Touch Of The Past

Chapter 14

I flick a wet piece of hair out of my face, only to have it fall back. I groan in frustration, shoving it back. Then again.

Wally puts a hand on my arm, stopping me from moving the bang again. His eyebrows are raised. "Dude. Chill."

I just glare and move back, out of his reach. The entire team exchanges glances, but that just irks me more. "Don't pretend I don't see that!" I exclaim, a little childishly.

"Rob, it was just a mission," M'gann says, softly. She's disappointed, too. Just hiding it better.

"A failed mission," I reply bitterly.

"Not entirely. We got more information. Took down another facility. Closer," Artemis insists. "We're getting closer."

I don't reply. Closer. We'd been getting "closer" for far too long. Like getting closer to the end of infinity; no matter how close we get, we're never going to get there. I like that analogy, so I say it outloud.

Kaldur just gives a shake of his head in disapproval. "Don't get discouraged. I know you are, but keep your hopes up. For Tucker and Jazz."

This was the eighth facility we'd visited in the past few months. Batman comprised a list of all the ones he'd found, and every facility revealed more confidential information that narrowed down the list. Some even brought up more secret facilities. That was only more disheartening. There could be a hundred more secret facilities.

These guys... They may be a small branch of the government or whatever, but they have so. Many. Buildings.

At least this mission was even more smooth than the last. Integrating two new members into our team had been rocky. It took an enormous amount of technology and martian intervention to create a way to connect Tucker and Jazz to our mindlink from so far away.

It had been Jazz's idea. An organic substance that hardened when electricity was applied. We wired it with long-distance transmitters, plugged them in for constant electric flow, and BAM! Now we had two more voices in our heads. I mean, now M'gann wore a small earpiece in order to transmit psychic waves through the organic transmitters, but she didn't mind.

And Jazz and Tucker--Vision and Aparato-- were relatively well-versed in being on a team. During the missions, they are stationed in front of the Cave's computer, one screen checkerboarded with camera feeds from our suits and the other two for Jazz and Tucker to research.

The first mission, they were a little freaked by the mindlink (as we all were), and were still trying to figure out how to keep some thoughts private and others in the link. They scatter-brained a bit when we ran into some trouble, and sometimes got distracted. But I had to say, having a stream of info when we needed it was insanely helpful.

Now, this being our eighth GIW excursion (ninth mission overall), it was almost seamless. There was a downside, however. They'd become a part of our team. They're our friends, now. That means every time we come back without their Danny and Sam, we feel disappointment almost as strongly as them.

Plus, I'm in a bad mood because I fell in a tank of water and now I'm wet. More specifically, my socks are wet. Urgh.

When we get back, Jazz is the only one at the computers. "Tucker has school in the morning," she explains. She graduated a while ago, she told us some time back. I leave immediately, switching outfits for a dry one.

The team is cleared out when I get back, leaving Jazz alone at the computers again. "Where'd everyone go?" I ask from directly behind her. She doesn't jump; apparently hanging out with ghosts (and then me) makes her immune.

"Everyone but Zatanna, M'gann and Conner--who are in the showers-- went home." I check the clock. 3:12. Yeah, I get them, it's pretty late.

"Watcha working on?"

"Just analyzing what you guys found." Then she sighs. "We're missing something..."

"We always are," I agree. "Every investigation. Always a missing piece."

"Let's see. We've analyzed the money, electricity and information going in and out of facilities, the number of workers and their qualifications, extensivity of security systems and land, geographical location and space. And the type of facility, of course. What's missing!" She puts her head in her hands.

I have a sudden craving for something chewy.

"Man, they're good at hiding him," I admit. "Have any licorice?"

She gives me an odd glance. "Taffy, maybe."

"That'll work."

"For what?" Even exasperated, she digs out the candy from her backpack and hands a couple pieces to me.

"For consumption." I unwrap the candy and pop it in my mouth. This has no special meaning: I'm just hungry.

Until... it does. "What if we just ask them?" Kind of a stretch (ha, stretch. Taffy. Ha!) from asking Jazz for candy, but we haven't tried it before, and we can't just keep searching these places.

"Where Danny is?"

"Why not? We've already seen they're not subtle. And boasty. What if we just say, 'hey, where's the Phantom guy?'"

"That wouldn't work," she concludes. "Not about to let everyone know where their prize is." We're quiet for a moment, except for my chewing. "But how about we get them to take us there? Like give them something they'd take to him, and track it."

"What'd they take to him? A care package?" I pop another taffy in my mouth as she mulls it over. "Noooo, a new weapon. A new weapon!"

She cocks her eyebrow. "What new weapon?"

"It wouldn't be real. But they're cocky. So cocky, in fact, that if we gave them a new weapon as a care package, they'd totally accept it!"

"What kind of thing?"

"Danny, he's an ice ghost person, right?"

"...Sure..."

"Is that rare?"

"Incredibly. He, another ice ghost named Klemper, and a small civilization of yetis, are the only ones spotted." Suddenly she follows my train of thought. "A weapon that say, neutralizes or enhances a ghost's ice power! If they're trying to stimulate or dampen it, wherever he is, they'll take the weapon!! My parents can send it! FentonWorks has long since been a fan of them" she grimaces at the thought for just a second "and it wouldn't be unusual. This is genius!" She grabs her bag and rushes for the Zeta Beam. "Robin, you're a genius!!"

Then she uses the portal and is gone.

I pop another taffy in my mouth. "Yep, that's what they tell me."