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"Kaldur'ahm, I brought the information that you requested." The Atlantean turned to face the person that approached. Only he could see her actual appearance thanks to the glamor charm around her neck.
"Thank you Tigress." He said softly to his fellow spy, accepting the tablet she handed to him. "So what did you hear?"
"Savage, Ra's and Luthor all have expressed interest in the kid. I have no idea what exactly for, but I don't like it." The disguised heroine frowned. "And apparently Luthor has a new business partner."
Kaldur rose an eyebrow. "Any idea who?"
"No clue. Apparently this new partner has asked for anonymity from the majority except for a select few. Klarion claims that there's something otherworldly at play, but is very uncertain. He seems very nervous, and that alone is concerning. All I can say for certain is that they've been helping the light by providing resources and making secret deals."
"Thank you. I guess we'll just have to keep digging."
β¦~~~oOo~~~β¦
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Nightwing had explained that, after the location was compromised in 2006, Mount Justice was recommissioned into service for the team four years later. It was a 'hide in plain sight' sort of deal, as it would be the last place their enemies would look for a team of teenaged protΓ©gΓ©s.
The base within Mount Justice was extensive. The hallways twisting as a stone and steel labyrinth. The fact that Superman had carved out the entire inside of the mountain was mind boggling to the Fenton teen. The cavernous mission room stretched out. On one side, two zeta tubes were set up, each the size of the Fenton Ghost Portal while up above a supercomputer of sorts projected light to fill every corner where the LEDs did not. Danny marveled at the size. The room was large enough to host both Dora and Aragon in their dragon forms, Cujo in his huge size and have enough room to spare. Definitely enough room for all the heroes that were gathered there.
The first person that approached Danny was a boy a tad younger than Danny himself. The most notable thing about the younger teen was the green⦠everything. Hair, skin and eyes were all varying shades of green. He also had simian features, Danny noted the monkey tail swishing with excitement. The boy's uniform was a one-piece red and white suit that left his forearms and calves exposed.
"Hi! I'm Beast Boy, but you can call me Garfield!" The younger boy said, flashing a bright grin. "Nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you Garfield," Danny returned, as the red-haired, green skinned young woman floated up to him.
"Welcome to the team Phantom! I'm Miss Martian, but you can call me Megan. It's the human version of my name M'gann."
"You're a Martian?" Danny asked, his nervousness now temporarily forgotten.
M'gann smiled. "Yes I am."
"Fair warning Miss M, he's a major fan of aliens." Nightwing called out.
Danny was about to retort when he was thrown off balance thanks to the sudden presence that threw their arm around his shoulder. He was around Danny's age, though a tad taller with windswept brown hair. His costume consisted of a red jumpsuit with the legs, sides and arms white in color while the boots and gloves a matching red. The yellow visor with red rims framed excited emerald eyes. Curiosity briefly dusted Danny's senses. "Hey, whattup dude! Name's Bart Allen, but you can call me Impulse! Or Bart. Or Bart Allen. Or Bart 'Impulse' Allen. Either is crash."
"Okay?" Danny said, eyebrow raised at the speedster teen that had his arm over his shoulders.
"Now a very imporTANTE question to you," Bart's speeding off and rushing back barely registered to Danny as shifting, and now he held a bag of some sort of snack food, "do you like Chicken Whizees?"
"Did you raid my stash again?!" The guy in the blue armor accused. He sounded Hispanic or Latino if Danny was to guess purely by accent.
"Naw umigo, this one's from the kitchen." Bart said, shaking the bag a bit.
"Uh, I can't really say since those don't exist in my dimension." Danny said, somewhat amused by the exchange, "or if they did, I hadn't encountered them before."
"Well stick with me Phantom, I'll show you the best that this dimension has to offer."
Other young heroes had approached at this point and had giving greetings of welcome, introducing themselves and asking the ghost boy questions about himself.
The guy in the blue armor is Jaime Reyes, known as the Blue Beetle thanks to the high-tech armor that vaguely resembled an insect. The teen has a tan complexion, with dark hair and eyes. He was friendly enough, though the occasional conversation with himself Danny did find odd. Not the weirdest thing he's seen, soβ¦
Danny had only heard of Batgirl (Barbara), so this has the first time he's met the auburn haired heroine. She was friendly enough, along with BumbleBee (Karen), Malcolm and the former team members/current Leaguers Zatanna (Danny's met her before) and Rocket.
Both Malcolm and Rocket sounded vaguely familiar to Danny, but he couldn't quite place why.
Cassie Sandmark's , aka Wonder Girl the protΓ©gΓ© of Wonder Woman, claim to fame is that she's a living Rick Riordan character: in other words, a demigod. She wore a black sleeveless top with two stylized golden W's on it, red pants, and blue shoes. She's fair skinned, with blue eyes and blond hair held back by a black headband. Silver star earrings dangled from her earlobes. Also like her mentor, she has a golden lasso at her side and two silver bracelets at her wrists. She was as energetic as Kara herself.
Speaking of the Kryptonian, both Superboy and Supergirl were in their respective hero costumes; though Danny wouldn't call Conner's a costume for the only thing that indicated his Identity was the Superman shield on his T-shirt. Kara's was more of a uniform: a blue long sleeved top with the 'S' on the front paired with a cape, skirt-shorts and boots all red with yellow trim.
The only person that remained where they stood, glaring at the half ghost teen in suspicion was the younger archer with the high-tech prosthetic.
"Hey Arsenal, why don't you come over and say hi?" Beast Boy called out to the surly archer.
"We've met." Was Arsenal's terse response.
"Uh, he was there when I first showed up at Star City." Danny explained, having seen Beast Boy's questioning look, then approached the younger archer, extending a hand. "No hard feelings, right?"
Arsenal glanced at the proffered hand, then turned to the side. "Sure."
It seemed that there were still some hard feelings since their last encounter.
The others were friendly enough, though some were a little more reserved.
After asking if Danny had seen the rest of Mount Justice, which Danny replied "not really", the 'tourist from the future' had dragged the teen away before anyone could stop them, with some of the other youth trailing after. And that was how Danny found himself on this impromptu tour trying to decipher Bart's light speed rambling.
"Can you slow down a bit? I got lost around 'baboons ahoy on the pool table' and I know I misheard that."
"Oh, sorry. Got a bit excited there and all- Oh! This is the souvenir room where we've stored momentos from previous missions." Bart gestured to the shelves that held various objects. "Kid Flash had started the tradition when he, Artemis, Nightwing, Aqualad, Miss M and Superboy were part of the team, with Zatanna and Rocket later joining." The speedster popped the bag of Chicken Whizees open and munched on the contents before offering some to the ghost boy. "Now Beast Boy's the one that does the collecting of souvenirs."
Danny nodded, humming in contentment of the snack. Chicken waffles; definitely would become Tucker's favorite snack food in an instant.
Cassie, or Wondergirl, popped into the room, finally caught up to the two, followed by Supergirl, Robin, Beast Boy and Blue Beetle. "Bart! You should have waited for us!"
"Whoops, my bad! Probably not so crash to run off with the new teammate." Bart apologized while Danny went for a closer look at some of the items.
"So what are we going to do now?"
"Where did you guys get this from?" Danny asked, having put on a mask that was on the shelf. The only answer he got was some stares and mischievous smirks. "β¦whatβ¦."
As soon as Oliver stepped into the lounge, he had the feeling that he shouldn't have been the one to go look for the teens. Teens with a variety of powers and skills. Especially the newest addition. That kid had more powers than a Swiss Army knife had tools.
"Hellooo." He called out into the dark room, his voice echoing back.
"Okay, not creepy at all."
Looking to either side and seeing nothing, Green Arrow turned to head back towards the mission room (and safety), only to meet the mask of Cheshire eye to freaking, glowing green eye with a shriek as the archer stumbled backwards before toppling over.
Howling laughter echoed as the lights flicked on, revealing the teen heroes hiding behind the kitchen countertop.
"Wha- WHO'S IDEA WAS IT FOR HIM TO WEAR THAT?!" Green Arrow screeched out, gesturing wildly towards the now-bent-over-with-laughter Phantom.
"Cassie's idea," Garfield said, with him, Bart and Kara all pointing at the mentioned girl before dashing away
"Hey! That's not cool!" Cassie called out as she pursued the retreating snitchers, followed by Robin, Danny and Blue Beetle with various calls of "wait for me", "did you get the footage", and "and they say I can't scare anybody! TAKE THAT SAM AND TUCK!" echoing the halls.
"Next time, I'm getting Barry to search for the kids."
β¦~~~oOo~~~β¦
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The most common analogy used to describe a scenario like this would be a chess game, and in several ways it would be accurate. But at the same time, this contrast is quite lacking. The conflicting sides could not be simply divided into the idealized "Good" white and "Evil" Black. There are many groups in play, competing for dominance. The Light and the Reach, though they both are against the Justice League, they are also plotting for the opportune moment for when they can terminate their brief alliance. As for the Light itself, there are factions and Individuals that seek to gain the upper hand. It's only a matter of time, for a house divided against itself will fall.
Not even the "Goody Heroes" are exempt from this. There will always be contention as their differing views and methods conflict with one another.
And of course there's the pawns themselves. None of the fools realize how much the deck had shuffled when both himself and Daniel had entered this game, neither do they realize the full potential and worth of such pawns now in play.
Daniel had created quite a stir with his antics, with multiple sides now clamoring to use the young half-ghost's abilities for their ends.
Vlad could use that to his advantage. Speaking of the advantage-
"Ah, Mr. Luthor, sir. I am pleased to see that you've made it to our meeting." Vlad greeted the dimension-native business man, briefly shaking hands before addressing the other guests. "Mercy, pleasure as always. And if I'm not mistaken, you're Queen Bee."
The royal dipped her head in confirmation. "And you are Luthor's new partner."
Vlad gave a charming grin, taking a hand as he bowed. "Vlad Masters, and it is such a pleasure to meet someone as elegant as you."
Queen Bee gave a pleased smile to the elder half-ghost's greeting. "Charmed."
"Yes. Well let's get started," Lex stated, indicating the seats of the private dining table that Vlad had reserved.
"Of course."
The three sat down as a waiter arrived with the menus for meals and the beverages.
"So they're spending the night at the cave?β¦ I think that's great they're getting alongβ¦" Lois said into the phone held up by her hunched shoulder, her two hands occupied with bags, "they'll be fine. Honestly Clark, you're becoming a mother hen with how much fussing you're doingβ¦. Don't deny it mister. Anyway, it would be nice to get some time together, aloneβ¦.. Of course I'm right. And we are as I already got the stuff for dinner-"
"I trust that everything's in order?"
"Very much indeed Mr. Luthor."
Lois halted her stride to her car at hearing those words.
"I gotta go," was what she said before hanging up the phone and stealing away to where she heard the talking.
She managed to glimpse Lex Luthor and Queen Bee. Because of her disadvantaged spot, she couldn't see any of the third person's features.
"I'm just missing a key component, but that will be resolved very soon."
"I certainly hope that you've got more than just promises."
"Oh don't worry Mr. Luthor."
The conversation faded as the three people walked away.
Not wanting to lose her possible lead, she stealthily walked after where she thought Lex and his two associates went, only to bump into someone after rounding the corner. The man was tall, with silvery hair tied into a ponytail as sleek as the rest of his appearance and the persona that he exuded.
"Sorry!"
"Oh, pardon me Miss Lane. I hope that I hadn't caused an inconvenience."
That gave the woman pause. "Do I know you?"
"Ah, no. I just happen to recognize you from the papers," the man explained, "and I must say that you are quite talented."
"β¦Thank you," Lois said, a feeling of unease budding within her at the way the statement was said, "I heard you talking with Lex Luthor just a minute ago-"
"Yes! I'm the CEO of a new, upcoming company and both Luthor and I had made a trade deal to get ahead of the competition. Hopefully my little quid pro quo would convince Mr. Luthor."
"Oh, and can you share the details?"
He simply chuckled. "My my, aren't you quite inquisitive Ms Lane. I'm afraid that you, like the other agog reporters, will have to wait for the announcement. Until then Ms Lane."
With that, the man slipped away before Lois could say anything, or even remember that she didn't even ask for his name.
"β¦That man reeked worse that Luthor. I wonder what he's up toβ¦"
β¦~~~oOo~~~β¦
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"Okay, let me see if I got it: Maneuver Seven is where person A forms a cup with their hands for person B to step on to get launched into the air, right?" Phantom clarified.
"That's right," Robin confirmed.
"Okay, and what about when, say for example, Superman chucks an angry Batman at an enemy?"
Robin gave a chuckle at the mental image that produced, "The Fastball Special."
"Ah, that fits." Phantom snarked, twirling the bo-staff in hand.
"So do you know who's going to be your mentor?" Robin asked, taking a swing at the ghost boy with his own staff.
The ghost boy merely twisted his staff to block the swing, practicing the defensive and offensive stances with Robin, "the League decided that since I have a wide variety of powers, and I kinda want to broaden my horizons, that I'll be getting some pointers from several of the Leaguers."
"Multiple mentors?" Robin whistled, side stepping a jab before striking at Danny's head. "I imagine that B's one of them?"
"Said that I should learn not to rely on my powers so much," Phantom replied, ducking the attack right as he swung to hit the Gothamite on the side, "I have been in circumstances where I had no access to my powers and I would like to be able to actually do more without relying on my powers."
Robin swatted the bo-staff away, making a jab with one end at his sparring partner, who dodged. "I'm sure that Nightwing will be eager to help. And of course I can help as well."
"That'd be great, thanks!"
"ππππππππ£ππ: πΊππ π΅ππππ π±-πΆπΉ" the computer voice chimed, indicating the activation of the Zeta tube. Out stepped a young man around the senior team members' ages. He was a Caucasian, with messy red hair and green eyes.
"Sup party people!" Wally greeted upon entering the room, waving genially towards the occupants of the room. "The Wall-man is here!"
"Wally! Great to see you!" Nightwing greeted the young man as he emerged from the Zeta tube, setting the box of equipment he was carrying out of the way.
"Wally!" Called out Garfield as he tackled the arrival in a bear hug.
"Woah!" Wally chuckled, ruffling the shapeshifter's hair. "Hey there Gar. How have you been?"
"Been good."
"Hey there Wally!" M'gann greeted, giving the redhead speedster a hug, the others that were familiar with the young man voicing their welcomes, "good to see you!"
"Same here Miss Martian," Wally responded, "so what's going on here?"
"We're going through training and going over some of the procedures with Phantom," Cassie replied, indicating the teen that stood off to the side, watching the scene with curiosity.
Noticing the attention on himself, the teenager gave a shy wave. "Um, hi. I'm Danny, or Phantom when doing the hero thing."
"Wait, you're Phantom? The guy that took on Amazo?" Wally questioned, only to look baffled when the teen nodded. "Really? When I heard a single person had faced off against the equivalent of half the league rolled into one evil robo of doom, I wasn't expecting it to be a scrawny kid."
"Hey!" Danny protested indignantly, "I'm not scrawny!" To prove his point, he flexed one of his arms. "See that? Totally a muscle!" This earned a few chuckles, at which the ghost boy huffed.
"Okay, sorry!" Wally apologized, though the smile and tone implied otherwise. He then noticed the looks the others were shooting him. "Whaaat?! It's hard to imagine him lifting more than a-"
*PUFF* Wally spluttered as a snowball made contact with his face, wiping the minuscule ice crystals off his face to glare at the perpetrator. "Hey!"
"Tada! That's one of my powers," Danny said cheerfully, creating another snowball, "I think 'cryokinesis' is the official term. Cool, huh?"
Wally ducked the frozen projectile. "Ha," he dragged out the sarcastic laugh, ignoring the snickers, "you think you're funny?"
"Oh, I'm hilarious! I'm also a cool dude that likes to chill out."
"Okay, I get the point, no need for the ice puns," Wally said.
"Awww, no need to act frosty about my puns." More snickers and some groans followed the statement.
"Booo!" Kara called out.
"Oooff, that's cold!"
"Stop!"
"No!"
"Is he always like this?" Wally asked Conner after siding up to the half-Kryptonian, who was watching the ghost boy and Supergirl playfully bicker.
Conner shrugged, "More to some than others. He seems to like pestering Green Arrow for some reason. Okay you two, knock it off!"
Both teens halted their bantering, Kara sticking her tongue out at the older Kryptonian.
"Ooooh, big bro Conner keeping the youngsters in line," Bumblebee said to Mal.
β¦~~~oOo~~~β¦
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Using the ectoplasm that he produced to power his equipment was rather inefficient, but necessary until he could get a stable source. As for procuring a stable source: It had taken some digging on his part, scouring through the already scarce legends that would likely be about ghosts and the Infinite Realms, comparing readings of disturbances, energy spikes and other possibly-related data, and getting a fully-functional scanner to detect Ecto-Spheric Thinnings.
And now, the tedious search was proving fruitful.
With the exception of dripping water from the stalactites and the echo of his footsteps, silence was all that met the elder half-ghost as he trekked down to his desired location.
Vlad had to thank Ra's Al Ghul and his beloved Lazarus Pits for the much needed clue to the solution. And by 'clue', it is actually meant, if Vlad was correct, being the actual solution.
"He has several hidden across the globe. He wouldn't miss this one." The silver-haired man expressed to himself, then pulled out a modified PDA. "Hmmmβ¦ yes, I think this isβ¦"
Vlad trailed off as he rounded the corner of the tunnel, coming into an immense cavern. Stone fangs angled downward towards the eerie, shimmering green surface of the pool that greeted the man. The occasional stalagmite pierced through the glassy surface.
Vlad gleefully approached the pool, stopping at the edge before stooping down and gently stuck a hand into the water. With some of the substance cupped in his hand, he scanned the contents, the device giving a soft *ping* when it finished the results. Upon reading the display, Vlad's expression was first one of confusion, then it settled on slight discontentment.
"This is ectoplasm⦠but it's suffered quite a bit of ectidation. Centuries worth by the looks of it." Vlad, with a small look of disgust, shook the pit waters from his hand before retrieving a handkerchief to wipe the soiled hand. The man muttered a bit to himself before pausing, then burst out laughing.
"Centuries of use, and that man had no idea that his precious 'fountain of youth' and source of immortality is basically the equivalent of a sludge pit!" A few minutes passed before he was able to calm down. "Well fortunately for me, this can be remedied and I know how."
The sound of something scuffing on stone caught Vlad's attention, the man whirling around to see that he was surrounded by around a dozen masked people armed with weapons.
"Butter Biscuits! I was hoping to avoid a confrontation."
"You have trespassed into territory that belongs to the Demon Head. State your business."
"Ah! That's easy. I'm here for what your boss calls the Lazarus Pits. They have something I desperately need."
"Only Ra's can use the waters."
Vlad then chuckled at the assassins readying their weapons.
"How quaint. You act like you can stop me. Well I have news for you." Vlad's eyes began to glow their ghostly red, his fangs from Plasmius manifesting themselves in his grin. "It wouldn't do any good for Ra's to learn that someone had used one of his precious pits. And I'm afraid that you won't be telling your master anything."
β¦~~~oOo~~~β¦
I was stuck rewriting this chapter over and OVER as my mind wasn't satisfied with the results. So before I end up changing my mind again, I'm posting this sucker.
On a different note:
EEEEEE! This now has a TV Tropes page! YAY! Thank you 'The Literary Lord'. This story is also on 'Archive of Our Own' for all you A03 users. I originally got it so I could post art within the story⦠I still haven't figured out how yet. *grumbles*
Trivia Time! Mal Duncan shares the same voice actor as Manhunter and Skulker while one of the voice actresses for Rocket is 'Cree Summer', who also does Valerie.
fadumo2468: hmmm⦠both? Both. Both is good.
Crainium9: I understand. Just make sure that you at least know whats happening in Amity. *cough*hiddencrucialinfo*cough*
I would love to say more, but the spoilersβ¦
Now before I sign off, I have a challenge for you all. Who do you think would be the first ghost to show up in the DC-verse? I love to hear your guesses.
Thank you and have a good one!