From the last chapter…

"Wait!" cried a new voice. "Who are you?" For unbeknownst to Danny, the Teen Titans had been in the alley, watching every second of Danny's fight.


Chapter 6: When Superheroes Collide

"What?" answered Danny, at a loss for words. "Wait, who are you?"

"That's what I just said to you," the teen said. Whereas Danny was outright confused, this new teenager was clearly feeling a mix of frustration and mistrust with the slightest twinges of annoyance and loathing. His arms were crossed, his eyes narrowed. He was not smiling, in fact, his facial expression told anyone around him that he was not remotely pleased that some new kid had just beaten a group of enemies that his own team could not even touch.

"My name's… Phantom," Danny said. He didn't want to give out his first name, especially to such a formidable person, yet unclear if friend or foe. Not that the newly placed emblem on his chest would help him out in that department. Danny sighed inwardly, before redirecting the newcomer's question. "And yours? It's only common courtesy, you know," he added, trying to be amiable.

"I'm Robin," this teen said, and motioning to those standing (or hovering) around him, he added, "and this is Cyborg –"

"Yo yo!" He certainly looked friendly, despite Robin's disposition.

"Beast Boy –"

"Hey man!" he said, hi-five-ing the halfa, who kindly returned it, grateful that the rest of the team seemed friendlier than its leader.

"Raven –"

"My pleasure." Danny noted the definite lack of pleasure in her voice.

"And Starfire. We're the Teen Titans, we're the good guys in this city. Don't mess with us, unless you want to end up in prison," he finished, still glaring. Danny was about to answer Robin, but the fifth Titan had not yet had her say.

"Oh HELLO! Where do you come from, how did you get here, what's your favorite color, and do you wish to be my friend?" Starfire asked, no longer hovering, but jumping up and down.

"Um, Earth, flew, blue, and only if your friend lightens up," Danny said, smiling, while at the same time shooting a raised eyebrow over at the leader.

"Oh PLEASE friend Robin, will you please do the 'lightening up' so I can have a new friend Phantom?" Starfire pleaded, her hands folded as if in prayer.

"Oh, alright," Robin said, rolling his eyes and looking away. Cyborg and Beast Boy looked at each other and burst into laughter. "What's so funny, guys!" he shouted, turning his glare from Danny onto his own teammates.

"Anything for Starfire," Beast Boy said, still laughing. Robin blushed as the other boys continued to laugh. Danny had since floated down to the ground, and was trying to figure out what was going on, before Starfire interrupted his thoughts.

"YAY!" Starfire shouted gleefully, clapping her hands. Apparently she took no heed of what Beast Boy had said. "Hello, new friend Phantom!" she exclaimed happily. Before he knew it, she had pulled him into a bone-breaking hug.

"Ouch – Uh, hi," Danny said, pulling her off of him. "It's a pleasure meeting all of you, but I still don't get it. What do you want from me?"

"Those monsters attacked yesterday, and we didn't even stand a chance. How did you manage to beat them so quickly?" Robin asked, still not entirely friendly, though he did lighten up considerably on Starfire's request. "It didn't seem possible to us."

"There's an easy answer to that," Danny laughed, "those monsters are ghosts. And I'm a ghost." Danny paused, thinking, well, technically half ghost... He added aloud, "Put two and two together…"

"Makes sense. That would at least explain why we couldn't fight those guys," Cyborg said, scratching his chin.

"When you were talking to those ghosts you acted as though you've met them before…" Raven said, addressing Danny not unlike the way Robin spoke to him; she assumed he was an enemy, rather than a friend.

"That's because I have. My arch-enemy created them, so they could attack my family – me, my dad, and my sister, anyway. He has a thing for my mom –" he shuddered at the thought – "yeah, so he didn't send them to attack her."

"Well, they're gone now, right?" Cyborg asked, grinning. So whaddya say we go get some pizza to celebrate?"

"WOO! Yeah! Veggie pizza all the way!" Beast Boy shouted as he followed Cyborg to the T-Car.

"YAY, new friend! Come celebrate with us!" Starfire shouted, as she dragged him into the sky, pulling him for several seconds before he realized what was going on and flew by himself.

After the two airborne teens flew off, Robin turned to Raven. "Well… should we trust him?"

"He has done nothing to earn our trust," Raven replied, somewhat bitterly. "He is a ghost, one of the most mistrusted beings to roam the Earth. He has power that even he does not recognize. He could be very dangerous, Robin."

"I know. If the wrong people reach him first–"

"Hey Robin, Raven, you guys comin' or what?" yelled Cyborg from the T-Car.

"We'll finish this later," Raven said quietly, before sulking off to the car.

"Yeah, that we will," Robin said, joining the rest of the team as they set out for lunch.


"You do know that mustard doesn't go on pizza… right?" Danny asked as Starfire dumped gobs of the yellow condiment onto her lunch. She then smiled broadly before taking a huge bite of her pizza. Danny shuddered and looked away to prevent himself from throwing up right on the spot.

"Yeah, she does that," Beast Boy said, grinning. "Just don't look."

"How can she eat that!" Danny exclaimed as she added cookies and peanut butter to her mustard-covered slice. "It's like inhuman!"

"Uh, man, she isn't human…" Cyborg said. "She's a Tamaranean. As in, from the planet Tamaran."

"Oh… right," Danny said, just accepting the fact that there was a beautiful alien sitting in front of him, and that there was indeed a planet called Tamaran. "Well that WOULD explain it then," he added, laughing.

"But what about you, man?" Cyborg said. "You haven't touched your pizza."

"Well, truth be told, I'm not sure that I can eat… I'm only part ghost. The other part of me is human," Danny said. "I've never tried to eat while I'm like this."

At this, Raven's expression inexplicably softened. She quietly picked at her pizza while her teammates bombarded the boy with questions, individual voices indistinguishable.

"What…!"

"How can you be only part ghost?"

"What does your human half look like?"

"Why are you here?"

"Do you like being a superhero?"

"ALRIGHT, guys, I'll promise I'll explain, just not right now!" Danny said, throwing his hands in the air. "Right now I need to figure out if I can eat in my ghost form," he finished, eyeing up his piece of pizza.

"Weh nowfa goo tie 'oo twyit," Beast Boy said, his mouth stuffed with veggie pizza. The whole table went silent, just looked at him and burst out laughing. "Wha…?" Beast Boy cried, his hands in the air.

"Try swallowing," Raven said, scowling. "That goes for you too, Phantom."

"Well, here goes…" Danny said as he tentatively took a bite. Seconds later, he was pleased to find out that he could in fact eat while in ghost mode, and quickly scarfed down a few pieces of pizza. Once the table had settled down again, Cyborg tried to question Danny again.

"So how did you become half ghost?" he asked, taking the last slice of pepperoni pizza.

"Umm…" Danny started. "It's kind of a personal story, and we just met. I didn't even talk to my own sister about it until a week ago. Granted, she knew the whole time, but that's besides the point." Danny looked down at his feet, blushing, embarrassed. Only one Titan really knew what to say.

"It's alright, Phantom, I understand," a voice said quietly. Everyone turned and looked at Raven. She just shrugged.

"Raven, I thought you didn't trust this kid!" Robin whispered vehemently in Raven's ear.

"I'm not saying I do," she retorted, equally quiet. "But I can sympathize with his problems." Danny was not the only half-human half-feared-creature that tried to use his power for good instead of ever-tempting evil.

After a slightly awkward pause, Danny, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire started conversing again, fully enjoying their lunch, not caring about a thing in the world. Raven, despite her normally sour attitude, joined them as she took a bite of her own pizza. Sensing defeat, Robin quickly joined in his friends' conversation, attempting to enjoy the remainder of the beautiful afternoon.


"Do you now see why this child is so important!" the ghost hissed at his masked companion.

"Not yet he isn't," he replied. "But if he could be swayed to our side… I could train his human side –"

"And I, his ghost side –"

"What an alliance that would make."

"Indeed."

The usually menacing man flexed his fingers, almost lazily. "Very well, then. I shall try to convince the boy. In the meantime…"

"I will take care of the Teen Titans. Do we have a deal?"

He nodded. "For now," he said, as his companion extended his ghostly hand. The man returned the handshake, and turned away as the ghost phased out of the building. No one saw him muttering to himself and stroking his chin as he walked away.


Author's Notes

Hey guys! Sorry it's taken me this long to update. Really, truly, I am. My schedule this month is simply horrendous… I keep thinking about you all though, and I have gotten another couple chapters written. Now I have through chapter 8 done, though I'll need to proof them a couple times before I post. But anyway, yeah, my schedule's been hectic, and there's been a football game every weekend (read: band has consumed my life). Better late than never, I guess.

I just want to say to everyone, I'm glad you're still reading this, especially considering the long gap between updates. Unfortunately I don't see anything getting easier for me until Christmastime. And then it's bowl game extravaganza! Not that you care, so long as I update, right?


Reviewers:

OK, so first I'd like to personally thank C.K.13, who I forgot to mention last time… she still has my full permission to yell at me, but she's too sweet. Thank you so so so so much for reading this, even though I'm a complete dimwit. I love you forever!

Everyone else:

teeny, dfd, The Halfa Wannabe, Kikiness, Danaphantom, TallieCat, Sqweakie, Inumaru12: Yay for this being good! Hope you liked this part too! Sorry about the wait. I'm looking forward to more reviews.;-) I love all of you! Thanks for continuing to read this. :)

IwuvMyKenshyPoo: I'm officially abbreviating your name to wuvKP. Sorry, I'm just a lazy, lazy girl. But to answer your question, when the Titans met Danny, they had no idea who he was. Just a random newbie. They didn't know he was a ghost, or that he tries to be a hero, or anything like that… They just saw that he was getting rid of the bad guys, and naturally they were curious. Wouldn't you be? Hope that makes more sense to you!

butterBiscuts, storm, Shell, Erebus Faustus, Stephen King Reincarnated, Bananawings72: Welcome to the fic! I'm so glad you all like this! I'm quite honored. Sorry about the cliffhanger… especially over such a long update time. I'll try not to do that. That's only a baby cliffie compared what's coming. ;-) That is, if I can write it right. But I'm glad you like, keep reading and reviewing! I love new input!

Terra89: Whoa girl, take a chill pill! And I promise to read your stuff as soon as this is over, whenever that day comes. Cross my heart. But right now, college has consumed my very being, I kid you not. I seriously haven't read anyone else's fanfiction since I started posting chapters to this devil of a project. But remind me once the story's over, and I'll be glad to read! -

Xerxes93: Now threats aren't very nice… but I promise, I will EVENTUALLY finish the story. Even if it takes me several decades, and we're all old and gray and reading this fic. I'm you like it so much to threaten me though… if that makes any sense.

GK: First off, welcome to the fic! To answer questions, the ghosts that Danny was (rather easily) fighting were the same dudes from Maternal Instincts. They're basically ghosts of animals that Vlad manipulated (and mutated). And the Titans weren't fighting them that time, they saw Danny and just stood at the sidelines and watched in awe. Danny was too busy fighting to notice the Titans, and since this scene was mostly written from Danny's point of view, I didn't want to address it any earlier. That was some excellent reading on your part, by the way! Please, keep looking for details like that! Thanks for the review, and please please PLEASE keep reviewing! It's reviews like this that make me a better writer.

kinguofdoragons: If you could write more than a "?" I'd appreciate it. Either that, or something in the system just didn't work. Glad you at least took the time to read this, anyway.

My Eternal Facade: First of all, welcome! I love new reviewers, that always makes me smile. Especially when it's been three weeks since I've posted anything new. As far as clarity in my writing, I'm sure it could be better. I have this issue in that I forget that you all can't read my mind. Kind of a problem. But at least it's one I'm conscious of… right… If there's ever anything specific you have issues with, please say something. I'm constantly editing and re-editing… But anyway, glad you like, hopefully you like this next part too.

I think that's everybody… again, please let me know if I forgot you. I really really HATE when I do that…


To all of you: Thanks for setting a new reviewing record for me! Please, keep telling me how I'm doing, that's the only way I can make this more enjoyable. As always, new reviewers (and anonymous reviewers) are always welcome. I love the fresh feedback. And of course, I love the returners' input as well – you guys see how this is evolving!

Until next time…

-Mav-