The Last Son of Earth-304
Rating: T
Pairings: Canon ones.
Ages: YJ Season Two Finale ages for everyone. Danny is 14.
Summary: As much as he wanted to just let things take its course, as much as he wanted to just fade away so that he could be with everyone he loved, he just couldn't let that boy die. Curse his hero complex and curse the little voice in his head that told him everyone he loved would want him to keep living.
Extra Notes: Warnings: OP-ish Danny.
It was hard to watch the blonde haired girl break down at hearing the boy she loved was gone. He could relate to that he guessed. The green girl kneeled before her and held the archer as she wept.
"You have to go now. This is the exact moment you must go."
Danny looked over his shoulder and into Clockwork's glowing red eyes. The boy felt a shutter run through his body when the very air seemed to tremble. Grey stone fell from somewhere above and crashed into the ground between the two. "Why? Why can't I just stay here and die with everyone else? I don't have a reason to live any more."
Clockwork's face adopted a truly sad expression. "I know that's how you feel right know, but there is a reason for everything, Daniel. Do you trust me?"
Danny blinked, realizing suddenly that he'd been crying and hadn't even noticed. "Yes but-"
"Those people there. They will need you and you will need them. Do you think your loved ones would want you to stand here and let yourself die or would they want to be able to say their Danny went on to save other peoples' lives? Someday, you will be reunited with them. Until then, why not live life as fully as you can and give others the chance to live as well? Like that young man. Will you just let him die even though you have the power to save him this moment?"
Danny stood in frozen shock at the words his friend was speaking. He slowly looked down at his hands as the Clocktower gave another tremendous shutter. "But I'm no hero. I let everyone here die or be destroyed."
"Wrong. Humans and Ghosts are both to blame for that. They brought about their own destruction in this world. In another reality, they did not. In yet another, man never even came to be. Do you understand, Daniel? This was simply the end for this world."
Danny stared at the time master with a deep ache in his chest. "I still…"
"Please. I know it's a lot to ask, but I wanted to save you and give you the opportunity to truly be loved and appreciated, Daniel. Go. Save that young man. Be the inspiration to others that you always dreamed you could be, not as an astronaut, but as a hero." Clockwork bowed his head. "And thank you, for being a friend to me. I hope to see you again soon."
Danny blinked and looked down, spotting the emblem on his chest. Was that what his obsession had really been? To inspire people? To give them some kind of ideal to strive towards? To prove that anyone could be a hero? He looked back up as a tremor of emotion racked his body. "Okay. Thanks Clockwork. Thanks for believing in me when even I didn't believe in me!" Danny screamed the last bit, as gravity started to become even more erratic than normal in the Zone and the thundering roar from outside grew louder. Clockwork remained as if it didn't effect him.
Clockwork smiled up at Danny as the boy turned towards the portal. "It wasn't really that hard…" He murmured softly. The ghost of time then raised his staff and the portal's view changed to show a realm of what seemed to be pure energy. Electricity leapt out of the opening like a living creature, snapping and crackling in the air. Clockwork looked at Danny and shouted. "Remember, you must find him and then use your training to create a portal. Think about that young woman you saw and it will open up near her location! As a final warning, you must not pass out while in that place! The energy in there will tear your human self apart!"
Danny gave a worried look to Clockwork before determination steeled his face. He gave a brief nod and a silent goodbye with a sad two-finger salute before zipping into the portal. Seconds after his was gone, a rock fell and destroyed the viewing mirrors. Clockwork remained stoic. "It's a shame. I hope he finds peace there." The ghost raised his arms and staff as his form began to glow and the very fabric of reality rumbled in distress.
"Zh zoo gsrmth tild xlow, grnv tlvh vohvdsviv." (As all things grow cold, time goes elsewhere.) Both of his hands came up above his head before his vanished into a ray of light. Everything froze and slowly began to lose color. Finally everything went black for Earth 304.
zz
It sounded like a bug buzzing in his ears on steroids and it looked like everything was inverted but not. It was hard to really describe what he felt. Danny flew through the energy, grimacing from how it laced through his ectoplasm. The molecules and electromagnetic field that made up his ghost form were vibrating as though irritated.
After scanning everything in front of him, seeing as he couldn't really call anything here a horizon, he saw the young man. "There you are." Danny eventually drifted over to his target and gazed at the figure. He had guessed earlier that he was probably in his late teens or early twenties. "You know, you have some people to go home to. They miss you." Danny felt the weight of grief try to bubble up inside of him and his throat tightened. "Specially that girl of yours. She loves you a lot you know?" Danny softly grabbed the young man in his arms and focused on the blonde. "Let's get you home." Danny nearly cried out in pain when the energy of the strange place they were in cracked and thundered around the area the green energy of Danny's portal was trying to form. "Oh no you don't!" Danny growled and focused harder, the buzzing in his ears became almost deafening.
The portal finally opened and Danny threw himself and his cargo into the welcoming green light. Moments later, he struck a cold hard metal floor.
zz
Danny groaned in pain and slowly opened his eyes, hearing voices and the slight noises clothing and general shuffling made. He looked over and saw the yellow dude was okay. His neon green eyes trailed up and spotted a blonde wearing an orange and black outfit. Her eyes were wide and her lips were parted in shock.
"I'm pretty sure this guy belongs to you. Am I right?" Danny asked. He tried to start getting up, only to watch his arms tremble when trying to hold up his weight. His legs were pretty numb too, now that he thought about it.
"How… Who?" The blonde whispered. Danny vaguely noticed a red clad man kneel next to the yellow dude he'd saved.
"That's a long story." Danny felt a stabbing pain suddenly erupt in his torso. He let out a gasp of pain and surprise and one of his hands shot to the middle of his chest. His vision went a bit hazy and he saw that a few of the costumed people moved towards him, though he didn't know what they looked like and saw only blurred colors. He could sense it though. His core was fading and shrinking into a fine point. He had nothing here, no lair, no haunt, no people he was determined to protect, no familiar faces. He was in a world that provided his ghost half no true anchor. He was going to finally die, in front of all these strangers that didn't even know his name.
zz
Martain Manhunter, Flash, Superman, Black Lightning, Tigress, Superboy, Beast boy, and Static had been in the tower when the two boys had suddenly appeared. Most of them were completely in shock from suddenly seeing Wally and some younger stranger appear from a green light.
Flash was holding his unconscious nephew in his arms as he kneeled, but everyones eyes were on the other boy now. He appeared to be in serious pain.
"We need to do something," Superman finally declared and moved to try and help the child before Manhunter stopped him with his voice.
"I'm not sure you can."
"What do you mean?" Black Lightning questioned, a small bit of hurried aggravation crept into his voice. He wasn't exactly ready to watch some kid suffer in front of him.
"There is a massive amount of emotional energy surging from his body. He's giving me a headache at this very moment and I'm not even trying to enter his mind." Manhunter droned. His brows lifted some, showing his concern.
"There's one other thing-" Superboy stated and straightened up in utter confusion.
"He has no heartbeat," Superman finished, realizing what his clone had noted.
"Say what?" Static asked and reached up to scratch his scalp.
Before anything else could be said, the boy let out a cry. A white light streamed out from his chest and twisted through the air before heading towards Flash and Wally. Flash of course, reacted. He dodged and darted around the room, avoiding the white tendril before speeding towards a door with Wally in tow. "No way. I just got him back. I'm not going to loose him again!"
Tigress finally snapped out of her daze, literally, and whipped out her bow. She aimed an arrow at the boy. "Stop it! Whatever you're doing, stop now!"
The boy was limp though, his green eyes looking at seemingly nothing and the aura around him was pulsing slower and fading. The tendril started to loose power and cringed in midair. Flash halted in the hallway when the light did and he saw it start to fade.
The others watched as green liquid started to stream out from the boy's nose and mouth. He coughed a very wet sounding cough. It was moments later that the tendril reappeared, but it was already around Wally and Flash and connected to the boy.
Superboy reacted instantly and ran to try and stop the light at its source. He reached out a hand to grab the boy's clothing.
"Wait." Everyone froze and saw that Flash and Wally seemed unharmed. White light floated peacefully around them before it retracted back into the child at their feet. The green liquid stopped and his aura flared once before disappearing.
Then silence.
"Are you hurt?" Black Lightning asked, looking at the two speedsters.
"I… feel fine." Flash looked down at Wally. "And he's still breathing too."
Their attention was brought back to the boy when a white ring of light formed around his waist and split. When the light died, everyone froze.
"He's… a kid." Beast boy murmured.
Superman's brow furrowed and then shot up. "And he has a pulse!" The superhero flew forward and scooped the boy into his arms. He looked at Black Lightning. "I need you to contact as many of ours as you can. I think most of them will want to hear about this." He nodded to Manhunter as the martin flew after him towards one of their medical facilities. Flash glanced down at Wally and nodded before racing off.
Beast boy and Static watched as Tigress stood still as a stone and Superboy placed a hand on her shoulder as a small attempt to comfort his friend. Static raised a brow. "Okay, uh, wow."
"Welcome to the hero biz." Beast boy grinned.
zz
Dick felt his heart race as he marched down the Watchtower corridors. When he'd gotten the call that someone had entered the Watchtower and gotten past security, he was on guard. When he'd been told that that someone had brought Wally with them, he'd felt an uneasy hope rise inside of him. He didn't like the feeling of old wounds being opened and he could only pray this wasn't some sick cosmic joke of some kind.
He moved through the automatic door and froze when he saw the original members of the Team gathered around a clean white bed. He felt his hands shake when Wally's green eyes locked his his and the speedster gave him a grin he knew all too well. "Hey pal."
zz
It had been several days since Wally and the other boy had appeared in the Watchtower and the strange boy had yet to wake up. Wally himself felt good as new and was even speeding about, trying to show everyone he was fine. Tigress was a strange combination of grumpy and clingy, though Wally didn't seem all that aware of her conflicting feelings. To him, he'd just been asleep or something, the young man didn't seem to fully realize they'd been in grieving for him.
Currently the original members of the Team, Batman, Flash, Wally, and Superman were looking in on the boy as he slept behind enforced glass. Manhunter was inside the room, checking his vitals and over all condition.
"So he just yanked me back here or something? We have no idea where he came from?" Wally asked. He eyed the boy on the bed with an unreadable expression. Perhaps he wasn't sure how to thank such a bizarre stranger for saving him and bringing him home.
"Nothing at all. No records, nothing." Batman had a deep frown embedded on his face. "I've tasked Robin and Batgirl with looking at a few last things, but for all intents and purposes, this boy doesn't exist on Earth. At this point it seems he might be from another planet and is some species of alien."
Nightwing narrowed his eyes in thought.
"Has Manhunter tried to enter his mind?" Tigress asked. She looked at M'gann. "Have you?"
M'gann glanced back at the boy on the bed. "Uncle J'onn said he was a ball of emotions before. They were such concentrated emotions that he can't possibly be completely human. Now, it's much weaker, but it seems a bit foggy around his mind. I'm somewhat certain either myself or Uncle J'onn could enter now, but we're cautious of such a strange mind. We aren't sure if the fog is some type of trap for empaths or if it's just the nature of his physiology."
"That's understandable," Kaldur expressed and looked back from his friend to the boy once again. "Then there's the light that some of you witnessed. It didn't seem to cause any harm and yet…"
"In conclusion, we don't know anything," Superman spoke up and sighed.
Everyone froze, along with Manhunter, when the boy let out a soft groan. The martin looked at the others. "I believe he's waking up."
Everyone naturally flinched or braced themselves when the child leaned up slightly to prop himself a bit higher on the bed. He also froze when he saw the people staring at him, until he noticed Wally. Danny smiled. "Good, you made it! I was a bit worried that I wasn't fast enough." Wally blinked as the younger boy smiled at him. "Everyone really missed you here. I couldn't fail."
Batman walked inside of the room, but stayed near the door. "You actively saw Wally was in danger?" Batman offered as a way to get the boy talking.
Danny blinked at the dark-suited man. "Um, yeah. I guess you're all kinda confused. I can tell you everything, but I'm not sure you'll believe me."
"Try us," Nightwing offered. The first Robin had to keep one of his eyebrows from raising when he saw age and weariness suddenly overcome the child's features.
"Have you ever heard of the multi-dimensional theory?"
zz
"Clockwork wanted me to go and he reminded me that everyone would've wanted me to continue to help people. He told me I shouldn't ignore the chance to live and to also save your life. I got to see how close some of you were and, well, I saw a bit of my friends in you all. I guess even still I can't help but save people." Danny bowed his head. "Sorry if I frightened anyone."
Superman seemed quite solemn. "I'm sorry for your loss."
Danny looked up and nodded. "Thanks. It's okay though. I'll see them again one day. Besides, dying isn't too bad. Living is the hard part. I'm just sorry I couldn't help them live longer."
"So you really died or isn't your DNA just mixed with ectoplasm?" Flash asked.
Danny shrugged. "Both kinda. I saw the white light and everything, so I imagine that my heart stopped or my brain activity died or something, but I'm not sure."
"You're really a ghost?" Wally pressed, a bit of skepticism slipping into his voice.
Danny grinned a tiny bit. "What? You don't believe me?" Before the speedster could answer, Danny vanished before everyones eyes and then reappeared in front of Wally. "Boo."
Wally flinched and stumbled back a couple steps. "Wha-"
"I turned invisible and phased through the wall."
"You can do that in that form?" Nightwing asked.
Danny nodded. "I have access to my powers like this, but it takes a lot of effort. It's really easy in my ghost form."
"Completely silent and I couldn't even see you. Not even your heat showed up," Superman stated.
"I used to show up on thermal, but I trained myself to change my body temperature to match my surroundings. The Guys in White realized I was a different kind of ghost because I looked warm on thermal instead of cold, but they never figured out why I was weird. You have no idea how annoying it was to try to be invisible and for them to still see me, so I fixed it."
"So you simply came here to start a new life and to most likely join our efforts in protecting the Earth," Manhunter spoke, trying to find conclusion to the matter.
Danny nodded. "Yeah. If that's okay?" They all seemed to accept the idea, though Danny could see that they were still wary.
"One last question, what was that white light that came out of your chest and connected to me and Flash?" Wally asked.
Danny became still before red colored his cheeks. "Sorry about that."
"What? What is it?"
Danny glanced up at the ginger. "Do you remember when I said my obsession is to protect people?"
"Yeah, it's what drives the variety of ghost from your world," Nightwing repeated.
"Well, because I saved Wally… I kinda connected with him. Back home I had a whole city to protect. I knew almost everyone by name or face. In short, I'm using Wally as an anchor. Without it, I'll die. It won't hurt you, I promise!" Danny concluded, locking eyes with the older boy. "I wish I could control it, but…"
Wally relaxed and placed his hand on Danny's shoulder. The boy's mouth fell open a bit. That was the first bit of physical contact he'd received since he'd gotten there, at least when he was conscious. "Hey, easy little man. It's fine. You saved my skin, so I guess it's fine if you use me as an anchor or whatever. Just no weird emotion vampire stuff, kay?"
Danny smirked and then laughed. "Don't worry. I don't do that." His eyes fell to the ground. "Thanks. Right this moment, you're giving me a reason to live. I hope I can let others become part of my obsession."
"What does that entail exactly?" Kaldur asked calmly.
Danny smiled softly and scuffed the metal floor with the toe of his converse. "That I can be your friend and care about you. That's all it takes, really."
"From what I can tell, it shouldn't be a problem."
Danny looked up and saw Nightwing was smiling.
zz
"So, what do you think?" Superman asked.
Black Canary stood quietly for a moment as other members of the League stood nearby. Manhunter, Flash, and Batman were waiting to hear what Black Canary had to say. She had just listened to the recording Batman had made of Danny's story. Danny himself was with members of the Team in one of the Watchtower lounges.
"I'm fairly sure he's being honest. If he is some type of half-spirit, he could be tricking us. However, he did bother to save Wally."
"Perhaps I could look into his mind with his permission," Manhunter offered.
"I don't know if that's necessary. I'd say a trial period is in order, but…" Canary looked down at the computer and the file with the audio. "Maybe it's just as well that we give him a bit of our trust." Canary looked up at Batman. "He's agreed to write down his abilities and powers for the records, correct?"
"Yes, but we have no way to know if he's omitting information."
"True…" Black Canary murmured.
"For all we know, he's using emotions to his advantage to make us feel bad for him and using Wally as an anchor for more selfish reasons."
Flash was uncharacteristically quiet, conflicting thoughts raged in his mind.
"That's a bit on the far end of the spectrum, but I suppose it could be true. I'm hesitant to jump to conclusions though," Superman argued.
The discussion was stopped when Green Arrow walked through the doors. "Guys, you might want to see this."
"What is it?" Canary asked.
"That new kid? He's turned one of the lounges into a winter wonderland."
The Leaguers all looked at each other and then back at the door when Beast Boy ran in. "Miss Canary! You've got to see what Danny did! I'm going to slide on the ice again!" The green teen then turned into a penguin and waddled off as fast as possible.
zz
Several weeks later…
He had gone with Wally and Flash to check out Central City that day. It had been decided that Danny would live in the Watchtower with some of the other Team and League members and go to school with them at Happy Harbor High School. Another thing they had begun to do was trade him off between Leaguers and locales, so he could become more familiar with important places and the general feel and culture of this world. Fortunately, it was pleasantly not too different from his old home.
Currently, he was walking around the city with Wally and Tigress, who'd revealed to him that her name was Artemis. Later, they would be meeting up with Flash to let him take Danny around the city in uniform.
"So it's not too different?" Artemis asked, her lips curving softly. Danny glanced around some.
"Yeah. You guys have somewhat more advanced technology than we did, save my parents' things, but yeah, it's really similar." Danny kicked a small pebble. "I have a question."
"Hm?" Wally asked.
"You died here. How did you get rid of that issue?"
Artemis smiled. "Fortunately you were fast enough that not too much damage was done. He was only technically gone for a day or two. We hadn't fully come up with a cover story yet, but we didn't have to use it."
Danny blinked and then nodded. "That's good."
Wally frowned a bit. "Did no one but your sister and friends ever realize that you'd died?"
Danny had been looking at Wally as the young man had spoken, but as soon as he'd finished his question, he'd looked down. "Yeah. There was no body and I'm not the most noticeable kid, so very few people ever noticed something was different about me. They just assumed all my mistakes at school were clumsiness and not something as weird as ghost powers coming in."
Wally was quiet before the three stopped in front of a house. "Hey, I want you to meet my folks. They wanted to meet you actually."
Danny glanced up and at the door to the home before looking back at Wally. "Really?"
"Yeah, come on."
Wally knocked on the door before unlocking it with a key and walking inside. "Hey, mom, dad. It's me and Artemis! I brought Danny too!"
A man and woman soon came into the den and locked their eyes on Danny, who shrank a bit under their scrutiny. The woman walked forward and placed both of her hands on Danny's shoulders. He saw her eyes grow misty and his core trembled, feeling the pure gratefulness that was radiating out of her. "Thank you so much for bringing our Wally back." The woman chuckled a bit and Danny saw Wally grin when the half-ghost's face turned pink with embarrassment.
"Of course, ma'am. I just, you know…" Danny felt his words fail him. He saw the man smile.
"Thank you, none the less." The man nodded and Danny gave a smile.
"You're welcome. I'm glad I could keep a family together."
Everyone's attention was drawn to the TV, when a news report suddenly blared. The Flash is currently trying to fight off Amazo in the downtown area, but the incredible machine is seemingly able to keep up with him. Hopefully the scarlet speedster can get some backup soon.
Danny tensed before looking at Wally. The older boy reached towards Danny, only for his hand to fall through. "Wait! You definitely can't go alone."
Danny looked at the TV. "Flash needs help. I can sneak up behind Amazo and take him out and he'll never know." They all looked back at the TV a third time when the Flash was batted away and slammed into the pavement. The speedster was able to get up, but he was panting.
A bright white light blinded the four humans in the room before they saw a black and white blur disappear.
"The others are definitely not going to like this," Artemis expressed, pulling out a com. She rushed towards the door and exited the house. Wally stood in slight impatience.
"You miss it more than you thought you would, huh? Are you regretting letting Bart take your suit?"
Wally looked over his shoulder to see his mother smiling. He glanced down at the floor. "No, Bart deserves it, but…"
"But?" Wally's father asked with his own lopsided smile. Wally glanced at the TV as his uncle continued to put up a fight and try and call for back-up and Bart appeared on the scene in his old yellow and red suit.
"I do miss it. Hopefully they can handle this, but I might need to talk to Uncle Barry."
"You know, Iris is needing more and more help as she gets closer to her due date. Barry might need someone to take his place from time to time," Wally's mother spoke up as a light dawned in Wally's eyes.
zz
"Where do you think Ivo is hiding? He's gotta be using remote control on this thing!" Kid Flash shouted to his mentor.
Flash nodded as he dodged another lunge from the robot. "At the moment, I'm more concerned about Amazo. Some back up should be here soon-"
"Whoa!" Kid Flash yelped when Phantom suddenly phased through Amazo's body. The contact with the charged ectoplasm of Phantom's body caused the machine to spark and stutter. Phantom's eyes turned a bright blue and it filled his entire sockets. Amazo was then flash-frozen, giving Phantom the chance to sink back into his body and fry the circuits a second time. Once he was done, he floated over to Flash and Kid Flash and smiled.
"You guys okay?"
"Man, that was crash. You crispi-fied him."
Danny smirked and Flash let out a sigh. "Well at least it's over. The members of the League that do come can help figure out a way to keep this thing down for good."
"Maybe Miss Martain should mind wipe Ivo," Kid expressed while Flash rose a brow.
"I don't think so."
Danny watched the two speedsters relax after the fight. As he did, he caught the sound of a small wail of sadness. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a little girl crying to her mother. His core clinched. It was things like this that Danny had listened for in Amity. Helping kids get things out of trees, guiding lost children, and other small things had also filled his time before. He had to know what was wrong. He floated over, ignoring Flash's call.
"Hello, what's wrong?"
The little girl and her mother froze, though the child recovered sooner. Children always seemed to be able to sense his good intentions better than adults. "My dollie."
Danny's eyes lit up with white light before he gazed about. Some distance away, he saw a flicker of color that matched the girl's aura. "One sec." Everyone watched Phantom sink into the ground and then moments later, come back up with doll in hand. The little girl smiled and took her precious toy back.
"Thank you. What's you're name?"
"Phantom."
"Are you a ghost?"
Danny frowned a bit. "Would it matter?" His voice echoed a bit as Flash walked up behind him. The girl reached out and touched his face.
Her whole posture relaxed and a smile over-took her face. "You're warm." A mood of ease seemed to seep over the other bystanders at the interaction and the little girl's words.
Several tiny ice horses suddenly appeared around the crowd's heads and started to prance and run in a herd. After a moment, they grew wings and horns and took off. After that, they erupted into a soft gale of snow crystals and a cold breeze. Danny watched the girl's aura brighten.
"Phantom. Let's go."
Danny froze and looked at the Flash and nodded as the glow in his eyes faded. "Sorry. I got a bit carried away."
zz
"You did not have permission to go into that fight," Batman rumbled.
Danny was standing in the middle of the League's round table as they discussed his recent action. "I'm sorry. I just saw he needed help and so I went to help."
"Phantom did manage to easily take down Amazo," Red Tornado offered to the others present.
"It seems like Amazo couldn't even pick Danny up with his optical systems or other sensors. It never got the chance to even try to scan for his abilities," Atom continued.
"You do realize you've been sorta on parole, right?" Canary asked softly.
Danny frowned and looked down. "Yeah. Sorry. It's just, back home… I was all there was. If I didn't go stop whatever disaster was happening, then no one would. I was everyone's only line of defense whether they recognized it or not." Danny glanced back up. "It's hard to change from that. It's hard to see trouble and kinda ignore it if it doesn't concern me. It used to always concern me."
Canary's face softened a bit and she nodded. "I understand. However, The public may figure out that you are a ghost now that you had that conversation with that little girl. Our enemies may learn of you. Our element of surprise might be gone. This world, as painful as that is, isn't your world. You need to listen to our advice."
Danny's eyes widened slightly as he realized just what she meant. He bowed his head once more. "I'm sorry. I'll try harder to ignore it. I may act a little weird though."
Canary furrowed her brows as Superman asked the obvious question. "What do you mean?"
Danny shuffled on his feet. "I'll probably cling to Wally or Artemis and fuss over them. Sometimes when ghosts or trouble wouldn't show up, I used to do the same to Sam and Tucker. I'd tell them that I wasn't doing that, but later they'd show me proof and it was super embarrassing."
"Is there a way for you to help control these urges?" Manhunter questioned calmly.
Danny paused, thinking about the question, and then slowly nodded. "I just try harder at making friends with the Team members. That way if I'm around other people like you guys or the other teens, I can be 'protecting' them. I'll be able to split my obsession's attention and I won't go searching for people to help quite as often. I just… need to get more used to the world and the people here and everything should balance out. I hope."
"Well, this time we can look over your mistake. After all, we're still trying to grow accustomed to things, right?" Canary asked, giving Danny a smile.
Danny nodded enthusiastically. "Thank you."
"You're dismissed," Superman announced with a calm smile as Danny turned and left the room.
"While I do agree with your call, I will say that you need to be careful about not letting your desire to empathize with others cause you to not make the right decisions," Batman murmured.
Canary frowned as she looked at the dark knight. She then looked back up at the door. "Just because I'm a psychologist, doesn't mean I can't put that away when necessary."
"He's just trying to get used to having others to back him up, that's all. His mind and body just have to both adjust to that," Green Arrow offered as he leaned back and kicked up his feet on the table. "I feel bad for him. He put that all on his shoulders without any real support. Most of us were at least young adults when we started and the younger ones had us to learn from."
"Indeed. From the small things I've seen in his mind, he has trouble trusting older people. They were not much help to him before." Manhunter folded his hands on the table.
"What else have you picked up?" Black Lightning asked.
"It's a slow process. Danny told me there was no such thing as an empath where he was from. As such, he's never had someone in his mind without the use of forceful magics. Being partially a spirit, his mind work is mostly a bundle of emotion and static. I've been trying to teach him how to allow me in without inadvertently raising his defenses. He did say that he knew of ghosts that could use telepathy and telekinesis and that he even showed the potential to use said telekinesis." Manhunter finished his explanation by leaning back in his chair.
"We'll just all have to work with him more," Flash expressed.
"Yes. He needs support," Superman added.
"Even more so, I'd hate him to have reason to grow vengeful towards us." Batman looked into each Leaguer's eyes. "He could cause untold damage. He could possess any one of us and we would have no memory of it. While he isn't the fastest or the strongest, his powers are frightening, devastating, varied, and sometimes completely unpredictable." The others nodded quietly before Batman spoke again with a slightly softer tone, though you could hardly tell, "He also has incredible self-control."
"Hmm, you can say that again. He could've done a million and one things back in his old world without anyone being able to do a thing to stop it, but he didn't," Icon expressed, gesturing with one arm.
"Ultimately, we're still all in agreement, correct?" Superman asked.
"Help the kid out the best we can and help him feel comfortable? You bet," Plastic Man answered.
"Then this meeting is over-" Canary started only for Flash to raise his hand and extend a finger as though to speak. "Yes?"
"There was actually one other thing I wanted to talk about concerning Wally and myself."
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One week later…
Canary stared at the boy in front of her with a worried expression. She didn't have to be an empath to be able to tell he was majorly upset. Then again, she was still a bit shaken. When he had said that his Ghostly Wail could be catastrophic, he wasn't kidding.
It had been a somewhat simple recon mission. He'd gone with Robin, Beast Boy, and Blue Beetle. All three of them had been some of the first, including Cassie, to approach Danny and try to become his first friends. Wally would visit at times and during those times Danny would still hover close to him, but he was improving in the big picture. During the mission, which was an attempt at getting dirt on Luthor in order to finally have evidence that he wasn't a well-intentioned business man, Livewire had appeared. The electrical villain didn't say if she had been near Luthor for any particular reason, but had gone right into fighting the teens. While they were waiting for Superman and some more back-up, Livewire had lashed out at Robin with a charged cord from beneath the street. Danny had reportedly pushed him out of the way and took the hit instead.
Canary thought about what the sounds of his screams had felt like. She had been one of the Leaguers to arrive on the scene.
It was the physicality of it that was the most unnerving. The mix of a blood curling scream, dying distressed cries, and wails of remorse were chilling and put one right there as though they were watching someone die a slow and painful death, but it was the feeling in the air that really hit her the hardest. Her chest had grown heavy with depression, the waves of sound pulsed in a strange lulling pattern that messed with her mind, and she felt like she was floating.
Then the earth had started to crack, buildings had begun to crumble a bit, loosing some of their corners and ledges. She and the others had been worried that they wouldn't be able to stop it in time to save Danny's identity or to keep the city block from being decimated. It was pure luck that he was screaming into the sky rather than anywhere else. Streams of ice had burst from his body and lanced through the lightning that had still been connected to him, freezing the streets in places and nearly missing a civilian or two.
She blinked herself out of her memories and finally spoke to the boy. "How do you feel?"
Danny glanced up from his hands finally and looked sideways. "Really tired."
"You saved Robin from a great deal of pain and possibly death."
"Yeah, but I nearly destroyed the street too." Danny looked forward again. "I'm really sorry. It was the electricity! I haven't been that badly electrocuted in a long time…"
Canary narrowed her eyes in worry. "What do you-"
"The portal, Miss Canary. Electrocution was how I died." Her voice died in her throat as he continued. "Normally it's not too bad. Normally, electricity doesn't cause me to think about dying every time I'm zapped, but if it's intense enough…" Danny sighed and looked down at his hands again.
"That must've been traumatizing. I'm sorry I haven't been talking with you about it."
"It's fine. You didn't think to ask and I didn't know how to start." Danny gave a crooked smile. "How do you even start that conversation? Hey, I kinda have a bad reaction every time I think about the moment I died, but didn't, and electricity is kinda a touchy subject for me?"
Canary smiled at the boy's attempt to joke. "I guess that is a hard one."
Danny shrugged. "Yeah."
"Do Static or Black Lightning's powers bother you at all?"
Danny looked up and then shook his head. "No, it's fine. I had other ghost friends with similar abilities, so it's cool."
"That's good. If you ever feel uncomfortable though, you can tell me-"
"Are you afraid of me?" Danny asked quietly, causing the pleasant atmosphere to fade a bit.
"Afraid?"
"Are you afraid of me?" Danny repeated and looked up at the older woman's face.
"No. I'm wary of your power, just as I am some of my other teammates, but I'm not afraid of you, Danny. You're a very kind young man." Danny let out a sigh. "Why do you ask?"
"I don't know really. Everyone but my friends and Jazz were afraid of me back home. People would see me and scream that a ghost was there. I mean, eventually some of them came to like me more, but I knew, I could tell, they were always still afraid. I just hate that feeling of putting fear in someone and yet my ghost half likes it a little."
Canary clasped her hands together and rested her chin on them as she listened. "Conflicting feelings?"
Danny nodded. "It's always been a unification of both halves and yet a constant battle of instincts at the same time."
"Believe me, you aren't as alone in that as you think."
"I guess not here, not any more."
"Anything else?"
"I don't know, after everyone saw my wail… I knew they feared it. I know it haunted them to some degree."
"They didn't like hearing you're dying screams, Danny. Even without you telling them, they knew what that was." She watched the boy swallow hard. Then she saw the light reflect near his lashes, revealing that he was holding back tears.
"Even in a world with other people having abilities like me, I'm still the freak. It's the same as before. Everyone's afraid of me. They don't want my help. They'll lock me up. Forget me. Or maybe I'll fade away because I'm not needed anymore."
Canary felt her face fall in concern when his shoulders started to shake. "Danny, no one is going to lock you up. I can understand why you would be fearful of that, but you have given us no reason to. You are an equal among us and will be viewed the same as everyone else. That I can promise. I'm sorry you feel so alone now, but we're going to try our best to make you feel like you've been here all along." Canary paused and then resumed her attempt to soothe him. "You know others do fear Superman and some of the others, right? You're not alone in that. Others here have great power they have to hold back and manage. You're not as different as you think."
Danny looked at her. "But are they dead? Do they represent the thing mortal beings fear most? Do they remind everyone constantly about what happens if they do drown, or get hit by a car, or murdered by a villain? When they see me, they see their own gravestones. They see a fourteen year old that died. I'm not something they cheer for. I'm something they avoid."
Canary frowned slightly. "Maybe, but honestly as thankful as some people are of us, they know something is wrong when they see us show up. To be analytical about it, we all represent danger, we all represent the need for special people to be there to stop crime and disaster. Heroes like all of us remind people that there is evil within others like them, that there is evil all around us, that life is cruel. I'd say that's not all that different from what you described."
Danny blinked and then glanced at the ground in thought. "I never thought about it like that."
"Because you never had reason to before. Now you're in a world where mortal people are heroes and they didn't have to die in order to have the power to protect people. You said so yourself, life is the hard part, not death. You might even give people the hope that there is an ultimate equalizer and that good is the right path even if it's not the only one."
Danny hummed. "Clockwork used to say things like that. I guess I can't expect people to believe in me if I don't start believing in myself again."
Canary smiled and placed a hand on Danny once she standing beside him. "That's the spiri- Oops."
Danny grinned. "Oh, just wait. If you let me loose, the bad guys will all beg to go to prison to escape the power of my puns."
"Oh really?"
"They'll be haunted by them."
"Oh boy." Canary smirked.
"You sound so grave about it."
The heroine simply laughed.
zz
"I wouldn't say I'm the most coordinated when it comes to sports…" Danny mumbled. He was wearing some work-out shorts and a tank as he looked at the others in the room. Kaldur, Nightwing, Mal, Jaime, Karen, Gar, Batgirl, Bart, Robin, Virgil, and Cassie were all waiting for Danny to join them in a game of basketball with their own work-out clothes on, and sunglasses if needed. M'gann, Superboy, La'gaan, Raquel, Artemis, and Zatanna were on the side-lines, ready to watch.
"Doesn't matter, Dan-man. I'm sure you're not that bad," Mal encouraged.
"Besides! This is extreme basketball," Gar piped up.
Danny blinked. "What's extreme basketball?"
"Don't tell me you've never had the desire to use your powers during gym class?" Nightwing asked.
Danny's eyes widened. "You mean-"
"Which team gets Danny? He's like the ultimate cheat code," Gar asked.
"I don't know... He has to be able to use his powers before I get him," Bart grinned.
A smile split Danny's face as Robin trotted over with a blue jersey. "Well then it looks like he's on Team Bat."
"Since when was our team, Team Bat?" Mal asked.
"I'm guessing when you managed to acquire all three of us?" Batgirl offered and put her hands on her hips.
Before long, the gym was filled with laughter, shouts, and other sounds of powers being put to use. All rules were practically thrown out the window, when water was used to carry the ball all the way across court over everyone's heads via Kaldur, Bart made twenty goals in a row before someone could stop him, and the ball disappeared entirely and everyone noticed Danny was conspicuously missing as well before both appeared slipping through the net and sitting on the basket.
Those watching, were cheering and laughing uproariously, until someone sped into the room. It was none other than the Flash. The game stopped, wondering if something was wrong before the scarlet speedster spoke.
"Hey guys, what are you all up to?"
Nightwing's head really popped up at that and the others stared. "Wally?"
"That's my name, don't wear it out!"
Artemis stood up. "What are you-"
"Aunt Iris needs Barry around more. So we've been talking about trading off while he stays with her."
Nightwing grinned. "How's it feel, pal?"
"Pretty sweet."
"Think they'll mess up your name anymore?"
Wally's face fell and annoyance crossed his features. "They better not."
Danny smirked. "Don't tempt fate. My experience says it never works out."
Nightwing started to laugh when Wally looked slightly alarmed. Soon everyone was laughing.
Up above the gym the teens were in, a few of the Leaguers and mentors that had helped start the Team looked down at the happy group and smiled.
So what do you think? I'm hoping that practicing all these DC characters in Phandom Phables will keep me from messing them up too badly when I do my full Danny Phantom x Young Justice crossover in the future.
I loved doing the various Wally parts. This is nearly how I'd expect it to happen if they did a third season and he was brought back some way.