Don't Threaten Me with a Good Time

Chapter 8

Phantom could only gape at the young heroes. They had been arguing for the last ten minutes seemingly about him, to Black Canary, who struggled to quell them. The only one that seemed calm was the blonde that Phantom recalled being Aqualad or Kal as M'gann and Connor told him as his other-self. He was sat patiently on the sofa, watching them all argue over things they could not control.

"Enough!" Black Canary finally yelled, "you are arguing about a teammate that is right in front of you." Canary gestured to Phantom, and when everyone's eyes were on him, he gave them a small wave. They then went back to aimlessly yelling.

They all suddenly went quiet and stared at each other, like they were having a conversation with their eyes. Then the four other young heroes turned and stared at their leader on the sofa, Aqualad then nodded, the five young heroes set their focus on Phantom who was floating awkwardly in the kitchen. Black Canary and the Flash looked just as confused as Danny felt.

"So, Phantom," Artemis stated, "tell us about yourself?"

"Erm, well, that's sort of broad. Where do you want me to start?" Phantom replied. The team seemed oddly hostile towards him despite him saving their lives just a few hours earlier.

"How about we start with introductions?" Black Canary suggested.

"Fine, I'm Artemis, Green Arrows protege and niece."

"Kid Flash, but you can call me Wally, everyone else does, well most of the time."

"Superboy." He crossed his arms over his chest, indicating that he was not going to say any more on the subject.

"He also goes by Connor. Hi! I'm Miss Martian, Martian Manhunter's niece, but since we're on Earth, you can call me M'gann or Megan since that's an Earth name."

"Thank you for your help earlier, I did not want to retort to plan B, but the situation was becoming fraught," Aqualad spoke from the sofa giving Phantom a grateful look, "I am Aqualad, Aquaman's protege, my name is Kaldur'ahm, but it is tended to be shortened to Kaldur or more recently Kal."

"It's great to meet you all. I've been a fan of some of you since I was alive." That's right, throw them a red herring, don't let them know he's still partially alive.

"What do you mean some?" Artemis called in.

"What do you mean alive? Dude, are you dead?" Wally and Artemis spoke at the same time.

"Erm-" Phantom was cut off by Black Canary.

"Why don't we pick this back up tomorrow, it's past midnight, and you all have school tomorrow, plus you all look exhausted, and even I need my beauty sleep." The heroes said nothing but nodded in agreement. "Great, Phantom, I'll show you to your room, the rest of you get some sleep."

Kid Flash and the Flash headed towards the zeta tubes, which announced their departure to Central City. Aqualad had appeared to have fallen asleep on the sofa, with his head falling over the back of the sofa, his arms crossed over his chest and his feet up on the coffee table. Superboy, M'gann and Canary all walked down the same corridor, Phantom followed behind them. Superboy and M'gann split off from them at the first few doors, heading into their own room for the night.

Canary stopped in front of an ordinary-looking door that looked just like the rest that they had passed if Phantom were to guess the other doors belonged to the rest of the team when they chose to stay at the mountain. Canary sighed and opened the door revealing a very boring looking room. The walls were a bland beige colour, the bed was on a simple steel frame, and the sheets were plain white. There was a door at the back of the room that presumably led to the bathroom, other than that there was a simple oak desk pushed up to the wall opposite the bed, the floor was carpeted in the same boring beige that painted the walls.