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Darkness engulfed the black figure as it was hiding between the steel framed ceilings of the old rundown warehouse. On a normal day or night, this place would be called abandoned. Tonight however the open area beneath the man in dark clothes was buzzing of life and it wasn’t that of simple pigeons.
All criminals that currently roamed freely in Gotham and other major cities from the area had gathered here, for one occasion: an auction.
A very unusual auction, as there was only item for sale, the object a legend in the criminal underworld. When it had first been discovered and transported into Star Labs, one of the many experiments had activated some security mechanism inside it and had overloaded the facilities own systems and leveled the complete building. The object was later recovered unharmed and fortunate nobody had been killed by this accident.
Since then people had hypothesis that it was a weapon. Others said it could be an unlimited source of energy. In general it was something that had caught the attention from many people, most of whom currently gathered in this warehouse, including the man with the dark mask.
The auctioneer, a man in a sleek black suit with short black hair, stepped up on a podium on one side of the room, tapping twice on the installed microphone, efficiently stopping all talking in the room between the different criminals and their entourage.
“Welcome,” he cleared his throat and spoke again, “Welcome everyone. I’m glad we could manage to meet tonight. Thanks to Riddler, Batman” Some boo call’s echoed in the background, “Is currently occupied chasing some clues through the city and we don’t have to worry about an unpleasant interruption.”
Riddler took a theatrical bow as a few villains clapped for him. “Thank you! Thank you, all.” The man on the podium smirked, got out a small wood hammer from his pocket and hit it down on a wooden plate, reclaiming the attention to his person. “Each of you has received the basic information to the object and I’m sure everyone has his or her own idea what it could be used for.” He stated.
“Show it!”
“Yeah we want to see it!” was shouted out of the crowd.
“I’m coming to that.” Snapped the auctioneer and send a death glare to the two speakers. After order was restored, he turned half way to the side and demanded, “Vicky, the object please.”
A blonde woman in a very short red dress entered the stage from the side, pushing a high table with rolls in front of her. The top was covert with a black cloth, hiding the “Object” unknown in size or form. The well curved woman moved lascivious to the middle of the podium, swinging her hips and stopped next to the man. The tension in the room rose to an almost tangible level.
“May I present,” He made another dramatic pause, raising the level up another nudge and then with one swift motion, pulled the black cloth off. Underneath was a thermos, a soup thermos, out of white metal with some strange green glowing wiring on the side and two buttons, a watchful eye could see on one side a neon green oval with a big F on it.
Rumours spread again, people whispered to each other until the auctioneer had had enough and used the hammer again.
One man, dressed in a silver metallic armour, white skin and ice blue eyes stepped forward, Mr. Freeze: “How do we know that this is the original object and not a copy?” The auctioneer made a face to the cold hearted villain. “1st I would never misuse the trust my fellow villains have put in me and 2nd Vicky please show them.”
The woman appeared again, she picked up the shiny thermos turned it around and showed the side, previous hidden as it was turned to the back, a digital scale was revealed. The people close enough had no problem to see that the scale was on his max level. Whatever the item contained it was definitive powerful.
The man on the rafters however, had to use a pair of black binoculars, courtesy from his utility belt. Batman was wondering, his intel report about the auction and his own research had not been flourishing, he still had no information about what exactly was stored in this containment unit. Only three things were certain 1st the energy which the object contained was unknown and therefore – most likely – dangerous. 2nd the item had been found under strange circumstances in the middle of nowhere in unknown debris that had no point of origin and 3rd he could not allow this thing to fall into the wrong hands. Sadly that included clearly everyone in this warehouse.
The auctioneer smiled his eyes glowing from excitement and greed “Let’s start with the bidding. Yeah, do I get an offer?”
“1 Million” Scarecrow was the first.
“2 Million.” jumped Harvey Dent, alias Two Face, in next.
After that it was “5” and then “10” came from Joker.
The “15” was Mr. Freeze.
Batman tuned out and watched the crowd bidding a few of the lesser resourceful criminals and their companions had already stepped back. They stayed mostly out of curiosity, maybe harbouring plans to steal the object from the buyer.
“100,” this offer silenced even the last one in the warehouse, the man stating the offer was Deathstroke, or Slade, as he called himself now.
“Now that’s what I call an offer.” Called the man on the podium hitting the hammer down, turning the attention back to the stage and back to him: “Anyone up to the challenge?”
“500!” Insisted a bald man in a black suit with a blood red tie, stepping out of the shadows and into the light.
“Five ... five... five hundred ...” The eyes of the auctioneer almost felt out of his head, and it took a few seconds until he had enough control to masked his awoken greed with a small cough. He was back to be professional and smiled generosity towards the bald man in his perfect fitted suit. “Mr. Luthor, that’s a very bold offer. Let’s see if anybody can top this?”
After a short look through the warehouse, it was clear there was nobody who could. With a last and final hit from the hammer the man announced Lex Luthor to be the new owner of the thermos.
The other criminals took this as there queue to leave and scattered.
The Dark Knight knew the moment of his interference had come. He readied himself taking the grapping hook gun with his right hand and the smoke and blinding pellets into his left. He threw the blinding pellets first, setting of their charge next to the main exit. Everyone turned towards the flash and he then threw the smoke pellets this time towards the podium.
The confusion was enough that nobody heard the grapple gun going off. Allowing Batman to swing down from his position in one swift move and getting hold of the thermos and managed with the momentum of his swing to reach the other side of the warehouse, landing on a rail under a big dirty glass window.
The initial shock about the attack had worn off. The ones who had recovered first drew their guns and began shooting at the dark crusader. Batman was not stopping in his tracks and jumped right through the glass. Leaving the villains behind him shouting at each other.
Once outside he glided with the help of his cape to the next rooftop, where the Batplane was already waiting hidden underneath a camouflage tarp.
A couple minutes later he arrived in the Batcave his loyal butler and friend already waiting.
“Master Bruce, good to see you coming home and in one piece, I can see. What a nice surprise.” His voice slightly showing the sarcasms of the elder.
Batman opened the hatch to his seat and pushed back the cowl to his costume, changing the appearance of the infamous vigilante with that of the well-known billionaire and playboy Bruce Wayne. “It’s good to see you too Alfred.” He rejoiced with a smile on his lips.
“How did it go Sir, if you don’t mind me asking?” Bruce had freed himself from the seat and jumped down from his aircraft.
“Luthor was there and a whole lot other criminals from out of town.”
“Should I inform the League Sir?” Alfred asked, while walking side by side with his employer and friend.
Bruce pulled out the strange thermos, holding it in his hand he examined it closely. “No,” he shook the head, ”maybe later.”
The old English butler looked curiously at the recovered item. “It was a full success then?”
The other man only nodded, still going through theories in his head what exactly he had intercepted on his way to Lex Luthor’s laboratory.
“And what it is? Your intel wasn’t really much to work with.”
“A thermos,” deadpanned Bruce.
“That I can see.” Bruce chuckled on the dry reply of his friend.
They had reached the main platform and he placed the strange object on an examination table. “I don’t know Alfred it radiates unknown energy in high concentration.”
The old man raised one eyebrow asking in silence a question. “No nothing dangerous, just unknown.”
“Have you tried to open it Sir?” The billionaire looked up from the computer he had himself seated.
“People had tried, I’m sure, but no I myself had no time, yet.”
The English butler moved closer to the table, it was as the thermos was calling his name and he felt himself reaching for it, before he stopped himself just inches away from the white metal. “May I have a closer look?”
Bruce thought about it, there was no harm in it letting his friend touching the thermos. If all the other people had not be able to open it, his elderly friend would not be capable either.
In his head he was already planning which technology from the league to include, when he later would examine the item and maybe find what really was behind this strange energy it held inside.
With a short nod he gave his consent.
Carefully the butler picked the thermos up, the metal cool to the touch, as he followed the green lining on the silver white cylinder, the thermos suddenly started to hum, the same sound someone might hear near a high voltage power line from a train, both male shared a confused look.
Unintentionally the butler pressed down the release, the top became transparent and bright blue light came out. A surprised Alfred let go and the thermos clattered to the ground, still projecting a beam of the strange light. Both man jumped back, Bruce had a baterrang in his hand and his cowl back over his face, ready to strike and Alfred was hiding behind the computer terminal.
After a few seconds the light intensified and the outlining of a body appeared, it looked human and it was crouching on his hands and knees.
Bruce melted with the shadows of the cave, waiting for the right moment.
The light dimmed and the figure became more solid, in first expression it was male, dressed in a black hazmat suite, with white boots, belt and gloves, fitting the snow white hair. It was the body of a boy, 15 maybe 16 years old, the body of a teenager. He was holding his head down, bangs of his unnatural hair covering his face, heavy panting and gasping for air, as if he had been submerged under water for a long time, a visible aura surrounded him like a constant glow of white light.
By closer inspection Bruce saw several cuts and tears in the suite, coated with green liquid on the etches, indicating injuries underneath.
The arms of the small boy started trembling, the strength for holding his own body slowly fading out.
In the voice of the Dark Knight, Bruce started: “Who …” as the arms of the boy finally collapsed and sank face down on the ground.
An, “Ouff,” could be heard, followed by a painful moan. After a few seconds and by using his right hand as support, the boy turned his body around and managed to roll on his back. The reason of his pain now plain visible. Right in the middle of his chest was a very ghastly looking injury, with his experience Bruce could easy distinguish that it was caused by a high energy blast. It was bigger as his fist, the edges looking sore and the centre was a severe 3rd degree burn.
The boy had his eyes pressed shut, possible to work through the pain that showed on his face.
Bruce waited another 30 seconds until the breath became less rigid and tried again. “Who are you?” the head turned into his direction and two green eyes focused on him, pain dulled the glow but it was still there, unnatural and unearthly just like his hair.
“Good question.” His voice was rasp and had a slight echo in it. The boy raised slowly his left hand holding it so he could see it.
Bruce pondered over the answer. All this didn’t make much sense. If the boy had lost his memory he would say he didn’t know. But his response indicated he could remember but had to choose what to reply carefully.
After a few seconds of close examination from his gloved hand he moved it to his head, pulling some bangs down to his eyes. The green orbs crisscrossed giving him a strange look. Again he examined them thoughtfully.
Batman waited patiently. The boy, whatever he was, had been trapped in the thermos for at least a year, maybe even longer if you could believe the rumours. So coming back to a physical body must be confusing, to say at least.
Letting out a deep sign of relieve, the boy was finished with his check up and mumbled: “Phantom.”
Bruce could still hear the relief in the almost not audible voice. The body relaxed, and seemed to lose what was left of his strength. His head rolled to the side, the hand resting on his stomach and the eyes closed, the breath even out. For a moment he thought the boy had lost consciousness. But a fraction of a second later all tension was back and he had sat up. “DAN!” he screamed hate and anger loaded in this one name. “No, no, no, no, no!” he shouted looking around him, furious and ready for a fight. With energy the body shouldn’t had left the teenager tried to stand up. “I have to go back,” he yelled, desperately trying to get his legs under his body but failed. “He is going to kill...” he sank back, his face cringed in pain.
Batman made one step forward, the urge to help the injured boy screamed in his head and heart. Suddenly the boy tightened his fists, his eyes flung open with determination, the strange glow not longer dimmed by pain and now easy to see, he sat up, using a close by table on his right side as support to push weak legs under his fragile body, finally standing.
Bruce was surprised; he didn’t expect the frail looking body to have enough strength left to rise. He made another step forward to get closer, but despite his anguish the silent movement still got the attention of the boy and he turned his head in his direction.
“Who is that Dan you are speaking off?” he inquired.
The neon green orbs sized Batman up, and Bruce felt as if he and his soul stood on trial, ready to be judged. When the boy decided his worth, he responded: “How ... how can you ... not know?”
Pain rippled through the boy’s body, he closed his eyes for a brief moment, pushing it back one more time. “He ... he annihilated Amity Park. ... How can you not know that?”
Bruce could not remember to ever have heard from a city called Amity Park, or the destruction of one with that name. Immediately he jumped to the conclusion that the boy was not from this time. He could count out the past as the hazmat suit the boy was wearing and the thermos were from this time period. The near Future, yes that was a possibility. But how far had someone send the boy back, to warn them about the danger this “Dan” posed. The Dark Knight needed time to think, time to research and to do what he did best. Therefore he had to calm the boy down. He was hurting himself, risking his live and with that reducing the chance to provide the answers to countless questions.
He put down the baterrang, held up his now empty hands to show the boy that he was unarmed. “You have to calm down. Phantom was it, right?”
The words had not the effect he had hoped for. The green eyes of the boy flashed dangerously. “Calm down?!” anger staining his voice. “He is out there, right now...” the pain was too much, the boy swayed on his feet, hunching his upper body, at the same time protecting his mid section with one arm, barely holding himself up with the other. The head bowed down, looking at his hand on the table, which was his only support for the trembling legs in his fight to stand up and remain conscious.
“Out ... out there ... and murdering ... killing more ... more people.” stuttered weakly.
Bruce jumped forward closing the short distance between them in a flash, supporting the boy so he would not crashing down and maybe injure himself even more. Phantom tried to pull away, but had no strength left to do so.
“You have to calm down. What or whoever you were fighting can wait. I’ll help you, I promise.” The boy was leaning on him slowly getting control over his trembling. “I can’t, he ... he is ... too dangerous.”
Bruce had to make a decision, one that wasn’t difficult in the end.
Phantom felt the small prick on his left arm, looking down he saw a small dart, punched through his suit, where the man was holding him. Instantly the drowsiness returned and black spots appeared at the corners of his vision. It had to be a very powerful sedative or he was just overly tired. Fighting to stay awake his whole body started to shake again, looking at the man dressed in black and asked: “Why?”
“You are hurting yourself and need to recover first.”
“... Dan...” Phantom eyes closed but he had not given up yet. “Whatever battle you were in, is long since over. You have been trapped in this thermos for over a year.” The shock about this news was more than the teenager could take and he collapsed in Bruce waiting arms. “A year?” where the last whispered words before he finally lost consciousness.
Two bright white light rings appeared around the small waist of the boy and travelled up and down the slim form, changing the black and white suit to blue jeans, a white shirt with red trimming and a red symbol on the chest. His skin, that had appeared slightly tanned before, looked even more pale now and the unnatural white hair changed to a deep raven black. Just like the hazmat suit, his cloth where severe damaged and could only be called rags.
It had taken all of Bruce mentally strength not to let the boy go when he had transformed in his arms. The rings had felt the cold when passing his arms, but had gone even through his own protective suit and if it wasn’t for his experience with transformations of other heroes from the Justice League, he would never have believed his own eyes.
Alfred gasped at the change and stepped out of the place where he had been hiding, since he had accidently freed the boy from his confinement. “Master Bruce?” asked the butler unsure about what to do next.
“Call the League, he needs immediate medical attention.” Bruce stood up, holding the boy bridal style in his arms.
The elder man rushed to the PC console. “Batcave to Watchtower.” He called, staring straight into the camera waiting for a reply. It didn’t take long and the screen showed a green skinned alien. “Here Watchtower, Alfred what is the emergency?”
“Batman is coming up with one civilian, a teenager. He is heavy injured and in need of immediate medical attention.”
The alien showed confusion. “A teenager?”
“You can ask question later J’ohn!” said Bruce as he walked towards the Zeta-Tube.
“Understood.” The video feed ended and Alfred followed Batman to the big round portal on one side of the Batcave.
“Call Robin and send him up, when he arrives.” Bruce stepped in the teleportation’s devise.
“Sir?” The old English butler looked puzzled.
“He is the same age, maybe he can calm Phantom down when he wakes up in an unfamiliar place.” Alfred nod in understanding and used the console on his right to activate the Zeta-Tube.
Part two:
>>Beep<<
>>Beep<<
>>Beep<<
A persistent noise on his left pulled Danny out of the dark layer of sedative infused sleep. He was still too tired to open his eyes, so he started by making an assessment of his body and his current condition. There still were some bandages warped around his chest and stomach, smaller band aids had been patched onto his arms and legs. He could not feel any broken bones, but the firm layer around his chest indicated some bruised rips.
Next on his list was to find out where he was and why he was here, in case he had to make a swift retreat when they found him awake. He could feel that he lay on a soft and comfortable bed. That was odd, most hospitals beds where not near as soft and it didn’t smell like a hospital around here either, the air was to clean and filtered. There were no straps on his arms or legs, that to was a good sign.
The next thing he noticed was how warm he was, to warm for his own comfort, since he was a creature of the cold and ice.
Danny struggled and kicked his legs until he felt the blankets shift and the warmth was replaced by cold air. Signing in relive he opened his eyes, the light was dimmed, a nice change to the usual bright light in hospital rooms he unfortunately was all too familiar with, thanks to his many fight in the last months. Looking closer, the ceiling was also different, not the common white plaster. It was to smooth maybe steal and had a grey finish. By now Danny was sure, this was not in a regular hospital but it was not a lab either, a big plus in his book.
Ignoring the heart monitor, Danny’s sensitive hearing picked up a second heartbeat in the room he turned his head towards the sound but couldn’t see anybody from his vantage point. Still knew that he was not alone. Closing his eyes again, to focus more on the direction of the noise and asked: “How long was I out?” His voice was rasp and his mouth dry.
“Four days.” Answered a young male voice to his right, the words triggered a memory long ago, from a better time and almost forgotten.
“Come on Tucker, it wasn’t even funny the first time you said that.” He replied annoyed.
“I don’t know who this Tucker is, but I wasn’t joking.” The voice was free of irony or sarcasms.
Danny managed to lift his head a little more to see a young boy, stepping into his view. He was around his age, maybe a little younger it was difficult to say with the domino mask he was wearing to hide his eyes and disguised his identity. Apart from the mask he was wearing a rather strange combination of colours: a red chest piece, a yellow inlay in his cape and black pants, with an utility belt and a stitched R in canary yellow over his heart.
“Who are you?” wanted Danny to know.
“You aren’t from around, hu? Name is Robin.” Replied the boy, Danny blinked twice and let his head sink back.
Robin had stepped up to the bed and pushed a button on the side. The back of the bed moved up and helped Danny to a sitting position. Now able to see the other boy without straining himself Danny sized him up. He tried to determine if ‘Robin’ was a threat but decided after a few seconds that he could not sense any hostility towards him and send him a small smile of gratitude. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
For a moment there was silence, only interrupted by the heart monitor beeping every few seconds and Danny used the time to take in the room. There were two doors one on the opposite of his bed the other to his right. One surely led to a bathroom the other might be a way out and into an unknown territory.
The wall on his right side, next to the door had several smaller doors properly some kind of storage closet or wardrobe. The room had no windows, which was a little bit of a downside, but he saw nothing that indicated the room to be ghost proof. So escaping ought not be a problem if something came up. The walls itself were painted in the same unusual mix of grey and white as the ceiling. When he looked down and over his body he frowned at the IV in his arm, he hated needles and pulling this one out would hurt, for sure.
Robin took the same time, Danny used to examine his surrounding to study the other teenager. Now that he was no longer covered by a thick pile of blankets, Robin could see that he had a small build but just the right amount of lean muscle fitting this body, very much like the boy wonder himself. What wasn’t currently covered by bandage showed scars, even the arms had more marks than a normal person could explain. The legs were covered by a pair of long thin pants, his hair raven black and eyes in an arctic blue he had never seen before.
“Who are you?” asked Robin, finally breaking the silence between them.
“You can call me Danny and could I get some water please?” asked Danny polite.
“Sure.” Robin walked to the cupboard got a bottle of water and a plastic cup. He filled the cup and handed it to Danny, the boy downed it in one go, holding it towards the other for a refill, the second went down as well, but much slower.
“Is there anything else I can get you?” asked Robin placing the bottle on a small table next to the bed but Danny then shook his head, he wasn’t feeling hungry at the moment.
“Where are you from Danny?” The boy in the bed laid head back down, closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh.
“I ... it’s difficult to explain.”
“Try me!”
Danny opened his eyes again and let out another sigh of frustration. “The thermos could I get it, please?” He looked up, his eyes beseeching.
“Why?” Robin asked.
“It may answer some of my own question.” Danny gaze wandered to the door to his right.
“You can also tell the adults, I’ll not freak out when they come in to ask their questions.”
“How?” before Danny could answer Robins question, the door opened and three men and one woman entered the room.
The first to enter was a tall buff man, in blue and red, a red symbol on his chest and a cape over his shoulders in the same colour. He had raven black hair just like Danny but with dark blue eyes instead.
Second was a woman, she too had black hair, a gold diadem held it out of her face. She was wearing some kind of swimsuit dress in red and blue with some white stars and more gold trinkets. She was one head taller than Danny and of the same height as the first guy.
The third, made Danny tilt his head. He was tall just as the other two, well build but not as buff as the first. He had no hair, red eyes and green skin, clearly not human. Danny’s first idea for him to be a ghost was soon revoked when his ghost sense did not react to him. His conclusion, the man was from an alien race and not home from earth. He was also wearing a mix of blue and red, the later formed a big X over his otherwise bare chest.
The fourth and last was the man in black who had released him from the thermos and later knocked him out. He was keeping himself in the background observing and looking intimidating. But Danny had noticed him and greeted him with a short nod, before he turned his attention to the first man. The adults had formed a lose half circle on the end of his bed sizing him up just like he had done with them.
“Ouh ... Hi?” he greeted them rather nervous scratching the back of his neck. All four had this aura on them that demanded respect beyond their strange look.
“Who are you?” asked Danny as nobody replied to him.
The adults shared a look, wordless sharing information between them.
After a few seconds the black haired woman asked “You don’t know us?”
Danny blinked: “Well, your reaction say’s I should, but sorry I don’t.”
Another look was shared, before Danny understood that they somehow had the ability to speak telepathically with each other from mind to mind. That was something new for him and he waited patiently for them to finish their conversation.
“So you have never heard of us?” asked the woman again, her voice showing the surprise.
Danny shook his head “I’m sure I would remember seeing you or the others. But I can’t really say that as I have never heard of you, since you haven’t introduced yourself.”
A little embarrassed, that they all thought their fame spared them a polite introduction, they indicated an apologetic bow.
“We are sorry,” said the man in blue and red with the symbol on his chest. He gestured towards each person as he introduced them.
“This is Wonder Woman and the Marsian Manhunter, you can call me Superman.”
With a short nod he gestured to the last person. “And this is Batman.”
“What is your name, young one?” inquired the green skin alien humanoid.
Danny tilted his head looking over the four adults, when he had decided upon an answer he replied: “You can call me Danny.”
“No last name?” Batman wanted to know, intimidation in his voice, but the boy only shrugged.
“You are not telling me your real names either.”
Before one of the adults could object he held up his hand up and continued “I get the thing with the secret identity, believe me, I do. But I too have my reasons not to tell you who I am, at least for the moment.” The last part he only whispered not thinking that they might could hear it.
“And what kind of reason would that be?” asked Superman, a stern expression on his face and his arms crossed over his chest.
The boy blinked twice and looked down on his hand. “I don’t want to screw things up more than I already have.”
“What do you mean “screw things up”?” the man of steel wanted to know, tilting his own head a little.
Danny shook his head and refused to answer, his gaze wandered to Robin. “The thermos, could I get it please?”
The boy wonder looked up to his mentor, the elder considered the request of the mysterious boy.
In the last four days he had thoughtfully examined the item. It still contained some of the strange unknown energy, but only a friction since the boy was released. Apparently the energy was coming from him.
The technology of the thermos was very impressive as well. The wiring down to a molecular level and more advanced than his own research for at least another 5 to 10 years. It made Bruce believe all the more that the boy could come from the near future. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing he had come across. Robin was still waiting for his approval. With a short nod he gave his ward permission and the boy left to fetch the thermos.
Once Robin had left, the focus returned to the boy on the bed.
Wonder Woman stepped forward to the left of Danny’s bed, pulling the blankets up again. “You should keep them up. Whatever ordeal you have faced had let your body weakened and you keep slipping into the state of hypothermia.”
Danny looked at her confused and pulled the blankets off once more. “Well that explains the four days I think.”
The adults were puzzled and Danny explained: “You made some blood test when I arrived, right?” He looked from the woman on his side to Superman; he was clearly the one with the most authority.
To his surprise it was Manhunter who answered his question. “We did.”
Danny focused on the alien: “Then I don’t have to tell you that I’m not an average human. As a result my normal body temperature is more around 28 to 29 degrees than 36 to 37.”
Wonder Woman gasped holding one hand over her mouth: “We were holding you in an artificial fever? We could have killed you.” Obviously shocked what they could have done. Danny waved her concerns away and laughed “Hardly, you may have slowed down my healing. But it takes much more than that to destroy me.”
“My apology, we didn’t know.” Said the Marsian Manhunter, guilt showing in his voice, and he bowed his head in an apology all the while his face stayed emotionless.
“How could you, even where I’m coming from I’m far from common and I know you didn’t mean to hurt me.” Danny explained.
“Would you share the information about what you are then?” stated Batman from the background, stepping closer next to the Manhunter, starring down on him again intimidating.
The halfa hesitated to respond at fist but decided in the end to reply: “I’m a hybrid, half human, half ... something else.”
“You are avoiding to answer my question, why? You can see we are not hostile against aliens.” Batman nodded towards J’ohn the Marsian Manhunter.
“First of, I’m not half alien, no offence.” Stated the teenager firmly waving his hand towards Batman.
“None taken,” replied J’ohn automatically.
“And second,” Danny let out a sigh but continued, “People have the tendency to shoot first and ask question never, once they know about my other half.” Watching closely how the adults would react to his words.
All four became tense, did they made a mistake by helping the boy who looked so innocent and so desperate in need when he had arrived.
“I’m not malevolent, whatever other might think about my second half and simply ask for the chance to proof it. Just get to know me without prejudice and see for yourself.” He looked from one adult to the next, hoping his gaze was not giving away how nervous he really was.
“And why would we do that?” asked Batman dangerously low with narrowed eyes.
Danny managed to smile “Because you are the good guys. If not I would have woken up on an examination table inside a laboratory, waiting for the scientist to start all the painful experiments, they can think of and not in bed with somebody by my side who offers water.”
The look on Danny’s face allowed all four to understand he was speaking from experience, as scary as that might be. Someone had treated the young boy with something like this in the past.
After a few seconds they had to think about his words, Superman asked, still with his arms crossed in front of his chest: “By telling us your other half is considered dangerous you a taking a big risk. Why?”
Danny let out a deep sigh looking to the man of steel: “Beside what others may believe, I don’t like lying, and at one point I’ll have to tell you or you will figure it out on your own and then what? All trust I may have earned by then would be gone. Or you decided I was too dangerous and would try to end me.” At the end his eyes wandered to the side, avoiding there glances.
Wonder Woman shook her head “We would never,” and was interrupted by a knock on the door, Robin entered a second later the thermos in hand.
Danny straightened up, new energy flowing through his body, now he hoped he would get answers to his own questions.
Robin waited long enough for Batman or the others to protest, before he handed the thermos to the mysterious boy.
Once in his hand, Danny looked at the thermos, feeling that the weight was off and turned it upside down. With one swift turn he had removed the bottom cap, something nobody had known was possible. Out came one cock wheel shaped medallion and a thin mirror that looked like it was made out of silver crystal, about the same size of the medallion.
Danny’s eyes widen at the sight of the two items. He had obviously not expected them to be in there. Carefully he placed both in his lap together with the rest of the thermos.
“Danny?” asked Robin concern in his voice.
The hybrid was so pale that his complexion matched the bed sheets and the heart monitor was working overtime, but the other boy only shook his head, not ready to answer.
He turned the cup upside down and looked inside and almost dropped it, “That’s ...” he swallowed hard. His hands were shaking when he looked up direct into the eyes of Batman.
“How ... how long ago was the thermos found you said?” his voice only a whisper.
The man tilted the head “16 month ago, somewhere in the Antarctica surrounded in debris nobody could explain.”
Eyes wide like dinner plates “16 ... months ...” Danny looked a second time into the cup.
“What … year do we have … now?” he stammered.
Superman told him.
Danny sunk back into the soft pillows of his bed, looking defeated when he mumbled: “Clockwork I hope for your after live, that this is only a very bad joke and you had your fun, because I’m not laughing!”
“Who is Clockwork?” asked Superman he had understood perfectly fine what Danny had hoped nobody could hear.
The hybrid sighed rubbing with one hand his face and though his hair: “He is my guardian and mentor. He loves to speak in riddles.”
Robin chuckled and the four adults glared at him. The boy wonder coughed: “Did you find out how long you were trapped?” he asked to cover up the awkwardness.
“Yeah, but it makes no sense.” He turned the cup to the others, so that they could see the inside where a digital clock was glowing, all four digits showed an 8.
After a few minutes where all six had time to think about this new information they could hear Danny mumbling again looking at the thermos: “Someone must have tampered with the energy outcome,” The boy scratched his chin with his free hand, “The energy converter could have been interrupted, which would leave the internal processor to re...” He looked up and saw into the faces of five very confused people.
Danny rubbed the back of his neck again somewhat sheepishly. “I was rambling again, sorry.”
The Manhunter pointed at the thermos “You know a lot about this piece of technology that was obviously designed to hold you captive.”
Suddenly Danny’s eyes became sad and he looked down again. “It was originally designed by ... by my parents. For the capture of beings from my other half, it wasn't especially designed for me but it worked just fine, unfortunately.” He sighed, “I just modified their design and add a few more extras over the time, for my own needs.”
He pushed the bottom cub back onto the thermos and pressed one specific electric circle with a spark of his energy and the whole thing glowed neon green for a second before is collapsed in itself to a wristband in green and white, no bigger than a regular watch.
When Danny attached it to his arm it flickered for a moment black before it went back to white and green. “Hm the cloaking device must be broken too.” He removed the wristband again, completely focused on the piece of technology oblivious to the people around him. He turned it around and let green energy from his hand surge into the device. Seconds later the energy disappeared and it stopped glowing. “Ah yes, this should do.” Danny placed the wristband back on his arm and it changed from white to black with a DP symbol at the centre.
“How did you do that?” asked Robin fascinated and Manhunter wanted to know what kind of green light that had been.
“All I did was to restore the internal circuits in the micro processor and the green light was energy.” He rubbed his neck again, this time with a nervous smile. “You could say my second half is ... is based on energy, which allows me, with enough concentration and knowledge to direct it where it is needed.”
“You are a Technopath.” Concluded Superman.
Danny tilted his head. “I’m not sure what that means, and I can only control my own form of energy. Normal electricity I can affect but never as good. This piece of technology,” he held up his arm, “Took me almost 12 months to finish. I simply just know what to do with it that’s all.”
Robin chuckled he liked the kid. He didn’t let himself be intimidated by the four heroes that glowered at him.
“How old are you, young one?” Wonder Woman wanted to know, getting the attention from the object back to the young man.
The boy shrugged “When I’m not counting the time in the thermos, 16 maybe 17. What day is it?”
“18th of February.” answered Robin.
“Yeah, still 16 then.” Stated Danny with a smirk towards the other boy.
“What day where you captured?” asked Batman.
The hybrid shook his head: “I don’t remember the day, I had lost all sense of time between the fights, but I think it was November possibly December? It was cold, that is something I do remember.”
”Fights?” asked Batman, in unison with Wonder Woman and Superman.
Danny exhaled deeply: “I was fighting a war.” He looked to the side. More leading it but they didn’t needed to know that, thought Danny.
“What war?” inquired the man of steel. Danny went through his hair with his free not “IV-ed” hand. “A war between the people of my two half’s, and before you ask I was fighting to protect them all and to stop the ones who had started the war in the first place.”
“This Dan, you mentioned before?” Danny’s head snapped towards Batman, his full body tense ready to fight.
“Yes.” His voice sharp and cold like a knife.
“Who is he?” Asked Manhunter earning him a glare from the boy that rivaled in intensity one from Batman.
“Hopefully nobody you ever have to encounter, he is my responsibility and I will stop him, once and for all.” The hybrid snapped dangerous to the alien.
Everyone was surprised by the young man and his change in body language. It was no longer a simply boy with powers who was sitting in front of them, he had morphed in the blink of an eye to a seasoned worrier.
“And what about your parents, do they know you are fighting in a war?” asked Superman.
Danny send him a short glare before he looked to the side avoiding their eyes, hiding his feeling and tearing eyes under his bangs of black hair. “They are dead.” His hand trembling in raged.
Silence expanded in the room making the inhabitants uncomfortable, waiting for someone to finally break the awkward moment.
“We are sorry for your loss.” Emphasised Wonder Woman after a few moments.
Danny only nod, not ready to give a reply, the pain was still too fresh. To distract himself he picked up the two items that had fallen out of the thermos. The gear shape medallion and the mirror crystal, the medallion began to vibrate in his right hand sending an impulse through his core and the crystal became suddenly very cold in his other hand, even for him and he looked at both with surprise.
“What are those things?” asked Robin.
Danny hesitated before he answered “The medallion is from my guardian, Clockwork. I just don’t know why he would send me one he is normally very possessive about these and hardly let them out of his sight.”
“What kind of power it is that I can feel coming from it?” asked J’ohn the Manhunter keeping a close eye on the trinket.
The hybrid was confused and sized the green alien up a second time. “You can feel it? That’s ... unusual.”
“Please, can I have a look?” J’ohn stepped forward, now standing next to Wonder Woman at Danny’s bed side holing up his right hand.
Danny hesitated for a moment, considered the things that could happen and the distrust it could cause if he refused. When he had come to a decision he looked up and nod: “Only if you promise to give it back, right after and not to put it around your neck.” When J’ohn agreed Danny handed him the Time Master medallion.
By the first contact Manhunter’s eyes widening his body became rigid and he wasn’t moving anymore. Panic spread through Danny and he asked himself if he had made a mistake giving the medallion to the alien and why he was reacting this badly to the time infused trinket? Danny was fidgeting nervously on his bed, thinking if he shout try and take the medallion back, no matter what the others might think about this. The heart monitor was showing his distress beeping loudly.
The also worried Wonder Woman touched her friend on his shoulder, mentally calling him.
By the second call J’ohn finally woke up from this trance state, a smile on his lips. “Thanks for your concern my friends, but you didn’t have to worry. It was my fault I was simply unprepared for the thinks the medallion was showing me.”
Danny breath speed up. He didn’t understood what had happened and feared the reaction of the others and the things the Marsian had been shown by the Time Medallion. He could have seen his own past or the past of Danny and all his failures, maybe even a glimpse in the future?
“Hey Danny, calm down.” Shaking the other boy on his shoulder Robin forced the focus from J’ohn back to Danny who was on the brink of a panic attack.
“You have nothing to fear Daniel.” The Manhunter said, giving back the item.
Danny took the necklace and pressed the pendant to his chest, fear glowing in his now green eyes. He closed them to hide the unnatural colour, breathing in and out, slowly calming down.
“What?” he whispered unable to speak louder, open his eyes again, he was holding Manhunter’s gaze firmly; the green color had changed back to the arctic blue.
“The past, some of mine some of yours, I think. You should be more careful with time infused items, especially with the ones coming from the Master of Time himself.” Blood shot in Danny face and he blushed deeply.
“I... I’m sorry ... I di... didn’t know.” His apology faded away unheard, as all four occupies in the room asked J’ohn about what had happened. Through their mind link he promised to explain later. For now they still had many unanswered question.
“Young one, do you know why the Master of Time has send you these gifts?” J’ohn asked looking at the items in Danny’s hand.
The hybrid shook his head “No, the Time Medallion would indicate a mission for me in a different time line, but the mirror... I didn’t even knew that they could be moved out of Clockworks tower. Both items are linked to him and the time stream. In the wrong hand they could cause a lot of trouble.”
“Try and put the mirror on the medallion.” Suggested the humanoid alien.
“He showed you something.” pondered Danny, and it wasn’t a question.
Still Manhunter nodded, so Danny sighed. One contact with the Time Medallion and the Marsian Manhunter was acting just like Clockwork. He promised to himself, he would give neither the medallion nor the mirror to someone else.
Danny then followed the advice and took the medallion and levelled it on his right hand, placing the mirror on top of it with his left. Both objects started to glow, first neon green, like Danny’s energy then ice blue and finally a deep violet, just like the colour of Clockworks cloak. The glow manifested itself and a tiny figure appeared on top of the mirror like a hologram, slightly hovering over the smooth surface.
Glowing red eyes looked up under the hood of a long violet cloak, the entire body was hidden but Danny had known the figure long enough to know that if the cloak was opened you would see an old grandfather clock embedded in the chest of the man. A man who had no legs but a ghostly tail that allowed him to hover mid-air. But in the hologram the figure seemed to have the body and appearance of an adult, although Danny had seen him shifting between the form of a young child and an old grandfather.
“Hello Daniel,” his voice was deep, calm and had an echo to it.
“Clockwork,” replied Danny in surprise.
“I know you must have a lot of question, but I don’t have much time left.” He chuckled except it wasn’t a sign of happiness it felt dry and kind of sad. “This coming from the Master of Time sounds weird, but that’s just it, I’m not longer the Master of Time.”
Danny gasped; the small Clockwork let his tiny head down and sighed deeply. “I should start from the beginning. I can’t predict how long you have to stay in the thermos before someone will find it and release you and the time could have affected your memory about the past months and the last fight with Dan.
First of all, you should know, none of this was your fault. I know you have the tendency to blame yourself for all thinks regarding Dan. However, if anyone is at fault here it would be me. I let Dan escape, forgetting that as a creature out of time, he can’t be affected by my powers anymore, allowing him to defeat me in my own tower.”
Clockwork hesitated for a moment, allowing the true meaning behind his words to sink in. When he continued his voice was still loaded with sadness but regained some off his usually firm tone.
“He destroyed my sceptre, stripping me so of my control over the time stream, and then destroyed my tower. I was badly injured, Dan thought I was ended and it was sheer luck that it was Frostbite who found me floating in the Zone. He and his tribe in the Far Frozen nursed me back to health. Meanwhile Dan had not wasted any time and began his attack on the human realm. I heard later that in his first attack he had destroyed Amity Park and killed your parents and Vlad, rumors said they fought bravely before Dan decided to simply annihilate the whole town, leaving nothing of the one city that had resisted him for ten years in his time stream.
“You and your team haven’t been there at the time, and therefore were spared of the obliteration. When the news of Amity Park and the escape of Dan finally reached you, you rallied the forces of both worlds: the human realm and the zone together and as their leader stood against Dan and his army. Your first battle was won; you were able to drive Dan back into the zone.
“If the humans had trusted you, I know you would have won the war for them in the end, even after many bitter losses to the humans, the zone and your own team.
“The war raged for almost 8 months, back and forth between you and Dan. You had become stronger and he lost some of his own allies to you. The final battle was fought in the remains of Washington DC, where the human race betrayed you and your allies. They followed a previous plan from the G.I.W. and launched a direct attack with an ectoranium missile at the zone.”
The heard monitor next to Danny imploded, but the boy didn’t even flinched his focus completely directed on the hologram of Clockwork.
“With the Infy-Map and Frostbite’s help we arrived mid battle, but it was already too late. The attack had tilted the balance between the worlds and the collapse of our universe was unavoidable. I was the one who captured you in the thermos you had created for Dan, the one that could only be opened by someone with a good heart, knowing that there was no escape for anyone else. Your human team: your best friend Tucker, your sister Jasmine and your beloved Samantha had died from the hand of the G.I.W. Agents when they had tried to stop them taking over your portal to the zone.”
Clockwork sighed again, behind him Danny could see debris falling down.
“I couldn’t let you be ended as well, you simply mean too much to me. You where the light in this universe, the pure soul that took in all the bad and the good things and kept the balance between them. I think this whole disaster is my punishment as Master of Time, since I allowed feelings to take over my rational thinking. Please forgive me, Daniel.”
A second shape stepped behind the previous Master of Time. It was one head taller and had long white fur. The others felt themselves thinking this must be how a Yeti is looking like. “Clockwork there is not much time left. The rift between the two universes will open soon and only stay for a few seconds.” Clockwork turned to halfway to the side and gave a short nod before he continued.
“We are sending you through a rift between two universes, as this one and all the other dimension connected to the zone are about to collapse. We can’t follow you there, I’m bound to this universe and Frostbite would be ended by the force of the passage through the rift.
“I don’t know anything about the other universe and can only hope that you will be safe there. I’m also unaware if there will be another zone with a Master of Time or something familiar. Remember the theory of energy I have once taught you: No energy is truly lost, it will only change! Our universe will start again. Don’t mind our end, once again: it wasn’t your fault.
“If we will see each other again, I can’t tell. The only thing I’m sure of at this point is that you have to keep going. You are a hero and I was very proud of you for every minute I was allowed to witness and all the things you have accomplished in your time.
“I beg you never give up hope and please never stop believing in the good of all people. I love you like the son I never had, goodbye Danny.”
The hologram dissolved into nothing the energy died down leaving only silence left in the room. Tears where streaming down Danny’s face, he sniffed and said: “He called me Danny.”