I don't own Danny Phantom or Young justice.

(Oh yeah, in this story, Danny's family and friends are not dead, they don't die after TUE, eveything is basically the same till D-stabilized with only little changes, so Dan Phantom did not murder everyone. Just wanted to make that clear.)

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Unfair Justice

Chapter Two

The prisoner


A boy.

A teen.

A human being.

That was the secret content of the black unit marked 'Project Dp'. This boy was the precious cargo of the truck 'John Matthews' died driving. It was almost a cruel irony of fate, that the cargo container was so unscathed while its content lay in such a detrimental state.

It only would take a second for the analytical eye to know the teen's hair must have been a very light color —maybe light blonde or gray— but at the moment it seemed to be covered in dark stains that looked almost green (thought, it could be the lights effect). There was an oxygen type of mask covering the boy's mouth and nose, leaving only the upper part of his face visible. As the heroes looked closer they could see that his expression seemed lax, at easy, as if sleeping, and had he not being completely immobilized, the team would have thought he was in peaceful dreams. But, one look at his form was enough to know the boy must have been as far from that kind of unconscious release as one could get.

Heavy bindings held both arms and legs, forcing this person's torso to hang limply from his shoulders in a very uncomfortable way. His head leaned like dead weight to the front of his body till the point it looked painful. His chest was covered in tight bandages that were stained with the same substance that his hair seemed to be covered in, and they appeared to constrict the boy's chest every time he breathed forcing each breath to be shorter and faster than a sleeping person's normally should. The only clothing the teen was wearing was a pair of worn out black trousers and the remains of what should have been a white belt. But the part of the whole picture that made the team really uncomfortable were the multiple tubes that were inserted into the teen's body. Thin tubes were placed in his chest, neck and arms, each pumping a glowing green solution into his system.

"This… is terrible," said Kaldur in a small voice, unable to hide the disbelief and sadness he felt towards that damaged human being. The boy couldn't have been a day more than sixteen years, around the age of some of his friends, and younger than himself. What could that creature have done to deserve such treatment and from fellow human beings?

"Rob…" the nervous edge on Kid Flashes voice made his friend turned to him. "What are those things?" he asked as he pointed to the tubes. The green substance illuminated the teen's skin with a soft glow almost the same shade as the lights around the place did.

"I-I'm not really sure. The data in here only says that it must be kept on till they reach their destiny but there is no description at all."

"I don't understand… why place a teen in such level of restrain?" asked Kaldur, still not believing the amount of security surrounding that boy.

"Perhaps he is a Meta?" offered KF unnerved by the tubes in the teen's body. Unconsciously, his hands began rubbing his arms; whether it was out of cold or the ghostly sensation of things prickling at his skin, he was not sure.

"Meta-human, Alien, or normal human, doesn't matter. No one deserves to be treated as an experiment. Period." Superboy's voice dripped with bitterness. Everyone knew this was bringing up bad memories for their friend. For the young clone's sake they really should leave that place as soon as possible.

Aqualad decided to take action and turned to his youngest friend.

"Robin, can you release him?"

The boy wonder typed a few codes on his holographic screen before sighing dejectedly.

"I'm afraid I can't." he confessed with a frown bringing everyone to a halt.

"What?! Why?!" demanded Superboy.

"It's the system," he groaned in disappointment. "Whoever made this thing programmed the unit to forbid any access to the locking systems till someone waiting in their destination integrated the other half of the program into the mainframe. Obviously, a measure to avoid any stranger from simply taking him away. Whoever this guy is, they couldn't risk letting him go." He explained as he watched the prisoner's tranquil expression. "I can't complete the program with my portable, it's got great protection, too complex to deal with it here… perhaps back at the mount…"

"No need!" exclaimed Superboy walking towards the 'sleeping' teen.

"H-hey! Super! What do you think you're doing?!" Robin asked turning to his friend with a worried frown.

"What does it seem I'm doing?" said the angry kryptonian cracking his knuckles. "I'm getting him out of there!"

"No!" exclaimed the boy wonder turning to his other friends. "Stop him!"

Noticing the note of anxiousness on their friend's voice, Aqualad and Kid Flash acted quickly on restraining Superboy before he could punch the machine. The clone struggled in frustration, knowing that he could easily push his friends away, but knowing he could hurt them accidently in the process since both seemed to be decided on not to letting him go. That's why he turned to the boy wonder —after all, he asked to stop him— and demanded: "Why not?!" stopping his struggle only to hear the younger teen's explanation.

Robin quickly unplugged his computer and calmly walked to Conner. He was aware that his friend was being over emotional, but understood that it was his right to feel that way. Yet, he was also aware that the situation demanded that they acted with extreme care so they avoid doing something they might end up regretting later.

"Please Super, try to watch the situation a little closer," he asked while walking to the prisoner's figure. "He is not in the same condition you were in."

Superboy looked at Robin, then at the teen and straightened himself a little allowing his comrades to know he was listening.

"Look, when we let you out of that tube, we knew you were fully formed and ready to take on the world —physically speaking. I saw your data, you needed nothing to survive outside of that unit. But we know nothing about him," he pointed to the tubes embedded on the boy's body. "How do we know that this substance is not something he needs to survive?" his expression begging his friend to understand the severity of what he was trying to explain. "What if when you break his biddings, you also deprive him from something vital? You could end up accidently killing him!"

Supperboy's eyes widened. He hadn't taken any of those things into consideration. Lowering his head, he nodded to his other friends letting them know it was safe for them to let go of him. The other two backed from him as he thought about what he was told. He could have done more damage to the boy out of his wish to help. But he truly wanted to… no, he NEEDED to help! Perhaps, a part of him wanted to make up for not having been able to save his 'brother' or perhaps he was just truly disturbed, whatever the case, he felt the imperative need to do something!

"Then… what should we do?" he asked, softly begging for an answer. He knew this team had saved him when he needed them the most, they could do that now. And now, he was part of that team, he would make sure to get that teen out of there with his teammates.

"Just… give me a few minutes, I'll try to see if there's something more around here, any info might be of help, then we'll be able to work from there," said Robin offering a comforting smile, trying to convey some self confidence on his plan. Unable to come with a better idea, Superboy simply nodded and dedicated himself to watch the unconscious boy's figure while the sound of Robin's tinkering filled the cold air of the cargo unit.

Distracting his mind from thinking of his inability to help, the kryptonian allowed his enhanced sight to roam over the teen's sleeping figure, and he couldn't help but grimace at what he saw. There was not a single patch of pale skin that wasn't covered in scar tissue, some clearer than others, some almost completely faded, and some painfully new. Suddenly, a disgusting idea came to his mind, the sick notion that somebody hated this boy so much, they wanted to make sure that he will never be able to look anywhere in his own body without remembering the person that hurt him. He felt sick. How dare they?! Regardless of whom they were, or what that boy may have done!

Treating a… human…?

It was in that moment of doubt about this teenager's species that his enhanced hearing detected something, or more like, the lack of something that should have been present all along. A heartbeat. His eyes widened in realization as he placed all his effort on not simply running to the teen and break him free. His mind raced a mile per hour. Had this boy's heart stopped while he was wondering about what to do? Had he died being Conner only a few feet from him? But…

No…

Now that he thought about it, he didn't hear a single heartbeat from outside of the box. Had he heard anything, he would have launched himself to save whoever was trapped inside; but there was no heartbeat, none from the start. And yet, this creature was breathing, he was breathing into his cold gray mask, his chest moving with difficulty against the bandages. He was alive… alive without a working heart.

Superboy closed his eyes and focused only on the sound of the hearts surrounding him.

For a second, he could only hear the beat of his own heart. He was a clone, somebody's copy. And yet, being an artificially created being, his heart beat. And strongly too. His friends' heartbeats soon joined the sound of his own as he listened closely. His human friend, his Meta-human friend and his Atlantean friend. Four hearts beating, from four different creatures, and yet this being in front of him, lacked such an essential sound, such a vital sound! Yet… he was alive…

How?

The sudden sensation of multiple eyes gazing towards him forced him out of his reverie.

"Superboy?" asked his atlantean friend, a heart beating with the echo of waves, gentle, but strong. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah dude… you look a little pale," said his meta friend, a heart fluttering in permanent race.

"Um? Super? You seem spacey… you ok?" asked his human friend, a heart beating at a common pace, patient but as strong as any of the others.

"A heartbeat…" he said clenching his fist in frustration.

His friends looked at each other in silent confusion.

"I can't hear it," he observed the relaxed expression on the prisoner's face before continuing. "His heart, it does not beat."

Eyes widening in alarm, the other heroes moved to the trapped teen, wondering if they had acted too slowly. Superboy soon corrected them.

"It hadn't, not since the beginning… Remember?" he turned to the confused atlantean. "There were no heartbeats."

Kaldur's eyes widened with realization. No survivors. That's what they had thought before entering the cargo box. But the boy inside… he was breathing, he was…

Robin extended a pair of gloved fingers to the teen's limp head and delicately placed them on his neck searching for pulse. The moment he placed them on the skin, he almost recoiled at the cold that seemed to zip all through his protective gloves to his fingertips. KF noticed his slight flinch and asked if everything was ok.

"It's just… he's really cold…" It took the boy wonder, focused on the task at hand once more and a few seconds later he turned again to his friends with a surprised expression. "You're right. No heartbeat."

With a flustered frown, the speedster asked his friend.

"Then… is-is he… you know… dead?"

The young hero shook his head.

"Wouldn't make sense," he commented almost casually. "Well he is 'deadly cold' and his heart does not beat… But, his breathing pattern doesn't seem to imply that something is pushing air into his body, so he is naturally breathing, so he requires oxygen, therefore he must be alive… right?"

And so, KF asked the question everyone was asking themselves at that precise moment.

"How…?" he almost whispered, face close to panic. "How can someone be alive without a working heart?!"

And as the silence became an awkward one, everyone knew that logic had officially jumped out the window for their speedster friend.

But how could they know the answer to that? It was a puzzle, one worth of a sphinx trial.

"Maybe…" ventured the boy wonder only to receive a severe scowl from his best friend.

"I swear Rob, if you even say something close to 'Zombie' I'll punch you."

Robin raised his hands in a peaceful sign offering a sheepish smile.

"I wasn't going to say 'Zombie' but, how about 'scientific experimentation'? Perhaps those tubes have something to do with that. Whatever the case, I guess this means we really shouldn't take the risk of taking them off till we have a better understanding of the situation."

Patting the still nervous looking Kid Flash —whose left eye seemed to twitch occasionally— on the shoulder, Kaldur nodded to his young teammate.

"Agreed. It's best not to jeopardize this being's life any longer. We should take him back to Mount Justice, there we can call the League and inform them of the situation. We shouldn't risk allowing somebody to retrieve the truck's passenger while we go back."

Robin nodded in agreement, but soon KF(eye twitching once more) looked at their leader with doubt.

"Um… not to spoil the plan and all… but how are we supposed to take this thing back to MT. Justice?"

"Maybe…" Conner's voice came making them turn towards him, he had been thinking quietly for a while. "If we detach the base of the cargo box from the truck… maybe Megan's bioship could carry it back home?"

It wasn't completely fool proof, but it sounded like a plan.

"It could work," Aqualad began walking towards the cargo's door. "Let's get out and call her. We can start working on detaching it after she agrees."

"Hope the girls don't mind the interruption," wondered the Robin, placing his hands on the back of his head.

"Doubt it," said Superboy, walking to the door as well.

"Yeah… let's leave… this place is giving me the creeps!" whined Wally.

And as the friends walked through the door after Robin gave the command for it to open, as they left sharing a small conversation amongst friends, the young heroes failed to notice the slight twitch in the trapped teen's eyes as the sound of leaving footsteps slowly disappear, leaving behind his damaged form in the now dark cargo box; and they failed to see the deep frown that marred his expression, before his body was once more forced into the submission of a dreamless sleep.


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Thanks for reading! And Thanks to Sazdx who gave this the ok in order to update it!

See you next week!

R&R