Fourth Chapter now up! Nothing new to say, so just read the Disclaimer and be on your way! )
Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, nor the Lion King! ..You'll see what I mean by that.
I glared down at the stony weapons architecture, a hard look set in my grey eyes. I floated transparent above the city of Gotham, against a moonless sky. Just the way I liked it. I hated the light anyway. That's why I wore sunglasses in the light and you rarely found me outside during the day.
It was a part of my genes, hating and repulsing the light.
I floated down into the building, and continued thinking to myself.
The genes that hated light were my ghost genes.
My parents said it was only a little lab experiment. They told me it may not be safe for me to stay in there, but I stuck around anyway. Blast it, if only I had listened to them...
My fist clenched in anger, and started padding my cat like feet though the tiny-halled company building, looking curiously at all the giant computers, lasers, and guns. Not to mention the parts needed to create them all.
"You know what you're looking for Phantom. Next hall on your left, then you can phase through wall there to find your prize." Slade's creepy voice murmured.
"Righto... Master..." I muttered, knowing with happy satisfaction he couldn't hear me, for once. This was my only way of freedom, stealing. I had actually started to enjoy it, but I couldn't let Slade know that.
I turned left and phased through as he told me to, and found myself facing a whole mass of armed guards, along with a couple tiny, for their size, tanks.
"Oh crap..." I muttered, and summoned the blue flames to surround my hands. I growled, showing my fierceness.
"Oh yes, did I forget to mention that? Sorry. But I'm sure you can handle it." Slade's voice sounded evilly pleased at the moment.
"Jerk..." I muttered irritably. "I thought you said I didn't have time for this, Master." I said irritably, turning on the connecting mike from myself to Slade.
"True, however I think you need some more training Phantom. You saw and felt yourself how good the Titans are getting, you could use this training." He laughed in my ear.
"Stupid git..." I muttered again, turning the mike off. "Now..." I turned and looked at the forces. "Let's see... about a hundred of them, and one of me." I grinned, and said gleefully, "Now that doesn't seem very fair to them!" I laughed once and morphed into a giant glowing blue tiger, grinning maliciously, and scaring the heebee-jeebees out of the guards in the front wave.
With a couple sweeps of my fire-ridden paw, I threw all them off and into random walls. I roared my approval of the odds, and started rampaging into their lines. Pathetic. They stood no chance.
After awhile of this, I grew bored, and actually started fighting, laughing with amusement when their faces grew baffled and confused as their tank's shots went right through me. Purring mockingly as their comrades fell, unconscious. Not too bad a job, though one guard did manage to nick me one the shoulder. Blast it, that hurt.
I was still part human.
Not too long after the last guard had fallen, Slade's voice returned to my ear, as I walked toward the pedestal that held the piece I was looking for.
"Clever, Phantom. Very clever. You thought you could trick me, deceive me, but I see through your little plan."
I stopped, my mouth half opened, dry as it could be, as I reached my hand out to grab the machinery piece, gleaming in the moonlight from a nearby skylight on top a silver podium type thing.
"All of these men are still alive."
I swallowed, then turned on the mike and putting the machine in my bag, responding, "Yes."
"Fix it." Came the impenetrable reply.
Here it came. The choice for right and wrong. What should I choose? If I chose the Wrong path, it would lead to the deaths of all these men, and their blood on my hands. They had familes, homes, rather-cruddy jobs (to be beaten down by me) but people that loved them. Unlike me. But the Right path, which would lead to torture and punishment when I got back 'home,' so either choice was bad. The torture that still haunted my un-blissfull dreams, the torture that was really the only weakness of me.
"Crap..." I muttered, my ear twitching in agitation. "Why me?" I said under my breath again, looking up through the skylight to the light night sky. Day would be here again soon, which led to even more bad news. Just another thing to add to my 'I Hate the World' list... (I started it about a year ago.)
"What did you say Phantom?"
"Nothing... Nothing..." I responded quickly. Another thing: I forgot to turn off the mike. Great. Just great.
"What will you choose Phantom?"
"I... I..." I began, thoughts and choices swirling around in my head, then they stopped, a vision of my long gone parents smiling and my mom holding a tiny bundle in her arms... me. I hadn't seen that face in such a long time... and yet... I knew which choice I should make.
"I'm coming back." I said triumphantly over the mike.
"What!" Slade paused, his voice harsh and angry, then continued, his voice even again, "Are you sure about that Phantom? It doesn't sound like the right choice to me."
"Well then it's a good thing you are me, then, is it, Slade?" I responded sarcastically, my voice dripping with contempt.
Silence followed my words, good; let him think over what I said.
"...Then you better come home Phantom. I'll be waiting."
A beep and a tiny bit of static let me know that he had turned off his mike and the video feed.
My ears flipped down into the humble position, and I stood there, alone, staring up into the sky, cursing under my breath silently and flipping my sunglasses on to the harsh glare of the moon.
Did I choose the right path? Did I? Or was the Right Path swayed from my vision long ago, before I even realized it? I thought I had always known it - I had thought I had kept my sanity, since the day that I... since forever I guess. I had never really thought about when my life with my family ended, and my life with Slade began.
It was them...
"Mom...? Dad...! Blast it! You said you'd always be there for me! ...But you're not..." My vision blurred, and I took my glasses off with my left hand and wiped my eyes with my right arm, "I don't cry. I never have, and I don't plan on starting anytime soon... It's just the stupid... fuzz... floating around building... Curses..."
I slumped against the podium, in the shadows of the stand, tears streaming down my face - my sunglasses skittered across the floor.
"How did it come to this...?" I asked to no one in particular... "To apprenticeship? To murder...?"
I screamed in pain and mental and physical torture, why me?
"You should really learn from your mistakes. Otherwise, you'll never be my true apprentice." Slade seemed to wait for my answer.
"I..." I could barely breathe, let alone talk. ...That scumbag, and he knew it too. "I... Never... Wanted... This..." I said, each word a stabbing knife in my side.
"Really? Slade bent down to me, a curled figure on the ground, scuffed, bruised, and hurt. "Then why did you ask?"
"No fair! Dude! We've searched this whole stinking city top to bottom like a MILLION times! And not a sniff, scratch, or mark left by Phantom!" Beast Boy complained loudly to the other titans.
"What exactly do you mean, 'mark?'" Raven asked dryly, her blue hood down, covering her shoulders, showing her pale skin and serious violet eyes.
"Nothing..." Beast Boy's green skin reddened, and he crossed his arms over his chest and skulked.
Ignoring the usual Raven/Beast Boy banter, Robin checked the monitors again. "I can't believe it..." he murmured, half to himself, half to the Titans.
"I know, BB was right!" Cyborg said in amazement, his robotic red eye flashing in astonishment.
"Yeah! ...Hey wait a minute —" B-Boy began.
" —I mean, There isn't a record of any girl of the name of Phantom, or fitting the description of the girl you saw in your visions Raven." Robin cut Beast Boy, finishing his statement.
Raven simply nodded.
"A thought has been circling in my head constantly, so I feel now I should share it with you." Starfire had a thoughtful look on her face, her normally pretty orange face screwed up in concentration.
"Go ahead Starfire." Robin replied.
"Well... It seemed that when Raven told us about the girl in her visions, the young Phantom we all presume, she had already had cat ears and a tail, correct? So it seems quite futile to try and search for her description like that because she had presumably already transformed, correct?"
The Titans nodded.
"Then perhaps we could try a search for the description of the room she was in...?" Starfire ended in a question, her face hopeful.
"Yeah... Starfire that might just work!" Robin sounded hopeful, turning to Raven he asked, "Could you give us a description of the room again Raven?"
"Ummm, sure." Raven paused, then smiled at Robin, who returned her grin.
"All right!" Beast Boy exclaimed happily, shooting a fist in the air, "Let's..." He turned into a panther, similar to the one Phantom was, "Go..." He acted dead, lying on the floor, "get that Phantom!"
Heh heh, there it is! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Did any of you notice the Lion King quote I put in there? Here's a hint: It was short... and only lasted one line. xD
I'm not sure what to do in Chapter 5 though... if you have any ideas, let me know in your review! I'm in sort of a slump... u.u''