Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Teen Titans.
Robin was pacing, Cyborg was messing with an odd piece of tech, Starfire and Beastboy were on the couch, and Raven was meditating. Apart from Raven, they all glanced at the clock anxiously.
"Dude, he's late," Beastboy moaned. He turned to Robin. "Can't you tell us the plan now? The suspense is killing me!"
"I will explain it when Phantom gets here," Robin said, keeping his voice level. "This infiltration is complicated, and I don't want to explain it twice."
"Fine," Beastboy muttered. "Do I at least have a cool job?"
Robin paused, thinking about it. "Yes," he finally answered.
"Sweet!"
While Raven was silently meditating, she felt a slight disturbance in her mind. Her eyebrow twitched, and a chill came on the back of her neck.
"He's here," Raven said, opening her eyes and lowering her floating body to the ground. They all leapt up, turning toward the entrance, but Danny just phased through the window, surprising them.
"Hey," he said. He was in his ghost form, and had a large duffel bag slung over his shoulder.
"Phantom," Robin greeted, looking serious.
"You've got a plan?" Danny said, cutting to the chase.
"Yes. In essence, it's an infiltration operation."
"Super spies!" Beastboy said while grinning. "Awesome!"
Danny raised an eyebrow. "You want to spy on the Guys in White?"
"At their headquarters."
Two eyebrows went up. "How are you going to do that?"
Robin paused, focusing for a moment, then he went into leader-mode, as his team liked to call it. "We will arrive in Amity Park and put up base near their HQ, learning details from a few of the locals while Beastboy goes to scout inside the actual building."
"I get to scout again? Cool!"
Danny scowled a bit. "Are you sure they won't notice? He's a bit loud, after all."
"Hey!"
"Beastboy can turn into any animal, including ones extremely small. He can do this," Robin said confidently. Beastboy puffed out his chest with bravado, and Danny's mouth twitched.
"After Beastboy gathers enough information and finds a way to get Cyborg and I inside, Starfire and Raven can cause a diversion to keep most of the skilled agents away from the building while we go inside and download all their dirty secrets for the League's use."
"Wait, you're giving a bunch of government information to the Justice League?" Danny asked incredulously.
"Previously owned government information," Beastboy said with a sly look on his face.
"G.I.W. isn't owned by the government anymore," Cyborg said. "It was bought out by a few private investors. Which makes building a case against them a whole lot easier."
"Not to mention possible," Danny said. A dark thought came to him suddenly, and he said, "Is one of the 'private investors' Vlad Masters?"
The Titans looked surprised. "Yes," Raven said in a monotone. "Why do you ask?"
"Nothing, it's not important right now," Danny dismissed. "Figures he would be running all of this," he thought.
"That's the plan," Robin concluded. "It's short and simple; none of us will be staying in the building for too long besides Beastboy, and Raven is going to set up a communication with all of us with one of her spells, since we probably will need radio silence up there."
"The communicators wouldn't work up there very well," Danny added. "All the ghost activity makes cell phones and stuff like it lose connection, but I used to have some tech that could help. There's one thing, though; what am I doing?"
Robin was quiet for a moment. "I don't know the scope of your powers, but I do know you're strong," he said. "Strong enough to go up against the flame monster, for one. Will you be our backup, in case things go south?"
"Like, Antarctica South?" Beastboy added. The rest of the Titans rolled their eyes at his joke.
Danny thought for a bit, then said, "I can do something better. You need to get into that facility, and I can get you in without raising suspicion."
"How?" Cyborg asked.
Danny smirked. "I call it overshadowing...though the crude definition is possession."
Beastboy visibly shivered, and Starfire's eyes widened. "You can achieve complete control over another being?" she asked.
"Not exactly," Danny said. "If their will is strong enough, I won't be able to overshadow them. But I can control their bodies for an hour at a time, at most."
"You can overshadow a G.I.W. agent," Robin deduced, smiling at the new idea. Danny nodded.
"Okay. Here's what's going to happen. Beastboy scouts, and finds a suitable agent for Danny to use. Starfire and Raven distract the agents on the field, and Danny goes in. Then, he lets us in at for a shot at the main computer.
"We need a place to stay undetected while we're there. Any ideas?" Robin looked to Danny, who thought about it and sighed.
"There lies the bigger problem," he said. "I know a friend that will help us, but I need to talk to her first...and I need to leave pretty much right now to see her."
Cyborg nodded, and said, "We'll follow behind when we get the rest of our gear. You heading out now?"
"Yep. Wish me luck." The words sounded joking, but his tone and expression made it seem like he was walking to his doom.
Danny adjusted his cap nervously as he watched the cab driver's hand fumble with the radio. The driver was a young, brash young man with a habit of speeding. Speed didn't make him nervous, but the missing poster of his face outside the city he just left did. He was fairly certain the guy didn't recognize him; his hair had grown out a lot, and the dark circles under his eyes had deepened and darkened ever since the accident.
"You don't mind if I turn it to some music, do ya?" the driver asked. Danny shook his head.
"No, go ahead."
Alternative rock bands echoed through the vehicle and out into the street from Danny's open window, and he found himself relaxing a little bit. Only a few more miles until he arrived at Valerie's meeting place.
He had called Valerie again, to tell her to meet him just outside of Amity Park when he'd heard of all the G.I.W. agents swarming the area near her house. She's agreed, and he told her he would be there in about a day. It takes most of the day to fly there at his fastest pace, and an hour taxi drive where he could rest from his flight and look like he'd had some form of transportation to get there.
He gave the driver fifty dollars for the ride when they arrived, frowning at the price, but it was a long drive. He glanced around the empty parking lot, instantly locating all the roads that led out of there and the tall fields of corn that he could easily hide in and go ghost without anyone noticing-
"Danny."
His name was called from the minimal shade of the gas station overhang, a figure of a girl peeking out behind an old light blue Volkswagen bug. It was Valerie, looking like she'd seen a ghost; or maybe an angel, with the way her eyes grew misty and she smiled like she hadn't seen her friend in years.
He walked up to her, but she beat him to it at a run and slammed into him, hugging him tightly. He stood there, shocked and bewildered, and then put his own arms around her. He had grown since he last saw her; his chin was just as tall as the top of her head, and he set his head on top of her brown curls.
After they pulled away, Danny felt a pang in his heart when he realized just how much pain he had caused Valerie when he left; he saw it all her bright green eyes.
"Don't leave again," she said, probably meaning to sound fierce and commanding, but her voice trembled with emotion. Danny cast his eyes to the ground.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"Damn right you're sorry," she said and let out a sigh. "You said on the phone...you wanted to tell me something important…"
Danny gulped nervously; better cut to the chase. "Uh, yeah. There's...something I need to...to show you." He stepped back a few paces, trying not to look at Valerie's confused face, and praying that it wouldn't morph into hate after what he was about to do.
Right before he transformed, he looked her in the eye. "You probably won't like what you're going to see," he said, and she just looked more confused and a little frustrated. "Just...keep an open mind." He took a deep breath, and began his transformation. "And please don't attack me."
The rings seemed to pass in slow motion, and every second he saw Valerie's expression change from confusion to horror. His throat closed up a little, but he prepared himself to whatever was going to happen.
The rings traveled all the way upwards and vanished, giving way to his colder, stronger, dead self. He watched Valerie warily, waiting for her to either attack him or possible faint.
She backed up several paces, then stumbled and fell to the ground. Danny jerked toward her when she fell, but didn't move closer. His eyes were fixed on her horrified face, that were taking in his form with wide eyes.
"Phantom," she whispered. "You...you...Danny?"
"I've always been Danny. Fenton, I mean." He activated his core again, and the rings appeared once more to bring back his human form. Outwardly, he looked dispassionate and ready to face anything Valerie would say or do. Inwardly, he was a nervous wreck, regretting deeply what he was doing.
"I don't believe it," Valerie said, shaking her head. "I can't believe it. I must be dreaming, or-or hallucinating, or-o-or…" She began to choke back sobs, and Danny crouched down in front of her. She didn't flinch, which he took as a good sign.
"I was in an accident, with the ghost portal-I'm not really sure what happened, but I became this...half-ghost, and-well, I just…" The words came out fast, and he didn't know what to say next. "Ghosts were coming in through the portal, and my parents couldn't stop them so me and Sam and Tucker," his voice cracked a little, "we fought ghosts."
Valerie just looked at him with glassy eyes, and he began to tremble slightly. He already lost his friends, and his family, he couldn't lose the one person who would miss him if he never came back. Who did miss him, who waited for him...God, he was so stupid.
While Danny was cursing himself mentally, Valerie began to come to her senses. She looked Danny up and down, feeling so utterly lost and confused. Her whole world had just been turned upside down; ghosts were ghosts, humans were humans, Danny was...God, what was he? Was this all some trick done by Phantom?
"How do I know you're not lying to me, Danny...Phantom?" she said.
He met her eyes for a second, then cast them to the ground and run a hand through his hair. "Why would I trick you? I haven't seen you in almost a year...what's the point?"
"I don't know," she said, a bit of buried rage surfacing in her eyes. "What was the point of ruining my-of getting my dad fired?" She couldn't say he ruined her life anymore. If it wasn't for him and his stupid dog, she would still be a naive airhead making her way through high school, not having the sense of purpose she has now that she hunts ghosts.
She stood up, and Danny followed her. He still wasn't making eye contact. "That wasn't my fault-" he cut off when he saw her tense up angrily, but continued, "okay, so maybe it was my fault, but I didn't mean to ruin your life! Cujo wasn't even my dog, he was just another ghost going on a rampage!"
"Why didn't you just put him in your thermos, then?" Valerie questioned angrily.
"He kept escaping out of the portal, digging holes everywhere-ugh!" Danny threw his hands into the air, feeling frustrated and a little hopeless. "I'm sorry! I just-I knew I needed to tell you, because I can't be on my own anymore!"
Valerie paused, shocked, at his confession. He was breathing a little hard, and was blinking rapidly. His voice had probably gone through three different octaves with its cracking, but she didn't know if it was puberty or raw emotion. "I…" She didn't know what to say. What do you say to something like this?
"Just…" He blew out sharply and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Just...believe me, okay? I'm Phantom. Phantom is me, not some ghost possessing me or anything. I know it's hard to believe, it took me about a month to really believe I had changed so much...but, I just need you to understand." He finally look into her eyes, and she felt her rage evaporate at the haunted, pained look in his icy orbs.
"What happened? To make you like…" she trailed off.
"I was in an accident with the portal," he said. "I went inside, and I pressed a button, or something...I don't remember too much of it, but I know I got electrocuted, and I walked out as a ghost. I thought I died, but then I turned human…I'm still not positive what I actually am, physically I mean."
"This is so messed up," Valerie said, rubbing her temples.
"That pretty much sums up my life."
It's been a while since I've updated, hasn't it? Well, here you go!
This chapter was a bit of a struggle for me. I wrote part of it weeks ago, and then just finished up the rest of it today. That's usually how I like to write stories; write my favorite parts of the chapter first, then struggle through the rest of the filling.
I know this seems a bit short and it is a little short, but I will have the next chapter up soon. Can't say when; if I work on a schedule, I'm destined to break it.
And as always, if you have any critiques or comments, don't hesitate to tell me! And if you think flames are critiques, go ahead and write those too.
Until next time.