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“IF and I am stressing the IF, this is a ghost problem, why don’t we just call a ghost to fix it?” Barry was a man of science, no matter how many outlandish and beyond-human-comprehension phenomena he had encountered. He crossed his arms, chest puffed, standing across his fellow heroes.
“Thank you for your thoughtful input Flash. Let me just ring up my old pal, the ghost king who just so happened to be a bloodthirsty tyrant.” John Constantine put out his cigarette. He hated dealing with the Justice League. The lot, always high on their horses. “Listen here, you good-for-nothing dimwits, unless you want to fight an immortal, all-powerful god, I suggest you shut up and let the real adults do the thinking here.”
Flash flinched, arms dropping to his sides. The self-proclaimed occult detective and his signature trench coat gave him goosebumps. There was something inexplicably wrong with the man. Flash tried to back away.
Superman tried to keep the peace. “Let’s all take a moment to calm ourselves-”
John stepped closer to the red-clad hero. “Listen mate, don’t go around-”
“John,” Batman growled, stepping between the two, “enough.” He turned to Superman and Flash, “You too. This is a crisis and if you can’t take it seriously then leave.”
To no one’s surprise, it was enough to get them all to step back. In times like these, the Bat was the most reasonable and level-headed. The man did not like magic; however, he was not arrogant enough to dismiss it as nothing more than a children’s tale or wary enough to refuse to use it. Batman may only be a mortal; however, it did not mean he would not challenge gods if needed. He was a dangerous man. A stubborn bastard.
“Why don’t we contact Deadman?” Wonder Woman pointed out. If it was a ghost problem, then should they not contact a ghost? Flash did have a point.
“Well love, I already did.” John took a crumbled envelope out of his trench coat. Deadman did not have the ability to fight their ghost problem; however, he was well connected. “Apparently there’s a protector ghost,” John paused, giving them a look of utter disgust, “a real cape, I hear.”
Batman grabbed the envelope, taking out the singular piece of paper. “Danny Phantom.”
“Yup.” John cleared the coffee table with the swipe of his arm, the various objects and papers scattered on the ground. He took out a chalk, beginning to draw a circle. “We summon him and voilà. Problem solved.” The sooner, the better. His social battery had died an hour ago.
“So you are calling a ghost!” The Flash was ignored. No need to state the obvious.
“And how do we know he won’t be a problem?” The bat shadowed over him. “Ignoring Flash’s personal beliefs, he did make a point. You were against it, John. Why the sudden change?”
“Protector spirit essence is protection, mate.” He finished the outline of their solar system. It was a strange summoning circle but he had seen weirder. “Unless he decides you all need babysitting, he'll leave once the job is done.”
John added the details. The Ghost King information was just to give the big guys a scare. A warning. This group of misfits had a history of making impulsive and bad decisions. John was simply providing a warning. Obviously, a ghost problem would be handled by a ghost. They had no other means. “Now, unless someone here has a better idea, hand me the chocolate I ordered.”
Superman sighed but handed it over. John placed the bag in the center.
Wonder Woman, Flash, Superman, Batman and John stood around the table. John ignored Flash’s mumbling, focusing on the summoning spell.
“Surge, protector imbecillorum et damnatorum. Magnus, proles pruinae, interfector tyrannorum, draconum et deorum. Surge et protege.”
Arise, protector of the weak and damned. The great one, child of frost, slayer of tyrants, dragons and gods. Arise and Protect.
The lights in the room flickered before exploding. The room was engulfed in darkness. Green fire burned the circle and then the table. Slowly, an eldritch creature clawed its way out of the fire. John shivered, pulling his trench coat closer. The humans in the room turned slightly blue from the cold.
Ice crept to their feet, freezing them in place.
Hearts beating as if they would jump out of their chests, they waited in silence as the creature finally took a humanoid form. The creature observed them, judging their very souls before nodding its head. The frost retreated, the temperature returned to normal and the emergency lights finally turned on.
Their eyes adjusted to the fluorescent red light. In front of them stood a being -
“That’sAChild?HowIsAChildSupposeToHelpUs?NoOffenseCreepyChildCreatureThing!” Flash finished in one go.
John took in a panicked breath. Of course. Flash had to open his big mouth.
The boy - no, the being with glowing white hair and toxic green eyes, in the black suit that seemed to absorb all the light, with the silver DP glowing- shrugged his shoulders. He had somehow understood Flash’s rambling. John mentally prepared for the worst. The summoning spell did not have any containment parameters.
“None taken.” The boy floated around the room. The eyes of the heroes and John following his every movement with hawk-like precision. “So what yah need?” Something seemed to click in the boy’s head as he flew closer. “Oh, thanks for the chocolates by the way. Wasn’t expecting anything of the premium rich people variety, not that I’m complaining." The boy pulled out the chocolate bag from somewhere, taking a bite of the piece.
“John.”
Constantine shivered at the bat’s growl. He didn’t need the Bat of all people to go parental now. “Listen mate, don’t be deceived by looks! He could be 350 for all we know!”
“I’m only 17, old man! Not cool.” The boy glared at him, visibly offended. “But he’s right. Just because I am 17 doesn’t mean I can’t fight and win against each and everyone of you.”
John glared at the teen but not once questioned the warning because that is what it was. Not a challenge but a warning. “Like he said, he can take care of it.”
“Yeah, I can take care of it - wait, what? I mean I probably can but you gotta tell me what ‘it’ is. Last time someone said that, I ended up having to fight an evil version of myself in the future and let’s just say, it was not pretty. Or fun. Do not recommend it. Negative 10 out of 10.”
John rubbed his temple. Too much information. This was a teenager, dead or alive, did not matter.
Batman’s glare intensified. Superman was hesitating to speak. Wonder Woman was smiling and Flash was outright pulling out a notebook and pen. John Constantine imagined flinging himself out the window, into space. Deadman was officially on his black list of creatures to avoid for his mental health.
“There’s a ghost holding a whole city hostage,” Constantine started but was rudely interrupted. Teenagers.
“Been there. Is it Undergrowth again?”
“Undergrowth? As in the ancient god of Vegetation? Why would he be here?” An Ancient was beyond John’s pay grade.
“I’m gonna take that as a no.” The ghost boy floated upwards, the large windows catching his eyes. “Where…are we actually in SPACE?!” The ghost boy flew to the window, rushing through it like it was nothing more than a holographic illusion. Windows and likely all furniture, if not objects, were optional now. John needed a vacation. Danny should come with a warning.
“Constantine,” A large leather glove pressed down his shoulder. Said man tried not to flinch or shiver at the cold sweat running down his neck.
“Look mate, this is just a minor setback. Kid’s excited about space! Who wouldn’t be? Give it a few minutes.”
“I don’t think he’s coming back,” Superman cut in. “I don’t hear him anymore and I can’t track his heartbeat since,” the man awkwardly paused, “he doesn’t have one.”
Yah. Because he’s dead. John bit his tongue, holding the words back. This was a disaster.
“So now we have two ghosts to take care of,” Flash filled in the awkward silence. In the five minutes that had passed, no one had a plan of action. Well, Batman would have one in ten. Probably.
“Hey, at least you admit it’s a ghost now,” Nightwing barged in. “I came to check in after the power went out.” The young adult looked around the room before deciding it was good enough. “Also, it’s only one ghost.”
“What? So I was right-”
“Missing the mark, Barry.” Nightwing was grinning. “Whatever you summoned took care of it so fast, it left Wally confused. Apparently, the kid wants to spend his time looking at the stars, not dealing with some wannabe hunter who isn’t even at Skulker’s level.”
“Who’s Skulker?” John hesitated, deciding not to reach for a cigarette. He was on thin ice and it was only getting thinner. He tried to move away from the bat but was pinned in place by his glare.
“Don’t know.” Of course, the boy wonder was amused and happy with this turn of events. Anything to change up the pace.
“I’ll just go have a look. The kid doesn’t seem all that bad.” Since they didn’t make a deal or offer him anything, right now, Danny was free to do whatever he chose and stay for however long he chose. This, he did not share with the stuck-up assholes in the room, excluding Nightwing, of course. He actually knew how to have fun.
“Wait,” Nightwing tapped his earpiece. “You don’t have to go far. He’s in the observatory."
Of course he was.
John gave a nod before making his way to the observatory, which thankfully only had one occupant, the ghost boy. The kid looked harmless but had taken care of their problem in less than five minutes. John had seen his fair share of weirdness and therefore had not underestimated the boy for a second. However, that didn’t mean he was on guard either. John was off-balance, navigating a new unknown.
“Thanks for cleaning up the mess, kid.”
The boy, whose green eyes were sparkling like stars, barely gave him a hum in response.
“So now you're gonna head home after some stargazing.” It wasn’t a question. It couldn’t be a question.
“I guess.” The ghost boy finally floated down, staring at John. “But this isn’t my Earth.”
John held back a sigh. Of course it wasn’t. Nothing could ever be easy. “I’ll just reverse the summoning and you’ll go back to your Earth.”
“Summoning? I can’t believe someone actually used that. We made that just for fun!” Danny pulled the chocolate bag from somewhere again. “Definitely worth the chocolate and the view.”
Oh boy. Who makes a summoning spell for fun? Whatever. John just had to get rid of this headache and be done with this whole event, lock it away in the dark depths of his memory. “Let’s just send you home.” John waved the boy to follow him back to the conference room.
Reversing the summoning was easy. Just erase the circle and repeat the spell, this time saying ‘return’ instead of ‘arise’. The conference room was still occupied with the four - no, six heroes. Flash Junior and Nightwing had decided this was a great source of entertainment. John chose to ignore them all.
“Alright, just stand,” he paused for a moment, reconsidering his words, “Float on the table.”
“That’s it?”
“Sorry to disappoint but it really is that simple,” John smirked. The boy did as told. John prepared to chant the spell.
“Wait. Shouldn't we do introductions?” Nightwing, grinning like an idiot, extended his hand to the ghost. John glanced at Batman in hopes the man would stop his problem child.
“Danny Phantom,” the ghost -Danny- shook the extended hand. “Pleasure to meet ya’ll.”
“Nightwing.” The excited raven-head pointed out each hero and their name, adding additional information as he saw fit. “
That’s Superman. He’s an alien.” Superman gave a small wave, somewhat touched by Danny’s excited ‘wow, that’s so cool!’
“Wonder Woman, Princess of Themsycira.” Wonder Woman smiled, not getting a chance to reply to Danny’s ‘Do you know Pandora?’
“That’s Flash. He’s fast.” Flash was ignored; he made an offended ‘hey’ but that went unheard.
“That’s Flash too; he’s version 2.0 and so much better.” Wally gave a thumbs up and Danny returned it with a finger salute.
“That’s my dad, Batman. He’s not as scary as he looks.” Batman sighed. Danny gave a respectful hello. At least the kid had more manners than his own children.
“And that’s John. He’s an occult detective.”
John simply recited the spell before Nightwing had any more ideas. “Redi, protector imbecillorum et damnatorum. Magnus, proles pruinae, interfector tyrannorum, draconum et deorum. Surge et protege.”
There was a flash of white before the green fire burned away the lines of the circle. The air turned cold. Another flash of white followed.
“Ah shit!” Instead of Danny disappearing, two rings of white appeared around the boy’s waist, one going up and the other going down. The boy fell on the table. Instead of white hair, there was black. Instead of green eyes, there were blue. Instead of a black onesuit, there was a white t-shirt and blue jeans. Instead of silence, there was a heartbeat. “That hurt like hell. What did you do, old man?”
John stood with his mouth open. This….this…..his mind was recalibrating.
“He…he has a heartbeat?” Superman looked as if the laws of reality had been rewritten.
Maybe they had.
“Well, yeah. I would be dead if I didn’t.” The boy was smirking like he was making some inside joke.
“But you’re not,” John stressed the ‘not’. A ghost should be dead. That’s what it meant to be a ghost. Or at least that’s what he thought it did.
“I guess?” The boy seemed to be regaining some of his strength. He dropped the easy-going attitude his ghost half had. Probably realizing the danger he was in, no longer the most powerful existence in the room. He glared at John. “You said it was easy? Why am I still here?”
“It should be easy.” John went through all his knowledge on summoning spells and ghosts. Then he paused. “I once read an ancient scroll-”
“I didn’t know we were having storytime-” Nightwing covered Flash Junior's mouth which would have been appreciated if his eyes weren't sparkling with amusement. His composure, only present because of Batman’s glare.
“Continue on, John. It’s always storytime,” Nightwing encouraged, ignoring all the glares he was receiving. Any good grace John had for him, vanished into the air. Bats. Always bad for his health and sanity.
“As I was saying, I read a scroll once,” he stopped, turning to look at the Big Bad Bat. “It was deep in the trenches of hell, sorry mate, no references available,” John added smugly. “It talked about this very rare type of ghost, an extinct existence.” He looked directly into the widening eye of the no longer ghost boy, “Half ghost and half alive, the in-between.”
Silence settled over the room as every eye turned toward the half-ghost, half-human teen.
“Okay. You got me. I’m a halfa.” The boy shrugged, accepting his fate as he got off the table. “You actually know your stuff, so you must be the real deal.”
John was offended. “Of course I’m the real deal, occult detective and all.” He pulled out a cigarette, rules be damned. Out of spite, he handed the boy his business card. “I summoned you here.”
“And failed to send me back.” Danny didn’t bother reading the card, storing it in his pocket.
“Details, details.” John lit his cigarette, bringing it to his mouth. “Don’t know why it didn’t work. You didn’t happen to make a return spell, did you?”
“No, only the summoning spell. We didn’t think it would actually work.”
“You’re a half-ghost hero and you didn’t think the spell would work? No run-ins with magic lad?”
“No, I definitely ran into ghost magic. I fought a wish-granting genie once -”
“Would not recommend. Negative 10 out of 10. We know the spiel.” John didn’t get to take a whiff of his smoke pipe as it was swiftly taken from his hand, replaced with a lollipop. John glared at the Bat.
“No, it’s more like a 3 out of 10. Had to die again. Not fun.”
“What?” Superman squealed.
“Yeah, be careful of what you wish for.”
“Okay. Enough trauma dumping with me in the room,” John didn’t want to hear anymore of this kid's traumatic, tear-jerking backstory. “I’m gonna go find a way to send you home. Till then,” he quickly walked to the door, “you guys take care of the lad.” Not his problem.
John was out the door, down the zeta tube and by some miracle, without much hassle, in the library of the House of Mysteries. He did have to send the young halfa back to wherever he came from before the inevitable disaster that was waiting to happen took place. Or worse, Batman decided he could adopt ghosts - half ghosts.
Meanwhile,
The heroes looked at the teen. The halfa who had taken a liking to Nightwing like a fish to water. Well, that did help narrow down their next step.
“He’s got black hair and blue eyes, we have to take him B!”
Batman sighed like the exhausted father of four boys, pinching the bridge of his nose. Batman closed his eyes, trying to pretend he couldn’t hear the ruckus in the background.
“That sounds creepy. He’s not some rich fruitloop, is he?”
“Rich? Yes. Fruitloop? Which is a good one. I mean he dresses up as a Bat to fight crime, so yah.”
“Ancients! Another Fruitloop!”
“Another?”
“Yup, the mayor who happens to be my parents’ best friend from college is rich and totally obsessed with my mom and me, tried to adopt me as his son and even cloned me-”
“Cloned?!”
“Yah, but Dani’s pretty cool so it all worked out in the end.”
“Maybe you should give Superman some tips-”
Batman opened his eyes. “Enough.” With a huff and a swish of his cape, he made his way to the door. “Danny, follow me.”
“Sounds creepy as f-”
“No swearing, Ghost-bird.” Nightwing pulled out a jar of coins from somewhere. “That’s a coin in the swear jar.”
Danny rampaged his pockets, finding a penny. Shrugging, he put it in the jar. “Sounds creepy as Fright Knight’s sword. He’s the ghost of Halloween. Has this sword that traps you in your worst nightmare.”
Batman walked to a private meeting room. Mentally preparing for a headache. He called Alfred, giving him a heads-up about their potential guest. The old butler was amused and would be waiting for the new addition.
Bruce had a feeling Danny would be a new addition.
Batman also knew Danny was an unknown threat, not to be underestimated.
“Boys, it's almost time for dinner. Let’s make this quick.” Batman opened the door to the meeting room, stepping in like a man on a mission.
“Is he always this dramatic?”
“This is barely the tip of the iceberg, ghost-bird.”
Bruce could feel the oncoming headache. He prayed to whatever higher power was listening, this would all end in peace. His manor and the watchtower in one piece. Preferably.
“I guess all rich people are dramatic."
“Probably.”
“Boys,” Batman growled.
“Definitely.”