iii. New Hero In Town

Danny would never claim to be the brightest but he still thought that he would be able to find Damien Wayne in a crowded lunchroom.  Then again he didn't factor in the fact that everyone was wearing the same uniform.  He did say he wasn't the brightest.  Luckily it seemed as if the boy had spotted him, quickly calling him over to his otherwise empty table.  The new boy quickly joined his new friend at the table, smiling at the boy.  "Why do you guys have lunch so late here?" Danny groaned out, plopping his tray on the table that he quickly sat at.  The boy had been to 5 out of 7 of his classes and was just now eating, he thought it took far to long to get to lunch.  Damien smiled at his friend and shrugged.

"Who knows," the boy said, placing a spoonful of mashed potatoes in his mouth.  

"At least it's real meat, at my last school my friend convinced them to give us a mostly vegetable diet," Danny said and Damien's eyes widen.

"You can do that?" He said sounding excited.  Danny's face paled considerably and Damien wondered what was wrong with him.

"Please tell me you're not a ultra-recyclo-vegetarian!"  Danny said, he had already dealt with one and he was hoping he wouldn't have to again without a crazy carnivore to level it out.  It worked with Sam and Tucker, Sam hated meat while Tucker loved it so they balanced out.

"Uh, no.  Just a vegetarian, I don't like the killing of animals," Damien explained and Danny nodded understanding.

"Do you have any pets?" Danny asked and Damien nodded seeming to be excited to talk about his animals.

"I have a dog named Titus, a cat named Alfred Pennyworth and a cow named Bat-Cow," Damien said and Danny started laughing when he heard the cow's name.  

"I love the cow's name!  My dog's name is Cujo," Danny said and Damien smiled wide.  The friendship between the two boys was fast growing and to be honest, rather surprising.  Danny was a loner type of person, finding it hard to put himself out there while Damien was rather closed off, it wasn't that he found it difficult to be outgoing he just had no want to.  Damien prefered to be friendless, made it easier to stay focused and he didn't have to worry about hiding secrets, any friends he had were fellow heroes, it was just easier that way.  It was the same reason that Damien never had a boyfriend, well that and no one had caught his attention (no one real that is, he had an unexplainable love for Percy Jackson).

Suddenly the wall of the cafeteria was blown in and a familiar laugh was heard, well two laughs.  One came from someone alive and the other from someone who wasn't.  Both Damien and Danny said together, "You have got to be kidding me."  Both slinked into the crowd, hiding themselves.  Damien was quick to get to a bathroom stall and change into his robin outfit while Danny hid in a closet and went ghost.  Danny would have gladly let the city's bat handle the situation but he doubted they could deal with Skulker.  He flew out of the closet right as a boy dressed in mostly green came out and took a fighting stance.

"Funny seeing you here," Danny punned, eyeing the clown that Skulker was teaming up with, no joke a clown.  What the heck?  Robin came next to Danny, recognizing him as a good guy, one he would need to defeat the ghost.

"Who's the ghost?" Robin asked and Danny rolled his eyes.

"Just wait five seconds and he will introduce himself, he has a real knack for it," Danny said, sounding annoyed which Robin noted, he assumed the phantom had fought him many times.  

"I am Skulker! The greatest hunter in the ghost zone!" Skulker announced loudly and Danny sighed shaking his head.

"Think you can catch some new lines?" Danny asked before shooting a plasma ray out of his hand and sending Skulker flying.  "It'll be a good break, since you never can seem to catch me."  Skulker roared in rage, shooting his plasma gun at Danny who swerved around it, punching the hunter in the face.  "You face sure can catch my fist though, so good for you."

Damien rolled his eyes at the phantom's constant jokes as he fought the Joker who kept laughing between gun shots, but secretly the boy wonder was amused because it reminded him of Grayson, his favorite brother by far.  Not that he would ever tell Grayson that.  Damien took a glance at the new hero to Gotham and saw him suck the ghost into what looked like a thermos.  His eyes widened and Joker took the opportunity to land a hit.  Damien hissed in pain and the Phantom's head snapped to the clown and bird.

A quick plasma shot came out of Danny's hand and hit the Joker, sending the clown flying into a wall, effectively knocking him out.  Damien pressed a hand to the wound on his arm, he was lucky that Joker was a shit shot and only grazed him.  Danny came over to the vigilante and offered him a hand in greeting.

"I'm Danny Phantom," The kind kid hero said with a bright smile.  

"Robin," Damien huffed out with steely eyes, not shaking the other hero's hand and the phantom quickly got the message and put his hand down. 

"Nice working with you," Danny said, doing a two finger solute before turning noncoporial and flying out through the ceiling. Damien shook his head before grappling out of the building, using the hole in the wall.

No one in the building noticed the missing boys.  No one in the building noticed their reaction to the two villians coming in.  No one in the building noticed the feeling of something new starting.  Danny Phantom and Robin were destined to meet again.  Danny Fenton and Damien Wayne were destined to become something so much more than they could have ever planned.  But I guess when your a superhero, life is generally unplanned.