AN: First I wish to apologize for the delay, many things stood in the way before I could finally upload this chapter. The best example would be that I upload today from my hospital bed and I'm currently also not allowed to work more then 30 minutes on a keyboard.
However enough of me ... have fun with the new chapter - as always keep in mind that English is not my native language and should you find any spelling errors or grammar mistakes, please let me know about them in a PM.
Big thanks goes also to my Beta reader: KodiakWolfe13
Disclaimer:
I don't own Danny Phantom or Justice League/Young Justice or any other characters you might recognize.
Chapter 7: Past and future
Every mindscape is different, as they reflect the experience, the memories, hidden desires, dark secrets, the deepest fears and more of said person. Someone could learn a lot from somebody's mindscape, but entering one does not come easily and it's dangerous if unprepared. They had their own set of rules, different laws of physic and sometimes could be extremely violent, lashing out at any uninvited guest or intruder.
Manhunter himself had entered many different mindscapes over the time of his existence. For his two companion's it was a very new experience. To begin, he wanted to go alone, but was quick persuaded by Black Canary and Batman to let them join. Clark had protested, however Bruce was able to convince him, that it would be better if he didn't accompanied them.
So it was only the two humans and J'onn that found themselves in a wasteland filled with nothing but snow. In the far distance sat the ruins of a small town, with half broken skyscrapers and other buildings barely visible for the human eye.
Manhunter remembered that the young man, whose mind they had entered, had told them on his first day he was awake about the planet-wide war that had taken place in his universe. He didn't share much, as it had obviously pained him speaking off it, but revealed, nonetheless, enough for the Leaguers to understand that he had not only lived during that time, but actually was one of the key-figures and had been fighting on the front line. Therefore it came to him with no surprise that it had highly affected his mindscape in this way.
The thing that stood out the most and stirred his concern for this troubled soul was the amount of snow that buried everything around them in a thick layer, sometimes reaching up higher than his head, making it almost impossible to use land marks as orientation points.
"Where are we?" asked Dinah, her eyes darting around taking in her surroundings. While snow piled up on the ground it was surprisingly not cold. Bruce who too had first evaluated their situation, walked a few meters to a piece of debris that hat caught his eye. With a swipe of his hand, he revealed under the white, fluffy coat big red letters, in bold writing they read: Amity Park. The other half was missing and the rough edge was covered in black soot; fist sized holes were littered over the sign indicated an unnatural cause of destruction.
"His home town." Bruce said, answering the question, his voice reflecting the same icy steel he had just uncovered.
"Homely," she rejoiced her voice dripping with sarcasm, "What is with the sky?" Dinah looked at J'onn, as he was the one with the most experience of them.
All three turned their eyes up, taking in the strange mix of green, grey, blue and black that made the firmament over their head. The average colour was grey and blue with twirling black and green spots all over the place. Some were the size of a basketball; others were big enough to swallow a four story house. There was no pattern they could see that would help them to understand what they were seeing.
"I don't now, but it does remind me a little of some places the Time Medallion had shown me, without those purple doors floating around." Manhunter explained with a shrug. "Before we go, I ask you to only use your power if there is absolutely no other option. We don`t know how Daniel`s mind will react," he caught Canary's blue eyes with his own, as she was the only one beside him with superhuman abilities, "He could see us as a threat."
Dinah nodded, it was a good thing then that she didn't rely so much on her gift as many others from the league.
"Let's go then." Addressed Batman his companions, choosing the path with the least rubble in the way as he took the lead.
They had walked almost an hour when Manhunter noticed that the snow covered ruins surrounding them became smaller and there was less space between the piles of rubble. Notifying the others about his observation, Batman replied: "We are getting closer to the centre of the destruction."
The broken skyscraper was still a far distance away, painting a grotesque background.
Canary's blue eyes wandered over the ruined buildings left and right of her, "Whatever it caused, it was strong enough to obliterate anything in its path."
Batman and Manhunter nodded; they had noticed the same.
Another 30 minutes later they walked past the end of a wall the size of a grown man. Behind the ruins of what may have been a school or office building in the past, was now a vast area with nothing blocking the eye for a long distance. The snow here was smooth and plain, drawing the eyes of the three heroes on the one single irregularity.
Just close enough to still see his facial expression, kneeled a human looking Danny. One arm stretched out holding his body up and out of the snow, the other curled around his midsection as to try to keep him from falling apart. His whole body was shaking like a leaf and a cloud of black smoke whirled in an unseen wind around him, like a tornado.
"Daniel!" yelled Black Canary, hoping that the young man would hear.
Surprisingly, the black haired head snapped in their direction. He had heard them, yet the second they locked eyes with him the three knew this would not end so easily.
A screech echoed over them and Manhunter barley managed to project a shield for their protection. Pain clawed on the alien's mind, even with the barrier in place and he struggled to maintain the energy needed to keep it up. The force of the attack was unexpected and while he fought off the assault - that had no point of origin and came from every direction - he could see that Daniel, who also was affected, did not.
The body of the young man had straightened up; he was now kneeling his torso upright, the arms pressed left and right to his side, his head thrown back and he echoed the attack with a painful scream of his own.
The black smoke became more substantial and Manhunter could distinguish several human-shaped bodies forming.
J'onn was unable to remember when he had sunk to his knees during the onslaught. Only when he realized, he also noticed that Daniel was no longer there. It took a moment for his mind to orient himself and to not focus on the ringing in his ears until he felt the presence of his friends. With one arm slung around his back and the other under his arms, Batman carefully helped him back to his own feet.
"What was that?" asked the Dark Knight.
Manhunter shrugged one-sidedly: "A defense mechanic…perhaps…and not a pleasant one." He cringed as the last remnants of the energy slowly crawled down his back.
"He is gone." Announced Dinah. She, too, was shaking, but managed to stand on her own and without help.
"Let's see if we can find anything that may lead us to where he had gone." Bruce held his arm around J'onn until he was sure that the green alien was steady on his own again. As they got closer to the point Danny once had been, a wall made out of see-through, bottle-green glass materialized right before them and their path.
Wary from his previous encounter with the slightly green glowing ice barrier, Manhunter carefully stepped closer. As he hovered his right hand over the smooth looking surface, a movement in the corner of his eyes caught his attention. When the two others noticed it too, all three got into a more defensive position.
On the opposite of the barrier, a figure in black clothing slowly descended from the weird looking sky, a strong white glow surrounding it. As the person came closer, the blinding light dimmed down and the three soon recognized the being before them.
"Daniel." spoke Manhunter first.
White hair shook in a negative motion. The one spoken of had stopped eye level with the three adults, floating over the ground but not touching it.
The alien cocked his head, sharing an equally puzzled looked with the blond singer.
A set of white boots, gloves, belt and collar connected to a midnight black hazmat suit with the DP emblem on the chest.
'This is Daniel in his Phantom form,' Bruce concluded, 'Could it be that Danny's hero persona had split from the human persona?' He questioned himself. 'Then again they were in the mindscape of the young man, therefore it could also be some sort of guardian Manhunter had mentioned previous.'
"Phantom." He voiced his thought and it wasn't a question.
"You should not be here!" stated the figure firmly as his reply.
The three adults noticed that he held the same echo in the voice as the hologram from Clockwork and Danny's nonhuman half. He also didn't object to Batman's outcome.
"What just happened? Where is Danny?" asked Black Canary.
"Why are you here?" countered the white haired boy, eyes wandering from one person to the next, stopping finally at the green humanoid alien.
"We found you unconscious in your room, still as Phantom. Do you know why?"
Weaving his gloved fingers through his starch white hair, the youngest of the four sighed, his exterior slowly crumbling under the situation. Green eyes hidden behind tired eyelids he mumbled: "The past is catching up."
"Please explain." J'onn inquired. They could see Phantom chewing on the bottom of his lips in a nervous habit. The boy was obviously unsure how to answer his question but he had also not outright denied an explanation.
All the while Phantom was struggling against his own insecurities for the courage needed to answer the three powerful adults, two of them founding members of the Justice League. Deep in thought, he didn't even notice when he had stopped hovering in the air and landed on the firm snow that covered the ground.
Stealing a glance into the red eyes of Manhunter, the young half-ghost let out another sigh, having reached a conclusion. His body straightened up and he directed his next words towards the blond: "What have you told them about us?"
Dinah sent him an encouraging smile, or she hoped he would see it was one. "Nothing from our talk, though we did have a few ideas and made an assumption in regards of your second half. That's it."
"She didn't say anything that would explain your current state." Added Batman at the end.
Phantom cocked his head slightly to the right "She didn't?" He measured the blond with his eerie green eyes. A small smile tugged on the corner of his lips, some of the built-up tension leaving and he was visibly more at ease.
Manhunter shook his head. He knew that the question at the end had only been rhetorical, but wanted to support Bruce's statement with this gesture of confirmation anyway.
"Thank you." he gave a nod towards the singer and turned then to Batman and Manhunter, who stood next to him. "What she didn't share was that creatures of my nonhuman half feed on emotion to sustain. Black Canary's biggest concern was that it would hurt the other person, so I'm getting to this point directly. It's non-invasive and the other doesn't feel a thing."
"Then why did you hide it?" questioned Batman.
Scratching the back of his head and neck in the same nervous habit they had seen on the young man before, Phantom looked ashamed. Taking a deep breath he explained: "It can't be just any emotion and in our world most of the creatures from the 'Zone' feed on fear. Usually by inflicting said emotion on the person in the first place."
"Hm," Manhunter examined the new information and the demeanor of the young halfa before them. After a short moment of silence, he glanced at Bruce and both shared a nod. They understood now why Phantom was so reluctant to let other's know. This was definitely something someone else might see as bad. "We see your point. Please continue."
Phantom swallowed the lump in his throat that was threatening to silence him: "Being a halfa distinguished us from the others in this too. While the usual resident of the 'Zone' feeds on emotion, they don't have to live through them." Phantom's shoulders slacked and he looked down at his feet.
"But you do?" inquired Dinah, coming to a deeper understanding of their chat the evening before.
He nodded in confirmation: "That's why we," he pointed at himself, "prefer positive emotion," He carded his gloved hand through his snow coloured hair. Once again, glowing green orbs swayed from the ground to the three and back again, "but happiness is a rare good in the time of war."
Bruce blinked, quickly piecing the information together: "The dark clouds…"
"Despair, hate, anger, sadness… guilt." Phantom confirmed, "Emotion that are easy accessible and in no shortage in a war, especially in the center of the fighting."
After a minute, J'onn broke the silence and asked what the other two also had in mind: "You had to feed on those emotions, back during your war, then why do they attack Danny and you now?"
Phantoms eyes focused on the humanoid alien: "If we had let those emotions distracted us during the war, Dan would have easily overpower us. So despite my own objection Danny used our ice ability's to freeze them, sealing them away in an icy prison."
"Until they broke free, I assume?"
Holding the glare from those red eyes with slowly diminishing confidence, Phantom nodded.
"Then we have to deal with them." Stated Batman firmly.
"No," shaking his head viciously, "No!" he repeated a second time with more force. "They are to strong… I already tried." Rubbing his left arm from joint to shoulder with his right, he attempted to sooth the ache from his last encounter. Scowling, his face twisted into anger about his failure: "They won't release Danny."
"Then we will help you, both halves of you. Lower the barrier." Insisted Black Canary. The other two males expressed their approval with a firm nod, adding their support wordlessly.
"I can't." was the reluctant answer from Phantom.
One hairless eyebrow moved up his forehead, Manhunter looked surprised at the refusal.
"You can't or you won't?" he questioned, feeling there was more.
Phantom ducked his head, caught by the alien. He avoided the icy glares from the three adults, mumbling a quiet "Both."
Crossing his arms over his chest, Bruce ordered quietly but with the full force of Batman's voice: "Explain!"
The young halfa flinched under the harsh tone and winced.
To sooth some of the tension, Dinah added a gentler "Please"
"I… we… have this shield for a reason." His voice barely rose above a whisper.
Before either of the three could ask, a patch on the still visible barrier between them cleared and a man dressed in a blood red suit and a classic black top hat appeared. His face pale and waxy with cruel red eyes full of malicious intent, almost disappearing back into the skull with an oversized beak like nose in the center. In his hand was a tall staff with a red bat on top, two jade green stones as eyes, the wings open, holding over the head a big crystal ball, red mist swirling inside. A voice dripping in malice ordered: "Obey!" and the TV size screen drowned in blood red colour.
"Mind control?" asked J'onn tentatively.
Phantom nodded, still not looking up "We… we almost killed our best friends that day… twice."
Understanding the apprehension of the young man now better, Batman loosened his posture: "That explains your fear of letting us in, but shouldn't you be able to restore the barrier after you have woken up?"
The teenager shook his head in negative, finally raising his eyes to face Batman's glare "No, it was Clockwork," he swiftly glanced at Manhunter, "Who helped us to build it in the first place. He was still teaching us to create and reinforce one that was impervious to any attack, and we… I… won't risk having an unsustainable shield."
"Why?" wanted BC to know.
Underlining his words, Phantom waved his hand through the air, a green fire surrounding it with energy, showing another ability they didn't yet know about. "Our powers are dangerous. We witnessed already one world on the brink of human extinction… twice. Caused by someone with the same abilities as ours. If someone would take control over me… us… who knows what would happen."
"The League would interfere." Argued Batman, but Danny's ghost half shook his head again. The fire on his hand extinguished and he crossed his arms over the chest.
"No… yeah, sure you and the League have enough fire power to take us down in the end, but to what price?" Eyes narrowed, he gave each of them a hard glare. "None of you know how to fight against… against someone like us. You would lose people…permanently and your world is so fragile…every hero you have is needed…to keep the meager order you have managed to achieve. We...," his voice started to falter, losing what little confidence he had started with and the three could see and hear tears in his voice as he spoke, "We… are just… just a mistake… an anomaly… we shouldn't be here…" his words quite down to a whisper, "…and nobody would miss us anyways."
"So you have decided to just give up and to throw away the gift your mentor has granted you in his last moments of existence?" snapped Manhunter at the young man, going so far to take another step closer to the barrier between them.
As if he had taken a hit into his gut, Phantom staggered back, not having expected the harsh words from the usual so calm humanoid green alien.
"I do understand your situation, far better than most. Believe me." Manhunter added in a softer voice. "But your reason to sacrifice yourself, and in coherence Daniel, is just an excuse and an easy way out of a quandary. What you need is trust: trust in us," he waved his arm over the other two, "in me," he pointed at himself, "We… I… will help you. If you place your trust in me, I promise I will protect your mind and teach you to do so by yourself."
A tremor rippled through the green barrier, although it didn't yield.
"What will the rest of the League say…? They have not yet stood judgment over us and I will not see you getting in trouble for helping us." His voice trembled with apprehension, a copy to the still upstanding shield.
A small and refreshing chuckle passed over Manhunters's lips. "If I didn't know your concern for my person in the eyes of my friends, I still would offer my help… as I do know, I would prefer to offer you what your previous mentor had, a guardian and apprenticeship."
Phantom starred into Manhunters's red eyes, searching for any ill intend or a lie hidden in the 'Too good to be true' offer. He didn't find any. Moving his gaze towards the blond, he couldn't find any deception there either. The discovery overwhelmed him. For the first time, he could remember there where adults that wanted to help him with no other motive or reason than the will to help. Sure he had had his family, actually more he had had Jazz, however, she could never fully relate to his situation. Nobody could back in his world. The only one even coming close to his situation and daily struggle had been Vlad and he, for all intended purposes, had been a bastard, using his powers for selfish reasons and always mocking him for using the powers for helping others.
Yet, the three before him were heroes, not only for one small unimportant town in the middle of nowhere, but actually working together with dozens of other heroes to protect their whole world and beyond. And they were not all humans either.
He still didn't know how they would react to the fact that he was in fact half-ghost. Nevertheless, they did risk coming into their mind to save both halves of them.
Phantom wanted to trust, craved the feeling to have someone that was there for him… for them, for their support, someone to look up to and releasing him of the sorrow and weight of the world on his shoulders that was placed there when Dan had declared war against the human race.
Phantom closed his eyes, hiding away the fear over the 'what if's' and decided to do the leap of faith and placing his trust in the hands of the humanoid alien. He could physically feel the weight of his shoulders lifting and it unbalanced him enough that his knees buckled and gave away. Simultaneously, the green barrier finally disappeared.
Suddenly, the three seasoned heroes were hit by a strong gush of wind, making them almost lose their footings as they rushed forward to the boy on the ground. Manhunter was the first, catching him as he swayed while sitting on his heels.
"Phantom?" asked Manhunter, a miniature amount of fear in his voice, showing his concern towards the young teen in his arms, he began to care in an alarming short amount of time.
Two otherworldly green orbs opened and looked up into the red ones of the man holding him. A shy smile appeared on a face that virtually had forgotten the display of emotion. "Thank you."
"Phantom, are you okay?" inquired Dinah, her voice was laced with worry.
The white haired head moved to the side catching her eyes: "No," he closed his eyes shaking his head slightly, "but we will be; give me a moment."
Taking in a deep breath, the blond watched in wonder how the tattered suit Phantom was wearing, that they could now see more closely, slowly mended itself.
While Bruce observed their surroundings, he noticed the swirling lights all over the sky calming down, mirroring the emotion of the boy.
After a long minute Phantom righted himself and, with a helping hand, stood again on his own two feet. "Thanks," he repeated holding onto Manhunter's arm for a moment longer, before he turned to face the other two as well.
Batman examined the halfa, taking in every small movement and only when he was sure he was okay, he asked "Do you know where Danny is?"
"I have a good idea," he replied, "when I'm close enough, I will be able to feel him."
"Good."
Red eyes caught green once again and Manhunter spoke with sincerity: "Once this is over, we need to have a long talk. No more secrets!"
Phantom cringed for a second on that thought then sighed and accepted the order. "No more secrets." He confirmed reluctant.
A hand was placed on his shoulders and when the teen followed the appendage he saw Batman, eyes blocked by the mask but he could feel the candour of the hero: "We do have a good guess on your half, and I want to assure you that it doesn't matter what you are. It takes both halves of you to make the person you have come to be."
Blinking confused, Phantom held Batman's empty gaze. A silent moment passed. "I… don't know what to say." He confessed.
Dinah chuckled, "That is as much of an apology you might get from Bat."
Manhunter, too, smiled at the teen, "An appropriate answer to that would be 'Thank you'."
Blushing a nice shade of red, Phantom nodded and stammered his gratitude.
The Dark Knight squeezed his shoulders for a brief moment then let his arm fall back to his side.
"You said you know where Danny has been taken?" asked Dinah looking at the ghost half expectedly.
He nodded, "The portal."
"Portal?" parroted the blond.
"It's were we had our accident," he pointed south, "That way."
"I think I saw that in the memories of the time medallion," said Manhunter, surprising the others. "A big round opening built with the same white grey metal as the thermos?"
"Yes," confirmed Phantom, shaking of the last remnants from his shock and walked on, the three adults following close. "Maddie and Jack, our parents, built the portal in the basement of our house when we were 14."
The group was on their way, walking over snow covered ground while Phantom explained in detail what had happened that faithful day years ago when they first entered the portal as a human and exited it as a hybrid, still avoiding any mention of ghosts, having decided that he wanted to be awake and whole for that.
"So you weren't born a hybrid." Stated Black Canary when he finished, connecting this piece of information with Phantom's previous mention that he had no need to feed 'that way' before the war.
"No," confirmed the young man in their midst.
"You know that amount of energy should have killed you." Added Batman, hoping to ease Phantom into talking about his possible 'half-dead' status he and the others guessed him to be.
"We are aware of this." He replied stiffly, his shoulders tense. He had swallow away another lump building in his throat.
"Can I ask you something?" inquired Dinah, breaking the silence between them.
Guiding the three adults through the remains of Amity Park, Phantom glanced at Dinah for a brief moment. "Sure."
"Why are you avoiding Superman?" She wanted to know.
The teen stopped in his step for a second then walked on again, a look of embarrassment on his face. "I… he," Phantom sighed. "It's nothing personal." He carted his gloved hand through his white and unruly hair.
"… but?" probed Batman, stepping over a bigger piece of debris in his path.
"Superman is not from earth, right?" asked the teen, voicing his question at none particular of the three.
The adults shared a surprised look.
"What makes you think that?" replied Manhunter the question with a question, trying to follow the thoughts of his new charge.
Phantom shrugged, "Unlike other humans, he doesn't emit emotion but excess energy: solar energy. My guess is, he got his powers from the sun."
The three were shocked to silence. It wasn't a widely known fact that Superman relied on the yellow sun to charge his abilities and the three were sure there had been nothing about this fact in the information they had provided him during his stay.
As none of the others replied, Phantom continued "As Danny said, on our first day on the Watchtower, we have an ice-core and Superman is radiating solar energy." A chuckle escaped his lips. "I think on the first day in the infirmary we got a tan just by him standing next to us."
Dinah smiled. She had guessed right then. However, this would also mean it wasn't something they could easily overcome. "Is there something we can do to help?"
"No," was Phantom answer, "We will just have to adjust. Blocking out certain emotions to not be overwhelmed is nothing new to us. We only have to adjust to the energy he emits." He further explained. "We are here." He added to his last words, before another question was asked, waving at a building in front of them.
The two top floors were gone and only some metal framing indicated the previous existence to the three adults. A huge sign, whose top half was no longer attached and somewhere on the ground buried between all the other debris, hung on the last two hinges, showing the past four letters of a name '...nton'.
"Your home?"
"More what is left from it." Mumbled Phantom over his shoulder at Batman.
Dinah let her eyes scanning the rubble "How do we get in there?" Dangerous inclining brick walls were the only thing left at the base of the house and she was unsure if they could make a passage into the ruins. There was also the justified question if the basement was still intact under all the weight and had not already caved in.
"There is a tunnel in the back of the building to give the spec… ah, hovercraft our parents had built access. However I could phase all of us inside, though that would ruin the surprise moment."
Thinking over the different options available, Bruce covered his chin and mouth with his left hand, pondering over a variable of possible strategies in his brilliant mind. "You are sure that your human half is in there?"
Phantom nodded his eyes not leaving the sight in front of him, pain and despair gleaming in his green eyes.
"Phantom do you think, with the similarity to your intangibility, that Manhunter's density shift would work, or could it cause any negative reaction if used?"
Otherworldly eyes assessed the humanoid alien. "No it should work. Me accepting you as guardian will allow you to use most of your powers, possibly all off them."
"Okay, that is what we will do…"
Grey steel panels covered the four walls of the oblong basement. A coat of white plastic topped the ceiling while the floor was built with greenish-grey tiles. Two lights, one on each end of the room, created just enough light to see, as well as produce eerie shadows along the corners.
In the center of the far off wall was a huge metal ring with many different modules and consoles attached left and right from it. No power supplied the contraption so you could see a narrow tunnel behind the opening, the end lost in the darkness.
A faint voice whimpered a quite: "Sorry" over and over again, like a track stuck on repeat. Words spoken in hatred, only he could hear, cycled around Danny's prone form, kneeling at the ground, both hands firmly placed over the ears and eyes pressed shut.
Dark shadowy wisps surrounded the teen, moving in and out of the invisible ring, however never touching their victim, causing pain with their words alone.
Fading out of his invisibility, Phantom unexpectedly popped up in the room, holding in each hand a green glowing orb in the size of a fist. He shot the two projectiles at the nearest shadows back, dissolving the wisps by impact.
The others turned around, holing their activities for a moment.
"Missed me?" taunted the ghost teen, recharging the energy in his hands.
The humanoid shadows stilled in their ever swaying movement for a moment before they started to tremble. The shaking increased until each figure split in half, multiplying their numbers by two.
'Oh crap' thought the ghostly teen, letting go of his ecto-blasts as they recharged, focusing the attention on him and reducing their numbers to two less.
In a creepy, sliding move, three quarters of the shadows advanced on the halfa. Only a handful stayed back, guarding their captive and continuing on with their verbal torture.
Phantom slowly retreated, "Let Danny go!" he ordered, knowing that his command would fall on deaf ears. He growled, his own fear raising for each step the black smoke humanoids came closer. He threw more energy blasts at them, only to see them getting deflected. Anticipating their next move, he summoned a barrier to protect him while white balls of energy barreled down on him.
When the attack finally stopped, Phantom stood with his back pressed to the far end wall panting, his shoulders and arms shaking from the struggle to maintain the shield.
Before they could attack again, the white haired teen threw a blade-like construct built from green ecto-energy at them cutting a group of his attackers in half and disintegrating them into nothing, leaving a visible dent in their superior number.
"Come and get me, assholes!" he shouted at them before tapping into his intangibility and shooting at high speed through the ceiling.
His shadowy adversaries followed swiftly, leaving Phantom's human half with only a spare number of guards behind.
Suddenly, a metal panel from the wall near the portal swayed on its loosened joints before crashing down in an ear-piercing bang. The remaining shadows turned towards the sound. Simultaneously, a figure shifted back to the visible spectrum on the other end of the room, charging several energy strikes with both hands. Manhunter released them the second he felt they were strong enough. His aim was accurate and the few guards dissolved into nothing. One moment later, Batman and Black Canary slid down the steep tunnel both landing gracefully on their feet.
Two more shadows appeared behind the group. A batarang coated in a thin layer of green ectoplasm, thanks to Phantom, impaled each chest and they too, dissolved.
With them out of the way, Canary rushed to the prone teen. "Danny? Danny can you hear me?" she asked, slowly closing the final few steps between them, placing her warm hands on his trembling shoulders.
He flinched back from the contact, continuing to mumble his mantra, pressing his eyes firmly shut and blocking any sound with his hands over the ears.
The two men stood guard to any reappearing shadow, while keeping half an eye on the sorrow scene between them.
Dinah knew she had to somehow break through his mantra to help the boy. With gentle force, she carefully pried Danny's hands from his ears and with a soft voice she whispered: "Danny, please open your eyes. You are safe with friends. Those shadows are gone now." She repeated her words twice before there was any reaction that he had heard her.
Voice soft like a whisper in the trees, he asked: "Gone?" The trembling in his frightened body subsided.
"Yes." Dinah answered, adding as much confidence as she could in the single word.
Shaking his head in denial, as much as her hands on either side allowed, Danny cried "No… no, it can't… I… deserve… my… my fault… punishment."
"No, it was not your fault!" exclaimed Manhunter, catching the young boy off guard as he spoke to his left.
Arctic blue eyes snapped open and looked for the first time at his surroundings. He tried to jump back, startled at the closeness of the three heroes, but Black Canary's hand held him in place. His breathing hitched, his eyes grew incredibly wide. His chest constricted in fear. He was on the brink of a panic attack when he felt the hold on him loosen, giving him back the freedom to move away.
A soothing voice slowly worked through the angst, "… calm down… breathe… we are here to help you… calm yourself."
Dinah noticed the change in Danny's eyes when he finally paid attention to her words. She smiled reassuring, "That's right, now breathe." The blond took a deep breath, prompting him with a gesture of her hand to copy.
Focusing only on her and the breathing, Danny could feel the panic and angst slowly dripping away, leaving a troubled yet clear mind.
"What are you doing here?" he inquired, still sitting on the ground, giving each adult a quick but curious glare.
Before anybody could reply, something or, to be correct, someone crash-landed in the far end corner of the room.
J'onn had immediately an energy strike in his hand and Batman was holding his recovered batarangs, ready to throw it at the intruder. Luckily, it wasn't necessary and the three recognized the heap of a body as their guide and Danny's other half, Phantom.
Manhunter dissipated his attack and quickly moved over to the prone figure, calling out at him, "Phantom." Only an inarticulate moan replied.
Batman stayed back, keeping up the guard for the other two still sitting on the ground.
The second the green skinned alien reached the young ghost, Phantom slowly uncurled himself, hissing quietly as the movement aggravated unseen injuries. "Next time I have the brilliant idea to play chicken with a bunch of shadows out for my hide, just shoot me."
"Noted." Replied Manhunter in his casual tone, startling the halfa enough that he cracked open his eyes to look at him to check if he had understand that he meant to be sarcastic.
"Phantom?" asked Danny, his voice trembling like his body, fear and confusion in his eyes, as he looked at the ghostly teen. Arctic blue met otherworldly green. "You…we…shouldn't…can't be…what about…" Danny stammered, almost hysterical, his breathing erratic.
Phantom scrambled to his feet, thanks to Manhunter helping hand. "It's okay Danny. It isn't like that." He replied cryptic.
The three adults shared a confused look, not yet understanding the hidden message that the two teens shared between each other.
"I had to take over, this is only temporary, you would have died…when we lost control over our cryokinesis… you remember Undergrowth and Frostbite."
Black hair followed the nodding movement of the human Danny, still wary about the personified ghost half in front of him.
"We might be separated at the moment, but I do not intent to stay that way," Phantom reassured with a smile.
"Dan?" uttered Danny voiceless, cautious of the others who could hear their talk.
"It takes a lot more and we promised. Do you remember?"
Danny bowed his head, the memory lifted a lot of his worries about his separate ghost half.
"We should go, as long as those shadows are still absent." Advised Batman, looking reprehending at the two boys.
"What will happen when we wake up?" asked the black haired teen, new fear pooling in his stomach.
"We will have a long talk." Manhunter stated.
Seeing Phantom agreeing surprised Danny and he stared at them for a moment. "Anything I should know?" Danny decided that seeing Phantom repeating his own nervous habit of scratching his neck was really weird. He barely could hear him mumble: "You will know when we wake up."
"How do we get out?" inquired Dinah, looking from Danny's human half next to her to Danny's ghost half next to Manhunter.
"The way everything started for us." Explained Phantom pointing at the open portal behind them.
Danny audible swallowed, sharing a meaning full look with his ghost half: "This is going to hurt right?"
"What? Why?" interjected the blond heroine.
Phantom nodded at Danny and Dinah, "We have to be one again to," he suddenly stopped his head turned towards a sound only audible for his keen senses, "No more time to explain, Danny," The human teen looked at his counterpart, waiting. "Set the dials on the right, I will take the left." The one that was spoken to confirmed the order and rose to his feet, each teen moving to their appointed task.
Manhunter followed Phantom, while Dinah stayed close by Danny, ready to offer support if necessary.
"Is there anything we can do to assist you?"
"No," replied both in sync when J'onn asked.
"After the portal is stable, you have to pass it as soon as possible. I don't know how long it will stay open once we wake up." Explained Phantom to the three adults, turning a red switch to the highest point.
Blue eyes wandered from one half to the other. Dinah asked "What about you two?"
They had all gathered before the metal contraption. Each of them now felt dread rising like a constant stream of water out of a flood gate. The shadows had almost reached them.
"I'm done." announced Danny, taking his place next to Phantom who was also ready.
"Then let's do it." Said the other, offering his hand towards his human half, who only slightly hesitated before he took the offered appendage. Not waiting any longer, both halves ghost and human walked into the tube.
A shout at the front told them they had run out of time. The shadows had arrived. Danny and Phantom launched forward and closed the last few steps and pressed with their combined hand the 'ON' switch on the inside of the wall. Green light swallowed them while all their nerves lit on fire as the power ran through them once again, merging a human half with his ghost half.
It was an experience Danny, now whole again, could have lived without repeating. When the pain finally stopped, he slowly became aware of his surroundings again and the voices calling his name and the names of Batman, Black Canary and Manhunter. Suddenly, someone lifted his eye and a painful, bright light was directed at his eyes, dazzling his sight.
Startled by the close proximity of whoever was holding that cursed light, Danny reacted on reflex and shoved the arm away while rolling his body in the one direction he could not sense anyone standing.
What he didn't expected was that he was placed on a table so he landed on the hard floor with a huff, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Pushing the pain to the side, he scrambled to his feet. In a fraction of a second, he had assessed his surroundings, finding too many people for his liking in the small room he was in and he bolted.
He was halfway through the wall as he heard someone shouting, "Phantom!"
The voice had a certain edge to it that made Danny freeze in his movement.
"Come back inside. Nobody here will hurt you."
Slowly the halfa turned around and back into his quarter, only to see Manhunter's red eyes glaring at him. Glowing green orbs wandered over all the different heroes and the team of doctors, one of whom were sitting on the ground, nursing his arm.
"I…" Danny stammered, the echo to his voice couldn't hide the fear that was present in the one vocal he managed to say.
"It's okay. We are here to help, so please let them check if everything is in order."
He was shaking his head with force, denying the request, when he was once more interrupted from the green humanoid alien: "No more secrets, remember?"
Danny sighed, "Yes."
Energy that had been rushing through his ghostly body was wearing off and he was ready to break down again, but he couldn't with so many people surrounding him. Pleading with his eyes he looked at his new guarding, "Can… can we… take it slow, please?" His secrets were the only thing in the past that had kept him safe. Laying everything out at once open frightened him more than he was ready to admit.
The hard glare from those red eyes dimmed down and became substantially softer. "Let them examine you and when they give their okay, we talk. Only you and me."
His words were still an order, but missing the sharp edge they had before.
"And me," added Batman simultaneously as Black Canary.
Sliding down the wall behind him, Danny took comfort of the protection it represented in his mind, eyes still wary and frightened he looked at those three, finally accepting defeat he whispered "…O… Okay…"
AN: And we are done with my longest chapter yet, I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter will take a while but I promise to never abandon this story.
