Chapter 5

Three weeks later

"Danny!"

"Yes mum?" Shouted Danny from inside his room. Hearing no answer, he darted out of his room and found Maddie waiting for him in the Lab, dressed in formal blue dress and heels.

"Danny, sweetie, do you think you could help us with something? We've got some routine maintenance to do with the portal that needs to be done tonight, you know, just to see if it's working correctly. But we can't do it as your father and I have dinner plans with the Wilsons tonight. Isn't that right honey." She called to Jack

"Yup, and I'm going to order the biggest hot fudge Sundae the world has ever seen!" His dad called enthusiastically from upstairs.

"Anyway, you know the drill; you still remember how to do it?"

"Yes mum. It wasn't that long ago that we moved." Danny said rolling his eyes. Maddie just smiled, knowing that she didn't have to deal with it anymore, and she made her way up stairs to the lounge, while Danny put on his Hazmat suit. He quickly suited up and activated the portal. A familiar swirl of different shades of green met his eyes. He quickly picked some tools from a tool box off the side and stepped through.

Immediately he fought the shiver that went down his spine. The Ghost Zone was always the same temperature, even during the different seasons. Turning around he saw that one of the panels around the outside of the portal had been opened. He quickly opened it up to see that it had been vandalized; someone had taken some kind of hammer to it and destroyed most of the vital hardware, it was lucky that it was still functioning properly.

Danny was about to go back through the portal to tell his parents about it, when a missile whizzed past him and hit the open hatch, causing the hardware to explode, and the portal to close and vanish, no longer connected to the dimension.

He turned around and found that the source of the fire power was, as he expected, Skulker. He smugly grinned at Danny, showing his pointed mechanical white teeth

"Dude, why did you bust up my way back?" Danny said exasperated, as he transformed, ready for a fight.

"Simple whelp; now that we have you on our own, we can finally take out our revenge in you without anyone trying to save you." Danny frowned, confused

"But there's only one of you." He said, feeling stupid to point out the obvious. Skulker simply grinned

Danny turned, and what was simply a blue door set against the green swirls of the Ghost Zone atmosphere, was now a congregation of every ghost he had ever tangled with, bar a few still trapped in various places around the Ghost Zone and beyond. From Amorpho to Vortex was there, waiting for him to make the first move. It was beginning to feel like the prison cafeteria situation all over again, but this time with the guards and Walker were in on it too, and there would be no chance of escape. So Danny did the first thing he could think of. He threw the tools he had on him at the crowd, and ran.

He flew as fast as he was able downwards, seeing that the move had caught them off guard. He twisted and turned against the obstacles, and tired to lose those in the field of floating ectoplasmic rocks. He looked behind him, making sure he didn't slow down, and saw that only a few could keep up with him, but unluckily for him they were three of the hardest ghosts he had faced; Vortex was the closest behind him, followed by Nocturne and Undergrowth.

He franticly darted in and out, weaving through the collection of doors, no knowing where he would end up. Until he saw it.

The planes of the Far Frozen drew him in, from a small spot into a landscape as fast as Danny could make it. He slowed down and came to a stop as he realized that he wasn't being followed anymore. He turned and saw the three ghosts he left behind stay within yelling distance above him.

"You are a coward, Phantom. Come and defeat us like you have done before." Undergrowth shouted. He threw a pod at him haphazardly as he tried to make Danny come out of the sanctuary of the Far Frozen. The pod simply exploded a good twenty feet from him and left scorch marks against the ice Danny was hovering over. Danny simply turned and flew past the surface of the planes, trying to find the ice covered igloos that Frostbite and his people lived in.

He flew for what seemed to be hours, getting more and more worried about not being able to find the small frozen city. He began to feel the cold sink into him as he exhausted his remaining energy, which caused him to turn human if he didn't find a place to stop soon. He looked around again and saw nothing but ice. No changes and no difference in scenery. The only thing that had changed was the trio following him had quickly dispersed after they realized that he wasn't coming out of his sanctuary any time soon. He was about to fly up, and find his way home, when he realized he had gone too far into the Far Frozen. The sky above him was slick with clouds, snow was falling thick and hard, blurring his vision and making the temperature drop suddenly. He wouldn't be able to get out, even with his ice powers; this weather would soon drain him of his energy.

Growing more and more tired and desperate, he set himself down on the ground and began to run. He had realized long ago that defying gravity, although cool, did take up a lot of energy. Running, on the other hand, did no such thing, and it let him get where he wanted to go, if a bit slower than his normal flying speed. Going in what seemed like a Westward direction, he finally collapsed after a good three hours of running and flying, having no more energy to go any further. His knees hit the floor with a hump, and Danny barely had enough energy to keep himself in his ghost form before passing out, the snow slowly burring him.

-Line Break-

Danny awoke with a groan; he felt like he had just gone three rounds, hand to hand, with Cinderblock. He looked around to see that he was in a hut made entirely of ice. Seeing double, it took him a little while to realize that there was only one huge yeti like creature looking at him from the doorway.

The yeti smiled at Danny as his eyes adjusted to his surroundings. He was in a lightly lit room where the only source of light was a small lamp next to his bed. Other than that the bed, the table, the floor and walls, and even the flowers in the flower pot were made of shaped ice crystals.

"Had a nice rest Great One?" Frostbite said to him, smiling, somewhat relieved at Danny's awaking

"Not so much. Kinda hard to sleep when you're passed out. How did you find me anyway?" Danny asked. Frostbite simply list out a small laugh.

"Simple, one of our scouting parties spotted you half buried in the snow, so they brought you back here and you have been in a coma for two weeks. You seemed to have comatose due to extreme exhaustion." Frostbite said. Danny's eyes bulged. He had been out for two whole weeks? His parents were probably ripping both the real world and the Ghost Zone to find him!

"I'm sorry Frostbite, but is there any way I could use the Infi-Map to help me get home? My parent's portal is busted and the only one usable is Vlad's." Frostbite nodded but otherwise seemed sad that Danny was leaving them so soon.

"We were all hoping for an explanation why you were in the Far Frozen, but if you must go, you may use the map..." Frostbite said as he led them to the Infi-Map chamber.

"I'm sorry to be leaving, but I promise that I'll be back as soon as possible. There are a few things I need to take care of first." Danny said. They reached the Infi-Map room and handed Danny the map.

"Good luck Great One. Remember to keep your friends close!" Frost Bite said as he was pulled away by the map.

A few minutes later he found himself in Vlad's lab, complete with failed clones and stasis pods. Danny shuddered at the sight of them and remembered the last time he had been down here, strapped and bound to a table trying to escape from Vlad, then sneaking in to find a stabilize for Danni. He quickly turned intangible and made his way through the mansions foundations to the outside world. Danny was almost about to fly back to Jump City immediately, when something caught his eye. A new paper article, sitting on a rubbish bin, dated about two days before. The headline was;

"TITANS DEFEATED. SLADE THE NEW LEADER OF JUMP CITY."

Danny tore his eyes away from the headline and read the article hurriedly. Apparently a super villain named Slade and his apprentice, Terra, had managed to take over and get rid of the Titans. This article speculated whether the Titans had been killed, or we're being held captive. Danny was in shock, Jump City was probably in ruins, his family in the middle of it all, and he had been passed out! Danny then remembered that the article had mentioned Terra. He had heard of Terra, the newest Titan, and had met her once, and he had liked her as well. He was alarmed that the Titans had been infiltrated by this villains apprentice so easily.

Danny swore as he turned intangible, flying as fast as he could to his new home city, but fearing that it was already in ruins. He flew as fast as he could, getting to Jump within a few hours, and saw what it had become. Buildings were leveled, fires broken out all over the city, people screaming, police sirens and ambulances could be heard everywhere. Strange men in silver and black with orange masks littered the cities, hulking robots following them, attacking buildings, guarding entrances, so that the occupants couldn't get out. He flew as fast as he could to his house, near the center of the city. It was thankfully untouched, but seemed to be empty. The ghost sensors were disengaged, door open and all the lights were off. He looked around it, fearing the worst, but it was empty.

The whole house was empty. It looked like the house had been simply left, no belongings were touched, nothing was left out that shouldn't have been. He went through the floor down to the lab, and saw that like the rest of the house, it was perfectly fine. Everything was off, the ghost portal, the experiments, the sensors; he cautiously looked into the gun vault and saw that it was emptied of everything. Not a single Fenton ecto-blaster was remaining. He swore and flew out into the city again, knowing that the house was useless to stay in.

He looked over to the bay, seeing that the Titans Tower was dark, the usual light illuminating it's structure gone and barely viable in the dark night. The flicker of hope sparked in him died and he flew over to it, wishing that Sam and Tucker were with him, to give him the support that he needed.

.~.~.~.~.

Robin scowled as they prepared their plans, deep in the bowls of the Titans Tower. They had been bested by Terra and Slade. All beaten and broken in their own way. Terra's last chance was gone, she was just another criminal now, like the countless others they had captures and dealt with. They wouldn't treat her any other way.

Beast Boy sat with his back to the wall, not joining in on the conversation, listening in and finding out his part. Robin knew he was jaded, his best friend was gone, replaced by a monster. Robin was about to talk to him, when Cyborg's arm started to beep.

"What is it?" Robin asked, curious and worried

"Unidentified energy has just-wait no, the scanners saying it's spectral energy." Cyborg said, looking down at his wrist computer in confusion. Robin was worried, they had gotten a few disturbances recently by ghosts of all different shapes and sizes. Luckily none they couldn't handle from a few modified ecto-weapons they had procured from the Wilson Industries. He tapped onto it, trying to get a proper reading, when a knock on the titanium reinforced door was heard. Starfire flew over to it cautiously, a starbolt ready in her hands, and opened it with a tap on the electronic key pad.

"Hey guys!" A familiar face said, brightly as they entered the room. Danny was met by four cold scowls, and instantly felt a little put out.

"Where the hell were you Phantom?" Robin practically shouted at the specter. "We were left defenseless against a Super Villain, needed back up and when we called you're out of range? How is that possible! No where on earth is out of range!" He bristled. Danny took a step back, putting his hands up.

"I was attacked, okay! I was ambushed in another dimension, and when I escaped I was in a coma for two weeks." Danny tried to defend himself.

"You were ambushed? Why?" Raven said quietly from the other side of the room, leaning against a wall her hood up. Danny shrugged

"Beats me. I was cornered by ever single ghost I had faced, this was big. Like someone had tipped them off that I was going to be in the zone at that point." He explained, thinking. Raven was about to comment again, but Robin cut her off

"It doesn't matter. All that does is that you're here again. " He said, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "We were beaten, Phantom. Badly. Remember that other team member you met, Terra? She went rouge and started working for someone named Slade. They've taken over the city, and we plan to get it back. It's going to be hard, but we can do it. Will you help us?" Robin asked, expressionless behind his mask.

Danny looked serious and nodded. He listened in patently as Robin explained the plan once again.

.~.~.~.~.

AN: Thank you all for putting up with my lateness, again I'm sorry but a lot of things have come up and, well, I haven't had too much time to write.

I have edited the last chapter a bit, so it's easier to read and so the story can progress a little more, so re-read that if you haven't. I've already written little bits of the next few chapters, but I want to get this fic done soon, so I can get on with my original piece I've been planning.

Till next time,

Umbra-Luna