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Batman storms towards the door of the House of Mysteries, ready to tear Constantine a new one, when the man in question burst through the door like the hounds of Hell were on his heels, again.
Catching sight of the Dark Knight, the magician seemed to slow for a second, surprised, but it was gone in a second, incandescent fury flashing across the man’s face.
“The FUCK did you arseholes DO?!!” a raging John Constantine bellowed at Batman and the rest of the present Justice League.
“Constantine-” Batman started.
“NO! You answer me right this moment, Batsy, why the ghost ambassador, whose summoning ritual I painstakingly tracked down for your sorry asses, just told me that you utter imbecils locked him in A CAGE!”
Batman’s brain stuttered to a stop. Ambassador-?
“7 TIMES BATMAN! 7! Do you know how goddam lucky we are that Phantom hasn’t decided to tattle on you lot to the Ghost King yet? No? Let me tell you. UNBELIEVABLY FUCKING LUCKY!”
Nobody said a word, cold washing over the group. Apparently, they missed something, something huge. Phantom was an ambassador? There’s a Ghost King?
Bruce noticed movement behind Constantine, noticing their wayward ghost in the magic house’s doorway, still smirking just like when the summoning circle (which was apparently Constantine’s) whisked him away.
“4 months Bats,” Constantine continued his rant, “I’ve been working my ass off, trying to find a safe ghost for you to speak with. An amenable ghost. Someone who bloody well won’t rip our hearts out for insulting them, and you all go ahead and cage him. Treat him like a fucking animal that needs rearing. How the fuck would you feel, Batman? If you were suddenly and constantly ripped from your home because ‘you’re not sentient’.”
Everyone could hear the righteous fury in his words.
“I don’t know what kind of deity has your backs but pray to them that your luck holds because I won’t be negotiating in your stead, you shit heads can sort out your own mess.” With that, he turned and started making his way back to the house, slowing as he approached Phantom.
For a moment the Justice League, led by Batman, just stood there, shocked at the new revelations, then Phantom spoke up.
“You really should listen to the experts you know.” The young ghost’s smirk never faltered. “This could’ve ended really badly for you, especially if you attracted the attention of one of the Infinite Realm’s rulers.”
They stiffened.
“Trust me, you do not want to go to war with an immortal kingdom with an immortal army.”
“Kingdom…” Black Canary mutters, “does that mean ghosts-”
Her voice cuts off, as if strangled by her own thoughts, by her own realisation that she’d been demeaning and caging a sentient being who’d caused no harm.
“Are sentient?” Phantom raises an eyebrow, expression turning serious, “Have cultures and groups and societies, which function as properly governed bodies. That we are more than mindless emotions focused on our obsessions?”
His tone turns mocking, “Obviously. Which you would’ve known if you’d bothered to ask. But noooo. We’re the Justice Pricks, of course we know what’s best, these poor semi-sentient people, who obviously need to be contained and REHOMED. Not like they can speak and hold proper conversations. Let’s not even ask! Let’s just trust the local ghost hunters, who obviously know what they’re doing and talking about. Look! They captured a whole zero ghosts! They practically know more about the subject than ghosts and any magic user combined. There’s no way their research is biased.”
Phantom mockingly throws all of the Justice League’s failures back in their faces, sarcasm heavy in his voice.
He seems to take a breath, or at least try to imitate it, trying to calm himself.
“Go inside and talk to Constantine. I’m going home,” the boy turns to leave, “I suggest you release the other ghosts within the next week, or there will be consequences.”
Someone tries to interject because many of those ghosts were still dangerous if loose.
“Obviously,” the young ghost continues, “we will discuss proper mitigation schemes so as to reduce damage they cause, but believe me…”
Phantoms’ eyes blazed, and for a second the imprint of a flaming crown appeared over his head, “You do not want to meet the King of Ghosts.”