Okay, I just have to say that I'm very sorry for the… 9-10 month delay on this chapter. I had gotten to a point where I just didn't like writing this fic. For some reason, it's very difficult to write… so I had to do something else.

Additionally, in that time, I got a full-time job (it's also labeled as essential, so I was working through the quarantine), so I haven't had as much time as I would like to write. Also, excuse time: I got a Switch and Animal Crossing New Horizons… so, I've been playing that for the last month, and I would die for Ozzie.

Chapter 8: To Metropolis!

Teleporting was an odd experience. They could feel themselves moving and not moving at the same time. Like being pulled, but without any of the momentum; like being stretched and squeezed, but without any of the sensations or discomfort. It lasted forever and was over in an instant.

The three landed on the rooftop of a very tall building. In the center was another smaller level with a door that looked like its only function was to be an entry or exit from the roof, and on top of that, a gigantic, slowly rotating globe with the words 'Daily Planet' around the equator was displayed, likely designed to be visible to anyone in the city that can still see the building. Danny took a few steps closer to the edge of the roof and looked down to see the hustle and bustle of what he'd always imagined a big city to look like.

"Woah," he breathed as he took in the city beneath him.

"Welcome to the Daily Planet, the first stop of our tour." Superman gestured to the golden globe. "It happens to be one of the most fair and accurate newspapers in the nation, if you want my opinion. Now, before we go inside, I just need to change into something that will attract less attention. I'll be right back."

They watched as he walked through the door, into the building—but before the door had even shut, Superman walked right back out in a completely different outfit; it was almost like he was a different person. He was wearing a blue button-down suit with a red tie, a pair of prescription glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, his hair was even styled differently, and he was slouching, giving himself a bit of a gut.

"Superman? What—"

"Secret identity," he said as he adjusted his glasses and smiled. "Clark Kent, journalist and reporter for the Daily Planet by day, and Superman by… well, also day. Metropolis doesn't get a lot of late-night crime, that's more Gotham's area. Anyway, call me Clark."

Danny furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Do people give out their secret identity all the time here? Because you just met us like, a couple days ago," he quirked his head to one side. "Back on my world, the only people—well, the only humans—who knew about me were either there when I got my powers, or found out by accident… so why…?"

Superman—Clark shrugged.

"Well, you did accidentally reveal your secret identity to everyone in the med-bay, so I figured that it would only be fair if you knew who at least some of us were, right?"

Danny blinked, then smiled, realizing that Clark was being considerate of his feelings and trying to level the playing field. It had been a while since someone that he hadn't already worked closely with had given him so much trust up front; it made him feel like he didn't have to constantly watch his back, knowing that not only Frostbite, but now also Superman was looking out for him. At that, the yeti stood next to the young halfa and raised an eyebrow.

"Would it not be odd to have two strangers, one of whom is me—" Frostbite gestured at himself, "—accompany you into your place of business? Even more when we are eventually connected to your Justice League? Is your… secret identity not at risk?"

Clark just smiled, shrugging his shoulders.

"As self-serving as it may sound, I'm known for having connections within the League, and being their 'go to' journalist whenever they need something," he rubbed the back of his neck. "So as long as y'all don't go around calling me Superman, then I'm sure everyone will just think that you're new Leaguers here for an interview."

They nodded in understanding. They all started moving towards the door when—

"Hey wait a second!" Danny's eyes went wide as he stopped short, suddenly panicking. He was still in his human form; would he have to tell everyone that he was a superhero? Would he have to explain what he was? "I don't think I have the energy to be in my ghost form right now, and I really don't want people to know that I'm a halfa but if you say that I'm Phantom or a new Leaguer or something they're going to know and— oh ancients it's going to be the GIW all over again, they're gonna—"

He didn't realize that he was almost hyperventilating until he felt the familiar and comforting weight of Frostbite's large paw on his shoulder. Clark was on a knee in front of him at eye level.

"Danny, listen. I promise nothing is going to happen to you while I'm here, and judging by the look on Frostbite's face, he feels the same and more," Clark put a hand on the teen's other shoulder.

Danny looked up at his mentor; the yeti's eyes were dark and his face grave. For a moment, it looked like Frostbite wanted to say something… Instead, he just clenched his jaw and nodded, adding a reaffirming pressure to the boy's shoulder.

"We don't have to do anything today it you don't want to," Clark added. "Do you want to go back to the Watchtower? It wouldn't be a problem, and we can reschedule this for any time."

Danny took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then let it back out. Then again. And once more for good measure.

"No, I'm fine, we can go," he forced a smile, but by the look of concern on both Frostbite and Clark's faces, he didn't do a very good job. "We'll cross any bridge when we get to them. Improvise, right? It's like, my best talent."

They walked into the building and stepped right onto an elevator. Clark pushed a button that was not the ground-floor. Probably sensing the questioning looks, he faced the ghosts with a bit of embarrassment as he nudged his glasses with a finger.

"Lois would hate me if I didn't introduce you two to her first. She's a little intense, but I'm sure you'll like her—"

The elevator pinged as they arrived at their floor. The doors opened to reveal busy offices and people walking with purpose looking over papers and yellow notepads, sometimes journalists would shout to others on the other side of the room, more than one would shout back. All in all, it was chaotic; in a good way, Danny thought, because even as they entered the room, very little attention was spared for them. Most of the reporters who noticed them – which was almost all of them, they did have a ten-foot-tall yeti – would double-take, but then seem to see Clark with them, and just kind of shrug, the moment not interrupting their flow as they got back to work.

The trio rounded a corner and stopped at a cubicle where a woman with long black hair was hunched over a keyboard, typing furiously.

"Hey Lois, I wanted to—"

"Smallville!" the woman greeted without turning around. "I didn't think you'd be coming in today, weren't you saying a couple days ago you had some family thing—"

As she finally faced them, she stopped abruptly and blinked, shock passing her face for only a moment. She stood up with a professional smile and stuck out a hand to Frostbite.

"Hi, I'm Lois Lane; sorry about that, Mr. Kent didn't tell me he'd be bringing anyone by," she introduced herself and shook the yeti's massive paw. She tilted her head slightly to one side. "New Leaguer, I presume? I must say I'm surprised to see a yeti all the way down here, you do know that there's a Canadian division of the Justice League, right? Or maybe you'd be more suited to one of the European or Asian divisions; I hear there's a base in Tibet,-" she continued talking as she turned to get a pen and notepad. "It's not just the Justice League of America anymore, Justice League International, is what they're calling it. So tell me, not that we wouldn't be happy to have you but, why did you choose America?"

"Uhm," came Frostbite's bewildered reply. He wasn't used to humans, or anyone really, being so direct with him, let alone the fact that he didn't quite know how to answer the question. That didn't seem to phase Lois as she barreled onward.

"And what's your power-set? I'm assuming super strength, although to you it may just be normal strength," she started scribbling on her notepad. "I'm not too familiar with yeti mythology—ha! I guess it's not mythology anymore. So are there more yetis? Where did you come from? Most supposed yeti sightings are in the Himalayas, so how did you—"

"Actually, Lois, we're not here for an interview," Clark interrupted, much to the relief of Frostbite. "I just wanted to introduce them to you before we started our little tour. They both came to Metropolis around the same time, so I thought, why not do it as a group?"

"Both?" The woman looked confused for a moment before zeroing in on Danny. Mentally kicking herself for not noticing the boy before, she stuck out a hand to him as well. "Hiya kid, I'm Lois. Sorry about all that," she looked back up to the yeti before settling back to the kid in front of her. "Sometimes my reporter-brain takes control before my Lois-brain kicks in. So! You another cousin of Clark's? A long-lost son perhaps?" Her eyes quickly flitted to Clark. "No, he's way too farm-grown for that—"

"And sometimes your reporter-brain just won't let go, huh?" He grinned at her fondly. "This is Danny, he's actually my first cousin, once removed."

Lois raised an eyebrow.

"That's a kid of your cousin, right?"

He nodded. She tossed her notebook on her desk and sat back down in her chair, swiveling it around to face them.

"Sorry, it's hard to get out of work-mode when you're still at the office, you know? Anyway, how's Metropolis treating you so far? Either of you. Off the record, just small talk this time, promise," she smiled pleasantly.

"I must admit, I was a bit… worried at the thought of coming here," Frostbite rubbed his furry chin and looked around the room. "But you lot seem to be less… panicky than other humans I've encountered in the past."

Lois laughed lightheartedly.

"Well, that's Metropolis for you. We get all sorts of heroes and villains and various other wannabes around here that we're pretty much de-sensitized to it. Just last week when Luthor attacked, Clark and I were out on our lunch break at the time, I heard this one college-looking kid say to their friend, 'it needs to get about twenty percent worse before I leave free wi-fi.'"—

"LANE! Where is your draft on—GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST! KENT! IS THAT A YETI?" An older man with greying hair came out of an office, shouting. Lois and Clark rolled their eyes almost fondly.

"His name is Frostbite, sir. He's a new member of the Justice League, I was just about to give him a tour of Metropolis," Clark shouted back at the man on the other side of the bullpen.

"Well make sure you get an interview before someone else does! And Lane! I want that draft on my desk by two o'clock!"

"I'm on it, sir."

"You got it, chief!"

"Don't call me chief!" The man slammed the door to his office as he went back inside.

"He hates it when we call him that," Lois said, swiveling her chair back to the group, smirking.

"That was Perry White," Clark explained. "The Editor-and-Chief of the Daily Planet."

"We should probably leave you to your work, he looked pretty mad," Danny said, giving one last look back to where the man had gone.

Lois just waived his concerns off.

"He always looks like that… but I suppose you're right, I need to get back to work on this draft." She shook both Frostbite and Danny's hands again before playfully punching Clark in the shoulder. "Have fun around Metropolis. And Smallville? Give me a heads-up next time you bring in someone interesting, will ya? See you around."

She turned back to her computer and re-read what she had of her draft so far. Groaning, she deleted an entire paragraph.

"Bye Lois, I'll see you on Monday," Clark waved as they made their way to the elevator. She flopped her hand in their direction, not turning around.

The rest of the interactions they had while leaving the building was much the same as entering; reporters and journalists would notice them, but seem to just shrug it off when they saw Clark.

"You must have quite the reputation," Frostbite noted. "You are able to make us, in all intents and purposes, invisible… just by being who you are."

"Yeah, at first I thought that connecting my two identities like that would make it terrifyingly obvious," Clark admitted. "But it actually seems to do the opposite; and it's a really good way to explain all the crazy and weird stuff that happens around me anyway."

He stopped and pulled out a brochure from his suit pocket and unfolded it.

"Our next stop is the Metropolis Museum of Heroes and Villains," the man explained. "I remember that one of you had said something about not really having heroes or villains in your world, I guess other than you and your enemies and allies, Danny. Anyway, I thought that a museum of some of our past heroes and villains, and how they affected different wars and political movements, would be a good kind of jumping-off point to get a real feel for this new world."

They were intrigued; Frostbite and Danny shared a look. Ghosts had never really thought to try to change the world like that before, mainly because there was no reliable way to the living realm and back before the Fenton's portal. Seeing how everything could have gone would be very enlightening.

It wasn't a short walk to the museum, but given that it was almost midday in a big city and the fact that there were no cabs that could fit Frostbite's size, they were more than happy to make the trek by foot.

When they got to the museum, Danny had to stop and stare in awe. The architecture was a beautiful blend of modern minimalism, and historic elegance. The words 'Metropolis Museum of Heroes and Villains' were sitting on top of a wide portico with statues of Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman acting as pillars holding up the word Heroes, while other statues of people he didn't recognize – a bald man in a mechanical suit, an incredibly buff masked man with tubing going into his arms and back, and a giant woman in a short dress, jewelry, and long hair – were holding up the word Villains.

The inside was just as amazing. While there were rooms and sections dedicated to heroes and villains based on other countries and continents, the main focus of the museum was on supers in the United States.

'The Justice Society of America was formed in 1940 to help with the war effort during the second World War.' A recorded voice spoke pleasantly from the walls as they entered a room. 'The founding members of the JSA include: Starman, Green Lantern, Doctor Fate, The Flash, Sandman, and Hourman.'

"Wait… Flash was in a team in the forties? How old is he?" Danny squeaked, turning to Clark.

"Actually, the Flash that we have is a third-generation Flash," the man smiled. "Although, he isn't related to the first Flash, they all came from the Central-Keystone area."

"Woah…"

"And although you haven't met him yet, we also have a Green Lantern," Clark informed. "He's the fourth Green Lantern from Earth. The three of them, not including the original from the JSA, are all still very active on Earth, but sometimes have to go out and help the greater galaxy."

"They can go into space?" The boy set his full attention on the man, with stars in his eyes.

"Well technically, we all can," he chuckled lightly. "Although, we just go when we're needed; for the Green Lanterns, it's more of their job, patrolling the galaxy."

"That's so cool," Danny tuned back into the recording.

'However, the Justice Society was forced to disband in the 1950's, due to the Red Scare of the Cold War. In the paranoia that swept the nation, the team was given an ultimatum of either revealing their identities, or retiring. This incidence set the standard that we still hold today of how the government interacts with superheroes. Although many officials have tried to overturn it, no one is legally allowed to force a superhero to reveal their identity, as long as their status of 'Hero' still stands.

'After the Justice Society disbanded, local heroes would emerge to protect their designated cities or areas, but it wasn't until 2011 that the United States would get another team on the scale of the JSA. The Justice League of America was founded by Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawk Woman, with Batman being included only as a consultant at his own request. Three years later, in 2014, the Justice League opened their doors to the rest of the world's superheroes, and renamed themselves Justice League International. Now, with dozens of bases all over the world, and thousands of registered heroes and sidekicks, the JLI is the largest team of superheroes the world has ever seen.

'Nevertheless, the formation of the JLI also came with some drawbacks; in 2015, Lex Luthor formed the Legion of Doom with the help of Black Manta, Cheetah, Gorilla Grod, The Joker, and Sinestro. Not much is known about the inner workings of the Legion of Doom; despite the apparent many mutinies and attempted changes in leadership over the years, no member or former-member of the Legion has accepted the offer to answer any questions regarding the organization, even with the incentive of a lighter prison sentence…'

Sorry for like… no plot happening in this chapter…

I had to cut this chapter short because it was bordering on 4-5k words and I wasn't even done yet… so sorry for the abrupt ending. Please read AN3.

AN: Yes, I took some liberties with the layout of Metropolis… unfortunately, there is no Metropolis Museum and Heroes and Villains… that I could find. BTW, the statues on the Villains side was Lex Luthor, Bane, and Giganta. I also took some liberties with the members of the JSA, because some were in the 2001 JLA cartoon, and I didn't want them to be like… 100 years old. Except for Dr Fate, but u know.

AN2: YES, I added 10 years to the dates that the JLA/JLI/LoD was formed (according to the cartoon's air dates), I didn't want them getting old, we have to do that sometimes.

AN3: OH NO! I just realized a terrible mistake. Y'all should know that I'm NOT Chekov's Gunning the JSA or the LoD, or the "Unmask or Disband" thing… I'm sorry. I just wanted them to go to a museum…

There will be one more chapter until the end of this arc.