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

Chapter Eight

"So you're the reason my baby boy disappeared from school last week." Maddie narrowed her eyes as she took in the group of super-teens currently occupying her living room. Jack was in the kitchen scrounging up enough cups and snacks for everyone, so she had some time to interrogate them without too much interference.

"Mo-om," Danny groaned, putting his face in his hands. "We already got over that. Mostly."

"Don't worry, Mrs. F," Sam said. "Tuck and I already squared everything."

"It's gonna take, like, two months to get all the tech you guys wrecked back in order," the yellow and red one said. He'd been the only one visibly pouting since all of them arrived, and Maddie decided he was her least favorite so far.

Nodding sharply, Maddie said, "Sounds like you two did square everything then. Good. I'd have left them to Walker otherwise."

"Mom!" Now Danny was upright, looking concerned but unsurprised at her statement.

"What?" Maddie wasn't about to retract her statement, but she also didn't want to flare up Danny's core. "I wouldn't let him keep them for more than a day, dear. Consider it educational."

"Uh, who's Walker?" Artemis untucked herself from the arm of the couch, hand migrating towards one of the hidden weapons on her belt. "And why would he 'keep us' at all?"

Danny turned to look at the assorted superheroes apologetically. "Walker is basically the warden of the Ghost Zone. He's all about rules, and he puts you in his prison if you break them. Unless you're my mom. He's too scared of her to do anything." Sheepishly, Danny added, "I led a few prison breaks there in my first year or so as a ghost."

Sam and Tucker shared a look before Tucker elbowed Danny in the ribs with a grin. "Only a few? With your prison sentence?"

Sam snickered. Danny rolled his eyes at the two but couldn't help smiling himself. "It's not my fault he outlawed my literal existence. And it's not like there were any ghost lawyers around to plead my case to... Pretty sure if ghost lawyers exist, Pariah has them all locked up or something."

The casual way Danny dropped another name into the conversation wasn't reflected in the sudden somberness of the ghostly-affiliated in the room. Resigning herself to be 'that person' for the conversation, Artemis asked, "And who's Pariah? Another warden like Walker?"

"No, uh--" Danny dropped eye contact, rubbing at the back of his neck. Artemis narrowed her eyes at the display of nerves. "He's actually the King of the Ghost Zone. From what I've heard, he's a total tyrant, definitely on my 'to meet never' list."

"If you've looked over anything of our... earlier research," Maddie scrunched her nose in distaste at the thought of her former ideas, "then that is, unfortunately, an accurate description of Pariah Dark. At least, from the way all the other ghosts talk about him."

"If they'll talk about him," Sam added darkly. "As much as the ghosts that show up here say they're after power or whatever it is their core desires, they're equally here to get away from him."

"And their core is what drives their Obsession right?" Robin leaned forward from where he'd been lounging on the couch next to Kid Flash. "I've been deep diving your research from the last couple years, but it's a lot to catch up on. And you don't seem to mention cores much for how important they sounded."

"Cores are a sensitive topic for most ghosts, right up there with how they died," Danny said. "I mean, if you really break it down, a core is what makes someone a ghost after they die. Of course," Danny settled himself cross-legged on the floor, "there are some aspects of cores that can help you classify a ghost, and those are a little more open knowledge."