AN: Oh my gosh! More than 200 followers? That is awesome! I am so happy! Thanks you guys. It was a great birthday present! (That's right. I'm twenty now. No longer a teenager.)
Also, to Nabiyah: the reason Danny doesn't use the name Phantom anymore is two fold. At first, it was because people were looking for Phantom (namely the GIW). Now that Danny is a bit safer, he still doesn't want to use Phantom, because he doesn't feel like Phantom anymore. Phantom was some cocky kid who didn't really know what he was getting into, and that isn't who Danny is anymore. Now he feels like a shade, hence the name. I hope that makes sense!
Sorry this took so long! I've been having trouble bridging the gap between the beginning and the end, so I was kind of stuck on how this would go. But! I've got it now. Hopefully things will go quicker now that I've got a better vision in mind.
Disclaimer! I don't own Danny Phantom or Young Justice. I don't know nearly enough about fighting to successfully own either of those shows!
Danny let out a deep breath, yanking his hood away from his face. He wasn't sure how he felt about the new cloak, but if it kept his face hidden, he was willing to put up with it.
Today he had been officially introduced to the world as Shade, a ghost hero working with the Justice League. Danny had been two breaths away from a panic attack the whole time. It was bad enough that he had to go out and face all those people, but openly admitting that he was a ghost? Danny wasn't sure he would ever be fully comfortable with that.
Robin had explained the reasoning a million times. It showed the world that ghosts could be good, gave reasoning behind why the Justice League would support ghosts, it would be worse if people found out later, blah blah blah. Danny didn't care. As far as he was concerned, people hated ghosts. And they had a tendency to hurt the things they hated.
"Nicely done!" Robin said cheerfully as Danny walked back into the Cave.
Danny grimaced. "I just stood there. I didn't even say anything."
"Better than tripping and falling flat on your face, which is what Wally did." Robin said with a mischievous grin.
"Dude!" Wally yelled, shoving his shorter friend. "Not cool man."
"You looked really nice." Megan said, fingering the cloak. "This looks good on you."
Danny shrugged, pulling the cloak off. He looked at it distastefully.
"How are you supposed to fight in something like this?" He asked, glaring at the offending article of clothing. Robin laughed.
"You get used to it." he said, gesturing to his own cape. "And it's a small price to pay for anonymity. You'd be surprised how much something like a cape can change your body shape."
Danny hated to admit it, but Robin was right. The last thing he wanted was for someone to recognize him. Officially, Danny Fenton was dead, which was slightly ironic when he thought about it. But he was more worried about someone recognizing Phantom. Now that images of Shade were starting to spread, the odds of someone connecting him with Phantom were higher. He really didn't want that to happen. Bad memories aside, Phantom didn't have the best reputation. He was pretty sure that Batman knew about his past, and that was fine, but he would like for the information to stop there. No need for anyone else to go snooping around in his past.
So he would wear the stupid cloak. It covered both his hair and a significant portion of his face, which would do wonders for keeping his identities, both past and present, safe.
Danny looked at the rest of the team, taking notice of the fact that they were all suited up.
"What's going on? Is there a mission?"
"Yes."
Danny yelped, spinning around to see Batman standing behind him.
"Ah… hi?" the halfa stuttered, turning bright red. Batman stared at him expressionlessly. Danny turned invisible, fleeing to the relative safety of the line of young heros. He let his invisibility drop once he was safely hidden behind Superboy, peering around the young kryptonian nervously.
Batman continued the briefing as if nothing had happened.
"We've finally found Scarecrow." Batman said, turning to the holographic screen. The whole team perked up at that, looking at Batman with interest. Danny's breath hitched, and he resisted the urge to get closer to Superboy. He was not looking forward to seeing the mad psychiatrist again.
Danny fought down a hysterical giggle as he remembered Spectra. What was it about psychiatrists that made them want to torture him?
Jazz's face flashed in his mind, and any desire to laugh died. He forced himself to step away from Superboy, focussing on the briefing.
"This is purely a recon mission." Batman was saying. "You are not to engage under any circumstances. Keep your distance. Scarecrow is dangerous, and he will not hesitate to use his fear gas on you. For this reason, each of you will be wearing a mask for this mission. We can not risk any of you getting infected, especially with Scarecrow's new strain of gas."
Batman looked at each teen carefully. "I am only giving you this mission because I know how you all feel about unfinished business. I know that if we tried to take Scarecrow done without you, you would get mad. And probably go rogue and try to take him down yourselves anyway."
Danny blinked. They wouldn't do that. Would they? He glanced at the rest of the team, only to see them shifting guiltily. Oh. So maybe they would.
"So I've decided to make this a sanctioned mission, so we can help you if things go wrong. But."
Batman fixed every single one of them with a fierce glare.
"If you betray my trust by going off mission, there will. Be. Consequences."
Danny gulped, suddenly very nervous. Right. Stay on track. That was fine with Danny. He didn't really want to get close to Scarecrow again. Once was enough for him.
Batman left after the briefing was finished, and the team headed toward the bioship. Danny was about to follow when Robin cleared his throat meaningfully.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" the Boy Wonder asked, a glint in his eyes.
Danny stared at him blankly. Forgetting? Forgetting what?
Robin laughed.
"The cloak Danny." he said with a grin, gesturing to where Danny had left the item on the floor.
Danny scowled, but he picked it up and put it on. He had to get used to the thing eventually, might as well start now.
Cloak afixed, Danny followed the rest of the team onto the bioship. He paused on the threshold, suddenly overwhelmed by a terrible feeling. He wasn't sure why, but he suddenly wanted to run away, and take the rest of the team with him.
"You coming?" Artemis asked, and Danny shook his head, the feeling gone.
"Yeah, sure." he said, climbing into the ship. He chided himself for the temporary fear. There was nothing wrong. It was just his paranoia kicking in. Everything would be fine.
Danny poked the mask, discontent. Of course his first mission with the cloak would also be the one with another thing on his face, obstructing his vision. It was ridiculous. But he would put up with it because the last thing he wanted was to get another face full of fear gas. Once was enough for a lifetime.
Danny felt a flash of admiration for Robin. The kid had been infected with fear gas multiple times, and knowing what he did about Robin's past, it must have been terrible. And yet the Boy Wonder kept on fighting, not even hesitating when he had to face Scarecrow again. It was almost inspirational.
"K, but like, if you're exasperated right now, does that mean that most of the time you're asperated? Cause that sounds a lot like aster, which is awesome!"
Alright. Inspiration officially gone.
Danny ignored Robin's and Artemis's argument, floating invisibly through walls. He, along with Robin and Miss Martian, were the team's scouts, getting a lot closer than the others. After all, KF and Superboy had a talent for turning 'recon' missions into 'everything starts exploding' missions. Which was the last thing they wanted when the stakes were this high.
"Any signs of Scarecrow?" Aqualad asked, cutting Robin and Artemis off.
"I haven't seen anything." Miss Martian said.
"Me neither." Robin admitted. "The place looks completely abandoned. Not a single electronic device is active."
Danny was about to say that he also hadn't spotted anything when he shivered. He stopped dead, staring at the plume of cold air that appeared in front of him. No way. It wasn't possible. He hadn't felt that since…
"Shade? Have you found something?"
Danny startled at Aqualad's voice. "Not sure. Give me a minute."
Danny crept forward, following his ghost sense. Because that's what it was. There was no denying it, no matter how unlikely it seemed. Danny hadn't met a single ghost since he escaped the lab, and he had been fine with that. Sure, he missed some of his friends, but he didn't want them in the human world. It was too dangerous. Times were changing, but ghosts still didn't have any real rights. If there was a ghost in the building, they could be in danger.
Danny wasn't an idiot. He knew that this could be a trap, or that he could be headed toward a distinctly unfriendly entity, but he didn't let that stop him. If the ghost was violent, he would be fine. If there was one thing he was good at, it was ghost hunting. He considered calling the team, but decided against it. They weren't equipped to fight ghosts, except for maybe Robin. They would just get in the way. He could handle it.
Besides, the odds of it being a trap specifically for him were tiny. A person would need ghost technology to send out a signal like that, and the only ones with technology like that were the GIW. With them out of the picture, there really wasn't anyone else with tech advanced enough to recreate ghost energy so accurately.
Reassured, Danny moved forward. He could tell that the ghost was close. He cautiously poked his head through a wall, entering an empty room. Danny slipped into the room silently, looking around. In the center of the room, there was a dusty table. There was something on the table, covered by a cloth. The hidden object was the thing that was setting off his ghost sense.
Danny stared at the object, decidedly uneasy. Why would Scarecrow have a device that gave off ghost energy? It didn't make sense. Danny's foreboding from before came back ten fold. This wasn't right. The team needed to get out, now.
"Guys? Something's wrong. I think someone knew we were coming." Danny said. There was no response.
"Guys?" Danny turned around, frowning. All he heard was silence.
Danny felt cold. There was no reason for the team not to be responding. Something must have happened.
Danny was about to go looking for his teammates when he heard something. The object on the table was making a strange noise. He couldn't tell what it was, but it grated on him, setting his nerves on edge.
Danny hesitated. He was torn between searching for his missing teammates and investigating the strange object. On the one hand, the team could be in a lot of trouble, but on the other, that object could be dangerous. He couldn't just leave it there without at least knowing what it was.
Danny very carefully approached the thing, making sure that he was invisible and intangible. The closer he got to the table, the louder the noise got. Danny winced as the sound pierced his head. He was starting to get a headache.
Pushing the pain aside, Danny reached the table. He put out a shaky hand, grabbing the cloth covering the strange object. Hesitating one final time, he yanked it aside.
A flash of light blinded him. Danny cried out, throwing up his hands. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision. He was startled to realize that there was a glowing green shield surrounding him. One that was distinctly similar to his own.
No…. he thought desperately. He attacked the shield, throwing ecto blasts and ice beams at it, but they had no effect. Danny abandoned those, pounding on the shield with his fists. He was so desperate to get out that he attempted his Ghostly Wail. The Wail had only just started when pain shot through his chest. He choked, falling to his knees.
Danny took shuddering breaths, trying to get himself back under control. He had been unable to do his Ghostly Wail since he escaped the lab. Every attempt led inevitably to pain. It scared him, made him think that there was something permanently broken inside him. He had hoped that as he healed, the Wail would come back, but so far it hadn't.
Danny grit his teeth. So his Ghostly Wail was off the table. That didn't mean that he had to give up. With renewed determination, he got to his feet. Taking a deep breath, he fired a powerful ectobeam into the shield. Keeping it steady, he slowly mixed his ice powers into the beam, creating a solid blue-green beam of light. Danny held the blast as long as he could, shaking as he struggled to keep the power focussed. It was worth it as the shield began to crack. A few seconds later, the shield shattered.
Danny collapsed back to the floor. His vision went gray for a second. He panted, pushing back against the darkness. He couldn't afford to pass out. Something was definitely wrong. That had been a ghost shield, something that no human should have been able to make. If they were dealing with people who had access to ghost technology, than the team would need his help.
Sudden clapping caused Danny's head to jerk up. He peered into the darkness, trying to find the source of the noise. Slowly, Lex Luthor emerged from the shadows.
"Well done." the billionaire said. "I didn't know if you had it in you. I was assured that you would be unable to break out of the containment field, but I had my doubts. Thank you for proving me right."
Luthor approached Danny, kneeling next to him on the ground. He ran a hand down the exhausted halfa's face, pulling his mask off.
"You really are amazingly powerful, aren't you?" he asked softly, awe tinging his tone.
Danny yanked his head away from Luthor's hand. He struggled to get to his feet, but he suddenly felt incredibly weak. He collapsed back to the ground with a soft moan. Luthor watched him with amusement.
"I wouldn't bother if I were you." Luthor said, reaching down to stroke Danny's hair. "After you broke the shield, that device started to expel particles of ectoranium. You're breathing it in right now."
Luthor smirked. "It always pays to be prepared, after all. I didn't want you escaping if you managed to destroy the shield. The mask was unexpected, though it really it shouldn't have been considering who you were here to fight. Lucky that you were tired enough that I was able to remove it. You may have gotten away otherwise."
Danny groaned. He recognized this feeling. It was a popular method of the GIW's to keep him under control.
"How?" he managed to gasp out. Breathing was getting increasingly difficult. The harder it got to breath, the deeper the breaths he took, and the more ectoranium entered his system, perpetuating the cycle. He would suffocate soon if he didn't get out of this room.
"Don't worry about that." Luthor said, standing back up. He gestured with his hand, and Mercy came out of the shadows. She grabbed Danny, yanking him to his feet.
Danny shuddered at the sudden change in position. He felt slightly nauseous after expending so much power, and the fast movement was not helping. He tilted alarmingly, and it was only due to Mercy's hold on him that he didn't fall over. He weakly raised his head, staring at Luthor.
"Won't… get away..." He mumbled, struggling weakly to get out of Mercy's grip.
"What's that? I won't get away with this?" Luthor asked, a condescending smile on his face. "I suppose you are referring to the fact that your team is here, yes? Not to worry, we've already collected them. They were surprisingly easy to take down when they were not expecting us. Especially considering we took the martian first. No communication, and well. You were all sitting ducks."
The darkness was encroaching on Danny's vision again. No matter how hard he tried to breath, oxygen just wasn't making its way into his lungs. He was starting to panic. The team was compromised. They needed help. He had to help them. But he couldn't breath. He needed- he needed to breath, he needed help. No, he needed to help them. He… he….
Danny took a deep breath, only to double over in a coughing fit. His mind was getting increasingly fuzzing. He couldn't think straight. All knew was that he needed to breathe.
Danny put a shaking hand over his mouth, trying to stifle the coughing. When he pulled his hand away, he was startled and scared to realize that he was coughing up blood. Another bout of coughing caused blood to spray across the floor.
"That would be our cue." Luthor said, eyeing the blood spatters. "It would be a shame for you to die right when we finally acquired you. Mercy, if you would?"
Danny twitched as something pricked his arm. His vision started to swim, the darkness from before coming in faster. He felt his transformation happen, turning him human. He went completely limp, collapsing into Mercy's arms.
"Don't worry." Luthor's voice was distant. "We'll treat you much better than those fools at the GIW did. No need to destroy a perfectly good weapon."
I'm not a weapon. Danny wanted to say, but it was too late. The combination of drugs and lack of oxygen took their toll. Despite Danny's best efforts, everything went black.
AN: HEYO! It appears I have a 'thing' for shattering shields, cause this is the third time it has happened this story. I think the imagery is pretty, so sue me. Anyway, hope this was worth the wait. We are approaching the end game people! Brace yourselves!
BTW, you can consider Danny's bad feeling before the mission as a cameo from Clockwork, dropping him a warning. Or you can see it as terrible, blatant foreshadowing. Whatever floats your boat!
Also BTW, the real reason Batman sent the team to investigate Scarecrow was that he needed someone on that, and he was too busy investigating LexCorp. So he sent the team because Robin is the only other hero with experience when it came to Scarecrow. He was hoping to get info on Scarecrow while also keeping the team safely away from the Light. That obviously backfired…
ANYWAY! Thanks for sticking with me friends. It really is my own fault for updating so often. It leaves me with very little wiggle room. I'll try not to let it sit for so long in the future. (Also, apologies to Family and Friends fans. I am working on it, I promise. It'll come soon. Ish. Hopefully. I need better time management.)
Now that the SUPER LONG END AUTHOR'S NOTE is over, bye! See ya soon. (fingers crossed!)