Touch Of The Past

Chapter 24

Phantom goes into the bathroom with his suit, preferring not to change in front of us (I don't blame him). Jazz and I sit on the edge of his bed, impatient.

"Well?"

He comes straight through the door, not bothering to open it. As soon as he is in full view, he strikes a ridiculous superhero pose, displaying his suit.

The suit fits him flawlessly, and I have to admit, it does look very comfortable, and it's not stretchy like I thought it would be. He also wears the white/gray gloves half up his forearms, the boots of the same color half up his calves, and a matching utility belt around his waist. I helped with the belt, given my particular expertise for the clothing article.

On his chest, there's the DP symbol, and there's a white collar, but everything else is black.

I clap my hands. Jazz has the biggest smile on her face.

He releases his stance and floats down to us, smiling slightly.

"But wait!" I shout. "There's more!"

Jazz gives me a puzzled look; Danny a curious one.

I jump off the bed and sprint over to a drawer, throwing it open and grabbing the gift inside. It's just a plain white box, because I despise wrapping. I'd hidden it here before the mission last night, but Danny wasn't there when I woke up.

I give him a huge smile as I hold it out to him.

He gives me a confused look and takes it. After pulling off the top of it, he pulls off the tissue paper Alfred had wrapped the gift in.

I watch the bewilderment as he pulls out the sheer black fabric. It comes undone, and I can't contain my smile.

"You got me... a blanket?"

"What, no..." Now I'm confused. "It's a cape."

He lights up. "Really?!"

"Yeah, it's upside down." I seize the clasp and pull it away from him, displaying it right side up. It's black on the outside and white on the inside. I actually used one of Batman's old capes for this, simply taking off the ragged ends and adding a hood and stealth tech to change the color.

The emblem is the DP symbol, of course, and courtesy of Wayne Tech's newest 3D printer.

Danny's eyes shine as I throw it around him, and he pulls the clasp shut. "How did you know I've always wanted a cape?!" he cries, turning around in it and waving his arms to move it.

"Tuck told me," I boast. "Something about two parts of your personality splitting so you could be in two places at once. One part of you used a bedsheet. By the way, that's a special Kevlar-pylon weave, built to be light but durable. So you shouldn't be able to break it."

Shouldn't. But probably will.

"And I didn't get you a mask, because it tends to hurt super-seers rather than help. Y'know, like Superman and Superboy."

"Super-seers?" he snickers.

"Yeah. You can see better than other people, right?"

"Yup! And I can see in the dark."

"Cool," I tell him. "Now let's go meet the team!"

"Um." He gives me a wary look.

"No, it'll be fun! They all helped me get you out of that place, and they've been dying to meet you."

Jazz rolls her eyes.

Danny gives a tight nod, and I frown at his sudden change in temperament. I just give him a big smile and take off to the mission room, where Canary is giving the daily training lesson. Danny easily keeps pace with me, but Jazz opts to walk leisurely behind us.