Chapter Text
It was a mistake. He hadn’t meant for this. Hadn’t meant to get stuck. He just wanted to go home. It had been a week now though, and he still couldn’t get out. Maybe… Maybe it was time to start letting people know he was here.
***
Hello came a soft robotic voice. Barry Allen, also known as the Flash, jerked in surprise. He was sitting here, bored, on monitor duty and eating snacks. It was in the middle of the night, and he wasn’t really expecting anyone here. He stood, his hand on his communicator, ready to alert the others should anything untoward happen.
“Who’s there?”
Sorry to scare you! I’m right here, in front of you .
Barry looked around, not seeing anyone.
“Show yourself!” he demanded
Um, I can’t? I’m in the computer? I’m Phantom, by the way.
He stared at the computer, before relaxing. “Oh, did Bats add you? I know he did some upgrades last week.”
He did. Unintentionally. I didn’t - I didn’t mean to come here.
“Oh, so he’s still working on your code? No wonder you sound like a kid…” Barry mused.
I’m not a kid!
“Sure kid, how old are you?”
16
Came the reluctant answer. It was pretty impressive that Spooky had programmed the AI to have emotions. 16 weeks wasn’t a long time to make an AI, or was it 16 months? Either way, Phantom sounded pretty human.
“Well, Phantom, you wanna chat a bit? I’ve got about four more hours on my shift.”
Sure! I’ve been kinda lonely these past couple days… Hey, so I’ve always wondered, how much do you need to eat a day? And do you need to eat a certain amount per hour? Like a hummingbird?
Barry snickered. First time he could remember being compared to a humming bird.
“Alright, so I need to eat approximately…”
***
Barry didn’t tell anyone about the little AI for a couple days. He wound up telling Captain Marvel, when the kid had brought along his homework to do on monitor duty. The two got along like a house on fire. Cap was the one who decided to turn it into a game, seeing how long they could keep Batman’s accidental upload of Phantom a secret from the man himself. So far, it was working pretty well. Afterall, Phantom didn’t have a body, and apparently he could move his .. files around to escape detection.
Phantom had loved Wonder Woman, but surprisingly, he’d loved J’onn and Superman the most. The little AI loved aliens. The program chatted both of their ears off about the stars, space travel, and aliens. Phantom had clearly made use of the database on the Watchtower to learn everything he could about all the different aliens the Justice League had encountered and their customs. Supes had nearly cried the first time Phantom attempted to speak to him in broken Kryptonian.
“It’s different than talking to the AI in the Fortress,” Supes confided to him, “he feels more alive.”
Supes and Phantom’s friendship collapsed once Phantom found out about Superboy. Specifically that he was a clone and that Superman hadn’t been very accepting those first couple years.
Then came the AI’s passive aggressive pranks. Which were funny at first. The doors only opened after Supes walked into them, or they closed on his cape, or the Zeta tube saying “Recognized 01: Deadbeat man”. It got old quickly. Plus, Batman was starting to notice something was up.
***
Batman was hunched over the computer, typing away furiously.
“It’s okay, B, it’s not a big deal.” Superman said, rubbing his hand behind his neck.
“No Kal. It’s not. Someone purposely messed with the Watchtower. That is unacceptable and childish behavior. I don’t know what their problem with you is, but I would rather find the culprit and have the two of you talk it out so that this foolishness will stop.”
“B really, it’s fine. We’ll talk it out soon, it’s okay.” Batman spun around.
“So you know who it is. Why haven’t you done anything about this? I never took you for a pushover, Kal.”
“Well, he’s just a kid…” Batman stood up and then stalked towards the exit.
“So Captain Marvel has been bullying you? He may be a child mentally, but it’s unacceptable to do this to a colleague. I had assumed he was more mature than this.”
“It’s not Marvel!” Superman said, his hand reaching out and gripping Batman’s shoulder, preventing him from exiting the room.
“Then. Who. Is. It.” growled Batman angrily.
It was me. Came a guilty sounding robotic voice. Sorry. I probably took it a bit further than I should have. I was just… so angry!
Batman stiffened. “Who are you?”
“What? You don’t know who he is? Didn’t you make him?” Asked Kal confused.
I uh. He didn’t make me. Batman did unintentionally add me to the Watchtower. He just didn’t know I was there? I was kinda running away… And Batman seemed like a great person to hide with?
“Wha?”
“How many of the other Leaguers are aware of this… AI?” Batman asked.
“Uh, a lot? We kinda thought it was funny to keep it a secret from you? To see how long it would take you to realize he was there. It wasn’t my idea!”
“We need a League Meeting about this. And you. I want to look over your code.”
Uh. Okay? I really don’t know what you’ll find though. And don’t try to trap me. Or delete any of me. Promise? The AI asked shakily.
“I promise. For now. As long as you display good intentions.”
***
“So. Who’s idea was it to keep Phantom’s existence from me a secret?” Batman asked dangerously. No one pointed fingers, but a majority of the heads spun to turn to look at Flash and Marvel. Bingo.
“It wasn’t my idea!” sputtered Barry.
“You were the one to find him.” remarked Diana.
“I have taken a look at Phantom. He is incredibly unique. Constantly shifting code, it moves around and rewrites itself constantly. He is very capable at getting through firewalls and appears to have some sort of sentience. Something which makes him unique among other programs. He is capable of learning and adapting to whatever is put in front of him, and his processing power is incredible, far faster than any known computer. All that being said. He should not be kept here, on the Watchtower. He needs to be around others, to learn how to interact, and it is a security issue to have him in the Watchtower systems.” Batman finally paused, looking around.
“Any objections?”
“No, but uh, where did he come from? He said he came from you?” asked Captain Marvel.
“It appears. That he came in through one of my comms. His ability to compress to such a size is commendable, but we are still unsure where he originated from, and he has been unwilling to discuss that so far.” Batman admitted reluctantly.
Ironic, that the security breach that Batman was in a tizzy about was caused by the man himself. Unintentionally, of course. But Batman was still the one to bring him aboard.
“So, how are we going to transfer him to Mount Justice?” asked Superman
“Hopefully the same way he came in.”
***
It could be worse. He was no longer on the Watchtower, he was now in Mount Justice. He was still pretty bored most of the time, but the Young Justice team was cool to talk to. At least they were pretty similar in age, unlike a majority of the Leaguers. They played video games often, and didn’t mind him competing. Even though it would be ridiculously easy for him to cheat since he was literally in the game. He still couldn’t figure out how to leave electronic devices and get back to his human form.
He kept checking in on Amity Park, when he could. Things seemed to be fine there, except for his missing posters. His parents were currently being investigated for his disappearance, which was concerning. He’d managed to get a message out to Jazz, Sam, and Tucker that he was fine, just stuck, and he had no idea when he would get unstuck.
He didn’t really want to reveal where he was to them, because he felt like that would be betraying the Justice League and the team, in a sense. He was also reluctant to tell the actual heroes who he was. They’d never helped Amity before, and he had no idea what they actually thought of ghosts. He’d seen the files on Constantine, who probably had the most experience with the dead. Through the reports, though objective, it was clear he wasn’t as well liked? Or reliable?
He needed to make a decision soon.