Bruised

Chapter Eighteen

Tremble

All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream

Edgar Allan Poe

Danny slowly woke up feeling refreshed. He was concerned about his dad fainting and had apparently passed out while waiting for his dad to wake up. He blinked his eyes and sat up.

His dad was up and about somewhere in the mansion. Danny slowly got to his feet and wondered to the kitchen where he knew his dad liked to do his thinking at home.

Even though Danny knew that they weren't at home, didn't mean he didn't know his dad's habits.

Jack was sitting on a barstool staring into what Danny believed was a cup of coffee, or possibly hot chocolate.

Alfred walked up behind him with a smile.

"Hello, Master Danny, would you like some hot chocolate?" Alfred asked making Danny smile and nod.

One thing that came from this trip was the hot chocolate that Alfred made.

It was the best and Danny knew he'd absolutely fly his ass back to Gotham for it.

"Hey, Danno," Jack smiled at his kid who took a seat next to him. He looked back down at his cup. "I'm sorry." Danny looked at him confused.

"For what?" Danny asked. Jack sighed.

"For not being trustworthy enough for you to tell me what was going on. It shouldn't have come to this. You shouldn't have had to hide who you are in your own home," Jack whispered as he hunched his shoulders some more.

He didn't want to be the dad whose kids hid things from him because they were scared of him.

"It's…okay," Danny said knowing that nothing he could say would help right now. Because a lot of what Jack said was true.

Danny didn't trust his parents with his secrets because at the end of the day, he was scared of them. He was scared of them not accepting him and trying to fix him when there was nothing wrong with him.

"Ember told me that there were only three hybrids," Jack said looking at his son. "Do you know that last one?"

Danny blinked at he stared at Jack for a moment confused. There was no way that his father figured out that Vlad was also a hybrid. He hadn't even been brought up and Danielle was his clone.

"I know all of them," Danny said carefully. Jack nodded. Danny took a sip of the hot chocolate that had appeared at his side at some point. Alfred was already gone, and Danny really wanted to know how he did that.

"Can you get a message to Phantom then?" Jack asked making Danny spit out what he'd taken in. He coughed some and Jack looked at him concerned before the teenager put his hand out to stop him from touching him.

"Sorry, just…I'm alright," Danny said as he gagged one last time. "There are three, and I do know the other two. One is a clone and she's somewhere in the world and the other is a fruitloop who really needs to get a cat."

"A clone?" Jack asked looking at his son concerned. Danny nodded.

"Yeah, a clone of me."

"Phantom?"

"Phantom is…how have you not put it together?" Danny asked staring at his dad confused. Jack looked back down as he went over the information in his head, but it wasn't adding up. There was so much going that he felt like he couldn't think straight. Without Maddie here to help him focus, he felt like he was just being pushed and pulled though the ocean with no way out.

"I can't think straight. Everything is just…there a lot of information, and I can't seem to figure it out," Jack explained before Danny stood up.

"Do you understand what a hybrid is then?" Danny asked deciding he'd need to actually show his father the transformation. Which was just insane cause he thought for sure that his dad would figure it out. Especially since he had all the information.

"Half ghost, half human, right?" Jack asked confused. He really just wanted the answers, but he also could see his son's frustration at him not understanding. Which was normal, most people had to spell things out for him.

It'd always been this way. He's gotten better at pretending that nothing was wrong, but maybe he should go and see a therapist about his mental health.

He knew it wasn't the best, but before the ghost thing they always wanted to medicate him. They always thought he was crazy for believing that they existed.

Not anymore.

"Yes, I don't know how exactly it works, but for there to be a hybrid, they'd have both forms," Danny explained watching his father carefully. Jack nodded and seemed to understand. "Are you getting where I'm going with this?" Jack looked at his son before green blazed in his eyes.

"You're Phantom," Jack whispered realizing that the green was the same as the kings. "No, I…that can't be right."

Danny sighed before a bright white ring appeared around his waist before separating and leaving Phantom in his place.

The room was thrown into a blue hue as the crown appeared.

"Yes, I'm Phantom," Phantom said standing tall. Jack only blinked at him. "Passing out twice in six hours probably isn't good for you."

"But how?" Jack asked making Phantom narrowed his eyes.

"I already told you it was the portal," Phantom said crossing his arms. Jack shook his head.

"No, how'd you become king? You said you'd only been crowned not that long ago, like within this week," Jack said still confused and Phantom laughed.

"Oh, well, remember when Amity Park was taken into the Ghost Zone?" Jack nodded. "Well, Pariah Dark was the last Ghost King who had done it trying to reclaim his ring for unlimited power. Needless to say, he got it and that's why we were there."

"Okay, so you became king because he was defeated?" Jack asked for clarity.

"No, I became king because I defeated him in what was considered single combat. Even though I wasn't the one who locked his cage, I was the one who fought him and won essentially," Phantom explained as the rings reappeared and changed him. "Because of that, I was considered a prince, but no one told me that until I actually got here…then I was kidnapped by the League of Shadows, stabbed and thrown into a Lazarus Pit where I met some ancient ghosts." Jack blinked as Danny stopped and gave him a small smile.

"I got them home by letting them possess me since I could hold their power, they called me prince and gave me information about how the Ghost Zone worked. Which is where I learned about the government…and how I became king," Danny continued as he played with the mug in front of him. "I learned how the worlds were connected, how both can't survive without the other. How they were created to rely on each other in a balance to preserve life."

"What?" Jack asked looking at his son. "That means that they can't be separated at all then, if they were created together." Danny shook his head.

"No, the Pits are a gateway. Lazarus was the ghost was in charge of ensuring the pits helped shift the energies between the dimensions. Life and Death would circle each other. Life would create new things, and Death would archive past civilizations in the Zone," Danny explained. Jack just stared at him with wide eager eyes. "At some point they'd mix, and life would recycle. At least how I understand it."

Danny knew far more about the worlds than he thought he would. Jack knew that they could learn so much about ghosts from his son just telling them things that he's learned.

Things that they could have been learning had they not caused such a distrust in their children by making them think that they would put their studies over their children.

Jack knew that there was a lot he had to make up for with his children, especially his son, but he was going to do it.

One way or another.

Maddie sighed as she looked over the information. It wasn't looking good. There was no way she'd be able to get a hold of a hybrid now with the President working with ghosts now.

She was glad she never voted for him, but she had hoped that he would have listened to her about how ghosts could be deceitful.

Now she needed to figure out what exactly it was that Phantom was after making them believe he was a hybrid.

The thought that if she was wrong came, and she blinked.

If she was wrong, then she could make things worse.

If she was right, then Phantom could destroy the world.

She held her head knowing that there was no good way to know for sure what Phantom's plan was. She looked though some information, and apparently Phantom hadn't been seen in Amity Park for the past three days.

The Red Huntress seemed to be taking care of Amity well, and that the ghost attacks had lowered.

Then there was Masters Blasters who were taking credit for the lowered ghost attacks publicly.

She tried to figure out what she was missing.

Why would the ghosts suddenly stop attacking? All that was reported currently were animal ghosts, and now with the GIW shut down and non-operational, it was all on the teenage ghost hunters.

Maddie did not like that. She was still a kid even if she had no idea who it was.

And so were the Amity funded ones. She'd have to talk to Vlad about that one. It wasn't right to use a teenager.

She wondered if Danny would be able to help her figure out who they were under their masks.

Maybe even see if he could do some research into his fellow students and see if Phantom did go to school.

She looked at her phone where there had been several messages from her boy on there. She never answered them, and guilt ate at her.

She had a decision to make, and she wasn't sure which one was best.

Danny was going through some of the information that was on the GIW in the cave trying to track how long it'd be to fully take down their operations.

Bruce had let him mess with some of the technology there to help them should they come across ghosts. The Bat had a feeling that with this treaty, more ghosts would come through to explore.

And Danny had the feeling that the two dimensions would start to merge more than they already were. Which would mean that there would be more portals opening.

He also managed to help Bruce figure out what all Vlad owned and track down his labs throughout the states.

They had also learned that Vlad's cloning process was also used by the US government, and some had been sold to Lex Corp.

Bruce was not happy about this information but was glad that Danny managed to get him the information. Now he had an idea on what to look for.

Bruce was watching as Danny helped create some files on the ghosts that had attacked Amity Park and he was even putting some on his allies should anything happen to him.

Danny was even planning on helping them get some weapons just in case. Which Bruce was definitely going to look into just for his own purposes, and from what he'd seen so far, it could lead into new technologies.

He hated having to, but he never wanted to be caught off guard. Especially should anything happen to cause Danny to go dark side.

It would definitely break him should he have to. He really was starting to like the kid. Bruce watched as Danny quickly figured out his systems and started on another case file.

This time it was a ghost called Skulker. And some of the things he'd heard about that one concerned him.

But also gave him a new respect for the kid who fought crazy ghosts that were actively trying to kill him.

Bruce needed a training plan, because he was not leaving that kid unprotected in Amity Park.

He was already looking for places to put a zeta should he need backup from the Justice League. He wasn't going to leave anything to chance anymore.

Bruce also wanted to expand Wayne's R&D into ghost technology and open a division in Amity Park.

One thing he really wanted was for Danny to consider taking a job in that department. He wouldn't have to worry about taking off for a ghost since Bruce would be able to cover for him, and he'd be able to help Wayne Enterprises get a head start on other companies if they tried to start into the ecto-tech.

He wondered if Danny's parents would consider selling Fentonworks to him.

Bruce blinked and shook his head. He was getting a little too ahead of himself. Danny was still only seventeen and there just so much potential.

Bruce was glad he had met the kid. He turned towards their lockers and started getting ready for the night patrols.

Vlad paced angrily. Everything just crashed so quickly and effectively that he was unsure how to dig himself back out of this hole.

He had planned to get Amity Park under his human/ghost shield once Daniel left and ghosts seemed to run rampant.

But they weren't coming though the portal fast enough.

Then he felt the moment that they had crowned a king.

His core ached painfully.

He should have been the one crowned. He had been the one to locked the sarcophagus of forever sleep.

He should have been the rightful ruler of the Ghost Zone.

He had the crown but it never attached like it should have and now he knew why.

That little brat.

Vlad growled as he swiped the papers on his desk off in anger.

Someone had been looking into his business dealings here as well.

He should have pressed harder for Maddie to send him Daniel, and now…now his plans were falling apart.

He knew the GIW were working on destroying the Zone, but now that they were disbanded, that plan is gone.

King Phantom made nice with the US government all within a few days.

Vlad underestimated the teenager, but he also knew that there was a limit on how much he could done.

Maybe it wasn't a complete failure. He'd just have to take a page from Lex's play book.

He'd insert himself in a position a little higher and try to talk some sense into certain humans that ghosts were not to be trusted.

He had a few politicians to talk to.

AHHHHH I'm at the end!
Well almost. I'm working on it...when I'm not distracted by the other stories I'm working on.
So I have two twin aus...the criminal and then...I ended Laceration, and I may have another story to follow it...XD
Honestly that one may have taken over my life.
AND I'M WATCHING THE BATMAN TOMORROW AND I'M SO FUCKING EXICTED!ahhhhhhhH