Part Two
Masters watched the ship disappear on the horizon, Phantom chasing after it and his precious Jasmine.
"Well," he muttered to himself, Plasmius disappearing, "That was unexpected." He grinned. "But not unplanned for."
The past year had been the death of a thousand cuts hell. Only two times in Danny Phantom's entire existence were worse than what the past year had been like. The first and truly the Worst Thing to have ever happened to him was dying. When he had been egged on by his friends and accidentally turned on one of his parents inventions, the Ghost Portal, wormhole to the afterlife, dying wasn't supposed to happen. Nor was getting ectoplasm fused into his DNA. For all that the horrible accident that had created Danny Phantom from the geeky freshman of Danny Fenton had resulted in some positives in his life, Danny never wanted to go through dying again. Ever. Nothing could top that as the worst thing that had ever happened to him.
The next worst thing that had ever happened to him was an alternate timeline he had been forced to deal with. The less said or thought about that the better, but in that alternate future, he'd had to watch everything he'd ever loved and cared for go up in a fiery explosion that had left him isolated, alone, and oh-so vulnerable to Plasmius, his arch nemesis, and only other half-ghost in existence at the time. The unbearable grief, loneliness, loss, of that, and the horrifying result had lead to a promise. One he'd yet to break.
But this past year... those were the only two things that could top it in terms of sheer terribleness.
Almost a year ago, Danny had been in his ghost form, patrolling his home of Amity Park when there had been an explosion. A massive one he'd seen from across town and immediately headed towards.
His home was gone.
In an instant.
Everything.
Just thinking about it had him sobbing all over again.
"When I had left," he gasped, "you were home..."
Jazz nodded.
"How did you survive?"
But Jazz was still sobbing into his shoulder just as he was sobbing into hers.
Danny had returned to the rubble and ruin of his home, knowing his family had been asleep given the late hour, and had to have been in the destruction that had come to pass. Danny didn't know how long he'd just floated there, staring at the remains of his life, but his brain eventually kicked in and he realized that he needed to run. Plasmius would hear of this, and he would use it to his every opportunity. So Danny had phased through all the rubble, gotten down to the lab, grabbed as many Fenton Thermoses as he could, other useful ghost-fighting paraphernalia, that survived or the components he needed to fix them. The Portal was destroyed beyond recognition, and Danny realized that the ecto-filter hadn't been cleaned, which was what had caused the explosion. He didn't have time to dwell on that, as he quickly pulled key components from the Portal so that nobody would be able to reverse-engineer it. Even doing all that while tears were streaming down his face, Danny had known that the only reason he even had this much of a plan was from his many, many long talks with Jazz.
His big sister.
His therapist.
His only support system in his home with his parents unknowingly always hunting down his ghost half to tear apart molecule by molecule.
Gone.
Just when Danny thought he was done crying, he started sobbing all over again, holding Jazz even closer.
Ever since then, he'd been drifting from city to city. Sometimes ending up in the foster system under an assumed name, other times just living on the streets and dealing with ghosts as he found them. Without the Fenton Ghost Portal to come through, ghosts were finding natural portals to come out and cause their havoc. And Danny chased them down and sucked them into the Thermos until he could find a natural portal to send them back to the Ghost Zone.
All the while, grieving and mourning. His sister. His parents.
He'd been so alone.
So very alone.
Only visits to public libraries and emails to his best friends and fellow ghost-fighters, Samantha "Sam" Manson and Tucker Foley, had kept him sane. Prevented him from breaking his promise and becoming him.
Danny pulled back and grabbed Jazz's face, holding it close, looking into her teal eyes, and seeing her, face scrunched and still crying. But Jazz grabbed his face as well. Both were still sobbing, foreheads touching, as they looked into each other's eyes.
"You're here," Jazz whispered. "You're really here. This is real. This is real. This is real."
"Yes, Jazz," Danny whispered. "It's real. You're real. You're alive, you're alive, you're alive!"
"So, um," a young voice asked through speakers, and Danny quickly stiffened, pulling Jazz closer to him. Where was he again? "Are you two... a couple or something?"
"Beast Boy!" someone growled.
Titans. He was in the Teen Titans ship. They didn't like ghosts. Therefore, he and Jazz weren't safe.
So Danny reached into his ghostly core of cold, and blanketed himself and Jazz in invisibility and intangibility, and let the ship just fly through them.
"This is real, this is real, this is real," Jazz kept whispering.
"Come on," he said quietly. "Let's go." He sped off, invisibly following the Titans, before breaking off to a suburb of Jump City and passing through an abandoned warehouse to one of the offices where he was currently settled.
Landing in the dusty office that he'd been calling home, he sat down with Jazz on the cot and let his cold white rings appear and separate, putting him back to Danny Fenton. Jazz blinked, looked at him again, and smiled, tears starting to flow heavily all over again. "Oh Danny," she hiccupped.
Danny ran a hand through his now black hair, and gave a watery smile. Reaching out he traced his hand down the side of Jazz's face, so glad to just be able to see her again. Hold her again. He was also exhausted from all the ups and downs of the day. Finding out that Jazz was alive, a four hour flight to Wisconsin, facing Plasmius, and the emotional release of it all as they had flown home with the Titans.
The Titans!
He'd gotten to meet the Titans!
Danny gave a small chuckle and Jazz did as well. Soon they were both laughing and hold each other in guffaws and a different kind of hysterics.
Still holding each other, they both eventually fell asleep on Danny's cot.
It was some time early in the following morning that Danny awoke, cramped in his cot, still wrapped by and around his sister. Embarrassment didn't even enter his head. After how overly emotional the previous day was, he was still tired, and his eyes burned, but he was also feeling far lighter than he had in almost a year. All he wanted to do was languish here and just spend time with Jazz, find out what had happened, maybe go home. Finally go home.
But Danny had been on the run for almost a year.
Pragmatism was far more important.
When Danny had started running, it was because of the plan that he and Jazz had made after that horrible alternate future. It was their failsafe on how he could keep his promise. His promise to never become that. To become him. Jazz had made a point to instruct him on all public service that he could use to stay safe, anything from public showers at gyms or community centers, libraries for internet access, how to survive with nothing. And he'd been using those lessons. He only ever spent money on hygiene, like shampoo or deodorant, and food. Everything else he knew how to get from public institutions. And even if his pickings got slim, he could dumpster dive for food, since he could make an icebox, quite literally.
While he was good at taking odd jobs in whatever city or town he ended up in, and he had a decent amount of money saved after Portland and the mechanic job he'd had there, Danny knew it wasn't enough for both him and Jazz.
And Danny doubted that Jazz was in any frame of mind to be able to interact with anything. Not after being overshadowed, possessed by Plasmius for a year. The usual after effects of overshadowing was memory loss, but Jazz had clearly been fighting it in order to somehow get a message to the Titans. Danny had no idea how that would even leave her. Yesterday had been cathartic, but not really great for getting information.
So Danny pulled out a battered pad of paper, beaten up pencil, and started thinking. Clothes was first on the list. Danny had three changes of clothes for himself, Jazz would need more as well. Somehow, he doubted that rich, private-school uniform would be okay on the streets. Checking his icebox, he knew that food would definitely be necessary. He had enough for himself for two more days before he had to go dumpster diving, but that would be gone in half the time with Jazz there.
Those were necessities.
But it was the personal things that had lasted Danny the longest. His pictures. A small, very scratched handheld game system. His books, even if he'd read them a million times. What would Jazz want?
He'd have to let Sam and Tucker know that he had Jazz.
Even as he was making the list, Danny stopped as he replayed the previous day. Again.
The Titans!
Oh maaaaaannnn... He slumped forward on the old desk he used as his kitchen table. He'd finally had the chance to meet and talk with actual heroes and he blew it! Ergh, nice job Fenton!
Of all the various heroes that existed, the Teen Titans were the ones that Danny related to the most. They were teens, just like him, who had the difficult burden of keeping people safe. Who knew how they had gotten their various abilities, some had to be via an accident like himself, some did have mentors, like he did.
They were people who would get it. In a way that even his friends couldn't. In a way that even Jazz couldn't, try as she might as his therapist. And the Titans also had what Danny had had to fight hard for. Respect. Acknowledgment of even being a hero. He was jealous at how easily the populous accepted them. He'd always thought that if he just met with them, maybe talk to them, that maybe he might be more accepted as a hero instead of people instantaneously shouting "GHOOOOST!" and running away in terror.
Because Danny was really tired of people running away in terror.
Really tired.
But now, the Titans had reacted like anyone else. Screamed at him, ran around in terror.
Danny sat back with a sigh.
That wasn't entirely true.
Robin, hardcore leader, had kept a professional distance, but hadn't outright dismissed him. He had even made sure to deliver Jazz's message, which meant there had to be research behind it since Danny was deliberately staying under the radar. How did the human Titan even find him? Would Plasmius? The thought sent chills down his spine and he ran a hand through his hair, scratching at his scalp to clean his head of dark thoughts. Jazz didn't need that. And as distant as Robin had been, Starfire had seemed to openly accept him – talking to him outright and trying to prevent him from harming civilians. He snorted. Like Vlad Masters was a "civilian." Raven had outright attacked him with that weird energy shield. Danny rubbed his forehead at the memory, that had hurt; being intangible didn't help and he'd been forced to use ecto-blasts to break out of the cage. Did that hurt her, he vaguely remembered her grunting.
And then... Plasmius.
Plasmius had overshadowed his sister for a year. Rage bubbled up in him, and he took several deep breaths to try and control himself. Anger had led to the disaster in Colorado Springs, and his reputation (what was left of it) didn't need another hit like that. He turned around and looked at Jazz, still asleep on the cot, and he made himself smile. Positive energy, that's what she needed right now. He would smile. For her.
Back to supplies. Clothes, food, check. Also, something personal. Something to ground her. Books?
He heard a shuffle of cloth, and turned around to see his older sister moaning, sitting up with her carrot red hair sticking up every which way.
Danny smiled and got up, moving over and sitting on the edge of the cot. He saw when her mind finally woke up, her teal eyes locking on his blue ones. "Morning, sleepy head," he said softly.
A hand reached out and cupped his face, visage disbelieving, and he watched the emotion play out all over her face again. Neither of them had the energy for more tears, so Danny offered a weak joke. "You have bed-head like you wouldn't believe."
Jazz smiled, a hollow echo of what her smiles used to look like, and she ran fingers through her locks before her eyes trailed down to her wrist and the cuff of her uniform. She moved her arm about in utter fascination, flexing her fingers and wrists. "I can move my body," she whispered. "On my own."
Pain shot through Danny's chest, but he smiled, reaching out and touching her knee. "You're free now," he said.
All at once her hands grabbed at her jacket and she ripped it off, yanking off the headband and tearing the knee-high socks off. She reached for her shirt when Danny realized just how far she was going to go and he quickly grabbed her hands. "Jazz, wait!" he said, "I don't have anything for you to change into!"
"I can't stand it," she said. "I don't want to wear anything of his, I'd rather wear a blanket!"
"Jazz, I don't even have that!"
His sister finally paused and looked up, taking in her surroundings for the first time, eyes drinking in the office space, the dust, the desk and icebox. She blinked repeatedly, looking left and right, before locking gazes with her brother. "Danny," she said in the Scary Big Sister Voice. "Where are we?"
Danny gulped visibly, rubbing the back of his neck and offering his best placating smile. "Uh, home?"
Flat Stare of Judgement.
"Only for now!" he added quickly, hands up in supplication. "I only just got here a couple days ago, I haven't scoped out any of the social services yet to see if I could drop in. I already have a job lined up at a gas station and I start Monday and—What?"
Jazz's face had slacked suddenly, realization hitting her somehow, and she reached out and clutched Danny's shoulders. "What's today's date?" she demanded.
"... Friday?"
"No, what day is it? What month? What year?"
Danny realized the depths of Jazz's suddenly intense anxiety. "Jazz, it's August thirtieth. It's been a year." He watched her breath quicken, a hiccup signaling more tears, and he, in turn, grabbed her shoulders as well. "How long were you overshadowed?"
"Constantly," she said, the word barely comprehensible. "He... he had a duplicate in me every day until sometime at night, then I'd be locked in my room. There was no way out..." her breathing got deeper, faster still, she was hyperventilating, and Danny didn't know what else to do but hug her, rocking back and forth as the storm hit her a second time, school uniform in a pile on the dusty floor. "All I could do was stare at the stars," she said, words sporadic. "I kept thinking about how you wanted to be an astronaut, how I had to find you and tell you I was alive. With Mom and Dad... Oh god... they're dead..."
Plasmius didn't even give her time to mourn. Bastard. Danny hardly had time to mourn either, on the run as he was, but he still had months and months of a head start on his sister, and he felt the anger build up in him again, but he forced it down. Constructive. He needed to be constructive, find a constructive way to release the anger. He needed to fight a ghost.
Like that was going to happen.
"Jazz," he said softly after the storm had abated. "Do you want something to eat?"
"... yeah..." she mumbled, utterly spent.
Breakfast was little more than cereal, and eating it made Jazz look at her little brother again. "You're thin." It wasn't a question.
Danny tried to shrug it off. "I've always been thin."
"Not this thin," Jazz insisted. "What have you been eating?"
Caught, Danny answered honestly. "What I could buy or, when I had to, what I could find."
"Oh, Danny."
He shrugged, not quite able to meet her eyes. "We knew it was a possibility when we talked about me running."
Jazz swirled the cereal in her bowl, still watching her own movement. "I know... I just hoped that I'd be with you to help you take care of yourself."
Danny gave a gentle smile. "You're the best, sis."
She smiled back.
The first thing they did after they had eaten was fly to a thrift store two towns over. After landing in an alley and checking for cameras, Phantom reverted to Fenton. "Your uniform will stand out, Jazz. I'll have to keep you invisible," he said softly as she took his elbow.
"I understand."
They walked on, only Danny Fenton visible, and Danny just took a moment to stand there beside Jazz. "Lead the way," he whispered.
There was hesitation, and Danny had a good idea why. With Jazz being possessed for so long, and now having a whole store to explore, she was almost radiating indecision, since she hadn't been able to make her own choices for so long. Danny's heart and core ached. If she wouldn't move, he needed to poke her.
"Boy's section or girl's?"
Jazz let out a tight chuckle. "Woman's," she whispered, starting to pull him along. From there it was digging through T-shirts and jeans, many of which were so dated it was ridiculous, whispering back and forth with small jokes and jabs. Jazz refused to get any undergarments from the thrift store, and Danny knew that the biggest drain to his wallet was going to come from getting them. At least it was a one-time purchase, and he had his job starting Monday.
Thankfully the thrift store was thrifty, and Jazz had three changes of clothes and two comfortable pairs of shoes by the end. A quick flight back to a community center in another nearby town, and Jazz had showered and changed, looking greatly refreshed.
"Danny, can we go to a roof?"
"Sure thing."
Once up there, Jazz insisted on Danny burning the uniform. He had to admit, he was happy to do so.
Next flight was to a mall in Jump City, which was closer to Titan territory than Danny was comfortable with, but if Jazz was going to get sturdy undergarments, he had to be willing to put in the investment.
Though they were both in the visible spectrum, Jazz still kept her arm looped in Danny's and hesitated constantly, clearly not used to having a say in anything. She was slowly tensing up and Danny kept up a constant stream of his witty banter going to try and slow the progress. But to no avail.
Danny was staring at the ground, uncomfortable surrounded by lingerie, but Jazz refused to let go of him. And, frankly, he refused to let go of her. Suddenly, Jazz squeezed his elbow hard.
He was already looking around frantically, stiff himself, looking for whatever threat there might be. Not seeing anything, he turned to see Jazz staring at a bra in her hands and slowly starting to shake.
"Danny?" she asked softly in a tight voice.
"Yes?" he whispered, still looking around to see what was wrong.
"What size am I?"
Danny fumbled. "Er, what?"
"What size am I?"
"... I don't know."
Jazz's breaths were coming faster and shorter, tears starting to well up. Damn Plasmius! A year of overshadowing must have messed up her memories. Slowly, gently, he took the bra and put it on a hanger, embarrassment gone, and he guided her out of the store and out to one of the sofas in the mall. Together they sat down and Jazz immediately started to curl into herself, rocking back and forth, so Danny just reached around and held her.
"I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free," she started to mutter. "I'm free."
Pain lancing through Danny yet again, he rocked with her, and whispered into her ear.
The rest of the week was difficult. Randomly, with seemingly no rhyme or reason, Jazz would retreat within her own mind and start muttering to herself, curling herself in a ball. Danny did everything he could for her. Having gotten a book on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Danny had already read it cover-to-cover, as had Jazz. Both knew that she was starting the mourning process of her parents, but also starting her recovery from the Year of Hell. Both were also preparing themselves for the future signs of PTSD that Jazz was probably going to show in the months and years ahead. After reading, they both knew that treatment was going to be difficult. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, the only treatment that showed any signs of actually working, required either Danny or Jazz to recognize what triggers there were that would spiral her into locking herself in her head. But with Jazz only just freed, it was going to take weeks, if not months, to discover all the triggers.
What she needed was a therapist, but there was no way to find one who would understand the more super-powered nature of what had occurred. So Danny talked with Jazz on how to do the best they could with just each other.
"We're going to have to get you a fake ID," Danny muttered.
Jazz blinked, looking up from the floor where she had been doing some stretches, something she said helped her get to know her body again now that she had control. "ID?"
"Yeah," Danny replied. "I've been Danny Smith for a year now. It's how I can get jobs even though I still look fourteen. Everyone believes I'm just going to hit my growth spurt late. And it's how I get my money transferred from bank to bank." Since nobody paid cash anymore if the job was respectable.
Jazz nodded. "And I'll eventually be stable enough to join everyday society, including employment."
Since what they had been doing was dragging Jazz to Danny's job. Danny's boss had been skeptical, particularly since Jazz would sometimes have "episodes" that took Danny from his job to the back room to calm her down and bring her back to reality. Finally, Danny had just turned to his boss, who was trying to yell at Danny as he was holding a curled up Jazz, and shouted that Jazz had been raped, repeatedly, for almost a year. While not entirely true, it was accurate in a way, with Plasmius's constant overshadowing of her. Danny doubted he'd have the job for long, but he'd bought himself some time to find a new one.
An hour later, Jazz pulled out of her stretch and then slipped into a new one. "Danny," she said softly. "We're going to have to talk to the Teen Titans. And soon."
Danny grimaced. "I kinda blew it when I was with them last time," he muttered. "I doubt they'd listen to me now."
"Danny," Jazz said in her Firm Big Sister voice. "Vlad will say you've kidnapped me."
Danny's language was less than polite.
"Not now," Danny finally replied just as firmly. "Not till you're more certain of what's when in your memories."
Jazz looked down with a flash of guilt, which immediately made guilt dig through Danny. "You're probably right."
Three weeks.
Three weeks after Danny had finally gotten Jazz back.
They were arm in arm, walking through the mall in Jump City. It was Danny's day off, and he was, yet again, getting Jazz out and about to get her used to being around people as herself again. Thankfully, Jazz's "episodes" were decreasing as she became more and more certain that this was real and that she would never go back. Especially with the Spector Deflector she always wore now, another invention of their parents that prevented overshadowing.
Danny had pulled Jazz into an electronics store, knowing it was going to be another hit to his money, but both he and Jazz had decided that beyond just books on psychology, Jazz needed an iPod. One she could pour happy music onto in a variation of "music therapy" (read: self-indulgence). Danny had been looking through the sales and comparing storage space and specs (though he was certain Tucker would be able to tell what the best was with but a glance), when Jazz squeezed his arm hard.
He glanced up, already looking around for a threat.
Again.
But Jazz only pointed to the giant TVs, and the news broadcast. On screen, the Teen Titans were fighting Control Freak, and clearly struggling.
"You have to go, Danny," Jazz said, turning to look him directly in the eye in a way she had so much difficulty with now that she was back.
"But Jazz..." He wasn't going to leave her alone.
"This is your best chance to talk with them."
"I won't leave you."
But she had that Big Sister Glare on him. "You have to talk to them, straighten things out. You don't need kidnapping on your record."
"You're not safe. Not without me." He couldn't lose her again...
Oh, part of Danny knew he was being irrational. That his refusal to leave her side for a few minutes was his desperate attempt to make up for the year he'd had without her, just as much as it was her desperately reminding herself that everything was real and that she was free.
"Then drop me off in the Titan's Tower," she said. "Nowhere can possibly be safer than that."
"But-"
"Danny," she pleaded.
And after everything she'd been through, he couldn't deny her that.
"I'll slip away before the end of the fight," he said. "Once I'm sure the Titans will win, I'll come back and get you before they return."
She only gave her sad, wistful smile, the only one she was able to manage since she'd come back.
There was one thing Robin was forced to give Phantom credit for: He knew how to hide. After three weeks of searching, there was no way to find the ghost; he had literally disappeared, as had Jasmine. It had taken the better part of two days before Cyborg finally got (moderately) over his existential crises and Beast Boy could explain how every animal instinct he had freaked out when he smelled ghost. Raven had said nothing about why her restraining spell had failed, only that she needed to catch up on her reading.
Now all that was left - all they could do - was wait. Robin combed the bulletins for hints - he knew Phantom's powers, minimum, were speed (he still gawked at that), flight, invisibility and intangibility and something called overshadowing. Seeing the ghost in person made the Boy Wonder more willing to believe his more questionable powers - energy blasts and the like. Still not a blip.
Regardless, life did go on.
Beast Boy had been gearing up and up for the premiere release of a new Clash of the Planets movie - the first after thirty years - not including the terrible prequels - according to the changeling. Laser swords and cosplay abounded, and eventually managed to get Starfire and Cyborg on the hype train. They marathoned all six movies (prequels included) the previous day and were now waiting in line for tickets.
Which was, of course, when all hell broke loose.
"Hey," Raven muttered behind Robin. "Isn't that Control Freak up ahead of us?"
That was the only warning they had before said negative nerd stereotype gave a high-pitched squeak and started shouting. "What do you mean you're out of tickets! I've been waiting in line for four days! Control Freak will see the premiere of Clash of the Planets Seven!" And he pulled out his remote.
"Titans, go!" Robin shouted.
It was a disaster. Beast Boy and the others were not the only ones excited for the movie, and the entire street was shoulder-to-shoulder packed, making crowd control their top and most boggling priority. Robin hopped onto a limo from one of the celebrities and started shouting orders, Raven was using her magic to transport civilians while Beast Boy shifted to an elephant for people to climb up and transport while Starfire lifted people two at a time. That left Cyborg to face off with Control Freak, making for a horribly lopsided fight. To compound matters, Control Freak's remote did not animate simple things like cardboard cutouts or film projectors, but every single laser katana that any cosplayer had brought - and, since Control Freak's remote altered reality, the light-up plastic toy turned into something much more deadly.
Some of the cosplayers lifted into the air, unwilling to let go of their accessories. Three rose a dozen feet up, then two dozen, the civilians obviously fit enough to hold on. But that couldn't last forever, and Robin pulled out his bo staff with a twirl, getting a running start to pole vault. One of the three was now five stories up - there was no way he could make that jump!
And then a streak of black and white skidded across the sky and stopped on a dime. "Easy, let go, I got ya!"
Phantom had arrived.
The cosplayer was shrieking, her hands in a death grip, and Robin couldn't spare another glance as he focused on his own civilian. It was a textbook catch, and Robin all but shoved the cosplayer away to cast his eyes back up to the third, but Phantom had it under control. The street population had reduced drastically, but not enough, and the laser katanas were giving Cyborg a hard time.
"Starfire! Back up Cyborg! Beast Boy, circle around back!" He had to get the green changeling upwind of the ghost. It was a tense four minutes and thirty seconds to empty the streets and finally Robin was able to focus on Control Freak. He swung his bo around behind his back to deflect a laser katana, and he and the other Titans quickly settled into formation.
"You will have a hard time besting me, my arch-nemesis!" Control Freak shouted. "I've been waiting for this premiere for two years!"
The living props were flying left, right, and center, Cyborg was surrounded and blasting as much as he could, Starfire at his back and defending him. Robin was swarmed with his own laser katanas, but Control Freak only watched action movies, it was all spectacle and no actual talent - he disarmed several of them and now with all the Titans focused on Control Freak, dismantling became much easier. Phantom weaved about the team, shooting odd green blasts here and there. More than that, Robin couldn't focus on until the last of the katanas were destroyed.
"It's over, Control Freak," Robin said, the team fanning out behind him. "Give it up."
"Never!" the nerd shouted. "I refuse to be vanquished by some nefarious… do-gooders!"
"Geez," Phantom said, "You whine more than Skulker."
"And who are you?" Control Freak demanded.
"Danny Phantom."
"OH!" Control Freak said. "You're the guy with the reward!" He shifted his stance. "You dare kidnap fair maidens for your nefarious purposes! Now you face the champions of just-"
"Oh shut up already," Phantom said, a dark look on his face as he fired a green bolt of energy. "Too bad I can't suck you into a thermos. Also, you used nefarious twice, check your thesaurus." The bolt incinerated the remote control and the villain of the day yelped at the sudden heat in his hands.
Quick, smart enough to go for the remote, clever enough to banter and redirect. Phantom was not a showboat, new to heroing and too busy staging; he knew his stuff and knew to get the fight over with as soon as possible. Or, on the flip side, he was an experienced villain and all of the above still applied. Robin leaned toward the former, however; even if this was a deep game with an ulterior motive, emotion like he had shown when they first met was hard to fake - especially the extended tearful reunion with the girl, Jasmine. This was all still assuming ghosts acted like humans (existential crisis still ongoing at certain levels….).
There were still a lot of questions, though, the first of which was the safety of Jasmine. "Phantom," he said, stepping forward while Beast Boy, giving the ghost a decidedly wide berth, went to handcuff Control Freak and Cyborg had yet to disarm his sonic cannon. He wasn't the only one who had yet to make up his mind. "We have some questions for you."
Phantom winced. "Can it wait? I really need to-"
"Robin," Cyborg interjected. "Scanners picking up an intruder in the Tower."
"Ah crud," Phantom muttered, disappearing.
"What does that mean?" Cyborg demanded, instantly distressed. "What does that mean when I say there's a break in at the tower and he curses and disappears?"
"I don't know," Robin answered, "But there's only one way to find out."
Everyone flew to the Tower as fast as they could, Robin carried by Starfire and Cyborg by Raven, and landed on the roof. "Intruder's in the great room," Cyborg said as they landed. "Hasn't moved since."
"I hope it's not the HIVE academy again," Beast Boy moaned, "I'm still reorganizing my music."
The team burst into the great room, Robin's eyes quickly taking in the different zones but not finding anything save for – perhaps of course – Phantom crouched by the great semi-circular couch, muttering something insistently before his head snapped up and he saw the Titans. "It wasn't my idea!" he cried out defensively, hands up at his shoulders in placation. "She thought it would be safe and I didn't think she'd have an episode and we'll leave as soon as she comes out of it so please just don't hurt her!" It was a gobbledegook of syllables, spilling out so fast it took even Robin a moment to break the individual words apart and process what he was saying. Cyborg had his cannon open and primed as he advanced forward, the others fanning out to cover the Ghost Boy. Once Robin cleared the perimeter of the couch he saw the carrot top, Jasmine, sitting in the center with some kind of bazooka in her hands, teal eyes wide and her lips moving slightly in a constant, barely-audible, murmur:
"Danny will come back, Danny will come back, Danny will come back, Danny will come back..."
Phantom, seeing no immediate attack, crouched back down. "Jazz," he said softly, "Come on, I'm right here. It's okay, I'm fine. I promise. It worked out just like you said, okay? Come on, come back..."
Robin watched as discomfort began to color all of the Titans; they felt like they had when Phantom had first captured (rescued?) Jasmine: intruding on a decidedly private moment. At the same time, none of them were willing to let Phantom disappear for a second time, and they were left frozen where they were, lost on what to do. Robin threw a glance at Raven, the spiritual expert, but she shook her head, sensing nothing. Cyborg kept his canon leveled while Beast Boy was safely tucked behind him, visibly shivering at the sight and scent of Phantom. It was Starfire who finally broke the indecision, walking forward and sitting on the couch next to her fellow redhead. Phantom tensed, leveling an acid green glare, but Starfire simply sat there, waiting, offering nothing but the comfort of her company.
Phantom relaxed fractionally, and turned his attention back to Jasmine, he reached out to touch her, but jerked back as if jolted.
"Jazz," he whispered. "I really promise it's safe. Can you turn off the Spector Deflector?"
Jasmine, still mumbling, "Danny will come back, Danny will come back..." over and over, seemed to still for a moment, the focus of her eyes shifting slightly, but not quite returning to reality. Robin watched Phantom smile at the shift in demeanor, and simply sat on his knees and waited, hands hovering over the girl's knees, touching without touching, and leaning in so she would see his face first. Everyone watched in morbid fascination as her grip on the bazooka relaxed, inch by inch, before she finally leveled a look at Phantom.
"Danny..." she murmured.
"Yeah, Jazz," he said, gentle smile on his face. "You had another episode."
"... He's not here is he?" she asked.
"No. No, he's not."
"He's not inside me?"
Green eyes glowed darkly, but Phantom kept smiling. "No. No, he's not."
And all at once she slumped back into the couch, heaving a watery sigh. "I'm sorry," she said, reaching up and rubbing her face. "I thought I could handle it. I thought I would feel safe at the Tower..."
"Hey, it's okay," Phantom said, trying to be cheery. "We learned what another trigger is for the PTSD, right?"
"I guess..."
"... Do you think you can turn the Spector Deflector off now?" he asked, and now that the girl was leaning back Robin could see a curious belt at her waist, with dials and toggle switches. What...?
"Oh!" Jazz said, quickly reaching down and fiddling with it. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"No," Phantom lied easily. "Not a bit." As soon as it was off they crushed each other in another hug.
"I still say they're a couple," Beast Boy muttered.
Robin was going to kill that changeling.
Jasmine's eyes snapped open and she finally took in her surroundings, stiffening as she saw the Titans surrounding her, Cyborg with his arm cannon poised and ready, Raven floating darkly in front of the TV center with her hood up and face hidden, Robin on the other side with his staff still in hand from the fight with Control Freak. Only Starfire looked nonthreatening. Robin watched her tense slightly, watched Phantom prep himself to disappear, but the carrot top put a hand on the ghost's shoulders, signaling him to stop, and stood up, bazooka held casually at her hip.
"My name is Jazz Fenton," she said in a clear voice. "Daughter of Jack and Maddie Fenton of FentonWorks. I have been kidnapped and held against my will by a..." she glanced at Phantom. "By a ghost," the word was a curse on her lips, "by the name of Plasmius. Danny Phantom, another ghost, rescued me from my captivity. I'm sure Plasmius will have some kind of bounty or warrant out for Danny's arrest,"
"Jazz-"
"-but I want it known by respected and public heroes of Amity Park that I'm going to press charges against Plasmius and see that he's put somewhere worse than Walker's Prison in the Ghost Zone."
"Jazz," Phantom said, standing at the redhead's shoulder, "We're not in Amity Park, we're in Jump City."
The girl stiffened at the corrections, anxiety bleeding into her face, but Robin was (finally) on ground he was familiar with.
"You're making some pretty heavy accusations," he said, collapsing his bo and putting it back in his utility belt. "We all saw Plasmius," he waited a beat before finding the right word; Phantom had mentioned PTSD and Robin certainly recognized the signs, he didn't want to trigger another episode, "We all saw Plasmius be expelled from you, and you can make a solid case with us as witnesses. But you are legally the ward of Vlad Masters and—"
Jasmine and Phantom both shook their heads simultaneously. "You'd have to kill me before I go back there," the carrot top said, and to Robin's dismay she lifted her bazooka, "And traumatized or not I know how to defend myself." This didn't include Phantom charging his hands with green energy of some kind and floating up a foot off the air.
This was decidedly not the direction Robin was expecting this to go and he reached to his belt to pull out a birdorang, but Starfire was faster.
"Please, wait," the Tameranean said, "Everyone stop! Violence will not bring about the answers we seek nor will it relieve the tension we are all headbutting."
"Facing," Raven corrected in her gravely voice, "And she has a point. For now the only thing we can do is listen to what they have to say and decide on what to do thereafter."
"But it's a ghost!" Beast Boy whined. "What if it up and decided to haunt the Tower? What if it tries to eat our souls? Or our brains! I'm too handsome to become a zombie!"
"Oh, I don't know," Phantom said with a snort, "you're green enough to pass for a zombie."
Beast Boy was unintelligible after that.
"And for the record," Phantom added, turning slowly to face everyone. "If 'ghost' is going to be used like that," he gestured emphatically to Beast Boy, "then I prefer to go by something else. Ecto-entity, ecto-sapien, heck, Ecto-American; take your pick, but I refuse to let racism like that just happen."
"Racism!?"
"Institutionalized racism," Phantom said, not backing down. "I'm acutely aware of the Anti-Ecto acts passed a few years ago, thank you. If those two," he pointed again, including Cyborg, "are going to up and shout 'Ah, ghost!' every time I open my mouth and assume I'm a villain like everybody else, then I'll just take Jazz and find somewhere else to hide."
Cyborg was livid. "I ain't afraid of no ghost!"
Phantom turned around, glowing brighter than before and turning slightly translucent, eyes glowing and looking more like a horror movie ghost than his normal form, shadows playing over his face and making him look menacing. "Boo," he whispered.
"Ah! Ghost!"
And Cyborg fired his cannon, Phantom's eyes widening in surprise before he reacted and pulled up a green shield around himself and Jasmine. The girl actually huffed, rubbing her temples. "Danny," she moaned, "Why did you just do that?"
The ghost turned, instantaneously defensive. "I didn't know he was going to actually fire!"
"You deliberately antagonized him! What did you think was going to happen?"
"I was just going to prove that he's scared, that's all!"
"Danny, we've been over this! You're a walking source of existential crisis, you make every non-ghost-hunter question the meaning of life and the afterlife and all preconceived notions of death. If Mom and Dad weren't ghost hunters, I would have had an existential crisis. Psychological upheaval like that will naturally create negative reactions as they mentally rearrange their thinking – look at how long it took Amity Park to get over themselves, and that's with the smear campaign that was being run against you. This isn't even getting into the negative portrayal of ghosts in the media and all the idiots in the Ghost Zone who keep escaping and perpetuating the stereotype. You, as a hero, have to place yourself in the infinitely harder position of proving everyone wrong."
"I shouldn't have to!" Danny growled. "I shouldn't have to prove myself every time I save the world!"
"And how many times have you saved the world when nobody knew it?" Jasmine countered. "Pariah Dark?" Raven gasped. "The Reality Gauntlet? Undergrowth? Don't tell me what you've been saying for years is wrong and you actually want acknowledgement for your deeds?"
"No!"
"Then you have to accept that this is the reality you face: the world is going to hate you until they stop. Fighting with the Teen Titans and antagonizing them will not help your position."
"Jazz, I can't be perfect all the time!"
"I'm not asking you to, I'm asking you to think!"
Robin wasn't sure how much more information he could process with that particular exchange (Pariah Dark? Undergrowth? A Reality Gauntlet? Who named stuff like this?), and he finally asserted control over the situation. "Look," he said, "Until all of this is sorted out, we can't just let you go."
Phantom opened his mouth to retort but Robin blew threw whatever he was about to say.
"And given the accusations you've been throwing around, Ms. Fenton, we can't risk returning you to Mr. Masters until a full assessment of his involvement with Plasmius has been made. For the time being, I recommend both of you stay in the Tower," Beast Boy moaned, "where you can be supervised and kept safe until a final conclusion can be drawn. If you refuse, we'll be forced to take measures to stop you. Both of you."
Robin watched their reactions carefully, saw the intense look of stress on Jasmine – understandable since his offer was effectively another stint of house arrest, and after the year she claimed to have had it wouldn't sit well. She had to decide which was more palatable, staying with Masters or staying here. Phantom was much more controlled in his features, but Robin was trained by the best and saw the tension around his eyes and the tightness of his shoulders. He, too, had to decide: life on the run or house arrest.
Jasmine spoke first. "I accept."
"Jazz..."
"Anything is better than being there," the carrot top said. "I won't... there won't be anything inside me here. I think I can live with that. If I can't... well, we'll just learn more of my triggers, I guess."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Danny, I'm sure."
"Then... okay." He turned to the Titans. "Under one condition."
"What that?" Raven asked.
"We ghost-proof the Tower."
Author's Notes: To all the new readers who don't know our work: relax. This fic is done and written and almost completely beta'ed. Updates will be once a week. We got this.
This chapter starts a little slow, but there's a whole year of exposition to be touched on, however briefly, and a fair bit of comparison to how Danny and Jazz are NOW compared to how they were in their show. A lot's happened and events as big as this take their toll psychologically as well as physically. Jazz needs to reorganize her brain and deal with the mountain of trauma that she's been under, Danny has a checklist of abuses he's been suffering under for the last year in combination with mourning his family and living on the streets (no matter what mitigations Jazz taught him), and all of it needed to be expressed before things really kick off. The beginning of the fic is slow because of that, but the payoff is totally worth it.
Also: Danny as a walking "existential crisis." It's funny, but it's also one of the big themes of the fic. Every Titan has a different reaction to finding out that Ghosts exist, and each of them goes through their own mini-arcs as they come to terms with it.
Best line of the chapter: "I ain't afraid of no ghosts!" It had to show up someehere!
