Avoiding Past And Future

(10)Intermediate

Danny didn't know how long he spent in the Ghost Zone, frankly he didn't care much either. All he knew was that he pushed himself to the point of emotional numbness. He still blamed himself for everything that happened, but at least he regained some mental stability.

Clockwork's words still repeated in his mind. Ever since the accident, and finally becoming a hero, the old ghost had been pushing him to go to his brother. Danny always refused of course. He had training, school, a whole town to protect and so much time that went into his new extracurriculars.

They both knew those were just excuses though. It was true for the first month or two, but after the whole wishing mess and having to redo the accident? He didn't tell anybody, but he felt so much stronger after that. Not really in his powers persé, but in his capabilities as a hero. His friends, mostly Sam, had done so much to help him handle everything. They were more than capable of taking over while he would be gone. They had proven that more than he could, or should, have asked for right before everything went wrong.

Now that everybody was gone, though, Danny felt alone. He felt like that same little boy that watched his parents fall to their deaths. Only that time he still had his brother. Now, he felt like he had no right to suddenly intrude on his life. Danny knew his brother had a bright future ahead. He was smart and kind, top of his class in everything. Being the ward of Bruce Wayne also meant there was a big chance he would take over the company one day. Of course, his little hobby also meant that he would likely become one of the next leaders of the Justice League as well. Who was he to pop up and risk ruining that future. If anything it felt like it would be better if he stayed as far away as possible.

Better only his life that is a mess than two, right?

Plus, there is no way he would be able to stay in Gotham anyway. Not only would it be dangerous if he wouldn't be able to release his energy often enough, but that would for sure put him on Batman's radar. Everybody know how much he hated metas in his city. Being half ghost practically made him one, so he would probably be kicked out. But what was arguably worse, was that he looked so much like his brother, people would for sure mix them up. Even existing in the city would risk ruining his brother's reputation. Let alone if he ends up being an idiotic klutz in front of the cameras. No, he couldn't risk doing that to his brother. He had a good life and a good future ahead of him.

Danny however...

He rather not think about it, but how could he not.

He either gets hunted down by the GIW. Whatever they learn from him, they would use to destroy every ghost out there. No matter how annoying Boxy is, or how crazy Skulker got, he wouldn't want to be the cause of even more suffering. Not like how Dan did. That was his other scenario. The look on his face when his older self proclaimed his inevitability. The thought of it alone sent shivers down his spine.

Danny shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind. Right now he didn't have time for that. He had to make sure the portal got shut down before anything could come though it. As he arrived back at the lab, he thanked his friends for reminding him to suggest an outer control pad to his foster parents. They had shut down the portal a month ago to do some maintenance. The original design was very dated, so now that they had it functional, it was also a good moment to modernize it. Though they didn't particularly like Danny messing with the portal, they did appreciate the suggestion. He was, after all, the one that got it working in the first place. With a bit of help from Tucker, they had secretly installed their own access codes and safeties into the system.

It didn't take long for Danny to get it shut down. Just for extra safeties, he did fully disconnect it from the generators as well. He made sure the lab's own security was up and running before he braved the outside world again.