Let's Make A Statement

How He Feels

Danny made it through the rest of the day without too much happening, aside from the bullies annoying him. They didn't do anything to him but they did do stuff to Richard, though that didn't last long with Toxin around. If he didn't mess with the bullies he did something to draw the attention of the teacher and they'd get told off.

He did it just enough that if Richard suspected something it at least wasn't enough to bring it up. By the end of the day Danny was still annoyed but it wasn't as bad as it was, though it wouldn't take much to set him off again. Richard leaned against the locker next to Danny's, "So how are you doing, well since what happened at lunch."

Danny closed his locker, "Well I don't want to punch something but if you keep bringing it up I will."

Richard put his hands up, "I just wanted to check, and what about with prom?"

"It's still stupid, I almost forgot about that so thanks for reminding me and pissing me off again."

Richard sighed, "You are a very angry person."

Richard wasn't the first person to tell him that, he actually remembered Toxin saying those exact words. Toxin actually laughed when he heard Richard say that and Danny almost smiled, Richard saw the slight bit of amusement in Danny's eyes. He wasn't sure if it was because of what he said or for another reason but if Danny was happy at all he was happy too.

They walked out of the school and found the others already waiting for them, Richard noticed that the amusement was gone. He couldn't blame him, he knew the others were worried but they knew Danny had a lot of scars, trying to make him talk about it was never going to end well. Richard looked at Danny, "Give me a second."

He then ran ahead of Danny and stopped in front of the others, he spoke quickly, "Look I know you just want to know about his scars but if you ask it's just going to make him mad."

Isabella looked confused, "Why, we're just worried."

"I think that's the problem, we're worried but he's not, he just doesn't want to tell anyone he doesn't trust. Look if he wants us to know he'll tell us on his own but right now he'll trust us even less if we ask him about that stuff when he's not okay with talking about it."

Artemis groaned and she looked frustrated, "This is aggravating."

"And how do you think he feels right now?" They all looked at each other and Richard sighed, "Can we just agree to wait until he's not seconds away from knocking someone out to try asking him any questions again?"

After a few seconds they all agreed to that, by the time they did they realized that they'd lost track of Danny. When they spotted him he jumped to the other side of the fence he'd climbed over several times when he wanted a shortcut. Barbara looked shocked and confused, "Isn't he hurt?"

Lucas sighed, "I don't think he cares."

Isabella looked at the others, "We need to catch up to him, I'll text you all later."

She and Lucas ran off and Richard looked confused, "Wait, text us about what?"

Artemis promised that she'd tell him what was going on, he was still confused but he was more worried about Danny at the moment. Danny was walking back to the foster home and Toxin spoke, 'At least he told the others to stop bothering you about it, at least for a while.'

"Yeah, that doesn't mean I'm not still pissed at them."

Toxin sighed, 'I do not blame you, those are stories most wouldn't want to tell, I know I wouldn't.'

Danny was quiet for a few seconds, "Do Symbiotes get scars?"

'No, but that does not mean we can not get hurt or feel pain.'

"Yeah, believe me people said I couldn't, they were wrong." Danny could feel Toxin get angry but it wasn't at him, "So, you willing to tell me more about your past?"

Toxin was confused, 'Why?'

"Because I still don't know much about you, and honestly I'd rather listen to you tell me about whatever you want then anything else right now."

Toxin was quiet for a second, 'I already told you that I had to fight to stay alive, you of all people knows how hard that is. Not all of the other Symbiotes were horrible, others that were treated in a similar way didn't try to hurt me or others.'

"Which ones?"

So Toxin started telling him about some of the other Symbiotes, some of them weren't that bad, others were absolutely horrible. By the time they got back to the foster home Danny had completely forgotten about his anger. Toxin was more then happy with continuing to talk, at the very least Danny seemed happier now which was good.

By the time Toxin was done telling him about the Symbiotes and what they were like they had an hour to wait until dinner. They used the time to think about where to go that night, when it was time for dinner Danny was less pissed off but he still wasn't happy. He didn't say a single word and he ate a bit more then usual, he was finding that he felt hungry more often.

If he ate enough food he felt fine but he'd get hungry again sooner then he should have, at least he could still keep Toxin alive. Though he wondered if Toxin just needed food or if he needed other things to survive, aside from a host. When he finished eating dinner he went to his room and stayed there, Toxin spoke, 'I do need more then food to survive.'

Danny was confused for a second before he remembered he'd been thinking about that during dinner. "What do you need aside from food?"

'I need a host for several reasons, not just because of the abundance of oxygen, Symbiotes feed on adrenaline, and phenethylamine.'

Danny hummed, "So you feed on a chemical in my blood and in my brain, wait, is that why you seem to like chocolate?"

'Yes, but I also like the taste.'

Danny laid down on his bed, "I guess you got kind of lucky then, getting angry causes a spike in adrenaline levels, so does catching bad guys."

'Which is why I am glad you were the one who found me in that lab, those idiots probably would have killed me while trying to figure out what I am.'

Danny had to agree with that, "Well you've got me now, and I'm not letting them take you without one hell of a fight."

Toxin settled, it felt like he was a bit happy, 'And I will fight with you, they will not harm you again if I can help it.'

Danny smiled, when it was time for them to go he climbed out the window and they easily made their way to the city. They searched for two hours before they heard screams, they got there just in time to see a body completely torn to shreds. Blood was pooling around it and this time it was a woman, she was already dead which was honestly better then her being alive.

Phantom knew that being dead meant she wasn't in pain, being alive in her condition meant she'd be terrified and in absolute agony. Phantom called the police and started searching for who might have done this, he found two more bodies but they'd been dead for a while. When he found the third one he was trying to see if this one had been killed in a similar way to the others when he heard voices.

He hid immediately before two people appeared, the martian and Batgirl, when they saw the body their eyes widened. Batgirl called the police but the operator said there were units already heading to that location, they got a call less then a minute ago. Her eyes widened and she looked around but she didn't see anyone, if Robin was right their target had called the police.

She spoke, "Where are you?"

Miss Martian looked a little confused, Phantom started to move but his food hit an empty beer bottle. He cursed whoever left it there and quickly turned invisible just as Batgirl looked around the corner to where he'd been behind a large air conditioning unit. When they were far enough away he took a second to breathe, that was a little closer then he would have liked.

After searching for two more hours and coming up empty they went to the foster home, Toxin was a bit irritated but so was Danny. In the end they decided to get some sleep, they still had school to deal with and they'd search tomorrow, they just hoped they'd find something.