Chapter Text
Phantom returned to Amity Park that night, but Dani opted to stay and hang out with ‘actual girls, not plastic Barbies’. Artemis and M’gann were cool with keeping her entertained and the three of them had a slumber party that Kid Flash was totally not jealous of.
Dani stayed two days, then she was off into the world. She apparently spent most of her time as a nomad, which meant that she wasn’t getting proper schooling, but her grasp on foreign language and culture was better than even Robin, and he studied that stuff.
The summer turned into autumn and brought with it school. Dani flitted in and out, never staying for more than a day or two, but never gone for more than a fortnight. Phantom didn’t visit the base much at all, only when his cousin could convince him to join her in whatever plan she had. The two spoke often, now that they had communicators on hand. They made a private channel for themselves, but it wasn’t anything Robin couldn’t hack into if need be.
The team itself still visited Amity Park and Phantom was nice enough, but it grew obvious that something was on his mind, keeping his attention elsewhere.
“Hey,” Robin caught him one time after a quick patrol of the city. “Everything okay, dude?”
“Yeah, it’s just…” Phantom let out a frustrated huff. “Vlad hired a couple new ghost hunters around town. And they’re competent. More so than the Fentons or Red Huntress… More so than me. I’m glad for the help, I really am! But…”
“But fighting ghosts is your gig.” Robin put a hand on his shoulder. “I get it. It’s part of the reason Batman and I take on Gotham on our own. Yeah, we don’t have powers, but it’s our city. Not Superman’s or Wonder Woman’s. Ours.”
“Yeah, well…” Phantom’s shoulders dropped. “Maybe it’s a little more than that.”
Robin made a sound of question, but Phantom refused to talk more about it.
As the months passed and the days grew shorter, the team saw less and less of Phantom. Thanksgiving passed and Dani showed up to the cave for the meal, weary Phantom in tow and then…
Nothing.
Weeks passed.
Dani said that she knew what was up, but refused to say.
Robin tried to listen in on their channel, but the communicators were silent.
Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore.
First day of Christmas Break, he called Phantom, pacing the room as the communicator rang.
The voice that greeted him from the other end sounded different—less far away, less echoey. Dick had to wonder if he’d ever heard Phantom speak from the communicator. He never spoke to the team if he did.
“Phantom,” Dick said into the device. “I’m checking in. We haven’t heard from you in a while and Dani won’t tell us what’s going on. What’s with you?”
“Robin?” The voice on the other end sighed. “I’m sorry I went MIA, but… I’m done.”
“With the team?” Well, that stung a bit. Robin had thought they’d been getting along, even if they weren’t the best of friends. “It would have been nice to at least know that before you ghosted on us.”
“Not just the team,” Phantom said. “Fighting ghosts, the superhero business, all effort and no thanks—all of it. I’m done. I’m just… done.”
“What?” What did he mean? Was Phantom going to the dark side? Was he becoming a villain? That couldn’t be… Dani would have said something, right?
“I’m sorry, Robin, but… I’m not going to answer the communicator anymore.” Phantom sounded sad. “It’s for the best.”
The call ended, but Dick wasn’t done. He had to know what Phantom meant. He had to get to the bottom of this. Someone like Phantom didn’t just stop being a hero. He was like Dick. It was in his blood.
Dick was determined to find out the cause.
Then the entire Justice League turned dark side and the conversation with Phantom fell to the back of his mind.
* * * * *
The Young Justice team had broken into the Watchtower on New Year’s Eve. They had recovered many heroes, but the original six were still left. Robin had to deal with a mind controlled Batman on his own.
In the middle of the fight with his mentor, his communicator trilled loudly. It was enough to make Robin misstep, something that couldn’t be afforded when faced with the Batman. Robin cursed and ducked a blow before rolling off the floor ledge and onto the level underneath. Batman was quick to follow.
Panting as he ran, Robin searched for a safe place to take the call. There was none.
The communicator trilled again.
“What?!” Robin barked into his communicator. He shot a grappling gun upwards and sailed through the air, Batman following close behind.
“Where are you guys?!” A familiar yet not voice came from the other end. “We’ve got an emergency!”
Robin ducked into the vents. They were small enough Bruce couldn’t follow, but it only bought him as much time as it took for Bruce to find a terminal to the security system. If the defenses were activated, Robin would be toast.
“We’ve got an emergency of our own,” he shot back, fingers flying over his wrist computer. “Who is this? Phantom?”
“Yes and I think my emergency warrants more concern!” The tinny voice was edged with panic. “Look, the world is about to be destroyed, I need you to get the League and—!”
“The League is down,” Robin cut in without a pause. “Mind control. My emergency. You’re on your own.”
“On my own?! But I can’t—! I don’t have any—!”
Robin ended the call and scurried out of the vents. His hacking had only bought so much time. After all, he’d learned it from the Bat in the first place.
* * * * *
It wasn’t until afterwards, after they saved the League from themselves, that Robin remembered the call from Phantom.
“So not aster,” he groaned to himself as he dug out his communicator.
“What?” Wally asked. “Something else wrong? Please say no. I don’t think I can take much more!”
“Phantom had called me in the middle of our face-off,” Robin said, dialing the pseudo-recruit’s number.
The voice that picked up was harried.
“Phantom, what’s the situation?” Robin asked as the team and League gathered ‘round.
“Look, I can’t talk right now. There’s a giant meteor heading towards earth. I have maybe fifteen minutes before it hits us and everything we know is destroyed.”
“What?!” Wally squawked.
“It’s true.” Batman was already at a terminal, pulling up feeds. “The Disasteroid is what the media is calling it. Before the League went under, they had plans to blow it up. Looks like the missile hit the wrong asteroid.”
“Wait, so we went through all this trouble to save you guys and now Earth is going to explode?!” Wally looked close to hyperventilating. “Aunt Iris, the Garricks, Mom, Dad!”
“Wally, calm down!” Flash held onto is shoulders. “Superman can just fly over and smash it to pieces! They’ll be fine. Everyone will be.”
“Maybe if I was at full power.” Superman pushed himself up from the table. “That Kryptonite earlier did a number on me.”
“What’s more, even if he did, the remnants would rain down on earth, causing just as much destruction,” Batman warned. “If we had been in the right mind earlier…”
“No, you can’t…” Connor looked between the two of them. “There has to be something you can do! You’re Superman!”
“Superboy, there’s some stuff that even I can’t—!”
“Bull shit!” Connor shouted, teeth bared. “It’s not that you can’t! It’s that you won’t even try! Can’t lose a battle you never fought, right? Can’t mess up a son you never had!”
“Connor…”
“Guys, now is not the time for family drama!” Artemis pointed out the window. “Look!”
Everyone turned just as the earth disappeared before their very eyes.
It was like a wave; a single, all-encompassing tidal wave that started at the North Pole and spread itself south. From where the Watch Tower was positioned, they could see into the very core of the Earth until it, too, vanished as the wave reached the South Pole.
One second, two… then the asteroid flew by, larger than the Watch Tower, larger than some planets the League knew of. It sailed past, through the North Pole, through the center of the Earth and out the other end. Another second and Earth reappeared via the same tidal wave of power.
“Guys? Can someone explain to me what just happened?” Wally asked, green eyes wide. “Scientifically please.”
“Phantom turned the earth intangible,” M’gann breathed.
“He and every other ghost in existence,” J’onn agreed.
“Not exactly what I’m looking for.”
“The town of Amity Park let the creation of a world-wide device to distribute ecto-energy,” Batman relayed from the news network he was watching. “Phantom gather the ghosts and together, the device was able to harness their energy, amplify it, and use it on the entire earth.”
“Much better explanation.” Wally breathed a sigh of relief. “But, wow, Phantom did all that?”
“I think we should go down and congratulate him.” Robin put his hands on his hips, grinning widely.
“Especially for being there when we couldn’t be,” Artemis said, arms crossed.
“Does this mean we can also welcome him to the team?” M’gann asked, brightly. She fiddled with her air. “Officially, I mean. If he wants.”
“I don’t see why not.” Batman said as he watched the big screen. Three teens ran up to Phantom, tackling him until their combined weight took him down. The two scientists, Madeline and Jack Fenton were walking up, a serious look on their faces.
Batman had a feeling he knew what was coming next.
“B, you coming or what?” Robin called. “We’re gonna Zeta-down and grab a plane!”
“Just a minute.” Batman waited just long enough to see the bright rings around Phantom appear. Then he hit the jammer and watched as all live video feeds in the North Pole scrambled and turned to white noise. His own feed of the reporters showed them hurrying to fix their technical error, but they had already missed the moment of truth: Danny Phantom was Danny Fenton.
By the time the feeds came back up, all they caught was a family hugging each other, glad to still be alive to do so.
“Now, I’m ready.” Batman replied, turning with a swish of his cape.
“What was that about?” Robin frowned.
“Every hero needs their secret identity, especially from the world as a whole.” Batman said as they walked through the Zeta-tubes. “Phantom’s enemies already know who he is. He doesn’t need any more in the know.”
“What about the people there? The ones physically present?” Robin asked.
“His friends? Family? Teachers?” Batman shrugged. “He could use some more support. Besides, no hero keeps their identity form their family. Not for long. If he decided it was time to tell them, it was time.”
Epilogue
“I can’t believe you guys want me on your team.” Phantom said as the Zeta-tube announced his presence.
“After saving the world on at least three separate occasions?” Robin laughed. “I’m surprised B didn’t ask you sooner.”
“To be fair, we weren’t sure you wanted to join us after the silent treatment last year.” Kid Flash shrugged, pausing when the Zeta system announced two other names.
“A23 – Sam Manson, A24 – Tucker Foley.”
“Whoa…” Sam said in awe as she took in the secret base.
“I can’t believe I’m in Mount Justice!” Tucker’s voice broke in his excitement. “It’s the original base, before they created the Hall of Justice and then the Watch-Tower out in space! This is comic-geek gold!”
“Just don’t go telling all your friends,” Shayera said as she leaned against the doorway. She and J’onn had been waiting to see the newest member of Young Justice, along with many others who hadn’t had a chance to greet him yet. “We like to keep this place a secret.”
“Hawkwoman?!” Sam’s face lit up.
“And Red Tornado!” Tucker squealed. “Dibs on the Artificial Intelligence!”
“Dibs on the space warrior princess!”
“Hello Daniel.” J’onn greeted as the two other teens ran off. “I hear you are a fan of mine.”
Phantom’s face flushed green.
“Pffft. Amateurs.” Dani scoffed from where she leaned against a wall. Beside her, Dinah raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“Nothing.” Dinah smiled.
Robin laughed. Yeah, he was pretty sure adding Phantom to the Young Justice, and later on the Justice League, was the best decision they could ever make.
And to think, he almost hadn’t wanted to go to that gala all those months ago.
Maybe Bruce did know more than he first let on.
Robin sought out his mentor in the crowd and saw Batman hanging around the edges, not working through the party for once. He raised his glass and Batman returned the gesture, small smile gracing his lips.
Robin laughed and rejoined his friends.