Disclaimer—I do not own Danny Phantom, Sky High, or any of their related properties. Fo reezy.

A/N—So it's been a while… Enjoy!

Chapter VIII

"Dash? Dash, wake up, you gotta wake up man," Danny begged, slapping the other boy's face repeatedly. After a few seconds Dash finally groaned and he flinched away from Danny's hands. Normally the halfa would be laughing his face off at the way Dash had fainted. Watching the blond boy's knees buckle while he slid limply to the ground at the moment Danny turned from Phantom into Fenton had resembled something straight out of a Marx brothers' movie.

For a moment, excluding the fact that Dash now knew his secret identity (and was that the third time that had happened? Keeping tabs on that stuff was hard) he'd almost started laughing. Frankly, he blamed it on his exhaustion. Dash's nose wrinkled in discomfort and his entire face gradually bunched up until he finally woke to Danny's gentle slaps. Two eyes snapped open so fast Danny almost kept tapping Dash's face, stopping himself at nearly the last moment.

"Dash, can you hear me?" The blond boy nodded in a dazed fashion. "How many fingers am I holding up?" Danny asked while holding up a single hand.

"Three," Dash said slowly, and blinked at the sound of his voice. Relief coursed through Danny's body like a wave of cool water. Lowering the three fingers he'd held up, Danny began checking Dash's eyes and body for signs of obvious injury, while asking him if he hurt whenever he pressed or pushed at the other boy.

"You're good at this," Dash said slowly, as Danny finished checking him out. It was difficult to decide whether the flush he had was from examining the jock's very, very well maintained physique or from the compliment. A combination of the two seemed the most likely.

"Practice," he muttered. Between his First Aid training at school and his practice with dealing with his own injuries, Danny knew how to do a rough diagnosis of bodily harm. Pressing and prodding various places on Dash's body, his very finely toned and hot body, Danny quickly ascertained that the jock had no broken bones or bad bruises. He could not detect any inner bleeding, and the faint had just been caused by an overload of information.

Holy guacamole, he knows who I am. Crap. And damn the adults in my life for making food related curses all the time. Dash apparently lacked telepathy, because Danny had been praying for him to forget everything, and instead the other boy immediately started talking about it.

"Yeah, I guess you must. Do you get hurt a lot, fighting ghosts? I mean, as Phantom you always seem to get tossed around but you never look that hurt…" Dash trailed off.

"All the time," Danny said, his voice and tone so flat that he sounded dead even to his own ears. Dash reached out and cupped Danny's cheek.

"I'm sorry, Danny." For a second, just a second, Danny let the strong and callused hand cradle his face. For just a moment, he let everything go and focused on how nice it felt to have such a strong, masculine hand surround and caress him. Then he gently moved Dash's hand away from his face, and tried not to think about what any of his feelings meant.

"What for? You didn't try and kill me just there."

"No, but I have in the past." Danny looked at him in shock. "No, I don't mean—I never actually tried to kill you, man. I just… Well, me screwing with you probably hurt your ghost hunting, didn't it?"

"Actually, after I got my powers you really didn't bother me as much. And I don't just mean figuratively. Didn't you ever notice how often weird things would happen to you after you beat me up or something?" Dash's eyes widened and then narrowed.

"So that was actually you all those times? Makes a lot of sense now." Then the jock shrugged. "I guess I deserved it, though." Words that would have killed the fast budding friendship between them got swallowed and replaced by Danny's more mature side. Both statements held truth, but the "you're damn right you deserved it," seemed to have an added edge of honesty in its cruelty.

"No one deserves to be bullied, Dash. Not even bullies."

"Well, I am a reformed bully, now, but thank you, Danny." Ignoring the way Dash's voice rubbed against his skin proved difficult when he could picture the other boy's naked body so very easily in his mind.

"What, like a 12-step program for bullies?"

"Yep. Meetings are on Wednesday nights at the community center. I'm almost to my first merit coin for not hitting anyone living in nearly a month," Dash said, sarcastic but friendly, fondly. "I thought that the 24 hour coin was pretty pointless, cuz anyone can go a day without beating someone." Danny couldn't tell if Dash was joking or not about that last bit, and decided to just smile. Smiling covered all the reactions he possibly wanted, either cheerful support of Dash's group therapy (do not snicker, Danny, don't you dare), or showing amusement at his clever joke. Dash smiled back at him, and Danny resigned himself to never knowing the truth of the matter, because, honestly, how embarrassing would it be to ask him? Charlie Brown level shame right there, and Danny would not run up and kick the football no matter how loudly Lucy (Dash?) said they wouldn't pull it away.

"Well, I think we should head out, now," Danny said.

"Yeah, probably. Let's go," Dash moved to start leaving, but Danny grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around. He held out his hand expectantly, making grabbing motions in the air. For a moment, the other teen's face lit up in a way that sparked a warm tingle in Danny's body, jumping back and forth at lightning speed between his groin and his spine. Except he couldn't—he just didn't feel comfortable—screw it. Danny felt too damn confused to mess around any more, no matter how badly he, like any teenage boy, wanted to get his rocks off.

"Keys." Dash tilted his head to the side and furrowed his brow, and Danny almost snickered. It felt as if he could actually see Dash's thought process and watch the equation, "keys does not equal sex?" flash in front of the larger boy's mind's eye.

"What?" Not rolling his eyes in a fashion so pointed, he might as well have rolled them, Danny repeated himself, with a dash more explanation.

"Your keys, gimme them." He grabbed at the air between them with his hand, miming the desired objective.

"Why?" Okay, now Danny began to feel irritated. Dash certainly looked fantastic, and he could easily imagine that blond head drifting lower down his body, his hands wrapped in the thick and spiky hair—Christ, this is just not good on any level. The point was, Dash looked great, but apparently all that muscle had pulled his brain clean out of his head. It never occurred to Danny that someone could be tongue-tied looking at himself, or that anyone could find the ghost-boy of Amityville so attractive that they'd be rendered slightly stupid.

"Your head got knocked around pretty badly, so I'll be the one driving you home." Dash frowned but did not argue as the look on Danny's face spoke rather plainly. It said that if Dash did not voluntarily give his keys over to Danny, then they would be taken from him and Dash would be tied up if Danny had to.

"But then how will you get home," Dash began to ask before catching himself as Danny raised a single sardonic eyebrow. "Oh, yeah. You can fly, right, forgot." Danny chuckled mirthlessly, as there were definitely times where he wished that he could forget he had powers.

"That's right, Dash. I can fly, amongst other things." Dash shuffled his feet a bit as he dug out of the keys to his car and dropped them in Danny's hand. As the two turned to walk back to the parking lot, he cleared his throat and got the other boy's attention. Taking a deep breath, and almost melting under Danny's blue eyes, he softly thanked the dark-haired teen.

"Thank you, Danny."

"What, for the ride home? No problem."
"No, not that, although it's part of it. Thank you, for, you know, being a hero, and stuff, like, for saving me, our school and, uh, this whole damn town, man. You got a raw deal, and just that you would save all our asses, time after time, I mean that's just—you're amazing, Danny." Not blushing in response to what Dash said would have been mildly difficult any time, if for no reason other than Danny being vulnerable to praise.

"It's no problem, with great powers come great responsibility and all that," Danny said smoothly. "You're welcome."

"Well I'd really welcome another kiss," the boy said and before Danny could protest he swept in for one. For a split second Danny was frozen, his hands pressed against Dash's chest, all taught pectoral muscle and strength, while Dash's hand rested gently on his head, one thumb laying against his sideburn and strong hot fingers curling around the back of his head. Dash's mouth pressed against his for a moment, and then Danny gave up and let the other boy in.

Tongues twined around one another as the two boys gently explored their mouths. Danny's arms moved up to hang around Dash's neck, while the larger teen's other arm circled around to rest its hand on Danny's butt. A gentle squeeze made Danny groan into the kiss, and he could feel Dash's body shudder as he did so. Feeling another person tremble because of him, because of how he felt to Dash and what his sounds did to Dash, was simply incredible. There was a high racing through Danny's body, a heart pumping overwhelming sense of reality and being present, being absolutely there in that moment. All of his senses narrowed to a single point of awareness, his body pressed against Dash's, the smell and the heat and the way his shirt moved over his skin and the taste of his tongue and lips and the delicate but hard edge of his teeth and the arousal pressed—

The only warning Danny had was the way Dash's eyes went wide as icy ghost breath came out of his nose and some went into Dash's mouth. Then the two were thrown head over heels and crashed down a couple feet away from where the Smee had just gouged a hole in the earth.

How on earth is that thing still alive? Danny thought to himself. The amount of energy he'd poured onto the Smee should have vaporized it. It should be dead, or rather, since ghosts were already dead, in pieces taking forever to recreate itself.

Either way, he needed to get clear of the thing and fast. Grabbing Dash and clutching him to his body, Danny shot into the air with all the speed he could muster, throwing up a shield around him with the Smee in hot pursuit.

"Danny, what is that thing?" Dash yelled over the streaming wind into Danny's ear.

"It's a Smee, and it should be dead." But maybe just pouring raw power onto it wasn't the way to go, like with the Beholder. Maybe his Ghostly Wail could kill it, or at least he hoped so because he was running out of options. With any luck, what didn't work on the one creepy new creature would work on the other. "Get on my back."

"How?" Danny glanced behind them and saw the Smee fading into a dot. At least he could outrun it. Stopping for a second, Dash wriggled out of his grasp and tightened his legs around Danny's waist. Danny tried to ignore the erection that was now firmly pressed against his ass, and failed miserably.

"Dash, if you can, cover your ears, and try not to enjoy this so much." He felt the larger teen shrug and as the Smee raced into view, Danny took a deep breath, and then let loose his banshee cry straight at the creature. The Smee stopped in the air and shook violently as the cry rang out. Danny cried out as loudly as he could, and the Smee seemed to be crumbling apart. Once he saw it appeared to be working, he just tried to keep the pressure up, but his voice was going to fail him in a second and he didn't know if he could get another Wail in before the Smee would hit them.

Later, Danny would wonder what it was that Dash thought he would accomplish, because really, how on earth could the blond boy have known even an iota (and why did superheroes in training have to study for the SAT?) of what was going on? Whatever the answer, Dash had dropped one hand down to Danny's groin and gently squeezed a very specific part of Danny's anatomy at the same time he whispered something unintelligible into Danny's ear. All he remembered was suddenly feeling very, very surprised, and that his Wail spiked to nearly double the pitch it had been at.

Trust Dash Baxter to save his life by molesting him.

The Smee crumbled under the assault and before the two boys' bewildered, terrified, and still aroused, eyes, the ghost monster turned to dirt and wilted flower petals. Sounds like wind chimes filled the quiet after Danny's attack ended and the dirt and flowers fell to the earth below.

"Okay, okay," Danny breathed heavily and slowly floated down to earth. He'd flown out into the middle of nowhere, but at least he could still see the spot they'd come from in the distance.

"All right, Danny, just keep breathing, and I'll—uh," Dash's face made Danny chuckle. Twisted up with concern and affection, it had just enough ignorance spread over it to make the entire affair more than a little comical. Or maybe too much adrenaline still coursed through his body. Laughing after escaping death by a thread was pretty normal, in fact there was a whole psychology class at Sky High about superhero mental health in relation to near death experience and trauma. The rush and thrill of hunting down a villain, the pleasure of the capture, the satisfaction of rescuing bystanders, it aroused superheroes like a drug. They were taught any of them could become addicted to their own job, constantly seeking out the rush of combat, or because they only felt truly alive when on the chase.

All Danny knew was that Dash crouched next to him and rubbing his hand up and down Danny's back, while the halfa inhaled and exhaled like a horse out of breath, felt really good. Without much thought, or really, any input from his brain whatsoever, Danny reached up and dragged Dash down to mash their lips together. The jock stumbled a bit and their teeth clacked together, but then Dash was on top of Danny, and they were moving against each other in all the right ways.

Skin touching skin felt amazing, so Danny rode his hands up Dash's shirt and just ran his fingers over every inch of smooth skin and strong, hard muscle he could find. Dash pulled Danny up and into his lap, a move that the dark haired boy agreed with enthusiastically. No confusion or thoughts about his sexuality existed here, only the knowledge of wandering hands, blond hair and a tiny bit of stubble that fascinated Danny's kisses. Fooling around after a battle was something Danny regarded as a luxury, but this was definitely the first time it hadn't been Sam, Valerie or Paullina (now that was a story he'd never tell anyone). In fact, this was the first time he'd ever really been with another boy, and he wondered if Will would have been down for it, that one time they'd been at his house and…

Eyes widened and mind racing, Danny leaned back from the kiss for a second, breaking their rhythm. Dash, now gasping for air just as hard as Danny, looked into the other boy's blue eyes. No questioning, no confusion, just looking. Inside Danny's head, his thoughts about Will had chain started an entire conglomerate of other feelings, and he simply could not just sit in Dash's lap anymore.

"I'm sorry, Dash, but we need to stop," Danny said, and with an unconscious wince prepared for the jock to explode in anger at him.

"That's fine, dude, we don't have to go any faster than you want." Danny blinked at Dash. The larger teen wore a smug and satisfied expression that Danny wasn't sure how to feel about.

"Uh… right," Danny said and then stood up. He offered a hand to Dash, which the other boy took, and pulled him up.

"So, can I take you out to dinner tonight?" Danny bit his lip and then sighed.

"No offense, Dash, but I kinda need to have some time to myself. This is all… pretty new to me." Pretty new being an excellent euphemism for mind-blowingly world altering. At least he knew that he at the very least did not mind boys and their bodies, but was he really gay? He still liked girls, right? Or did he? The way he felt right now, it was like he'd have sex with anything, so long as it had a pulse. Maybe this happened to all guys?

"Ah, okay. Well take the time you need. I've waited for this for a long time, I can wait a little longer still." Danny flushed at Dash's words. Since when had the blond jock become so different?

"Thanks, Dash."

"But, you should know, don't keep me waiting too long."

"Uh, why?"

"I'm a competitor, Danny, I'm used to fighting for what I want. So whether it's winning the game, or winning you, Fenton, I'll play as long and as hard as it takes." Danny had to flush a little bit at that.

"I'm not a football, Dash," he responded semi-sarcastically.

"Trust me, I know that. I don't normally make-out with footballs."

"Oh, but you have in the past?"

"Just the one time, we were drunk and he never called me back. Now we just see each other at practice and it's horribly awkward." Danny began to laugh just as Dash did, and they began the slow flight back to Dash's car. Even though Danny's entire world was being constantly reshuffled, he felt truly at ease with this new Dash Baxter.

Which Danny considered, because what the hell had happened to Dash to make him flip-flop like this? Had Danny's absence been a wake-up call? The thought warmed his heart, and slid lower. Apparently his hormones were in full swing, because he was starting to think about sex ALL THE TIME. Bad enough he was a superhero trying to save two worlds (or at least keep them separate) he was having a sexual identity crisis and he was hard practically 24/7.

Being a teenage superhero was just as lame as it was awesome.

"So Daniel wants you to assist him in this endeavor?" Vlad lounged on the Throne of Bone like a cat, bored and contemptuous of the world around him. Technus and Skulker knelt on the floor before him, their eyes focused down on the ground, as was proper.

"Yes, your majesty. He feels that with Technus he can bypass all of the security measures and retrieve the information from the computers, without leaving a trace of physical theft," Skulker reported. A smirk grew across the face of King Plasmius like a snake uncoiling to strike.

"Admittedly, I did not plan for such creativity on the little badger's part. What a delightful idea," Vlad crowed. In truth, having Danny purloin the list was a far superior plan because it would seem that he was being manipulated, the boy was too much of an earnest do-gooder to stay in trouble for long. With Technus's aid, it would be impossible to discern what had been taken from Sky High, and the evidence of a break-in would indicate either: a super-villian, STRIKE, or that mysterious and fabled hive of organized villainy, the Order of Chaos. And in reality, Vlad would get exactly what he needed. Confusion, disorder, and perhaps something from Medulla's private files to aid him in his plan.

"Also, sire, the Council of Crows wishes you to know that they will begin moving against the Observants, shortly."
"Excellent. I honestly did not expect everything to come to fruition in such a delightful manner," Vlad said, and his minions bowed before him, smiling. Little did they know what Vlad's true plans were far grander than simply controlling the Ghost Zone.

"Technus, I want you to steal as much information from Medulla's computer as possible. Feel free to appropriate whatever tools you need from my laboratory, and then report to me for specific instructions." His copy of the Psychonaut's viral spy-ware would throw ISA off his trail, were they even on it, and lead them straight to their villainous counterparts. And to create some irony he could actually sell some of the secrets he was set to steal to the Order of Chaos, and further confuse the situation for all involved.

Sowing confusion, dissent, mistrust, these were the tools of a conqueror, of a king, and Vlad would be that conquering king. So what if the Crows only desired to see Daniel on the throne? Daniel would reject the crown and Vlad would be left as king. And then his true plans could be finally set in motion.

"Yes, your Majesty," Technus said, scowling. Vlad waved his hand, and the ghosts were dismissed.

After the throne room had emptied, and only Vlad was left, he gestured at the cylinder resting on the caged table several feet away. The canister flew to his waiting hand and Vlad focused all his substantial energies upon it.

"How are you holding up?" he asked. The voice that came from the canister reverberated in the room like thunder.

"Release me, now!" Vlad smirked as the yell faded.

"You know, I don't think I shall," he said, tossing the canister from hand to hand.

"What do you want with me?"

"Don't play the fool, Daniel, it doesn't suit you. Ask yourself, 'what would the King of Ghosts want with me?'"

"I want to destroy everything."

"Well I guess that answers a question," Vlad said mildly. "Albeit, one I did not ask. It does not answer the one I asked you." The room was silent for a moment, and Vlad could almost hear the ticking of the other ghost's thinking.

"You want to control me."

"Very good, little Badger, you're learning, but, sadly, that's not quite it. I have no illusions of control where you are concerned."

"Good. I will kill you, no matter your plans. I will rip out your heart, and take your power for my own."

"You might try," Vlad said, tossing the canister up and down in one hand. "But I have a better idea. I use you, and when I am finished, I destroy you. How's that sound?" Whatever notions Danny might have had about Vlad's dubious nature being secretly not so bad would have been utterly destroyed, had he seen the look in Vlad's eyes as the halfa stared at the canister.

"It's a terrible idea. Every second I remain alive is another I will spend torturing you when I eventually break free."

"So you say, but you haven't even heard what I plan for you."

"What? What will you do with me?"

"Ah, ah, ah! That would be telling." And Vlad leaned back in his throne, and laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

"This is a terrible idea," Tucker said, and Danny rolled his eyes.

"I thought you were excited to finally see Sky High."

"I am, I just don't want to get in trouble. Are you sure we need to do this?"

"Yeah, Danny, are you sure you need to do this?" Will chimed in, and Danny sighed.

"Listen, guys if you don't wanna help, I'm not gonna make you, but yes, I have to do this. It's the only way I can—I can figure out what I can do. The only way." Danny stared at them. "Are you in or out?"
"In. Crap," Tucker said ruefully. Will sighed.

"Me too."

"All right, then look alive. Technus!" The ghost popped up next to them, and bowed.

"I am here, my lord."

"I really cannot get over that," Tucker said staring at Technus with a slightly horrified fascination. Danny gave him a sympathetic look.

"I know, right? It's crazy."

"What?" Will asked, looking confused.
"We used to foil these guys' plans all the time, now they're my minions." Technus's face clouded angrily at that. "Like I said, it's crazy!"

"Is a little weird," Will admitted.

"All right, then. Sky High here we come." Danny shot up into the air, with Technus hot on his heels. After a few seconds Will joined them, carrying Tucker flush against his body.

"WOOOOOOOOO!" Tucker screamed as Will shot up, faster than Danny could fly, and vanished towards Sky High.

"Technus, hop in, I'm gonna speed up," Danny said, waving the handheld computer Technus had given him. The ghost sneered but vanished into it, and Danny slipped it into his belt. With a solid grunt, he grit his teeth, went intangible and pushed himself as hard and fast as he could manage.

Even flying his fastest, Danny still lagged behind Will by a significant margin. But Will slowed down and dropped back to Danny.

"WAY. TOO. FAST." Tucker was gasping for breath and clutching hold of Will for dear life. Danny frowned at the way their body's seemed to twine around each other, with Tucker's legs wrapped around Will's waist.

"Sorry, I was just—sorry," Will mumbled, flushed, and Danny's body decided to move without input from his brain.

"Hey, Tucker, budge over, I'm gonna hitch a ride too." All three boys froze, and Danny ran that request through his head. Had he actually said that out loud?"

"Uh, you sure? I mean, it's fine, I guess," Will said hurriedly. Neither noticed Tucker's eyes flickering between them, analyzing.
"Yeah, I mean, it'll be the fastest way, right?" Danny asked awkwardly, and felt oddly vulnerable about Will's hesitancy. "I mean, only if it's cool."

"Yeah, yeah it's totally cool. Hop on back." Danny did so, reaching around Will to grip his shoulders from the front, meeting Tucker's hands where his arms wrapped around Will's back, which Danny's chest was pushed flat against. Danny couldn't help notice how neatly he fit on top of Will, minus Tucker's legs around Will's legs.

NO, bad thoughts, bad thoughts! He tried to focus on something else as Will shot off, but instead his mind turned to Dash, and the other day, and then when he tried to think of girls to calm down his mind nearly exploded because that was simply NOT RIGHT.

On the upside, in Danny's opinion, imagining Paullina naked, and then Joy naked, did nothing to derail the train that was currently pulling into his station. It was nice to know that even if boys were giving him stiffies now, girls still did. Anymore of this, though, and Will would notice, and while Danny had seen what Will was packing, that was different. Adrenaline rush and victory and all that good stuff, that's what that had been. This… this was different in some fundamental way that made Danny feel scared.

Quickly trying to picture Mr. Lancer mowing his lawn in just underwear, tighty-whitey's with track marks, got Danny's arousal under control. It also meant he missed the interaction between Tucker and Will, as all three boys wrestled with discomfort at their close proximity.

When Will finally got to drop down onto the inverted floating dome that was Sky High, he never felt more relieved and embarrassed. Not only had he made a fool of himself with Danny, but also Tucker could have felt something! His outfit had a cup, but still, he had a feeling if push came to shove, so to speak, he could probably break the cup with a hard enough erection.

Will wondered if his dad had ever had that problem, and then vowed to never think such thoughts again. The images were terrifying.

"Wow," Tucker said, staring at the darkened school. "This is SO FREAKING AWESOME!"

"All right, Technus, security measures?" Danny held out the handheld to Tucker. He took it and began tapping on it.

"Technus, can you interface with the Sky High supercomputer?"

"Negative. Artificial Intelligence means that I need to possess the core processor," Technus's tinny voice came from the hand held.

"Show me a schematic then, where is the core?" Tucker said. "And what measure do we need to bypass?"

"Tucker's pretty good at this," Will said to Danny. "I mean, he's practically professional."

"Without Tucker and Sam, I wouldn't have survived till now. They've saved my bacon in more way than one and more times than I can count." Danny's face was almost pensive now, staring out into the dark sky. Will admired the way his ethereal glow brought out his features, made Danny seem almost older, and dangerously handsome. Without the costume, Danny was the boy next door, cute, friendly and warm, with the ghost power it was different. He was like Warren, dangerous, powerful, and with eyes that had seen more than they should have.

"You're lucky. Good friends are hard to come by. Mine have been really, you know, good." Will could have slapped himself for sounding stupid, but Danny smiled at him.

"Except for that one guy, yeah, you do have pretty good taste," he said. "After all, you chose me."

"Yeah, I did," Will said a bit softer, and Danny's eyes flared with light.

"And we are IN!" Tucker cheered. The school's lights dimmed a bit before flaring up and then settling down. "Let's go guys, we only have 95 seconds. Danny, you're going to phase us, Will, check this out, you know where this is?" Will looked at the handheld.

"Yeah, got it, Danny?" Will asked Danny who nodded, and grabbed both of them. "Take us to the Omega gym." Omega gym was the gym used by everyone with the most powerful abilities. The three boys phased through the school until they reached the gym.

"Go straight down," Will said and Danny did, dropping through the immense machines that surrounded the gym, through a ventilation duct and an old supply closet.

"Go that way," Will said, pointing to the left. Danny flew forward. Past the wall was a large circular room. The concave wall and massive crystal that sat in the middle of the room gave it a donut like appearance.

"This is it," Tucker said, hopping out of Danny's grasp. Technus flew out of the handheld and stared in awe at the crystal.

"Amazing. A human made this? I don't believe it," he said, reach out a hand to touch the crystal. "You have no comprehension of how powerful this is."

"I'm going to interface, you'll have 3 minutes before the security protocol's override will disable our countermeasures," Tucker said, pulling a cord from the handheld and putting the USB port on the crystal. It pulled to the massive rock with an audible click and stuck there, the crystal glowing around it. Technus cracked his hands and plunged into the crystal, light flaring up in the room before it faded. Now the crystal was glowing all over, with small stars shooting inside it, hitting each other and bouncing back and forth and multiplying exponentially.

"What is that?" Danny asked Will. Will shrugged. He'd though Medulla just had a regular super computer, not something that looked like it was a sci-fi prop.

"The computer is light-base, Danny, he's actually managed to construct a crystalline matrix that operates as a gigantic processor and motherboard. I assume the rest of the room is too—yes, look," Tucker babbled excitedly. Tapping on the handheld quickly he smiled and hit a key. Suddenly each boy had a screen in front of him, like a small light based cockpit at waist level.

Tucker put the handheld in his back pocket, cracked his fingers just like Technus, and laid his hands on the keyboard. With a twitch he had it at chest level and began working it.

"He uses hard light constructs to interface with the computer. I can control everything from this point. Fly the school, look at records and get a full list of dangerous weapons on board—did you know there's 3 nuclear devices in storage?" Tucker peered and then his eyes went wide.

"They have cameras in the GIRLS LOCKER ROOM," he squealed.

"Tucker, we don't have time," Danny said and the other boy sighed.

"I suppose saving the world is more important," he said in the tones of someone who did not mean what they said in the least. But his hands began tapping wildly at the glowing keyboard.

"Hard light constructs, those are what Colonel Brand used, right?" Danny asked Will, who nodded. He'd never heard of hard light before this. His parents probably had, but it was like something out of a movie.

Then again, so was Will's entire life.

Watching Danny's friend Tucker, Will marveled at the boy's obvious prowess with computers. His talent might even be metahuman, because he didn't think a normal person could possibly sift through Medulla's filing system.

"All right, Technus has the objective, the entire file on Danny, and I've picked a few schematics and other documents that might prove useful. When I'm done transferring, we're leaving. We'll only have 10 seconds to leave the school, got it?"

"Got it," Danny nodded, looking deadly serious. Will flushed and turned away, he didn't need Danny thinking he really was attracted to him. Technus ghosted out of the crystal and installed himself in the handheld.

"And on 3 we are—1 2 3!" Tucker shouted, the handheld's cord dropped, Danny grabbed all three of them, and then shot down through the floor. A few seconds later they had plunged out of the side of the school, and they were done.

"Woot!" Tucker shouted. "That was so awesome." Will grinned weakly, he knew what they'd done was wrong, but… he trusted Danny, and he trusted Danny's friends. Technus spun out of the handheld computer in a flurry of ghostly energy.

"I'll be taking my leave now, if that's all right with your majesty," the ghost said to Danny who waved his hand. Will hefted Tucker in his arms, bridal style, and the boy began typing eagerly on his hand held.

"Be off with you, then," Danny dismissed the ghost, who flew off with a snarl.

"Is it a good idea to treat them like that?" Will asked and Danny rolled his eyes.

"Probably not, but it looks like fun," Tucker put in. "And can we get on the ground? It's late, my boxers are riding up, and no offence, Will, but I don't like being held by a dude"

"None taken," Will said. "Which way's home?"

"Thattaway," Tucker said, pointing to the horizon, and they took off. Will's heart was conflicted. On the one hand, Danny kept smiling brightly at him, on the other his parent's warning about Danny played and replayed as if set on repeat. He had to come clean, every instinct inside him told him honesty was the only policy for a hero, and Will would be a hero, he would not let himself down. But confronting Danny was not an option that he cared for, not at all. The alternatives were even worse.

I'll just wait and see a little longer, Will thought. Just little longer. A little longer before he discovered if Danny's smile hid something darker, or if his parent's suspicions were for naught.