The next morning Robin woke up bright and early as he always did. He knew he woke up long before anyone else and so he always made a conscious effort to be quiet while doing his morning training. He padded downstairs with his boots in hand and started to practice his martial arts against a dummy that was made to look slightly like Slade. His movements were slightly stiff from the morning fatigue but that soon wore off and his warm ups became more fluid.
He did this every morning at the same time every day since he joined the Titans. It was a soothing habit and it helped him to define who he was. It was simple and didn't take very long, but it was the little things that kept him sane.
Thirty minutes later he trudged upstairs and turned on the lights. It was time to wake up the Titans, plus one.
Danny rolled over in his sleep and groaned. He had long since turned back into a human but since he fell asleep in his ghost form he was freezing. Still he slept soundly through the night and didn't run into any problems as far as his powers went.
He half woke up from the cold so he snuggled deeper into his sheets, trying to ward off what seemed to be his forever cool body temperature. Just another perk of being half ghost.
Before he could fall back asleep there was a loud knock jerking Danny out of his half asleep state. "Phantom, it's morning," was the greeting given to him by Robin.
Danny stretched under the warm sheets and immediately curled back into a ball. "Mmmkay," he babbled sleepily. "I'll be out in five minutes."
He heard a chuckle from behind the door. "Phantom, five minutes easily turns into ten, then thirty then the whole morning, trust me I know."
Danny grumbled and got out of bed. Robin saw a flash of light from behind the door and a few seconds later Danny floated out, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Yeah, I know," he answered.
Robin smiled, "I wish Beast Boy was that easy to convince."
Danny shrugged, "I'm used to my sister's death threats in the morning,": he said with a hint of a smile.
"Ah, the older sibling law," Cyborg said, coming from the north end of the tower. "Will their tyranny ever end?"
"I doubt it," Danny said.
"Well, let's get into the main room then. Before BB decided we need a non meat tofu breakfast," Cyborg made a face and started to walk down the hall.
"Shouldn't we wake Raven?" Danny motioned to the door on his right.
"She's probably been up for a half hour by now. It's Beast Boy we have to drop out of the tower to wake up," Cyborg called.
"Drop out of the tower?" Danny squeaked.
Robin laughed, "Yeah, once he wouldn't get up. So we got Raven to teleport him outside. He morphed into a Blue Bird before he landed so he wasn't hurt. But he's never tried to stay asleep when we tell him to wake up since."
Danny laughed, "Wow, that's funny."
"No it's not," Beast Boy muttered.
The two teen hero's saw their green friend coming towards them from the direction that Danny presumed his room was in.
"Morning, Beast Boy," Robin greeted.
"Morning," Beast Boy muttered and walked on.
"Not a morning person?" Danny asked.
"Not a morning person," Robin concluded.
"Cyborg! Will you please not make bacon just to spite me?" Beast Boy yelled.
"Who said I was trying to spite you," Cyborg answered.
"You've made like four packages! No one eats that much bacon!" Beast Boy yelled.
"Oh yeah, watch me," Cyborg smiled.
Danny watched in amazement as Cyborg downed two plates full of bacon in less then thirty seconds.
"Nauseating, isn't it?" Raven asked.
Danny nodded. "Kinda," he agreed.
"Kinda! He just ate like half a pig!" Beast Boy yelled.
"Oh I did not. Stop exaggerating BB and eat your tofu," Cyborg said while downing a glass of orange juice.
Beast Boy glared at his friend and started to eat his tofu bacon.
Starfire held up a lumpy grey mass in front of Danny and smiled. "This is the feast that you missed last night. Do you wish to partake of it now?" she asked sweetly.
"I uhhh, I'm not very hungry," Danny said.
"Imagine that," Raven said sarcastically.
"Okay team, we're going to go where Cyborg and Beast Boy tell us to. Phantom, can you make it so we can all get into the base?" Robin asked.
Danny nodded. "I can make that part of the ground intangible as long as it's hollow."
"Good, then once we're inside we'll see what we're up against and we'll improvise from there. Any thing I'm missing?" he asked.
The other Titans and Danny shook their heads. "Okay, then Cyborg and Beast Boy can take the lead for now."
"All right!" Beast Boy cheered and turned into a falcon. He took off from the tower and Starfire followed.
"Phantom, you follow then and we'll follow Cyborg on the ground," Robin explained.
"O-oh! Right," Danny laughed and took off.
"Okay time for a little bad guy butt kicking!" Cyborg cheered.
Danny and Starfire followed Beast Boy to a grove of trees and landed as he did. Beast Boy resumed human form and they waited for Cyborg to pull up in the T-Car with Raven and Robin in tow.
"Everyone ready?" Robin asked.
He received nods of agreement and consent on all sides.
"Good, now ya'll follow me," said Cyborg and started to trudge though the forest. Everyone followed and they soon came up on a small shack that was next to the convention center. "We're going though the forest so we don't get caught, I know I detected a camera here yesterday," Cyborg muttered.
"There," said Robin and he promptly threw a birdarang at it, making sure it was destroyed.
"Okay Phantom, it's all you," Cyborg said good naturedly.
Danny laughed, "So no pressure."
"Now you're getting it," Robin said. "We're back up, don't worry."
Danny smiled and they went into the shack. "The panel is here," Beast Boy said stamping his foot on it and making it echo.
Danny put his hand on the ground and it became see though. "Nice work," Robin said and jumped in.
He was followed by Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire and then it was just him and Raven. Danny looked a little uncomfortable. "Umm, can't you do this too?" he asked.
She nodded, "I can. I can do a lot of things you can."
"I thought so," he said.
"Phantom, they're just trying to make you feel you belong. Maybe you should give yourself some more credit," she said with a slight smile and followed her friends.
Danny released his energy and stood there for a moment thinking. Maybe she was right, maybe he was being too uptight. He shrugged and went intangible himself, going after the Titans.
He flew down a long shaft and he vaguely wondered if Cyborg and Robin were okay. When he came out on the other end he saw that they were fine. Everyone was fine, it was what came with being a team, he suspected.
"Wow," Beast Boy said and Danny looked around where he came out. It was a huge cavern with the robots that he had fought the previous day. There were also gadgets that littered the floor, one of which Danny recognized.
"The Ghost Gabber!" he cried out and went over to the electronic device.
"The ghost catcher, fear…mee…" The small computer whirred painfully and the voice became disoriented and it tried to do it's duty.
"What is it?" Starfire asked.
"One of my parents inventions that they brought to show off at the convention. If this is here," Danny mused looking at all of the pieces littering the floor. "Then these must all be…"
"Inventions," Robin finished darkly.
"Well, at least we know where the technology came from," Cyborg said.
"But why?" Raven asked.
"Why indeed," said a cold voice.
The teen hero's spun around to see a small robot with a speaker attached to it leering at them with red light eyes.
"Who are you?" Robin asked.
"The Teen Titans," it said, ignoring his question. "What an honor, I would have thought it would take at least three more attacks before you came after me." It turned slightly towards Danny. "And the ghost from Amity Park. Well, well, well, I never thought I would have gotten as lucky as I have."
"Dude, why are you doing all this?" Beast Boy asked again.
"I wanted to world to see what my inventions could do. Useless they scoffed, ghost technology is nothing, yet here I am with the ability to bring almost any city to its knees. Ironic no?"
"You just want attention," Raven glared at the thing.
"No, I want revenge. But that comes in many forms my dear, and I'm afraid I can't let you leave here alive. So bye!" the voice said cheerfully and the robot exploded in a flash of light.
Danny pulled a slightly dazed Robin out from the ground above them and his efforts were mirrored by Raven as she opened a black cloak to reveal the remaining Titans.
"A trap!" Cyborg hissed, punching the ground. It shook and he pulled up his hand quickly.
"Relax Cy," said Beast Boy. "It's probably the explosion."
"So where are we at now?" Raven asked.
"We're back at square one," Robin said darkly.