When Justice Knocks

"Danny! Could you come downstairs please?" Maddie's voice drifted under Danny's door like a fast acting poison. All the joy that came from finally, finally besting Doom's newest boss, Killer Rooster, slipped away as a groan escaped him.

If this was about the Specter Deflector 2.0 again, he'd pack his bags and spend the weekend at Tucker's. It had taken two hours after school to get away from his dad's psychobabble, he wasn't eager to get dragged back into it.

"Danny!" his mother called again, this time a lot less patient.

"I'm coming!" he called back. Staring back at the giant letters that yelled 'Victory!' across the screen he felt the slightest flicker of pride before dropping the lid on his laptop and dragging himself from his duvet.

Straightening out his jeans and making sure his t-shirt wasn't ruffled in any way that might suggest he'd been lounging, he made his way from his room and to the stairs. When he reached the top, he spotted Maddie standing by the open front door, looking out at something or someone he couldn't quite see.

"What's up?" he asked, not entirely sure if it was safe to descend. If it were Sam and Tucker at the door, she'd have sent them up. Maddie's head swung to meet his wary gaze and the smile on her face looked distinctly strained. It wasn't an angry kind of strain, more of a 'I'm not entirely sure what's going on so please come and explain it to me' one. Danny decided the anger would have been much less daunting.

"There's some people here to see you, honey. They want to ask you a few questions." The caution in her voice was undeniable. Whoever was on the other side of the doorway had her spooked. Danny took a few careful steps down.

"Who are they?"

He was halfway down the stairs before he spotted the first figure.

He stopped.

The man dressed entirely in red gave him a large grin and a speedy wave.

"Hi! You must be Danny!" he chirruped. Danny's heart gave an involuntary jolt at hearing his name come from a famed superhero's mouth. And then his stomach dropped. He made his way down the rest of the stairs.

"Must be," Danny murmured, brow furrowed slightly in anxious confusion. "Can I… help you somehow?"

He got close enough to spot a second, taller, sturdier figure. The man, equipped with red flowing cape and blue and red spandex gave him a greeting nod before opening his mouth and saying, "we only want to talk."

Danny's eyes locked on the giant 'S' on the second man's chest and his mouth turned dry. Superheroes wanting to talk to him could definitely not be a good thing. Talking to Phantom made sense. Fenton?

"What about?"

"Could we come in?" the man in red asked.

It'd look suspicious if he said no. He glanced up at Maddie whose dazed eyes were still dancing across his face. She was waiting for him to answer.

"Uh… sure."

The man in red gave another grin before shooting past Danny at speeds that weren't in anyway natural. He was perched on the sofa before anyone else even moved.

The second man came next, giving Maddie and her son an apologetic smile before walking over to stand by the speedster's side. And then came a third.

If Danny had been nervous before, the man in black sent his fear skyrocketing. Obscured face as dark and brooding as his costume, he seemed to float into the doorway, waiting for Maddie to close it and lingering, eyes firmly fastened to the squirming teenage boy before him.

"After you," his voice rumbled. Danny's nod was a little too vigorous as he spun and made his way robotically into the living room.

The guy with the S gestured for him to sit and too on edge to do anything else, he complied, perching on the arm of the sofa as far away from the speedster as he could get.

There was a long and silent pause in which S and Red kept glancing between the Bat and Danny like they were waiting to see which would speak first. The Bat continued to stare at Danny and Danny's heart continued to race.

"What's all this about?" Maddie asked, hands settled firmly on her hips as she took note of how uncomfortable her little boy looked amongst the well-built, costumed heroes.

"Danny," the man in blue started. "You know who we are."

He did.

"I do."

"So you know that our job is to protect people from those who might wish to harm them?"

"Yeah."

They said it enough in their countless television interviews with reporters who weren't always picked for their journalistic talents.

"What exactly is your connection with Danny Phantom?" the Bat asked. The air around Danny seemed to freeze over. His eyes shot from the man in black, to his mother.

"I don't-"

"You're not in any trouble. We're here to help," S soothed, sending a small glare at his coworker which was duly ignored.

Maddie's face had gone from confused to horrified.

"Why would you think my son has any connection to that monster?" she asked, voice fierce and cutting. It was a voice Danny had always admired. Her momma bear voice. Overprotective but coming from a good place.

He wasn't admiring it now.

"Mrs Fenton, we don't want to cause problems, but we believe that-"

"Hey, Mom. Could you get me a glass of water? My throat is like a desert."

All eyes snapped to Danny as he forced his gaze to remain locked with his mother's. Suspicion bled into her expression as she took in the forced innocence of his eyes and the way his hand drifted gently to the back of his head.

"'You believe that' what?" she prompted, addressing the man in blue despite keeping her focus on Danny.

Having picked up on the reluctance of Danny to share this conversation with Maddie, no one in the room responded immediately.

"We… believe that… your son might be able to give us an insight on the ghost situation in Amity Park. We've been told he has a knack for cataloguing ghost attacks," Red announced, lie bouncing in Danny's head like an agitated wild cat.

Maddie's eyes widened a fraction as she absorbed his words. "Is this true, sweetie?"

It was. But that wasn't why they were here. And how did they know?

"Yeah, I, uh. I keep a log. Helps me… keep on top of all the stuff you and Dad talk about."

It was disorientating just how quickly she accepted it.

"Oh, honey! That's wonderful, why didn't you say? We could have helped you with it!"

"Could I get that glass of water now?"

The eyes were starting to get heavy. Maddie raised a hand to her heart and gave a loving nod.

"Of course! I'll be right back. Can I offer you boys something?"

"I would die for a coffee right now, Mrs Fenton. Milk, no sugar, thanks," Red said. No one else spoke up.

And then she was gone. Danny let go of a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. The room was silent once more, demanding an explanation.

"Whatever you guys think you know, you're wrong," the teen announced eventually, keeping his voice low enough that it wouldn't reach his mother in the next room.

"Then why don't you tell us what's right?" S gently prompted.

Danny didn't respond. He didn't know how. Red was quick to notice his reluctance and hopped a little closer.

"Come on, kiddo! Like Superman said, we only want to help."

Superman. Superman was in his living room. The name was like a shock to the system. Why was this happening?

"What exactly is it you wanna help with?"

The three heroes shared meaningful looks. The Bat then reached behind his cape and pulled out a dark blue file. He held it out and Red placed it in Danny's hands before the teen even registered he'd left his seat.

He swallowed the uncomfortable lump in his throat before looking down at the file and running a hand over its glossy surface. He opened it.

It was his own crystalline blue eyes that peered back at him. His school photo from freshman year. His face had looked a lot less worn back then. He looked… lighter. His stomach did a small flip as his gaze drifted to the smaller picture beside it. Danny Phantom. One of the earliest pictures ever taken. The similarities between the two were written on a pink sticky note that held them together.

Danny slid the pictures from the top of the file and read over the sheet below it.

Rarely seen in the same place at the same time.

Phantom often appears alongside Fenton's reported friends, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley.

Photographs match almost entirely. Similar age, build and facial features. Differences rest solely in eye and hair colour. Phantom's skin has a distinct paranormal glow.

Phantom appears to be familiar with Fenton's peers and is often seen using Fenton Works technology.

The list went on but he couldn't bring himself to read any further.

"This is insane," he said. His gaze drifted back to the photographs before he placed them over the sheet and closed the folder. His eyes met with the Bat's and then bounced back to Superman. "What exactly do you think is going on here? That Phantom and I are… what?"

He'd been about to say the same person but he decided not to push his luck. The file was daunting, but there was nothing to say they'd definitely figured it out.

Another meaningful look.

"We understand that you might be afraid, but we're here to protect you. We won't let him hurt you."

Danny fought to keep the disbelief from his face as he stared into the concerned eyes of the Man of Steel. He tried to reply but all that came from his throat was a confused, "uhh."

"Trust us, we're superheroes. We beat back the bad guys," Red said in an attempt to be comforting.

Danny's brain lagged on 'bad guys'.

"You think Danny Phantom is a villain?"

"Robbing banks, destroying buildings, abducting mayors," Red listed on his fingers, almost comically. "Not exactly role model of the year, is he?"

Irritation spiked in the teenager as he took in the seated hero's relaxed posture and easy grin.

"He's trying his best," he all but growled. He realised his mistake a second too late.

"So you're close," the Bat accused. Danny sank under the Dark Knight's glare.

"I wouldn't say that."

The eyes got heavy again. He wished he'd stayed up in his room.

"Is it possession?" Superman asked.

"No," Danny replied, sharper than he'd intended. "Possession doesn't work like that."

"We met these aliens once that could mimic the appearance of others while feeding of their life force. Is it something like that?"

The look Danny gave Red was borderline incredulous.

"Are you for real?" That sounded horrifying. Did they really distrust his ghost half that much?

The roar of the kettle reached its peak.

"You're not giving us a whole lot to work with here, kid," Superman said. He didn't want to give them anything to work with. He wanted them gone.

"That's because there isn't anything. You're jumping to conclusions based on information that is shaky at best. Just because we look similar, doesn't mean there's anything weird going on." He waved the file around like he was trying to put out a fire.

The silence was shorter this time, but far more tense. He was hiding something and they all knew it.

"You don't have to protect him," Red tried.

"I'm not trying to protect anyone," Danny lied.

"Except yourself."

The Bat's grunt was like a gunshot. Danny's heart froze in his chest and his grip on the file tightened. He tried and failed to hide the sudden increase in the speed of his breathing.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, though it was more of a tight squawk. The corner of the man's mouth twitched upwards a fraction as he took note of the sudden panic. Before he could answer, Maddie burst back into the living room, water in one hand, coffee in the other.

The file disappeared behind the sofa in a heartbeat which didn't go unnoticed by the heroes. Superman's frown deepened as his eyes swept from the sofa's back, to Danny, to Danny's mother.

"So, what did I miss?" Maddie asked in a sing song voice that sounded alien amongst the tension that hung in the air.

"Nothing," Danny blurted. "Just a load of paperwork stuff. You guys are good now, right?"

Please leave.

"Well, actually," Red started, stretching across for the offered coffee.

"We're done," the Bat interrupted. His sharp and calculative stare never left Danny, only working to make the teen all the more anxious.

"Really? But you boys just got here."

"They're really busy, Mom. Being superheroes and all. I'm sure they have much more important things to do than question me." He returned the man in black's stare, challenge shining in his eyes despite everything inside him begging for him to back down. Fighting Batman didn't sound like something he'd ever want to try.

"But the coffee…"

"Don't worry, Mrs Fenton. I always bring a flask!" Red whipped out a silver flask with a lightning bolt design on the front that matched the insignia on his chest. Balancing the steaming mug on his lap, he twisted the lid from the metal cup and proceeded to pour in the coffee. Danny couldn't help but watch the man's antics with a hint of wonder. How could someone so worshipped be so… bizarre.

The second he was done, he stood and passed the mug back to an impressed looking Maddie. Danny remained seated as the heroes made their way to the door. The Flash was the first out singing a quick thanks and goodbye. Superman lingered a few seconds, pinning the teen with a confused and speculative gaze before giving a farewell nod and departing after his coworker.

Batman stayed fixed in place. Danny had to rest his newly acquired water on his knee to stop his shaking from showing across its surface.

"We'll see you soon, Danny," the man said. His tone held a sharp warning that the teen couldn't shake. He kept quiet as Batman's eyes did a final challenging sweep of his face before the hero marched off to join the others.

The front door closed with a clatter.

"What was all that about?" Maddie asked, sliding down to sit beside her son. Danny's gaze slid down to the quaking glass in his hands before giving a heavy shrug.

"I have no idea."

AN: I have no idea either, Danny. None at all. I had an urge and I had to satisfy it. So there you go.

~Mea