fruitcake .ᐟ.ᐟ 🌙

Two attempted muggings and one long explanation later…

“So B wants me up there… to be the Ghost King's welcoming committee?”

“You guessed it!”

“What.”

“B thinks Danny will be more comfortable with another teenager, once you're up there just guide him to the hangar and wave as he and whoever's on the craft leave.”

Duke switched out his helmet for a domino, it would help not hide his age, and got into the zeta tube, “And where is this guy?”

“Let me patch you into the team's channel.”

Duke set his comms to listening only, he knew how B operated.

“Kal,” came B's deep voice, “where is Danny right now?”

“Why?” Superman asked. 

“So we can have someone nearby to guide Danny.”

“Wouldn't I be the best option?”

“No.”

There was an awkward moment of silence before some else spoke up. “Danny did run from you.”

“I have contacted an associate closer to his age, he's ready to go meet Danny.”

Superman sighed, “Of course you did. Anti-possession charm?”

“It's part of our standard equipment.”

That was news to Duke, he should ask about that later. Superman rattled off a floor number and directions to a storage room. Duke obligingly followed the directions.

“Danny spotted, he's out of the closet.” 

Duke couldn't help snorting at O's joke. “Good for him!”

“Shush, he's heading towards you, just keep heading down the hall. And remember, play dumb.”

Duke could do that. He rounded a corner to see a brightly glowing mass of shadows shambling down the hall. The figure themself was a slightly greenish white, like a glacier put through a color filter, hair face and all. Their eyes were two neon green flashlights, like the Lazarus pits or kryptonite. Their whole body glowed, like they'd been dipped in glow-in-the-dark paint. Their aura was dark shadows, writhing around them. There was a jagged blackhole floating over their head.

Duke blinked and instead found a pale teenager with black hair, intensely blue eyes, and wrapped up in Batman's cape with pale fingers clutching it closed.

“Oh I was not the best choice for this,” he muttered under his breath. He shook his head to finish clearing his vision, then smiled at the guy now standing a couple yards away, eyeing Duke warily. He pasted on a bright smile and waved, “Hi, I'm Signal.”

“Signal?”

“Yeah, I work out of Gotham. And from the looks of it so will you.”

“Huh?” The guy, presumably Danny, looked down to where his slippered feet were poking out the front of the cape where it parted to drag behind him on the floor.

“Batman's cape, looks like the adoption craze has struck again. B keeps bringing home new kids, there's like half a dozen of us.” Duke laughed along with the polite titters on his comms. Then he stepped closer to Danny and stage whispered, “Half of us have black hair and blue eyes, so you'll fit right in.”

Danny looked at Duke skeptically, “Do you?”

“Sure do.”

Danny didn't seem to know how to react to that.

“So, where you heading? I know the Watchtower can be pretty confusing at first.”

Danny's eyes grew big as saucers, “I'm on the Watchtower?!”

“Yeah, want a tour?”

“I… I …” Danny nodded eagerly, then hesitated. “My ride’s here.”

“Oh cool, where they at?”

“The uh… the hangar?”

“I can show you where it is.” Duke started walking, Danny fell into step next to him, still clutching B's cape. Duke let the silence sit for a minute because… 

“Marvel, Danny’s parents are ghost hunters,” B’s voice came over comms. Duke had no idea what was going on on Marvel’s end, O likely had him separated on that front.

“Are we sure sending the Ghost King home with ghost hunters is a wise idea?” Wonder Woman asked, trust her to ask the real questions.

“Yes!” Someone else said with heavy exasperation.

“They seem to have recently had a change in heart, they’ve denounced all their old work as flawed and outdated.” There was typing to go with O’s voice, likely showing everyone else said announcement.

It seemed the peanut gallery was calming down, so Duke turned his attention back to Danny. “So, you an orphan too?”

“No!” Danny sounded aghast.

“Ah, not as much a requirement as one might think. My sister, Orphan, still has both her parents, ironically enough. So does Spoiler and Batwing and Robin.”

Danny looked confused again. “Um… I'm pretty sure my ride is actually my parents.”

“That's cool, it's good to have supportive parents.”

Danny flushed, super obvious against his pale skin, but smiled happily. “Yeah.”

Danny seemed content to let the silence sit as they entered an elevator that would take them directly to the hangar. Duke wasn't done teasing yet. “So I told you my name, what's yours?”

“Oh um…” Danny looked down, “Danny.”

Duke raised an eyebrow, “Not got a code name yet,”

“No, I d- uh…” Danny's lips thinned. “Nope, just Danny. I'm not doing the whole,” a hand extended from the cape to gesture up and down Duke, “costume thing.”

Well that was an odd response, maybe Danny was the one steering the body after all. Then again, they had very little idea what Phantom looked like, and whether he considered himself a hero or was just being territorial.

“Well you don't have to if you don't want to. Lots of people with powers just lead normal lives.”

“Who said I have powers?” Danny asked defensively.

“Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed. It's still true though, as metas become more common it's going to be less common for them to go into cape work.”

“Yeah well, I don't even wear a cape.” Danny looked away with another blush.

Interesting.

Duke nudged Danny with his elbow, “You're wearing a cape eight now.”

Danny looked down and blushed all the more. “Fine, I guess I am.”

“But good choice, I don’t wear a cape either. Capes are cringe.”

Danny cringed at that, the blush coming back. So Danny does have a code name, is wearing a costume, and that included a cape at least for a little while.

The elevator slowed to a stop with a ding. The door opened into the hangar, where a small, unfamiliar craft sat in the middle of the otherwise cleared off runway. There was Captain Marvel and some people Duke didn't recognize standing near the craft. The strangers, one of whom was waving around a safety green baseball bat, seemed to be scolding Marvel, who had his hands up in surrender. Danny let out a relieved sigh as he stepped out of the elevator, quickly heading for the group.

“Danny!” One of the group said. Everyone’s attention turned to him, most of them smiling.

“Danno!” A large man in bright orange grinned and waved cheerfully. “We’ve been worried about you!”

“Hi, Dad, Mom, Jazz, Sam, Tuck,” Danny said in quick succession. “Sorry about that, I have no idea what’s going on or how I got here.”

The woman in teal turned her attention to Marvel, “Well someone was about to explain the whole situation to us, weren’t you mister champion of magic?”

Bruce grunted in the negative. “When chased the instinct is to flee, let’s give him a moment to calm down.” He started stalking towards the command center, where with any luck someone was likely already making contact with the unknown craft. J’onn should be on his way as well, and judging from Danny’s clothing he was their best bet to get the boy to agree.

“Status,” Bruce demanded as he power walked into the command room, making an aborted motion to control the cape he wasn’t wearing.

“We can’t get them to respond,” Hal said grimly as his hand danced over the console. “They may not be able to, we don’t even know if they can receive our communications.”

A grim silence followed, everyone around Clark thinning their lips or furrowing their brows as they absorbed that unfortunate news.

“I vant to dwink yur blüd!”

Clark snorted, trying desperately not to dissolve into helpless laughter. It seemed Danny just realized whose cape he’d run off with. While the others gave Clark odd looks, J’onn floated up from the floor then landed gently to come join them next to Hal.

“If we can get the craft and the boy into the hangar that should solve everything,” Clark offered. “Just send one of us out there to guide the craft.” He would offer to go himself, but he was still keeping an ear on Danny, who seemed to finally be calming down from his earlier panic.

“I’ll go,” Captain Marvel eagerly volunteered, then quickly left before anyone could comment.

“J’onn?” Diana asked.

“Yes, though I believe a more human standard attempt at communication will be less startling for the boy.”

“While telepathy may be startling, it will also allow Danny to feel your sincerity,” Bruce said grimly.

J’onn simply nodded. Everyone else politely remained quiet as they waited for him to make contact with Danny. J’onn made a pained noise as a hand came up to cradle his head, stumbling back. Dianna reached out to gently take his elbow, helping to steady the man. Clark cringed as he distantly heard Danny making a similar pained noise down in the bowels of the Watchtower.

“Are you alright?” Dianna asked with worry.

“What happened?” Hal asked, placing a steadying hand on J’onn’s shoulder.

“Sounds like their minds are incompatible,” Clark offered.

“Yes,” J’onn agreed weakly.

“Here, sit down.” Hal guided J’onn into the seat he’d vacated when the Martian first reacted.

“Sorry about that, mate,” Constantine said grimly. “Anything that relies on physical brain matter is useless on ghosts, being nothing but spirit. I thought since the kid was somewhat still alive it wouldn’t make a difference.”

“This is all unprecedented,” J’onn said with a weary wave of his hand.

The comms came to life. “Alright, I managed to get them to follow me, we’re almost to the hangar,” Captain Marvel said cheerfully.

“Now we just need to get Danny there,” Clark said hopefully.

“And keep whoever’s in that thing from just coming out and storming into the Watchtower proper,” Constantine grumbled pessimistically.

“I suggest one of the mundane human methods of communication,” J’onn said with his usual dry humor.

“A station wide announcement over the intercom,” Bruce said darkly.

Hal, leaning over his console, was already pressing buttons. “Who should make the announcement?”

Bruce gave one of his usual smirks, “J’onn, of course. Danny is a big fan.”

🌟✨🌟✨

Danny groaned as he sat up, leaning heavily on one arm as the other hand gingerly pressed against his pounding head. He managed to find the nearest wall and leaned against it, glad for the darkness of the room and the coolness of the wall and floor. “Ow,” he groaned, still not quite ready to start thinking yet. But he needed to.

What was that?! Was it an attack of some kind? Some sort of anti-ghost weapon? If it was it wasn’t any kind his parents had ever even dreamed up. Then again he was pretty sure at least two of the people he’d seen before running knew magic. Captain Marvel definitely did, and he had no idea what else the tophat lady would even do. So that was something he had no idea where to even start. What could magic even do against ghosts?

A lot, apparently.

Between that head splitting attack and that magic crystal Freakshow had used to mind control Danny… well, he was kind of scared. What could he even do against something like that?

Danny groaned and leaned more heavily against the wall, one foot stretching out as he slumped. The foot brushed against thick fabric. Oh right, Batman’s cape. Danny leaned over and blindly felt around until he found some corner of it, then pulled the thing over himself as he went back to resting his head against the cool wall.

The cape was heavy, heavy enough it was basically a weighted blanket. Jazz had talked about getting him one in the past, they were supposed to be good for anxiety or something. Danny didn’t know, he had tuned her out. But, well, he was feeling pretty anxious right now he guessed. And he needed a minute right now, one he still seemed to have thankfully. No one had come looking for him yet so far as he could tell, unless that’s what that attack was.

Ugh, Danny didn’t want to think about it! But he needed to. He was all alone with the Justice League and he had no idea what they knew or why they had him, but they had just attacked him for some reason. Danny felt the booo-merang still tucked into his pants’ waistband, a reminder his family was coming to find him. He just needed to stay hidden until he heard the sounds of chaos that always came with his parents.

There was a short chime, followed by a slightly staticy voice. “Attention Mr. Danny Fenton, your ride has arrived,” an almost familiar, lightly accented voice said pleasantly. “They’re waiting for you in the hangar. You can ask any of us to lead you there, or make your way there on your own if you prefer.”

Why was that voice kind of familiar? It must be someone from the Justice League, had he heard anyone that sounded like that in the videos?

Still, the decision had been made and it wasn’t as though there was much Clark could do in this situation. It’s not as if he knew much about magic, even if he did decide to spirit Danny away there wasn’t anything he could do to actually help the boy.

So back to the town that was magically hidden from everyone it was.

He tried not to sigh as he led their strange little procession through empty hallways towards the zeta tubes. Well, mostly led, Constantine and Raven had enough of a lead on them that Danny didn’t seem to smell their demon blood. It was them both stopping short and spinning around that alerted Clark to something happening, barely having time to halt himself before something simply appeared out of nowhere near them and flew at Danny.

“Ow!”

Clark looked down to see Danny picking up some kind of… was that a boomerang?

“Guess Jazz got imp-... uh… what?” He looked around at them, fully awake and clearly confused.

“Well, it’s a good thing we were just taking you home then, right?” Clark asked with a nervous chuckle.

Danny looked at the group of heroes around him, then down at the strangely glowing boomerang. Clark reached forward, ready to get back to guiding Danny towards his home.

Danny ran.

Clark reached for the boy, but he seemed to slip right through his fingers and then right through a wall.

“Shit,” Constantine said loudly as he hustled up to the startled group. “Congrats, the Ghost King is awake and loose on yer fancy space station.”

Diana frowned and Clark frowned along with her, they’d both heard him talking about his sister before fully realizing where he was and who he was with.

“Look, there’s still a chance we can take care of things peacefully if we can find the little bugger and get him back to his egg before the council of mother hens shows up. And trust me, no one wants a bunch of angry gods looking for their missing godling.”

“I recommend asking J’onn for assistance,” Bruce suggested.

Clark nodded along, he seemed like their best option.

Everyone’s comms pinged, “Unidentified vessel approaching the Watchtower.”

✨🌟🌟✨

Danny stopped when he felt like he’d put some space between himself and flipping SUPERMAN! He took a moment to try to get his heaving breaths back under control as he looked around the room he’d ended up in. It was pitch black, no lights on, no windows, the door shut tight. It didn’t mean much, what with Danny’s ghost eyes. A gentle green glow reflected in the cramped space of what seemed to be some kind of storage. Okay, time to take stock.

Danny looked down to find himself still in the clothes he’d gone to bed in: an old, stained T-short and the ragged Marian Manhunter pajama pants someone had given him for his 12th birthday that he’s technically since outgrown but keeps wearing because do you know how hard it is to find Martian Manhunter merch?! So that means Superman and everyone else in the Justice League saw him wandering around in a stained T-shirt and pants so short they were half way up his shins. Great. He also had a couple new additions: namely a pair of plain white house shoes and some kind of… blanket?

Danny held up the dark cloth he’d grabbed on instinct when it started to slip from his shoulders during his blind panic. It was… well it was dark. And strangely heavy. He tucked the booo-merang into his waistband so he could use both hands to spread out the blanket(?) and get a better look at it. It was kind of shaped like a half circle, but with these spiky edges on the round part? And it had a kind of dip? In the center? And… latches? What?

Danny flipped the blanket? Shawl? Poncho? Whatever it was so it sat over his shoulders like he’d been wearing it earlier. It settled comfortably, hanging down around him and pooling on the floor by his feet. Heh, with how well it sat and how dark it was he kind of felt like a vampire. Danny grabbed an edge and held it up, “I vant to dwink yur blüd!”

Holy shit, this is Batman’s cape!

Danny threw the cape on the ground and tried not to panic. He was pretty sure the guy in all black with the little devil horns standing near Superman had been Batman, and he definitely didn’t have a cape. There had also been others, like Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel and some lady dressed up to do magic tricks at Vegas or something.

Danny kicked aside the cape and started pacing furiously in the small space. “Okay, focus. What do I remember?” What did he remember? It was all kind of blurry, he’d been half asleep and not really paying much attention. He’d been lost? But Dad and Pandora were there? Trying to find a way home? Except he hadn’t seen either of them after he got smacked by the booo-merang. And it was pretty clear he was somewhere with the Justice League and they’d said they were taking him home. That was a good thing, right? He was starting to feel kind of silly for panicking and running away.

But then why had he been hit with the booo-merang? That meant his family was looking for him, so did they not know where he was? And the way it’d hit him it had to have come through a portal, which means they’d thrown it in the Infinite Realms, which means they really, really didn’t know where he was and were trusting it to lead them to a portal. So they didn’t know the Justice League had Danny? Did… did Danny get kidnapped by the Justice League?

Danny wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Well, first things first was to get home and find out what he’d missed. If the Justice League came after him again at least he’d be awake and have his family backing him up. Now, he just needed to know where he was. Considering how canned the air smelled he was probably underground, so up it was. He was about to start flying and phasing through floors when he was hit upside the head by an incredibly loud sound, like being attacked by static that stabbed straight into his brain.

“Nevertheless,” Diana said firmly, “now that we know what’s causing the block, can you work around it?”

Constantine sighed deeply, but the others paid him no mind.

“There are a few spells,” Zatanna said hesitantly.

“A few tricks to get a look, at least,” Dr. Fate agreed.

“Wonder Woman said he has blessings,” Raven said quickly. “They’re likely from trials Phantom has passed.”

“Yes,” Dr. Fate agreed. “It still wouldn’t hurt to look into them, they may be affecting how Phantom interacts with Danny.”

“Before you go,” Constantine interrupted as the group turned to head back. “The first rule of god eggs is you cannot let anyone inside know they’re inside one. The chick especially.”

“That is good to know,” Diana said with a nod.

“Make sure other two know as well.” Constantine shoved his hands in his pockets and let his shoulders slump as he spoke, as if he had no faith in that fact changing how Batman and Superman would act.

Diana could understand that attitude, it likely wouldn’t.

Diana’s communicator made a noise. She pulled it out to check it.

Superman: Danny is asking for someone named “Puhdora,” we think he means you.

Ah, now Diana truly knew how Clark felt. This boy, who doesn’t even know the danger he’s currently in, has mistaken her for someone he trusts. Well, if it will help keep him calm until the matter is resolved she will do her best to be this Puhdora person.

The group quietly filed back into the kitchenette, Zatanna, Marvel, and Fate quickly making themselves some more tea while Diana leaned down to murmur Constantine’s warning in Bruce’s ear. From the way Clark’s head was tilted he heard her too. She then moved her chair around to sit on the other side of Danny from Clark. She gently brushed some hair behind the boy’s ears.

“Pindoa,” Danny drowsily mumbled, hard to hear with his mouth pressed against a mug.

“Hello again, Danny,” Diana said gently with a smile, though her thoughts were spinning. Had he just called her Pandora? As in the titaness who guarded a chest that contained many great evils? That was incredibly concerning, if the beings who created the god egg included a titan she shuddered to think who or what else were working with her. She pulled out her communicator.

Wonder Woman: He has mistaken me for the titaness Pandora. Cpt. Marvel: Well that’s not ominous Dr. Fate: At least we now know the general power level of the beings who made this god egg. Zatanna: What is a titan doing looking after the Ghost King? Constantine: Oh great a bunch of angry bloody titans

Diana was distracted as Clark pushed a tablet in front of her. As she took the device she glanced over to see Bruce tapping away at his wrist computer. How kind of the man. And the device was already open to Phantom’s file, truly Bruce was very thoughtful. Diana angled the tablet so Danny wouldn’t be able to read the screen and started reading over everything Bruce had collected so far.

The pressure in the room began building again. She could feel the energies swirling around them as the magic users began casting their spells once more. She glanced over at Danny from the corner of her eye, he was yawning again. Ah, so he felt it too. As should be expected, even if they weren’t entirely sure how aware Phantom was of the situation.

The most important thing right now was to find out how entwined the two were after that cult’s summoning ritual. Constantine had stated that the boy had died and the Ghost King was the only thing keeping him alive, that likely his mind would be ripped asunder by the tyrant when he woke. Would Phantom be the same? Would the shredding happen on its own or was it a choice? As Diana skimmed through the information Bruce had gathered on the new king she couldn’t help thinking surely if it were a choice Phantom would do all in his power to protect young Danny. Time and again the young spirit had put himself in harm’s way to protect the people of Amity Park. Yes, he stumbled from time to time, everyone does. It was quite clear to Diana that this god egg wasn’t a series of trials for a tested hero, but rather a playpen for a young child.

A weight leaned against her side. Diana looked over to find Danny had switched from leaning against Clark to leaning against her. She tenderly brushed his hair from his face again and smiled down at the boy, who sighed in contentment.

If only gods didn’t view mortals as little more than play things. Phantom may be a small child in a playpen, but children were rough on their toys and mortals were so very fragile. There had miraculously been no deaths due to Phantom’s trials, she sent up a silent plea that Danny wouldn’t be the first.

The group chat, which was minimised in the corner of the screen, started moving. Diana expanded it to see what was going on.

Zatanna: I don’t think there’s anything we can do. Dr. Fate: It’s likely part of Phantom’s trials, to find a way to get out without hurting the boy. Cpt. Marvel: Assuming it’s actually part of the trials and not an accident. I doubt Phantom getting summoned is part of the god egg. Wonder Woman: Judging from the information Batman has been gathering, Phantom has a rapport with the children of Amity Park and will likely do all in his power to not harm Danny. Constantine: Sending the kid back to where the adults can keep an eye on him would be best Batman: If you’re all in agreement.

Diana glanced over to see Bruce frowning down at his wrist computer. She did not like the conclusion any more than him, but there was only so long they could risk a titan’s wrath, let alone the wrath of wherever else was working with Pandora.

Clark scooted his chair back, took a deep breath, then slapped his hands on his knees, “Well.”

Danny scrambled to chug the rest of his hot cocoa and distractedly put the mug down so he could stand with Clark. Diana couldn’t help smiling as she serenely stood to keep pace with them. Despite having rushed, Danny stifled yet another yawn and blearily shuffled after Clark as the man considerately kept his pace slow for the sleepy boy.

Diana sent out a quiet prayer he would be well.

They must have made quite the procession as their group headed for the Zeta tubes: Constantine and Raven well ahead of them, Clark, Danny, and Diana clustered together, followed shortly by Batman, Zatana, Dr. Fate, and Captain Marvel trailing after. Quite the escort for one single teenager who was basically sleep walking through the Watchtower.

“Ow!”

Diana startled and looked to the side just in time to see Danny bending down to pick up what appeared to be a boomerang, his other hand rubbing absently at the side of his head.

Danny heaved a great sigh, “Guess Jazz got imp-... uh… what?” He looked around at them, fully awake and clearly confused.

“Well, it’s a good thing we were just taking you home then, right?” Clark asked with a nervous chuckle.

Danny looked at the group of heroes around him, then down at the strangely glowing boomerang. Clark reached forward, likely to try gently encouraging Danny to continue down the hallway, towards where Constantine was staring at them in open mouthed shock.

Batman could understand, this situation was incredibly stressful. They could only hope the boy would be understanding and forgive him for this deception after they found a way to pull out and banish the Ghost King without killing Danny in the process.

“Oh my god,” Dr. Fate hissed faintly, “it’s a god egg!”

Batman had no idea what a god egg was.

From the way Zatanna and Marvel tensed they did know. “You can’t be serious,” Marvel whispered harshly.

Batman glared at them and held a finger up to his mouth. Clark was doing likewise before he turned and reminded Danny to keep eating. Batman typed out a quick message.

Batman: Use the group chat. Batman: And define “god egg.” Constantine: The hell you mean god egg? What?@

Batman held up a hand as everyone save Clark had held up their communicators. He cleared his throat and added a glower to get their attention, then pointed at Fate. He had brought up the term, it was up to him to explain. Fate typed a message as a different kind of tension filled the room.

Dr. Fate: It’s a slight misnomer as it’s not just gods, but rather any being with god-like powers. Dr. Fate: But when a mortal is about to Ascend or a godling is about to mature into their powers, sometimes their elders will seal off an area to isolate the would-be god. Dr. Fate: This can be to protect a child from threats while teaching them to use their new powers, or it can be to give the would-be god trials and keep them from “cheating” with outside help. Dr. Fate: Often it’s both, so the child or mortal don’t get given trials they can’t possibly overcome on their own. Dr. Fate: Amity Park is a god egg, and this boy is the chick. Dr. Fate: THAT is the block preventing us from being aware of Amity Park until now, and continues to block all attempts to look into it.

Zatanna frowned down at her communicator before she furiously tapped out her own message.

Zatanna: Shouldn’t the chick be Phantom? Constantine: Bloody hell you can’t be serious! Zatanna: He’s the one who’s photos won’t show up on the internet no matter what. Constantine: If this kid is the chick of a god egg we need to get him back down there yesterday. Cpt. Marvel: How were we able to find any information on Danny if he’s the chick? Dr. Fate: I don’t know, I just know what I could scry. Constantine: It don’t matter! Zatanna: It seems odd for Danny to be the chick when we could find so much information on him but not Phantom. Raven: Are we sure it’s Danny and not the Ghost King who’s the chick? Dr. Fate: There is a high chance it’s the Ghost King, yes. Constantine: We need to get this chick back to it’s egg before a bunch of angry gods come looking for their godling! Cpt. Marvel: Are we sure we want the Ghost King to Ascend? Isn’t he already a tyrant?

Batman bit back a groan as the chat sped up. While he liked being kept in the loop, this was getting to be a bit too much like his own family’s group chat. He got Diana’s attention and nodded towards the door. She nodded back and stood up, herding the magicians out of the kitchenette.

Batman got up and started the eclectic kettle, then went looking through the cabinet, finding the instant hot cocoa mix. Once the kettle finished heating up the water inside, Batman made a cup of hot cocoa, which he handed off to Clark, who gave it to Danny, before sitting back down.

It was just the waiting game now, it was up to the magic experts to decide what to do with this new information. For his part, Batman set about updating the mission file as well as the personal files of all beings involved. This included starting a new one on Phantom, since Zatanna had brought up a good point.

He was beginning to suspect far, far more had been going on than they had assumed, even more so than just a whole town in distress no one had known about. After all, they had images of Pariah Dark, and the entity they’d seen last night didn’t match that description.

They also had no description of Phantom, though what few bits of information they’d found on him described the ghost as appearing to be a teenaged boy. Oracle had found one particularly poetic fan of the ghost boy who described him as having “hair made of starlight” and “piercing peridot eyes” that could describe the entity they’d seen last night. Batman got Clark’s attention as he went back to the currently silent group chat.

Batman: Are we sure Pariah Dark is still the Ghost King?

Clark’s eyes grew huge as he read the message. He whipped out his own communicator and tapped out a message he didn’t send, but held up the screen for Batman to read. “It sounds like at least one of them choked out there.”

Batman nodded, it was the base assumption this whole fiasco was hinging on. But if Pariah Dark had managed to escape from and be sealed back into the Sarcophagus of Eternal Slumber without a single magic user being the wiser, was it not also possible he lost his crown in the process? And if the new king, likely Phantom, hadn’t been officially crowned yet even if the title had passed on, again how would anyone know? And if he is in fact the chick of this god egg, could not that simply have been one of his trials?

Wonder Woman: There is a strong possibility that Pariah Dark lost his crown to Phantom, who is the actual chick of this god egg. Wonder Woman: That does not change that he is currently asleep in Danny and can’t be removed without killing him. Batman: Since Phantom wasn’t in the Sarcophagus of Eternal Slumber, are we sure he was asleep? Constantine: It doesn’t matter! Constantine: We need to return the chick to it’s egg. Constantine: I’m sorry for this danny kid mate Constantine: I really am Constantine: But we can’t risk a bunch of gods being pissy about a missing chick. Cpt. Marvel: If I remember the brief earlier, isn’t Phantom a good guy? Cpt. Marvel: I doubt he’d want to hurt Danny if he can help it. Batman: We don’t have enough information to draw any conclusions on Phantom.

Clark held up his communicator with another message tapped out but not sent. “They’re doing a vote and a debate right now, half are for just sending Danny home and half want to find a way to get the king out of Danny.”

But surely if he should be worried Dad would tell him so. Dad knew now, had for a few weeks. In that time alone he and Mom had set about reinforcing the portal so no one could get through without permission. Danny had even taken them on a couple trips into the ‘Zone to introduce them to friendly ghosts. It was embarrassing to introduce them to Frostbite, but also kinda necessary so he’d sucked it up and done it. So Dad knew that Danny has powers, knew just how strong he was. If Dad were worried he’d want Danny to know so he could help.

But still, Dad was acting weird. Nervous. Danny couldn’t figure out why. If he didn’t trust these strangers they were just hanging out with he wouldn’t have left Danny alone with them, right? Then again maybe he felt it was safest to not talk to Jazz in front of them. To keep Danny safe from ghost hunters they’d all agreed it was best to keep it secret, so if Dad and Jazz were talking about him as Phantom it made sense he’d want to step away.

Danny nibbled on his poptart, still trying to puzzle through it. He looked around at the strangers and well… he knew some of them at least. Dad had called the dark one Batman, everyone knew who Batman was. He remembered his parents debating whether he was a ghost or a cryptid, a huge debate that they couldn’t come to a conclusion on. Unlike Santa, that one could crop up at any time. Unlike Santa, this one wasn’t so divisive, guess his parents were less invested or something.

So the woman next to him… looked a lot like Pandora wearing a human disguise. She looked at him and smiled, then reached forward and nudged his mug. “Drink it while it’s hot,” she said warmly.

Yeah, she sounded a lot like Pandora too, something about the way neither were actually speaking English. Danny nodded and picked up his drink, if Pandora and Dad thought they were okay, if they both trusted Batman and the other people dressed weirdly then Danny would too. Even if they smelled like ozone and lab cleaning solvent.

The smell kept getting stronger too, there was a pressure in the room. It had stopped suddenly when Jazz called, but it was picking up again. It was weird, like being in a bubble getting dropped in the ocean. At this rate his ears would pop, or the whole room would implode like that one sub going to visit the Titanic. Kinda ironic, waaaaaaay more people have died exploring the bottom of the ocean than space. Technically, no human has ever died in space, the closest was the Challenger disaster and they didn’t make it to space before the explosion. That was so sad. But it was still pretty amazing no one had died going to the moon, not even Apollo 13! No one had even died in the Justice League, so far as Danny’s heard. Not even a cop-out “technically died in space” while actually fighting bad guys on an alien planet technicality.

“Jazz was just checking in on us, I told her we’ll see her at dinner tonight.” Dad sat down next to Danny, peeking over at whatever Batman was working on as he did so.

Danny nodded and hummed in agreement. That was good, it seemed Dad thought they’d be home by dinner despite being lost right now. That was good.

It was weird though, he hadn’t called her “Jazzypants” like normal. In fact, Dad hadn’t pulled out a single nickname, not even “Danno.” So was Dad worried about them being lost or not? Danny couldn’t figure it out.

The pressure was building again, Danny yawned, trying to make his ears pop. It didn’t help. It hadn’t the last two times either. Or was it three?

Dad nudged the plate with his poptarts on it, Danny picked up his half eaten rectangle and started nibbling again. Chocolate wasn’t his favorite flavor, he kinda wondered what happened to the strawberry from before. It would go nicely with the hot chocolate, a nice contrast of flavors. There was just something about artificial strawberry flavoring that Danny really liked.

Danny slumped over, his body leaning against Dad. He still wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, if he should be worried or not, but Dad was there so everything was going to be okay.

Kinda wished Mom was there instead though. He had no doubt she could easily kick Batman’s butt if he did need to be worried though. But Pandora was there, even if it was a new human disguise he’d never seen before, so that was just as good. Pandora liked him, she wouldn’t let anything happen to him.

The pressure suddenly stopped again. Danny yawned, his ears still didn’t pop. It was so annoying.