“What can we do?!” Lynn cried.
“On...” Cho choked as Danny lifted him until his feet dangled above the floor. He tried to claw at Danny’s fingers to no avail. “Turn…it…”
Suddenly, it clicked.
“Turn on the suit!” Danny yelled. Andre had a master switch at the morgue. Invisible, there would be no mirrors, no way for Ludgate to control him.
Danny could see Cho’s eyes through his goggles, so blue, looking at him even as he fought for air and consciousness like he believed with every fiber in him that Danny could save him.
“Andre!”
“I got it!”
The tension fled Danny’s body all at once as he turned invisible and control returned. Collapsing from the relief, he barely kept from dropping Cho to the floor but managed a controlled catch as he fell to his knees.
“It worked…it worked,” Danny huffed, practically sobbing down at Cho, who blinked dazedly and coughed for breath. Cho couldn’t see him, but Danny held him close so he’d know he was there. “I got you, Mal…I got you.”
“Mal?” Lynn came over the comms again. “Danny, what is going on?”
“Uhh,” Andre broke in, “moreimportantly, are you okay? And where’s…did he say Hades? I hate when they name themselves…”
“He’s…he’s still here somewhere, in the reflections,” Danny tried to explain now that he had a moment to breathe. “He can travel through reflections. Through mirrors.”
“He can travel throughmirrors?” Andre repeated. “That is every nightmare I have ever had.”
Danny could only laugh. He was hysterical and crying, so laughter seemed the next logical addition. “I’m getting Cho out of here. Tell the police not to enter the museum. Not yet. I don’t know what Ludgate might do.”
“Zeus!” Ludgate’s voice rose as if on cue from the many shards littering the ground, too small for him to reach through, though an array of eyes blinked at them. “I owe you, you hear me?! Do you really think you can run from your reflection?!”
Danny ignored him. He couldn’t risk another encounter, not until they had a plan.
When Danny gathered Cho close, only the tension in his jaw betrayed his wariness of being whisked off by an invisible man.
“Zeuuuuus!”
Not caring where he was jumping to, Danny focused on getting as far away as possible. He was so overly exerted that all he managed was a ten-block distance, but it was enough. Carefully, he leaned Cho against the wall of the alley, a refuge without any reflective surfaces.
“Danny, if he can control the suit when it’s off, you have to get rid of it,” Lynn said.
“I know. I’m a safe distance now. I won’t be able to talk to you, but I’ll check in when I can.”
“We can track the suit’s location,” Andre said. “We’ll pick you up.”
“No,” Cho shook his head as he overheard, still breathing deeply. He looked battered and beaten, with a split lip from Danny’s backhand and a cut on his head from one of his many falls. The bruises would be impressive come morning.
But he was right. Danny couldn’t risk anyone else until they were sure Ludgate couldn’t reach them.
“No. Don’t come unless I call for you.”
“Danny,” Andre and Lynn spoke together.
“I’llcall. I promise.” Danny’s arms burned with pain from fighting off Ludgate, but the soreness was slowly fading, slowly healing like it always did. Not for the first time, he wished he could offer his healing to someone else. He lightly touched Cho’s cheek, and even though he was invisible, Cho leaned into him.
Andre and Lynn were still yelling for Danny to wait, please wait for them, they’d come get him, as he tore off the suit, leaving him standing quite visible in front of Cho in just his snug black underwear.
Cho tried to smirk at him, but he started to sink down the wall, and Danny dashed forward to catch him. Easing Cho to the ground, he crouched in front of him with his hands gently holding the other man, then removed his goggles for him and brushed his now bare hand along Cho’s cheek.
“Mal…” Danny scooted closer, would have climbed into Cho’s lap if he could. “I’m sorry. I’m sosorry…”
