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

"Danny?! Could you come down to the lab please?!"

The teen groaned as he paused his game.

"I'll be back in a little bit, Tuck. See if you can make it past level 7, I'll meet you by the gate when I can."

He barely heard his friend's reply as he took off his headset and sighed as he made his way downstairs towards the basement.

The pictures of past family outings and family reunions decorated the stairwell wall along with a few shelves decorated with plants and framed newspaper headlines.

It's oddly quiet…

The sound of shuffling and the soft humming of computers slowly became louder. The air tingled, as though live electricity were in the air and it smelled faintly like burnt rubber.

"You called?" he asked as he stood by the stairway.

Maddie Fenton's red hair stood out brightly compared to her teal-blue jumpsuit as she turned and smiled at him. "There you are! Come over here please-"

Flashes of red and green fluid oozing down a drain filled his vision.

"-I need your help-"

Red hair. A bright genuine smile. More and more visions appeared, interrupting his mother's words.

"-with a new test I want to run."

Violet colored eyes widened in shock and then narrowed in anger.

"DANIEL!"

A white van. Bright green fluid on white tile.

"GHOST SCUM!"

Glowing restraints and handcuffs laying on the road. An explosion shook the air-

The seventeen-year-old shot up panting, forehead damp with sweat. His wide bright neon green eyes slowly faded back to their ice blue while staring at the gray covers in front of him.

BANG!

His breathing hitched as he shut his eyes so he didn't see the bright fluorescents and the white suits.

Instinct kicked in as he jumped out of the bed and landed in a crouched position, an ectoplasmic shield at the ready. The temperature in the room dropped as his ice core began to freeze the room over.

A wave of nausea hit him in the gut, causing him to fall onto his butt. His surroundings turned into nothing more than a blur of colors as he tried to focus on something.

He grabbed his head with a small groan as he tried to wait out his dizzy spell, his shield, and ice dissipating in the process.

'What on earth hit me?'

He heard a muffled voice and looked up to see a blurry green figure standing in front of him.

'What?' he tried to ask, but the words never came out.

The green figure ran off, leaving Danny to sit on the floor and wait out his dizzy spell.

'Did I get caught by the GIW?'

As the room slowly began to come into focus, he noticed that the room was vaguely familiar, and that everything wasn't pristine white.

'So not GIW… that's good. But am I safe?'

Using the wall behind him to lean his back against, he slowly closed his eyes in hopes that it would alleviate some of the nausea.

He took a deep breath and noticed that the room smelt familiar too, a familiarity that didn't strike him as immediately bad. So it was possible that it was safe, best to be on guard though…

The hair on Danny's neck stood up as he felt a new presence.

His eyes shot open, only for him to immediately shut them again as bright lights blinded him and agitated his gradually diminishing dizziness.

Warm hands cupped his face, startling him, but a gentle voice inside his head encouraged him it was safe and to copy their breathing.

'Breathe in… and out. There you go, you're doing great, Danny. Breathe in… and out.'

The voice had him do that several times, all while reassuringly holding his face gently. However, while the gesture was appreciated, the warmth from their hands was just making him more uncomfortable.

It took a couple of tries to focus on the voice, and once he did, he realized they were politely asking him to open his eyes.

'Is it safe?'

'Yes.'

'Are you sure?'

'…Yes, I'm sure.'

'You hesitated.'

The voice sighed, a tinge of agitation detected. 'You're safe, now can you please open your eyes for me?'

Danny slowly relented and opened his eyes. The dizziness had finally subsided enough to where he could recognize shapes and faces. The first thing he noticed was a female and they had a familiar green skin complexion.

'Ghost? No… I know this person… At least I think I do? It's kinda hard to forget someone with a green complexion… M- M? Maybe it starts with an M? Miss? Miss M? M'Gann?'

A breath of relief and a chuckle was heard in the back of his mind.

'That's right. Now, we're going to check something, okay? It's just you, me, Gar, and Dick.'

'Uh, sure? But who-?'

SNAP!

A snap, like a latex glove being put on, echoed loudly in his right ear.

His hands moved on their own as they quickly covered his ears, the ringing in his ears more deafening than the initial sound.

'What the heck was that?!' He demanded as he tried to get his bearings again.

'Danny it's okay, you're safe. We're just checking your hearing…Would you mind sitting up for me, please?'

'But I-' The feeling of the cold floor underneath his warm skin registered in his mind. He opened his eyes to find that he was in fact curled up on his side on the floor. His eyebrows furrowed as he racked his brain for answers.

'What?... When did I -? How long have I been on the ground?'

'It's alright Danny, we're going to try again, this time it shouldn't be as loud….'

He braced himself for another snap but got a muffled beep sound instead. The beep wasn't shrill, luckily, but it did catch his attention.

'It kinda sounds like the Fenton Phones when they turn on… or a commlink?'

It went off again, only this time it sounded farther away. It continued going off in the same location until the entire room gradually seemed to come into focus.

A green-skinned younger boy wearing a red and white suit was standing near the door chewing on one of his fingernails. It took him a second to remember the kid's name- it wasn't until the passing thought of 'Monkey Boy' popped into his mind, did he remember his name was Garfield, or 'Beast Boy', as he liked to be called.

M'Gann was seated across from him, with a white t-shirt and pink leggings, with her legs crossed underneath her. The last person was a young adult with a black t-shirt and dark blue jeans standing over by the bathroom with his arms crossed.

'Bird Boy? Oh! Nightwing! But doesn't he like to be called Dick? Still a weird nickname for Richard, just saying…'

"Gar? Dick? What are you guys doing here?" Danny asked aloud, wincing at how hoarse his voice sounded. Now that it came to his attention, his throat did feel kind of sore-

"Gar came and got us when you weren't responding," M'Gann explained with a gentle tone.

The halfa furrowed his eyebrows as he glanced between the two older teens. "'Weren't responding'? What do you mean? Did something happen?"

A sharp pain erupted in his head as memories came rushing back from the past year.

He groaned in pain as he rubbed his temples. 'Oww…'

'Take it easy, Danny...'

The halfa shot a glance at M'Gann with a grimace.

'You can stop now, M'Gann…'

Her head tilted a little at first, then (he guessed when the realization hit) her shoulders slumped, and she looked down and away as she disconnected the Mind Link.

Dick cautiously walked towards them and took the chair from a nearby desk and sat next to them. "I had asked Gar to come check on you since you had been running a fever."

Danny raised an eyebrow and the older teen offered him an apologetic smile. "Right, we need to catch you up on a few things. After talking to Artemis, this is what we have concluded; after Psimon used his mind tricks on you, something happened and you either freaked out or were trying to break his control and you used your Ghostly Wail. However, you accidently blew out an outer wall of the ship and it started to sink-"

"Did everyone get out?" The halfa interrupted, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Yes the Team is fi-"

"Everyone?"

The teen's eyes narrowed as he had a brief stare down with the other.

There was a short silence before Dick reassured him that the hostages were returned to shore and that there were enough lifeboats aboard as well as most of the men had life jackets on.

Admittedly, it took a minute to process his friend's words, however, the older hero was patient and gave it a few minutes before continuing.

"The ship was sinking so we made a tactical retreat. After we took off, Conner came up to me and handed me a tranquillizer dart he had found on you. As soon as we got back to the Cave we gave you a once over, both physically and mentally. Luckily, whatever was in the dart was just meant to knock you out."

'That explains the disorientation and the dizziness…'

His eyebrows furrowed as he continued to stare at the floor. "But you mentioned something about a fever?"

'Which could explain the nausea…'

"A side effect of the sedative," the other explained as he shifted in place.

Danny sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before looking up at M'Gann. "And mentally?"

The female martian glanced at him before looking away again. "I couldn't really find anything before. But Dick and Kaldur wanted me to try again whenever you woke up…"

A faint throb was felt in the back of his head as he remembered the feeling of the mental barrier being torn down.

The ringing in his ears seemed to come back as the silence took hold of the room again.

Faint voices from his nightmares and from yesterday's onslaught whispered in the back of his mind. He thought he saw red and green liquid on the floor in the corner of his eye, but a simple second blink reassured him nothing was there.

He looked back at Dick who had an unreadable expression; his observing expression, as the halfa has come to know it.

"Yeah… that's fine…" he barely mumbled as he looked back at the floor.

"You don't seem so sure-"

"I said it's fine." Danny winced, realizing that it probably came off more harsh than he intended it. He took a slightly shaky breath before continuing. "…I'm just not exactly excited about the idea of having more people inside of my head is all."

Dick nodded but remained expressionless, "Understandable, I'll call Martian Manhunter to see if he can give you a quick once over later. How's your fever doing?"

The teen paused as he felt his ice-powered core send a chill down his spine, nodding to himself when he felt his temperature gradually decreasing.

"My ice powers might be overactive for the next few hours but I should be fine."

He turned his attention to Dick, who offered a small reassuring smile. That's when he noticed Gar was nowhere to be seen. He must've left to go hang out with the others whenever Dick was explaining stuff to the halfa.

"Why don't we go get you something to eat? Afterward, we'll head to the…"

Danny found himself observing Dick's movements closely as he stood up and put the chair back, his words trailing off to the back of the teen's mind.

Dick Grayson, aka Richard Grayson, aka Nightwing. Second in command of the Team, a team of young heroes that do covert missions for the Justice League. While he frequently went on missions, he could also be found typing away on the holographic computer in the Mission Room. Anything that needed hacking, deep analysis, or thorough investigation, Nightwing was the person to go to.

Danny and Dick didn't spend time together often, though he would consider them friends. If they had free time, they would tell each other stories or play video games together. Sometimes they would even help each other out when they got into prank wars with Wally and Gar; Dick mainly offering his strategy and planning.

His alter ego however, was usually mission driven. At first, it would drive Danny insane how detail oriented the guy was, and how upset he would get when a mission didn't go according to plan. Now, the half ghost didn't mind as much, as the details would sometimes get them out of a really tough spot.

"Danny?"

His head shot towards the sound of his name and saw M'Gann tilt her head slightly.

"I'm sorry I kind of got spacey there. What did you say?"

She had a gentle smile as she spoke, "Dick was asking if you liked his idea on training later if you felt well enough to join us."

Danny nodded his head, "Yeah, that sounds good. I'll go-uh- get ready for the day. I'll meet you guys in the kitchen."

The two heroes smiled at him and slowly made their way out of his room, reassuring him that if he ever needed anything to let them know.

He let out a long sigh a few seconds after the door closed. He went to rub his neck, cringing when he felt dried-up sweat.

"Ughhhh…. I really didn't need this today…"

As the halfa jumped into the shower, his mind wandered to the last year that he's spent with the Team.

A group that he's come close to calling family, though he'd never admit that to Clockwork.

His mind went to Gar first, feeling bad that he probably spooked the younger hero.

When he had first gotten to know the young shapeshifter, he honestly thought the kid was naïve and impulsive. Always jumping ahead without first asking what the course of action was, or even pulling pranks on the other younger members of the Team. He also had a bad habit of sneaking into Danny's lab and messing with his ectoplasmic weaponry or experiments. The last time he did that, he had roped a few of the younger members and the older teen had to save them from Skulker.

He rolled his eyes as thought about the look on the kid's face when the half-ghost took the ghost down in less than a few minutes when they had struggled for hours. Poor kid had completely underestimated how dangerous ghosts really were.

Danny didn't mind the shapeshifter nowadays, if anything, the young teen reminded him of how was when he started out. Impulsive, head-strong, and quick to rush into a fight, yes, but also his ability to bounce back and learn from his mistakes. If he got knocked down, he came back twice as strong; he admired that about Gar.

His mind then shifted towards the their resident telepath, M'Gann.

The female martian was originally an appreciated welcome when he first met the Team. Kind, thoughtful, and always making sure he felt welcomed. Danny guessed that she's learned his micro-expressions by now since she couldn't access his mind without his knowing or feeling her presence and yet somehow knew if something was bothering him or upset him.

Though, admittedly, he was now wary about being on a telepathic link with her after she has been continuously abusing her telepathic powers when questioning enemies.

If an interrogation wasn't going well, she hasn't been afraid to leave them in an almost catatonic state just to get the information the League or the Team needed.

The teen finished throwing on his clothes and made his way towards the kitchen.

He decided to wear his usual civvies, what the team nicknamed their more causal clothes, which consisted of a white t-shirt, jeans, red tennis shoes, and a black zip-up hoodie.

'It may have started off rough, but I'm sure this day will get better…'

Danny and M'Gann were the only two standing since they had just finished making food for everyone. Kaldur, Gar, and Conner, all sat on the bar stools near the counter, while Wally and Artemis sat near the TV on the couches.

From what he could see, everyone had also chosen to wear their civvies.

Gar and M'Gann were wearing the same outfits from when he saw them earlier. Meanwhile, Kaldur wore a blue and black high collared light jacket with black sweatpants and black slip-on sandals. Conner still sported his black t-shirt with a red superman symbol on it and dark blue jeans. Wally wore a white long-sleeved shirt with a red button up t-shirt over it and dark grey jeans. And lastly, Artemis wore a white tank top with a brown crop top jacket with dark grey jeans held up by a brown belt.

Danny looked over to see Kaldur looking over at him with a slight frown.

'Did he ask a question?'

"Is something wrong, Kaldur?"

Kaldur's frown deepened, "I was asking why you hadn't eaten yet."

He had an interesting relationship with Kaldur, or Aqualad, as many referred to him. They weren't as close as he and Conner were, but he found that they discussed cultures and civilizations quite often. Sometimes even training together was interesting and the discussion of leadership or advise in making decision making were common topics during spars.

The Atlantean was one of the teen's main resources for information regarding their dimension. Which definitely came in handy more than a few times the past year. The older hero also acted as another personal overbearing parent-friend when his health or powers were involved.

"It was a habit, Kaldur…" Danny finally replied with a roll of his eyes.

The Atlantean raised an eyebrow, to which the half-ghost just gave a disgruntled sigh before making himself a plate.

"Old habits die hard?" Connor teased from next to Kaldur.

"What doesn't kill it makes it stronger," Danny joked back with a small smirk.

"GHOST KID!"

Said person was tackled with a hug from behind, almost making him spill his plate of scrambled eggs.

"Zatanna!" M'Gann gasped in fright as she jumped with a spatula still in hand.

"Speaking of habits..." the halfa mumbled.

Zatanna had medium-long black hair and bright cyan eyes. She was wearing her more casual outfit, which was a pair of white or black pants with a light violet top and white or black shoes.

The heroine laughed as she broke the hug and pat him on the back. "It's been a while! That mission in Peru took a little longer than expected, sorry about that."

"No worries, Z," Danny mused with a chuckle.

The magician wasn't around a lot, due to being on personal missions quite often, but her presence was always a warm welcome. He considered the young magician to be his unofficially adoptive sister, mainly due to her resemblance to Jazz. Not necessarily physically, but the way she thought and regarded Danny. She was like an over-bearing sister; attentive, but could definitely be a spazz at times.

Danny turned around and started to look for some spare clean forks, while Zatanna remained in the kitchen leaning on the counters closest to everyone else.

"I was just messing with my unofficially adopted little brother-"

"Little brother…"

Danny's ears became alert as he thought he heard a distant whisper.

"Oh come on, that's not fair! He's basically my brother too!"

"That's sooo fair, Gar. You already have an adopted blood sister, and her name is Megan. I'm an only child who wants-needs- a sibling to mess with!"

The halfa didn't have to see Zatanna or Gar, to know that they were both playfully making faces at each other.

"Little brother!"

The halfa's eyes widened as he felt a chill go down his spine, and his body frozen in place.

'…Jazz?'

CRASH!

"Come on little brother, let's go get catch us some ghosts!"

He could feel M'gann's presence by his side, but her voice sounded muffled, as though she were underwater. In fact, all of the Team's voices sounded muffled, the only voice that really sounded clear was the one that belonged to the new presence in the room that he happened to be locking eyes with.

She looked about the same as when he had left Amity Park. Her aqua blue eyes shining brightly and contrasting greatly with her long orange hair that reached down to her hips. She still wore her long-sleeve V-neck black shirt, aqua pants, a pair of black flats, and an aqua headband. She smiled and he felt a sharp pang in his chest.

'She's not real…' his logical side seemed to whisper to him, making the ache in his chest worsen.

He decided to trust his logical side as Danny bent down and silently began to pick up the glass shards and pieces.

This Jazz wasn't real, she couldn't be…

'Snap out of it, Fenton! She can't be, it wouldn't make any sense! Not unless she-'

His eyes widened again as he remembered the chill he felt.

'No…'

He quickly let out a long breath and he felt an invisible knife stab his chest as he watched his breath freeze in front of him.

Out of his peripheral, he could see that Conner and Kaldur had stood up.

"That can't be good…" Danny heard Gar state, sounding similar to a poorly receiving walkie-talkie.

"I can't access his mind, he's keeping me out!" M'gann's frustrated voice echoed.

"Do you think it might be Psimon again?" Conner asked with a growl in his voice.

"Danny?" He recognized Zatanna's muffled voice and concluded that she was worried by her tone.

Jazz knelt down and gave him a sad, but reassuring smile.

'This isn't real, this isn't real-'

"I know you think I'm pushy, and I'm a know-it-all. I know you think I can be a jerk sometimes..."

"It's a possibility he may have survived. This could be related, but it's doubtful, especially since M'gann already looked him over," Aqualad stated as he slowly starting walking towards them.

"You know, you can stop me at any time," Jazz frowned.

Danny's hands started to tremble as the weight on his chest painfully grew.

"What's wrong? What are you seeing?" M'Gann asked with a stern voice.

His sister reached out and placed a weightless hand on his shoulder.

"I'll always be right here for you little brother-"

"Then why weren't you there?!" Danny growled out painfully as he looked up with a glare.

His eyes glowed with ectoplasm and ice as a lightbulb above him exploded into sparks as the image of his red-headed sister faded away.

"DANNY!"

Danny jumped and stared wide-eyed at M'Gann and Conner, who in turn both had looks of deep concern and worry. While the rest of the team watched with weary looks.

"Are you alright?" M'Gann asked, going back to a gentle voice.

Danny looked back at the wall and tried to desperately decide if his sister was real or not.

His panic started to calm as he looked around and saw several team members shivering and others chattering their teeth. The floor in the kitchen and a bit of the living room had a thin layer of frost, while some of the drinking glasses were completely frozen.

His ice powers…

He let out a shaky breath and saw his breath yet again, a wave of calm washing over him, gradually allowing the temperature to return to normal.

"Y-yeah… I'm okay…" he breathed.

The teen then proceeded to bend down and pick up the pieces of the plate that had been broken. A green hand stopped his movements by setting it gently on top of his hand.

He looked up to see M'Gann, "Who wasn't there, Danny? What did you see?"

Danny debated on what to say as he thought back to gentle aqua blue eyes.

"Was it your sister?" Conner figuratively nudged as he shifted his weight to, probably, sit more comfortably in front of him.

He hesitated, locking eyes with the clone for but a brief second before he nodded his head and remained silent.

"That's…a little bit of a relief," he heard M'Gann say with a deep breath.

Danny watched as Conner turned and explained to Zatanna who Jazz was. The rest of present members of the Team went silent, most likely to listen in as well, while the raven-haired teen concentrated on defrosting the kitchen from where he sat.

Conner, aka Superboy. The clone of Superman and the halfa's personal best friend. When the teen was left alone with the older boy in the Infirmary a year ago, he honestly didn't know what to think of him. The guy had seemed like the 'strong, silent, type' that schoolgirls always awed or swooned over. But during his first two months of him being at the Cave, he learned to appreciate his company more and more.

There had been a day where Conner was upset and he blurted how he really felt about being Superman's clone. Danny had been both shocked and glad that he could say he kinda understood. He told the older teen about Danielle, who eventually even got to meet her as well.

Ever since then, he and the older hero have hung out a lot more and even shared more about each other's pasts. From sparring to just chatting while white noise and static were displayed on the TV, he couldn't really say he had a better friendship with anybody else on the Team.

The teen turned to Zatanna to see her nod her head in understanding, "So when I called you 'little brother', it made you think of her?"

He shrugged before deciding to finally stand back up and throw the pieces of glass away. "I guess so… though I think its safe to say that whatever just happened would definitely not be classified as 'normal'."

Kaldur nodded and crossed his arms in the entryway of the kitchen. "Agreed. Dick went to contact Martian Manhunter before you arrived. As soon as he arrives, I want you to report to the Mission Room so you can be analyzed thoroughly."

Danny grimaced but nodded all the same, and started to walk towards the Mission Room.

Zatanna briefly stopped him, "I'm sorry, Danny. I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine Zatanna," he interjected with an attempt at a small smile. "Seriously, it is... I just wasn't expecting it, okay? It's fine, I promise. You can still call me little brother, I don't mind."