A couple weeks had passed since the impromptu mission, along with what Danny liked to call the Young Blood incident and the team were all currently on spring break. The weather was surprisingly warm out so the team decided it was a nice day to go to the beach. They also considered it a good way for Danny to get some fresh air without taking him out in public.
Everyone, but Danny was getting ready. He was currently asleep on the couch wearing robin pajamas. During one of Danny's impromptu naps, the teen heroes decided they would each get the poor kid some clothes of his own. So when everyone had some free time they went to the malls in their respective cities and bought Danny some outfits along with pajamas with each of their symbols. Robin even showed him a website that made custom pajamas and was surprised when he made one very similar to his uniform, something else was familiar about it too. The only thing Danny had Megan translate was that they reminded him of an old friend.
Right now the team was debating on who was going to wake up the thirteen year old. Everyone knew he wasn't getting enough sleep, especially since Danny refused to sleep in his room. They had just decided to draw straws when Cujo ran by and headed straight for the sleeping boy. The small pup jumped into the air and landed hard on Danny's stomach, effectively waking him up and knocking the wind out of him.
Cujo jumped away before he could get in trouble. Looking around, Danny saw the team standing in the hallway, all wearing beach clothes. "We're going to the beach and you're coming with us." Zatanna cast a spell to change his pajamas into swim trunks and a t-shirt. Danny looked down at himself before grabbing his blanket and lying back down.
"Nope, none of that sir. You need fresh air, staying inside all the time isn't healthy." Dick took the blanket and Conner slung the shorter boy over his shoulder. Honestly, Danny didn't really care where they took him as long as he still got to sleep.
His emotions were finally getting manageable, but between the nightmares, flashbacks and being physically knocked out, Danny was exhausted. So if the others wanted him to go to the beach then he'd go, but he planned on sleeping the entire time.
At least that was the original plan. No one told the halfa it'd be so hot outside. Even though he was sitting under an umbrella, it felt like he was melting. The others tried getting him to come out and play, but Danny refused.
Danny was finally able to fall asleep after lying still staring up at the umbrella. Darkness was all around him. Someone was laughing menacingly and a scream could be heard in the distance. "I guess he was right. It was inevitable." The only thing Danny saw before waking up were a pair of glowing red eyes.
Right as Danny awoke, he was splashed with a bucket of water. Glaring around, wiping water off his face, he saw it was Megan and his eyes softened. She instantly set up a mind link. "Why'd you dump a bunch of water on me?"
"You looked very uncomfortable and your skin was very sweaty. Dumping water on you seemed like the best way to cool you down."
Danny sat up and used his intangibility to remove the rest of the water. Finally deciding to venture out from under the umbrella, he immediately glared in the direction of the sun. "Ugh, its bright."
Megan handed him a bottle of sunscreen," I think you're sensitive to the sun's radiation. Artemis said this should keep you from getting burned."
The younger teen graciously accepted the sunscreen and put a generous amount on his arms, legs and face. "Thanks, I think I still might get a sunburn though."
Megan held out her hand," Let's go play in the ocean, it's nice and cool despite the heat."
Danny hesitated for a moment before taking the Martian's hand. "Alright, I don't think I could go back to sleep again anyway." He started frowning, and started thinking back on that strange dream. For some reason it felt like more than just a dream. Megan could feel slight worry and confusion emitting from her friend and gently squeezed his hand.
Zatanna was tanning further away from where Danny's umbrella was. Artemis was even further away creating a sand replica of the mountain. "Nice to see you awake, sleeping beauty
In the ocean Wally was trying to sneak attack Kaldur but the Atlantean quickly turned around and splashed the speedster. "Ah man... I almost had you."
Kaldur just laughed. "You can't sneak up on me when I'm in my natural element, Wally."
Dick and Conner were having a splash fight of their own when a big wave knocked the younger boy down. "Looks like I win, Rob." Conner held out a hand to help the shorter boy up.
Dick took the taller boy's hand and spat out some water. No you didn't. That wave knocked me down when I was clearly winning."
Megan let go of Danny's hand when they got closer to the others, a slight brush on her face. "You guys wanna play Marco Polo?"
Everyone agreed but soon chose a different water based game when they remembered Danny couldn't physically speak yet. A couple hours had passed and Danny was currently floating with the waves, letting his intangibility keep the current from pulling him under.
"Hey Danny, you might want to come get some food before Wally eats it all." Dick held up a sandwich.
Said red head was stuffing his face, eating three sandwiches in three seconds. "Yo ave o roo."
Artemis scowled," Swallow your food Baywatch. Your spitting food on me."
Danny felt his stomach growl and decided to leave the calming effects of the cold ocean. He ate a couple sandwiches and drank a bottled water. He used this opportunity to study the other teens.
He knew everyone's names except Artemis and Robin's unless that was their real names. Danny was sure he'd met a kid that was named Robin once. Finding some frozen grapes, he started snacking on them. Staring over at Robin, Danny studied him, curiosity evident on his face. He continued to eat his grapes while staring at the other short boy, a nagging feeling that he knew him from somewhere.
Dick felt Danny staring at him and was curious as to why. Turning to look over at the other boy, Dick realized this was the first time since the team rescued him he was able to get a good look at the halfa's face. So now he was staring back, eating a bologna sandwich. At some point while he was staring, the boy wonder got a nagging feeling that he knew Danny from somewhere, but he couldn't remember where.
Conner was about to join the volleyball game Zatanna, Megan and Artemis were playing against Wally and Kaldur when he saw the two shorter raven haired boys ahving a staring contest. At least that's what he thought they were doing, it was hard to tell since Robin was wearing tinted sunglasses. "What're you two doing?"
Dick finished his sandwich.. "I don't know, ask Danny."
The smaller thirteen year old used his finger to write in the sand. "FAMILIAR" Then pointed to Dick.
"I look familiar, I was going to say the same about you."
Conner just stared at the two boys. "Maybe its because you could pass as brothers or in the right lighting, twins. Danny's started looking less like a ten year old since he's been eating.
"OW!" The three teens look over to see Wally get smacked in the face by the volleyball.
"I don't think that's it but that gives me a really great idea for a prank."
Danny suddenly looked extremely anxious and started looking around. Megan felt the wave of anxiety like a sack of bricks and stumbled into the net.
"Danny what's wrong?"
instead of answering, the young ghost boy looked around trying to spot the danger. Cujo came into view further along the beach, when he reached the teens everyone saw he had indentions all over his small body as if he'd been burned by a net.
Getting into a fighting stance, Danny glared in the direction Cujo ran from. Before long the heroes could see two flying scooters kicking up sand at the speed they were going. Danny growled, instantly recognizing the two Guys in White Agents.
Agents K and O stopped a couple feet away from the group. Agent O fired a net gun and managed to catch Danny in an ecto-net. "You're coming with us scum."
The team leapt into action. Zatanna cast a spell to change everyone into their uniforms. Conner used his super strength to rip apart the net. Artemis fired a couple exploding arrows to bring down the flying scooters. Miss Martian flew into the air and used her telekinesis to turn the flying scooters into scrap metal.
Agent K jumped off just in time and tossed a shock bomb at the teens. He smirked at the teens until he noticed only one of them had been affected along with the green puppy. Agent O, who had landed face first in the sand, smacked his partner on the back of the head. "Idiot! Those only work on ghosts!"
Robin threw one of his birdarangs. "That's a shame, mine work on everyone." The two agents dropped to their hands and knees trying to power through the muscle spasms. Zatanna cast a binding spell, ropes appeared and tightened around the white clad men.
Aqualad was guarding Danny who was recovering from the shock bomb. Kid Flash was holding a fidgeting Cujo, who had evaded the blast and was now trying to get to his owner. The shocks and spasms finally subsiding, Danny suppressed a groan, sitting up slowly.
Suddenly Miss Martian screamed, having been shot out of the sky by a blaster. Ignoring the pain his body was currently experiencing and flew up to catch the green girl. He glared in the direction the blast had come from and saw a bald man in a business suit appear out of thin air on another flying scooter. "I knew those two idiots couldn't be trusted to do their job. They couldn't even take down a bunch of sidekicks."
The other teens turned towards the voice and immediately glared. Superboy growled, "Luther!"
"You're not my father!"
Danny gently sat Megan on the beach towel, Lex knocked her out cold. This was the man the idiots in white were going to sell him to. This was the man who gave off creepy stalker vibes. This was the man THAT HURT MEGAN!
Danny's eyes started glowing a bright toxic green. He tried to take a step forward but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Do not rush into a fight, my friend. Lex Luther came here for you."
Lex feigned a yawn, "Is this the weapon my men have been studying for three years? A kid who can make his eyes glow? Where's that destructive power I've read so much about and constantly have to pay for over the years? I wanted those imbeciles to break you so I could mold you into the perfect tool to take down Superman but it seems they broke you to the point where you can't even use your powers. Oh well that just means more effort on your part." The rich snob pressed a button on his scooter and several more blasters appeared.
Danny was beyond furious. First the idiots used an shock bomb on him. Then this pompous jerk HURTS one of his new friends. Now the same creepy bald dude was trying to turn him into a weapon. The halfa gave an almost unnoticeable smirk, if Lex wanted a weapon then he'd show him a weapon..
Danny ignored the others telling him to stay back. He ignored the aching pain all over his body telling him to stop and rest. He ignored the feeling in his core telling him he wasn't ready to transform, which looking back was really just self doubt. For the first time in three years... Danny Phantom made an appearance.
White rings appeared around Danny's waist and split in two, one traveling up and the other traveling down. His beach clothes were replaced with a black spandex suit with silver gloves and boots along with a white belt around his waist with a small thermos attached to it. Danny's eyes, if possible burned an even brighter green. His raven black hair turned a brilliant white.
Behind him, the team could be heard expressing their shock and amazement. Miss Martian had finally gained consciousness and gasped at the person sending a death glare at Lex Luther. "Who is that?"
" It's Danny..."
Cujo used the teams shock to finally free himself from Wally's grasp and ran full speed at the billionaire, growing in size until he towered over the man.
Kid Flash started freaking out about the giant puppy. "SINCE WHEN CAN CUJO DO THAT!"
Danny smiled at the giant dog as he took out most of the blasters. Flying towards the bald man, Phantom lit his hands with ecto-energy and fired at the remaining blasters. Once they were gone, Phantom flew at full force and punched Luther so hard he fell out of the flying scooter.
Lex tried in vain to stop his nose from bleeding. "You little brat! You broke my nose. You'll pay for that!" He looked up just in time to receive a harsh kick in the chest. Cujo decided to use the flying scooter as a chew toy.
Agents K and O were trying to break free of the rope when Red Tornado showed up and they stopped trying. "Who are these men tied up? Also who is the child beating up Lex Luther?"
Superboy glared at his creator, "Yeah that's Danny. Apparently he can change more than just his hair. Could you take those two to jail for us. Wally was supposed to but he's kinda in shock at the moment." The two looked over to see said red head staring at the fight with his mouth hanging open.
Back at the fight Lex had managed to hit Phantom a couple times. It wasn't obvious but Danny was starting to slow down. His adrenaline rush was starting to wear off and all that was left was pain. At that moment the older man tossed a couple canisters. Upon hitting the sand, they opened up to reveal fully bloomed blood blossoms.
Phantom let out a strangled cry. Not only was the pain he already felt doubled, but the blood blossoms made him feel like he was burning from the inside out.
Luther used the halfa's misfortune to make an escape. He took off his blazer to reveal a mini jetpack. "I must be going. Hopefully our next encounter will be better."
Robin and Kid Flash leapt into action. The speedster grabbed all the blood blossoms and put them back in the canisters while the boy wonder tried throwing a tracking device at the bald man, but he was too far away. "Get Danny inside now!"
Danny woke up in the med bay inside the mountain. He started panicking until the team in different parts of the room. He tried moving, but everything was sore. "What..." Danny immediately went into a coughing fit, making his body hurt more.
Megan tried getting out of the neighboring cot but Zatanna stopped her. "Take it easy Megan, you're still injured."
Kaldur handed the halfa a glass of water with a straw. "Thanks..."
"It's nice to know your voice is coming back. Try to save your energy and get some sleep."
Dick and Wally left the mountain to tell Batman what happened with Lex Luther.
Hours later Agents K and O were bailed out of jail by the bald billionaire. "Thanks for getting us out boss. They would've kept us in there for six months."
Lex scowled, "Don't thank me just yet. If you mess up one more time then you'll be my newest test subjects for some very painful experiments. Do I make myself clear?"
The two GIW agents gulped and nodded.
"Then get out of my sight!" Once the other men were out of eyesight, the evil businessman pulled out his phone. "Mercy, make sure there's room for two more for that experiment. I have a feeling those two numbskulls are going to fail again."