Outside of North Arena, Festival of Peace
-:-
"Does anybody see him?"
"There!"
The Team pushed through the crowd and saw their ghostly friend and Frostbite walking side by side following behind the Kari leader.
"Phantom!"
The Halfa glanced over their way but made no sign he planned on stopping while Danielle followed behind with curious eyes.
Kid Flash jogged over to him and tried to grab a hold of his arm when he was stopped by two guards crossing their spears.
"None shall interfere nor speak with any of the court until the meeting has commenced and concluded," one of the guards warned sternly.
"We need to speak with Phantom-"
"That is Sir Phantom to you, human," the other guard hissed.
"Stand down."
The two guards and the Team's attention turned to Phantom walking towards them.
"Sir?"
"I'll handle this…" The Halfa calmly announced.
The guards stood down, with Phantom standing in between them as though to prevent them from doing anything else.
"Yes, Justice League?" Phantom asked, making eye contact with Nightwing and Aqualad instead of Kid Flash.
"Hey!" The speedster protested at the obvious avoidance.
Finding the gesture odd, Nightwing wasn't going to waste the opportunity and stepped forwards.
"We need to discuss something."
The ghostly teen glanced between the guard and the hero before taking a step toward him.
"Now is not a good time…" Phantom said almost under his breath.
"I know, but it's important," Nightwing assured quietly with a stern expression.
His eyes flicked back to Frostbite and the guards. "I have been summoned to attend an emergency meeting. Can this wait?"
"Hey, I helped authorize this mission, remember?" The masked hero whispered harshly.
Phantom's eyes narrowed, his expression giving the other a silent warning. "I would've come with or without your 'authorization'. Now stand down, this is not the place for this conversation. People are scared and you're only going to make it worse by causing a scene." He harshly whispered back.
The leader glanced around to see that they had in fact gathered a small crowd. Hushed whispers and stares surrounded them, most with suspicious or fearful looks.
He looked back to see Phantom with pleading eyes, yet a stern expression.
'Trust me,' he mouthed.
Nightwing kept his face expressionless as he nodded his head. The Halfa didn't hesitate for a second as he turned away and briskly walked back to Frostbite. He whispered something to Danielle, to which she nodded and stepped aside.
The guards continued to escort them as they headed West to the Main Tent.
Danielle stayed behind and had an unreadable expression as she approached the Team.
"Hey guys, Danny said I should stay behind and answer any questions you guys might have." She whispered before gesturing to follow her.
Aqualad and Nightwing shared a look but ultimately decided to follow her, out of sight from the crowd.
Danielle led them to one of the many outdoor theaters and had them all take a seat, as though they were taking a break.
"We should be able to speak freely here," She announced with an unreadable expression. "But first-"
POW!
Superboy blinked and suddenly saw Kid holding his head with Danielle returning to the visible spectrum.
"OW!"
"Are you guys crazy?!"
"Wha-"
"Confronting a person of the court like that could easily have gotten you exiled or worse! I swear, the amount of nerve you guys have!" She scolded as she pinched the bridge on her nose.
The Team looked wearily at the clone.
"We're sorry, Danielle," Miss M soothed. "But you have to understand that we haven't been here before, and don't really know what's going on or how things work here."
"Yeah seriously," Kid seethed as he rubbed his head.
Superboy watched as she considered them for a moment, before crossing her arms defiantly.
"I'm not apologizing if that's what you want…"
"No, but we do have some questions," Aqualad replied.
She nodded her head curtly and sat in midair, much like Danny did sometimes.
"What exactly happened out there?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"My apologies, in the arena."
"Oh that. Well, from what I could tell, I think someone tried to attack Lady Helenia, she's the leader of the Kari Clan, basically cousins of the Far Frozen. They also have ice cores and stuff, but their island has a little more to look at than Frostbite's, no offense to him. Anyways, the attacker or whatever got really close but then Danny threw up the shield and blasted the guy away and the Far Frozen made that fog to keep the guy from trying to attack again."
"Wait, that was Danny?" Zatanna asked.
"I think so. The FarFrozen and Kari don't have ecto-manipulation," Danielle stated matter-of-factly.
"I see…" Some of the members shared some looks. "Please continue, Dani."
"After that, I couldn't really tell who was doing what. But from my guess, I think Clockwork opened up that portal to the Unworld, and Danny had to throw the guy in." She sighed sympathetically. "He's probably already beating himself up over it-"
"Wait wait wait… Hold up… The giant snake was also Phantom?!" Beast Boy asked incredulously.
"I'm guessing. I honestly don't know, I only saw as much as you guys did."
"We'll get back to that. Dani, what is the Unworld?"
She put a hand on her chin as she thought for a moment. "Danny explained that it was kind of like a limbo dimension that acts like a prison. If you get sent there, you have no human or ghost abilities and are trapped there forever. You don't get hungry or thirsty or even get tired. You're just… there?"
The Team went still as they processed the unsettling information.
"That doesn't sound very good," Artemis crossed her arms.
"Nope, it's basically a 'fate worse than death'. At least that's what Clockwork told him."
"Speaking of Clockwork, what does he think of all this? Wouldn't he have seen that guy coming?"
Dani shrugged. "Yeah and he probably did, but he can't intervene since he's the ghost Master of Time. He has to-"
"Maintain the timeline. Yeah, yeah we heard this all before," Kid interrupted with a roll of his eyes.
Dani huffed and crossed her arms, grumbling under her breath. "Starting to see why Danny should've taken Harley's advice."
The air between them froze.
"What did you just say?" Nightwing narrowed his eyes accusingly.
"Huh?"
"You said, Harley. Who's Harley?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Harley is a friend of Danny's in your dimension. I thought you guys of all people knew about her."
Some of the team members looked towards Superboy, who in turn narrowed his eyes and shrugged.
"I knew he had a friend outside of the cave, but I didn't think it was any of my business so I didn't pry."
"Danielle, what exactly did Harley advise Danny to do?"
She shrugged. "From what he told me, she mainly advised him to set boundaries. Heroes get kind of territorial, you know, and sometimes asking somebody to back off is the best option. Especially at times like these. I don't know much about politics but I can tell you right now that this place is practically drowning in it. One wrong move, phrase, or look and you can set off these guys. If that zero fighting tolerance law wasn't in place, I'm pretty sure KF would've been KFC by now."
"So he was against us coming here?" Zatanna asked.
"At first, but I guess he didn't really have a choice since Clockwork invited you, and Danny may have just decided to go along with it." She sent a glare toward Kid. "But I am starting to see his perspective on this."
"Why is us coming here so bad?" Miss M inquired with a look of hurt.
"It's not really about you guys being here that's the problem, it's more about what you are doing or saying here. You guys have already brought attention to yourself more than once, and that little scene you just pulled is not helping your case. People are going to suspect something and with a ruler just having been attacked? It's not looking too good for you guys."
"But we didn't have anything to do with that," Zatanna defended.
Dani shook her head. "It doesn't matter. you guys were seen arguing with Danny, who along with Frostbite and Pandora, are this year's main security enforcers."
"Wait, security enforcers? When was this decided?"
"Pandora's people are usually the festival's security every year. But due to the bigger higher-ups showing, the Far Frozen offered to help. And Danny is known as the 'Protector' after the Pariah incident."
"Okay, back to the topic. If we're being suspected of, why not say that we're with him? Is he worried we'll make him look bad?"
Danielle's frown deepened into a slight scowl.
"You are not Danny's responsibility. It's Clockwork's reputation you guys have to worry about."
The atmosphere went still again as the reminder just became more daunting.
"Oh, crap.…"
"Uh-huh. As I said, it's not looking too good for you guys now."
Aqualad sighed and composed himself before addressing Dani. "Then what do you recommend?"
The female halfa hesitated. "I'd say you guys need to lay low. Stay away from huge crowds, and interact with other guests rarely or not at all. That's what Danny and I would do."
Aqualad nodded. "We'll take this into consideration. Thank you, Danielle."
"No problem, I'll be around the festival if you guys need me. Your guides shouldn't be that far from here, but if I see them I'll let them know where you are. See you guys around!"
She briskly floated away, leaving the Team in silence.
"Miss M?"
'Link successful.'
'What now?'
'Yeah, so much for telling Phantom about the creep of the underworld.'
'Given what Danielle just told us, we need to try to get the attention off of us. So we act natural and remain covert. Miss M and I will follow the rulers and see if there's any way to eavesdrop on their meeting for more information. Kid Flash and Beast Boy, you two will investigate Danielle and her whereabouts. Zatanna and Aqualad, I need you to keep your ears open and see if we can get any more clues about who that assassin was or find any information regarding Hades. We don't know what kind of powers he has and I don't want to take an unnecessary risk trying to follow him without knowing more.'
'And me?'
'Superboy, I want you to-'
'-be a spy?'
'Whether our mission is successful or not, I need you to talk to Phantom-'
'This again-'
'That's an order, Superboy. We can't afford to have one of our own injured because he decided not to share important information.'
Superboy scoffed. 'You're starting to sound like Batman…'
Nightwing narrowed his eyes. 'You all have your orders, we'll rendezvous at the festival's front gate.'
The team split up and ran off, leaving Superboy alone with his thoughts.
Main Tent, Festival of Peace
-:-
Phantom crossed his arms and sighed in exasperation as the entire room of various rulers shouted over each other.
"Was that really called for?"
Someone slammed their hand down on the center table making the guards tense up.
"And let the assassin go unpunished? I think not!"
"The assassin knew the laws and directly disobeyed them! He chose his fate!"
"But what about mercy?!"
"The Heir has been nothing but merciful! I say it's about time he put his foot down on some of these heinous acts!"
"That is not why we are here."
The room went silent as Clockwork's voice rang out through the Main Tent.
"Then why are we here?" A humanoid ghost demanded with a glare. "To be told a message that was abundantly clear at the games?"
"You are here to discuss the cause of the assassination attempt. This-" Clockwork pulled a piece of cloth out of his cloak and made it hover in the center of the room. "-was taken off of the offender moments before he was cast into the Unworld."
The cloth featured a white face with a red outline, long green hair, and a braided green beard. The person portrayed had pupilless green eyes, a black scar on his right eye, and a black eye patch over his left eye. There were two gray horns on the sides of the head, the left of which was broken in half.
Phantom's eyes widened as gasps and shouts of surprise rang throughout the room.
"This is impossible!"
"The Tyrant King?!"
"By the Ancients-"
"How?! He's locked up!"
"Could it be a rogue group of sympathizers? There could be more than one!"
"But the Halfa-" Multiple glares were sent his way from several familiar ghosts, and the ruler quickly corrected himself. "- Sir Phantom, had locked Pariah Dark away years ago. How would he have escaped?"
Phantom broke out of his shock and quickly began to think about what meaning the cloth could have.
He pressed his hand to his chin and tuned out the rest of the chatter to think.
How could he have been released? The skeleton key was lost in space with Vlad as far as he knew, and there is no other way to open the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. So it could've been a group of rogue ghosts or sympathizers trying to stir trouble. He could go back and check Pariah's Keep just to be sure though. But still… there was something about the attack that just seemed off to him.
He glanced over at Frostbite who, after a moment, gave him a slight nod. It seemed like the yeti might've come to the same conclusion.
"That remains to be unseen," The time ghost replied after the rulers calmed down.
"Clockwork, can't you offer something? Some clues or better yet actually do-"
Phantom's eyes flashed dangerously as he stepped forwards.
"The Master of Time's purpose is to maintain the order of the timeline. He can not and will not intervene unless he himself deems it necessary," The hero scolded with a hiss.
The room had a deathly quiet atmosphere as unease swept the room.
Lord Hades cleared his throat and gave an all-knowing, but teasing, smirk.
"Sir Daniel is correct... We cannot rely on a Timekeeper to solve all our problems. Perhaps, a little investigation and interrogation is needed? I can personally oversee them- for security purposes, of course. We wouldn't want the future King of the Infinite Realms to be in danger of a possible assassination, now would we?"
The god briefly locked eyes with Phantom, who in turn narrowed his eyes but made no comment.
Several hushed whispers filled the room.
Phantom caught Frostbite and Pandora sending their own glares at Hades, as though warning him not to cross a line.
Frostbite uncrossed his arms and gestured next to him. "That will not be necessary… The heir, myself, Pandora, a few Knights of Aragon, and Sir Phantom will be visiting Pariah's Keep later today in search of clues and, possibly, answers. You need not concern yourself with such matters."
The Halfa blinked in surprise before subtly giving the yeti an annoyed look. His friend saw right through his initial intentions to go alone to the Keep.
'I appreciate you Frostbite, but it's at times like these that I really wish you didn't know me so well…'
Hades let out a chuckle and smiled knowingly. "Understood. Though if I may be so bold, where is the Heir in this time of need? Especially when a meeting as important as this is taking place?"
Many rulers shifted in place, indicating their unease and discomfort at the stare-down between Hades and Frostbite.
Frostbite stood up straighter in an almost challenging way. "Clockwork and I are acting as his messengers as it is deemed inappropriate for him to attend such a meeting before the ceremony. And as much as he dislikes it- "
Phantom frowned but remained silent and still.
"-it is for his own safety, otherwise he would've attended without question."
Whispers crawled around the room and glances were made as they debated Frostbite's words.
A different ruler stood up and cleared his throat. "We are grateful, but now I must insist that we discuss what actions to take regarding the people's safety."
Another ruler nodded in agreement. "Lord Frostbite and Lady Pandora, how is security?"
Phantom, as well as a couple of his ghostly allies, raised their eyebrows at the obvious exclusion of the half-ghost.
"Security has already been doubled and Princess Dorathea has sent orders to her kingdom to supply knights and guards to station inside the walls of the Festival. Sir Phantom will be performing check-up patrols periodically each day, throughout the duration of the Festival in order to ensure everything is in order."
Lady Helenia stood up and bowed her head. "With the Heir's and your permissions, the Kari Clan wishes to assist you. We would have some of our finest warriors on duty if you permitted it."
"Speaking of which, how would the future king like us to proceed beside the extra security? Surely, he is furious after what happened at the games?" Hades interjected with a sly smile.
Frostbite sent him a brief glare before composing himself yet again. "He finds the situation troubling, to say the least. Though his message was clear; he will not hesitate to do what he must to protect his people. Ally or not, no one disobeys the laws without facing the consequences."
Hades smirked and bowed his head. "Of course."
Several other rulers bowed their heads or voiced their agreement.
Superboy couldn't help but sigh in relief when he saw the rulers starting to file out of the building. The amount of curious and strange looks that kept being sent his way as he sat on a nearby bench was starting to get to him.
"Danny?"
The half-ghost turned towards him and greeted him with a tired smile.
"Where is everyone?"
Superboy pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "They went off towards the front gate."
Phantom's smile faded into a concerned frown. "Do they want to head back?"
Superboy shrugged. He honestly didn't know why Nightwing chose the front of the festival grounds to meet up.
"How'd the meeting go?" he asked as the other joined him on the bench.
The Halfa let out an exasperated sigh. "Superboy, I don't know how the Justice League functions. We couldn't get through ten minutes of the thing before they started to talk over each other. Luckily Clockwork, Frostbite, and Pandora were there to reel things back in."
"Why would it get out of hand in the first place?"
"Differences in opinion," he shrugged. "One person thought that we should handle the security differently while another wanted to triple the security."
"Because of what happened at the games right?"
Phantom winced slightly before nodding. "Yeah…"
Superboy needed to keep the conversation going, one to try to get more information regarding the meeting, and two because he didn't know the next time he'd be able to talk to his friend.
"What did they all decide?"
The ghostly teen shrugged. "We decided to add security inside the walls of the festival until further notice. Just to make sure something like that doesn't happen again."
"What happened anyway? I couldn't really tell from where we were sitting."
He wouldn't tell us something different, right? Superboy thought hopefully.
His friend's expression turned sorrowful before becoming irritated. "A rogue ghost had attempted to assassinate the leader of the Kari Clan, Lady Helenia. Luckily Frostbite thought quickly and put a low-lying snowstorm to block his view. Then the Heir stepped in to punish the assassin and had to set an example."
The Heir? But Danielle had thought that Danny was the one that used ecto-manipulation in the arena.
" I couldn't really tell who was doing what-"
Maybe she just didn't know… But then, who was the Heir? Was he on the field? Or did he happen to be in the audience?
Wait…
Not everybody knows who the heir is.
Superboy had nearly forgotten about how most of the people at the festival had been talking about how excited they were to see the future king. Which meant they didn't know who he was or what he may have looked like.
"The giant snake? Was that him?"
Phantom let out a small aggravated sigh as he nodded. "It's kinda the same as what I can do with my powers, except bigger."
Superboy grunted an affirmation before an awkward silence fell between them.
His friend was definitely 'not-terbed', as Nightwing would've put it. Could Kid Flash have been onto something? Every time the Heir had been mentioned, Danny always seemed particularly off-put by the topic. Did they have a disagreement? Did his friend not approve of the Heir's methods?
He thought talking to Phantom might've offered answers, but he felt like he had more questions than what he started with.
Superboy shook his head to rid himself of the burning questions, he needed to stay focused since he didn't know how much time he had left until Phantom was whisked off again.
"Where did the ghost get sent to? A prison?"
Phantom ran a hand through his white hair. "Worse… It's known to us as the 'Unworld'. It's a place where you are completely powerless, ghost or human. You never age, you never hunger or thirst, you just float around aimlessly for eternity".
'So the same thing Danielle told us…'
"How did you find out about it?"
"Clockwork told me," he shrugged.
Superboy crossed his arms as a flicker of doubt made itself known in his mind. There was something about his friend that seemed off… like he was still holding something back.
"Right, keep forgetting about him," the clone grunted.
Phantom let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, but that's normal. He isn't much of a conventionalist, nor does he like attention. So, I'm pretty sure he doesn't mind."
This time a comfortable silence fell between them.
"Anything else happen at the meeting?" Superboy inquired.
Phantom huffed and crossed his arms. "Besides Hades having that 'I know everything and I'm better than you in every way' attitude? Nothing really. We're still trying to figure out who ordered the attack and-"
Superboy sat up and uncrossed his arms. "Somebody ordered it?"
The Halfa winced and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, now knowing he accidentally slipped up. "It's a theory and a very possible one. Which is why Frostbite, Pandora, and a few of Dora's knights, including myself, are going to go investigate later today."
The older hero couldn't tell if it was a half-truth or not, but he didn't want to push it.
"Well, I'm sure the team wouldn't mind-"
"No."
Superboy was more surprised than upset at the sternness in his friend's voice.
"How come?"
"The fewer people we have, the better. Besides, we can't get you guys involved anyways because of our hands being tied with the festival. And with you guys representing the Justice League and your dimension being predominantly humans-"
"But we're not all human," The hero retorted with a slight glare.
Phantom put a hand on his shoulder with a stern yet sympathetic expression. "That's beside the point because you guys look, overall human, you are considered human by the people here. The only exceptions would probably be Miss Martian, Beast Boy, and Aqualad."
"What does it matter if we are human or not? We can help," the older hero insisted.
"It's because you're considered human that could cause a problem, Superboy. If any of you guys were to get hurt or if the investigation were to go sideways, you'd be considered a hindrance or helpless teenagers. Even if you were to succeed and stop whoever might be behind this, you'd be giving the security and the Heir a bad rep for not being able to protect their own people."
'Or he doesn't want us to get more attention like Danielle had mentioned…'
Superboy let out an aggravated defeated sigh as he sat back and crossed his arms. "So it's back to politics…"
"Yeah… "
An image of a certain bald CEO/politician popped into his mind. Superboy's frown deepened. "… I really hate politics."
His friend chuckled and stood up, offering a hand to the other. "That makes two of us… Come on, let's go see what the others are up to."
Festival of Peace Main Entrance
-:-
Phantom's eyes narrowed as he watched Hades walk up to the Team who seemed to be in a deep discussion over by the front main entrance. Stopping Superboy, they both stood off to the side near a stand as they both listened in with their super hearing. They watched as the Team turned to Hades walking up to them.
"Well well well… if it isn't Clockwork's esteemed guests," he heard the god greet.
Superboy grunted quietly beside him, to which the Halfa silently nodded his head, agreeing that Hades might've been up to something.
"Is there something we can help you with, Lord Hades?" Aqualad greeted, stepping up to the front of the group.
The ruler's smirk disappeared and was replaced with a small smile.
"I did have a question for you and your - Team. How is it that a group of teenagers knows the Master of Time?"
"Why the interest?" Artemis challenged, stepping up next to Aqualad.
The god raised an amused eyebrow at this. "Curiosity, really. Though I'm starting to suspect that it may have something to do with Daniel."
Aqualad straightened his back. "As stated before, Lord Hades, Clockwork had invited us. While we did happen to meet him through Sir Phantom, however, he had no say in our invitation."
The person of topic couldn't help but feel it was odd hearing his friend/teammate call him by his knightly title.
The god chuckled and waved it off. "Whatever you mortals need to tell yourselves to sleep better at night."
"Are you implying something, Lord Hades?" Zatanna asked with slight venom in her voice.
"Temper, young sorceress… you wouldn't want the Heir getting a whiff of a threat. Especially so soon after that little incident in the arena."
Phantom narrowed his eyes as he stepped from behind the stand.
Zatanna opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, the Halfa placed a hand on Hades' unsuspecting shoulder. Causing the god to startle, even if it was slight.
"No, he wouldn't. If you're done, Lord Hades…" he stated with a warning tone.
Hades sneered before cautiously shrugging Phantom's hand off his shoulder.
"Spectacular Blizzard Games this year. Wouldn't you agree, Sir Phantom?"
"In many ways… May the Ancients watch over you, Lord Hades."
Though it was a dismissal, there was a sternness in Phantom's green eyes that the other couldn't ignore.
The ruler raised an amused eyebrow but bowed his head all the same.
"And may the fates guide you… young Daniel," he smiled mischievously.
The ghostly teen grit his teeth together but made no further comment.
There was a tense silence as the Team watched the god walk away.
Zatanna cleared her throat. "How was-?"
"Were you trying to egg him on?" Phantom interrupted with a stern look.
The sorceress looked genuinely taken back. "What kind of question is that?"
"Just-" He stopped and forced himself to take a deep breath before continuing. "Nevermind... Are you guys alright? Superboy mentioned you were all meeting up here. Are you ready to go back?"
Miss M nodded and took a step towards him and Superboy. "We're fine, and yes we were. But we also wanted to ask-"
"Not here."
This time, the Team looked taken back at his abruptness.
He gestured around them and said in a low voice, "Too many prying eyes and ears. Is everyone here?"
Aqualad and Nightwing shared a glance, the latter being the one to reply. "Yes but- "
"Dora's carriage should be here soon. I'm going to go find Dani, we'll meet you back at the castle later," he announced quickly as he briskly walked away.
He let out a shaky breath as he walked.
"This just got a whole lot harder," he mumbled to himself.
