Batman and Robin stood in front of the Zeta-Beam tubes, little Danny Phantom in between them holding each vigilante's hand. Danny eyed the large hole in the wall, it looked sort of like the hole that zapped him into ghost form. Batman gave his hand a quick squeeze of comfort and looked down at the halfa.

"It'll be fine Danny, it's just a flash of light then you're somewhere else, no pain. The others should be on the other side, they know I'm bringing a guest. Don't worry I'll be there the entire time until I have to leave." Batman said softly. Danny watched his core, he shouldn't have to anymore but habit had him doing it subconsciously. Satisfied, Danny sucked in a breath and nodded, ready to face the crowd... maybe.

They walked into the zeta tube and Danny held his breath and shut his eyes tightly, holding his family's hands with vice-like grip as the tubes flashed white. When Danny opened an eye experimentally he was in a different building. Batman and Robin walked forward out of the tube and Danny had no choice but to walk with them.

Danny craned his neck as he looked upwards at the tall ceiling, it was dark up there, it looked earthy, as if underground. He assumed he was underground as the walls were made of compact dirt, the ground concrete and the lights were large and made annoying buzzing sounds.

Robin smiled at his younger brothers awed look, eager to tell Wally of the newest development. He had to stop himself from dropping Danny's hand and running ahead to greet his team. He looked to Batman for a second, silently asking if he could. To his surprise his mentor nodded, it was small, almost nonexistent, but Robin saw it. The Boy Wonder grinned and let go of Danny's hand, Danny's head snapped in his direction as Robin ran ahead.

"Robin is just going ahead to meet his friends. Don't worry Phantom, I'll stay right here with you." The words comforted the halfa, he became less concerned but still tense with apprehension.

Robin ran into the living room silently, his cape making the only noise that signaled his movement. Aqualad was sitting on a chair reading a book while M'gann was probably attempting to make cookies again. Wally and Artemis were both in suit and arguing about what to watch, while Connor stood leaning against a cabnet in the kitchen occasionally helping M'gann as she had a one sided conversation with the clone. 

Robin smirked as he snuck up on his arguing team mates, Artemis noticed him behind Wally and let a ghost of a smile pass over her face and continued arguing as if nothing was amiss.

"Wally! You chose the movie LAST movie night, let someone else take a turn. Or at least let the team decide TOGETHER." Artemis reasoned, sneakily keeping tabs on where Robin was. He was right behind Wally, almost touching him.

"Fine, but it has to be Disney! I'm itching to watch something cartoo-OOAAHHH!!" Wally jumped and sped to the side, his hands flailing for a second before coming to a rest in a random position. Robin cackled and clutched his stomach, he had gently tickled  Wally's neck, sending a shudder down the speedsters spine.

"Hahahahaha! You're too easy Walls." Robin said, the speedster frowned and rightened his position. Robin's mannerism became more serious as he stopped laughing and frowned. "But seriously, let's keep it down, Batman and our guest is here and he's pretty skittish. He has only ever met like, two-ish people in the past four years that don't want to kill him."

Artemis's eyebrows went up while Wally started to smile, Dick had texted him that someone was coming, judging by the text he figured it was someone very important. He wanted to know who.

"Who is he?" The redhead asked a little too enthusiastically. Robin rolled his eyes, but internally he wanted to shout that he found his little brother.

"Batman is going to introduce him. Wally, I'm talking to you when I say go easy on him, no sudden movements. We've never really introduced him to anyone before, he's just now beginning to trust me and Batman." Robin said to the hyper teenager. Wally frowned for a second before smiling again, he really wanted to know who this person was.

-0o0o0o0 lil itty bitty time skippy to a few moments before 0o0o0o0-

Batman was about to enter the living room when Danny stopped cold. Danny's heart was accelerating, his face grew warm and tears brimmed his emerald eyes. What if they didn't like him? What if they teased him? Worse, what if they attacked him? Logic told him that these were Robin's friends and that if Robin trusted them he should too. But the thought that people would automatically hurt him was so ingrained into him he couldn't help but think of worse case scenario, seeming as how with the GIW worst case was always the case.

Batman knelt down in front of the boy who stood stiffly, trying not to cry. Batman put a large hand on his shoulder and looked Danny in the eye.

"It's going to be fine Phantom, if you feel threatened you can always hide behind either me or Robin, but it won't come to that because these people would never think about hurting you. These people will protect you if the need arises." Batman said, Danny sniffed and looked in Batman's white slits for a split second before looking down again.

He nodded and swiped at his nose, then held onto Batman's hand with both of his and together they walked slowly into the room. The occupants paused their communing and turned to see the newcomers.

Robin was standing next to a tall lanky kid wearing bright yellow and red, spiky red hair poking out of the top. Like Robin's the redhead's core was a magnificent yellow, but a cold blue lurked behind it, obviously hiding. A bright corn colored haired girl stood next to them with a hand on her hip and wearing green clothes that seemed a bit revealing. Her core was chaotic, flashing a bunch of different colors all at the same time, first purple then blue then black, with tiny streaks of yellow in between, even some green made an appearance.

Danny did a double take when he saw the girl in the kitchen, first off she was green, secondly, she was FLOATING. Danny didn't know other people could levitate like he did, he subconsciously remembered Dick saying something about knowing people who could fly. Third, her core was strange, like the green man from his first days with Bruce, it was like an ameba, changing shape and color and complexity. Like the carrot top's her core was gold but held a deep blue in the back, ringed with a layer of purple.

A large boy stood next to her, easily the largest in the group and with what looked like a permanent scowl on his face. His core seemed perpetually red, there were little hints of other colors, from what Danny could see there was a bit of blue but not much else. He didn't like this guy, he seemed too angry, too ready for a fight.

The sixth person had just stood up from the couch, unlike the others he was dark skinned and seemed well muscled. Putting himself as the second largest but his core seemed much calmer than the big boy's raging core. His core was a pleasant blue, but not a sad blue, a grey blue. Danny took special care in studying his core, he had never seen grey before, like black he had no idea what the color meant. But one thing was for certain, he held an air of authority around him, his mere presence demanded respect, he reminded Danny of Batman. Danny immediately started to like this guy.

Then he noticed everyone was staring at him, he involuntarily shrunk back, hiding behind Batman's leg and covering himself with his cape. The Boy Wonder wanted to take a picture, Danny held the cape close to his face but kept an eye peeking out so he could see everyone. After a few milliseconds of taking the little boy in the team looked to Batman who do doubt had an answer to their unasked question.

"Team, this is Phantom. I won't go into details, but all you need to know is that he hasn't had time to socialize with anyone in the past few years. He's been mistreated and I expect you all to be gentle and patient with him, if anything goes wrong Robin knows what to do. I'm leaving him in the team's care for a few days because I will be off world. If I get any word that Phantom has been hurt in any way," Batman paused with eyes narrowing, making sure the message got in deep with each team member "I will end you, academically, financially, and make sure you never see the light of day again. Are. We. Clear?"

Wally gulped, the rest of the team was equally shocked by the consequences of failing to take care of the little Phantom. Robin felt like Batman was blowing things out of proportion, but now that it was said, Robin would do all those things to anyone that would hurt his little brother.

A chorus of 'yes's' was heard, a few 'yes sir's' as well. Satisfied, Batman forced the cape back, revealing a little white haired boy in a black shirt, blue jeans and socks but no shoes. His radioactive green eyes seemed to flicker from one person to the next, taking in each of them, searching for any sign of hostility.

"Go ahead and introduce yourselves, softly." Batman said, Wally took that as his cue.

"Hi, I'm Kid Flash, but everyone here calls me Wally.-"

"Wait, so we're just going to give our identities to a kid?" The buff boy asked with his arms crossed, Danny flinched at his harsh tone. Batman leveled a sinister bat-glare on him, to his credit he didn't react outwardly but Danny saw his core recoil and flash a purple before returning to its writhing red.

"Yes. Whatever makes him more comfortable." Batman said, leaving no room for doubt.

"it was just a question." He said, shrugging and disregarding his earlier malice. Wally returned to his introduction.

"I'm the Flash's protege, like him I can run super fast and do things at super speed." 'Wally' said eagerly, probably wanting to say more but the yellow haired girl spoke up.

"Yeah, like talking and eating." She rolled her eyes and stepped forward, Wally playfully glared at the girl. She crouched down in front of Danny, the halfa couldn't help but shuffled back more but paused when her face broke into a kind smile. "Hey little guy, I'm Artemis, I shoot a bow and arrow like my mentor Green Arrow, I don't have superpowers but you don't need them to be a hero. And if you ever need to get away from Kid Mouth over there you can always come find me, at least I know when to shut up." Her voice was soft and she returned Wally's playful glare. Danny liked her, he even gave her a small smile. Artemis beamed at him, she was glad Phantom liked her, at least for now she wouldn't be on Batman's 'end list'.

"I am Aqualad, I am from Atlantis under the sea. My friends call me Kaldur. I hope that after some time with us you can become more comfortable with people." Kaldur said, even his voice seemed strong and authoritative, but also clear and understanding. Danny gave him a smile too, he seemed like a sensible person, even if a little intimidating.

"I'm M'gann M'orzz, but you can call me Megan, it's an Earth name. I'm a Martian from Mars, I can shapeshift and occasionally I can link the team up mentally and we can have mental conversations that don't require speaking!" Megan got a little too excited but Danny was in awe. She was from another planet? That's so cool!  But she wasn't like him, they had more similarities than the other team members but he was still so different.

"And this is Superboy, but his name is Connor, he's superman's clone." Megan gestured to the large boy next to her with the black shirt, who stiffened and looked down at the term 'clone'. "And that's everybody!" Megan said with a chipper tone, looking around the room and finally landing on the little boy holding onto Batman.

M'gann didn't want to pry at the little boy's thoughts but when he came in the door she immediately felt his mind. It was large and blocked, it seemed to radiate power though, as if protecting itself by putting a literal shell around it. She could not even feel his feelings, but she dismissed it, Batman's threat still hung in the air.

Conner felt a little bad for scaring the kid before, he tried to send a smile his way to show he didnt mean to come out so rude. Danny saw it but the first impression did a number on him, he looked like he was apologising, but until he says it out loud Danny couldn't tell if it was faked or not.

Danny moved his grip from Batman's hand to his leg, still holding onto his guardian for support.

"H-hi." Danny said timidly, giving a little wave to the group. This wasn't so bad, as scared as Danny was he was secretly excited to meet new people, especially people who wouldn't hurt him.

"Phantom will be taken care of by Robin mostly but I expect all of you to pitch in. Think of this as a team building exercise." Batman said, a faint rush of relief exited each teen except Robin.

Suddenly the computer announce the arrival of some older heroes. (I forgot their numbers so I'm totally guessing)

"Recognized; Black Canary 07." A pause, then " Recognized; Green Arrow 05. Recognized; Superman 02. Recognized; Flash 06. Recognized; Aquaman 04."

Danny yelped and shoved his face into Batman's leg, his eyes closed and body shaking. It sounded like what the GIW agents called him, Specimime G-01. He was also scared because a ton of adults walked into the room and they were really big. This was bad, this was very very bad. What if they started attacking him? Why would they do that? Logic asked, Danny ignored it, hysteria was settling in.

Wally nearly sped forward to see his mentor but Robin grabbed his arm and pointed to Phantom who was cowering. Wally smiled apologetically and resumed his position next to Artemis.

The older heroes walked in and were a little surprised to find Batman with a small child under his cape hugging onto his leg. They had all gotten the news that Batman had found someone and that that someone was really young but they didn't expect Batman to become so protective over him.

Black Canary walked straight to Batman while the others hung back, a little intimidated by the Bat-glare that was sent there way when the little boy yelped and shrunk back. Flash sped over to his nephew unknowing it would send Phantom into hysterics.

Robin gave him a death glare while everyone else focused on the now screaming child under Batman's cape. Danny was hugging onto Batman's leg so hard with both hands and legs the vigilante was beginning to lose feeling in his foot. The scared halfa mumbled something in Romanian that no one heard except the people with super hearing, but they still didn't know what he said. His head was turned away from the group of heroes and his eyes were shut tight, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Maybe, the child thought, if he held onto Batman in a way that he could still move like he did with Dick when the dog came into the house. Just maybe he might make it out of there alive, Batman would fight everyone to protect him. But what if Batman fails? Made up images of Batman getting defeated and Danny back in chains filled his mind. No, no, nonono...

Batman knelt down on one leg considering the first was occupied and rubbed the halfa's back, making shushing noises and trying to get him to calm down. No one noticed M'gann had put a hand to her head, suddenly getting a migraine.

"It's ok Phantom, no one is attacking you, I'm right here." Batman said softly to the trembling child.

Everyone was astounded, they had never seen Batman like this before, he's was so... gentle.

Danny tried to control his breathing, finally letting some logic into his head. They weren't attacking him. He was fine. Batman was fine, everyone was fine. It was just an image in your head, not real. Not real. Danny thought, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart. He opened his eyes and wiped the tears away, he was strong, he can and will control his fears. Like Batman once said 'being afraid of everything takes too much energy.'

Batman noticed the change in his demeanor and Danny let go of Batman's leg, standing on his own but still huddled next to him. Batman looked him in the eyes, "Are you alright?" Danny nodded stiffly, sniffing a little bit before turning to face the adults. He eyed them, they looked so weird and their cores were odd as well. Batman was taken back a little bit, that had been the quickest change from an episode to being completely fine. He didnt let his surprise show. 

Now that Danny was 'stable' Batman stood up and glared at everyone. He had known they were coming, but he had wanted to introduce them separately, all of them at once was obviously too much. They even said they would come separately as to not traumatize the kid more, a promise they so clearly broke.

"This is Phantom, and I thought I said I wanted to meet with each of you separately so this," he pointed to the still quailing, but otherwise ok Danny, "didn't happen." Batman said trying to contain his anger at his teammates blatant entrance and complete lack of consideration.

"Sorry Batman, I came here believing I was the first one, then all of the boys showed up behind me." Black Canary said, stepping forward and apologizing. Batman figured as much, Black Canary was smart when it came to kids, the others? Not so much. Behind her Green Arrow shrugged his shoulders and Superman rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, Flash gave an apologetic smile but stayed over by the kids.

"Phantom, I'm going to have to leave soon, this is Black Canary, she should be in the mountain for most of the time. She's very nice and you can trust her with anything, dacă vrei vreodată să vorbești despre trecutul tău Black Canary este cel care trebuie să meargă." (if you ever want to talk about your past, Black Canary is the one to go to.) Batman said in somewhat broken Romanian but Danny got the message.

She had a kind smile and long silky-looking hair, she crouched down to be at Danny's level and looked him in the eye. Danny held onto Batman with one hand and the other went to his mouth and started biting his nails. She seemed nice enough, her crystal blue eyes were somewhat cold but that didnt bother him.

Her core was calm like Kaldur's, the colors gently swimming around each other, but it was yellow and... orange? Orange was always a mix of anger and joy, but this orange morphed into a startling red orange. Danny flinched back from the reddish color, then realized it wasn't anger, it was more like confidence or assurance. Confidence, Danny liked that name for the burnt orange color.

"Hey there Phantom, I'm Black Canary, but you can call me Dinah, you're such a brave little boy for meeting everyone. You're doing a great job."  Dinah said to Danny who held her gaze, he had beautiful lime-green eyes that seemed to spark with power. 

Dinah stood up and inclined her head in approval, "Not so bad yourself mr. big bad and brooding." She smiled so he knew she was playing but her statement still stood. "In the way you described him made it seem as if you were worried, he's off to a great start."  While Dinah and Batman talked Danny took the time to study the other men.

One of them looked like Connor, but he seemed even bigger (if that was possible), and also he noticed the side glances Conner was giving him but it looked like the older man didn't see them. A different guy looked like Artemis but male and had a funny hat and beard. A guy that smelt like saltwater had what looked like fish scales on his shirt and he was barefoot. Like Kaldur, his core had that same grey blue that reminded Danny of the ocean.