Why am I not getting reviews for this story anymore? "Murder in Amity" has gotten over 10 in a couple of days, but this one has gotten 2 in 2 weeks. Is my quality slipping or something? Once I finish the previously mentioned story, I'll be able to concentrate more on this.
Okay, this is where you get to see Vlad's attack and the one who has been killing the justice league is revealed. Kind of anticlimactic, I know, but there are deadlier enemies Danny Phantom and the others have to deal with. Enjoy the chapter!
P.S. Sorry, my damn computer screen went out and I had to wait two weeks to replace it.
Robin panted as he finally finished the training exercise. It was challenging, but that was exactly what he enjoyed. The thrill of success when he achieved even higher skill. Wiping himself off with a towel, he retired to his room for a brief rest.
His communicator started making noise. Wondering what it was about, he answered it. "Robin, can you hear me?" asked Superman.
"Loud and clear, Superman." Robin replied. "What is this about?"
"I'm afraid I have some bad news." he sighed. "Batman was found dead last night and we have no leads as to who or what was responsible."
Robin was in a state of shock. How could Batman, one of the most skilled fighters in the world, be dead. It just didn't seem possible to him. Swallowing his grief, he replied: "Do we have any suspects?"
"We're investigating Lex Luthor right now. It's likely that whatever killed him killed Green Lantern as well. You need to be on maximum alert. I knew you're going through a great deal of grief, Robin, but we have to stop this thing before he kills anyone else."
Robin sighed. "Is there anything else I can do? I'd like to help with the investigation."
"Robin, grave as it is, we have it under control. Just stay with your teammates and do not stay alone for any reason. We don't know who will be next."
"Did anyone get a description?"
"Same as before: Red eyes, white fangs. It's a creature of some kind. Beyond that, we don't know much. John is currently going through the database trying to find villains who match the description. Let's face it, though: we got a long way to go before we can catch this thing."
"When we catch, it might be a good idea to destroy it so this doesn't happen again." A flare of rage erupted inside Robin and it took all his years of training not to scream. He fully intended on getting revenge, destroying whatever creature killed his father.
"We'll only do that if it is absolutely necessary. Do not let your emotions get the better of you, Robin. I know your first instinct is to hunt down whoever did this, but I ask you to stay put and inform the rest of your team. I'll let you know if we have any more information."
"Understood." Superman's face disappeared and for the first time in a long while, Robin felt like crying. Finally getting control over his emotions, he left his room to tell the others. He saw Beast boy, Cyborg, and Tucker playing video games. Starfire and Terra were talking on the table about something- he didn't know what- and Danny was discussing battle plans with Jazz and Raven.
"Guys, I've got some terrible news." Robin announced. Everyone but the three playing video games turned towards him. "Batman was found murdered last night. The justice league are investigating and they believe that this was the same creature who killed Green Lantern."
"I am so sorry, Friend Robin!" Starfire exclaimed, jumping up and giving him a hug. Despite himself, Robin could not stop a tear going down his face. Raven and Terra gave him sympathetic looks, but didn't really know what else to do. Danny and Jazz's eyes widened in shock. Cyborg turned towards Robin, wondering if he heard what he thought he did.
"Wait, Batman's been killed?" Cyborg asked. His distraction caused his character to be killed, Beast Boy cheering in triumph. Cyborg slapped him on the back of the head. "Show some sensitivity, dude! Batman's just been killed!"
"Holy crap, you're got to be kidding!" Beast Boy exclaimed. For once, even Tucker kept his mouth shut.
"Man, Robin, I don't know what to say." Danny sighed. "I never was very good at comforting people. Just talk it out with us. You don't have to go through all this alone."
"All right, whatever this is, it's deadly." Raven said, stating the obvious. "I've got a feeling I know who it is, but I can't really prove anything. Remember what I said about Trigon?"
"You saying that annoying demon could be behind this?" Terra asked. "Why the hell do you say that?"
"Yeah, I thought he was imprisoned by your people!" Beast Boy agreed.
"He's breaking free and it is only a matter of time before he is released." Raven replied. "In truth, my people would not have succeeded without the help of Pariah Dark."
"Wait, you mean the ghost king?" Danny asked in shock. "If it took him to imprison this guy, we're in for a world of trouble!"
"You know who Pariah Dark is?" Raven asked with a hint of surprise.
"He's the one who attacked Amity Park and dragged it into the ghost zone. I was only able to beat him with that ecto-skeleton and even then, Vlad had to seal him again. Well, since he's not around this time, how do we stop him?"
"We'll kick his butt just like we did last time!" Beast Boy exclaimed.
"We better not act hastily." Robin cautioned. "Only Raven knows what this thing is capable of." Before he could say anything more, Sam, Jack, and Maddie ran towards them, slamming into Starfire.
"What is going on, friends?" Starfire wondered.
"There's an attack vehicle on a direct course to Titans Tower." Maddie declared. "And I'm doubting its intentions are benevolent."
"We've detected massive readings of ectoplasm." Jack added. "Whatever it is, it's powerful. We better activate the ghost defenses and unlock the weapons vault."
"Wait, you put a weapons vault in our home?" asked Terra.
"Don't blame me." Sam replied. "It was their idea."
"We couldn't let you be defenseless against ghosts!" Jack exclaimed. "We took the liberty of installing a few defenses while you kids were partying. Maybe we shouldn't have slipped V-man that Mickey…"
"Well, in any case, we better be prepared." Jazz stated. "I have a feeling I know who's behind this."
"You know, I'd like to know how to build those weapons." Cyborg said out of the blue. "Maybe once this fight is over, you can tell me how they work."
"Sure thing, Cyborg." Maddie replied. "But right now, we've got to kick some ghost butt!" They ran to get weapons, while Danny transformed into his ghost self. He flew out the building, trying to get a look at who exactly was attacking. The vehicle was in sights and the defenses activated.
The vehicle was smoking in several areas, but obviously not anything crucial as they returned fire and disabled some of anti-aircraft lasers. Danny found it a little weird they had not so much as aimed in his direction. Starfire and Raven flew into the action, determined to take the craft down. They each fired their respective energy, but it was obviously resistant to paranormal attacks and normal ones.
Several ghosts fazed out of it, some of whom the Titans swore they had seen before. Meanwhile, Raven finally hit a vulnerable area of the vehicle and it swooped down, making a crash landing. The rest of the passengers left and prepared to fight. In the center was none other the Vlad Plasmius.
"I knew he hadn't changed." Robin growled. "He's going to regret attacking us!" he charged towards him, only to be hit with an attack from the Fright Knight.
"We meet again, boy wonder." He declared. "I must admit, you are a worthy opponent. Let us see if your skills have improved." He drew his sword and swung, but Robin parried with his bo staff. "Your strength is obviously far beyond a normal human's. I wonder if it was due to genetic tampering by your guardian." Furious, Robin kicked him in the chest with both legs, knocking him back.
Vlad immediately flew toward Raven and Starfire, engaging in combat. Starfire fired a series of bolts, but Vlad dodged most of them and the others bounced harmlessly off his shield. Raven chanted and wrapped Vlad in a cocoon, but Skulker blasted her from behind, giving him a chance to break free. He grinned and sent violet eye blasts her direction, knocking her back several feet. Starfire charged at him, only to have Vlad grab her by the neck. She screamed as he delivered a shock. "I would have expected better from the Tameranian's strongest." Vlad smirked. "I confess myself disappointed."
Determined, Starfire kicked him in the gut with all her strength, Vlad losing his grip on her. This was followed by a powerful ecto-blast from Danny, who glared at Vlad with murder in his eyes. "I actually thought you were trying to redeem yourself." Danny growled. "I was an idiot for thinking that. You're going to pay for what you've done, Vlad, once and for all!"
"Look past how it may appear." Vlad replied, dodging an attack from Raven. "Believe it or not, I'm here with regards to your family's welfare. I would rather not harm you, Daniel, so don't force me." Danny split into 2, both of whom fired eye blast. Groaning in pain, Vlad duplicated into 4.
Meanwhile, Robin was on an even footing with the Fright Knight. None of his attacks could get through his armor, but he had thus far been able to avoid getting hurt. Beast Boy came to help, attacking him in Raptor form.
"It will take much more than that to penetrate my armor, boy." Fright Knight laughed, kicking him off, only to be hit by Robin's exploding disks, sending him to the ground. "This will indeed be quite a fight."
Beast Boy turned into an elephant and charged, but Fright Knight simply flew up out of his reach. He transformed again, this time into a bird, while Robin threw the last of his disks. They hit, but again failed to get through his armor. "This guy's tough, but he's got to have some kind of weakness." Robin stated determinedly.
Cyborg was firing at Vlad from the ground, while Starfire, Raven, and Danny continued their offensive. However, he was hit from behind and fell on his face. The damaged parts of their defenses in addition to the ship were being gathered and formed a battle robot at least 30 feet tall. A green glow surrounded it, along with a nasally laugh. "At last! Come to me, wonderful technology! For I, Technus, will now be invincible in my new body. I can dominate the Teen Titans and then the world! Aw, crap!" he was blasted by Cyborg's cannon. "You want to rumble, you inferior weapon?!"
"No one calls me inferior!" Cyborg exclaimed, blasting him again. "Booyah!" His eyes widened when he saw the attacks didn't so much as dent his opponent. "This may be tougher than I thought." He decided to try attacking hand-to-hand. He punched the robot several times and fired a few short-range blast. Technus may have been strong, but he was also slow and Cyborg fully intended to use that to his advantage.
Terra and Skulker were at a stalemate. Terra was able to block and dodge Skulker's attacks by using rocks as cover, but she was never able to get a hit in. He dodged or simply went intangible. She picked up more earth, blocking a series of rockets. "You cannot win, whelp!" Skulker exclaimed. "A human can do nothing against a ghost!" He was hit in the back by a small boulder, sending him off balance. More were thrown at him, to which he simply intercepted them with more weapons. "I will admit your skill is impressive, but this is far from over."
The Fentons, Tucker, and Sam were unable to put up much of a fight. They were quickly disarmed and tied up by three ghosts in shades. "Fentons and associates are restrained." the lead one said. "The demon girl is the primary target." Jazz suddenly broke free of her bonds and charged at the trio. The second one blocked all her punches and kicks while the third kicked her in the gut, sending her at least 20 meters. Groaning, she slowly got up and fired her energy, catching all three of them. To her frustration, however, they simply got up and flew towards her. "Okay, this isn't good." Jazz said to herself. "I'm going to have to use evasive maneuvers."
Skulker was making progress on his opponent. Terra had yet to be caught, but her attacks were growing more and more frantic. Also, Skulker had the edge of flight, who gave him a tremendous advantage. "This is over, whelp!" He laughed. "What? Gorilla attacking? Not again!" He was tackled by Beast Boy, until he fired one of his blasters and got away. Beast Boy transformed into a hawk and landed on the ground.
"Figured you could use some help, Terra." Beast Boy smirked. "Besides, I want a piece of the action. He transformed into a rhino and charged towards Skulker. He dodged, only to get hit by Terra. His suit was beginning to give it, as she had hit a vulnerable spot. They took the advantage and pounded him with attack after attack until his battle suit was destroyed. He quickly fled, not wanting to get destroyed by the duo.
"So what do we do now?" asked Beast Boy. "This fight isn't over yet."
"You better go help Starfire." Terra replied. "I don't think she's going to last much longer on her own. I'll go see if I can help Jazz." She and Danny were currently dueling with the 4 Vlad's, but having no luck taking him down. Raven was currently helping Robin deal with the Fright Knight while Cyborg was still blasting Technus. Jazz was already beaten, lying on the ground unconscious. The trio walked towards Raven and Robin, Terra moving to intercept them.
Danny and Starfire were having no luck against Vlad. He was forced to get rid of his duplicate so he would have enough energy. Panting, Danny knew what might be necessary to get rid of Vlad, but didn't watch to catch Starfire in it as well.
She screamed as she suffered another attack from behind. Starfire launched hand and eye beams, but the two Vlads dodged with ease and returned fire. One grabbed her from behind, while the other blasted her at will. He then punched her with all his strength, while the other let go. Starfire plummeted to the ground, where she lay still.
Enraged, Danny unleashed his ghostly wail. The 4 Vlads put up their shields, but they shattered and the duplicates were destroyed. The original Vlad was helpless before the sonic onslaught. Danny finally relented, still in his ghost form, but now weary.
Vlad was badly shaken by the attacked and groaned in pain. His clothes were burned and tattered; he was obviously not in good shape, but he wasn't out just yet. "I've still got a few more tricks up my sleeve, Daniel." Vlad declared and threw a violet energy ball that exploded, blinding Danny. He took the opportunity to dash away.
Danny growled and made to follow him, but was blasted in the stomach by another newcomer. She was a female counterpart of him, right down to the emblem. "Okay, this is like looking in mirror." Danny observed. "A weird, really creepy mirror."
"I'm not going to let you hurt Dad!" she exclaimed and barreled into him.
Vlad headed toward Raven, only to get sideswiped by Beast Boy. Must I do everything myself? He groaned. Beast Boy dodged the brunt of his attacks, but Vlad persisted. He knew the boy had no chance alone against him. He duplicated into two and both Vlads fired at full power. Beast Boy screamed and started falling. One of the Vlads caught him, setting him down. Now to deal with Raven.
Three of Vlad's creations flew towards Danny and Raven. The girl flew away, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire. "Ignore Phantom: Raven is the target." The leader ordered and all three flew straight for Raven. In her weakened state, she was unable to hold her ground for long. Danny tried to help her, but was thrown aside by one of them.
I wonder why they're not going after me. Danny thought to himself. But they're going after Raven and I won't let them hurt her! With the last of his energy, he unleashed his ghostly wail, taking great care not to hurt her as well. The trio were sent to the ground, but Danny ran out of energy and changed back to Fenton. Raven caught him with her magic in the nick of time and lowered him gently to the ground.
To their dismay, the trio were not destroyed and got up quickly. They were talking among themselves to decide what to do.
"Phantom's attack was more powerful than expected, Masters." said one. "Perhaps we should eliminate him as well."
"Vlad gave specific orders that he was not to be destroyed." Masters warned. "He has no more energy and will no longer pose a threat."
"Should we continue the assault on the demon girl?" the third asked. "His sonic attack has weakened us greatly."
"Yes, we will proceed." the first replied. "We outnumber her 3 to 1."
"And she has been greatly weakened as well." Masters added. "We will proceed with the attack."
"She is still only human." the first smirked.
"Arrow, Griffith, you serve as distractions." Masters ordered. "I will finish off the demon."
"There is no need." Arrow (the first) replied. "Vlad has already defeated her."
"I will restrain Phantom so he does not get in our way." Griffith replied.
Vlad grinned at Raven's fallen form. Everyone else was defeated as well. Skulker and Technus were defeated, but it was a small price to pay. "You will never fulfill the prophecy." Vlad promised. "Trigon shall never be released."
"You kill her, and you'll pay." Robin promised. Fright Knight was holding him, preventing him from making any moves to save her. "She is our friend and I will avenge her."
"What can you possibly do, boy blunder?" Vlad laughed. "Your power is nothing to mine. I grow tired of useless banter. It's time to end this."
"V-man, no!" Jack exclaimed. He and Maddie ran up to him, both pointing ecto-guns in his face.
"Why are you doing this?" Maddie demanded.
"Neither of you understand, do you?" Vlad snarled. "This girl will bring about the greatest terror we have ever known. She is prophesied to bring Trigon into this world. I have to destroy her before she becomes the portal."
"What do you mean, becomes the portal?" Robin asked, trying unsuccessfully to free himself from Fright Knight.
"Vlad, there are other ways to stop this without killing her." Maddie attempted to reason. "We can beat this thing if it appears."
"Yeah! Besides, I've improved the Fenton Family assault vehicle." Jack added.
"His power equals Pariah Dark's!" Vlad argued. "If he is released, nothing will be able to stop him! Already some of his forces are going through the ghost world, attacking everything in sight. That's nothing compared to what will happen if he breaks free!"
Maddie did something none of them expected. She held Raven's head in her arms and protected her body with her own. "If you kill her, you'll have to kill me as well." she promised. Vlad hesitated.
Everything rational inside his brain said that he had to destroy Raven, even if it killed Maddie as well. He knew the consequences if he did not. Despite this, he was not able to force himself to fire the blast. He sighed and fired the energy harmlessly into the lake. "Let them go." He ordered his servants.
"See, I knew you'd make the right decision!" Jack exclaimed. "There's still some good left in you, V-man! Now what do we do about stopping this Trigon character?"
"I'll have to prepare my defenses." Vlad replied, the girl flying to his side. "Danielle, I want you to stay here. They'll need all the help we can get."
"I don't want to leave you." Danielle protested. "Who will be around to help you?"
Vlad turned his head to her ear and whispered: "I won't be far. I don't plan on leaving the city. Besides, I'm leaving Masters, Arrow, and Griffith here in case they decide to try something." With a twirl of his cape, he vanished. Fright Knight followed as well, hoping Vlad would answer his questions.
"Okay, that was beyond weird." Danny said. "So what the heck do we do now?"
"I suppose we'll have to get used to each other." Maddie told him. "Vlad won't be happy if we attack any of them, especially the girl."
"It's Danni with an 'I'." she informed her. "Since Dad wants me to help you, I may as well. He really did have the best intentions in mind. Besides, I hope I don't have to fight this Trigon dude."
Danny sighed. This was going to take some getting used to.
"Man, what could be powerful enough to kill Green Lantern and Batman?" Flash wondered. Not many things could shake him up, but the death of two of his comrades was one of them.
"That's what we're trying to find out." Hawkgirl replied, mace in hand. They knew danger could come for them at any time.
"Still, I really don't we don't run into this thing." Wonder Woman added. "This creature has even Superman scared and I can't even remember the last time I have him frightened."
"Then you shouldn't have come in that revealing outfit." Flash joked. "That would attract anything around us."
"This isn't the time for jokes." Hawkgirl intervened before an argument could start. "We have to keep our eyes open."
"Looking for me, superheroes?" a figure laughed. All three of them gasped as the figure revealed itself. It was over 30 feet tall, pure black except for its red eyes and white fangs. He grinned evilly, waiting to attack his newest prey.
"Malchior!" Wonder Woman. "So you're the one behind this! You'll pay for what you did to Batman and Green Lantern."
"I did not destroy the mortal." Malchior replied. "That was the act of another being, but I will enjoy destroying some of this planet's most powerful metahumans."
Well, there you go. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. You'll see what happens to the justice league and in the next chapter, Trigon's plans start to truly unfold.