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The boy just appeared out of nothing. One second everything was normal. The meeting at the Justice Hall didn't progress due to all of the heroes getting miffed about minuscule details. So, the same as always. And the next second? The next second there suddenly was a teenager standing in the middle of the room.
The child, no older than seventeen if even that, was wearing a faded hoodie, washed-out jeans, sneakers - and a very, very unhappy expression. And his eyes, that was the part the League noticed the most, was directly fixed on Red Hood. Red Hood, who had turned uncharacteristically tense by the moment they noticed. Red Hood who had obviously forgotten everything else going on.
John had startled as well. Quite heavily, which was definitely not a good sign. If Constantine started to use his very own brad of dark humor mixed with sarcasm it meant that things were about to get unpleasant. If he they annoyed him, it meant that things would turn ugly. And if things got really bad, he would maybe let loose a hysterical laugh. But scared? No. Constantine was not scared. Not even when he'd looked right at a god, told him that there was noting more pathetic than him begging and then proceeded to kill him.
Constantine was, for some reason that none of the other Leaguers could fathom, very scared now. The man was white as a sheet, and his hands were even trembling a bit.
"Hm. I didn't know you were busy…" The teenager looked around the room almost bored. With a deep sigh, he walked over to a corner, pulled out a book from who-knows-where and sat down on one of the steps a bit off from the table they were all sitting on. "Well, go ahead and continue. I'll just wait until you're done."
Obviously, Batman had something to say to that. But before he could, John shook his head vehemently. "It's… We were just about done! There's no… There's no need to wait. Right?!" When he frantically turned to the other Leaguers, he got a few nods in return. The teenager scowled as he took in their expressions, though.
"You sure? 'Cause it's urgent, but not that urgent. I can totally wait another hour or three." He hesitated, closing his book absentmindedly. "Not four, though. Four'd be a bit late…"
"Yes! Please, go ahead…"
The teenager contemplated for another second, but stood with another sigh in the end. He nodded and walked up to right behind Red Hood - who, surprisingly enough, turned around obediently and turned his full attention to the child.
A flash of light, like lightning, blinded them for just a second. And when it was over, the teenager had changed. His teeth were longer, his ears were pointy, his skin blue-ish. His clothes had changed too, white gloves and boots of leather poking out from a black lace cloak that seemed to shine with thousands of stars if you didn't focus on it, and a black turtleneck and leather pants underneath. His hair had turned into white, floating as though under water. And his eyes had turned that particular shade of green that they had all come to associate with the Lazarus Pits.
Not a good sign, then.
The most attention-catching thing about the teens new form - even more than the floating crown of black steel above his head with all its glittering snow falling onto the child's head and its purple nebula wafting on its inside - was that the teen appeared to have gotten younger during his transformation. Thirteen, maybe fourteen years old.
And Red Hood stood up only to kneel in front of this child. Red Hood. The same man that had casually flipped all of them off physically and verbally, multiple times. The man with authority issues. Without even so much as being prompted to do so.
As if already knowing this would happen, the child raised one gloved hand and flicked it in Hood's direction, a glowing green mist wafting over onto the man to settle inside of him. He bowed even deeper in turn.
"Jason Peter Todd." The League gasped. They all knew each other's identities, but it was still not something any of them ever acknowledged out loud. Not outside of their homes. And yet, Hood didn't flinch, didn't even so much as tense at the use of his name. Just who was this child?
Oblivious to the Leaguers' reaction, the child narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. "Stand up and show me your eyes before we continue."
"Of course." To all of their shock, Hood immediately took off his helmet and even the mask he wore underneath. Green eyes looked at even brighter ones, and the child floated up a bit to take the man's face in his hands and take a closer look. He hummed in thought, turning Hood's face this way and that slightly, as if to make sure he didn't miss anything.
"Looks fine… Any bursts of rage lately? Madness clouding your sight? Anything like that?"
So there really was a connection to the Lazarus pits, then. A really not good sign. Glances were exchanged, hands drifting to weapons. But Constantine frantically shook his head when they did, so no weapons were drawn or touched. That didn't mean they were any less tense, though.
Hood, looking awfully relaxed now, shook his head as much as it was possible to with his face still held in place. "No. Nothing, not since last time."
The child hummed again and drifted away. "Good." Then he took a deep breath. "Jason, you have one month to sort your affairs in this realm. In exactly one month from now, I will expect you in the Infinite Realms for strategy meetings. Come fine me in my castle, then."
Tension rippled across the room. They'd all heard about the Infinite Realms. Deadman had called it the home of real ghosts, those of the strongest variety. Constantine had only ever told them to "not mess with that no mater what", but Zatara had mentioned it a few times. Never in good graces, only with fear laced in between. Giovanni had insisted that all magic related to the Infinite Realms belonged forbidden and sealed for good.
Hood's lips drew into a thin line, his eyes widening and brows furrowing in concern at the words. Not at the mention of the Infinite Realms, though. "That means…?"
Solemnly, the boy nodded. "We have 43 days until it begins." He pulled out a stack of papers, apparently out of thin air, like his book earlier. It appeared to be some sort of official document. The boy looked at it as though it had offended his entire family line. "They made their decision. And I cannot refrain from making mine any longer. Negotiations failed. There's nothing left to say or do - I will not let them destroy the realms, and I won't let them hurt out people any longer."
Something softened in his eyes when Hood closed his eyes in obvious defeat. A glance across the table showed that John was frozen in horror. The boy only let a sad, tired sigh escape his lips, though. "I'm sorry. I wish there was another way left, please believe me. But you know what they're capable of. I can't just not do anything. I can't. And they… I tried but they won't even listen, and its the only answer I have left."
"…So a war it is, then." Hood's voice was laced with despair, fragile and broken in a way it hadn't been since the distress call had reached Bruce from that old, abandoned warehouse, right before the connection cut off and left them without a location to find him.
The child didn't answer with anything but a sad, broken smile. Then, without looking away from Hood he called across the table. "John Constantine."
The magician flinched at being addressed, taking a trembling breath. "Yes, your highness?"
"The time to pay for the help you received has come. I trust you haven't forgotten our bargain?" He glanced over at John now, but he still didn't turn his head any more than he had to.
John closed his eyes, leaning back as if he didn't trust himself to stay upright without the help of his chair's back rest. "Yes, your highness. Of course…"
The boy, which Constantine obviously was not only honestly afraid of but also had dealings with, turned to him completely now, one hand placed on Hood's shoulder in what could have been comfort or a threat. "Good. First: You will take my side in this, and do your best to help. Second: You will not disclose anything that you learn during your time at my side to anyone. Third: You will not betray me and mine, no matter what happens. And Fourth: For the duration of this war, you will not communicate with the Justice League or anyone associated in any way, unless I directly and personally order it. Do you have any objections?"
Constantine opened his mouth, clenched his fist, took a look around the room. But in the end, he closed his mouth, slumped over and shook his head.
"Then you have a month to prepare as well," The boy nodded, before he suddenly acknowledged the other Leaguers. He hadn't done that so far. "Now! I suppose you all will have some questions? Jason, John, you two are free to reveal everything you think they should know now. I will answer what you can't."
Obviously, the boy was right. There was not way something like that wouldn't cause innumerable questions. But… where would they even begin asking?
Fortunately, Hood took the initiative: "Let's run down the basics: This is Danny Phantom, High King of the Infinite Realms. He helped both me and John multiple times before, and it's time to pay up now. He's a friendly, usually, but strong enough to absolutely eviscerate everyone here in less than a second. And… Apparently the government did something stupid and caused a war with the Infinite Realms. Which both of us will have to participate in." Hood looked at Batman, something hurt in his eyes. "Not on this side of it."
"…What kind of deal did you make?" It was Zatanna who asked, and John who smiled defeatedly in response.
"Me, I made a bargain for help. He helped me whenever I was out of options, on the condition that he'd be able to give me a command for each time once he needed my help. 's time now, is all."
"…The pit rage." Hood crossed his arms, not looking at any of them. "Noticed it fucked with me. Couldn't reign it in. Got help. Became his knight."
There were a few gasps, interrupted only by the teenager's sigh. "Zombies aren't usually within my domain, but…" He shrugged. "He needed help. I had to make him become my subject somehow if I was going to help. So he agreed to become my fight knight in exchange for some time with a clear mind, at least. Said something about wanting to spend some time with his friends and family while he still could… I'd offer him a way out but if I did, well, he'd just go back to being an uncontrollable mess of anger and hurt that isn't even his. So I can't."
Hood glared at him a bit, as if he hadn't wanted them to know that much. The rest of the Leaguers appreciated the info, though. And across the room, Roy clenched his fist underneath the table at the thought of his friend selling himself out just to get a second chance with people that were still distrustful towards him.
Batman sighed, rubbing his temple through the cowl. "You mentioned a war…"
The child, Phantom, nodded. "Yes. We tried putting it off. There's nothing left I can do." Something dark and angry clouded the child's face. "I'm done excusing their crimes."
"…Who's they, exactly?" It was Superman asking this time.
"Fucking government." Hood grumbled, eyes shining even brighter green. "Keep making excuses to hunt and hurt our people. Got so bad some of 'em even destabilised. One of which…"
When Hood trailed off, glancing at the child king, he shook his head with toxic tears in his eyes. "This isn't about my sister, Jay."
"She was a good lass. Tough."
"Not tough enough in the end, John. And it's been a while. I moved on. This isn't about her. It's about the rest of them." He turned back to the leaguers, not looking at all as though he'd moved on. "We tried to stall, trying to buy some time and find other solutions. It's futile, though. They declared war, and I won't allow them to destroy our home without putting up a fight."
In that moment, he really did look like a ruler, instead of a teenager.
And in that moment, Wonder Woman had a thought. "If we're going to be enemies in short time, why tell us all this?"
"Because you deserve time to prepare, too. Because not everyone in this Realm is at fault. Because if I can have the time to send the people I love to a different, safe dimension you deserve that, too." He hesitated, smiling at them. "Because I hope that, if you know both sides, you might be able to convince them to give up before there's no life left in this Realm."
"What do you mean by that?!"
John groaned, rubbing his face with both his hands. "Are you bloody deaf or somethin'? I just told ya, he's the Ruler of the Afterlife. Every time someone dies, his numbers will grow. Not to mention that if he decides there's no hope anymore he could just end the entire war with a single scream! The child is an eldritch abomination whose average subject could go toe to toe with that twat Klarion 'n the rest of 'em Chaos Lords any day. We- You got no chance here, mate."
"Only thing left to do is damage control," Hood agreed grimly.
"Maybe not." Red Robin chimed in, eyes trailed in obvious concern on his brother. "You said you couldn't stop the war, but maybe if someone of influence from this realm tries to convince them…"
"It's not impossible." Flash nodded. "It's obvious if our side agrees, we could solve this peacefully."
"Sure, try your best." Phantom shook his head with the obvious look of someone who'd grown weary of hope. "Try to work a miracle. If you do, I'll be deep in your dept. We're not going to proceed with war preparations much until these two join us. I'll hold them off completely for the next month. Try what you must. I'll go back to learning war strategies in the mean time."
He held up the book he'd been reading earlier, startling the Leaguers. A humourless laugh escaped him. "What? I'm a child. Of course I don't know how to wage a war yet. What'd you expect?" He scoffed. "Anyways, the Mortal Realm is no longer under my protection now. So if any of you decide to mess with the time stream again, it'll be less than likely you'll make it out okay. We'll probably be enemies next time we see each other, but it was nice to meet you anyways."
And with that, the teenager disappeared just as fast as he'd appeared earlier.
Sighing again, Constantine stood and moved towards the door. "Well, I'mma go, then. The little buggar said we only have a month, and I have shit to do, liquor to drink and cigarettes to smoke. See ya, or maybe not."
"Wait! Aren't you going to help us?"
John looked back at the boy scout, raising an eyebrow. "Enemies, remember?" He gestured between them. "'Sides, if the kid whose mentor can see every possible timeline says it's unlike you'll succeed, sorry mate, but it just ain't happening." He hesitated for a moment, narrowing his eyes. "He's a good kid, though. His whole reason for existing is protecting people. Don't let those twats tell ya otherwise, got it?"
Hood, too, stood and joined Constantine. "Yeah. And I was there, he really did try everything."
"Where are you going?"
As usual, Hood didn't bother stoping for Batman. "Imma go home and tell the rest of my family we've only got a month before they ain't ever see'n me again. And then Imma make the best of that time."
"If it's too late now, why'd you never say anything before?"
That had both of the men turn back in the doorway.
"No one's ever tried to hide it, y'know? So isn't the question more this: Why'd you never look close enough?"
"But you never do look, do you? Not 'till it's way too late."
The door closed with that, leaving a room full of anxious and overwhelmed heroes behind.