October 28
"Hello?"
"Hi Tanna!" Phantom cut in before anybody else could, once again hijacking the call with the young sorceress. He received soft glares from the two Leaguers but he didn't care. He knew Zatara's schedule. The man wasn't there, preparing for a show he had later in the evening, he made sure to check before they left earlier in the day. "Say, we're in training with M'gann right now. Do you have a moment?"
It took a second for Zatanna to answer again, soft rustling coming through as she got comfortable in bed. "Sure, whatcha need?" She hummed, sounding a whole lot more interested than last time the two mentors tried to talk to her.
"We're trying to figure out why exactly you can tell us apart but M'gann can't." Robin butt in, enjoying the annoyance on Canary's face as they were making both Black Canary and Martian Manhunter into their accomplices in breaking rules. "I get it's just a vibe thing but like, what exactly do you see? M'gann?" He looked over to the Martian, who was sitting in the armchair they kept in case she got tired.
M'gann frowned a little, not used to needing to explain telepathy things to non-telepaths. "Well..." she trailed off, trying to find the right words. "I usually look for the unique feeling everybody has to their mind. Every mind has its own feeling, but the two of you are so similar." She sighed deeply, letting her head fall into her hands as she fought the growing headache. "Like a song, I suppose? Everybody is their own song, but you two feel like you were made from the same sample with slightly different lyrics added on."
"Oh." Robin vocalized, quite surprised that's how she did it. "That's actually really cool." Though he did have to fight back a laugh at the thought of them being made of the same sample getting fully misinterpreted by the League once they get word of this. More fuel for the clone thing, more fun they get to have.
"Music, huh? They're colors for me." Zatanna mused as she thought about her own perception of the two partners in chaos. "Robin is blue and Phantom is teal for me. Pretty easy to tell apart."
Not wanting to focus just yet, M'gann dragged out the topic a bit longer. "What about the others?"
Zatanna thought for a bit. "Well, you're red, and Connor is black." The three youngest shared a small giggle, knowing exactly why she mentioned the two of them first. Neither of them were particularly subtle about it but there's only so much hiding one can do when Phantom literally watched them kiss.
"Wally is yellow, Kaldur purple and Artemis is green." She finished listing off everybody's color. But something stuck out to Phantom the more she color coded the team.
"Tanna?" The girl in question hummed. "Can you see souls?" It was something he heard Frostbite mention when he was first learning how to control his new ice powers. Every soul has a unique color, it's how they were able to tell apart blob ghosts. The squishy little fellas didn't have any defining features outside of their core, which was essentially their soul in a metaphysical way. It was an incredibly rare skill for a human to have, but considering it was Zatanna they're talking about, he's quite willing to bet she was one of those rare few.
"Is that what it's called?" The magician in training asked, equally intrigued by the new info. Of course, they wouldn't know for sure until they could ask Frostbite once again. Still, it was a neat little fact. Something they all knew would be reported to the rest of the League the second they walked out of here.
Chances of getting yelled at for getting Zatara to tell at them? Pretty high, but it's worth it.
M'gann slightly lifted up, focus set on the two boys in front of her, ready to give Zatanna's version a shot. It was hard, trying to shift her way of identifying people to something totally different. But, it did seem to work, if only a little. "I think I got it." She breathed out before collapsing again, dropping out of the air like a brick. "I-I can kinda see the colors, I think, but you still look the same."
J'onn frowned. He, too, had tried to resonate with color coding people. Though every telepath did have their own methods of identifying specific minds, it did seem to work quite well. He could imagine the colors, as described by Zatanna. But, when looking at M'gann's view of them, there seemed to be a green haze surrounding them both.
She sighed deeply, hugging herself as she leaned back in the chair once more. "I'm sorry. I really am trying. I think it might just be the bad sleep I've been getting that's messing with my focus today." She softly rubbed circles in her left palm, a shudder going down her spine as the pains haunted her still.
That, in turn, made Phantom frown. "Bad sleep?" Is that why she looked so exhausted the entire time?
"Just some bad nightmares." M'gann nodded, eyes ticking up for a moment before falling down to the floor. She tried to smile, reassure everybody she's okay, but it convinced nobody. "It started after...you know, but it'll get better eventually."
A bad feeling crawled around inside his mind as he calmly approached the two aliens. The exact spot she kept massaging was making bile rise in the back of his throat. "Can I try something?" He looked between the two, waiting until he got a nod from the both of them.
Pulling off his right glove, he let his hand hover just above hers. He focused the smallest bit of ecto he could into his hand, trying to imitate something he watched Frostbite do. As expected, and dreaded, soft green started to glow from M'gann's skin. Phantom pulled his hand away with a hiss, scaring the others.
"M'gann?" He breathed, eyes not leaving her hands as the glow retreated back into her. "What...what happens in the nightmares?" His voice was shaking but nobody commented on it. At least not out loud.
M'gann looked him over, waves of dread and fear washing over her as she looked at the young boy before her. She stole a glance at Canary, checking to make sure she was actually allowed to share it. With an encouraging nod from the heroine, M'gann tried to describe it. "It's more feelings than anything, really. It's always the same things too. Pain, loneliness, fear," she glanced over to J'onn, knowing he felt whatever was radiating off of Phantom too. "Abandonment...I don't see any images, not even the blurry ones anymore. It's just...yeah." She shrugged, hoping that it satisfied whatever question Phantom didn't ask.
Robin noticed Phantom's demeanor change as well. Shuffling closer, he squeezed Phantom's gloveless hand. Phantom squeezed back, shaking slightly as he couldn't look anybody in the eye. "I think I know why you have them." His voice trembled, self blame powering up more and more the longer he thought about it.
"Ectoplasm is very emotionally reactive." He started, wishing they hadn't sent Cujo over to the Zone to check in with his friends there. "The more ambient ecto there is, the higher the chance it'll try to find something to attach to. I-" He swallowed hard, any trace of his previous joy gone. "Back in Belle Rêve, the breakout. That was the first time in ages I used my powers again. It left a lot of ambient ecto floating around. And since the mind link didn't have any protection against all of that..."
Silence overtook the room, letting it all sink in. It hadn't been on purpose, hell, they didn't even know anything like that could happen until Frostbite gave the Bats a rundown of how ectoplasm works and behaves while trying to set up the tech and med bay to be compatible. Neither Bat knew anything that bad even happened in the first place.
Sure, they had their suspicions for Barry and his slow healing wound. But that was Cujo, intentionally scratching him. Neither the Belle Rêve incident, not the training exercise had been intentional. But they should have known. They should have asked sooner after seeing M'gann, the one person connecting them all together at all times, struggling.
"Can you fix it?" Canary asked cautiously. This whole ghost thing was still incredibly new to her, to all of them. Batman had been less than forthcoming with whatever info he had so the League didn't have much of a base to go off of.
Phantom hesitantly floated closer to M'gann, dragging Robin with him in lieu of Cujo's absence. Squeezing their hands together just a tad bit harder, he tried to suppress the soft tremble. Can he fix it? Frostbite never explained how to but all ecto naturally gravitates towards a stronger source so theoretically...
He took a deep breath, steeling his nerves. "Do you trust me?" He knew it was a loaded question. Any sane person outside of Robin would answer no. He knew damn well nobody on the team, and most of the League for that matter, trusted him. If anything, they had more trust in a withered rope to hold up their weight than they did Phantom.
Hesitantly, M'gann nodded, supported by J'onn's comforting hand on her shoulder. Canary offered her a hand as well. Phantom looked up at J'onn, swallowing hard as he looked into the worried eyes of the elder Martian. "Could you help create a barrier around her memories? Protect the ones she's actually supposed to have when I start."
J'onn placed his other hand on Phantom's shoulder. "I will do what I can." He promised, letting himself into M'gann's mind and preparing for whatever Phantom was planning.
Absolutely nobody suspected he would turn intangible and fly into M'gann. Her usually amber eyes glowed a hauntingly familiar green as she stiffened in her seat. J'onn winced as the seconds ticked on, frowning but keeping his focus on M'gann and the little ghost inside of her. He fully understood why Phantom asked to help provide a barrier.
The moment Phantom popped back out, he collapsed into Robin's arms. Dry heaving, hyperventilating and covered in sweat, he desperately tried to regain control over his senses.
J'onn left M'gann's side, leaving his niece in the caring hands of Black Canary as he went over to check Phantom. She was fairing miles better than him, more exhausted than earlier but still relatively okay. Phantom, however, looked fully out of his, gaze focused on the floor as he was being fully supported by Robin. He had his left arm gripped tightly, white knuckles wrapped around the black glove as tears silently started to lift the mask glue around his eyes.
The League had their suspicions on what happened during the simulation, Canary and J'onn especially had their own thoughts pertaining to M'gann's nightmares as well. The visceral reaction Phantom had to witnessing them for himself just to try and help M'gann pretty much confirmed their dreaded idea.
J'onn went into his mind, careful to not look at any of his memories. Putting a filter on the ones currently invading his brain, it helped Phantom come back to reality. Ever so slowly, he started to calm down enough that he wasn't at risk of puking and could stand on his own two feet. With Robin still holding onto him, he shakily looked up at M'gann. "Did it work?" His voice was barely audible, but an encouraging smile still graced his lips.
M'gann looked up, teary eyed herself at the whole ordeal. She gave it another shot, trying her best to ignore the pain radiating off of Phantom and deep-rooted worry flowing off of Robin. They still sounded like songs made from the same base melody, but when she tried to think the way Zatanna did, her breath stilled.
Closing her eyes, she focused on just the feeling of their minds in hers. Just like the young girl said, Phantom was a beautiful teal color while Robin was a lovely shade of blue. She tried to flicker between them, pulling only one into the link like she did earlier when one had to leave the room. Not trusting her voice, she shakily nodded her head, tears dripping from her eyes.
Even with the entire team being against him, being accused of horrible things from all directions, Phantom had gotten himself hurt just to try and help her.
Phantom tried to step forward, attempt to comfort her, but his knees gave out before he even managed the first step. "That's it." Robin grunted, adjusting his grip on his brother to start dragging him out of the room. "We're done here." He didn't even wait for any of their reactions, heading straight for the med bay.
The further they walked, the more Phantom started zoning out again. A few more stumbles here and there and they finally made it to the med bay. Robin knew what to do, at least, what he could do to try and help. They went through the usual routine of putting a compression bandage on Phantom's arm.
His scars seemed to glow a lot brighter than usual, creeping up further on his arm. Robin tried to ignore how concerning that was, more so worried about the fact he couldn't use any sedatives. The ones Frostbite gave them should actually work, but that just risked having Phantom's powers misfire and have him drop to the bottom of the ocean. He was mostly worried about how his brother went from pretty much fully zoned out, to wincing at the smallest touch or sound.
Robin pulled Phantom's hood up over his head, trying to block out as much of the light surrounding him. The cooling of the bandage seemed to help a bit, but there was no way they could just zeta home now. With a very soft sigh, he got up and grabbed a dose of the spare pills they kept here. Ever so gently, he pulled Phantom up as well. Not even levitating was working all too well at the moment so they were limited to a slow shuffle as he struggled along.
This was anything but ideal. Getting back to their room would only put more strain on Phantom. Deciding to change course just a bit, he rounded the corner and dragged the suffering ghost boy over to the kitchen island.
Connor was still sitting on the couch, static filling up the room and pointedly ignoring the pair walking in.
Robin didn't care. The only thing he cared about right now was getting some food and water into Phantom so he could take his medication. Of course, that would very likely lead to even more gagging and possible dry heaving. Something that would be an absolutely sensory nightmare at the moment. He tried to offer Phantom a cup of juice and some strawberries he found in the fridge. He'll just have Bruce order some new ones and replace the ones they used now.
Naturally, this stubborn asshole absolutely refused to take either option. Robin had to practically shove the strawberry into Phantom's hand and push it into his mouth. He was about to scold the difficult ball of suffering when he got a painful reminder of why talking was a bad idea at the moment.
"Canary and Uncle J'onn agreed to put training on hold until we've both recovered." M'gann's voice had the unfortunate effect of a violent wince. Had he actually been holding onto anything at the moment, it would have ended up on the ceiling for sure. "I-Thank you, for helping." She trailed off, the wave of gratitude and mind link itself fading out as she undoubtably got some much needed rest.
Slowly Phantom uncurled himself, remaining somewhat balled up and hunched over. Robin guided him to sit on the counter. Trying again, he handed over a strawberry but Phantom refused to take it. He tried again, forcefully putting it in his hand once more and trying to lift their arms to his mouth.
Was this how he acted too when he wasn't feeling the best? Gods, he'd have to apologize to Alfred tenfold if that was the case.
Holding back from sighing, he walked over to the freezer and pulled out an icepack. Shoving it under Phantom's hood to keep it in place, he softly pushed his head up. With a glare that could rival Alfred's, he shoved the glass of juice in one hand and the pills in the other. With a final threatening squint, he walked over to the couch for a second time that day.
Connor opened his mouth, ready to complain when Robin shushed him with a hand. Pulling up his holocomputer, he typed out a message for the clone to read.
I have to go call Batman to prep home and have somebody come pick us up. He isn't feeling good and in no condition to Zeta. You don't need to talk to him or even look at him but please make sure he takes his meds while I'm gone.
Connor stared at the screen before staring back at the pleading bird. He honestly couldn't care if Phantom took his meds or not. Though, whatever happened in training, they were out early as their stupid nuggets weren't even done yet. If it was big enough that it let M'gann rest sooner, then the better for her. Still, no skin off his back either way. He nodded over to the hallway, turning back to the tv.
Robin gave him a small shoulder squeeze before silently darting out the room. He could track the ever so faint steps all the way until their room before the door closed behind him.
Connor didn't care about what was going on with those two. Of course they had a nice home to go back to, parents who cared enough to prepare whatever and come pick them up. An actual family who cared and took care of them. So why would he need to waste his time babysitting a brat when big ol' papa Bats would do it later.
The sound of the ice pack clattering on the floor and aggressive retching pulled him straight out of his thoughts. In shock he turned to the kitchen, watching in concern as Phantom emptied out whatever he had in his stomach into the sink.
Cautiously he walked over, the pungent smell of strawberries mixed with stomach acid assaulting his nose. Phantom collapsed to the ground, the only sign of consciousness being his hands still holding onto the counter. Curiosity took over, prompting him to look into the sink. He wasn't sure what to expect, but a pair of neon green pills was not it.
Robin did say he wasn't feeling good, and he heard the mentors complain about Phantom not being medically cleared to be in the field before. Was he still sick? If he was, why would they allow him to join the team and put all of them at risk?
If he wasn't, then why the neon pills?
He didn't have much time to think about it. His phone buzzed to life, the Dorito Nugget alarm vibrating as a reminder to turn the oven off. With a yelp of pain, Phantom immediately balled up more than he ever thought humanly possible, clutching his ears with all his might.
Connor fumbled trying to get his phone out of his pocket, turning off the alarm and oven as he did. Cracking the door open just slightly, he was greeted with the strong aroma of their freshly baked snack. He did have to admit, it did look delicious. Unfortunately, the smell seemed too much for Phantom's weakened stomach as the gagging started up again.
Watching the boy tremble too hard to pick himself up, Connor reluctantly offered him a helping hand. Luckily it was nothing more than a few bouts of dry heaving once more. Breathing deeply, Phantom tried his best to reach for his empty cup. Connor felt bad, the pitiful scene before him tugging on heart strings he didn't even know existed until that point.
Reaching over, he picked up the glass and filled it with some water. Helping Phantom take a few sips, the boy managed to rinse out his mouth, and thus the pills and the rest of the evidence down the drain. He looked up, or at least tried to over the edge of his hood and with how little he could still lift his head. "Please don't tell Robin." He whispered out, only caught by Connor's superhearing.
Connor helped him slide down to the floor again, hugging the icepack close to his chest as sweat continued to dampen his hair. He didn't know what was going on with Phantom, but it didn't seem all too pleasant. Filling up the cup with cold water once again, he tried getting the pitiful child to drink some more.
Soft taps walked closer as Robin entered the room again. With speed that could rival a speedster, he rushed over to the pair. Hands hovered over both Connor's and Phantom as his brain short circuited on what to do. Connor handed him the glass, waiting patiently for the stressed bird to check over Phantom. Once satisfied, he pulled up the message he had prepared.
Catwoman is picking us up in an hour. Did he take the meds?
Robin craned his neck, trying to look over the counter in search of Phantom's medication without actually getting up. Holding in a scoff and a few remarks about the privilege of having somebody chauffeur them around, he pulled out his phone. Connor typed away in his notes app, pausing only slightly. Glancing over Phantom one last time, he turned the screen over to Robin.
Yeah he did. Food's ready too
He thought Robin would be relieved, not notice the lie. Instead, he typed away at the holoscreen once again.
How do I help him until we can leave? The normal stuff doesn't seem to work on him
Robin looked up. Even with the mask and a lack of telepathic link, the worry radiating off of him was palpable. Who could blame him? He was just a human, a very skilled human, but human nonetheless. He had no idea how to handle headaches and super-sensory overloads. It's not like they had time to go over the little handbook Frostbite had given them. That was all ghost stuff, not what they'd classify as meta care. He knew some basics, of course. That's to be expected when his best friend is a speedster. But speedsters don't have super senses.
Connor stared at him for what felt like ages. Only finally moving to make a plate of Nuggets and fill up another cup with water. He took Phantom's cup and refilled it with lukewarm water before handing it back. The clone pointed over to the couch before picking up the plate and other glass, and promptly walking out of the kitchen and off towards the bedrooms.
Left behind on his own with a sick brother, Robin carefully tried to get Phantom to stand. Even with how utterly light he was, it was still hard to carry him when every slightest touch was like red hot iron to his skin. By some miracle, Phantom found the strength to float up just enough so he wouldn't need to bother with walking over to the couch.
Giving up the moment he was right over it, he plopped down and curled right back up. Everything felt so horrible but getting to the comfort of their room seemed almost impossible.
Robin sat next to him, offering whatever support he could as Phantom leaned into his side. Hopefully the hour would go by fast, but considering how scrunched up Phantom's face was, it wouldn't be fast enough.
His head shot towards the hallway as Connor came back into the room. Hands empty except for a headset he was carrying. Robin softly pulled Phantom closer as Connor approached. He wasn't sure what kind of sick prank Connor was trying to pull, but he'd fight his way thought Superman proofed steel if he head to.
Connor paused, holding up just the headset and gesturing to Phantom with it. The boy in question barely reacted but the soft squeeze of their hands gave Robin enough faith to let the clone come closer.
As Connor crouched before them, Phantom weakly pushed himself upright again. Letting Connor pull his hood down, the boy flinched at the sudden change in brightness. Not wanting to prolong this any longer, Connor put the headset on Phantom's ears. Switching it on, he pulled the boy's hood back over it and watched him slowly relax even a little.
Noise canceling
The clone's phone screen lit up in Robin's face. Perplexed, he stared up at the clone who simply shrugged before walking out of the room once again. Leaving the two Bats in whatever bit of privacy they could have before they could finally escape to comfort and properly treat Phantom's pains.