Bruised

Chapter Twelve

Dawn

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.

Anne Lamott

"It's been six hours since they went in," Batman said as he paced in the lab. Superman was watching him while Robin typed on the computer trying to figure out a way to get the comms to work.

Technus and Robin had been working on it for the past two hours with no luck.

They kept getting static.

"Something is changing," Technus suddenly said breaking the quiet of the room. "He's been crowned."

Phantom watched as the bats drove the owls away. Nightwing and Red Robin stood up and watched as they surrounded the owls and forced them together.

"What's going on?" Nightwing asked as he came to stand next to the Prince who was staring at what was going on.

"Gotham is terminating the Court here, which means she wants them gone out of the Real-World Gotham," Phantom explained feeling powers surround him. "Her judgement is bound, and the Court shall fall."

"Uh, that's an oddly formal way of saying that," Nightwing said before Sam and Tucker pointed at Phantom's eyes.

They were completely whited out. Power leaked from them and floated upwards.

"That's the command of the King," Gotham said as she appeared behind them. Phantom turned to her as Martha and Thomas walked forward holding the Crown. "I'm glad you followed the clues, Young Prince, but now it's time."

Gotham picked up the Crown as Phantom kneeled down and bowed his head. Ghosts started coming out of the buildings surrounding them to watch the proceedings.

"I am honored to behold this Crown of Ice upon the head of Danny Phantom. The one who fought for all Ghosts against the tyrant known as Pariah Dark," Gotham said as she stood tall and gently placed the Crown on Phantom's head. Power blazed. "I now present the High King of All Ghosts, King Phantom!"

The ghosts cheered as Nightwing and Red Robin watched with small smiles as Phantom stood up. Sam and Tucker were also smiling at their friend.

"I made a vow when I got my powers to protect Amity Park, and now that I've been entrusted with the Crown, I vow to protect the Ghost Zone with everything I am," Phantom said loud enough that everyone felt the power of his words. "And to start, we will end the GIW."

Power blazed around Phantom for a moment as white fire surrounded him before fading.

He could almost feel the whole Ghost Zone shift under his power before he blinked.

He wondered about the Ring and if he really needed it after all.

Phantom looked at his friends. He didn't want that kind of all-encompassing power that Pariah wanted. He'd be fine with what he had now.

Batman looked up from his computer as Technus appeared outside of the computer.

"He's on his way here," Technus said as he stared at the portal. "They are picking up the speeder before coming here. I can feel the power."

Batman swallowed hoping that this wasn't a mistake. From all the other research he'd been doing on Phantom, the kid was determined to be the superhero of Amity Park by stopping the other ghosts.

Or at least that what's the younger generations of the people here believed. The older ones wanted nothing more than for Phantom to disappear. And to him it seemed that the mayor was the one that was telling them what a menace Phantom was.

Which if the information that Robin gave was right, then Vlad Masters was as bad a Lex Luthor. Which meant that they needed to do something.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Superman asked making Batman bristle.

"At this point, whatever decision we make is either going to send us into war or save the world," Batman said staring at the man of steel. "So, we better make the right one."

The portal glowed brighter as the speeder came crashing through. Phantom breaking before it crashed into a wall.

"Dude, can you try not to kill us all?!" a male yelled out as he bailed out of the speeder. Batman blinked as he looked a little green from the ride.

"Look, I'm sorry, there's still a lot of power I'm not used to," Phantom said as he walked out the speeder followed by his sons and a girl.

"Yeah, but I didn't think it'd lead us that fast through the Ghost Zone. We've never had that happen before," the girl said glaring at Phantom who just smiled at her.

"Uh, not that this isn't an interesting turn of events, but uh, shouldn't we find a way to stop the GIW from like, destroying everything," Red said as he turned and looked at Batman. "Oh, hey B."

Everyone then turned to stare at Batman. Phantom smiled and Batman noted the white cloak similar to that of the black he had when he was possessed.

The blue fired crown on his head was new, however.

And so was the power that could be felt by everyone in the room. Technus bowed as he watched the teenager he loved to annoy stand there.

"It's good to know that we have a king that will regard us with kindness," Technus said as Phantom smiled at him.

"Of course," Phantom said as he walked forward towards Superman and Batman. Superman quietly looked over the teenager in slight shock.

"So, the ghosts made a teenager their king?" Superman asked making Phantom grin darkly.

"No, I earned this title by combat," Phantom informed making Superman pale slightly. "A battle that was not in my favor by the prior king who held infinite power."

"How'd you win?" Superman asked making Phantom huff.

"Determination and a lot of luck. Though there may have been some help from other ghosts and a suit that amplifies your power a hundred-fold," Phantom smiled before walking away from them. "The Guys in White are planning something, and I need to know what it is. What have you figured out?"

"The president managed to put a hold on the Anti-Ecto Acts for the time being. However, he wants to meet you as soon as possible," Batman said as he watched the hybrid stare into the portal before waving his hand and closing it.

Sam and Tucker stared in shock.

"I need some sleep before we get too far into this crazy adventure if that's okay. May we meet later…" Phantom paused and looked at the clock. "Perhaps later tonight? I just need a few hours of rest."

Batman agreed. There's been almost no time to breath since being kidnapped by the League of Assassins.

"So, the Box Ghost and Ember are still at Wayne Manor?" Danny asked as leaned against the seat of the Batwing. He didn't want to fly back to Gotham, but Batman insisted that he stay with him.

He was under the Dark Knight's watch already as a human anyway, so Danny had said goodbye to his friends as they worked with Technus in Fentonworks to find his parents and update Jazz. Red Robin would stay with them and Nightwing and Robin would go looking through Amity Park for more information regarding the GIW.

Danny would go with Batman back to Gotham. Then later on go to the Watchtower then DC.

"Yes, Ember was far more helpful in getting information from than the Box Ghost," Batman said and wondered how his life came to this sort of insanity. "He just kept yelling."

"Yeah, he can be kind of useless," Danny laughed as he closed his eyes. Batman watched as the teen relaxed before falling asleep nearly immediately. He looked out the window to see Superman look at the teen in distrust before nodding to him and flying back to Metropolis.

They could all use a small break from everything that was just dumped on them.

The moment Batman flew into the city limits of Gotham, he knew he was making the right decision.

And for once, the skies of Gotham seemed clearer, and everything was just a touch brighter.

The city itself seemed happier.

"Will this work?" Agent H asked looking at the Fentons who looked at the idea with slight concern.

"I mean, it could," Maddie said as she looked over the math. "But if we're wrong, we could destroy the entire world, and I'm not meaning the Ghost Zone, I mean our own."

"I don't want to take this chance," Jack said as he crossed his arms. "I may not like the fact that ghosts are constantly attacking Amity, but this would risk my children, and I'm not taking it."

"Ghosts are already a threat to your children," Agent L reminded as he stared at the Fentons. He knew they were a bit crazy, but they were terrifyingly intelligent when it came to engineering ghost related technologies. "If we can get this to work and separate the two worlds…"

"We could destabilize our world, and then everything could come crashing down around us," Maddie interrupted as she threw her hands up in the air. "We don't have enough information regarding how our worlds are connected. We just know that once our portal started working that the connection stabilized, and we still don't understand why it bonded that well to us."

"Would we have been able to do this before you opened your portal?" Agent H asked glaring at the Fentons. Maddie shook her head.

"I don't think so. The worlds have always been connected, and I think all we did was open a bridge that was always there," Maddie informed as she too crossed her arms. "I'm not sure what you guys are wanting to do is possible."

"Do you understand what we could do with this information?" Agent L yelled. "We could be free of death entirely!"

"I don't want to mess with things that are way beyond us," Maddie said glaring at the man. "I have no problems trying to get rid of ghosts or stop them from coming into our world, but this isn't a good idea to mess with Life and Death."

"Dr. Fenton, we are so close to beating death itself," Agent L said making Maddie shake her head.

"No, we don't have enough information about what you're wanting to do to proceed safely. We could be destroying the world if we continue," Maddie countered wanting nothing more than to wish that she didn't take this job.

"Then we run a trial period, see what happens," Agent H suggested getting a head shake from both Fentons.

"Even a trial run could irreversibly destabilize our world," Jack said as he looked over the data. "In order to truly know we'd have to see if there are such things as hybrids, and those don't exist."

"What if they did?" Agent L asked looking at them.

"Then perhaps studying one could give us those answers," Maddie whispered thinking it over. "But I'm not even sure if they exist, and if they do, how'd we find them. Would they look human? Or ghost? We simply don't know."

"Until we can either find proof of hybrids and study one, I'm not going to help continue this research," Jack said as he nodded to Maddie.

As interesting as hybrids would sound, he knew that there was no way they existed.

And if they did, would it be ethical to even experiment on them?

And if they existed, would that mean that they really didn't know how the world actually worked, and would it really help separate the worlds the way they wanted to?

Danny woke up to see a face directly in front of his own. He blinked and swallowed a scream.

"Morning, Babypop," Ember grinned as she absently strummed her guitar. Danny groaned and rolled over before shoving the pillow over his head.

"What do you want?" he muttered into the mattress. He really just wanted to sleep more.

"Is it true that Gotham herself crowned you?" Ember asked. She had no idea that there was a flipside Gotham and she really wanted to go there now as well.

She'd definitely be making Phantom take her once things calmed down again.

"Yes," Danny sighed as he sat up and glared at her. He was now more awake than he wanted to be but decided that he may as well stay awake.

"That's awesome," Ember said as she sat on the bed making Danny bounce.

"Is there another reason you came here?" Danny asked as he stretched his arms above his head. Ember looked him up and down.

"Can I see?" she asked making Danny sigh before transforming. Ember looked him over with bright eyes.

"You look awesome," she said as she picked up the cloak. "You don't have the ring through." Phantom shrugged.

"Didn't want it, and it was optional," Phantom smiled. Ember laughed knowing that the kid wouldn't take more power than he needed. "But I'm officially the King. I can feel the Zone, and the connection between this world and the Ghost Zone."

"Cool," Ember said as she looked him over. "When did you get the armor and cloak though?"

"When I was possessed by ghosts last night," Phantom said as he transformed back into a human.

"Okay, you're going to have to start with how in the ever-living fuck you managed to get kidnapped on your first night in Gotham," Ember said as she crossed her arms. Danny grinned at her before going over it with her.

"You see, it started when I couldn't sleep. New place and all…"

You guys are awesome! I love all the comments, and I kinda have an idea on where I want to end this one!

And I have another story planned out and started.
I think I have a problem because these crossovers are by far my favorite!
If only there were more!