1/30/25: Now begins the conclusion to their first mission.

Ever heard of "Deadwood" by Really Slow Motion? There's a part below where Danny walks through smoke…I imagined that song was playing as Danny appeared from within the smoke and he's walking all slow motion…LOL

If you go to Youtube and search for Really Slow Motion - Deadwood (Epic Dark Rock Action) it'll come up. It's right at 33 seconds that Danny walks in XD. It just seems so cool.

Censored language. Again, Shade has a potty mouth.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

–

Chapter 54: The Art of Loss

–

Sam stood in the center of the intersection with her arms crossed. All weapons fire had ceased at her shout. The half ghost's knew who she was, even the ones who had never met her, and so all eyes were trained on her, which is exactly what she wanted.

"Now that she has their attention, you should start sending your troops towards that side street and get as many out of here as you can," Danny suggested softly to Sheppard.

"What about you guys? There's far too many to handle," John asked incredulously.

"My team has trained specifically with ghost tactics in mind; we also have the first batch of anti-ghost knives. Aside from that, we don't plan on staying long. Sam and I can hold them off long enough to get our troops out, if need be," the ghost explained.

He could see the indecision on John's face, but ultimately, the man nodded and tapped the com in his ear, directing his troops to head for the side street in retreat.

Then, a half ghost appeared from the other end of the intersection, walking towards Sam but keeping a good distance. He was tall with dark hair and deep brown eyes. "Shade," he sneered.

"Ah! Robert!" she exclaimed with feigned enthusiasm.

"Richard," he growled.

"Semantics," she waved her hand. "Long time no see."

"I have orders to kill you on sight," he said darkly, eyes flashing blue.

Shade laughed, long and loud before wiping away an imaginary tear. "Yeah, good luck with that!"

In nearly an instant, she shifted into her dragon form, catching Richard off guard as her giant head darted out and her jaws snapped closed around him. She flung her head to the side, the poor hybrid flying through the air and hitting the side of a building. He did not get up.

"Jesus," Danny heard one of Sheppard's men say. They hadn't seen the dragon yet.

"Damn," John said, his tone somewhere between awed and scared.

"Yeah," Danny responded with a wince. "Now that she's been given free reign, it's not going to be pretty. If she can get a hold of them, they're going to die."

The ghost then watched as small groups of John's men and women made it to the side street. He felt lament as he realized just how few were left of them. He was distracted then as Shade roared a warning and a taunt, the very ground shaking from the vibrations it created in her chest.

The half ghost's attacked then, more than a dozen charging the dragon as countless others fired shots from the streets and alleys. Shade's armor deflected most of them, but several hit. She showed no indications they affected her.

Her chest lit up, the violet light climbing her throat plates before raging from her maw as molten fire. Men and women screamed as they were caught within it, the dragon swinging her head around and blanketing the area in fire, careful not to aim anywhere near the Marines.

She abruptly cut off her fire and roared an almost squeak of pain when she felt a sharp stabbing sensation in her back. Shade pulled her head around to see a half ghost had gotten through and plunged his sword into her back. She growled deep, reaching around but unable to reach him. There wasn't enough space for her to roll so instead she bucked, turning and slamming her back into a building to try and dislodge the annoyance, but he went intangible and held on. Shade rolled her shoulders and flexed her wings to try and smack him off with the arm of a wing, but still couldn't hit him.

Just when Danny thought he might have to intervene, he heard gunfire and the enemy, not quick enough, was hit several times, falling from Shade's back and hitting the ground with a sickening crack.

The ghost looked over to see it was Beckett who had fired and he made a note to thank her later.

The dragon shook, dislodging the offending weapon before shifting back to her humanoid form as another group of half ghosts appeared. She barely gave herself time to shift before she pulled her swords from their sheaths and lit them ablaze.

Shade became a blur then, a spinning, twisting vortex of purple fire and steel as she cut down enemy after enemy.

"She's a one man army," John commented, his eyes darting between Shade and his troops as they evacuated.

Danny smirked. "Yeah, she's a hell of a woman." As he said that, his sensitive hearing picked up the sound of Shade cursing at every half ghost she impaled with her sword.

She managed to stab three in quick succession, saying, "F* you, f* you, and f* you!"

The ghost shook his head. Shade was having a little too much fun with this. Maybe they really shouldn't keep her cooped up.

Static came over the radio in John's ear. 'Colonel Sheppard, all have retreated down the street except for your position.'

"Good," John said into the com. His gaze met Danny's floating eyes. "We should start our retreat."

The ghost nodded and tapped his own com. "Be prepared for a tactical retreat. Keep yourselves between the enemy and Sheppard's men," he ordered.

'Yes, sir,' he heard Lt.'s Ford and Lorne reply.

They began to make their way over to the side street, Shade doing a fantastic job of keeping the enemies attention, especially as their inability to hit her started really pissing them off.

In fact, it was doing such a good job at pissing them off that they decided to bring out the big guns.

There was a grating noise that made Danny stop in his tracks. John heard it, too, and paused. They glanced at each other in dread before turning their gaze to a street just to the right of the one they were trying to leave down.

Shade, still in combat with several enemies, could hear it too, and as she spun and ducked, kicked and sliced, she kept an eye on where the noise was coming from. After a few moments, to her shock and horror, it was a tank that appeared. And it had its barrel pointed right at the Marines.

"Shit!" Shade said. She was faster than Danny, breaking away from combat and forcing her shift back to dragon form. She leapt, landing hard on her side, belly armor exposed, and slid in the way just as the tank fired.

"Sam!" Danny shouted as he heard the boom followed by a clang and crunch as the shell hit her armor.

The Marines were stunned into silence after watching the woman literally take a tank shell in order to save their lives.

As the smoke and debris cleared, the ghost felt immense relief when her form moved. The dragon groaned, a deep vibrating sound in her throat. She rolled up onto her stomach, shaking her large head to dislodge the dust and rubble and winced, lips curling, muzzle in an offensive pucker and fangs bared. 'I really need to stop doing that,' she thought.

Before she even attempted to stand, or give enough time for the tank to reload, she began coalescing a fireball within her bladder. Once the whistle started, all of Danny's men and women dropped, urgently directing Sheppard's men to do the same.

"You might wanna get down, Colonel," Danny warned, practically yanking the man off his feet.

As the tank fixed its aim, Shade let the fireball loose. The shot blew out the windows in every building and car, and sent large chunks of debris flying, fanning out from her position. It traversed the short distance so quickly that none of the Marines were able to even see the shot, only a flash before the entire tank exploded in a ball of fire.

The dragon stood then, gingerly and with a snarl, before reaching her head around and grabbing the damaged part of her armor between her teeth and tearing it off to prevent it from cutting into her further. Blood dripped from long gashes as she panted from the pain.

Danny wanted to yell at her for such a reckless move, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Not only did she save a lot of lives, but she wouldn't have had to do it if he was a better hero.

He just hoped to God the baby was okay.

Noise drew Danny's eyes to the sky. The Vipers and Apaches had broken off to their own battle, but it seemed the destruction of the tank caught the attention of at least one enemy Apache and it was on approach.

Then he watched as Shade raised her wings, flapping them a few times for balance as she turned to face the half ghost's she'd left to go after the tank, limping a little on her front right leg.

That was it. She was in no condition to fight and he was not going to stand there and watch because the government wanted to keep him a secret.

Danny stood and walked out towards the intersection between two charred and smoking cars. The thick black smoke concealed him as he dropped invisibility and stopped dampening his signature.

Shade felt the moment Danny's signature was detectable, the feeling only becoming stronger as he powered it up. Every half ghost felt it as well.

She looked towards where his signature was coming from, amethyst eyes watching intently as her fiance slowly materialized from within the thick haze. Her eyes went directly to his chest. Where it had been completely black, there now glowed his "D" symbol directly over his core, the energy from the powering-up organ transferring into the material Sam had grafted onto it and creating the glowing, unmistakable "D".

The intensity with which the symbol and his eyes and scar glowed made him a beacon of green light, leaving no doubt as to who he was.

There was a sound of something powering up, a whirring noise that increased in frequency sharply. The sound oscillated between high and low, slowly at first, but getting faster as the power increased. Shade braced herself as the power snapped, the sound of a ping before booming outwards, a wave of energy pulsing from Danny's core and throwing every half ghost back, but leaving the human's untouched.

The dragon dug her claws in to avoid the same fate.

The ghost held his right arm out to the side, a green glowing sword coalescing in his hand as he walked, deadly eyes roaming over the enemies. His gaze flicked to Shade. "Get them out of here," he ordered, knowing she'd hear him over the din.

She watched him for a moment before nodding, shifting back to her humanoid form and making her way to the side street, albeit a bit tenderly.

They could hear shouts of "It's Phantom!" coming from enemy lines. They seemed surprised to see the ghost. It made him smirk.

Now that his core was attuned, his well of power was far bigger than it had been, meaning he was able to expend more energy on certain powers; including teleporting. With the added benefit of not needing to breathe, he became a weapon that could be anywhere and everywhere.

He began teleporting to every half ghost enemy he could see, sending his sword through their hearts or lopping off their heads with incredible precision. He was flashing around so quickly, they couldn't keep up with where he was or where he was going. It was a sight to behold, and Sam had to remind the Marines to keep moving down the street and away from the display.

However, the Apache was still inbound and Danny wasn't paying attention.

Private First Class Beckett was one of the last ones down the street and she heard the Apache as it approached. She paused in her retreat, eyes tracking the chopper across the sky as it headed for the Captain.

"Come on, Beckett!" one of her comrades called, pulling on her arm, but she shirked him off, instead running back for the intersection.

She had no idea what she could do but it was lining up a shot and Danny hadn't seen it.

Finally, she brought her M27 up and just started shooting, concentrating her fire on the engines. The noise finally drew the ghost's attention and he cursed when he saw Beckett shooting at the chopper.

"Get out of here!" he shouted as he disemboweled an enemy.

But her aim was impeccable and the engine exploded, the Apache beginning a death spin as it started to plummet.

Right for Beckett.

Her eyes widened and she turned, scrambling to run out of the way.

"Beckett!" Danny shouted, delayed from teleporting to her by an enemy who managed to stick a knife in his side.

The ghost quickly brought his sword up, taking the man's head off before he teleported.

The Apache hit the ground just behind Beckett, throwing her forward with a scream. Danny appeared in a cloud of smoke then, grabbing her and turning them intangible as they tumbled. They finally stopped rolling and the ghost forced her up, making her run further as the shrapnel and debris continued to rain down on them.

But she faltered.

Right as they reached a safe distance, not too far from the rest of the Marines, many of whom were on their way back to help, she called out. "Captain!" she cried weakly as her legs gave out.

Danny went down with her and held her head to keep it from hitting the ground. "Beckett?" he asked before looking her over. He froze when he saw the large piece of metal protruding from her chest.

She coughed then, blood spilling from the side of her mouth as her eyes darted around. "I-I'm sorry, Captain," she rasped.

The ghost swallowed hard and shook his head. "I'm getting you back to base, Private," he said firmly.

"Marie," she ground out, before coughing again and tasting her own blood. "My name is Marie." She could see the tears form in his eyes as he finally realized what she already knew. "Don't…blame yourself…Captain."

Danny tried to stifle the emotions that were bubbling up, but they were overwhelming. "Call me Danny," he said as Sam teleported in, her gasp ringing in the air as Marines looked on sadly.

"Danny…" she said with a weak smile. "Can you…tell my parents…that I tried?" her voice was getting softer, her breathing slowing.

The ghost grabbed her hand and squeezed, his other hand coming up to caress her cheek. "I'll make sure they know how brave you are," he promised, holding back a sob.

Her smile widened before her breath hitched and her face went slack, eyes dimming.

Danny forced his tears back, the little voice in the back of his head screaming that they weren't out of danger yet. Instead, he tenderly closed her eyes before picking her up bridal style. "Let's go," he said, voice full of anguish and rage, an odd combination.

They beat a hasty tactical retreat back to the Osprey's. Sheppard held back with Sam and Danny as the ghost had his hands full with Beckett and Sam wasn't looking very good herself. They wouldn't be able to fend off any pursuing enemies easily.

They made it to the suburbs with, thankfully, little fighting on their flank. But as they rounded a corner they were met with a pocket of half ghost resistance on the right side. Two squads of Danny's Marines automatically took up positions and laid down cover fire as another squad snuck around the back of the enemy to take them out swiftly with their specialized knives.

The ghost was proud of every one of them. They were doing exactly what they'd been taught, using the tactics and techniques that Danny showed them to stay alive and take out the enemy while protecting their fellow Marines, and all without his direction.

Sam stumbled then, yelping as she didn't even think to go intangible. Danny, unable to help her as he was holding Beckett's body, was grateful when Sheppard was there to catch her. "Easy now," the soldier said. "You okay?" He crouched down and pulled her arm over his shoulder to support her as they made their way to the Osprey's.

"I'll live," she replied with a wince. "Just hurts," she added before thanking him for catching her.

"You're seeing the doctor when we get back to base," Danny commanded, eyes following his line of Marines and scanning for any enemies.

"I can wait for Bru–"

"This isn't a negotiation," he said, his voice firm. "You were hit in the chest and stomach by a tank shell hard enough it broke your armor–again. We need to make sure the baby is okay sooner rather than later."

A small group of Marines around them did their best to hide their surprised glances at their Captain's words. Sam didn't miss them, though, and she felt her anger boiling. That wasn't something she felt they needed to share with every soldier, but she held her tongue in front of his subordinates.

While General Hammond and Sheppard were aware of their relationship and pregnancy, the other Marines were not. Danny and Sam had decided it could be a distraction and didn't want it affecting combat. So much for that now, though, at least for the pregnancy.

They heard shouts from soldiers ahead of them and looked up, watching as a Viper started falling out of the sky not far away. Everyone ducked and covered their heads as it crashed into a house in a fiery blaze one street over. As they recovered and continued moving, Danny realized with dismay that they were down to one Viper and there were still four Apaches.

Then they heard the sound of jet engines before two Harriers dropped out of the cloud cover and aimed directly for the enemy choppers. Two of the Apaches set off chaff as the Harrier's radar guided missiles locked on. The jets released their payload anyway and one missile struck true, the chopper exploding as the hull shattered and fuel ignited.

Danny stopped, lowering Beckett's body down and shouting, "To me!" as his core kicked into overdrive. He erected a shield, the glowing green sphere casting an eerie glow above their heads. But even with his core attuned, he couldn't make the shield big enough to encompass all of the Marines and the Ospreys.

"Danny–" Sam started as she reached out and touched his arm, but was cut off at the rush of energy that seemed to flow from her into him. The ghost felt it as well and wavered while crouching, the feeling nearly euphoric as purple energy seemed to burst behind his eyes.

The shield suddenly increased in size, covering everyone and the Ospreys just before the wreckage, shrapnel and fire reigned down on them.

The remaining Apaches retreated, disengaging from the Marines and heading back into the city. The Harriers circled overhead, creating a protective barrier in the air.

Once the coast was clear, Sam yanked her hand away and turned it towards her, staring at it.

"What the hell was that?" Danny asked, voice practically shaking from the surge of energy they'd exchanged.

"I don't know," the goth said softly, breathless. She was still staring at her hand like it was foreign to her.

"We might need to figure that out later. We need to keep moving," John gently reminded them.

Danny picked Beckett back up and yelled, "Go!"

They, and what was left of the Marine battalion, made their way to the Ospreys, the men and women making sure the wounded were loaded first. Then the rest boarded as well.

Sheppard made sure Sam was in before hopping up in himself, turning around and carefully taking Beckett from Danny. The ghost stood back then and hit the side of the chopper, signaling with his hand for them to take off.

"Danny?" Sam cried, afraid he was trying to stay behind.

"Don't worry!" he yelled as the rotors began to spin faster. "I'm just going to follow behind to make sure they don't chase us." He slammed the door shut and flew a short way back the way they'd come from. He kept a nervous eye on the Ospreys as, one by one, they took off and headed back to base.

The Harriers then broke off and ascended back into the cloud cover, trailing the choppers and keeping an eye on radar. Danny followed then, catching up to the last Osprey and staying with it the entire way back.

Danny didn't breathe a sigh of relief until the aircraft were all on the ground and the Marines were disembarking. He flew down to the one who held Sheppard, Sam and Beckett and opened the door.

John had Beckett in his arms and went to jump out but Danny held his arms out for her.

"I can–" John started, but was cut off.

"I'll take her." The way Danny said it left no room for argument.

The Lt. Col. didn't even bat an eye at what would normally be considered insubordination, if you took the ghost's tone into account. Danny had the look of a man who'd just lost his first soldier and John knew too well what that felt like.

He remained quiet, respectfully handing over the body of Beckett. The captain took her gingerly and then floated back, waiting to make sure Sheppard got Sam out okay.

The rest of the Marine assembled around the Lt. Col. and Captain. John looked extremely pained at just how small his group was. "We called ahead so every available doctor should be on site. Make sure all the wounded get there. The rest of you take some time for yourselves. We'll debrief in an hour," he said, the deep furrows of his brow giving away the sorrow he was trying to hold back.

As the Marines saluted and helped their wounded to medical, he turned to Danny. "I called Dr. Tanning upon Sam's request. He may be a doctor now, but he was an Army medic first and he has clearance so General Hammond is allowing it. He should be inbound via Venom in one minute. I'll take Sam to medical."

The ghost nodded his appreciation and then his eyes flicked down to Beckett. "Where do I, uh…" he asked, voice low.

"Medical as well–they have a room for this," John answered, knowing exactly what Danny was asking.

As they started walking, the sound of the inbound Venom reverberated across the base. They didn't stop, though, Danny wanting to get Beckett's body in and settled, and John wanting to get Sam situated with a bed so she was ready for Dr. Tanning.

They entered the medical building located on the west side of the base. Thankfully, it had been built with situations like this in mind, and so it was spacious and well stocked. Even so, it was relatively crowded with the wounded, a stark reminder of how grave the situation had been for John's team.

The Lt. Col. pointed Danny towards a separate room on the right side before taking Sam to her own bed in the communal area.

The ghost entered the room and he realized it was a morgue. There was a Marine who stood and saluted him. "I can take her, sir," he said, indicating towards a table.

Danny's gaze flicked to the metal table and the thought crossed his mind that it just seemed…wrong. He took her body there anyway, carefully setting her down with a gentleness that belied his strength.

"I heard there were a lot of losses, sir. Is she the only one to return?" the Marine asked softly.

The ghost nodded, his eyes still on Beckett. "We were unable to recover the others, given the situation."

"Our team will get them," the man said in a reassuring tone.

"No," Danny responded, eyes finally going to the Marine. "I will get them."

The man–Garcia his tag said–looked confused. "But sir, there's a lot of them and we have teams dedicated to recovering lost Marines."

But the ghost shook his head. "We aren't sending more Marines in there to die. I will get them," he said in a tone that left no room for argument.

Garcia watched him for a long moment, noting the look of pain in Danny's eyes when his gaze went back to Beckett. "Understood, sir," he said finally.

"Who notifies the family?" Danny asked.

"Usually two from our mortuary affairs team notifies family," the Marine answered kindly.

The ghost blinked, shaking his head. "I'll tell her parents. She was my responsibility, so I'll do it."

"Understood, sir."

Danny then left and went back to the communal treatment area. He looked around and spotted Sam on a cot talking with Bruce and, surprisingly, Vlad.

Sam sent a comforting smile his way when he walked up. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, Vlad, but I'm surprised you're here," he said to the billionaire, unable to return his fiance's smile.

"I do not have a clearance, but I do have some medical knowledge. When I offered my services, they agreed because of the sheer number of injuries, though I did have to sign a non-disclosure," the man explained. "I was simply saying hello before attending to a patient," he added before turning, closing the curtain around them, and heading off into the throng of injured Marines waiting to be assessed.

The ghost's attention then went to Sam and Bruce. Sam was in her bra and pants, her shirt having been discarded to reveal the wounds. The doctor was looking over her injuries, gently prodding her in places, while wiping away blood so he could also look at the cuts and gashes. She had been hit square in the chest, a very large area in the center already turning purple, the color dipping below her bra line and even going down below her breasts, where the gashes were just below her bra.

"How is she, doc?" he asked tentatively, a wince on his face from the look of her.

Dr. Tanning looked up and gave him a welcoming smile. "It's bleeding fairly well but mostly superficial. Thankfully, getting stabbed with a sword in dragon form is like getting a splinter. I think most of the damage is going to be in the form of bruising and soreness. The cuts are from the armor, but the rest is impact damage, which is going to hurt for a while."

"Good. And…the baby?" Sam's eyes flicked to him at the nervousness in his tone.

"About to do an ultrasound to check, but it hit higher up, so I think we're okay," he answered. He had Sam hold a towel over the cuts to keep the blood from her stomach as he applied gel to her lower abdomen.

Danny suddenly realized that he'd yet to even see this baby and suddenly moved around the cot and up near Sam's head so he could look at the screen as well. The familiar dark bubble appeared on the screen before the tiny little life appeared in the middle.

Despite all the sorrow and anxiousness running through the ghost he smiled.

Bruce clucked his tongue once. "It's healthy and still there, though still terribly small. It should be the size of a kidney bean by now, but it's not there yet," he said. "You can see the heartbeat here," he added, pointing to the throbbing part in the middle.

Sam grabbed Danny's hand and he entwined their fingers together almost automatically, gaze roaming the screen with wonder on his face. Then it turned to confusion. "What is that?" he asked, pointing to a small section on the screen.

Dr. Tanning squinted. The baby was so small that it was hard to see. He zoomed in on the image and stilled the screen a few times to try and catch what the ghost was looking at. He couldn't tell what it was, but there was definitely something else. "I'm not sure what that is. You can clearly see the leg and arm buds here and here," he pointed. "But these…they shouldn't be there."

"What's wrong with the baby?" Sam asked, voice urgent.

But Bruce gave her a calming smile. "I'm not sure there's anything actually wrong. It could be an odd reflection on the image or it could be an anomaly. You're only a little over eight weeks along, a lot is going to happen in the next 32. Chances are the baby is just fine," he assured her.

Sam was reassured, but Danny saw the look that crossed Bruce's face when he looked back at the screen.

Great. Something else to be worried about.

Once Danny was satisfied that Sam was okay and she assured him of the same, he walked around medical, speaking with many soldiers and checking in on every single one of the injured. After a short while, General Hammond appeared, making the rounds with the Marines as well. Sheppard did the same after being treated for a minor burn and cuts.

After a while, Danny and the general had made their way back over to Sam who was getting the finishing touches on her bandages, her shirt back on. "I heard you took a tank shell straight to the chest, Ms. Manson," the general said, his voice a mixture of awe and displeasure.

For some reason, the goth felt like a child being chastised by her parents. She ducked her head a little. "Yes, sir."

He gave her a confused and mildly disapproving look. "I'm not sure whether I should be impressed, grateful, or angry that you put yourself in harm's way like that." He sighed. "Perhaps it's a little of all three. I'm damn impressed at your bravery, intensely grateful to you for saving so many lives, but also a little pissed off that you decided to take a hit like that while pregnant."

"I'm sorry," she winced. "But the armor took a 50 cal shot before and held, so I figured it would work again. And, honestly, there wasn't much time to react, so I just did the first thing that came to mind," she explained.

He sighed and nodded. "Well, you saved a lot of lives. I think I'll be recommending you for a civilian medal."

"I really don't need one for just doing what needed to be done," she responded, cheeks pink.

Danny sighed. "You have a hard time accepting praise," he commented before kissing the top of her head.

Sam waved him off. "Stop that," she retorted before looking around to see if anyone else had seen it.

He lifted one side of his mouth in a light smirk. "I no longer care if they know, especially about the pregnancy. Maybe they can stop you from being so damn reckless." His smirk widened at her glare. "Besides, you're going to start showing sooner or later. We can't hide it forever," he added before turning to General Hammond.

"Sir, I'd like permission to retrieve the body's of the Marines we had to leave behind," he asked softly.

The general gave him an odd look. "We have a team for that, son."

"I know but that area is far too dangerous to send more Marines in. I can get in and out unseen," the ghost explained.

General Hammond looked around the room for a moment before answering. "You realize that it's going to take quite a while with just you, right? We lost a few dozen soldiers."

"It won't be just him," Sam interjected, putting her legs over the cot so she could stand.

Danny raised a brow. "You need to rest."

"If you think you can stop me, be my guest, but I'm going," she countered with a light glare.

He stared at her, his displeasure clear on his face. Finally, he relented, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Fine," he caved before turning back to the general. "I'd also like permission to be the one to tell Beckett's family."

"I won't say no to that," George replied with a sympathetic look.

"Thank you," Danny said with a grateful smile. "We'll head out now."

–

The pair flew above Amity back towards where they'd been earlier. Both were invisible and kept their cores dampened to avoid detection.

Danny was quiet. Sam knew he was likely in his own head about Beckett, but she wasn't sure she had the words to help him. Honestly, she blamed herself. If she'd been paying more attention, she could've stopped Beckett and gone after the Apache herself, but she'd been injured and just trying to make sure they weren't being followed by half ghosts.

Maybe that's why he was quiet? Was he blaming himself, or blaming her and just didn't want to talk to her right now? Now she was nervous. But, never one to shy away, she decided she needed to charge it head on to know for certain if he was upset with her.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly, knowing he'd hear her above the wind in their ears.

"No," he answered plainly. The goth was surprised he'd actually answered truthfully. He normally says he's fine and tries to play it off.

"Are you mad at me?"

"What?" he asked, genuinely confused. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Well, if I had been paying closer attention, I could've stopped Beckett–"

"No," he said suddenly and firmly, cutting her off. "This isn't on you, it's on me. I was the one who wasn't paying close enough attention and let that chopper get so close."

Sam thought for a moment before sighing. "Maybe it wasn't anyone's fault. These things just happen in war."

He didn't respond.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she offered.

He was silent long enough that she believed he wouldn't answer, but finally, "Not right now. We can later, but right now I want to focus on getting the Marines home."

The fact that he even said he would talk about it at all was progress, so she accepted his answer.

They landed in the street they'd retreated down and looked around carefully. They didn't sense any half ghost signatures in the area, but they remained invisible anyway.

"You should be careful in your condition. This isn't your responsibility," he said suddenly.

"Like hell it's not," she retorted, glancing in the direction his voice had come from. "Where you go, I go."

They then spent the next several hours locating and transporting bodies back to base. Sam had to stop then as exhaustion, lack of energy from her core, and her injuries hampered her efforts.

Danny continued on through the night making sure every single Marine made it home.

–

2/3/25: You see this date? I have no cushion right now. The next chapter should go up Wednesday, but I can't guarantee it. Without my cushion, if I get stuck on the next chapter, it won't be updated then.

I know this mission wasn't like really long or super epic, but it was meant more to introduce Danny to the reality that even if he does his best, he won't be able to save everyone. It was meant to make him realize that in war, loss is inevitable. There will definitely be more epic battles coming.