Hey everyone, this here is the oneshot that had the most votes on the poll I've been leaving up for months. It took longer to get is out since I've been working on an art commission for my boss.
This is also one of three Christmas updates for you all! The first was the next chapter to PoTJ, the next with be a short drabble someone from AO3 requested. A 'what if' if Kwan had walked in on the events taking place in the 'Unexpected Situations' oneshot 'Peeping Tom'.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays readers!
1/4/17 EDIT: Fixed the 'ghosts are all bad' line.
4/13/17 EDIT: I will be perfectly honest. I edited that mistake the anonymous user 'edit' pointed out after coming home...from a bar...where I had been drinking. I am not totally sober readers, have mercy on me. (I actually had to edit this sentence because of my less than complete sobriety).
There have been several crazy and creative ways to trap and kill superhero's But Superman had to admire the simplicity of tonight's particular trap. It wasn't anything spectacular, there was no one to laugh maniacally from a high perch, or monologue about what they would do to the defenseless hero's. It was just a glowing green force field of unidentifiable origin.
Nothing too worrisome.
Batman will have answers once the computer on his wrist was finished analyzing the energy that surrounded his fellow Justice League members.
From one end of the orb the several supers were standing jittery in, Batman lifted his masked head from the holographic screen hovering over his wrist. Superman looked hopefully at his friend whose scowl merely darkened.
"I don't know what it is." He muttered darkly.
The Flash, who was vibrating in the same spot he's been in since this whole fiasco started, jolted to a halt. His hands come up to fiddle with each other as a nervous laugh escaped his lips.
"You're joking, right? Please tell me you're joking!" He cried, looking at the walls of green energy as if they were closing in around them. It wasn't, in fact the orb was spred wide enough to fit all supers present quite comfortably. But that was neither here nor there and Superman was starting to feel a ball of dread form in the pit of his stomach.
Batman glared spitefully at the wall at his side.
"I don't joke."
….And now Batman was brooding, this…this didn't bode well for anyone.
"Do you know anything?" Wonder Woman asked, walking next to the black cloaked man with a concerned frown. The Dark Knight spared her a glance.
"It isn't inorganic."
"Well that's—"
"Not helpful to the issue at hand." Flash poked nervously at the green energy suspiciously. Admittedly, it kind of wasn't much use. Either way, Superman and Wonder Woman could not punch through it, Man Hunter could not go through it, and since it was some kind of organic energy Batman could not disrupt it with any electronics.
The Justice League were trapped. And they didn't know by whom or what was the cause. From inside, their view of the sleeping town they had come to investigate could be seen, if a little distorted from the way the energy caging them seemed to pulse and move as if it were alive.
Martian Man Hunter studied the barrier with an indifferent look as he tried yet again to go through it, only to once again have the sphere appear to solidify and refuse him passage.
"How very interesting…" the green man hummed.
It worried Superman at this point. It has been over twenty minutes and Batman was now brooding in a corner, Flash was two seconds away from a mental break down, Man Hunter was poking at their prison like it was the most fascinating thing in the world, and the rest were simply making themselves comfortable on the ground to wait this strange experience out.
It wasn't until the gasp that left Wonder Woman's mouth did the majority of the hero's in the bubble find interest in anything.
"Diana?" questioned Batman, lips down turned in concern. The amazonian's hand was clutched to her chest as the other held it, her eyes wide and jaw slack.
"What's up?" Green Lantern questioned beside her.
"It…" The dark haired woman shook her head in quite disbelief. Then slowly, proceeded to reacquaint her hand with the surface of their cage with a gentle hand. The others watched with baited breath as the woman brushed her hand along the surface and made noises of shock as the immovable force field stretched and gave way to her non violent pushing.
The Flash fidgeted nervously, babbling something sciency sounding that most ignored. And then, Diana's face changed from shock to awe as she breathed in deeply.
"It…It pulses, like a nervous heartbeat." She breathed. Taking the chance, the woman leaned forward, the hero's noted a change in the consistency of the energy as it moved with her body as if to carry her weight. Wonder Woman peered through the transparent force field and into the town.
Curiously, the others did the same as she, they didn't try to break through. Brushing his hand across the chilled surface of the energy he was surprised that yes, the energy pulsed in a quick beat like that of a heartbeat. Superman furrowed his brow unsure how he hadn't heard it before until he focus's long enough to realize it was at a frequency that normal humans could not make or hear, it was difficult, even for his own ears to pick up without knowing he should listen for it.
The Kyrptonian's eyes looked upon the surface of their cage and listened closely, Diana was right, the quick, rapid beat was nervous. Whatever had trapped them was scared.
But of what? Them?
Why would anyone have reason to fear the Justice League?
All around the members of the Justice League were privy to this new leeway they were given by the force field as long as they were careful. One by one the hero's leaned in to peer into the town of Amity Park and the energy carefully moved with them and changed the level of transparency for them all. The sleeping town could be seen much more clearly.
Amity Park, for a time, had been so far off their radar, it's problems were steeped in media conspiracies and hearsay outside of the town. Most only know it as a "haunted" tourist trap in the middle of nowhere too important.
But that was before the entire town had disappeared for three days with no one able to explain to them what or why it happened.
And that was when Batman himself started taking the mystery the town was steeped in more seriously. He had files on the town know, reports from local media outlets, online articles, actual tourists, the works. And when he came to the watchtower with valid reasons to finally set aside other projects to scope out the town who was Superman to deny his friend.
But to be perfectly honest, Superman wasn't exactly fond of the theories and ideas Batman had come up with in relation to the towns issues.
Death and the afterlife were a touchy subject after all. And the thought of spirits roaming the town was down right scandalous when comparing the idea to what his parents back in Kansas believed during all those years ago, on Sunday mornings with them in the local church.
The man of steel looked at the simple buildings and street signs beyond their cage and sighed.
"This would be so much easier if someone would just start monologueing all ready." Flash leaned against the green energy as he became less inclined to freak out about the unnamed substance.
Faintly, from the other side of the sphere Superman could have sworn he heard something that sounded much like a muffled snicker.
"Hello?" he stood up straighter, catching the attention of his comrades as they looked at him curiously. The faint noise stopped suddenly, like it caught itself in the act of making noise, Superman narrowed his eyes.
"I heard you laughing, show yourself. Are you the one who trapped us in this thing?"
The other members of the Justice League peered uneasily around at the Kryptonian's words before something amazing happed. The energy surrounding them rippled uneasily before calming itself. It was quite yet again until…
"What is the Justice League, of all people doing in Amity Park?" The voice was young, it came from outside the barrier so the hero's could assume this voice, whomever it belonged to was their captor. But the pitch, the way it wavered nervously, the voice sounded younger than eighteen. Batman's lips pursed as his eyes narrowed in thought.
"We've been curious about the town for a long time." Superman starts, surprise clearly written on his face that he even got a reply. "We just wanted to see if everything was alright—"
"Everything is fine. I have it handled. We don't need outsiders…uh…well…I-I mean—" the voice had started stern, authoritative, until it wavered and nervous stutters took over before the voice huffed in annoyance. Possibly at itself, but no one was too sure.
"Look, did…did anyone, I don't know, send you here?" the voice questioned. Superman furrowed his brow.
"No? I mean, Batman convinced us to come, but—"
"So no billionaire fruitloops convinced you the town was being threatened, or..or men in white suites told you to…to d-dispose or capture anything here?" The voice picked up, the energy around them rippled and wavered again, fading until the voice stopped talking, waiting for an answer.
Superman wasn't entirely sure what the voice was talking about and pursed his lips. Instead of answering he asked.
"Will you show yourself to us, I don't appreciate talking to thin air."
Another pause. It was so long that the others began to think the voice abandoned them until:
"You…you won't try to hurt me?" it asked. It sounded so small, so unsure about the current predicament that Superman had to take a moment to marvel at how young the voice was.
"We never planned on hurting anyone we met here." The man of steel nodded after a moment.
The energy flickered away and the hero's breathed a sigh of relief until another figure faded into existence before them. Wonder Woman murmured something under her breath in surprise as the others reacted to the form of a lithe, white haired teenager appeared before them. His arms folded up into his chest and shoulders hunched. He floated above them, a wispy tail that receded into nothing twitched in the air. His wide, uncomfortably green eyes flickered to each and every one of them, as if the slightest move on their part would urge him to flee.
If an evil mastermind is what any of them were expecting, this was not that. The teenager looked ready to flee at any moment.
"Phantom, I presume." Batman broke the awkward silence and caused the white haired boy to flinched before looking over to the black clad vigilante. He nodded his head.
"And you're Batman, big fan, I would ask for your autograph, but this is neither the time nor place. Why are you visiting Amity Park? And how do you know me? No one outside of Amity has seen me." He pressed, hovering a bit lower, staring in suppressed awe at the Dark Knight much to some of the Leagues amusement.
"Some of the events that have happened as of late have concerned the newly formed Justice League—"
"Meaning mostly him." Flash pointed out with a shrug. Batman pointed an annoyed glare the speedster's way before turning his attention back of the mysterious figure.
"I've done my research." Batman finished.
Phantom still seemed mildly unimpressed, crossing his arms and looking down at them all with his added height.
"Uh huh, what kind of research? The media lies about me, like a lot of lies." Phantom shrugs.
"That's where it gets a bit questionable. Ghosts?" one could get the distinct feeling Batman had raised an eyebrow in question. Phantom let his lower lip jut out in a childish pout.
"It's steeped more in science than you might think, but yes. Amity is plagued by ghosts." Phantom affirmed. The white haired teenager floated to the ground, a pair of legs morphing from the ghostly tail before he landed on the ground to stand at his natural height. He was a short teenager, slimly built and looked like a strong gust of wind could knock him over.
"So you're really only here to look at the threat, not…attack me, or the ghosts, or for anyone else?" Phantom reiterated. Batman glanced to Superman who looked a bit awkward with all this talk, but nodded nonetheless.
"Originally I had planned for the rest to spread out and locate you, but you found us first. From my research I got the impression the "Mysterious Phantom" was a lot less trouble than early news papers believed. I believe a discussion would be mutually beneficial to us all." Batman proposed. Phantom's brow furrowed before scratching at the back of his neck.
"Um, sure, I guess. As long as no one is going to shoot me I don't mind explaining things…But My concern is what you are going to do with the information. Look, despite what most people from Amity will tell you, us ghosts aren't all bad. Most still retain their personalities from life or some just have obsessions that cause a lot of trouble for the living. Some can't help it. But I have it handled. If you think you guys can just come here and try and fix things then you have another thing coming, because…because I'm handling things just fine by myself, and I don't need people who don't understand the way things work here to try any—"
Batman held up a hand during Phantoms panicked speech, a small smirk flickered across his lips.
"Just talk, explain our questions, then we'll leave."
The ghostly boy stared up at them, then breathed a heavy sigh of relief. His shoulders sagged as he focused of Batman, far more open to the Dark Knight than anyone else it seemed.
"Alright…what do you want to know?"
Not much edited, there may be mistakes.
I thought about making it longer, but I'm new to writing JL characters and didn't want to write a big thing. Just a little thing about a nervous Danny meeting the JL. Maybe there will be another short chapter or sequel to conclude the discussion hey start, but I'm content with leaving the ending up to reader imagination. Also, there's an additional present for you readers since its the holidays! I'm going ahead and posting the prologue to the other story I had on the poll with Tigger Happy!