Let's Make A Statement

Getting Hurt

The next morning the house was unusually quiet, the twins stayed very close to Isabella and Lucas in the living room. Richard, Barbara, and Artemis were in the living room with them and didn't say anything, and John and Mary were cooking in the kitchen. John and Mary set all of the food on the table just before Danny walked down the stairs, he felt like shit.

He wasn't in pain because Toxin healed him but he'd woken up from a nightmare and it just pissed him off. Then he couldn't sleep for hours but he still got up at the same time and his body felt like it was abnormally heavy. He walked down the stairs as the others left the living room and he just sat down at the table cursing everything.

John and Mary looked worried as they glanced at each other but everyone sat down and started to eat. Danny seemed a bit hungrier then usual but no one could blame him, no one spoke and Danny got irritated, "If you guys want to say something then fucking say it."

They looked at each other and waited to see who would speak first, Emma spoke, "What happened to the scary man?"

"He was taken by the police."

Liam spoke, "So he's not coming back?"

"He won't if he's smart."

The look on his face when he said that told them that Danny wasn't kidding, John seemed to agree and they knew he wasn't happy with the man already. Mary looked at Danny, "Are you okay, you really should go to the hospital-."

Danny cut her off, "I'm not going to a doctor, I'd rather die, and I've dealt with worse wounds before."

Toxin spoke, 'And this time you do not have to deal with it alone.'

Danny took another bite of his food and they were silent, Richard managed to finish eating at the same time as Danny so he silently gestured to the living room. Danny didn't look happy about it but he went in there anyway and Barbara, Artemis, Isabella, and Lucas came in too. Danny didn't look like he was in a good mood but they were used to him being irritated and this time they knew why.

They sat in silence for a few seconds before Artemis spoke, "Okay, so that guy was from the orphanage?"

Danny nodded, "Pretty much."

Barbara spoke, "Was what he said true?"

"And by that you mean?"

"Was that why they hurt you?"

Danny sighed in irritation, "Yeah."

Lucas looked away for a second, "He made it sound like it happened for a while."

"Because it did, they hurt kids before me but they died, I lasted for two years before I ran away to make sure they got caught."

Isabella gave Danny a sad look, "I'm sorry Danny, you didn't deserve that."

He glared at her, "It's not about what I deserve, it happened, that's all there is to it."

Richard spoke, "But it's not, if that's what you had to deal with I'm not surprised that you push people away but you shouldn't have to feel like that."

Danny glared at him, "Don't act like you suddenly know why I act the way I do, I don't push people away because I had to feel a little pain. I do it because they come back, and if it's not them then someone else comes along and fucks with my life. I can handle it, I can take the pain and if it kills me then no one will give a shit but I'm not going to be the reason it happens to someone else."

They stared at him and Danny started to walk out of the room but Richard stood up to stop him. "That's why you keep telling us to leave you alone, because you're worried we'll get hurt?"

Danny didn't answer, he just pushed his way past Richard and walked out the front door, he needed to think. He didn't want to stay there and deal with people bothering him or have to stay in his room to avoid them. Leaving to at least take a walk seemed like the best option, he needed to clear his head and he couldn't do that there.

If he stayed he'd pace or break something but considering what happened last night he didn't want to do that. He walked until he got to a park, it just had a path to walk on and benches dotted around on the side with plenty of trees around. Danny walked in and found a part where no one else was, he climbed a tree in that area and sat on one of the branches.

He leaned back and sighed, after a few seconds Toxin spoke, 'I thought you did not want them to know why you pushed them away.'

"I didn't, but I said it without thinking and now I'm pissed at myself for it."

'But you shouldn't be, they will be able to decide for themselves if they think knowing you is worth the danger.'

"But they don't know about all of it, it's not just some assholes from an orphanage it's also the government, even a few of them are after me, and the Justice League."

'A man shot you and then told them why he harmed you, they're smart enough to figure out that this could happen again. But they are not after you, they are after Phantom, if they knew it was you they wouldn't go after you.'

"Yeah, because then they could just tell the Justice League where I am."

'That is not why and you know it, they do not want to hurt you and they don't want anyone else hurting you either.'

Danny was silent, if he argued then Toxin could easily come up with an argument and he didn't have a good argument to begin with. He got shot and after he took the guy down they actually looked worried, he saw the angry look on John's face when he got back from taking the bullet out. He looked like he might try to kill the guy if he was given the chance, actually everyone looked like they wanted to kill him.

That's why he spoke at all, it wouldn't do any good to attack the guy and he'd already dealt with him. He knew he was going to jail, he knew he'd already won against the guy just by living through what they did to him. No one ever got mad when he was hurt, they either didn't care or were the ones that did it.

If it wasn't that then they were glad it wasn't them, but they were the first ones to seem like they even cared. He sat in that tree for well over an hour before someone shouted at him from the ground, "Danny!"

Danny looked down and saw Richard standing there, he looked away, "Go away."

It was silent for a few seconds before he heard rustling and looked to see Richard climbing up the tree. When Richard finally climbed onto the branch he was on Danny glared at him, "You're horrible at listening."

Richard ignored the comment, "Everyone's looking for you, we got worried."

"I don't care, now leave."

Richard sighed, "Danny, you know we won't get hurt right?"

Danny rolled his eyes, "Right, because a guy showing up with a gun can't possibly result in one of you getting hurt."

"You stopped him, but we were more worried about the fact that you got hurt, and if this happens again we don't want you to be alone. We don't have to know about everything that happened to know that you've been through enough and you've been alone way too long. But you don't have to go through this alone anymore, we're not going to let you push us away just because you think we're better off not knowing you."

Danny sighed and messed up his hair in frustration, "You might just be the most stubborn person I've ever met."

Richard smiled a little, "Just in this case." He held out his hand, "Let's go back."

Danny rolled his eyes, "I don't like sappy moments."

Danny climbed down the tree and Richard felt exasperated as he followed him down, at least he seemed to be coming around a little.