#flashpham

Barry can feel the anti ghost shielding. Moving through it is like pushing through a door strung with clingfilm. It slows him down, but it doesn’t stop him. Wally is fractions of a second behind him. Barry would have rather had Wally at the other locations where there would be less chance of being shot at, but there had been no convincing the Titans of staying away completely.

Wally takes the left path as Barry takes the right. Something about them coming through the shielding triggers the alarms. Something about them says ‘ghost. Barry tries not to think about it, because he can’t afford to think about it right then. They have a mission.

Locking the GIW out of their own armory is ridiculously simple. Again, overconfident bastards. He avoids taking out any of the agents just yet, just to cut down on panic. Next step was to find the security room. Wally made it there first. Two agents are passed out on the floor. Barry leaves the computers to Wally for the moment and focuses on securing the agents with zip ties. He uses their ties as gags. Which really, white suits? Overconfident bastards.

“Security room is secure,” Wally says. His voice is an even double through the comms. “Relay the time to breaching.”

“Five minutes,” Bats replies.

“Armory is locked up. There didn’t seem to be any exterior guards, but not promises,” Barry added. There was a soft noise of confirmation back.

Barry crosses his arms, foot tapping. Five minutes was an eternity for a speedster.

“Did you feel it?” Wally asks.

Barry nods. “Coming through the barrier? Yeah.”

Wally nods. “There’s also a feeling of, like, static shock when touching the goons.”

“I just thought that was the ugly carpet.”

“It is really hideous carpet.”

An eternity later, and far too much time staring at the carpet, the rest arrive. After grabbing the hard drive that they hope Technus has moved onto, Barry and Wally speed back to their teams and then forward again, mapping out the facility and taking the odd agent out as they go.

The full alarms are blaring now. The GIW are doing the equivalent of shredding the documents, except it’s trying to wipe data. There are Bats making sure to stop that. That one is easy. Harder is stopping the GIW from destroying the active experiments. From destroying the ghosts that they have pressed into cages and test tubes and machines that Barry doesn’t look too closely at but that turn his stomach.

Most of the human shaped ones rise with a wail as soon as they’re freed. Some vanish. Others swoop through the building. The ghost of a lunch lady embraces another that looks like a dock worker of some sort, but it’s hard to tell with the pieces that hang off him like dripping skin. Something large and white and furry attacks an agent.

Barry doesn’t stop them.

“Flash,” Wally says across the comms. “Left side, big lab.”

The strain in his voice is enough that Barry rushes to his nephew’s location, arms full of weird, blobular ghosts that rumble like purring cats. He’d been grabbing them out of one of the machines—at least grabbing the ones that weren’t… bits of green are stuck to his suit like mashed up jelly. The ghost coo as Barry zips at full speed.

Bits of green go flying as he slams to a stop next to Wally.

One of the blobs rumbles deeper and nuzzles Barry in a weird sort of comfort. Absently, Barry dips his chin down to shield it. He doesn’t look down. He can’t. His eyes are glued to what he’s seeing in the large tube in the center of the room.

“Is that…”

“…It looks like it, right?” Wally asks. His voice isn’t above a whisper. “Danny said they had his core, but I didn’t…”

“How could we?” Barry asks back. Ludicrously, Barry says the first thing that comes to mind. “We’re going to have to move. We don’t have enough bedrooms.”

Wally barks out a surprised laugh and covers his mouth quickly. It’s not the time to be laughing. Barry bites his lip to stop his own, slightly hysterical laugh.

The blobs purr.

Danny who is there at least this time, but is quiet and shy. Bart wants Danny to feel okay.

He wanted Danny to like his friends. His team.

(Maybe they could be Danny’s team too.)

“It's a location,” Tim repeats in breathless excitement. “Technus is pinging us a location in his calls.”

“What location?” Danny breaths.

“The location,” Tim says as he flings maps up onto the monitors. “Look, these are the GIW locations that we know of. All either part of an existing government locations or by the book rented facilities. There’s nothing there that matches what we know we should be seeing scale wise. The only place that gets close is Amity Park, and we know that’s been scaled down. Afterimage was found here. His path matches leaving Amity Park. The timing of the GIW scaling down operations match Danny’s escape. So where did they go?”

“Let me guess, the location,” Cassie drawled.

“Excatly!” Tim says, ignoring the sarcasm. “Technus has been pinging us back ‘Phantom’, right? But it’s not just us he’s been pinging. He’s been sending… like this electronic echo out with it. That echo keeps going, lighting up slightly at the other locations that we know of. But right here? Right here it goes dead.”

Tim’s finger is jabbed into the middle of nowhere Missouri.

“Anti ghost shielding,” Cassie says as she leans forward. “It’s one of the things GIW claims that they were developing as an act of protection. It makes sense that they wouldn’t want angry ghosts getting into somewhere that they were experimenting on them.”

“Or getting out,” Bart chirps.

“Or both,” Tim says. “I bet that’s where where we’ll find what we need.”

Kon crosses his arms and leans back into the couch. “They won’t let us go. You know that, right? They’ll want to handle this at the JL level.”

“That didn’t stop us when we rescued you,” Cassie pointed out.

“Yeah, but…” Kon shoots Danny a look. Bart hasn’t asked yet, but something about Danny twiggs Kon out. He’s trying, though.

“Technus needs you online,” Danny says, his soft voice interrupting all their thoughts. “When the raid happens, he’s going to need Robin’s help before they erase him. Maybe people to go into those other locations. His core might still be physical.”

“Mop up duty,” Kon grumbles.

“Search and rescue,” Danny argues. “He didn’t deserve this. He doesn’t deserve to be ended. And he’s helping.”

Kon sighs and scrubs a hand through his hair, messing up the black curls. “Yeah, no, you’re right. Sorry. Just… lab experiments are a thing with me.”

“Yeah… me too,” Danny says.

Tim looks between them before he decides something and nods. “I’ll inform the Justice League of what I’ve found. Both myself and Oracle will be online and ready when the raid happens. “Wonder Girl, you’ll take point in the field. Afterimage, you’re benched for this one.”

Danny blinks back at Tim. “That’s… I’m not… I’m not even a hero…”

“Sure,” Tim says with a wave and a jaw cracking yawn. “You’re still benched. You can sit on comms though.”

“Right,” Danny mumbles and leans into Bart’s side.

“Right,” Bart agrees even if there’s really nothing to agree too. It’s more that he just… it would be cool if Danny was on the team too, even if it was only sometimes. But Bart knew that was up to Danny and what they found out there.

Tucker and Sam, they can stay quiet. It’s too much risk while the GIW is around but after, if there is an after… He can let them know he’s okay. Okay enough.

Yeah, he was… okay.

“I'm okay. I know I’ve been,” Danny waves a hand, trying to encompass everything that was happening, “but I’m okay.”

“Okay, that’s good,” Barry says. Danny knows Barry doesn’t believe it, but maybe he’s trying to. “Do you want an update today, or should we wait?”

Barry and Wally have been really good about asking that. They let Danny decided day by day if he wanted to hear about what was going on with the GIW, if he could hear about it. They didn’t get mad either when he changed his mind and needed them to stop. Today though…

“Yeah. I think that would help.” So far everything had been more… bureaucratic than Danny had expected. Which made since, the Justice League didn’t want to actually fight the government. On the front face, at least, they were trying to get ghosts protected under the Meta Protection Act. On the backside, the Bats were still digging into the code. Danny didn’t know what to think of them yet, but they were working hard for him. He tried not to think too much into the whole Technus thing. It was hard.

Barry leans over his clasped hands. “On the political side, we’ve finally made some grounds. The politicians are busy trying to sort out how the GIW even came to be, but the League has permission to act against any active harm we can prove. We’re allowed to protect ghosts now under the meta act.”

Danny scoots himself up until he’s mostly sitting. “Technus?”

“We don’t have any proof he’s an intelligence yet. But, the Bats are trying!” Barry says, his smile an effort. “He’s still acting as a firewall of sorts, but Oracle says his behavior has changed with the newest news. He’s started sending a code they think means ‘Phantom’ with increasing frequency. I’m going to trust them on this, they’re the code people.”

Danny twisted his fingers together. “If… they’ll run. If they think you’re after them they’ll run. They’re not like… It’s not just a job, not them them, they’re… um, zeal?”

“Zealots,” Barry offers.

“Yeah, they’re zealots. They won’t stop just because it’s, you know, illegal now. They’ll gather what they can and run. Maybe even end Technus, totally this time. And I don’t want…”

“I know, kid, I know,” Barry soothes. “We’re going to do everything we can to protect Technus. And we’re going to try and get your core back too. We’re the Justice League, this is what we do, okay?”

Danny takes in a breath and lets it out slowly like Dinah has been teaching him. He gives a little nod. “Yeah, you’re the Justice League.”

Bruce doesn’t sigh, but there’s the implied sigh in his words. “You don’t read minds, Flash.”

“I don’t need to be able to read minds to know what you’re thinking right now,” Barry argues. “The little guys are traumatized! They were just stuck waiting to be made into paste.”

Bruce stares back silently from behind is cowl, judging.

“Can we not?” Wally snaps. He clutches his own blob ghost tight enough that it squeaks and quickly relaxes his grip. Well, not his, blob ghost, just the one that has found its way to him. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have…”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Barry says, voice carefully softened. His comforting victims voice.

It rankles.

“Is it?! Because I think what it is, is that they’ve got part of our family here in a fucking tube to keep experimenting on! What I think it is, is that he never really made it out!”

The noise in the room quiets at his out burst. Dick is looking from across the room with worry in every line of his body. Barry isn’t looking at him at all.

“Flash,” Bruce says, voice firm.

Wally hunches his shoulders. “That was unprofessional, I know.”

“You don’t have to stay in this room,” Bruce offers instead of ripping into Wally’s outburst. “If you wish to stay on site but away from here, there is a boardroom.”

“I… yeah. I’ll go—I can get some waters and stuff for it too for everyone. Maybe these little guys will settle in too,” Wally says. He has to stumble through the words, but it’s better to have something to do. “And I’ll stay out of the way until I calm down.”

“Flash. Both of you,” Bruce says. They look to him, of course they both do. Bruce just commands attention. “This is understandably hard. It will be for your whole family. Focus on making sure your family is alright. If we need your expertise, we will ask, I promise you that.”

After a moment, Barry nods. “I’ll try to settle the blobs in the boardroom so that they’re out of the way.”

“That would help,” Bruce agrees.

“And I’ll try to keep the younguns away,” Barry says with a sigh, because that was a whole thing.

“Keep them to the boardroom if they don’t stay away. All of them,” Bruce advises. “Wonder Woman and Zatanna are speaking with some of the ghosts, and Constantine is making sure that the building is safe from realm bleed. Until we know matters are secure, Young Justice need to stay out of the way and as a group. I am counting Afterimage as part of that group.”

Barry nods. “We’ll make sure they know that.”

Wally thinks they’re both was more confident in keeping the kids contained than they should be, but doesn’t open his mouth. (He’s still feeling a little hysterical.)

“Boardroom is this way,” Barry says and zips off. The little ghosts hang on easily for the whole walk, even through the super speed. In fact, the ghosts seem happier after the trip.

Wally sets the ghost he had been holding down on the table. It’s sleek and dangerously black in the bright, white room. Wally hates it. He hates this whole place. “I, um, saw some paper boxes in a copy room. They might be good for these little guys. I’ll just—”

He leaves before Barry can say anything back.

The copy room is empty. There’s a pile of papers that have been briefly lit on fire that still stink of smoke, but no one is trying to deal with looking through them yet. It lets Wally sit down. His head down drops down between his knees and his hands wrap behind his neck. He breaths in.

There was another Danny.

He breaths out.

They still didn’t know if there was a consciousness there.

He breaths on.

If there was, had Danny know anything outside of this torment?

He breaths out a long, slow breath.

One piece at a time.

One piece at a time and backed by their family: by Barry and Iris and Bart. But they’re also by their extended family of heroes: by Bats and Supes and the Amazonians and everyone else. This would be hard, but they would handle it together.

Dick rolls his eyes and pulls Wally into his arms. He presses against Wally’s back, arms over his, and holds Wally’s fidgeting hands still. Dick’s chin perching on Wally’s shoulder is the last part of the puzzle. Wally breaths out a sigh and finally relaxes.

“There you go,” Dick says, words stuffed full of satisfaction.

“Oh shut up,” Wally says back with absolutely no heat. He leaned his weight back against Dick, who wasn’t even supposed to be there. He probably knew that Wally would need the support so that he could be Danny’s support. But showing up as Nightwing. “He might guess you.”

Dick shrugs, shifting them both. “I know. We’ve talked about it. He’s one of you, it’s fine.”

Wally almost argues that Danny isn’t even adopted yet, but he didn’t want to risk hitting a sore spot with Dick even though it’s not the same at all. They communicate, unlike the Bats. It’s why they were there. There was a new concern that Danny was still actively injured in a way that they didn’t know how to handle. But Danny and medical personal…

“You’re fidgeting again.”

“Shut up.”

The door opened and Danny came out, Bart at his side and with basic back domino on his face.

“W—Flash?” Danny asks, wide eyes shifting to Dick. Danny tilts his head. “And…”

“Nightwing,” Dick answers with a smile, “as well as who you’re thinking. It’s nice to formally meet you, Afterimage.”

Danny shifts on his feet like he’s some how ended up in the wrong hallway after therapy. “Yeah… same.”

“Come on,” Dick says as he starts to peel away from Wally. “I have someone who wants to meet you.”

“Don’t worry,” Bart whispers (or tries to) once they start walking. “We’d never introduce you to someone bad.”

“I’m not worried,” Danny lies.

They’ve all been learning over the last several weeks how afraid Danny is all the time. Well, not all the time anymore. Seeing Dinah has been amazing for Danny’s overall mental health. They still had so much work to do, but there were more moments of Danny being relaxed rather than strung tightly. The dependency on Bart being near was a little concerning, so they’re going testing if any of the family will do. Iris was first up with a shopping trip.

Well, assuming he didn’t backslide with this.

The door slid open and the four of them entered a conference room. Bruce stood from the table and, when it was clear that Danny wouldn’t enter further than the door way, walked closer.

“Hello, Danny. I’m Batman.”

“I know.” Danny blurted out. “I don’t—I mean, sorry. Ancients. Just, I think everyone knows you are! I didn’t mean to be rude!”

Barry pouted. “You don’t care if you’re rude to me.”

Danny’s head whipped that direction. “Have I been rude to you?!”

“Flash,” Wally admonishes.

Bart waves his hands. “No! I didn’t mean it like that. Just… don’t want you to like Batman more than Flash.”

The last part was mumbled so quickly that it was a blur of words. Everyone in the room blinks. Wally is the first to react, trying to hold his laughter and failing.

“Don’t worry Flash!” Bart chirps. “I like—well, okay, I like Robin best, but…”

Wally can’t help it, he’s laughing so hard that he’s leaning on Dick, who’s not much quieter.

“I like you better than Batman, sorry Batman, just, I was surprised!” Danny says quick enough to make a Speedster proud.

“Aw, thank you Afterimage!” Barry says. He’s almost quicker than his words to Danny’s side. He stops for a moment to make it clear that he’s offering a hug, and then with Danny’s little nod sweeps him up into a hug.

Wally, wiping away tears, catches a tick of a smile on Bruce’s face. Not that Wally has doubts about Bruce, but it still helps settle Wally to see it. They all know that if they press on Danny, they would have more information. Danny knows the Ghost Investigation Ward. He knows Amity Park. He knows this case. Danny knows things they need to know. And they just have to press for that information. But they don’t, because pressing might very well break Danny and it’s not worth it. Not when Danny is already safe.

Eventually they get settled at the table, Danny is sandwiched between Bart and Bart. Dick and him serve as the bridge from Flash into Bats. Along with Dick and Bruce, Babs is on call with them and Tim sits on the other side of the table next to Bart. The size of the room and number of chairs was clearly carefully chosen. Well, it was the Bats.

Bart is excitedly telling Danny about Robin and Tim about Afterimage, clearly hoping that the two will be quick friends. It’s leaving Tim looking fond and Danny looking bemused. Wally is pretty sure it will work out but right then, they do have things to talk about.

“Hello Afterimage,” Bab’s says from the screen. “We wanted to give you a brief update. Thanks to the tip, we’ve been able to interact with what we think might be this Technus.”

Danny leans forward immediately. “You have? He’s… he’s still…”

“We’re not sure of anything,” Tim says quickly. “But whatever is there isn’t just a normal artificial intelligence. And it’s way beyond what should be at a random government agency.”

“And,” Babs adds, “there was a… response to us sending ‘Phantom’ to it.”

“Him,” Danny corrects. “Even if… even if he’s not left… not enough left to be him, he still deserves… he was still…”

Wally’s leg starts bouncing.

“Him,” Babs says softly. “We think that mentioning Phantom caused him to pause. He’s not letting us in, but he’s not kicking us out of the ground we have gained anymore.”

“It’s like a stalemate right now,” Tim says. “If there’s anything else you know to pass on that would be great.”

“Otherwise we’re trying to build up sort of call and response with Technus that might unlock a different line or type of communication,” Babs says.

“The other thing that we’d like to address,” Bruce says when the quiet hangs too long in the air, “Afterimage, you’ve spoken about not knowing how many parts of Technus are left. What should we be look for? If there is any way to help him, we will try our best to do so.”

Danny fidgets with the cord on his hoodie.

Wally’s leg bounces faster.

Dick reaches over and puts his hand on Wally’s leg, squeezing his knee reassuringly. Wally tries to trust the process.

“It’s called a core,” Danny says, finally. His words are quiet, wobbly, forced… but he meets Bruce’s cowled gaze evenly. There’s a stubborn little jut of his chin as he continues. “A core is what makes up a ghost. They can project another form, what humans would see them as, but a core is what it all comes back to. They hooked Technus’ core up to their servers, but he… he fought them. So they broke him into pieces again and again and again—”

Bart reaches out and squeezes Danny’s hand and Danny takes a breath that gasps like he hadn’t breathed in hours.

“Sorry,” Danny says. “When his pieces were small enough that he couldn’t fight them… well. I don’t know if they kept the others or sent them to other places or… he fought them. He didn’t deserves this.”

“Of course not,” Bruce says. There’s a weight to his words that makes it feel real.

“We’ll look into it,” Babs promises and Tim is nodding along to her words.

“Afterimage,” Bruce continues. “You’ve spoken about a part of you being taken. From a standard human template, you seem whole, though you have not been scanned for internal organs.”

Danny juts his chin again. “Ask.”

Wally’s bouncing leg freezes in place.

“Afterimage, are you a ghost?”

“Part.”

Dick squeezes his knee.

“While you were held by them, did the GIW take your core?”

“Like, probably just some of the Bats to start because they’re, I mean, the Bats and are great at all the tings. And maybe, if you want, some of my team? Like, I know that I’d like them to meet you, but if you don’t want to meet them that matters more,” Bart babbles.

“I… okay…?”

“Right. And like, Barry made a really good point that before we do that, and like, I know you’ve already met Dinah, and it’s not like at least a few of the Bats don’t know, but do you want to use a secret identity?” Bart asks.

“Oh.”

“And it doesn’t have to be what you had before! Like, if you want to use that one course you can! But also you can make a new one or just a temp one with a mask or none,” Bart explains quickly.

Danny is quiet (for a worrying long time) before he asks, “Do they all know who you are?”

“Yeah. At least, like, who you’ll be meeting soon,” Bart says. “But if we’re suited up, we use hero names. So just… wanted you to have the option, you know?”

“Yeah.” Danny flops back down onto his bed and stares up at the ceiling. “I… if I don’t know if I can be a hero again, can I still use a different name?”

“Sure! Of course,” Bart says quickly.

Danny stays quiet. Then, “I don’t know if I can be him anymore.”

“Like… literally or figuratively?”

“I… both, maybe. They… part of me is gone, Bart. They cut it out and—” Danny swallows back something that Bart thinks must be grief. “I’m not who I was.”

“You don’t have to be.”

“I didn’t… I didn’t hate who I was, either of me, I didn’t, Bart. But they did! Why did they hate him? Why did they hate me once they knew?!”

“I… I don’t know,” Bart says softly. He doesn’t even know who they’re talking about, not really, but there’s one thing that he knows for sure. “If they hated you, they’re idiots.”

Danny sniffles and scrubs at his eyes. Bart zips over to sit on the edge of Danny’s bed, feet dangling over the side. “I mean it. They are.”

“Thanks.”

“Course,” Bart says and lets the quiet fall. He grabs the rubics cube from the bed post and messes it up purposefully. Danny can always put it back in the right order, he says it’s just patterns.

“I think… that I would like a name to go by, for if I want to be a hero again,” Danny says.

“But you don’t have to be a hero,” Bart points out again, just to be sure Danny knows that.

“Yeah, that means a lot, thanks. I don’t… I’m not sure I really had a choice before.”

“That sucks,” Bart says. “That sucks, but I get it.”

“I’m sorry,” Danny says back, “that sucks.”

“Yeah.” Bart’s tongue sticks out of the corner of his mouth. He almost has the yellow side together, but he should slow down before he breaks it. He zips to his desk to grab the fidget toy that Tim made him and right back. Danny never minds when he does that, he’s pretty great like that.

“I’m going to study that thing one day,” Danny says.

“Okay, sure.” Bart knows Danny will fix it if he takes it apart.

“I used to be called Phantom. I don’t think I can be him again,” Danny says.

Bart’s hands still. The Ghost Investigation Ward.

“Danny…”

“Don’t. Don’t ask me yet. I don’t know what I am anymore.”

“Dinah said to keep an eye on it, but not to be worried yet,” Iris says.

“But he’s so… lifeless.” Lifeless. The word has a whole new meaning now that they’re investigating something called the Ghost Investigation Ward. Ghosts weren’t supposed to be real.

“Well, according to Dinah, it’s basically that Danny’s finally crashed out. All this time he’s been in a state of flight still, from a fight, flight, or fawn standpoint. Now that he’s accepted that he’s safe here, thank god, he’s finally crashing out of the adrenaline high that he’s been on. She says that it could take a bit for him to feel up to, well, anything.”

“When do we get to the point of worry?”

“When his self care becomes an issue,” Iris explains. “He needs to eat, shower, brush his teeth, sleep at night, things like that. But Dinah said as long as he’s doing those things and is still responding to us, let him just rest. Not only does he need it, but us letting him rest will help him feel safer.”

Barry nods. “So like when a cat falls asleep next to you. Or slow blinks.”

Iris gives a little snort of amusement. “Sure, we can go with that analogy.”

“What? It totally works! If a cat falls asleep next to you, and like, asleep asleep, it’s a sign that they trust you and that nothing is going to hurt them right then. That’s basically what’s going on. Just, you know, with a shadowy government organization that no one claims to know.”

“Still being stonewalled?” Iris asks.

“Yeah.” Barry turns and leans back against the wall. There used to be a landline there, back when those were a thing. Barry wonders if it was actually simpler times or if it just felt like it. “I think Superman is considering siccing Lois on them, but we’re not sure if that would help or if they would just dig deeper.”

“What are the other options?”

“We keep using up political capital,” Barry says with a sigh. He presses his fingers against his close eyes, tries to stop the possibilities from spiraling out before him. “Which I don’t have a ton of as the Flash. Superman and Wonder Woman both have stepped up, but I feel be for making them do that. Spooky is still doing his thing too. They could crack it if they can just find an in. Apparently something is weird about these guy’s system.”

“That’s because of Technus.”

“Bajeezus!” Barry says halfway across the kitchen in an instant. He’s as quick to be right back. He doesn’t want Danny to think that he’s scared of him. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

“I’m quiet,” Danny says with a little shrug. And he is, even his voice is quiet. He just feels faded. “And have good hearing. It’s… there… Amity Park. You need to look at Amity Park. Technus won’t be as integrated there.”

“Technus is their security system?” Barry asks. He doesn’t want to push Danny, but if Danny is willing to talk…

“Yes, sorta. A ghost. They use him as part of their computers. I don’t know… there might not be enough of of him left, but maybe… try Phantom. He might respond to the word Phantom.”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll pass that on right away. Just first… do you need a hug?” Barry offers, arms open.

“Chess?” Bart suggests.

“Why would I want to play chess?" Danny asks.

“Because it’s better than homework.”

“I don’t actually know about that.”

Bart falls back into his bed. “Okay. Um… oh! What about those, you know, visual novel games? We could play it together too. I have a friend who likes them.”

Danny blinks at the suggestion. “Yeah, I guess. But aren’t a lot of those, like, dating things?”

With a fling of his arm, Bart rolls enough to look at Danny. “Yeah?”

“But you… I mean…” Danny clears his throat. “I didn’t think romance stuff interested you?”

“Oh,” Bart says, drawing the word out. “No, yeah, I’m aroace, but like, I think the game play will help it be more interesting. Plus playing with you. Do you, like, what genders do you like?”

Danny has to blink again. He liked Val, there had been no question of that. And he liked Sam maybe. Pauline was… like… doing what was expected. But guys… he didn’t like Tucker any less or differently than Sam. “I guess… I don’t care? I don’t think I care.”

“Okay, cool. Let’s find something to play! I’ll message, uh, my friend about them.”

“Bart, you can say it’s another hero, I know you work with other heroes,” Danny said.

Bart whines and flops back down onto his bed. “I know but like, what if I slip up and say their name? And then you know who you are! And I just outed someone. That totally wouldn’t be crash! I’m not used to being around someone all the time who isn’t in the community!”

Danny looks down at his hand and flexes it slowly. That wasn’t true, was it? He had been a hero too. Or a menace, at least. Like Spider-Man in all the movies: local menace but still a hero. But… he had never been part of the community.

He never had another hero.

“…Danny?” Bart was suddenly right beside Danny, sitting lightly on Danny’s bed. “Hey, you know that it’s okay that you’re no a hero, right? Like, Iris isn’t either, and we all love her. You don’t have to be a hero to be family.”

Danny flexes his hand. “…but I was.”

“What?”

“I was,” Danny says, a little louder than a whisper. “A hero. I was a hero, or something, back in—where I lived. Lots of people didn’t like me, but I was… I was like the people I fought. I don’t know if… maybe I wasn’t needed. Maybe it was all just testing. There’s no reason that…”

They just kept getting out, the ghosts. Was it always their doing? Or Vlad’s? Vlad… was he… Maybe his—they let them out sometimes. To hunt. To catch. To study. To cut apart piece by piece—

“Danny!”

Danny sucks in a sharp breath. The pain comes back to him with it and he doubles over, trying to curl around his hand. Arms and hands stop him, holding as he screams. It leaves him panting and trying to get away from it all, as if he could get away from his own body. It hurt it hurt it hurt.

“I know Danny, I know. You’re going to be okay, sweetheart, but you need to relax,” someone—Iris is saying.

He tries to listen. He’s only sure that he whines. The keening sound leaves him without his permission.

“I know, I know baby, but it will hurt less if you relax. I promise, sweetheart, I promise,” Iris says.

Her fingers card through his hair.

He breaths.

Smaller, shaking hands pull at his.

He lets them.

The pain eases.

He blinks. The world stumbles into place. Sound is spinning out again but vision is back. His hand his bloody. Blood on his hand in his nails on his bed on Bart—He breathes. Sound snaps back with a high pitched whine.

“That’s so good Danny, just keep relaxing, okay baby? Just breathe trough it.”

“Sorry,” he croaks.

“Don’t, just focus on relaxing, okay?” Bart pleads. He sounds ruined. Danny’s blood is on his hands.