BatPhantom

Green Boy

Jason studied Danny throughout the entire meal. Danny seemed to eat just fine.

As Danny chatted on and on a out the solar system, Jason got a glimpse of what his dreams had been like.

"There are certain requirements for that though" Danny said hinting towards his half dead state.

"Besides, I've been to space a couple of times already" Danny said as he cut up his meat.

"Really, so have I" Alan said smiling at Danny.

"So...what's it like for you, being half dead and all?" Jason asked.

Danny thought about it for a second. He hadn't really considered that before.

Damien glanced around the table.

"This meal is very interesting" Damine commented, earning a slightly confused raised eyebrow from Bruce.

Damien pretended not to notice.

"Well, it's like remembering a wound you got from a scar" Danny said.

"It hurt in the moment, but now you've got a cool scar and story to go with it" He finished.

Jason leaned forward.

"How did you- you know...come back?" Jason asked overly curious and excited.

"When I died an extraterrestrial substance from a sort of like ghost limbo world fused with my DNA." Danny said.

Jason pulled a tiny notebook out and scribbled something down.

Danny glanced at the notebook with hopeful optimism.

"This so so amazing!" Jason whispered to himself.

"See when I came back it was because of the-"

"Lazarus pit" Danny finished.

Jason's jaw dropped open. Bruce tensed and Damien was immediately on guard.

"How do you know about the Lazarus pit?" Bruce asked.

"Hey, wait a minute, Danny isn't a criminal Bruce" Alan said intervening.

"Calm down Alan, I'm just... curious" Bruce said trying to soothe Alan.

"It's not a big deal, the Lazarus pit is a legend among ghosts and ever since-" Danny suddenly cut off.

He didnt want them to know about his royal status just yet.

"-Ever since I became this I've known it exists" Danny finished.

Jason was still reserved.

"I can sense it in you. My core is attracted to it" Danny said.

"Your core, do you mean your heart?" Dick asked.

Danny hesitated before he answered Dick. Truth was he only knew what the meta scanner had told him.

"It acts like a heart when I change, my powers are centered at my core, I think" he added.

Alan gave Danny a curious look.

"Danny, who helped you with your powers" he asked.

"Well, I have these two friends, Sam and Tucker. They helped me through it. There's also Vlad"

Alan gritted his teeth and Bruce narrowed his eyes.

"We have similar powers but he's so more advanced than I am. I tried to learn from the fights we had." Danny said not thinking too hard about it.

"So, this Vlad fought you?!" Alan asked. He might have to rethink never approaching that guy again.

Danny moved his head from side to side as if to say kind of.

"More like he was my nemesis" Danny said.

Damien grumbled slightly. He was jealous. Damien desperately wanted a nemesis. Not that anyone would ever find out about it.

"Your nemesis knew your secret identity and didn't reveal it" Dick said not quite understanding.

"Sure, I mean if he revealed me I would just do the same to him" Danny said.

Bruce raised an eyebrow slightly. Danny and this man had an interesting hero/villain dynamic.

"It got a little hard to avoid him with him being the mayor of my town but I found a way to manage" Danny said thinking of all the pranks.

Danny looked around the table.

"Oh and he wanted to kill my dad and marry my mom and make me his son"

Danny added with a shrug.

"Really, that is insane" Dick said.

Danny nodded.

"That's why I nicknamed him fruit loop" Danny said.

Jason cocked his head.

"Do you nickname all your villains?"

Danny squinted his eyes as if in deep thought.

"Sometimes in the heat of the moment I figure up something. Frootloop just stuck" Danny said.

"Judging from everything you've said and his recent actions, it seems unlikely he will relent" Damien commented.

Danny smiled at the thought of Vlad struggling so much.

"He won't be successful, they never are" Danny said wistfully.

The vague statement only drew up more questions, one that didn't seem to want to pass anyone's lips.

Perhaps the subject of the ghost zone was too depressing and difficult to inquire about. Especially with all the death they had seen.

Maybe they could sense the swirling discomfort that would surround Danny if the questions were asked.

Either way, silence ensued.

"What about your hero work, what villains have you stopped?" Danny asked.

He had thrown out his fishing line, now it was just a matter of playing the waiting game.

"Really?? That's easy" Jason said taking the bait.

The rest of the night they rambled on about the cunning, witty and even idiotic villains they had each stored away and/or continuously battled.

Curiously the Joker wasn't brought up, not once.

It was as if a certain Bat sent signals to their brains to stay off the topic.

No, no Joker. Just harmless villain talk.

"Well imma head home, see you tomorrow kiddo" Alan said ruffling his hair.

Danny grew embarrassed at the moniker and rushed to straighten his naturally wild hair.

"See your tomorrow Alan!" Jason called out.

Danny said something similar except he added an almost inaudible "dad" on the end that nobody seemed to catch.

"And thank the Ghost zone for that" Danny thought to himself.