With this chapter, we are going to change gears.
Nightshade
NS-Secret Location-NS
A man with short, black hair sat at his computer desk pouring over tons of files. His green eyes flitted over two files in particular, both boys with extraordinary talents. One had the strength and stamina to become an excellent replacement, the other had abilities that would clear his debts to the league of assassins. After a few moments, he closed the files entirely. He pointedly hated how little information there was on his little debt clearer.
He opened a command prompt, and did two key strokes. The prompt opened a spoof of the Titans Tower security system. He searched for evidence of the two he desired, only to see older footage of the sorceress and his two teens flying away. Infuriated, he searched through the databases the titans had, but came up without any relevant information. Deciding there wasn't anything more he could glean from the Titans, he closed the prompt.
"Where are you three off to?" the younger than expected voice broke from the man's lips.
Slade opened the internet and began to search for any mention of his intended target, Danny Phantom. Nothing popped up in any search engine that gave him information he wasn't already aware of. It was almost as if the information was combed through, and all he was getting were the crackpot theories or message boards from the leading scientists attempting to explain his phenomenon. The more he looked through the information, the more it seemed too well engineered.
"Couldn't be…" the man muttered, before typing in Danny Phantom in another language. Again, nothing out of the ordinary. So, he tried again in another language. It wasn't until he typed Phantom's name in Sanskrit that he found a message board online that had students in a message board talking about the ghostly teen. He took the name Dash Baxter, deciding that if this teen knew about Phantom, then he would probably have some idea about where the Phantom was from. His search gave some information about Amity Park, which has the highest number of unnatural phenomena in the country. A smile broke onto the man's lips.
His search found its way onto a board by two local scientists in the field of study on ghosts. They had a wealth of information on all sorts of ghosts, but one field elated the man. Danny Phantom wasn't based in Jump City, but instead originally in Amity Park if the Fenton's were anything to go by. He did some more research on Madeline and Jack Fenton which confirmed themselves as reliable sources.
The man tuned into the Amity Park News agency hoping to see his target, only to be met with the off the air bars. His smile was completely gone now, so he turned to the national news, only to see that Amity Park had been destroyed in some sort of explosion. The explosion seemed to decimate most of the area around the city, save the outskirts and gated community. What was bizarre seemed to be where the explosion originated. The explosion happened around where the Fenton's used to live. The city was rubble and scorch marks now. He even heard the anchor talking about how flights as far as two hundred miles away were dropping from the sky because of the explosion. Many were speculating the explosion was really a dirty bomb.
"Well, shit…" was all the man got out before he thought back to a week ago…
NS-Flashback-NS
The man didn't know what to expect when he fell into lava. His flesh was boiling while the pain he expected to come never came. He saw tons of black, but suddenly awoke in a pool of green. Had he died and become a ghost like he'd read about so many years prior. It wasn't until an ancient man with a young face broke the silence.
"I see you are finally alive again, Wilson," The ancient man said.
The man recognized the voice, and felt his face tense up. "Raz Al Gual, always a pleasure. I thought you'd wanted me dead, did you have a change of heart?" Slade replied.
"What's the saying, you can't get blood from a stone? That's all you were to the living for the last year. Cold as a stone…" Raz retorted.
"That it then? Looking to kill me yourself?" Slade asked, feeling the rush of adrenaline to fight. He noticed how his voice sounded, and when he opened his eyes, he felt disoriented.
"The Lazarus Pit has many unique abilities that one would find unnatural. I've been alive for so long that I've seen the Crusades, the fall of the Byzantine, the fall of the Mongol, the fall of the Ottoman, the fall of the Soviet, and now the fall of my own health. The pit is killing me now, and now I find it time to pick a successor…" Raz explained.
"I'd say I'm honored, but I'm not exactly into the whole cult like behavior…" Slade began only to be cut off by Raz.
"I'm not looking for you to be my successor, but instead I hear whispers of a boy who would make an excellent successor. He has so many exotic abilities that would serve the League of Shadows well. Find him. Bring him to me, and all of your slights against me will be forgiven," Raz bargained.
"Don't you have an entire organization to look for some boy? Not that I'm complaining, but why use me at all?" Slade asked.
"I've found it difficult to find the boy, and while it's true I have the resources to find the boy, I can't risk sending the league in on this. If they learned of my choice to make him the next Raz al Gual, I fear they would not accept of their leader. I fear my choice may tear the league apart…" Raz explained.
Slade sighed while mulling over his options. He could try to fight his way out, but he didn't like his odds going up against the entire league of shadows. He decided to choose the path of least resistance, "What's the boys name?"
"Danny Phantom," Raz said while turning around. A smile crept across Raz's face.
NS-Deathstroke's Hideout-NS
Slade shook those memories away from the front of his head. He got up from his desk, and moved over to a full body mirror. He couldn't get over how young that the Lazarus pit made him, and the fact that it made his eye return. He smiled loving the youth of his new body, and then moved over to the manikin that wore his new combat armor. The new design had replaced the steel with a orange carbon fiber composite that was as durable at a three quarters the weight, his body armor had been replaced with an experimental dragon scale armor set, and all his holsters have been incorporated into the suit. The only thing that remained the same were his boots, gloves, and black and orange mask.
He donned the armor, and prepared himself for a late night trip to Amity Park…
NS-Amity Park-NS
Danny opened his eyes again after a short blackout to the frightened looks of the Foleys. The two Titans attempting to comfort them. He reached up and pulled down some white bangs. "How long was I out?" Danny asked, pushing down some bile.
The Foleys all shot their eyes to Danny, who recoiled slightly at their faces.
"You've been out for a couple minutes, dude," came Tuckers reply.
Danny looked around the home, which the front of the house was completely gone. In fact, Danny could see nothing standing where the explosion had occurred. He paled and began to wonder how this happened. Then realization hit him.
He immediately bolted into the air towards where his home had used to be.
"Danny!" Cried Raven. Only for Robin to put a hand on his shoulder.
"Let him go…" Robin said, looking down towards the ground. He couldn't shake the awe of what Danny had done. He formed a shield around the house as if it weren't a problem. He felt the fizzle of electricity in the air as green waves rushed all around them. Even if the shield got pushed back, Danny still protected those around him with little concern about his own safety. Even if the others didn't notice, Robin could feel the tears trickling down. He knew that Danny had probably just lost what was left of his family.
Robin went back to the Foleys, who were completely disheartened at the significant damage to their home. Knowing that there wasn't anything he could do, he moved to downstairs.
It was around a minute later that an extremely loud noise erupted from where the explosion had originated. It sounded almost like a humpback wail was being attacked, but somehow more. It sounded like a truly deep pain.
The rest of the family came down in tears.
"I wish you would have told us…" Came Mrs. Foley.
"It wasn't my secret to tell, mom. I wanted to, but Danny made us swear not to tell a soul," Tucker replied.
Raven walked next to Robin, and stated, "Tucker Foley told his parents about Danny's secret identity."
Robin nodded, knowing that this may be a bad situation. Before he could say anything, Tucker's phone went off. 'So there wasn't an EMP wave behind the blast,' Robin thought.
"Danny just saved us," Tucker answered.
Robin then thought, 'Great, more people know about his identity…'
"He came with the Teen Titans. Apparently, they found him. Is it safe at your house?" Tucker asked. After another short break, Tucker answered, "Our house is completely destroyed. I'm surprised it's still standing."
"We will see you in a few," Tucker said, ending the call.
"Sam said she could house us until we can find another home," Tucker told his parents.
"We will need to talk with her as well. We were going to talk with the two of you about Danny, but with all that's happened…" Robin started, but let the thought trail off. He then looked back and said, "You guys go to Sam's, I'll be here for when Danny returns."
As the rest of the family packed in silence, Robin sat on the front porch. After the family left, Robin continued to sit on that front porch. An hour later, when the house fell to the ground, Robin continued to sit on that porch. Danny returned shortly after that, eyes completely bloodshot green. He had been crying for the last hour, and Robin knew better than any what he was going through.
Robin stood and hugged the ghostly teen. When he broke from that hug, he said, "They went to Sam's house."
Danny nodded, and levitated into the air. "I'm sorry for what's about to happen," He said.
Robin got overshadowed, and felt his conscious get pushed all the way back into his head. He wasn't in control of his body, but could still see everything he was doing.
'What's happening!' Robin thought.
'I'm flying us to Sam's," Danny replied in Robin's head.
'You can hear my thoughts?' Robin asked, feeling violated.
'I can hear what you think, but I can't think about what you know. If that makes any sense… We're here.' Danny said, dropping to the ground, and giving control away to Robin. He transformed back to his human form.
"I'm sorry dude," Danny said as they walked over to the front door. With a sharp knock, the door swung open, and Sam jumped forward with a hug.
"Danny!" Sam screamed.
Danny began to weep uncontrollably. As Robin had guessed, nothing that stood in the way of the blast could survive. This meant that Danny's family was most likely gone.
When the two broke their hug, Danny said, "I want to tell you guys everything."
NS-One Hour Later-NS
"…And that's how I ended up here," Danny finished his story. He looked around the room full of teens. It was at this moment that Danny really saw just how similar that Sam and Raven were. It was almost surreal.
"Man," was all Tucker could manage.
"Danny, I'm so sorry you had to go through all that," Sam stated.
"Hold up, you mean to tell me that all of this happened because of your mother installing security cameras?" Tucker asked.
"I guess," Danny supplied.
"That's trippy!" Tucker replied.
"But there's one question on everyone's mind; who's the best titan?" Sam said, shooting eyeball daggers at Tucker.
Before they could get into their debate, Raven and Robin entered the room.
"What was that?" Raven asked.
"They have a debate on who the best titan is. Sam says you are the best, while Tuck says that Cyborg is the best," Danny explained. The way that Raven looked down, Danny could almost swear that she was blushing.
"Who do you think is the best titan, Danny?" Robin asked, clearly jesting at the ghostly teen.
"I think that you all have strengths that can compliment the others weaknesses," Danny answered, evading the question entirely. He knew that his answer would be anticlimactic.
"So, time for the heavy stuff. Have you decided what you want to do? After a long talk with Sam's family, they would be happy to take you in. They are already housing the Foleys, so why not a Fenton too?" Robin informed.
"Yeah, dude. It'll be just like a big sleepover," Tucker said.
Danny began to cry a little, so he left the room. Sam punched Tuckers arm because of his insensitivity at the subject.
"This isn't a joke!" Sam said.
"I'm just trying to lighten the mood. Hopefully help him get through what just happened," Tuck said, rubbing his arm.
When Danny came back, he looked at all the teens in the room and sighed. His bloodshot eyes were pained, as he said, "I've made my decision. Sam, Tuck, I'm going back to Jump City where I will become a Teen Titan."
Both Sam and Tuck decided that if they were to have a favorite Titan, why not be Danny?
End of Chapter.
We all knew that Slade was going to make an appearance, but all is not as it seems. Deathstroke is probably one of my favorite villains, so it brings me joy to write about him. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I look forward to writing another for you all next week.