Chapter Text
Batman stared out across a city lit by a moonless night. Shadows draped Gotham like a blanket, soothing its sharp edges, concealing both the good and the bad from view. At night, high above—where you couldn’t hear the rats and pigeons scurrying below—the city looked peaceful. On nights like tonight, it didn’t matter to Bruce that Gotham’s beauty hid a darker soul.
“So,” a voice echoed behind him. “This is Gotham.”
Batman whirled, batarang already pressed between the tips of his fingers, when he recognized the softly glowing form in front of him.
Straightening, Batman grunted, “Phantom.”
Phantom’s otherworldliness was more subdued than Batman had ever seen. The pale light of his snow-white hair glowed, as if a gap had opened in the endless Gotham clouds hiding precious slivers of moonlight. His eyes, while still that inhuman, ghostly green, did not illuminate the night or bring Gotham’s shadows to life. Rather, as he hovered above the gravel rooftop with his arms folded, he looked like a sullen teenager. Hints of shadows lined his eyes as he scuffed his heel on the air above the roof.
“I’ve never been. Heard it was nice. But I think you’ve found the best view in town.” He smirked, but the grin didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“What are you doing here?” Batman’s ready stance hadn’t gone away. Aware that the being before him had leveled city buildings, and had sought him out on his home turf, Batman watched him warily. Phantom had come uninvited and without warning.
And he had come alone.
Phantom’s gaze lifted, his pale hair drifting aside. It revealed a dead stare, a sort of suspicious openness that hadn’t been present during their last interaction. Batman had pushed. And Phantom had secreted himself away, leaving only warnings in his wake.
Since then, they’d seen neither hide nor glowing hair of the Ghost King. Beyond the hours the League had spent debriefing and going over what they'd seen in the Zone—though their memories seemed warped—they hadn't delved much further. With no way to contact him, and no immediate reason after their last excursion into the Infinite Realms—a truly eye-opening experience—he hadn’t had the opportunity to dig deeper. But Phantom hadn't left his thoughts, nor the Infinite Realms, and now Phantom was here. In Gotham.
Instead of looking at him, Phantom looked out over the city. “Her shadows call to you,” he said, his voice distant, his gaze miles away. When he returned to meet the Dark Knight’s gaze, there was a faint crease of tentative surprise. “She likes you.” He tilted his head. “Not an easy feat, to get a city this cursed to speak fondly of a guy dressed like a bat.”
He chuckled, heedless of Batman’s mind spinning, seeming to return to himself.
“Although, maybe that’s part of the appeal.” A stray breeze caught his hair, and he lifted a few feet like a sail catching the wind. “I don’t judge in matters of taste.”
“Has something happened?” Batman asked keenly, concern bleeding through. He hadn’t seen Phantom this… calm. Not since their first meeting, and with the strangeness of the Ghost Zone and the destruction he’d wrought in Metropolis, maybe he hadn’t had the chance.
Something flickered in Phantom’s gaze. The faintest curl to his lip. His feet returned to the ground. Steady green eyes met his through the cowl. “Not yet.”
Batman waited. Let the cool Gotham night air soothe whatever tension had twisted itself into Phantom’s shoulders. Finally, Phantom walked over and held out an object without a word, tension in every line of his form. A challenge in his eyes.
Batman recognized the gleam of metal immediately. Even if he didn’t understand why.
“Rumors are stirring,” Phantom said, a strange lilt to his words, more grounded. Each word strained the air between them. “Old words are being uttered. Someone is digging where they shouldn’t, and it’s attracting the wrong kind of attention.” He smiled wryly, though the tightness lingered around his eyes. “I won’t leave you unprepared.”
“Who?” Batman stepped forward, eyeing the glint of the object with a keen sense that this gift meant something more. He glanced up, met Phantom’s gaze, watching him carefully. “Our cultists?”
Phantom shrugged, crossing his arms over that strange decal on his chest. “There are other interested parties that it could be.” He shook his head. “Whoever it is, I doubt the Justice League is fully prepared to face something you understand so little about.”
“We’re prepared to learn, Phantom.”
At that, Phantom arched a brow. “Are you?”
He stepped away from the ledge like someone who was capable of falling, his eyes flicking to Batman with poorly hidden distrust. Then he nodded once, exhaling slowly with his hands on his hips. "I guess we'll see." And he turned away, strides leading to the edge of their shared rooftop.
But there was something unfinished on the air, and before Batman knew it, he'd stepped forward.
"Phantom." Batman’s deep voice came from behind him. “We could benefit from learning more about the Zone.”
Phantom cast a narrow glance back and paused. “That’s a dangerous line of thinking. The Realms are a zone outside of your control. Let’s leave it at that.”
“We still don’t know what those cultists want. The more we know, the better we can prepare—”
Phantom turned. “It doesn’t matter what they want.” He quirked a small grin. “You saw how well summoning circles can hold me. I’m not worried about them.”
“And what if they find something that can?”
His eyes flashed dangerously, bristling. After a moment’s thought, his shoulders eased. Instead, he raised a brow. “Did you?”
Batman stared at him, and Phantom waved off his concerns, hair lifting in a stray breeze.
“Like I said. If the Justice League can’t find magic strong enough to hold me, I don’t hold out much hope for some goons in a cornfield.”
“And the ones that had you? Did you worry about them before they came for you?”
Phantom froze, a momentary panic racing up his spine. He turned slowly, eyes dark and haunted. “No,” he rasped, eyes dangerous. “I got cocky. Didn’t expect them to go looking in the right place. They took me by surprise once.” All around them, the shadows seemed to roil and shift. “They won’t get that chance again.”
“Not unless you give them one.”
Phantom sighed slowly. “My answering that call for help in Metropolis may have put a target on your backs," he admitted. "There are few ways to protect yourself. Ask your magic user.” Grimacing, he clarified, “Zatanna, not the other one. She should be able to get you what you need.”
“These safeguards. Would they work against you?” Batman asked.
Phantom turned, cocked an eyebrow, suspicion flashing across his face, shadows carving harsh lines across it. “Unlikely. It depends on how good your magic user really is.”
“Unless we look elsewhere, right? You said magic is ineffective. But that collar you came to us in, it held you just fine.”
Phantom flinched, a harsh breath leaving his jaw. Fingers twitched at his side, as if going to his neck where the metal of that collar used to be. After a long moment, staring off into the black heart of Gotham, clenching and unclenching his hands, he turned to the Bat, a narrow look that was impossible to discern on his face. “You still have it.”
“The summoning seems to have shorted it out. Whatever energy it was imbued with seemed to do the trick. We won’t be caught defenseless, either.”
Phantom studied him warily, glancing over the dark city before his gaze returned to the Bat. “I can put warding up at the Hall of Justice. It won’t protect against everything, but a shield should give you enough of a barrier to buy you some time, should the Zone attack.” He looked away. “As a thank you, for saving me.”
He eyed Phantom carefully, what could only be a strange, metallic phone clutched in Batman’s hand. All of that power, contained in the fragile body of a human boy. “Would it protect against you?”
Phantom choked out a dark, bitter laugh. “You don’t quit, do you, Batman?” He turned back to him, eyes flickering with an unsteady, frozen green. “I know you don’t trust well, but I have no intention of attacking the League or harming the civilians of the living plane. Even if the Zone were to attack, I would not stand against you of my own free will.”
Batman nodded once, accepting the answer, though his mouth set in a grim line that told Phantom he would keep looking. Maybe it was for the best. At the edge of the roof, he lingered. Slowly, steadily, as if telling him some secret he wouldn’t recognize, Phantom said, “Should I come for you, there is nothing that could save you.”
He turned over his shoulder with a quick jerk, as if reminding himself to move forward. His voice was low, bitter. “I already have contingencies in place for that, too.”
And before Batman could begin to parse a response to that, he was gone.
—
Clean-up in Metropolis was going to take weeks.
Batman surveyed the recent damage from his perch atop one of the golden city’s rooftops, his black suit warming unbearably in the midafternoon sun.
“How are you doing, spooky? Dressed a little warmly for the occasion?” Hal teased from halfway across Metropolis. Batman caught a distant flash of Lantern green and the sound of air rushing past Hal’s comm.
Batman didn’t dignify that with a response. Besides, he’d had cooling fabric installed years ago, and despite the lingering heat from the midday sun, Batman sensed a chill in the air that spoke of a colder night ahead.
“Batman.” Superman‘s steady voice crackled over the comms. “How’s it looking from your end?”
“Messy.” Batman reported gruffly from his perch, overseeing the city to call point for his team. “The collateral from Toyman's creation is spread out. However, there’s plenty of damage to the city that doesn't appear to be related.”
“It’s not just him.” Superman sighed. Blasts sounded faintly through the comms. “It’s… been a rough week.” Clark admitted.
Batman grunted. Based on that and what he’d observed from his rooftop position, a rough week was underselling it.
“I know. I know.” Superman huffed a sharp breath. Metal clanged on the other end, followed by a sharp burst of static over the comms. “You know that if it was just Toyman, I could handle it myself.”
But Toyman was just the latest, parading around in his latest larger-than-life suit, crunching steel-frame cars and shiny city infrastructure with each step. Even from his rooftop position, away from the central area of fighting, Batman glimpsed a flash of familiar Lantern green hammering against the steel-tonne frame of Toymaker’s latest monstrosity. Lead-lined and terribly durable.
Heavy boots stepping up to the edge of his current rooftop, Batman launched a grappling hook to the nearest visible anchor. He was too far from the action for comfort.
“Superman. Where are you?”
When Superman sighed, he seemed wearier than a super-powered alien should be. “Halfway across the city. Putting out a fire on St. Bernard’s Avenue. Again."
“Hn.” Batman grunted. “You seem tired.”
“Well, I didn’t call you in for nothing, Batman. We’ve had a string of bad luck lately."
And they had, Batman knew. Had read the reports coming out of Metropolis with steady concern. He eyes scanned the latest damage. Extra hands from the League had been called in when Toyman's latest creation went on a rampage and Superman, for all of his gifts, couldn't be everywhere at once.
So far, Batman thought with a frown, it had been a poor showing. Even with Batman calling the shots, Green Lantern constructs doing their best to minimize the damage, and Zatanna set to arrive within the hour.
He sighed, staring at the cracked concrete — the aftermath of every larger-than-life step from Toyman’s latest machine: a towering nutcracker. Bruce would rather wrap this up, so he could start pursuing rehabilitation and restructuring efforts that this city was going to need after the capes went home. And he still had his own city to worry about. And Robin.
Bruce allowed himself a small muted sigh.
"Lantern," he called over comms. "The machine is veering to your left."
A faint grunt, and Green Lantern said, “Acknowledged.”
Something about this recent trend had his detective instincts tingling. Scanning the city in his standard sweep, he assessed the damage, watched for any new disasters while Superman was busy. A silent observer, Batman watched as though he could convince Metropolis to give up its mysteries with will alone.
“Whoah!” Hal’s voice sounded. Followed by a heavy crash of metal as he dodged the amalgamation’s next heavy-handed fist. “Head’s up. New player on the scene.”
"Another one?" Superman's frown could be heard across comms. "On my way."
“What is it?” Batman asked. The bulk of the battle still too far away to make out, but the giant metal man made it easy enough to keep track.
“Dunno, man. Whatever it was, it was fast.” Hal huffed. “Almost like it was chasing something. Didn’t see anything, though. Watch out!”
In the distance, a flickering green wall appeared, preventing Superman’s latest hit from sending the machine directly into a building. “Watch it, man!" Hal shouted over comms. "That joint’s not stable. You want to bring the whole thing down on us and everything below?”
“I was aiming for the plates, not the joint.” Superman grunted irritably.
“Then your aim is off, buckaroo. You see this intact building? Yeah, no thanks to you."
“Cut the chatter.” Batman directed. “Toyman’s veering towards the Daily Planet. Lantern, see if you can force him to redirect. The last thing we need is more structural damage.
"You're welcome." Hal grumbled. “S'all I'm saying."
As if on cue, a loud, grinding shriek of metal giving way sounded over comms. The sound of shattered glass echoed back to Batman.
Batman’s lips set in a thin line, and he easily envisioned the look on Hal’s face as he said, “Oops.” Then cleared his throat. “Unlucky hit. Uh, Redirecting now, Batman.”
“Acknowledged.” Superman grunted.
“And our third-party?” Batman pressed.
“Took off,” Hal grunted, another crash sounding over comms. Hopefully in their favor this time. “Whatever it was, the thing’s fast. I couldn’t get a clear look.”
“Hn.” Batman grunted, scanning the surrounding area. Batman tracked the chatter idly, satisfied that Superman and Green Lantern were finally getting the situation under control. And Batman got some unseen sense telling him to look. To see what he was missing.
At first, he didn’t see it.
When he did, his gaze zeroed in on a city block closer to his position, on a new series of minor damages. A green SUV's brakes screeched as it clipped a streetlight, and cars honked their horns in unison. Electricity sparked from a frayed wire on a nearby telephone pole, snapping loose as pedestrians jumped back with cries of alarm.
And just behind it, visible once Batman realized what he was looking for, something in his chest tightened. His nerves reacted to the heightened danger, and he trained his eyes on a new figure at the source of the disturbance.
“Head’s up. I found our new player.”
“Anyone we know?” Superman huffed, almost as if he was out of breath.
“Not well enough.” Batman grunted bitterly, zooming in through the cowl. “It looks like Phantom.”
A muffled curse from the other line.
“What, Spooky’s new mystery? Maybe I’ll finally get to meet him.” Hal.
“What’s he doing?” Superman asked.
Batman zeroed in. “Not sure yet. It looks like he’s keeping out of your end of the city for the moment.”
“Keep him there if you can,” Superman huffed, “while we try to wrap this up.”
“Acknowledged.” Batman grunted in assent.
Reaching a gloved hand to his cowl, Batman switched his comm to a new frequency, one he’d held onto since their last foray into Metropolis. Though he wouldn’t balk at the chance to learn more, the ghost’s presence in Metropolis was auspiciously timed.
“This is Batman. That you, Phantom?”
The black and silver streak flickered for a moment, as if caught between a bad picture. When he responded, he sounded focused, like Batman’s voice in his ear was secondary to whatever he was doing.
“Figures you’d find a way to hack the comms.” Phantom grumbled.
“Phantom." Batman said, sure now. "What are you doing in Metropolis?”
Phantom veered a sharp turn in the opposite direction, coming more clearly into Batman’s field of view between buildings. “Sightseeing. Why, is now a bad time?” He asked dryly, clearly aware of the ruckus going on downtown.
With a series of taps, Batman patched the cloned signal into the League’s.
“It’s Phantom.” Batman confirmed.
“Figures you’d rat me out to Big Blue.” Phantom muttered.
“Your highness.” Superman greeted dryly through the comms. “Welcome to the party. Though I don’t think you were invited.”
Phantom shot around the side of a tall brick building, trailing something dark and too fast for Batman to properly make out.
“Ghost business. I invited myself.” Phantom said tersely. He hovered for a moment in the air, suspended in motion, black and silver suit oddly stark against the sunny cheer of Metropolis.
Then, like he’d caught sight of what he’d been looking for, he shot off down the block, his legs blurring until only the faint image of a trail ghosted in his wake. Barely there, then gone.
Batman thought he caught sight of movement. A shadow in a patch of sunlight where nothing stood, unbroken by man or beast. In its wake, a fire hydrant burst, shooting water sky-high. An elderly couple walking near the street staggered back, dripping wet. Phantom swerved and narrowly avoided getting doused, shaking droplets from his hair with a scowl.
“Come on,” He grumbled under his breath. “Do you know how much of a pain-“ Abruptly, Phantom redirected, skidding to a halt midair before shooting off at top speed along the opposite street, narrowly dodging pedestrians.
Before Batman could utter a warning, Phantom turned a sharp corner and slammed directly into traffic.
Phantom's body crashed into a semi with a muffled grunt and crumpled steel. Shuddering with the force of Phantom’s momentum, the semi’s wheels screeched and came to a haphazard stop in the middle of traffic. Several other cars screeched to a halt, their brakes brakes engaged early in the middle of the intersection.
“Hey!” A balding man lifted a hand in an obscene gesture towards the commotion. “Watch it!”
When Batman looked, the main light had indeed shifted to green. And so had the one for cross-traffic. Four green lights staring down at the crowded intersection and Phantom caught in the middle of it all.
“Hrn.” Phantom grunted, slumping to the concrete and catching himself before he hit the ground.
He shook his head, green eyes flaring, and looked up at the looming intersection lights. Something like panic crossed his face before his jaw set with a hard expression, and he spun off.
“You menace-“ He hissed, static sparking, obviously displeased. “When I find Johnny, you are so-“
His words cut off as he promptly slammed into a cart of apples, a neighboring fruit stand that a sudden gust of wind knocked the awning at just the right time to catch Phantom off balance.
“Phantom.” Superman warned, static edging over the comms. “What’s going on?”
Phantom grunted, busy extricating himself from the tumbling red apples and green awning. “Sorry!” he shouted as he shot off again. “Just some minor property damage. Nothing to worry about.” He shouted as he shot off again. “As you were!”
Bruce could practically taste Superman’s displeasure
With a deep sigh, a second line beeped in his ear, and Clark’s voice came over. “What’s happening, Batman?”
He wasn’t sure, but—there. That was indeed a dark shape leading Phantom on a merry chase. There. Barely visible and gone fast enough that he would never have seen it if Phantom hadn’t been hot on its heels.
“As he said. He seems to be chasing something. No serious consequences so far.” Bruce narrowly eyed a flair of sparks as Phantom ducked under newly loose telephone wires. “Phantom.” Batman reached out over comms. “Do you require assistance? I have a visual, but Superman’s still wrapping up with Toyman.”
Danny arched a brow. “Toyman?” and scrunched his face. “I’m so over the ones with a gimmick.”
Grunting again, Batman watched as Phantom screeched to a halt beneath a streetlamp, which keened with a metallic screech and kicked off sparks. The streetlamp teetered, crashing down and smashing against the street below with a metallic squeal, Phantom just barely managing to dodge out of the way. Another broken streetlamp teetered up ahead, one that had stood fine on its own just moments before.
“Hey!” Phantom shouted indignantly, and redirected to gently guide it down, away from the street of pedestrians.
Batman raised a hand to his comms, contacting Superman. “Bad luck.” He said slowly, thoughtfully. “Have you had Zatanna take a look?”
A harsh grunt, then, “On her way. Figured I could use the extra hand.” A pause. “You think its magic?”
“Or something like it,” Batman admitted, watching Phantom chase shadows. Batman launched a grappling hook to the nearest rooftop. He was too far for comfort. Where the shadow streaked by, a smattering of splits cracked in large rifts along the street. Glass cracked in shop windows, but nothing shattered to fall on unsuspecting civilians. Yet.
“Superman. How far out is assistance?” Batman grappled closer, ready to be on hand to direct civilian traffic or back up the Ghost King if he became needed.
A hesitation. “Why?”
Batman craned his neck and moved, slipping over the edge in a fall of black cape and steadfast intention. “Because I have a feeling that things are about to get worse.”
Another two fire hydrants popped in rapid succession, barely avoiding Phantom’s trailing form as he shot past them. They blurred together, too fast to track. Batman lost sight of them for a moment. The shadow was barely more than a glimpsed reflection, and Phantom was a black and silver streak trailing in its wake.
Glass from a coffee shop window shattered at they sped by, glass plinking against the pavement. Civilians ducked, screaming and crying out from the sudden hail of glass.
“Wait! Stop!” Phantom jerked to a stop and changed trajectories. He shot upwards, scaling alongside a building, still chasing that glimpse of shadow.
And suddenly, Batman could clearly see the shadow Phantom was chasing.
A swath of darkness that slipped into something more solid. Almost like the outline of Batman’s own cape with crooked, trailing edges. Glowing, cavernous eyes stretched across its face, and a set of jagged teeth spread into a grin. From here, it looked like it was laughing. And though Batman couldn’t hear anything, an icy sensation spiked down his spine.
“Wait, don’t!” Phantom shouted, but a clawed, shadowy extension brushed against the building, its eerie laughter rippling across Batman's skin as he grappled closer. Phantom collided with the creature as he refused to slow down, letting out a sharp cry. They tangled for a moment, Phantom wrestling with the shadow in the air. A single, irritated screech battered against Bruce’s eardrums, and his steps stuttered across the gravel of the rooftop, nausea spiking as he pressed closer, still two buildings away.
The shadow writhed and tried to yank itself free, but Phantom held tight, crying out as they slammed into the side of the building halfway up, their combined impact sounding with a thunderous clang.
Phantom panted harshly, his eyes squeezed shut. Where they hit the building, they hit hard. It had to have hurt, but Phantom just held onto the screeching, writhing ball of shadows. The Ghost King twisted, grappling with something at his hip, reaching for something with gritted teeth. Taking the opportunity, the shadowy creature screeched and wriggled loose, sending another wave of nausea through Batman that made him stumble mid-run.
“Oh, no you don’t!" Phantom got his arms around the living shadow, his hands rippling with ghostly green energy as the thing in his arms screamed and fought back. Vicious claws raked long, glowing furrows along Phantom's shoulder, green already oozing from the wounds. Gritting his teeth, Phantom kicked out hard, shoving the shadow's vicious claws out of reach. As he did, he pulled a green and silver canister from somewhere on his person.
“Gotcha!” With a blinding flash, the shadow seemed to melt toward Phantom. It screeched defiantly, its cries jarring Batman’s bones like thunder hitting too close for comfort. Batman blinked, momentarily disoriented. But when he looked up, it was gone.
Phantom slowly straightened, cursing as he lifted one arm. From it, three long gashes had sliced right through the suit, fresh green oozing from the wounds. He looked… tired, Batman realized. As if he’s been worn thin.
Still hovering, the ghost king stared at the chaos of the street down below. A strange expression twisted his face. Something like dismay, but with a disheartened twist that Batman couldn’t quite read.
Phantom slumped, leaning back against the metal, tilting his head back and his eyes closing in a brief moment, as if catching his breath. Somewhere not far off, Batman heard sirens.
Batman's boots scraped the gravel rooftop beside Phantom’s midair reprieve, the grapple releasing with a muted clang as he stepped closer.
“Phantom. How badly are you injured?” Batman asked, eyeing the deep scratches oozing green down his arm and shoulder.
“I’ve been better, Phantom said, rolling his shoulder with a grimace. “Been worse, too, though.”
“Hn.” Batman glanced over his wounds, noting the way he held himself stiffly on one side.
Phantom caught him staring and arched a brow. “Full suit, huh? In daylight and everything.”
“It has a cooling system.” Batman grunted.
He opened his mouth, tired eyes alight with mirth—when his head whipped around to the building next to him. A moment later, Batman heard it, too.
A grinding squeal. Like metal about to give.
Before Batman processed the sudden shift, Phantom shot back into action, a streak of black and silver streak suddenly racing along the edge of the steel structure where he and the shadow had fought.
“Superman.” Batman was already moving, calling into his comms. “Superman. We’ve got possible structural damage.”
“What?” A brief burst of static on the comms. Then a muffled huff. “On my way. Try and hold it until I get there. Green Lantern can take Toyman. Civilians?”
“I’m working on it.” And he was. Coordinating orders to first responders below via the interface in his gauntlet.
“Good.”
Another eerie groan split from the massive building, still half-finished and under construction.
Eyes wide, Phantom pushed a shield of energy against the nearest edge of the building, leaning into it. Supporting the infrastructure at its weakest point, the energy flickered but held.
“Come on." He grunted, leaning at an angle, more green substance oozing from his new wounds, courtesy of whatever that thing had been. He panted sharply. "Don't do this to me."
Batman's cowl ran through the structural supports, and Phantom cracked an eye and turned his head towards the Bat. "Anyone inside?"
"No," Batman reported. " But if this thing comes down-"
"I know." And Phantom's eyes flickered, a flare of solid, intense, ghostly green. "I won't let it."
"You might not have a choice, Phantom."
The Bat didn't miss the way Phantom's arms trembled behind that shield. Or how the building's metallic screech had not stopped, merely quieted with the extra support.
"That creature,” Batman asked, “It's secured?"
Phantom met his gaze and gave a sharp nod. "He is. And he'll be in for a world of trouble if this thing comes down."
But the computer at Batman's wrist was saying something else. He grunted, and Phantom flashed him a worried frown. "I didn't like that grunt, Batman. That did not sound like a good grunt."
"It's not." He nodded past the shield. "That thing damaged something in the center of the infrastructure."
"Meaning we can't hold it." He grimaced, a rough-hewn expression crossing his features as he glanced down at the streets below.
Before Batman could say anything, Phantom rolled his shoulders and looked up. "Then we control it. Get people as clear as you can. I'll try to trap the debris to the building itself. See if we can limit the damage." He lifted a single brow. "I hope these guys have good insurance." And he muttered under his breath, "Ugh, stupid Jazz. I wasn't supposed to worry about insurance until I turned eighteen." And with a sharp jerk, Phantom released the shield, staggering back on the air.
Something snapped and with a dreadful screech, the massive steel frame swayed, leering to one side as if in slow-motion. And Phantom shoved, a wall of green energy bursting from his hands. The energy pulsed as if the green was half-alive. Clawing a hand across the face of it, Phantom wrapped that surge of green energy around the building with rapid, shaky breaths.
For a moment, it looked like it was going to work. Phantom hovered, bands of green energy humming at pitch just below normal hearing. The building's collapse held, like a teacup suspended in midair, caught between safety and the ground below.
With an almighty crack and groan of metal giving way, Phantom's eyes flew open. All the energy in Phantom’s arsenal wasn’t enough to keep the building from its downward destination.
"Superman!" Batman called into the comms, already swinging to clear of the collapse, bracing as he hit the ground harder than he'd meant to. "Get over here and clear the area, now!"
"No!" Phantom cried out and dove beneath heaping tons of collapsing metal, right at the breaking point that had leaned left. Pushing up from underneath the support, he shoved back against the collapse, groaning as green flowed faster from his wounds. "Batman! Get people clear!"
"Help is on the way. Phantom-"
"I got it. Keep them back-" But another screech and the metal he was holding snapped. Phantom yelped, caught between the metal piping. Flickering like a mirage, Phantom disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the metal where he'd nearly been crushed, hunching in on himself like he'd been punched, fresh green bleeding through the suit around his midsection. Gritting his teeth, he dived in a steep arc to catch the edge, but a piece of the steel beam snapped, careening towards Phantom.
In a flash of red and blue, Superman appeared beneath the weight of the falling structure. "We can contain it,” he said. "Clear the area. Lantern has Toyman and the machine. Zatanna is on her way."
The shuddering creaks slowed, then stopped. And the heroes held their breath.
And then, all at once, something snapped and the support that Superman had been holding gave way, careening to the left, half of a fifty-story building folding in on itself to crush the Man of Steel. Batman watched in slow-motion, the look on Superman's face when he realized two tons of solid steel were about to smack him in the face.
"No!" Phantom, in a streak of black and silver, slammed into red and blue, knocking him out of the way, knocking him through and clear of the collapsing steel.
"Kid, no!" A sharp slab of metal slammed into the Ghost King. He gasped and flickered like a bad picture before the structure collapsed over his head and swallowed him whole.
"Phantom!" Batman yelled, but could only watch as the other side of the structure snapped, and the teetering folded back in on itself, swallowing the Ghost King whole and collapsing inward like a dying star. "No!"
And Batman’s breath caught, panic clawing its way into his throat even as he was assessing the best way to help the people below.
"Superman, get the civilians clear. Now!" And he was gone, the afterimage of Superman's devastated expression lingering on the back of Batman's mind. But he was already in motion. Batman swung down, cape snapping behind him.
The structure hit the ground with a thunderous crack, metal groaning loudly in his ears.
A massive plume of dust obscured his vision as his boots hit the ground with more force than necessary. The taste of metal and broken concrete lingered on the air. Even at ground level, the damage hadn't escaped the block of city that its the base had been built on. The buildings on either side stood intact as a vibrant violet shield flickered to life, rising around the building’s base. even as the ground pitched and rolled with the sudden violence of that much weight slamming to the earth.
Above it all, a new figure stood mid-air, on a circle of familiar violet light. Zatanna floated down, gloved hands outstretched, her long black hair blown back.
Batman could just make out the tail-end of Zatanna's spell as the violet shield flared and flickered out, releasing another cloud of dust, now that it was no longer contained. “Mrof a dleihs dnuora siht gnidliub. Tcetorp.” Her eyes flashed, wide with worry. She glanced at Batman. "What happened?"
But Batman stared at the center of the collapse, wondering if somewhere amid the debris, they'd find a single body. Wondered what they'd find when they swept the ruins: an injured Ghost King, or the broken body of a too-young black-haired boy, finally been damaged so deeply that the ghost king had no more use of it.
Batman shook his head. "Phantom-"
"Phantom?" Zatanna's eyes shot wide, head snapping back to the debris field. Batman's dread wound tighter in his chest.
"He got hit trying to contain the building when it came down. I'm not sure if-" They both snapped their gazes back to the destroyed site as harsh coughing came from the collapsed structure.
Phantom staggered out, dust and debris sticking to his pale hair, clutching his shoulder with a low groan as green seeped through the body of his suit. Aura flickering, Phantom steadied himself against a twisted edge of infrastructure, coughing again like he'd been caught breathing in the disaster.
Superman floated apart from them, his posture open, features blank in surprise. Big Blue hovered, eyes tightening as if debating helping the winded Ghost King. But Phantom waved him off, hands still on his knees, and he shook his head. “Go! I’ll be fine.”
But as Phantom made to stand, he staggered, barely catching himself on the crumbling building beside him. His head hung low, eyes wide and vacant at the ground as he forced long, even breaths that sounded pained even to Batman’s ears.
Batman was there, crouching beside him, hesitant to touch him, but needing to see how badly he was injured. To see his face and judge that information for himself.
“Phantom…” Zatanna said softly, hand going to the entity’s shoulder, hovering just above.
The ghost king hunched, chest heaving, head hanging. “I’m fine.”
“Your wounds have reopened.”
At that, Phantom’s features twisted in a grimace, as if he was about to be sick. “Damn things… can’t keep ‘em closed.”
Her hand touched his shoulder. “You need to rest-“
“No!” Phantom shoved himself upright and away from Zatanna’s comforting hand, his eyes a little wild. “I have to protect them. I can take it. They can’t.”
Her voice leveled out, and she watched him warily. Saw the way his limbs trembled with exertion as the fight disappeared from his limbs. “What happens when you fall, Phantom? Who will protect them then?”
Phantom laughed darkly, the sort of bone-tired expression that Batman had seen before. “I have contingencies in place. I won’t leave them unprotected.” He blinked, as if surprised at his own words. “Not again.”
The tenderness there… Bruce could almost wonder how much of the king was Phantom, and how much was the human boy who’d learned death too young.
Constantine’s observations cycled back into his mind. He’d died young, violently enough for a stable split between the realms to open up on top of him.
"You have to take time-" Zatanna pushed.
"Time's not the issue," he spat, and then ran a weary hand over his face, steadying himself before speaking again. "Thank you, Zatanna. But it's not about time. It's-" He swallowed and raked a hand through limp, snow-white hair. "Ghostly injuries heal a bit differently." He quirked a hollow grin, something broken in the words. "I'm not human, remember?"
Zatanna pursed her lips at that, concern bleeding from her.
“Phantom!” Superman returned in a flair of red and blue, striding forward and folding his arms, eyes scanning over Phantom’s too-pale figure. “What was that?”
Phantom pressed his lips into a thin, unamused line and straightened, though the darkness from before hadn’t fully left him.
“A building collapse.” He raised a tired brow. “I assume you’re familiar with the concept.” Then glanced around, dragging his gaze back to Batman and asked, “Civilians?”
“No life-threatening injuries that we’ve seen so far. EMS is on the way with clean up.”
Phantom nodded, seemingly distracted. One arm wrapped around his torso with a wince. His other arm—the one he’d slammed into a building—hung limply at his side, steady beads of green trailing down his gloved knuckles. Batman took a step forward, but Superman jumped in before he could continue.
“You know that’s not what I meant. What were you thinking, shoving me out of the sky like that?”
At that, Phantom’s brows pinched and he straightened, a steely expression crossed his face. “A hit like that, even when you’re as strong as you are, wouldn’t feel nice, big blue.”
Superman frowned, obviously displeased. “That was reckless, Phantom. You could have hurt yourself... or worse. Who knows what would have happened if Zatanna hadn't been here in time."
Phantom shrugged, but looked away. And something in his expression, Batman thought Phantom looked…embarrassed.
Superman folded his arms, looking taken aback by the lack of confrontation in the ghost king. He steeled himself with a breath. “What was that thing?” He bit out evenly.
Phantom ran a hand over his shoulder, eyes flicking away in muted irritation. “A ghost. One of mine. Lost track of him awhile back. He’s been biding his time.” Phantom ran a hand through his hair and let out a quiet huff. “Keeping out of the way enough that I couldn’t find him.”
"One of yours." Superman said evenly, blue eyes staring down the ghost king. "Metropolis has had a string of bad luck. That have anything to do with him?"
Phantom nodded, lips pressing into a thin line. "It's kind of his thing. Causing bad luck to spiral from bad to… worse." His eyes flicked to the rubble at his feet. "He must have been in Metropolis for awhile."
Superman bristled. “You knew-“
Phantom’s eyes flickered dangerously, green sparking like a bad wire. “I didn’t know. I’ve been looking for him. But tracking ghosts isn’t as easy as some people might think.” His eyes flickered towards the Dark Knight, a level stare. Another unheeded warning. “I’m sure certain members of your team would agree.”
Batman pushed past the assertion, no matter how true it might be. “But you’re more familiar with them. One of them. You’re saying you don’t have a way to track these things down?”
At that, Phantom bristled, shoulders tensing as he turned to the Man of Steel, something bright flaring in his eyes. He opened his mouth, but Superman interjected. "If you had warned us, if you had shared what you knew-"
“It’s not that simple.” He folded his arms over his chest, then forced his arms down by his sides, palms half-open like he was deliberately trying not to appear like a threat, even as his jaw tightened in a sharp line.
“He’s the one that got away.” All eyes flicked to Batman. Phantom’s gaze caught his, wary and assessing. “The creature that got through, when you made that portal last time you were in Metropolis.” Batman noted dourly, gears turning. This was Phantom’s mess.
He understood Superman’s anger a little more. Not in the least because he knew how the other man would feel about being shoved out of the way like a hapless civilian. Never mind the sudden alarm that Phantom could.
Phantom nodded once, stiffly, hands on his hips and floating just barely off the ground. “I wasn’t sure it was him.”
“What was it?”
Phantom sighed, then steeled himself, wary eyes flicking back and forth between Superman and the Dark Knight. “A Shadow. A second skin to another ghost I’ve fought before. He thrives on bad luck.” He grimaced, lips pressing into a fine line. “The bigger the chaos, the stronger he is.”
“Strong enough to slam you into the side of a steel-frame building and make it collapse?” Superman asked, frowning deeply.
A brief nod. “The bigger the scale, the bigger the ghostly aura. It feeds them—us—here on the living plane. Adds to the substance ghosts are made of.”
After another moment of silence, a quiet whisper as that thought settled. Venturing, something stirred in the back of Batman’s mind. “And what made you?”
Phantom’s expression closed off, hard as stone. But beneath it, a tremor of something fractured and bleeding with power flickered under his skin. "Something powerful enough to punch a hole through the universe right on top of me."
Phantom's stare and admission sent waves of unease down Batman's spine. A crackling tension leaked into the air, heavy and oppressive. Like pressure on the air before a storm.
Zatanna slid forward, shooting Batman and Superman a dangerous look. "And this shadow?"
Slowly, Phantom dropped his gaze, frowning, and the feeling eased. “Johnny’s shadow. I caught Johnny after, but his shadow must have stayed in the living realm.” He met Superman’s gaze. “I’m sorry for the damage he’s caused.”
Superman arched a brow. “Just him?”
Phantom didn’t flinch, but his expression set in hard lines. At his side, his fingers flexed, then eased.
“Not all ghosts are violent. Most are harmless. But not all of them, especially when they cross over to the realm of the living." He sighed, glancing up at Superman. "I’m familiar with the dangers they pose to the living. It’s why I came.” He sighed, closing his eyes and folding his arms before looking back between them, including Zatanna. “Shadow's a nuisance. His presence—and mine,” he admitted, “might draw other interested parties as well. White-suit types.” A chill pressed into the air, cold and warning. “They’re also dangerous. Moreso, depending on what you consider a threat. But the realms consider them an enemy.” And his gaze wandered. “If you see them, I wouldn’t recommend entertaining them in your city, not if you value continued peace with the Realms.”
"A nuisance?” Superman growled out, folding his arms. “A quarter of the city is in ruins because of that thing. He's your responsibility. And you’re telling me he’s nothing more than a nuisance?” He shoots a look at the Dark Knight. “It’s a wonder you made it back from the Realms at all.”
Danny bristled. “It’s not like that.”
“Maybe not.” He frowned, some of the animosity melting from his face, leaving weariness behind. He ran a hand over his face. “I’ve got a city of wounded and trapped to get back to. We can discuss the details later. Until then,” He glanced at Phantom. “Keep your ‘friends’ out of Metropolis.” Then sighed, an unpleasant twist to his lips, eyeing the injured Ghost King. “Please.”
“Wow,” Danny muttered as Superman flew away, though it was more resigned than angry. “Can’t leave behind the midwestern charm, huh?”
Batman stepped forward. His wounds needed to be addressed. "Phantom."
But Phantom straightened, face settling on a steely gaze, injured arm hanging down at his side. “Thanks for helping with Johnny's shadow. I’ve got him." He cast his gaze back towards that distant streak of red and blue, his expression twisting painfully. “Looks like Superman could use your help, and I’ve got to get this one home.”
With a grimace and a mocking two-fingered salute, Phantom slipped into the air, there and gone between one blink and the next, leaving Batman and Zatanna to deal with the damage left behind.