Hey everyone, Lord Pugsy here. The time has finally come for Danny and the Titans, so I am sorry to report that this will be the penultimate chapter; probably. Without further ado, here is Chapter 10. Hope you enjoy it. I do not own any super hero in this story.
The following three weeks had been a blur. True to their word, the League arrived at the Tower a week after Danny's visit, bringing with them a slightly calmer atmosphere. Danny had provided Superman, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern with similar bracelets that Bumblebee and Starfire were adorned with, whereas Flash was given similar gauntlets to that of Beast Boy's original gloves. Danny had decided that the best course of action for Batman was for him to have the same equipment as Robin, as they were both skilled in using hand-to-hand combat and the use of non-lethal weapons. They were also given spectre deflectors to prevent overshadowing. The following two weeks, both sets of Titans and Dani continued to train; Danny turned their obstacle course into a ghost-course where he infused some of the dummies and robots with ectoplasm, so that they could properly prepare themselves.
He's late, thought Danny at the end of the third week; the day the battle was to take place, but no one had come. There was no increase in ectoplasmic activity and no sign of a single skeleton soldier. Danny was getting nervous; Clockwork is never wrong Danny continued to think. He was so preoccupied with feelings of impending doom as he gazed at the night sky that he failed to notice Raven walk up behind him, putting her arms around him.
"Hey." She said softly. "You ok?" Danny just shook his head.
"No, I'm not." Danny said dejectedly. "He should have been here by now. We should have seen some kind of clue as to what he's doing. Something's not right." Raven just hugged him tighter.
"It'll be ok Danny. We're ready for whenever he decides to show his face or his army. Dan too." Danny flinched at the mention of his darker self, but gripped Raven's arms nonetheless.
"I know we are." He said, turning to face Raven. "And thank you." He leaned in to kiss her, but stopped when he heard a very faint giggle from near the door to the Tower. He sighed in annoyance, but with a hint of amusement.
"Don't you remember me telling you guys about the perks of having hyper-sensitive hearing?" He asked. Danny wasn't in the least bit surprised when Dani dropped her invisibility; he was surprised, however, when he saw that she was keeping both sets of Titans invisible too. Dani looked over nervously, as did the rest of the Titans when they saw the death glares coming from both Raven and Danny.
"Well," Danny finally said. "At least you're practising." This made everyone laugh; Raven only smirked as she was still irritated at the fact that everyone had been spying on Danny and hers alone time. Danny seemed to notice this, so he pecked her on the lips and turned to the other Titans.
"Anyone up for pizza?"
After they had finished their pizza in the early hours of the morning, the twelve heroes decided it would be a nice idea to walk back to the Tower as the weather was quite pleasant. Their relaxed walk, however, was interrupted when Robin's communicator went off; Robin flipped it open to see the face of the Chief of the Fire Service.
"We've got a bit of a problem Robin." He said in a frustrating tone.
"What's the situation?" Asked Robin, everyone crowding around him to hear what was going on.
"There's an apartment building on fire a few blocks from you, but all our trucks are stuck downtown. Would it be possible to get Phantom over here to help out? I know his ice powers will come in real handy to help put it out. His intangibility will also help getting trapped civilians out of there; just until back up arrives." Robin noticed that he was practically begging for help. He looked over at Danny who had just finished changing into Phantom.
"Tell him I'll be there soon." He turned to Dani. "Fancy helping out? It'll be good to use your ice powers in an actual situation" She nodded as she too changed into her alter-ego, stepping forwards next to Danny.
"We'll see you back at the Tower. This shouldn't take long." He said, then turning to Raven to give her a hug. "Check the energy levels of the city. And contact the League; get them on alert." Danny whispered into her ear. "I have a bad feeling about this." With that, he took to the air, Dani right behind him.
It didn't take them long to find the building; it was a block away from the bay and the fire had raged out of control and it was threatening to spread to the adjacent buildings. The two ghosts touched down in front of a massing crowd next to the Chief to assess the situation.
"Two Phantoms?" He asked in a confused tone, staring at Dani and making her feel uncomfortable. "Since when were there two of you?"
"We'll explain later." Danny said hurriedly. "Have you determined as to whether there's anyone stuck in there?" The Chief shook off his confusion and turned to the elder teen ghost.
"As far as we can tell, everyone has made it out, but don't hold me to that." He said. "I still want you…err, both of you to double check for anyone else. We really don't want any fatalities."
"Sure thing." Piped up Dani, as she and Danny flew into the burning building, keeping their intangibility up.
"OK," Danny started. "You take the bottom floors of the building and I'll take the top. Remember, check for people first, and then put out the flames. Got it?"
"Got it." She said confidently, glad that she was being assigned something important to do without being stifled by Danny. As they went their separate ways, Danny couldn't shift the nagging feeling that something was wrong about this fire, but couldn't figure out what it was. By the time they had finished scouring the building, the only person left was an old man who was fast asleep and hadn't realised the building was on fire. When the ghosts landed back outside, the crowd cheered for them, as they made their way over to the Chief.
"You have our thanks Phantom, and you little lady." He said, causing Dani to smile widely.
"Just call me Dani." She said sweetly.
"We best get going." Danny said, shaking the Chief's hand. "Let us know if we can be of any further help." Danny turned to fly away, when something glinted out the corner of his eye next to the burnt out building. He walked over to it, the niggle in his mind going haywire, and picked up the object. It was terribly burned and cylindrical in shape, but too thick to be a pipe; Danny rotated it in his hands, horror washing over him at what he saw. Dani noticed her cousin walk across the street and pick something up and then freezing; she walked over and looked at the thing in Danny's hands, horror flashing across her face too. Despite the object being burned beyond recognition, an unmistakable indentation could be seen on it. The facial impression of evil itself: Dark Dan. The Phantoms turned to each other.
"He's here, isn't he?" Dani asked, her voice cracking. Danny just nodded. He turned towards the crowd of people, just as the building behind them exploded in a molten fire ball, burning rubble threatening to harm everyone.
"SHIELD!" Shouted Danny. He and Dani linked hands and created a massive ecto-dome shield around the group of people, as they started screaming. They stayed like that for a few moments, until the falling rubble finally ceased. They released the shield, only for Dani to stagger slightly; Danny was by her side instantly.
"Well done Danielle." He said, smiling down at her. "I'm proud of you." She just looked up at him and hugged him. He looked round and saw that no one had been injured as the crowd ran away in case of a second explosion.
"OK," Danny started again. "We need to get back to the Tower and mobilise everyone. The war has begun." With that, Danny teleported them both back to the Tower and into the main room where all the Titans were awaiting their arrival. Raven saw instantly that something was wrong as soon as they appeared; she could feel it coming off of Danny in waves.
"It's started, hasn't it?" She asked. Danny nodded. "And Dan?"
"He's the one who started the fire." Danny said.
"Wait, who's Dan?" Asked Bumblebee, looking at the Titans, who all looked down. Danny sighed.
"Someone who I thought I was rid of three years ago. Robin?" He asked, turning to the Boy Wonder. "Call the League. Tell them they need to be here as soon as possible."
"Is now fast enough for you kid?" Came a gruff voice from the main door. Danny turned to see the Justice League entering the room, Batman at the helm.
"But, how?" Danny asked.
"We have been monitoring situations on Earth all day. As you said today was the day, we have been looking for anything suspicious." Said the Green Lantern.
"We saw the fire, so we came." Finished Wonder Woman. The Titans watched the conversation silently, not wanting to say anything. They were relieved when Danny finally spoke.
"I hope you're ready for a fight." He said with a smile on his face, as he stuck out his hand to Batman.
"Always." Said the Dark Knight, as he shook Danny's hand; the Titans and Justice League smiling that all was forgiven.
"Let's get going. Raven?" He said turning to the Dark Titan. "You teleport our Titans and the twins to the site of the fire. I'll take the others." The other Titans made their way over to where Danny was standing with the League and Dani.
"Everyone hold on." With that, they disappeared in a green flash.
The heroes appeared in front of the burnt down building, nothing more than a pile of rubble, but the heroes could feel it; the undeniable stench of evil was thick in the air. Danny was rubbing the thermos on his belt nervously. He had developed a new one as soon as he heard about the impending war; it was strong enough to hold one hundred ghosts, or a couple of very powerful ghosts. Everyone was taking wary glances around them, taking in their surroundings, when the air suddenly became very cold. The Titans looked at the ghosts in front of them.
"It wasn't us." Danny said quietly. To prove it, a harsh laugh echoed through the street, putting everyone on edge; especially Danny, as memories of three years ago streamed through his mind.
"My, my Danny." Said a cruel voice in front of them. "You have grown up." A figure materialised in front of the heroes; a figure in a black and white hazmat suit, a long cape, sharp fangs protruding from his mouth and hair made of fire.
"Hello Danny. It's been a while." Said Dan, malice in every word he said. The heroes couldn't help but flinch at the ghost in front of them; he seemed to radiate an aura of hate and malevolence.
"Danny, who is that?" Asked a scared Aqualad, his eyes transfixed on the being in front of them.
"We all have our secrets. He's mine." Whispered Danny, locking eyes with Dan.
"Is that you Danny?" Asked an equally scared Flash.
"I was, but I grew out of it." Dan chuckled darkly. "I see you have brought lambs to the inevitable slaughter Danny. I hope you don't mind that I brought some of my own." Dan pulled out a skull and threw it into the air. The skull floated in mid-air, a green mist escaping from it and surrounding the area behind Dan. Out of the mist came hundreds of skeleton soldiers, all armed. Dan's eyes looked at the heroes with amusement, until he came upon Dani, who flinched from his gaze.
"I see you brought the abomination to our little get together Danny. Mortuus informed me of how she was created; how she shouldn't exist." He said, smirking at Danny's angered face, whose hands lit up with green ecto-energy; the heroes behind him also taking up battle stances.
"You're the abomination Dan. You're the one who shouldn't exist. And I will not let you hurt her." Danny said, seething. Dan just laughed.
"You are still such a child Danny." Said Dan, his hands lighting up with red ecto-energy, as his army surrounded the heroes. "The question isn't who's going to let me, but who's going to stop me?" With that, the battle began.
The Titans and the League, with the help of Dani, split up and charged the skeleton army as Danny took to the air, to meet Dan's challenge. Danny took the chance to look at the ground battle which was taking place and the other heroes were holding their own valiantly. The weapons and training they had been doing over the previous weeks were paying off. Danny was cut off from his thoughts as a red ecto-blast narrowly missed his face. He turned to face Dan, hand still smoking from the blast he just sent.
"Come now Danny." He said darkly. "When I beat you, I want the satisfaction of beating you when you are at your best, not when you're being distracted by what's going on below."
"You want a fight Dan?" Danny asked sarcastically. "Bring it on." They both fired ecto-blasts at each other, colliding in the air and creating a small explosion, obscuring each other's view of the other. On instinct, Danny created a large ecto-shield in front him, just as a barrage of red ecto-blasts came through the smoke at him. Once they had stopped, Danny duplicated into three and flew through the smoke, only to find that Dan had done the same thing and was waiting for him. They fought through gritted teeth, with punches here and ecto-shots there until the originals were left panting in mid-air.
"You really have grown up Danny. This is a much better fight than our last one." Dan laughed as he saw Danny's face drop at the mention of what happened last time.
"Tell me Danny," Dan started again. "How does it feel knowing that you were too weak to save the ones you cared about? Knowing that it was your fault they died?" Dan taunted. Danny shouted in rage and charged blindly at Dan, which he was expecting. Dan shifted to the side as Danny flew past him, grabbed his coat and pulled him into an ecto-charged punch, which sent him crashing to the ground. Danny got up, slightly dazed from the impact, but flew back into the air and charged back at Dan. This time Dan split himself in half as Danny sailed by, but this time twisted and gave him a round house kick to Danny's stomach, plummeting him to the ground again; he caught himself before he hit the ground but severely winded, coughing up a bit of ectoplasm.
There's only one way to stop him thought Danny as he faced Dan again. He took in a deep breath and used his Ghostly Wail on the evil ghost. However, Dan had seen the intake of breath and prepared his own Wail. The two attacks clashed in mid-air.
We're doing well thought Robin as they continued to fight the army. They had seen Danny fly into the air to deal with Dan; no one offered to help as Danny wouldn't accept it. Dan was his problem. As he took out another green skeleton soldier, Robin tried to keep his eyes on his team mates. He smiled as he saw Raven, Starfire and Green Lantern working together; Raven was throwing them into the air whilst Starfire and the Green Lantern would fire green energy bolts at them. The twins and Flash were rounding up groups of skeletons, and Speedy was picking them off one by one, sending arrow after arrow at them; not one of them missing. Robin looked behind him to see Cyborg and Bumblebee back to back sending sonic waves at any skeletons coming close to them. Robin then looked up to see Dani, Superman and Wonder Woman flying through the air and taking out any skeletons which tried to break ranks and escape into the city. Robin then focussed again on the army as he raised his Bo staff; the Dark Knight and Aqualad coming either side of him, their ecto-weapons raised too. Most of the army had been defeated; only a couple dozen remained, which were being taken care of swiftly. The three were about to finish off the rest, when a horrendous noise threatened to shatter their eardrums as it resonated through the air. Forgetting the enemy, all the heroes looked up to see both ghosts using Wails on each other, neither one backing down. Still going strong, the Wails were shattering windows and sending cars down the street. Danny's Wail was the first to waver; Dan, picking up on this, increased his Wail until it finally overcame Danny and sent him flying into skeletal looking building which had burned down hours before. Before the heroes could run to Danny's aid, the army surged forwards, cutting them off from the ghost. Danny slowly raised from the small crater he was situated in, only to see Dan hovering menacingly over him.
"If I had an ounce of humanity left in me, I would spare you as we are one in the same." Dan said darkly, lighting his hands up with blood-red ecto-energy. "But I gave that up a long time ago. There can only be one Phantom, and as I no longer need you alive, that one Phantom will be me. Goodbye Danny, and don't worry about your friends. They will meet the same inevitable demise as your previous friends." His hands were glowing dangerous now; Danny could do nothing except wait. He was hurting too much from both his crashes and the sheer power of Dan's Wail, his scar had opened up and ectoplasm was dripping down his face, and exhaustion was threatening to take him. He took one final look at his friends who were slowly fighting off the rest of the army; his eyes seeking Raven's; she, as well as the others could see what was about to happen, but they were powerless to do anything, tears in their eyes. As he brought his eyes round to look his death in the eye, he saw the Green Lantern fighting with green energy swords and it gave him an idea. Just as Dan fired his ecto-blast to end him, Danny created an ecto-ice baseball bat and swung it round to meet the blast. He hit the blast back at Dan, who took the full blast of his attack and sent him careening backwards. To the cheer of his friends, Danny phased the rest of the rubble off of him as he flew into the air, wiping ectoplasm from his eyes, determined not give Dan a chance to breathe. He turned the baseball into a terrifying looking scythe and slashed it across Dan's chest. Dan screamed in pain at the scythe's touch. His scream of pain turned into a shout of fear as where he had been cut, ice was starting to grow around the area. He tried to make it to the ground, with Danny continuing to fly around him, cutting him in various places until Dan was covered from neck to toe in an ice sarcophagus about ten feet from the ground. Dan landed in an upright position, attempting to melt the icy tomb he was encased in, but was failing. Danny landed softly in front of him, and brought out the new thermos, uncapping it.
"I WILL NOT LET YOU TRAP ME IN THAT WRETCHED THERMOS AGAIN!" Dan screamed, trying, but still failing to melt the ice.
"It's not the question of letting me Dan, but rather who is going to stop me?" Danny said quietly, fatiguing quickly. Knowing he would have to do it now before he collapsed, Danny pointed the thermos at Dan and sucked him into it. A sweet sense of relief overcame Danny as he recapped the thermos, with Dan still screaming inside. It's over thought Danny, Dan is finally beaten and gone, as is his army. The other Titans and the League came over to hug and congratulate Danny.
"Dude!" Exclaimed Beast Boy and Speedy.
"That was freaking amazing!" Shouted Aqualad and Robin.
"BOO-YA!" Cyborg yelled. The Justice League was looking at Danny with admiration in their eyes at the sheer power and will the ghost teen had. Dani was practically crushing him with her hug, and Raven kissed him fully on the mouth. Their celebration was cut short though when a stroke of lightning streaked across the sky as a portal, far bigger than the one Danny came through, came into existence above the bay, bringing with it the air of despair and death. That was when it dawned on Danny. Dan was only the foot soldier; the leader was now entering the war.
The final chapter of this story will be up before the weekend finishes. I hope you enjoyed this latest instalment. Until next time.
Lord Pugsy.