Tim had, maybe, sorta, perchance, been losing his mind over the ever growing enigma called Phantom. One would think doing a rage induced "surprise I'm alive" reveal would lead to more answers than questions. But no. Now he was left questioning who or what even had the ability to snipe the Watchtower security cameras and the back up files as the entire Superman incident got corrupted beyond repair.

Not even the conversation in the kitchen survived whatever purge happened.

Once again Phantom proved just how fitting his name truly is by having no trails to follow that don't end up in a grave or blipping out of existence on a random Tuesday years ago.

Or the random Tuesday a month ago when he just up and vanished with Conner.

Getting through to their communications was hell in and of itself, let alone getting them on missions their skillsets weren't specifically needed for. Being his mentoring proxy, Captain Marvel had filed for a leave of absence on Phantom's behalf. Conner's followed suit. The obvious reasons being whatever was going on, but considering that wasn't a mandatory field in the forms, they were shit out of luck. And with they, it truly just meant Tim.

Sure, Dick was coming around to the idea as well, but he refused to believe Conner would agree to any of this and not let them know if something weird was going on. The guy was 22, he could do whatever in the eyes of the law.

Well, human law it seemed, as the reason the Watchtower kitchen was currently being raided seemed to be issues with ghost law.

Stumbling into the chaotic mess that was Garfield and Bart trying to move whatever edible thing near Phantom just to see if he would stress eat the thing was not something he was expecting after getting kicked out of the Batcave. Losing access to his planning board did absolutely nothing when the subjects of said board were finally showing themselves again.

For a kid barely two apples tall, he sure could eat like a speedster if he was stressed out enough. The constant looks over his shoulder said more than enough as Tim tried his hardest to blend into the background to observe.

Snickering to themselves, the chaotic duo loaded up whatever they could onto the next plate. Losing a few handfuls to Conner wasn't even the worst of it. The eeriest bit of it was exactly when Conner stole some. While he was munching at a much slower pace, he too was packing down a lot more than usual.

Maybe stress snacking was a learned quality.

"How long do you think they'll be in for?" Conner asked absentmindedly between fistfuls of chips. Eyes darting all over, he barely paid any attention to Tim before setting for the next few seconds before starting his sweep of the room all over again. The sheer levels of paranoia managing to rub off on Tim as well as he got comfortable in a boltable position.

Phantom swallowed hard, the dried crackers they fed him balling up in his throat. "Do I look like I know?" He remarked sarcastically before gulping down the glass of water Conner kept filled for him. New ice cubed spawned in it as Phantom set it back down. "The council's probably throwing a hissy fit about me not being there before actually getting to the order of business!" Exasperatedly he threw up his hands, face landing just next to the plate of cookies pawed his way by Garfield.

"Why's the council pissy now?" Jaime asked as he wandered in, rolling with whatever was going on as he brought over more snacks. Getting promptly looted by Bart said enough as Jaime remained as confused as the first step he set inside the kitchen.

Phantom, now with a mouth stuffed full of pretzels, gestured wildly. "Because they are stupid old pricks-" Silenced by another handful of salty goodness, Conner made sure Phantom didn't accidentally choke as they took over.

"He caused a bit of a political mess by making claims of getting me adopted into his family. They're not particularly the fondest of the living." The clone supplied as they sifted through the newly acquired snacks before picking out the marshmallows. "They're, like, super neurotic about it."

Nodding as if any of that made sense, Jaime joined the other two trouble magnets in stacking a plate of whatever to see if Phantom even noticed the switch in snacks.

"It's not my fault they're refusing to keep up with the times!" The poor ghost cried out, nearly choking as a bit of sour candy shot down the wrong pipe. "Dad agrees they're being dumb because they have no problem with Ellie or any of the others! Plus," he grumbled between fistfuls of trail mix, "it's not like you were technically alive by their standards to begin with."

And with that, half the room just froze in confusion as the two stressed out boys were being supplied more random assortments by the only person even slightly in the know.

Stupid time travel rules ruled out just interrogating Bart, much to Tim's dismay.

Scrunching his face at whatever was inside that trail mix, Phantom's focus finally returned as he started picking out the bits he didn't like and piling them into Conner's hand. "It's not even fair." He grumbled between picking out the raisins. "Dad agrees you don't count because Ellie didn't count as alive either and both of you are souls stuck in a body not actually yours. Why do they need me there if he is the one it'll fall onto anyway." Pouting as he double checked his handful was nasties-free, he practically shoved his entire hand down his throat as he filled up his mouth with an ungodly amount of snacks.

"So why the Watchtower? Aren't there any other places to hide from them that isn't so...predictable?" Jaime asked in utter confusion. The fact they could see Earth right out the window helped even less.

Conner and Phantom shared a look, one none of them could quite decode before Phantom spoke up between half chewed nuts. "Dad doesn't like coming here."

"What does that even mean?" Tim dared question, watching in a mix of horror and amazement as Phantom quite genuinely shoved his hand down just to pull out a single raisin he missed.

Like the universe had it out for him, hating on his attempt to find answers, a green tear in reality opened up right behind Phantom. With a yelp and no time to escape, a hand reached out from the beyond. The only thing visible was the bare hand scruffing Phantom into the air and about a forearm's worth of a brown leather jacket.

Phantom immediately tried to placate the offending arm, curling up and just dangling there. "H-hey, how nice to see you up here. How'd the meeting go?"

Unfortunately for him, he received no answer. The only reaction the being gave was simply opening a second portal behind Conner who was trying to sneak out while Phantom distracted 'dad'. With a firm hand on his shoulder, Conner knew there was no escaping the meeting even with their top tier hiding spot.

One moment they were standing there, the next, dragged into the glowing portals of doom until the next time they'd seen out in the living world again.