Knight's Phantom Angel:
Sequel to Gotham Phantom
So maybe Shayera and John were spoiling Danny a little too much. They probably crossed the line when they let him drive the javelin... by himself. Nothing serious happened, except for the fact that the Batman found out. Bruce was furious at the couple who just shrugged saying that they couldn't resist Danny's pleas. Danny on the other hand was just given a stern look. The half-angel had the biggest and brightest doe blue eyes, and admittedly, Bruce had succumbed to it. If the Batman couldn't resist them, no one is safe. As a result, the billionaire had to find another guardian for his son till the couple learn that a certain halfa couldn't ask for everything.
Clark gladly took in the teenager when Bruce was out of town and Alfred on vacation. His Ma and Pa were ecstatic to have kid in the farm again ever since Kara joined the league. Bruce reasoned to himself that at the very least, the Kansas farmland didn't have any deadly weapons and jets.
"You're so thin! Come now dear, have some more pie!"
"Don't force the boy Martha, he'll choke at this rate," Jonathan Kent was busy reading through the newspaper as he argued.
"I'm not forcing him, look at the dearie, he's thinner that Kara!"
Danny simply smiled and politely declined Mrs. Kent's offer; Alfred had rival in trying to get him gain weight. The couple continued to bicker in a familiar fashion; they sort of reminded him of grandparents. Mrs. Kent all but flat out refused his help in the kitchen but Mr. Kent had gladly dragged him along in the barn to help.
The boy didn't have an ounce of experience since Amity Park had been almost like a small city and Gotham was a big city. Either way, he's never had farm experience. The smell was experience enough to the teenager though. Nonetheless, he helped wherever he could, mostly around animals since he had an unusual calming effect on them. Even the wildest horses and bulls acted like pathetic kittens when the teen comes near.
Clark had been there to see it, wondering if it has anything to do with Danny half-angel condition. He'll probably need to tell Bruce about it.
Mentioning the Dark Knight, the man had been doing to personal research of his own. The man of steel remembered clearly when the Batman called him into the cave. Ever since the incidence with Dark Phantom, Bruce had been less active in the league and according to Alfred, spending more time in the cave than usual. Crime was down to its lowest so it didn't cause alarm. The stranger thing was that Bruce has been asking other league members especially the founding ones, to take Danny out of the manor more and keep an eye on the halfa as well.
Most didn't mind of course, Danny could take care of himself, and unlike younger heroes, the teenager was more responsible and shy. It also helps that the teenager is incredible popular in the league.
When Superman found Bruce surrounded by Petri dishes and lab equipment in the cave, he was a little overwhelmed.
"Bruce? What the heck are all these for?"
"Samples from me and Danny, I've been experimenting on them to find out what exactly had changed in our genetics and molecular make-up"
"What have you found out?"
"My samples are healing faster than normal human beings, Danny's as well but he has had that ability since turning half-ghost...It's not too different from how Flash heals at superspeed. "the man looked hesitant to continue. "I've been doing some observations for the past two months, and all my evidence points that both of us maybe... immortal."
"What?"
"I know, I'll have Ray Palmer look into some of the samples but so far, it's pointing to that conclusion...and, there's another theory..."
"Which is?"
"Danny has the ability to heal people physically and the experiments suggest that his body may be doing it subconsciously to release the pent-up energy... theoretically, he could become mankind's source of immortality."
"What do you mean?"
"He can heal aging, prevent cells from dying, my samples didn't do that."
"What can we do?"
"Keep this a secret to protect him, we'll have to figure out a way to explain the non-aging, but that's it; I'll not let my son be used by greedy human beings ...I... do you think he should know about this?"
"He has every right to Bruce."
"I was afraid of that."
Clark understood Bruce's plight. The temptation of helping others maybe too great for the teenager and despite the boy's great potential to the world, that power may have too much potential. Too much of a good thing is still bad. Bruce still had to confirm if it was immortality or prolonged life expectancy.
It looked like a lot troubles were in Danny's future. But for now, the fourteen year old could just relax in Smallville. Peace was one of the best things he'll find there.
"Clark!" the teenager had spotted the blue and red blur in the sky.
"Hi Danny, I see you've gotten acquainted with Betsy over here." The cow gave a 'moo' to Clark as a reply.
"Yeah, she's nice, Mr. Kent said she was really sick, but looks fine to me." Danny petted the bovine gently.
"She must have gotten some passing flu, she's fine now." Clark had a feeling it was more than that.
The teen shrugged, not really caring so long as Betsy was healthy. Absentmindedly, he stroked the animal wondering what kept his father so busy enough to send him away. Bruce called him almost every day but so it didn't seem that they were losing touch at all. He kept reminding himself that his father was a full-time superhero and low crime didn't equate to no crime.
"You're a bit far from the house, how'd you get all the way to the pastures?"
"Walked, a lot, now that you mentioned it, it's going to take a while for me to get back," the teen scratched his head, wondering how he'll make it for supper at the moment..
"Can't you fly?"
"Dad said no using powers while I'm visiting other people, unless an emergency comes up."
"You'll see an emergency search party if you're late for Ma's supper by five minutes, come on, I'll carry you there," Superman didn't hesitate to carry the teen in bridal style as he shot through the air, but Danny couldn't help but blush.
"How's the watch tower doing? Are the others okay?"
"John and Shayera are in another galaxy, I don't think you know Question..."
"Huntress's boyfriend, I know him, he's a bit weird but he's cool, something happen to him?"
"No, he's just on a mission with Green Arrown, Balck Canary, and Huntress... wait, Huntress's boyfriend?"
The teenager snorted.
"It's so obvious, not like they're hiding it."
By the end of the day, Superman had left along with Danny to the Watchtower. It wasn't odd for the teenager to hang around the area. In fact, many have gotten used to the seemingly normal teenager wandering around the halls of the floating clubhouse. He usually wore his mom's goggles, and only a hand few of heroes knew who he really was. Danny usually hung around near the hanger or at the monitor room. He's homework was easily managed nowadays, he wondered if Mr. Lancer would ever believe his eyes seeing him like this.
The only work he hadn't finished was home economics, people's fancy way of saying, knitting and cooking. He could handle the latter perfectly well, but knitting and sewing? Procrastination tended to take advantage of his dislike for the activity. It didn't help that Mrs. Manson had added some extra homework for it and now he just was wants to stab himself with one of those knitting needles just to end his misery.
The Martian hunter was amused to see the teenager looking so miserable and broody in knitting. It almost rivalled his father's. There were several startling differences between the two, but both were stubborn as mules. A teenager's mind was much more interesting than an adults, their logic was more direct and with a little less common sense.
"Hey J'ohn, you want anything from the cafeteria?" Danny decided to take a break from torture.
"Oreos would be fine," J'ohn replied. The best aspect that Danny had was his undiscriminating acceptance of the Martian's addiction to Oreos; teenagers understood the obsession with junk food like it was completely natural.
"Cool."
The scrawny youth went off straight towards the door.
"Oof!" Lifeless white slits stared down onto the innocent teenager.
Under normal circumstances, most people would be wetting their pants and screaming in terror Danny's position. But that's for 'normal' circumstances.
"Dad!" the halfa gave the dark hero a hug.
"Danny, sorry that I've been a bit occupied these past few months, hope you didn't cause too much trouble... you should also call me Batman while were up here."
"Yeah, yeah, but only J'ohn's here anyway," Danny shrugged.
"Come to my room later, we need to talk about some things." With that the Dark Knight left, leaving the befuddled Danny to wonder.
With J'ohn's Oreos and two ice mochas, he swiftly made his delivery to the Martian before heading for Batman's room.
"Sit down Daniel."
He winced at hearing his name, Bruce only called him that if it was serious. The last one to ever call him that was half-dead and now full-dead. It wasn't funny to lose Vlad Masters like that, especially when he was actually and finally acting like caring godfather like he should. The whole man's life was like a tragedy.
"Okay."
Obediently and quietly, he sat down and waited.
"This is concerning your powers Daniel, and no, I don't meant the ghostly kind but the holy kind." The man sighed. "Your angel powers and mine, what's your understanding on this?"
"... well, from what I got from Clockwork's riddles of an explanation, I'm a soul that's suppose to save the world from some great evil, since there was no great evil at the time, my soul was supposed to be disposed of cause of its powers according to some one-eyed green slime balls called observers, jerks ... Clockwork sort of compromised by splitting my soul, hence also halving my powers, he also sorta mentioned that the cause of the end of the world in Dark Phantom's dimension was due to my early death."
"Well, at least that's an explanation of our existence." The Batman had no idea what his son was talking about, the explanation will have to go to his database. "But what I really meant was your understanding of your abilities."
"Huh? My abilities? You mean flying with my wings that I have in my human form right? Flying and... well, I can't cause anymore natural disasters, I think that's yours... I healed a lot of people at that time but... I never tried checking if I could heal again..."
The man took good long look at Danny before talking.
"I've done some research on our cells over the month, you can heal, even if you're not aware of it, your cells have an ability to heal other living things near you... remember when you were with Clark at the farm? You went near a sick cow named Betsy am I correct?"
Danny nodded numbly.
"She was really sick you know, and you healed her."
The teenager just remained quiet.
"And, we seemed to both have the ability for rapid healing of our own body cells, I also have a theory that both of us maybe immortal or have prolonged life spans at least."
"..."
"Daniel... Danny I know that this is a lot to take in, are you still with me?"
"Y-yeah, I'm okay, go on."
"I can still manipulate the elements and the dark telekinetic powers, true, and you still have the ability to heal, but the unconscious healing maybe due to leaking of your powers building up in your body... you never tried using them right?"
"Yeah... that makes sense; something like my ice powers... it came out in small amounts through my ghost's sense..."
"Exactly, Danny, I don't think you can completely comprehend your potential but to give you a good glimpse of it is that we have to keep this a secret... forever if that's possible."
"But... why? I can help people! Cure diseases! Save lives!"
"People are meant to die, only gods are immortal Danny, fate is something we shouldn't interfere with."
"What if I was meant to help people with these powers? What if it was my destiny to save lives this way?"
"To make people immune from death is not the same as saving them Danny, there is a time for everyone to die, imagine the chaos if everyone knew of your powers, you can't save everyone, even if you have the power to."
"B-but... I still don't understand, so I can't ever use my powers at all?"
"It's not up to me Danny, no matter what I say, the decision all falls back to you."
The teenager sat silently, thinking. He understood the potential, he knew the dangers of being exploited, becoming a target for people obsessed with power. The government will probably treat him like some experiment. His decision will trigger possibly fatal consequences, but he already expected that in his life. Being Danny Phantom has taught him that fear shouldn't stop him from doing the right thing, he learnt to overcome it. He could help people this way.
"Dad," the teenager looked at his adopted father straight in the eye. "No... as Batman, will you let me help as a healer in the medic bay, just for emergencies, strictly worst case scenarios... my powers have a purpose for being there, I just want them to be used the right way."
"..."
"Well?" Danny looked at man with his blue doe eyes.
"Fine, you'll go as Phantom for the moment, I'll put you under J'ohn's care for the time being... the leaking of your powers, I'm not sure how we can cover that up."
Danny was grinning happily at the moment, knowing he had just won over the Batman.
"I've got an idea for that!"
Danny had excitedly teleported back to the mansion and into the Fenton Lab 2.0. After a couple of hours, the halfa returned to the Watchtower with whole new look.