Heroes

Space Adventure: Part II

Summary- In which Danny learns that there really is no one quite like him


Sneaking around was easy for a ghost but sneaking around while visible and next to one of the largest, manliest men in the galaxy, was not. Lobo was anything but inconspicuous and Danny was beginning to realise that he was a pretty known figure in the wide galaxy. A few aliens after witnessing him decided to run in the opposite direction. Despite these problems Danny knew he needed Lobo. The pasty white alien knew his way around War World. Beyond that Danny knew he was a good judge of power and Lobo seemed the kind that had power in spades. It also didn't help knowing that the man was actually immortal, as in even mortal wounds could not kill him. He didn't have the energy or will to make enemies with someone like that.

"You have no clearance here," one of the trembling guards said, literally shaking in his boots under Lobo's haughty smirk.

One large hand went on the alien's head. "Move aside," Lobo grunted which was apparently enough to scare the living hell out of the now compliant guards.

"You know I can just make us invisible right," Danny pointed out.

"Where's the fun in that? I can't squish any heads," Lobo replied in all seriousness.

"… Please don't squish any heads while I'm here," Danny sighed.

The teen huffed as he crossed his arms. Lobo was certainly a demanding partner. He hadn't gotten to make any decisions since he met the Space Biker. He was currently hanging from the jacket in the man's grip. If it weren't for the fact that he was a glowing beacon of attention, and that he needed someone to direct him (and also possibly protect him from Mongol), he would have ditched Lobo by now.

"Do you even know the way?" he asked.

"Of course I do. I was a gladiator for a while"

"I'm guessing by choice"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Finally the winding hallways, pristine and bright in nature turned an eerie red, the corridors now widening and yet remaining darker than ever. A chill ran up Danny's spine. There were chortles of laughter, distant cries of mercy, continuous mad mumbling, and roars of anger echoing through the chambers.

"You know this is the part of the movie where we run the other way," Danny said, voice slightly quivering with nervous laughter.

"It's not so bad"

Danny was about to object when the final door slid open. He had expected mad gladiators to pool at them with crazed bloodthirsty vigour… but this- this was unexpected. Burly men and women, all exuding a sort of danger in their stance was lounging around, arm-wrestling, drinking and some even playing alien chess. The sounds echoing behind the door now seemed a whole lot less ominous and a whole lot more normal.

"What, were you expecting cages?" Lobo laughed as he finally dropped the boy.

"I mean… yeah? Aren't they gladiators?"

Before his question could be answered a large rock like alien came and fist-bumped Lobo. Danny cocked a brow in confusion as he witnessed the two large alien men act like long term buddies.

"You aren't supposed to be here. Mongol gets mad," the alien pointed out.

"Yeah well he can suck my dick," Lobo grunted. "I've come to talk to Plasmatus or something."

"Plasmius," the alien corrected. "He's the current champion so the bastard gets to enjoy the spoils."

Danny was thrust forward by Lobo's large pats to his back. He grunted his annoyance but otherwise let himself be led by the alien Biker. He walked through the sea of gladiators raving and having a general party until they reached a large door. It was ornate with reds, purples and golds with what ended up looking like a giant Spartan helmet. It was swiftly pried open by Lobo. The first thing Danny noticed was the large walls, the rather quiet nature of this room, and the obviously well-furnished nature of it all. Animal skins lay strewn across the floor, something he knew Sam would no doubt seethe at. Various amalgams of alien ornaments lay around, strung from the ceiling, atop pedestals and hammered into the walls. Lobo parted a red curtain and Danny followed him in.

Atop a pile of satin pillows and silk red sheets sat the man he was looking for. Danny simply gaped at Vlad in confusion. In his head he had replayed all the worst possible scenarios he was fretting about before he came, but now he was feeling stupid for feeling guilty. Vlad looked happier and healthier than he had ever seen before, and the man was surrounded by half naked laughing alien girls. Any other situation and Danny might have felt a little jealous, but right now he was finding himself used to the feeling of bafflement.

"Vlad, what the heck?" he stuttered, unsure of where to go with the conversation starter.

"Daniel, must you ruin my day even when I'm on the other side of the galaxy?"

"Ruin your day? You know how worried I was?! I thought you were dead, or enslaved, or had your arm chopped of in a battle!"

This time it was Lobo who looked perplexed. "Am I interrupting something here?"

"Yes!" both halfas shouted at the same time.

"I'll just go get a drink," Lobo replied before he smirked and silently whispered to himself, "This looks like entertainment."

Danny turned back to Vlad. "You make no sense Vlad! Let's go back to Earth."

"Now tell me why I would go back?" he growled.

"T-This… you're a gladiator. Vlad they enslaved you! How can you not want to go back?!"

"Firstly my businesses have no doubt gone to my shareholders now that my identity was revealed, secondly there's no one there for me, especially now that Maddie is lost to me, and thirdly… well I've got everything I want here; fame, recognition, power, women! Do you want any more reasons Daniel?" he spat.

If there was any way this situation could have played out, Danny was not expecting it to play out this way. Vlad actually wanted to stay a gladiator. Danny looked at the material riches all around him, the women, the decadence, the general gore Vlad revelled in and he didn't like it one bit. This wasn't freedom. Vlad had just found another way to enslave himself. The man claimed to be happy but Danny knew he wasn't. This wasn't really what Vlad wanted. He might have amassed wealth, and power in spades wherever he went but that was because he could never truly have what he really wanted. In a way Danny had hoped to be the person to give Vlad what he really wanted but he knew the cost of that was too high. It didn't mean he wouldn't try though.

"You are not in your right mind. Come on let's go home," Danny pleaded moving forward, eyes glowing brightly.

"Don't think for a second you can tell me what to do child," Vlad spat, standing up from his seat.

"This is my fault so let me fix it," he replied heatedly.

"And just how you are going to fix this?" Vlad scoffed.

"If I have to use force I will!"

The two halfas now stood ready to fight, stances terse as Danny's hands glowed a bright green and Vlad's a bright pink. Vlad was the first to fire. Danny weaved through the array of plasma blasts thrown at him barely dodging as they singed his sides. Vlad had gotten better and Danny knew it. The younger halfa pulled out his ice powers, slamming it into Vlad as it encompassed his sides and held him down.

"You've gotten smarter," Vlad complimented, "but I've gotten stronger!"

Vlad broke through the construct as he slammed Danny into the wall behind him. The younger halfa groaned in pain as he hit his head hard against the metal but Vlad did not stop. The man slammed a hand into the boy's side and blasted him at point blank range. Danny screamed as he was blasted through the floor but recovered enough to notice that Vlad had flown to attack him more. He constructed an ectoplasmic shield as he slammed through the gladiators rooms. Vlad continued his assault but Danny held the shield strong until he finally dispatched the shield at Vlad in a burst of energy. The older halfa was blasted through the concreted floor as he descended into the bottom floor of the base

"Give it up Vlad! I've always beaten you!" Danny shouted through heaving pants.

"Not this time," Vlad growled. "I've learnt a trick of yours too!"

Legs widened in stance, arms braced backwards, fist clenched as Vlad breathed in. In a split second Danny realised with wide eyes what the man was trying to do. Danny braced himself in the same stance just as quickly, pulling his breath, and all his energy into his lungs

They let it out in a wail.

The shattering sound collided, green against red, and the buildings itself shook at the sheer force. Both halfas put everything into this last ditch effort, struggling and waning in their fight to win. The sound of a thousand horrid screams was released, the energy building up as the pure power of misery collided. For what seemed like an eternity there were only screeches of their echoed pains before it stopped.

There was a screaming silence before the colliding wails of exertion imploded, sending a shock wave of power outward. Both halfas found themselves blasted respectively into the walls as they transformed back into their human selves. Danny groaned, his whole body ached, his vision was blurry and the world seemed like pain itself. This was his first time being the one the ghostly wail was directed at. Despite the burning pain all over he forced himself to stand up, hands holding his sweltering chest in agony but an even more determined expression on his face. Vlad stood up too, flicking his hair back and letting out a pained laugh as he winced at every movement. The two men charged at each other in their human forms, punches thrown.

They struggled against each other, punches, kicks and blocks thrown together in instinctive movement. For all the pain it brought the two kept going and going, letting out all their emotions in a catharsis of blows. They moved until they could no more, their bodies on the ground, kneeling from exertion. Danny gasped as his limbs felt like led, refusing to move, blood poured into his left eye, half blinding him. The struggle became sluggish until something snapped in Danny. He collapsed into Vlad's chest in exhaustion.

"You win," he panted as tears pricked his eyes.

"Why?" Vlad asked. Why are you fighting me? Why do you try so hard? Why do you care?

"The first time we met," Danny began, wheezing through breaths, "I was so happy. There… there was someone like me. In the end you asked for too much… but there's no one else quite like us."

"Dani-"

"-Does it matter? She's not there… now neither are you."

Danny pulled away from Vlad's chest as he slumped backwards and drew himself into a knee. He was too tired, too exhausted to try and get his bearings again. His whole body was in pain but there was something more- a feeling of loss that made it all the more unbearable.

"We both wanted something we couldn't get," Vlad chuckled mirthlessly as he too slumped down.

The blinking of red lights and sounds of loud horns took Danny's attention away from Vlad. The alarms were wrung so he was probably in a whole heap of trouble. He shakily got up, sending Vlad a wonton look before he felt large arms around his waist. Lobo had picked him roughly, which for once he wasn't annoyed with, considering he probably couldn't run in his state.

"The show was great and all but we got to go. Mongol knows we're here. See you Plasmatus!"

"It's Plasmius," the older halfa groaned as he waved them away dismissively before collapsing in exhaustion.

Danny found himself going in and out of conscious as Lobo manhandled him through the buildings labyrinth like structure. He vaguely remembered the sounds of screaming and energy blasts as they escaped. It wasn't until he was roughly shoved into the Space Cab that he got sense of his bearings again.

"You had to rile up the whole world didn't you?!" Cabbie shouted.

"Just go already!"

The Cab driver accelerated the Cab, weaving through the hundreds of angry Mongol soldiers as they fired. It wasn't until he was a safe distance away that he activated the Warp drive and allowed himself to slump back into his seat.

"Hey is he alright?" Cabbie asked in worry as he looked at the battered, now human, form of Danny Phantom.

"He had beef with the champion and they decked it out. It was fun to watch," Lobo laughed.

"You were watching," Danny groaned in anger before feeling the blow of his loss, mellowing him down. "Whatever"

The trip back wasn't silent. Lobo and Cabbie were arguing with each other, grating on the other's nerves, although it was mainly Cabbie that was becoming annoyed. Danny didn't have the heart to listen. For all that happened with him and Vlad he didn't hate the man… in fact Danny had always wanted to get to know Vlad. They were the same, stuck in time and in-between two planes of existence. When he had first met Vlad he was overjoyed, expecting a mentor figure, someone who could explain the craziness that was his life, someone to share the pain of not quite belonging to either world but it became apparent too soon that they could not get along. Vlad wanted more than Danny could give and he wasn't willing to give up his family. There had always been a hope that Vlad would change… now- well now there wasn't any. It hurt.

After Lobo was dropped off at his broken down bike Danny was swiftly taken back to the Watch Tower. He gave the driver a small, heartless smile. This should have been successful trip or at least the sort where he could fix his mistakes but nothing worked out. And despite how much he claimed to hate Vlad, in the end he did not, and now he had lost one of the few people that really mattered to him.

"Keep safe," Cabbie said, waving off the halfa.

"You too," Danny replied as he closed the door.

He watched as the cab left. A hand went on his shoulders but he did not flinch. His whole body ached and he was just tired. He turned around to give J'onn a teary look. He had failed Vlad. The Martian, sensing the teen's emotional distress, instantly clicked the telepathic link. He pulled the teen into a hug, mentally communicating his support, to which the boy replied with his emotions as well. J'onn felt the extent of the deep seethed sadness, the sense of loss, the sense of longing that sprouted from the lack of a place in the world. He completely understood that pain, the pain of being so unbearably alone despite being surrounded by people… and yet they weren't his people. It was an inexplicable emotion, something that couldn't be put into words. It wasn't quite mourning but neither was it sadness. It was just as it was… a sense of loss, of losing one's place in the world, of losing one's kin.

'I failed him,' Danny telepathically sobbed, burying his face in J'onn's chest. 'He wasn't meant to leave me.'

'They are never meant to leave but it happens,' J'onn replied sympathetically.

'First Dani and now him… I'm the only one left'

'You are one of a kind Danny, just like the rest of us, just like the rest of the League'

Danny pulled away from the hug, wiping off his tears as he gave the Martian a small smile. J'onn always knew how to say the right things. He still felt the loss but it wasn't tearing at him like before, dulled into a throbbing pain in the background.

"Come on, let's go get some hot dogs after you clean up," J'onn said.

The teen nodded as he let himself be led into the med-bay. He washed the blood out of his left eye and bandaged some of his wounds with J'onn's help. His human body had taken a real beating and it wouldn't heal up anytime soon. How he would explain this to his parents he had no idea. His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened revealing a very worried looking Superman.

"I take it the mission didn't go well," Clark said softly.

"Yeah… Vlad decided to stay there," Danny replied.

"In War World?" Clark asked incredulously.

"It's hard to believe… I always thought he'd just be there forever, you know. I mean we fought but I didn't- I didn't want him to leave…"

Clark sent J'onn a look of confusion. He had always thought that Danny hated Vlad. The two fought all the time by the way the teen had described him in their talks. Obviously there was more to it than just that. On a certain level Clark could understand the teen more than he knew. He was the last son of Krypton and it had brought a certain joy in his life, he couldn't place, when he found out that his cousin Kara was also alive. Before then it had made him feel ill to fight Zod and the few others of his kind. No matter how evil they were, there was always a feeling of lost kinship. Despite this he had learnt one important lesson and it was time to depart that.

"You'll find Danny, that despite how similar you might have been to Vlad, that you are the only one quite like you. In a way, that makes us all similar because there's no one quite like us."

Danny sent Clark a smile. A small fan-boy part of him started shouting in joy that his idol had just parted him the best words of wisdom he had ever heard. He certainly wasn't as depressed as before.

"Will you come with us Superman? Danny and I will be going to eat the Earthly food called 'hot-dogs'," J'onn offered.

"Of course"

And so that's how Danny ended up eating hot-dogs with Clark and J'onn


Ok so I admit I let it get a little angsty right there. Sorry about that but it was meant to be an emotional scene. I promise that the next chapter will be in the one-shot style and there will be a lot more laughs and fluff compared to this one! Poor Danny is still trying to find his place in the world but he's not alone! He has his heroes!

Also I admit to changing War World up a little. I mean the comic book one is so drab and uninteresting compared to say Marvel's version of the War World, which has the funny as GrandMaster and all that whereas Mongul is super stoic. I'll probably add him in a later chapter in another story arch. Anyway I decided to go with a version where gladiators could volunteer for that kind of life-style and obviously there will be a bunch that get forced into it. But if any of you are history buffs you will know that gladiators were hardly killed in matches in Rome because training them was a pain, so the same gladiators would fight and get a fan-base, and people could voluntarily be a gladiator. It isn't as gory as we imagine it to be although if a gladiator wasn't fighting to win the crowd's favour they were more often than not allowed to be killed in the ring.

Like it? Hate it? Give me your thoughts in the form of a review! I live for reviews! Even if you hated it tell me so I can know what people like and dislike!