Reader and Writer

I think we're all aware of the narrative weight of this panel, but let me talk about the fact the Iruma says it with a smile on his face, relaxed despite the situation he's in.

We've been explicitly shown that Iruma has always wanted to tell Azz and Clara the truth. He's been hell bent on being the one whom they hear it from and he has been waiting for the right time.

Currently, the time isn't right, at all. He wasn't ready and this isn't how he imagined it to go, collared and cornered. It's basically forced out of him, but I believe it's not, because telling them the truth himself is the one thing he has control on, and he chooses to do it.

Between "telling them" and "telling them at the right time", Iruma chooses the former because he can't have Azz and Clara being told the truth of his identity by anyone other than him because that's a promise he has made to himself. Because in the end the right time doesn't matter when it comes to his soulmates, they just need to know, and they need to know it from him.

Superman: Are you asking for leave or something? You don't have to ask.

Flash: Where are you going?

Phantom: The Valley Of The Shadow of Death.

Green Lantern: That's a place? A real place?

Phantom: Yeah? I mean people visit all the time.

Batman: I go all the time.

Until a portal opens up and a white haired teen sticks his head through, and all the heroes are suddenly on alert as the kid looks around. His eyes catch on Batman and he grins, pointing directly at him.

“Man dressed as a bat!”

Batman: ???

White haired teen reaches back into the portal and brings another, slightly smaller teenager with black hair through, holding him up by the armpits. “Is this your dimension?”

The black haired teenager - is that Robin’s symbol on his chest? looks around, then tuts. “No. My Wonderwoman is taller, and my Aquaman has a beard. Also, this place seems more… color saturated.”

The white haired teen huffs. “Aw, man. I got excited. Well, at least we’re getting closer! Come on, Robin!”

Snapping out of his shock, Superman twitches forward. “Hey, wait-!”

Both teenagers vanish in a flash of light before any of them can stop them.

JLD had been operating under the assumption that Phantom was an Ancient, a being very close to being a god. When they heard that Amity had been straight up dragged into the Infinite Realms, and that Phantom had defeated Pariah Dark, to them that meant that Phantom had allowed it to happen in the first place for an excuse to attack Pariah.

Because Realm's Ghosts are notoriously territorial, and always itching for a fight.

So John Constantine agreed to summon the little tosser, and put a caveat into the summoning circle that bound Phantom to his will.

John had already pissed off multiple demons, why not add a Realm's Ancient to the list?

Then they summon Danny, in human form.

John very, very quickly realizes that this kid is Phantom. He also very, very quickly realizes that this is a actual teenager, and not an Ancient. A teenager who is so scared he's shaking, and paler than his Ghost form.

And he just enslaved said scared teen, who has no idea who John is or what is happening. From the looks of it, the kid didn't even realize he could be summoned.

John mentally scrambles. Old plan bad, need new one now.

"Just realized you don't have a mentor, kid," he hears himself say, and wants to stop talking immediately but can't because he's gotta make it up to the kid somehow. "Figured I'd take that spot. Bond I just slapped on ya means that if you're in trouble, I'll know. If I'm in trouble, you'll know. That way the whole 'Pariah Dark' thing doesn't happen again, yeah?"

The kid seems to buy it, and Zatanna is staring at him in disbelief.

Instead of him being all, "You all lied to me! Was anything of the mentorship real!? It's not fair I am the one who has to suffer for your mistakes..."

Danny cries on the ground needing comfort as the Justice League Dark looks absolutely guilty, trying to console the child they didn't mean to hurt like this.

It's instead has Danny go, "Wait hold on. You're telling me that according to this caveat you used when you summoned me that I now belong to John Constantine? So what you're saying is... I'm HIS responsibility now."

Danny runs away laughing maniacally, already planning to create absolute chaos and let John take the blame as his responsibility.

One of the most photogenic tornadoes in history

She walked up and announced to Danny that she wants to go to school. Now, considering her Halfa biology, she couldn't just go to any other school. And going to HIVE Academy in the DC Dimension is an absolutely big no. They wouldn't handle her chaos.

Not to mention, after being with a buncha Ghosts for the last few hundred years, and her aging much slower thanks to Halfa stuff, she's kind of stuck at 16 for the next few years. Training with Pandora, Fright Knight and various other Ghosts did not seem to properly satisfy her on a normal school life.

And she flat out denied going to Ghostly Casper High. Even with Pointdexter over there.

Danny has no idea what to do, or which school she should go to - he's currently scouring Dimensions and Universes, up until he has to ask Clockwork for a suggestion.

And he suggests a Universe in Japan called UA High.

A Dimension where 80% of the World has Super Powers, she can easily blend in. It's perfect! Even Ellie likes it, so she agrees to go there of course!

They manage to enroll her - fake some obvious files, thank you Clockwork, and she goes to school! UA High, prepare for Danielle Phantom! Princess of the Infinite!

^_^

I've always seen Fanfictions where Danny gets sent to MHA, so what about Dani? You can come up with any other reason besides this, but I liked that idea!

Instead of Danny showcasing how OP he is, It's Ellie! Gremlin of Chaos! 100% Stabilized with a Water Core? Wind Core? Ice Core? Whatever headcanon you have!

Add in some misunderstandings and Ellie getting the Fenton, "I cannot explain anything at all" and you've got beautiful misunderstandings.

Ellie is waiting after school, says she's gonna be picked up. Portal opens up, Fright Knight comes in, and then Ellie is like - "Hey Frighty!" And then goes home, much to the chagrin of everyone.

Cujo comes along, and everyone finds him cute - if a lil' weird, and then him growing to big sizes to save Ellie during USJ.

And then have a BUNCHA Ghosts show up for Ellie during the Sports Festival, cheering her on! And the Class is just like, who is Ellie Nightingale?!?

Nobody can resist his puppy dog eyes!

The suit has not in fact been tested but don't worry, Mei would never do him wrong! It took many days of Danny testing (being a test subject for) her gadgets for her to agree to build it and keep it hush. He also does not make it back for curfew because he was too excited :(

Danny was summoned by a Younger Fumikage Tokoyami and Dark Shadow. They initially thought it'd be cool to summon the 'Ghost King' with all his edginess. I'd say he must be around 9 or 10 years old.

He summons Danny, freaks out over it - with Danny as well freaking out. Cause like, that's a child. With a Bird Head.

Some small shenanigans happen with Danny and Tokoyami calming down and talking to each other. The Ghost Zone has screwy timezones, so Danny has only been gone for about like maybe 5 minutes when he's been chatting with Tokoyami for an hour.

They become friends and such, with Danny liking the small kid. He basically gives the kid his 'Speed-Dial' summoning circle to call the kid if he's in danger or if he wants to hang out.

This pretty much SPEDRUN Tokoyami and Dark Shadow's whole edginess phase. Not to mention the extra training thanks to Johnny. Que years later, 15 year old Tokoyami is much more skilled and well-equipped.

He and Danny still talk often, being summoned and such. And Danny is proud of the kid! He's done so well! And Danny hasn't been slacking off either, he's now 26 years old cause again, Ghost Zone time shenanigans, and achieved Peace.

But then the USJ happens.

And Tokoyami is in danger.

Don't worry everyone, he knows someone who can help.

Que Tokoyami and Dark Shadow summing Eldritch Ghost King Danny who's ready to save his charge from the big bad Nomu and - what the fuck, that shit is NOT supposed to be alive.

“Whose sidekick is this?” Barry asks.

Everyone in the watchtower turns to look at the skinny, black-haired teenager sitting patiently in the corner. He’s got big round blue eyes, and smiles and waves at the heroes when they look at him. He would be perfect bat-bait if he weren’t also the picture of innocence.

(Every Robin in existence has had an unmistakable aura of menace around them.)

That wide-eyed innocence is precisely why it’s such a surprise when the kid answers “I’m here with John Constantine”

“John Constantine?” Zattana asks, bewildered and worried all at once. She knows better than most how it feels to be burned by Constantine, and is instantly angry on the kid’s behalf.

“Someone call?” The man himself asks, as he steps into the room, bag of chips in hand.

“Why do you have an apprentice?” Zattana demands, accusatory.

John tsks and frowns, directing his next words towards the teen in question, “I told you no, kid.” Then he turns back to Zattana and the room at large, and says, “I’m dropping this kid off here. He’s being hunted by the US feds. Hole in the meta human rights bill. He is not,” John’s eyes slide back over to the kid, “my apprentice.”

The kid (and someone should really ask his name, sooner or later) frowns and crosses his arms. Now he looks more like a Robin.

“And why not?” He whines. “You’ve been teaching me just fine so far. I haven’t even been that annoying!”

“Son, no,” Hal Jordan speaks up from the back. “You’re lucky to have made it this far, you don’t want to spend any more time in Constantine’s company than necessary.”

Zattana nods and says, “he’s got a habit of sacrificing others. It’s usually for the greater good, but still… you don’t want to be the nearest convenient sacrifice.”

“Really feeling the love in here.” John mutters.

“Well… it’s true, isn’t it?” Dick shrugs apologetically.

“Not to mention you’re just a bad role model in general.” Hal tacks on with a shit-eating grin.

“Is that all?” The kid asks.

“Do you… need more?” Dick asks. “Betrayal in a life-or-death situation isn’t a small thing, kiddo.”

The kid (and really, someone needs to ask his name. And also get the report on that hole in the meta rights) just looks at John with a supremely unimpressed expression. “Y’know I haven’t been relying on you for my safety this whole time, right? We were always safe, I just stuck with you to learn magic.”

“Danny, what the hell,” John says.

Ah, so the increasingly-more-Robin-like kid’s name was Danny. Good to know.

Danny shrugs, and says with a smug smile, “the night before we left Amity Park, I contacted an omniscient time-god from another dimension and blackmailed them into giving me forewarning for any dangerous situations I might get into. I think the specific wording was ‘enough forewarning to be able to escape any situation resulting in my death, capture, torture, loss of powers, or sanity.’”

The watchtower is completely silent for a count of three.

Then Dick snorts.

“Did… did John Constantine get conned?” Barry asks with glee.

“God I hope so…” Zattana breathes.

“I really appreciate you taking me this whole way, though.” Danny says to John. “I definitely want to get a few autographs.” He says with an innocent smile.

It’s at this moment that it sinks in for the whole room that a kid tricked John Constantine into traipsing across some portion of America with him for no reason.

Hal doubles over laughing.

“You’ve been blackmailing a god this whole time?” John checks, face blank.

“Uh huh,”

“You were able to trick an omniscient being, and now have struck a deal for divine intervention any time you’re in danger?”

“Yup,” Danny pops the ‘p’

“You’ve been wheedling magic lessons out of me for weeks with the full knowledge that my only reason for sticking around — to safely get you to the watchtower — was a complete waste of my time because you are effectively safe for the rest of your life in every situation forever?”

“Uh, yes? To be clear, Clockwork won’t intervene in situations where I can handle it myself. But if I’m ever in over my head, then they’ll show me a solution.”

The room is filled with poorly concealed grins, and not-at-all concealed appraising looks. After a long moment, John finally throws his hands up in the air.