Chapter 5
Danny didn't live in the cave with Superboy and Miss Martian he just...didn't feel comfortable living with them. Sure he could spend time with them and he did he just...didn't wanna spend all of his time with them, especially in a place so unfamiliar. The Watchtower was different though, it was in space so Danny didn't really care much about the strangers that would come and go.
He moved in with Hal though, in Coast City. Sure it was pretty far from Mount Justice but zeta tubes made transportation really easy. Utilizing the tubes so often was actually a help to Danny, the boy being practically forced to work through his trauma surrounding his parent's portal.
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Danny stepped into the cave, the computer quietly announcing his arrival, he'd asked the computer system to do so at that volume because any louder had him recoiling in embarassment. Everyone was surprised when the computer system obliged.
Danny frowned, where was everyone? He wrang his hands nervously but ultimately shrugged and headed to the kitchen. The Cave was always more stocked than Hal's fridge, not that he even needed food but...he wanted to make something and have something to munch on.
Danny's eyes shone with delight as he spotted pasta and hot cheetos.
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Someone had apparently forgotten to set a timer for their cookies but Danny didn't mind taking them out so they didn't burn. He currently had them set on the island behind him as he strained his pasta.
Danny hummed as he poured the successfully strained pasta back into the pot adding a generous amount of butter, mixing it in until it melted. He grabbed a bowl from one of the cabinents, putting in a bunch of his pasta, opening up the hot cheetos and pouring again, a generous amount on top. He hopped up onto the counter and began to eat his snack.
Several moments later Miss Martian came flying into the room, telekinetically throwing the oven door open.
"My cookies?!" She gaped in alarm.
"Are on the island," Danny answered.
She yelped in surprise, looking to Danny with wide eyes, "Oh, they look perfect!" She gushed when she spotted the tray of cookies.
The rest of the team entered behind her.
"Phantom!" Robin waved in greeting.
"Oh, um, hello," He offered a small wave back.
"Whoa!" Kid Flash sped over to Danny, "Pasta and hot cheetos?! But that's like a human food."
Danny cocked his head to the side.
"And?"
"And...I thought you were an alien," Kid Flash sputtered.
"Technically we're all aliens," Danny blinked, "But I live on Earth so...human cuisine," He lifted the food with a small grin.
"Can I have some?!" The other teen grinned eagerly.
"Help yourself," Danny hopped off the counter, getting out of the way of the bowls.
Kid Flash lit up and quickly got himself some food, everyone getting some as well to at least try the food.
"This is...surprisingly good," Aqualad admitted.
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"I'm embarassed to admit but..." Danny flushed pink a little while later after he made everyone let him do the dishes, "Despite the week we've known each other...I haven't learned your names."
"You mean our secret identities?" Kid Flash cocked his head to the side, nibbling on another cookie.
"He means our hero names," Robin snickered.
"I apologize I'm not familiar with all heroes," Danny winced.
"I'm Aqualad, protégé of my king, Aquaman," The eldest teen spoke, "When we are off duty though, I am Kaldur'ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur."
"It's nice to meet you, Kaldur'ahm," Danny smiled softly.
"I think he wants you to call him Kaldur," Robin whispered to his fellow hero.
"Wait, you do?" Danny looked to him surprised.
"Yes," Kaldur smiled, "After all, that is what my friends call me."
"Friends..." Danny breathed out, he hadn't had a Living friend in so long, "That...sounds nice," He smiled softly.
"I'm Kid Flash and Wally," The redhead waved, "See~" He sang to Miss Martian, "I already trust you with my secret ID, unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here," He gestured to Robin, "Batman's forbidden him from telling anyone his real name."
"Mine's no secret," The girl chirped, "It's M'gann M'orzz. But you can call me Megan, it's an earth name, and I'm on earth now."
Everyone looked to Danny.
"I'm Phantom," He smiled, "I'm the Green Lantern's protégé."
"What, all four of them?" Robin asked surprised.
"Yeah," He smiled sheepishly.
"Superboy," The boy grumbled, "Superman's clone," He spat out.
Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash all tensed, presumably worried about Danny and Miss Martian's reactions.
"Wow!" Danny gushed, swallowing the pain that bubbled up in his core, "That's so cool!"
"What?" Superboy faltered, "Didn't you hear me?" He frowned, "I'm a clone."
"And?" Danny sounded a lot more self-conscious, "Is there...something wrong with that?"
"Of course there is," Superboy scoffed, "I'm an artificial thing. A mere shadow of the original," Danny flinched at his words, too similar to some of the heartbroken rants he'd heard from Ellie, "And I'm not even stable."
Danny smiled ruefully.
"You look pretty stable," He reached out a placed a hand on the boy's chest, "You feel stable too."
"What would you know?" The boy aggressively smacked his arm away.
"More than you'd think," Danny's smile was sad.
"Oh, yeah?" Superboy sneered, the rest of the team looked on tensely, if the duo fought...they didn't quite know what to do.
"I've been cloned before."
"And I take it your clone didn't try to kill you?" The boy sneered.
"Oh, she did," Danny laughed, smiling fondly, "That was her only 'flaw' I suppose you could call it. In the cloning process...she winded up a girl instead of a boy. She...she attacked me and she hurt me...but that didn't matter to me," He smiled softly, deep in thought, "I loved my clones. All of them. And...the amount of my clones I saw...disolve into nothingness...will haunt me forever. She was...she was the only one stable enough. We...escaped together...and I recognized her as my sister. We were a family."
"...What happened?" The boy's eyes were wide as he listened.
"...He messed up," Danny growled, "That damn fruitloop that cloned me...he aged them quickly in their developmental stage. Ellie, she...she was twelve. She was...but her cells just kept aging," He gripped his hair tightly, "I...I tried everything. I did anything to save her but...it wasn't enough...she..." He trailed off and seemed to realized he'd just trauma-dumped, "Oh, oh, no, I'm-I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said any of that."
Danny panicked and promptly flew out the kitchen, ignoring the calls after him.
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Danny didn't know where he was going but found himself appearing in...a room of sorts in the ceiling.
The king hurried to a corner of the room but on his way to the corner he came upon a table where...a human esque body resided which elicited a yelp of alarm from Danny who calmed quickly when he realized the humanoid body was in fact machinery.
"Mmm?" The boy moved closer to the humanoid and reached out, gingerly caressing it's face. It's skin was...soft, somehow, the metal coated in a material to mimic flesh, it was a little disturbing but it was mostly just incredible.
Before Danny even was aware of what he was doing he was moving about the room, collectin the necessary tools and he got to work. The humanoid creature stopped with about only half of it's chest so Danny got started with that.
He fell into a groove, peace washing over him as he worked. He hadn't built anything manually in so long, it was...refreshing, to tinker and create again.
Danny was so engaged in his tinkering he didn't even notice a seal in the floor opening and the wind picking up as a certain hero flew into his room.
"Phantom?"
Danny jumped and whirled around.
"Tornado!" He gasped.
"Phantom, what are you doing?" Red Tornado's usual monotone voice somehow held a hint of curiousity.
"Sorry!" He looked on in horror as he came to the realization that this was Red Tornado's humanoid esque creation, that Tornado was making a friend for himself or something like that, "I was just hiding from the team and-and I haven't made anything in so long and I just started working and-" He wrung his hands nervously, "Sorry, Tornado, I-I-I'll go," He moved to hurry off but Red Tornado held up a hand.
"You are hiding from the team? Why?"
"...I...I said some things I probably shouldn't have," Danny winced at the reminder, "Burdened them and...I'm just embarrassed. I'm so used to everyone knowing everything about me and freely talking about my past with them I just...I forgot they're not like that."
"You may stay up here with me as long as you like," Red Tornado promised, "You seem an expert at engineering and mechanics," He observed the progress Danny had made with the humanoid body, "I would be honored if you continued to help me."
"Oh, okay," Danny beamed, "How-how is the team?"
"They are engaged in a skirmish in Happy Harbor but there is no need to worry, young one," Young, yeah right, "They can handle it."
"Are you sure?"
"I am," Red Tornado nodded, "Now come, there is much work to be done."
And so the duo fell into tranquility as they worked together on the humanoid creature on the table. And as they worked...Red Tornado wondered how Phantom could've gotten into his room as he'd received no alert his door had been opened.
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Only when night fell did Phantom leave Red Tornado's room.
He found the rest of the team nervously sitting around the living room.
"Phantom!" Robin gasped in relief when Danny stepped into the living room, bervously wringing his hands.
"I...I would like to apologize for today," He winced, "I...shouldn't have dumped all that stuff on y-"
He stilled, voice dying in his throat when he found a pair of arms wrapped around him.
"What...are you doing?" Danny asked in a stunted way.
"Hugging you," Wally huffed, squeezing him tighter.
"No, I know but...why?"
"You have nothing to apologize for," Kaldur promised him, moving in and hugging him too, in the next moment Danny was at the center of a group hug, held by everyone except Superboy, "You were caught up in the moment and while it's clear you didn't mean to reveal that much about your past...we're pleased you told us."
"..." Danny allowed his eyes to close beneath his glasses, relaxing in their embraces.
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"Can we..." Superboy was hesitant, "Can we talk?"
"Of course," Danny smiled softly.
The duo headed out of the cave, Superboy jumping and Danny flying after him a ways up the mountain. They sat on a patch of moss beside each other.
"What did you want to talk about?" Danny asked gently.
"...I...wanted to apologize, for-for bringing up memories of your cl-"
"You have nothing to apologize for," Danny smiled, "Besides...they're always on my mind."
"You said she tried to kill you and-and she was a clone how could you...how could you love her?"
"I loved her the moment I saw her," Danny smiled, "I loved her when she pretended she was my cousin. I loved her when she betrayed me and brought me to..." He exhaled sharply, "I loved her when he was torturing me. I loved her when we joined forces. I loved her when I declared her as my sister, mine. I loved her when she went out to travel the world. I loved her when she came to me for help," Danny's voice broke, "And I loved her as she died in my arms."
"I'm sorry," Superboy whispered but there was almost...a hint of longing in his voice.
"He doesn't accept or recognize you...does he?" Danny smiled sadly.
"I don't blame him," Superboy glared at the sky.
"I do," Danny spoke, "No matter...you don't need him," He turned to Superboy and grinned widely, "I'll be your brother from now on!" He swore.
The boy was silent for more than a little while before he was lunging forward, engulfing Danny in a hug. Superboy all but tackled him and held him all but pinned to the moss.
"A brother," Superboy whispered, "I...I'd really like that."
"Good," Danny softened, "Because you're never getting rid of me."
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Meanwhile at the Wayne Manor Dick had just returned home from the cave looking distinctly less cheery than he usually was.
"Dick?" Bruce frowned, "Is everything alright?"
"I...don't think so," The boy murmured.
"What happened?"
"...Phantom's been cloned before," He said.
"Did he have a negative reaction to Superboy?" Bruce asked, alarmed.
"Yes but not-not that kind of negative reaction he just...he got real sad, B," Dick looked to Bruce with wide pained eyes that had Bruce wanting to punch something to see the boy smile again.
"Sad?" Bruce repeated.
"He loved them," Dick spoke, "His clones. He said there was only one stable enough to last long and he-he really loved her but she wasn't stable enough and he...he lost her. What was his life like before us?"
"...I think it was really bad," Bruce admitted, "He..." Bruce sighed, "Hal says sometimes Phantom will wake up screaming to-to not be cut open."
Dick gasped, tears welling in his eyes.
Bruce moved forward swiftly and pulled the boy into a hug, holding him close.
"We can't...fix his past...but we can give him a better future."
Dick sniffled and nodded in understanding, hugging Bruce back fiercely.