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Bruce did not like the idea of summoning whatever unknown entity John Constantine had up his sleeve directly into the Watchtower, but there wasn’t much other choice at the moment. He watched tensely off to the side and Constantien finished up the summoning circle and took a step back. It was a lot simpler than the ones he’d seen the few other times he’d watched the occultist summon things.
Bruce didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing. He was leaning towards bad.
John cleared his throat, looking mildly uncomfortable. The likelihood of this being a bad sign increased. The Brit started saying a few words in a language that Bruce hadn’t heard before. It didn’t sound human, which wasn’t surprising considering Constantine’s well, everything.
The circle glowed a sickly green. It was a green that set several of the people in the room on edge. Several tones of green were present but the most dominant and concerning ones appeared to be the same shade and glow as the Lazarus Pits and Kryptonite. What was Constantine summoning?
There was a bright flash and suddenly the green was gone. Instead, standing in the middle of the circle was a middle-aged man in NASA pajama pants and t-shirt, rubbing one eye blearily.
“What’s going on?” The man asked, looking around at the Justice League members in surprise.
Clark stepped forward. “I’m sorry. I think there has been some sort of misunderstanding.”
“No misunderstanding,” Constantine grumbled.
“John, you can’t just summon members of the public here. It’s not safe,” Diana turned to the man with a worried look. “I am so sorry about this. We’ll have you back home as soon as possible.” What she didn’t say was that his home may not be there much longer, especially not if Constantine was using up the precious little time that remained for frivolous reasons.
“You did not inform us that you were able to summon humans,” Bruce said, looking accusingly at Constantine.
He held his hands up. “Woah mate. I can’t do that.”
“Then how do you explain the random guy in the middle of the room?” Hal gestured at said random guy. “No offense.”
“Uh, none taken. Can someone explain what’s going on? Why am I here?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll get this sorted out. I’m terribly sorry about all of this.” Clark looked very apologetic and more than a bit sheepish.
“Look, you guys wanted help. I brought help.”
“You summoned a guy in his pajamas!” Barry protested, gesturing to the guy who was still standing there bewildered and slightly more awake.
“What’s your name?” Diana asked kindly.
“Danny.”
“Ok, Danny. Everything’s going to be ok. I’m sorry about John. He isn’t normally this…” She seemed to be searching for the right word. Danny started talking before she could find it.
“Trust me, I know what he’s like. Can you just tell me what’s going on? Please?”
“I think John accidentally summoned you here-”
“It wasn’t an accident!” John huffs, cutting off the argument he’d just been having with Hal, Oliver, and Barry to look at Diana. “If everyone would shut the hell up for one moment and let me explain, then we can get back to dealing with the problem.”
Bruce nods and Danny crosses his arms, looking at Constantine expectantly. John sighs heavily.
“This here is my boyfriend Danny. I summoned him here because I think he can deal with our planet eater problem.”
“Why didn’t you lead with that?” Danny snapped, throwing his hands up in the air. “Honestly, this is why you should call ahead before summoning me for things.”
The Justice League didn't know what else to do but watch on helplessly at the apparently domestic dispute between John Constantine and seemingly normal human Danny who could supposedly defeat a planet eater.
“I knew you wouldn’t pick up.” John shrugged.
“Because it’s 1 in the morning! And you know I always wake up when you call. I got Tucker to make sure it could wake the literal dead.” Danny smirked to himself as something in that last part seemed to be funny to him. Whatever joke it was, it annoyed John. “Where’s this planet eater?”
“Passing Mars.” Constantine started walking into the next room over which was a lounge room with a large observation window. The rest of the Justice League followed, watching in confusion.
“You didn’t tell me you worked in space!” Danny punched Constantine on the shoulder, pouting.
John rubbed his shoulder. “I work in Hell. I just sometimes commute to space.”
“Still no fair you didn’t bring me up here at least once,” Danny muttered, looking out the window.
“Batman doesn’t like us bringing visitors. Can you deal with the planet eater?”
Danny stretched his back, arms arching over his head. “Yeah. Shouldn’t be a problem. Mars right?”
Bright rings appeared around his waist, passing over his body. Instead of NASA pajamas, Danny was wearing what looked like a combination of a black and white hazmat suit and British noblewear. A starry cloak was attached to his shoulders. A crown of black ice that sparkled impossibly was nestled in floating white hair. His ears and teeth were significantly more pointed and his eyes glowed with that same glow the summoning circle had. He turned, floating into the space between John and the large window.
“Yeah. Be careful.”
“Like you ever are when I tell you. You so owe me for this.” Danny smirked before flying out through the window and disappearing into the void of space.
The League were all silent as they watched him disappear. John slowly turned and looked at the rest of the League. He looks a bit awkward and embarrassed.
“Who the hell was that?” Oliver asked, breaking the silence.
“What is he, exactly?” Clark asked. Bruce noticed the worried look on his face as he kept glancing towards the window Danny disappeared out of.
John took a deep breath. “As I said, that’s my boyfriend Danny. As to what he is… I’m sure he’d prefer to tell you himself. It’s very personal to him.”
“We need to know what we have just let into the Watchtower. Especially considering that it seems Danny can come and go as he pleases.” Bruce fixes John with a piercing look.
John rubbed his face before looking up at them. “Alright, fine. But this better not leave this room or you’ll have Danny to answer to. Got it?” He waited to see nods of confirmation from all of the Justice League members before continuing.
“Danny Fenton, also known as Danny Phantom, is half human and half ghost. No, I will not be telling you how that happened. And you’re not going to ask him. He doesn’t like to talk about it and it’s not important to any of you. I’ve known him since we were both teenagers. That was a summoning spell mess-up. First time trying to summon anything really. I’m lucky I got him and not anything else. Helped each other out here and there, I got good at magic, he was crowned prince of the Realms, and we’ve been dating for a few years now.”
“Prince?” Barry asked.
John nodded. “He defeated Pariah Dark, former king of the Infinite Realms. Apparently, that made him next in line due to trial by combat rules. His ghostly guardian didn’t tell him until he was 18. And he can’t actually become king until after he dies. Probably. We’re not really sure if he can fully die. At least naturally. Not a theory either of us wants to test.”
“What are the Infinite Realms?” Diana asked, tilting her head.
“One version of an afterlife, basically. But they’re more than that. Bloody confusing is what they are. Mostly inhabited by ghosts.”
“So, your boyfriend, who is the Prince of Ghosts, is going to defeat the planet eater all by himself because he’s royalty?” Hal looked skeptical and Bruce didn’t blame him.
“No, actually. I defeated him because I’m the Ancient of Space.”
The Justice League all turned suddenly around to see Danny standing there, still looking otherworldly, an unconscious alien on the floor at his feet, partially encased in ice and with what appeared to be several burn marks on him. He smiled innocently at them before sitting down on his prey. (The fact that prey seemed to be the most fitting word to describe what was going on there was disturbing.) He looked at Constantine.
“You telling them about me?”
John rubbed the back of his neck. “I sort of had to.”
“You know you could have earlier. When I said don’t tell people about me, I meant your usual crowd. You know, like the demons and evil magic users that you deal with on a near-daily basis. I didn’t mean the Justice League.”
“You said not to talk about you. And, until now, there wasn’t a need to tell them anyways.”
“I tell my coworkers about you.”
“You work with ghosts. And I’ve met at least half of them.”
“And you work with freaking Batman. In space! I’m upset you never told me you worked in space.”
“Sorry to interrupt.” Clark smiled sheepishly, waving and stepping forward. “Is that the planet eater?”
Danny looked over, a little surprised. “Hu? Oh, yeah. Turns out he was just a little baby with a big ship and a lot of stuff you shouldn’t mix together. Took care of it though. Well, other than the ship stuck in Mars’ orbit.” He bit his lip thoughtfully.
“Please tell me you didn’t eat anything weird.” John sighed. Danny didn’t respond just looked away sheepishly, blushing green. “Of course you fucking did. We’re doing a full decontamination when we get home, you know.”
“No fair! I come out here to help you and you make me go through decon?”
“You wouldn’t have to if you’d just stop eating weird shit.”
“This happens often?” Diana asked, looking between the two.
“Unfortunately.” John sighed and looked at Danny. “We should head home. You still have a council meeting tomorrow.”
“Yeah, and it just got a lot more interesting. I should let Clockwork know.”
“I’m sure he already knows, bastard.”
Danny sighed, the same glowing rings passing over him so there was suddenly once again a normal-looking dude sitting on a planet eater. “Fine. But later you’re giving me a tour of this place.” Danny stood up, looking at the members of the Justice League. “You guys able to take care of this guy? I can take him if you want.”
“No. We can handle him,” Bruce said.
Danny nodded. “Alright. Well, let me know if you need help again. Though, call first next time unless the world is actively ending. And if that’s the case, I probably already know.” He grinned, acting like he wasn’t the most confusing thing the Justice League had encountered in a very long time, before turning to Constantine.
“Ok. Let’s go home. Shortcut?” He asked, draping an arm around the occultist’s shoulders.
“Yeah. I can’t exactly breathe in space.”
Danny smiled and reached out. Space rippled in front of him before tearing open to reveal a swirling green nebula. Danny turned to the rest of the League members and waved before the two of them talked into the portal. It closed behind them with a quiet pop.
Everyone was silent for a long time.
“I’ll be honest with you, I expected none of that.” Bruce had to agree with Barry, not that he’d ever tell him that. It had been a very strange night indeed.