Chapter 29: Powerless

"Tragedy struck Metropolis as Superman lost his superpowers thanks to an invention the Legion of Doom stole from DevCorp." TV reporter Angela Chen announced. "With us here is Winston Deavor, CEO of DevCorp. Mr. Deavor, why did your company made such a terrible invention?"

"Ms. Chen, this company was headed by Lex Luthor back then and the idea is to sell it to the Government to be used against supervillains." Winston explained. "Having a way to stop Kryptonians doesn't sound like a bad idea when Phantom Zone criminals are at large or when Superman is under control of criminals like Darkseid or… my sister."

"I see." Angela replied. "But what's your company doing about restoring Superman's powers?"

"Fortunately, the power disruptor's effect is temporary." Winston reassured Angela and the viewers. "Superman's powers will return with time. Until then, the National Super Agency decided to have a Super helping Metropolis."

"Who?" Angela excitedly asked. "Mr. Incredible?"

"Not exactly." Danny answered as he landed near them. "The National Super Agency chose someone with some experience working with Supergirl."

Meanwhile, news of Superman's powerlessness reached the prison where Lex Luthor was serving his time. "Good job, Luthor." One of his fellow inmates said.

"Too bad you can't enjoy it from here." Another inmate added.

"Believe me." Luthor replied. "I can enjoy that alien's suffering from everywhere. As for me being here…" A green armor broke into the prison and opened itself for Luthor to get inside it. The armor also shot tranquilizer darts at the guards. "A mere temporary setback." Instead of merely using the hole the armor used to get inside, Luthor opened another hole for him to escape. The other inmates, after making sense of the situation, decided to run away as well but gave up upon seeing the outdoors guards.

"I'm flying and Superman isn't." Luthor stated. "This is the best day of my life."

"I beg to differ, Luthor." Supergirl replied as she appeared in front of him.

"You'll be begging for real once I'm done with you, Supergirl." Luthor replied as he shot her with a kryptonite ray. "Tell me where your powerless cousin is and I'll let you live." He said and mentally added 'long enough to see me killing him.'

Danny decided to intervene. "Time to ride you back to prison, bald fruitloop." He tried to overshadow Luthor but the villain's armor electrocuted him.

"I've previously bought anti-ghost technology from your parents, young Mr. Fenton." Luthor replied. "I made the mistake of not using it when I teamed up with Masters but I learn from my mistakes."

Supergirl took advantage of the distraction to punch Luthor so strongly he fell down. "Let's see if you learn from this mistake." She said. Before Luthor had the time to shoot more kryptonite on Supergirl, she ripped his armor apart. Once the kryptonite was detached from the armor, Danny took it away and Supergirl took Luthor back to prison.

Afterwards, she and Danny went to the Justice League's watchtower. To Danny's surprise, the first Leaguer he met was Batman the blackmailer. "Is my cousin okay?" Supergirl asked.

"He's caught a cold, Kara." Batman answered, worrying the Girl of Steel even more since it was a sign her cousin still didn't recover his powers. "But don't worry. Our analysis show that Winston Deavor was being truthful about Superman's loss of power being a temporary setback."

"Not every billionaire is a blackmailer like you, Bruce." Danny replied with a frown. The word 'Bruce' being whispered.

"I did what I deemed necessary to protect Batgirl's secret identity, Danny." Batman justified his decision.

"And I did what I deem necessary to protect Invisigirl's secret identity." Danny mocked Batman's response.

The Martian Manhunter decided to make his presence known at that very moment. "Problems." He said. "Metallo and some thugs are robbing a bank in Metropolis."

"I'll stop them!" Superman exclaimed out of habit but couldn't even stand up.

Later on, Supergirl was at the bank demanding the bad guys to surrender. "Drop your weapons, or else…"

"Or else what, Supergirl?" Metallo asked while shooting a Kryptonite beam. "You cannot stop me."

His Kryptonite battery was then phased out of him. "Maybe she cannot but I can!" Danny exclaimed and then made up a joke. "Is this Kryptonite day?"

'And Barbara said he's good at jokes.' Supergirl thought.

To keep her safe, Danny took the Kryptonite away. The other bad guys, too dumb to know when to give up, wasted all their bullets on Supergirl. "It's my cousin who lost superpowers, not me." She said as she rounded up Metallo's goons. Metallo himself was no problem since he couldn't move without the Kryptonite Danny took from him.

Unlike what Supergirl expected, Danny delivered the Kryptonite to Rick Dicker at the National Super Agency. "Good work, Danny."

"Thank you, Sir." Danny replied. "I do my best."

"And you do it well." Rick stated. "Now return to Metropolis. I don't think we've seen the last of criminals trying to take advantage of Superman's temporary unavailability."

Meanwhile, in Metroville, Violet couldn't help but worry over her boyfriend. "Afraid he'll dump you for Supergirl?" Dash Parr teasingly asked his sister.

"What?" Violet angrily asked. "No!"

"Well, you should." Dash said. "She's a better hero than you and way hotter."

"You only say that because I'm your sister." Violet accused her brother.

"It helps, of course." Dash admitted.

Their conversation was interrupted by the intruder alert. "What happened?" Dash asked. "Did a supervillain learn our identities?"

"Either that or it's just a crook hoping to find valuables to steal." Violet replied.

Back in Metropolis, Supergirl was handling Toyman's latest 'toys': tanks with laser cannons. "He must have found some weapon left behind from the last time Darkseid's forces invaded Earth." She commented. "The pain is too similar for it to be anything else."

Danny returned from his meeting with Rick Dicker. "Are we being invaded by some hostile nation?" He asked upon seeing the tanks.

"Nope." The Girl of Steel answered. "Just Toyman."

"Is Luthor financing this?" Danny asked.

"Probably." Supergirl answered. She never actually thought over where Winslow Schott got the money for his schemes but the Luthor theory made sense.

Danny's ghost sense suddenly activated. "A ghost? In Metropolis?"

"Is it Craddock?" Supergirl asked.

"Very astute of you, Supergirl." A new voice said as, to Danny's astonishment, an aristocrat's outfit (monocle included) materialized in front of him. The monocle turned to him as the voice kept speaking. "You must be the human-ghost hybrid known as Danny Phantom."

"Uh, yes." Danny uneasily confirmed since the newcomer ghost, while astonishing Danny by being invisible while wearing visible clothes, wasn't doing anything wrong.

"Nice to meet you." The ghost politely replied. "I'm James Craddock, the Gentleman Ghost."

"Danny, he's Hawkman's archenemy!" Supergirl warned her would-be boyfriend while deflecting Toyman's rays.

"How does he defeat him?" Danny asked. He's not used to fighting ghosts another hero has more experience with. Ghost Syndrome didn't count because, for the Incredibles, it was also their first time meeting him as a ghost.

"He and Hawkgirl usually hit him with maces made of Nth metal, Danny." Supergirl answered.

Craddock then drew his guns. "Pleasantries are done. Raise your hands or I'll shoot you."

"Ha!" Danny laughed at the threat. "I know you're used to living enemies, Craddock, but you should know you can't harm a ghost with bullets."

"Well, you made your choice." Craddock said and shot a bullet but Supergirl caught it. "His bullets are made of Nth metal, Danny." She explained but was hit by one of Toyman's beams.

She was so hurt that Danny, in spite of not choosing her among his many dates, was furious enough to unleash his Ghostly Wail on Toyman's tanks, destroying them.

"He could've done that all the time?" Superman asked while watching it through a screen?"

"My research on Danny Phantom suggests he usually saves it as a last recourse." Batman explained. "Looking at him now, I'd say it's because it's too exhaustive to be used regularly or at least it's one of his reasons."

Seeing how exhausted Danny was, Craddock readied himself to shoot. "This one is going to your head." The Gentleman Ghost said but Supergirl zoomed in and grabbed the gun. Knowing she now had a way to hurt him, Craddock vanished.

After that battle, Rick decided to send Danny back home and let Frozone in Metropolis. Back home, Danny told his friends about his day. "Director Dicker and Mr. Deavor confided into me that Superman will regain his powers in a week." He told Sam, Tucker and Jazz. "But don't spread it. They're afraid knowing when it'll happen will rush the supervillains."

"He doesn't want competition." Tucker muttered and was ignored.

"And you gave that Kryptonite to the Government instead of the League?" Sam asked with a frown. "You shouldn't trust the Government with something that can kill Superman even when he's with his powers!"

"Technically, my little brother works for the Government now." Jazz pointed out.

"Please don't remind me." Sam replied.

"Forget about that, Sam, and let's focus on more important details." Tucker said and smiled. "Did you meet Batman? Did you touch his cape? What's it made of? Did you get his autograph? Or at least Batgirl's phone number?"

"Did you forget about Velma?" Danny asked.

"There's nothing wrong about having a crush on celebrities." Tucker defended himself. "Now, about Batgirl's phone number…"

"Over my dead body!" Batman said as he revealed himself.

"The Dark Knight?" Tucker asked with a dreamy expression. "Here? Can I have your autograph?"

"No." Batman blunted replied and turned his attention to Danny. "How did you figure out my identity?"

"My Dad started connecting the dots by pointing out you have to be rich to be able to afford all that Bat equipment and seeing your parents being killed in front of you back when you were eight years old gave you the motivation." Danny explained.

"And I made a research through the web for more clues." Tucker added. "It doesn't help your case that each Robin debuted around the time Bruce Wayne adopted a ward; the Robin outfit looks like those worn by the Flying Graysons; and Wayne's first ward was the last Flying Grayson." It then clicked in that he admitted knowing Batman's real identity. "Please don't kill me."

"I won't kill to protect my secret identity." Batman reassured Tucker. "I knew it was a matter of time before somebody discovered but I didn't expect the Internet to make it so easy a teenager would connect the dots or even find the dots to connect in the first place."

"Your secret is safe with me but tell me: is it true you're strong like that because you recreated Captain America's super serum?" Tucker asked.

"I've reached my shape through exercises." Batman answered.

"You're not using any steroids?" Tucker was disappointed Batman didn't use any advanced tech to be so physically strong.

The Caped Crusader decided to ignore the techno geek. "Danny, I'm sorry I've threatened Invisigirl's secret identity to protect Batgirl's." He said and left.

"Somehow, I feel worse than when the fruitloop and I used each other's identity to protect our own." Danny commented.

End chapter.

Author's note: The game "Die Alien Scum", mentioned in the previous chapter, is a game featured in one episode of "Hi Hi PuffyAmiYumi".

Answer to Guest: No spoilers.

Answer to Leonardo (Guest): Eu tinha que mostrar que ele tem uma vida além de namoro, super-heroísmo, e o desejo de ser astronauta. Na hora eu percebi que a Sam, que diz saber de coisas sobrenaturais por ser gótica, saberia sobre a dimensão mágica. Espero que esteja satisfeito com o que aconteceu neste capítulo.