Chapter 10: A HIVE of Trouble
The double doors that served as an entrance to Titans Tower were breaking under the stress of the figure pounding on them from the outside. The Titans stood, ready for action. Finally, the doors were forced open to reveal a seaweed covered Aqualad.
"Aqualad!" Robin exclaimed.
"Your trash is in my ocean." The Atlantean stated dryly.
"An undersea fortress, fifty miles off the coast. Built by the former headmaster of the HIVE Academy, Brother Blood." The young hero from Atlantis said, referring to the structure whose blueprints were currently displayed on the Titans' main computer, and the picture of said headmaster shortly after.
"I'm pretty sure you guys have already met." He said.
"Yeah, we go way back. I went undercover as one of his brainwashed students, but after I destroyed his school, we kinda lost touch." Cyborg said.
"Because Blood moved out of your neighborhood and into mine." Aqualad continued. "I tried to take him down on my own, but Blood used his mental powers to jam m telepathy. With no fish to help me..."
"You got schooled." Beastboy butt in.
"Pretty much." Aqualad answered. "But I was able to contact an agent within the HIVE, and find out what the fortress is hiding."
A click of the remote brings up another view of the fortress, this time a cross-section.
"A massive sonic resonator, capable of creating a tidal wave big enough to wipe out your entire city." A demonstration appeared, showing the fortress release said tidal wave and wash away the tower and the city. Robin and Starfire, and Danielle gasped, while Beastboy shouted"Dude!", Cyborg however, looked furious.
"Yo! That's not just any sonic resonator, that's my sonic cannon!" The half metal teen shouted as he showed off his main weapon.
"When you hacked into the HIVE Academy computer, the HIVE hacked into you." Aqualad began to explain. "Blood downloaded everything in your central schematic database." Cyborg wheeled around at that.
"He read my blueprints?! MY PRIVATE BLUEPRINTS?!" He exclaimed, his eyes bulging out.
"And he's using your technology to attack the city." Raven remarked.
"Then this is my mission." Cyborg said as his circuits turned red in anger. "I'm taking Blood down with my own two hands! All right, listen up! While I go after him, y'all are gonna-"
"Cyborg." Robin calmly interrupted. "They're your blueprints, so your the only one who can shut down the resonator. While you're doing that, we will capture Blood."
"No, man, come on!" Cyborg argued, "This is personal! Just gimme a chance to-"
"There's no time." Aqualad cut in. "The resonator will be fully operational by sunset."
"Okay, Titans. Here's what we need to do." Robin began.
"Two words...breath mints." Raven said to Beast Boy as they stood up by the underwater entrance.
The changling responded by sheepishly coughing up one of her boots. The T-Sub had been destroyed by a cybernetic squid, and Beast Boy had saved them all by turning into a whale and catching them all in his mouth.
"Okay. Everybody knows their assignments." Robin said as he wiped himself off and Beast Boy got out of the water.
"Beast Boy and I need to take out the force field that protects the sonic resonator." Aqualad stated while Raven put her boot back on.
"Raven, Robin and I will attempt to capture the Brother Blood..." Starfire began.
"Providing a diversion so that Cyborg and Danielle can get to the resonator core and shut it down." Robin finished. The door behind them suddenly opened and a contingent of guards marched in and began to open fire.
"Looks like we just had a change of plans!" Cyborg shouted as he brought out his sonic cannon. Raven put up a shield to protect everyone.
"You have your assignment! Move!" Robin ordered as he glared at the mechanical teen, "Titans! Go!" Raven opened a hole in her shield to let Beast Boy and Aqualad through so they could get back in the water, the changling becoming a fish as he jumped. Robin was pulled into the air by Starfire, while Raven brought down the shield to glide away over the water. Cyborg opened a tube hatch and he and Danielle crawled into the cramped service duct.
"Spiky-head little know it all." Cyborg grumbled, inaudible to Danielle who was behind him. "It's my blueprints, my bad guy, and my...hm?" A hatch opened on one side of the tunnel, and the section of floor they were on flipped over, depositing them into a large room with a similarly large screen on one wall. The screen turned on, revealing the face of Brother Blood.
"Cyborg. So nice of you to drop in." the headmaster said. Behind them, the girl known as Bumblebee walked into the room.
"Say, you remember Bumblebee, don't you?" Blood said as she un-clipped a wire shaped like a B form her belt.
"You two were my top students at HIVE Academy. But of course, BUMBLEBEE WASN'T A SPY!"
"You talk way too much, fruit-loop." Danielle said, striking the screen with an ecto-blast and shorting it out. "Now, all that's left to take care of..." She looked at Bumblebee, who had put down her stingers.
"What?" They asked.
"Well, that was easy, now we can work on taking out the resonator." Bumblebee said.
"YOU'RE THE SPY?!" both Cyborg and Danielle exclaimed.
"Yeah, didn't Aqualad tell you?"
Both shook their heads.
"I've been undercover here for months."
"And Blood couldn't brainwash you because..." Cyborg began.
"There's not a man alive who can tell me what to do." She stated bluntly.
"If that's the case, then we'd better get to the resonator and shut it down, before Jump City gets wiped off the map." Danielle said, motioning for the door.
"Bumblebee...oh, Bumblebee..." Blood said in a singsong voice, before becoming frustrated and smashing the console. "Well, Cyborg and Phantom, it seems you've destroyed my little friend. So I'll just have to destroy all of yours." He turned his chair to a large monitor, showing the resonator core and the Titans fighting. Pressing a button on his chair, he released a bunch of robot piranhas into the water Beast Boy and Aqualad were swimming in.
Cyborg reached the resonator core room, having closed the door on Bumblebee and Danielle a little earlier. The mechanical teen looked over the core based on his own sonic cannon. On the catwalk leading to the controls, he saw a dark figure with a short, tattered cape. He turned to face Cyborg, revealing the skull shaped mask covering his face.
"Red X, Robin told us you didn't work for anyone." Cyborg deadpanned.
"Things change, big guy, and Blood made me an offer I just couldn't pass up." The thief said, jumping up to avoid the sonic blast that went in his direction.
"What'd he offer? Money, gadgets..." Cyborg began.
"Knowledge, Blood said he could help me with my problems if I helped his plans. Where do think half this tech came from?" X stated as he jumped from catwalk to catwalk. Suddenly, a blast of green struck him in the chest, followed by a burst of yellow electricity. The masked thief fell to the ground as Danielle an Bumblebee phased into the room.
"Now all we have to do is..." Danielle began, only to be hit by a blast of red.
"Watch your precious mission fall apart." Blood said as he walked out off the shadows. "Y tu, Bumblebee? Tell me, was there ANYONE AT MY SCHOOL ACTUALLY THERE TO LEARN?!" He shouted on the last part.
"Oh, I learned plenty." Bumblebee said, taking a fighting stance, while Cyborg charged his sonic cannon for an attack.
"Red X, destroy them." He ordered. The masked figure stood up. "No." He said bluntly.
"What?" Blood asked, bewildered.
"Not until you hold up your end of the bargain. And you can't set off the resonator without this." He said, pulling out a small silver controller with a big red button on it.
"Or I can pry in from your cold, unmoving hands like THIS!" Blood said, firing a beam of white-red electricity at Red X, engulfing him in light. A piercing scream echoed through the air, and Danielle clutched her head, falling to her knees shrieking. When the barrage of energy ceased, Red X fell to the ground, his suit in tatters. He fell forward, landing on the ground with a thud as the controller fell out of his hand, undamaged. Blood strode over, easily dodging the attacks his two remaining traitorous students threw at him. He knelled next to the prone figure of Red X, swiping up the trigger before standing back up.
"Surf's up." Blood said, making a surfer gesture as he pressed the button. The resonator light up, and a high pitched whine filled the air. All present who were still conscious covered their ears, all except Blood, who merely acted like there was something in his ear, unaffected by the noise.
Just as the noise stopped, the field around the core dissipated.
"Looks, like my mission still has a shot at success." Cyborg said, Blood gasping that his force field was gone.
"Now how can your mission still have a shot, when you don't stand a chance?" Blood said, his hands glowing. Suddenly, a blast of green hit Blood in the side, sending him flying. Cyborg looked, expecting to see Danielle, only to his shock see Red X, standing tall with his exposed palm smoking green.
"What?" Both the Titan and the villain exclaimed at t same time.
"Red X, how can you still be alive?" Blood asked, exasperated.
"I'm already half dead, fruit-loop." Red X said, "And my name's not 'Red X'" He said, reaching up and pulling his mask off, revealing his bright blue eyes and shaggy black hair. "My name is Danny." His eyes glowed green. "And you just made...a big mistake. GOING GHOST!" He shouted, a ring of light appearing around his waist before splitting into two and traveling across his body in opposite directions, the tattered Red X suit was replaced by a black jumpsuit with a white belt, collar, gloves, and boots, and Danny Phantom's emblem on his chest. His Black hair turned snow white, and his eyes remained the same shade of green they had been just before he transformed.
Danny Phantom was back.
Another blast struck Blood, sending him into the wall.
"You disable the core, I'll take Blood." Danny ordered. Cyborg ran to the catwalk, Bumblebee tending to Danielle, who was still on her knees and holding her head.
"Well, Blood, you did fulfill your end of the bargain, which means the deals over, and I can do this!" Danny said as he tossed Blood to the other side of the room. Suddenly the room shook as the resonator overloaded. A beam of light and sound shot from the top of the structure, canceling out the tidal wave and destabilizing the base.
"No" Blood shouted before running. "That's two headquarters you owe me." He told Cyborg before running out.
"Get him!" all four heroes shouted as they gave chase through the collapsing base, which was slowly filling with water, they came to a junction, and found Blood nowhere in sight. From around another corner, the other Titans and Aqualad ran in for a rendezvous. All of them did a double take when they saw Danny.
"You're alive?!" They all said simultaneously.
"And better than ever, thanks to Danielle." He said, ruffling the girl's hair. "It'll take more than a bomb to keep a Phantom down." He said confidently.
"Sorry to ruin the moment, but we need to get out of here." Bumblebee said.
"How?" asked Danny.
"The T-Ship's toast!" Cyborg said.
"Hel-lo?" Beast Boy said, sticking out his tongue. The others ran out, except for him and Raven.
"I'd really rather just stay here and drown." She deadpanned. Beast Boy shrugged and followed them, Raven staying behind until Starfire grabbed her at the last moment, just before the ceiling collapsed.
In the Tower, the Titans, Aqualad, and Bumblebee were gathered in the ops center. Robin was at a computer console, typing at the keyboard while listening to Danny tell the others about his return.
"And when Blood shocked me, it reminded me of the portal, and that just opened the floodgates. And I'm also up to speed with what's going on, thanks to Danielle. My only question is, what happened between my disappearance and Danielle coming here?" Danny said.
"Well tel you later, when Beast Boy is out of earshot. It's still a touchy subject for him." Raven said.
Robin turned around and said, "Our last tracking info shows our target heading east. We'll fan out and-" He was interrupted by another flashing light on the screen.
"You found Brother Blood!" Cyborg exclaimed.
Robin shook his head, pulling up a screen showing Dr. Light blasting at a bank. "Dr. Light found a bank vault."
"Looks like your city needs you." Aqualad said. "I'll go after Blood. If I run into any trouble-" He held up his communicator, "-I know who to call."
"Actually, if he runs into trouble, I'll be there to bail him out."
"Can I come with you?" Danielle asked.
"What?" The Titans asked.
"I mean, with Danny back and all, you don't need two halfas on the team, and I just never felt like I belonged with you guys, I didn't want to be Danny's replacement, and Blood doesn't know what to expect from me. Besides, I can keep in touch even without a communicator." She said, pointing to her cranium.
"If that's what you want, Danielle, who am I to stop you from following your own path." Danny said, giving her a hug. "Just be safe."
"You'll know if I'm in trouble, psychic link you know." The younger halfa said.
The Titans began to head out through the side door, Aqualad and Danielle leaving through the front entrance, with Danielle telling the Atlantean to call her Dani with an 'I'. The two former undercover HIVE students were left alone.
"You want to come with? After all, it's your mission too." Bumblebee asked.
Cyborg thought it over for a moment. "My mission's here."
Bumblebee started walking out after Aqualad, but stopped, turned, and held up Blood. "By the way, I think this belongs to you...Sparky." She said, tossing the disk to him.
"Cyborg! Time to go!" Robin shouted before running back out.
"Yeah. It might just be." Cyborg said as he followed Robin.
AN: DANNY PHANTOM IS BACK IN ACTION! And now Dani is (SPOILER:) going to be a founding member of Titans East. And the reason she's only going by Dani now is because she hadn't wanted to feel like Danny's replacement, but now that he's back, that burden is lifted.
Next Chapter: Spellbound (Of Ghosts and Dragons)