I do not own Danny Phantom or DC and their characters.

Life Goals

Danny Fenton was a boy with few goals in life. He used to aspire to being an astronaut, but since an accident turned him into a half human half ghost hybrid, he boiled those lofty dreams down to a few essentials. Passing his classes was on the list, though pretty far down, finishing his chores was below even that, so far down the list it was in danger of falling off. Protecting his family and friends was at the top. One goal that ranked pretty highly on his list of necessities was not drawing the attention of the Justice League in the course of his small town heroics.

True, Danny idolized many members of the Justice League. Superman was a favorite, as was Batman. Martian Manhunter was another one he would like to meet someday if only to ask the alien about outer space. Even the sidekicks of the Justice League members Danny put on something of a pedestal, Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, they all possessed something he didn't as a hero and something he never thought he would get: legitimacy. The public saw them as heroes, perhaps younger than their mentors, in need of training but undeniably heroes. Danny, no matter how hard he tried to convince people otherwise was still seen as nothing more than a ghost, and a troublesome one at that.

So while Danny had nothing against the Justice League themselves, he was well aware the League worked with the government and the government passed the Anti-Ecto Acts as well as owned and operated the GIW.

And not being dissected or subjected to many, many painful experiments was probably at the top of Danny's goals in life, right below protecting his family, friends, and town.

It gave Danny extra motivation to make sure the ghosts stayed in line, or at least, stayed in Amity Park. When the incident with Pariah Dark happened and the entire town disappeared into another dimension, Danny was sure his goose was cooked, once he survived the actual invasion itself. After all, the Justice League must notice something like an entire town disappearing for several days. Thankfully, days and then weeks passed and no one in fancy costumes and intimidating super powers showed up to investigate.

Now, several months after the invasion, Danny once again thought his days of flying under the Justice League's radar were drawing to a close. The cause of his downfall? The Box Ghost.

"Get back here!" Danny yelled, flying at break-neck speed in a desperate attempt to catch up to the small figure in overalls. The wind swept his words away, but the Box Ghost probably would ignore them in any case.

Normally, Danny would be able to outstrip the Box Ghost even on a bad day, but another ghost distracted Danny when Boxy first turned up. Instead of heading to one of the usual storage facilities nearby, the box-obsessed annoyance decided if he snuck away from town it would take Danny longer to find him and he'd have a longer time reveling in his self-created box-filled empire. By the time Danny realized what happened, the Box Ghost was miles away and Danny was losing ground.

Danny tracked the Box Ghost for almost the entire night. He wasn't sure where they were exactly, but he knew they must have left the state and were headed east. Dawn was breaking over the horizon, nearly blinding Danny with the bright morning light, only serving to aggravate him more. He managed to make up a lot of the ground initially lost during the Box Ghost's head start, but Danny was tiring and he couldn't seem to push out the little extra speed needed to overcome the blue figure ahead of him. The best he could hope for was that the Box Ghost would find a warehouse or post office soon and stop to indulge in his obsession. Then, hopefully Danny could sweep down and catch him before anyone noticed.

Finally, FINALLY, the Box Ghost started to descend. The sun had been up for maybe an hour, perhaps more and they were breaking from their eastward course. Danny followed suit, staying back to maintain any surprise he might still have, while trying to stay close enough to see where the ghost landed. Danny lost the blue glowing figure in the trees for several minutes, but figured the ghost was on a direct line course for whatever had distracted him. Sure enough, fifteen minutes later, Danny came out of the woods into a storage and shipping facility, one of those large complexes outside of residential areas to accommodate for space.

Now, Danny pulled up short, looking around the compound to see if there was any way to determine where the Box Ghost had gone. There were multiple large buildings, most of which were probably warehouses, and many of which were probably filled with boxes. Danny moved into the compound, fazing through the chain link fence surrounding it and turning invisible to avoid scaring anyone not accustomed to ghosts. On the nearest building a large sign proclaimed the property belonged to a company called Wayne Enterprises. That was one of the rivals to Vlad's company and based largely on the east coast, Danny only knew it because Vlad had complained about Wayne Enterprises and its owner, Bruce Wayne, on several occasions when visiting the Fenton household.

Danny sighed. It looked like it was just a matter of phasing through each storehouse until he found the Box Ghost. Looking down at his watch brought another frustrated sigh. It was almost ten in the morning. Looked like his Saturday was going to be shot, but at least it wasn't a school day. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz were going to kill him for not letting them know where he went, when he finally returned home.

"Boxy's going to get shoved in the thermos for a week for this, the pest," Danny grumbled. Shaking his head, he passed intangible and invisible through the first building. The place was empty and dark. He paused to make sure nothing was there then moved on to the next and the next. Danny had exited his sixth warehouse, growling in frustration and fatigue when a faint scream brought his head around. "Gotcha," he muttered before shooting off toward the sound.

The scream had come from the second to last warehouse down the line. It was also the biggest, probably the main sorting and distribution center making it more attractive to a box-obsessive ghost. Danny phased into the building once again intangible and invisible. He peered around, sticking his head through the wall first.

Laughter, attempting to be intimidating, but sounding more comical echoed through the largest storage and loading bay. Danny followed it, careful to remain silent and maintain his element of surprise. Getting the Box Ghost into the thermos with the least amount of resistance was best. Danny was too tired and annoyed to deal with the frustrating process of fighting with the overall-wearing, blue monstrosity.

Sure enough, there in the corner surrounded by a mounting pile of cardboard boxes floated the Box Ghost. He hadn't noticed Danny's arrival yet, which was good, but apparently he'd taken precautions against being captured by doing something he'd never done before: by taking hostages. Which was bad.

The small group of people were imprisoned in a makeshift cell constructed out of boxes and cardboard. Several large boxes floated over the group, perhaps to act as projectiles against them in case anyone attempted a rescue effort. It looked more like fear rather than the poorly constructed cell kept the people inside. Two of the prisoners were dressed in workman's clothes, jeans and rough jackets with gloves, while the remaining four were dressed in business attire, suits, ties, and jackets, perhaps some representatives from management visiting the warehouse. All of them wore yellow hard hats and while most cringed in the back of the kindergartener's interpretation of a prison cell, one man stood near the front glaring at the Box Ghost as though he recognized a nuisance when he saw one.

The Box Ghost laughed again, the chuckles starting out in an attempt at being dark but devolving into a fit of delighted giggles. He stacked the boxes up around him, pulling them from the corners of the warehouse into one massive pile. Witnesses outside of Amity was the last thing Danny needed, hostages that could potentially get hurt in the ensuing fight and complain to the Justice League or the authorities he could use even less.

"Who are you?" the man in the makeshift prison called, glaring out from behind pillars of boxes. He was nicer dressed than the rest. His suit reminding Danny of some of Vlad's, and he stood right up next to the wall of boxes with no fear for the unknown being holding him hostage.

Danny mentally counted down to the inevitable monologue as the other ghost turned on his captives.

"I am the Box Ghost!" The Box Ghost declared with a wide gesture. "Beware! For I am master of all things cardboard and square!"

The look the other man gave was less than impressed to say the least. "And what do you intend to do with these boxes, now that you've got them?"

The question seemed to throw the Box Ghost off as he stopped, all the floating boxes pausing in midair with him. Danny wasn't even sure if the Box Ghost really made plans past the notion of collecting as many boxes as possible. The moment passed and the Box Ghost straightened expression brightening. "With these boxes I will spell doom for the human realm and then rule over all things cubed and rectangle!" The laughing sounded again as all boxes continued on their way to the growing pile.

The man inside the cardboard cage rubbed the bridge of his nose, disbelief written over his face. "Then why take hostages if you only care about the boxes?"

"You are my insurance in case the Ghost Boy comes and attempts to stop me by using his cylindrical container." The Box Ghost returned his attention to the growing mountain of cardboard. "He will not risk the injury of innocent bystanders." The ghost's guffaws followed the announcement, sure in his protection plan.

Danny used the conversation as a distraction and moved to the cardboard prison. He tried to lift an upper box from the back, hoping to release the hostages before the fight. The box refused to move, however. A faint current of ghostly power ran through them keeping them in place. Boxy was getting two weeks in the thermos for this stunt.

Floating around to place himself between the innocent bystanders and the Box Ghost, Danny prepared a shield and ectoblast in his mind. He got the thermos ready in one hand. He popped into visibility, throwing a protective shield around the group of people as the boxes floating over their heads immediately catapulted toward the hostages.

"Hey Box Ghost! Beware!" Danny cried and fired off a succession of ecto blasts, hitting most on their target. He pointed the thermos, sucking up a sputtering Box Ghost before the other could react. "Heh," Danny chuckled to himself, "That must be a record…now that I've actually caught up with him." Boxes everywhere fell to the floor and part of the Box Ghost's tower collapsed in a slide of cardboard and shattering noises. Danny capped the thermos and turned to the group of hostages.

Most of the people didn't seem to realize that they'd actually been rescued and they cowered in the back of the cell one woman in a professional skirt and heels screaming at Danny's attention now directed toward them. Danny cringed, curling slightly into himself. There was no way this wasn't getting back to some authority figure.

"I'm really sorry about this," Danny said. He hooked the thermos on his belt and dropped the shield surrounding the group of people. He floated over and started shifting the boxes from the stacked pillars to the floor opening up a section for the hostages to exit the cell. The boxes moved easily now that the Box Ghost was trapped and unable to exert his will over them.

"And who are you?" the man who'd been talking to the Box Ghost asked, looking at Danny with interest.

"Uh," Danny said, debating on whether to give his name or not. Actually, considering the news articles out there connected with his name, better not. "I'm nobody."

"Really," the man said, crossing his arms and adopting a flat expression.

"Uh, yeah," Danny said, focusing his attention on moving the boxes to release the people inside. "Just nobody important. Look, mister-"

"Wayne," the man said, watching as Danny cleared a path, slowly taking down the impressive pillars of boxes. They'd be able to get out now, with or without Danny's help.

Danny balked, freezing as he registered the name. Wayne was the name on the side of the buildings, Wayne Enterprises. Maybe it was a coincidence. "Wayne as in…"

"The owner of this company," one of the suited men snapped, edging forward.

The rest of group seemed to realize the glowing person before them was, in fact, rescuing them and slowly relaxed, though still kept a wide distance from Danny. The man who had spoken, however, was moving closer than the rest, scowling at Danny from his position behind Mr. Wayne.

"This is Bruce Wayne, owner of Wayne Enterprises, and if you're in any way responsible for what has happen I can assure you the repercussions will be severe." The man wagged his finger, face fixed in a scowl, bald head slowly turning red.

Oh Clockwork, Danny's luck had never been good, but sometimes it just took a turn for the worse. Of course one of the hostages would be the freakin' owner of the company. Danny felt himself pale even farther. Just one more reason why he was glad he hadn't given his name. No way to sue someone if you didn't know who they were, not that anyone had ever sued a ghost before, that Danny knew.

"I'm sorry ok!" Danny said, torn between indignant and panic. He stopped pulling boxes down as he attempted to explain at least a little of his defense. "He got away from me before I could capture him! I promise it won't happen again, and I'm sorry for the mess, but there's not much I can do about that!"

The bald man, opened his mouth to bite back another angry retort but Mr. Wayne held up a hand instantly silencing any further comment. Wayne looked at Danny, no anger or fear in his expression, just curiosity. "What is he?"

Danny grimaced, not particularly wanting to answer that question either. "He's a nuisance, but a mostly harmless one."

The dodge didn't go unnoticed, but it did go uncommented. "What are you going to do with him?" Wayne asked.

Danny unhooked the thermos and scowled down at it. "I'm tempted to leave him in here for a while considering the trouble he's caused, but eventually I'll send him back where he came from, I run a strict catch and release program."

Wayne's eyebrows raised, "So you're just going to let him go?"

"Not just out in the human world to bother more people," Danny said, jumping to stop any misconceptions. "I dump them back into the pocket dimension that they come from and usually it takes a while for them to find their way out again."

Wayne's eyebrows raised further, not enough to look surprised but enough to be incredulous. "There's more of them?"

"Don't get me started," Danny muttered to himself, but nodded. "Uh, Mr. Wayne?" Danny said after a beat, clasping the thermos close to his chest. "You're not going to tell the Justice League about this, are you?" Danny didn't know if Mr. Wayne had that kind of influence or if he would even bother, nothing was damaged after all…well, not much, Danny hoped. Still, rich people could be funny about things that inconvenienced or offended them. Danny thought back to Sam's parents and their reactions to Circus Gothica. Of course, they were right about there being something wrong with that circus, but that was beside the point.

"Why? Are you a villain?" Mr. Wayne asked in a dry tone, but his expression lacked the hard edge of seriousness, falling on the side of amused.

"No!" Danny just managed to avoid yelling as he rushed out a denial, "I'm a hero. It's just…" he struggled to find a way to describe it without incriminating himself or giving anything away. "Well, they're professionals. You know, big fish and I'm… just a guppy. A harmless little guppy." He shrugged adding with a grimace, "And I don't have the best reputation, but I'm working on it."

There was something in Mr. Wayne's eyes, maybe a glint of approval, Danny wasn't sure. "Well, thank you for taking care of him."

Danny beamed, eyes brightening and smile stretching wider than it had in days. Not many people thanked Danny when he dealt with ghosts and Mr. Wayne was taking all of this really well. Maybe he wasn't in nearly as much trouble as he thought he'd be. Maybe Mr. Wayne wouldn't tell the Justice League or the government. "You're welcome!" Danny said, posture straightening just a little. "I promise he won't bother you anymore and sorry for the mess again! Bye!" With that and a quick wave Danny winked out of visibility and shot through the wall.

Soaring up above the trees and directing himself west, Danny prepared himself for the long flight home. Things didn't seem as bad as they did just an hour ago. Sure, Danny was exhausted, hundreds of miles from home, and looking to spend the rest of his Saturday getting yelled at by his friends for disappearing in the night, but at least things had gone relatively well with catching the Box Ghost and saving the hostages. Mr. Wayne seemed nice enough, nothing like Vlad's manipulations, but it stood to reason there had to be at least one straightforward and even tempered billionaire in the world. No, Danny's secret was safe. The Justice League wasn't going to find about him now, or anytime soon.

::The End::

A/N: Danny doesn't know the can of worms he just opened. One shot to continue practicing my short story skills. Please R&R to help me improve, tell me what you think, encourage me, or if you have ideas for where this could go, or just to say hi.