Bringing this back with a continuation.
They’ve been fighting the ghost king for days. He appears to be virtually indestructible, so they’re scrambling just to keep him from achieving whatever his goal is. They’d done everything they could to slow him down, but he’d still reached Gotham relatively unharmed—much to the JL’s displeasure.
Just as the giant stepped surprisingly carefully into the city proper, an unearthly voice cried, “Time out!”
Reality seemed to glitch, and Wonder Woman found herself with a strange glowing gear medallion around her neck. She looked around to see that Superman, Batman, and Constantine also wore them, as did the Ghost King. Everything else appeared frozen, even mid-motion.
“Chime! Thank the Core, you found me,” Pariah Dark said.
Wonder Woman looked up to see the Ghost King finish shrinking down to more human proportions, though he still towered over the big three by at least a foot. He stepped over to embrace a smaller ghost in a purple cloak. Wonder Woman blinked a couple time; if these two weren’t ghosts, she would have thought the new arrival pregnant from the sizable bulge in their ghostly tail.
“Apologies, Beloved, I had to evade our little eyeball problem before I could fetch you, and this realm had a fair bit of dimensional static around it from the many tears it has had to repair.”
The ghost king snarled. “Did those bastards hurt either of you?”
The ghost patted his cheek. “Worry not, they’re still scrambling around within our territory searching for us.”
“Holy shit, you’re the Ancient Master of Time,” Constantine said. His face went white as a sheet as he stared at the two ghosts.
The newly dubbed Ancient Master of Time and the Ghost King Pariah Dark both turned to look at him.
“Hellblazer,” the cloaked ghost greeted, “Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, apologies for any trouble my husband has caused. He’s been highly protective of me and our son since he was released, and I can’t imagined getting summoned to an entirely different dimension with no way to get himself back was easy for anyone involved.”
“Your…son?” Constantine asked nervously.
The Time Master’s hand fell to their swollen tail. “Fear not, Hellblazer, he is a Dead child I took a shine to, not a core spark. I am merely nurturing his core after he was grievously wounded by his birth parents.”
There was a collective widening of eyes at that.
“Wait, your majesty, all this time you were only trying to get back to the Infinite Realms?”
The Ghost King looked annoyed. “Yes! If your little heroes would have taken the time to ask me my goal, I would have made it a lot faster instead of fighting you all the way across this continent.”
The four heroes looked abashed.
“Actually, husband, it is fortunate you were summoned to this realm. Phantom is still half human—he will need to exist at least for a time in the human realm. And we are, to put it bluntly, refugees, I’m afraid. Now that the Observants are aware you have escaped the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, they will be rallying the Ancients to return you to it—sanity returning be damned. I fear they will not give us room to explain ourselves since I have seemingly hidden your escape from them.”
“You didn’t even know I escaped until I showed up on your doorstep,” Pariah argued.
“Yet I did provide you refuge, as they will see it. I fear our best chance is to hide out in the Human Realm until Phantom is reborn. Despite his youth, he carries significant influence in the Realms.”
The Time Master turned to look at the heroes. “I do hate to ask this of you, with all the trouble we’ve inadvertently cause in your Realm, but with your permission, we would like to take refuge in this Realm for a time, until our peers calm enough to listen to reason.”
“How do we know you won’t try to take it over, as King Dark tried once before?” Wonder Woman asked.
“I hold not the Crown of Fire nor the Ring of Rage—I do not have the power for such a feat,” King Dark said.
“You have the Master of Time at your side,” Constantine said pointedly.
“I have no desire for conquest. I think I speak for my both my husband and myself when I say this, our only priority at the moment is our family.” They rubbed the bump in their tail. “All we ask is refuge until our son is reborn and comes into his own once again. We will not harm anyone in this Realm unless they try to harm us first, and even then we will only act in self-defense.” They cast pariah a narrow-eyed look. “Right, Beloved?”
Pariah Dark grumbled a bit then said, “It is as they say.“
The Big Three looked at each other in askance. “We must discuss this,” Wonder Woman said.
“That is perfectly reasonable. We will surrender ourselves into your custody for the time being, until you make your decision. Does that sound reasonable?” The Time Master included King Dark in their glance around.
Pariah Dark looked like he did not want to do that, but he sighed, the fire in his hair dimming to a more subdued glow. “Yes, I suppose that is acceptable, if you think it best, Beloved.” He turned to the Justice League just as the Time Master tapped a button atop their staff.
Pariah Dark raised his hands in surrender and put them behind his head. “We surrender ourselves into your custody,” he said, voice echoing throughout the battle field.
The other heroes, suddenly unfrozen, stopped mid attack or drew up short in confusion.
The Big Three and Constantine exchanged a nod. Wonder Woman stepped forward. “We accept your surrender.”
That led them to the Watchtower, where they placed the two ghosts in anti-meta holding cells while the Justice League discussed what to do.
“I’m sorry, I’m still confused,” Green Arrow said. “This time ghost showed up, who is apparently his pregnant wife—”
“Spouse,” Superman corrected.
“—and what, he just willingly surrendered?”
“It appears we neglected necessary recon on this mission. We assume his goal was conquest or genocide, as with Trigon or other beings of the Ghost King’s caliber. However, his goal seems to have been much more benign,” Batman said.
“Care to repeat that in English?” Green Lantern (Guy) said.
“He was trying to get home,” Superman said. “It appears he targeted Gotham as he called it ‘a thin spot between the Realms’, and when we reached Gotham proper, the Master of Time, who yes, is his pregnant spouse, appeared and asked for refuge.”
“So, their own people are after them, and they want us to protect them.”
“The Time Master indicated that our dimension has a fair bit of ‘dimensional static,’ as they called it. Apparently, this conceals us from most of their kind.”
“Can we trust them?” Nightwing asked Constantine.
Constantine fiddled with the unlit cigarette in his hands. “I don’t rightly know. The records said that Pariah Dark was a mad tyrant who tried to conquer the ghost and human realms. His claim of not being as powerful without the Kingly Items, rings true. But we saw ourselves, he’s still incredibly dangerous. The one I’m more worried about is the Ancient of Time.”
“Why? They seem perfectly friendly,” Zatanna said.
“They’re the most fucking powerful ghost in the Infinite Realms, and they’re morally neutral, so to speak. If they’ve personally involved themself in something like this, then it’s super damn important for the timelines. That doesn’t mean they won’t change their mind on a whim.”
“What of the child they’re supposedly nurturing?”
“I’ve heard whispers in the magic community of a powerful being called Phantom. He’s supposedly been around since ancient times but appears to take the form of a young teen. The fact that he’s the Time Master’s adoptive child could indicate he’s younger. They’re saying he’s half human? That’s huge. Half-ghosts are inordinately rare. The three of them combined could easily wipe out this dimension.” Constantine sighed. “However, I have no reason to believe they’re lying.”
“Sounds as if the best course of action is to put it to a vote,” Wonder Woman said. “Those in favor of allowing the royal family of the Infinite Realms to take refuge in our dimension during this time of unrest, raise your hand.”
Flash noted down the number of raised hands, the Big Three and surprisingly the majority of the JLD.
“It’s is decided,” Wonder Woman said gravely.
