught.

He took a shaky but silent breath to try to calm his nerves.

The teen decided to try to peek around the corner of the large tree trunk. Lightning flashed and Danny saw a total of six silhouettes walking towards the center of the building.

The person in front of the group cracked a blue glow stick. He was wearing a black unitard, black shoulder pads, boots, and gloves. On his chest was a blue bird with its wings spread out and his abdomen area was colored in a light grey, and also wore a black utility belt. He had medium black hair and wore a black mask over his eyes.

'Great… so now I have to deal with a bird boy. Also, what's with people dressed weirdly around here?'

The male took a couple of steps away from the group and circled in place to look around, "Come on out!"

'Not the same voice as before,' Danny noted.

"Just show your face so we know you're not a threat alright?" A female's voice announced sternly.

She had on a midriff-baring costume with various shades of green and a mask extending from the hairline to the cheekbones. She also wore a sleeveless top with a stylized arrow tip on the front, fingerless gloves, pants with black knee pads, and black combat boots. She had blonde hair tied into a ponytail and had both a bow and a quiver of arrows on her back.

'Robin Hood fan much? Doesn't matter. What matters right now is finding a way to get them to leave… Hmm… convincing them I'm a runaway might work. Won't know it till I try it, I guess...'

Danny took a deep breath as he slowly came from behind the tree, making sure to keep one hand on the tree for balance and the other raised to show he didn't have any weapons.

"Hey! Nightwing! It's just a kid!" A young boy's voice said with shock.

The younger boy was a strange one. In fact, if the boy had only glowed, Danny would've mistaken him for a ghost. He had pale green skin, and green eyes, and dark green hair. He had dark green fur and a monkey tail. He wore a red and white single-piece 'uniform'.

'I'll call him Monkey Boy for now.'

"What are you doing here? Where did you come from?" Bird Boy, now revealed to be 'Nightwing' asked Danny sternly.

The raven-haired teen put his hand down and forced a chuckle, "I'm not much of a 20 questions fan. I'm just trying to stay out of the rain, so feel free to go back to whatever costume party you guys came from because I'm fine where I am, okay?"

Nightwing's expression was unreadable, while Monkey Boy tried to get closer to Danny, stopping when the raven haired teen had taken a step back.

"Name's Beast Boy! What's your name?!" 'Beast Boy' asked excitedly.

The half-ghost stared inquisitively at the green teen, as he processed what the boy asked.

'Should I give them a fake name? No, I already revealed my name to Harley; plus I'd blow my own cover that way since I can't even seem to remember to eat, let alone fake a name.'

"Danny," he answered reluctantly.

"Danny? Nice to meet you!" Beast Boy grinned.

"Any last name, Danny?" Nightwing asked with a slightly gentler tone.

The teen in question stiffened slightly.

'I haven't thought that far yet… I have no idea if I slipped into a parallel universe, a different time stream, or a different dimension. If this is a parallel universe or a future, there could be another me, and that wouldn't be good for either of us if these people decided to go snooping around for information.'

"Where am I anyway?" the teen mumbled to himself.

"Are you lost, Danny?" Nightwing asked.

"Something like that. Look…" He sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You guys seem really nice, but I'm really tired and I just wanted to find a place to rest. So if this isn't your place and I'm not breaking any laws…"

The silent dismissal didn't seem to get across as another male stepped up.

He looked to be African American with light blonde hair, and pale green eyes. He wore a red and blue swimsuit, with arms and feet exposed and dorsal-like fins were attached to the lower calves. He also had black eel-like tattoos that ran along his arms.

'Ocean Boy? Yeah, that seems to fit...'

"We do not wish to harm you, we only wish to help you," Ocean Boy offered with an encouraging smile.

'This is the voice from before.'

Danny had to bite his tongue to stop himself from making a sarcastic remark.

"I'm okay. Now can you please-"

"Where are your parents? Do they live close by?" Nightwing interjected.

The raven-haired teen felt a headache coming on.

"Doesn't matter and no. Now if we're done playing 20 questions, can you please leave?"

"Why are you so insistent on us leaving? Got something to hide?" The Robin Hood wannabe accused, crossing her arms with narrowed eyes.

Danny facepalmed, "No, I- ughhh- I just want to rest here for a bit, okay? I'm tired and I haven't exactly had the best week. I just want some time to myself, is that really too much to ask?"

An older teen with a black t-shirt with a red S-shield shape design stepped up and crossed his arms, "Depends if you're trying to hide something or not."

The raven-haired teen half-glared, "I'm not." The teen cursed himself silently as he realized that he used a little bit of his 'ghostly echo'. Both his body and mind were paying the price for his lack of energy, patience, and sleep.

Both the male and Danny's eyes locked, and they froze in place in a silent battle of stubborn will.

'I really hope he didn't catch that slip up… I can't read his expressions very well, but his body language is saying that he's more confused or conflicted... Familiarity maybe? That could imply that maybe he's seen my face before, or I'm just paranoid and exhausted to the point I can't read facial expressions properly.'

The older teen had short black hair and blue eyes. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt, with an S-Shield on his chest, and had on dark blue fatigue pants tucked into dark-brown combat boots with a large buckled belt.

Nightwing seemed to notice the stare off and furrowed his eyebrows in the direction of the older teen.

The boy broke away from the long stare and turned to Nightwing, making hand gestures that seemed to imply that they were, in fact, having a conversation.

'It doesn't look like Sign Language, then what could it be? Telepathy? Pfft. Nah, the odds of that would be….'

He mentally facepalmed.

'Uggghhhh, superpowered people, right, totally forgot. Looks like my luck has done it yet again and proved me wrong. But then… is one of them a telepath and transmitting it, or all of them?'

Nightwing seemed to have raised an eyebrow at the other boy, but then shook his head and turned to one of the girls. One nodded her head and turned to Danny with a smile.

"Danny? Would you mind coming with us so we can take you home?" the girl gently smiled.

This one also had green-colored skin, but she had amber eyes, not green ones, and she had short red hair. She wore a long-sleeved black suit with a red X across her chest, black shoes, a navy blue cape, and black gloves.

The girl stepped closer, but also stopped when she saw Danny back up. Her smile faltered for but a second before gesturing towards herself, "My name is Miss Martian."

Danny remained silent as he contemplated, to which she sighed in response, "Listen, we just want to help you, okay? So why don't you come with us? If it makes you feel any better, we're all heroes here…"

"Prove it."

'Oh for the love of everything dead, me and my big mouth today...'

Their eyes widened at his question, Nightwing cleared his throat and answered with confidence.

"I used to be a protégé of the Batman of Gotham City", he said gesturing towards himself. "Aqualad is the protégé of Aquaman," gesturing towards the ocean boy. "Miss Martian is the protégé of Martian Manhunter. Artemis is the protégé of Green Arrow," gesturing towards the Robin Hood wannabe. He then gestured to the teen Danny had the stare down with, "Superboy is the protégé of Superman."

'Huh... They're relying on their mentors to prove who they are. Must be a newly formed group then, or don't get out often enough for the public eye to see. Which brings me to their mentors. Am I supposed to know who they are? Popular figures here maybe?'

Even so, it was a bit aggravating he wasn't getting a straight answer. Sure, it was probably from the exhaustion and dull pain in his leg, but it was still frustrating all the same.

"Who are they supposed to be?" he asked, with a hint of his exhaustion in his voice.

Everyone's eyes widened, but only Miss Martian dared to ask, "You mean… you've never heard of the Justice League?"

'No, I'm just making sure we're not talking about the other one- of course I don't!'

Danny had to resist facepalming yet again. So instead, he just gave them a blank look that would hopefully come off as his answer.

Nightwing turned to his group and Danny sighed in exasperation as they continued to have a silent conversation possibly via telepathy.

'I'm seriously considering just walking away,' he thought as he rolled his eyes.

He raised an eyebrow as Nightwing turned around, his breath got caught in his throat when the latter started walking closer to him. The raven teen backed all the way up behind the tree in response.

"Would you mind coming with us for questioning?" Nightwing asked calmly.

Danny's panic was rising at an exponential rate as his mind scrambled to find solutions. The footsteps getting louder and louder upon getting closer and closer. The ringing in his ears getting more and more deafening until he finally snapped.

"I said leave me ALONE!"

A dome of ectoplasm suddenly surrounded the ghostly teen and expanded outwards. It surrounded the entire tree and stayed there, causing all the heroes to quickly back away.

"What the hell?!" Nightwing exclaimed.

Danny stared at the dome with wide eyes.

'Since when could I do that with minimum energy?!'

It was swirling with neon and forest green and seemed to have also surprised and awed the heroes. After what felt like a few minutes, the dome flickered and shattered into pieces before disappearing.

The half-ghost continued to stare at the empty space in front of him as his brain tried to come up with a convincing lie for the slip up.

A malfunctioning ecto-weapon could work, but then he would have to reach for his duffle bag and- a wave of nausea and dizziness washed over him. The last week's events and loss of adrenaline catching up to him again.

He whipped his head around when he felt a presence and happened to lock eyes with the looming figure of Superboy behind him.

Instinct took control and Danny rolled to the side and swung his body into the air, carefully landing on his non-injured leg, and settled into a crouched defensive position.

The group was flabbergasted.

Nightwing looked as though he was about to spring into action, when Superboy put his arm out.

The young adult sent a questioning glance at Superboy. "I smell blood…," Superboy pointedly announced as he narrowed his eyes at the defensive teen.

The older teen's eyes widened, and he seemed to calm instantaneously.

"Look, Danny-" he said walking slowly towards him with his hands up in a peaceful gesture. "-we just want to help you, alright?"

Nightwing briefly glanced in another direction, before he locked eyes back with the raven-haired teen.

Danny narrowed his eyes at this behavior, his mind trying its best to keep up, but turned around too late when he found himself trapped from behind in Aqualad's grip.

"Let go of me!" he exclaimed as he tried to struggle against the strong grip.

'Don't use your ghost powers! Don't use your ghost powers!' He chanted to himself mentally.

He felt something that reminded him of cold metal be hurriedly placed around the base of his neck with a distinctive 'click'. His eyes went wide and he started thrashing and kicking as panic started to set in again. The grip remained strong as he continued to struggle, his adrenaline rush gradually and mockingly coming down.

When he finally calmed to a certain degree, Nightwing walked up and kneeled in front of them, observing Danny's wounded leg.

The teen did the only logical thing someone could do in this situation… and went to kick him in the face.

Catching it only inches from his nose- causing pain to shoot up the half-ghost's leg- Nightwing narrowed his eyes as he asked, "How did that happen?"

'Why did that hurt so much? I thought my advanced healing would've subsided that by now...'

Danny narrowed his eyes in return and snatched his leg back. "I was on the road when I slipped and fell towards the river. My leg had gotten caught on something during the fall," he spat back.

"Are you feeling okay?" Beast Boy asked.

"You mean besides the random people showing up, threatening me, and then putting a strange object around my neck? Peachy."

Beast Boy looked away with shame, and the halfa instantly felt guilty for snapping at him.

Nightwing turned his attention to Miss Martian, telling her something about starting a ship before he turned his attention to the blonde male holding Danny and sent a nod.

Aqualad let go of him, and the raven-haired teen immediately went for whatever contraption was around his neck.

'What the heck is this thing?'

"We're going to take you to our base so you can get medical attention, from there we'll need to question you further and contact your parents," Nightwing announced sternly.

The halfa couldn't help but scoff as he debated on ripping the thing off his neck, "Yeah that's not happening…"

Nightwing raised an eyebrow and asked, "And why is that?"

"None of your-" Danny grasped his head as he felt another wave of nausea and dizziness, the pain from his leg flaring up intensely. Luckily, Aqualad was still behind him and managed to catch him before he completely collapsed onto the ground.

"Hey, is he alright!?" he heard someone ask as Aqualad and Nightwing laid him on the ground.

All that was heard was the sound of an engine nearby before he blacked out.