Touch Of The Past

Chapter 40

A few weeks later

I'm walking the tightrope in Mount Justice's gym, careful to maintain enough balance so I don't end up swinging on my arm. It's mostly healed, but I can't be doing any crazy stunts with it. It's making me go insane out of my mind.

Zatanna sits on a pile of mats, reminding me of Danny from not too long ago. Except Zatanna is on her phone. Still, if she even senses I'm going to use my arm, she'll be all over me in an instant- and not in the fun way.

"If you're going to pace, shouldn't you do it on the ground instead of thirty feet in the air?" Zatanna calls up to me. I realize I have been, and let myself fall into the open blocks below.

"Evig mih a yaw tou," Zatanna calls, and the foam blocks surrounding me push to the sides of the ring, allowing me to walk to the edge and crawl out.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize. I'm worried too. But we have to give them space."

The Amity crew had taken a leave of absence since they got Sam back, though Danny usually showed up for missions. Jazz was almost recovered enough to return, but since her concussion gave her such an intolerance for screens, she'd still be out for a little while.

Danny had brought up with us the possibility of Sam joining the team, and while his request was met with a lot of positivity, she has yet to show up at Mount Justice.

Tucker...

Danny said they were experimenting with a new prosthetic today.

Tucker's foot had been shot mid air, and the infection of the fake ectoplasm (created with dangerous radiation) almost immediately doomed it to amputation. He'd taken it as well as he could, but still refused to talk to anyone on the team, except for Wally. They'd become closer friends while I'd been BFFs with Danny.

Danny said the biggest concern Tucker had when he woke up with no left foot was how he was going to explain it to his parents.

My wrist beeps with a mission alert, and Zatanna stands up, stretching lazily. She holds out her hand to me. "Come on, let's go see what Batman has for us."

We head to the mission room, where I'm surprised to find Danny, not Batman, floating in front of the console. "Hey, what's up?" I ask, and he gives me a playful smile.

"Let's wait til everyone's here."

I raise an eyebrow, but Danny gives no more than that.

It takes a little over two minutes for the room to fill with our team, and Danny then settles on the ground to explain. "As you know, we're missing a couple people. It is my pleasure to reintroduce-" He pauses, tilting his head. "Scratch that. It is with great pleasure..." He stops again and sighs.

The team exchanges glances of confusion.

"Okay. Apparently, too much buildup. Short, sweet and dramatic." He rolls his eyes. "Anyway, here we are: the man, the myth, the legend..." He looks so sarcastic with this intro, I can't help but snicker.

The Zeta Beam announces Tucker and Sam, immediately exciting the whole team.

When two figures walk out, it fades to confusion. Tucker is leaning heavily on Sam, but he is, indeed, walking.

Sam is dressed similarly to how I first met her, save for a backpack that I'm sure is filled with ghost weapons. Tucker also looks similar, except for the metallic left to his right sneaker.

"Hey, guys," Tucker begins suavely, looking both pinched in pain and extremely pleased.

Megan floats towards him, clasping her hands. "You're walking! That's fantastic!"

"But how?" Artemis asks, watching his left foot wearily.

He shakes it at us, almost causing both him and Sam to fall over. Danny floats towards them, but Sam gives him a look over Tucker's shoulder and he freezes. "Danny and his dad made me a robotic foot! It's almost as good as the old one!"

"If it works," Danny mutters.

Tucker smiles brightly. "Of course it does! I'm walking! Soon, I'll give it all kinds of upgrades and be able to fly just like you." Several people look like they might object, but Tucker glares at them all, "Who has hope? I do! Who has the right to take it away? Nobody!"

Sam rolls her eyes.

"Could you help me sit?" he asks Sam, looking pointedly at one of the console chairs. She complies without comment, something I learned through brief conversations with Danny to be a difficult thing for her to do.

"Sorry we were gone so long," Danny begins, addressing the entire team as Tucker settles back in the chair. "Adjustments were ...difficult. I mean, Tucker's foot... and Sam's family... and then our whole thing..."

She interrupts, "It's whatever. We figured it out. And we're back."

"Nobody blames you," Kaldur placates, stepping forward for the team, "We're just glad you've decided to stay."

"Are you kidding? Those GIW-" Sam continues with several uses of colorful language, "-have to go down!" Danny stifles a laugh behind his hand, and Tucker has the same light of amusement in his eyes. Sam notices the team's amused/appalled behavior and deflates slightly, still defensive but embarrassed. "I feel strongly about them," she finishes half-heartedly.

I bark a laugh and fold my arms. "That's okay, because we do, too!" I remember vaguely the name Danny suggested way back when we first discussed Sam, just me and him. "Welcome to the team, Chaos."

She smiles in a way that I can tell is very rare and completely genuine. She thanks us, and I'm guessing that's even more uncommon. When the team goes through their rounds of welcoming her as a new member of the team, Sam casts a sidelong glance at Danny, smirking.

"I guess I'm not your sidekick anymore."

Danny returns her smirk. "Nope, just my protege. Don't worry, I'll be a great mentor. Teach you everything I know."

Sam's smile drops. Rearing back her leg, she kicks him in the shin. Hard. With steel-toed combat boots.

Danny shouts in pain and backs away, whining and rubbing his leg. In response, Sam flips him off. "In your dreams, Ghost Boy."

THE END

Welcome to the end of my FanFic! This was very fun, and I hope it ended with enough loose ends to keep y'all intrigued but not enough that it requires a lengthy sequel. Thank you for reading! I already have a couple fanfic ideas for a next story, but I'm going to let those sit so I can take a little break for my other hobbies.

Here are just a couple, if you guys are interested in letting me know your thoughts on what my next project should be.

-Sam is a sorceress spawned from a fight between Klarion and a Lord of Order. She was raised by light representatives in case she showed power, but unfortunately, she was just a normal human girl. Of course, this doesn't last long after her sixteenth birthday. The conflicting energies cancel each other out, but for a birthday gift, Danny gives her bracelets made from his core ice, causing one energy to be concentrated into the separate wrists. She then has enough control to switch between the two. The light is now incredibly interested in getting her on their side. DP X YJ

-A fanfic where Dani and Dick meet when she's arrested in Bludhaven. He takes her in and eventually moves with her to Gotham so he can take up the mantle of the Bat for Gotham while Batman runs the Justice League Tower. She and Damian would be friends, and this would primarily be a Dani adopted story, which I like the idea of. It'd be DP X BatFam, with mostly Dani, but Danny would end up being in it as well.

I like them both, so let me know.