To paraphrase Oedipus, Hamlet, Lear, and all those guys, "I wish I had known this some time ago."
-Roger Zelazny

They're watching the aftermath of the capitol bombing when it all snaps together. Public enemy number one, he thinks with idle disgust at some of the implications people are making. At the blame that is being thrown around. And it's that thought that sparks the realization. Danny sees it, sees the noose that is tightening around Superman, in a way he's never managed when he's the one trapped in the middle of Vlad's plans.

His heart races. Adrenaline and panic surge through him at the realization and his breath hitches.

His parents, absently tinkering with their current invention as they watch the news, don't notice.

Really, that's the story of his life. Or, afterlife.

Danny calls up Sam, Tucker, and Jazz, and frantically tries to think of a way to get his parents out of the house as he organizes clips of the Superman controversy in chronological order on his computer. His plotting is a moot point when his parents race out of the house in response to a ghost alarm. He's mentally cursing at the interruption and preparing to transform when he catches enough information to realize that it's the box ghost.

He settles back down. He'll probably run into the most irritating ghost in existence sooner or later, but at least the box ghost is working in his favor for once, however unintentionally. Danny decides it's harmless enough to leave it to them this time. Anyway, he has more important things to worry about.

'Team Phantom' take one look at his face and instantly tense with worry.

"What is it, Danny?" Sam asks.

"Watch this," he says, gesturing at his computer. "Tell me I'm just imagining things. Please." He doesn't want to say anything outright, doesn't want to bias them. Maybe he really is just imagining things. Maybe it's just paranoia talking. There are so many dead, this is so far outside of his usual dealings, he cannot afford to make mistakes.

They're frowning, watching the Superman controversy as it becomes increasingly divisive and emotional. Sam gets it first, gasping, her hand shooting out to clamp down on Danny's shoulder. Jazz sees it too, almost immediately after.

"What?" Tucker demands, clueless and frustrated. "What is it?"

"Public ghost enemy number one?" Jazz asks faintly.

Tucker blinks. Blinks again. His eyes widen when it clicks. "Oh, man," he says. Repeats, "Oh, man."

They stare at each other, at a loss. This…This isn't ghosts. It's bigger than Amity Park, beyond their usual scope. More dangerous than most things they've done, and they know it.

Danny licks his dry lips. Swallows. "Are we sure?"

"We're as sure as we can be, with something like this," Jazz says after a moment to study their faces. "The question we need to ask is, do we really want to get involved? This isn't Vlad. This is…this is so far beyond…I mean…Superman," she trails off. Her genius mind is racing beyond what she can articulate. Everything they don't know, everything they need to, everything that could happen.

"It's not Vlad," Sam agrees, latching on to that fact. "It's his framework, or similar enough, but everything else is completely different. If he'd really wanted anything to do with Superman, overshadowing would be much subtler and at least as effective."

"Can we – no," Danny cuts himself off, "can I afford not to get involved? Now that I've seen?" Because if he has a choice, he would keep his family and friends out of it and away from certain danger.

Sam punches him in the arm. Hard.

"Ow," he whines, cringing. "Sam!"

"We're all in this together. Stop being an idiot."

"I'm not! But whoever this guy is, I mean, look at what's been done! He bombed the capitol. He doesn't care who dies, or about collateral damage. There must have been people who've realized something is up, but where are they? They're definitely not speaking up, and they're probably dead too. Ghosts are one thing, but this…this…this is a murderer or…terrorist! If whoever this is even suspects…" Danny trails off, waving his arms spastically and nearly smacking his friends in the face. He's lived through the violent deaths of nearly everyone he cares about once already. He cannot do that again.

"Then we just won't let anyone suspect," Tucker says grimly. "I've got my precious and its ghostly upgrades," he absentmindedly strokes his PDA, "and the Ghost Zone has pretty amazing reception, except for that whole, no-tech zone." He shudders. "Unless this guy's a ghost expert or something, he won't ever be able to trace our searches, and even if he is, how is he going to find the Ghost Zone? There isn't a physical location to track down our IP address to. We've got our extra advantages with your powers and all, and we'll be extreme paranoia-level careful."

"We can't ignore this Danny." Jazz's expression is solemn. "And you are not doing this alone. Honestly, I don't see how you could."

Danny can't either, although he doesn't want to admit it.

"Right," she says. "Let's get started."

They're lucky it's summer break. This is more important than schoolwork, and they would have no qualms about skipping for as long as it took, but they're glad they can avoid at least that trouble. Tucker spends most of his days in the Ghost Zone, frantically following faint trails and hacking secure databases until he's developed an unnervingly focused, unblinking stare and dreams about computer code.

Danny would be worried – is worried – but he's been almost vibrating with nervous energy for the past few days. It's this feeling he has, that they're too late, that too much has happened. There's a momentum they're desperately attempting to halt.

It's like they're a breath away from being buried under an avalanche, and they've only just begun to hear the shifting of the snow.

"There's someone else that's interested in things to do with Superman," Tucker mumbles around a burger. "Someone I can't hack without them noticing. I might not be able to hack them at all, actually." He'd be more indignant if he wasn't so tired. "On the other hand, I'm nearly positive Lex Luthor is the guy behind all this. He's the one pushing for the, ah, 'weaponized deterrent' or whatever the phrase was. He's also got access to the space mineral, spaceship, and the dead alien's body."

Sam and Danny exchange a glance. Jazz is absent, buried in newspaper articles and personal accounts of everyone they believe to be involved, attempting to build up accurate profiles. Hoping to predict how everything is falling together, and how to thwart whatever the ultimate scheme is.

"Batman?" Sam murmurs.

Tucker shrugs. "I wouldn't be surprised."

It hadn't been too difficult to conclude that the mastermind was targeting a very specific audience. It was one thing to stir up the world, to fan up their fear and their doubt.

"I wish it wasn't too late to figure out who first started referring to Superman as a god," Jazz had bemoaned. "I mean, religion is one of those divisive, polarizing topics, and an extremely effective way of building up controversy."

But the truth is, the world cannot actually do much to really stop Superman, especially with opinions so divided. Killing him is out of the question, and Team Phantom assumes that is the ultimate goal. And since none of them can see how Luthor would benefit from being known as the one who 'killed a god', he must be maneuvering someone else into the position.

Considering who is just across the bay from Metropolis, they have a pretty good guess as to who.

Batman, the superhero both goths and techno-geeks follow. And the news from Gotham regarding the Bat has become increasingly worrisome.

"He's slipping," Sam had said grimly, when they first realize the other target of Luthor's scheme.

"If this space mineral actually works like predicted, who do you think would win in Batman versus Superman?" Tucker wonders aloud. It's the sort of idle speculation that wouldn't have been too serious before…this.

Now, Sam kicks him hard, force augmented by heavy boots.

"Ow!" Tucker yelps, eyes watering with pain and suddenly wide awake. "Jeez, Sam, gimme a break! I'm half asleep here."

"Sorry," she mutters, and she does actually feel a little regretful. They're all tired and a bit high strung.

"Take a nap or something, guys," Danny suggests as he stands to check up on his sister. Thanks to his ghost half, he doesn't need as much sleep as they do. "We really can't afford to make mistakes with this."

His two friends mumble in vague agreement and drag themselves to the couch.

"Jazz?" Danny says, opening her door and sticking his head in.

"Mmm?" She looks up reluctantly, highlighter in hand and pen behind an ear.

Danny thinks of the news footage of the explosion, the casualties and protests and blame. The funerals. He thinks of the Nasty Burger explosion, of his evil future self, and the panic he is holding at bay grips him for a moment. He says, "They probably know what's going on, right? I mean, Batman's supposed to be the world's greatest detective, right? And this is Superman we're talking about. How can they not know?"

His sister's expression softens in understanding. He usually resents that. Isn't sure whether or not he does right now.

"I don't know, little brother," she says. "But the closer you are to a situation, the less you see.

"We can't afford to assume that they know."

Danny considers confronting Vlad in his mayoral office, and then decides to use the billionaire's personal Ghost Zone portal instead. It's riskier for him, certainly. But however unlikely it is that Vlad would suffer bugs in his government office, it is still public. Vlad's secret lab is, no doubt, essentially impenetrable even should anyone else actually know it exists.

"Daniel," a familiar voice drawls, "to what do I owe the pleasure of your trespass? More baseless accusations, no doubt?"

Danny glares, grits his teeth, and strives for equilibrium. This is too important to mess up.

"Lex Luthor," he growls, and feels a flicker of satisfaction at the surprise that Vlad can't hide. "You know him."

"I know many people, Little Badger. I don't see why you are so interested."

Vlad knows something. He must, if Luthor is as dangerous as he and his friends believe. Because Vlad would never turn his back or risk ignorance when he, his secrets, or his accomplishments could be threatened. A fellow, ruthless businessman is one such threat.

"His vendetta against Superman, for starters," Danny says, crossing his arms as he floats before his nemesis.

"What makes you think he has one?" Vlad says. "Certainly he has spoken out against the alien publicly once or twice, but so have quite a few others. Are you here to accuse me of assisting him, perhaps? Of giving him ideas, or setting them up? I hate to break it to you, Daniel, but I have no interest in do-gooder superheroes. Except for you, of course, my dear boy."

Danny scowls. "The thought had occurred," he says. They had ruled it as unlikely, but he doesn't say so. Vlad must realize, though, because he smirks.

"If that's all," the older man begins, turning away.

"It's not," Danny interrupts, zipping forward to bar his way. "You haven't answered me. What do you know about Luthor?"

Vlad's veneer of smug cheer slips away. "Stay away from him if you know what's good for you, Daniel," he warns. Danny is sure that his concern is genuine, and grits his teeth against a surge of fear. If Vlad of all people is worried… "He is not someone you want to oppose, and you most certainly do not want to gain his attention."

"No, I don't," he admits bluntly. "I'm definitely trying to avoid getting his attention, actually, but I still need to know about him."

Vlad studies him for a long moment, and scowls. "Very well. But don't you dare drag me into this, or I'll make your half-life even more difficult than you can imagine. I want nothing to do with your suicidal crusade."

Danny considers heading straight to the crash site of the spaceship after his talk with Vlad. Extreme coolness factor aside – now he has a legitimate excuse to risk breaking and entering! – it's important to find out what, exactly, Luthor is doing in there.

However, his sister is so insistent on every little detail being important in psychological diagnoses and profiling that he decides it's better to let her cross-examine his information from Vlad before he forgets anything. He knows he can be a bit of a spaz, and if he waits too long he can admit, if only to himself, that he will forget something. Plus, he needs to pick up some Fenton phones anyway, since at this point being out of contact for too long could be dangerous.

Eventually Jazz stops asking questions and simply scribbles away in a notebook as she mutters to herself, so Danny assumes they're done and phases through the floor into the kitchen. He suppresses a yawn as he spreads a map out across the kitchen table. He might not need as much sleep as your average person, but even he can't function well on no sleep. Ghost attacks don't stop just because they are run ragged with a completely unrelated crisis, unfortunately.

He'll sleep later. Danny has other concerns at the moment. For one, he's not exactly clear on how to get to Metropolis, except that it's in an east-southeast direction. A topographical map would be better, since navigating from the air is quite different than from a car, but he can make do.

Danny doesn't even realize he's drifted off until an agonized wail causes him to jerk awake. He grimaces and dabs at the drool on the map he'd used as a pillow as he checks the clock. He's only lost a couple of hours.

Then the yelling registers, and the halfa immediately dives into the lab below.

Tucker is on his knees, bent over and cradling one of his PDAs to his chest. "Cindy, whyyyy?! My poor baby, what did he do to you?!"

"What?" Danny asks, bewildered. "What happened?"

Sam explains over Tucker's loud dramatics as Jazz hovers uncertainly. "We figured we've pulled together everything we can and it was time to send the information on. We hadn't decided how we were going to contact Superman, but since Tucker kept running into that hacker we thought was Batman, we figured we could probably just send him the files. But we wanted to make sure it actually was Batman, and not Luther or someone connected to him, so Tucker tried to hack him to confirm. Only," she gestures at their technogeek, "I guess he didn't get very far."

"Wha-," Danny gasps, and it feels a little like Ember's slammed her guitar into his gut. He dives for Tucker. "Is it Luther? Did he see? Does he know where we are?" he demands, unable to resist the urge to shake him a little. This is just playing all sorts of merry hell with his obsession, demanding that he protect, that he keep them safe, and he doesn't know how.

"Dude, Danny," Tucker says, managing to snap himself out of his shock in the face of Danny's desperation. "It's fine. Well, not poor Cindy, but she was a backup. Basically, reduced to factory settings, so there wasn't any incriminating information for anyone to find. And the hacker definitely won't find us physically, unless he's an expert on the Ghost Zone. Also, I'm pretty sure it wasn't Luther."

"How can you know?" Jazz asks. "You didn't seem to have gotten very far."

"Well, no," he admits, before looking a little smug. "But he's definitely located in Gotham."

"Okay, but it could be a Gotham supervillain," Sam points out. "Or a mob boss."

"Point," Tucker says reluctantly. "But I've got a feeling. I'm willing to bet it's the Batman."

They exchange glances before Danny sighs. "Send it. We don't really have any other options."

Tucker immediately busies himself doing so, still sniffling a little over Cindy's tragic demise. "How are we going to get this to Superman, though?" he wonders.

"Even if we could stand on street corners and shout for him, that's bound to draw the wrong sort of attention. Especially if he actually shows up. I imagine Luther is keeping a close eye on him," muses Jazz.

"What was the name of that first reporter who found him?" Sam says.

"Lois Lane," the older girl responds automatically.

"Yeah, her. She could have a way to contact him discreetly. I mean, she found him once, right? And he came for her in Nairomi."

"She works in Metropolis too, doesn't she," Danny recalls.

"At the Daily Planet," Jazz nods.

"And, hey, maybe she's looking into this too," Danny suggests without much hope.

"I'll go with you to Metropolis and check out her workplace while you take a look at the crash site," Sam decides. "Even if she isn't there, they might be able to tell me where she is. Or contact her and get her to meet me."

The phone rings, interrupting the discussion, and Danny floats over to pick it up. "Hello?" he says distractedly

"Hi, Danny?"

He straightens in surprise, instantly alert, and drawing the attention of his friends. "Danielle?" His mind instantly jumps to worst case scenarios, helped along by everything he's learned about Lex Luthor. "What's wrong? Where are you? Are you in trouble?"

"Whoa, whoa," she says, startled. "Calm down, jeez. What's got you wound up so tight?"

Danny reigns it in. He can't risk saying too much over an unprotected line, and wow, does that sound like extreme paranoia. But he can hear it in Dani's voice. Maybe she's not in trouble, but she's not completely fine either. She is…unnerved, he thinks.

"Nothing. Everything's fine," he lies, and knows she will catch it. "What's up? I haven't heard from you in a while."

"Can we meet?" she asks uneasily. "Where are you?"

"Home. In the lab. Where are you?"

She ignores his question. "Are you alone?"

"I'm with Sam, Tucker, and Jazz," he says, meeting their questioning looks with a confused expression and a shrug of his shoulders.

"Okay." Dani sounds relieved. "See you soon."

"Danielle, wait," he says, but it's too late. She's already hung up, and he has no idea where she was even calling from.

"What's wrong?" Sam asks. "Why was she calling?"

"I don't – " He's cut off by a swirling green portal appearing in mid-air. "What?" he yelps as the others scramble for weapons.

And then Dani pops through and the portal snaps shut.

Danny realizes he's gaping, and snaps his mouth shut. "Did you do that? How did you do that? When can I do that?" He is a mix of jealous and proud. It's confusing.

"Hey, cuz," Dani says with muted cheer. "Hey guys."

"It's nice to finally meet you," Jazz says, studying Danielle in fascination as the others greet her.

"Yeah," she responds awkwardly. "You too."

Danny asks, "Danielle, what's up? You sounded kinda…weird on the phone."

"Things have been weird," she says. She looks around at them, momentarily at a loss for where to start.

"So, I've been hanging out with Clockwork recently, doing the odd job for him and stuff. Just little things. And he's the one who helped me develop my portal powers." Dani can't help grinning a bit at this, because that's her coolest power ever, hands down. Even if it does take a bit out of her. She won't show it, but her limbs feel a little shaky, and she can feel a headache developing behind her eyes.

"Earlier today Clockwork gave me an address and said that there was a spirit I needed to make sure wasn't hanging around. Recently dead, I think, not a ghost – yet, at least – and didn't want him becoming a ghoul or poltergeist. And for errands like this, Clockwork usually creates the portal to wherever I'm going.

"But this time, he said something like, 'Be careful of approaching trains, subway stations can be dangerous,' and then his portal dropped me off in a subway station. I think it was kind of near the address he gave me? I don't know, I haven't made it there yet, I still need to do that." Danielle is becoming increasingly agitated, pacing back and forth both on the ground and in the air.

"Deep breaths, little cousin," Jazz says soothingly. "Calm down."

Danielle can't help her startled expression, nor can she completely hide her pleasure at Jazz's affection. Her beginnings are unusual, and always in the back of her mind there is the knowledge that she was meant to be a replacement, that she herself was never good enough.

But they care, the people who know her. She looks around at Team Phantom, and it helps.

"Yeah." She coughs, feeling awkward, and then a little frightened as she remembers what happened. "I wasn't really sure what to do or why I was there instead of at the house, so I hung around invisible until I could hear the train arriving. Then I just started watching the people on the platform, because my ghost sense wasn't going off so I wondered what the danger might be. And I was watching, I was really looking for something wrong, but I didn't notice. There must have been some sign? I mean, how could there not be? How can someone just…"

Danielle's voice rises in pitch, her hands clenched into fists and beginning to glow just a little. Danny reaches out and ruffles her hair to distract her, calm her down.

"There was a woman," she says. "And this guy just…just pushed her onto the tracks right as the train sped through."

They can't help their exclamations of shock and anger.

"I saved her," Dani says quickly. "Because I was watching, I was just fast enough to make her intangible and fly us away invisibly. She was, uh, obviously upset. Panicked. Kept saying they were going to kill her, that they wouldn't stop until she was dead. That she knew too much? She had me drop her off at a bus station outside the city. She was surprisingly cool about, you know, my powers. Didn't even really ask."

They all consider this thoughtfully for a moment.

"She was probably in shock," Tucker points out. "Attempted murder kind of trumps ghostly savior, I guess."

"True," Sam shrugs.

Danny looks at his cousin, knowing that there's more. He can read her so easily, when he really pays attention.

"She was saying something about Superman, too," Dani says. She's agitated, confused and horrified and moving onto irritation, because she's just as hot-headed as Danny can be and doesn't know what to do with herself. "I didn't understand and she refused to go to the police. But something's really, really wrong guys. And I don't really manage to hear much of what's happening this side of the Zone. I don't know what to do.

"And I still need to check out that spirit," she realizes belatedly.

The others suck in a breath.

"Dani, where were you?" the older halfa demands.

She glowers at him a little for the tone, but replies without further prompting, "Metropolis."

Team Phantom exchanges glances. Dani raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms, completely prepared to start blasting them if someone doesn't explain soon.

"What an amazing coincidence," Jazz sighs.

Tucker points out, "Well, if this is Clockwork's maneuvering, at least we know we're not making this stuff up."

"Can I get a ride back with you?"

"We," Sam corrects, digging an elbow into Danny's side and ignoring him as he jerks away with a yelp of pain. "Can we get a ride to Metropolis with you?"

"Fine," Dani says. "But I need food first. I'm starving." Also, an explanation, but she figures that goes without saying.

"I imagine that creating portals does take quite a bit of energy, particularly if it's a recently learned skill," Jazz speculates and leads the way up to the kitchen. "I don't think mom's managed to mutate the leftovers from last night. We'll catch you up while you eat."

Sam and the two Phantoms watch quietly and invisibly as the woman explores the cordoned off house, a police officer lingering in the door.

"Sometimes," Danny breaths as the officer calls out to Lois, "it's really, really creepy, what Clockwork can do. Also, frightening."

Sam's watching Lois Lane's movements with narrowed eyes, almost glaring as she tries to figure out what she's thinking, and considering the best way to approach the woman. "I need to follow her until I can approach her without people around."

"Alright, I'll – "

"I'll go with you," Dani interrupts.

Danny looks between the two of them, reluctant.

"You said you wanted to check out the crashed ship," she points out. "And Sam needs to get this information to Superman somehow, so we can do both at once."

It's logical. And they all have Fenton phones, so they'll be in touch.

"Just…watch out for her." He's not sure who he's talking to. Maybe both of them.

"I will," they say in stereo, and then turn to give the other a look.

Danny takes off before anything else can be said. He glances back out of habit, but of course can only see the departing reporter and officer. His ghost sense seems especially sensitive to his cousin when he concentrates, or it might just be his imagination. But he thinks he can feel Dani following the visible pair and hopes that they don't run into trouble.

Deliberately pushing aside his worries for the moment, he allows excitement to build instead. He's about to investigate a spaceship, after all. For someone who dreams of becoming an astronaut, this is definitely one of the coolest things that could ever happen to him.

He zips toward the covered and guarded area invisibly and intangibly, at such speeds that he doesn't notice what would have been a gradual build-up of weakness and pain until he crashes to the ground nearly a yard from the boundary. Danny grits his teeth and swallows a shout at the impact, clinging grimly to invisibility. He's shaking, beginning to sweat and hyperventilate. This form doesn't actually need to breathe, which makes it twice as alarming. Luckily he isn't close enough to be heard by any guards.

What's happening? What's wrong with him? He hadn't seen or sensed any sort of ghostly shield or barrier, and it doesn't feel like one anyway. Thinking back, he can remember a bit of an ache as he approached, but he was going too fast to notice or pay much attention. Not until it became overwhelming.

Danny clenches his fists and pulls himself together, staggering to his feet. He doesn't know what is doing this, but he can overcome. He will. He needs to know more than ever now, what is going on in that ship.

One step closer. Another. He attempts to float, and abandons that immediately when he feels himself flicker into visibility. The same happens when he tries to sink through the ground and approach that way. He yanks himself back up before he can accidentally trap himself in the earth and concrete. It's bad. He's not even in the building, and he can barely hold one of the three standard ghostly powers. The ones that he'd had more trouble not accidentally activating when he'd first become a halfa.

Danny doesn't know how long he stands there, invisible, trembling, and squinting against a migraine. With one last growl, he stumbles backwards, away, until he has the strength to get airborne. It seems like weird green space minerals work against ghosts too.

He calls Sam and Danny to let them know what happened and that he's heading home. They've decided to stay with Lois for now, who is further investigating what Luthor is up to, which doesn't exactly make him feel better, but he just tells them good luck.

The long flight back should give him time to get over his irritation and disappointment.

The good news is, it's not the space mineral.

The bad news is, it's actually the glowing, basically indestructible, non-ghost monster.

Other bad news includes, Dani and Sam calling to tell them that they've lost Lois, then that they've found her and she'd been kidnapped by Luthor and tossed off a skyscraper, then that Luthor demanded Superman kill the Bat or his mother would die (Danny really hopes that the information they collected will at least encourage the two to work together and turn the tables on Luthor, if they haven't already).

By the time Danny reaches Metropolis, Superman is nowhere to be seen and he's trying not to think about the enormous explosion in the sky while Batman is being chased toward Gotham by a glowing, roaring monster. He swerves to follow, and realizes with a growing sense of horror that the closer he gets, the more the nausea and pain increases. His flight path is becoming distinctly wobbly, and he's a little afraid to even wonder what, exactly, the creature is.

And then it catches the edge of Batman's plane, sending it crashing and leaving the vigilante trapped and vulnerable.

That spurs Danny on like little else could. He pushes past the pain and weakness, a streak of black and white in the night sky honing in on Batman. He reaches him just in time, phasing them both through the wreckage as the monster releases some sort of energy beam.

And then there's a woman Danny's never seen before, braced against a round shield and actually holding back the attack.

"What are you?" a rasping voice demands, and Danny is torn between intimidation and irritation. He glances at his companion for a moment before returning his gaze to the threat, wavering a little and struggling not to gag.

"A ghost," he says shortly. "My name's Phantom." A thought occurs to him. "Please tell me you did get the information we sent about Luthor."

His words are punctuated by a sonic boom, and suddenly the creature is shoved into a series of apparently flammable…power plants? Something. He relaxes a little. Superman is finally here. He'd been getting a little worried.

"That was you?" And he can tell just from the intensity of that gaze on his back, like a mouse in the sights of a cat, that he's gained Batman's interest. Well, more than just for his abilities. Danny doesn't think he likes that.

"Me and my friends, yeah."

And that's about all the time they have for conversation, except for some extremely brief introductions.

It's a mess, and a bit of a blur. Danny is running on adrenaline, instinct, and terror, reminding himself of both his beginnings and more recent battles against far stronger opponents. He'd thought it would be less of one with older and more experienced heroes, but it really isn't. It might actually be worse, because none of the others seem to be used to working with others, and none of them have worked together before.

Plus, Danny can't exactly do close-range fighting. He tried once and would have died if Superman hadn't intervened. His ecto-beams don't do much either, so his ice and shields are his most effective long-range weapons.

He thinks they're wearing it down.

A bit.

Maybe.

Batman does seem to have a plan, at least. But then Superman disappears and Danny notices a green portal forming in the air. He shoots toward it, screaming as he keeps one eye on the portal and one on the creature, "Dani, get them out! Get out now!" Because his friends are honestly no match for this monster, and Dani must already be feeling the effects of its presence. If she comes through, there is no way she'll have the strength to create another portal out.

Danny unleashes his ghostly wail once he achieves the correct angle, flattening it down against the ground and away from his vulnerable friends. And Dani must realize that he is right, since the portal fades without anyone coming through.

Meanwhile, Batman and the woman, Diana, take advantage of the situation. Her lasso holds the creature in place while Batman shoots it with something that disperses on impact into a green gas that noticeably weakens it. Danny understands what they're doing, although not necessarily the point of it, and encases its legs in thick ecto-ice.

Then he sees Superman flying at it with a glowing green spear, his flight path stuttering and shaky but determined, resembling his own on first encountering the monster. Danny wonders, with some apprehension, where that spear came from. It's not really his business, though, so he concentrates on reinforcing the ecto-ice and drifts closer, wincing at the roar of pain and jerking a little in alarm when the monster grabs Superman.

Danny is gagging, his every joint aching as he forces himself closer to Superman because he's the only one who as a chance of backing him up if this goes wrong.

And it does, of course.

The thing is stubbornly surviving, Superman trying to force the spear deeper into its chest. The lasso slips somehow, and he sees it moving its free arm to impale the captured superhero on the bone spikes.

In a flash, Danny slams against its free arm, hands on bone and whimpering in pain retching a little as he strains to keep it away from Superman, who can't defend himself in this position. The halfa isn't anywhere near full power, and the spikes inch closer. His arms shake with strain. He ices over everything, trying to blunt the points, trying to freeze it in place.

Then he's pressed against Superman and concentrates hard. With the last of his strength, he makes the two of them intangible, just as Superman cries out and shoves the spear forward those last crucial inches.

They collapse, all three.

Dawn breaks to a comparatively deafening silence.

The Batman is the first to approach the bodies. The ghost, Phantom, has no pulse and his own heart stops to see this young boy dead. But then other details begin to register; the movement of his chest as he breathed, the flickering behind closed eyelids. He feels a little foolish, though he doesn't show it. Of course a ghost would not have a beating heart.

The alien does. Superman. He finds that he is…relieved.

Diana can tell by the slight relaxing of his shoulders that their compatriots live. Lois races past to hover over Superman's prone figure, shuddering and grateful that he lives.

They all live. That's the miracle they focus on now, in this moment.

The rest will come later.

Kids thinks with their brains cracked wide open; becoming an adult, I've decided, is only a slow sewing shut.
-Jodi Picoult, "My Sister's Keeper"

I had what I thought was this amazing prompt idea that was basically the first paragraph in this fic. And then I realized that I had no idea where to post it so that the interested people could see it. So I ended up filling it myself, and even ended up watching the whole DP series since I hadn't seen an episode in years. Not really satisfied with how it turned out. I wasn't sure how to end it, and there wasn't as much action or interaction as I wanted. Which is why I wanted to post the prompt so other people could see it and write it instead, and probably do a much better job. If anyone does want to do it, please let me know.