"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Abraham Lincoln
Titans Phantom
Chapter 3: The Division Between Heroes
It was starting to get late. The green sky outside slowly darkening as the Sun dipped behind Clockwork's tower. Taking note of this Danny stood up from the comfy arm chair he'd been sitting on and stretched, careful not to topple over any of the books surrounding him. This was where he spent most of his Saturday afternoons, in the Ghost Zone sitting in his favorite chair which he'd named cloud because for some reason that's what it reminded him of: clouds. There he sat reading all kinds of books housed inside Clockwork's home, most of the books were even first editions lost through time which had ended up here, although Danny was pretty sure Clockwork had stolen the Declaration of Independence even though he claimed it would have been burned in the forest fire of 1777, after all, what the government didn't know, wouldn't miss.
Danny personally thought Clockwork took it because he liked the pretty writing. This was also where Danny did most of his shopping for his bookstore, any book he thought would be important to his bookstore he'd take over to Ghostwriter who'd then make a copy of it–if one didn't exist– and Danny would be on his way. Although, there had been a couple of times where the two ghosts had to make up book covers, such as with Aristotle's scrolls where Ghostwriter had made it look like a Renaissance monk had taken his work and placed it in book form, then Danny went to Clockwork and asked if it was okay and that what'd they done wouldn't destroy the timeline. He'd given Clockwork a good laugh at that. Bending down he began picking up the books he'd skimmed through and began placing them back onto their shelves occasionally flying to put them in their places. As Danny was doing this he never noticed the pale blue ghost of time float into the library watching the young white haired teen place The Prince written by Machiavelli back on its shelf.
"Find any good books?" Clockwork asked.
His question startling Danny who spun around mid air his green eyes meeting the ghost of times gentle red ones.
"Don't scary me like that! And yes, I have. Can I take The Poisonwood Bible and Brave New World? I don't have those and they seem pretty interesting." Danny said as he picked up the two books from his chair, one a plain tan with simple depictions of African dancing people on the cover, while the other a white covering with the title printed in bold italic lettering as he floated over to Clockwork who looked at them with interest.
"Of course. They are not the originals I see, you are getting better at finding the copies," he said his form shifting to that of an old ghost with a long white beard.
Danny took no notice of this, for after you'd seen him change a few times you got used to it, but Clockwork's age always hinted at what he was feeling, in this case, amusement.
"Humph, after coming here for almost a year, you start to pick up on things, like how you hide the copies on the bottom shelf and give them different colored covers." Danny said a little peeved at Clockwork for scaring him earlier.
"You are getting better," Clockwork said smiling at the white haired teen.
"Thanks; well I need to get going. Have to take inventory and pay the bills," Danny said and with this began flying towards the two ornate double doors with jet black handles.
"Danny wait, here, you should add this book to your store as well."
Danny paused as Clockwork now middle aged handed him an old black book with yellow and blue lines running down the side, a single Japanese character carved in the center.
"This is an original, Clockwork are you sure you want me to have this?" Danny asked his eyes filled with confusion.
"Of course, why else would I give it to you? The book might come in handy."
And with this Danny's eyes seemed to shadow over. Danny gave the ghost of time a brief smile and wave goodbye as he flew off with the books in hand, almost making Clockwork forget that this was the same boy who was still burning up inside.
"See you next Saturday!" Danny called as he left.
Leaving Clockwork in his tower alone the gears on the clocks of time turning away silent and unchanging.
"I'm afraid young Danny, that you will be too preoccupied to come," Clockwork said as he left to go watch the parade of time.
There was a break in at the prison. Which while weird in most cities, it wasn't as unusual here in Jump. The police came to check it out, only they didn't stand a chance as the twelve foot hunk of rock named Cinderblock busted down the doors to the inside of the maximum security prison. The inside of the prison was tall, and shaped like a metal hexagon, the long prison bars giving off an ominous feeling of blue fire and brimstone, but Cinderblock paid no attention to the darkly lit room, he had a mission but was stopped when he was met by the Teen Titans.
"You know Cinderblock, normally the bad guys break out of jail," Beast Boy said.
"And I could give you five good reasons why you don't want to break in," came Robin's voice.
At this all of the Titans leapt into action almost as if they'd practiced the introduction. And if Danny had been there, he would have undoubtedly never spoken to the Titans again, for while they were serious, they were treating it like a game that had no consequences. But he wasn't there and soon growing impatient Cinderblock attacked, and while the Titans attacks were powerful they still hadn't mastered attacking as a team, hitting Cinderblock with only one or two attacks at a time until Cinderblock had managed to make it to his hallway and as he turned to follow, Robin extended a hand to Cyborg who'd just used a steal beam to sword fight with.
"Wanna give him the sonic boom?" Robin asked Cyborg stood, his arm transforming into his sonic cannon.
"I got the sonic, if you got the boom," Cyborg said back to Robin, smirking and with this the two teens raced towards Cinderblock running up the walls of the prison, Cyborg aiming his cannon and Robin pulling out an blue exploding disk, but as the prepared to fire their feet tangled and they came down with a yell as Cy's cannon fired at Starfire and Beast Boy and Robin's disk slide under Raven's feet and exploded knocking her back. Cinderblock all the while was moving deeper into the prison until he came to a cell wall, and then proceeded to destroy each one as he made his way towards his destination, freeing prisoners as he went. As the Titans recovered from their mishap they soon had to round up the prisoners who were making a break for it.
Cinderblock reached his destination, a room that held prisoner 38519 and the door underneath it reading ABSOLUTE SILENCE. Cinderblock knocked down the door, and entered a pitch black room where a lone prisoner slept, floating in suspended animation inside a cylindrical container. The man was lanky, and held no real muscle that could be seen, for he was dressed only in a plain black swimwear his brown hair cropped short, he was snoring lightly as Cinderblock ripped his container out of the ceiling, disconnecting it to the filtration pipes. Now Cinderblock could return to his master and with this he destroyed the earth beneath his feet and disappeared along with the prisoner.
It took a while but after the Titans had rounded up all of the prisoners, they let the police handle the rest, but at Beast Boy's simple question about a jailbreak, an argument broke out between Robin and Cyborg.
"Jailbreak. None of us would have seen a jail break if Cyborg hadn't messed up!" Robin said accusingly his voice taking on a childish tone.
"ME? I messed up nothin! You got in my way!" Cyborg yelled back neither of them facing each other anymore.
"You were to far forward and Cinderblock got away because of it!" Robin said turning back to glare up at Cyborg whose face then flushed red out of anger, "You saying this is MY FALUT!"
"Want me to SAY IT AGAIN!" Robin yelled seething, both friends glaring lightning bolts at each other.
"Stop! No more mean talking!" Starfire said trying to intervene in the situation.
"Yeah, if you two are going to fight we need to sell tickets." Beast Boy said not realizing that his antics weren't helping the situation.
"Cinderblock escaped, no amount of yelling will change that so stop acting like idiots and let's go home." Raven said as she gazed at the backs of her fighting friends and somehow wondering what the Phantom would say to these two blockheads. Both boys simply looked at each other, snorted, and began to walk away in opposite directions scowls plastered on their faces.
"Loser," Robin said.
"Jerk," Cyborg said.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" Both yelled now back to where they started; only now the other three Titans were left to cower in the corner.
"You have a problem, TINMAN!" Robin yelled, his veins showing on his forehead.
"Yeah, its four feet tall and smells like cheap HAIRJEL!" Cyborg said smugly back.
"Well you're an OVERSIZE CLUTZ. And your feet smell like MOTOROIL!" Robin snapped.
"You're BOSSY, you're RUDE, and you got NO taste in music!" Cy yelled back and at this Robin glared at Cyborg until he said the one thing he would instantly regret.
"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY YOU'RE ON THIS TEAM!" He screamed.
"THAT MAKES TWO OF US, I QUIT!"
Time seemed to spin out of control as Star, Raven, BB, and Robin all watched as Cyborg left the prison alone his metal feet echoing just how far he went until they disappeared altogether, leaving the Titans and Robin alone completely, who hung his head in regret.
It was dark as the cogs and tumblers moved in synchronization to that of a broken clock. All the gears turning pointlessly, their mechanical sound giving off ominous disharmony as they all seemed to work together to produce ear splitting sound, nothing like that of the clocks in the time master's home produced. These were loud, and abrasive to the ears and there sitting on a lone throne, masked in darkness was Slade, who took in the sounds of the perfectly broken clocks as if they were music. As he listened he began to hear the steady drum of two heavy lidded feet, and Cinderblock emerged from the shadows, standing in the dim lit area by Slade's throne, the prisoner still sleeping in his chamber.
"Cinderblock, I see your mission was a success, good." Slade stated observing the sleeping man.
"We will proceed with phase two; wake him."
Cinderblock did as he was ordered and gripped the top of the prisoner's chamber, and twisted until the lid popped and came off. Releasing trapped gas in the process, the prisoner began to stir.
"I'm, I'm awake! I should never be awake! I'm only human when I'm sleeping!" The prisoner said, panic coursing threw him as he looked at the man on the throne, who wore a mask that only revealed one evil eye.
"But for what I have in mind, your human form is useless. I need Plasmas!" Slade said his eye glistening as he gripped his fist in merciless desire, he watched the man begin to expand inside the cylindrical container. His skin going muddy brown, his eyes a sickening green, until he became too big for the glass to contain, it began cracking until it shattered, and as the smoke cleared there stood not a human, but a reeking monster with acid eyes who simply screeched. His form seeming to want to fall apart but at the same time remained together.
"Perfect," Slade said the gears continuing there sickening turns making the clock chime death.
Beast Boy had been calling him nonstop since he'd stormed out of the prison, and frankly it was starting to annoy Cyborg. When he'd quit the team Cyborg wasn't exactly thinking clearly, for after he walked all the way to downtown Jump, Cyborg realized he had nowhere to sleep!
"Great, I decide to quit and become homeless, while Robin gets to sleep in a bed! Stupid pointy haired jerk," Cyborg grumbled as the wind brushed over the small parts of his human flesh reminding him that he still needed a place to sleep, preferably inside. When as he was thinking this he noticed a person walking down the sidewalk, two grocery bags in hand who paused at a two story building.
'He must live there.' Cyborg thought, and this realization, hope rushed through him, if that person lived there then maybe they would be willing to let him stay a couple of days, after all a house that big had to have some spare bedrooms. Cyborg began approaching the figure as they were pulling out their keys and Cyborg was just able to register that the person was male.
"Hey man, could I ask a favor?" Cy asked trying not to sound desperate, he was met with jet black hair and crystalline eyes that were able to pierce through darkness. 'Oh, crap.' Cyborg thought as he stared down at Danny through the blackness of the night.
Danny had just gotten back from the Ghost Zone when his stomach let out a really big growl, stubbornly reminding him that he'd forgotten to go grocery shopping before he'd headed out to Clockwork's. Sighing, Danny set his books on one of his lab tables, grabbed his keys, and headed out. One of the benefits to living in a big city, the grocery stores never closed and were always in a walking distance from his house. Of course, this would be the one night he decided to do his shopping at night and Cyborg just had to be out and about, annoyance flared through Danny as Cyborg looked at him as if Danny was about to spontaneously combust, which if it meant Cyborg would leave him alone, he might just try to.
"What are you doing out? It's two in the morning," Danny said while trying not to drop his keys.
"Well, you're still out and about aren't you? So why can't I be?" Cyborg retaliated his anger from his previous fight rearing up, Cy tried to squash back down, it was either ask Danny to stay one night at his house or go find a park bench.
"You can, but if you're here than your supper powered buddies can't be far behind, and I'm really not in the mood," Danny said as he turned the key in the lock.
"They're not coming." Cyborg said his face grimacing at the memory of Robin and the team's faces after he quit. Danny paused at this, his eyes meeting Cy's showing that he was listening, Cyborg quickly tried to explain.
"Look, something just happened at the prison break-in tonight and I just need a place to crash till morning."
After a moment Danny let out a sigh, his eyes closing in frustration. These Titans were making his life very difficult. "Fine," Danny said in a clipped tone as he opened the doors to his house, while mentally counting how many times he'd helped these 'heroes'. Choosing to ignore Cyborg's grateful face, they entered his store. It was pitch black and Cyborg was only able to register tall solid shadows as he and Danny walked further into the building. Everything was quiet even Cyborg's normally loud footsteps were muffled, and he figured that they were walking on very thick carpet as Cyborg began questioning if he should turn his red eye onto night vision, Danny stopped at a plain black door and began to unlock it. To Cyborg, the door looked like it would lead into a closet.
"Um…why are you taking me to your closet?" He asked Danny merely huffed as he opened the door flicking on a light switch to reveal a narrow hallway with light brown wooden steps.
"Well alright then," Cyborg said as he and Danny made their way down into his house. Cyborg was shocked. As he walked into the basement, Danny stopping by the stairs to drop his keys off on the small rack and then made his way over to kitchen, Cyborg trailing behind. Danny's house was… normal, he'd expected pitch black carpet, with bats hanging from the ceiling, but the carpet was a soft white and the kitchen had a nice northern finish to it, with pale tan tiles and a marble finish to the counter tops. The kitchen was separated from the living with pale white arches that stretched to the ceiling but had no doors so you could just walk into the kitchens striking opposite; for in the living room the walls had been painted a deep rich blue, a bookshelf to the right, sitting next to a finally finished black door, a leather chair sitting in the corner next to it a desk and an office chair, above them a flat screen TV hung so that you could watch it either in the kitchen or the on the couch that Cyborg nearly ran into as he exited the kitchen.
"Are you done staring at my home?" Danny asked as he leaned on the arch that led to the kitchen, his arms crossed in annoyance, Cyborg spun around immediately and apologized. Danny merely rolled his eyes and exited the living room through another arch. Cyborg following and now stood in a half semi circle on white carpet looking at four doors each with a dark brown finish. Two doors separated by the stairs that had a small wooden base before moving into the carpet, and two doors on its other side.
"Guest bedroom is the first door on the left; bed's already made, spare toothbrush and toothpaste in the conjoining bathroom."
And with this Cyborg watched as Danny moved off to the right and into his room, closing the door behind him as he went, taking one final look at Danny's home Cyborg couldn't help but be impressed at the architectural genius for while the building above him was clearly designed as a square Danny had turned the basement into almost a hexagonal shape, without making it look blatantly obvious, he'd made it look natural. 'This kid is smarter than he looks.' And with this Cyborg went into the guest room and crashed for the night, never realizing that the door in the living room led to a room that didn't exist on the buildings schematics.
Danny was wide awake by five thirty, his body covered in a thick sheen of sweat as pain ripped its way through his muscles and bones. It had been a long time since the dream had affected him this badly. Shakily, he drew himself up so he could lean back on the headboard, quietly listening to make sure Cyborg hadn't woken up. He hadn't, which meant Danny hadn't screamed out in his sleep; like the three days he'd spent in the hospital after the explosion. The doctors all believed it to be post traumatic stress, even the local shrink thought that was the cause, but they were wrong, and when the doctors had asked him to stay the night to observe Danny, and decide if they should prescribe him medication, Danny hadn't screamed, sure he was asleep and trapped within the dream but he made sure not to scream, to not struggle, to remain perfectly silent and still. Danny still didn't scream, but he couldn't remain still. His sleeping without a shirt proved that, for a week after he moved into his apartment he woke up to cotton shreds laying on his floor and bed. He needed to move. Struggling to stand Danny made his way to the bathroom, his muscles slowly starting to work out the cramps and painful spasms from the dream. It was official; helping the Titans was hazardous to his health.
Cyborg woke up at seven thirty to the smell of bacon and waffles. His stomach giving a mechanical growl even though it was still partially human, temporarily forgetting where he was Cyborg ran to the kitchen, where he was met by Danny's back who was currently frying bacon, on the table a plate of waffles, bacon, and a cup of coffee on the side. Cyborg froze, was this Danny's? Or was it his? Did Danny even expect him to stay for breakfast? That was when he saw the clock on the stove read seven thirty one.
"Dude! You mean to tell me that you get up by seven thirty on a Sunday!" Cyborg said.
Danny turned around at this, placing another plate of bacon down with a frown on his face.
"Yes, now eat so you can get out." He said.
Cyborg quickly did as he was told and began gobbling down his food, Danny absentmindedly nibbling one piece of bacon.
"Next you're going to tell me that you spend your Saturday nights cooped up in a dusty old library," Cyborg grumbled under his breath, but Danny heard it none the less. Cyborg noticed Danny's blush and assumed him to be angry, he quickly finished eating.
"Thanks for the food man," Cy said laughing nervously. Danny merely sighed, taking his plate and putting it in the sink, it was then Cyborg noticed a scar running down the back of Danny's arm. The scar was to dark and too long to be self inflicted and it almost looked like a, a claw? Cyborg gasped and tried to hide his surprise as Danny turned back around to face him, what had this kid been through?
"You plannin' on leaving anytime soon?" Danny asked not noticing Cyborg's shocked expression.
"Ugh, yeah. Thanks again," Cyborg said heading for the stairs, when Danny stopped him.
"Wait, I'll show you out, can't have you stealing anything," Danny said seriously. As he went in the living room and opened the black door grabbing three books sitting on a sliver table just inside.
"Why would I do that? I'm the freakin hero here!" Cyborg said annoyed at this. Danny stayed quiet walking past Cyborg without a backwards glance, this scared Cyborg more than anything, and he tilted his head up in a silent prayer, when what he saw on the ceiling startled him.
"Oh my gosh! Who painted THIS!" Cyborg yelled pointing to the ceiling.
"I did, now will you just get out." Danny said stopping, but never looking back at Cyborg who tore his gaze away from the ceiling and made his way up the stairs following after Danny. As Cyborg entered the first floor he realized just what had been all of those big solid shadows, book shelves, and again Cyborg found himself stunned by the beauty of the store, sunlight steadily streaming in from the east, silently he made his way to the front, only to look back at Danny who was putting two books on one of the shelves, his face unreadable.
"Thanks man," and with this Cyborg left.
Beast Boy tried calling Cyborg one more time.
"Hello Cy? Pick UP! Come on Cy, pick up! I know you're there, your phone is built in your arm!"
Beast Boy said snapping the phone shut, glaring at nothing in general, Starfire appeared next to him holding a spoon filled with a grayish sticky pudding. She placed it in BB's mouth saying 'taste' and well, let's just say that even Starfire didn't like it. For on her home planet it was called the Pudding of Sadness and if she didn't like it, Beast Boy defiantly didn't either.
"What is that? Cream of toenails!" Beast Boy said looking up at her from the floor, the pudding on the carpet as he held his throat, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.
"It is what the people of my planet eat when bad things happen." With this, she took a bite her hair standing on end as she shook her head grimacing at the horrid flavor.
Starfire flew over to Raven next, who was adjusting the mainframe computer, the person who normally did wasn't there.
"Try, the displeasing taste will ease your troubled mind." Star said extending the bowl to Raven.
Raven merely looked at Starfire with a blank expression on her face and violet eyes, her voice giving away nothing as she spoke.
"My mind is never troubled. People come, people go, it's pointless to be upset about Cyborg," at the mention of his name Raven's hair whipped around her face as she spoke causing all of the screens on the mainframe to crack, leaving Starfire speechless.
"What?" Raven asked confused.
Lastly, Starfire went to Robin who was staring out one of the glass panes overlooking the city, his face giving away nothing to what he was feeling.
"Here Robin, you are in need of this most of all since…well," her eyes cast down at the remembrance of what Robin had done.
"I'm fine." Robin said, he walked away from Starfire.
"Who knows, maybe we're better off without him," Robin added doubtfully, leaving Star floating in shock, her green eyes wide and confused, is that what Robin truly meant? Suddenly, the Tamaranien found herself wishing for not friend Danny's advice.
Robin knew he'd screwed up. As he struck the punching bag with all his strength, Robin kept remembering everything that was plaguing him. Who was Slade, who was the white haired teen, why did he believe himself to only be a Phantom? Was he a hero; or something worse? And worst of all Robin couldn't shake the feeling that he and his team were slowly starting to drown, and the one person he could have shared this knowledge with, he'd made him quit. The punching bag was now on the ground, busted open, no longer hanging from its hook and as Robin stood there panting, he couldn't help but look over at the weight lift, which was last set to Cyborg's maximum strength. Robin had just lost his best friend.
Cyborg had screwed up. He knew it the moment he quit. Something just hadn't felt right as he walked off and it wasn't just from leaving Robin, and the others, no, this was something deeper something that he couldn't place. And it hurt. Soon Cyborg found himself wandering the streets of Jump City aimlessly, no destination in mind. He paid no attention to the crowd, or the places, just on walking, he didn't even know what time it was, only that it was getting late, it was then Cyborg looked up at the sky, to its colors as the sun began to set and yet, they never even compared to the colors flowing across Danny's ceiling. The image was still vivid in his mind.
It was the sunrise; he had been looking at the sunrise through glass that had gold to separate each window pane into a hexagon, 'he must really like that shape' Cyborg thought. Although he couldn't think of a reason why, but the sunrise had been amazing almost, as if it were moving across the sky with the rise and fall of the ceiling. As it came up from the east surrounded by clouds, casting off rays of light that glimmered midnight blue, and rust set purple, and as the clouds continued to spiral out they were heading into the center of the geometrical glass shape, it's golden lines shinning bright until the sky looked as if the gates of Heaven itself were opening up to him and him alone. Casting out rays of white and yellow light, then slowly, the doors began to close, the sun beginning to set in the west, its rays turned to red and gold until only midnight blue remained, the clouds now thin waves as they reached towards the living room the glass, a shadowed gold. That had thrown Cyborg threw the ringer, hear was a boy who dressed in pretty much all black, hated the Teen Titans, and yet could paint such a masterpiece, how? What were Cyborg, Robin, Raven, Starfire and Beast Boy missing about this kid? The sun had set long ago and Cyborg was preparing to go find a park bench, when he heard the sound of a car being thrown into a building, he tore off through the night.
The day had gone by slowly at Titan's Tower, everything reminding Robin about Cyborg; doing the dishes, for it was his turn, to playing video games where Robin beat his best friends high score, only to have his name slammed down on top of Cyborg's, crushing it along with Robins heart, until finally he went to his friends empty room, which was cast in a pale blue light as he walked around he found a picture of Cyborg having one of his monster hands on Robin's head the other hand waving a peace sign. Robin smiling as he waved his fist in the air both friends grinning.
"I'm sorry," Robin said into the darkness, the alert alarm sounded off throughout the tower signifying trouble. Robin quickly joined the rest of the group in the main area as they stared at the alert map.
"Cinderblock strikes again?" Robin asked and was answered by Beast Boy who turned to Robin, a look of concern on his face.
"You wish." It as in a chemical plant, hundreds of machines producing barrels of different kinds of toxins, where Plasmas stood picking up barrel after barrel drinking it down like water each time steadily getting bigger until Starfire blasted a barrel he currently was downing.
"That stuff can't be good for you." Robin commented not bothering with their introductions, it now seemed pointless to do, so the Titans simply started attacking. But every time they attacked it never seemed to hurt him, for he would simply shift his mass healing the wound on the overgrown acid monster. Robin tried to attack it directly but only ended up getting stuck in its gooey mess,
"Come on, let me go you giant zit!" Robin yelled frustrated. Looking up into Plasmas's acid eyes, it yelled throwing Robin off of him and into Beast Boy, both teens getting the horrible brown colored muck in their mouths, and both promptly spitting back it out.
"And I thought Star's pudding tasted bad!" Beast Boy yelled trying not to hurl, just as Plasmas gave another ear piercing screech.
The video feed was catching the whole fight as Slade watched the Titans struggle to take down such a simple adversary. "Disappointing" Slade said to his butler standing in the background, silent and unmoving, "with one Titan missing this is almost too easy. I was expecting more of a challenge," with this Slade looked over, his gray eye falling on Cinderblock who was holding what looked to be yellow construction equipment. "Cinderblock, begin phase three," Slade said continuing to watch.
The fight was not going well for the Titans, Starfire and Raven were drenched in muck, and Beast Boy was running away from Plasmas, screaming that he wasn't on the menu. They needed a new plan and looking around Robin found one, quickly activating his grapping hook he proceeded to wrap it around Plasma's form.
"Maybe the best way to take you down is to tie you up!" Robin yelled and with this Beast Boy slammed into the screaming monster. As he fell to the ground, Starfire and Raven immediately began bending steel beams to fit around his form and trap him.
"We did it!" Starfire exclaimed from high in the air.
"Good work, team," Robin said back.
"Yeah, didn't think we'd pull it off without…" Beast Boy was abruptly cut short as Raven elbowed him hard in the shoulders glaring at him to shut up. Thankfully Robin didn't hear Beast Boy's last comment for he was getting another alert on his communicator.
"We finished just in time; Cinderblock has been spotted downtown come on!" Robin said getting ready to leave. But as they were heading out, all stopped as they heard a sickening squishing noise, and Plasmas let his form fall apart into five separate creatures. The battle wasn't over, and soon the Titans were forced to spilt up, each running deeper into the chemical plant. Starfire was being chased by the snake her power managing to blast it away, but she soon found herself up against the head as it's stubby legs carried it forward at remarkable speed, she soon was being overwhelmed. Beast Boy getting attacked by a roach, that used to be one of Plasmas's feet, it's long tongue wrapping around him and pulling him down.
Raven was attacked by a muddy brown octopus, as it avoided all of her attacks until it ended up in front of her. Robin ran through the south corridor being chased by another roach like mud, it gave off a pig like scream, quickly gaining behind him until he reached a door and quickly opening it ran inside. But at the sudden change in light Robin didn't see the railing and soon he stumbled over the edge and onto the conveyor belt, underneath him boiling acid. The roach landed with a thud behind him, its face looking like the claw of a lobster.
He took out his boa staff and began pelting it with attacks only to have it snapped in the giant creature's teeth. Robin was running out of options and the conveyor belt was ending, the creature lunged at him. Robin took all of its weight as it tried to snap him in half like his staff, the line was ending and as Robin began to fall he smiled and doing a kick flip managed to send the thing over first as Robin grabbed hold of the edge of the belt, relief flooded through him, but only for a second before he felt something clamp onto his foot causing him to scream out in pain. The creature wouldn't let go, the belt began to give under the pressure and soon both Robin and the monster were falling towards the acid.
Cyborg got there just in time as he watched Cinderblock tear up another street lamp and chunk it into a gathering pile of metal. Now this is what Cyborg needed, to dish out a good old fashioned butt kicking.
"Yo blockhead!" Cyborg called as he blasted Cinderblock back a foot who grunted out of annoyance rather than pain. Cyborg tried again but this time wasn't as lucky, Cinderblock punched him in the chest sending him back forty feet hitting the concrete hard. The Titan quickly began to lose ground, his body tiring as Cinderblock kept coming at him, never stopping, without Robin and the others he had no time to stop and rest and as Cinderblock punched him again Cyborg managed to hold his ground struggling to keep the rest of the fist from connecting to him. He felt his feet digging into the ground, sweat pouring down his face, he was going to lose, where was Robin? At that moment a flash of green light appeared beside Cinderblock's face who received a round house kick and was sent into the nearby alley way. Cyborg collapsed on the ground trying to catch his breath as he heard light footsteps walk over to him and pick him up off the ground where he met by two very angry, glowing green eyes.
"Where is your team?" Phantom demanded.
"How should I know, I quit!" Cyborg yelled, why was Phantom mad at him? Cyborg observed the look of shock on Phantom's face as the teen took in what Cyborg had just admitted to, and he watched as a look bordering on pure hatred filled the others face.
"You Quit," Phantom deadpanned. Cyborg flinched at his tone of voice. "Why?" Phantom asked not caring that Cinderblock was getting up from where he was lying in the alleyway.
"M-Me and Robin got into this huge fight back at the prison the other night, when we'd failed to catch Cinderblock and so I quit," Cyborg said holding up his hands in surrender feeling like a deer caught in the head lights.
"So you QUIT!" Phantom roared, at that Cinderblock charged again, but Cyborg didn't even have time to fire at him for Phantom's hands glowed a bright liquid green, he aimed towards Cinderblock and fired sending him down into the pavement, creating a small crater. Cyborg just stood there in awe, this was the first time he'd even seen this kid attack, and he was powerful. Cyborg didn't have long though, for once Phantom was done he immediately was back in front of Cyborg floating so he was eyelevel with him when he yelled,
"What gives you the right to quit? So what if you get in a fight? You screw up once, and call it quits just what kind of HERO IS THAT!" Cyborg looked like he'd just been slapped in the face, Phantom's voice echoing all around him, power surging through his vocal cords.
"You Titans aren't heroes," Phantom said landing on the ground with a soft thud and began to walk away. Cyborg bristled with anger.
"What gives you the right to say we aren't? We help people. That's what we do! You know nothing about being us or being a hero!" His booming voice filling the streets, Phantom paused, and when he turned around Cyborg froze out of fear of the look on Phantom's face. For his two hollowed out green eyes, could pierce the darkest of souls.
"No, you aren't, you're just children reacting in childish ways, trying to play a game that you don't understand," he said.
In that moment, Cyborg understood. He and Robin were acting like fools, not heroes, they had fought like children, and tonight Cyborg had almost paid the price.
"Your right me quitting was childish and stupid, but just because I make a mistake doesn't mean that I won't stop fighting," Cyborg said as he met Phantom's gaze with a head on, pure determination set in his jaw.
A low growl rumbled through the earth, and both teens looked over to see Cinderblock rising off the ground, police sirens cutting through the air.
"Man, why can't he just stay down," Cyborg said annoyance in his voice, he needed to go home back to his friends. Cyborg jumped when he heard Phantom speak right behind him, gently floating off the ground.
"Get the construction equipment he came with. We'll tie him down from the feet up."
Quickly Cyborg obeyed rushing over to grab a big steel beam, him on one end, Phantom on the other, and as Cinderblock charged them once more Cyborg sung the metal beam at him. He felt Phantom surge super heated ectoplasm into the metal beam turning it pure green. Cinderblock connected with it, the beam wrapped around him with ease. They repeated this process three more times until Cinderblock could no longer move the police arriving just as they finished.
"Thanks man, I couldn't have done it without you," Cyborg said a smile on his face even though he was still a little nervous around the floating teen whose eyes where in a faraway place.
"Don't thank me; I'm not the one who's friends lives are on the line," and with this Phantom disappeared.
Cyborg felt dread come over him and as a cop walked over his fears were confirmed, "Hey where are the rest of the Teen Titans?" He asked.
"Don't you know there over at the chemical plant fighting some kind of acid monster?" The man in the suit said, Cyborg took off running using their tracking beckons to locate them. Running into the plant Cyborg noted that Star, BB, and Raven's dots were all located together, but Robin's wasn't. He was too far away…running down the south wing Cyborg followed the destruction all the way onto the conveyor belt, where he heard Robin scream out in pain. He raced forward allowing the belt to carry him twice as fast, throwing out his hand just as he saw Robin lose his grip on the belt wheel as it snapped plunging him towards the acid.
Robin felt the belt snap and he was falling, when a mechanical arm grabbed his by the wrist and hoisted him back onto the line, the creature melting down inside the sick bubbly acid. Cyborg and Robin stood on the belt, Robin catching his breath; he nearly died three times in five days, not a good sign. But Cyborg was back.
"I still got the sonic, if you still got the boom." Cyborg said smugly, Robin looked to him and smirked, they were back in action. They were friends. The other Titans had managed to get the other four creatures back in one place; the head began laughing manically, just as Robin and Cyborg emerged from the corridor. Cy with his sonic cannon and Robin with his blue exploding disk.
"Teen Titans GO!" They both called charging towards Plasmas. Robin throwing his exploding disk as Cyborg fired at it, aiming directly for Plasmas's head. It hit dead center in a brilliant flash of light and sonic energy knocking out Plasmas, revealing the human prisoner 38519. The Titans all staring down at him, he started snoring lightly as the Police arrived later and placed him back in his stasis chamber, preparing to leave, the Titans watched.
"Look uh, sorry about…" Robin tried; he never was good at apologies.
"Yeah," Cy said back.
"So, are we cool?" Robin asked. With this Cyborg turned to him and smiled at his pointy haired friend.
"Frosty," he said, they did a fist bump, all of the other Titans rejoiced at their making up. Beast Boy mentioning Cinderblock and the fact that they still had to stop him, but Cyborg told them they didn't need to worry, as they noticed him being crane lifted into the prison, construction equipment wrapped around him. "Thought I'd bring you a present in case you were still mad," Cyborg said.
"Thanks. There's just one thing that's still bothering me…" Robin didn't notice as the other three teens inhaled suddenly, for fear of another fight. "Breaking into jail, using Plasmas to distract us, the whole plan seems to be a little too smart for Cinderblock," he said.
"I've been thinking the same thing," Cyborg stated.
Robin smiled at his friend. "Someone must have been pulling the strings," Robin said pulling a Sherlock Holmes look.
"Well whoever they are their no match for the Teen Titans," Cyborg said smiling.
"Your right, let's go home team." Robin said and with this the Titans headed home.
He watched the video one more time. Never in his wildest dreams would Slade have imagined himself stumbling on such a powerful being and the best part, he wasn't a hero. Slade could tell this white haired child had so much rage hidden behind those glowing green eyes.
"Interesting," He said as the gears nosily turned in the background.
"You're serious." Robin said. Every one of the Titans was sitting on the couch, back at the Tower when Cyborg recounted his meeting with Danny and also the white haired Phantom.
"I am. Rob, I've never seen that kind of power before. Phantom's…different." Everyone was silent at that, Cyborg had been telling them the story. The name Phantom seemed to stick to the white haired teen, after all, he certainly acted like a ghost.
"So, is he a friend Phantom or a not friend Phantom?" Starfire asked. At this Cyborg looked at her, worry on his face.
"I don't know Star, he did tell me you guys were in trouble," Cy said.
"But he didn't try to help," came Raven's monotone voice Cyborg nodding at that.
"Then what should we do?" Beast Boy asked, the entire group looked towards Robin, who had remained very silent throughout the whole conversation.
"I think we should try and figure out who this Phantom is before we make any decisions. Cyborg, you said you stayed with Danny?" Robin asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"I think we need to go visit him tomorrow, because for some reason Raven can't read his emotions. I don't know if it's connected or not, but it's worth a shot," he said, all the Titans nodded rising, to go and get some well deserved sleep.
Danny was tired. Not just physically, but mentally as well. He was still mightily pissed at Cyborg and his and Robin's childish antics, after, he had turned invisible and flew home after the fight, his dream was steadily getting worse, he accidentally lost control of his powers last night fighting Cinderblock due to his temper, and on top of that, teleporting took a lot out of him. So now he had a major headache as he was sitting behind the counter of his store, while customers roamed around, as he tried doing his taxes while fighting off the desire to just pass out. He just finished the last form when he noticed the black two stripped book sitting beside the register, he'd forgotten all about it. Which probably wasn't a good thing since Clockwork had given it to him, which meant some big bad evil was about to happen.
Sighing, he picked up the book ignoring the dull thud in between his forehead as the translated the Japanese symbol to the word Nature. 'Great this book is about Nature, something Sam would have...' Danny stopped right there, his heart screaming painfully as her very presence filled his mind. Danny slammed his eyes shut and focused on breathing until only her memory remained behind his eyelids, slowly he opened the book, breathing a sigh of relief that it was in English. As Danny began to read the opening lines he heard the small bell ring at the door and five people entered, looking up Danny felt like he was about to unleash his ghostly wail on them, for their stood none other than the Teen Titans, and they were heading his way.