Mentor

The inner walls in the cave in Mount Justice looked deceptively normal. Straight and bland, their appearance hid the fact that most of them were made of metal rather than drywall. It was a Batman security thing.

Wally knew this because he had listened with rapt attention whenever his uncle had mentioned the old Justice League headquarters.

He pushed the thought away, because the hard metal that awaited him should he fail wasn't what he needed to be thinking of at that particular moment.

Kid Flash started vibrating.

He stepped towards the wall.

He walked into the wall, knocking himself to the floor.

'Attempt 147; failed.'

"Erm, Wally? Are you okay?"

Wally's face heated, blushing brightly like only a red head could, as he realised that someone had seen him walk into a wall and fall on his butt. He hesitantly craned his neck so that he could see the one who was talking. Danny floated in the air behind him, looking worried. Behind him, Robin was snickering.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

Maybe it was a legitimate question, considering how he was still lying flat on the floor. Wally hurried to get to his feet. "Fit as a fiddle."

Robin smirked. "He was trying to walk through walls again."

"Mhmm." Danny's flat tone didn't sound very understanding.

"Flash can do it, so theoretically..."

"Oh!" Danny smiled, letting a closed fist fall into his open hand. "I get it. For a second there I was worried. You just... walked into a wall, you know?"

Wally could feel himself reddening again. "It's hard to learn a new power. Flash won't teach me, because he thinks-"

"No, no. I understand. Plasmius can do this duplication thing, but when I try it..." Danny's face scrunched up in a disgusted grimace.

"Really?" If Wally jumped onto that comment quickly, it was only because he was still embarrassed.

"You know what, I'll show you." Danny nodded to himself, emboldened when Wally and Robin cheered him on.

What happened next was the stuff of really silly nightmares.

For a moment, it looked like Danny was going to split into two, but then he jerked like a rubber band stretched to his limit. That somehow left him with two heads.

Then his arm grew an extra arm. Which grew a leg. Which grew an eye. Which grew a foot. Which grew a malformed head, silently screaming in agony.

Danny shuddered and the extra body parts pulled themselves back into his body.

"That was a disaster, heavy on the dis." Robin didn't bother hiding his reaction, and shocked disgust was plain to see on his face, despite the sunglasses.

"Sorry, probably should have warned you."

"You think?"

"That didn't hurt, did it?" Wally frowned.

"Nah. My body's just ectoplasm, self-image and willpower. Growing an extra everything doesn't... It's like when my legs disappear. It's perfectly normal, for a ghost."

Robin and Wally nodded, both having noticed the odd way Danny didn't seem to have legs whenever he wasn't actively kicking someone.

"I've been meaning to ask you about that, actually." Wally leaned forward. "Do you just... forget to have legs?"

"... Yes." Danny pushed the tips of his fingers together in front of his face, hiding behind them.

"Really?" Robin's eyebrows shot up.

"Do you think about having legs all the time?" He rolled his eyes, like the answer was bound to be 'of course not'.

"Um. Yeah. Speedster." Wally pointed a thumb towards his chest.

"Right." Danny's ears took on the colour of radioactive grass. As far as blushes went, it was weird. "Well. Erm. I need to check on the cookies." Danny turned around and flew straight through a wall.

Wally suppressed the tinge of jealousy that appeared.

"Did you notice that?" Robin frowned.

Wally cocked his head. "Notice what?"

"When talking about his powers, the first person Danny thought to compare himself to-"

"Was the creepy vampire-wannabe who attacked us," finished Wally. "That's kinda bad."

"Because Danny doesn't have a mentor." Robin looked away from the wall, turning to face Wally fully. "We should do something."

"I hate to break it to you Rob, but we don't know any other ghosts." Wally's tone was flippant, but his body language betrayed his frustration.

"No, but we do know plenty of superheroes."

"That wouldn't be the same thing and you know it. Martian Manhunter wouldn't be able to teach me how to vibrate through walls."

"Yes, and that's why Canary hasn't been able to find Danny a mentor yet." Robin leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. "We need to think outside the box. Forget about learning new ghost powers, we won't find anyone who can teach him that. Let's focus on what he can do."

"I guess... Danny mainly just flies around and throws green energy at people." Wally paused, a smile spreading across his face. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"You know I am."


"You, you're coming with us."

Danny hesitantly put down the tray of freshly baked cookies. He gave M'gann a questioning look, but she seemed as confused as he was. Superboy sat in the living area, ignoring them all.

Wally and Robin waited impatiently, arms crossed and faces neutral.

"Where are we going?" Danny peeled off his oven gloves and hung up his apron. The atmosphere was getting a bit too serious to be wearing gloves over his gloves.

"It's a surprise." Wally tapped his foot against the floor, likely not even aware that he was doing it.

"Okaaay." Danny allowed himself to be herded to the Zeta Tubes.

"Stay invisible," said Robin.

"Wait! I almost forgot! "Wally zoomed away in a blur and returned with a hand full of cookies. "Now we can go!"

Robin smiled impishly and stole a cookie, before entering the Zeta Tubes.

Wally made an strangled noise at the theft, kind of like a dying cat, before following.

Danny shrugged and joined them, glad that the awkward tension had been broken.

"Recognized; Robin, B01. Kid Flash, B03. Phantom, B09."

"Welcome to Coast City, and the sunny California." Wally threw out an arm, as if to encompass the entire landscape.

The three of them had ended up in a cave, of all things. Outside was a large canyon. Stone in warm tans mixed with green shrubbery. To the west, the ocean stretched out. With the cloudless light blue sky, the view was nothing short of beautiful.

Danny gave a low whistle.

Apparently, a low whistle coming from what appeared to be empty space was a bit startling, if Wally's look was any indication.

After barely pausing long enough to take in the scenery, just enough time to orient themselves, Robin and Wally set off again. Danny could do little but follow.

Wally and Robin filled the silence with empty chatter until they reached their location, far enough in the middle of nowhere that it had to be the reason for the Zeta Tubes to be opening where they did. The city itself was far away.

A sign outside the fenced off area read 'Ferris Aircraft'.

It was a small private airport, with a few hangars off to the side. The place was a study in concrete and cement, grey and seemingly boring in comparison with the vivid landscape.

Danny was entranced.

A man waited by the gates. He snapped to attention as he saw them, his body language open and confident. Between the brown hair and the loose beige uniform, he had an average appearance. "There you are! I've been waiting for you."

Robin smiled widely. "Hi, Hal."

"We didn't take that long," pouted Wally.

"Well, it was nothing like waiting for your uncle, I'll give you that." Hal made a show of looking around. "Didn't you say you were gonna bring a friend? One of your new teammates?"

"He's here." Wally's tone was teasing.

"Hi," said Danny, because he couldn't think of a better opener.

To his credit, Hal didn't show any obvious signs of shock as a voice appeared out of empty space. "Of course. You're invisible. I should have realised."

"Hal Jordan, meet Danny." Wally gestured vaguely between the man and where he thought Danny's voice had come from. It was slightly to the left of where he actually was. "Phantom, Green Lantern."

Green Lantern... There were three of those, though it was obvious which one Hal was from the way he looked. He wasn't one of the heroes that had showed up for Danny's Introduction to Ghosts speech.

"A pleasure." Hal smiled and extended a hand, not commenting on Danny's lack of a surname or visibility.

Danny felt his respect for the man go up a notch. Not everyone would willingly offer their hand to someone who was invisible, not knowing if the hand would be taken by another hand of by a tentacle or something equally horrid.

"Pleased to meet you." Danny was quick to shake Hal's hand, before the Lantern could start to think he was being snubbed. "I'd turn visible, but even in direct sunlight I'm obviously not human, and I don't want to cause a scene."

"Even in direct sunlight? It's usually the other way around, hiding in the shadows and all that." Hal's smile bordered on cocky, with just enough good humour that it wasn't grating.

"I glow. It's a ghost thing."

"You're a ghost. Hmm." There was not a hint of fear in Hal's eyes. If anything, he was flippant about it. "Sure, why not?"

"Oh, I like this guy." Danny couldn't help but smile widely, even though no one could see it.

Wally and Robin traded smug glances.

"Wanna see the planes?" Hal tilted his head towards the hangars.

"We'd love to," interjected Robin, with the sort of casualness that hinted that he had been there before.

"Follow me," grinned Hal.

The four of them crossed the employee parking lot and entered the closest hangar.

"You can turn visible if you want, there's no one else in here." Hal waved negligently, not bothered by the risk of them being discovered.

Danny thought about it for a second before letting go of his invisibility.

Hal gave him a short appraising look. "And here I figured you'd be taller."

Danny blinked. That... wasn't the reaction he had been expecting. But of course someone would think he was tall, if just going by where his voice originated when he was floating several feet above the ground. "Obeying the laws of gravity is for losers."

Hal laughed. Wally looked personally offended. Robin appeared to be rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses.

"So... You're an engineer or something?" Danny looked around at the many different planes around them. There were lots of subtle differences that he wouldn't have been able to understand if his parents hadn't built their own jet/blimp/ops-center.

"Test pilot, actually."

"That's, like, the second coolest job ever."

Wally and Robin snickered. Danny ignored them.

"Only second?" Hal put on a wounded face.

"You forget that astronauts exist."

"I'll give you that." Hal shrugged, but there was a glimmer of something in his eyes as he continued. "I've been to space."

"So the rumours about Green Lanterns being space cops are true?" Danny's eyes widened and he clasped his hands together. "Tell me everything!"


The Plan was going perfectly.

Sure, Stage One of the Plan had simply been to put Danny and Hal together in a room together and hope they'd get along, but still.

Wally tried to contain his smirk. He ultimately failed, but at least he put in a concentrated effort.

Time for Stage Two.

"Say, Hal." Wally leaned forward. "You and Danny actually have quite similar powers."

Robin gave him a look that said 'way to be subtle'. Wally ignored it.

"Really?" Hal turned towards Danny.

"I guess. Between the glowing and the flying and the green energy..." Danny shrugged. "Though I've got a lot more than that."

"Hey now, don't dismiss green energy." Hal pointed an accusing finger at Danny.

"Yeah," Robin gave a soft snort. "If a certain someone could remember to use his shields, instead of getting thrown into walls..."

"That was one time during training!" Danny crossed his arms.

Robin gave him a level look.

"No, I'm pretty sure you've only seen that happen one time." Danny mock pouted, ignoring how his wording made him more or less admit that it had happened more than once.

Hal gave a short laugh. "Yeah, remembering to put up a shield in time can be a pain. Takes a bit of practice."

"Ugh, I know."

"Maybe you could show Danny a few tricks," said Wally, once more as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. "Or discuss tactics or something."

"Er..." Hal frowned. "I don't know what you're planning, but I'm not looking for a sidekick."

"That's why we're here?" Danny's eyebrows shot up and the soft glow his body gave off turned sharper. "I never agreed to that. I've already got a town to protect, I don't have time to be anyone's sidekick."

"We're not sidekicks, we're junior partners" mumbled Wally.

"Thanks guys." Danny turned to walk away. "But I don't think this will work."

"Come on! Give it a chance!" Robin jumped into Danny's path. "It's not like you have a lot of other offers."

"I'm not exactly offering," noted Hal.

"I don't need a mentor anymore. I've been figuring out stuff on my own since I got these powers." Danny floated a little higher. "And he's not even a ghost."

"Yeah, we don't know any ghost heroes aside from you." Wally frowned.

"I don't think there are any aside from me." Danny tilted his head, momentarily distracted. "I mean, at least I don't know of any. But that's not the point."

"No, the point is that most of the things you do during a normal battle is stuff a Green Lantern can do. Having one instructing you would really help." Robin threw a glance in Hal's direction before returning his gaze to Danny. "We didn't think you'd become a crime fighting team, just that you could train together."

"Listen, it's not that I don't appreciate it. It would be nice to have a mentor, but you can't just push people into stuff like that."

Wally was secretly happy he hadn't told Danny the story of how he became Kid Flash.

"I guess." Robin sighed dramatically. "We're gonna have to turn to another Green Lantern then."

Hal nodded. "John is-"

"I don't think his personality would be the best fit for Danny." Robin frowned.

"You can't argue that Danny isn't like a miniature version of you... except less arrogant." Wally smirked.

"We were actually thinking about asking Guy Gardner."

"You were not." Hal looked outraged.

"Sure we are." Robin smirked. "We turned to you first since Bats hates Gardner."

"Batman hates me too, you know."

"Yeah, but the Flash likes you, so that gives you plus points." Wally kept his tone light, to not reveal that they were switching to Plan B.

"Phantom deserves better than Gardner." Hal looked personally offended at the very idea.

Good, Hal had obviously grown at least a little attached during their previous conversation.

"Should I be worried?" Danny looked between the three of them. "I think I should be worried."

"Nah, it's fine." Robin threw an arm over Danny's shoulder. "Gardner's a bit... abrasive. You'll get used to him."

"The sad part is, as long as he doesn't try to kill my dad he'll still be the best option I've got." Despite his blasé words, Danny's eyes darted back to Hal to see his reaction.

At least one part of the partnership was convinced.

"That's the spirit." Robin smiled.

"No, that's super depressive," protested Hal. "And don't think I don't know what you're doing."

'I guess Plan B is a bust, then.'

"What? We're not doing anything." Robin clutched a hand over his heart, the very picture of innocence. "We're just considering our options."

"What about J'onn? He's got the whole ghosting through walls thing going on."

"He's already got his hands full with Megs."

"Superman?" Hal looked like he was grasping for straws, his eyes darting around for inspiration.

"With Superboy around? Having Superman take an interest in anotherperson on the team would be a disaster, heavy on the dis."

Wally nodded emphatically.

Danny's brows knitted in a frown. "What's wrong between Superman and SB?"

"Long story, tell you later."

Hal sighed.

"Just give it a try." Wally gave it his best puppy-dog eyes.

Robin seemed to be mimicking the look, but it was hard to tell through the sunglasses.

"Fine. We'll give it a shot." Hal rolled his eyes and smiled. "But I promise no more than that."

"Oh. Erm. Thank you?" Danny's eyes widened. There was the hint of a green blush on his cheeks.

"No prob, kid. We'll get in touch, okay?"

"Yeah." Danny smiled widely. "'I'm sorry about whatever that was." He gestured at the two mock-innocent teenage superheroes. "But you won't regret this."

"I'm sure I won't." Hal waved them off.

It took Danny the entire walk to the Zeta Tubes to snap out it. They noticed, because he immediately cuffed them over the back of their heads.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Wally pouted, rubbing the sore sport.

"Manipulating me like that. You could have just said something."

"We get you a mentor, and that's the thanks we get?" Robin scowled, but there was a teasing tone in his voice.

"Yes. Well. Thanks." Danny crossed his arms and avoided eye contact. The green blush had returned. "I've always wanted a superhero mentor."

Wally and Robin shared a subtle high-five.


AN: This chapter didn't turn out the way I'd planned, but it like it for what it is. Still, next chapter will have a lot of plot and twists and stuff to make up for it.

Everyone I considered to be Danny's mentor (Deadman, Spectre, the other Green Lanterns, Martian Manhunter) got at least one guess. That's pretty awesome. The main thing that made me pick Hal over the others was the original Young Justice comics. The ghost member there, Secret, had Hal as a mentor for a short time. (Sure, Hal as Spectre rather than Hal as Green Lantern, but Danny's powers are pretty Lantern-ish and I don't know how to write a good Spectre.)

Chapter dedicated to the ones that guessed correctly: Iskandar06, Turtledude83, NeoOokami, Glaciaj Flamoj, KingOfWhispers, Unturned, kitkatkate2008, HEB807 and a guest.