Chapter 20: Distracting Danny

Danny was bored. He'd already done everything in his daily schedule twice. The plan was:

•Wake up from nightmare(s)

•Attempt to decorate room

•Explore mountain

•Play with Cujo

•Eat

•Chat with whatever hero was there

•Nap until the others got out of school

He had to add eating to his made up schedule because he kept forgetting and he felt bad when Miss M would hear his stomach growl and she'd look sad when he'd say he forgot to eat.

Danny had let his mind wander while walking around. He really wanted to see how Sam and Tucker were doing or even visit his family's graves but that required traveling back to Amity Park and that was a no go at the moment. Something sped by him creating a small gust of wind. Danny stopped as The Flash stood a couple feet away from him. "You know this is a dead end right?"

"I've just been phasing through the walls before I can run into them."

"That's a good power to have but you should really be more careful. You never know what's on the other side."

"Aren't you able to phase through stuff as well?" Unlike with Kid Mustard, Danny actually enjoyed seeing The Flash.

"I am but only as a last resort. Aren't you bored being cooped up in this mountain all the time?"

"It's only boring when I'm by myself." Danny tried avoiding the pitiful look Flash was giving him. He hadn't meant for his words to sound so sad but the adult hero along with several others had gotten to know the young teen over the last couple months.

"How about we go out for a bit? Hit the buffets or do some sight seeing."

"Sure why not. I've got nothing better to do."

"Great, let's go!" Flash sped down the hall leaving Danny behind. He came back a moment later looking embarrassed. "Sorry sometimes I forget people don't move as fast as me."

Danny smirked. "I can actually move faster than you. I just chose not to."

"That sounds like a challenge. You sure you can keep up?"

"Are you sure you can keep up?"

"Alright let's make this interesting. A new restaurant just opened up in Central City. It's called Nasty Burger. Despite the name I've heard they're pretty good. Whoever gets there last has to dye their hair pink."

If the older hero noticed Danny's excited grin, he didn't mention it. "Does that include eyebrows? I would say all facial hair but neither of us have mustaches."

Flash thought about it for a moment. "Sure why not. The race starts at the hangar."

As the two walked towards the hangar Danny had another question. "Which direction is Central City? Just trying to make sure I don't get lost."

"Umm it should be west of here."

"Okay let's go!" The young ghost was just happy to be doing something outside the mountain.

"Now hold on there, kid, we gotta have a starting line." The older hero chuckled as the younger impatiently huffed. Flash purposely took his time drawing a line in the sand, his grin getting bigger the longer he took. "Now we have a starting point."

"You did that on purpose."

"Yup. Here, you'll need this."

Danny looked confused at the small object he was given. It looked like a hi-tech watch. "Is this a watch?"

"Oh um thanks. Can we go now? I haven't been to a Nasty Burger in years!"

The red clad man started laughing again. This kid reminded him a lot like his nephew. He put on a fake announcer's voice. "Racers please take you're starting positions!" Danny transformed as Flash knelt down in the sand. "On your mark... get set..." the last part was barely heard by the ghost boy as the older hero started running."

It took Phantom a couple seconds to catch up to the older hero. "CHEATER!"

"There were no rules against it!"

Danny rolled his eyes before smirking. "If there's no rules then who says I have to stay solid during this race!"

Flash gasped as the white haired boy became see through. "Now who's cheating!"

"Still you!" Phantom sped up, he was a lot faster without the counterforce of wind.

After about fifteen minutes of flying intangibly, the ghostly hero was started getting tired. Three years without proper access to your powers really hinders a person's stamina. Luckily the Nasty Burger could be seen in the distance. Danny landed in a nearby alley and transformed back into his human form. Walking into the restaurant, the short teen chose an empty booth and waited. There was a pang of sadness as he looked around. This place looked a lot like the one back home. There were some obvious differences, like everything being newer and the workers still had a gleam of hope in their eyes. But this Nasty Burger was in Central City not Amity Park, the one there was long gone.

The half ghost was forced out of his thoughts by a familiar voice. "You'll turn into Batman if you keep brooding like that." It took a moment for Danny to figure out who the older man now sitting across from him was.

He gave a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I thought you were supposed to be the fastest man alive.

The other male shrugged. "There are several other beings faster than me. They should really call me the fastest human alive. Congrats on beating me, I enjoyed the race. You can call me Barry by the way."

"Cool, but I did start to get tired after awhile."

"You just haven't used your powers in awhile. I could speak with Batman and Black Canary to set up a training regime to regain whatever strength you lost."

"Thanks that would mean a lot to me." Both their stomachs growled at the same time. "I think we should get some food."

Barry stood up and stretched. "I'll buy us the food, do you already know what you want?"

"The number three meal, no onions with extra cheese. With a vanilla nasty shake."

"Sounds good, be back in a few." Twenty minutes later and the fast hero returned with several bags of food. "Yours is on top."

"Thanks." The young teen grabbed his bag and immediately ate a handful of fries. "How much food did you buy?"

"A lot to some but a quick meal for me. Having the ability to run this fast also gives me a fast metabolism. I'm sure you've seen how much Wally eats."

"Speaking of Wally, do you have any plans to hang out with him anytime soon?"

"I'm dropping him off for a 'special study date' tomorrow afternoon."

"Please videotape the whole thing and send it to me." Danny paused, "I don't even have a phone..."

"I'm assuming you want my hair dyed by the time of this study date to embarrass Wally?"

The raven haired boy shrugged. "I'm just trying to mess with him a little."

"Lucky for you I was already planning on embarrassing him." He grabbed a strand of his dark brown hair. "It's a good thing my suit has a cowl."

"Great, I'm gonna throw my trash away and head to the restroom."

"When you head back we're going phone shopping!" Barry received a thumbs up. As soon as the kid was out of eyeshot, his smile dropped and whipped out his specially made burner phone that the founding members of the Justice League had. "We should still be gone from the cave for a couple hours. I'm taking the kid phone shopping."

"Don't let the kid see the news. There's a reason why I asked you to keep him out of the cave for a couple hours."

"By the way, Danny's really fast, faster than me. But he needs to start practicing his powers again. You think you and Black Canary could come up with something for him?"

"I'll see what I can do."

Barry let out a tired breath and put the burner phone away. This kid has gone through so much in his short life. He just wanted to take some of the horribleness Danny had dealt with and make it go away. He suddenly felt guilty about keeping the fact that his sister was still alive from him, it was worse now because she went missing earlier today. He heard Danny's soft footsteps making their way back to the table and the older man put back on his most charming smile. "You ready to get out of here kid?"