Chapter 21: Explanations and Experiments

The Watchtower

The Titans gasped as they stared around the room, following the League into the center of the room. Large monitors surrounded most of the room. The vast stretches of space could be seen from the windows. The technology that stretched throughout the room seemed years ahead in advances. Cyborg was nearly drooling as he gazed lovingly at the room. He snapped his attention back as the Titans were led into the center of the room and were motioned to take a seat. Robin and the other Titans protectively sat close to Sam, Tucker and Jazz, keeping a close eye on any members of the League who wanted to try something.

The rest of the League stood in a semi-circle in front of the teens, Batman slightly in front of them.

"Alright...start talking."

G.I.W. Labs

Danny slowly cracked open his eyes and was met with an assault of whiteness. He quickly sat up, which was a bad move as his head started throbbing. He wildly twisted his head back and forth, his breaths becoming more shallow and quick with every glance. He was in a sort of clear cylindrical trap that stretched all the way up to the roof. The cramped space, which probably wasn't any bigger than a small backyard pool. The whole cage seemed to be elevated from the rest of the floor, like a platform. Below it, different control panels and computers rested, with one or two agents working on them at the moment. The full room he was in was, surprise, surprise, white, devoid of any color.

He pressed his hands against the wall. It was cold, even for him. He narrowed his eyes as he was that when he pressed his hands to the wall, it started glowing a faint green. He grit his teeth and forcefully punched the glass-like material. But much to his surprise, it felt more like punching solid steel. He tried firing an ecto-blast, but it merely was absorbs by the glass. He sighed, realizing he wouldn't get far if he kept exerting his energy.

He laid down, his back presses against the cold surface below him. Suddenly, the ceiling above him shifted and moved, a large device that looked like a pointy disco ball lowered down to a point where the Ghost Boy could see it, but was still too high for him to reach it. As he was gazing confused at the device, he hadn't even noticed another agent entering the room. It wasn't until the agent started speaking to him did Danny jump out of his thoughts.

"What?" He asked. The agent growled and pressed his finger to the intercom again and repeated what he had said. "Lower your hands into the holes!" He snarled. Danny gazed at him confused. "Holes? What holes?" The exasperated agent pointed towards Danny's feet. Danny looked down and was surprised to see that two small holes had opened up in the floor. They were small with barely enough room for his hands to get in.

He narrowed his eyes as he returned his glance to the agent. "Why should I?" He growled. The agent smirked. "Glad you asked." He said as he pressed another button on the control panel and the spiky ball above the boy started to glow an eerie red. Suddenly, it felt like Danny's body was on fire. He screamed uot in agony and crumpled to the floor, writhing in agony as the fire spread out across his body. The agent finally pressed the button again and the sensation ended. Danny lay panting and shivering on the cold floor. He turned a fearful gaze to the agent.

"Wh...what was that?" He asked. "THAT is what happens when you don't listen to us. Just one of many new toys we hope to test on you." The agent said, a smile crossing his face.

Danny gulped.

The Watchtower

Robin sighed and turned his gaze to the League. But before he could say anything, Jazz put a hand to his shoulder. "Maybe we should start from the beginning...the very beginning." She said. Robin hesitated, knowing the League didn't quite trust the three teens, but he nodded and gave the floor to the three of them. Sam took a deep breath.

"It all started about a year ago, give or take a couple months. Danny's parents were inventors, and it was safe to say, they were OBSESSED with ghosts. Well, they were always inventing new weapons and ghost-related things. But one day, they built something HUGE. The Ghost Portal. It was designed to rip a hole through the dimensional barriers and allow an access point to the ghost zone, a place where all ghosts reside. Well, it didn't work at first and they were so upset. So, one day after school, Danny, Tucker and I were all down in the basement, checking it out and I...I dared Danny to go in. He must have pressed something from the inside, cause all of a sudden, the portal turned on...with Danny in it. When he finally came out, we thought for sure he had died. We were only partially correct."

The League listened in silence. Tucker continued. "That accident gave Danny ghost powers. It was incredible! But at first, he had no idea what to do. Then one day, a ghost came out of the portal and Danny fought it off with his newfound powers. He realized then that he might actually be able to do something useful with his powers. Help people. Save lives. Become a real life SUPERHERO! And he did, with the help of us. Danny Fenton became Danny Phantom. Now, it was kind of difficult, from fighting ghosts 24/7 to being called a villain by the very place he was trying to protect."

Superman steppe forwards. "Why did they think he was the bad guy?" He asked. Tucker sighed. "It was just a lot of wrong place-wrong time moments. Misunderstanding after misunderstanding led to people believing he was the bad guy, when really, he was just trying to help them. Anyway, with the new portal, more and more ghosts found a way out of the ghost zone, all of which, Danny had to fight, with occasional help from us."

Jazz continued. "I eventually found out he was half-ghost with a certain ghost attack, but I decided to keep it a secret that I knew." She explained. "But why, Why didn't you tell him you knew?" Hawkgirl asked. "It wasn't my secret to tell. I wanted him to tell me when HE was ready, and eventually, he found out I knew."

Sam nodded along as they continued the story. "Anyway, everything really became serious when Pariah Dark showed up."

"Who?" The Flash asked. "Pariah Dark. He was the king of all ghosts. He was awoken from his eternal sleep, causing all the ghosts from the ghost zone to flee into our world. Pariah came to Amity, along with his army of thousands and started wreaking havoc on everything. He even sent Amity Park into the ghost zone, which explains why Amity disappeared without a trace for a couple days. Finally, Danny decided to fight him one on one with his parent's ecto-suit. The fight nearly killed him, but Danny won and restored Amity Park back to what it originally was, turning him from bad to good in the eyes of many people in the town."

The Leaguers listened in silence as the kids continued their story, with the occasional questions from some members. But while they told the story, Batman remained silent.

Sam sighed as she started telling the League about when Danny's secret was exposed. "The GIW came after him. Those guys are HORRIBLE! They put civilians in harm's way just to complete a task and they don't even seem to care about collateral damage. Anyway, we had no idea what to do, so we ran. We ran as far away as possible. It was hard, especially since the GIW were doing everything in their power to make us look like dangerous criminals. We finally ended up in Jump." She finished, knowing Robin should explain what he had thought at the time.

Robin nodded to the girl and raised his head to the league. "At first..."

G.I.W. Labs

Danny slowly lowered his hands down into the two holes and jumped when he felt something clamp down in his ankles. He pulled back and saw that his hands were now cuffed at the wrists and his hands were now underneath metal gloves. As soon as the device clamped down onto his hands, he felt...weird. Like all of his ghostly energy was being muffled. Even his normal white glow died down so that he looked like a normal teenage boy.

"Anti-ghost cuffs. You aren't getting out of here, freak." The agent smirked as he walked closer to the cage, pressing a button on his way, activating the small panel on the side of one of the walls to open, just big enough for the agent to walk through. Danny stepped back as the agent continued to walk forwards, now realizing he was powerless. He pressed his back against the wall and ducked his head as the agent came face to face with him. He grabbed Danny's neck and shoved him harder into the wall. He lifted the kid up so that their eyes were even.

"About time we caught you, punk. And now that we have you..." He smirked as Danny gasped for air. "We'll never let you get away." He grinned and threw Danny to the ground, making a signal with his free hand. Danny gasped for air, taking in lungfuls, when all of a sudden, he was hauled to his feet by two more agents and roughly dragged out of the room.

"Let...go..of...me!" Danny shouted as they continued to drag him out of the room. His hope of escaping plummeted when he entered the hallway outside the door. Guards lined both sides of the large hallway, each with large guns and tasers at the ready. "We've taken every precaution, freak" The agent whispered in his ear. "Every possibility of escape..." As they passed a guarded window, Danny could see a large ghost-shield around them. "Every chance of freedom..." They stopped in front of a large grey door. "Every shred of hope...is now gone." He placed a hand on the scanner and opened the door as he finished the last statement.

Danny paled.

The room was white with steel counters, each piled high with sharp tools and various objects that were stained with different shades of greens and blacks. But what caught Danny's attention was the gleaming steel table in the middle of the room that was propped up at a diagonal so the occupant could see around the room instead of lying flat on their back. Glowing green cuffs hung limply from the corners of the table, hungrily awaiting a new victim. A large machine hung over the table that seemed to be able to be pushed back up of pulled down further, the device holding various needles and lasers, each pointed directly at different spots on the table.

"This is where you belong." The agent whispered in Danny's ear. Full-blown panic mode exploded in Danny's head as he kicked and struggled against the guards, but they stood strong. They dragged him forwards, closer and closer to the table. They roughly yanked one of his arms up and forcefully dragged it back to one of the restraints, where they proceeded to tie it, starting to do the same with his other limbs, all while Danny begged and screamed for them to stop. The agent stood in the corner of the room, a dark smile spreading across his face.

"No, NO, NOOO!"

The Watchtower

"At first I was just like you guys. I believed everything I was being told about them, from the media, from that agency. I thought they were criminals. But then we looked into their history. Into their past. Into their 'crimes'. We found out the truth about them." Robin explained.

"And what would that be?" Lantern asked.

"That they weren't criminals in the traditional sense. They were just heroes in a bad spot. We were still skeptical about their true intentions, so we captured them after realizing they were residing in Jump, like Batman first thought." Robin said, nodding to the Dark Night. "We heard what they had to say, about everything. We had them tell us what happened one by one, separated from each other, and all their stories were the same and they all added up. They were telling the truth. So...we helped them. We made them part of us. Titans. After the bad things that were going on around them, they needed something to go right." Robin explained.

"It was not right what happened to them." Starfire piped up. "They were called the criminals when they had done nothing wrong!" She growled as she clenched her fists, fearing for her friends. Robin placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and continued. "We knew the GIW was after them, but we didn't know much about them. So...I might have...hacked into their database. BUT...!" He shouted hurriedly when some of the Leaguers gave him disapproving looks. "But...we found out what they really were." Robin said as the other Titans stared at the Leaguers with anger flashing in their eyes at the words coming out of their mouths.

"Lowlife murders!" Cyborg spat.

"Egotistical monsters." Raven growled.

"Evil pricks!" Beastboy shouted.

"Horrible Glorbags!" Starfire yelled, cursing in her native tongue.

Robin stepped forwards. "They aren't the good guys. They're the bad. I found out what their plans for Danny were. They want to weaponize his abilities and get revenge for all the times he made fools of him. They're going to KILL him! In the most horrific way possible!" Robin shouted as he tried to convince the Leaguers. "They're going to torture him, beat him, do inhumane things to him, cause they think he IS inhuman. But he IS! Even if it's half that of a normal person, he's still human! If anything, he's a meta-human. And by doing the things they're going to do, they're breaking the Meta-Human Acts!"

Robin stopped and realized he was shouting. He sighed and lowered his head, gazing sadly at his gloves. He continued in a volume that almost made it impossible for everyone to hear, but they did. They heard every pained word.

"I...I promised him I wouldn't let them take him, that they would never hurt him again. And...and I broke it. I...I let him down. Now whatever happened to him is...is my fault." Robin whispered. He took a shaky breath, refusing to let his team or the Leaguers see him cry. He had to be strong. He HAD to be, For Danny. He was surprised when he felt hands on his shoulders. Starfire, Cyborg and the rest of the Titans had their heads bowed as they placed hands on each other.

Batman stepped forwards, much to everyone's surprise and placed a strong hand on his former apprentice's shoulder. "No. It isn't." He nodded to the rest of the stunned Leaguers to follow him into the side room. They soundlessly followed the masked man.

All was quiet in the room, nobody seemed to have anything to say. Flash finally broke the silence. "Man. Does anyone else feel like crap right now?" He sighed as he plopped down in a chair.

Wonder Women placed a hand to her forehead. "So what do we do now?" She asked.

Nobody said anything for a while once more, until a certain voice broke the silence, much to their surprise. "I think we should help them." They turned to J'onn, who was wearing his usual stoic face. "What?" Hawkgirl asked. "I believe we should help them." He restated. "I can only imagine what would have happened had you all not found me before someone else did. Who's to say they would not have done what is happening to that boy. Horrible things might have happened to me, for thing I never did just because of that I am. I can only imagine the horrors. But that boy does not have to imagine, for the exact same thing is happening to him now, because of us. Because we did not allow his friends to help him. I believe we owe it to him, because it could have just as easily happened to us."

The Leaguers sat in silence for a good while as what J'onn had said fully wrapped around their brains. Finally, Batman stood and nodded. "J'onn's right. We have to help these kids." The Leaguers stared at him, then one by one, started to stand, each signifying they were onboard. Finally, only Superman remained hesitant, not wanting to believe all the horrible things the GIW were doing. Finally, he sighed and stood, nodding his agreement.

Batman nodded and walked to the door, the others following. The Titans jumped to their feet as the League entered the room once more. They took a step back and stood slightly in front of the three newest Titans, hesitant on what the League's answer would be. Finally, Batman stepped forwards and nodded. "Alright, you have us on board. We believe you." Robin stared at him mentor in shock, realizing he had actually gotten through that thick brain of his. He shook his head and cleared is throat. But before he could say anything, Sam jumped forwards, Jazz and Tucker right at her heels.

"Please! Danny's still in trouble. We have to find him before they do anything else to him. We have no idea what's happening now. We have to do something!" She cried out. Batman turned to Robin, who gave him a nod of confirmation. Batman turned back to the League. "Alright. First things first...

We need to break Danny out of the G.I.W. Headquarters."

G.I.W. Labs

Danny struggled against the restraints. He tried firing an ecto-blast, but the energy saw still being masked. He tried not to look at the tools that lined the walls and sat on the tables, but he couldn't stop his wandering eyes.

What does that do?

Oh god! That thing looks like it hurts!

And is that a CHAINSAW?!

Suddenly, the door opened and a handful of people in gloves, medical gowns and masks waling into the room, along with several agents who just seemed to be having a good time. Danny narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth as the smirked at him. "Man, after all that time of chasing you down, we FINALLY have you." The agent that had brought him in said with a smile. The other agents around him murmured in agreement.

"You guys are wimps. Taking away my powers! What, afraid I'll mess up your suits again?! Please! You guys couldn't catch a ghost if it was living under your roof!" One of the agents took a threatening step forwards, but was dragged back. "Hold it! We'll get to play with him soon enough. THEN we'll make him pay."

Danny gulped.

Some of the agents who were holding clipboards and notes lined up one one of the far walls that was bare of any tools. People surrounded Danny, each grabbing a certain tool off of the walls or tables. Danny wiggled and squirmed once more, much to the annoyance of the agents. One of them slammed their hand down on one of the computer panels and the table sparked with electricity.

Danny screamed as the sparks danced around his body. The bolts ceased and Danny slumped from the restraints, hanging imply from the table. One of the doctors walked forwards and plunged a needle into Danny's arm, extracting some green and red blood. The agents in the corner wrote down some notes and glanced back up.

Then two agents grabbed a tool. One was a normal scalpel. The other was glowing a faint green. They sliced the normal one down the side of Danny's cheek, earning a wince from the boy. They stared at the cut and watched as it slowly started to heal, leaving nothing more than a faded scar to register that the mark was even their in the first place. Then, then raised the glowing scalpel and sliced another mark down Danny's cheek. But this time, he didn't wince. screamed. They watched as a small trickle of green blood dripped out of the cut, that didn't seem to be healing like the last one.

"What the heck was that?!" Danny grimaced as the pain decreased from a burning fire to a dim flame. "Ectoranium. And we got plenty of it." The agent sneered. He walked over to the agent controlling the computer panel and whispered something into his ear. The agent nodded and started pushing certain buttons on the panel. "Alright, lets start with the first test. Endurance."

Suddenly, a tingling sensation spread throughout Danny's body. It grew to an uncomfortable sensation, to a hot burning one. Danny screamed as the agent increased the electrical pulses that were flowing through the restraints and the table. Finally, after increasing the levels to 'fatal to normal humans', the burning started to die down. Danny panted heavily as he hung limply from the restraints, which were the only things keeping him from sliding off the table and face-planting into the ground.

Suddenly, he felt the table start to tilt as it started to become horizontal like a normal table. Danny weakly fought against the restraints, but stopped as he received another shock. Another agent grabbed a larger knife, which was also glowing a faint green, and made a deep slash on Danny's chest. He screamed as the fiery sensation returned as the agent continued to make deep slashed and cuts along the boy's body, as the people in the corner continued to take notes on everything that was happening.

"Okay...well...he bleeds." The agent smirked. The others in the room laughed. They LAUGHED! Danny clenched his fists and grit his teeth. "I wonder if he has bones." Another agent said. Danny paled. The agent gripped the knife tighter and walked over to Danny once more. Without any hesitation ,without any warming, the agent plunged the knife into Danny's shoulder, hitting the bone. Danny screamed once more as the fire spread throughout his body.

The agent turned to the others. "Yep, I can definitely feel a bone in here."

"I wonder if they break..."

Danny's eyes widened.

He screamed.