Chapter Text
Danny's life was weird.
That wasn't exactly a groundbreaking realization. He'd known that for years.
Most people didn't accidentally die at fourteen years old. Most people didn't wake up with ghost powers, spend their teenage years fighting the dead, and somehow stumble their way into becoming the ruler of an entire dimension.
Actually, now that he thought about it, "stumble" was probably the most accurate way to describe it.
Nothing in his life had ever happened on purpose.
One day he was a normal kid getting electrocuted in his parents' basement. The next, he was half ghost.
Then suddenly he was protecting Amity Park.
Then he was fighting ancient beings older than human civilization.
Then he was the Ghost King.
Like, seriously. At what point had his life gotten so far off track.
Though, to be fair, his afterlife wasn't exactly normal either.
Danny snorted to himself.
Yeah, he thought that joke was funny. No, he wasn't going to stop making it. If he couldn't make jokes about being technically dead, then what had all that trauma been for?
Exactly.
Anyway.
Even by Danny's standards, being contacted by a magic user wasn't exactly an everyday occurrence.
Ghosts weren't the same thing as magic. There was overlap sometimes, sure, but most magic users didn't know enough about the Infinite Realms to go poking around in it. The ones who did usually learned very quickly why that was a terrible idea.
Danny knew a few of them, though. One of those people was John Constantine.
Practically every ghost knew who Constantine was.
His reputation stretched through the Realms almost as much as it did through Earth. The man had been to Hell multiple times.
Multiple.
Danny still wasn't sure how someone managed that without permanently dying.
There were stories about him everywhere. Stories about demons. Deals. Curses. Near-apocalypses. Horribly bad decisions that somehow worked out anyway. Honestly, half the stories sounded fake.
The terrifying part was that they probably weren't.
Danny generally stayed far away from that side of things. He dealt with ghosts. Occasionally gods. Sometimes eldritch nightmares.
Demons were somebody else's problem. Preferably Constantine's.
Still, he'd heard plenty about the man.
Some of those stories had even come directly from Constantine himself.
They'd met a couple years ago during one particularly messy stretch of Danny's life. Danny had been tracking down a rogue ghost causing problems across multiple dimensions while Constantine had been dealing with...honestly, Danny still wasn't entirely sure what Constantine had been dealing with.
Something involving demons, probably. The details changed every time he told the story.
Regardless, they'd ended up crossing paths more than once. Then somehow they'd spent several months running into each other across different cities, dimensions, and disasters.
A reluctant friendship had formed somewhere along the way.
Danny still wasn't entirely sure how. Constantine was irritating. Danny was apparently impossible to get rid of. It had worked out.
Anyway. Getting summoned wasn't exactly unusual either. It happened occasionally. Usually it was Sam and Tucker.
After Danny had left Amity Park, they'd worked out a few emergency rituals that could contact him if something went catastrophically wrong. Danny tried not to return to the city unless absolutely necessary. Between the Guys in White and his parents, visiting home had become...complicated.
That was putting it mildly.
So when he felt a summoning pull early that morning, he hadn't thought much of it. Probably Sam. Maybe Tucker.
Maybe one of them had accidentally gotten involved in something stupid again. Wouldn't be the first time.
Danny had been asleep when it happened. Well. Half asleep. Ghosts didn't technically need sleep, but it helped.
Especially lately.
For the past few weeks, he'd been investigating strange ectoplasmic readings around Gotham. The city was practically drowning in negative emotions. Fear. Anger. Grief. Despair.
It made the ectoplasm there act weird. Danny hated it.
Everything about Gotham put him on edge. The shadows felt wrong. The atmosphere felt wrong. Even the ghosts seemed different there.
He'd set up a temporary hideout in the sewers beneath the city, hidden inside a small pocket dimension concealed behind a cracked concrete wall.
It wasn't much. Just a bed, some stolen pillows, a mini fridge, and enough space for him to exist without being bothered.
It was home for now. At least until he figured out who or what was causing the sudden ectoplasmic spikes.
Danny had been enjoying what little rest he could get when the summoning hit. One second he was asleep. The next—
"Ow—fuck!"
Pain exploded through his forehead.
Danny jerked upright, clutching his head. Something hard and metallic had collided with his skull.
For several seconds he sat there blinking in confusion. Then he realized something. His room wasn't there.
The sewer smell was gone. The damp concrete walls were gone. The entire city of Gotham was gone.
Danny slowly lowered his hand. "...What."
Stars stretched endlessly beyond massive observation windows. Earth hung in the distance. The room gleamed with polished metal and advanced technology.
And standing in front of him was the Justice League.
Well.
That explained absolutely nothing. For a moment, nobody moved. Nobody spoke. They all just stared at him.
Danny stared right back.
Wonder Woman stood near the center of the room, posture relaxed enough to appear non-threatening, but not relaxed enough to fool Danny. One hand hovered suspiciously close to her lasso.
Superman stood nearby, offering an apologetic smile that didn't quite hide how alert he was.
Green Lantern.
Green Arrow.
Black Canary.
The Flash.
Several others Danny recognized from television, news reports, and the occasional disaster involving aliens. Most looked nervous. Some looked cautious. A couple looked outright scared.
And then there was Batman.
Of course Batman was standing at the front. The man looked like he personally distrusted oxygen.
His expression revealed absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, Danny had spent enough time around his parents and the GIW to recognize suspicion when he saw it.
The Dark Knight was studying him like a particularly concerning crime scene. Danny resisted the urge to sigh. His gaze continued moving through the room.
Then he spotted the reason he'd been summoned. Three familiar faces.
Zatanna Zatara.
Captain Marvel.
And—
"John?"
The word escaped before he could stop it.
Danny immediately regretted speaking. The room went silent.
Every single head turned toward Constantine.
Oh. Oh, that's not good.
Apparently John hadn't mentioned that they knew each other.
Whoops.
Zatanna recovered first. "You know the Ghost King?" she demanded.
Constantine winced.
Danny almost laughed.
"We had bigger things to worry about," John said.
Zatanna looked deeply unimpressed.
"You didn't think that was important information?"
"My relationship with Phantom is practically nonexistent."
Danny barked out a laugh. "That's rude."
"It ain't inaccurate."
"We literally lived together for three months."
"Temporary arrangement."
"You stole my cereal."
"You still ain't let that go?"
Before the argument could gain momentum, Wonder Woman stepped forward. Her attention settled on Danny.
"Phantom?" she asked. "Is that what you would prefer we call you?"
The question immediately redirected every eye in the room back toward him. Danny resisted the urge to disappear into the floor.
"Yeah," he said. "Sure. Phantom works."
"'Sure'?" Batman repeated. Danny immediately knew where this was going. "'Sure' sounds like it isn't your real name."
There it was. Danny narrowed his eyes. Batman met the look without blinking.
The silence stretched.
"You get Phantom," Danny finally said. "That's the only name you're getting."
Batman didn't react. It somehow made it worse. Danny got the distinct feeling the man was already planning twelve different investigations.
He pointed a finger at him.
"Seriously."
Batman's eyebrow twitched.
"Don't."
The finger remained pointed.
"Push it."
For a second it looked like Batman might actually argue. Thankfully, Flash jumped in before that happened.
"Okay!" he said, stepping between them with the energy of someone trying to stop two angry cats from fighting. "Maybe let's not start a hostile diplomatic incident."
Danny snorted.
Flash offered a nervous grin. "Nice to meet you, Phantom. I'm Flash. We're the Justice League. That's—"
"He knows who we are," Constantine interrupted. Flash stopped.
John took a drag from his cigarette. "For fuck's sake. The kid ain't clueless."
Danny nodded.
"Thank you."
"You watch us on television?" Flash asked.
"No."
Flash looked mildly offended.
Danny finally rolled his eyes. "I know who all of you are. The messes you all cause make it pretty hard to avoid hearing about superheroes."
Several heroes exchanged surprised looks. Batman looked even more suspicious.
Fantastic. Exactly what Danny wanted.
"So," Danny continued, crossing his arms, "you dragged me out of bed, summoned me into space, and nearly gave me a concussion."
He rubbed his forehead.
"What do you need?"
The room suddenly became much quieter. The heroes exchanged uncertain glances.
Whatever problem they had apparently wasn't small.
Superman stepped forward. His expression turned serious. "Well..."
The single word was enough to make Danny nervous.
Superman looked toward the others before returning his attention to Danny. "We have a situation."
Danny immediately wanted to leave. Not because he didn't want to help, but because every time someone powerful said "we have a situation," it inevitably became his situation too.
And somehow, Danny already knew this one was going to be a nightmare. The kind that lasted months. Possibly years. Definitely involved paperwork.
And almost certainly ended with someone trying to kill him.
Again.
Danny could already feel the headache forming.
"Okay," he sighed. "Fill me in."