A marvelous week my awesome readers! You gave me such an awesome response! So as promised, I bring you your new chapter. Now I know I said the guy's name would come out in this one, but I just couldn't fit it in for my purposes. Chances are at least one of you has an idea of who he is. Anyway enjoy.=^-^=

Ch. 26 - To Fight Your Friends...

The situation certainly seemed out of hand now as the Titans found themselves supremely surrounded. Ghosts glared them down in all directions with several different numbers of eyes. The pompous stranger seemed to be enjoying their anxiety as they looked over the horde floating around the tower. "Well? Why not just end it and give up? You are outmatched."

Cyborg chuckled with the anxiety still clear on his face. "Yeah, it's easy enough to say that when you have the army of the undead at your beck and call."

"But we don't go down that easy!" shouted Robin as if finishing his friend's statement. "The minute we figure out how you're doing all of this, you go down!"

The man shook his head and chuckled. "As expected from children. You seldom understand when you have no chance, you're arrogant, and so naïve." He then crossed his arms and turned his eyes towards the glaring Phantom beside him. "Why don't you teach them the difference between courage and foolishness." He then gave a whistle and a few more ghosts came over from the surrounding hordes. "You can help too." The three he called over floated by Phantom like a small team and all of them glared in joy over the halfa. One of them was a bulky green creature with bull horns, the second appeared to be a naga of some kind with an extra set of arms and the last was a one eyed reptilian creature with a split tail.

Danny gave a smirk as he looked back at his back up and then down at his former team. He then dashed off with the other three just behind him and fighting quickly ensued. While the three gruesome allies picked off opponents of their own, Danny had to split himself off to even the score. Beast Boy leaped at the reptilian ghost in the form of a gorilla wearing his ghost gloves. The horned ghost quickly asserted himself before Cyborg causing a grappling match to ensue.

The third ghost found it amusing to play with Terra as she tried to hit him with an array of smallish rocks. She wasn't fairing too well after only a few minutes as the naga ghost slithered his way for a bit of close combat. "Come now girl, let'sss close the distancccccce." He suggested with a wry grin and his tongue flailing from his lips. He blocked her punches with his lower set of arms and held the other set high above her head with his claws clasped together.

His cackle was cut short as a Rhino rammed him down from the side quickly transforming back into an angry Beast Boy. "Back off!"

"Beast Boy look out!" The blonde yelled as his former opponent made a dash for the changeling. A bolt of green energy cut it down in its tracks, however, as an irate alien flew off towards the ghoul.

With the other four Titans dealing with the underling ghosts, Robin and Raven were left to face their former comrade. The two Danny's smirked at their opponents as they lit their hands with green energy. "I don't know what he's doing to control you, but fight it!" Robin yelled in reason. The halfa laughed in response as the cruel glint in his eye turned to a blast from his palm. The boy wonder dodged with grace before coming at the ghost with his bow staff. Danny dodged several times before allowing his feet to touch the roof top. As Robin pointed the staff at him an idea came to mind and the halfa smirked as the glow of his hands turned to blue. He formed an ice staff in seconds and started an amusing sparing match with the boy wonder.

Meanwhile the other Danny floated before Raven with all the appearance of preparing for an attack, but never attacking. Raven held her guard as she waited for him to strike, but after seeing all the others be attacked while she had not, made her uneasy. As she moved her gaze back on the halfa before her she noticed he was looking at her with a curious expression. "Danny?" She asked in a slightly pleading tone. The last thing she wanted was to fight him. Danny glared in return but stayed in place, and ready for attack. What is he doing? Raven thought to herself. Though relieved to not be fighting him she couldn't help but be curious.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one to notice as an angry shout from above fell down. "Just what are you waiting for Phantom? Attack!" Danny turned and glared at the man like a teenager would an angry parent. "What was that?!" The man shouted in outrage. "Do as I say!" He continued as he pulled out a red orb from his bag. "Now!" He grasped it tight and Danny's eyes glowed red in response. With a new found air of cruelty he turned his head towards the sorceress and let out a beam of ectoplasm from his right palm.

Raven blocked it rather easily with her magic and blasted back. Danny was able to dodge with equal ease and they went back and forth like that several times. Robin, watching the fight from the corner of his eye, continued his match against the duplicate as he blocked a swing from above. "Just what is going on?" He muttered to himself as he pushed Danny back and swept his feet. Danny stumbled back a bit to dodge but quickly found his footing. Robin took the short moment allotted to him to get a better look at the man and noticed the glowing red orb in his hands as he sternly watched Danny fight with Raven. "It has to be that red ball…." He deduced as he blocked once again and a battle of endurance ensued between the two as their weapons scrapped each other.

The other Titans fared no better against their opponents as Cyborg and his ghost took turns throwing each other into the hardest surfaces they could find. They had long ago left the roof and now took to the rocky shore below. "Damn! Just what is this thing made of!?" Cyborg complained as he picked himself up from a small crater. He rubbed his head a bit just before noticing the creature charge at him once again with his prominent horns. "Time to take the bull by the horns!" He told himself as he grabbed them and forced the specter to a halt. The creature growled in protest as the metal man lifted him up and tossed him across the shore. He quickly followed the ghost to his landing spot and pulled out his ecto-enforced sonic cannon. "Now stay down spooky!" He shouted just before blasting him out of existence.

He blew on the opening of his weapon in satisfaction before hearing a rumble from behind himself. Once he turned, he saw another ghost cratered into the rock as a hail of green blasts rained over it. After about a minute the barrage ended as Starfire, eyes aglow in rage, breathed heavily in the air above. "You are a most unpleasant creature!" Cyborg took a small step back with a nervous expression as he kept himself out of the Tamaranean's war path.

Beast Boy and Terra seemed to be having a bit more trouble even though it was two against one. The ghost they faced seemed more powerful and smart as it quickly caught on as to who was the weaker of the two. He continued to dive for Terra at any moment he could which caused Beast Boy to recklessly retaliate. The green lion swiped at the ghost, much to his own pleasure as he slipped by the claws every time. "Kitty wantsssss to play?" Beast Boy roared in response as he leaped at the creature.

Terra backed him up with a relatively large rock and attempted to throw it at the ghost but it simply slipped right through him like so many others. "I'm getting nowhere!" She yelled in frustration.

"Then let me help!" She heard from behind. Just as she turned back a black and white blurr flew past her line of sight. Dani had flown in just in time to save Beast Boy from a crushing blow to the chin as the ghost held his throat. "How about some of this!" She taunted as she held her hands together and blasted the ghost with her ghost ray. The ghost, taken by surprise, was blasted back and skidded to the water. Dani followed up with several random blasts in his direction as she flew over the salt water surface. She paused in mid-air with a short breath as she watched for the ghost to come back up. Patience became relief as the waters slowly began to settle with no retaliation from the ghost. She then pumped her fist in victory as she turned back to her equally relieved friend.

"Nice going!" Terra shouted in support from the shore before her happiness contorted in fear.

Dani's confusion was short lived as she slowly turned to meet the crimson glare of her cousin. "D-danny?" She choked out before the halfa raised both arms up and brought them down on her like a hammer on a nail. She dropped from the air and dove towards the water much to the dismay of the geokinetic.

"No! Dani!" Her eyes glowed yellow as she willed the earth to come up from the water, but before the younger halfa could complete her descent, she caught herself and floated inches above the water.

Breathing heavily she looked back up to her cousin with betrayal in her eyes. Even if he was being controlled, how could he do this? He didn't even hesitate! She thought to herself as she watched the smirk on his face grow. She floated back towards the shore slowly while keeping her eyes on her elder cousin. "How could you! E…even if…" Small tears fell down her cheeks as her hands trembled with emotion. She then turned her gaze up towards the man and they cut in anger. "This is your fault!" She shouted as she pointed at the stranger. As she made a move to fly towards him, Danny cut her off and strong armed her all the way to shore where she made quite the impression on the rocks.

Robin, who was continuing his sparing match heard the yells from below and knew it was time to end his stalling. Though he had not figured a way to get the orb, chances are it would be costly in this situation and so he got serious. After parrying Phantom's latest swing he pushed him back and plunged the staff straight through the duplicate's chest. The ecto-energy flowing through the staff did its job as the ghost's form evaporated away.

Raven's Phantom suddenly seemed more distracted from his fight and it wasn't long before he dashed away completely. Both Raven and Robin followed suit and he led them down to the base of the tower where he seemed to be fighting a teenage girl only two of the Titans recognized. They caught up with him at the end of the match and the girl was now collapsed upon the rocky shore.

Though one of the teens was now down for the count, the man was not happy as he looked over the scene. The only ghost still fighting was Phantom while the rest were seemingly dealt with. He let out a growl of frustration as he crossed his arms. "Hurry up and end this Phantom. I have better things to do then watch you play with these children!"

Phantom turned and gave a short glare to the man before moving back a bit to take a good position. He took in a deep breath and upon breathing out an outrageous wail came with it. All conscious Titans covered their ears in protest of the noise. Sparks flew up from Cyborg as he struggled to keep from falling over the shaking ground. A minute into the wail and it was interrupted by Danny being blasted from behind. Starfire, with her ears covered by her hands, had used her eyes instead to end her friends suffering.

Danny clasped at his side in pain as he glared back at the girl, while breathing heavily. The wail had taken its toll on the halfa as he hesitated to make any moves at all against her in retaliation. The villain above watched the scene in anger as his patience met its limit. "It seems I overestimated the Phantom's abilities. It's time to end this silly game." He then held up the orb and in response, the circle of ghosts began to close in.

Robin looked up at the encroaching army and cursed. "Damn! If only we could get that thing away from him." He held his bow staff up and at the ready as most of the other Titans did with their own weapons of choice.

"I hope you have some sort of plan cause I'm pulling a blank." Cyborg said as he turned to Robin. "We don't have the man power to fight all of those ghosts and I'm running low on power after that last one."

Robin grunted in response. "There has to be something!"

"Dude!" Beast Boy shouted as he pointed at the sky. A beam of green energy was now shooting up from the tower and was now washing over them like a rain. A dome quickly formed, completely covering the island and a small portion of the water within.

Danny sharpened his gaze at the tower's roof in what appeared to be a mixture of confusion and anxiety before reassigning his gaze towards the Tamaranean. "Hurry up!" He shouted at her in anger.

Starfire was so surprised by his sudden speech she dropped her starbolts. She shook her head as she made a slow approach. "Please, friend Phantom. I do not wish to harm you."

Danny lit up his fist in response. "Then I'll harm you!" His fire was caught as he was encased in a glowing green net. Danny twisted in the net's grasp enough to see his attacker to find Scott with a ghost net launcher held clumsily within his talons.

The bony bird then flew off towards the shore. "I'm going to need some help here!" He shouted as he tossed the base of the gun to Cyborg. "You're going to have to reel him in quick before he can regain any strength." Cyborg didn't hesitate to grab for the line and Beast Boy transformed into a gorilla to help him out.

"What is this thing?" Robin asked as he saw several ghosts make contact with the barrier only to be shocked back.

"It is a ghost shield." Scott squawked back. "It took me longer than I expected to find the control for it, but it should keep all other ghosts out aside from me and Phantom."

"Right, I remember going over the grid on the roof with Danny about installing this." Cyborg added in as he drew the halfa ever near despite the ghost's attempts to fly away.

"So it'll keep out those ghosts?" Beast Boy asked as he watched the horde fruitlessly attack the energy barrier.

"Precisely."

"How long?" Robin enquired as he turned to his second in command.

"Based on the power output, we can keep it up for days, but I doubt it's been field tested on this many ghost before."

Robin then turned his gaze towards the fallen halfa who Terra was watching over. The striking resemblance she had for Phantom was easily noticed despite her tattered appearance. "Is she okay?" Asked Beast Boy as he kneeled down beside her.

Terra shook her head as she placed a hand on the shoulder of her friend. "I don't think so…." As if in response to her touch, a bright ring appeared around the girl and quickly enveloped her revealing an all too familiar teenage girl. Her stark white hair, now black, and her suit now street clothes, made it plain to see it was now Danny's cousin lying defeated on the ground.

Back inside the tower, the team retreated to the medical bay where they had placed Dani and looked over other wounded members of the team. Terra sat in a chair beside Dani with Beast Boy standing beside her. "I can't believe he could do that to his own cousin." He commented as he turned to the now bound halfa on the other side of the room.

"He couldn't help it." Raven held him with her energy along with the net, which was now wrapped around his torso.

"Serves her right for being an idiot anyway." Scott quipped which got him an angry glare from Terra.

"She saved both me and Beast Boy!"

He gave a sarcastic laugh in response as he floated over towards the two. "Yes, a completely pointless endeavor on her part. I told her I was going to get the shield online, but no! She had to go off and be a hero; a fool's more like it really." He then pointed Danny's way. "If he hadn't knocked her out so fast she would have fallen under the imperious spell as well and then we'd have two of them to worry about!"

Cyborg lifted his head away from his repairs. "What are you talking about?"

"The orb." Robin answered. "It's that red orb isn't it?"

Raven and Scott gave nods. "It's what is controlling all of those ghosts…. Controlling Danny." Raven responded as she turned his direction.

"Yes, and all it takes is one look to be captured by the spell. One look, and you're a slave in all matters of the word."

Robin then rubbed his chin a bit. Cyborg noticed his curious form and questioned him. "What's up Robin?"

"Something isn't right." He stated as he turned towards Danny. "If he had no control over what he was doing then why was he playing with Raven?"

The sorceress in question gave a supporting nod. "It was strange….. he didn't even attack until he was ordered to and even then…. He didn't hit me even once."

Robin gave a nod. "And then there was Dani." He said as he pointed towards the girl. "The minute we heard her join the fight Danny dashed straight for her. He just dropped everything to go after her first."

"Then he had more control than we thought?" Cyborg questioned.

Robin nodded as he turned back Danny's way. "I'm not entirely sure how, but he was going against the spell. He refused to attack Raven and made sure that Danielle wouldn't fall prey to the spell's control."

"Then his words….." Starfire started but died in her throat.

"What are you talking about Star?" Robin asked his girlfriend.

She turned to the halfa with sympathetic eyes. "It was after I had attacked him. He wished for me to hurry and stop him. I am sorry but I could not bring myself to do so."

"It's alright Star." Robin consoled.

"If it wasn't for the shield, I doubt you would have got him even if you did." Cyborg added in as he walked over to the screen. "It weakens ecto-energy held inside it."

Bones clicked his tongue to correct him. "Both Danny's and my own signatures were added in as exceptions. That is why I can still move about freely." He then turned back towards the glaring halfa. "But that wouldn't matter anyway. Danny is already running on empty as it is. He wouldn't have been able to do much to stop you."

"I guess copying himself and using that yelling attack really took it out of him." Beast Boy commented with a relieved tone as he watched his former teammate from a safe distance.

Bones then scoffed at him. "Please. He was like that before the fight even started. Do you honestly think that I wouldn't be able to tell given the distance? That wail of his would have decimated you all at such short range. Phantom has gone one on one with arch spirits fully capable of decimating whole civilizations."

Raven couldn't help but give a small sarcastic laugh. "Since when has your opinion of him gotten so great?"

The ghost crossed his arms in insult. "I am merely stating fact. Even now, Raven is the only thing holding him back. What we need to do is break the spell somehow."

The girl in question then turned her gaze to the Chronicle tome on a table across the room. "So just how do we break it?"

The latch broke on the side in response and the book flew open. "What a question to ask." Said Minos as he smoked out of the book. "But not impossible." He wore a confident grin which would make any normal persons skin crawl. Raven returned his grin with a knowing one. She knew he'd have something. After all, information is what he prides himself on.

And thus I leave you all hanging once again. I did promise a new chapter in a week given a good response did I not? Who knows... I may do it again. Anyway, so a bit of explaining. Terra's powers first I guess. She was rather over powered under the control of Slade wasn't she? But since her memory of that whole scenario is basically gone, she had to start over from what she had. I'll explain this later, but she got practice in with Dani. Now for Danny's powers a bit. You have to look at him in a superman point of view. He has a large skill set and normally fights creatures that you can't, for all intents and purposes, kill. In Jump city, though many of them have powers, he does have to worry about possibly killing them. He holds himself back accordingly like superman, but of course that doesn't make him invulnerable. I'm not going to make him over powered of course, so no worries. I'm just trying to adjust it a bit. Feel free to give me some ideas if you want. Now, thank you for reading and please review.=^-^=