Don't Threaten Me with a Good Time

Chapter 5

The October air clawed at Danny's skin that wasn't covered. It was the first day of the famous spooky season, well for Danny every season was the spooky season. Shops had decorated their windows with cobwebs, ghost and pumpkin stickers and cauldrons. One shop, Danny noted, had gone full out with the decorations. It was a little cafe called Spooks Break, that cafe was born for Halloween, there were cobwebs in the windows with plastic spiders dangling from it. Styrofoam gravestones stood outside near the entrance each one had skull and crossbones on it with glowing red LED eyes. Inside the floor was covered in a mist that came from the witches cauldron that was placed next to the till.

The cafe itself was regular in size; it had about ten different tables that ranged from being a two-seater to a four-seater. The counter held many sandwiches and pastries, and there was a giant chalkboard mounted on the wall with all their drinks, hot and cold written on it. There was seating outside as well; there were only five tables outside, as well as a dog bowl full of water.

As he got closer to the cafe, he noticed someone very familiar sitting at one of the outside tables. In fact, as he looked closer, he noticed it was two familiar someone's. He first saw fiery blue hair that was tied up in a blue ponytail, pale skin that had a blue tint to it, her right arm had a black glove covering it while the other was left exposed. The other sitting at the table had choppy green hair, with pale green skin but with a red leather jacket to cover most of her.

"Ember? Kitty?" He finally got close enough to see them both properly. The two of them turned to him hearing their names being called, as soon as their eyes landed on him, their mouths dropped, and their eyes widened just a fraction.

"Sparky!" Ember was up in less than a second. She had made her way over to the teen. She unexpectedly wrapped her arms around him, Danny had no idea how to react, sure their relationship was slowly getting better before the explosion, but he never anticipated for her to hug him. Too many emotions came over him all too fast, he lifted his arms to hug her back but found himself gripping on to her black top, burying his head into her shoulder and for the first time since he got to Happy Harbour he sobbed. He felt all the pain he had bottled up and pushed aside in favour of trying to survive this new life he was slowly growing accustomed to.

As his tears finally dried, only after a few minutes, he realised Kitty had joined in on the hug, she was stroking his hair with her other arm wrapped around him. It was oddly calming.

"Hey kiddo, better?" Kitty asked as she pulled away. Ember was in no way going to let go of Danny, and the kid had brightened up her life after their first meeting. After they got all that mess brushed under the rug, they started hanging out with each other more; they had even given each other nicknames that only the other could call them.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Don't even go there, Sparky, why don't you come sit with us?" Ember didn't give him a chance to answer or more likely to decline. Kitty had dragged over another chair from another table and had gotten him to sit down. Ember has sauntered into the cafe to order a drink for Danny but noticing how much skinnier he was from the last time she had seen him she decided to get him a sandwich and some pastries as well. The barista told her that he would bring it all out to her, and she didn't need to wait around, so, she made her way back over to her table.

"So, what happened, kiddo? You kind of disappeared, we all thought you were dead, but like properly dead with no afterlife." Kitty started. She knew that they needed to get this conversation out of the way.

"I wish I were," he sighed, the barista came out at that moment with a tray in his hands, he placed down the plate with the sandwich and pastries on the table, then placed down a strawberry milkshake before he headed back inside, "there- there was an explosion at the Nasty Burger, my family, my friends, even my teacher was there when it happened... I saw it all happen, I was supposed to save them, and I was too late."

"Oh Sparky, that's why you ran, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I knew Vlad wasn't going to let up as soon as he found out."

"Why don't you want him to be your new official guardian? You would be rich, have a roof over your-" Kitty stopped herself. The look Danny was giving her was downright heart-breaking, well if she had a beating heart. His eyes were still red and puffy but staring wide at her; his nose was matching his eyes in the red department; his mouth was slightly open before he snapped his jaw closed. He looked down at the hem of his jacket. He looked so lost.

"Vlad, he- I-I can't go to him, he's tried to kidnap me, make me renounce my dad and make me his son, he tried to get my dad out of the picture so he could be with my mom, he stole my DNA to create clones of me, he's taken away my powers before, I mean that was until I got the belt off but still, he manipulative, arrogant and so cruel. I could never- never let him be my guardian." Danny quickly whipped his eyes after felling the waterworks start again.

"Shit Danny, I didn't know it was that bad, I knew he had at least a few screws loose, but I didn't realise-" Kitty started; she didn't even know to finish was she was saying. Ember felt absolutely useless in this situation, her friend was hurting, and it was because of all of their ignorance.

"It's fine-"

"No, it's not!" Ember shouted gaining the eyes of a few bypassers, "I'm going to talk to Skulker, he's still working with Plasmus, he listens to me, maybe I can get him to stop that stupid little partnership."

Danny rested his hand on Ember's arm closest to him, he could see how worked up she was getting for his sake, and it honestly made him smile. Ember calmed down under Danny's gentle touch.

"So, what are you both doing in Happy Harbour?" He decided to change the subject.

"Oh, you know, just some girl time, Spectra was too busy to come, but the portal's still open, so we thought why not explore. Besides, I wanted to go to my hometown." Kitty explained as she pushed Danny's sandwich closer to him after noticing he hadn't even touched. He had a slightly guilty look on his face as he picked it up and finally took a bite.

"You're from Happy Harbour?" He asked in between bites.

"That's right, Johnny was from Gotham, and we kind of ran away together, that's how we ended up in Amity."

"That oddly makes sense."

The barista came out of the shop and headed straight for their table. "Excuse me? I don't mean to be rude, but you spooky outfits are absolutely amazing!"

"Thank you, sweetie," Kitty replied alas the barista was not finished.

"Thing is, we're looking for seasonal staff here, and I think you ladies would be a great fit." He looked at Ember and Kitty expectantly hoping that they would agree.

"Although that sound amazing, we have our hands full, but I'm sure Danny here wouldn't mind the work." Ember turned to the young barista to gauge his reaction. He pursed his lips like he had just swallowed a particularly sour lemon slice and sent a slight glare Danny's way.

"Of course," his demeanour changed almost instantly, putting on a smile for his customers, "how old are you, Danny?"

"Fifteen." Danny all but mumbled.

"Great, so if you would bring in your resume, I can hand that to my boss for the seasonal work." The barista left soon after. Danny couldn't believe that the girls had just tried to get him a job, out of everything they could have done that was last on his list.

Their chatter went on until some this odd happened. The ground started to rumble and quake. The concrete split below their feet and giant vines rose from the terra foundations. Danny watched as the destruction of the vines cascaded down the street, uprooting the concrete and wrapping around the buildings. Danny looked inside the cafe to see the TV on the news channel; the barista turned it louder.

The newscaster was quick to announce what was happening around the globe. "The vines have taken over many cities, the main cause of concern is in the city of Superman, Metropolis. While Captain Marvel, Batman and Zatara struggle to take care of the plant problem spores containing Joker venom was released causing the death of three firemen-" Danny didn't need to hear anymore. Three deaths were three deaths too many.

He ran back outside, found cover from all the panicking and screaming civilians and changed into Phantom. Whether they liked it or not, the Justice League was getting Phantom's help, and they'll just have to suck it up.