To Be Human (A Danny Phantom/Young Justice Fanfic)

Chapter Three

Everyone stood silently, hardly daring to breathe as they watched Batman stare at them from in front of the Cave's holo-screens. He finally broke the silence, "How did the boy get out of the bioship?"

"I don't know," Miss Martian said, looking down. She was connected to the ship and yet had no clue how Danny had gotten out or even exactly when. "As far as the bioship or I can tell, he was simply there then wasn't."

"We did get some information from him before the other meta's interference," Aqualad said. He moved to place a reassuring hand on Miss Martian's shoulder. "We are currently assuming she came with the intention to distract us. Clearly, Danny has more abilities than we previously accounted for."

"Super-hearing, telepathy, whatever got him out of the bioship, and whatever the lack of a heartbeat entails... How many powers does this guy need?" Kid Flash threw his arms in the air. "I mean, seriously? Is he part Kryptonian?"

"He did mention clones," Robin said, hand propped thoughtfully under his chin. "And he looks kinda like Superman and Superboy."

"He also mentioned ghosts," Miss Martian pointed out. "And telepathy isn't a Kryptonian ability."

"Supey and co aren't the only ones he looks like, though," Kid Flash said, sending repeated glances at Robin. "I mean, plenty of people have black hair and blue eyes."
"Very helpful, KF," Robin said, rolling his eyes under his domino mask at the oh-so-subtle jab toward his secret identity. He refocused on the topic at hand, pulling up a group photo of Danny, Sam, and Tucker above his holo-glove. "I didn't get anything useful from Sam Manson, but she definitely knows what's going on. So does this kid: Tucker Foley. They were the two you saw meet up with Danny, right, Miss M?"

"Yes, that was them," Miss Martian confirmed. "Should we try talking to them more instead?"

"Maybe." Aqualad studied the picture. "We don't know if they have abilities as well, so we'll need to proceed with extreme caution. Batman?"

"Proceed with this mission as you see fit," Batman said. "I'll be in the area for a few more days and will step in if necessary. And remember, you're meant to stay under the radar." Batman pointedly ignored the snickers from several of the less-than-subtle teens. They had yet to complete an actual covert operation, but they were still less obvious than the well-known League members when poking around.

"Very well," Aqualad said. "Superboy, continue trying to interact with Danny at school. Robin, see if you can meet up with Sam again, poke for more information. The rest of us will support you from the background."

"So you think we should purposely let Connor get closer to us?" Danny asked, eyebrows raised skeptically. "Why?"

"Because," Sam drew the word out, leaning into Ember more as she stared Danny down, "we'll know more if he's around than if he isn't."

"Keep your enemies closer," Tucker added. "Makes sense. He knows we know something anyways, so it's mutually assured destruction. We can't tell anyone who he is, or he could tell people Danny's a... meta."

"Fine, fine, that makes sense. But what about this Dick guy you mentioned, Sam? How's he fit in?" Danny spun around in his desk chair as he spoke.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Our new classmate is Superboy– part of the brand new Kiddie League the JL doesn't seem to think people know about, and a Gothamite businessman and his son show up for a luncheon with my family the same day? The same businessman and son who were widely speculated to be Batman and Robin just a few years ago? Waaaay too much of a coincidence."

"Someone's been on the conspiracy sites again," Tucker teased. Sam growled warningly at him, Ember wrapping an arm around her shoulders to keep her from actually launching at the techy teen, and Tucker held his hands up in surrender. "I'm just saying. Plus, there are theories that Batman actually has at least two Robins... or even a whole army of them! What if Connor is actually a Robin clone in Batman's army or something?!"