Disclaimer: I only own a select few characters in this story.
Ch.10 Myth Or Reality?
Danny soared high above the city streets until he saw his destination, less than a mile away were the menacing spheres of the Museum Of Dark History. Danny felt mixed emotions as he approached, hatred, fear, confusion, anger, curiosity, and rage.
"Wonder what this Scourge guy wants with me?" Danny thought, the museum was only a few blocks away now.
"Well whatever it is, I know it's no good!" He agreed as he touched down on the rooftop.
Danny quietly examined the deserted rooftop and searched for any sigh of Scourge, Danny saw nothing but he did hear the sound of a quarter flipping.
"Hey kid what took you?" A voice asked.
Shuddering Danny stepped back as Scourge emerged from his hiding place from around a sphere on the roof. Grinning the mobster ghost flipped a phantom coin up and down in the air. Scourge began whistling as he walked over to Danny who stood his ground and faced him with unafraid eyes.
"Come on kid loosen up!" Scourge blurted, "It's not like I'm going to attack you or anything I just want to talk."
"About what?" Danny spat venomously, "From what I've seen from you so far you do nothing but violence and death threats!"
"Ohh touchy." Scourge stated, and stopped in front of Danny.
Scourge's coin faded into nothing and he stared down at Danny with cold, sinister eyes glowing with destructive intent. Scourge slowly raised his hand to Danny; Danny felt his body instinctively tense up, ready for a sneak attack. Scourge smiled softly and placed his hand on Danny's right shoulder; the phantoms grip was cold as ice and as strong as steel. Scourge quietly turned Danny towards the radiant city streets.
"Some view huh?" He asked.
Even Danny had to admit the view of Jump City was beautiful from where they were at, but knowing that Scourge was an enemy Danny refused to let his guard down.
"Yeah what's your point?" Danny replied.
Scourge smiled and shook him softly, "Well my boy what would you say if I can make a perfect world?"
Danny brushed Scourge's hand off of his shoulder and faced him, "I'd have to say you would be crazy." He said honestly.
"I'm not lying mister Fenton," Scourge continued on, "I have the power to create a perfect world, one with no fear, pain, or tears, and all I need is your help."
"This is some kind of a joke right?" Danny blurted, "What's the catch?"
Scourge chuckled, "There is no catch mister Fenton, all you need to do is follow me and I'll show you what I mean."
With that Scourge went intangible and disappeared in the marble, Danny dove in after him. Danny followed Scourge through the many different floors of the building, exhibits and offices passed after him in seconds, until Scourge stopped. Danny found himself in what looked like an underground cavern of some sort, he was surrounded by sparkling granite walls on all sides, Danny touched down on the floor and realized that there were steps in front of him. Someone had been down here already; Scourge was in front of Danny and motioned for him to take the first step down.
Not taking his eyes off of the specter Danny preceded down the steps, Scourge started after him. The steps continued on in the gloomy darkness for what seemed like forever, when to Danny's relief a dim green light appeared at the bottom. As Danny approached it the light grew so intense that he had to actually shield his eyes. Danny reached the last step, looked at his surroundings and gasped.
This was not part of the museum! In front of him was a glowing swirling pit, the liquid inside bubbled and a thin layer of lime green fog oozed out of it. To the side was a small study, something that seemed very out of place. A heavy wooden desk was set on the side, scrolls, books, and modern day articles were strewn carelessly on its worn surface. Danny's discomfort grew when he realized that all of the newspaper articles were from Amityville, his hometown.
But what frightened Danny the most were two stone tables set in front of a menacing statue of a demonic figure. Danny quickly recognized it as one of the statues from one of the main exhibits, but something was different though, its eyes were glowing…
"Is he the one?" A voice cried out.
Danny looked in all directions for a source, "Who said that?" He cried aloud.
Scourge laughed and pointed towards the statue, "Mister Fenton allow me to introduce you to the one who will make a perfect world."
Scourge knelt down and placed a hand over his heart, "Lord Tyranus the one you seek is here!"
"Excellent." Was the response?
Danny swore that the statues stone orb eyes were fixed on him, "Wait a minute what's this about?" He asked nervously, "And why do you need me?"
"I wasn't lying when I said I could make a perfect world Fenton," Scourge continued rising up, "think about it, all of your friends and family living in perfect harmony, everything you could ever want will be at your feet."
"And the price to pay?" Danny asked.
Scourge grinned, "All we need is some of your spectral energy for this to come true." A voice rang out.
Danny turned to see Morgan organizing papers on the desk, "Whoa!" Danny thought, "He was definitely not there a few minutes ago!"
Morgan finished and pushed his chair in; he calmly walked over to Danny, "Thank you Scourge that will be all." He said.
Scourge nodded and disappeared in the gloom, "You knew about this?" Danny asked him, not knowing whether to be appalled or frightened.
"Yes Danny I have known about Scourge and your other encounters, and I've been watching you for quite some time now, fighting with other specters, facing down the Baxter punk and I'm here to help end it all." Morgan stated.
"You are?" Danny asked nervously.
"You see Danny you and Vlad aren't the only ghost hybrids." Morgan made sure Danny understood by holding out his hand, spectral energy oozed its way out from his palms, Danny gasped,
"How?"
"On one of my exhibitions to Austria I stumbled across a shrine similar to this one you stand in, it was there that I met him," Morgan pointed towards the statue, "at the time I was ill and didn't have much time left on earth, I wanted to see as much of the world before I passed on you see. Tyranus made me an offer I couldn't refuse; if I agreed to help him find what he needed, than he would transform me into something that never ages or withers from illness."
"He transformed you into a hybrid." Danny said aloud.
Morgan nodded, "I am now indebted to him, I owe him my life. If not for him I would have died only months later."
"I still don't understand what I have to do with any of this." Danny stated.
"In order for us to change the world Danny we need your spectral essence, mine won't work the way the master intends it to." Morgan admitted.
"You my essence to change the world?" Danny asked.
Morgan nodded, "Think about it Daniel, a world without illness, no more tears, no more suffering, a world where everyone can live happily and free of fear and all I'm asking is for a little bit of you spiritual energy for it to become a reality."
Danny looked down at the floor uncertainly, "I'm not sure about this."
"But most of all you can be happy, and you won't have to worry about people discriminating against you or the ones close to you because you're different." Morgan added.
Danny took a long look inside of his soul and began deciding, Morgan smiled secretly he carefully maneuvered the conversation so instead of Danny feeling pressured he would be the one to agree to it. Danny looked back up at Morgan,
"Alright I'll do it, for the ones I love!" He said.
"Spectacular!" Morgan declared, "Come, lay down on this table here."
Danny silently laid down on the stone table in front of the menacing statue, "A future without war or death Danny, we can make it happen." The ghostly voice called out.
The smoke from the pit seeped out of the hole it was in and channeled across the floor and circled the table. The smoke rose up and engulfed Danny completely; Danny suddenly felt relaxed and began dozing off.
"Excellent!" Morgan thought, "The naïve fool doesn't suspect a thing!"
Danny was about to drift off to sleep when a jolt of pain inside his cranium sprang him awake; crying out he sat up and placed a hand on his forehead. Without warning gruesome images of torture and death of the human race filled his mind. Danny found himself in the middle of a town that looked like it had been hit by a neutron bomb, Danny could hear screams in the background and blood caked the floor. But the worst was yet to come, for in the distance Danny could see an enormous behemoth, which resembled that of the statue.
The behemoth reared its head back and roared, a wave of darkness shot out of its maw and covered the sky in shadow. The sound of a woman screaming brought Danny's attention to what was behind him, Danny turned and nearly screamed! There before him were the bodies of all of his loved ones! His parents, Tucker, and Jazz, their bodies badly mutilated were strewn about like crimson flower petals, they're eyes open and full of pain and agony. An evil laugh tore through the air and Danny saw something, which would haunt him for the rest of his life, Morgan stood on a boulder and waved the severed head of Samantha Manson through the air…
"NOOOO!" Danny cried and sprang up, the fog lifted and Danny faced Morgan.
"You're not trying to create a paradise!" He accused, "Your trying to destroy the earth and everyone in it!"
Clearly surprised Morgan stepped back, but his confidence was regained when he saw several ghostly figures floating about in the gloom. Morgan stepped towards Danny,
"Well Danny it seems as though you've discovered my true intent," He spat arrogantly, "but mark my words you will help me and my master one way or another!"
"Never!" Danny cried out defiantly, a blast of spectral energy narrowly missed Danny and he turned to see Scourge getting ready to fire another palm blast.
"Sorry kid I really do like you and I didn't want it to happen this way." Scourge admitted as he fired again.
Danny flew up into the air, only to have a wolf-like creature leap out of the darkness towards him, instinctively Danny shot a bolt of energy at the ravenous animal. The creature let out a growl of pain and was jolted backwards, hearing roars and snarls below Danny looked only to see more specters emerging from the shadows down on the ground.
"I can't fight them here." Danny realized, thinking fast he turned intangible and flew towards the surface.
Tyranus's rage knew no bounds, "After him fools!" He ordered, all of the specters tensed.
"Stand down!" Morgan commanded, confused but frightened the remaining ghosts remained still.
"What!" Tyranus roared, not frightened Morgan bowed before his master.
"Forgive me sire but I sense five powerful entities the Teen Titans on the surface." Morgan explained.
"And your point exactly?" Scourge chipped in.
"My point is when I last checked Daniel Fenton was a suspect wrecking havoc in the city." Morgan continued.
Scourge grinned, "You're going to let both sides fight it out and we make off with Raven as well as Danny."
"Precisely," Morgan added, "since our excellence requires the daughter of Trigon as well as Danny to complete the ceremony, I'm willing to let this plan be if our master is willing to."
Morgan looked back up at Tyranus, for several long seconds there was nothing but silence, "Very well than." Tyranus finally barked, "It will be handled your way Morgan."
Morgan chuckled, "You will not be disappointed your greatness." He reassured him.
Danny reached the surface and flew out into the air, "I have to get the others out of here!" He thought, "I have to-"
"RAAARGGHH!" An explosion knocked him out of the sky and Danny was sent spiraling towards an abandoned office building.
Danny crashed trough a filthy window and slammed into a plaster wall. Danny groaned and rubbed his head.
"What was that?" He asked himself sitting up.
A man wearing a red and black outfit with a black cape and mask leapt through the window. He was wielding a staff of some sort and a symbol of what looked like a hawk was on his chest. The man glared down at Danny,
"So you're the one whose been terrorizing the city." He accused.
Danny couldn't believe what he was hearing, "What? Dude you have it all wrong." He tried to reason with him.
The wall near Danny collapsed inward and a giant of flesh and metal stepped into the office building,
"Do we?" He asked, stepping next to the man in the black cape.
A snarling lion made its way up the steps near Danny, but something was odd about this particular beast.
"It's green!" Danny realized.
The lion growled and transformed, Danny watched in awe as the animal morphed into a handsome young man with green skin, the man was dressed what looked like a black and violet one piece suit which resembled armor. He stood over Danny,
"I'm going to say this only once," He declared.
A woman dressed in a blue hood and cowl stepped appeared from out of nowhere behind the man with green skin, she tenderly put her arms around him and Danny saw resentment and pity in her eyes.
"Give up now." She finished for him.
Just when Danny thought he had seen enough the roof above him exploded and a beautiful woman with lustful long red hair and jade green eyes fell into the room beside the being with the bird symbol on his chest. Like the woman before her she too placed her arms around his, unlike the other woman she looked quite concerned Danny.
"This can't be the one," Starfire thought, "someone so young couldn't do those things to our city."
"Who the heck are you guys?" Danny cried out.
"We're the Teen Titans." Robin spoke for all.
"And your in a lot of trouble kid." Cyborg added moving in.
"Great all wanted was to take some time off and have fun and I get this," Danny reflected sourly, "unbelievable. Un-freakin-liveable."