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Jason was getting real tired of seeing green. Not Lazarus-induced-anger-green, but more of a What-the-hell-was-that-and-why-was-it-neon-green. All week he'd been seeing streaks of neon green bolt across the sky or around him. At first he thought it was some sort of mutation he'd gotten out of nowhere thanks to the Lazarus Pit, but Damian and Cass couldn't see it. Damian even told Bruce that he needed to send Jason to get "checked out."
Thanks Baby Bat. Because a worried, paranoid Batman is really what Jason wanted right now.
Speaking of right now, Jason really should be paying attention to the gun fight going on behind his very safe, rotting crate of weapons, NOT the flitting green blob dancing around his knee. He swats at it and it squeaks something playful at him then dances away again. Jason swears his eye is twitching now as he whips his guns out and shoots the goons that haven't been taken out by his...brothers? I guess. Jason's still not really sure how the whole "getting the family back together is going" but...things have been better with Tim?
In fact, Tim is standing in the middle of the warehouse staring at his fancy dancy watch from DentonTwirks or some other company he's investigating to invest stocks in. And it's beeping...
"Double R...Why is your NIKE green watch going off like a bomb. I'm not dying in another warehouse, T, I swear to god."
Tim glares at Jason and rolls his eyes.
"What?" Jason glances at Dick's scrunched face. "Too soon?"
Dick shakes his head and sighs. "What's going on Red?"
"I don't know. My watch just started going off for some reason. There're like, these green dots jumping around on the interface, as if I'm surrounded by them. I can't detect anything with the tech in my mask though. Anything for you guys?"
"Other than the gnats that keep haunting me? Nada."
Dick puts a hand on his hip, sighing again. "You really need to get that checked out or something. I can give Zatanna a call, she'd be her lickety-split."
"Nobody says that anymore," Jason scowls, a bit disgusted. He waves away Dick's astonished expression, "They're really just annoying right now. I'll tell ya when something actually happens. Lets get these goons tied up and the police up in here. I've got a novel and a bed calling my name."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yeah...Jason thought it was alright. The gnats were annoying and all, but he was just learning how to ignore them. Now he is clenching his ribs with his right hand and pointing his gun at the weird green kid standing in front of him.
"Jason? You okay there bud." Dick asks, hands up placatingly.
"Sure Dickhead, I'm doing fantastic! Was just getting my stab wound all fixed up when I run into the biggest f*cking gnat-child I've seen yet!"
"I'm not even bug-like, dude! You would pass out if you met Frostbite." The gnat scoffs, crossing his arms before an expression of fear flashes through his face and he disappears into the roof, Jason's gun following it all the way to the ceiling.
"Ooooookay then....I'm going to call Zatanna," Dick says, inching his way to the computer as Tim tries, and fails, to manhandle Jason back to the medbay.
"Guess your eyes are just built different, Hood," Tim scowls, supporting Jason over his shoulder.
"I will shoot you, Timberlina."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jason has not seen the kid since that night and now he's stuck in the med bay again, this time with an annoying bullet wound in his side. He's staring at the ceiling, counting the tiles....348 again....for the 4th time. Something went wrong in the 3rd round and he counted 382 so....He obviously had to recount them.
1....2.....3....4...Jason was not doing this. Alfred would be upset, Bruce would brood and Tim would tattle, but Jason was not sitting around in the cold med bay. So Jason tossed off the thin white sheets, shoved his aching feet into his leather boots, tossed his jacket over his uninjured side and ran straight into the little green kid again.
It was instinct to reach out and grab the kid before he could fall over. Jason lifted the kid up by his...jumpsuit jacket? What the hell was he even wearing? Why was there a "D" on his chest? No Bat themed anything so not a new adoptee. Plus he had green hair, green eyes, green skin, and just green everything.
Now that Jason was really looking, the kid was kind of translucent too.
"So," Jason inquired, as the kid wriggled in his grip, "What's a kid like you doing in the Batcave?"
The kid stilled and glared up at Jason. Jason raised an eyebrow as the boy huffed and crossed his arms and legs, hanging like nothing in the world could bother him. Jason lifted his arm slightly and realized it felt like he was holding nothing.
"Who are you?" Jason asked, shaking the boy side to side.
"I thought you guys would know about secret identities?" The kid spat, wriggling again before settling back into his crisscross position.
"Yeah, but usually we don't have a sneaky little kid who can get into the Batcave without the alarms going and you already know my face. I can't let you go now."
The boy considered this. "M'name is Phantom."
"Phantom? What, you some kind of teenage vigilante just wandering around on a tour of Gotham and happened to stumble across the cave by chance? Likely story, Phanty."
"I despise that."
"So, Phantasia, what's your goal?"
"Honestly? I was just trying to find the revenant that's haunting around here. I wasn't expecting to find a Halfa! No wonder you could see me when I was invisible! Y'know I thought my powers were on fritz again so thanks for that."
"Whoa! Wait? What the heck is a Halfa? And what do you mean you're invisible? You look pretty darn visible to me!"
"Yorick's Skull?! You didn't know!?"
Phantom was staring at Jason with an expression between mourning, fear, and surprise. Jason blinked down at the kid, "Know what, half-pint?"
Phantom mutters into his fist. Reminder, the kid is still hanging from Jason's fist, but slowly the green starts fading into something more human colored. The green hair turns into bright white with a few black hairs here and there. the green eyes lose the greyish green and turn into that neon green that's been following Jason. The jumpsuit under his jacket changes from forest green to black and white. The cargo pants are completely black now and what Jason thought were leather boots, turn into some sort of gem material, a neon green matching Phantom's bomber-esc jacket and eyes.
"Oi, half and half. Confused crime lord over here. You gonna spit out what the hell you're muttering about?" Jason asks again, shaking Phantom back and forth.
Phantom looks up at Jason from his fist, eyes serious for the first time since Jason nabbed his collar. Phantom straightens from his scrunched up crisscross seat and floats(?) up to look Jason in the face.
"So...You died, right. And you came back...different?"
Jason regrets asking.