Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Danny Phantom or the DCAU. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: If you think about it, the Flash is actually supremely overpowered. He just hides it behind his humor and lack of desire to cause actual harm. I'm going to show that a bit here.

Chapter Five - Secret Origins - Conclusion

What Was

Danny was battling, of all things, the Box Ghost in the town square and the entire town seemed to have come out to watch. If he had to guess, the usually placid ghost had gotten his hands on spectral steroids because the box he was swinging around seemed to be made of steel and hurt like a bitch when it hit.

What worried the ghost hero more than that though was the murmurings of the crowd below.

'Hey, doesn't that guy look like Danny Fenton? I mean change that white hair to black and he's a dead ringer for the dweeb.'

'You know, I've never seen them both in the same place before.'

'What's this guy's hero name anyway?'

'Seriously, he looks like that Fenton loser I shoved into a locker last week.'

This was getting bad, people were starting to put things together. This worry was sadly distracting him from the fight because he took a box to the face like a champ and crashed into the ground. It was there, as he got up out of the crater of his impact, that Danny found himself saved once again by his mother. To keep up appearances he flew back into the sky at the sight of her so she wouldn't have to shoot at him.

"Don't be ridiculous." Maddie Fenton strutted into the crowd who parted easily before her. None wanted to halt the resident ghost expert when a literal ghost brawl was taking place in the skies above them. "My son is safe at home. I literally just saw him so he can't be here. Furthermore I've tangled with that particular ghost before. His name is Danny Phantom."

One of the crowd spoke up at that. "Danny Phantom? Isn't that like, really close to your son's name?"

"Exactly." Maddie threw her hands into the air with feigned exasperation. "That is why you lot are driving me crazy with your suppositions. My son is smart. Sure he started his year a little behind, but since I started tutoring him more he's shot to straight A's. He even tutors the football team for extra credit now. If that ghost was my son he wouldn't be stupid enough to use the same name in his ghost persona. You would have to be an idiot to do that." All around her the crowd seemed to be getting into the idea with a passion.

'Yeah, that Fenton kid really is smart isn't he?'

'I feel bad for shoving him in a locker cause he helped me pass geometry. That hot mom is right, he wouldn't be that dumb.'

'Yeah, Danny Fenton is way hotter than this guy.' That one came from Sam, who shuffled nervously under Maddie's knowing gaze.

"So there you have it, that ghost is not in any way related to Danny Fenton. So if you'll excuse me, I need to capture him." She ripped the ghost thermos from her belt and aimed it at the fighting duo. "I've got you now, Danny Phantom!" She screamed, hoping her son would get the message as she clicked the trigger.

It seemed he did because at the last second he phased through the box ghost's next attack, gripped his collar and threw him bodily into the path of the energy stream before moving out of the way himself and taking off like a bat out of hell. One more ghost was taken care of, and his secret identity was once again secret. A good day, all things considered.

What Is

"Why do you include Danny in your name?" Hawkgirl's question came out of the blue as the three of them flew through to the dark sky, catching the half-ghost off guard. The group had split apart several hours ago to complete their individual tasks, and though they'd shared some light small talk, there hadn't been a great deal of deep conversation. Each of them had been focused on their upcoming mission after all. Now though, it seemed the hawk helmed woman was growing too bored.

"I too am curious about this." Diana added from his other side. "None of the other heroes in your group include an actual name in their title."

Danny grew silent for a moment, his face beginning to line with pain as the memories returned.

"Hey…." Hawkgirl would have had to be blind to miss that look. "We don't need to talk about this if it is too painful for you."

"No. No. It's just, when I first started hero work, I was young and only really operated in my hometown. Even with my physical changes though, I still resembled my civilian persona a great deal. Once when I was out saving the day, one of the local jocks actually said I looked a lot like that version of myself. Danny Fenton. My mom… she knew what I was up to, and she was also present for the fight. She acted on instinct, trying to take people's minds off of that. She said 'No, I've met that hero before. He's not Danny Fenton. He's Danny Phantom.'" Danny chuckled sourly under his breath. "She was banking on two things. First, that no one would believe a hero would be dumb enough to make his hero name so close to his real one. And second, that everyone would know she was too smart to point the finger at her own kid. She was right on both counts."

Diana was shocked and impressed. "Your mother sounds like a truly great and supporting woman. I would be proud to meet her."

"That's not possible." Danny answered. "Not anymore."

For her part, Hawkgirl was still focused on one particular thing from that story. "Fenton? Danny Fenton? You give up your true identity so easily?"

He shrugged and answered, "What does it matter? That life, that person, it's all dead and buried. Everything and everyone that made him human is gone forever, and all that remains is the Phantom of who he was. I still call myself Danny Phantom because it is the hero identity my mother gave me, and it's one of the only things left that I have of her."

Diana flew closer and clasped one his hands in her own. "I am sorry for your pain, and your loss."

"It was a long time ago."

"That does not make it hurt any less."

"No, it doesn't. But we have a job to do and we shouldn't let emotion get in the way of it. Too distracting."

"I agree." Hawkgirl nodded. "But all the same, I think I speak for myself and Diana when I say that we are both here to talk if you ever need us."

"I appreciate the offer. Now let's focus on ending this invasion."

A Forest in South America

Batman stared at the alien structure in the distance through his binoculars as Superman did the same with his enhanced vision.

"Why are we waiting here, Bruce? With my power I could just charge in there and tear the place down."

Batman sighed, "First of all 'Clark' in the field I'm Batman. We never know who could be listening. Second, all your power didn't do anything to stop this problem in the first place. Third, from a tactical standpoint charging in blind is the single worst idea you've ever had. You're immune to bullets but what if they have energy weapons, chemical bombs, or gas attacks? All of these things can hurt or incapacitate you. What we need is a plan."

"Well what do you suggest?"

Bruce moved his view amongst the sand, rock, and dunes upon which the structure stood and had a thought. "It would be best if we didn't have to go inside at all."

Superman was lost. "You'll need to elaborate here."

"That structure looks to be held up by three different support arms and the main body is simply supported in place, not dug into the ground. If I can destroy the supports can you get under it and fly it into the sun?"

The red and blue hero grinned widely, "Of course."

A short time later Batman was back in his jet, ducking out of the way of enemy fire and locking on his own missiles to the support struts of the legs. When the target sights flashed green he hit the trigger and the plumes ignited under his wings as the rockets took off. Three explosions later the factory was shuddering in place and just as it was about to topple over it shot up into the sky, the flapping cape of Superman flying behind.

Smiling at a job well-done, the Bat wheeled his jet around and went supersonic into the distance, moving faster than any pursuit could track. It was time to return to the rendezvous point.

Elsewhere:

The Flash was doing what he did best, running fast and pissing people off. In this case, he was outrunning the blaster fire of the alien invaders and drawing the troops out of the factory depths into the open. Green Lantern had his job, but dealing with these yahoos was his.

Dodging back and forth he went until it looked like the entire field was full of white humanoids. Perfect. In the blink of an eye he disappeared, racing off halfway across the world before stopping and running back, gaining more and more speed as he did until he was seeing afterimages of his passing in the distance. Then he was back in the field of battle and even with his inordinate amount of speed his advanced perception of the space slowed it down for him.

Every enemy was locked in place to his gaze, his movement too fast with this buildup for even the slightest twitch of a finger to catch up to him. The Flash hated this move because there was no way for his enemies to survive what came after and he liked taking in his foes alive, but these things had come to conquer. This fight wasn't the usual scuffles of good and evil, no it was war.

Weaving between the enemies at the speed of thought itself he jabbed his fingers into various points on all of their bodies and sped off back into the distance where the GL was waiting for him. He too was frozen and waiting for time to catch up with his comrade.

It took a while, it always did at this kind of speed, but eventually real-time finally set back into motion and below them the enemy dropped like flies to the ground. Though he didn't show it on the outside, internally the Flash was cringing. He'd been moving so fast that even the slightest touch could have shattered bone with his momentum, but he'd compounded it by directing the violence into single locations with his pokes. Whatever made up those alien's internal organs was pure mush at this point.

"Good work, Flash." Green Lantern spoke up, his ring flashing with barely controlled power. "I'll handle the rest." He rose into the air and flew toward the structure ahead, building up speed and more emerald light with every passing second until his form resembled most closely a shooting star. At the last second before he would have impacted the factory the light around him shifted and suddenly at John Stuart's head was a rotating drillbit wider than a freaking semi-truck.

The next instant he was barreling through the side of the factory wall and reaving all throughout its varying levels, sowing chaos and destruction with every pass. Thanks to the actions of the Flash there were no standing forces left strong enough to challenge him, and although defensive gasses were flooded into the halls, all the sedative gasses in the world could not affect him when he was fully encapsulated in the green light of his will. Much as it did in space, it allowed for pure, clean, breathable air in a vacuum.

Tearing the structure down under its own weight took ten minutes in total. The building was massive after all, but in the end he got it done. After his final pass through the last remaining support, there was a mighty crash and the invading factory of death and destruction fell in on itself, until all that remained on the forest floor was a deluge of scrap and corpses. A dark day to be sure, but a necessary one.

Green Lantern did one last pass with his ring to make sure he'd not left any survivors, and then returned to the Flash. "Come on, we should meet back up with the others."

"Yeah." The Flash looked sadly at the destruction they'd wrought. "I'm done with this place."

Metropolis

"Well that looks foreboding." Danny noted as he stared at the massive structure before them. According to J'onn, the core of the world engine was in the heart of it and destroying the thing would ruin any chances of its functionality. But how best to get to it? There had to be a veritable army inside.

"Phantom?" Hawkgirl stepped up to him. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that the army inside makes it difficult to get the core."

Diana too thought the problem over and replied, "We could simply force our way inside and fight through them to the core."

"No." Danny waved off that idea at once. "We don't know what defenses they have in there. It would be better if I could get in invisibly and go searching, but with all the guards that are sure to be inside I'd probably end up bumping into at least one of them."

"Hm." Wonder Woman thought it over further before seeming to come to a conclusion. "Could you create a big enough disturbance to bring the guards out? I'm not sure Hawkgirl and I could destroy them all, but we could certainly keep them busy long enough for you to look for the core. We're maneuverable in flight and should be able to dodge their fire."

Danny grinned so wide his fangs came out to play. "Oh yes, I can cause quite the disturbance."

"What are you going to do?" Hawkgirl asked as she stretched her wings.

"I'm going to get loud. Like, really loud. You'll probably want to plug up your ears and be ready to fight. I'm sure they'll be quick to react." With that he flew off into the air before banking down to hover directly over the world engine.

Then he began to concentrate his energy until with a pop seven copies of himself folded out from him, each glaring at their target. Then they hovered down to land on all sides of it. "We're going to enjoy this, you world ending fucks." Danny proclaimed before opening his jaw wide and howling out his ghostly wail. At the same time all of his copies performed the same act. The world erupted into sound, chaos, and violence as concrete crumbled, alien walls cracked, and inhuman screams from those stuck inside the structure that was the center of the eight pronged sonic attack reverberated out. For a moment, the halfa had hope that this attack would be enough to bring the fucking thing down on its own, but when his wail petered out and it still stood he had to acknowledge that perhaps this alien race was capable of making stronger buildings than humans.

With a new twitch of will his copies folded back into himself and he turned intangible and invisible as the gates before him opened wide and the enemy came rushing out. While his duplication power was incredibly effective at times, he didn't like to use it too often. Every time he split himself he split his power as well. With eight active copies at once, he was only at one eighth of his full power.

The aliens couldn't see him now as they led a bull charge to his location, so he just glided through them, smiling as behind him he heard the unmistakable sounds of Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl tearing into them with fists and mace. All according to plan.

What was not according to plan was how twisting and winding the corridors were inside the damned place. Hadn't these aliens ever heard of right angles? Or even a set incline? In the end he just started phasing straight through every wall and obstruction, just carrying himself straight past everything until he reached what had to be the central chamber. It was the single most open place he'd seen yet inside the building and it contained all manner of criss-crossing platforms leading ever higher into an area that the light from below did not reach. Midway up that distance he saw a vein-like structure with a circular protrusion in its center. Bingo.

He floated up until he was level with it and saw a gem-like object floating in the middle. At first he tried to just phase his arm into the center to grab it, but a sudden shock to his limb had him reeling back and scowling. They'd put extra defenses on the thing. Coating his arms in ectoplasm had a similar result, as did attempting to cut into it with ectoblades. Even a concentrated ghostly wail had no effect besides cracking the wall behind it. For a good moment there Danny was stuck, until he started thinking like his mother. He looked at every variable.

The sack holding the gem was indestructible to him, but that didn't mean it would be the same for someone else. Furthermore, he couldn't destroy the sack itself, but what about the structures supporting it?

Danny flew up above his target and wrapped his hands around the veinlike support and concentrated. At once his eyes flashed blue and ice began to coat the area under his hands. A quick blow with his fist shattered the support, proving his theory true. A quick replication below freed his target completely and in short order the half-ghost found himself carrying the entire gem container through the air, phasing back through walls and tunnels to the battlefield beyond where it seemed Diana and Hawkgirl had given up attacking and were now just weaving spastically through the air to avoid getting shot by the well organized force.

Well it was time to do something about that. "Hawkgirl!" He called, and when she turned to look at him he threw the core gem with all of his might right at her.

Picking up on his intent at once she dove right for it, cocked back her mace, and with a full rotation fueled by the strength of her body, slammed her mace right into it. There was a blinding flash of light at the moment of impact and then everything went straight to hell. The core and its gem crumbled to dust, the world engine screeched as if steel was tearing before collapsing in on itself, and the army below shrieked with outrage before tearing off into the city, blasters firing everywhere. The heroes guessed they were hoping to cause as much damage as they could in retribution for this horrid act.

The heroes couldn't have that however. They shot off after them and over the course of the next hour they hunted them to the last. Danny phased through buildings and bodies, tearing hearts from chests, blasting enemies to bits, and cutting off heads when able with ectoblades. Hawkgirl brained countless foes with her mace, and Diana picked up her enemies in twos and threes, flew up to impossible heights and let them fall back to the earth to die on impact.

When they were finally finished the people of the city were cheering them on and shouting their thanks. The tio simply waved to show they had been heard and took off back into the sky. With their task done it was time to meet back up with the others.

Elsewhere

By unanimous agreement their group had decided to meet back at the crash site where they had all first gathered, and it was there that Danny learned the others had all been as successful as himself in accomplishing their goals. One thing remained however.

"J'onn." Phantom asked as he approached the Martian. "We did as you said, is this threat over?"

J'onn turned his gaze to the sky and seemed to lose himself in thought for a moment before replying. "It is… for now. I can sense the presence of these monster's leader in the atmosphere, but it is retreating. Had he landed we would have been hard pressed to stop him, but the loss of its factories and world engine seem to have scared it off. It does not seek strong opponents when weaker ones exist that will not present a challenge. That does not mean it will not eventually return for revenge however."

"Then we'll just have to be ready if it ever does." Superman said.

"We came pretty close to a full scale invasion." Flash noted. "If we hadn't all been here, working together to stop it, who knows what could have happened."

Batman stepped forward. "I think I do, and I have a plan. Can you all meet me back here in one week?"

The others were clearly curious, but Bats refused to say any more so in the end they just agreed to return at the appointed date.

Gotham

One Week Later

"You sure about this, Bruce?" Danny asked as he watched his friend working at the batcomputer. "I know Lucius can get away with a lot in hiding R and D tech for you, but losing an entire satellite station in the paperwork is a bit unbelievable."

"You'd be surprised how much can get lost with enough paperwork in a company as large as Wayne Tech, Danny." Bruce noted as he finished the last line of coding that would separate the Watchtower's network from any association with Wayne Enterprises. "Bureaucrats, especially business bureaucrats, never want to look too deep into things when easier answers are available. Now the heroes of Earth have a mobile station with which to watch over the planet. You ready to go meet them?"

"Sure, but I'll remind you that we can't exactly breathe in space, Bruce. How are we getting up there?"

"The Batwing is rated for orbital exit and reentry. Come on."

A Short Time Later

The Heroes that had protected Earth from the Martian threat were all gathered in the main hall of the Watchtower, many with awed expressions on their faces as Batman explained what the satellite station was and how they might make use of it to better protect their planet as an organized group. A League.

To a person they all agreed to help, though Green Lantern made it a point to point out he was part of the Green Lantern Corps first, and this League second. None had any problems with that. J'onn especially seemed pleased to have someplace to be. He wasn't sure what he would return to on Mars after so long away, and was glad for the chance to gather himself before doing so.

These were the strongest people on Earth, and they were now truly united in its defense. On this day the Justice League was born.