Chapter 12: Who Needs A Babysitter When You're Half-Dead

Two days have passed since the incident with Circus Gothica happened and the team was starting to worry about their 'guest'. Danny hadn't woken up from the knockout ball yet. Everyone was worried about him, Wally and Megan were the most worried about him the most.

Megan was worried because in the short time that they've known each other, it felt like a bond was forming. It was also starting to get easier to make a mental connection with Danny as well, his voice also didn't sound as far away as it use to. The only strange thing about hearing Danny's voice in heard head was how there was always a slight echo.

Wally was worried about Danny for an entirely different reason. He hadn't meant to upset the younger boy, but he was a 'man' of science and science has proven and disproven several myths and facts. Danny had said that his parents had been scientists that studied ghosts, but there hadn't been any time to research them. So while the others went on the impromptu mission, Wally was staying at Mt. Justice with Black Canary watching them. It was kind of nice not having a denmother for the last week, but now the team is back to having one.

Megan was floating down the hallway to Danny's room. She'd been periodically trying to connect to Danny telepathically, but she wasn't getting through. After the second attempt she just settled for seeing when he'd wake up. Megan had also been practicing making soft foods, along with cold treats so that when Danny finally woke up he'd be able to eat.

Zatanna walked passed the other girl, putting her hair into a high pony tail. "How's the patient Dr. Megan?"

"I'm not sure yet, do you want to come with me to see if Danny's awake yet?"

"Sure, I haven't really gotten a good look at him yet anyway. I mean except for when Wally and Conner brought him to the med bay and he bolted."

The two girls continued down the hallway and stopped at the younger boy's door. A loud thump could be heard on the other side of the door. Glancing at each other, the girls rushed to open the door. As soon as they opened it, they saw the still white haired boy struggling to untangle himself from his bedsheets. Finally breaking free, Danny frantically looked around the room, his eyes very unfocused.

Megan rushed over to the boy, relieved that he was finally awake. "Danny are you okay?"

Danny didn't respond, his breath quickened and his eyes continued to dart around the room.

"I don't think he can hear us, try making a mind link. I'll go get Black Canary." Zatanna ran out of the room to go find their Denmother.

It didn't take long for Megan to make the connection, but she hadn't expected to be pulled into Danny's mind. There was a strong wind along with a heavy snowfall making it hard to see, but she could barely make out a small figure trying to protect themselves from shadowy figures.

One of the figures would float closer to whom she assumed was Danny and he would curl in on himself further. "Danny is that you!?" She tried taking a step forward, but it felt like something was trying to push her back.

The closer the Martian got, the more she noticed how odd his appearance was. His hair was black with white streaks, his eyes were a perfect swirling of blue and green. The strangest thing about his appearance were his clothes.

It's like they couldn't decide on a permanent appearance; one moment he's wearing a white and red shirt with denim pants, then a second later he was wearing a black and silver hazmat suit. They were constantly shifting back and forth.

Megan was finally able to get close enough to see what the shadowy figures looked like and she really wish she wasn't. Their faces and bodies looked deformed and melted, while their clothes were torn beyond repair.

One of the figures flew down towards Danny again and Megan could see they were yelling at him. She managed to get three feet away before an invisible force wouldn't let her go any further. The storm seemed to pick up and started pushing the Martian girl back. "Danny can you here me!? Whatever they're saying isn't true. Please snap out of it!"

"Oh but it is true, Martian." Megan whirled around looking for the source of the voice and found none.

"Whoever you are, show yourself."

"You've already met me once, but don't worry we'll meet again... when the time is right."

The wind died down slightly and the young hero managed to push through the invisible force and get to Danny. The deformed figures flew away, leaving the two 'alone' in Danny's mind. As soon as she touched the younger boy's shoulder, they were both back in Danny's room slowly floating down towards the floor.

"Megan what happened to you guys. We tried calling out to you but it's like you couldn't hear anything."

Taking a moment to get her baring's, Megan looked at the doorway. "I'm not sure how but I got pulled into Danny's mind. It was... odd."

Zatanna and Black Canary carefully stepped into the room, trying their best to avoid all the broken furniture that had been tossed around the room.

Wally and Conner poked their heads into the room. "Woah did a storm come through here?"

Black Canary turned to glare at the two boys in the doorway. "I told you two to stay in the lounge. I'll talk to you later about disobeying orders. For now you have a mission to go on. You too Megan, I can handle Danny from here."

"Are you sure Black Canary, Danny can't speak yet. Shouldn't I stay here to help him communicate?"

"I'm sure we can find another way to communicate, there's no need to strain your powers. Go on the mission and try to have fun." Megan sighed sadly before leaving the room.

Danny sat up slowly, traces of panic still evident. He looked around the room and was surprised at the state it was in.

"You don't remember what happened do you. We haven't met yet, my name's Black Canary. I'm also a licensed psychologist for the team."

Danny just glared at the woman.

"Your not the first person to glare at me. It doesn't really affect me. Why don't we get out of your room for awhile, we can say bye to the others as they leave for their mission."

Danny looked around his destroyed room, he had nothing better to do anyway so he agreed. The two walked down the hall towards the lounge.

"Are all of you ready for your mission?"

"I think we are, there haven't been many missions that require us to dress in our civvies. Also I thought Danny had black hair." Dick eyed the other boy, curiosity written all over his face.

Danny pulled down a strand of his hair and noticed it was in fact still a glowing white. He looked over the rest of his body to see everything else was normal.

"Dick looked at his watch, It's almost 8pm in Gotham, we better get going. Have fun babysitting a ten year old Wally."

Megan looked over at Danny, confused. "It's February, why do you ask?"

"I was trying to remember how old I am." The younger boy sent a slight glare at Dick.

"I was captured by the GIW when I was almost ten, three years have passed so I'm almost fourteen now, I think."

Megan's eyes widened, "You're the same age as Robin!"

Dick looked shocked at what his friend just said. "We're the same age!"

Black Canary cleared her throat. "Your going to be late. Get a move a move on."

The team left soon through the zeta tubes leaving Danny alone with Wally and Black Canary. "So what do you guys want to do for fun?"

A couple hours had passed and Danny was currently sitting on the floor in front of the couch eating bland ice-cream. He'd already eaten all the other food Megan had prepared for him and was now downing a huge bowl of ice-cream, which surprisingly showed no signs of melting.

Just then Danny's ghost sense went off. At first he thought it was from the ice-cream, but it went off a second time. Danny was instantly on guard, looking around he only saw Black Canary doing paper work in one of the armchairs and electric boy playing some racing game on the tv. He was starting to believe it had been the ice-cream when the big wolf that occasionally sat with him whenever he was awake walked into the room, growling.

Danny stood up and gently set his almost empty bowl of ice-cream on the coffee table before he turned in a slow circle. "What're you two doing." Wally had paused his game to see Danny looking around and Wolf looking around and growling.

The young halfa ignored him and continued looking around. Two green blurs flew around the room. Danny immediately went after them. He could hear the wolf right behind him. "Hey, where are you going?"

Danny and Wolf continued down the hallway, they ended up in the souvenir room. The green blurs stopped moving to reveal Cujo and Youngblood. Wolf started growling until Danny scratched the back of his ears.

Youngblood was currently on top of Cujo who was in his beastly form. Cujo shrank down and tackled Danny, licking his face and barking happily.

Wally zoomed into the room and saw the recently acknowledged teenager silently laughing while a green puppy licked his face. Suddenly a small kid dressed as a pirate held a very real looking sword to his throat. "Who dares to try an' sneak up on the fiercest pirate that's ever roamed the infinite realms!"

The speedster carefully moved out of the way of the sword. "Um, who are you and how did you get in here?"

"I am..." Youngblood paused to take a dramatic pose. "Youngblood, captain of the Jolly Rogers. One of the toughest pirate captains the Ghost Zone has ever seen." He transformed into a cowboy, "I'm also a sheriff part-time. Hey look at all the cool stuff."

"Hey don't touch those!"

Just then Black Canary came into the room and saw Wally run after a floating object, while Danny and wolf were playing with a small green puppy. "What's going on in here?" The floating object fell to the floor with a loud bang.

"Oh great the party pooper's arrived." Youngblood glowered at the older woman. He flew over to Danny. "Hey Phantom you wanna see my new trick? It doesn't last long, but it's fun!"

Danny tried speaking but his throat was still recovering. All the cold soups, ice-cream and other foods had helped his healing factor by a lot, but he still wasn't recovered enough to transform. If only he'd let Jazz teach him ASL when he had the chance, actually no scratch that, if he had actually learned ASL then he'd have a means of communicating with these weirdos. Chances are at least one of them would know it, and he really hoped it wasn't lightning boy.

Youngblood had flown over in front of Black Canary and started concentrating a bunch of energy into his arm cannon and fired directly at the older hero. Black Canary gasped as the wind was knocked out of her. A sudden dizziness hit her and she blacked out.

Ten minutes had passed before Black Canary woke up. Confused she sat up on the couch in the lounge and looked around. She found Danny eating another giant bowl of ice-cream while staring over at her, while trying to keep a small floating child dressed as a pirate from taking it. "What happened? How did I end up in the lounge?" Black Canary was shocked when she heard her voice. "Why does my voice sound weird?"

Danny shoved Youngblood away before holding up a handheld mirror he'd found. Black Canary gasped at what she saw. Instead of a woman in her late twenties to early thirties, she saw a young girl that was around fifteen or sixteen. "WHAT HAPPENED TO ME!"

Wally came into the room trying his best to get a small green puppy off of his leg. "Try asking the floating pirate kid."

Youngblood stuck his tongue out at the redhead. "No one asked you booger face." He flew over to the now teenage girl. "You were a stinky adult that couldn't see me so I made it to where you could. Now we can all have fun!" Youngblood whooped and flipped in the air. "What should we play first, oh I know you can join my crew."

Danny growled at Youngblood. "Okay fine... You don't have to join my crew. Hey Phantom, if your throat's injured how can you growl?" He shrugged, not really knowing or caring.

"How about you leave and never come back." Wally sent a glare at the pirate.

"No thanks, It's a little hectic in the Ghost Zone right now. Ghosts have been going missing lately. Walker's having a field day trying to figure it out."

Danny appeared in front of Youngblood at a speed only Wally could see. Despite what he had thought earlier, Danny really wished he'd learned ASL. Danny was panicking on how to communicate, starting to pace and float. He was over two feet in the air when he'd remembered that Vlad had taught him and his friends morse code. Grabbing his forgotten bowl of ice-cream from off the floor, Danny started clinking.

"How long has this been going on!?"

"I don't know what you're doing."

"He asked how long has this been going on." Everyone stared at the young Black Canary. "What, I'm not the only hero that knows morse code. Go on Danny."

"Youngblood, what exactly happened after I was captured?"

"What happened after Danny was captured?"

It went on like that for several minutes, Wally was watching the mostly one-sided conversation while eating several bags of Doritos. He had let wolf handle the small puppy so that he could write down everything being said, and go over it later.

"So for the past three years ghosts have been slowly disappearing, but since it was the low level ghosts at first it didn't matter. But now some of the more powerful ghosts have gone missing and now everyone's worried!" Black Canary translated what Danny said with concern seeping into her voice.

"Pretty much, this isn't fun anymore. I'll see you later Phantom." Youngblood gave Danny a sad wave before disappearing."

Danny sank to the floor, his core feeling heavy at the new information. Several questions were running through his mind, the only thing he was certain of was that the GIW were behind it and that they needed to be stopped.