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Danny thought he'd be fine working with the Nightwing, Flash, and Captain Marvel. Yeah, they have electricity based attacks, but they each use it in different ways. And he's never had a reaction to electricity before.
Danny thought wrong. He'd apparently never watched someone else get electrocuted before. And the fact that it was an enemy using Nightwing's escrima sticks against him, probably didn't help anything.
Danny had gone feral after Nightwing was shocked with the escrima sticks. The only thing he could think was somewhat along the lines of "can't let anyone die like that" and "dying via electricity hurts, I can't let friends experience that". Attacking all the enemies in sight as though he was a rabid dog that was still trying to protect its owners.
The fight didn't last long.
He blinked back into awareness to Batman murmuring reassurance that everything was OK and the bad guys weren't going to hurt anyone anymore. It was a bit jarring. He'd never considered Batman would have a soft side to him.
He looked around and saw that he was in front of a large dome made of his ice containing his teammates. They all looked worried. Looking around further he found a few enemies still frozen to the ground.
"Phantom?" Batman's still softer-than-normal voice brought Danny's attention back to the man. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Danny shrugged.
"Do mind trying to answer a few more questions for me?"
Danny shrugged again.
"Can you tell me one thing see?"
Danny just stared before pointing to Batman's cape.
"Good. Can you tell me one thing you can hear?"
Danny frowned a bit, but pointed towards the men groaning on the floor.
"Good. What's something you can feel?"
Danny looked at the ground and gestured to it. He blinked a few times feeling a bit more solidly in his body.
"Good. What's something you can smell?"
Danny took a breath and took a few seconds before quietly answering. "Sweat."
"Good. Almost done with the questions. What's something you can taste?"
Danny thought about it. "Metal."
"Thank you, Phantom. Can you melt the ice?"
Danny nodded and the ice immediately started to disappear.
"Thank you." Batman motioned to the group behind him. "Are you ready to come back to the Watchtower?"
Danny nodded and started floating.
~ * ~
Back on the Watchtower, Danny had gone to get check over for injuries. Then, he talked to Canary and his ghost therapist about what had happened earlier. After the talk, he decided that it was important for the League to know at least a little bit about what had happened and why so they could be prepared if it ever happened again in the future.
"And lastly," Batman stated, "Phantom has brought a minor concern he has to his attention."
Everyone's eyes flicked towards Phantom. Some in confusion, some in concern, and others in curiosity.
"Before I begin, he, Canary, and his therapist have stated that inquiries for more information than what is going to be given could cause the situation to become worse." Batman paused for a few seconds before continuing.
"A few days ago, Nightwing was electrocuted with his own weapon. Seeing a teammate get electrocuted triggered a combination of trauma response and protective instinct in Phantom. This combination led him to go into a dissociative state where he gathered Captain Marvel, Flash, and Nightwing and trapped them in a dome of ghost ice. He then proceeded to attack anyone his instincts saw as a threat. As there's no way to completely avoid this from happening all we can do is attempt to prepare for situations like this in the future."
"Hasn't Phantom been electrocuted before?" One of the members around the table asked.
Phantom decided to pipe up. "Yes. I'm ok with being electrocuted, just not seeing people I care about being electrocuted."
"Please pay attention," Batman growled, waiting for everyone to focus back on him. "If anything like this happens again, his therapist suggested that whoever is with him gather into a group and allow Phantom to take care of the enemies. If the enemy is too much for Phantom to handle alone the therapist jokingly suggested everyone become snipers. While not how I would have worded it, it is a good suggestion."
Batman paused again. "While standing aside and not being part of the fight will be difficult for most, it is a better alternative than causing Phantom to go into a ghost frenzy. Neither Phantom nor the therapist were willing to go into detail about what a ghost frenzy was other than that the team with Phantom avoided causing one due to being more worried about what Phantom was doing rather than the three goons that were still fighting."
"Last thing; Phantom's therapist specifically said to avoid questioning what caused his trauma, and why it triggered protective instincts." Batman ended. "Any questions?"
