AN: This chapter is (sort of) a rewrite of an actual Young Justice episode, but don't worry if you're not a fan of rewrites - I won't make a habit of it. I'll only rewrite a chapter when I feel like it'll be different enough from the original version that I'll have actual reason to.


Denial

Batman's fingers dancing across the keyboard was a steady staccato which broke the silence of the Bat-cave.

He had found frustratingly little about Amity Park, or even ghosts in general.

Batman had suspected it when Phantom mentioned "that time the entire town was pulled into an alternate dimension", because such an event would be widely known unless there was effort put down into a proper cover-up.

Somebody wanted to keep Amity Park and its ghosts a secret, and everything indicated that this somebody was part of the government.

Batman downed another cup of coffee.

Alfred eyed him disapprovingly.

Robin was sitting on an office chair, spinning it in circles even as he hacked a government database on his wrist-computer.

'Neither Phantom nor Red Huntress knew about the cover-up...'

Batman fixed up a simple proxy, tricking the news site into thinking he was in Amity Park.

Jackpot.


Phantom floated through the large room.

The green "sky" of the Ghost Zone was visible through a large window, swirling and turning with ectoplasmic energy in ways that was almost reminiscent of clouds in a storm.

The ticking of many clocks was the only sound in the room, almost acting as a heartbeat to the Clock Tower.

The lair's owner stood in front of one of his many viewing pools, watching the image of a man in a golden helmet. It felt familiar, but Danny couldn't place it.

"You wanted something?" Danny leaned back in the air, finding a comfortable sitting position.

Clockwork turned around, pulling out an envelope from within his purple robes. As the fabric shifted, the clock in his chest became visible.

"I need you to deliver a letter."

"What do I look like, the mailman?" Despite his sarcastic protest, Danny took the envelope, looking it over. While there was nothing written on the outside, it was sealed with a drop of red wax stamped with the symbol of a gear. "Who's it for?"

The slight twitch in Clockwork's mouth showed his amusement, it was an expression ill-suited for the child he appeared to be. "And here I thought you weren't the mailman."

Danny rolled his eyes, but didn't comment. Clockwork would always get the last word, no matter how the conversation went.

"I need you to take this to Dr. Fate." Clockwork gestured towards the image behind him, and shifted into his oldest form.

"As in the Justice Society?" Danny's eyes widened as he was finally able to to a name to the face, or well, helmet. "You know him?"

"Fate and Time are often intertwined."

"So you're friends or something?" Danny tried to hide his excitement. The Justice Society were the precursors of the Justice League, aka the idols of his idols.

"Or something."

Danny turned towards the viewing pool again, pensive. For Clockwork to ask this small favour of him... something was fishy. Was there some sort of magical reason the ghost couldn't just visit his old friend? Or was the "or something" supposed to indicate that they had a falling out, and Fate would be more likely to read the letter than listen to Clockwork if he showed up in person?

Danny shrugged. The reason why probably wasn't any of his business, and he did feel like he owed Clockwork a favour (or a hundred)... and he'd get to meet a member of the Justice Society.

"Sure, I'll do it."


Phantom's comment about being mistaken for a supervillain was making more and more sense the further back in time Batman read.

It seemed like it was only after he'd saved the entire town from the "Ghost King" that Amity Park had started to consider Phantom a hero. Even then, local ghost hunters tried to push the idea that all ghosts were evil. (Batman was reminded of what some people had said about aliens when Superman and Martian Manhunter first made their débuts.)

The two events that Phantom's opponents used as "evidence" of his villainy were... not that incriminating. The "Phantom kidnaps the mayor" incidence was caught on camera, and looked rather more like "the mayor kidnaps Phantom", considering which person was actually trying to escape the hold. However, by all accounts this was not something Mayor Montez should have been capable of doing. Phantom should have been able to slip out of the grasp in the same way he avoided Superboy, by going intangible. Further investigation showed that there was something wrong with Montez's eyes. Another ghost?

The "Phantom robs banks" incidence was uncharacteristic of Phantom's behaviour both before and after the event. That all the stolen goods had ended up in the hands of Frederich "Freakshow" Isak Showenhower, who Phantom had been instrumental in apprehending... Well, Batman felt no reason to suspect that Phantom had been stealing because he'd turned to villainy. Either an undercover operation or mind control. (The malicious smile and red eyes Phantom had been sporting on the security tapes seemed out of place, given the personality he displayed all other times he'd been caught on video. If wouldn't be the first time Batman had come across mind control.) Even if there was more to the story, Phantom checked out as a hero.

Batman was pleased.


The Tower of Fate was, in Wally's humble opinion, not that impressive.

So what if they used some futuristic technology to make it invisible, that didn't mean magic existed or anything silly like that.

Of course, M'gann believed in magic...

So when the hologram asked what their business was in the Tower, Wally stepped up to tell it they were true believers.

However, he didn't have time to utter a single word.

A chill went up his spine as a small wind blew through the room. Realising that there were no windows, let alone any open ones, Wally turned towards the door and readied himself for an ambush.

The rest of the Team seemed to have similar thoughts, because everyone fell into defensive positions.

The hand of a clock had appeared, floating in the air like it had any business doing so.

Before he could process it, the hand did a full rotation. Where it passed, energy coalesced to form a portal.

Out of the portal stepped Phantom.

The portal behind him disappeared, but he didn't move.

Everyone seemed frozen, not knowing how to react to the unexpected situation. It was only natural that the hologram, which wouldn't understand the mood, would break it.

"The Tower does not recognize you, state your purpose."

Wally noted that Phantom didn't get the nice welcome that possessing a key to the Tower had earned the Team.

"I'm here to deliver a letter to Dr. Fate?" Phantom waved an envelope through the air. "Or at least I thought I was. Starting to suspect that's just an excuse."


Finding out the identity of the Red Huntress was comparatively easy. All Batman had needed to do was identify the likeliest places someone in Amity Park could get that highly advanced technology – FentonWorks or Axion Labs.

The Fentons had two teenage children. Batman ignored the son completely, but filed away the daughter, Jasmine Fenton, as a possible candidate for Red Huntress' secret identity.

There were precious few teenage girls that had any ties with Axion Labs, aside from some of the scientists kids. Still, he found what he was looking for when he went through Axion's security tapes around the time Red Huntress appeared in her second suit. Valerie Gray, daughter of the head of security, was Red Huntress.

Finding Phantom was harder.

Mostly because there was no telling when the ghost had died. That he had appeared a lot in Amity Park during recent times didn't mean he was a modern ghost. That line of thinking had lead to Batman checking historical records. The results were interesting.

Batman cleared his throat, earning the attention of Robin.

"Looking at the more credible accounts of ghosts during history, I found this." Batman gestured towards the Bat-computer.

Robin's eyes widened as he took in the image that was displayed.

It was an old sketch, almost sloppily drawn. More like a warning than a masterpiece.

Still, there was no mistaking the motif. From the white hair down to the symbol on his chest, it was definitely Phantom.

"Where did you find this?"

"It's from the journal of a witch hunter in Salem. He wrote about using an extinct flower to capture ghosts in service of witches."

"So Phantom is, what, two-three hundred years old?"

"At least."

"But what about his outfit? That doesn't match any historical period... Maybe the eighties."

"It's possible that he has changed it over the years. Fenton-Nightingale's sketch isn't detailed enough to know for sure."


Danny looked from the old man back to the teenagers. Since they were in their civilian clothing, he wouldn't have recognized the sidekicks if not for Aqualad and the green Martian girl.

"What do you mean, 'just an excuse'?" Aqualad slipped out of his fighting stance. The rest of the Team followed his lead.

"This seems a bit too convenient, that's all." Danny shrugged, not expecting anyone to understand his cryptic comment. "I don't believe in coincidences." At least not when Clockwork was involved.

Aqualad sighed heavily before turning back towards the old man. "We are here to check on Kent Nelson. Red Tornado sent us."

The old man nodded and disappeared in a burst of light. Behind him a door opened of its own.

Danny could have sworn there hadn't been a door there before.

The room they walked into... looked like an Escher painting. It was a huge room with lots of stairs going in impossible angles. The geometry was decidedly non-Euclidian, like it was a place where parallel lines could meet. They took a moment to digest their surroundings before walking up the staircase in front of them.

The green skinned girl walked over to Danny and held out her hand with a bright smile.

"Hi, I'm Miss Martian. M'gann, but you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, since we're on Earth."

"Phantom, but you already knew that." He shook her hand warily, overwhelmed at her enthusiastic greeting and free use of civilian names... but that sort of thing probably mattered less when you were a shapeshifter, and it wasn't like she'd given him her surname.

Civilian Kid Flash snorted, like somebody had told a bad joke. "Riiiiight, 'Phantom'. The 'ghost'." There was liberal use of finger quotation marks.

Danny blinked. "Yes. I'm a ghost. You've got a problem with that?"

"How about the fact that ghosts don't exist!?" Kid Flash stopped, turning around to face Danny. Since he'd been walking in front of Danny in the stairs, Danny had to look up to face him.

Danny floated so that he was slightly taller than Kid Flash.

"I'm pretty sure I exist, but let's not get existential." He meant it as a joke, but most of the humour was lost since he grumbled out the words between clenched teeth.

"Oh yeah? I bet you're just some guy with ghost-like powers, or futuristic technology, who decided to pretend to be a ghost in order to scare people!"

"I never wanted to scare anyone!"

"Then why pretend to be a ghost!?" Kid Flash sounded like he thought he'd won the argument.

Danny didn't break eye contact as he slowly pulled off one of his gloves. "Take my pulse."

Kid Flash roughly pulled Danny's hand closer, putting two fingers on his wrist.

A few seconds passed in silence.

Kid Flash moved his fingers, trying in vain to find a pulse. He lost the starting contest as his gaze locked onto Danny's wrist.

"You're not going to find it, you know."

Kid Flash moved his fingers again, refusing to give up.

"For what it's worth, I can hear from over here that his heart isn't beating."

Both Danny and Kid Flash turned around to look at the teen with the Superman symbol in his t-shirt.

"That proves nothing!"

"It proves I'm not alive."

"You're probably a robot or something!"

"Can we please just go on already?" Archer girl had her arms crossed over her chest, fingers drumming an impatient rhythm against her arm.

"This ain't over," mumbled Kid Flash as they continued up the stairs.

The silence got awkward quickly after that.

"Soooo... I know Miss Martian, Aqualad and Flash Junior, but who are the rest of you?"

"I'm Artemis."

"Superboy."

"It's Kid Flash."

Danny smirked at the predictable reaction, pulling on his glove again.

"Whatever you say, Junior."


Valerie was having an off day.

Her work at the Nasty Burger had somehow been more unbearable than usual. It was 85% the customers' fault.

The remaining 15% were due to her manager.

As such, she was 100% ready to take a nap as soon as she got home.

A nine hour nap.

Valerie bit back a yawn as she unlocked the door to her apartment.

She must have fallen asleep already, because she was obviously dreaming.

Valerie fought to keep her face neutral and her voice even. "Daddy, what are Batman and Robin doing here?"


"Do any of you get the feeling we're not gonna find Kent Nelson?" Artemis looked out at the empty stairs around them. "I don't think he's home."

"Isn't that him?" Danny pointed his thumb towards the small group at the top of the stairs.

There where three people, one of which looked like the hologram from downstairs. Notably, he was handcuffed.

"Abra Kadabra!" Kid Flash growled, before disappearing in a blur of motion. A second later he appeared with the old man slung over his shoulders, fireman style.

Danny reached over and phased the cuffs off the man, as Kid Flash put him down and the rest of the young heroes prepared for battle.

"Thank you." Kent Nelson rubbed his wrists, nose scrunching up at the pain. His voice was hoarse, like he'd been screaming a lot.

Nelson waved his hand, and a cane flew into it as a set of stairs connected to the ones they were on.

'How Hogwarts of them.'

Over by Abra Kadabra, his companion was following a different path that seemed to lead to where Nelson wanted to go.

"We need to get the Helmet of Fate before Klarion does."

"Riiight, of course." Kid Flash looked over at Danny, to see if he was following the logic.

Danny shrugged and hurried to catch up with Nelson, who was climbing the stairs.

After a moment of hesitation, while looking at his teammates fighting Abra Kadabra, Kid Flash followed too. It must have been the urgency in Nelson's voice that convinced him.

At the top of the stairs was a giant bell, which glowed with golden light as Klarion touched it and disappeared.

Danny blinked away the spots from his vision as he, Nelson and Kid Flash followed.

There was a blinding flash of gold. Danny could feel the chill of the outside air before his vision cleared enough to tell where they were. When he opened his eyes again, they were on the roof.

The Helmet of Fate floated above them.

Something ghostly in Danny's core twitched at the sight, and he stopped to stare as Kent Nelson and Kid Flash approached it.

Nelson had raised his hand to take the Helmet when he was struck in the chest by a red energy blast.

He stumbled and fell, but Kid Flash caught him before he could his the ground.

Danny's attention went to their attacker. Klarion and his cat were approaching the helmet from the other side of the roof.

Before they could close the distance, Nelson raised his cane and uttered something that had to be Arcane Words of Power. With capitalisation.

A golden sphere surrounded Nelson, Kid Flash and the helmet, just in time to stop another attack from Klarion.

Danny gulped as he realised that he, himself, was stranded outside the bubble. With the angry dark magic boy. And his cat.

"At least I don't have to tell him to get one," mumbled Danny to himself.

Klarion attacked the bubble once again, not seeming to notice (or care) about Danny. Unlike a ghost's stable ecto-blasts, his red energy flickered and moved like fire.

Danny felt his Ghost Sense go off. There was a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realised that meant that Kent Nelson had died.

Then the cat made a noise, and apparently that was enough to draw the witch boy's attention to the ghost boy.

There was a second of awkward silence, where they just looked at each other.

Klarion looked confused. "A ghost? What would a ghost-"

Danny shrugged and threw an ecto-blast at Klarion, who put up a shield just in time.

"Do you expect ghosts to be logical? For all you know, my Obsession could be fancy headgear." Danny pulled his fingers through his hair. "Though, to be fair, if I were I'd probably be wearing a hat or something."

He dropped his musings as he was forced to dodge a couple of angry energy blasts.

As in, the blasts themselves radiated anger.

'Magic is weird.'

"No, I don't expect ghosts to 'make sense'." Klarion's voice took on a mocking tone at the last words. "They're chaotic, and that's what I like about them... but you..."

Danny stiffened at the implication that he was different from other ghosts. He did not need a murderous magician to know his secret.

"I've sensed something like you before." Klarion had a hungry look in his eyes, and a smug smirk threatening to break out on his lips.

'Is he... talking about Vlad?'

"But stronger," added Klarion as an afterthought, a finger tapping his chin.

'He's talking about Vlad.'

"Meow."

"You're right, Teekl. I don't have time for distractions. I'm here for the Helmet of Fate."

"I won't let you."

"You think you can stop me?" The mocking tone was back.

"Don't know 'til I try!" Danny punctuated the sentence with an ecto-ray.

Klarion responded with a red ray, which hit Danny's green in a clash of light. Danny pushed himself, but the point where the two energies met crept slowly towards him. Finally, he couldn't keep it up and the energy pushed him away.

Danny hit the golden sphere hard, the impact and Klarion's continued attack breaking the shield.

The civilian dressed Kid Flash looked at Danny with wide eyes.

Danny gave him a feeble thumbs-up, but it was all he could do to not pass out from the pain and exhaustion. Klarion wasn't a light hitter.

Kid Flash's eyes hardened into determination, and he put on the Helmet of Fate.


Valerie sat down in the sofa, to hide how her knees were buckling underneath her. "You want me to join this team?"

Batman nodded.

She turned towards her dad. "And you're okay with this?"

"Valerie..." He leaned over and placed his hand over both of hers. "You know I'd prefer it if you gave this whole thing up. I want you to be safe, but... I know I won't convince you to quit. At least this way, you'll get training under people who know what they're doing."

Valerie was about to protest, to say 'I know what I'm doing', but she stopped herself.

If her experience with the ghost girl, Dani 'with an i', had taught her anything, it was that she didn't know what she was doing. She'd almost killed a human being. A little girl.

And if ghosts could be human, everything she knew about ghosts could be false.

Where the ghosts emotionless beings who only imitated emotion? There was no way to tell for certain, from an outside perspective, but as soon as she was willing to look for it... Their emotions didn't seem fake. They were too complex, to real.

And if ghosts could feel, if they were sapient, she had done and threatened to do some horrible things. Mostly to Phantom, who'd only ever been trying to help people.

If ghosts were people, for a wider definition of 'person' than she'd ever wanted to accept, Red Huntress wasn't a hero.

It hurt to admit it.

She wouldn't belong on the Justice League's secret ops team.

"You've already met the other members." Robin picked up on her hesitation, but seemingly misunderstood the source of it.

"No, you see... I'm not..."

'I'm not a hero. I'm just some kid who blamed every single ghost for what a dog did, and tried to get revenge on them all.'

Valerie shook her head to clear it. She wasn't weak, she wouldn't let her doubt stop her from doing what was right.

Even if she wasn't sure of what that was.

Sure, she'd made a mistake. Everybody made mistakes. Phantom's words from last night echoed in her ears.

'Heck, it took me a while to realise it, and I'm a ghost!'

If Phantom could make the mistake of thinking that all ghosts were evil, then it wasn't a hard mistake to make... Though it probably told her a whole lot about Phantom's self-image that she hadn't wanted to know.

She just needed to reverse her usual strategy of 'shooting first, asking questions never'. Make sure the people she was shooting actually deserved it, on an individual basis.

Joining a group of people who already had that habit ingrained in them could help.

Even if Red Huntress wasn't a hero, she could become one.

Maybe it would be her chance for redemption, for what she did and what she almost did.

Valerie nodded to herself, confident with her decision.

"I'll join your Team."

Batman nodded, while Robin started rambling about details they needed to fix – like getting her a designation on the Zeta Tubes.

"Do you know where we can find Phantom?" Batman interrupted his protégé, who didn't seem to mind.

Valerie shook her head. "He just shows up when there's a ghost attack. I don't know where he spends the rest of his time."

"We'll look for him before we leave, but if we don't find him, let him know I want to talk with him the next time you run into him."

"Sure."


They gathered outside of the Tower. Kid Flash was holding the Helmet, looking torn between keeping it and throwing it as far away from himself as he possibly could.

Danny was feeling drained, but mostly unharmed. Dr. Fate had dealt with Klarion, and then released Wally from wearing the Helmet.

"I never got to give Dr. Fate the letter," mumbled Danny to himself as the civilian-dressed sidekicks boarded an almost invisible spaceship.

"Do you need a ride?" Asked M'gann, waking Danny from his musings.

"I guess. I don't even know where we are."

"Salem."

Danny couldn't suppress his whole-bodied shudder. "I was never planning on coming back here."

"Why, what happened?" Kid Flash had that suspicious look in his eyes again, like he was looking for a way to restart their argument.

Who was Danny to deny him that?

"It turns out, people who burn witched on stakes aren't too fond of ghosts either." Danny got on the ship, Massachusetts was a bit too far in his current state of exhaustion.

"You are not a ghost." Kid Flash said it with slightly less conviction than before he'd put on the Helmet of Fate. "Ghost and magic don't exist!"

"Wait, what?" Danny blinked. "Magic has nothing to do with it."

"Huh?"

"Ghosts are a recorded scientific phenomena. I'm an ectoplasmic entity built upon a post-mortem conciousness. It's ecto-biology, not magic." Danny rolled his eyes at the very idea, as the image of his parents drawing magical runes all over their basement popped into his mind.

"Really?" There was hope in Kid Flash's voice, and his previous hostility practically melted away.

"Really."

Kid Flash smiled.

'I am so confused right now.'

Danny was about to question the turn of events when Kid Flash's cell phone rang.

"It's Robin," he informed them after looking at the screen.

A wave of excitement went through the group.

Kid Flash picked up. "Hi."

There was a pause, and everyone except Superboy strained to hear what was said at the other side of the line.

"So that's where you were..."

Danny found himself mimicking the others in inconspicuously leaning closer to the phone. All of them jumped as KF laughed loudly.

"Well, of course you didn't find him. He's been with us the entire day." Kid Flash's eyes darted towards Danny.

Danny got a creeping suspicion they were talking about him.

"I'll tell him." Kid Flash closed the phone. "Batman wants to talk to you."

Danny's first instinct was to run.

After all, he was wanted by the government. Even though that probably wasn't as official as the GIW had made it out to be. (Danny had wondered how he'd ever become public enemy number one when people like Poison Ivy or the Brain existed.) The Justice League worked for the government. Or with the government. Danny wasn't quite sure.

However, Clockwork had sent him there. Clockwork would have known this would happen, it was probably the reason he had sent Danny to begin with.

If there was one being Danny had complete trust in, it was Clockwork.

"Sure, I'd love to meet the Bat... Do you know what he wants?"

Complete trust in Clockwork or not, Batman was intimidating.

Kid Flash just smirked and put a finger over his mouth in a hushing gesture. "If I tell, I'll ruin the surprise."

Danny sent questioning glances towards the rest of the Team.

Superboy looked bored, while M'gann was his opposite and filled with enthusiastic interest. Her eyes practically sparkled.

Aqualad and Artemis shared a look and both leaned back in their seats, obviously having figured out what was going on and perfectly happy to not tell Danny.

Danny fidgeted in his seat.

What if he was misunderstanding Clockwork's intentions? What if Clockwork just wanted him to meet the sidekicks, and then escape? Clockwork did believe in letting Danny learn things the hard way. What if this was another lesson? What if-

'I can't do this.'

The image of Guys in White ambushing him, helped out by his childhood heroes, played on repeat in his head.

'Nope. I'm out.'

Clockwork's letter slipped from his pocket when he stood up, and as he stumbled to catch it he accidentally broke the wax seal.

'Okay, no need to panic. Clockwork can see the future. He would know I wouldn't be able to deliver this to Dr. Fate, and he would know I'd open it. It's probably meant for me to read.'

Feeling slightly guilty for reading a letter that might not be meant for him, Danny opened the envelope.

There was a single paper inside, which he pulled out with only slightly shaking fingers.

Black is the opposite of white.
- CW

Danny frowned at the paper. Of course, it just had to be a riddle. As for what it meant... It was surprisingly straightforward. Batman, the Dark Knight who wore all black, wasn't allied with the Guys in White.

As far as calming riddles went, it was the most efficient one Danny had ever read.


Danny couldn't help but stare as Miss Martian landed the bioship in a secret hangar in mountain. From the outside, the closed door had been practically invisible.

"Welcome to Mount Justice, again." Miss Martian smiled at him.

Danny smiled back, though his smile wasn't nearly as wide as M'gann's.

They left the garage-hangar hybrid and entered the rest of the cave.

When it wasn't under ghost attack, it was surprisingly homely. They walked through a kitchen, which had to be where Technus had gotten that microwave, and entered a dark room filled with holo-screens.

Inside were Batman, Robin, Red Tornado, and to Danny's shock, Valerie.

The Team greeted them, while Danny unintentionally hung back.

"Phantom." Batman turned his full attention towards Danny.

'I can do this. If I can handle mom talking about dissecting ghosts and dad waving guns designed to kill me around during dinner, I can talk to the Batman.'

"Hi?"

"I'd like to offer you a place on this team."

Several thoughts went through Danny's head. None of them formed fully before being discarded for the next, so he settled on asking the big question. "Seriously?"

"Yes." Batman's voice was a perfect deadpan.

Danny blinked. There were a hundred butterflies dancing tango in his stomach.

The Team looked on with poorly concealed interest.

"Sure." Danny smiled. "I'd love to."


AN: Having chapters with consistent length? What is sort of nonsense is that? Yeah, heh. Since I'm making my chapters mostly self-contained "episodes", I won't put any energy into making them all the same length. As you can tell from this chapter being nearly twice as long as the last one.

Reply to coldblue:

1) This isn't a shipping fic. Making Danny and Val get back together would take focus away from what I actually want this fic to be about. I wasn't fond of all the romance in Young Justice canon either.

2) Danny is going to use ectoplasmic shields and bolts a lot, but he does that in canon too.

3) Valerie training under Wildcat is the best idea I've read all year. I was just planning on having her train under Black Canary, but you changed my mind. However, I don't think Val has the patience for detective work, and putting her and the Question in the same room is sure to end horribly. (Unless maybe if it's Montoya as Question. I don't know enough about her personality to say anything regarding that.) Considering how Valerie is a non-powered hero in a DC-verse, she will have to pick up some useful skills, but I'm not making her a bat.

Thanks for your suggestions.