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The kid, Phantom, was by far their newest hero in training. He got along fine with the other teen supers that they were in charge of, especially Robin, but something felt off about him to the adults that the kids didn’t get.
It started one day when Green Lantern witnessed him flying up the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator. Hal wanted to set an example for not using his powers for trivial things, which is why he did things like taking the elevator, but it seemed like the teens either didn’t care or didn’t notice.
He would usually brush it off, but the way Phantom so effortlessly flew up several flights of stairs without hesitation was unsettling. He didn’t even have legs, just a wispy tail where feet should be. His shoulders were hunched like a corpse and he never breathed. His eyes were dead and dark, like someone who knew they were about to die.
He clutched the coffee cup in his hands with a vice-like grip, as if it was tethering him to his physical body when nothing else was.
Hal would hate to admit it, but that was the first warning sign that went off for Phantom.
The next warning that went off for the Justice League was when Flash was hanging out with him in the lounge. They were sitting on the couch, chattering about something, much too fast for anyone else to understand, when suddenly there was frost around Phantom’s soda can.
Flash stopped whatever he was saying right then and there.
“Little buddy, I think something’s up with your soda.” Flash pointed at his drink.
“Huh?” Phantom looked down at his hand. “Oh, no I just wanted it cold.”
“You got ice powers or something?” Flash asked, taking a sip from his own drink to try and calm the odd feeling in his heart.
Phantom shrugged. “When I remember.”
Flash decided not to comment on that, instead going back to what they were talking about. But the thought lingered in his head for quite a while.
How does someone forget what powers they have?
Diana was the next to notice something. Everyone was taking a small break before their next meeting, most going off to do their own thing. She had stopped to get a drink of water from the kitchen when she spotted Phantom holding a frozen pastry.
In his other hand, positioned under the food, held a green flame. The fire flickered hard and she could feel the heat on her bare arms from where she was standing. She couldn’t take her eyes off the toxic glow, reminiscent of the fires of eternal damnation from the earthly legends she had heard.
Phantom stopped the flame in an instant, leaving a steamy pastry that he set down on a plate. He took the box he got the food from, labeled as a ‘Hotpocket’ and threw the cardboard in the recycling bin.
He smiled at her as he took a bite and she couldn’t help but flinch away when his eyes locked onto hers.
J’onn was no stranger to walking through walls. He did so himself many times. He phased through things by shifting his density. But anything that was too dense, like Superman, could not be phased through. It made sense from a logical standpoint.
The way Phantom phased through things was illogical. He could go through anything and everything in a second, no matter the density.
One day, he had phased through J’onn by accident, while following Robin through the halls. He apologized over his shoulder and kept going, but J’onn stood in place, clutching at his chest for several moments.
His skin was usually cold, but now his entire body felt as frozen as a tundra. The cold never bothered him, even in the most extreme conditions, yet Phantom, just by using one of his powers, made him shiver so violently.
He had never experienced such a thing before.
The last one to get a taste of just how powerful Phantom is was Batman. Phantom had been spending a lot of time with Robin, so it was only natural that the bat had found the two of them playing games in the lounge.
Except Robin was asleep on the couch. And in his place were two Phantoms playing the video game together, both focused completely on the game.
“Phantom.” Batman spoke loudly to get the teen’s attention.
When both of them looked up and said “Yeah?” at the same time Batman felt just a little put off.
It was reminiscent of a hive mind.
He had heard from the others that Phantom was powerful, more so than he let on, but duplication, specifically the kind of usage that was so casual, was worth looking into.
“Superman is looking for you in the main hall.” Batman continued, giving no indication that he was fazed by this show of power.
“Oh yeah!” The Phantom that was closest to him disappeared from existence, making the controller he was holding fall to the ground with a clatter, and the other Phantom floated up from the floor in no time at all. “We were gonna go flying today!”
Batman left the room once he passed on Clark’s message. He had a file to update. And more weaknesses to hopefully find.
No one wanted to know what would happen if this carefree teen turned against them.
It started with whispers in their ears. Secrets that they would rather keep down. And a quiet cracking in their heads, like radio static.
The voice whispered in their heads. How it knew things they had never told anyone, no one knew.
Childhoods ruined (It’s your fault they’re gone, you couldn’t stop him), dark thoughts (You could kill him and be done with it, farmboy, but you’re too weak), and families never seen again (they’ll never welcome you home, princess, you’ve broken their trust).
Misery was high, even among the strongest. No one wanted to remember who they used to be, see the weakness in their hearts, and hear all the intrusive thoughts they all had. But it was happening.
Superman’s cheer was replaced with dreariness. Diana’s strength diminished second by second. Hal was always tense, never relaxed for even a second. J’onn hardly spoke anymore. And Batman spent nearly no time around anyone but Robin.
No one knew what had happened, nor what started this, but they soon found out.
Because the next thing they knew, it was sharp talons across their throats instead of whispers in their ears.
A shadow person with a sickening voice told them things. Just how much the people around them were disappointed in them. Just why the people they once loved didn’t love them back. And all of the things they hated about themselves.
Even the strongest among them were weak to its voice.
No one quite remembered what happened, only that the voice shrieked in their ears, a piercing cry of pain. Then, the voices stopped.
Slowly, their heads cleared. Memories they had tried to leave behind them were fading yet again. When they felt the fog lift from their mind, they looked up to see something dreadful.
Phantom, fighting toe to toe with the same shadow monster they had all faced and lost to. His glow that was usually bright and cheerful, was dim and dark, only outlining parts of his body.
His gloved fingers were now claws, his hair waved back and forth as if it were aflame, and coming from his throat was a deep growl, like a starving wolf tearing through another wolf’s neck.
When Phantom was done, and had captured the shadow into the thermos he kept latched to his belt, he turned to them.
No one wanted to talk about the collective shiver that was sent down their spines.
No one wanted to talk about the fanged grin he gave them, the empty, cold eyes lodged in his sockets, or the dark tone he spoke in when telling them that everything was alright.
No one wanted to admit that this fourteen year old hero terrified them.
The room had gotten so cold that everyone was shivering. The walls were encased with ice, the furniture coated with a heavy layer of frost, and at the center of it all, stood Phantom.
His eyes were glowing a bright blue, but the color was threatening, daring them to challenge him.
“You told him what?” Phantom echoed around the room, surrounded by a thick layer of sharp, outward-pointed ice at his feet.
Superman held up his hands in a gesture of peace. “He is my clone. He was pitted against me. Surely you understand why I don’t trust him.”
“You tell him he is worthless and unworthy of love because he’s just a clone?” Phantom’s tone darkened even further. His clenched fists told everyone that he was ready to fight.
Batman had no weaknesses on Phantom yet, but he stepped up to confront him anyway. “Phantom.” he said without the fear the rest of the league had. “You need to calm down.”
The threat of ‘or else’ hung heavy.
The stare-down between the two of them continued for what felt like an eternity before the coldness in the room faded and the ice melted into puddles. Phantom closed his eyes and forced himself to relax.
The tension in the room diminished as well.
“Do not treat Conner like he’s less of a hero than you just because he’s your clone.” Phantom told Superman. “If I find out you have been treating him like that ever again...”
Phantom did not say what he would do, but none of the league wanted to find out. That was the first time they had truly seen under Phantom’s sarcastic, witty mask and they would not like to see it again.
Not even Superman’s strength or Batman’s cleverness could help them this time. They had all heard that Phantom’s enemies were stronger than they could imagine, but no one truly believed they would be able to take down the league like this.
It had been a quiet day thus far, right up until the sound of a motorcycle engine came barreling through the halls and into their meeting room.
Two people none of them had seen before came from around the corner, one of them followed closely by what could only be described as a living shadow.
The man and his shadow ran along walls and over furniture while laughing and insulting everyone, forcing Superman to try and hold him down. Only, he wasn’t able to touch him.
No matter how Superman came at him, he just phased through his grip like Phantom did.
Likewise, the girl had gone after Hal’s ring, claiming she ‘just wanted to try it on’ with a playful, yet malicious grin. She knew what the ring could do. When Hal avoided her a few times, she ditched him to go after Batman, swiping at his tools and getting in his face with her claws.
And when either of them got close to being caught off guard, the shadow would fly in and take any hits for them, then slither back into the floor once they were safe.
The people, who the league were willing to admit were probably the ghosts Phantom said he fought, even after they didn’t believe him when he told them about the infestation of his town, were impossible to catch.
They either phased out of grips, turned invisible to get close enough to hurt them, flew up to where the heroes who could fly had to stop and follow them, or had a sentient evil shadow to make sure their chaos wasn’t ruined.
It was a disaster.
Then, a loud clap resonated through the room. The ghosts stopped in their tracks immediately, frowning when they saw who had done it.
“Kitty, Johnny.” Phantom addressed them, flying up to meet them face to face. His expression darkened. “Shadow.”
“C’mon pops, we were just having some fun!” the ghost, Johnny, laughed awkwardly, visibly shrinking under Phantom’s gaze. “We didn’t mean no harm.”
“So you come here and bother my friends because you were bored?” Phantom’s frown deepened. “We had an agreement.”
Kitty flew up and took Johnny’s arm with a pout. “You’re always gone, Danny.” she said. “There’s nothing to do in Amity anymore. So we brought the fun to you! Really, you should be thanking us.”
Phantom gestured down at the ruined furniture and track-covered walls. “Does this look like fun to you? You know how I feel when you come in and destroy things just cause you’re bored. Remember what happened with my dad?”
Kitty lost her pout and the league felt confused. Phantom was talking to part of his rouge’s gallery like they were friends who just had a little falling out.
“Don’t be like that.” Kitty told him with a playful grin. “Ditch these other heroes and come hang out with us.”
No one knew what Phantom said after that. It was like it was in another language, one that not even the Green Lantern’s ring could translate, no matter how much Hal wanted it to. But they saw Kitty and Johnny visibly cower in front of Phantom. Mere second later, they tore off on the motorcycle, leaving a trail of smoke behind them when they phased through the wall and out into space.
“Sorry about them.” Phantom’s glow had darkened into nothing more than a dim glow before, and his hair had waved in the unfelt wind, but both of those things had diminished now. “They get lonely if I stay out of Amity for too long.”
Superman had reassured him that it wasn’t his fault, and that no one blamed him for his villains tearing up the place, but that was because that wasn’t the thing that was on their minds that day.
Ghosts that Phantom brushed off were the same ghosts none of them could get even close to beating. Not even Batman had a plan of attack like he always did.
And all Phantom had to do to get them to stop was to clap.
If that wasn’t enough, all he had to do to get them to leave was say a few things in a strange language.
Phantom was more powerful than they had thought. He was inhuman to a terrifying degree. If someone had told them that he was a monster from another dimension, or an experiment gone wrong, they would have believed it.
Just the pure amount of power he wielded was on par with an eldritch abomination. No one wanted to admit it out loud, but they were scared of this kid.
They were lucky he was on the side of good.
He wasn’t like them. And he wasn’t a kid like the rest of the young justice, no matter how well he got along with them.
No one knew what he really was, but they knew they weren’t on the same level. They were nothing alike. And there was almost nothing anyone could do to change their minds.
When Robin, Batman’s protege, burst through the Zeta Tube carrying a limping Phantom, everyone stopped whatever they were doing.
Green blood was steadily leaking out of Phantom’s right hip, and a gash the size of a fist was the culprit, with a view of his injury through his torn jumpsuit. Hobbling through the halls, dripping ectoplasm, Robin was leading Phantom towards the elevator.
Superman stepped up in front of them, holding out an arm as if the two of them would fall down any second. “Please, let me take you to the medical bay.”
Phantom shook his head violently. “No…” he coughed and a bit of blood dribbled down his chin. “I’ll handle this myself.”
Robin did not seem surprised to hear that, so Superman assumed he was already informed during the trip to get here. Instead, Robin kept moving Phantom forward and around Clark, step by step.
“Really, you need professional help.” Superman pushed, putting himself in their way again. “This is serious. If you would just let J’onn take a look at you…”
Phantom’s eyes locked onto his, a fiery, green anger pouring off of him. When he spoke it seemed like the whole station shook. “I said no.”
Before Superman could protest again, though he would admit that Phantom’s show of power did not inspire confidence in trying to help, Phantom had disappeared. The last thing anyone saw was the start of his boots going through the floor.
Robin, not holding him up, now had Phantom’s blood on his side, as well as quite a bit on his gloves. He exchanged looks with Batman for a brief moment, then, after receiving a nod of approval, went to his room to get a change of clothes, as well as to most likely tell the other young justice about what had happened.
“He probably went to his room.” Diana spoke to the rest of the league, who had all but frozen in place. “We would do well to check on him.”
“That was no scrape.” Hal nodded. “I don’t care if he doesn’t want my help, he’s gonna get it.”
“If the little guy’s in danger, we gotta make sure he’s ok.” Flash quickly agreed, already out of the room and down the stairs.
Wordlessly, the rest of the league agreed. Everyone took what they thought was the fastest route and in less than a minute, they grouped up in front of his room. It had a keypad, per Phantom’s request, but Batman stepped up and punched in a code: 5299
No one was surprised that he knew the code, he probably knew all of theirs too. He was the world’s greatest detective after all.
The door slid open and the league was faced with a part of Phantom’s life they had never seen before.
A skinny, white-haired teenager was sitting on his bed, slowly stitching his right side shut with a needle and thread. The top of his suit was unzipped, letting them all see the full view of his left arm, which was covered in a zigzagging Lichtenberg figure, angry-looking and fully red.
He was wincing and had a strained look on his face. The blood was barely stopped at all.
The rest of his body was covered in scars too; Everything from scratches to burns to bullet wounds.
No one knew what to say, or if they should say anything.
“GET. OUT.” Phantom practically screamed at them, in that dark tone none of them liked. A blast of green was shot at them, Batman narrowly ducking under it in time to not have his face burned.
No one argued with him. They all left quickly, and agreed they wouldn’t bother him for quite a while. But the deed was done.
Now they all knew that he wasn’t some inhuman monster. He wasn’t some eldritch abomination or freak experiment. He wasn’t some powerful god who could hurt them if he wanted.
He was someone like them.
A hero with a secret identity, just trying to keep it together. A meta, who was doing his best in a world that hated him for existing. And a teenager like the rest of the kids, who wanted to do good even when the world was bad to them.
Phantom was only human.