seven + one

DANNY PHANTOM

Danny didn't know what to expect Sunday morning, but this was not it.

"Phantom!" The woman who helped a couple weeks ago called as she chased him, holding her lasso out, because that poor Amazon he helped turned out to be freaking Wonder Woman (Sam would never let him live this down with how oblivious he was (that is, if he did live)). "Come back here! We just want to talk!"

"No!" He called back, his voice higher than he'd ever admit. "No, I'm good, thanks!"

"Phantom." A deep voice declared, appearing in front of him.

Danny totally didn't screech when he saw Martian Manhunter and he definitely didn't pee a little when he turned around and saw Superman floating there.

Danny looked around wildly.

They were all wearing Spector Deflectors, so no going through them.

He go through the street, but Flash could undoubtedly grab him.

He had no clue if Wonder Woman's lasso would have an affect on him.

Green Lantern and Hawkgirl looked hesitant to help, and honestly, considering he recognized Superman as that reporter who went back and didn't loose his job talking about ghosts, Green Lantern and Hawkgirl as those people he helped after the woman got shot and Wonder Woman as that Amazon lost in the GZ, he was glad at least someone he helped wasn't trying to kill him for once. "We don't want to hurt you," Superman told him frustratedly.

"Uh-huh. Sure." Danny squeaked distractedly, his nerves kicking in.

Because the thing that made him fear for his afterlife the most was that he hasn't seen Batman.

As Danny cried out in shock at being caught in the beam of a Fenton Thermos, all he could think was 'So that's where he was...'

🔹

Danny's first thoughts upon waking up were 'ow' and 'Sam's gonna kill me'.

...Not necessarily in that order.

"Hey, Danny—" a surprisingly chipper Superman greeted from next to him. "Batman's driving," He tells him lieu of a real explanation.

Danny's heart pounded in his chest, because he must've blacked out, meaning— oh no.

"Hey, don't worry, he may be human, but he flies all the time!" Flash offered cheerfully.

Hawkgirl hit him upside the head. "Idiot! He's freaked out 'cause he think's we're gonna kill him!"

Green Lantern glared, shaking his head, "Honestly, don't you read?" He demanded.

"What, that fifty page packet?" He blew a raspberry, "Pft, no!"

Everyone groaned.

"What?!" He declared defensively before turning and grinning at Danny (who was flipping out still). "By the way, thanks for helping out my cousin last week— that really meant a lot to her and my uncle."

He was— he was related to Star?!

So— oh my— ohmygosh— has— has he been—? How long—?!

Danny's breathing starts to become uneven.

"Phantom, it is alright," Martian Manhunter soothes. "I know you are afraid, but we are only trying to help you."

"By kidnapping me?!!"

"Okay, so it wasn't our best idea—" Flash starts, but a thwack from Hawkgirl shuts him up (with the exception of an indignant "hey!" ("Hay's for horses." was Green Lantern's only reply).

"You're right, it was our worst." Batman says, having put on autopilot a while ago, now standing behind them, staring Danny straight in the eyes (at least he thought he was, Danny couldn't tell). "Especially since we were trying to ask you to join the League."

🔹

Thirty minutes later, Danny was still demanding for them to repeat that because all he could think of was that they were apparently not here to kill him.

When they landed at the hall, and he was told to transform, he was still trying to desperately pry answers from Superman, still freaking out, desperately wanting to lean into the phantom touch stroking his mind comfortingly like his mom did his back whenever he was upset (he got the feeling it was Martian Manhunter, but it kept him calm enough that his powers didn't start acting up and he wasn't invading his mind, so he left it be), but he didn't know how and didn't want to test it right now.

Then, as they were coming out, they saw the people— not just any people, but a swarm of reporters.

"O-okay," Danny stammered nervously, now terrified, his half-stopped heart pounding frantically in his chest, "seriously, w-what's going on?! W-what did you mean, 'join the League?!" —but Superman just walked up the steps to the podium, smiled charmingly at everyone and started talking. "Hello, everyone. As you all know, there have been a couple rumors floating by about us taking someone new into the League, a rumor we have been voraciously denying." He told them with a charming smile (no one missed, however, the pointed look he gave Batman that screamed "are you happy now?"). "You've also heard about us fighting a local, small town hero that has a very bad reputation, and if you read the article published by the Daily Planet on the teenager from said town who wrote an article on ghosts and read both that and her own article, you know that the government recognizes the existence of ghosts, but, basically, for those of you who didn't read it, every word violates the Geneva Conventions and the first paragraph of the Constitution."

The charisma and sarcasm was stunning, and it made the reporters laugh.

"We are here to tell you that that fight was a very large misunderstanding that Phantom is still reeling from and that we were also voraciously lying. We are accepting a new member, one which came to Batman's attention a few months back and who he's tested in about every way he could— from having a 'new ghost'," He gestures to Martian Manhunter, who turns into— "Mr. Codgers?!" Danny yelps. "—show up to see what he did with an old man who's just died, to setting up a scenario where a girl would potentially get a bad grade in which he blamed himself for her lacking homework all because her uncle was called away at the last possible second, he has helped every last one of us, and all of it on the one condition that we didn't tell the Justice League."

Everyone laughed.

"In his defense, most of us were disguised and when he saw us today, he immediately recognized us." He told them with his own chuckle.

Danny stared in horror. "What is happening?!!" He hissed to himself.

Wonder Woman clapped a hand on his shoulder, smiling at him. "Forcing the world to re-evaluate their decision."

Danny's eyes widened further, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water as she led him away from the ship and to the stairs, gently pushing him up to the edge of where the cameras were. He was still gaping, turning from her to Superman to gape.

Superman looked back and laughed, "Yeah, uh, he's still in shock, I think. He saw us and immediately freaked out that we were here to kill him, which is completely understandable, honestly." Superman told the reporters awkwardly. "We probably should've told him a while ago, but... paperwork." He told them sheepishly. "Even us superheroes hate it."

That garnered another laugh, meanwhile, it finally sunk in for Danny, and a shriek of "wHAT??!" broke through as Danny seemed to start freaking out, clutching his chest and floating a little. "I... I spent tWO HOURS fREAKING OUT and you were tRYING TO RECRUIT ME?!!!"

"Uhm..." Superman turned to the crowd. "I think it finally sunk in."