The above sceenshots are from Young Justice and therefore do not belong to me.

The first thing Danny heard when he woke up was chewing.

Loud, obnoxious chewing. Like someone was eating a bag of chips at sixty miles an hour.

He heard a smack, then a whine. "Hey, what was that for?"

"You're disgusting. Don't you ever stop for air?"

Danny blearily raised his eyes to see the redhead-- Flash Kid or something?-- rubbing the back of his head while a blonde in a green suit glared at him.

Danny glanced around. He was sitting in a small cell, the bars of which crackled with some sort of energy. Plus, lining the perimeter was-- salt?

Salt? Like for a demon? Maybe that would work on Bill, he thought distractedly, but not on me.

The blonde caught sight of him as she rolled her eyes. "Tch. He's awake, finally. Sorry you had to witness that, ghost."

Danny didn't say anything. Truthfully, he was starting to feel angry.

He glanced down at his hands. They were still covered with white gloves, thankfully. He was still in ghost form, but how long could he keep it up? There was a surveillance camera in the corner, watching. The young supers would definitely notice if he changed.

The halfa forced himself to relax. He'd managed to stay ghost for two days when he'd been unconscious in Gravity Falls; it wouldn't be too difficult to keep his identity secret. As long as I escape soon, that is.

The blonde left the hallway outside of his cell, her ponytail swishing. Flash Kid or whatever sat on a bench and watched Danny, still munching on his chips. Although there were at least a dozen cells, the only one occupied was the halfa's.

"So, Danny Phantom," the redhead said after a few moments, "how're you doing?"

Danny glared at him. "How long have I been out?"

"All night. I didn't even think that ghosts could be knocked out, but you slept like a baby," he grinned.

Well, that didn't surprise Danny. He never got enough rest.

The yellow-clad super was about to say something else when two more people entered the room: Robin and the dark-skinned teen.

The masked hero dismissed the redhead with a "Thanks, KF" and a wave. KF nodded and left the room, calling, "Art! Where'd you go?"

Robin sat down on the bench, the older teen following his lead. "Hello, Danny," the older one began. "I am Aqualad. My comrade is Robin. We wish to ask you some questions."

Danny crossed his arms, glaring. "Just don't expect me to answer."

Robin grinned a little. "First things first, ghost kid. What are you, exactly?"

"Only the first question, and already so invasive," he mumbled. The inquiry made him think of Stan, strangely enough. He wondered how Gravity Falls was doing. Did they know that he was missing?

"I've got a question for you," Danny growled. "Why would you kidnap me? What have I done to attract League attention?"

Robin leaned forward. "Let's be honest here. You're a strange case, Danny Phantom. A ghost who saves people, and then kidnaps the mayor? Who's side are you on?"

"I was framed!" he said immediately. "What would I even gain from kidnapping the mayor?" Plus, if I wanted to kidnap someone, I wouldn't be caught so easily, he thought.

Robin's expression didn't change, but Danny could tell that his mind was racing behind that black mask.

Sighing, the halfa rose from his seat. "Look, can I just go home? I've already been here for too long. I need to get back to Amity--"

He cried out, surprised, which made the other teens jump. He'd stepped on the salt-- and it had burned.

"What the heck?" Danny said, stumbling back.

At the same time, Robin exclaimed, "It actually worked?"

Kaldur was equally surprised.

Danny stood staring at the line of salt. The injury to his foot wasn't bad, and he could feel it beginning to heal, but that wasn't what concerned him. Did salt have similar effects to blood blossoms?

The aquatic teen outside of his cell murmured, "Perhaps Danny is not what we thought he was."

Danny's head snapped in his direction. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm a ghost. End of story."

Robin and Kaldur exchanged glances. "Excuse us," Kaldur said. The two supers left the room.

Danny felt his heart rate increasing and forced it to slow down, taking deep, measured breaths. He sat on the bench against the wall and rubbed his temples.

Why would salt have such an ill effect on his ghost form? The human body was full of salt. He needed it to survive. But he never ate anything when in ghost form; he never got hungry. Until now, he'd never had an encounter with salt except when fully human.

It didn't make any sense.

After a few minutes, he managed to put the salt out of his mind. It didn't matter anyway; he could just fly over any salt he might encounter.

He swept his gaze around the cell and hallway several times, taking in every detail. The phantom was fairly certain that the group of supers were together, talking about him. They were also most likely watching him via the surveillance camera.

Gradually, as the sedative continued to wear off, several things occurred to Danny. The first was that the cell and hallway didn't seem very secure. He could easily phase through them, by the looks of it. Or he could overshadow one of the teens and get out that way. Or he could use his ecto rays to break the lock. He could even freeze and smash the bars, although he wasn't sure whether he should touch them given that they crackled with electricity.

There were a thousand different ways in which he could escape. Which brought him to another realization: the super teens did not know the full extent of his powers.

That was a definite advantage.

Now he had a choice to make: remain where he was in order to find out why they had captured him in the first place, or escape and go home.

Danny was insatiably curious as to why the proteges of the Justice League had kidnapped him, but by staying he would be risking his identity, and possibly his freedom. If they figured out what he could do they might never let him go.

Plus, he had no doubt that his entire family and his friends were worried sick by now. If he stayed, then he wouldn't be able to see Sam.

Sam . . . she was probably going to break his spine for making her worry.

And yet, if he stayed and resolved the issue, then they might not come after him again and he wouldn't have to go into hiding. He had to stay level-headed. He had to make the logical choice.

Could he really force himself to put his entire life on hold, though?

Danny sighed, bringing his knees up to his chest. His pulse quickened, and his bullet scars ached. Make the right choice, Danny, he told himself. Make the right choice.

Hey, readers! How are you liking Phantom Justice so far? I should be updating more frequenly from now on (every 1-3 days).

So, I have a proposition for you. I'll go out on a limb and say, given that you've gotten this far, you probably like my books. Would anyone like to make cover art or fanart for Phantom Falls or Phantom Justice?

If you do make fanart, then I'll post it in my book and credit you! I'd love to recieve fan-made covers and post them as well, but I'm not going to change the actual covers. I sort of like their simplicity.

So for the few of you that may take this offer, PM me and we can work out the details.

Leopard out.