Chapter Text
Phantom was pacing in his watch tower room, apparently so deep in thought that he hadn't realized Superman coming inside to inform him of a upcoming meeting.
"Hey Phantom?" Superman inquired watching him worriedly. The ghost always seems skittish for some unknown reason.
Phantom jumped into the air and looked at him surprised.
"Batman said there will be another mission to discuss, but are you alright?" Superman inquired.
"Ha, why wouldn't I be? Just lead the way Superman" Phantom smiled at him as if nothing was wrong.
"You know whatever concerns lay on your heart you can talk to us, to me" Superman offered.
Phantom chuckled and brushed him off, while floating out of the room. "I'm fine, there is nothing to worry about"
Later that day Superman went to flash in the cafeteria.
"Hey Flash, does Phantom seem kind of off you to?" Superman inquired worriedly, as Phantom scrabbled out of the cafeteria with a bunch of food in his arms.
"Nah, he does things like that all the time. It's just how his species operate" Flash shrugged.
"Phantom! Come out or you will be late for the next meeting" Nightwing called though the door when he noticed it was locked.
"How long has he now been in his room, now?" Superman inquired worriedly.
"A whole day" Nightwing sighed. "I tried to bribe him to come out with the regular things he likes, but it doesn't work"
Superman narrows his eyes at the door confused. He was hearing a heartbeat.
"Is anybody else in the room with him?" Superman asks.
"No, nobody entered other than Phantom himself" Nightwing informed him worriedly.
Then the heartbeat spiked and almost stopped completely.
"There is someone else in there" Superman stressed and looked at Nightwing, who gave him a nod of approval.
Superman smash the frozen door open. Both of them stepped into the room, only to find a sobbing teenager curled up in the corner of the room. Phantom's regular humming was completely gone and they didn't see him anywhere.
The black haired boy looked wide eyed at them and stood up as if ready for a fight.
"Hey calm down, we are not here to hurt you" Superman instructed.
"How did you get in here?" Nightwing looked around bewildered and noticed how the door was frozen shut. "Did Phantom lock you in here?"
"What!? No! I- i messed up a summoning circle and ended up here" The boy smiled sheepishly.
"Then why was the door frozen?" Nightwing questions.
"I don't know, maybe Phantom wanted to be left alone?" The boy offered rolling his eyes.
"Well from where exactly did you make the summoning circle?" Superman inquired worriedly.
"Ah, Illinois..." He smiled sheepishly.
"I will bring him home and get Phantom back" Superman declared, making the boy beam only to immediately frown.
"Sure, one last thing. What is your name kid?" Nightwing questions.
"Mathew Smith" the boy smiled politely.
Superman and Nightwing shared a suspicious look before nodding and going there opposite ways.
"W-Why does Phantom need to get back?" Mathew questioned worriedly.
"He is part of the Justice League, Mathew. Without him so many villain's run around and kill innocent people" Superman explained.
Matthews lips trembled and he looked away in irritation. Which was definitely an interesting response. Normal people would be in awe of how cool the Justice League was, with all of its hero members.
"Why should he not return?" Superman inquired curiously.
"Because maybe he has family and- and..." Matthew started to sob again. "PHANTOM IS NOT JUST A GOD DAMN WEAPON!"
Superman looked extremely surprised by his outburst. "We never seen him as just a weapon..."
Matthew scoffed disbelievingly. "Yeah right, like you people would give a shit about some ghost, that you noticed because he was powerful enough to scream a fucking city into rubble"
"You know Phantom quite a lot don't you?" Superman questioned suspiciously.
Matthew stiffened up in place and looked away. "No..."
"So you aren't Phantom's Brother?" Superman inquired curiously.
"Why does it matter? (It's not like you gummy bears would let him leave either way)" Matthew questioned and muttered.
Superman snorted at the insult, making Matthew cover his mouth and look fearfully at him. Which kind of stunned Superman. Why was he scared of him?
"He could leave whenever he wanted. Phantom just needs to tell us where he is, so he could jump to help when needed." Superman informed him.
Matthew stayed quiet for the rest of the way to the zeta tubes.
"And what if he disappears completely?" Matthew inquired curiously.
"We would definitely search for him and what happened to him" Superman smiled proudly.
They zetaed down to Illinois and walked into a forest.
"You know if you tell me from what city you are, I could fly you there" Superman offered.
Matthew ignored him and took out a bulky com line. "Guys?"
The static coming of the com line was all Matthew needed to apparently calm down a bit.
"Yeah, The governments Heroes have him" Matthew responded sadly.
"Government heroes?" Superman repeated bewildered.
More frantic static came over the com line, which Superman had no clue how Matthew deciphered a massage out of that mess.
"I am trying, but how do you expect me to-" Matthew cut himself off when he glanced at Superman. "Yeah well the sunny one is with me" Matthew huffed.
"As dumb as it might sound, maybe it's the safest option"
The static was outraged.
"I know, but what else do you want me to do? We all know the other outcomes are... Not going to cut it" Matthew chuckled at a joke he made.
"So where exactly is that summoning circle you made?" Superman interrupted.
"Okay guys, stay safe. I don't know when I can contact you again... Love you to" Matthew pocketed his com line and looked back at Superman.
"It's in that direction" Matthew pointed behind Superman.
Superman turn around to look. Only to look back panicked when Matthews heartbeat stopped completely. Matthew was completely gone.