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At this point in his life, Danny wasn't easily surprised anymore. That's what you got being a superhero, living in a town that was frequently overrun by supernatural beings, or having mad scientist types as your parents. Danny, being Danny Phantom, unfortunately had to contend with all three at the same time, and had since he was fourteen. No biggy, someone might say, get some help from the Justice League! Yeah right, as if involving big names like Superman or Batman with beings capable of overshadowing was in the same ballpark as a good idea. And that's if they could even get them to pay attention to a small town like Amity (they hadn't shown up on their own in the six years since this whole mess started, so).
Regardless, all of that was old news. The point he was trying to make was that he didn't surprise easily, and yet today had been weird so far, and looked to be getting weirder still.
It started with a bad feeling. Though 'bad' was perhaps not the most accurate descriptor, perhaps 'uneasy' - not 'nervous' uneasy, but that kind of feeling where you know there's something important you're supposed to be picking up on. Like the world was holding its breath. Was that too dramatic? Sam told him he was being dramatic when he tried to describe it to her.
Of course, bad feelings weren't anything new, he'd dealt with those plenty of times. Mostly they had obvious causes: new ghosts, familiar ghosts who suddenly acted more confident, test days (so glad he no longer has to deal with those), his parents being excited, the GIW (just, in general) and so on and so forth. Point is, he knew Amity and its dangers by now. Sometimes feelings had less obvious causes, and these were generally associated with one of two things: puberty (and he was glad that was almost over with) or ghost things.
So, conclusion, the bad feeling came from ghost things. Simple, right? Yeah, no.
It was an unfortunate fact of life (or well, his life) that nothing about ghosts was ever easy. He was pretty sure the ghosts preferred it that way, really, and by now he even mostly agreed with them on that. The difficulty made death more interesting for the ghosts, which was enough for most of them to content themselves with. For Danny himself, the difficulty either meant ghost fights (ghosts loved to fight) or trying to teach himself how to use new powers (he had enough of those, alright). So he'd been braced, he'd been tense, he'd been waiting for his ghost sense to go off - and was bewildered by a call from an old acquaintance instead.
Maybe some background first. You see, his parents may be acknowledged as ghost hunters now (even if only in Amity Park), but before the portal opened they were generally dismissed as nutcases. And they, by the principle of 'birds of a feather', responded to that treatment as you would expect: they searched out people who were also dismissed for believing in supernatural forces and alternate dimensions. (This was in the days the Justice League was barely more than an idea, and people were still wrapping their heads around aliens and meta-humans.) Usually, him and his sister were dragged along to these meet-ups and conventions. His sister did her best to keep him away from what she called 'obsessive crazy people'; which meant they usually ended up at the outskirts, amongst those outcast from the kind of people their parents liked to hang out with. In other words, mostly the more normal amongst their number, or those like them who'd only been dragged along for the ride.
Danny had met some interesting people that way, despite Jazz's best attempts to shield him. A couple alien enthousiasts who were more than happy to discuss the beauty and vastness of space with him, some fortune tellers and seers who didn't mind entertaining a six-year-old, and, of course, John Constantine.
Constantine tended to specialise in demons and Hell, and he also tended to preach caution when dealing with the supernatural, both reasons why his parents tended not to like him very much. Constantine, on the other hand, saw a pair of mad scientists who left their kids to fend for themselves at a convention rife with strange inventions, magical objects and mad scientist types, and decided they might have need some of his type of advice in the future. So, he'd left them his number.
Jazz, strangely enough, kind of liked the man. Every now and again, they would call and complain over their parents' mad inventions (on her part) and the pathetic lack of reasonable individuals in the supernatural community (on his part). To Danny, he was something in between his parents' non-friend (they still sometimes run into each other at conventions), his sisters' complaining buddy, and a distant uncle who checked in every few years to check that his parents hadn't managed to kill anyone yet.
And now he was calling Danny for some reason? It hadn't been that long since the last check-in (which had involved a lot of shouting and negotiating his parents' custody rights, for ... obvious reasons) and Constantine wasn't really the type for small-talk. Hence, the confusion.
Where the surprise comes in, well, that had mostly to do with the reason for the call: Constantine wanted him to 'consult' on a case.
Which was just wild. Danny had almost dropped his phone in shock, to be honest.
The conversation went something like this:
"Hey kid, you free right now?" Constantine drawled, just a tad more hesitantly than usual.
"Not at this minute," Danny had responded, "but I get off work in about an hour. Why?"
"I've got something here, and I'd like to get a second opinion. If I'm not mistaken..." He trailed off a bit there, and Danny could hear voices, but he couldn't make out what they were saying.
"Sorry about that," Constantine resumed, "Anyway, I suspect this case might be right up your alley. I'll pick you up in an hour."
"Sure," Danny muttered, not getting any less confused.
"See ya then." With that, the line went dead.
So now Danny was standing on the parking lot of the observatory, waiting to be picked up. Apparently. He wasn't even sure how Constantine would be getting here.
The answer to that question became obvious quickly when a portal sprang into existence a couple meters to his right. At first, Danny feared it might be a ghost portal and he'd have to ditch for a ghost fight, but no, wrong colour. Constantine stepped through, casual as you please, took a glance around, then motioned towards Danny.
"Evening, kid", he greeted, taking out a packet of sigarettes. Danny approached cautiously, not knowing what to expect. He'd known Constantine could do magic, of course, but distantly, mostly from stories he'd told Danny and his sister to pass the time at his parents' conventions.
"So, there's a couple a'things you should know before I take ya through," the man continued, casually conjuring a flame, "this case, well, it involves the Bat, he's waiting right through there, ya see. He's a bit stressed right now too, since it involves one a'his boys. He doesn't know what's goin' on, and he doesn't know you, either - so, best behaviour, yeah. The Bat tends to be a bit paranoid even on a good day."
Danny gulped, uncertain. He knew Batman, of course, everyone did at this point. One of the founders of the Justice League, and the only one who was entirely human - no powers, nothing alien, nothing supernatural. Maybe it was more accurate to say he knew of the Bat, his reputation was nothing to scoff at.
"Should I go as Phantom or Fenton?" he questioned.
Constantine paused, considering him.
"Your choice. Bats doesn't know anything of the Realms... If this even is of the Realms - like I said, I called ya to verify. He's gonna be curious either way."
Danny breathed deeply, his exhale coming out white with condensation. He took a moment to think about it, then shrugged. Phantom wasn't really known to the world at large anyway, might as well go as Fenton, son of two (in)famous ectologists. With how calm Constantine was being, there was unlikely to be combat involved.
"Alright, let's go."
Constantine quickly stamped out his sigarette and turned, smoothly moving through the portal. Danny followed.