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Chapter Text

Batman watched the former Cadmus laboratories being reduced to mere rubble as he advanced toward the teenage sidekick emerging from the ruins. When the older heroes were within a few steps of them, a slight amount of relief could be seen on their faces. 

Though that this was quickly drowned out by the uneasiness and nervousness of what would possibly be a major wake-up call to their rash actions.

And it had not yet given them reason to be truly nervous.

A large number of adult members came specifically to intimidate the teenagers into recognizing the seriousness of their actions. They may be young, but their recklessness will prevent them from living long enough to become the next generation of heroes.

Superman is the first to arrive closest to the young group, but to Batman’s surprise, the boy who steps forward is not one of their own. The two, the Man of Steel and the teenager, stare at each other in silence as Batman approaches alongside Superman. 

Their staring contest is broken when the teenager lifts the tattered end of his shirt to reveal a surprisingly familiar symbol.

The teenager’s shirt has the characteristics of his co-worker. He doesn’t like the implications of this unknown boy with Superman’s face appearing in a subway lab, but he has to consider the worst-case scenario.

“Is it what I think it is?”, Batman asks to see if Superman came to the same conclusion.

He hears Impulse whisper aloud, “He doesn’t like being called ‘it’,” but that comment is quickly trumped by the stranger’s next statement.

“I’m Superman’s clone.”

Sometimes, Batman really hates being right.

While that only explains the similarities to Superman, it doesn’t explain why the clone is here, how he was released, what his programming is like, what his intentions are.

He’s about to demand they explain when Impulse speaks somewhat hesitantly “And uh, he wasn’t alone.” In the teenager’s arms lies a sleeping baby with pure white hair wrapped in some lab coats.

Of course. If the opportunity presented itself why clone one league member when you can clone two?

However, Batman hasn’t even managed to get his hands on Phantom’s DNA, how the hell did Cadmus get it?

Batman mentally sighs and begins to plan how to prevent any more cloning incidents from happening. For now, though, he has to do a little damage control.

As far as he can see, Superman is still unsure how to take the news of his cloning, but the ghostly hero who had accompanied them on his own has yet to comment.

Which is strange to Batman, since he’s just as boisterous as Flash. 

His face did not change expression as he turned to find Phantom furiously typing away on a strange cell phone, oblivious to the scene.

“Phantom “called Batman with a heavier gravel than usual.

This leaves the youthful-looking phantom static, who quickly makes a failed attempt to hide the peculiar-looking mobile device. Some of the other sidekicks chuckle at the break from the earlier tension.

“Yeah-ah, Yes?” replies Phantom, cringing at the crack in his own voice. Batman feels a small pang of sympathy; every interaction with Phantom makes him thankful for not dying before the end of puberty.

With a sigh of frustration, Batman prepares to scold Phantom for his lack of situational awareness, but Robin interrupts him by placing the little clone in his own arms and moving toward the ghost. 

Phantom’s abnormally green eyes widened with surprise and floating closer to robin he uncovers a bit of the warm covering to look at the baby inside.

“Holy schnitzels,” the hero whispers, his usual ghostly echo not as static as usual. “I didn’t see that coming,” he chuckles, a little tense at what Batman can chase, and reaches out trembling arms to pick up the baby and carry him close. “I came here to see the correction in some kids and ended up getting one in return.”

Batman is relieved that he doesn’t have to worry about the little clone’s living situation, though he’ll have to assess the little clone in the watchtower to see what other surprise he can bring.

 However, it seems he will have to have a serious discussion with Phantom. For the latter has not taken his eyes off the little creature and doubts that he will let another one approach now that he is holding it in his arms.

Glancing slightly in the direction of the other rescued child, the sense of apprehension and bad feeling increases at the incipient hope he sees forming in his eyes as he watches the phantom hero’s interaction with his clone.

Approaching subtly, Batman watches as the baby opens her neon green eyes and listens as Phantom swallows spittle and exhales a quiet “wow.”  And if Phantom seemed enraptured with the little one before, now the concentration he had on her was even more intense and furious.

“Your aunts are going to go crazy when I tell them about you,” Phantom comments. Now, without trying to hide the deep black cell phone decorated with a few blue-green flashes, he begins to scroll his fingers across the screen.

Batman tries to get a closer look at the device, but when he looks at the screen, only fuzzy and meaningless images are displayed. 

Impulse whispers, “Phantom has sisters? Wait, ¿You can have family  in the afterlife?” A sentiment that Batman is sure to be felt by all observers present. 

Despite being in the Justice League for nearly three years as a consultant to the dark league, Phantom remains one of the most mysterious heroes on the roster. Phantom has the appearance of a young teenager, but has been recorded in history for centuries. His modern-day sightings are clustered in the Illinois area, but Batman has yet to successfully access information related to the phantom.

His lack of background doesn’t seem to bother anyone besides Batman. But, now, everyone seems excited about this new information related to his mysterious co-worker’s private life: existence.

Excitement aside, Batman still needs answers as to how the sheltered children found these clones in the first place.

He turns to the teens and orders them to start talking, so they talk.

As the sidekicks’ report of the night progresses, Batman considers passing the reprimand to one of the other mentors. How could three kids get into so much trouble?

He looks at Phantom floating in circles and cooing at the baby. At least someone is having a good time. 

When the kids arrive at the lab explosion, hand unnecessarily shaken by Impulse, Batman is ready to go home and begin his own debriefing on the matter as well as transplanting a tracking network on Cadmus. 

How his life goes from protecting his city to dealing with secret clandestine cloning labs, he may never know.

“…And then you all came along,” Casie finishes politely.

Wonder Woman steps forward to announce to the rest of the members that they need to discuss the proper next steps, including the treatment of the clones and punishment for the teens; not before giving her protégé a look that they would have a private conversation about her performance on this unassigned mission. 

Batman is listening to the other mentors deciding on an appropriate punishment for the teen’s disobedience when he notices Superman approaching the teen clone. He is too far away to hear the discussion, but based on the teen’s defeated posture and the older supervisor’s sudden departure, it seems to have ended on a sour note.

He’ll have to be sure to talk to Clark about that later, for now it’s best to let the super settle his thoughts.

Batman’s current concern is the sudden tension in the teenage clone’s shoulders and his abrupt step toward Phantom.

Leaving his present company, Batman heads toward the future conflict waiting to happen. He arrives in time to hear the young super tell Phantom, “You do realize she’s a clone, right?”

Phantom’s loving gaze turns sharp as he notices the new voice. “Yes,” he states with an undertone of venom in his words, “your point?”

“Not that she’s actually your daughter,” the boy growls, ignoring the other teens’ pleas for him to stop, “just an experiment made to replace you.”

The teenage clone gets a creepy look in response, a surprising feat considering Phantom’s usual friendly and easygoing nature. Batman, of course, hides his surprise at the unfamiliar expression, but the muffled screams behind him say that this is a first for the other members as well.

The young super, however, is undeterred as he says, “What are you going to do when I end up stabbing you in the back?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Phantom mutters under his breath as he rolls his eyes in disinterest, which puzzles most of those present; including him. But the ghost entity doesn’t seem to notice this, instead, he holds the baby closer to his chest and with a gentle hand cradles the back of her head, “Are you implying that I should get rid of her to avoid that?” the threat at what can happen if the Superman clone gives the wrong answer was underlined in every word. 

The teen flinches at the tone, but in a brave way doesn’t back down. “Why wouldn’t you, what do you get out of acting like you care?” he says in an escalating tone that Batman hopes won’t lead to a fight or tears. “You already saw your golden member reject his clone, there’s no reason to pretend anymore!”

“Wait, what?”, Phantom asks, voice returning to its usual airy tone as he looks at his co-workers and their defensive positions, “who are you, kid?”

“Kid?”, shouts the boy indignantly, “You look like you’ve got two or three years on me!”

Phantom rolls his eyes, “You still won’t answer my question.”

Batman looks warily at the boy’s clenched jaw and shaking fists. His own hand hovers over the kryptonite container on his belt.

Bluebeetle steps forward to clarify, “Phantom, sir, he doesn’t have a name yet, we found him in the subway lab here.”

Ghost blinks in surprise. “You’re a clone too?”

The clone, who is visibly shaking with rage, responds with a loud nod.

“Dang,” Phantom says as the remaining tension in the atmosphere drops, “so what’s with all the anti-clone talk, man?”

“Dude,” Robin whispers to Impulse, “and I thought you were bad at reading the room.”

“I know, right?” Impulse automatically replies, “wait…”

“If you’d been paying attention, Phantom,” Batman chides him, and feels mild satisfaction at the wince he gets from the phantom hero, “you’d know about the Superman clone and his subsequent rejection.”

“That was pretty rough,” whispered Impulse.

“Totally brutal,” Bluebeetle agreed.

Batman mentally plans to teach these kids how to whisper properly.

“Oh,” Phantom replies with a sad look, “Boy, I’m sorry, I didn’t know Superman was such a jerk.”

The place went silent, it was rare to hear someone insult Superman and so openly.

“You know, you’re taking the whole cloning thing pretty well,” Bluebeetle points out from where he had been blatantly listening.

Phantom chuckles wryly as he adjusts to hold the baby with one hand. “I guess the novelty wears off the second time around.” 

Batman has never wanted access to what happened in Illinois more than at this moment.

“Have you been cloned in the past?” Wonder Woman asks in a serious but curious tone.

“Yeah, the guy who did it was a real fruitloop. I got a sister, though, so it worked out well,” Phantom comments casually. “And hey!” he continues cheerfully, “this time I didn’t have to be strapped to an operating table and tortured in the process.”

Phantom smiles at the baby, oblivious to the horrified expressions around him. Batman faintly hears him whisper “so stable and all,” in an awed tone.

“Hey, kid,” Phantom looks at the teenage clone in surprise, “Since Superass is too stunted to think of you as a person, do you want to come live with me? That way we can give Superman time to get his head out of his ass, otherwise it’s hi is the one that loss.”

The teenage clone looks at the ghost with a wary expression, but the slight hope in his eyes betrays his defenses.

“…Ok” the teen says uncertainly.

“Excellent!” Phantom cheers, but lowers his voice when the baby moves, “My place is a little small, but I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”

Phantom holds out his hand to the young boy who hesitates at first, but then holds on tight, and leads him away from the remaining heroes and cronies without even consulting with them about his abrupt decision.

No one follows them, the Gotham Knight has learned that trackers don’t work on Phantom and putting one on one of the clones could unleash the Phantom’s wrath. 

Batman has learned more about Phantom tonight than he has in the last three years. Judging by the frantic speculation of the other heroes, he’s not the only one. So he’ll give him a vote of confidence for the time being and avoid any rash confrontations.

“I didn’t even know Phantom owned a place,” Green Lantern comments.

“Can ghosts buy property?”

“Where does he get the money?”

“Are we just going to ignore the fact that Phantom has a clone sister?”

“He mentioned ‘sisters,’ plural, maybe they’re all clones?”

“You’d think we’d notice another ultra-powerful Phantom wandering around.” 

“You’d think we’d notice another ultra-powerful ghost pwandering around.”

“Batman,” Wonder Woman addresses him, “Are we sure Phantom is capable of handling two children?”

“Yeah, I mean the guy acts like one,” Flash adds.

“I don’t think you have much room to talk.”

Batman sighs at the chaotic conversations around him. They came here to reprimand the kids, not to act like them.

He turns to Wonder Woman, “No,” the Phantom he knows is childish and irresponsible, but considering her behavior tonight and the protectiveness she showed towards her clone, he wonders how well she knows Phantom in the first place. “We’ll give him a trial period, and assistance, if he need it,” he corrects.

With the clones resolved, there’s only one thing left to do. Batman turns to the three cronies to address their punishment.

He is surprised and mildly impressed with their determination to not only take pride in their actions today, but to declare a promise to do it again in the future.

It seems there is still more work to be done. He wonders if the kids will like the old Justice League base. 

Chapter Text

The boy didn’t understand why he had followed this hero. Well, he knew the little crumb of acceptance this one had given him had something to do with it. Although, annoyance largely took over his heart at being received in a better way by a stranger than the man with whom he shared half his DNA.

“Well, I guess this is a good place.” Danny exclaimed stopping his flight and descending to terra firma. This snapped the young boy out of his melancholy.

“What are we going to do here?” The half kriptonoan was somewhat puzzled, the wariness he had set aside in his innocent confidence returned with some force as he looked at the glowering hero who appeared to be of an age close to his own but who, from what he had seen previously seemed to be the opposite.

“We’re far enough away from Batman’s conspiratorial ears and the gossipy eyes of the leguers, I’ll open a door home” Danny verified that the baby in his arms was comfortable before raising his dominant hand and with a sharp claw tore away the veil of reality.

The boy watched with wide eyes as the image of the panorama cracked into a long fissure before spandering and forming a swirling green circle.

“Well, lest go.” Danny stepped into the portal like it was nothing while superboy still remained stagnant.

 That reminded him of the liquid he saw the first time he opened his eyes, only cleaner and for some reason, something in his chest told him this was a thousand times purer than that substance.

Danny’s head peeked through the portal after seeing that the boy had not followed him. Noticing a slight vibration in the young teenager, Halfa’s eyebrows furrowed. But, before forming a guess as to what he was hearing, Danny hurried the boy to follow him since this portal was made to last only a short time.

“Come on, Hydor.”

This got a reaction from the teenager. “What did you just call me?”

“Hydor? don’t you like that name?” asked Phantom stepping back out of the portal. “This month the constellation Aquarius is the most visible constellation, and Hydor is the sixth brightest star. I think it suits you. Water has its way, untethered to the starting flow just following the current of its own choosing.” He explained, a small passive smile tugged at his lips.

Those words had an impact on the boy’s mind. It was as if something inside him settled into the place that had been crying out to be occupied. And only one name was enough for it, one that would express a meaning different from anything he had been taught.

He had a choice, he could choose.

Shifting his gaze from Phantom to the portal, he watched it for a few seconds before moving forward and coming within inches of it. Danny didn’t rush him, the portal wouldn’t last long, but long enough for them both to reach their destination in the next few minutes. If not, he could make another one.

The teenager raised his left hand and cautiously, making the occasional backpedal along the way, stepped forward to touch the surface of this one. He didn’t expect to receive a welcoming feeling when his fingers brushed the surface. It felt strange, but comforting? It was odd.

But not uncomfortable or annoying.

“May I…?” the question didn’t finish formulating, Kid kept his gaze on the portal and tried to search for the right words. “I have no problem with that name… Hydor, can I keep it?”

Behind his back, Danny’s eyes widened as he was caught off guard. However, the smile on his face soon emerged. “Sure, I’d be honored if you’d take it into consideration.”

For a moment, Hydor felt happy not to be rejected. Then he became aware of such a feeling and somewhat embarrassed by such a childish emotion sought to quell it. But Danny still saw the fleeting little smile but made no mention of it. He would not disturb the child.

The portal began to waver a little, this caused Hydor to back away. Phantom advanced to stand beside him. “Shall we?” he asked.

Hydor looked sideways at him and then again at the portal, it had gotten smaller. But wide enough to pass through individually. Without a word, the boy crossed the swirling trail of light. What he found on the other side was unexpected.

A minimalist common room assaulted his gaze, several pieces of neutral-colored furniture returned to his view. Looking around, he noticed some pictures in whose images he could appreciate different panoramas of the space.

“So what do you think?” asked Phantom’s voice next to him, the portal had closed a second ago. To Halfa’s luck and relief, the little girl in his arms remained calm. He could even tell she looked more relaxed in her reverie. “It’s not as big as other places, but I have two rooms and can possibly apply it a little more.” This apartment had a small line to his haunt in the phantom zone, so extending it to new guests wouldn’t be a problem.

Hydor frowned, opened his mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by the opening of a new doorway to one side of the larger couch. This one was a bluish-green color. Even the whirlpool inside it rotated to a completely different side.

The Kryptonian struck a defensive pose out of reflex, but Danny only grimaced somewhat ruefully. He had forgotten the message he had sent to his family group.

As expected, Jazz, in all her height and spectral aura, stepped out of the portal. Her eyes searched her surroundings before she riveted on them. However it took longer for Hydor and the little girl in his arms. “Two!”

“Yes, ghost boy luck strikes again.” Replied the alluded, Hydor turned to see him when he is not dismissed forgetting to keep his guard up against the incandescent woman’s hair.

But, unlike the little baby in Phantom's arms, he was no clone of the hero. Just someone who was presented with the option of a roof over his head after being rejected by his gene donor.

“You bet.” Replied the woman, as if the fact that phantom was involved in such a situation was not strange but old news.

This confused the third person on the scene, even he knew that cloning was not a normal thing.

Jazz approached them and began to assess the boy. He was somewhat apprehensive, but the woman could see his nervousness betray his facade. Therefore, she flashed a sympathetic smile and refrained from invading his space. “Nice to meet you, my name is Jasmine Phantom. You can call me Jazz, if you like. I’m Phantom’s older sister.” She extended her hand by way of greeting.

The boy noted the gesture, looked at phantom for a second before hesitantly accepting the greeting. “Hy-Hydor.” He still wasn’t used to his name, the small stutter as he uttered it made him feel embarrassed and, for any reason, shy.

Jazz said nothing about his stumble, instead she smiled even wider. “Welcome to the family, Hydor.”

The teenager had already lost count of how many times he had been surprised and confused today. “Wait a minute, I think there’s been a mistake. I’m not a clone of phantom, I’m from…” the look of rejection from Superman crossed his mind making his words die.

“Are you sure you don’t share an ounce of genes with him?” replied Jazz tilting her. “You don’t look that much like my brother, at least not in his ghost form.” With that said, she looked to her little brother who had been gazing in adoring contemplation at the baby in his arms. “Danny, how long are you going to stay in superhero mode?”

Reacting to that interrogation, Danny’s attention returned to Jazz. Now that she mentioned it and making use of the lighting around him, even though Hydor had almost seventy percent of Superman’s features there were other features that reminded him of someone else. Like the color of his eyes, the texture of his hair, even the wrinkle between his eyebrows.

Wait, he knew that frown from somewhere…

“Oh, oh.” Danny didn’t know if the idea tingling in his gut was a good thing. Although, looking on the bright side, he would finally get his turn to tease Ellie. “I think Luthor got conned, dude.”

Jazz and Hydor shared a look. Danny took advantage of his confusion to hand the baby to Jazz who received her off guard before holding her firmly and looking at her in detail. For his part, in a small flash so as not to disturb the infant’s ground, Danny slipped back into his human form.

Kid watched as the young ghost hero went from looking about seventeen or eighteen to a man in his early thirties. The white became a silky, tousled black, the boreal green became sky blue, the pallor was lost in a new wheat color on his skin and also, the woman was no longer the tallest in the room.

“Wait, aren’t you supposed to keep your identity secret?” asked the boy puzzled by the turn of events.

Danny burst out laughing at that. His right hand found its way to his neck, showing a calm and somewhat carefree appearance. “You’re going to live with me kid.” He replied, “I wouldn’t have offered you my house if I was going to keep you in the dark about my civilian appearance, don’t you think?”

“But, you’ve known me a little less than an hour…”

“Then, make my vote of confidence in you worth it.” Danny shrugged simply.

Hydor’s face crumpled in annoyance, not in a bad way. But in his incomprehension as to this hero’s manner. The others, from what little he had seen, were wary when they learned he was a Superman clone.

They didn’t go so far as to give him a hate look, but the prejudiced was there. Which made him wonder, how were those heroes mentoring the young guys who rescued him and offered him a way out of all the lies he’d been living in that lab? They didn’t learn it from them, he supposed.

A rumble echoed through the room, and with it a third portal opened. Danny and Jazz didn’t react to the chaotic sky blue vortex, on the contrary Danny seemed to be waiting for the arrival of the white haired, green eyed girl who looked almost an exact copy of his ghost hero form.

Hydor, he didn’t know what triggered it, but ever since he saw the portal his heart was uneasy. He wasn’t afraid, much less angry. But he felt very anxious for some reason.

And the presence of the girl that come out made it harder to control.

“Danny, I thought you had learned your lesson about keeping over guarding your DNA after getting this beautiful younger sister as a gift.” The girl went straight to mockery, not even noticing Hydor’s presence as Jazz had. Superboy turned to look at Jazz and she only indicated to him to wait a second before making her presence known as she settled the baby on his shoulder.

Danny, on the other side, smiled wider. Which caused a bit of confusion for the ghost girl. Though not by much.

“And I thought after seeing how the fruitloop was gross enough to steal my genes, you’d take the best precautions not to go through the same thing.” Danny’s grin grew more wicked.

Ellie, who had no idea what he was talking about furrowed her brow even more, but hearing a small hum of longing and yearning in her direction, she remained static. Slowly, she turned her head toward the other person in the room.

The anxiety in Hydor’s chest increased as those green eyes rested on him. For the first time he felt small before someone. But it wasn’t the feeling of feels belittled, it was something more akin to the dread or nervousness caused by seeking to make a good first impression on a special person.

Wait, why did he have to make a good impression on a complete stranger?

While lost in his mind, the young clone did not notice that the ghost girl had approached him until their faces were too close. By the time he looked up, two neon green orbs were staring at him with intense fixation and unfamiliar emotions.

“Danny, is this for real?” asked Ellie without looking away from a self-conscious Superboy.

“Well, I was kind of doubtful of my theory but your reaction tells me that Jazz was right.” Danny stands next to his older sister and watches the interaction between the two. He can’t help but laugh in chagrin at Hydor’s bewilderment and nervousness.

They haven’t even explained to the boy what they thought about his other part of genes.

“Wait, w-what’s going on?” asked the boy, he was too lost at this point. And he was feeling so anxious being near who he supposes Phantom’s younger sister didn’t help much. “What are you two talking about?”

He tried to look towards the two older ones in the room when a flash of light more intense than Phantom’s flooded his sight. His eyes snapped open as a hand, somewhat softly, settled on his right cheek.

There, in front of him, a curly black-haired woman with the most intense blue eyes he had ever seen looked up at him with a somewhat nervous but joyful smile.

The anxiety in his heart stopped, as if it had been quenched the moment his skin made contact with that hand.

“Its means that I’m a mother now.” Ellie whispered with watery eyes.

The boy’s eyes widened wide, “Wh-what?

“My name is Danielle Elisabeth Phantom,” Ellie introduced herself, still not taking her hand away from the teenager’s face. “And according to my ghostly heart and those eyes so like mine, I am your mother.”

Chapter Text

Ellie was sitting on one of the individual couches, her fingers couldn't stop fidgeting with each other. She doesn't know how many times she had seen the teenager sitting in front of her before she looked away in order to not overwhelm him.

But, she just couldn't help it. He was her son, her ghost baby. Well, half ghost baby and half alien, but he was hers. Being a ghost herself she knew what having a ghost baby represented. At least in descriptive theory. However, she didn't think her own experience would be so mind-blowingly overwhelming.

Her ghostly maternal instincts could not be appeased, let alone diverted from keeping her attention on her whelp.

Pandora had explained to her in detail what being a ghost mother; whether by ghost "natural" way or core bonding, meant. This after the ghost goddess would adopt both Danny and her and Jazz.

Just remembering how clingy, fierce and overprotective the warrior was with them the first few years she felt ashamed to complain back then. For now, she was in her adoptive mother's place and wanted to have some of the control the goddess had developed when they couldn't stay in the Ghost Zone as long due to college.

Ellie looked at the restless fingers on her hands and bit the inside of her cheek inconspicuously.

Although, in this case none of that options fit her current situation. Because she didn't do the bees and flowers thing with someone liminal, human or ghost, nor did she acquire the child through adoption; core link. In this case, someone got her genetic code and the one from a super hero alien, and did all the work for her.

... For some reason, that last sentence feels weird and wrong.

Best not to think about it.

Looking again at the boy who was receiving clarification from her older sister, the anxieties of hugging and cuddling him in a nest of sheets inside her haunt in the Ghost Zone resurfaced again when he looked back at her. The anxiety increases when the teenager immediately withdraws his eyes from her. But now with fear for be ignoring by her little boy.

She almost let out a disconsolate trill. However, she didn't. Danny was watching her leaning back against the wall and holding her new niece in his arms. She wasn't going to give him a reason to stretch that shit-eating grin on his face.

"Okay, so, I don't have Luthor's DNA?" asked Hydor to Phantom's sister, his mind it was still not assimilating the theory mostly confirmed by the redhead women.

"Your quick family recognition bond with Ellie and the few characteristics you both shares confirm that fact." Sighed Jazz, it was too much information suddenly broken down to assimilate. The three Halfas were used to hasty surprises like seeing the sun rise every day.

But for the kid who has no more than twenty-four hours of getting to know the real world and even less time to meet other heroes, real heroes and not the image implanted in his head, well... for him it's a big overload.

And there's the fact that one of his parents broke the news to him abruptly and carelessly. Glancing briefly at her little sister and then change a reproachful gaze on her little brother, who averted his eyes in consequence and grimaced in embarrassment, Jazz sigh again. 

She also has some blame.

The strangeness and abnormality of their existence has soaked her to the point of forgetting that she and her siblings have a different assimilation scales comparison to the scale of people on the mortal plane.

Now that she thinks about it, her decision to open a daycare center in the infinite realms instead of this side of the veil prevented a lot of misunderstandings. Although, now she understands why his cafeteria is considered eccentrically attractive to mortals.

Mortals?

Well, she is spending too much time with fright knight. Now, see how his dismissive and diplomatic lingo was rubbing off on her. She'll have to cancel his coffee shop visits for a few weeks.

"That..." the young boy's slightly hesitant voice brought Jazz back to the current situation. "What I felt with the Phantom portal, and then when the third portal opened..." the boy briefly glanced in Ellie's direction before sheepishly withdrawing his gaze, which earned an amused smile from the redhead; embarrassing the boy even more. "Was that the family bond?"

Placing his left hand over his solar plexus, on the right side of his heart, Hydor tried to feel the tiny vibration lodged there. He had never had such an ailment before. Like any other individual, he knew that his heart was close by. However, hearts did not vibrate. They were beating, naming blood through the body.

But now, something was on a par with that beat. Different, strange, but for some reason, complementary to a certain extent that Hydor could not explain.

And all this began when the woman, the Phantom and Jasmine´s younger sister, announced her arrival and stood in front of him.

Jazz looked at the boy's contemplative action, after a few seconds she responded calmly.  "Yes, that thing you felt was the instant connection of your core to Ellie's" to the side, she watched her sister's shoulders slump as she was not referred to as the young boy's mother, but both she and Danielle knew that no one can force a title that hasn't been fully accepted.

"Core?"  Hydor was confused at the new term.

Jazz, however, was not upset at his misunderstanding. "Your hand is feeling it right now. That little vibration that is foreign to you, that's your core." The redhead's brows furrowed as she focused her attention on the phantom organ. " Would you mind letting Danny take a look at it?"

The named stood up straight at the sudden prompting, seeing his sister's gaze focused on the young boy, he month his daughter in his arms and rounded the couch until he was in the middle of both of them. Hydor, who had not yet responded with an affirmation or denial to the request, backed up in his seat.

"Sorry for scaring you Hydor," the redhead apologized as she saw that they had again acted outside the normal range of human action. At least she asked the consent question instead of telling Danny directly to check on the boy. "Danny is a doctor," she explained as she welcomed the sleeping baby back into his arms, " both in his civilian identity and on the ghost care hotline, I just want him to check your core status as it sounds kind of... weird."

"Can you hear him?" the young man asked, still not giving his answer about the check. Danny didn't press him, just waited silently beside Jazz. His eyes focused on the boy's chest which caused his frown to match his sister's.

Ellie looked at her sister and then at her child "What's wrong? What's happening?" 

"Ellie, don't you feel a disturbance in his resonance?" asked his sister with an even more furrowed brow.

The woman turned to look at her son and he returned her gaze, though not by much. Ellie didn't delve into the uncomfortable feeling of being ignored by her ghost baby. Instead, she slightly haloed the connection between the two to understand what her sister was referring to.

Her core resonated in a warm call to her whelp and to the young's surprise, the vibration in his chest increased accordingly.

Ellie's face went from concentration to concern. "He feels small and fragile, underdeveloped." She murmured with some trepidation.

Hydor looked at her at such a statement, then searched the room for some explanation to the meaning of those words but was met only with Phantom's thoughtful gaze and Jazz's worried contemplation. "Is that bad?"

"Not at all." Danny replied, "However, you have to rule out risks, having a small nucleus indicates that there were variables that affected its development. But, being a clone of a halfa and a Kryptonian we can narrow the options down to two: one, your Kryptonian ancestry suppressed the development of the nucleus over the alien gene. Or two, you had an acceleration of physical growth that exceeded your normal core development."

Danny put his hand to his chin and covered part of it as he did some calculations. 

"The Kryptonian race has strong genetics, but in comparison to a halfa it is far behind. Which leaves us with the second option as the more assertive answer, so I hope my question doesn't make you uncomfortable and if it does I apologize in advance."  Danny looked squarely at the young man, "While escaping Cadmus, I have to assume that the young heroes found your records and got to share some of the information with you, so, could you tell us how old you are, biologically speaking?"

Hydor tensed. The older hero was right, that question triggered discomfort in the boy. For it made him remember that all the years of recollection he thought were truthful were nothing more than a well-coded scenario to manipulate his reality of things. That he was not a sixteen-year-old boy descended from the steel hero, just a backup copy to be used at convenience.

With a crestfallen look and a bit of a boil in his blood, the young man muttered his somewhat thunderous reply. "Almost seventeen weeks..."

Ellie stared at the teenager before them. "Four and a half months..." 

Hydor hated that tone of voice, but hated even more that it came from the woman who claims to be his mother. The owner of half his genes. At least, compared to Superman, this one hadn't treated him with coldness and rejection; not yet.

"Ellie!"

Hydor wanted to raise his head at the call for attention, but found it impossible when he was approached by a warm and somewhat strangling hug. His eyes widened as far as they could go as he watched the woman with long black curls imprison him to her chest.

"You outlived your mother's incubation time!" Ellie didn't hesitate to snuggle him, turning a deaf ear to Jazz's reproach and concentrating on pampering her whelp. "Still, being premature is not good. Been there, done that. Zero out of ten, being a pile of green slime is horrible." 

Hydor was stunned, on one hand it felt good to be hugged with such gentleness and affection, on the other, he didn't know how to react to such a sudden show of affection so his body remained frozen and he let himself be waited on by the enthusiastic and excited woman.

Danny covered his face with the palm of his hand while trying not to laugh at the scene in front of them. Next to him, Jazz adopted a 'my siblings are absolutely beyond help' face as she patted her niece's little head; who had woken up somewhat spooked by her earlier scream.

"Ellie is right, Hydor. Being premature is not good, there can be some destabilization issues." Commented Danny returning to the subject at hand, seeking to resume the seriousness of the matter while the boy still lay somewhat dazed in the halfa's arms. " If you agree, would you allow me to give you a quick check up? I give you my word it's nothing invasive, just a brief scan to see the stability of your core to discard any concerns about it."

At this point, Hydor's head was buried in the ghost woman's neck, but Danny managed to see the young boy's slight nod in affirmation. However, Danny needed his sister to let go so the boy could give his consent properly and not just nod in a daze.

"Ellie, let the boy go." Sighed Danny with a somewhat exasperated look, the ghost woman gave him a supernatural growl back in response coupled with a look coated in intense green. "'Be quiet, mama bear." Tried to calm his sister, both hands held up in a sign of peace. He didn't know his little sister would behave so aggressively; more so than she usually is.

Danny doesn't seem to remember his own little episode several hours ago in the ruins of the Cadmus labs.

"Danielle Elisabeth Phantom, let the boy go, now." 

At her older sister's strict voice, Ellie let out a whimper of pity but those eyes would accept no protest. So, despite her reluctance, the woman released her grip on her baby and moved slightly away from him. But not without first fixing her somewhat disheveled hair.

Hydor, in his stupor, glanced sideways at the woman who would be his mother freezing her in the act of fixing the last few strands of Hydor's hair. Ellie, whose hand remained halfway down, looked at him somewhat stymied before withdrawing her hand downward and turning her face away. She heard Danny chuckle at her, but still didn't turn her head.

"Hydor?" Danny caught the boy's attention again, "Would you give me your permission to do the check?" he asked again.

Without the previous distraction, this time the teenager was able to reason out the implications of it before giving his answer. On the one hand, there was the fact that everything was going too fast and the load of information seemed not to diminish with each new detail. But, on the other hand, he had chosen to entrust his care to Phantom and so far, the hero had not failed him.

Nor has he given him a bad look or put restrictions on his movements and words. A clear example is the question now, for he could have taken the stunned nodding affirmative that he gave while distracted by the woman who appears to be his mother. Instead, he was passive and shooed away the distraction by waiting until he was in a more awake state to provide an acceptable answer.

If that was not conciseness and respect for the others, then Hydor did not know the definition of those words. 

Furthermore, he had to know if his condition was good... A moment ago, he was a hybrid clone between human and Kryptonian. Now, it seemed that he had never been like that. At least as far as being half human was concerned. "All right, let's do it."

Danny smiled complacently, "Okay, I'm going to go get my medical kit. Give me two minutes." He commented walking away down the hallway towards the rooms.

"Hydor..." whispered a voice to his left. Both Jazz and the aforementioned looked toward Ellie. She was nervous about her puppy's attention; nothing was left of the excited, cuddly woman of a few seconds ago. "Th-That's your name?" 

It was a stupid question, sue her as a total failure as far as making conversation was concerned. But she doesn't know anything about her whelp besides the simple fact that he's hers and he's here, sitting next to her, looking at her. She doesn't know what else to ask!

“Y-yes,” the boy felt the embarrassment return at his stutter, he faced scientists and amorphous creatures in a clandestine government lab, why was he now so shy about talking to his other gene donor? “Phantom used it to refer to me when we were on our way here, its meaning was… interesting,” he replied in contemplation. “I asked if I could keep it, since… I didn’t have a name.” 

Ellie looked at that ill-concealed sadness that had long ago accompanied her own eyes when she learned what it was. “And do you like the name?" the question slipped out unintentionally. Her mouth acted faster than her brain, the frown on Hydor’s face was testament to that. “I mean, it’s not that it’s a bad name. I-I just, it’s, I mean.”

She usually speaks eloquently with other people, Jazz has told her that she’s gotten much better at conversations with people outside of the family and friendly core, so why are her words slurred now? 

“I don’t dislike it,” Hydor’s voice made her look up in attention. The boy held her gaze for a moment before sighing and looking at some point between the floor and the coffee table in front of them. “When phantom explained why he addressed me using that alias, I felt that… it was appropriate to my situation.” 

 Ellie thought about the name, as far as she can remember from her brother's constant ramblings about the constellations, Hydor is the sixth star of the constellation Aquarius whose meaning is water. And if her knowledge of the philosophy that the time lord has managed to instill in Danny, Jazz and even herself, Ellie has to assume that her older brother talked about how water takes on any shape it pleases whenever it wants. 

Even when the other elements want to shape it, water always finds a way to follow its own course.

Smiling slightly, the halfa expressed, “That’s a good name to start with.” Ellie saw the surprise in her son’s eyes and this time she couldn’t help but laugh out loud albeit lightly so as not to disturb her little niece in Jazz’s arms. “I’m glad you’re so willing to live your life, and not simply be sidetracked by what others want to put on you.”

Hydor frowned. “Then why do you look uncomfortable?” the question took the woman by surprise.

In her mind she was barely formulating an answer when her brother’s voice beat her to it. “She’s sulking because she didn’t get a chance to offer you a name.”

Danny nonchalantly dodged a beam of blue light aimed at his head. “Ellie, no fighting inside the department.” Sermonized the eldest of the siblings as she got up from the couch and ordered various baby necessities from the online IR store Tecnus designed for the ghostly trade. “Danny, I’ll go measure the space in your room to see where we’ll put the crib. Also, I've already made an appointment with Lilium at Farfrozen hospital. We should be there by three o’clock tomorrow afternoon.”

“Thanks, Jazz, you saved me time.” Danny replied as he pulled out a digital-like device from his medical bag as well as a large, onyx-black stretch band with thin blue veins. “Hydor,” he called to the boy, causing him to redirect his attention from Ellie to him. “This thing I have in hand will allow me to measure the vibrations of your core, it’s similar to what a tensiometer does to measure pressure. Only, in this case we will be measuring the current state of your core."

Danny continued explaining as he pulled out a somewhat peculiar stethoscope, and by peculiar he means strange in every way. For, the oliva part looked like musical headphones and had no connection to the dual-frequency membrane. Hydor was skeptical of such instruments, but from everything he had seen from start to finish, strange and weird characterizes the phantom hero.

So, following Danny’s instructions, he raised both arms and let Danny wrap the “tensiometer” around his torso and placed the dual-frequency membrane of his tensiometer under it. When the device was properly positioned on his sternum, a bright blue line came out of it and splitting in two connected to the olives. “You’ll feel a slight tingle when I turn it on, so don’t panic, okay?”

“I got it.”

Ellie was silent as her brother performed the test, jazz had returned with a wide awake baby in her arms looking around in brief blinks in which small sky blue pupils could be seen in what was once an intense glowing green.

The machine began to make small sounds for about two minutes as Danny’s gaze became thoughtful and somewhat deep. Seconds later, the machine stopped and Danny proceeded to pull back the band screen and look at the data obtained.

“Well, it looks like your nucleus is halfway developed if not stalled in its gestational formation. This due to the growth acceleration they had you undergo” Danny explained after printing the results from the screen in his hands and letting Danielle take a look at it. “Luckily, you were able to reach a functional grade within the healthy parameters of phantom health. However, this is only within the infantile range, so we have to do supplemental treatment to get a reset on his stagnation. But, we have to wait and see what Dr. Lilium will say when she does a more in-depth evaluation tomorrow.”

 “Is there any chance he could develop a core atrophy or ectoplasm disorder?” Ellie looked at her brother with nervousness and growing concern.

Danny understood the fear of his little sister, especially with the second one. Ectoplasm disorder could cause a chain destabilization of cells. Ellie had already been through that. And both he and Jazz were present during that torture. 

“I’m not sure,” was his honest answer. Which mortified his sister. “But, at the moment his Kryptonian half side remains stable so we can rule that out for now. At least until after the appointment with Dr. Lilium.”

Hydor remained oblivious to the whole thing, not for lack of attention but more out of disengagement from everything being talked about in front of him. By the time Danny and the rest realized his loss of information, the adolescent’s frown took it upon himself to draw his eyebrows together in a single line.

So, Jazz being the most apt to give explanations of ectoplasm that are easy to understand, she handed the baby to Danny and resumed her seat to give the kid a short introduction of ghostly terms and what the results mean; omitting the last part so as not to frighten him. The little baby halfa had shown an immediate fixation when she was held by her progenitor and Danny did not hesitate to indulge her with his undivided attention.

“…And will the justice league be okay with that?” he asked unsure, he had many more questions when it came to cores and other ghost stuff. But that could wait for another time. He had already received too much information for one night, he doubts he could take in more when he hasn’t even been able to comprehend a quarter of everything said. 

So he decided that checking his restrictions in the outside world was a higher priority.  He knew that the heroes, despite letting him follow Phantom, would be monitoring him. That distrust and caution in their first encounter was not for ornament.

He was a dangerous wildcard created by the enemy, hidden and indoctrinated for their use. Although he had shown his cooperation and willingness to do good and had no intention of following Cadmus, he was an unknown and should be watched until his intentions were proven to be good.

It was cruel, crude and sad, but Hydor knew it was a path to follow for anyone who would come across something like him. “I-I think Superman will be the first to cast his vote against it.”

Danny turned his attention away from his baby and watched the pain swirl in the adolescent’s eyes. His mouth opened to offer a response but one of his sisters was quicker.

“And who the fuck is Superman that we need his permission or opinion regarding your health?” asked Danielle, the tone was curt and cold as she threw out that question. You could even make out a small grunt at the end.

"Superass is Hydor’s father.” Danny clarified, which got an irate reaction from Hydor.

“He’s not!” anger and hurt tinged those words. But soon, disappointment tucked both emotions. “He was very clear about it, I’m just a copy of his genes with no inbreeding value and nothing more.”

As soon as he finished his words, beside him, the heat seemed to rise a few degrees. The woman, phantom’s sister seemed to be the cause. Those blue eyes radiated an incandescent and dangerous light. And the black hair, looked like a slinging flame about to turn into a wild flurry. 

S̵͔̝̈́̾͋͜ù̴͚̻̺͋͝p̴͔̺̙̐̈́e̴̺͕̞̿͘͠r̸̘͉͔͐͝͝m̸̙̼͊͘ä̸͔͖͓́̾̒n̵͉̙̈́͒͝ s̸͚͇͚̐̿̕a̴̠͕͎̓̾͝ì̸̙̟̪̒͝d̴͓̘͋́̔͜ w̸̫̙͇̔͑͝h̸͔̦̓̒͠a̴̫͖͖͌͐̔t̴̻͚̻͑̿͑?̴͚͕̙̈́̒̐!̴̡̞͎̽́̐

Danny held his baby against his chest so that the heat would not affect her, he did not yet know her core type as she needed a spiritual pediatrician for her case. Although the baby halfas did not seem uncomfortable by the sudden rise in temperature, Danny did not hesitate to give his younger sister a pouty face.

On her side, Jazz got up to go to the kitchen and get some soothing drinks. She had long ago learned to let others level out their emotions on their own.

They had to stop a certain first-time ghost mother from wiping out one of Krypton’s last legacies, for the moment.

Chapter Text

"So, Superman and Phantom were cloned?"

Batman didn't stop his work on the keyboard at any point, so with his eyes on the screen and detailing every word of the information acquired, plus the reports from the YJ group, he proceeded to respond to the curious Nightwing; who had just entered the Batcave only two minutes ago.

"Hnn..."

Nightwing removed his mask and proceeded to roll his eyes in annoyance. "Could you provide a few more than your usual onomatopoeia response" so many years and his mentor hadn't learned his lesson about using mumbles or grunts as a response.

"When I finish the report, you can read it," replied the big bat without turning back...

Dick looked grumpily up at the man, grabbed a chair from the other desks, set down and pulled out his phone. Tim was currently at the YJ base. However, he would be doing the same as Bruce; and young Robin has a worse hiperfijasion than the big bat. So, his only safe bet would be Wally or Donna, but the second one it's traveling through Malawi on a humanitarian aid mission, so he's only left with Wally. He should have done that in the first place if he wanted to know the whole story instead of coming to Bruce. At least the flash family did know how to communicate things willingly and without loss any details.

Alfred, faithful to punctuality, made his presence known at the base bringing with him a tray of late-night snacks. "Master Richard, it's nice to have you around tonight. how's Bludhaven been?"

Nightwing put aside his cell phone and gave his full attention to the butler. Even though his best friend had just sent him a great paragraph telling him what happened and he was about to read it. Gossip can wait when it comes to Alfred. "I can't say it's all right because that would be a lie, but I can claim he's had one or two improvements these past few weeks."

"That's wonderful to hear, Master Richard." Alfred poured a cup of hot chocolate for Dick as he gave him a little smile. "You do what you can, and that's what counts." He continued, then turned to the other older adult in the room and the smile was once again a line on his face. "Master Bruce, do I have to unplug the Batcomputer so you can take a break ? or you will be finally pausing for a snack? you still haven't had any food since you've arrived.”

Bruce’s fingers stopped instantly, a deep sigh left the man’s lungs before he locked the computer, removed his hood mask and turned to his adoptive father with resignation. He did not look at his eldest son, for no reason did he look at that gloating face. He kept his eyes on the mug of hot chocolate and the pair of sandwiches that came with it.

 “Thank you, Alfred.”

“You’re welcome, sir.”

Just as Bruce was about to take a bite of his sandwich after a small sip from his chocolate mug, his league communication device started beeping. He heard Alfred sigh and that was all he needed to put his hood back on and put the call through to the big baticomputer screen.

“Batman, here.”

Phantom’s image took up the entire monitor, now without the cloned baby in his arms and a somewhat uncomfortable look on his face. “Hello, Bat. Phantom here, are you busy?”

“Phantom, did something serious happen?” the Gotham knight responded with another question. “Where are the… childrens”

Danny looked at the Gotham’s knight and wondered again how his mask was able to minimize the lenses in his eyes to reflect frowning eyes. Okay, he was straying from the topic at hand. “My little star is with my big sister and Hydor is helping to Cool his mother. Well, that’s what I want to talk to you about-”

“Hydor?” interrupted Dick, now with his mask firmly in place. Next to him, Alfred, also making use of his distinctive black opera mask.

Danny grinned with countless teeth, “Oh, the half-Kryptonian kid was agreed with my name option. I don’t know if he’ll change his mind later, but for the moment Hydor is the name we use to refer to him”.

Nightwing was about to speak again, but Batman cut his opportunity. “What did you mean by mother?” If they were talking about the child made with Superman’s DNA, then Phantom must have named Lex. However, the phantom hero didn’t have to name the villain. Bruce thought about how the hero had said he had ‘sisters’… plural. He didn’t say how many, but it was more than one.

Quickly, Bruce opened another window to the side of the call and brought up the reports regarding Clark’s cloning. As this one searched through the countless notations about the failed experiments, Danny spoke again.

“Yeah, well, I wanted to talk to you about that man.” Danny began, his expression shifting to somewhat serious, though mostly relaxed. “By your hovering movements over the keyboard, I’m taking it for granted that you have a clue what I’m going to say. So, I’ll give you the quick version of the

Subject.”

The search stopped at the penultimate document on the list and Batman didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried by such a find.

It couldn't be that...

Danny saw his pause and chuckled a little. “That was quick” he commented. “But yes, it looks like Lex was conned by his own team of scientists.” He continued this time without holding back his laughter, though no one in the cave seemed to share his amusement. “So, besides giving me a daughter, Cadmus gave me a nephew. Isn’t that great?”

“You mean the clone of Sup-.”

“Hydor” , corrected Phantom with a warning look and losing all grace from his face.

“You mean Hydor is the son of Superman and one of your sisters?” asked Nightwing again, his face not emerging from the surprise of the fact. “Wait, since when do you have sisters!”

“Since I can remember, And yes, the other donor for Hydor’s creation is not Lex, but is my little sister, Nightmare.” At this point Phantom began to levitate in front of the camera, from what Batman can deduce he is sitting in mid-air while suspending the communicator in front of him with his telequinesis.

“Why didn’t you say anything before you left with them?” Batman asked, the lenses in his mask diminished in size. As if he was giving a recriminating look.

“I didn’t know then, okay?” Danny looked at the bat carefreely, he wanted to give him a blank stare, but Agent A was present so he restrained himself. “I know I can see in the dark and I don’t have an excuse about that. But, when I was introduced to my daughter I only had eyes for her. We ghosts place a lot of importance on our puppies. Even more so if it’s a newborn, so my concentration settled on her one hundred percent.” Explained the halfa with seriousness, something that was rare to see on the hero’s young face. “In short: it was when I introduced him to one of the entrances to my home that I began to suspect that perhaps something of my family’s genetics was involved in the conception of Hydor.”

Batman was taking note of all this new information, both about the ghost culture and the fact that Phantom has several doors through which he can access his place of residence. That and the fact that both sisters have access to it.

“Then, the second clue was given to me by my older sister when she received us. According to her, Hydor had some traits in common with my little sister.” Danny obviously wasn’t going to say that the boy shared some similarities with his human half. He’d left that part of himself behind years ago. “And it wasn’t until Nightmare came home that we tested the theory-turned-possibility that is now a fact. Long story short, I have a daughter and without realizing it I gained a nephew.” Danny added jazz hands to cap off his presentation.

The batcave remained silent. That is until Nightwing asked the key question. “How could you prove that Hydor is your sister’s son?”

Danny was totally, or rather almost, honest about it. “Well, every ghost mother or father has a unique link to their offspring. This is activated at the time of the pup’s birth. Hydor was not a natural ghost birth, but this did not stop him from making the connection with his mother the instant they first made contact.”

Batman brought his hand to his chin in contemplation, this new data had presented even more questions about the culture and biology of entities like Phantom. However, Doctor Fate had given a clear warning about asking Phantom questions that could be construed as offensive without due care. “So, he’s half Kryptonian and…half ghost?”

“Exactly!” Phantom did a small firework using a light beam of ectoplasm on his right ring finger.

Nightwing frowned, “Did you say Hydor was trying to appease your little sister, Nightmare? What did you mean by that?”

Danny couldn’t hide his grimace at that question. “Well, I already talked about how important whelp are to ghosts. We are very protective and careful with our kids, the smallest offense earns immediate hatred from the ghost, mother or father, as well as possibly all entities of our people.” The seriousness returned to his tone, the warning was an underlining message in every word. “Ghost mothers are even more so. Then, when my younger sister found out that Superman had disowned her puppy my furniture paid the price for her anger. And I don’t blame her, ghost babies are precious to our people and for a parent to disown their child, even if it wasn’t born the natural way for a ghost, is a despicable act.”

That set off alarm bells in Batman. “And what does your sister plan to do against Superman?”

“Well, Nightmare had every intention of going to go kick Superman’s ass to the brink of existence,” Halfa replied simply, not noticing that such a statement had put the strain on Nightwing and Batman’s shoulders. “But, to avoid that we used Hydor as his catalyst pillow. Now she’s hugging him in a nest of blankets and muttering every known curse in different dead languages. Many are not suitable for all audiences. But, Don’t worry! my big sister put earplugs in the boy’s ears so he won’t learn any of them. Also, I don’t want to have the ghost of Superman hanging around my people, too much paperwork.”

Phantom didn’t know or rather seemed oblivious to the alarming bombshell he had just dropped. The cave remained silent, the only sound was Alfred moving Dick’s abandoned plate which was empty. Batman’s mind was calculating how to get more information since now, he not only had to plot a countermeasure against Phantom but against someone possibly equal to him in power and whom the phantom hero had taken for granted could take down Superman like it was nothing.

“Anyway, I wanted to give you a heads up that tomorrow and possibly the next day I won’t be available for any supernatural consulting. Rather, I will be out of commission on physical meeting matters for the next two months. However, I will still be available as far as holographic or video calls for any concern.” Moving on, Danny change on to the topic of interest. “However, tomorrow and the day after, I will be absent in totality. For both Hydor and my little star have pediatrician appointments so my sisters and I will be busy.”

“…Phantom, both cl-children must remain under league supervision due to their background.” Batman corrected himself at the Phantom’s warning look. “Also, why a pediatrician? Besides, what kind of pediatrician? You know we have a medical team at the watchtower. You can’t just take them to any civilian no matter how professional and trustworthy that civilian is.”

Despite the opera mask, Nightwing could identify the look of irony Alfred was giving to Bruce. Well, it was somewhat hypocritical that statement being when they were receiving help from a certain medical civilian working in Gotham.

“With all due respect Batman, but no child with powers or not, experiment or mutation, is obligated to anything concerning the justice league much less the government; of which I have lost count of how many screw-ups it has made to this day.” Phantom’s seriousness returned stronger than before, and you could say it was accompanied by anger as the image was beginning to fail with every word of it. “I know I am only a consultant, I do not consider myself a hero as such but a protector, and my next action may anger both you and the league. However, I will not allow any child to be treated as an object that deserves to be studied thoroughly to judge whether or not he or she is a threat. For if so, each and every member of the justice league, including myself, should be under continuous observation and supervision just as you want to do with these children.”

“That is done and is still being done.” Batman replied earnestly.

“And we all already know how it ended, as your contingency plans were not very well received after these were stolen and used against what you thought was necessary. Besides, you who are leery of your secrets and personal life I don’t think you would tolerate me starting to investigate you thoroughly to find your weaknesses why I consider you a potential threat as you do with all league members including me.” Countered Danny, “Yes, I have been aware of your investigation of me. Just because I’m clueless looking sometimes doesn’t mean I’m blind or stupid.”

Third consecutive silence in the cave in less than fifteen minutes, a new record. Nightwing held back the urge to look uncomfortable with the way his mentor was doing his job. He’s not one to judge since most of the Batkids inherited part of it. Even he has contingency plans for the young Titans. But, unlike Batman, he didn’t go behind the backs of his partners or hide that fact from them.

 “Not everything can be controlled in existence or what follows after this one, I and my people are proof of that. And yes, counter measures are necessary to avoid catastrophes but seeking them while doing damage in the process does not prevent a worse scenario from developing and of that most super heroes have seen the result.” Halfas continued, the color of his eyes increased he almost seemed to be consumed by a black hole of some sort. “Even more so when you are only guided by the belief that you must get ahead of events before they happen without having a justification for doing so in the first place.”

“Phantom, Cadmus is a more than valid justification for keeping an eye on those kids.” Argument the Dark knight. “Lex is even more so, and your concern and protectiveness towards them is understandable, but you must understand that we cannot be impartial in something like this.”

Phantom was silent for a brief moment. “Believe me Batman, I understand perfectly. Therefore, I will take responsibility for both children and accept the blame if any problems arise with them. However, I want it to be clear that whether they are clones or not, they are children and they are also their own person and I will not allow any attacks, discrimination or apprehension towards them when they have done nothing to deserve it.” The image of the phantom hero distorted again. Almost detaching itself from the hero’s human silhouette. “And in the event that bad mouths do not respect that fact, I will not hesitate to remind the league of all the mistakes that have ended in irreparable tragedies because of them and yet they continue to claim the name of heroes and defenders of Justice. Good evening, Phantom out.”

The screen returned to the startup image indicating the end of the call. Alfred had taken all the used crockery and quietly tidied it away on the trolley leaving only Bruce’s as Bruce had not touched the sandwiches due to attending the call and just took a sip from his cup of chocolate before continuing with the call.

“I guess you’ll brief the others on this tomorrow, won’t you?”Nightwing walked a few steps closer to Batman and folded his arms as he looked for the next steps to take.

Batman paused the batcomputer’s recorder and proceeded to reconstruct the corrupted audio in the last few seconds, although it didn’t quite work. It was too damaged to fix. “No. Superman must be present, but with everything that has happened I doubt he will be able to make it tomorrow, a meeting will be arranged for two days from now.”

“At least let Tim know about your findings, I doubt he’ll sleep for the next two days if he’s not aware of this and keeps investigating on his own.” Nightwing suggested in a tired sigh, it was already expected that the big bat would keep the information to himself. And may be, despite making the meeting with the league, this one will only give him the details he deems relevant.

“Hnn.”

Again the damned murmur. Dick looked at the far ceiling of the cave and remembered what phantom had said. He hoped this omission of information was not part of a future mistake that might cause an error to be regretted.

“Do not share anything that happened tonight until the Nightwing meeting.” Oh, normal prayers returned. Even if it was just to impose an order. Nightwing sighed again and looked at the bat’s lateral side.

“Whatever you say, B” commented Dick, leaving the surface of the desk and walking away in the direction of his motorcycle to leave, but not before saying goodbye to Alfred when he disappeared between the elevator doors. “See you at the meeting if I’m invited.”

Batman only muttered in response. Nightwing shook his head without looking for a remedy and securing his cell phone he hopped into his transport and disappeared into one of the exit tunnels.

At least now he could read Wally’s message and find out what had happened in more depth.

Chapter Text

Hydor opened his eyes, his consciousness was still somewhat lost upon awakening. But became clearer as a small, but strangely comforting vibrating sound took over his hearing. As he concentrated on identifying where it was coming from the young boy realized a few things. One, he was not in the internment chamber that always greeted him upon awakening, instead he was in some sort of room like those that were displayed in his mind during the display of information required for his unfolding outside the facility. Two, he was lying on a comfortable, warm couch, fully wrapped in some quilted pieces of fabric that he had to guess were wool blankets. Three, a vibrating sound is coming from the mattress and for some reason it is being carefully attached to the furniture. 

Four, the mattress is not a mattress but a grown woman with black hair and pale, somewhat freckled skin. It is she who holds him prisoner in a bear hug that is hard to break as they both lie on the sofa bed in the living room of Phantom’s apartment. Who at this moment, is in his human form and is looking at the situation with a mocking smile while holding in one hand a cup of what he assumes is coffee and with the other one, he was taking pictures without any disguise. 

“Is she purring?”  Hydor asked after giving up  his freedom from the woman’s arms. Now he was curious about which of the two he inherited his super strength from, Superman or Danielle.

“It’s something similar but not, it’s the demonstration of affection that ghost cores generate when they feel at ease with what surrounds them.”  Danny replied leaning back against the hallway frame. “In this case, as a mother, Ellie feels good to have you by her side and that makes her core react to such satisfaction.”

Hydor tried to lift his head from the woman’s shoulder, he didn’t feel embarrassed that Danielle’s hand once again pressed against his back and neck impeding his movement. No, he definitely wasn’t embarrassed, and there was no way Phantom’s silent laughter could prove it. 

Taking pity on the boy, Danny took another sip from his coffee cup, put away his cell phone, and walked over to the sofa bed to wake his sister to free Hydor from his cuddle prison. “Let me give you a hand.” Danny took his sister’s arms and let some of his intangibility flow out, surprising Hydor. When he was suddenly released, passing through the woman’s arms, he almost ended up falling to the ground. “I see Ellie was using a lot of force to hold you back if you shot out of her grip like that.” Danny grimaced as he felt the stiffness in his younger sister’s arms, she was about to wake up if her frown was any indication. 

It reminded him to Pandora's face when she fell asleep with Dan in her arms and he tried to slip away unnoticed. Only to be caught and returned to the ghost nest again. Well, now he was the youngest of the four because of the regression of his core after serving his sentence and returning to his human form. 

Which was very deteriorated but not entirely lost. 

Thinking of young Dante, he would jot down a reminder to call his mother later and see how he was doing. 

“Danny, I’m going to kick you if you don’t let go.” Despite not being fully awake, Ellie made her threat clear. 

Her older brother did not hesitate to comply with the demand and walk away in peace, a moment that the woman took advantage of to stretch her limbs until everything creaked with pleasurable satisfaction. 

She looked like a cat after a nice nap under the sun’s rays. Hydor tried, but failed to contain his laughter at the gestures on Danielle’s face. This caught her attention, causing her to freeze and stare at the teenager with a confused look. The latter remained just as still as he was suddenly observed, this until Danielle seemed to recognize him by opening her eyes as wide as possible and standing up abruptly. 

“Are you okay? did you have a good rest?” were her questions, Danielle seemed to want to bring her hands closer to his face, but stopped on the spot and hid her hands behind her back. 

She had only just gotten up and Phantom’s sister was already showing a grief-stricken appearance. In the short time he had known her, the young clone wondered if the woman was always like that or if her presence was the cause of her many ups and downs. Remembering the few seconds when she stepped through the portal and began to taunt Phantom, it seemed to indicate that it was the second one. Hydor didn’t know why, but he was glad that her attitude towards him wasn’t in a bad way. For as it seemed to indicate, all her ups and downs were more about not knowing what to do to avoid making him uncomfortable or gaining a little closeness to him. 

Although she had failed on the first one, Hydor could tell that the second one had a little more chance of developing if what he thought he saw in her manner of act and talk to him was sincere as she seemed to be trying to prove. 

“I’m sorry that Danny used you as barter to calm my anger towards Superman.” The apology came out like a child scolded in the face of bad behavior. Hydor didn’t know what to respond to it. “Also, I’m partly to be blame, I got carried away and in the end I kept you in a makeshift nest without your consent. You even ended up sleeping uncomfortably because of me and lack of restraint. I’m a terrible new mother,” Danielle covered her face with both hands in a sharp sigh of regret. “However, that I’m going to break something to the ‘man of steel,’ even if it’s a leg, I’m going to do it. “

“You’re not going to cause a brawl between Danny and his part-time employers, Danielle.”  Jazz made her way onto the scene carrying a freshly risen baby girl eager for her father’s attention. The redhead didn’t hesitate to hand the infant to the man as he handed her a cup of latte and invited her to breakfast with the day’s menu: scrambled eggs and poached potato. 

Last night Jasmine had been busy taking care of the little girl, freeing up time for her brother to attend to some last minute medical emergencies. 

“How’s my little North Star?” crooned the halfa as he hugged the two-month-old girl. As if it was already a long-standing habit, the baby nestled her little head in the hollow formed between the man’s neck and shoulder. The little purr, almost inaudible, managed to draw a giggle from Danny. “I missed you too, Pyxis.”

Danielle turned to the breakfast bar that divided the living room from the kitchen area and looked reproachfully at the redhead. “It’s my right!, I have to make him lose at least a few teeth. According to Danny, the guy can regenerate, so if I knock his teeth out he’ll have a new one in a couple of hours. There’s no loss, I sing a few truths and he doesn’t have to worry about staying chummy for a few hours.”

“Ellie has a point.” Danny agreed, in one of their conversations he had brought that comment up. The Kryptonian didn’t have the same degree of regeneration as the ecto-entities, obviously it can't regenerate limbs or organs like they do. Although, something like teeth and blood replenishment he was good at. “Hey, Jazz, did the doctor authorize the intake of this formula milk?”

Jasmine looked up from her plate and watched him carry the girl with one hand while his claws broke one of the shipping boxes that must have arrived earlier than expected. ─Yes, I only ordered one box with a duration of today to tomorrow. According to her criteria, since the child is yours she has to have a human percent within her ghost biology so the fully human baby milk won’t hurt her. After she evaluate her, she will write a prescription for a new one. 

“Ok.” Danny wasn’t entirely sure. Despite being in the medical field on both sides of the veil, ghost pediatrics was not his area. Therefore, he had to trust the expert. “Thanks, Jazz.”

“No problem.” Smiled his sister, “Come on, give her to me while you get everything ready.” Danny resisted, but in the end he handed the baby to her. Been in the Jazz’s arms the little girl wrinkled her little face. It didn’t take long for the whimpers to come. Though calm came just as quickly as she fixed her eyes on her aunt’s coppery hair. “By the way, it’s one tablespoon of milk for every two ounces of water. To start, make just four since we don’t know if it will be to her liking the first time, but we have to get her to try something. 

“I g’t it” 

Hydor, still sitting on the floor, didn’t know what to do or say. Everyone was acting as if nothing had happened the night before. Except for Danielle in whom he could still perceive some nervousness and concern to interact with him; even though she made him sleep the whole night in a mother bear hug… 

Mother, a word of which he knew the concept but not its meaning as such. Hydor looked at the woman who was now folding the blankets to ease his guilt towards him. This woman claimed to be his mother, but according to the concept a mother is one who gives birth to a child. He was not born of this woman, he was created from her genes and those of…. Superman. 

He wasn’t expecting anything like a father from the hero, although he did expect a little recognition at most. For, ever since he learned about the superhero and his prowess, he had admired him. He was the first Kryptonian he had met and expected some acceptance or gentleness at the least. 

But all he found was a frown and puzzled blue eyes, which changed to anger in short order.

A negative feeling for which he was not to blame. 

However, Mrs. Danielle did not hesitate to proclaim herself his mother regardless of his background. She saw him as someone rather than something. As another person rather than the copy of two people. 

“Mrs. Danielle,” he didn’t want to look at her, but if he was going to get an answer he had to ask the question looking her in the face. The woman was making the last fold in the second blanket when she became overexcited and turned her face toward him in full attention. 

“…Yes?”

Hydor opened his mouth, but closed it again. He had the words to ask the question and yet he hesitated to let the questioner out. He watched as the woman forgot the blankets and sat up straight, waiting for what he would have to say. No pressure, no annoyance at her face. Just patience and curious concern in those sky blue eyes. 

Taking a breath of air she didn’t quite need, she crossed her legs in a more relaxed, but somewhat upright sitting posture and held his gaze. “Are you okay with considering me your son… even though I wasn’t born from you? “ the question had been asked, and Danielle seemed surprised by it to the point of not answering. This made Hydor feel unsure about what he just asked so he tried to explain himself. “I mean, I’m a clone, specifically one made from stealing DNA from you and Superman. Something you didn’t ask for and yet here it is. Right in front of you. You’ve only known me for a few hours. I mean… I’m not, and-“

Hydor couldn’t hold  Danielle’s gaze any longer, hi didn’t understand where he was going with all this. 

“What’s wrong with the fact that you weren’t born from me?”You are my son, and no one can deny me that.”

That statement made him open his eyes wide and raise his face again. There, sitting with her arms crossed, Danielle was looking at him with seriousness and reproach. “…What?”

“I’ll tell you what, whelp” commented the woman leaning down to be level with his face and giving him small taps on the forehead with her index finger. “The moment a ghost establishes a parent-child bond, it is forever. It can be conceived by the ghost itself or be a random helpless whelp. Besides, the cloning category was added to the list of options years ago. I’m proof of that, just ask our mother.”

From the breakfast room, Jazz agreed. Danny also seconded the mosion in agreement. Pointing to her older siblings’ answers as proof, Danielle stopped the tapping on the boy’s forehead; moving on to stroking Hydor’s hair instead. 

“Been the result of a cloning experiment it doesn’t matter to me, you are your own individual and even more importantly, you are my son. You just had a different start in this world, nothing more.” She added lovingly. “Whether genetically or spiritually you are my whelp and that’s all that matters to me.”

Hydor realized he was crying when he saw the panic wiping away the kindness that until that moment was settled on Danielle’s face… his mother. 

“Hey, I’m sorry. I mean, if you don’t want me it’s okay I, it’s not like you to cry.” Ellie didn’t know what to do but try to wipe her whelp’s tears away, even turning to silently ask her siblings for help, but they both denied help and gave her a thumbs up in good luck encouragement. 

Traitors! 

Ellie looked at the boy again and the tears were still falling. So she did what mom Pandora usually does when Dan or any of them feel wronged. She knelt down to the adolescent’s level and drew him back into her arms as she began to gurgle in a gentle, loving way, gently stroking his back with soft, comforting motions. Her core joined in the act with light cooing songs full of vibration. 

From the kitchen and breakfast table, Danny and Jazz watched them with soft glances and a smile . Then they both shared a glance at each other and saw in their eyes the next step to execute. Jazz will have to prepare the pertinent documentation for the new members of the Infinity Realm royal family and Danny will take care of organizing everything required for the official registration on the Earth plane after calling Tucker and telling him the news that he and Sam are now uncle and aunt. 

But before all that. Danny looked at the baby in his sister's arms, she hadn't refused the formula. On the contrary, she was very hungry for her first real food. “I have to think of a good name for you, little constellation.”

Jazz laughed catching his attention and noticing the troubled look she was giving him. To which Danny raised an eyebrow in questioning. “Although it was a suggestion, you named Ellie's son before she met him and had a chance to think of one for him.” Danny's eyebrows rose, he had a bad feeling. “So, I doubt you can pick a name for your baby after you've unconsciously stolen the opportunity for Danielle to do so with her child. You know the rules.”

“…Oh,” was all Danny could say to that big bucket of cold water his big sister had thrown at him. Her face said more than that single word though the wail ingrained in her face was wiped away by a deep sigh of defeat. “It hurts, but it’s fair.”

“So many years and I’m still amazed at your evolution to maturity, little brother. Who knew you could be so understanding?” Jazz smiles at him again, this time with some comfort. 

Danny is silent for a second not knowing if he should take that as a compliment or an attempted insult. “Do you think Danielle will at least let me give her two options to choose from?”

“You can try, but at the end she’s the one who has the last word.”

Danny sighed again, but accepted the fact that Ellie would name his daughter instead. In any case, he doesn’t regret helping Hydor find himself identified with the name he gave him as a kind gesture. It’s rude to refer to someone by just: you, hey, or kid. 

Seeing Danny’s commitment, Jazz dropped the subject until another time, looked down at the baby noticing the emptiness in the bottle. “Do you remember how to pass gas?” she asked, Danny held out both hands for her to hand the child to him as he toasted a, very proud and smug: yes. 

Jazz give him the baby, not hesitating to roll his eyes as he gave him a smug grin as he got the little girl to let out the first burp after three pats on her small back. Leaving the self-centered first-time father to accomplish his mission, the redhead picked up her dishes and took them to the sink to clean up, turned for a moment to the pair in the cozy living room and calculated that it would take Danielle about five more minutes of pampering before the child pulled himself together. 

It was time enough to clean her dishes and heat up breakfast for both of them. She could also check on Dr. Lilium’s appointment and check on one or two of her students’ homework assignments

Chapter Text

Hi, I haven’t abandoned this work. I know I’ve left it for a long time. But this project—this fanfic—I’m not going to abandon it. It’s just that I have so many things going on at home.

So many things with university, so many things with work. On top of that, I’ve been dealing with some heavy feelings—emotional exhaustion, really—and that’s also why I tried publishing ideas in a separate section, in a side project, but even then… I’m still blocked.

I've tried to keep going with this fanfic in my drafts, but I haven’t made any progress beyond the chapters I already have, because I’m overwhelmed in my personal life. Still, I’ll try to start publishing chapters again.

I don’t know when, but I’ll try to come back soon.😔

Chapter Text

'I'm so disappointed, you've always been a person capable of choos between the planned and risky, I can't understand how this time you acted as an ignorant.' 

'It wasn't risky, we had a plan and' 

'and it failed half way through, due to rashness and poor leadership management.' 

Cassie could find no argument for that, not with Diana looking at her in that serious, scolding way. 

'Still, we managed to get more than the information that was originally the priority.' She encouraged herself to say, 'we rescued two innocents, if we had just walked away with the information who knows what they would do with them. What they might force them to do next' with each word', her voice found greater strength to argue. 

Nevertheless, Diana did not relent. 'It was an honorable action what your partners and you did, there's no doubt about that.' The older Amazon sighed, her mask of anger cracking slightly on the spot. 'But still, you should have called in a higher authority figure. Because, what if the mind-controlling creatures had put you under their control? What if that boy you rescued hadn't yielded to your help? Did you think of the countless consequences of one false step?' 

Cassie looked down and bit her lower lip. They didn't, not to any depth.

'I know it's hard to be treated or seen as someone unprepared for the great battlefields,' Diana dropped her mask a little more and rested both hands on the young woman's shoulders causing her to look up doubtfully. 'I went through many confrontations and arguments with my mother to gain approval to be at the front line like the others. However, I understood that there are times to be reckless and times to stand aside before stepping into the war zone. Not every time you are victorious, even with self-confidence and faith in your heart there are times when you need the help of someone more experienced in battle.' 

Cassie felt the breeze on her back and ducked on the spot, the memory of the scolding she received from her older sister forgotten as she dodged Impulse's fleeting kick. A leap to her left took her away from the next blur of the speedster's blurry punch. 

"Where did you go, girl? Did you bring me something?" asked the teenager, pausing for a second to look at her. A frown took root on the red-haired boy's young face as well as a somewhat impertinent smile. 

"Let's stop it here, my mind is not very present at the moment," suggested the young woman as she stood up from her squatting position. 

Bart looked at her even more confused, this time the smile was lost. "Did you get the scolding of the century last night too?"

Cassie raised an eyebrow at such questioning. "Did Flash lecture you?"

"No," he replied carelessly, Cassie gave him an emotionless look. "Grandpa flash, his wife, uncle flash and his girlfriend gave me a full lecture of sermons."

"...Oh" Cassie couldn't help but widen her eyes, at least she was on the receiving end of one person's reprimand. 

" Oh? Don't say 'oh' to me. I'm banned from video games, pizza, nachos and burgers until Grandpa Flash authorizes it!!" exclaimed the red-haired young man with ennui and great regret. "You know what?! now that I remember all that I've lost the will to train too."

The now melancholy boy dropped backwards onto the mat, both cheeks puffed out as short grumbles came out left and right. Cassie looked at him somewhat startled, then began to giggle. The grumpy puppy face this one was making was so unusual.

It was funny to watch.

Bart only sulked even more. 

"I see I'm not the only one been punished." The comment was unexpected, both young men turned their heads at the same time toward the new spectator. "At least you guys didn't have your life battery confiscated." Tim looked like an emaciated zombie, or so Bart thought. 

"But you still have coffee on hand." snorted Bart looking at the cup in the insomniac's hands. 

Tim gave him the deadliest look they had ever seen. "Decaf coffee isn't coffee, it's flavored water."

"And why are you drink it?" Cassie asked. 

"Because it's the only thing I wasn't prohibited from drinking until further notice!" exclaimed the robin irritably. The blonde held up her hands in peace and dropped the subject. 

Bart didn't seem to have that consideration. "And what happened to the coffee you keep here?"

Tim face looked as if he had swallowed a bug at such a question. "Nigthwing asked Raven to seize it, as well as all my other caches." 

"Either they're really good at finding the impossible or you're losing your touch when it comes to secret stashes." The annoyance left Bart and instead his laughter echoed throughout the place, now it was Tim who was sulking at the speedster while Cassie covered her face in resignation. 

However, her mind felt somewhat more relaxed with the current atmosphere. What Diana had reproached her for was still present, but she was no longer as agitated as she had been at first. Leaving a small slit between her fingers she watched the teasing argument going on between the two boys and thought fondly of how much she was grateful to be part of this team. 

Team... the blonde's eyes widened at the reminder of the missing member. "Where's Blue?"

Tim stopped cursing Impulse to look at the young Amazon. "Grounded. According to him, his mom didn't take the heroic tale of the mission very well. On the video call he literally had the mark of a sandal on his face."

Cassie was silent for a second before bursting into laughter, joining Bart who was now laughing even harder. Their leader watched them unperturbed, or so he wanted to appear as he covered the small smile with his mug. Though he soon grimaced at the taste of its contents, but he had to resign himself to this. At least until his contraband order arrive. 

"I hope to survive this week." He sighed softly, a glance of these last two nights of research and sleuthing crossed his thoughts. 

He hadn't thought to find something so surprising inside the files, despite how hidden that information was and the encryption that kept it altered, he was able to find an entry before he managed to break the encryption and have the information displayed on his screen. 

Thirteen, Superman's DNA was used a total of thirteen times for cloning. However, twelve was the number of times it was used in combination with Lex's DNA. On the thirteenth, its use was omitted until the end and they proceeded to use a single sample as a test of the new experimental method of action, this to stabilize the first embryonic phase of the clone before trying to add Luthor's DNA again. 

What the scientists did not expect was that the embryo achieved a complementation phase instead of just stabilizing. This amazed them, but at the same time filled them with concern. The embryo skipped the genome stabilization stage toward genome complementation. This resulted in the inability to add new DNA. This caused a contradiction to their orders. But, after so many attempts, they had finally managed to take a safe step towards the cloning of the last son of Krypton. 

They could not simply dismiss the achievement before their eyes, and just start all over again. As scientists and seekers of impossible possibilities, it was unthinkable to do that after coming so far and obtaining such a positive result. 

So, they concealed the fact that the clone in gestation shared no kinship with Lex Luthor. But neither could they omit the evidence of his achievements for future experiments. They cleverly managed to encrypt two pages of the actual report between the final pages of the report. They delivered a similar one to Lex, only with the positive data regarding the achievement of cloning and the partial "acceptance" of Luthor's DNA in the embryo. 

Tim congratulated those who managed to fool the man in such a way, although one could say that Lex's ego played a part in it. He had no doubt about that. 

Even so, the question still remains as to what was the sample they used that robbed Luthor of the opportunity to have genetic control over the Superman clone. Well, part of what was described in those two pages was the fact that that sample was unique and had been used in its entirety to stabilize the embryo. It was very small and reserving part of it would lead to failure. Something they regretted not having done seeing the great result obtained. 

"Tim!" Bart called pulling the batkid out of his calculations and bringing him back to the reality of his surroundings. 

"What?"

"I've been talking to you for two minutes now." Bart looked at him with weary recrimination. "Seriously man, you should stop doing that. You look like a statue when you're calculating your stuff bat-style."

"It was only two minutes, don't exaggerate." Tim returned to his cup, but it was already empty. The boy looked back somewhat puzzled. 

"Two minutes in which you didn't even realize you drank all your 'flavored water'." 

Tim sighed listlessly and proceeded to retreat in search of another cup of the liquid counterfeit he would have to call you coffee for the time being. Bart followed him as he would not tolerate being ignored again, even though Tim was turning a deaf ear to his words he continued to speak second by second as he kept up with him. Cassie could still hear the echoes of his voice even when the automatic doors had closed. 

Finally, looking around, she found herself all alone. She could train alone, but her muscles had already cooled down and also, she had lost the desire to do any exercise. 

'Did you think of the countless consequences of one false step?' 

Cassie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she had to swallow the truth to that answer. As bitter as it was, she had to. 

It was part of coming to terms with her mistake and learning from it. 

....

While the young woman sorted out the feelings in her heart, her mentor and sister was waiting for the meeting with her peers and colleagues to begin. Only one person was missing, the one who is always earlier than most heroes when there is something of great importance to report and evaluate. But, it seems that Superman had no intention of attending. 

Or so he thought. 

Batman turned on the holographic table at the exact moment that the automatic doors of the meeting room opened, making way for a serious and somewhat grim Kal-El to enter. No one said anything, not even Batman; who always kept a tight rein on the scheduled times. 

When the man of steel had sat down, the bat of Gotham city unfolded an archive image along with a few pictures of what appeared to be a laboratory. 

"If you've read the updated reports on the deployment and execution of assigned missions, you'll know the topic for today's meeting." Batman opened the meeting with that comment, more than half of them nodded in agreement. "The sidekicks of several official league members took on a fact-finding and information-gathering mission without permission. Something basic, not to say simple. However, the acquisition and execution of such a mission was not assigned by any delegated member, which lies in disobedience and rebellion on their part. Nevertheless, this impertinence brought with it some discoveries that the league was unaware of about Cadmus' actions."

Shayera raised her hand to request the floor, Batman nodded in acknowledgment. "What was the disciplinary action for the young heroes? I have to assume that, despite their achievement, their disobedience need at least a suspension from duty and an intensive training session to correct their failings."

"They are on the bench until further notice." Batman replied, "Nightwing and Starfire, as well as Beast Boy have been notified for a training course."

Nightwing, the only one present of the three named, nodded in confirmation. 

"Although it will be somewhat difficult to handle them, the boys stated that they were not afraid to try again or even work without any connection to the league if it meant they would be recognized for their preparation." Sighed one of the green lanterns, Jhon did not understand how the league continued to let the juniors participate in the crossfire. But other than showing his annoyance and concern, there was nothing else he could do. 

"That they took on a mission without knowledge, let alone the concurrence of their elders, is proof that they are not yet ready," Green Arrow declared. 

Diana stood on the sidelines. What she wanted to say she had already done in private with her sister and apprentice. Although this one was wrong in her action, she thinks that none of those present; including her, have the right to talk about taking risks. But it is understandable to be concerned about teenagers. This makes her conflicted at times. As an Amazon, the path to honor is earned in an independent way; at an early age. However, the world of men is different and she has come to understand why. 

"Each mentor was responsible for letting their respective protégé know the consequences of their actions, including me." Nightwing looked at each of those seated at the table. "Five days after this meeting, the four of them will be under the guidance of three of the founding members of the Teen Titans."

None of those present said anything again at that, Batman took their silence as agreement and continued to explain what was found among the files the young men managed to subtract from the Cadmus facility. With each mention of the experiments the faces of some of the leguers changed from disgust to cold anger. Things came to a stalemate when images emerged of phantom with a baby in his arms as well as a boy of some fifteen years at his side. 

"Wait, since when did phantom become a father?" Hal asked in surprise. 

Bruce looked at the ex-Marine. That night, the Green Lantern accompanying them was Jhon, not Hal. So his surprise was to be expected.

Diana looked at the green lantern reticent. "Since two and a half days ago," she replied. She looked at Batman expecting to be interrupted, but he remained silent so she proceeded to explain. "We don't know how, nor who provided the genetic material, but Cadmus managed to clone Phantom. "

More than one opened their eyes in surprise at such news. Flash the man with the least filter of the group, added the loss of discord to the collapse. "and Superman, too." Pointed to the holograms.

"What?" Shayera was speechless, Green Arrow was not far behind and so were other members at a loss for words at the news. "Wait, the Superman clone is the guy next to Phantom, right? He looks like Kal-El." 

Batman, Diana and Jhon looked up at the Kryptonian subtly, despite the indifferent face, his discomfort highlighted in those white knuckles. 

"Yes, Hydor is a clone of Superman," replied Nightwing, stealing his father's word. Batman stared at him, but the boy just smiled simply. 

The Dark Knight regretted his decision to let Dick attend this meeting. But he needed a representative from one of the three forerunners of the Teen Titans and for some reason Nigthwing was the only one available at the moment. 

"Hydor?" asked Wally, confused. 

This time, Batman was the one who stole his son's word. "The boy accepted that name after Phantom suggested it in a private conversation." Clarify, "Hydor accepted Phantom's offer and since what happened with Cadmus has been staying with him and his sisters."

"Phantom has sisters?!"

"Why did he stay with Phantom? Shouldn't he be with Kal-El?" J'onn asked. This quelled the first two questions. Several eyes turned to look at the last son of Krypton. 

For the first time, Clark looked up. But his gaze remained serious and indifferent. So much for Superman.

"My reaction was not as expected, neither has it changed. So, I refrain from having any interaction with .... Hydor." 

The pause at the end of that sentence testified to his thoughts regarding the clone. 

"... Well, at least we know who will get the boy custody." Nightwing commented as the cheeky character he plays being, Bruce wanted to sigh out loud. He knew his son was looking for a way to sow chaos, he didn't show it, but his anger at Clark's attitude was evident. At least to him. 

"Phantom?" Diana questioned raising an eyebrow at Bruce, he didn't know whether to answer or not. 

Nightwing helped him in this. He elongated the news further, though. "No, the other donor at Hydor's birth." He smiled subtly. 

Clark's indifferent face broke with that. "You can't leave him to Lex."

Anger and disbelief seeped through his teeth. 

Barry, Black canary, Shayera, Wally and Jhon looked at him in surprise. It not-so-common that kind of reaction from the hero of the sun. 

"Do you want to give him more power than-?"

"Who said it was Lex?" Dick replied innocently.

Everyone looked at him in confusion, Clark included. The man of steel looked to Bruce for an answer. But Dick seemed intent on seeing the train through to the end. "Who do you mean then?" Oliver inquired suspiciously. 

"To his mother, Nightmare." Nightwing's tone was serious but the false obviousness was strongly present. 

The dull silence was the prelude to great bewilderment, disbelief and loss of thread in the meeting room. 

Barry was the one who searched for the missing piece among so much mystery. "Ok, I'm officially lost. Who's Nightmare?"

Dick looked at Batman granting him the final nail in the coffin. The lenses in the big bat's mask shrunk in response, but Nightwing was undeterred. 

Bruce knew it was a childish punishment for not telling him in detail what had happened at Cadmus Labs. 

So, he accepted the nail and dropped the hammer. "Lex Luthor's DNA was not used for the formation of Hydor, they used a different sample to stabilize it before using Lex's sample. But this took over the primary development and went so far as to shut down any possibility that it was possible to add new DNA."

"Is the other person Nightmare?" Wonder woman asked. Batman nodded positively at that. "And is this person a civilian, hero, criminal or...?"

"The only thing we know is that she is Phantom's younger sister." Batman replied, thus hitting the nail on the head for the last time. 

In the meeting room full of heroes, silence settled in like sudden snow in midsummer. Disbelief reached a new rank at the table. 

"...What?" asked Hal, the lenses of his mask had exceeded the opening limit to demonstrate the most honest disbelief. 

"That Phantom's younger sister, Nightmare, is the Hydor's mother by genetic donation." explained Nightwing as if he were in front of a kindergarten class. "And by the way, Superman was seconds away from being erased from existence when she learned of his rejection of her 'whelp', luckily Phantom was able to calm her down so Sup is safe for the time being. But, she possibly doesn't want to see him without having the urge to gouge his eyes out."

Dick looked at the man of steel with a calm smile while Superman didn't know which face to put on. The other leguers didn't have it any better. 

Hal, again, could only rephrase his question: "What?"

Batman looked at the cause of all this, Nightwing paid him zero attention and just leaned back in place.