Here is part2! Enjoy!
Previously
Suddenly a great sound of thunder resonated through the mountains in which they were, it was quickly followed by more thunder. Danny saw in the distance a lot of dark clouds and lighting coming from them, he got the feeling that that wasn't a natural occurrence in this world.
"What was that?" Diana asked.
"It's began" J'onn revealed and all of the other heroes saw the strange climate in the distance.
Now
"What are they doing" Hawkgirl asked.
"The invaders are nocturnal; they want to block out the sun so they can live in perpetual darkness" J'onn explained.
"Friends of yours?" Flash asked looking at Batman and making Danny let out a tiny snort.
"It's no joke" Batman growled.
"What's the problem? Can't you whip out another branch of the nerve gas?" Flash asked at J'onn.
"Unfortunately, no. The gas can only be made from a rare Martian plant I brought a sample with me but it was destroyed when I was captured" J'onn explained.
"Ah… What's plan B?" Flash asked nervously.
"We'll have to take down those factories" Diana said with confidence.
"Lady this is not job for amateurs" GL said while looking at Diana and Danny.
"We Amazons are warriors born want to test me?" Diana challenged while Danny glared at GL.
"Let's not fight among ourselves. John we're going to need all the help we can get" Superman said before GL could respond to the Amazonian.
"And him. You are going to let a kid fight in this?" GL asked Superman while pointing at Danny.
"I'm not a kid I'm a teen and besides is not like you can stop me from helping" Danny smirked.
Before GL could respond Superman put his hand in his shoulder and gave him a look, reminding him of the dire situation they were facing at the moment.
"Fine. Sorry your highness" GL said and nodded to Danny.
"Tactically we have multiple objectives so we need to slip into team" GL said.
"Dibs on the Amazon" Flash said surprising Diana.
In the middle of the ocean Flash, GL and Phantom were in their way towards their designated cloud factory. John have decided to put them on his team so Flash wouldn't be distracted by his flirting and to keep an eye on Phantom, he knew he was a capable fighter but he was still a kid and that worried him. In his opinion children didn't belong to war zones and what they were about to face was one.
"You are no fun" Flash se complained for the third time in the last ten minutes.
"This isn't supposed to be fun. We got a job to do and we're do better without distractions. Understood?" GL declared.
"Yea, yea I hear ya" Flash grumbled.
"Where you in the army?" Danny asked GL after some minutes of silence.
"I was in the us marines. Now I'm with the Green Lantern Corps, why do you ask?" GL responded.
"Just curiosity. You sounded like one when we were planning" Danny said giving him a smile.
In the inside Danny was very nervous, his only interactions with military people were the Guys In White back at his dimension, and let just say that their last encounter was the worst one a ghost could have with them. Danny decided to not judge GL so fast but he would be extra weary around him, it would not hurt him to make some precautions.
They arrived into a jungle and after a few minutes of flight, or running in case of the Flash, they encountered a giant structure that appeared to be made of metal but with an organic design. The alien building was spreading smoke into the air and making a big mass of clouds stand above it. There were the same tripods Danny saw in the TV guarding the structure.
"Eyes on target and listen up here's the plan" GL started.
"What plan? We kick their butts, right? Let's get this over with" Flash said before running towards the machines causing GL to groan out of exasperation.
"Impatient much?" Danny asked grinning at Flash behavior.
GL and Danny saw how Flash brought the attention of one of the tripods and started to doge all of the shoots that were aimed after him by running faster than it could aim. Unfortunately, there was a mine hidden and when Flash step over, it went off trapping flash in a weird yellow glue.
"Fool" GL grumbled before going to the rescue of the speedster with Phantom following near.
"Hang tight hotshot" GL said.
With a powerful beam of green light, he destroyed a leg of one of the tripod guards, then Danny used one mild powered ecto-beam to push the alien machine making it crash on the floor.
"Hey I'm sorta stuck here" Flash said sheepishly.
"I hope that the others have better luck that we are" GL said and stared to free Flash out of the goop.
Danny decided to not comment and keep guard over them making sure that the other machines didn't came closer. When one of the tripods started to shoot towards them, Danny put a shield that absorbed the energy but he knew it wouldn't keep them safe for a long time. Phantom took advantage of a pause in between shoots and fired a powerful ectoblast at the head of the tripod making it explode.
"GL!" Flash exclaimed in worry.
The half ghost turned and saw that two other tripods had attacked his companions somehow taking GL down. Danny worried from his team mate put a shield before them and the tripods, taking the force of the two blasts. There could be seen big fracture marks in the shield and Danny knew it wouldn't take another combined shoot.
"Uh oh. Time to go" Flash said.
"Agreed" Danny commented and grabbing one of Flash shoulders he let himself be pulled while Flash carried GL away from there.
When they were at a safe distance Flash put GL in the ground and sat in a rock to rest. Danny was awed at how fast they were going.
"That was amazing. Are you ok?" Danny asked to Flash at seeing him so tired.
"Yea don't worry. Carry another body for so long gets hard, but I'll recover in no time" Flash said reassuring Danny. Before Phantom could respond they heard a groan coming from GL.
"Urgh… what happened?" GL mumbled.
"You got knocked out by some kind of gas, we had to retire before those machines got us" Flash explained.
Just after flash explanation they got a message from J'onn telling them to reunite in Metropolis. They traveled towards the city and were surprised at the chaos they encountered. Danny felt his energy grow very fast, "there must be a lot of fear in here" Danny thought. In their way they helped all the civilians they could until they joined J'onn and Diana in the roof of a building.
"Sorry we're late. We had to stop and help some civilians" GL said.
"What you called us back for?" Flash asked.
"Superman had been captured; he's trapped somewhere inside there with Hawkgirl" Diana explained while pointing at the dark alien structure in the city. Danny noticed it had the same design as the one they saw before, though the lighting in the clouds just above it gave it an even creeper feeling.
"Wow" Flash said.
"And what about batman" GL asked.
"He acted heroically to the very end" J'onn said solemnly.
"The bat is gone" Flash said melancholically.
"He was a true warrior" Diana said.
"This is not good, definitely not good" GL grumbled.
Danny didn't know what to say, he hadn't known Batman that well but he still felt sorry for his death, so he kept silent. The five of them decided to approach the structure in a stealthy way, near the place they hid behind a big boulder and observed the tripods make guard around the smoke factory.
"I can't believe we are doing this again" Flash whispered.
"If Superman and Hawkgirl are in there someone's gotta rescue" GL said to Flash
"You know they are still there, don't you? J'onn!" GL asked and exclaimed at J'onn at not receiving an answer.
"Yes, your friends are alive but we must act quickly. The Imperium is coming" J'onn announced.
"The who?" Flash asked confused.
"The supreme intelligence that controls these invaders. We have meet before" J'onn said.
"Well damn" Phantom mumbled, that didn't sound good for them at all.
He heard Flash and GL whisper if they could trust J'onn, Danny decided to not comment. He trusted J'onn, the alien had been nothing but honest with them and if what he suspected happened in that base that they found him, Danny was going to make sure J'onn had all the support he needed. He knows how humans can be cruel with other beings they consider inferior.
"Ok we are going in. Flash, Phantom create a diversion. Diana watch my back" GL commanded.
"You want to rely in an amateur?" Diana said, causing GL to give her a look.
"Let's move" GL said and the five of them went towards the alien building.
Danny, like flash, went after one of the tripods that were guarding the surroundings first. When he got close enough, he froze the floor under it making sure it was slippery.
"Hey ugly!" Phantom called the machine while shooting a low powered ectoblast to bring it attention.
The tripod saw Danny and shoot beams to him. Danny simply went intangible and moved away to make the machine follow him, the tripod tried to do that but at the smallest movement the claw like endings of its legs slipped on the ice under them, causing the machine to fall. Danny took advantage of that and shoot a powerful ectoblast at the head making it explode. With his job done he went to join the others.
When he reached them, he saw J'onn pass his arms inside two of the aliens and becoming tangible inside of them, killing them in the act.
"Uh not bad" Danny commented bringing the attention of his arrive. That was an interesting use of intangibility in a war, though he preferred to not use it that way, ghosts are sensitive to death.
"Come" J'onn told them.
"It's just me or he creeps you out too?" Flash asked but got no response.
They followed J'onn on the weird organic like structure interior and they stopped besides a wall.
"I sense they are somewhere behind these walls" J'onn said while touching the wall.
"I can't pass through it" Danny said after trying it. It appeared that aliens could make things that didn't let intangible beings pass, Danny thought it has to do with the Martian intangibility.
Then Diana tried to use her strength but couldn't open it.
"It's no use we have to find another way" Diana said.
"Stand back" GL ordered and started to cut open the wall with a green laser from his ring.
"We haven't much time left" J'onn said after a minute.
After some more minutes GL could cut open a circular entrance, they entered the room and saw Superman and Hawkgirl unconscious being held upside down with some kind of material.
"Great Hera" Diana exclaimed in surprise.
Everyone made their way inside the room to help their fellow heroes.
"Wait something isn't right" J'onn said.
"What do you mean?" Danny asked with dread.
Before he could get a response Hawkgirl and Superman opened their eyes, revealing red eyes with small pupils. Diana gasped in surprise and the hole in the wall closed leaving them trapped inside, before they could try to escape some kind of yellow gas filled the room. Danny felt really drowsy from the gas, he tried to fight the effects and stay awake but he fell like his comrades. The last thing he saw was the shapes of Superman and Hawkgirl transform into the white aliens.
When he woke up Phantom immediately opened his eyes to try and see any danger, thing he regretted not a second after doing it, he had a huge headache, but for what he could feel he was still in ghost form which he was very thankful. He opened his eyes again but more slowly trying to not worsen his pain, he saw that he was held by the arms and legs by the same kind of material in which the fake Superman and Hawkgirl were trapped, he also saw that he was in some kind of platform and that the other heroes were trapped like him.
"Earth's mightiest heroes" a white alien brought Danny's attention towards another platform that was taller than the one they were in.
"Welcome" said the same alien after he transformed into a human. Danny swore he saw him before but couldn't remember.
"Senator Carter" Superman said surprised.
"Unfortunately, the real Carter never returned from Mars" the alien said with a smile. Danny then knew where he had seen him, it was when he was investigating in the internet and found the article about the expedition to Mars, he saw that face and also sometimes in the TV.
"And you use me for weaken earth defenses" Superman said angrily.
"You were so eager to cooperate. Thanks to you the humans were totally helpless against us" the alien Carter said.
"It's not over yet" Superman exclaimed.
"Wrong again Superman" the impostor said while the ceiling of the building opened.
They saw a huge ship in the sky that was under the cover of the clouds, from the ship another smaller black ship emerged and went towards them. It entered the building from the new aperture, when it landed a door opened.
"All hail the Imperium" the alien impostor said and all the invaders bowed at the emerging being. It was round and semitransparent, the skin had a purple tone and its insides were grey, it had purple tentacles in the inferior part of its round body.
"That's an ugly jellyfish" Danny mumbled, though Flash and Superman heard him, he knew by the snort flash gave and for the little inclination of Superman's head, it was like he was trying to superpose the image of a jellyfish on that thing.
"J'onn J'honz, it's been a long time" the Imperium said telepathically.
Then the restrains of J'onn moved him towards the platform in which the Imperium was. When he was free from the restrains two invaders shocked him with their staffs, causing J'onn to scream in pain and return to his original form and fell to the ground in pain.
"Much better. You had defied us for centuries" the Imperium said.
"And I would never bow before you or any of your kind" J'onn said defiantly.
"Then I will personally seem to finish what should be accomplish long ago. The elimination of the last Martian" the Imperium said before digging their tentacles into J'onn skin and drag him inside of him.
"J'onn!" Danny exclaimed after hearing the pained screams of the Martian, he tried with all his strength to free himself but couldn't.
"Let him go you filthy" Superman said and he too tried to free himself.
It appeared that J'onn and the Imperium were having a telepathic conversation they were not privy to, Danny could tell because he could see J'onn making gestures. Then J'onn changed to the more humanoid form he had before.
"Now!" J'onn screamed and an explosion was heard from one side of the room they were in. From the smoke they could see Batman near what appeared to be some kind of core surrounded by red liquid.
"Batman?" Flash asked relived.
"It can't be" Diana said in disbelieve.
"I mentally shielded him so he couldn't be detected" J'onn explained.
Then Batman put some kind of device in the core of the machine, the core turned a bright blue and turned all the liquid around it blue as well.
"What have you done?" the Carter impostor asked enraged.
"Reversed the ion charge" Batman said.
"The crystal! destroy it!" the Imperium ordered. Batman moved away and the invaders fired at the core but it did nothing.
"It's shielded!" the impostor exclaimed.
Danny didn't know how Batman could change the ion charge of an alien machine but it seemed to be working as the machine was doing the opposite as before. Now it was rendering the skies of the clouds it created, letting the sunlight shine again.
The sunlight entered from the open entrance that the ship had previously used, burning any alien that was in it for more than a few seconds. The skin of the Imperium started to boil and in its weakened state J'onn could escape from its insides. J'onn then grabbed the tentacles that were still in his skin and pulled the Imperium towards the light.
"No!" the Imperium exclaimed while trying to escape J'onn.
"You live on the ground and shun the light. Why? Does it burn your putrid skin?" J'onn said to the burning Imperium.
"Wow that's a nasty sunburn" Flash commented.
Then Batman came from the ceiling and started to free Diana.
"Ultraviolet rays. Coming from the deep space these invaders have no resistance to our sun radiation" Batman explained.
Superman, after gaining more strength from the sun, freed himself with his heat vision. When the invaders started to shoot towards the still trapped heroes, he raised a part of the platform to shield them. After he secured the shield, he released Hawkgirl with his heat vision, after being free she freed GL with her maze and then GL freed Danny with his ring while Diana freed Flash.
Once free everyone went to fight the invaders. Superman, GL and Diana started to open holes in the ceiling letting the sunlight enter and burn the aliens. Danny was fighting some invaders pushing them into the light when he heard J'onn scream in pain, he went to his side and raised a shield to protect him from the shoots of the invaders.
Danny saw how the Imperium went to the ship and tried to escape only to been pursued by Diana and Hawkgirl. Trusting they were going to catch the jellyfish like alien Danny concentrated to protect J'onn until he wakes up, Superman came to his help by cutting the wall behind the invaders ceasing the fire towards him and J'onn.
When J'onn woke up Phantom had just a few seconds to be relieved because the ship in which the Imperium had tried to escape suddenly crashed through the ceiling and explode at reaching the floor.
"We better get out of here" Flash said at seeing the structure destabilize.
"Not without them" Superman declared pointing at some humans trapped in translucent like capsules.
Superman and Flash worked together to put the people out of those capsules while Danny and J'onn covered their backs from any invaders. Once they got all the humans GL put them in a green bubble and took them away from there with all the heroes following him. They made it just in time to see how the cloud factory exploded.
After letting the people in a safe place, the heroes reunited in the roof of one of the tallest buildings in Metropolis. Danny didn't know why it had a giant globe with the words Daily Planet in it, though he decided to not comment and watch with the others how the clouds were disappearing from the sky.
"I think we did a great job" Flash stated.
"It's not over yet. There are still more factories around the world, besides of the guards in each one" Batman said.
"Oh yea…" Flash said discouraged.
"While doing the devise to change the ion charge, I also did these" Batman revealed and handled a commlink to each hero.
"This way we can organize while being in any part of the world" Batman said.
Danny inspected the commlink, it was round and metallic grey. The design was very simple and it was small enough to put it comfortably in the ear making it more convenient to use than a cellphone, especially if they were busy fighting.
"Alright, the sooner we end this the sooner people will be safe from these invaders" Superman said.
Later they organized to go at certain places and bring down the structures, they spend the major part of the day and night making sure to clean the planet from the invaders. When everyone finished with their places, they said their good byes and Batman told them to keep the commlinks for if someone needed any help.
Danny was exhausted and had just the energy necessary to teleport to his hideout, after he did, he immediately transformed to his human half. Too tired to even eat Danny went towards the old sofa and passed out the second after resting on it.
"Ow!" Danny exclaimed at being awoken by a sharp pain in his ear.
"Hiss…" Smoky hissed at Danny, she looked very annoyed.
"Smoky? What was that for?" Danny asked, not really awake enough to interpret her mood.
Danny looked at his cat with a raised eyebrow, Smoky looked very angry, it was looking steadily at him and moving her tail furiously. Slowly, a feeling of dread was forming in Danny when he remembered that he had not been in the house for more than a day and that he had let his cat alone without her cat treats and his petting. He realized he was screwed unless he gives her all the treats in hopes to win forgiveness.
"I'm sorry Smoky. Here you can have all of them" Danny said while reaching inside of the wall for the treats and giving them to her.
After seeing that Smoky was more or less pleased, Danny went towards his ice box to retrieve some food. He hadn't noticed how hungry he was until he feed Smoky, he ate almost everything in his reserves. Deciding to go to the town for more food Danny got up.
"Come Smoky, we are going for food" Danny said. Smoky apparently forgive him because she jumped and landed in his shoulder without scratching him with her claws.
"Ouch!" Danny exclaimed after smoky bite him in the ear, yea she was still angry.
A month and a week had passed and Danny received the first message from the commlink since the invasion, Batman wanted to meet them in a specific location though he didn't say why. Danny was surprised from the good press they were receiving; he was not used to have the public approve of him but he was not going to complain. He didn't know how but the press got his chosen name of Phantom right, he suspected Superman gave that information but he couldn't confirm it. Though the name Diana received was way better that his in his home dimension, Wonder Woman was way better than Inviso-Bill.
When Danny arrived, he saw that he wasn't the last one. Batman, Superman, GL, Hawkgirl and Diana were already there, he found it ironic that Flash would be the last one. After Flash arrived and complained about being the last which amused Danny, a lot, GL made a kind of plane with his ring around everyone and transported them towards the real place Batman wanted to show them.
At seeing they were in space Danny had to use all his strength to not let out an exited scream, he only let out a gasp and practically glued himself to the green tined window of the plane, which caused amusement to some of the heroes. He was even more excited when he saw the big tower like base in Earth's orbit.
"We have our own space base" Danny thought in complete awe, he was living his dreams.
When they arrived, everyone went to explore the structure. Danny, Flash and Diana went first to the kitchen. Danny hadn't had a good food in days, he'd been moving from town to town in his search for a portal in the last month and hadn't been taking much care of himself, Smoky had to bite him in the ear to remain him to eat more times than he liked. After getting their foods, iced mocha for Diana and Flash and a huge sandwich for Danny they went to the main room of the place.
"…this Watchtower will act as an early waning system for detecting other invasions from space" Batman was saying to Superman when they arrived.
"And it has also a fully stuck kitchen" Flash said.
"Iced mocha?" Flash offered Superman.
"Hmm… we don't have these in Temischyra" Diana said after testing the cold drink, clearly enjoying it.
"Stay around princess, I'll show you the ropes" Flash said friendly.
"Perhaps I will" Diana said.
"An impressive installation" GL said while making his way towards them.
"Most impressive, but what it has to do with us?" GL asked.
"I once thought I could protect the world by myself, but I was wrong. Working together we saved the planet and I believe that if we stay together, as a team, we could be a force that it truly works for the ideals of truth and justice" Superman announced.
"What like a bunch of super friends?" Flash asked.
"More like a justice league" Superman responded.
"Do you have any idea of how corny that sounds? But maybe the big guy has a point. With all of us behind it just may work, count me in" Flash said while grabbing superman hand.
"Me too" GL said and put his hand with Flash.
"And me" Hawkgirl said after putting her hand too.
"My mother may not approve, but I find man's world to be intriguing. I'll gladly join" Diana said and she too put her hand.
"Eh, I had nothing better to do anyway" Danny said before putting his hand, with only his search of a portal it became boring sometimes from him. Even if this place was amazing, he didn't want to stay too much time with them, he still felt unsure around the living, though it was easier with them.
"What about you Batman" Superman asked.
"I'm not really a people person. But when you need help, and you will, call me" Batman said.
"Understood, then we all agreed" Superman said.
"Wait, J'onn is not here" Diana said noticing the absence of their alien friend.
"Yea, where is he?" Flash asked.
Then superman went flying in search for J'onn, he found him in the other side of the room and talked to him. Danny waited with the others eating his sandwich while admiring the view of earth they had, he decided to come here to eat if he wasn't successful in getting food by himself, after all getting bites in the ears was not fun.
Well, here it is! The League just formed and Danny is part of it!