YJ/DP Crossover 12

Before the team can do so much as think to go after Phantom, a group of waitstaff has entered the room and surrounded them.

Maids, butlers, out-hired servers for the gala. Even a couple gardeners with sharp looking pruning sheers.

All with glowing red eyes.

They’re cornered.

M’gann, Red Huntress and Dani rise above the group.

“What do we do? We can’t fight all of them..” Artemis says, sweeping her bow over the crowd. She has maybe 4 non-lethal arrows left. Seven if she aims right and maybe 9 if she can pick a few back up.

Red Huntress looks at Dani from the corner of her eye, then back to the bloodthirsty possessed crowd they face.

“Dani, I need you to get to the office.”

“What?! No! I’m staying here!” Dani says, “I’m helping you!”

“Dani, Debate Team still hasn’t found Vlad’s plans for the city. They need backup, they need help,” Valerie urges.

Dani suddenly looks very torn between staying and leaving, she looks at Valerie fully, “You’re sure?”

“Yes. Go. Make sure AMITy gets those plans, we can’t leave without them. They need you.”

Dani nods and zooms off down a different hallway- nope, wait- just straight through a wall.

Robin narrows his eyes and looks at Red Huntress skeptically, “Why’d you send her away? She would have been helpful in this fight. We need to get out and go after Phantom,”

Valerie sighs, weary, “You guys might not get it, but Dani’s still a kid. She shouldn’t have to be fighting these battles. But her obsession… all she wants is to be able to help, to be needed. And right now, I needed her to be safe.”

Robin looks thoughtful for a second, “Y’know, you’re still a kid too, Huntress.”

Huntress straightens her shoulders and raises her chin like a soldier, then she scoffs and looks out on the possessed crowd, “We’re all kids, Robin. Even you.”

Robin looks away as well.

“Enough talk. You’re in my way, children,” a possessed maid speaks, sounding like someone else.

Like a switch is flipped, the rest of the crowd rushes forward.

And the fight begins anew.

——

Fueled by the rage and lingering electricity in his ectoplasm, it doesn’t take long for Phantom to find Vlad. Always a coward, hiding away and manipulating instead facing the damage hecauses.

Phantom fades into visibility right in front of Plasmius, catching him by surprise as he blocks the doorway.

“What’s wrong, Uncle Vlad? Surprised to see me? Ghost got your tongue?” Phantom says with thinly veiled fury.

The desperation vanishes as a languid smile slides over Plasmius’s face, “Quite the opposite little badger, I’ve known you and your friends were here since the very beginning, Daniel. That’s quite the assortment of heroes you’ve collected. And yet you still refused to be my protégé. Why, so you could waste your potential with them?” Plasmius says as he backs into the room. It’s the newest lab, the secret doorway left wide open in his haste.

“They are my friends, Vlad. Something you’d never understand.”

Plasmius snarls, “I have friends, you insolent little child!” His hand wraps around something on the table behind him.

“My parents don’t count when you relentlessly try to kill one of them and then wipe their memories like the lonely old man you are!”

Plasmius lunges forward, a taser crackling in his hand. Immediately, Phantom grabs his arm, turning it back and jabbing the sparking blue electricity into Plasmius’s chest instead.

He shouts in pain as the light flashes under his skin. His transformation falls around him and Vlad is left standing there, heaving for breath as electricity continues to flow.

“How does it feel, Plasmius?! To have it stripped away from you? A taste of your own medicine!”

When Phantom finally lets go of the taser, Vlad whips his head up, “I was trying to help you! I protected this town in your absence! I could have protected you if you’d just listen-“

“You were the one that handed me over to them!” Danny screams. He refuses, outright refuses, to listen to any more of Vlad’s manipulations, “And they killed me!”

Vlad reels back.

He struggles to regain his composure, “It was never meant to go like this, I-“

“Oh I know all about your little plan, Plasmius. To get me to like you, to trick me into thinking you saved me..” Danny says with visceral anger. Each time getting closer to him.

Vlad takes a forcefully deep breath and straightens the sleeves of his suit, “Yes, well.. every king must make sacrifices to win the game. It was just-“

“I am NOT your pawn!” Phantom yells and fires off an ectoblast. He keeps going, one after the other, not even noticing as the balls of ectoplasm grow shards of ice and freeze over, he just wants Vlad to stop, to stop talking, stop lying, stop breathing-

“Phantom!” A familiar voice shouts.

Phantom freezes, fist poised above Vlad Plasmius’s bloody face. Red mixes with pink and flecks of green. He doesn’t even care.

He feels like he should be heaving for breath with the effort of fighting. But he’s not.

Yet another thing Vlad has taken from him.

“So dark, Daniel,” Vlad tsks with a wince and whispers bailfully, “it’s a wonder you fit in with those heroes at all..”

“Raah!” Phantom reels his arm back with a shout, ready to slam it into his face-

Only to have it stopped by strong hands holding him back.

He tries to phase through, but when he looks back, Plasmius is already on the other side of the room. Dumped there in a rush by Kid Flash.

“Phantom, this isn’t how we do things. You need to calm down,” Superboy says from beside Phantom.

“Calm down?! Calm down?!Wouldyou calm down if it was Luthor?!” Phantom yells as he stands, “Or-or- Black Manta?! Or Sportsmaster?!-“ he gestures at Aqualad and then Artemis.

“That’s not the same Phantom!” Artemis says vehemently.

“Yes it is! He doesn’t deserve your protection! Not after everything he did!”

“You almost killed him, Phantom!” Robin shouts.

“Then Fine! No one would miss him! Why shouldn’t I-!”

“We don’t kill, Phantom!”

“Hekilledme!” Danny feels his eyes flare with the shout, his words echoing louder, bordering on his wail, “He stuck me like this, trapped me, and then handed me over to the GiW to let me die! Why does he deserve to keep what he took from me!”

“Because it’s not yours to take!” Artemis says, “Don’t you get it? This is what he wants from you. To stoop to his level, to be just like him. Is that really what you want?”

Righteous anger surges through him.

“HeERASEDME!“ Danny wails, his voice throwing the team back, even Superboy being pushed halfway.

All he wants is to be okay, to be happy and safe and free.

To be able to live.

And that can’t happen with Vlad still here.

He looks back to where Vlad now sits alone.

Vlad chuckles at the destruction as he struggles to sit up, “We could be so powerful together, Little Badger.. If only you would see-”

“I’m never joining you Plasmius! What don’t you get about that!? I’m nothing like you, I protect people! Protect my friends, my family, my team!“

Vlad snarls, “You think you’re better than me? How are you better when you’re the one hurting them!?” He points to the side and Phantom follows his finger.

His team lays there,

Artemis,

Robin,

Aqualad, and Kid Flash, all slowly groaning and trying to get up.

Superboy has blood leaking out of his ear and M’gann.. M’gann’s still completely unconscious. She must’ve hit her head when his wail threw them back.

Whenhiswail…

his.

He did this. Not Vlad, Phantom.

His eyes widen and he rushes over to his friends, hands wild and desperate.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to! I was just so angry and I-“

Wally lifts a hand to stop him, giving a weak smile, “Man, it’s okay, we get it. We know you’d never hurt us on purpose.”

“But I-“

“Dude, none of this is your fault and we don’t blame you for it. So just chill and let us get our hearing back for a second, okay?”

Phantom steps back as the team slowly gets to their feet, shaking it off like it’s nothing. The nervous clamp of guilt around his heart loosens, if only barely.

Even M’gann is fine after a small shake of her shoulder. He can’t believe he lost control like that.

Robin is the first to start speaking.

“You understand why we stopped you, right Phantom? Why we couldn’t let you kill him?”

Danny averts his eyes, breathing deeply, “Yes, I just..” Danny runs his hands through his hair roughly and shakes his head, “It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have hurt you.”

Superboy raises an eyebrow, “I’m just surprised you were able to.”

“Daniel is stronger than any of you know. Than even he gives himself credit for,” Vlad’s voice sounds from the other side of the room and they all look over, “And he squanders it playing hero like the rest of you.” Vlad spits the words like they’re a disgrace.

Righteous anger roils up in Phantom’s core again. This time, though, he knows what he wants from it.

Phantom stomps over to Vlad, purposefully making his steps loud, and grabs him by the front of his shirt.

He ignores his teams halted actions behind him and pulls Vlad’s face up inches away from his own, “I don’t really care what you think of me, Plasmius. And I don’t need to. Here’s what you are going to do. You’re going to pull yourself together, tell me how to help my parents,” Phantom leans in, eyes glowing viciously, “And then you are going to fix it.”

Vlad eyes were wide as he tried to retort, voice wavering, “You think you scare mechild-?”

“And if you don’t,” Phantom growls, “I will expose your secret to the rest of the world. My parents, the town, the GiW. I wonder if they’ll come up with anything new for you, Vlad. Or maybe you’ll end up as just another cheap knockoff.”

Phantom pushes Vlad off him, staring down from above, “I have nothing to lose anymore, Vlad. You made sure of that when you took all of it from me. But you still have everything, and I am happy to return the favor.”

The team approaches from behind to stand with him.

“I believe you should listen to him, Plasmius. You are vastly outnumbered.” Aqualad says with a glare.

Superboy hits his fists together, “And overpowered.“ He growls.

Vlad scowls and wipes green-tinted blood off his faces. He hesitates for a second, “Their mental data was funneled into a device. I’d originally planned to use it on you before them but-“

M’gann’s eyes light up with a glare behind Phantom.

“Evidently I didn’t,” he rushes, then, “I can easily modify to return them. If you would be so kind as to allow me my tools.”

Phantom looks down at him with narrowed eyes, “Fine. Do it.”

Vlad nods and moves to get up, stuttering when a batarang lands between his fingers on the floor.

“If you try anything, we won’t hesitate, Masters,” Robin says, purposefully using the man’s real name.

Vlad lip curls in distaste, but he relents, “Of course.”

As soon as he’s up, Vlad heads over to one of the non-destroyed shelves in the room. He pulls back a secret keypad, opening a compartment high on the wall.

“If you would, Daniel?” He motions at it with his eyes, “I seem to be in too rough a shape to grab that myself.”

Instead, M’gann’s eyes light up and the object inside floats down by itself, landing heavily and roughly in Vlad’s arms. He almost falls with the new weight.

The object is a round, elliptical container with several technical looking designs, locks and buttons. The edges and lines of it pulse with glowing blue.

“I just have to make the modifications for it to release your parents memory data,” Vlad says as he limps towards a workbench. Phantom floats right behind him.

“Must you linger so close, Daniel?”

“I’m not letting you out of my sight until I know you can’t try anything. You might not be able to transform right now but I’m not fool enough to think that means you’re harmless.” Phantom says as he floats over to lean against the far side of the table and ignore Vlad as much as he can.

Vlad gives a wry smirk and purses his lips, “Then at least I’ve taught you something.”

Artemis scoffs, “Phantom didn’t get anything from you, creep. He’s nothing like you.”

Vlad snarls lowly at the female archer approaching him, “I made him what he is! I gave him a goal and purpose!”

“You hurt a perfectly good person is what you did!” Artemis sweeps out a hand to gesture at Phantom, “Look at him! He’s got trauma!”

Phantom snorts with laughter at the end of the table.

Neither of them notice the way Vlad’s eyes soften with sadness and regret as he looks at Phantom. He quickly turns instead to focusing on the modifications needed on the machine.

As Wally steers Artemis away to discuss with the team, Danny splits his attention between half-listening to them and watching Vlad in his peripheral.

As time creeps forward, he notices Vlad keeping sneaking glances at Danny out of the corner of his eye. It’s almost as annoying as him talking, but that’s a veryhigh bar.

“Are you really..? Your other half, I mean..” Vlad says hesitantly, again looking at him from the corner of his eye, not quite looking away from the machine.

Andthere’s the annoying talking thing.

“Shut it, Plasmius, I still fricking hate you,” Phantom says without even glancing his way.

Vlad turns back to his invention.

A few seconds pass by, then- “But yes, I’m fully dead now. A ghost through and through.” Phantom says quietly, his hair hanging over his eyes.

Vlad’s shoulders crumple, he stares emptily at the gears in front of him, “Then I am alone once again.”

Danny scoffs, “Only ‘cuz you choose to be, Vlad,” he says and pushes away from the table.

As he walks over, the team peppers him with questions. Phantom explains it briefly; the taser, Vlad’s plan, how the GiW got him.

There’s still a few gaps from the haze of pain; between getting taken and waking up, all he remembers is feeling suffocated, drowning and surrounded by…something.

Assumedly when the corrupted ectoplasm was put into his system. The entire experience is still a blur of ‘Who am I?’and‘Don’t know, don’t know.’ and‘Find out. Explore. Discover… who?’

The team backs off when he goes quiet, evidently unable to make sense of any more than they already knew.

A somber stillness settles over them, the team and Phantom keeping a watchful eye on Vlad until he straightens from his work on the machine and breaks the silence.

“It’s done,” he says.

“And you’re sure it’ll work?”

Vlad scowls, “You doubt me, Daniel?”

“Highly.” Danny replies with an angry look.

Vlad sighs but hands it over all the same, “It will work, just press this button there and their minds will be restored. Though I can’t imagine Jack has much of a mind to restore to begin with.” He mutters.

“Better than whatever shriveled up mess you’ve thrifted for a heart, Fruit Loop.” Phantom takes the machine and turns to his team, already rising in the air, “Let’s go, guys, our work here is done.”

“Ungrateful child,” Vlad snarls to Danny’s back and scowls, “I’d be careful out there, Daniel. You never know-“

Superboy’s fist slams into his face, hitting him solidly in the jaw. He watches as Vlad hits the ground, unconscious, with a satisfying thump. Superboy jabs a finger out, “That was for Dani, you smarmy jerk.”

The team stares at him with wide eyes.

Superboy raises his chin and stomps past them, “He talked too much.”

Phantom blinks slowly.

A smile creeps onto his face as warmth blooms in his chest.

He laughs brightly, “Feel free to punch Vlad anytime, SB.”

Superboy gives a gruff nod and the team continues to follow Phantom as he floats through the hallways to the mansion’s exit.

As they make their way out, Robin is able to send a small update to Batman. It’s the first time he’s had a chance since they’d met Red Huntress. Confirming that ‘No, B. We don’t need full League response. We have it handled. Yes I’m sure.’

It’s seconds after he hangs up that the team steps out of the building only to be confronted by a veritable army of white vans pulled up in front of them. The side of each marked with the black blocky letters ‘GIW’ and agents standing with ecto-guns aimed directly at them.

The team freezes, filled with dread-

“Damn Daniel…” Wally says breathily, “Back at it again with the white vans.”

Robin wants to laugh, but the dread curling in his stomach chokes it, “Maybe I should’ve accepted Batman’s offer for backup.”

“Ya think?” Artemis says sarcastically, slowly angling towards her bow.

“Maneuver 26? Smoke and Evade?” Robin asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Works for me, Rob.“

“M’gann, link us up.”

“Ready.”

Robin sees an agent step forward and acts on reflex. He smashes a smoke bomb to ground.

He can feel the team around him as they shoot forward and fight to clear a path.

The crowd of agents starts shooting randomly, no wait, not randomly-

“Phantom!” Aqualad shouts in their minds.

Robin turns back to see the shadowed figure of Phantom still in the smoke cloud.

Green blasts light up the dust, back and forth, both natural and manufactured, silhouetting his fight in neon snapshots.

“Phantom! Get out of there!“

“What are you doing, we need to run! We can’t fight them all!”

There’s a second of hesitation before Phantom’s voice echoes across their mindscape,

“I’m not running,” he says,“Not this time.”

On Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36374176/chapters/90685825

To Curate A Ghost - Chapter 1 - Snaileer - Multifandom [Archive of Our Own]

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