AN: This chapter takes place during Cyborg's undercover in "Deception".
Chapter 6: A dream and a cousin.
A figure stood, surrounded by an obscuring mist. The figure wore a dark blue cloak, clasped by a red gem, and the hood was down, revealing the figure's face, her ash gray skin contrasting her deep purple eyes and lavender hair, a small red stone adorning her forehead.
Raven looked around, her cloak parting to reveal the black leotard she always wore under the cloak.
"Guys?" She asked in her monotone voice.
She heard a scream, and ran forward, only to trip over something. Looking at what had tripped her, she saw a red colored 'X' sticking out of the ground. Getting back to her feet, she picked up the projectile and felt a shadow pass by. Readying the X, she looked around until she saw the shadow pass by. Swinging her arm forward, she sent the projectile at the figure, striking its face and pinning it to the ground.
The mist parted, revealing the trapped figure of Red X, his cape pinned by his own weapon, and a gash adorning the mask.
Raven looked closer...
And saw a neon green eye staring back, confusion in his eyes.
Reaching down, she pulled off the skull-like mask, but when she looked down at his face...
...There was only an empty void, the last thing she saw before everything went black.
Raven shot up in her bed like a bullet, her eyes wide and sweat running down her face.
"A...a dream?" She asked, confused.
"But what could it mean?"
In the Colorado Rockies, Vlad was talking to his Maddie hologram.
"If only we had a sample of Daniel's mid-morph DNA, I could finally complete my project, and get the perfect, half-ghost son. Unfortunately, all my attempts to create the perfect clone have failed, and Danielle is the only one remotely stabilized."
"Maybe if we can discover why clone four is stable, we can perfect the prime clone, sweetness." The hologram replied.
"Yes, that's perfect." the evil halfa replied.
Unbeknownst to him, however, Danielle had heard the conversation, and gasped as she realized that her so called "father" was going to try and dissect her. She went intangible and flew out of the mansion as fast as she could. "Jump City, the last place Danny was reported was Jump City, as one of the Titans, they're help me." She said as she flew west.
When Vlad found Danielle's pod empty, to say he was outraged would be an understatement. Opening the other pods, he told the clones:
"Find your sister and bring her back to me in one piece."
The three clones replied in a collective monotone, "Yes father." before leaving to find Danielle.
"I do so love to be called father." Plasmius stated before laughing evilly.
The Titans, minus Cyborg, were coming back to their tower after thwarting a bank robbery by Doctor Light, when they saw a teenage girl sitting on there sofa. She looked no older than Beast Boy, and had black hair and bright blue eyes that reminded the Titans of Danny's human form.
"Who are you?" Robin finally spoke.
"Danielle, I'm Danny's cousin." The girl replied.
""Cousin!?" All the Titans said at once.
"I didn't know Danny had a cousin." Robin said, disconcerted.
"Well..." Danielle started. "I was hoping you might know where he is?"
All the Titans hung their heads low.
"Friend Danny, is, gone." Starfire said solemnly.
"GONE! You don't mean..."
"Yes, Danny, is dead, he died a month ago, he saved all of our lives." Robin said, on the verge of tears.
"But, he was the only one I could go to, the only family I had left." Danielle said, quivering.
"Why was it so important for you to find Danny?" Raven asked, stating to get suspicious
"He was the only one who could help me." She replied.
"With what?"
At that moment, a blue mist came out of Danielle's mouth, and the room darkened when a trio of ghosts phased into the room.
"With them!" She shouted, pointing to the specters. One wore what looked like a bed sheet, and had piercing red eyes. The second looked like a Frankenstein's Monster reject, and the third was a small fairy-like creature.
"Titans, GO!" Robin shouted, and the Titans charged up against the ghosts, however, all of them were blasted back, and within a minute lay on the floor, barely conscious. The trio moved in to finish them off, but Danielle jumped in their way.
"Leave, them, ALONE!" She shouted, a ring of white light appearing around her waist before splitting and moving across her body, changing her blue hoodie and red shorts into a black and white two-piece jumpsuit, and her sneakers being replaced by white boots. Her black hair turned white, and her eyes became a vibrant, neon green. On her chest was Danny Phantom's symbol.
"What!" The Titans exclaimed.
Hands charged with green energy, Danielle blasted the three ghosts with ecto-energy. The small ghost was vaporized, and the other two were blasted back. She grabbed the bed sheet ghost and hurled him across the room, tearing off the bed sheet in the process to reveal a black and green fanged skeleton with a tail instead of legs. The ghost tackled Danielle to the ground and spoke.
"Ssssissster." it said in a ghostly, snake-like voice.
"Get off me, you pile of bones!" She shouted as she knocked it off of her and into the hulking ghost. Danielle then charged her hands with energy again, and released it all in a single blast. The energy beam cut through the ghosts like butter, leaving a gaping hole in their chests. The ghosts then fell to the ground and dissolved into ectoplasm.
The rings reappeared around her waist, and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious as she reverted to her human form.
The Titans stood up, and looked at their new arrival with a startling similarity to Danny.
Danielle woke up in the medical bay, with several sensors scanning her.
"I don't believe it." She heard one of them say.
"Aside from the chromosome difference, her genetic structure is identical to Danny's, down to the ectoplasm infused with her DNA." another of them said.
"She is awake." A third voice said.
She looked and saw Robin, Raven and Starfire standing around her, the former two turning from the computer screens.
"You have some explaining to do, Danielle, like how your DNA is identical to my brother's?" Robin asked angrily.
"Brother?" She asked, confused.
"Who are you, really?" He asked.
"I'm Danny's...clone." She replied, her head down.
"Clone!" They all shouted.
"Yes, Vlad created me in an attempt to make an exact duplicate of Danny." She said.
"HE WHAT?" Robin exclaimed. "I am going to find that psychopath, and make him pay for trying to undermine my brother's memory." He said whipping out his BO-staff to make a point. Before he could do anything else, however, the Towers alarms went off and so did Danielle's ghost sense. In a puff of pink mist, a blue skinned vampire-like ghost appeared.
"Plasmius." Danielle spat.
"You," Robin said darkly. "You tried to clone my brother, and I will not let you disgrace his memory." He said as he charged.
"Wait, Daniel is... Dead?" Vlad said, too shocked to notice the BO-staff aiming for his head until it was too late.
WHACK!
The elder halfa hit the ground, rubbing his head. Another swing of the staff...
CRASH!
Plasmius hit the ceiling, leaving a noticeable dent in the steel.
SLAM!
Robin bashed Vlad into the wall, and started swinging his staff like a madman.
"Robin, stop!" Starfire Beast Boy and Raven all said simultaneously, but their leader did not let up on his brutal assault.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven chanted, and Robin was stopped mid swing by her telekinesis.
The now severely bruised and battered ghost took that moment to phase out of the Tower.
"Robin, what happened?" Raven asked impatiently.
"I don't know, I just felt all this rage, and then he appeared, and I...couldn't control myself." the masked hero said, confused.
"It'll be okay Robin." Danielle started, but was cut off by their communicators going off.
"Looks like Cyborg's in trouble." Rabin said with a scowl. "Titans, go" The Titans began running for the exit, only Danielle staying put.
"Uh, guys?" She asked. "I know this is probably a bad time, and I know I can never replace Danny, but maybe I could come with you?"
"We're gonna need all the help we can get." Beast Boy stated.
"Okay then Danielle, let's go." Robin gestured to the door, and the Titans, Danielle in tow, ran into the brightly lit corridor.
NEXT CHAPTER: RED X (Cloister bell rings)