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Going Ghost! (Young Justice) Chapter 65: Friendly Neighborhood Ghost
🕑 Added 2025-06-02 19:40:03 +0000 UTC[Third Person's PoV]
Location: Batcave
Date: March 8th
Time: 6: 26 PM
Danny was down in the lower levels of the Batcave, dual-wielding soldering irons. His face was hidden behind a pair of protective goggles, the lenses reflecting the wild dance of sparks as he worked. A faint smell of burnt plastic hung in the air, and the occasional sizzle echoed off the cave walls.
He paused for a moment, leaning back to inspect his progress. Satisfied, he set one of the irons aside and carefully reached for the Fenton Thermos resting on the table beside him.
"Alright, let’s see if this little upgrade plays nice," he muttered to himself, popping open a panel near the thermos’s base.
He retrieved a small circuit chip from a tray of parts, its surface glinting faintly under the work lights. Sliding it into the compartment with precision, Danny began connecting the wires—blue to blue, red to green, then bridged the link with a thin strand of copper. The thermos hummed faintly, a soft pulse of ecto-energy flickering along its seams.
“Come on… don’t blow up,” Danny whispered, tightening the last screw. The thermos let out a soft chime.
He grinned. “Yes!”
Dick sat beside Danny on the workbench, his gloved fingers tapping idly on the surface as he examined the device Danny was tinkering with.
Dressed fully in his Robin uniform—cape and all—he leaned forward slightly, curiosity etched across his masked face.
“What exactly did you do?” he asked, eyebrow raised beneath the domino mask.
Danny didn’t look up right away. He tightened a screw with one hand while cradling the cylindrical thermos in the other. “It’s nothing too revolutionary,” he said casually, “just something I did to see if I could.”
He finally held up the device for Dick to get a better look. It looked like a slightly bulkier version of his old ghost thermos, but sleeker, more refined in design. He twisted the cap with a soft click and pointed it forward for demonstration.
“Basically, I upgraded the suction speed and expanded the range. You can twist the top here—” he demonstrated “—to either widen the field or narrow it down to a pinpoint. Works a lot like a zoom lens now. It should make catching ghosts or anything else a lot faster.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, a little sheepishly. “It’s not flashy or anything, but it works.”
Dick nodded, inspecting it with a smirk. “That’s not too bad. Efficient. I like it.”
Before more could be said, heavy footsteps echoed from the shadows behind them. Batman emerged, fully suited up, the cape swaying behind him.
“I hope you’re both ready to begin,” he said in that signature gravel-deep tone, arms crossed over his chest.
Danny gave a small, confident smile. “Was just about to Go Ghost.”
In a flash of white energy, twin rings formed at his waist and slid apart, engulfing him in light. His form shifted midair, and a moment later, Danny Phantom hovered above the ground with his glowing white hair and black-and-white suit.
Dick hopped off the table, landing lightly on his feet. He fell into step beside Batman, with Danny floating along a few paces behind them.
---
“This is an unbelievably slow night,” Danny muttered, lazily swinging his legs from the edge of the ledge they’d perched on. “The most we’ve done is stop a few petty crimes here and there.”
“Slow nights are good,” Robin replied, standing beside him with his arms crossed. “Slow nights mean we’re winning. Fewer crimes means fewer victims.”
“Or,” Batman interjected from a short distance away, scanning the cityscape through a pair of high-powered binoculars, “it could be the calm before the something big.”
His voice dropped slightly as he added, “It means the ones planning harm are lying low, preparing. Waiting for the right moment to strike. Against us… or against people who can’t defend themselves.”
Danny floated up into a crouch and deepened his voice in parody, mimicking Batman’s signature tone with eerie precision.
“A storm is approaching… remain vigilant. Remain suspicious. Of everything. Of everyone. Even yourself,” he intoned dramatically. “The silence speaks louder than words. You just have to listen. Listen to the city’s breath—because Gotham never sleeps, never stops. If you’re not hearing anything, then you’re not listening hard enough. There are voices… screams… whispers… in every corner, every crack. Gotham may be quiet… but it’s never silent.”
Robin clutched his stomach and burst into laughter, nearly doubling over. “Hahaha! You’ve been practicing! Your impressions are getting way too good, man!”
Danny smirked, hovering just off the ground. “I mean, if I’m going to be on patrol with the Dark Knight, I might as well have the voice down.”
Batman didn’t say anything at first. He turned slightly to glance over his shoulder, eyes landing on Danny.
Danny immediately shrank under the intensity of the gaze, his smirk faltering. “Uhh… all in good fun?”
After a long pause, Batman let out a small, barely-audible scoff and returned to surveying the city. But even then, a faint, fleeting smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth—so subtle it might have been imagined.
“Let’s split up,” Batman finally said, turning back to face them. His voice returned to its usual commanding timbre.
“We’ll cover more ground that way. If you spot anything suspicious, report it immediately. Am I clear?”
Danny immediately shot to attention, puffing his chest out. “Sir, yes, sir!” he saluted like a soldier.
Batman didn’t respond. He simply stepped off the edge of the building, fired a grappling hook into the shadows, and vanished into the night with his cape billowing behind him.
There was a beat of silence as Robin and Danny watched him disappear.
“…Should we split up too, or…?” Dick asked, his voice a little more casual now.
“Yeah, probably,” Danny said with a teasing grin. “I mean, we’ve been hanging out way too much lately. If people start seeing us together all the time, rumors are gonna start flying.”
Robin rolled his eyes, adjusting his gloves. “Suit yourself.”
Without another word, he leapt off the building and grappled away into the night, disappearing into the shadows like the trained vigilante he was.
Now alone, Danny hovered in place for a moment, scratching the back of his head.
“…Huh. Just realized something,” he muttered aloud. “I need other people around to be funny. That’s… kind of depressing.”
With a small shake of his head, he straightened his posture and drifted into the sky, becoming a streak of green light in the dark.
“Well,” he said with a sigh, “guess I’ll go try to be a friendly neighborhood ghost.”
…
Danny soared over the towering skyline of Gotham, his ghostly form glowing faintly against the inky night sky. Below, the city hummed with a quiet tension, but tonight, he wasn’t looking for danger—just people who needed a hand. Or a ghost.
He hovered above a quiet street when something caught his eye—a woman pacing by the sidewalk, visibly distressed. Her phone was pressed tightly to her ear, her expression tight with frustration. After a moment, she let out a sigh and hung up, muttering something under her breath as she stuffed the phone into her purse.
Danny descended gently, phasing through a low-hanging streetlight to avoid startling her more than necessary.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” he said politely, hovering a few inches above the ground. “Are you in trouble?”
The woman turned—and promptly screamed, stumbling back. “AHH! Jesus Christ!”
“Sorry! Sorry!” Danny quickly raised his hands in a non-threatening gesture, floating backward slightly. “Didn’t mean to scare you! I just saw you looked a little stressed and thought you might need some help.”
She blinked at him, squinting. Upon closer inspection, she seemed to realize Danny was… well, just a teenager. A glowing, floating teenager, but a kid nonetheless.
She exhaled, pressing a hand to her chest. “God, don’t sneak up on people like that. I thought you were—” She cut herself off, then shook her head. “Never mind. Look, unless you can magically get my car keys out of that storm drain, there’s not much anyone can do.”
Danny floated over to the grate and peered down. A glint of metal caught his eye.
“Yeah, I got this.” With a faint shimmer of green light, he turned intangible, dipping halfway into the ground like a diver into water. A few seconds later, he popped back up holding a slightly grimy set of car keys.
“Here you go,” he said cheerfully, offering them out. “They’re a little wet, but still usable.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “Oh my goodness. You—thank you! You’re a lifesaver, Ghost Boy!”
Danny chuckled a bit sheepishly. “It’s Danny Phantom, actually,” he corrected, rubbing the back of his neck.
He gave her a friendly two-finger salute before lifting off the ground again. “Always a pleasure to help.”
---
Later that night, Danny was standing beside the side road, holding up the back of a car as a man crouched beside it, replacing a flat tire.
“Okay, almost got it…” the man muttered, tightening the final lug nut into place.
“Take your time,” Danny said calmly, keeping his hands steady beneath the chassis. The car weighed nothing to him, but he knew better than to rush someone unfamiliar with ghost-assisted tire changes.
With a final twist of the wrench, the man stood up and wiped his hands on his jeans. “Alright, all done. You can set it down now.”
Danny gently lowered the vehicle to the ground like it was made of feathers.
“Thanks, son,” the man said gratefully, patting Danny’s shoulder. “I didn’t have a jack on me—I’d have been forced to call a tow truck, you practically saved me money.”
“Just glad to help,” Danny replied with a modest smile. And then, with a whoosh of wind and green light, he flew off into the night again.
---
A short while later, Danny came across two young men standing outside their apartment building, locked in a staring contest with an oversized couch.
“We really should’ve thought this through,” one of them groaned, rubbing the back of his neck. “How are we supposed to get this thing up three flights of stairs?”
“Do not look at me, you said we didn’t need movers,” the other snapped, gripping the couch’s corner.
Danny landed nearby with a chuckle. “You two need a hand?”
Both heads turned in unison.
“Oh man! I heard rumors of a ghost brat in Gotham, I didn't expect it to be real!” one of them grinned. “Dude, if you can get this couch into our place, you’re officially the best person, Ghost(?), in Gotham.”
“Challenge accepted,” Danny replied with a grin.
He lifted the couch with ease and turned intangible, floating straight through the apartment building’s exterior wall like it wasn’t even there. The two roommates scrambled up the stairs to meet him on their floor. Danny phased through their wall and gently set the couch down in their living room like it weighed nothing.
“Okay, that was amazing,” one of them said, still catching his breath.
“You’re the best!” the other added.
“Glad to be of service,” Danny said, giving them a wink before flying back out the window, cape trailing behind him.
---
The night wore on, and Danny continued his quiet patrol—not chasing criminals, but helping ordinary people with ordinary problems.
With every thank-you, every grateful smile or relieved laugh, he felt something stir inside him—a quiet warmth that made the cold, heavy air of Gotham feel a little lighter.
He didn’t need praise. He didn’t need fame. Just the simple, genuine appreciation of people whose lives he made just a little bit easier.
And for Danny Phantom, that was enough.
Comments
KingSpy25i .
Thank you for the great chapter 🙏
Bryan Vargas
Oh absolutely
firerock laser
He and spiderman would make great friends
