Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"So tell me again why we have to do this?" Nightwing asked exasperatedly.

Constantine tapped his foot in impatience, "Those wannabe cultists didn't want to lose their progress in case they got disturbed so they used magic to prevent anyone from taking apart their summoning circle. Spell can't be undone so we either have to complete the summoning and deal with this now or leave this open and wait for this to become an issue."

It made perfect sense why Constantine was so eager to get this over with. There had been a recent massive gas attack orchestrated by Scarecrow that left most of the city abandoned. John and the Justice League Dark had been investigating the suspicious purchases by the group and stumbled across the summoning circle weeks ago. Constantine had taken point on researching how to dismantle the damn thing and securing the very accessible location. After weeks of investigation the spell was still unbroken. Spell work was a bit like coding. There were many ways to go about it and many languages to use but sometimes beginners slopped together something too horrendous and ugly that it was impossible to know how it worked, just that it did. Constantine was sure given infinite time and resources that he could squash the spell and untangle this whole mess but he was a betting man and he was willing to bet that someone would catch wind of this ticking time bomb and blow the whole thing before he could diffuse it. It was safer to set off the controlled explosion now while the city was evacuated and there were a few of the Bats available as backup. Batman agreed, which was evident by his presence. Or maybe he just didn't trust Constantine. It was a non issue either way. He needed the man as reinforcement and here he was.

"Do we even know who this is trying to summon?" Jason asked from the corner of the tiny warehouse he decided to occupy with crossed arms.

"Nope," Constantine said popping the last syllable, "That's the beauty of it. These were a bunch of amateurs who thought it would be fun to play cult and mess with the afterlife without doing any real research. So they cobbled together whatever garbage they could find on the internet and managed to make a functioning summoning circle but all their runes are gibberish. So I have no idea what they are summoning. Some kind of king. Could be the ghost of a king, could be the ghost of Elvis, could be some poor sap named King. Who bloody knows? Might not even summon a ghost even though that was clearly the goal."

"So do you need us to help complete the summoning or are we solely backup?" Nightwing asked trying to wrap this up. He had spent all day fighting and was a bit battered and more than a little hungover off of fear toxin exposure. Batman and the Justice League already signed off on this so it was happening no matter what. 

"It's not like the goddamn movies where we hold hands," Constantine sighed, scrubbing his hands through his blond hair, "just stand there and look pretty, yeah?"

"Works for me," Jason said leaning further into the pallet stack without looking any more relaxed.

Red Hood seemed seemed impervious to Batman's glare from beneath his impassive helmet. Maybe it was just years of practice.

Constantine had no idea how Batman dealt with all these kids. He slapped the leatherbound notebook in his hands. Time to get started.

Jason watched the douchey trench coat chant for a few minutes before his mind started to wonder. He didn't know that Latin could sound so British. The only reason he was getting involved in League business today was that it was in his slice of Gotham. He had known about Constantine, Zatanna and Deadman's investigations for weeks but stayed out of it. Last time he got too involved with magic, it had burdened him with a life long condition. Although it also gave him life which was then burdened. So maybe it was a wash. It didn't particularly feel that way today, he would rather be helping clean up Scarecrow's mess to be honest. 

"Bats!" Constantine chastised Batman unnecessarily, Nightwing and Red Hood on the other hand had been lulled into daydreaming by the droning spell work, "This is it, get ready."

Sure enough the florescent lights in the small warehouse they occupied started flickering. Shadows started to elongate and sharpen as if someone were playing with a flash light. Jason could swear he heard knocking from behind him and whispering in his ear. Even Bruce seemed to sense something in the far corner of the room. The air felt heavy and alive like the moment before an electrical storm. Their resident occult detective however seemed unaffected and held a hand up to light a cigarette sheltered from the wind that had blown in from nowhere  and tugged on the salt circle in the center of the room. The candles remained untouched by the gusts because Constantine refused to light them saying that they were for show only.

The humming of the lights cutting off and plunging them into darkness was deafening. When they clicked back on, a white haired figure was contorted in a kneeling position. Nightwing flinched. Jason couldn't quite wrap his mind around which limb was which because none were bent in an expected way and the body was so dark it looked like a void with no dimension.

No features could be seen just the back of a white head. In an instant, the head spun 180 degrees revealing an upside down face. It became obvious that they were looking at the creatures back and until a moment ago his head had been bent so far back that it laid flat against his back and twisted as if the cervicale vertebrae were internally decapitated, leaving the head hanging limp. The face was surprisingly young given the intense color of the hair. Although given that this was a magical or ghostly creature Batman wasn't sure that age was even a real consideration in his assessment.

Green eyes that glowed similarly to a cat's reflecting light in the dark, blinked a few times as if clearing their vision. Soon the black tangled mass was unfolding itself, head and appendages snapping into place with visceral cracks, rising to an unnatural height boasted by the fact that it's feet hovered over the floor.

"Jesus," Constantine said, accidentally drawing the attention of the morphing creature.

It's focus snapped to Batman and suddenly, "Wait, was I summoned by the Justice League?"

Bruce thought the voice sounded rather humanoid despite the fact it sounded like multiple voices were talking over one another and left his ears ringing as if someone was sounding a dog whistle.

"No. Sorry about that, mate, we tried to stop your summoning," John said, he would play nice as long as the creature would too.

Batman wasn't sure if he agreed with the approach. Perhaps the creature wanted to be summoned and they just pissed it off.

"Oh," The creature said again sounding fractionally more human.

Its stature began diminishing and collapsing in on itself. The flickering lights calmed and the air stilled, "Guess I can stop with the dramatics then."

The once spindly and inhuman creature now stood before them looking like an average teenage boy, besides the white hair, radioactive green eyes and the way the overhead lights didn't seem to interact with him at all. 

"Sorry for scaring you, I take it you took care of the cultists?" The boy asked pacing the salt circle, studying the runes that outlined it.

Batman spoke up, "They are in custody, yes."

"I was hoping to give them a bit of a scare," The boy said with a wolfish grin, "But based on the shitty quality of the work here" was said gesturing at the chalk the ringed the inner circle, "These were idiots, it wouldn't take much"

Jason snorted at that. So Constantine wasn't just talking out of his ass. Sometimes it was hard to tell... That had been a mistake. Now the unsettling teen's attention was on him.

"Wait, when did Redhood die?!" the creature gasped.

Jason sputtered, "What the fu-"

"-How did you know?" Nightnwing demanded at the same time.

"Sorry that was rude," The creature said rubbing at it's neck weirdly human all the sudden. He still looked just as he had moments before but the unsettling aura that oozed out of him was missing. It almost felt like a talking to a normal teen.

"It takes one to know one, you know." He said.

"So you are a ghost?" Batman asked, "We weren't sure what they were trying to summon."

"That's a complicated question."

"How so?" Constantine said taking a drag from his lit cigarette, unbothered.

"I am not what you would probably consider to be a ghost but I am a ghost." Constantine nodded. He was familiar with the infinite realms and the different tiers of entities that filled their dimensions. 

"So you died?" Jason demanded somewhat confused.

Bruce held his hand out in warning. A warning that Jason ignored staring or at least pointing his head steadily at the 'ghost'. This ghost seemed very cooperative, Constantine didn't look concerned either. Though that was probably a front, trying to prevent the creature from freaking out.

"I did," The ghost said agreeably staring at Jason, "Sorry if I upset you."

"You seem young," Dick blurted out and based on his thick hazmat suit that became visible as the kid demystified himself, he died recently, at least recently for a ghost.

"Ghosts are usually born from violent deaths" Constantine said off handedly sensing where the line of questioning was headed and somewhat callus to the situation, "Maybe best we don't ask about it."

The ghost laughed, "I understand the curiosity. I don't mind questions, especially not from the Justice League."

Batman was the first to jump on the question "Were you murdered?" Given the kid's recent and early death it seemed likely that he had not died naturally as Constantine said. He had also understood that the usually the more traumatic the death the more powerful the ghost usually was. Given the research he had done on the way over, this kid seemed more powerful than most. He wanted to offer his help if it would help the kid be at peace or prevented him from destroying Gotham. Now wasn't the best timing but he couldn't ignore the murder of a child. Certainly not after Jason.

"No I wasn't mur" the ghost cut off suddenly looking deep in thought for a second, "well a case could be made for involuntary manslaughter, or maybe criminal negligence. Not sure, honestly."

"Wait, what?" Jason said.

"Is there anyone that should be held responsible for your death that you would like us to look into?" Batman asked.

"You would do that?" The kid asked eyes wide.

"Of course, kid," Constantine said, "It's kind of my and the Bats' thing here. Maybe you could tell us your name first. I'm Constantine and it seems like you already know about the Bats, Batman, Redh Hood and Nightwing"

Dick waved awkwardly not sure how to greet such an entity, Red Hood dipped his head when introduced and Batman did nothing. Despite being a part of the Justice League, which the ghost recognized, Constantine was still widely unknown. Hard to be a detective using his own face if it is plastered all over the news. He was a discreet member, it better that way even if it had its disadvantages.

"I'm Phantom" The kid said, then paused for a moment before saying, "but you can call me Danny."

"It's nice to meet you Danny." Batman said, "Can you tell us more about your situation so we can help."

Phantom bit his lip, "Well, I'm a bit like Red Hood over there."

"What does that me-" Jason was cut off by a ring of blinding light that formed around the kid, scanning upwards.

A human with black hair and blue eyes was left in place of the ghost and dropped to the ground landing on his feet.

"Death didn't really stick for me either." was explained with a wry smile.

"What in the bloody hell!" Constantine had never seen anything like it.

The kid then proceeded to step out of the summoning circle. The summoning circle that was meant to contain him. The summoning circle Constantine had ensured them no ghost could pass. Everyone took a weary, simultaneous step backwards, away from the now very powerful and free ghost?, human?, entity. 

Danny ignored at the discomfort and fear he caused and said, "We need the Justice League's help in Amity Park."