I'm back!
Well, I was never really gone, just preoccupied and in need of proper inspiration. You have no idea how happy I am to click the "Post New Chapter" link. My masters degree finishes next month, and I have been running around for weeks with little sleep (I totaled 12 hours one week.) and virtually no time or mental energy to dedicate to overhauling the skeleton I had for chapter 16.
It also didn't help that most of my sudden inspirations were for scenes following this chapter.
But anyway, it's here, it's awesome, and it's ready for you to continue your literary adventure.
A MASSIVE thank you to my betas for helping me work through this chapter!
UPDATE SATURDAY, NOV. 30: A reader requested a refresh on who's who, so I'll put it here for everyone's reference:
- Real Robin: actually brother James, captured and put in stasis in chapter 6 while searching the Axion archives; awoken in chapter 15 by Amorpho
- Robin clone: introduced in chapter 6. All action in Gotham and Kansas (infiltration of the LexCorp Farms facility), executed by the Light.
- Real Daniel: buried as James Grayson, dead at birth (or soon after)
- Real Danny: actually Richard, present throughout the story and captured in Kansas; awoken in chapter 15 by a clone. Temporarily in possession of the designation 'Red Robin.'
- Clone Danny/Experiment 37: activated and sent to London to save Danny. Awoke Danny in chapter 15
General Notes:
"This is dialogue."
"This is alternative dialogue, meaning whispered or spoken from a distance such as on the phone."
'This is thought.'
This and THIS and *this* are emphasis. The *this* emphasis is more along the lines of the snarky or sarcastic.
[This is digital text, such as notifications on a computer or smartphone.]
I do not own Danny Phantom nor Young Justice.
Ch. 16 originally published: Friday, November 29, 2019
RECOGNIZED
Chapter 16
The Penny Drop
Thinking fast as she fell out the window, Maddie drew and shot a grappling gun, wrapping it around the man's leg as she fell. The sudden force whipped the goon's legs out from underneath him and dragged him across the floor. He ditched his gun and desperately grabbed the side of the window frame, but he instantly lost his grip and sent the pair tumbling down the slanted glass face of the cheese grater-shaped skyscraper.
Danny panicked. He had seen enough of his loved ones die temporarily; the boy couldn't bear the thought of the first permanent one. Abandoning all precautions about maintaining his secret identity as Phantom, he transformed and ran for the window. Danny paused at the shock of his activating ghost sense.
A black-and-white blur.
Maddie and her aggressor had already plummeted several stories and showed no signs of slowing by the time Danny recovered. The grappling gun's wire wrapped the two adults into a struggling bundle. They repeatedly bounced off the steeply raked glass surface and dropped floors at a time while the blur raced after them. That hairstyle, that hazmat suit, that laser focus: he would recognize it anywhere.
Dani Phantom finally grabbed onto Maddie's arm within the confines of the tangled wire. She made the woman intangible and released her from the grappling gun's captivity. The guard, meanwhile, remained tangled as he plummeted. However, as Dani and Maddie watched on from midair, the hook caught the lip of one of the breaks in the façade and left the guard hanging helplessly a few stories up from the ground.
Maddie looked at her rescuer. "You!"
"Hey, Mrs. F.," Dani said and began flying them back up to Danny. "Long time no see, amiright?"
"Not since Tuesday. Who-who are you?"
"I did kind of ditch you guys back in Amity…" Dani landed inside and released Maddie from her grasp.
Maddie, in turn, stepped back and compared the two Phantoms, both of whom looked somewhat sheepish. Her eyes then fell on Experiment 37 before looking back to the real Danny. "Is she-?"
"Experiment 35," the other clone answered. With a touch of reverence he added, "The one that got away."
"Who is making all these clones of my son?!"
"Eh...let's hash that out later," Danny said and returned to the window to check on the abandoned goon. "Do you think we oughta help him? It's not really his fault he got *tangled up* in this mess."
"Now really isn't the time," Maddie chastised, joining him at the edge.
"You're right. He was too *high-strung* and could use some time to just *hang out,*" Dani added.
Maddie scoffed. She reached out and picked at Danny's uniform. "Incredible," she mused.
"Fenton original," Phantom commented. "It was, uh…you know. I wore this when…*it* happened. Great health and safety protocol requiring us to wear these hazmat suits, by the way. Really saved me," he quipped.
Experiment 37, meanwhile, had busied himself with tying up the unconscious LexCorp guards and Light goons. He finished a knot with a particularly aggressive tug and thrust the unconscious man back to the floor on his face. The Phantom clone crossed his arms and stared out the glass at something in the distance. "Well, I, uh…good." He cleared his throat. "So now what? Are we just going to wait for more goons to find us, or are we gonna get out of here?"
"We need to find the real Robin," the original Phantom insisted. "He could be somewhere in this building, so I think we should split up and find him."
"That could take hours," the clone complained.
"Well, it's our only choice right now!"
"Danny," Maddie interrupted.
Both Dannys and Dani turned to her and snapped, "What?"
She hesitated. "Well, this is going to be complicated…"
The Dannys glanced at each other for a moment before the male clone said, "Look, just call me 37. It's my actual designation anyway."
"Your designation?"
"…Experiment…37," Phantom explained haltingly.
Maddie's face drew into a fleetingly saddened frown before returning attention to her actual not-son. "Well, *Phantom,* you're a ghost. Can't you make stuff invisible and find him that way?"
"Well…yeah, but I would have to know what part to focus on. Otherwise I'd just be making the whole skyscraper invisible."
"Wait…I have a brilliant beyond brilliant idea," Dani butted in. "Just focus on making the building and its stuff invisible and not the people, and then 37 and I can fly around and try to find Robin!"
"Oh, yeah, like an entire freaking skyscraper suddenly disappearing won't cause us MORE trouble!" Danny snapped. "How do you think the people in and around it are gonna react to that? Then not just the Light but the entire freaking British military will descend upon us!"
"As if! We'll be quick!" 37 insisted, transforming back into Phantom-him.
Danny squinted. "I know you, because you're me, and I know I'm full of shit, so what does that make you?"
"Danny, I don't care where we are: watch your language!" Maddie snapped.
"Sorry," he grumbled. "But it's not like I've ever made anything bigger than the emergency ops center invisible, and that was the whole thing at once, and it totally wiped me out!"
"When did this happen?" the woman asked.
"One of the alternate timelines." Danny thought for a moment. "I'll explain some of those to you someday."
"Come on, Danny," 'Phantom' insisted. "I know you know I'm you, but that also means you know I know you, and there's a part of you that will think this is crazy enough that it just might work!"
Phantom and his mother shared a look.
"Well, we are pressed for time, and they already know we're here," Dani said.
"They do raise a good point, sweetie," Maddie conceded. "We've lost the element of stealth already anyway."
Phantom sighed and rolled his eyes. "Well, if even 007 agrees…" He rubbed his hands together, walked to a pillar and laid his hands flat on its surface. Phantom closed his eyes and concentrated for a few moments. Slowly, his powers oozed along the surface, making it invisible. The affected area expanded rapidly across the floor and ceiling until the whole office had become completely transparent, revealing the offices and their inhabitants above and below. His powers crawled across the glass façade of the building, chasing up and down the superstructure of the building until the entire tower was invisible.
As Phantom began to shudder under the strain, his clones leapt to work looking throughout the levels of offices. Workers stood from their invisible chairs and marveled at suddenly being visually exposed to the outside. Whispers grew into murmurs, murmurs grew into hubbub, hubbub grew into panic as London realized an entire skyscraper was missing.
Meanwhile, in Bishopsgate...
"Aqualad, we are in position and ready to start searching," M'gann said over their link. She and Zatanna landed on top of the central structural core protruding several stories above the finished concrete decking.
"Excellent," the boy responded. "We will begin our search as well. It appears the Light's guards have momentarily backed off. Do you see any signs of Robin or otherwise suspicious activity?"
"Well," Zatanna began, staring over Miss Martian's camouflaged shoulder, "*that's* something…"
M'gann turned to look at what the girl was seeing.
"What do you see?" asked Aqualad.
"Nothing; that's the point," Zatanna said. "Leadenhall Building has...disappeared."
"But not the people and stuff inside it," Miss Martian added. "They're just floating there!"
"Superboy, you at a window?" Kid Flash interjected.
"Yeah?"
"Check infrared," the speedster said.
There was a momentary pause, and then: "The skyscraper is still there; it's just invisible."
"Ghosts! It's Danny!" Kid Flash cheered mentally.
"Miss Martian, attempt to link up Danny to see if he really is causing this," Aqualad ordered.
"On it."
Maddie darted her attention to the street below at the sound of crunching metal. Multiple cars had crashed into each other. Their drivers got out, oblivious to the wreckage, staring at the missing skyscraper and apparently-hovering office workers. "Um…Danny? Might want to hurry this up a bit…" she said.
"I…can't…help it," Phantom grunted.
"Danny! Is that you?" a voice suddenly shouted in his head.
The voice jarred Danny from his concentration. He released a loud groan and let go of the pillar, dropping his transformation and collapsing as Red Robin. The building quickly shifted back into the visible spectrum, returning everything back to normal.
"What the heck-?" he began out loud, then realized. Mentally he responded, "Miss Martian?!"
"Danny! Thank goodness you're alright!" M'gann said. "What are you doing in Leadenhall?"
"I dunno; I woke up here. Is Robin with you?"
"No. I'm guessing you haven't found him either?"
"No," Danny said. "We've just started searching, though."
"Oh. Us, too."
"Who's 'us?' "
37 suddenly re-entered. "Nothing!" he announced then lost his equilibrium and stumbled into a pillar. He pressed his back flat against it and slid to the floor. Danny and Maddie rushed to his sides just as Dani returned from searching also.
"Are you alright?" Danny asked.
"Woo, that was a lot of flying," 37 answered.
"What does that have to do-?" Maddie began.
"He's not stable," Dani explained. "He needs some Ecto Dejecto, stat. Did you bring any, Mrs. F?"
"No. I'm sorry; I had no reason to…"
"My leg feels weird," 37 commented, and all four looked down. He started to bend his right knee, but only the front half truly bent. The rest of it was beginning to disintegrate and melt onto the floor in puddles of ectoplasm. "Hnnnnh?!" he whined and dropped the knee. He scrambled to back away from his own leg, though the pillar kept him from moving anywhere. His eyes laser-focused onto the appendage, and his breaths shortened and quickened. "Too soon *wheeze* too soon *wheeze* too soon *wheeze*-"
"What's-?" Danny began.
"He's going into shock. Or a panic attack," Maddie said. "We need to talk him down now before it gets out of control and his physical condition worsens."
Danny turned to 'Danny.' "Hey, hey, man, come on, look at me. You're still here, you're still alive, everything will be okay, okay? Danny?"
"Hey, hey dude, focus on your core," Dani suggested. "That always helped me before I got stabilized."
Maddie nodded in agreement. "That's right; it regulates your ghost form. Get it under control, and it can get your leg under control. But I really need you to try hard for me, okay, hun? Try for me, try for us."
The clone, swivel-eyed, managed a nod and closed his eyes and mouth. He forced himself to breathe in through his nose. Danny and Maddie each held a hand and watched the leg re-integrate after a few extremely tense moments. As soon as he was whole again, 'Phantom' slumped and de-transformed into 'Danny,' this one also dressed in a Robin uniform. The other three let out deep breaths in relief and sat back. The panic was gone, though the duplicate's hands still shook rather violently.
Maddie sighed and extended her arms. "Come here."
The clone turned his head, confusion evident. "W-what?"
"In a way," the woman explained, "you're my Danny too. And I know when my Danny needs a hug."
Speechless, the duplicate dropped his arms to his sides and appraised Maddie. There was no sign of a joke or a threat, so he shuffled across the space to her waiting arms. Just as with the real Danny, Maddie wrapped him in a hug.
37 released a deep sigh of contentment. "Th-thanks, Mom. U-uh…Maddie."
"Mom will do for now."
The duplicate smiled, eventually dropping his arms as a signal that the hug had done its job.
"Danny? Is everything okay?" M'gann prompted via their mental connection.
"Small unrelated crisis here, but we're okay. Robin's definitely not in Leadenhall," Danny told Miss Martian. "Where are you guys?"
"22 Bishopsgate. Across the block from you and under construction."
"Bishopsgate," Danny said out loud. He led Maddie, Dani and 37 to the windows. Danny pointed and said, "The protégés are over there."
The neighboring tower was only partially complete. Only the first twenty-odd floors were finished and fully glazed. Another thirty or so stories rose above the glassline with only the metal frame and concrete floor pads complete. Finally, above that protruded the concrete core which had risen another 15 floors or so with new concrete being poured by the day.
From their vantage point high above the incomplete tower, the quadruplet of Fenton variants saw hordes of black-uniformed soldiers marching around the exposed upper floors and forming a perimeter around the edge. Something had sent Bishopsgate into chaos as well.
Maddie nodded. "Let's go."
"We're coming to you," Danny informed M'gann.
"With my own two eyes, sir," Mercy affirmed.
"And this imposter resembles…me?" Luthor asked.
"He transformed from Robin into a duplicate of you while I was standing there," Mercy said. "I imagine this new player must have shapeshifting capabilities."
"That could complicate things."
"It is being dealt with, sir. All team leaders on site have been instructed to hold anyone acting out of character in immediate suspicion."
"And the other protégés?"
"They are within the building. Squads throughout the tower have been reporting sightings of all the primary protégé team members."
"All of them?"
"Quite."
Luthor hummed in response to Mercy's report. "Mobilize all London teams to converge on the building, and have the Light supersonic craft on standby in camouflage mode."
"Already done, Mr. Luthor." Mercy's arm beeped, so she checked the alert. The woman hesitated a moment. "Um...sir?"
"Come now, Mercy, you know I don't appreciate a lack of self-confidence in my second-in-command."
"We may have a...complication," she said.
Mercy aimed her arm at the bank of computers in their makeshift office and transferred a webpage wirelessly. A live GBN News report began playing.
"-truly spectacular circumstances," the anchor was saying. "GBN already had a reporter on site for an unrelated developing story when the calls began to pour in to our offices. We now go to Cat Grant's Instagram livestream from moments ago to find out what's happening."
The video feed switched to what was obviously a cell phone's front-facing camera. Cat Grant seemed to be standing outside. "I'm coming to you live from what used to be the 50th floor of the Leadenhall Building here in London's Banking District. I was discussing Qurac development plans with representatives from LexCorp Farms' London branch when the office was suddenly inundated with natural light. It became immediately apparent that the building itself had disappeared from view, though there was no change in temperature or ambient noise.
"You can still feel the walls and doors of the building," she continued, adjusting the camera view such that the viewers could see she was banging her fist against something and producing a noise. "This is absolutely unbelievable and quite unsettling to experience in person. I've never seen—or should I say, never *not* seen—anything like it."
The video playback paused. Luthor wheeled on Mercy. "Is it really so much to ask that my employees perform as requested?"
"We do not know for sure that he's loose," Mercy offered. "It could be something else at play. Some other ghost perhaps."
"Please, there was so much ectoplasmic radiation coming off that boy when we froze him, I'm surprised he doesn't glow in the dark. He most certainly has powers." Luthor strode over to a bank of charging walkie-talkies and took one. "Leadenhall teams: report!" Lex barked. After no response, he repeated, "All Leadenhall posts report, now!"
After a short pause, a feeble response finally came. "There's...two of them, sir, plus a woman," a man rasped. "All...armed, all...dangerous."
"They're teenagers!" Luthor snapped and threw the walkie talkie against the wall, shattering it instantly. While Mercy produced a spare radio from a charging station, Luthor said, "How could there be two over there? The true Robin is here. You saw him seconds ago."
"I do not know, Mr. Luthor."
"No. You wouldn't. Contact all team leaders. Use of the more expensive ecto-weaponry is now authorized. Shoot-to-harm, not shoot-to-kill. I want to salvage what I can from that failed operation."
"And Operation Fallback?"
Luthor paused to think for a moment. "Accelerate the timeline. We need him in our custody before we leave Bishopsgate."
"Sending in the distractions now, sir," Mercy confirmed.
Kid Flash scoffed after another closed door proved to be hiding nothing. "Come on! Are we never going to find him?"
Artemis continued past him down the unfinished corridor. "We're only on the 4th level of the original structural core. There's still 3 more to go and then the entire rest of the tower to search." She approached another room and went inside, Kid Flash hot on her heels. Apart from some scattered empty packaging, the room showed no signs of having ever been inhabited.
"Oh, wow, what a surprise: empty," Kid Flash cheered sarcastically.
Artemis scoffed. "It's not like we can expect Robin to simply appear out of nowher-"
"It's KF and Artemis! We're safe!" an invisible voice whispered. Two people suddenly appeared in the doorway.
"Robin?!" Kid Flash exclaimed and tackled his friend into a hug. "Is it the real you this time?"
"I hope so!"
Artemis, meanwhile, recognized the other person. "Luthor!" she snapped and drew her bow.
"Wait! Don't attack! I'm Amorpho!" Lex Luthor exclaimed and raised his hands. He shape-shifted into a featureless ghost form. "I'm a shapeshifting ghost!"
"It's true," Robin assured. "He let me out of the pod. Apparently, he knows the Fenton kid."
" 'The Fenton kid?' " Kid Flash parroted. "Haven't you guys kind of moved passed that yet?"
"What are you talking about? I still haven't cleared him. Oh, don't let me forget I still need to return his wallet."
Artemis and the speedster shared a meaningful look. Robin still didn't know about the clone which had replaced him.
Before too long, Amorpho couldn't take the mounting silence anymore and tried making conversation. "If it helps you guys, I can change into anyone I like." He morphed into Robin once more. "See? We're practically iden-"
Four more figures suddenly appeared.
Robin gasped. "What the hell?"
BRRRP BRRRP BRRRP BRRRP BRRRP-
"What is it now?" Luthor shouted over the alarm.
"The perimeter defenses registered an ecto-entity entering the premises," Mercy said. She typed on the computer and silenced the deafening alarm. "A ghost has just arrived in Bishopsgate."
"Fenton," Luthor murmured. "Or someone helping him. Mercy, activate the shield."
"Sir, the police and military have both already been mobilized to Leadenhall. It would not be wise to draw attention to-"
"Is it invisible or not?"
"A few seconds after stabilization, yes," Mercy conceded.
"Then do it. We can't have Fenton helping him escape. Lock the building down."
"Very well, Mr. Luthor."
"Hey, everybody," Danny greeted. "Robin! Thank god you're okay!"
There standing in the middle of the room was 'Red Robin,' another Robin, Dani Phantom and Mrs. Fenton.
Kid Flash's eyes fell on Dani. "Great, now we have to deal with this genderbend crap too?" he exclaimed. Dani rolled her eyes.
"Who are you?!" Robin demanded of Red Robin.
"Don't tell me you've already forgotten taking selfies in Detroit?" Danny replied.
"Wait, Fenton?!" Robin blurted.
"Yeah?" Red Robin said.
"What the hell?! But you're—the cave—that's my uniform!"
Danny looked down. "Well, yes and no. This is a replacement for the spare you gave me."
"Why would I give you my uniform?" Robin demanded.
"Um, because you're a decent human being, and your motorcycle gear was soaking wet, so I was going to die of pneumonia if you didn't?"
"God, you really must be a clone if you're trying to take over my life!"
"Hey, chill, man, you've got this all wrong!" Danny insisted.
"Uh, Rob?" Kid Flash said. "He's kind of got a point."
"No, this is insanity!" Robin insisted. "You all let a freaking civilian start to take my place without so much as a thought as to why he's here!"
"They let me in because I'm your brother!" Danny snapped.
Everyone fell silent.
Danny nervously avoided eye contact with Robin. "I'm actually James Grayson. I saw the past, and I got switched at birth with the real Danny. He's dead and buried as your brother."
Robin calmed. "Oh."
"Actually, it's not that simple," Dani piped up. All eyes fell on her, so she continued. "Clockwork—er, the ghost of time sent me back to switch you guys to save your lives. What he didn't tell me was that there was another person from that time who was also going to switch you. I switched the real Danny and James. But then, Fruitloop of the Year came along and switched James with the other twin."
"Wait," Danny said, then repeated, "WAIT. But that would mean-?"
"You're Richard," Dani answered. She nodded at Robin and added, "And he's James."
The boys' jaws dropped in unison as they stared at each other. "Oh my god," they chorused.
"Oh my god!" Maddie parroted and glared at Dani. "You switched my baby?!"
"Hey, you should be thankful! You wouldn't have a son at all if it weren't for me!" Dani sassed.
"How could you?! How can you live with yourself?!"
"I dunno!" Dani snapped. "I look forward to hopefully finding out someday after intensive therapy with your daughter!"
"So, you already know who I am?" Robin asked his team.
"Other you told us," Kid Flash confirmed with a solemn nod.
"Well, this day is going to shit."
"Come on, man," Danny said, "we've both escaped the Light's stupid pods, our friends and family are here to help us, and now we both know what's going on."
"No we don't! Why was everybody switching us at birth? Why did you still get past the zeta tube security if you're supposedly not a clone? And why does everyone miraculously trust you?"
"Let's just get out of here and figure that out later!"
"What are you trying to hide, Richard?"
Danny glared. "I'm not hiding anything, James! I'm looking for answers too. But damn it, we're not going to get any answers in some random storage closet at a construction site on the other side of the freaking globe with half the Royal Air Force probably descending on our asses!"
"But-"
"We're superheroes. We deal," Danny asserted, and Robin calmed for a moment. "You told me that earlier this week. Well…*other you.*
" 'Other me?' " Robin asked.
Danny sighed. "Lex Luthor replaced you last Saturday at Axion with a clone. An—well, a debatable ally convinced them that your secret ID was Danny Fenton to throw them off the scent. When I ran away to Gotham because I found out I wasn't a Fenton—and Dad low key tried to kill me—"
"He's sorry about that," Maddie inserted.
Danny rolled his eyes and waved her off. "When I ran away, Luthor thought I was a clone gone rogue and they came after me. You, uh...he died," Danny said with a shuddering breath. "So you don't have to worry about any more confusion with him."
"He's—I'm…"
"I watched you die, man," Danny said. "My only connection to the past, my only real family, just—gone. Dead. Shot in the head like an execution."
"Oh." Robin shifted on his feet. "Well."
"So, please, pull yourself together and stay calm just until we can get out of here, and then we'll figure everything out."
Robin breathed for a moment then nodded. "Alright. Let's ditch this place. So...you wanna explain who these guys are?" He gestured at Maddie, Dani and 37.
"Well, you know my mom already from the ball last Friday, and from when you freaking broke into my room."
Maddie gasped and whispered, "That was you…"
"This guy-" Danny jabbed a thumb in 37's direction "comes courtesy of our favorite resident fruitloop. And, actually, so does Dani."
"With an 'I,'" the girl added with crossed arms and a cocked hip.
Danny, the de-transformed clone, Robin himself, Dani, and the Robin-mimicking Amorpho all gathered in the center of the room and appraised each other.
Just then, Aqualad and Superboy came into the safe room. They both paused as soon as they'd entered, though, when all of the Robin's and Dani turned in unison to stare at the newcomers.
"Um…" Superboy began. "...I feel like I missed something."
Danny stepped forward from the group of duplicates. "I'm Danny. That one's the real Robin. That other one is a shapeshifting ghost called Amorpho, this is my duplicate we're just calling 37 to keep things simple, and that's Dani, a girl me," he explained, pointing to each one in turn.
Superboy turned to the true Robin with an unspoken question.
Robin shrugged and shook his head. "Later."
"Well, *this* won't get confusing," Kid Flash quipped. "Now that everyone's free, we should get out of here ASAP before this gets any more complicated."
The sound of a distant, powerful generator starting interrupted the conversation. Danny, Dani and 37 each sensed an odd shift in the atmosphere. "Did you guys feel that?" Danny asked.
"Um, guys?" Miss Martian called over the link.
"Miss M, please link up Robin, Red Robin, Dani, experiment 37, Amorpho and Dr. Fenton, and then you and Zatanna should come find the rest of us on level three of the core. Sending you a mental image of them now," Aqualad requested. He said out loud, "Dr. Fenton, you are about to hear a voice in your head. Our team typically communicates telepathically to avoid detection."
"I'm familiar," she said.
"You are?!" Danny asked. He huffed and crossed his arms. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point."
Before the woman could explain further, Miss Martian connected them and continued, "Welcome back, you guys! And hello, Dr. Fenton and...others. Aqualad: Zatanna and I just saw a transparent green dome appear around the building before disappearing. We are unsure what it is."
"Sounds like a ghost shield," Maddie said. "A sophisticated one, too. Not all of them can operate invisibly. We must have tripped some sensors when Dani flew us in."
"So, no getting in or out in ghost mode," Dani added.
"And no getting out *at all* for Amorpho," Danny said and turned to Aqualad. "How did you guys get in? Air? Ground level?"
"Miss Martian used density shifting to get us in via a network of subterranean tunnels," the Atlantian replied.
"Can't we just get out that way again?"
"That means we're abandoning Amorpho to the clutches of the Light," Robin said, "and it's a sucky return for letting me out of that pod."
"Oh, I'm sure I could have some fun with them," the ghost chuckled and rubbed his hands together.
"You might have some fun at the start, but Lex Luthor is smart," Danny said. "He would figure you out pretty quickly and then you'd be ghost toast."
"We have to disable the ghost shield, then," Aqualad deduced. "We will need to formulate an escape plan for when that has been accomplished."
"Can't we just run out the front door?" Danny said. "Beat up a few guards and we're home free. The world loves you guys."
"Not unless you want to be an enemy of the United Nations," Artemis said.
"She is correct," Aqualad agreed. "This rescue mission came from League authority, but we did not seek UN sanctioning due to their ties to LexCorp. Any sighting of the protégé team at a site of conflict would create an international incident."
"We wouldn't be in this mess if you guys even knew what the word 'stealth' meant," Danny griped. "Now we have to disable a ghost shield and distract a hundred guards just so we can sneak away."
"We're not the ones who turned an entire *skyscraper* invisible!" Miss Martian retorted. "So don't lecture us about stealth!"
"Hey, it wasn't *my* idea!" Danny said.
"Yeah, it was mine, which means in a way it was kind of yours," Dani jabbed.
"We were trying to find *your* teammate!" Danny defended. "And what about the hundreds of construction workers that have already seen or will see you here?"
"With our stealth gear enabled, we are less instantly recognizable," Aqualad said. "They will be able to say that someone was here, but they will not be aware of who."
"So we just disable the ghost shield, escape in groups by ghost power or density shifting and then meet up later," Robin said. "Easy-peasy."
"However, Lex Luthor is one of our most clever adversaries," Aqualad said. "Based on the fact that our team was first ID'd on the subterranean levels of this construction site, he will have deduced we came from underground and ordered multiple ambushes to be set up in those tunnels."
"So not ground and not underground," Maddie said. "We fly out then?"
"No; again, we'll be ID'd and get in trouble with the UN," Kid Flash grumbled.
"What about the bioship?" Superboy spoke up. "Miss Martian can go get it while we work on getting the ghost shield and any other aerial defenses turned off. Fly in using camo mode, we all get in, then we fly away unseen by anyone that matters."
"Miss Martian's camouflage, telekinesis and shapeshifting may still be useful," Aqualad said. "For whom else has the bioship been configured?"
"Zatanna was the designated copilot today."
"This could work," Robin said. "The military will be too distracted by the Leadenhall next door; we can essentially slip away completely unnoticed."
"All of this depends on us getting the ghost shield deactivated," Maddie said. "It'll probably be at the top of the tower. It has to have a 360-degree uninterrupted arc to sustain the energy field."
Miss Martian and Zatanna arrived in the room. "We were just there and saw nothing on the building which doesn't belong at a typical construction site," the former said.
"Other than a hundred armed goons, of course," Zatanna quipped and took a look around the room. "God, it's turning into Robins-R-Us in here!"
"On one of the cranes, then?" Artemis continued. "Somebody who can fly should go check."
"I'll go," Dani volunteered.
"No, it will likely have anti-ghost defenses," Maddie said. "We need a non-ghost to go."
"So, Zatanna goes for the bioship, Miss Martian searches for the shield generator, the rest of us provide support and diversions," Kid Flash summarized. "Sounds like a plan, Kaldur."
"Oh, Kaldur'ahm!" Maddie suddenly exclaimed. All eyes fell on her. "I knew you seemed familiar, but it's been so long since I've been to Atlantis that I couldn't place the face. But then, you are a spitting image of your father."
Aqualad froze. "You have been to Atlantis?" In a soft voice, he added, "You—you know Calvin Durham?"
"Calvin?" Maddie asked with a chuckle. "No, he's-"
The door burst open before Maddie could elaborate, and a horde of soldiers of the Light poured in. "Everybody, hands in the air, now! Do not test me!"
The men's grips on their weapons faltered when they were suddenly faced with a legion of Robin's.
"Hey, Lightning Legs," Artemis said, hands in the air, "I think that's your cue."
"I do believe it is," Kid Flash answered with a grin. A second later, he was juggling all the men's automatic rifles in his arms.
15:30 Local Time, Thursday, March 22 — Quraci Desert, Qurac
"It is no trouble, Lex," Queen Bee assured in her sonorous voice. "With Psimon still catatonic, I would be happy to do what I can to enthrall our young heroes. All three of them."
She turned, cell phone to her ear, to look down in the ravine below. The red Ford Ranger was upturned and totally destroyed, a lazily spinning wheel and a hissing radiator the only sign that it had recently been operational.
"No, I've finished my task here. I will be back in Bialya before you arrive…. Marie Logan?" She chuckled and took one last glance down before striding confidently away. "Don't worry, she won't be troublesome any more. And that little green brat is as good as ours."
"Phase two of Operation Fallback is ready. What is taking so long?" Luthor demanded and stormed to a bank of security camera displays.
"The protégés are very well equipped, sir," Mercy offered, though she had great hesitation in her voice. "And it would appear they have help."
Luthor glared at the screens, where he could see the teenagers restraining the soldiers' wrists. "Are there no competent employees of the Light?" he demanded.
"Well, I-"
"Yourself included, Mercy," Luthor added, wheeling on her. The woman cowered. "If I recall, it is *you* who is responsible for bringing recruits into our employ."
"All of them come with the highest possible recommenda-"
"Then get higher recommendations," Luthor snapped. "We go to all the effort of publicizing our arrival in London for what? So absolutely everyone can escape? Is Devastation here yet?"
"She's ready to engage Superboy now, Mr. Luthor. She has been instructed to stay on the far side of the tower from Leadenhall so as not to draw attention."
"The police's presence should adequately tie the protégés' hands and keep them from escaping too easily. We can only hope that everything happening at once will keep them from realizing the Robins are no longer our main target but merely an extra treat."
Within minutes, the proteges and Fentons had diffused through the construction site. Zatanna, meanwhile, had departed for the airport to retrieve the bioship.
From his vantage point on the recently-poured forty-fifth floor, Aqualad stared out the newly placed windows with Maddie at his side. Police and military vehicles and news vans completely encircled the Leadenhall Building. There was a slow, never-ending procession of employees evacuating via the lobby. Armed army officers stood by while policemen screened and interrogated everyone exiting the structure. Fifty floors up, however, the LexCorp Farms offices still mysteriously buzzed with activity.
"I am in position, Aqualad," Miss Martian said.
"Is everybody else ready?" Aqualad asked.
There was a smattering of confirmations from the group.
"Remember to draw enough attention *internally* to give Miss Martian a clear path to the shield while not attracting eyes *externally,*" Aqualad reminded. "Organized chaos is the goal."
"Organized chaos is this team's specialty," Robin replied with a bounce of humor.
"Kid Flash, please begin."
"Happily," came the speedster's cocky reply.
Eleven floors above Aqualad, Kid Flash emerged from the shadows next to Artemis. The two patrolling guards didn't notice him, so Kid Flash strolled over to a conduit and ripped it from the wall.
"Top of the mornin' to you, fellas," Kid Flash drawled in a terrible Cockney accent.
The guards turned around just in time for the conduit to slam both of their heads. The men cried out and dropped their weapons. One of them reached for his radio. "All points! Protégé spotted on level fifty-"
The radio shattered in the man's hand as an arrow blasted through it and lodged in the concrete beside him. Artemis lowered her bow and said, "Well, that should get the ball rolling."
Kid Flash kicked the man's face, knocking him unconscious. "You could've at least let him finish."
"Think about it: how many levels are there starting with fifty? They'll have to search them all. Divide and conquer."
"Hmmm," he hummed with a smile, "nice move, beautiful."
"First two down on fifty six," Artemis informed the team.
"Superboy, that is your cue," Aqualad replied. "Miss Martian, begin your search."
"You never did explain what you meant regarding my father," Aqualad asked of his chosen companion.
Maddie sighed and shook her head. "I thought King Orin would have explained by now," she said. "It's not right to keep secrets from teenagers, as I'm quickly discovering with Danny. But it was your king's wish to conceal this so you would not be...distracted."
"What is there to tell me about my father?" Aqualad insisted.
"Calvin Durham," Maddie said, "is not your father."
"Then who-?"
"Black Manta," the woman intoned. "Enemy of the Kingdom of Atlantis, and suspected candidate for Light leadership."
Kaldur'ahm felt the proverbial carpet rip from beneath him.
A few floors below Aqualad, Superboy glanced at his chosen partner for chaos-causing, Dani, and nodded once. Dani returned the gesture and stepped aside so the boy could duck out of the stairs. Across an area where installation of electrical wiring and conduits had just begun, Superboy spotted more guards watching over some electricians going about their business. He had just barely begun to cross the space when-
"Clone!"
Superboy halted in his tracks and sneered, wheeling around on his feet. Devastation loomed a few structural bays away.
"You," Superboy growled.
"No, wait, she's just a distraction!" Dani shouted mentally. "Focus on the plan!"
"How dare you show your face here!" the monstrous woman continued. "After all that pointless interference in Kansas! We still got your little friends."
"Give it up, lady," Superboy said. "We're getting out of here with both of them."
"Oh we've stopped caring about the Robins at this point," she said, beginning to inch forward. "They're just a bonus."
"Bonus?" Superboy asked. "Bonus...to what?"
"The fish fillet."
Extra kudos to the reader who thought Luthor's appearance in London was suspiciously public! ;)
This week's references and Easter Eggs:
- "I have a brilliant beyond brilliant idea": from one of my favorite movies ever, and probably a subliminal influence over this story, Disney's Parent Trap (1998)
- "Well, if even 007 agrees...": Danny is of course comparing his mother to famed superspy James Bond.
It's safe to say that the next chapter won't be nearly as delayed, so don't worry. ;)
-hiimian