"Who breaks upon the lightest truth? Not him, young master. Not him."
~Hella
Titans Phantom
Chapter 8: The Deepest Sea
Time passed but for Danny it felt like mere moments when he felt the fringe of awareness press on his mind. In the blackness, he heard voices and machinery, muffled sounds and the smell of hospital sheets and oil. Danny didn't fight when the moment vanished.
It's been two days, Cyborg thought as he monitored Phantom in the hospital wing of Titan's Tower. The teen still couldn't believe it, but gazing at the straight line on the heart monitor, it hammered home what Robin suspected, and what Raven and Starfire had confirmed when they were racing home; that Phantom was indeed dead. Cyborg heard something shift and looking over across the bed he watched Beast Boy turn over in his chair, one of his legs dangling off the arm rest, his mouth slightly open where he continued to sleep. Cy understood why the changeling had opted to stay here with him and watch over Phantom, even though he claimed it was only because Cy couldn't play video games with him right now. No, BB was here because he was worried. They all were. Cyborg cursed silently when the neurological machine fired off an alarm bell before quieting back down, but by then Beast Boy was sitting up and alert, his eyes shining with hope as he looked over to Phantom.
"Relax, B, it's just another power surge."
"Oh," Beast Boy's face fell, his pointy ears betraying his distress, flittering around almost like he was trying to hear when the ghost would awaken. Cyborg stood to fix the machine when he heard the hospital doors open, the rest of the team entering.
"How is he?" Robin asked a scowl of worry on his face.
"It's hard to say," Cy said turning to look at Robin while Star and Raven went to stand by Beast Boy, "I keep having to adjust the machines due to Phantom's powers. Whatever he did back at the theater either severely weakened him or just drained his powers completely."
"He did blow out the entire back half of the building," BB added lamely his eyes downcast. Cy couldn't stop the pained look that crossed his face, Robin approached his friend.
"Something else is wrong," he stated, Cyborg nodded.
"Yeah, look while Phantom's dead, my guess is his powers circulate like blood, but is electrical like our nervous system and when I struck his neck back…" he couldn't finish his gaze never leaving the ghost's face.
"But friend Phantom was human back at the theater? Should he not be well by now? If you had broken his neck, then the bones must have healed before we arrived here, for you did take a ray of X's."
"But that's the whole point Star, he was human when I hit him, I may have broken his neck and while that might not have affected him in his ghost form when he was human, I may have irrevocably damaged his nervous system and now that he's a ghost again…"
"It doesn't matter if his neck has healed or not, his powers are no longer able to flow properly, and that may be why you keep getting power surges on your machines," Robin finished his eyes serious, but even he couldn't hide the nervousness in his voice. The Teen Titans all stood in silence.
The next time Danny felt his way through the passage of darkness, he heard a steady cadence of breath, the sound of light snoring, and the same annoying sounds of machinery. Opening his eyes slightly he winched when an alarming beeping broke through the silence.
"Damn, power surge," he heard someone say before the sound abruptly ended, Danny let out a groan of thanks.
"Phantom? Are you awake?" Someone asked a note of excitement entering the deep voice.
Danny let out another groan, the world coming to life all around him. He felt long hair brush his shoulder, another voice to deep to be a girl's, but still annoyingly high say something. Danny considered it to be way too happy, he could smell something warm that reminded him of Sam's incense she used to burn in her room, and when his eyes finally brought everything into focus, he found himself staring at Robin, who was at the foot of his bed smiling along with the rest of his team. Danny sat up and felt something akin to panic beginning to build in his chest.
"What…where am I?" Danny asked. His eyes clouding over and looking down he nearly screamed, for white bracelets attached to cords were around his wrists and ankles that fed into a strange machine. Danny really did begin to panic.
"What have you done?" He screamed, Cyborg placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, but the halfa could barely feel it, and in the next instant it didn't matter, for his power exploded around him, turning all of the wires and cables monitoring him intangible. The Titans watched in shock as it all fell through the floor with a crash. Danny felt himself begin to tremble, pain shooting through his body, making his neck flare and burn.
"Phantom?"
"What?" Danny snapped his eyes meeting a very nervous looking Beast Boy, who had his hands raised up in surrender while he moved to stand by his side.
"It's o.k. dude, your safe. We haven't done anything," he said, hazel eyes big and earnest, and the changeling watched with bated breath as Phantom began to relax, his eyes never leaving Beast Boy's. A smile appeared on the green haired teen then,
"Well, we didn't, but Cy hooked you up to a Nero-something machine 'cause he didn't know how to help you; but I think it was because you not having a heart beat seriously freaked him out."
Danny couldn't help the small smile of relief that crossed his face, so he hadn't transformed while unconscious, he was still safe. But at this thought a new sense of panic took over, his neck flaring in angry protest.
"How long have I been out?" He asked looking over to Cyborg seriously.
"About two days."
Danny felt like he'd been drenched in ice water, he'd been dead for two days. His mind began to wander in shock, while he turned his hands over in his lap studying the white material with a look of pure disdain.
"Phantom?" Robin asked suspiciously, Danny jumped slightly, winching when he had to raise his head to meet Robin's eyes.
"Cyborg says you might have nerve damage from when his body attacked you, are you o.k.?"
It took a moment to ponder exactly what Robin was asking before understanding crossed his face.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Danny hesitantly stood, feeling the pull of stiff muscles and aching bones.
"I'll need to borrow your training room."
Danny felt his mind linger as Robin led the way through Titan's Tower, Cyborg describing in detail all the equipment they had. The halfa never acknowledged that he heard the man; instead, he found his focus only on the burning pain stinging his neck. It was a bone deep ache that seemed to set his nerves ablaze, and Danny found himself trying to find ways to dull the stabbing of pins and needles while trying to keep his feet moving in their already languid pace.
"We're here," Cy said smiling.
"You can use anything here," Robin spoke, watching while Danny made his way over to the sand colored training mat.
"I'm guessing you're not going to leave me alone," Phantom stated while the Titans all wore nervous expressions at being caught in their curiosity to watch the powerful teen, the boy wonder saved them.
"No, you could have serious nerve damage and we need to be prepared for whatever may happen."
Only Robin would justify his curiosity as such, Danny thought loosely looking at the rest of the team who all shifted nervously in anticipation. Sam and Tucker flashed through his mind, a short huff escaped his mouth almost in a laugh.
"What?" Robin snapped his cheeks flushing red, Phantom merely shook his head turning to step on the mat. It had been a long time since he'd trained in front of others.
Slowly, Danny started his movements, graceful, lacking in any precision or destination. A turn here, a soft kick there, his breath even and slow, glowing green eyes slid closed, letting his muscles remember the movements. The Titans watched in complete awe at the ghost in front of them, for he did not look unearthly. Rather, his movements reflected the earth itself, drifting with the river and swaying with the grass, his face calm and emotionless, slowly fading until Phantom remained unmoving, completely relaxed.
"Wha…dude, is that all?" BB said appalled, Phantom's green eyes met brown, a knowing smirk on his pale lips. And with a deadly twist Danny shot through the air, his moves bleeding into one another, each one's fluidity smoother than water, his merciless speed promising the enemies' demise. Phantom no longer looked human. With one final flip the halfa landed in the center of the mat his breaths short and staccato, eyes blindly unseeing.
The Teen Titans stood in silence. Robin couldn't believe Phantom had so much control, his moves reflected age, and while working together, the Titans might be able to pull off what he'd just done, but none of them alone could even compare. Beast Boy was the first to recover a smile plastering his face, his arms swinging by his sides as he approached the halfa.
"Dude! That was Awesome!"
"Don't come any closer!" Phantom snapped out, his power surging forth in green energy around his waist, crackling menacingly, Danny's knees buckled beneath him. Beast Boy saw red.
"What is your problem? We're not going to hurt you! So why won't you just trust us?"
Danny clenched his eyes shut his hands coming to rest on the back of his screaming neck. Panic overtook his heart; he'd only turned his head wanting to see the Titans when he felt his powers scream out in protest. He couldn't control them, his body wasn't listening to his brain, and the electric energy wanted to unfurl around him as if wishing to be changed.
"Phantom?" He heard Cyborg call out, the Titans realizing what was going on; painfully, he opened hazy green eyes shot with blue. Cyborg was approaching, no, he needed to stop. Danny tried to move, eyes wide with fear for the mechanical teen, but his limbs were on fire, shudders wracking his body, the twisted green trying to break in two.
"NO!" Danny screamed, and with a crack everything came rushing back, digging into his skin with sharpness no blade could compare to. The energy dissipating until only the prickling of needles remained in his neck, in the same moment blackness engulfed his vision. Cyborg caught the white haired teen before he could reach the mat, his red eye scanning Phantom's vitals.
"Dang it! I can't tell what's wrong! How am I supposed to help when I can't even…?"
Robin placed a hand on the man's shoulder, a solemn look on his face.
"Let's take him back to the infirmary."
It was early in the morning when Robin received the report. Sighing he made his way to the living room where the windows where covered in wet droplets from the rain the night before, casting the sun into blurry colors of yellows and reds, the Titans all sitting on the couch eating breakfast.
"Where's Cyborg?" Robin asked although he already knew.
"He's with Phantom," Raven replied looking up from her book which was perched precariously on the edge of the table, open to the same page she'd been on for the last fifteen minutes. Robin walked over and pulled up the video feed to the infirmary just as said teen was adjusting the machines.
"Cyborg, we need to go, we have a mission."
"What?" Everyone said looking up in surprise.
"Last night a transport ship carrying toxic materials was attacked, we need to find and locate the material and the culprit who goes by the name Trident. We're taking the submarine, and Cy, you're the only one who knows how to monitor the engine in the T-sub."
The team was silent while Robin stared stiffly at Cyborg trying to push down his growing worries for Phantom, who was asleep behind him connected to ribbons of wires and cords.
"I can't man," Cy said seriously, "Phantom's powers are going haywire on the machines, and so far the only thing that seems to be working is a low grade electrical current, but I can't pin down when to administer it until his powers start spiking."
"Cyborg's right, we can't leave friend Phantom here alone in the Tower," Starfire said standing and approaching Robin followed closely by Raven and Beast Boy. At that moment, the alarm bells went off on Phantom's machines, the pale face contorting in pain, his body tensing at the green energy trying to be released, the group watched as Cyborg disappeared off screen to activate the current. The cords turned a light blue, humming softly until steadily the green aura surrounding Phantom turned to pure white, and his body relaxed back into the covers. Robin's mind started whirling.
"How long has that been happening?" Raven asked her monotone voice conveying none her fear. While Cy began to explain Robin cut him off.
"How long would it take for you to adjust Beast Boy's seat in the T-sub to accommodate Phantom?"
Cy stared in shock for a moment before he understood.
"I'll need to divert some power modules in order to control the current, and re-wire the system to allow me to monitor him from my control panel…give me thirty minutes."
And with this the screen went black, Robin turned to face the rest of his team.
"We'll leave in thirty minutes, Beast Boy; I want you to already be in the water with your tracker on you."
"Got it!" Beast Boy said running out of the living room to prepare.
"Are you sure this is wise, we don't know what's wrong with Phantom, we could only make his condition worse," Raven said her eyes serious as she met Robin's determined ones.
"You heard Cyborg, we can't leave him here, but our duty to the city takes priority. And besides, I know Cy will do everything to make sure Phantom will be secure as possible."
With this the girls nodded and left, leaving Robin temporarily alone in the room with his doubts. Heading to the door he prayed he'd made the right decision.
Danny was getting used to waking up in different places, although it did nothing to quell the fear fluttering beneath his breast. Slowly, he sat up noting that he was strapped into what appeared to be an advanced submarine, the dark water flowing across the glass like dome. His wrists, feet and neck were wrapped up in loose fitting white coils that were humming softly, emitting a light blue glow and when they stopped Danny immediately felt the pangs in his neck shoot fire down his spine. A small groan of pain passed his lips, but he pushed it aside when he heard Robin come in through the speakers.
"Sonar contact, Beast Boy, get ready"
It was then looking over to the side of the ship where Raven was, did Danny notice a giant three-hundred thousand pound dark green whale, who nodded and swam ahead. The ship dipped lower into a murky valley surrounded by high cliffs, a green hammer head shark leading the way to a rusted cargo ship.
"There's our ship, but where's the cargo?" Robin asked, the sub's flood lights coming on, illuminating the gashes and shattered frame, following Beast Boy's path.
"If this Trident dude is bad enough to sink a whole ship, those barrels could be anywhere by now," Cyborg replied watching the deep green shark disappear into the wreckage, BB never noticed the shadowed figure watching him.
"So I take it we're not here on vacation?" Danny asked tiredly into a head set he found on the side, his eyes roaming over the mission specks that were being displayed on the control panel in front of him. What did someone want with toxic waste?
"Friend Phantom, you're awake!" Starfire sang rejoicing into her headset.
"Yeah, now tell me why I'm here before I decide to teleport back to shore," he snapped his voice was crisp and harsh. Even though Danny knew it was an empty threat, he could barley even think straight through the foggy haze in his mind and the fire lapping around his frame. But apparently the Titans believed him.
"Hey man, don't do that it's a long story, but trust me when I say you don't want to leave that chair!" Cy said panicked, Danny was silent, his mind blank as he wondered what he did to warrant the concern of these people.
"Phantom?" Robin called his voice strained even through the intercom; Danny noticed the green shark speeding off, chasing a shadow.
"Your friend just left," it was the only reply he found he could give. The Titans' focused back to the mission at hand.
"It looks like Beast Boy found Trident!" The flood lights off, the ship turned to pursue. The blast of energy that struck the side of the ship startled them all.
"Looks like Trident found us!" Cy yelled, and with this they began to dodge the electric attacks from the shadow they could barely see.
"Cyborg, bring us about, Raven, get ready to fire!" Robin ordered, the orange sub quickly turning to face the aslant, only to be met with ocean blue.
"Where'd he go?" Cyborg snapped.
Trident appeared, and fired,
"He is there!" Star screamed
A shadow roamed over the widow on the opposite side.
"No, that way!" Raven urged.
The fish like man appeared at Cy's window his staff glowing a bright gold,
"It's him!"
The enemy fired, Cyborg managed to turn the ship to avoid taking a direct hit, but the haul was damaged as Robin sped them away.
"He can't be three places at once, head for that…"
"The engines are fried! We're going down!" Cy yelled his eyes determined, steering the ship into the ravine; Trident hot in pursuit.
Beast Boy was almost to the shadow when he felt someone pull in his mind.
"Your friends are in danger," the voice serious and even, the green shark stopped in his tracks.
"My friends… what? Whoa, how did you say that? Dude, how did I say that?"Beast Boy looked up just as Trident fired a killing blow to one of the hydro engines.
"Hey!"BB yelled in his head, speeding off to where the ship was going down,
"O.k. hero time, this is my big chance to prove I'm the…"A black and blue blur zipped past him, knocking Trident off course and into battle.
"…best."
"Main powers down, our engines are toast, and we're leaking air!" Cyborg yelled, the dome protecting him cracked, the ship increased in speed heading straight into an abyss, its cliff wall jagged and menacing.
"The hauls starting to give, we sink much deeper and the pressure's going to crush us!" Cy said his deep voice loud and panicked as he tried to bring the ship about. It was when the ship jerked forward did Danny feel the first signs of his power trying to escape, desperately, he tried to hold it in for he couldn't tell what it was trying to do, would it respond to his wishes or simple finish off the already destroyed ship. The white haired teen clenched his eyes shut, trying to drown out all concepts of motion, the white bracelets no longer functioning, and water began to stream into the sub.
Beast Boy zoomed past the teen dressed in blue and black fighting Trident, for he was determined to save his friends and prove his worth. The changeling morphed into a giant squid. The sub was heading for the cliff's edge.
"Titans brace for impact!" Robin shouted the ship struck the wall jerking Danny forward, while his delicate neck bones snapped backwards; a green swirling shield engulfed the ship, pushing the water away from the sub and stopping the ocean's crushing pressure the second blackness engulfed Danny's vision.
"What's going on?" Robin yelled as the energy continued to protect the still sinking ship.
"It's Phantom!" Star screamed remembering his shield.
"Well, it doesn't matter, we're still sinking, and Phantom's not responding!" Cy yelled back.
Beast Boy was almost to his friends when two hump back whales suddenly sank down into the abyss until the ship, green shield and all, rested on top of their backs carrying them away to some unknown location. Leaving the green squid to stare blankly ahead wondering what just happened.
"How come they got it?"He thought,
"Because I asked for their help," said the teen, who swam up to meet Beast Boy, his inky black hair flowing around him as he looked to a very annoyed green squid.
"You talk to fish? Yeah right," Beast Boy thought pointing a long tentacle at the strange person.
"I'm talking to you aren't I?" He replied smirking, the squid stuttered indignantly in his head.
"It's called telepathy, follow me," and that said, he shot through the sea following the whales' path.
"It's called 'telepathy'," Beast Boy replied, a lilt to his voice.
"I heard that."
"Who is this guy?"And with this BB followed, a red blush on his cold flesh.
The orange sub emerged in an underwater cavern, the whales floating it over into the shallow water pushing the sub until rested comfortable at the edge of pure blue stone, the green shield still swirling, the Titans all climbed out of their compartments, not caring where they were. Cyborg opened Phantom's hatch to retrieve the pale, half soaked ghost.
Beast Boy and the strange teen with inky black hair, which fell to his shoulders, emerged shortly after, and the second the changeling's feet touched stone he whirled to face the man.
"Who the heck are you? And why did you bring us here?" He snapped out a glare on his childlike face.
"The name's Aqua-lad. And we're at my place 'cause if I hadn't brought you here, your friends would be at the bottom of the ocean right now. Speaking of, why haven't they deactivated their shield?"
With this Beast Boy turned to see the swirling energy, the Titans all balancing on the sub gathered around BB's compartment, all traces of annoyance left the teen's face, racing across the slippery rocks he stopped just short.
"Hey, is Phantom alright?" BB called out as Aqua-lad made to stand by him confusion on his face. Both teen's watched Cyborg lift the ghost out of the sub, ordering Robin to grab something from his seat, the boy wonder complied and jumped over the broken machine, disappearing momentarily and returning with a long white coil that Cyborg took quickly and attached around the white belted waist completing the circuit, and slowly, all of the five coils began to glow and hum, drawing the green shield back in, the power washing over the Titans inside the barrier like ice water until it settled, disappearing. Phantom's aura turned pure white once more, the coils now inactive. Slowly, two glowing green eyes opened to stare into the faces of four teens.
"He's coming to," one of them said, Danny pushed himself into a sitting position his eyes immediately falling on Aqua-lad's pure black eyes.
"I take it you're the one who saved us," Phantom rasped out his body tensing for battle, Aqua-lad felt shivers run down his spine at the piercing glare to which he merely nodded. Danny visibly relaxed accepting it to be the truth in those coal black eyes, before he noted his own appearance. Or, rather he noticed the extra white coil fitted loosely around his waist, Danny's hand twitched towards the device before he remembered the other four coils, a frown took to his face. Cyborg noticed this.
"It's to complete the circuit, I didn't think I'd have to use it, but since the ship is totaled, it's the only thing that will activate the coils for the electrical current and reign in your powers," he stated watching as understanding began to dawn on Phantom's face before his expression darkened and was hidden beneath white bangs.
"I see."
And with this Phantom stood and leapt down onto the blue stone, coils dancing loosely on his wrists, his face an emotionless mask as he approached Aqua-lad. The Titans all followed, the girls noting immediately that Phantom and Aqua-lad were around the same height, each one exotic and mysterious in their own right. Careful not to make much sound Starfire bent down to her friend and whispered her thoughts, and in the end both girls were off in their own worlds of being served grapes and fine wine by the Greek god Phantom, while the midnight prince Aqua-lad asked them to dance.
"Why did you run when Beast Boy saw you?" Danny asked his posture unguarded, but his vivid green eyes hard. Aqua-lad retained a shudder before he masked it with a smirk.
"Sorry about that, we Atlanteans like to keep a low profile," he said extending a hand to Phantom who shook it. Turning, Danny stepped to the side allowing Robin to introduce his team, while strangely noting that both Raven and Starfire were sporting pale red blushes.
"Wait, you're Atlantean?" Raven asked now back on planet Earth. The black eyed teen nodded.
"Yes, and so is Trident," he said, turned, and made his way to a stone dais the crystal in the center activating, depicting the black and grey fish man in all his violence as he rampaged across the holographic screen.
"He's the worst criminal in Atlantis, with an ego to match. Trident claims he's perfect in every way, so he thinks he can do whatever he wants," Aqua-lad said next to the screen.
"Any idea what he wants with all that toxic waste?" Robin asked his curiosity peeked.
"Whatever it is it'll be bad for both of our worlds. He's already gained some kind of new power, it's like he can be everywhere at once," Aqua-lad said stepping off of the dais walking up to Robin.
"When he attacks, what form of weapon does he use?" Phantom asked causing everyone to jump at the strange question.
"Some kind of zooped up shrimp fork. Why man?" Cyborg asked at this Danny merely shook his head, turning his eyes back to the criminal's face in contemplation. Aqua-lad stared one long moment at Phantom before returning his gaze to Robin.
"As long as we're after the same guy, maybe we can help each other?" The black haired teen asked.
Once spoken, Danny watched the young changeling flip out and drag the Titans into a small huddle. It was because of this Aqua-lad found time to ask the questions that had been burning in the back of his mind the entire time. Walking forward he looked down at the bangs of white hair from the corner of his eyes.
"Why are you even here? Clearly, you can't control your powers, and you're obviously of no use?"
At this Danny merely smiled at the ignorance of the tone.
"Correct, now answer me this, why do you delude yourself into wanting to keep a low profile when you clearly long for a team?" The look on Phantom's face haunting in its graveness.
Aqua-lad was stunned speechless, but Danny was far from finished. Unfortunately, when both teens heard Robin ask for the Atlanteans help, Danny stopped.
"Great. Hey Tram!" Aqua-lad called ignoring the vivid green eyes boring holes in the side of his head, a stout fish like man dressed in overalls and a backpack strapped to his back emerged from under a sea shell carved door and ran over to them. He spoke in some foreign language that only Aqua-lad could understand, and after a short exchange, Tram was off, tearing holes into the already damaged ship and repairing it from the inside out.
"Tram's good with tools," Aqua-lad said offhandedly, the sound of an electric drill was heard digging into screaming metal.
"Yo, careful, that's My sub your messing with!" Cy shouted running over to help the fish.
"And while he's helping you, I'll track down Trident," Aqua-lad stated heading for the water much to Beast Boy's dismay.
"You mean, I'll track down Trident!" BB said stopping the teen just short, both Robin and Danny made their way over to the now brawling pair. Aqua-lad to stubborn to ask for cooperation and Beast Boy desperate for approval, Robin had had enough.
"Guys! Why don't you both go track Trident down together," he suggested while both teens stood fuming.
"I usually work alone."
"Yeah, me too."
"You do not! Your part of a team!"
"And you hang out with Tram the fish-boy! What's your point?"
"Hey, arguing isn't going to stop Trident, now get out and search, both of you," Robin ordered. Still glaring at each other Beast Boy and Aqua-lad prepared to dive when Danny suddenly spoke, his gaze only trained to one person.
"Aqua-lad," said teen turned his gaze to him, "would they have made it in time?" And with this Danny turned and headed back towards the dais. Leaving the small group confused. It wasn't until the Atlantean dived into the heavy water with Beast Boy did he understand, this amount of pressure, his whales wouldn't have made it.
Danny stood on the blue dais, his mind a jumbled mess of worry and pain, Cyborg's words ricocheting in his head. His eyes fell to one white gloved hand, a loose coil dangling from his wrist. If Cyborg was using an electrical current, then he wasn't reigning in Danny's powers…hesitantly, the teen closed his wrist and tried to change, the effect was instantaneous, green energy surged forth crackling in hints of bluish white around his arm, the coils activated bringing Danny to his knees, until his aura once again became white, leaving him sitting their eyes wide in shock.
"Phantom?" Robin asked slowly approaching in worry. Danny shakily stood a small smile on his face.
"Sorry, just testing something out."
With this Robin nodded and left to go help Cyborg, leaving the teen alone with his thoughts. Sighing, Danny pulled up the chemical composition that belonged to the toxic waste, he'd never been great in chemistry, but it was worth a shot. After all, he didn't want to think about what had just happened. For whatever the puppet Cyborg had done to him in his human form back at the theater, it no longer allowed him to change. And now, his body was beginning to demand it, and these coils were the only things preventing him from being torn apart, molecule by molecule.
Beast Boy and Aqua-lad swam back to the edge of the ravine, stopping near the crash site of the T-sub.
"I searched that region yesterday, we'll start over…"
"Look," the green squid thought "I'm sure your some kind of local hero but I'm a real hero from the big city, so just let me call the shots. And try to keep up." With this Beast Boy morphed into dolphin while Aqua-lad merely scoffed in his head, arms crossed over his chest.
"I'm picking something up on my sonar, come on!"BB yelled and sped off, the Atlantean couldn't help but smile at the short changeling's antics.
BB stared in surprise when three other dolphins swam around the bend.
"Congratulations you found other dolphins," the sarcastic voice cut in.
"I knew that," Beast Boy replied as Aqua-lad swam up, his telepathy giving him the answers they sought.
"They told me where to find Trident, try to keep up," his competitive side getting the better of him.
"Oh, I'll do better than that," with this both teen were zipping through the water heading towards the enemy, dodging rocks and cliffs, the ocean floor dipping into great canyons. Aqua-lad took the lead, but every time Beast Boy would change forcing the Atlantean to go faster until the green sword fish rocketed past him heading straight for…
"Beast Boy, stop!"
"What's the matter, too fast for ugh…"the changeling grunted slamming into the chest of Trident, he hit the rocky floor with a thud at the man's feet, Aqua-lad stopped short waiting for the fight.
"Heh, how's it goin'?"Beast Boy thought mentally stuttering.
"Keep your thoughts to yourself, idiot fool!" Trident screamed his weapon firing, the swordfish barely dodged and Aqua-lad lunged at the yellow eyed criminal knocking both of them behind the high jagged rocks.
"Oh no you don't, this time he's Mine!"The green shark snapped heading for the rocks, Trident emerged his staff charged and aimed straight at BB whose teeth snapped it with ease. The battles began.
Danny found staring at molecular constructions beyond boring, the bonds and designs washing over him blearily, his vision strangely dark and unfocused.
"Hey man, you find anything?" Cyborg asked stepping up onto the dais, snapping Phantom from his haze the coils unknowingly deactivating.
"No," Danny stated attempting to focus.
"What are you even looking for?" Cyborg asked standing next to him his eyes following the roaming patterns of chemicals.
"I'm not sure. Why aren't you helping Tram?" Phantom asked off handedly.
"He's almost done and some of the things he's doing to my ship are just too horrible to watch," Cyborg said his face contorting in pain, the corners of Danny mouth kicked up in a smile, oh, Tucker and Cyborg would have gotten along great.
"Trident's power is what's bothering me," Danny answered. "Setting aside the fact that he's Atlantean, you said his main weapon was his staff…"
"You mean his pitch fork."
"Whatever, because of this, we can rule out that he's a ghost, and that his new found power isn't a natural occurrence in Atlanteans' genetics. So that only leaves the question as to what his new power truly is, and where the toxic waste comes into play."
"Maybe it allows him to move at speeds we can't see?" Cyborg suggested.
"I don't think so; the configurations don't form strong enough catalysts with the water, which would give him the necessary speed and agility," Danny stated rubbing his head in frustration ignoring the way it sent waves of pain down his spine.
"Well maybe the toxic waste isn't being used to affect the environment," Cyborg stated his brain working through different formulas and equations.
"Teleportation?" Cyborg asked reconfiguring the structures to fit Atlantean DNA.
"No, I teleport, and that affects the person and the environment, it only seems to effect him…uh, what is he doing? Cloning himself!" Danny snapped sinking onto the floor in that moment comprehension dawned on both teens faces, Cyborg quickly began remodeling the designs.
"Shit, he is cloning himself!" Cy yelled jumping off the dais and racing to inform Robin, praying that Tram was done. For one long moment, Danny just stared at the screen his green eyes shadowed before he stood up from the cold stone to follow Cyborg.
Both teens were fighting with all their strength, both managing to destroy Tridents' staff neither one crossing the others path until Aqua-lad turned to see Beast Boy squid wrestling with Trident who must have gone after BB after he snapped the staff. Trident threw Beast Boy off of him.
"Incoming!"He yelled face planting into Aqua-lad, who scowled, ripping the tentacles off of his face to glare into two big black eyes.
"I said incoming," Both watched as Trident fled into a dark underwater cavern.
"He's getting away!"Aqua-lad yelled telepathically to BB both swimming into its darkness, when the cavern split in two, each one ominous, the Atlantean whirled to face the changeling.
"Where were you back there?"
"Where was I?"The squid snapped his tentacles coming to rest at his sides defensively.
"Fighting Trident, by myself!"
"You barely laid a tentacle on him!"Aqua-lad's mouth moving to his minds words.
"At least I managed to break his weapon," he finished gesturing to himself leaving Beast Boy dumbstruck and confused.
"Dude that's just wrong. I so broke that fork thing!"Beast Boy replied and as Aqua-lad made to retaliate, both teens spotted movements in the shadows of both caverns, their senses went on hyper alert.
"There he goes!"Both yelled pointing down the two different paths.
"I saw him! I'm right, your wrong, end of story, if you don't believe me, see you later!"Beast Boy called swimming away.
"And I'm telling you he's this way! If you want to go that way, be my guest, but I'm going to catch Trident!" he said and with this Aqua-lad stormed off fuming mad at his inability to work with Beast Boy.
The cavern was dark, the only light coming from the craters of boiling water and flames that would erupt from the ground, Aqua-lad ventured deeper, the steam rolling off in waves warming the water into an unpleasant state. A splash of movement was the teens' only warning before he was attacked from behind.
"Pretty boy, know it all, show off, thinks he's so…"the green squid mumbled in his head floating down the dark cave.
"Worthless scum, you cannot defeat perfection!" Trident screamed emerging from the shadows his staff in hand.
"How many of those fork thingies do you have?"Beast Boy thought dodging the onslaught of lightening attacks and turning into a hard shelled turtle when the staffs' sharp points sought purchase of vulnerable flesh before Trident shot him into the shadows.
"I will win. I always win! I am superior!"
A giant green claw reached out gripping the staff, Beast Boy emerged a crab.
"And I thought Aqua-lad had a big ego."With this thought he fought back.
Aqua-lad slammed into the hot rocks below, his breath forced out of his lungs as the fire continued to erupt around him. Trident screamed from above, his weapon aimed for the Atlantean's heart, who barely managed to spin out of the way before knocking Trident back with a powerful kick. Weapon lost, both warriors swam to retrieve it, and a second too late; Aqua-lad was staring down three sharp points. Pouring all of his strength into preventing the staff from reaching his head, a boiling crater about to erupt behind him, in a burst of adrenaline the teen shoved the staff to the side sending both it and Trident into the mixture of water and lava before he sped off high into the ocean to where light was filtering down from above.
Jumping out of the small lake, Aqua-lad emerged in an unknown cave. Its contents dark and slimly, unlike his home of pearl blue stone, hearing a rushing of water the teen turned to see Beast Boy emerge from a nearby pool, both immediately charged at one another from fear, anger and relief.
"I just saw Trident!"
"No, you didn't!"
"Yes, I did!"
"Cut It Out!"
"I don't care what you saw, I fought Trident!" Beast Boy snapped straining his neck to look up at Aqua-lad whose eyes were wide with disbelief and frustration.
"That's impossible!"
Beast Boy had enough. "O.k. dude, what is your problem?" He yelled trying to charge the teen only to be stopped by a hand on his forehead pushing him back just out of arms length.
"What is your problem? We're supposed to be on the same side, but you treat me like an enemy!" Aqua-lad snapped.
"I don't need you on my side; this was my mission until you showed up! You think you're so cool, but I've got a news flash of you, you're not better than me!"
"I don't think I'm better than You!" Aqua-lad yelled, Beast Boy stared up at him in shock.
"You don't?" He asked blankly.
"Maybe your better than me, who cares! I just want to catch Trident, and to do that, we need to stop fighting and start working together," he said looking down at the green changeling whose eyes had fallen to the slimy black floor.
"So, you don't think I'm useless?" Beast Boy asked his voice coming out a mere mumble. Aqua-lad stopped dead in his tracks, the conversation with Phantom coming back. The Atlantean had always assumed that by being in a team you'd always feel needed and relied upon, he never thought that maybe Beast Boy or anyone for that matter, would doubt their usefulness. After all, he'd always been alone.
"No, if I did, then I wouldn't have asked to work with you and your team. Teamwork remember," he said and resumed walking, trying to locate where they were, when Beast Boy gasped and ran up to him.
"Teamwork…Aqua-lad! What if there's more than one Trident!"
"Don't be ridiculous, how could there be…"
"I know but what if there is. What if he found a way to copy himself? He could be in two places at once, there wouldn't be just one Trident there'd be…"
In that moment, orange goop dripped down from the ceiling and onto Beast Boy's nose, the teens looked up.
"…thousands." Aqua-lad finished as they both stared in shock at the orange egg sacs filled with maturing Tridents, some opening their eyes, watching and waiting to be freed.
"Uh-oh," Beast Boy said backing up towards the water.
"One Trident is bad..." Aqua-lad stated.
"But this is…"
"An Army!"Trident screamed as hundreds emerged from the shadows, the barrels of toxic waste clustered behind them, its chemicals spiraling upwards in cords, connecting and feeding the others. The criminals all attacked, staffs in hand, both teens jumped into action destroying the orange eggs any chance they got until both were thrown back into the hatching computer, the Tridents gathering upon them.
"Great," Beast Boy said watching as the program turned on.
"My brilliant plan is already a success," One Trident said.
"…If one of me was perfect,"
"Why not make more?"
"…you can never have too much of a good thing."
"Once my army conquers Atlantis,"
"I will declare war on the surface world!"
"Everyone on the planet will bow down before me!"
"And Praise My Perfection!"All yelled out.
Aqua-lad leaned to his side meeting two hazel green eyes.
"Any bright ideas?" He asked.
"Just one, try to keep up," Beast Boy replied.
"So if you're all perfect which one of you is the best?" BB asked sneering at the criminals before him.
"I am!" They all replied before confusion passed across their faces.
"Come on," Aqua-lad said, "you can't all be the best. One of you must be better than the others." He stated. The staffs were all glowing electric gold now.
"I am the original, I am the best!"
"You are not the original!"
"I AM!"They all yelled out. And soon Beast Boy and Aqua-lad watched as the Tridents all fought with fists and staffs destroying each other in the pursuit of perfection. Both teens cringing at some of the low blows they took until they were either dead or knocked out.
"Great idea," Aqua-lad stated.
"Kinda got it from you, now we just have to stop those clones from hatching," Beast Boy said and turning both read as the dial went from three, two, one, begin.
"Too late!"They screamed as the clones began to emerge both teens ran for water, ten Tridents hot in pursuit.
"We can't let them escape; we have to find some way of sealing the exit," Aqua-lad thought.
"Right now, I'm just worried about getting to the exit," The green swordfish replied.
Both teens reached the mouth of the cave, soaring past one orange submarine that was now blocking the exit, the sound of twin seismic blasters firing and collapsing the entrance, fusing the broken rocks into molten stone that cooled into one.
"All right!" Robin said over the intercom.
"Cool," Raven replied.
"Victory!" Starfire yelled.
"Boo-ya nice, repair job Tram!" Cyborg called, Tram was whooping in Phantom's compartment sitting on top of the controls, as he and Danny high fived one another. Both Beast Boy and Aqua-lad floated by the ship.
"Good thing Trident likes himself so much 'cause I'm thinking he won't be seeing anybody else for a long time."
To this Aqua-lad couldn't help but smile.
Everyone was standing on the shore of Titan's Tower and silently Danny watched from the roof of the sub as Robin presented Aqua-lad with a Titan's communicator.
"As far as we're concerned you're an honorary Teen Titan."
"Thanks," Aqua-lad said taking the small round device.
"We couldn't have done it without you. Thanks," Robin said.
"No problem, it's nice to know there's people up here I can trust," Aqua-lad replied.
"And it's good to know there are folks down there who know how to fix a hyper jet," Cy said he and Tram clasping hands. The fish engineer saying the mechanical teen's favorite catch phrase.
"Bye Raven, Starfire," Aqua-lad called both girls stuttered admiring how hot he was, their stares slightly freaking the young Atlantean out, until he stood next to Beast Boy who was gazing out at the ocean a smile on his face.
"What can I say, dude, you're the best."
"Nah, you're the best," Aqua-lad replied to which BB hastily agreed promising his friend a race any time to prove it.
"Just try and keep up," Aqua-lad said smirking as he waved good-bye to the Titans before walking over to the sub where Phantom sat, the coils dully glowing.
"About earlier," Aqua-lad started shifting nervously.
"Don't sweat it, what you said was true, and besides, I was just dragged along for the ride," Phantom said a breezy laugh passing his lips, causing the Atlantean to relax and smile up at the white haired teen.
"And you were true as well, thank you for your advice, friend," and Aqua-lad leapt into the sea and disappeared.
Danny stared one more moment at the ocean contemplating why he deserved to be called friend, after all, he had been very rude, but the moment passed when he noticed the Titans approaching.
"You guys really aren't going to leave me alone, are you?" He asked a sigh escaping his lips.
"That depends, normally you just disappear, but my guess is you're too weak to go anywhere else, so we're not leaving until you have enough strength to kick our butts out," Robin said sternly to which Danny merely laughed, his body beyond the point of pain.
"That would be nice, but even then you won't leave, so for now," Danny said as he extended his right arm the bracelet a shining blue.
"Help me up, and get these god forsaken coils off of me."
Cyborg complied, and soon the six coils were off, falling into the sand with a soft thump. Danny collapsed, no longer able to walk, hastily the mechanical man picked Phantom up and soon a mass of green swirling energy engulfed all of the team, and a second later they were standing in a white lab room, an eight foot tall portal carved into the wall.
Once over their shock, Danny explained how to open up the floor, and soon a small floating white pod with twin green engines on the side, its design crafted to fit through the portal with ease, was hovering above the ground, the metal door opening from bottom up to reveal the inside. Quickly, the Titans entered noting the two rows of seats and the control panel covering the entire front of the pod and on the ceiling.
Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire all took to the row in the back, as Robin helped Cyborg lower Phantom into the middle seat, Cyborg took to the steering wheel. It was two whole minutes before Cy worked up the courage to ask.
"So ugh, how do you open that door," He asked.
"Heh, you're not even going to ask where it's going to lead," Danny said his eyes feeling heavy, his aura steadily turning green. Unknowingly, the pure glowing green eyes now held shots of crystalline blue.
"Where are we going?" Robin asked, the thought never having crossed any of the team's mind. Danny merely smiled.
"To see a friend. Spectra-Speeder, activate ghost portal, set coordinates to locate the nearest door to the Far Frozen lands."
And with this the heavy metal doors opened to the otherworld, green energy making the Titans stare into its swirling depths.
"I trust you know how to use a steering wheel?" Danny asked, after a moment of embarrassing stuttering, and a few choice words, Cyborg put the ship in drive. And the Teen Titans were off heading through the portal, Danny silently prayed he'd be able to make it until they reached Frostbite.
