Disclaimer: I don't own nothing. I pan on using other fandoms besides Danny Phantom and the Teen Titans but sadly I don't own them either. Mores the pity.

Teen Titans this takes place after the battle with the Brotherhood of Evil. Danny Phantom after Destabilized but no Phantom Planet. No fun if everybody knows his name.

A Ghost of a Chance

Ch. 1

The Nasty Burger was by no stretch of the imagination the best food around. Matter of fact it usually more than lived up to its name, but to Danny Fenton the half ghost defender of Amity Park and his two best friends it was one of the few places that felt like a sanctuary from the craziness of not family, school, but also the stress of being a super hero. Since Casper High's coach put all the football players on a strict diet which pretty much banned them from the burger joint it had started to be a true safe place from all his trouble except ghostly ones.

For a few months after the incident with Dan Phantom, a dark future version of him from a future he swore would never come to pass; he thought he would never be able to step into the place again. He kept seeing the faces of his family and friends, plus one annoying teacher, as the place exploded ending any reason he would have had to continue living. If it wasn't for Cloakwork stepping in when he did he probably would have gone down the same path that created Dan. And for the longest time while the place was getting repaired every time he walked past the construction site all he could see was the look on Sam's face as the flames took her.

Which made it all the more ironic that the Goth girl was the one who got him to think differently of this place. Right before the big grand opening she had noticed how uncomfortable he had become around the Nasty Burger. Together with Tucker they had pestered him until he finely spilled the beans about the whole incident with the evil him. Since time had be rewritten neither of them had known what had happened just that their friend had gotten a little too mushy for a few days around them and that he had a few sleepless nights filled with nightmares. Oh and he had also developed his most powerful attack the Ghostly Wail.

After he had finished his tale Sam had said something he hadn't thought of. "You know what this means Danny," she said with a proud smirk on her face. "You've gotten stronger than yourself. You beat not only someone who has halfa powers but who thinks like you and has at least a decade of use in those powers longer than you. A foe that was strong enough to beat Plasmus in his prime. It's kind of a Zen thing."

With that statement Danny felt himself stand a little taller. Vald Pasmus was the only other half ghost, besides his cousin/clone Dani Phantom, that Danny knew of in existence. Too bad he was also a wako that was after Danny's mother and father, one to date the other to kill. He had his powers longer than Danny had been alive and loved to flaunt that fact every time they had fought always hinting that his power was something Danny would never be able to reach. But Sam was right. Dan had defeated Vlad and taken his powers making him even more powerful, and Danny had defeated Dan so that meant that he should be able to defeat Vlad one day. Oh he had no illusions that it would be easy but this proved that he at least had the potential to do it.

So now every time the trio would enter the Nasty Burger Danny would feel a small feeling of pride. The place had come to him to represent a victory in his life instead of his greatest of defeats. He felt secure here. A safe place in a life that had so few of them, which is why he didn't notice the man in the expensive suit until him pushed Tucker further into the booth and set down across from him and Sam.

He wore a black suite that made Danny think of a CIA agent he saw in an action movie that he had seen once. It was black with a white under shirt and a black tie. His white hair and beard both looked well-trimmed and maintained. The stiff way he set had that disciplined feel to it like you find in a solder or police offer. His right eye had a patch over it and his left was a dark blue color that on a softer face would have seemed to shine but on this man it seemed more like a blue stone than an eye. There was no sign of anything even remotely soft or gentle in that eye.

In a voice that sent of chill up the teenagers spines he spoke before any of them could response to his sudden appearance. "Danny Phantom we need to talk." Danny choked on his soda as his two friends did a pretty good imitation of mannequins as it took them a second to process that a stranger just blurted out their most private secret.

"Wrong guy mister," Sam spoke first being the first one to recover from the shock. "This is Danny Fenton he's not cool enough to be a ghostly hero." The Goth wished Danny hadn't thrown her that half hurt look at her statement. After they got rid of this strange man she could apologize and explain she was just trying to throw off suspension. The look the man gave her told her she probably hadn't been very successful in her attempt.

"I'm a busy man," the man said as he tossed a set of photos he had been holding face up in front of Danny. "So we're going to cut right to chase. This is you turning into your ghostly form I take it?" Danny snatched the pictures up as soon as he realized what they were and held them close to were only he and Sam could them. They were four shots of him in the middle of his transformation process from Danny Fenton to Danny Phantom. The first three where of him out and about in town when he had to transform because of a surprise ghost attack, but it was the last one that really caught his attention as it had been taken in his room right after a night of patrol when he was going to bed. Someone catching him on the street he could understand, but right in his own room without him knowing not only felt like an invasion of privacy but scared him more than just a little.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Danny asked as he set up a little bit straighter leaving his right hand under the table angling his palm where the ecto blast would tear through the table and take the man in the middle of his chest. If this guy turned out to be dangerous he was going to go Han Solo on him and the Nasty Burger was going to need a new booth.

"My code name is Mr. Patch and I'm here to see that you take care of your responsibilities." From the floor next to him he pulled up a briefcase opened it then turned it around where Danny could see the contents inside. On top of a bunch of files and stuff set a photo. In the photo standing on a pile of teens wearing strange costumes that Danny recognized as Cyborge, Beast Boy, Robin, Raven, and Starfire the founding members of the Teen Titans that he had seen on various news feeds on Television and the Internet was Vlad Plasmus with a grin of satisfaction on his face. After the initial shock wore off he noticed Skulker and Teachnus in the background as what he was sure was Ember even further back.

"In the super hero community there is a sort of unspoken rule," Mr. Patch spoke with the same tone of someone explaining something to a child that they suspected may be mentally defected. Danny felt his temper rise a bit at the tone but let it slide. "Certain as they say super villains are the responsibility of certain heroes. The Joker is Batman's, Lex Luther belongs to Superman, and The Commander must handle Royal Pain when she is causing trouble. This unofficial system has worked since Captain America first slammed his shield into Red Skull's crimson face." Tapping a gloved hand on Vlad's picture he locked his single eye with Danny's. "This half ghost manic was yours and as you can see you have dropped the ball on this one."

Both Sam and Tucker started to argue in defense of their friend but one hard look from that blue eye silenced both of them instantly. For Danny he couldn't pull his eyes off the picture of his most hated foe standing on a group of people that Danny knew for a fact had saved the world on a number of occasions. This Mr. Patch guy may be full of it on this whole unspoken super hero rule bit but Danny knew to him it didn't matter. He did feel this particular fruit loop was his responsibility. "What happened?" he asked with steel in his voice. Patch met his eyes for a moment and Danny could feel himself being weighted and judged by that one piercing eye. When he seemed to come to a decision he spoke.

"The Teen Titans had been recruiting young heroes around the world to face off against a group of villains by the name of the Brotherhood of Evil." Danny noticed Tucker's face go paler at the mention of the group. Seeing as his friend was an expert on superheroes due to his massive web pages and articles he collected like mad sense Danny first got his powers the halfa guessed that his reaction was probably a bad sign.

"Are they the same Brotherhood that is always taking on the Doom Patrol?" at a curt nod from the one eyed man Tucker whistled. "Those guys are real bad news."

"Indeed," Patch waited a second to see if the young tech geek would interrupt him more. The look he gave Tucker was similar to the one Lancer would give if you interrupted one of his lectures. Of course Lancer couldn't be this intimidating no matter how hard he tried. Too Tucker's created he didn't whimper when he turned away from the man.

Turning back to Danny Mr. Patch continued. "The Brotherhood's leader, the Brain, had anticipated Robin's plan and had used the Boy Wonder's own plan against him. He captured one of the Titan's communicators and used it to coordinate an attack on the very forces that Robin had gathered. Beast Boy, in a move that surprised most that had met the changling, had gathered the few of the remaining teen heroes who had escaped the initial attack and had led a counter offensive on the Brotherhood's forces. When the remaining original members of the Titans, minus Robin who was already captured, showed up with reinforcements it looked like the rescue mission was going to be a success."

Patch paused and Danny braced himself as he could feel the other shoe dropping. "Then Brain decided to play one more trump card. He reviled their newest member and had his forces attack the rallying heroes. This new member being of course Vlad Plasmus and his hired ghosts. The gathered heroes of course had never faced off against powerful ghosts before and were completely unprepared to turn the tide in their favor like they had done many times before. They had neither ecto weapons nor nth metal to stand against the onslaught. By all accounts Plasmus' attack easily over ran the heroes.

"Because you couldn't handle one power mad half ghost the next generation of superheroes is in very real danger of dying off before they have even had the chance to really start." Danny once again felt Mr. Patch's one eye lock on to him. From that look the halfa felt the weight of the world slam down on his shoulders. Before Danny could say anything Sam was standing in her booth and if looks could kill Danny suspected that Mr. Patch would be a smoking cinder.

A pair of violet colored eyes bore into the man's single blue one. "You can take this guilt trip and shove it so far you'll need a proctologists to get it out." The tightening of the man's jaw muscles clearly showed that he was not use to being addressed in such a manner. The hand Danny still hid under the table started to glow a soft green as the halfa could feel a sudden feeling of impeding violence. None of this stopped the Goth girl as she continued her verbal assault on the man. "Danny has been fighting to save this town, and on a few occasions the world, with no help but from me and Tucker since he got his powers. Now you're here trying to get him to feel guilty because of a fruit cake that he had nearly killed himself stopping in the past joined some super villain social club. Will the way I see it Plasmus just graduated from a ghostly problem, which is what we handle, to a superhero one. And even without being friends with one of the top comic geeks in Amity Park I know there are several groups much more qualified to handle this situation than us."

"For the record, I'm not one of the top. I am the top comic geek, and Sam is right about that. There are several super hero teams that could kick the Brotherhood much better than we could." Tucker added also staring daggers at the man sitting next to him. Danny felt a warm feeling when he realized his friends were standing up to this guy to protect him.

Mr. Patch had a look cross over his face that almost caused Danny to blast him right then, but the man visibly got the hostile look under control so quick that Danny almost thought he imagined it. "If you would sit down Ms. Manson before you draw anymore unwanted attention to our conversation. Or would you like someone to discover Mr. Fenton's secret?" Sam started to protest but noticed that a few of the patrons were looking their way she set down.

"Two things," Patch continued, "if we had someone else qualified for this op don't you think we would send them. The Doom Patrol that usually deals with the Brotherhood of Evil are MIA after a group called ironically enough the Brotherhood of Dada fought them in New York a few weeks ago. The Avengers have once again gone to the aid of Asgard to help Thor defend his home land. The Justice League who would likely be to help because the Boy Wonder's mentor is a founding member is on Apokolips adding in an attempt to over throw the despot Darkseid. In short there is no one else to face this crisis."

Before Patch could go any farther Tucker spoke up. "What of the X-Men? Those guys have some serious power and they're the good guys?" Mr. Patch took a moment to study Tucker before speaking. He had truthfully taken the boy as a fool in anything other than machines. Most people knew the mutant heroes as mutant terrorist thanks to not only their enemies' propaganda but the public's general hatred of mutants. This boy had been able to see through the lie and prejudice to see the truth about them.

"Whereabouts unknown, we have some vague reports that one of their members, Wolverine, may be in a place call Madripoor. But so far that's just rumors and a sighting of a man ripping Hand Ninjas apart in a back ally. But that clan has quit a few enemies out there so we haven't confirmed if it is Wolverine." Patch shuck his head as a sparkle came to both Danny's and Tucker's eyes. Why were they always so surprised to find out that ninja still excessed. "So as you can see we don't have any other Calvary to send to the rescue."

The mood of the three teens darkened even further as the reality of the situation and the task they were being asked to undertake started to sink in. "I did say there where two things didn't I" the trio looked up at the one eyed stranger. "I never said I expected Daniel to do it alone."

"Me and Tucker will always be there to help Danny but I don't know how much we will be able to do against super villains." Sam spoke up her hostility from earlier drained do to Patch's explanation on why they couldn't just call in the big guns to take care of this.

"While both you and Mr. Foley have performed amazing despite not having any powers or training I wasn't speaking of you." Moving the picture of Vlad's triumph out of the way Danny for the first time noticed under the picture was a very high tech looking PDA that caused Tucker to let out a little yelp of joy. "Those models aren't even out on the market yet," the techno geek said reaching for the device.

"In there is a database of heroes," Mr. Patch said as he closed the briefcase once again setting it down on the floor next to him. "Each is a teen hero and a few we have discovered are on a list the Brain is putting together for his next attack on the next generation of heroes."

"So attacking the Titans was a test to see if his tactic would work?" Sam asked the fire returning to her voice but not directed at the man across from them this time.

"The Titans were an organized threat. Robin and his band were as dedicated as any of their adult counterparts in fighting the good fight. Their track record showed that they could, and had, handled threats that would have taxed even the founding members of the League or Avengers. Add to the fact that Robin was gathering an evening bigger force of Titans and even groups like the Legion of Doom would have had to start to worry about these youngsters."

"The heroes here are not organized beyond maybe a few allies here and there. They are alone but the Brotherhood has decided on taking no chances that they might one day gather together and once again become a threat like the Teen Titans had. Of course with Vlad as a member now you can probably guess who one of the heroes on their hit list is?" Patch locked a gaze on Danny that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand at attention.

Danny groaned out loud. "So besides this being my fault as you say. These guys are going to be gunning for me anyway right?"

"That sums up the situation nicely I do believe."

Coming to a decision Danny ran his right hand, the one he had kept aimed at Patch since the man had first set down, through his hair in frustration. He figured that he wasn't going to have to blast the man out of the Nasty Burger's wall anymore. Now he felt he should proudly save the Brotherhood some time and just blast himself. "What is it exactly you want me to do?"

The small smirk on Mr. Patch's face made Danny think of a wolf he saw on a nature show once, right before it ate a deer. "What I want is for you to do exactly what the Brotherhood fears will happen. I want you to gather these heroes and turn them into a force that can stand against these enemies. Gather them and use them to free the Titans and then together you can take down the Brotherhood for good. That includes Plasmus who I'm sure rotting a place like the Vault for a few years will make your life here easier by far. If they find he has allied with known criminals on the Brotherhood's level even his secret identity as this town's mayor will not spare him jail time. A regular prison stretch is a day spay compared to the ones made for supers."

The idea of Vlad rotting in a jail cell as well as his identity becoming public knowledge brought a smile to Danny's face. He looked first to Sam then to Tucker a silent question passing between them not needing to be spoken out loud. As both of them nodded their heads affirmative Danny felt his determination swell. He knew as long as he had those two at his back they could win. They had defeated impossible situations before. This one seemed more impossible than most but he was sure that they would come out of it the winners like they always had before. "Okay Mr. Patch we're in."

"I call debs on any super hero girls we save wearing tight spandex." Tucker added as he fist pumped the air.

Ignoring her friends as usual hormone driven statement Sam got right to the point. "Where do we begin?"

/

A short time later in a darken room a armored figure set in front of a high tech computer screen thinking on resent events, and his role in them. The game had begun. The pieces were already moving into the positions that he needed them to be in.

"Computer," the screen leapt to life at his verbal command, "show personal album number 12125 password J Delta Tango 12." At this a picture of a young boy with golden hair posing in front of a birthday cake with six candles on them appeared on the screen. His large green eyes showed the joy only a child could have. The world hadn't diminished the simple wonder and joy that a birthday wish and sparkling candles could bring. The menacing figure felt a surge of emotions come over him at the photo. It surprised him that he could still feel the softer emotions at all with all the things that he had done over the years.

Yes the game had begun, and he would have his prize, even if he had to sacrifice all of the pawns to get it.