Chapter 2: Where There's Smoke

"A store-house of evil is a woman if she is depraved."

-Proverbs

There are some things that you just do not tell people.

Sometimes out of embarrassment (what good would Danny bring if he told Sam that she had begun appearing in his dreams like THAT?), sometimes out of necessity (Tucker was his best friend, but even Danny wished he would stop talking sometimes), and sometimes because telling them really had no point.

And one of those things, as Danny suddenly felt the familiar uncomfortableness as his changed body sensed a fellow, was that Danny had begun to notice slight differences when his ghost sense triggered.

Ironically, he had first come to notice it due to the fact that the Box Ghost was always showing up. After running into him a dozen times, Danny had begun to notice that an odd feeling permuted his mouth, the combination of his nostrils and taste buds sensing something that his physical form just could not properly convey to his brain. It was faint and quickly faded into nothingness, but it was noticeable if you were alert. The exact feeling, or taste, as taste was the sense that seemed to be better able to pick it up, was of a slight sourness, and a very faint hint of something soggy, like oatmeal, there and gone in a second. Danny had been stumped on exactly that was though…until one day when he had been out and about and seen a mother chastising her toddler son for chewing on the letter she was about to mail. It was that that made Danny remember: he had chewed some paper when he was that age too. What he felt was almost like chewing a piece of paper…or maybe paper's cousin, cardboard.

Once he had the concept down, Danny had begun to notice other faint traces of uniqueness in his foes. Skulker, for example, had a strong wild feeling, which Danny felt was what you would smell if you were fighting up close with a furious gorilla of the old adventure pulps, a primal scent so fierce it spilled over onto taste as well. On the other hand, Penelope Spectra was almost all taste, a faint feeling of intense bitterness at the back of his mouth. And Vlad…Danny still couldn't place Vlad's…but it felt familiar. VERY familiar. Which made sense, he supposed.

Problem was, Danny didn't go around all day in a state of readiness for ghosts to attack (heck no, that would denote he WANTED to fight with the ghosts, and quite frankly he would prefer it if they stayed in the Ghost Zone and played Solitaire or did whatever they did to pass eternity), and hence if a ghost showed up and it was someone new, Danny wouldn't be able to notice any distinguishable characteristics at all. It would take several appearances before he could pin down their sign.

Usually.

This time though, Danny didn't even have to be aware of what has happened. The message he got, instead of the usual soft, barely there whisper, was instead this time the equivalent of someone bellowing directly into his ear.

What came out of his mouth BURNED. And not a slight burn, like Ember's: we were talking a "just ate ten jalapenos" burning sensation, the mother of all peppers, the feeling of brimstone from hell, as Danny gasped both at the sensation of the detection and the realization there was someone around…

And then Jazz screamed.

"Huh? Wha? JAZZ!" Danny yelled, as he scrambled to his feet. He already knew where to go, as he ran out of the kitchen, down the hall, and down into the basement.

(And if he had possessed a more tactical mindset instead of that of a junior high student, he might have just transformed and phased through the floor. Then AGAIN, maybe the fact that he didn't was an indication that he had more tactical sense then he realized, as it would be damn inconvenient if Danny Phantom just happened to pop up when there was a problem involving ghosts, considering the weird way his sister already acted which may or may not have indicated she had strong suspicions…)

Danny ran into the room, and his heart leapt into his throat as he saw Jazz lying on the floor, thrashing a bit.

Then she stopped.

The motion Jazz made then, as she rolled over and put an arm down to push herself, was enough for Danny to know something was very wrong. It wasn't a casual "Oh I need to get up" motion: it was almost PREDATORY, like a tiger digging its claws into the dirt in anticipation of a soon to be caught and killed meal.

Jazz stood up, her back to Danny.

Then she jerked her neck to the side, producing a loud popping noise that startled Danny even more, as Jazz cracked her neck back and forth a few times, and then raised her hands, looking at them.

The fact that her back was to Danny kept him from seeing the great satisfaction in her eyes…except these were no longer Jazz's cool blue eyes. These eyes were so brown they were almost black…and their whites weren't white, they were red…the red you see in the heart of a campfire.

"Ahhhhhh…it's good to have flesh again. Been…too long…and yet…" Sizzle said, as her eyes suddenly grew distant.

Daddy nooooooooo…

Sizzle's eyes snapped back to reality, a brief flash of furious rage flickering over the eyes and over Jazz's features.

"Not this time. This time, they all burn." Sizzle said.

"Hey!"

Sizzle raised both her eyebrows, and then she turned and looked at the young man who had been standing behind her. The memories that were already flooding into her being identified him as the host's younger brother…which was perfect by her.

"Hello little boy." Sizzle said, and smiled. Danny felt a chill seize in the deepest part of his guts. His sister was giving him an expression she could have never given in her life, an expression she would never know HOW to give: it was the vicious look of a sadist discovering a new source of fun.

"Who are you? What are you doing…get out of my sister!" Danny yelled.

"….Noooooo…I don't think I'll be doing thattttttt…" Sizzle said, as she took a few steps forward, briefly revealing in the simple motion. Too long without solid form, too long spent floating and wisping through strange realities and planes of existence, only wanting to return, to pay them all back for their crimes, and finally finding a door…and a host…and something to take her long starved sense of fury out on.

She'd make this boy a masterpiece of agony. Even the Marquis wouldn't be able to comprehend what she was going to do…what this boy deserved. What all his breed did.

"I think…I'll be staying…and you'll be going. Specifically, your temperature will be going, up…and up…"

Fire exploded on Sizzle's hand. Danny could feel the heat even from the fifteen-foot distance, and he goggled. If he could feel such intense temperature from over HERE, the fire should have surely ignited Jazz's clothing, catch light to her hair, started to sizzle the thin flesh off her face like bacon…but Jazz didn't look like she noticed a thing.

Because she didn't. She wasn't Jazz. She was Sizzle, the Lord and Master of the Inferno, and the boy in front of her…was a slowly burning fuel.

VERY slowly.

"In fact, may as well just chop the top off the thermometer." Sizzle said, and laughed. If the grin Sizzle had given him had chilled Danny's guts, this laugh sent them straight into arctic temperatures. If sickness had a sound…Danny was pretty sure it would be like Sizzle's laugh.

As the laugh turned into a yell as Sizzle thrust out her hand and fired a long stream of flame at Danny, the tip glowing pure white…

Even rolling out of the way, his clothes nearly caught fire, as the spear of flame zapped past him and struck the wall, splashing against the metal and sinking its fangs into it instead. After a second, the flame cut off, and Danny gaped at the result: a hole four feet in circumference in which the metal was oozing out like hot wax, part of it glowing dully. Danny may have been a straight C student, but he knew how much heat it took to make metal resemble caramel…and how dangerous the force that had possessed his sister was if she could not only muster that kind of heat into existence within a few seconds but exert such high control over it that her flesh and blood host wasn't even annoyed by the temperature.

He looked back at Sizzle, who was staring at Danny in confusion. And we can't really blame her, can we? The boy wasn't supposed to move. He was supposed to stand there in shock and horror…and then burn…and burn…and burn…

"You…moved?" She said.

"I can do a lot more then THAT." Danny said, as he stood up and fired up his own self, as the rings appeared and swept over him, changing him to Danny Phantom. And at the time he was more glad that he was the Halfa then ever before, because now he could fight, and fight he would: as aggravated as they made him, NO ONE threatened his family.

"Ok lady. I'm Danny Phantom. This can end two ways. Get out of my sister, or get hurt." Danny snapped.

Again the lack of a tactical mindset reared it's ugly head, as Danny should have known that, the fact that he's known this new threat for thirty seconds notwithstanding, that you shouldn't make threats to something like that.

The way fire flashed, literally, across his sister's eyes, sharply pointed the fact out to him, even as he realized ANOTHER tactical flaw in his vow…

"BURN!" Sizzle screamed, throwing up her other arm and firing an even more concentrated blast of flame at Danny. Danny dodged to the side and flew along the wall as Sizzle followed him with the stream, the outburst of flame carving a smoking, molten line behind the ghost teen, the heat making his father's notes and books catch on fire and his chemicals beakers explode as Danny flew over a table and then away from the wall, as Sizzle stopped her blast, her eyes looking at Danny in blazing fury due to the fact that the teenager had dodged AGAIN. He wasn't supposed to move, he was supposed to SUFFER.

"I SAID BURN!" Sizzle screamed, as she again fired a twin handed stream of fire. Danny flew up to avoid it, and the fire flew through the swirling green energy of the Ghost Portal. Whether the combustible reaction of oxygen could do anything in there, we don't know, but if it could, a few spirits probably wound up feeling the heat.

Sizzle looked up at where Danny was floating near the ceiling, not sure what to do. He had just realized something: the ghost was in his sister…which meant it was pretty much untouchable. What was he going to do, hit his own sister? Knowing his luck that would just hurt Jazz and make the spirit inside even ANGRIER, if that was possible. So what should he do, turn intangible and fly into his sister and yank out the spirit that possessed her? That seemed like a good plan, except for one thing: if he turned intangible, and the flames went through him…well, this force had clearly shown no qualms about setting everything else on fire if it couldn't hit its target, and he didn't want to burn his own house down…

"BURN BOY!" Sizzle screamed, as a ball of fire the size of a basketball exploded into being above her right hand, and she hurled it at Danny. Danny's infantile strategic abilities were rudely interrupted as he had to dodge to the side, and then yelp and dodge again at the last second as the fireball exploded on the ceiling and sent off several arcing tongues of flame that reached out hungrily for him. Danny flew back down to the floor as Sizzle ignited and fired another ball of flame at him, and another, and another, more parts of the lab igniting and exploding as the heat claimed them, and there was beginning to be smoke, and Danny's ghost form, perhaps due to his human side, still had to breath…

He had to get Jazz, or whatever was inside Jazz, outside. Then he could work on freeing Jazz…

Who was giving a low growling snarl, the sound of a rabid animal, as Danny dodged out of the way of her fireballs, her rage growing with every miss…so she decided the next one wouldn't miss, as she raised her hands above her.

"I told you to burn boy…" Sizzle growled as fire ignited above her and grew, forming into a ball that rapidly expanded past the basketball size she had been using before and grew to beach ball, then oversized beach ball, and then beyond. "And when Sizzle says burn, I MEAN BURN!"

"Ho boy." Danny said as he looked at the huge sphere of fire Sizzle had summoned. Sizzle smiled at him, a lopsided, twisted grin of pure carnage.

"You're going to burn now." Sizzle said matter of factly, and the orb of flame flew at Danny.

Danny dodged out of the way, and smartly turned around as he did so: it let him see that the ball had immediately looped around, melting a slight line across the left wall and ceiling as it flew at Danny again. Danny yelped and flew away, the ball at his heels. He could feel the intense heat, and if he looked back he might have seen his boots starting to smoke, so its probably best that he kept looking forward as he flew low to the floor, darting past Sizzle, who was just watching and smiling a contented smile, as Danny turned around and saw the ball of flame still chasing him…and coming right up to Jazz's body, which was right in its way and showed no intention of moving.

"NO!" Danny screamed.

The globe enveloped Jazz, her form immediately becoming a black silhouette as the fire consumed her, and then even that vanished.

"JAZZ!" Danny screamed, and then he had to fly again as the ball was still coming after him, as he flew up to the ceiling…

And nearly stopped in pure shock.

His sister was still there. And far from being vaporized, she didn't have a hair out of place. Danny couldn't believe it. Bad enough the force could summon such heat…but with such terrifying fine control that she could envelop a human body, of her choice, in it and come out with not even a sunburn?

And then Danny had to start moving again because the ball was snapping at his rear, and he doubted that if it caught him he'd come out of it as well as his sister, or rather the evil inside her, had. All her plans faded away for one goal: he had to get out of the house.

And wisely, he did not go up the stairs. Instead, he went through the ceiling, phasing through, hoping he could remember the layout of his house enough so…

He phased out through the concrete about twenty feet from his house. He flew up a few feet into the air and stopped for a second…

The fireball erupted from the ground, melting right through the concrete and causing the stone around it to expand violently from the intense heat, which resulted in it exploding, forcing Danny to turn intangible to avoid being riddled with red-hot pebbles, and then the fireball was flying at him and he was running again.

A car driving towards him turned abruptly to the side at the sight of the ghost boy being chased by the sphere of flame, the car crashing into a storefront as Danny flew past it, wondering how he was going to get away, because the ball would just not stop…

Then he saw it, and made a beeline for it.

He was glad there was no one on the sidewalk, as he zipped down onto it, the ball following, melting a line in the street and causing storefront windows and newspaper vending machines to explode, even as Danny reached it…

And phased through the fire hydrant.

The fireball followed, melting right through the red metal…

And getting caught in the immediate high-pressure geyser of water that exploded from the destroyed construct. Steam bloomed out in huge clouds and immediately enveloped Danny Phantom, though he was too far away to get burned by THAT as well, as the fireball immediately shrank and then poofed out of existence.

Danny stopped, and then floated down to the ground, panting, gasping for air…

And then he realized his mistake. In his haste to get away, he'd left that…thing (What had she called herself? Sizzle?) in the basement. He thought for sure she'd follow…but what if she didn't? What if she went upstairs…oh god, his mom, his dad!

Danny floated up and began flying back towards the Fenton household.

And then they flew from the steam, the clouds completely covering the street like a thick fog, lines of something, lines of red, that were flying at him…

Danny Phantom had no idea he had such good reflexes, or that his body could twist into such a shape…but the daggers of fire still hit him, clipping his shoulder and his side, as he screamed as the top layers of his skin were literally VAPORIZED, as the pain made him lose his concentration and fall to the ground, though he managed to stay in his Phantom form, in the old days sudden sharp pain would break his connection, and that was the last thing…

A shadow was appearing in front of him, walking slowly, and a moment later Sizzle stepped through the clouds. She cocked her head and looked at Danny, and Danny felt a brief surge of relief. She'd followed him after all. His parents were safe…

Because she had decided to concentrate on incinerating him. His relief quickly faded.

"Danny Phantom…" She chuckled, her furious rage having swung over to a more merry part of her madness. "You know what they say, don't you? The good die young."

And Sizzle raised her hand, her fingers flexed in a claw shape, as she fired five more daggers of flame from her fingers and thumb.

Danny flew up, the knives of fire slashing into the ground where he had just been, as he immediately recalled part 2 of his plan: he had to help Jazz. New problem: despite being outside the same predicament faced him: if he went intangible, Sizzle could easily light a building or two on fire. So Danny came to a hard decision: if he couldn't yank Sizzle out of her host, he'd make the host useless to her. Which meant he had to attack his sister, and he hated himself for not coming up with a better plan…but it was all he could think of in the literal heat of the moment.

But at least he knew where to aim: her temple. Big burly men had been knocked unconscious with proper blows to the forehead, so Danny was sure he could knock out his 110 pounds soaking wet sister with a brief kick to her head. He hoped she'd forgive him, as he abruptly changed direction and zapped down, his leg pistoning out, trying to catch Sizzle by surprise…

He didn't, not enough, as she tried to dodge, and instead of hitting her on her forehead Danny's leg clipped the right side of her face as he flew past her, even as he realized what he had done and rage and shame flooded through him, rage at missing and at the fact by dodging Sizzle had ended up hurting his sister, and shame at having to do this in the first place, even as he landed and flew forward a few feet before he turned around.

He was greatly surprised to see Sizzle still with her back to him.

Then she slowly raised her right arm, and Danny got ready for an attack, but it wasn't: instead Sizzle brought her arm up to her face.

And then she turned around, and Danny could see the line of blood coming from the corner of her mouth, blood Sizzle touched her hand to, the tips coming away crimson, as she looked at the small wound Danny had inflicted at her like a doctor might have looked at a finally discovered cure for cancer: a brief moment of absolute, utter shock and disbelief that this had happened.

But a scientist might have then had an intense reaction of euphoria…but that wasn't going to happen with Sizzle. At least not the euphoria part.

"You…touched…me." She said.

From those words, Danny realized he was in trouble. But even he didn't realize how much.

Sizzle lowered her hand a bit, looking at the blood.

"You…………touched…………me……."

And she looked at Danny.

Danny had thought he had seen rage before, but what was in Sizzle's eyes now made her previous expressions look like warm smiles.

"YOU TOUCHED ME!"

And Sizzle clenched both hands shut even as she threw back her head and screamed. And this was a not a normal scream, this was a sound no human throat by itself could ever make, as Danny clamped his hands over his ears.

And then down the block, the buildings on each side of the street exploded, flames blasting out through the windows and doors as both buildings erupted in a five-alarm blaze. Danny recoiled…and then recoiled even more as the buildings next to it exploded, and the next ones, and then the ones around Danny as the entire street went up in an firestorm of fury and hatred, the heat, smoke, and debris pelting Danny as the whole street burned around him, even as it rained fire for blocks around from the explosion, and even as walls of fire licked around her, Sizzle lowered her head and looked at Danny with eyes so black and deep they seemed endless, an eternal pit of wrath.

And in his heart, Danny knew that this wasn't like any of his other foes. This wasn't Skulker, a hunter who wanted special things, or Vlad Plasmius, who wanted power for his own gains. This wasn't Spectra, who wanted misery, or Ember, who wanted worship, or Johnny 13, who seemed to want trouble.

If he could put a name to it…

Sometimes, almost always in that period between alertness and sleep, Danny Fenton had had a few deep thoughts of what exactly the Ghost Zone was. It was linked to death, so Danny often pondered it in religious terms. It didn't strike him as Heaven or Hell, or any of the places you supposedly went after you died for a reward or punishment…so what was it? Limbo, perhaps, or maybe Purgatory? The waiting room for one of those four? Or maybe it was something else entirely, something so different no human had ever classified it into theology or myth, a true brave new world that a few people would see.

But if it had released something like this…then maybe Danny had been wrong about his Heaven and Hell analogy.

Because this force was from Hell, straight from the lower circles…or maybe in a way it was a soul or a spirit or an essence that had somehow escaped Hell…but in the end, it hadn't escaped at all.

Because Hell was in it.

And it was hungry.

As fire swept all around Danny, the heat hammering him from every angle, as he finally lowered his hands from his ears and looked at Sizzle, who was looking back to him with an expression that proved that if looks could kill, Danny would have become more then half ghost.

"I'll burn you down to your very atoms." Sizzle hissed, and raised her arms.

Once again a ball of flame erupted above her body, but this time, it didn't stop at basketball or beach size. It kept growing, and growing, even as Amity Park blazed around him and the heat from the fire growing above Sizzle began to melt the concrete around her, her form becoming surrounded by a sea of molten tar, as Danny tried to think despite the terrible heat and the flames and the people caught in the buildings and why did this happen what did he ever do why did he have to fight this fight his sister why couldn't he have incapacitated her…

Wait…

Sizzle didn't blink as Danny rose up from the ground, and then he flew away.

"GO AHEAD! RUN! RUN ALL THE WAY TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH! I'LL FIND YOU, BOY!" Sizzle screamed after him, even as she continued to make her ball of fire grow, even as she prepared to send it after the boy who she had seen and who refused to die for her like he should have, because he was a male and they all owed her a pound of flesh, and with interest she was going to take a ton…

And then Danny was back, flying back in and getting as close as he could to Sizzle with the terrible heat from the forces she commanded.

"So…you came back…but don't expect any mercy boy. Your kind deserves none." Sizzle said.

"Girl, you don't belong here. You belong on Springer." Danny said. "So in the spirit of that…talk to the hand!"

And Danny held out the so-called Fenton Ghost Incapacitator, except it wouldn't incapacitate Sizzle, but Danny knew what it would do, and that was all he needed.

And Sizzle, realizing what it was from the memories of Jazz, widened her eyes in shock.

"NO!" She screamed, and tried to throw her ball of fire.

Too late, as Danny activated the device and a bolt of blue energy flew out, striking Jazz in the forehead, and for a moment her form wavered, and Danny wondered if it would work…and then Jazz crumbled to the ground.

The fireball immediately vanished, as if it never was.

And Sizzle pulled herself from Jazz's form. Danny had been on the mark: she could subvert her host's body and will to her desires, but she couldn't command an unconscious host. In her pure fire spirit state, she looked at Danny with an expression of rage that would have scared a demon from hell…but it didn't scare Danny Phantom, because he was uncorking the Fenton Thermos.

"NO!"

"Cool off in here!" Danny yelled, as he thrust the Thermos out, and the blue tractor beam esque energy fired out, seizing Sizzle before she could move and yanking her into the Thermos with a scream of pure fury.

And then she was inside, and Danny clamped on the lid on and screwed it shut.

He sighed with relief.

And then he abruptly became re-aware that A) The whole block he was on was still burning down, and B) There were people in those buildings, and C) They were screaming.

"Darn it!" Danny said, as he dropped the Fenton Thermos, took several deep breaths and then turned intangible, flying into the nearest building, zig zapping through flaming rooms until he located someone and grabbed them, pulling them out immediately or following their directions (if they managed to give any in the fact that they were being saved by an intangible flying boy who was pulling them through walls) to other people in whatever building he was in. It wasn't all good, as he sometimes found he had been too late…but for the most part he managed to save everyone he located, pulling them out and away from the fire even as fire sirens rang in the distance.

And in the process, noted something odd: the victims he found were all male. The only injuries the females he found were suffering from was smoke inhalation…which made no considering that the way those buildings had exploded, some of them should have been disintegrated…kind of like his sister should have when that ball of flame enveloped…

Oh god, Jazz!

Danny flew back into the flaming street, nearly getting crushed by a falling, flaming telephone pole, as he zipped in to where his sister lay. He landed nearby and lifted her body up, and she gave a low moan, which gave him some comfort: it meant she was alive. And he couldn't see any injuries.

"Hang on Jazz. I'll get you out of here…in just a second…" Danny said, as he stood up and made his way over to the Thermos: smoke was clouding his vision but he knew where he had left it, and he found it easily enough, and reached down.

It's too bad the smoke obscured his eyesight.

Because when Danny picked the Thermos up, he found it was red-hot. If he hadn't been wearing gloves, he probably would have suffered permanent nerve damage to his hand, and even the gloves weren't much protection as he screamed and threw the Thermos away.

It exploded in mid air. Something sharp hit Danny just above his left eyebrow, the impact knocking him to the ground, and as a greenish substance that in human form was his blood and in his Halfa form was something else entirely ran down his face he looked up at the furious form of Sizzle, floating in the air, her firey body matched by everything around her, a queen of her domain, lord and master of all she surveyed.

But what she was looking at was Danny, with that same expression of murderous hate.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" she screamed.

And then her body suddenly coiled up, her human form twisting into a spiral and then disappearing into thin air.

She had left. For now. Her last expression a promise rather then a current desire.

And a second after she was gone, so was the fire. It wasn't a gradual die out: it was like all the flaming buildings had their fires fed by gas like on older stoves, and the gas had been turned off. Within two seconds Danny had found the section of hell Sizzle had transformed the street into was back on earth.

He winced, looking at his burned hand, but from the very little he knew about medicine, he decided that was a good thing: pain meant the burns weren't too serious. He sighed as he stood up, and then the circles reappeared and returned him back to normal Danny Fenton…who immediately headed for his sister.

The pool of molten tar that had surrounded Jazz when she had been possessed by Sizzle had cooled down enough for Danny to walk on it, though his shoes still stuck as he made his way over to Jazz.

"Jazz? Jazz? Are you ok?" He asked, kneeling down. Jazz murmured. "Jazz?"

"Danny…" Jazz muttered, her voice slurred. Danny was about to help Jazz up, and if necessary carry her to safety…

When her hands suddenly shot out and grabbed the front of his shirt. For a brief, terrible moment, Danny thought Sizzle had somehow tricked him, and that she still resided in his sister, but when Jazz yanked Danny closer to her and Danny saw the look in her eyes, he knew it was still Jazz. However, the terror in her eyes didn't bring much comfort to the situation.

"So…ANGRY…" she whispered, her voice low and potent, and Danny knew she wasn't just babbling: she was giving him a direct warning.

"So…angry…" Jazz said, as her eyes began to tear up, in the way of a human who has seen something he or she cannot comprehend and at the same time understand all too well, in a deep black section of their selves that few people know about and fewer what to admit exist.

"I know Jazz. It's ok. You're ok. You're safe." Danny said.

"Danny…she hates you…"

"It doesn't matter Jazz, as long…"

"No…Danny! You can't…she HATES you…she won't…stop…"

"But…why?" Danny asked.

Perhaps Jazz had an answer to give him, or maybe she had none, but the point was quickly rendered moot as her eyes glazed over and she passed out, her body going limp in Danny's arms.

And so the two siblings lay there, one exhausted and free, and the other exhausted and worried about what the future held, as the smoke and ash from the ruins of an Amity Park street swirled around them.


And far away, inside a T-Tower, a door opened, and a young man stepped through.

He was dressed almost all in white: white boots, gloves, shirt, and leather jacket: the only thing not white was his light blue jean-esque pants. It fit his hair, which was also white and stood up from his head in the style many anime fans would immediately recognize, the gravity-defying spiked locks very similar to an anime series that involved gigantic fights and explosions. He was adjusting one of his gloves as he stepped up to a large metal door.

"Please state name." A robotic voice said

"Noel Collins. Savior." Savior said, as a few robotic appendages emerged from the walls around the door and approached him. One went to his face and placed itself around his right eye, while the other went for his left hand, as Savior extended a forefinger. A needle pricked the tip, drawing a bead of blood that was sucked up as the arm retracted.

"Please give personal password."

"Cannon to the right of them, Cannon to the left of them, Cannon in front of them, Volley'd and thunder'd; Storm'd at with shot and shell, Boldly they rock and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell, Rode the six hundred." Savior said quietly.

A two second pause.

"Password correct. Voice, retina, and DNA scan all confirmed. Welcome back, Savior. How was your day?" Chirped the computer.

"Fine so far, but I doubt that will last if I got an emergency signal." Savior muttered. "Open."

The door in front of Savior opened and Savior walked in, towards another door.

"Lock." He tossed over his shoulder. The door closed and an electronic lock slammed into place. A bazooka would be required to get through.

"Open." Savior said to the second door. It did so. "Lock." That door would requite a few dozen pounds of high quality plastic explosive. In front of him was the last door.

"Open." Savior said, the door did so. He declined to lock the last one: it was so thick and tightly sealed it would take a small tactical nuclear weapon to get in…but it also sealed the room so tight it wouldn't let any air in, and Savior didn't want the door locking by accident and suffocating his teammates and himself. He remembered when he had first arrived at Titan Tower, such security measures had been non-existent. But times had changed.

"Noel, good you could make it." Robin said, as Savior glanced at the table. All his teammates were there, sitting and waiting: Robin, their leader, Starfire the alien Tamaranian, Cyborg the, well, cyborg, Beast Boy the animal changeling, Raven the empath, Terra the earth commander, Gauntlet the artifact wielding jokester, and Scalpel the alien Blacktrinian and team doctor. And if you're a new reader and are wondering why Terra's not a statue and who the heck the last two guys are, well, read my other work. It's not really important to this plot, so don't feel bad if you get confused.

"Took you long enough." Beast Boy smirked good-naturedly.

"Well I wouldn't have taken so long if SOMEONE didn't insist I go all the way across Jump City just to rent movies at a store that gives us a three for one deal." Savior replied.

"Ah, you need the exercise." Beast Boy replied.

"Right, and you need to work on your counter-comebacks. You're slipping, Gar." Savior replied. He did not sit in his chair: he didn't feel like sitting. So instead he stood behind it, his hands gripping the back.

"So, what's happening? House run away? Dog on fire?"

"Raven…" Robin said, deferring to the half-demon sorceress, who also just happened to be Savior's longtime girlfriend. She looked deeply troubled.

"I don't have specifics, so I'll just get to the point: Sizzle's back." Raven said.

Brief silence.

"Back as in back from the dead, back as in cloned, back as in reincarnated, help us out here…" Gauntlet asked.

"Not sure…but I think it's like Murdercrow." Raven said.

"Malevolent spirit?" Savior asked rhetorically.

"Don't quote me on that yet, but yes, I think so." Raven said.

"Great. You know, all the morality of killing and death aside…I just wish at times that when we HAVE had to kill an enemy, they STAY dead." Savior said, pushing away from his chair and walking around the room.

"Where is she?" Terra asked. She hadn't been part of the team when the Titans had fought Genocide, which Sizzle had been a part of, but she had read some files. The woman sounded highly unpleasant.

"I'm not sure…" Raven said as she floated off her chair and over to the computer the Titans had in their basement meeting room. Normally they wouldn't have gone down there for a meeting, but Raven's first sensing of Sizzle's return had given her no idea exactly where she was, and deciding that caution was the better part of valor, she had hit the emergency alarm. By the time all the Titans were down in the room however, she had refined her assessment and discovered that while Sizzle was back, she wasn't anywhere near the Tower or Jump City, but since they were already all there…

"It's hard to translate supernatural inklings into computer data…but I gave it my best…" Raven said, as the screen turned on and a map of the United States appeared. "Judging from what I felt, Sizzle could be anywhere in this area." Raven finished, circling a rather large chunk of the landmass.

"Great. I knew would should have hired Can-Search-A-Few-Thousand-Square-Miles-In-A-Minute Man at our last membership drive." Gauntlet joked. Raven gave him a wry look, and he smiled weakly at her.

"However…if I cross-reference what I felt with the data we have…I think Sizzle is here." Raven said, as the map zoomed in several times. "Amity Park, a town that's had more then a few weird things happen to it. If Sizzle has returned in a non-living capacity, I'll bet the door she found comes out in there."

"Well great…so what do we do?" Cyborg asked.

"Well…that's where I turn it over to you Tim." Raven said, turning to Robin. "I know where she is, and I know she has to be stopped…but I also know all the trouble Brother Blood's been causing. So it's up to you, but whatever happens, I have to get to Amity Park, preferably yesterday."

"Hmmmmmm…" Robin said, thinking. "Well, after last time I would suggest we all go…but UNLIKE last time, Jump City currently has another problem that might erupt at any moment, not mention Amity Park is considerably farther away then Light City…hmmmmmm…"

"Why not just do what we did last time?" Gauntlet joked. Savior glared at the irreverent team.

"He has a point Tim. Things worked out pretty good the last time we had to send off a splinter cell to deal with a problem." Cyborg said.

"Ugh. Victor, you weren't there, but I'd hardly call what happened in Light City working out "pretty well"." Savior grumped. "Quite frankly…"

"Well then Noel, maybe you should try again and make up for it?" Gauntlet suggested.

Savior didn't say anything. Instead he just looked around at his teammates, who were looking at him with amusement, in the way people do when they are seeing someone who just stuck their foot into their mouth.

"You want me to lead this again Tim?" Savior asked.

"Despite your opinion, the last time worked out ok Noel." Robin replied in a serious tone. Savior sighed.

"Ok fine, guess I'm the Official Away Team Leader. I clean up the messes you guys don't want to have to leave home to clean up."

"Sizzle's not a mess Noel. She's dangerous, and she could do some serious damage if we don't stop her." Raven said

"Point. Same as last time Robin?" Savior asked, enquiring if he could pick his other team members.

"Only fair."

"Ok, Raven's a gimme." Savior said. Terra poked Beast Boy with her elbow and snickered. "Stop that! She would be going even if I wasn't!"

"Surrrrrrrre." Beast Boy replied.

"You're damn lucky I think strategically GARFIELD, or I'd pick you again. But if this is Sizzle, we need people who can resist fire."

"Uh…" Scalpel said, looking worried.

"Don't worry Nigel, you went through enough LAST time. You can stay home." Savior said. Scalpel relaxed, tipping his hat to Savior. "But all joking aside, we can't go around picking who goes and who doesn't due to who likes who and other stupid innuendo."

"Well…I am pretty resistant to heat Noel." Starfire said, raising her hand. Robin arched an eyebrow.

"Just what I was thinking. You should come Kory. As for the rest of you…Victor, you can probably resist the heat the most."

"Me? Gauntlet's got the energy shield! Metal melts you know!" Cyborg protested.

"Victor…this could be very serious. Do you want Rob and I on the same team?"

"Hey!" Gauntlet said.

"………..All right, I'll help. But if Brother Blood shows up, I'm running right back here." Cyborg said.

"Fair enough. That should be good Robin. You have any issues?"

"None serious." Robin said, glancing at Starfire, who didn't seem to notice: she was enjoying the fact that she got to go on a trip, conveniently forgetting said trip was to deal with a returned enemy who would have tortured her boyfriend to death if she'd gotten the chance.

"Ok. Raven, any problems?"

"No. Sounds good to me."

"Ok, Cyborg, go fire up the T-Car…"

"No, no, NO." Cyborg cut Savior off. "I'll come with you Noel, but we are NOT taking my baby. I KNOW what happens to you and cars."

Savior rolled his eyes.

"Cyborg, I have told you, it was NOT my fault Power Girl decided to throw that car at Doomsday, or that Cauterize wound up…"

"Amity Park's too far away anyway. You guys should take the T-Ship." Robin said.

"Point. Ok, transportation's settled, you two should go grab some stuff. Kory, don't overpack! This is a mission, not a vacation!" Noel called after the alien, who had gleefully got up and was heading for the opening doors.

"I will not Noel!" She called back, in the delighted tone that told Savior she would do just that because that was the way she was. Cyborg smirked at the white haired superhero and followed on her heels, the rest of the Titans following, leaving just Raven and Savior in the room.

"Ok…Raven, what does the computer have to say about Amity Park? Specifically, does it have any local talent?" Savior asked, meaning, do any superheroes or similar types live there?

"Just one, though there's not much on him." Raven said, as several keystrokes brought up a blurred newspaper photo. To an outside viewer, the mix of black and white would have been almost indecipherable…but the T-Tower had one of the most advanced computers on the planet, and within thirty seconds Raven had cleaned up the computer enough to get a relatively clear look at Danny Phantom.

"Got a name?"

"None on record…" Raven said. "Witness reports have had him fighting several of the strange apparitions that have manifested in and around Amity Park. If anything, he'll know the territory."

"How long has he been doing this?"

"Not sure. Earliest reports are about three, four months back."

"Ugh. Fresh meat. Rookies are never good." Savior said. Raven gave her boyfriend a wry look.

"As I recall, you were a rookie yourself at one time, Noel."

"Yeah, about a million years ago." Savior replied, a hint of bitterness in his voice. "Ok. Figure out who is, where he lives, where he works out of, his age, his favorite food, anything you can that will help us track him down. Once we do so, we recruit him if we can, or at least get him sympathetic to our cause. I'm going to the armory to grab anything we might need to help us with a spirit enemy. I doubt you can talk her out of it like Murdercrow."

"Most likely not. Murdercrow was just a victim, mostly. Sizzle…she was nuts."

"Oh yeah. I knew that. You think she'll be mad at you for killing her?"

"No more angrier then she will be at you for tricking her into coming close enough to headbutt her in the nose." Raven replied. Savior sighed, and looked again at the picture of Danny Phantom.

"Poor kid. Wonder if he has any idea what he's gotten himself into." Savior said, and started to leave. "Still, I hope the damn rookie doesn't get in our way."