AN: SO, I COULDN'T HELP BUT NOTICE THAT A FEW OF THE REVIEWS MENTIONED THE POSSIBILITY OF DANNY BEING BRUCE'S GRANDFATHER... I WILL NEITHER DENY NOR CONFIRM THIS. ALSO, THIS CHAPTER IS VAGUE BUT IT DOES TOUCH ON MOST OF THE QUESTIONS ASKED IN THE REVIEWS... IF NOT, FEAR NOT, ANSWERS ARE ON THE WAY. ENJOY!
Superboy screamed as he pushed himself up into the air. The wind worked against him with no success and he kept a steady pace towards the ship in the sky. It stood out wonderfully against the clear night sky. Using the momentum from his leap, Superman's clone raised his arms above his head and swung them into the wing of the aircraft just as he made contact. It screeched and started falling to the ground, spitting out smoke as it did so.
After a two hundred meter drop, the ship crashed into the Canadian forest, crushing trees in its path. After sliding through the dense woods like a child on a water slide, it finally came to a halt at the foot of a steep hill. As he free fell to the ground, Superboy could make out four people climbing out of the wreckage.
After his less than graceful tumble back into the forest, he started making his way to where the fighting was going on. Even from the distance he was, he could still hear pieces of conversations that his team and their opponents were throwing around.
"…Catch me if you…"
"…Little boy…"
"…RAAAWWW!..."
His feet barely touched the ground as the Connor barrelled in the direction on the voices of his friends and enemies. Leaves and branches tapped him along and the animals in the trees watched him go. When the voices got louder to the point where he could make out whole conversations, Superboy slowed to a walk. Peering through into the clearing, he watched as the four separate duels progressed. When Wonder Girl was thrown away from Sportsmaster into a large tree, the hero charged. His fist connected with the mercenary's neck.
Nightwing picked up on the first ring. "Your status, Superboy?"
"Um," he looked over to where Wonder Girl was tying up Black Spider and Hook. "Half, I'd say."
"I'll send Mal," Nightwing's voice cut off for a moment. "He'll be about ten minutes."
"Okay," Superboy put the communicator in his pants pocket and spun on his heel. While the two villains were laid out of the dirt, Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle, and Arsenal all sat on top of a large boulder. One of Arsenal's oversized guns was being shinned to perfection while Blue and Cassie played slaps and Beast Boy cheered them on. It was good that Cassie had super strength because one thing was for sure; Blue Beetle's armour was not soft.
Thankfully, the rock being as large as it was, Superboy found a spot to lie down and rest for minute. He stared up at the sky, the stars. It was so clear here where there weren't any cities blasting light into the sky. The moon was brilliant, too. He wondered if the Ghost Zone had a moon or stars. It must though because how could their planet function without them? So much about Earth was dictated through the moon and everything farther. But maybe the Ghost Zone didn't operate like their planet did. He would never know because no one had ever entered the Ghost Zone. And if someone did, they hadn't lived to tell the tale about it.
"Hey, Superboy," Connor lifted his head to see the other four teens looking over at him. He sat up and addressed Beast Boy.
"Yeah?"
"I was just wondering," the kid hesitated, looking to Blue and Wonder Girl before turning back to him. "Do you think you're allowed to tell us about the meeting now? I just thought that maybe you could because it's over and everything."
"Yeah, share," Arsenal added his two cents, interested in any conversation when gossip was involved.
"I guess I could—"
"What were the ghosts like?" Beast Boy ranted on, waving his hands around and grinning like a kid in a candy shop. "And the king? Is Phantom as scary as everyone says he is? Did he bring anyone else along? I bet he was really tall! Did he have fangs? I heard from this guy on the Internet that some ghosts have them. Although none of the pictures of—"
"Well," Superboy trailed off. Where to start? Maybe from the beginning… "Phantom isn't really what you would expect…"
Superboy watched curiously as the two leaders approached each other. Even though he'd seen photos of the renowned ghost king from the Internet and he'd learnt about the Transivitus Period in school, seeing him in person was a different experience entirely.
Superboy didn't truly understand why there was still so much controversy over the ghosts. The war happened over a hundred years ago. It's not like it had been anything different than one battle and a ton of threats between the two species. But bring up ghosts in a conversation, you might receive an indifferent response but more likely, people will turn violent and frightened.
Like any war, there are some people involved that get roped into stories and included in historic documents until they become something resembling a legend. For the humans, there was the Invisible Lady, the Screaming Man, and the Liberators. Of course, the villains share the spotlight with the heroes, if not hog it. For the ghosts, there was only two. The two most powerful ghosts known to the Earth: the ghost king Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius.
"And it's been determined that we have only identified 20% of the Ghost Zone's population," his history teacher had told the class once. "There could be ghosts out there on the same power level or even more so than Phantom and Plasmius."
Thinking back on the damage and destruction those two alone caused during the Transivitus Period, Superboy could understand why people might still be a little anxious.
But in all the photos, articles, and books that he'd read for class and all the information about the ghost king that had been put in his head while he was still developing couldn't have prepared him for this. It was universally known that Phantom was "intimidating", "malevolent", "toe-curling", and "shiver-inducing" but the only thing Superboy could focus on was how young he looked.
In the photos, King Phantom seemed like he was in his mid-twenties, so at least five years older than in real life. He had a bit of stubble, when the actual thing was as bare as a baby's but. He looked to be significantly taller than six feet, Superboy had to tilt his head down a little as he gaped at the ghost king.
So as Batman and Phantom approached each other hesitantly, only one thing was going through Superboy's head: How?
"Batman," Phantom's blunt tone broke the hero from his stupor. The king wore a sour expression, as if he'd just sucked on a lemon. His ectoplasmic eyes raked over the dark knight's form, not even trying to disguise his obvious distaste. But whether it was for the man himself or something else related to him, Connor wasn't sure. Superboy observed in anxiety as Batman's shoulders coiled up, but he refrained from commenting, thankfully.
One of the four ghosts standing behind their king, the one with the black trench coat and lack of facial features, shuffled awkwardly in place. Seeming to have made up their mind, it reached forward with their three-fingered hand and nudged the King's arm encouragingly before moving back to its place in line. Slowly, the ghost king raised his arm for the dark knight to take.
"Your highness," Batman responded almost inanely. While he acknowledged that Phantom still had his arm extended to him, his stayed firmly at his sides. The ghost king's face scrunched up for a moment and Connor's heart leaped into his throat. Was Batman trying to get them all killed?
Nightwing shifted beside him, ready to step in, when Batman raised his hand to meet King Phantom's. The two of them grasped each other's hand, though reluctantly. The king looked up to stare into the masked face of Gotham's Protector and Batman looked down to do the same for him. They stayed like that for a long while and everyone there seemed to get the impression that something much more intimate was taking place rather than a simple handshake.
Suddenly, as if he'd been splashing in the face with water, Batman took his hand back and retreated a step. Phantom lowered his hand slowly before hiding it at his sides under the white cape he wore.
"It's been a while," the ghost king commented, raking his eyes up Batman's form just as he'd done before only much less hostile.
Superboy had heard the majority of Captain Atom and Batman's argument and so he'd come to the understanding that Batman and King Phantom had met already, and that it hadn't ended well. So while this statement from Phantom wasn't unexpected, it only arose Connor's questions as to how the two had met. It is known that King Phantom rarely leaves the Ghost Zone and no human has ever gone inside. So many unanswered questions.
"You look well."
"Thank you," Batman managed to grind out. "Let's get to business, shall we?" Although the words he spoke were polite, Superboy could only imagine what Batman was really thinking: Say no, say no, say no, say no, say no, say no, say no, say no, say no, say no, say no, say no, say no—
"Yes, of course. Come this way," Captain Atom interjected, taking a step towards the kitchen and living area. With one last glance at the dark knight, King Phantom followed the nuclear hero, his subjects trailing him closely.
Batman and one of Phantom's guards brought up the rear of the group, exchanging a few words. Superboy blocked them in favor of looking over the other ghosts. There was the faceless one who stood apart from the group, fiddling with his hands as he floated along. Another looked like something out of a terminator movie; it was decked out with full body armor and computer screens on their wrists and chest. It had a suspicious expression on its metallic face, regarding each Young Justice and Justice League member with a glare. Its gaze lingered on Red Tornado for a moment longer than it did for the others.
Another looked like a sheriff from an old western movie. It wore a white formal suit and black riding boot as well as black cowboy hat. It had its arms crossed because its back and walker with purpose behind Mal. The last one, the one at the back of the group, was female it seemed. It wore a black crop top and black low-slung leather pants. On her feet, she wore black combat boots with a ton of buckles. Her hair was on fire, the blue flames pulled back into a ponytail. Over her shoulder, she balanced a guitar.
As he focused on the blue-haired ghost, Superboy heard a piece of the banter going on and almost tripped over his feet. What did the ghost just say to Batman? It couldn't have been—
One of Young Justice's aircrafts touched down on the ground and the back hatch opened for the teen heroes to climb inside. Superboy cut himself off, leaped of the boulder, and made his way over to Mal's ship. Thank god for good timing, Connor didn't want to think about what the punishment would be if what Ember had called Batman became common knowledge. He shuddered.
"Hey!" the other teens called after him, jumping off the rock. There was the sound of something sailing through the air and Blue Beetle dropped to the ground next to the clone. Behind them, Cassie and Arsenal dragged the two mercenaries over to the ship.
"What did she call him?"
"If I tell you, it has to stay between us."
"Of course," they all boarded the ship and stood in the large containment area. With a bang on the door to the cockpit, the hatch closed and the aircraft was lifted into the air. Superboy turned to the waiting heroes.
"I don't know if I heard it correctly, but I heard her say something like," as if he expected the dark knight himself to be lurking in the shadows, Connor checked over his shoulder. "Brun-Dun," it was silent for a moment before Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle, Beast Boy, and even Arsenal burst out in laughter.
They clutched their stomachs, fell to their knees, doubled over, and wiped the tears from their eyes. When her laughter finally subsided enough for her to be able to talk, Cassie managed to spit out, "Brun-Dun…" before laughing again.
The concept of ghosts was completely foreign to M'gaan. On Mars, it is believed that when you die, your soul falls asleep forever and you cease to exist. But on Earth, there were so many different theories and beliefs on what comes after death: godly judgment, reincarnation, and, like her own opinion, eternal sleep. But all these ideas were put under examination and critiqued after the discovery of ghosts and their world.
On Mars, if you brought up the possibility of someone's soul staying behind instead of moving on, you would have been laughed at. So finding out that that was just the case on Earth was more than a little shocking for M'gaan.
"Should we all introduce ourselves before we begin?" Red Tornado suggested once everyone had settled. There were two couches facing each other, each hosting a faction. King Phantom sat with the rest of the ghosts behind him save for the female one who sat beside him. She was leaning her back against the ghost king and had her feet kicked over the armrest.
On the other couch, sat Mal, Red Tornado, and herself. Unlike the ghosts, the sat a fair distance from each other and no feet were draped over any armrests.
"Yes, how rude of me," King Phantom gestured to the ghost leaning on him. "This is Ember, she doesn't really understand how to act in public. I apologize in advance," the female ghost sent him a glare which he ignored in favour of gesturing to the large, metallic ghost. "And here is Skulker, Amorpho," the faceless ghost, Amorpho, inclined his head to them politely while the armoured one simply grunted. "And lastly, Walker," the last ghost tipped his hat. "And you? I see some unfamiliar faces within your crowd," his gaze levelled out on the poor Martian girl and she looked away from his calculating green eyes.
"Yes while most of us you know, this is Red Tornado, a member of the Justice League," Captain Atom motioned to the robot sitting next to her.
"Your highness," the ghost king inclined his head to him.
"I am Guardian," Mal introduced bluntly. The king stared at him for a moment before nodding to him also.
"Superboy," Connor's tone was just as curt and impolite as Mal's. King Phantom furrowed his brow before turning his gaze on her.
"My name is Miss Martian, your grace," she inclined her head appropriately. When she looked back up, the gaze of every ghost there was on her. The female one, Ember, had even opted to sit properly to lean on her elbows and stare at her curiously.
"A Martian," the king breathed out, his gaze curious as he looked her over. "You're all so much different up close," seeming to snap out of his creepy leering, he looked back to the other heroes. "So let's discuss alliances."
"We've drawn up a list of potential conditions and benefits for each faction," Captain Atom handed the paper to King Phantom, who read it over. It was silent for a minute, except for the moments when the ghost king would outright chuckle at whatever was written there. When he was done, the ghost passed it back to Skulker and Walker, who read it with varying levels of enthusiasm.
"Well," King Phantom drawled out, crossing his legs and laying an arm on the back of the couch. "While there are some points here that are reasonable, there are also some that I have to refuse immediately."
"And which ones are those," Batman growled at him. King Phantom looked at him from the corner of his eye."
"Access to the Ghost Zone is a pretty definite no as well as a significant amount of my people to fight battles for you. If ghosts are going to fight for and with you, it has to be voluntarily."
"Our side of the conditions say that you will have access to the Cave, which is where we are now. It is one of our main bases."
"So we get access to one of your headquarters and you get to roam freely throughout my entire domain? Does that sound fair?"
"With time, you will be able to travel to all of our bases. This is just the first step."
"Fine. I'll make a suggestion: I'll take the permission to roam your one base as a stepping stone and in return you have permission to visit my castle. As a stepping stone," King Phantom countered, meshing his fingers together over his knee. M'gaan was sure that when she said her breath caught in her throat, she spoke for everyone. A chance to finally get into the Ghost Zone? When she'd heard the condition earlier, she was positive that King Phantom would outright deny it. Especially with how protective he had been over his world.
"…We accept," Captain Atom said, his tone disbelieving. King Phantom smiled.
"Good. As for the other matter, I will issue a request for all those who want to fight for you to come forward," he paused, exchanging a glance with Ember who turned away. "But don't expect many."
"Fine," Batman said. "Have you made any plans concerning the Reach?"
"I'm glad that you asked. It just so happens, that with the help of my council and allies, I've decided to launch a counter attack against them," the ghost king was very casual as he said it, as though he was talk about the weather. Seeing the heroes' appalled expressions, he backtracked quickly. "Let me clarify: I am simply going to send the Ambassador a message. There will be no casualties, I swear."
"How can you promise that?" Guardian demanded, leaning forward. "Tell us what you plan to do."
"I will not."
"Then no alliance," Batman spat out. King Phantom glared up at him. "You can't expect us to trust you when you don't trust us with something this basic. Just tell us what you plan to do."
It was silent for a tense minute. Like a spotlight had been shone on them, the ghosts seemed to become instantly more menacing. Skulker had walked around the front of the couch and was staring Batman right in the eye with a blank look on his face, which was somehow much more frightening than his glare which he'd been showing off earlier.
Amorpho was gripping the back of the couch forcefully until M'gaan could hear the wooden frame starting to strain. He reached up and plucked the sunglasses off his face and tucked them in his trench coat pocket.
Walker had moved the least, he seemed to be a naturally intimidating figure. He'd simply straightened his back and stuffed his hands in his pockets. But somehow, his side of the room seemed to darken significantly.
Ember had rose to her feet and stood only a few meters from M'gaan. Because of the lack of space between them, the Martian could feel the waves of heat rolling of the female ghost. She felt nauseous and began to slump into the couch. Her head was pounding to the point where she couldn't even focus enough to open her eyes or remember when she'd closed them.
"Ember, stop that," just when she felt as though she'd faint, the searing heat vanished and M'gaan felt her head swim in relief. "You don't have to go around frying Martians on my behalf."
"You think that's funny?" Superboy shouted. M'gaan's head came back to her and she struggled to sit up. Thankfully, Connor was there to help her, all the while glaring at Ember and the ghost king.
"Of course not. This alliance is too important to be risked over something so juvenile as an argument," M'gaan saw King Phantom send Ember a scathing glare, which motivated the flaming haired ghost to sit back down. The king turned back to face Batman. "In two weeks time, we will open a portal in the centre of Metropolis and declare war on the Reach publicly. That's all."
"Why couldn't you have just told us that?"
"Because I should be able to treat myself to secrets and surprises," King Phantom said aggressively, crossing his arms and turning his head away childishly. "I apologize if my subjects offended you in any way, it won't happen again. I will make sure of it."
"Offended us?" Superboy growled at him, his grip on M'gaan's shoulder tightening possessively. She squirmed unpleasantly. "M'gaan was hurt! What about that?"
"Superboy, I'm fine," she pushed his hand off and tried to sit on her own. She ended up having to lean on the armrest. "They couldn't have known," she looked up at Ember and the ghost king, both who were watching her curiously. "It's fine, really."
Ember seemed to accept this and turned away, fiddling with the clasps on her boots. King Phantom though, while he turned away to face Batman and Captain Atom, she could still feel his gaze on her. Her skin tingled.
"I also apologize for almost harming your Martian," King Phantom held his hands up innocently. "Are we all settled then? Is it safe to assume that we may continue with our negotiations?"
"We're done," Batman denied firmly. Everyone seemed to suck in a quick intake. Was Batman going to screw this up? Yes, M'gaan thought, the ghosts were pretty big psychos but they were still powerful allies. Too many times this night had Batman scared her like this. "All we need to do is sign the contract."
A folder was passed over as well as a pen. With a flourish of his wrist, King Phantom signed the document and handed the booklet back over to Nightwing. She'd forgotten he was there, he hadn't said a thing throughout the entire conversation.
"So that is it?" Phantom looked to the heroes. "May I leave now?"
"Yes, we'll walk you out."
They all cleared out, except for King Phantom and the dark knight. His Majesty waved Skulker and Walker along, both looking like the last thing they wanted to do was leave him by himself. Batman did the same with Nightwing, who was trying to coax him to walk away. Eventually, with a glance over her shoulder, she saw that they were indeed making their way to the main cave where the zeta tube was.
Although she couldn't hear their voices and see their faces, one glance at their body language told her everything she needed to—
"Hey M'gaan!"
She shook her head, clearing the fog and banishing the memory to the back of her mind. La'gaan, Barbara, Bart, and Tim were all staring at her with various levels of concern. From his seat, La'gaan leaned forward, catching her eye.
"Are you feeling okay, angelfish?" Making sure she steered the BioShip out of the way of buildings, M'gaan fly the ship down into the Cave.
"Yes, I'm fine."