CHAPTER FOUR
There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.
Laurell K. Hamilton, Mistral's Kiss
Several days passed and nothing interesting happened. Danny opened up shop, served customers, drank his weight (if not more) in coffee, closed shop and went to bed. The only non-routine thing he did was turn part of the basement into a gym, filled with exercise equipment and plenty of spare boxing bags for when he broke them. At the end of the basement there was a door, plain in colour and almost unnoticeable in the room, except for the fact that it was not on the original blueprints to the building.
What was more unusual to anyone who was not a ghost or had not been raised in a ghost hunters' home, was that it led to a laboratory that would put NASAs to shame. Danny spent a fair amount of time in the lab when he wasn't working or working out, tinkering away to keep his mind busy and maybe appease the part of him that didn't want to forget his trauma. He had rarely even flown lately, the last time being the night he met the Titans. He missed it, it had always been his favourite part of his powers.
As he opened up his shop after his lunch break, he decided to take a flight that night, it had been too long and even if he didn't deserve happiness or comfort, he could at least take a short flight to familiarize himself with the city. At least that's what he told himself. Settling down behind the counter, Danny awaited his next customer trying not to appear impatient for closing time, but who came through the door was someone he was half expecting to come by, not for any particular reason except her love of books, which she shared with a lost soul. Raven smiled politely at Danny as she came up to him, but it was clear her mind was preoccupied elsewhere.
"Hello, I'm Raven, of the Teen Titans." She introduced herself pointlessly, but not that she knew that. "I was in here the other day." She clarified. Danny nodded.
"Yes, I remember you." He said, trying to avoid looking her in the eyes once more, choosing instead to focus on the wall behind her, reminding himself that this was not his Sam.
"Well, I'm here because I'm researching something for my Team and I would like your assistance in locating books on the topic, and if you don't have any available to buy, maybe you could order some for me? I'm willing to pay extra." She said. A slight frown on her face as she noticed him avoiding looking directly at her.
"Sure, what's the topic?" He asked.
"Ghosts." Was all she said. Danny was lucky he had spent years keeping his identity a secret because two years ago had someone like a Teen Titan said that to him, he would have panicked and immediately begun babbling. This current Danny was better than that.
"Ghosts? As in spirits, apparitions, spectres, phantoms, and such?" He asked innocently, actually looking into her eyes to see her reaction when he said a certain word. The flicker in her eyes as he said phantom confirmed it, although he was not surprised. He had known that revealing himself to the Titans would result in them doing everything they could to figure out whatever they were able to about him. He found it ironic of all the places to go, they happened to come to him. Raven nodded.
"Yes, the very same." She replied. She offered no more information, although Danny didn't need to ask. He nodded his head and stood up, leading her to the isle that contained books on ghosts. He had a fair few, but he had read them all front to back to make sure there was no incriminating information or anything humans were not supposed to know about. He knew they were safe to read, hence why he had them in his store. He pointed the correct shelf out and quickly turned and left, hearing her 'thank you' as he reached his desk. Releasing a deep breath he hadn't known he was holding, Danny slumped a little in his seat, letting his hair fall over his face as he closed his eyes and tried to think of anything but his past and a pair of shimmering violet eyes.
Raven browsed the books for a while before choosing the majority of them to take home. She stacked the books up in her arms and made her way to the counter to pay. As she walked up, she was thinking just how much this was going to cost her when she looked towards the desk and froze. The store owner was slightly slumped over, his dark hair covering his face, eyes closed. But it was not his posture that had made Raven stop, it was the realization that hit her like a bolt of lightning. The dark-haired boy at the counter, leaning in that position, made her flash back to where she had seen something similar, the Fenton boy. She dropped her books in surprise when she compared the two in her head and added about three years onto Daniel Fenton. The boy looked up and saw her standing there eyes wide and mouth slightly agape.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his big blue eyes seeming to see through to her soul. She nodded.
"I just thought of something I had forgotten, I was looking for my friend earlier, she may have come in here. Do you know Samantha?" She said in a fit of inspiration. The boy in front of her flinched as if she had slapped him. Hurt flickered across his face before he cooled it into a mask of indifference. That was all she needed to confirm her suspicions. This was Daniel Fenton.
"Never heard of someone called that." He said nonchalantly, but he couldn't quite hide the shaking of his hands.
"My mistake then. Sorry." She said, fully meaning it given how pain still danced in his eyes. She gathered her books, paid Danny, and left quickly, eager to get home and tell her friends what she had discovered. As soon as she was outside the door, a black bird flew up from her shadow and encompassed her in its cool embrace, teleporting her to Titans Tower. She appeared in the living room, stacks of books in her arms which she dropped onto Beast Boy's lap who cried out in both surprise and pain.
"Don't do that, you'll give me a heart attack." He said, dramatically clutching his chest. Raven smiled slightly and turned to Robin.
"You will never guess who I just saw." She said cryptically. "Turns out you have met him too."
"Who?" Robin asked, mystified. Raven pointed to the TV which still held the photo of the Fenton's and their friends.
"Daniel Fenton." There was a split second of silence before everyone started talking at once.
"Titans!" Robin called out loudly over the chattering teenagers. Everyone stopped talking at looked to Robin, had Raven gone to school she would have snickered at the similarities between their reaction when Robin called them and when a teacher called upon their students. "Let Raven explain as to why she thinks that this boy is in our city." He said, a slight frown on his face. Raven chalked it up to her discovering him before he did.
"He owns the bookstore that opened a while back near the pizza parlour. We actually ran into him at the parlous, well more accurately, Starfire did." She said, motioning to her red-headed best friend.
"The boy with the pretty eyes is here? In our city?" At Star's 'pretty eyes' comment, Robin's eyebrow twitched visibly through his mask. "Was he the boy I spilt the mustard on?" She looked less excited now than she did several seconds ago.
"It was an accident Star." Robin said, putting his arm around her slim waist. "The most important thing is to discover why he is here, and why Phantom showed up after almost three years of having disappeared, in the same city where the son of the people he killed is living." Robin continued, returning his gaze to the rest of his team. "Is it merely chance? Are they working together for some plot? Do they have an ulterior motive? Is Phantom hunting Fenton? And why, after never having experienced a ghost attack or anything of the sort, do we encounter multiple in the same day? It just doesn't seem like a coincidence to me." Robin said, voicing some very good points.
"Robin, nothing is a coincidence to you." Raven said dryly.
"While that may be true, we do need to know. If it is merely a coincidence, then it still gives us a chance to find out more about this Phantom, and find out what he really is, I don't believe in ghosts. I believe in what's real and what I can see and touch." Robin said. "He's probably just some super-powered human." Raven sighed; her friend's cynicism was sometimes his worst attribute.
"Well, it most likely won't go well but what the hell." Raven said, shrugging her shoulders and practically predicting the outcome.
Robin and Raven reached Danny's store very quickly, thanks to Raven's handy teleporting trick. As they stepped inside, they looked around, taking in the masses of books all neatly arranged on the bookshelves, and the people who were spread out through the quiet store reading or sipping coffee in the beanbags. Sitting behind the counter was the dark-haired boy they had come searching for. Robin walked up to him with a steady gait, his lips pressed tightly together feeling slightly guilty already, fully knowing the wounds he was about to open in this boy. Robin could relate to that, but the safety of his city and his team came first.
"Hello, I need to speak with you." Robin said stiffly. Danny looked up and raised an eyebrow.
"For any particular reason? If you're looking for a book, it's in alphabetical order, and if you're an imbecile, the letters on the bookshelves tell you what letters are in what isle." Danny said, his voice cold. Robin stiffened, his back going unnaturally straight. Gone was any sympathy he was holding onto. If he was still going to be a jerk, then Robin could be a jerk too.
"It's best if you empty the store." He said, gesturing to the few people who were reading quietly. "It's a matter of sensitivity, of which you seem to lack." Danny paused and his lip twitched, whether in an attempt to hide a frown or a smile, no one knew.
"Fine." He said, standing up. He ushered the people out of the store, flipped the open sign to closed, then turned and faced the superheroes in front of him. "What's up?" He said, raising an eyebrow and gesturing to the seats nearby.
"We needed to ask you some questions." Robin said, sitting on a surprisingly comfy white loveseat.
"Shoot." Danny said, reclining in a black armchair and crossing his arms.
"What do you know about Danny Phantom." He said bluntly, observing the dark-haired teen closely. If Robin hadn't been intentionally watching him, and focusing on the little details, he might not have noticed that the boy's hand twitched slightly.
"Sorry, who?" He replied after a beat.
"Danny Phantom. We know that you know of him, he was a frequent visitor in your hometown, Amity Park." Robin said. Danny paled slightly. Whilst Danny had known that the Titans would eventually figure out who his alter-ego was, he didn't except them to piece together his human half within a day. Impressive, he thought reluctantly.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He said stiffly, his ice blue eyes turning into glaciers. Raven shifted slightly in her seat as she could practically feel his emotions smashing against his midnight mental walls.
"We did some research as we encountered Phantom himself the other night. Seeing as this is our city, and we have no idea who this super-powered teen is or what his intentions are, we need to know everything we can, so we can be prepared in case he turns on Jump City as he did Amity Park." Robin said. "We know you know him, Daniel Fenton." Danny froze, his eyes looking like they were about to shoot beams of ice at them. His face had paled even more, making him look almost sickly.
"How do you know who I am?" Danny asked, his voice low and dangerous. Turns out the Titans were better at putting two and two together than he thought, though he hadn't tried to hide it as much as he probably should have, even if his legal name was now Fenton-Masters (purely to make things easier since having a 'rich' name would help open doors according to Vlad).
"When we researched Phantom, we found an article on you and your family, and it detailed the events that transpired the day they died. It told us that Phantom caused the deaths of six innocent people, and that you were the sole survivor of the explosion. We figured that you have firsthand knowledge of Phantom and his powers." Robin said, not stopping even when Danny's eyes darkened with rage.
"Stop." If the Titans had thought that Danny's voice was dangerous before, this time it was so much worse. Even Robin had to hold back a shudder, trying to ignore the fact that Danny looked like he was about to murder someone, the kid set Robin on edge, and he had no idea why, and it was not because he appeared to want to attack him.
"What do you mean, stop?" Raven asked, feeling fully uncomfortable and tense with what was happening behind his emotional wall. Although she could not see behind it, she could sure feel it building up, like a storm on the horizon. Danny turned his cold glare to her.
"I don't have to explain myself to you." He growled. Raven blinked in shock at the anger in his voice, but it didn't feel like it was aimed at her. Then she realized. This was the first time he had looked her in the eyes properly.
Danny had known this was coming. He was only surprised by how soon; the Boy Wonder really did his homework fast. Even though he was expecting it, he still couldn't stop the anger from rising up, but instead of a ball of blaring hot fire in his chest, it was a blizzard of sharp ice shards swirling around his core. He was barely able to contain his powers, wanting to blast out at everything and everyone around him. He couldn't say that Phantom didn't kill his family because he did. His future self-killed them all, and he couldn't stop him. Danny jerked himself away from that thought, not going down that rabbit hole. He redirected the ice swirling around his chest, directing it to wash over his emotions, freezing them solid.
When Robin accused Phantom of purposefully leaving his family to die, Danny almost lost his tentative control on his powers. Yes, his future self, Dark Dan as he had taken to calling him, had killed his family and friends, but Danny Phantom did not. He had not left them; he had been so close to the explosion that he had been momentarily deaf afterwards. He had tried so hard to save them, but it hadn't been enough. He hadn't been enough.
"Stop." He growled, his internal struggle getting more and more difficult to control.
"What do you mean, stop?" Raven asked. Danny turned his ice-cold glare onto her.
"I don't have to explain myself to you." He snarled. He didn't want to snap at her, not when she looked so much like her. He stared into her eyes and the last of his frozen anger started fading, anger that he knew, was at himself for not being good enough to save his family. Her violet eyes stared directly into his blue without wavering. He slid his gaze away from her, becoming uncomfortable with how much she was affecting him. It didn't even occur to him that when he looked her in the eyes, his internal storm of emotions settled.
"Yeah, you kinda do." Robin said, his voice like steel. Danny sighed internally. He looked at the Boy Wonder with an exasperated look.
"Fine." He replied. "What do you want to know?" He didn't know why he had revealed himself to the Titans, nor why he was still sitting there letting them question him and dredge up all his dark memories and all the pain that came with them. All he knew was that he didn't want to leave, he wanted someone to believe it wasn't his fault, even if he couldn't believe it himself. Robin looked surprised that Danny agreed, especially after Danny's expression of pure anger in his eyes.
"We want to know what you know about Phantom." Robin said, keeping his eyes on the dark-haired boy in front of him. He was a little surprised to see a dry smile appear on Danny's face his eyes now devoid of emotions.
"Sure." He snickered. "I can tell you what Fenton knows." Robin frowned a little at the third person reference but didn't say anything.
"Danny Phantom appeared in Amity Park around three years ago. Before then, Amity was just like any small city, usual crime rates and no ghosts. Then one day, everything changed, ghosts begun appearing, terrorizing the city, but never harming anyone." Danny seemed to highlight that little fact intently, like he was subtly trying to tell them something.
"Phantom appeared during the first big ghost attack and defeated them. He disappeared afterwards, and only ever showed up as a new ghost attack started. No one knew who he was for a long time, so they started calling him 'Inviso-Bill' which I guess was their idea of a bad pun. My-" he choked up a little bit before clearing his throat and continuing. "My parents were the world leaders in Ectoentities, ghosts and everything of the sort. For years they were mocked until ghosts actually started appearing. They then became acknowledged as the world's foremost researchers on the topic, even after having built a heap of inventions and weaponry to fight ghosts, and their very own Ghost Portal."
"Wait- Ghost Portal?" Raven chimed in, confusion and apprehension warring in her chest. Danny nodded, fully immersed in telling the story of his parents, and the origin story of himself. Memories flew behind his eyes, filled with those he loved most. His ice powers were working overtime to keep his feelings suppressed, despite the intermittent panging from his core.
"Yeah, it was designed to tear a hole into another dimension, called the Ghost Zone." He answered, another wry smile sliding his lips upward. He ignored Raven's slight twitching in favour of continuing. "It didn't work at first but then I managed to figure it out, albeit accidentally, and got a little zap for my trouble. People, including my parents, believed it to be the reason ghosts started coming to Amity. After that it was ghost attack after ghost attack-then two invasions, one small scale, one very large. Some ghosts are dangerous, very dangerous, but they usually stay in the Zone, the others that come to our Realm, they usually just come for some sport, or fun. At least that's what the ghosts in Amity used to do. I believe I heard one call it 'blowing of steam'. No one was ever badly hurt beyond some scrapes and bruises or some pinched feet…until my family." He said, eyes downcast as he tried to shove his feelings back into a little box in the back of his mind. Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone standing at the end of the isle, a faint red glint emanating from their eyes. Danny's eyes flicked upwards, but as he turned to look straight on at the person, they darted away, faster than he could follow. As it disappeared, he swore he saw it wink at him. A part of Danny's mind noted that it was the same figure he had seen multiple times before, ever since the explosion.
"That still isn't telling us much about Phantom, just your town." Raven said, drawing Danny's attention away from the mysterious shadow. He chalked it up to his imagination, trying to ignore the fact that this was not the first time he had seen something like that.
"And what was that about a ghost invasion?" Robin asked, immediately starting to calculate the chances of that happening in his city. Danny cleared his throat.
"Well, the first one was a ghost named Walker. He invaded with a bunch of police looking ghosts to try get revenge on Phantom for escaping his prison." He answered, unable to stop himself from continuously glancing back to the place where he thought he saw someone.
"Wait, Phantom is a criminal?" Robin questioned, his voice hard once more. Danny shook his head.
"No." Was all he said. He chose not to elaborate.
"What do you mean by that? He escaped from prison, that means criminal." Robin said.
"I'm done with this." Danny said. "I have a store to run, and I don't really want to be dredging up memories from my past. Thank you for stopping by." He said frostily. He stood up and walked to the front door, opening it wide for them. The Titans, taking the hint, left (albeit reluctantly), feeling they had pushed the orphaned teen enough for one day.
As soon as the Titans left, Danny slumped against the door, fatigue pulling at his limbs. Why did I let them ask those questions? Why did I answer them? Danny questioned himself, confusion clouding his mind. He had spent so long trying to bury his memories, and he just let complete strangers ask questions about his alter-ego of all things.
"You're walking a dangerous line, Fenton," he mumbled to himself before walking upstairs, leaving the store closed for the rest of the day. When he reached his apartment, he saw a shadow moving underneath the door. Readying himself, he threw the door open, an ecto-ray at the ready in his palm. A quick glance around the room revealed no one there. His ghost sense hadn't gone off, and not to mention the entire building was protected by a Ghost Shield, allowing only him to pass through. His heightened hearing didn't pick anything up and neither did his strong sense of smell. His apartment was empty. Danny frowned; certain he had seen someone in here from under the door.
"You're losing it dude." he whispered to himself.
Indeed, you are, little hero, A smooth, velveteen voice answered him. Dropping into a fighting stance, Danny spun around, looking for the source of the voice. As his eyes drifted over a shadowed corner, a pair of blood red, glowing eyes opened and stared at him, filled with amusement and hate.
"Who are you? What are you and how did you get in here?" Danny growled. No human could have gotten in, neither could a ghost, so he had to be something else.
Don't recognize me, Danny? That hurts. The voice feigned sadness, before letting loose a cackle that sounded so familiar that Danny's hair on the back of his neck stood on end. The shadow stepped forward and Danny choked back a cry and stumbled backwards, crashing into his dining table, sending a plate crashing to the ground, causing it to shatter. But Danny only mildly noticed this, for all his attention was focused on the being in front of him.
"No. NO, you can't be here." He said, fear clouding his mind and clogging his throat. Dark Dan laughed, an evil sound that sent chills colder than his cryokinesis down his spine.
'Bout time little hero. I've been lurking around for weeks, waiting for you to notice me. He smirked. It was then Danny was able to gather his thoughts through the haze of fear filling his head like cotton.
"No, you actually can't be here. Clockwork has you and he wouldn't have let you go, not without warning me." He said, straightening. "And you can't be an actual ghost like Bertrand or Amorpho because my ghost sense would have gone off. You're not actually here. You're not real. You're in my head." He said. Danny closed his eyes. You're not real, you're not real. He repeated in his head. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes, and saw that the shadow of his evil self was gone. Danny breathed a sigh of relief until he felt a puff of air against the back of his neck.
Just because I am in your head, doesn't mean I'm not real. Dan whispered in his ear, before shoving Danny forward into the coffee table. A loud crack, a split second of blinding pain, and then all Danny knew was darkness.
Once back at Titans Tower, Raven and Robin filled in the Titan's who had stayed back.
"He seems to be very cold, but I think that is just masking the pain he feels." Raven said.
"I am not surprised; he lost his entire family and his friends in one blow." Cyborg winced at his unintentional pun.
"Do you think he is depressed?" Asked Starfire sadly. Robin hesitated before looking to Raven, who nodded.
"Judging by the amount of self-hatred and sadness I could see from his body language I would say very." Robin said.
"Will he…" Starfire couldn't continue her question.
"I hope not, maybe we should apologise for bringing up these memories, especially since we didn't get much information from him. Not to mention, I have a bad feeling." Raven said, and Raven was rarely wrong about these things.
The next morning, Raven and Robin went alone to Danny's store again, only to find it closed and cloaked in darkness.
"We can come back tomorrow?" Raven said, staring at the sky. "Besides, I think we are about to have one hell of a storm." She pointed to the black, almost green clouds that made it look like late afternoon rather than early morning. Robin hesitated then shook his head.
"No, Daniel could be in serious trouble and need our help. I'm not willing to find out if I'm right or wrong later." He said. Raven nodded in agreement, unable to fault his logic. She couldn't help but feel guilty about annoying the boy again, but if her intuition was right, as they suspected, it couldn't be helped. Robin reached out a black gloved fist and knocked on the glass door. No one came to answer it, so he knocked again.
"Daniel? Are you here?" Robin called out loudly. Still, no one came. "Rae?" Robin asked, knowing Raven would understand what he was asking. Raven nodded and closed her eyes. Stretching forward her awareness in the shape of an elegant black bird, she soared through the store, looking for any signs of life. When she reached the back of the store, she flew through a locked door and up a spiral staircase that led to another door, which is where Raven assumed Danny lived.
She was unable to sense anything behind the door, but that didn't mean much given that Danny felt like an impenetrable wall to her, and she was surrounded by walls right now. A slight sound emanated from the room in front of her, it sounded like a wounded animal and immediately gave Raven another bad feeling. Raven tried to phase into the room, but found she ran straight into it, something blocked her from entering with her astral form. She soared back to her body at record speeds and opened her eyes to see Robin staring at her.
"Something's wrong." Was all she said, and it had Robin picking the lock and sprinting up the stairs at a speed that was incredible, even for the Boy Wonder. When they reached the door that lead to Danny's apartment, he picked the lock again and opened the door wide, his bo-staff out and his body already settled into a fighting stance. He hesitated when he saw nothing in the room, except for a barely moving Danny, laying on the living room floor, the coffee table dented on the side and a small pool of blood, stark against the soft, snow-white carpet.
"Raven." Robin barked, but Raven was already on the move, at Danny's side and grabbing his shoulders gently. At her touch, Danny's eyes flew open and met her started violet eyes. For half a second, Raven could have sworn they were green, but it was gone too quickly for her to truly believe if she had actually seen it or not. Danny raised a shaky hand to his head that came away sticky with blood. He swore loudly and lunged to his feet, darting across the small apartment to the kitchen, grabbing a tea towel and holding it to his head wound. Standing with his back to them, Raven could see the tense muscles in his back through his dark t-shirt twitch, like he was trying to stop himself from throwing up.
"Are you okay?" Robin asked, concern filling his voice. Danny didn't respond, instead walked to one of the doors at the back and went through it, closing it firmly behind him. Robin raised an eyebrow at Raven who shrugged. Unsure whether to leave or not, they hesitated in the living room entryway, waiting for either him to come back, or a long enough time to lapse that they could leave. Before they could decide whether to wait or leave, a pale Danny returned, now clad in a white long-sleeved shirt that was pushed up to his elbows and a gauze pad taped to his head.
"What are you doing here?" He said, his voice low and just as dangerous as it was earlier. Robin stood up straighter and looked the teen dead in the eye.
"We wanted to come see if you were okay." Raven replied.
"The front door was locked, and Raven used her powers to come check on you but couldn't seem to get through the door to your apartment. We thought something was wrong." Robin gestured back at the now closed door, as if it would corroborate his story. Danny raised his eyebrow.
"So, you decided to break in?" He asked, surprisingly not angry anymore but sounding more amused than anything else.
"With the best intentions." Robin said with a sheepish smile. Danny snorted.
"Road to Hell is paved with good intentions." He retorted, before turning his gaze to Raven.
"Why did you feel the need to check on me? Do I appear that emotionally unstable that I'll crumble and kill myself at the mere mention of my family?" he said, his voice impassive. Raven flinched.
"No… well kind of, Raven had a bad feeling." Robin replied. Danny tilted his head, reminding Raven of an inquisitive, yet dangerous bird she had once encountered in her travels through the Realms.
"And how would she know something was wrong?" He asked, his voice low once more.
"I am a powerful empath and telepath." As Raven finished her sentence, she noticed Danny become very still, almost like he became a living statue.
"You used your powers on me without my permission or knowledge?" he asked, that dangerous tint back in his voice.
"She was worried due to the conversation topic, but she noticed some anomalies." Robin said, determined not to let this midnight-haired boy unnerve him, or at least not to show him that he unnerved him. It was so startling to both of the Titans that they jumped when Danny started laughing.
"Anomalies. Not the first time I've heard that, but I am fine." He said, his amusement fading. "Now can you please leave?" He asked, ushering them towards the door.
"Wait, why were you unconscious when we came in?" Robin asked, dodging Danny's attempt at pushing them out of the door.
"I tripped." he said simply. Raven didn't believe him for a minute, not with the massive dent in the table and the size of the puddle of blood that had formed. She glanced down at it as Danny pushed them completely out the door and noticed something strange. Before she could double check what she saw, Danny slammed the door in their faces, effectively locking them out.
"Well, might as well get home and tell the Titans what happened here." Robin said. Raven nodded absently as her black bird encompassed them in darkness and teleported them to their Tower, her mind fully focusing on the strange black, almost green spots she had seen in the still-drying blood puddle on Danny's living room floor.
Danny couldn't believe he had let that happen; stupid him for not using the add humans' option on the Ghost Shield. He banged his forehead against the closed door, cursing his stupidity with words that would have given his mother a fit if she had been there. He turned around and faced the bloody puddle on the carpet. He knelt down and pushed the damaged table out of the way, peering at the stained carpet.
"There's no saving you is there?" he asked the carpet before placing his hand to his throbbing head. "I'm talking to a carpet. Maybe I have a concussion." He mused, rolling the destroyed carpet and lifted it up onto his shoulder. "White was a bad choice anyway." He said as he opened the door and headed downstairs to the lab. He couldn't risk just tossing the carpet away, not when his Halfa blood was covering it. It had to be destroyed.
Danny tossed the carpet onto the floor in the middle of the lab and took several steps away before raising his hand which glowed with ecto-energy. As he pointed at the carpet and let his ghost ray fly, burning the carpet until it was nothing but ash, he thought about how he had been injured. How the hell had Dark Dan hurt him? He wasn't real. Clockwork didn't say anything about him getting free, and that's something that he definitely would have told Danny. Only several seconds had passed, but the carpet was nothing more than a pile of ashes on the floor, all evidence of his ghostly status gone.
"Clockwork." Danny muttered. He raised his eyes to the hexagon metal door at the end of the room. It took up the entire wall, purely because if it was smaller, when Cujo came on his uninvited visits, he would damage it, like he had done to Vlad's multiple times until the elder half-ghost increased its size. In a split second, Danny had made his decision. Two glowing rings of pure white light surrounded his waist, the glow filling the room and changing him from Fenton to Phantom. He floated off the ground and flew to the Portal, punching in some numbers on the keypad next to the door, causing it to open, revealing a glowing green vortex of energy. Danny took a deep breath to steady to dizziness in his head and flew into the maelstrom of energy that had given him his powers.
Once he emerged on the other side he flew straight to Clockworks. His Portal couldn't open a portal at Clockwork's thanks to his wards, but he could get within a mile, and he didn't mind the flight. Soaring over floating landmasses and floating doors, Danny took a moment to appreciate the view. His ghost core hummed in pleasure as it absorbed the ecto-energy in the air, healing him as he flew, the pain in his head disappearing faster in the Zone than it would have in the Mortal Realm. Danny had never bothered to ask Clockwork about why that was because he figured it was because his ghost half healed him with ectoplasmic energy and the Zone was literal energy, constant and eternal.
He could feel the waves of ectoplasm brushing against his skin as he flew, light as a feather and causing tingles to break out along his body. Feeling like this, Danny didn't know why ghosts ever left the Zone. It felt like home a place Danny hadn't known for a long time. Danny shook his head clear of thought as he approached Clockworks tower, dodging around the bits of old broken clocks that were scattered around. What most people didn't know, was that these pieces of junk weren't here just because Clockwork hated chores, but because they were sentries. If someone crossed his borders without his permission, they became fearsome machines, capable of tearing one apart in moments. Danny flew straight through the open castle doors and into Clockworks Time Room, where the Time Master himself was standing in front of one of his Time Spheres, observing as always.
"Good morning, Daniel." Clockwork said without turning around. Danny almost smiled, almost. The ghostly Time Master was currently in his old man form, a sad expression on his face as he met Danny's eyes.
"I have a question Clockwork, but you probably already know what it is" Danny said, closing the distance between them and landing gently on his feet.
"You're right, I do know." He said simply. Danny waited for him to answer his unspoken question, but the old ghost just looked at him. Danny rolled his eyes.
"Okay, fine." he grumbled, crossing his arms. "I had an…incident last night." He began. Clockwork simply nodded for him to continue. "I woke up in a pool of my own blood and my table has a huge dent in it from my head. I was pushed." He said, searching Clockwork's glowing red eyes for any hint of an answer. "It was Dark Dan." He finished in a rush, his heart slowing the more his nerves grew. Clockwork sighed and gently placed his hand on the young ghost boys' shoulders.
Clockwork couldn't help but feel sorrow for this teenager who had gone through more pain in the short sixteen years of his life than most people had in a hundred years. Clockwork had tried to save Daniel's family, but due to his initial meddling with the timeline and bringing Danny to his Tower, his hands had been tied by the Creators Rules of the Realms, and as such, he had to stand by helplessly and watch as the young hero's life blew up in flames. He was able to use a little bit of his powers to make sure that Daniel survived relatively unharmed, physically at least. As he watched the young teenager in front of him, he instinctively changed forms into his middle-aged form, worry gnawing at his mind. Daniel was spiralling, and Clockwork couldn't stop it. He couldn't tell Daniel, but he had nudged Vlad into sending him to Jump City, in hopes that heroes who had lived through similar could help heal the broken Ghost Boy. Resurfacing from his thoughts, Clockwork returned his attention to the white-haired teenager in front of him.
"Dark Dan remains in his thermos prison, hidden away in a secret chamber with wards put there before I existed." Clockwork said. "No one gets in there without my permission, and no one can ever escape it." Danny sighed, in what Clockwork thought was half relief, half dread.
"I need to be sure." He said, looking up at the elder ghost with pleading green eyes. What Clockwork saw in his eyes made the well of sadness in his chest grow. The boy was broken, hurt, and hoping for salvation. Clockwork mourned that he couldn't save the boy, only Daniel could save himself.
"Follow me." Clockwork said simply, his voice and demeanour not giving away his thoughts nor his feelings as he led Danny down a side hall. Clockwork was not used to feeling emotions this strongly. He had always been impassive, which made him excellent at his job. But ever since meeting the powerful young Halfa, Clockwork was experiencing things he had never felt before. Worry, concern, admiration. He was very protective of the boy and that concerned him, as his job required that he not gain any emotional attachments to anyone. This boy was different. He had gotten past Clockwork's walls and changed him.
Thinking on that, he knew exactly why it had happened, and that the boy was going to save the world, even if he didn't know it. Clockwork had announced to the Council that he was the boy's ghostly guardian, like Vlad was his human guardian. A small smile rose to Clockworks face as he remembered the outburst the Observers had. He took a sharp turn down a side corridor that Danny hadn't even noticed due to it being encased in shadows. After several meters Clockwork stopped next to an ordinary wall, one that looked identical to all the others in the Tower. Raising his hand, he held it centimetres away from the wall and waited. Danny watched with great interest as a bright white light lit up the darkness and surrounded Clockwork's hand in a gentle, searching caress.
It seemed to approve of whatever it found and receded back into the wall. As soon as it disappeared a loud click echoed throughout the hallway and the 'ordinary' wall opened, revealing a long, dark room with ghostly green torches lighting up the area. Columns lined the walkway, and even from a distance, Danny could see they were carved with elegant pictures. One showed two orbs merging with tendrils of what looked like vines connecting them, seeming to draw it closer. Another had an image of two lovers in an embrace, flowers coating one side, darkness and tendrils the other. The rest were carved with different scenes of war and growth. Upon further examination, he saw that there were tables each with strange looking objects sitting on them, a wall of white energy surrounding them like a shield.
He recognised the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire sitting side by side, but they were the only items that looked familiar. Danny remembered the difficulty they had taking the Ring of Rage off Pariah while he was trapped in the Sarcophagus and shuddered at the memory. Dragging his attention away from the strange ornaments, he looked to the end of the room where a single solid table sat, lights on each side highlighting the Fenton Thermos sitting on the table, the same shield surrounding it as the rest of the objects in the room.
"Those shields are impenetrable, even from me. Every object in this room is powerful. Things too unstable and dangerous for the Ghost Zone or the Human Realm are hidden away here, surrounded by wards from the Creators." Clockwork explained. Danny looked quizzically to Clockwork at the second mention of 'Creators'.
"What are Creators?" He asked. The Time Master shifted into his child form before answering.
"Who not what Daniel. The Creators are the ones who created everything. The Ghost Zone, the Human Realm, ghosts, humans, everything. Their name is quite self-explanatory." He explained. Danny nodded in understanding, a faint blush colouring his cheeks.
"So, they're the Ghost Zone's version of God?"
"Well, I am not getting into that, that is a whole other discussion." Clockwork grinned. "We have our gods; you have your God. But I will say this, if Ghost Zone Gods exist, why shouldn't the Mortal Realms? Who's to say we aren't worshiping the same Creator? Who's to say they are different or the same, religion is religion." He said. Danny shook his head, not even trying to touch that topic. He was never really a religious person, and after the accident he was definitely not religious. What God would let that happen to his family? He felt his shields around his heart begin to tear and he threw himself away from that train of thought.
"I have no God." Danny said, his voice had lost the tinge of curiosity and was now the same flat, expressionless tone he had begun with, the tone that had become his usual. Clockwork sighed and floated forward, towards the thermos sitting on the table. Danny followed silently; all his attention focused on the thermos. As they reached the table, the thermos rocked slightly, and Danny could hear an angry voice roaring from inside. As he breathed a sigh of relief, the thermos shook violently, and a face appeared in the metal. Dark Dan's evil smirk shook Danny to his core, but as he started to sweat, thinking he would escape, the white shield around the thermos glowed and a shot of what looked like lightning flew forward and struck the thermos, fixing the dent and causing Dark Dan to roar in pain and rage. Danny looked to Clockwork, amazed at the protective shield and his mind immediately trying to figure out the details of how the shield worked.
"Its magic older than time itself that protects this entity." Clockwork said. "It has been protecting this castle and this chamber since the beginning of it all." Danny stared at the elder ghost.
"How old are you?" He asked, hoping his question wouldn't offend his Mentor. Clockwork merely snorted, startling Danny enough that he took a step back. He had never heard such a sound come out of the serious Time Master before.
"I am old enough, child." He said with a small smile. Danny nodded and glanced back at the Thermos that held his evil future self. Dark Dan was trapped, he would never escape, would never terrorize him or anyone else ever again. Of that Danny was sure. But if Dark Dan was securely trapped here, who or what had attacked him? Of that, Danny was unsure, and that fact alone frightened him more than he dared to admit.
Raven couldn't stop thinking about Danny Fenton-Masters. Seeing him lying in a pool of his own blood, paler than any human alive could be. Logically, she knew that head wounds bled more than any other part of the body, but seeing it was a whole other experience. When she had first laid eyes on the prone teenager, her heart had skipped a beat and sweat coated her hands. She had never seen someone wounded like that, despite her job description.
She had healed her teammates broken bones, concussions, and contusions, but none of them even came close to what she had witnessed today. Looking down at the herbal tea in her hands, she saw the dark pool of blood stretching across the white carpet. Her hands tightened and the mug broke in her hands. She swore gently and stood to get a towel before she could get far she glanced down at the spilt tea and couldn't help but notice the resemblance at which the tea spread across the counter and the way Danny's blood had done the same to the carpet.
She shook her head and raised her velveteen hood so her face was in shadow as her eyes turned a glowing white and the tea and shattered mug disappeared completely, teleported to an alternate universe where it could be someone else's problem. Raven's mind returned to Danny Fenton as her mind nagged at her that she was missing something. She thought back to when they first entered his apartment, seeing his deathly pale face, dark red blood covering him and the floor like a deadly blanket. It looked like the crime scenes Robin used to witness, and she could feel his emotions as he recalled those memories. The thing she kept coming back to was when she had reached down to try healing him and he had awoken at her touch.
She could have sworn his crystal blue eyes had flashed bright green, but that was not possible, she tried to convince herself and her Emoticlones who were currently raging in her head, making her feel like a blender had been set to full blast inside her mind. She couldn't think of a rational explanation except for her panic at seeing him prone on the ground, as pale as a ghost. She wasn't sure why she reacted the way she did, she barely knew him, but she felt a connection there. The trauma of a similar, bloody history. She shook her head again as if she was trying to shake the Emoticlones into silence.
I need to meditate. If only to shut you all up. She thought, directing it to the unruly emotions currently arguing in her head. She turned from the counter to head to her usual spot on the roof when the automatic doors slid open with a soft swish revealing Robin and Starfire. Robin's usually carefully gelled and styled hair was messy and sticking out all over his head and Starfire was unusually flushed with a giddy smile on her face. There was no question as to what the couple had been up to, and Raven was all the more eager to reach the roof.
"Raven." Robin said, seeing her at the Kitchen counter. "I was just about to come looking for you." He ran his hand through his messy hair, trying to get it under control as his cheeks flushed a faint pink. Starfire giggled and clapped her hands, floating slightly off the ground with joy and amusement.
"Oh, I do love it when he does the changing of colour." She giggled and clasped her hands as Robin's blush deepened into a dark red, reminding Raven of the puddle of blood she couldn't seem to get out of her head. Despite it, she smiled at her best friend and her boyfriend.
"Anyway," Robin said, eager to change the conversation topic. "Are you okay? We didn't really talk much when we got back from Danny Fenton's." He frowned in concern. Raven shook her head.
"I'm fine, just trying to get the images out of my head." She confessed. Robin tilted his head and smiled gently, completely understanding.
"It will fade. He is alive, he is fine. It's different seeing an incident like that in person but it'll fade." Robin reassured her. Raven nodded, giving the Titan a smile of gratitude. Over the years, Robin had finally had a growth spurt, leaving him now taller than Starfire, which the Tameranian had confessed to Raven she loved. Much to Beast Boy's chagrin, he was still the shortest male Titan, even though he was as tall as Starfire.
"Thanks Robin." The Dark Titan smiled at the couple before heading for the sliding doors. She wasn't even halfway to them when the Tower was filled with the blaring of the Titan Alarm. Within seconds Beast Boy and Cyborg burst through the sliding doors, skidding to a stop in front of Robin who had somehow managed to get from the Kitchen counter to the main console in what felt like less than a second.
"Titans, trouble downtown, looks like Cinderblock." He said, clicking a few buttons and pulling up a live video of downtown Jump City where the giant stone creature was currently smashing a building with a bus. "Titans go!" Robin shouted and everyone jumped into action. Raven couldn't help but feel grateful for Cinderblock's intrusion as it gave her something to distract herself with instead of focusing on the raven-haired teen that she couldn't get out of her mind.
Danny was rearranging his living room after adding a new coffee table and a new plush carpet- this time a black one. He was worried. He couldn't figure out who the hell had pushed him into the table, or why they had looked, sounded, and felt like Dark Dan. He raised his hand to push his hair off his face and his fingers brushed the newest scar on his body, a jagged line across his hairline. Danny sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.
"I really need a haircut." He muttered to himself as he felt his hair brush the back of his neck, almost to his shoulders. He straightened up from where he was crouched on the living room floor and bent slightly backwards, waiting for that satisfying crack in his back. He didn't feel like opening the store today so instead he headed downstairs, out the front door and onto the street, walking aimlessly around the city. He barely looked at the sights and instead was focusing on his own problems.
Dark Dan. Why was he seeing him? Why could he hurt him? Why couldn't he sense him? Danny could even sense humans if he tried; it caused a minor headache to begin if he held onto it for too long, but he was able to sense the life aura of every human within about ten miles, the same distance of his ghost sense radar. He dared not use it in the middle of the city, especially one as populated as Jump City. As he walked he thought about every possibility that could answer his question. He had spent all afternoon reading every book he could find that might solve his problem. He even asked Clockwork if he could borrow his books on various subjects that Clockwork had thought would be helpful.
Danny remembered when he had gotten to the bottom of the pile, it was a book on Psychology. The pang of pain Danny felt remembering it echoed the stab he had felt upon seeing the book. He had read it, knowing that Clockwork would have put it in the pile for a reason, even if every word felt like a blade digging into his chest and twisting. Although the book caused painful memories to rile against the dark pit he had shoved them in, it happened to be more helpful than any of the other books he had read. Two subjects stood out the most for Danny, Hallucinations and PTSD, Post-Traumatic-stress disorder.
He knew that searching up his symptoms was a bad idea, but it wasn't like he could just go see a doctor and he didn't want to go see Frostbite and have to see the three statues in the main square, one of him and the two loved ones he lost. Danny continued his walk, only paying enough attention to not get hit by a car or bus speeding down the streets. While it wouldn't kill him, it would hurt like hell and that sounded like an inconvenience to him. PTSD he thought as he stepped back onto the curb.
He fit all the symptoms he had read up on and what little he could remember from Jazz's rants about it when she was writing some project or rather. Reliving the event? Check. Every time he closed his eyes his family danced in the darkness behind his eyelids, even Mr Lancer. It was a good thing that Halfa's didn't need much sleep thanks to their half-ghost status because his nightmares had been preventing a good night's sleep since the day of the accident, and they seemed to be getting worse each time. Ignoring reminders and repressing memories? Check.
That dark hole where he had hidden his painful memories, the ones he was too scared to confront, was getting dangerously full and it was beginning to affect more than just his dreams, it was affecting his powers now too. Just the other day Danny accidentally froze his TV with his eyes at the mere mention of a Nasty Burger advertisement. He was trying to ignore his growing unease about his lapses in control of his powers, but it was next to impossible when they 'malfunctioned' so often.
He had not lost control like that since before the accident, not since he was first discovering what powers he had. He wasn't able to talk to anyone about it, normal humans would think him insane, and Vlad would go above and beyond to try and help him, most likely finding a highly respected psychologist and paying him a lot of money to believe what Danny was saying so he could help him. Danny couldn't handle that, not when his last psychologist died in a blazing inferno of hot sauce. So, no. Danny was alone. When that thought hit him, Danny stopped dead. He was on the beach, the soft sand caving in underneath his black combat boots, the salty wind ruffling his hair, the glistening water gently lapping against the shore. The calm water stretched out into the bay reaching the island with the odd building that stood as a pilar of hope. Hope which Danny no longer had.
"I'm alone."
Cinderblock was tearing apart Main Street, ripping signposts and lampposts clean out of the ground and throwing them with such violent force that they destroyed brick buildings like they were made of melted butter. The street was a mess, shards of glass littered the ground reflecting the light so that it looked like a million little stars had fallen from the sky, it would have been beautiful had it not looked like a warzone. Chunks of concrete and bricks lay scattered across the road like discarded junk, objects that once could have been called tables or benches were now splinters of wood, not one shop on the street was in one piece.
People had long since cleared out of the neighbourhood, having felt the ground shake from the ferocity of Cinderblock's monstrous feet as he approached the city. The people of jump were well accustomed to situations like this and as such, had a quick evacuation plan in place for when disaster struck. Given that Jump City seemed to be a central hub for criminal activity, superpowered and non-superpowered villains alike, every shop owner and homeowner in Jump City had specific insurance for attacks like this one, they would be a fool not to, unlike Danny's hometown. Said Ghost Boy was currently floating above Cinderblock, debating attacking the giant brute when the Teen Titan's appeared, launching an assault on Cinderblock with practiced ease and perfect teamwork.
Danny used to have Sam and Tucker, but they could not really do much given their human status, so it was always up to Danny. As a solo hero, Danny had never really seen a team in action before and he could not help but be awed (no matter how much he wished to deny it). They knew each other's weaknesses and strengths, and they knew how to pair together their different powers to achieve maximum attack. Despite their obvious strength and their flawless teamwork, they could not seem to beat Cinderblock. Even a duo attack from Starfire and Raven, combining their different energy together and spinning, creating what looked like a deadly green and black tornado just made the giant stumble and roar. Phantom frowned; something was not right in this fight.
The Titans were formidable, powerful, and yet they were being swatted away like flies. Phantom stayed invisible in the dusk-coloured sky, watching the fight carefully, waiting for that critical moment that he had learned over the years to recognise. When all five of the Titans were thrown back by a violent shockwave from Cinderblock's fists, Phantom knew they were not going to win this fight. Already chastising himself for what he was about to do, Phantom flew down faster than the eye could follow towards the Titans who were laying prone on the ground, dazed from the attack. Cinderblock raised his humongous fists, ready to bring them down on the Titans with such force it would definitely kill them, Raven threw her hand up to cast a shield, knowing already that her power was pretty much spent and that her shield would be too weak to stop it. Beast Boy screamed as Cinderblock slammed his fists down, expecting to feel flesh and bone shatter underneath his hands, but instead they collided with an eerie glowing green shield that miraculously appeared over the Titans' saving them from becoming Cinderblock pancakes.
The Titans eyes were wide with shock, and if possible, their eyes grew wider when Phantom dropped his invisibility and the Titans saw him floating just above them, his outstretched hands glowing the same eerie green as the dome that saved their lives. Phantom appeared to ignore them, instead focused entirely on Cinderblock, which gave Raven plenty of time to see what Phantom truly looked like up close.
His hair was the colour of freshly fallen snow in the wintertime, the ends just dragging against his broad shoulders, while the front of his hair was so long it almost completely covered his eyes, but there was no mistaking the unearthly, bright green glow protruding from beneath the overgrown fringe. His body was surrounded in a bright white light, like he was bathed in starlight which contrasted greatly with his jumpsuit. He was mostly dressed in black, except for his boots, gloves, belt, and neck that were such a luminescent white it was almost silver. On his chest was the symbol Raven saw in her research on him, a D with a P inside it, unique and unmistakable. If there was any doubt in anyone's mind about who this stranger was, it was completely gone at the sight of the logo on his broad chest.
Raven couldn't help but notice Phantom's build, especially given that his suit was most likely spandex and quite tight, his muscular arms showed physical strength as did his well-defined legs. His skin was tan, which surprised Raven, given that every report on him said he was a ghost, and a ghost meant dead which usually makes one think pale. All of the Titans had figured that 'ghost' was what they called superpowered people in Amity Park, none of them really believed that they were actual ghosts, except Raven. Staring at the tall teenager floating in front of her, with that chilling aura that she could feel from where she was still sitting on the ground and the wall of obsidian night that she felt when she reached towards his mind, she was certain that Danny Phantom was not alive.
Phantom had barely reached the Titans in time, the big brute was faster than he had anticipated, and that underestimation almost cost the Titans their lives. Holding the shield against Cinderblock who was pushing down with all his strength was easy for Phantom, it felt strange to him, having such power given where he began, but he brushed the feeling off, and instead pushed his shield towards Cinderblock with such force part of Cinderblock's face broke off as he went sprawling onto his back. He heard Starfire gasp behind him, but he blocked it out and lowered his shield, the area suddenly a lot darker than it was mere seconds ago.
"I don't know who you are, but I know where you are going." Phantom said darkly, the eerie echo in his voice sending chills down everyone's spine. Cinderblock climbed to his feet, towering over the glowing teenager, and roared. Everyone flinched, except Phantom who just raised an eyebrow which somehow made his expression all the more frightening. Phantom said nothing and instead raised his right arm and pointed at Cinderblock, who laughed at him.
Phantom merely smiled as his index finger began to glow toxic green. Cinderblock stopped laughing just as a bright green beam of energy exploded from Phantom's finger and struck Cinderblock right in the centre of his chest. The Titans watched, half in fear, half in awe as they saw the ray of energy go straight through Cinderblock, slicing through rock-hard cement like it was nothing. The energy beam was only there for a second before it was gone, it was like a bullet with the speed it flew from Phantom's finger. Cinderblock stumbled back a step, his limbs groaning and collapsed to the ground sending debris and dust flying everywhere. With a wave of a hand Phantom blew away the dust with an icy cold wind and revealed a prone Cinderblock, the giant hole in his chest still steaming.
"Did you kill him?" Beast Boy whimpered, his ears flat against his head, the smell of this white-haired teen setting his nerves on edge. Phantom didn't turn around, but he shook his head.
"He is alive." Was all he said as he raised a finger and pointed to Cinderblock's head where they could see him moving slightly. "He's just incapacitated." Phantom took a step forward, as if to fly off but hesitated and glanced to his right. He turned and slowly approached Raven who was still sitting on the ground staring at him with wide violet eyes. Phantom slowed to a stop in front of her before reaching out his hand towards her, stopping just within her reach, and she realised he was offering to help her up.
She hesitated, then reached her hand towards his. The moment their hands met, Raven felt a jolt of something akin to electricity, her eyes darted up to Phantom's who was staring at her hand impassively. Did he feel that? Was that me or him? Since Raven's powers didn't have any kind of reaction like that she had to assume it was him. After a moment where she made no move to get up, Phantom finally tugged on her hand and lifted her to her feet with ease. He raised his eyes and looked at her directly, and even though she had seen his eyes before, it was completely different seeing those unearthly glowing green orbs up close. They weren't a solid colour, they were multiple shades of green twisting and twirling around in his eyes and it was then she realised she could spend hours, days years staring into his luminescent windows to his soul. He was staring as intently at her as she was at him, and neither of them moved for a moment, each caught up in their own thoughts and observations of the other.
Phantom was noticing the difference in Raven's eyes compared to Sam's, Sam's eyes were more purple, dark, and closed off. Raven's eyes were more amethyst in colour and seemed to have a crystalline glow to them, they called to him, told him to trust her and her violet eyes. They were entrancing, and he couldn't seem to look away or move, it was like they were drawing him in, begging him to dive into their depths and reveal all his secrets. It was that fact alone that let him pull himself together and blink for what felt like the first time in days.
"How did you do that?" Raven breathed, her voice so quiet that if Phantom didn't have super-hearing, he would have missed it. He gave her a small smile that he knew looked sad instead of happy.
"Can't give away all my secrets at once, can I?" He replied equally as softly as she. Phantom took a step back, feeling as if a part of him was being ripped away as he put some distance between him and the Dark Titan who called to him. He figured it was just the heat of the battle, even though it wasn't much of a battle, that made him feel that way about her, or how much she looked like Sam. It was a feeling he had never experienced, and it unsettled him not knowing where it came from or why it was happening. He didn't break eye contact with Raven until he looked at the other Titans, now standing behind him, their stances proving they were ready for battle if he made so much as one wrong move. Phantom returned his eyes to Raven, gave her a smile filled with pain and sadness before he disappeared before her very eyes, leaving no evidence that he was ever there but a smoking crater in Cinderblock's chest and the faint tingling in her fingers.
Robin was dumbfounded that the teenager was able to create a shield strong enough to withstand Cinderblock's attack, which, from experience, could level buildings and bend metal like it was made of rubber. Even Raven couldn't hold a shield against someone like Cinderblock and she was the most powerful person Robin knew, and yet this white-haired teenager had looked like he wasn't even trying. He couldn't help but think that this teenager could singlehandedly be his team, and his city's doom. Robin frowned, the shock of the situation wearing off as he cursed himself silently. His team had almost been killed and they had been saved by a supposed murderer. Starfire appeared at his side, a solemn expression on her usually cheerful face, as if she could feel Robin's frustration and confusion.
"Let us go home." She said simply. Robin nodded as the police came and took Cinderblock away in a huge secure truck, eager to be gone from this place so he could ponder what the powerful, snow-haired teen called Danny Phantom was doing in his city.