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Red Robin was somber, in contrast to his Powerpoint, as he stared down the other Bats. The Powerpoint displayed behind him had an ecto-green background, with font in red stating: "Operation: Phantom Justice"
Despite the garishness of the Powerpoint, the rest of the Bats were uncharacteristically serious as they waited for Red Robin's plan. They all knew the reason for this meeting; knew what they owed the teenager currently recovering from a dose of Joker Venom that would have permanently impaired anyone with a more mortal constitution. Batman himself was still on the Watchtower, keeping an eye on Phantom and his parents, but anyone else who could make it back to the mansion was here.
Tim hit the screen with a pointer. "This. Is Operation: Phantom Justice. The Justice League has been woefully unaware of a breach of human and meta-human rights right under its nose, and of the frankly horrific experimentation that has been justified by intense bigotry and unfortunate misunderstandings. Let's start at the beginning."
The slide changed, this time filled with overlapping pictures of glowing beings, ranging in form from amorphous floating blobs of what looked like viscous Lazarus-water, to individuals who looked human in all but glow and skin color.
"These are ecto-entities. Sometimes called "ghosts.""
"When you say ghosts..." Red Hood started, leaning forward.
"The still-conscious remnants of a once-living person, perpetuated by the imprint of strong emotion upon a sufficient supply of ectoplasm, which seems to be at least adjacent to Lazarus Water," Tim explained before the question could be finished. "Apparently not all Ecto-entities are ghosts, but all ghosts are Ecto-entities."
Hood leaned back, frowning under his helmet. If this… ectoplasm was related to Lazarus Water, what did that mean for him? Well, whatever it meant could be figured out later. After the kid who killed the Joker was safe from whatever Replacement was pointing them at.
Tim returned to the Powerpoint.
As he continued, covering the basics of Ecto-research and the activities of the Ghost Investigation Ward, shortened to "GIW", the mood in the room grew ever more somber. Finally, he moved into outlining the experiments the agency had conducted on their captives, documented in gruesome detail within the files Tucker had given him.
"Unfortunately," Red Robin finally stated, after reading off the almost comically-long list of increasingly-horrific experiments, "what the GIW has done is currently entirely legal according to the Anti-Ecto Acts, as despite the obvious sapience exhibited by Ecto-Entities, they have been legally listed as "entirely non-sentient." Thus, I propose a multi-point solution."
He flipped the slide. The background was bright red, with cyan text.
Three bullet-points slid onto the screen in order:
Tax Audit
Clark Kent Exposé
Rescue Operation
“First. There are few things more effective in dismantling corrupt organizations than a Tax Audit. After all, there are a lot of government funds being put toward funding a very small, otherwise irrelevant city, and it obviously isn’t being used to maintain the roads and shopfronts, as you’ve seen in previous slides.”
“This, combined with the convenient and anonymous release of several incriminating documents to the esteemed reporter Clark Kent, will ensure the GIW will be unable to sweep their crimes under the facade of public safety, even with their utilization of Phantom's rampage as "proof" of the destructive nature of Ecto-Entities. And if nothing else, they will be too busy countering the press attention to devote as many resources toward responding to our next step.”
Tim’s grin was honestly feral as he continued. “We need to get as many Ecto-Entities out of the hands of the GIW as possible. The tricky part will be timing the rescues so that the public can be shown proof and documentation of the inhumane experiments, but without giving the GIW an opportunity to take to ground and... liquidate their experiments, which they undoubtedly will do when it comes to light that the Justice League is investigating them for meta-human crimes.”
Spoiler raised her hand, not bothering to wait before speaking. “How’d they actually get these Acts passed in the first place?”
“Apparently, they were slipped in with some other funding bills during that stint Luthor spent as president.”
There was a chorus of grumblings over yet another hassle that Lex Luthor was leaving them. Because unfortunately, the Anti-Ecto Acts would bring up questions of the legality of such a raid on the GIW facilities. Which was why Batman and the rest of the League wasn’t here.
“We need to be quick and efficient with this,” Tim stated, leveling each of them with a stare. “There needs to be no question that what we are acting against is a drastic and horrific meta-rights violation, because if they have a chance to explain away their actions using the AEA, they will.”
“There are animal ghosts, too?” Robin asked, frowning. He had spotted what looked like a mastiff puppy among the general ecto-entity examples.
“It does appear so,” Tim replied.
“That may be more efficient in getting people to care,” Robin continued thoughtfully. “Not that it’s alright that... human ghosts are being experimented upon as well, but it will be easier for people to believe that something appearing to just be an animal is honestly friendly, rather than something attempting to manipulate them.”
"We'll make sure to get the recordings to Clark, too," Dick said.
“Which reminds me!” Tim broke in before everyone could begin planning and throwing ideas back and forth, “we’re going to need to do some updates to whatever equipment we bring in. Ectoplasm messes with electronics that haven’t been specifically designed to handle it, and we don’t want to lack proof just because our footage ended up as nothing but static.”
“I’m guessing that includes my helmet?” Jason asked.
“... yes.”
“Alright.” Jason pulled off his helmet and tossed it to Tim, eliciting some staring from the others. “Do what needs to be done to it, and nothing else. I’m going to go punch some dummies.”
Disclaimer: I have read nothing canon with J'onn in it, and am working from a general impression of him I've gathered through fan-fiction. I apologize for any out-of-characterness.
(tw: blood, general discussion of destruction and murder)
~~~
There was laughter echoing deep in his mind. A cruel, vicious laughter, but laughter nonetheless.
Danny wasn't quite sure whether it was his own or not. Even thoughts he recognized as his own were twisting disconcertingly, making it difficult to find a point of reference within the dream.
If it was a dream.
Was it a dream?
Blood dripped from his fingers, the smell of copper and smoke filling his nostrils. It was a welcome scent. It was a familiar scent.
No... It was a horrifyingly unwelcome scent.
It was... Not. Real.
This was a dream. He was asleep.
Laughter echoed through his mind, and this time, Danny knew some of it was his own. A hysterical, desperate laughter at odds with the ruthless sound around him that echoed with an all-too-familiar phrase:
I am inevitable.
No. This was a dream. It wasn't real. He wouldn't have... he would never... he...
Images of a city in flames flashed through his dream, and for a moment the sound of screams drowned out the laughter.
Danny fell to his knees, blood splashing away in ripples around him, spreading impossibly far in his awareness and disappearing into a vast lake of red and smoke and...
"Child?"
A voice broke through the screams and the laughter both.
The blood rippled around him.
"Phantom."
It was not any voice he expected. It was not Dan's. It was not Clockwork's. It was not even Nocturn's voice. It was a stranger's voice, one he did not recognize...
Danny looked up.
The person standing above him was as green as any ghost, but far more solid, and watched Danny with solemn red eyes. The stranger knelt down on one knee, disregarding the blood in the dream-scape, and held a hand out to the teenager.
"I'm J'onn, the Martian Manhunter, with the Justice League. Do you recognize me?"
Danny stared at the offered hand, slowly nodding. Martian Manhunter... the man... in his brain... was an alien?! Any other time, Danny would be enthusiastically excited by that realization.
He blinked. Laughter echoed, and the mind-scape flickered and filled with a sickeningly painful red haze that smelled like...
"Blood blossom?" he murmured.
J'onn didn't move. "Yes."
Danny reached out halfway, then pulled his hand back with a hiccupped laugh. "I can't. I can't. I killed so many. So many... I'm so sorry. I'm sorry..." Why was he laughing?? This wasn't funny.
I am inevitable.
J'onn reached out and gently caught the young man's hand. The lake of blood drained, leaving rusty stains and a stifling silence.
"You weren't in control of your actions, Phantom."
"Wasn't I? Wasn't I?! Even if I wasn't... I still did all of that." He gestured around him, where visions of smoke and fire and destructions shifted in and out. "Me. Not anyone else."
"You are... afraid of yourself."
"How many people did I kill?"
The Martian was silent for several long moments. "The final count hasn't..."
"How many?!" There was no laughter now.
"The last count was 384, with several hundred still unaccounted for."
The dreamscape trembled, glowing cracks forming at the edges and along the ground, pulsing between ecto-green and blood-blossom red.
"Phantom."
Danny looked up, tears in his eyes, and met J'onn's own red ones. The Martian sighed and squeezed Phantom's hand gently.
"Sometimes we fail those under our protection. Sometimes... we hurt people we did not mean to. You can't let that destroy you."
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'VE DONE!" Danny snarled, pulling his hand back. Behind him, the memories of a timeline lost played out, an older, larger, more malicious version of Phantom laughing as he destroyed a city around him.
J'onn considered the scene for a long moment as Danny stepped back, wrapping bloody arms around himself.
"You have... seen alternative timelines of yourself?"
Danny nodded.
"You are afraid this event will turn you down that path."
Another nod.
"I think... the fact that you are worried about it means that you will not. We can not bring back the dead, but we can help make sure this doesn't happen again, if you'll let us help you." J'onn stood and held out his hand again to the teen.
Danny stared at the offered hand for a long moment, then his shoulders slumped and he stepped forward, eschewing the offered hand to simply lean into the Martian with a quite whimper.
J'onn, surprised, was motionless for a moment, then wrapped his arms around the boy. "I will have to leave your mind soon. You have been experiencing some fever, but we will keep you, and others, safe while you recover."
Danny nodded his understanding, and the dream faded into restless darkness.
~~~
Tim was growing increasingly horrified at the information he was reviewing concerning the Guys In White and the small city of Amity Park.
The whole city was separated from the outside world by long-term government funding. Apparently, a specific pair of scientists had been heavily funded in their early and, if he didn't know better, pseudo-scientific research upon moving to the town.
Honestly, it didn't look like the Drs. Fenton ever made the connection between their funding grants nearly two decades earlier, and the rapid "formation" of the Ghost Investigation Ward within months of the creation of a stable dimensional portal to the Infinite Realms (he had half thought Constantine was going to have an aneurysm when he heard about that).
And that wasn't even getting into the projects and experiments the GIW intended to carry out, themselves.
Apparently, the Anti-Ecto Acts' statement of considering Ecto-entities to be less than plants was no joke, and the experiments outlined in the files Tucker had sent him were bad enough that he had to step away from the computer to help with continuing rescue and rebuilding efforts for a shift before returning.
By the time he had gone through all of the files, he had a presentation ready for the rest of the family, and a loose outline of a plan set in his mind.
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