"Okay, okay, so, get this, hehe, I go up to her and I turn my hand into a can-opener..."

"Shut it!" a dark voice barked. "I thought I heard something..."

Shiv stopped on demand, sitting up straight. The rest of Ebon's crew, known as the Meta-Breed, tensed up, hoping for a fight. They'd been stuck in these dark tunnels too long, it would be more than welcome to do something other than pass the time.

All was silent for a moment, and the tension that had filled the room faded away. Suddenly, just as the super-powered criminals started relaxing, a tear opened up in space in the middle of the abandoned subway. A bright light burst from its center, ripping through the darkened tunnels. All the meta-humans threw their arms in front of their faces, protecting their eyes from the vast change in lighting. Ebon, whose dark form was weakened by the light, slipped behind a pillar, blocking most of the pain.

Just as quickly as it came, the light vanished. Ebon stepped out and inspected the area it had originated from while the rest of his crew adjusted their eyes to the dark once more. At the foot of where space had been torn was a caped figure lying face down on the ground. A bald man whose features were difficult to discern in the dark, even by Ebon. Their mysterious guest groaned before slowly pushing himself off the ground, sliding his knees underneath himself for support. Ebon watched him closely as he heard his crew approaching from behind, apparently having gotten over the temporary blindness.

"Where- where am I?" the stranger's deep voice said in slight disorientation.

Ebon relaxed and crossed his arms while the rest of his crew got ready to have some fun with the intruder. "The better question is who are you, chump."

A low, guttural sound emerged from the stranger as he unexpectedly chuckled. The guest slowly raised his head, surprising Ebon with red, powerful eyes glowing in the dim light. "Yes, I suppose that is the better question."

Elsewhere, in another part of Dakota, a similar, though much more stable, rift appeared. After depositing three teens who landed in a tumble, it quickly vanished, leaving no trace it ever existed.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker untangled themselves and stood up, checking out their surroundings. They had landed just outside a school. Upon further inspection, they discovered the name of the school and, subsequently, the city where they landed.

"Dakota Union High." Danny read aloud, as he spotted a sign for the school. "Dakota?" Danny asked, turned around. "Anyone ever been here?"

Upon receiving only head-shakes, Danny looked toward the entrance of the school which had apparently just been let out. "What do we have on the scanner, Tuck?"

Tucker had already activated his PDA's rift scanning capabilities, checking out if they were close. Shaking his head, he put the PDA away. "Sorry, dude, nothing yet. There was a rift recently, but I can't tell where and it's not there anymore. Whatever it left behind either isn't close enough or isn't strong enough to detect."

Danny nodded. The group had already been on several trips, all simple except for that first one in the Swiss Alps of Kim Possible's world. They'd even already started a bit of a standard operating procedure. Check the PDA for an easy find and if there was none, get to know the area. "Alright, let's go see if any of the students have noticed anything in the past..." he paused, looking at Tucker.

"I'd say within the hour. It's strong enough that I don't think it was much more than that." Tucker shrugged. "I don't suppose we could start with lunch this time?"

Sam nodded in agreement. "I hate to agree with Tucker concerning food, but I'm more than ready to find something to eat."

Danny looked at all the kids leaving campus and then came to a decision. "All right, let's go talk to a few students while we're here, and while we're at it, we'll ask about what there is to eat in the neighborhood." Upon receiving agreeing nods, they made their way into the flood of kids escaping the torment of school.

As the three kids walked into the dissipating crowd of released students, another group was unknowingly heading right for them.

"So, then, Static gets thrown into Gear, and there's this explosion as all of Gear's suit goes haywire!" Frieda Goren giddily exclaimed, using hand gestures.

"Wow," came Virgil Hawkin's tired voice. He looked at Frieda, glad he knew enough about makeup to use his sister's and cover up the bruises from the battle his friend was currently discussing. "What did Static do then?"

"Are you sure you're okay, Virgil?" his girlfriend, Daisy Watkins, asked. She was concerned about his health more frequently and the teen superhero would've found it nice had it not caused him to lie more often to her.

"Oh, he's *yawn* fine, Daisy. We just stayed up all night playing Revenge of the Cyber Zombies III." Richard Foley stifled yet another yawn as he turned back to Frieda, wanting to change topics. "So, what did Gear do?"

"Oh, after he fell on Puff, the electric discharge from Gear's suit shot through her, turning her solid and taking her out! Then Static taunted Onyx into following into a trap, but before he could spring it, the big brute managed to grab Static and slammed him into a pole! After a few more punches, I thought Static was done for. But out of nowhere, the pole suddenly crashed down on Onyx's head! Then Static used the pole like a bat with his electricity, and hit him under the scaffold at the edge of the sculpture being built for the top of the front of the new theatre; where Puff had weakened the supports with her breath, remember? Onyx grabbed one of the beams to pull himself up, but instead got tons of cement and steel girders dropped on him, knocking him out cold. It was awesome! I can't believe you guys missed it!"

Daisy frowned. "Same here. You were both puking in the bathroom again, right?"

Richie panicked. "Oh, yeah. Those... uh... burritos sure were rough on us!"

Frieda's face contorted. "That's disgusting!"

Daisy was not so easily swayed. "Wait a sec, that was last week. Yesterday you said your sister called for you both to come take care of a mess at your house." She pointed at Virgil for the last part. Both she and Frieda looked at them accusingly.

Virgil, now also panicked, shrugged. "Well, if you remembered, why'd you ask?"

Daisy was about to respond when Virgil noticed three new faces heading their way. He quickly looked to Richie. "Hey, I wonder who they are. Haven't seen them around here before."

Richie let out a sigh of relief when Daisy was caught off-guard by Virgil's observation. He quickly joined in, "I bet they're new here. Let's go welcome them and offer a tour!" His best friend looked back at him, telling him with a look to not take it too far.

"Hello!" Virgil waved, attracting the attention of the newcomers. "You guys new in town?"

"Visiting." Danny's use of the rehearsed line made it sound just that: rehearsed. Luckily, it didn't mean anything to the other kids and they didn't pay the worn response any attention.

Tucker, feeling very hungry, blew past subtlety and got straight to the point. "Hey, you guys wouldn't happen to have noticed anything weird going on in the area, have you?"

Sam nearly slapped her face, but restrained herself. They were supposed to be blending in. Tucker's stomach was going to get them in trouble some day.

To her surprise, though, the whole group didn't see the question as strange at all. The african-american kid even laughed, saying, "Welcome to Dakota. Weirdest place on the map. Anything specific you're looking for?"

Before either Sam or Danny could silently shut him up, Tucker blabbed, "Like a tear in time and space?"

The other group's faces, which had previously been smiling in welcome, dropped into confusion. Frieda was the first to speak. "A what?"

Sam had gotten close enough to jab Tucker in the ribs. Danny laughed and said, "Sorry, Tucker's a sci-fi fanatic, he's always wanted to see a tear in time and space. We'd heard of weird stuff going on here and he let his hopes go wild." Turning to Tucker, Danny quietly added, "Again."

Tucker shut up after that, but they'd already piqued the curiosity of Virgil. The superhero in disguise leaned towards the obvious leader of the other group and offered his hand. "I'm sorry, where are my manners? My name's Virgil. This is Daisy," he continued, pointing at each person with his head, "Richie, and Frieda." He gave the other kid a look that practically required their names in return.

Danny obliged, tossing his head towards his friends as he said their names. "Danny, Sam, and Tucker." He reached out and firmly grasped Virgil's hand, only to immediately yank it back as a loud snap was heard. Upon touching, the two heroes had felt an enormous shock transfer between their palms.

After a moment of silence as both groups stared, Tucker laughed. "Well, that was shocking!" His laughter didn't last long, however, as Sam took pleasure in jabbing him again.

Danny and Virgil stared at each other for a moment, each studying the other's blank face. Sam cleared her throat and, as politely as she could, asked the two other girls if there was anything around that was good to eat. She got the locations of a place called Burger Fool and another place she could stop real quick for a veggie meal. After saying their farewells, Danny, Sam, and Tucker went on their way, leaving the other four to head to the mall.

Danny walked in silence for a few minutes before commenting, "There was something very strange about him."

Tucker slapped him on the back. "Don't worry about it, dude. Let's just get something to eat!"

"There was something very strange about that kid." Virgil rubbed his chin in thought.

"Hey, V, what was up with that shock you gave him?" Richie whispered as they trailed a short pace behind the gossiping girls. "Don't you think that was a bit risky?"

"I know, Rich!" Virgil shouted as quietly as possible. "It wasn't my fault. My powers just... I don't know, activated on their own."

Richie frowned. "Weird."

Virgil nodded. "But that's not even the weirdest thing. When he reached for my hand, his hand looked dry."

Richie raised his eyebrow. "Umm... okay."

"Look, Rich," Virgil discreetly raised his hand to show his best friend. Richie looked curiously at the palm and used his index finger to wipe up a trace of the strange goo found there.

"What is this?"

Virgil shrugged. "I don't know, but I think it came from that kid's hand."

"I thought you said there wasn't anything on it?"

"That's what I mean, Richie. I think it came from his hand."

"You thinking meta-human?"

"I don't know... but he had a look about him..." Virgil tried to continue, but Daisy interrupted.

"Hey, you guys going to tell us what you're talking about back there?" Virgil and Richie jerked their faces towards her in surprise.

"Huh? Oh, just gossiping about the new kids. That one kid's hands were so sweaty, we think he might be a bang baby." Virgil grinned and winked to show he was kidding.

Both Daisy and Frieda rolled their eyes and fell back into step with the boys. "So, you two got any plans?" Daisy asked, pointedly looking at Virgil. She was not happy with the last time Virgil ditched her, and she made it a point to let him know he'd have to make up for it.

Virgil laughed. "Ha! Us? Have plans? Me and Richie are totally free, we're..." Virgil's giant grin slowly fell into a pitiful moan as the Meta-Breed busted through a bank. Daisy and Frieda didn't notice either boys' frustrations, however, as their attention was solely on the separating group of bang baby delinquents.

Of the girls, Frieda was the first to react. "Oh my gosh! It's the Meta-Breed! Somebody needs to call the cops!"

Daisy glanced back, noticing both boys had disappeared. Again. She groaned but didn't spend much time thinking about it as the criminal bang babies continued causing havoc. "If only we had a way to call Static and Gear!"

"Did somebody call for Static?" At the sound of the voice, both girls glanced up to see Static hovering above them, followed quickly by Gear.

"I think the little ladies asked for Gear, as well." Richie, in his Gear outfit, gave a great, hovering bow as if in front of an audience. The move was interrupted, however, as a car door slammed into him, knocking him to the street. Apparently, when Shiv had branched off from the gang, he'd headed towards the two girls he vainly thought might be admiring him. Oddly, he seemed to consider himself lucky to have happened upon the heroes, despite the fact he regularly lost to them.

Static, who had narrowly managed to avoid the thrown door, yelled to Shiv down below, "Hey, didn't your mother teach you better than to interrupt?"

Shiv grinned and held his energy blades high. "Oh, she tried, but I guess it just didn't take! Hahaha."

Virgil, who couldn't come up with a decent quick comeback, decided to go the questioning route instead, as he flew down and used the car the door came from to return the favor to Shiv. As he tried to use his electromagnetic abilities to wrap up the dumb criminal with parts of the car, Static asked, "So, what do you losers want today? You know I'm just going to beat you again."

Shiv, now confined in his metal bonds, shook his head. "Not this time. Heh heh. This time we've come with a few... surprises, hehehe!"

Static frowned as he hovered a foot off the ground. As he started to ask what his energetic enemy meant, he was suddenly jumped on from behind. Spinning around fast enough to dislodge his attacker, Static regained his balance and looked to identify who had jumped him.

His eyes widened as they fell upon a familiar purple glow coming from the hands of another Shiv. He shook his head, "Whoa, am I seeing double?"

Both identical villains spoke at the same time, giving them a creepy stereo sound, "Double the Shiv, double the trouble! Hahaha!"

The electric superhero shook his head and replied, "Well, it's not like I can't take on two of you!"

They both smiled and creepily spoke at the same time again. "Two of us? Maybe. But try three!" Upon saying that last word, Static was jumped by two more of Shiv, neither of whom he could knock off. "Oops, I guess we meant four! We were never good at math, heh heh!"

"They're not the only ones, he-ro, if you stick around." Static managed to knock one of the Shivs off and turned to face Ebon. But he wasn't alone.

"Yeah, heh, you're dealing with a whole crowd of us now, Static!" Hot-Streak yelled from off to the side. "And we've all got a little... upgrade." The fiery kid laughed in what he imagined to be a sinister way, as he created a strange, green, glowing ball in his hands. It certainly wasn't fire, but Static had never seen it before. "Head's up!" Hot-Streak yelled as he threw the ball at Static.

As the black teen superhero tried to avoid the sudden onslaught of exploding green balls of energy, while trying to shake off the screaming Shiv giving his waist a fearful death grip, Static wondered what he was going to do about this strange turn of events.

Sam rolled her eyes as Tucker took another massive bite out of his burger. "I'll never understand how you can eat that stuff at all, never mind so much in one bite!"

Tucker waited long enough to swallow most of his food before replying with only a few small bits flying out of his mouth. "It's an acquired talent."

The goth girl shook her head and turned to Danny, who was taking his time chewing his food as he stared into the distance. "Thinking about what we should do next?"

Danny turned to her and frowned. "Get to know the area, I guess. Ask around for... I don't know. We'll figure it out."

Sam frowned in return. "What are you worrying about?"

Her best friend, as well as boyfriend, shrugged in reply before adding, "Not every world uses the same currency, remember?"

Sam didn't have to think about it to know he meant two trips back, when they realized the only money they had wasn't worth anything. "Yeah, but it looks like most of them do. We'll just have to carry a few snack bars and hope we can fix whatever problems there are in a short amount of time."

Danny nodded. "I suppose, but it still worries me."

Sam sighed, having had a similar train of thought a few times. "If worse comes to worse and we get stuck somewhere for too long, we can always find a quick job."

Tucker nearly exploded with a mouthful of soda. He managed to swallow it in a coughing fit. "Job? I'm not taking a job! This is a vacation! Work should be minimal on a vacation."

Sam would have slapped him if she had been any closer. "This isn't a vacation, Tucker! We've been getting too relaxed about this!" With that, she turned to indicate she was including Danny in her lecture. "We've only been dealing with rifts and little items that they've dropped. Didn't Clockwork's friend say we would also have to deal with people? Bad people? Enemies worse than what we're used to?"

Tucker tossed a hand in her direction, shooing away her concerns. "C'mon, we beat up the Ghost King! There's nothing we can't handle!"

Sam shot daggers at Tucker with her glare. "We didn't stop Pariah, Tucker! Danny used a giant super suit and still wouldn't have won without Vlad's help!"

Danny scowled, joining in the argument that had taken off. "That was a long time ago! I've gotten a lot better since then!" Danny indignantly defended himself. He then muttered, "And it's not like Vlad really helped, all he did was lock a door..."

Tucker nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Vlad started that whole mess in the first place!"

Sam growled and waved her arms in the air, nearly shouting, "That's not the point!"

By now, a few onlookers were glancing their way. Danny waved nervously at them. "Sorry, ignore us. We were just... rehearsing... for a play."

The other customers of Burger Fool either shrugged or rolled their eyes, turning back to their meals.

Danny frowned as he looked at a slightly sheepish Sam. "Tucker's right, Sam. You need to relax. We've got this whole thing covered." Turning to Tucker's victorious face, Danny added, "But Sam is right about it not being a vacation. We'll avoid any additional work until absolutely necessary, but you'll need to chip in if it comes to that."

Tucker sobered up and went back to eating, albeit more slowly than before. Sam frowned at the half win, but didn't press it. Danny nodded to himself, proud for defusing the situation and started to take another bite of his burger.

Before he could, however, the building suddenly shook.

"What was that?" Danny shouted as the customers of Burger Fool quickly panicked and ran outside. The trio heard people shouting about Meta-Breed and Static as they hurried to a safe distance to watch the oncoming battle. The Burger Fool staff, who were probably not allowed to leave, took cover while watching the three teens still inside, just in case they ordered some more.

Sam went to the counter, followed by the boys. "Hey, what's going on out there?"

"You don't know?" a pimply teen exclaimed. "You haven't been in town long, have you?"

All three shrugged.

"The Meta-Breed are attacking Static and Gear again. Some of their battles have caused some major damage!" The kid looked worriedly at the window, as if he expected someone to come flying through any moment.

Danny cleared his throat to get the other guy's attention. "And Static and Gear are?"

"The town's heros! They keep the bang babies in check!" The teen suddenly remembered something and straightened a little without completely coming out of hiding. "Would you like to order something?"

Danny and Sam frowned, but Tucker very gladly began to open his mouth to oblige. Before he could, Sam gladly elbowed him as Danny replied to the cashier, "No, I think we'll go outside and watch the fight."

As they exited the building and headed for a spot no one was looking, Tucker managed to complain, "Aw, come on. It's not like Sam and I could do anything to help anyways! Can't I go back to my burger!"

"Face it, hero, you just don't have what it takes to beat us any more!"

Static tried not to listen to Ebon's words, but the slick, shadowy figure was starting to make sense. Especially since it seemed Ebon learned how to fly. That didn't actually make much of a difference in his case, as he could already stretch to nearly any distance, but everyone else had also received a major boost, somehow.

Talon was flying through walls, Hot-Streak's new green blasts exploded when they hit Static and turned to goo upon reaching Gear, gumming up some of his equipment, and Kangor was catching them both off guard now that he turned invisible! To avoid the significantly more dangerous Kangor, with his head-crushing giant feet, Static and Gear both stayed high above while the jamaican-american bang baby and four Shivs waited below. Unfortunately, this didn't help against any of their three flying foes.

As Static avoided a dive by Ebon, who apparently needed some flying lessons, he heard Shiv call out, "Hey! Come on, knock one of them down here so we can play with them!" Static sent another bolt of electricity at Ebon's back and tried to ignore the purple-haired psycho below. If things got much worse, he was tempted to call the Justice League in on this one.

Just as Static finished his thought, he felt an explosion rip at his back, blasting him into the air. Feeling the loss of his flying disc from under his feet, Static opened his eyes to find the ground coming up fast. The last he had seen of Gear, Talon had his partner running around in circles to avoid her intangible-to-the-last-moment attacks. Static knew he wouldn't be able to yank anything up to himself in time to slow his fall. It looked like he had decided too late to call for help, and now he'd never get the chance.

Suddenly a black and white blur came up out of nowhere and Static felt the front of his coat yanked upwards at a high velocity. Despite the sudden pain in his arms, the teen superhero felt immediately grateful for the save. The familiar feel of his metallic disc appeared under his feet, having been subconsciously called to him, Static flew a few feet away from his rescuer to get a good look at him.

A white-haired kid floated in front of him in a black and white... hazmat suit? The other teen's glowing green eyes took in the black superhero and then said in a somewhat echoing voice, "Well, are we going to fight or what?"

Static's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Huh?"

Danny realized his slip and corrected himself, pointing at the Meta-Breed that were all focused on a very frantic Gear. "Them. We fight them. Yes?"

Static nodded dumbly. Both superheros took a breath and then charged the group a short distance away. The Meta-Breed didn't see them coming, arrogantly playing with their prey, and were thrown off balance by the newcomer and Static. Danny fired several ectoblasts at Ebon, sending the shadowy figure tumbling into a rooftop with his uncontrolled flying.

Having barely spared a glance on behalf of the villain, Danny continued his route into a head-on collision with Talon. Phasing himself as he flew into her, Danny pounded the feathery foe down into a nearby wall, where gravity took over and pulled her to the ground. While Talon weakly attempted to push herself up, only to collapse, Danny checked on the other superhero, Gear. "Hey, you okay?"

Gear smiled, "Yep, couldn't be *cough* better. Professional superhero, right here. I think I'm going to go take a quick nap, though."

Danny chuckled and flew towards Static as he wrapped up with Hot-Streak. While Danny went after Talon, Static got the idea to turn Hot-Streak's own green energy blasts against him. Every time Hot-Streak started to fire, Static beat him to it and zapped the projectiles before they could leave his hand.

Hot-Streak's temper flared before he grinned and shouted, "Alright, Static, looks like we're doing this old-school!" He laughed, then went back to his usual use of his fire abilities.

The two of them danced around each other, tossing jokes and blasts at one another until Static managed to yank a piece of metal off a roof to distract Hot-Streak. With his oldest foe's temporary loss of balance, Static shot forward and slammed an electrically charged fist into his fiery combatant's face. After backing up and sending a massive charge into Hot-Streak, Static watched as he fell back to earth, slowing his fall before he hit.

"Impressive."

Static turned to see the mysterious helper floating in the air nearby, apparently having watched the end of the fight. "Thanks. What was your name?"

"Guys!" Gear burst into the scene, cutting off Danny's answer. "Shiv's got two hostages and Kangor's still stomping around somewhere down there!"

Static's face paled. "Shiv? With hostages? That's not good."

Danny's eyes widened. "What did the hostages look like?"

Gear was caught off guard by the question. "Uh... boy with red beret and yellow shirt and a goth girl."

Danny blasted off before Gear had finished and the other two superheros followed fairly close behind.

Sam wasn't quite sure how it happened. One moment, she's watching a battle high above and the next she and Tucker have glowing, purple blades held up to their necks. Their cackling villain wasn't helping either, as she didn't feel exactly safe with someone a few fries short of a Nasty Meal able to form almost any simple weapon they could think of. Especially one that could duplicate, with two to each prisoner. She had to find a way to defuse the situation quickly. "I've got to say, you're pretty powerful. What's your name?"

She allowed herself a small glance at Tucker, whose face jerked towards her in confusion, and hoped he was smart enough to be completely silent. She looked back at the goon in front of her standing in a pose.

"My name's Shiv, and you really think so?" Shiv replied in false modesty, very obviously reveling in the praise.

Sam grinned. "Yeah, I mean you can turn your hands into practically anything and you're able to duplicate yourself. It's awesome!"

Shiv pretended to wave down an audience's applause. "It's nothing, I'm sure."

Sam continued, a sly tone creeping into her voice. "Believe it or not, we've got a friend who can duplicate himself. It's a pretty cool ability."

The Shiv in front of Tucker grinned widely. "Yeah, it sure is!"

Sam nodded. "Of course, he always has to be careful to choose which one's the leader." At this point, she caught Tucker's understanding look show on his face in the corner of her eye. Thankfully, he was quick to hide it. She continued, "But I'm sure you've already taken care of that."

The Shiv in front of her laughed. "Well, of course! I'm the leader." From here, things got loud real fast.

"Hey, what about me?"

"What about you?"

"Hold on, I've got just as much say in this as you two!"

"Hey, I'm the original!"

"No you're not!"

"He's right, I am!"

"No, I am!"

"You want to prove it?"

After a few moments of bickering where they were, the Shivs all lost focus completely and dove towards each other. Sam and Tucker were ignored as the purple-haired bozos beat each other up.

Sam picked up her fallen backpack and pulled out her Fenton Wrist Ray, aiming it for the general Shiv population. "Alright, nobody move!" To emphasize her point, Sam blasted a rock next to the foot of one of the Shivs, earning a yelp from him as the rock shot away. As far as any of the Shivs had seen, she had disintegrated the rock.

"If anybody moves I'll make sure you go back to being one," Sam said very convincingly. In truth, she wasn't sure what the device would do to them, though that was one possibility.

The Shivs all gulped and threw their hands up in the air. As Sam watched them, satisfied with herself, Tucker noticed something on the PDA he had been studying the first chance he got. All of the Meta-Breed had tiny traces of otherworldly material in their DNA. Surprisingly, though, it was very similar to their own otherworldly traces that the PDA picked up. If Tucker had to guess, these super criminals were infected with something from a world just like theirs.

As he started to look up to inform Sam, a slight movement caught his eye. On the PDA, a blip was approaching. Fast.

Tucker yanked out his Fenton Stunner, a flashlight with the name Fenton on it that throws the minds of all beings, living or dead, into disarray. And it boils eggs. He quickly turned it on and shined it in the direction of the blip that was almost on top of him. Tucker saw a guy with enormous feet suddenly shift from stomping down onto him, to landing disoriented onto the ground. Tucker turned the device back off.

The guy groaned and said aloud, "Yo, mon, that was uncool." The jamaican accented villain then fell unconscious.

Tucker grinned widely and held the flashlight under his face, looking into it. "Wow, this thing really wor-" Tucker was immediately interrupted as he accidentally switched it on, where it promptly shone in his face. "Augh!"

Sam slapped her face as Tucker stumbled around for a few minutes before passing out himself. The Shivs were having a riot, none of them able to stand because they were laughing so hard. It was at this moment that Danny and the two local superheros returned.

"Sam! Tucker!" Danny flew in and landed next to Sam, examining her. "Are you all right?" Danny glanced around and saw Tucker lying face down. "What happened to Tucker?"

Sam laid a hand on his shoulder, making him look at her. "We're fine, Danny. I took out mister energy blades over there and Tucker knocked out bigfoot with the Fenton Stunner." Sam then took on an overdramatic tone as she added, "And then he looked into the stunner as he turned it on again, knocking himself out as well."

With that, the Shivs all fell back into fits of laughter, apparently all forgiven in their little group of one. As Danny slowly went from panic mode to snickering at his other best friend, Static felt compelled to ask, "So what kind of powers do you two have?" He pointed to both Sam and Tucker and then froze. He'd met them before. About an hour or two ago.

Sam smirked. "We don't have any powers, but we can kick butt just the same as you." She shot at a rock next to a slowly retreating Shiv for emphasis, then held up her Wrist Ray for Static and Gear to see. Gear, who had just finished snickering at Tucker when Sam demonstrated her firing capabilities, was anxious to see how it worked.

Static, however, was interested in something else. "My name's Static Shock, this is Gear. And you are?" He held up his hand to Danny.

Danny reached for it, replying, "Danny Phantom."

Upon touching, however, the two superheros jerked away from each other. Another powerful shock had erupted upon their touch, leaving Danny shaking his slightly burned hand and Static wiping goo onto his suit. Static proudly proclaimed, "Ha! I knew there was something weird about you earlier! You're the kid with the black hair!"

Sam raised her hand and replied for Danny. "Uh, did you just tell us you're the student we met earlier? Virgil, right?"

Static's face fell and Gear slapped his hand to the front of his helmet. He then whispered loudly, "Nice going, V!"

Static, or Virgil, shrugged while laughing nervously, "Heh heh, whoops."

Danny and Sam shook their heads, chuckling. The nice moment was interrupted by a green blast at the group's feet. The teens looked up to see Hot-Streak, Talon, and Ebon, the last of whom was now firmly planted on the ground with no intent of flying. Hot-Streak grinned viciously. "Looks like it's time for round two, losers!"

As both groups got ready to fight, Static noticed Ebon's eyes suddenly grow in what appeared to be recognition. He looked to see that his foe was staring at Danny, who was floating above the ground with ectoblasts in his hands. Now that Virgil thought about it, Danny's abilities matched the Meta-Breed's new ones. He decided to keep an eye on the new super hero, just in case.

Surprisingly, Ebon called out to his crew, "I think it's time we left." Everyone's eyes darted to him.

"But, Ebon-" Talon began, only to be cut off.

"No buts, we're outta here." Ebon opened a shadowy portal with his body. "Take care, he-ro. We'll be back to finish this!"

Had they not been so outnumbered, the teen heros would've tried to stop them. But they weren't prepared for a rematch so soon, especially with Gear so out of energy from his frantic fighting earlier. It didn't help that all three heros were distracted with worry for Sam and Tucker, who would be directly in harm's way. So the group just watched as Ebon and crew disappeared, allowing the Shivs to run past with an unconscious Kangor and dive in.

The four teens looked at each other and shrugged, with Static adding in a mock cheerful voice, "Just another Thursday!"

Deep in the dark subways of Dakota, an even darker form materialized. Five super-villains, eight including duplicates, returned home to figure out what went wrong after having just lost a fight. Ebon closed his portal and stepped up to their guest, who was regaining his strength in a cross-legged position on the ground. His closed eyes didn't see the finger jabbing at him from his pitch black host, but he heard it in the voice.

"What are you trying to pull, chump? I thought you said these extra powers would take care of our problem?"

"I take it things didn't go as planned?" The ghost opened his eyes and narrowed them, standing and floating upwards as he stared down at the shadowy delinquent in front of him. "Now why would that be?"

"If you're planning on blaming that mess on us, think again. You said no one could stand up to these powers, but someone did. Someone who reminded me a lot of you, all ghost-like." Ebon said this last part waving his hand at the stranger's floating, glowing stance.

The stranger raised an eyebrow. "Really? What did he look like?"

After a brief description of the new superhero from Ebon, the ghost turned around in thought. "Now this... is interesting. Let's switch up the plot a bit, change the stakes." The ghost spun back around with a deadly gleam in his eye. "I think Danny Phantom needs an early lesson in what's good for him... and what's not!"

As a sudden wind picked up, Ebon and crew unconsciously took a step backward when the stranger let out a much more chilling laughter than they'd expected, causing them to wonder about just what kind of deal they'd made.

"Ok, ok, so then Virgil, who's trying to bluff Hot-Streak into thinking he's still got powers, winks at him AGAIN. And I'm all out of Zap Caps!"

Danny, Sam, and Tucker all burst into outrageous laughter with the story, turning and laughing at Virgil who takes a swallow of soda in embarrassment. He put down the soda and added, "I managed to beat him, though! Without my powers I might add."

Richie grinned ear to ear. "Yeah... after you were running through the streets screaming like a little girl!"

Amongst the uproarious laughter, Virgil tried to defend himself. "I did not! I wasn't screaming!" But it was to no avail. The others enjoyed watching him squirm too much.

As the laughter died down and Virgil, poorly pretending to be in a bad mood, got Tucker another can of soda, Sam's laughter died down further than the rest. She stared in thought at the wall, sobering up. Upon noticing her stare, Danny frowned. "What is it?"

Sam looked at him. "I hate to say it, but we're wasting time. We have to take care of whatever the rift left behind."

Tucker spluttered at her absurd statement. "Are you crazy? We've got pizza, soda, and two superheros who know how to have fun!"

Danny nodded. "Yeah, we've got plenty of time. Besides, how often are we going to work with two professional superheros?" Danny and Static bumped sodas and drank as Tucker and Richie copied them.

Tucker smiled cheekily, "Mr. Foley!"

Richie returned the grin. "Mr. Foley!"

Sam frowned. "Isn't anyone curious about the meta-humans who have abilities from our world?"

Now Danny frowned as he looked at her patronizingly. "Come on, Sam, I've already worked it out." He turned to Tuck and said in a faux military tone. "Commander Tuck, where have we seen this style of strategy before?"

Tucker snapped to attention while still sitting. "Sir, Spectra's fake..." Tucker shuddered, "hospital, sir!"

Danny grinned, then tried a blank face again, only to fail. "And how did she do it?"

Tucker barely kept the grin from his face as he responded, "Sir, her assistant Bertrand put pieces of himself into the student body to give each one a single ghostly power!"

Richie raised his hand in amusement. "You forgot the sir!"

Tucker's face split into a huge grin as he added one last, "Sir!"

Danny turned to Sam, smiling. "See, we've got it all covered! Virgil and Richie can lead us to the Meta-Breed, because they know the city, and I'll use my ghost sense to track down Spectra and/or Bertrand!" Danny, quite proud of himself, fell back into the cushion of the couch and finished off his soda.

Sam, now in a bad mood, leaned back and finished her own soda. There was no reasoning with him now. Unfortunately, Danny's reassurances did nothing for the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Her mood, and everyone else's, was interrupted when Richie's backpack, which he proudly displayed to them earlier, started screeching. Richie quickly yanked up his helmet as the info flew across its visor. "Police scanner picks up meta-human activity... it's the Meta-Breed!"

Everyone immediately jumped up and got ready for a throw down. Tucker, who didn't have much to do to get ready, walked over to Sam and teasingly said, "Well, guess you're happy."

However, 'happy' was not what Sam would call her feelings. Something in her gut was saying this was not going to end well.

Inside the food court at the local mall, all was normal for the moment. Sounds from the crowds filled the air and kept the different groups talking louder to compensate, fueling the overall noise. Children rushed around their parents, playing tag and otherwise getting into mischief. The quick bouts of their laughter occasionally caught the attention of other customers, who smiled down at them and shook their heads at the displays of joy.

A man eating a slice of pizza chuckled and turned to take another bite. He paused when he noticed a circular shadow on the wall that had not been there before. The man twisted around in his seat to locate the source of the shadow, but when he turned to look back, it no longer resembled a shadow. The purple-tinged black circle on the wall had become a solid darkness, and four beings materialized as they walked out of it. Then the darkness itself pulled together to form a fifth member of this sinister group, making it an entirely good time to run out of the mall in a panic.

As the entire area quickly shifted into a panic-filled stampede, the Meta-Breed calmly watched the evacuation. Calm being a relative word, of course, and Hot-Streak gave in to the urge to encourage the stragglers with a barrage of fireballs.

Ebon looked around, making a vague plan in his mind. Finally, he turned to his crew. "Now remember, Static is mine and Kangor's. Talon and Hot-Streak, keep gearhead and the two brats busy." The living shadow turned to Shiv. "And you get the Phantom kid. And Shiv," the white slits that constituted Ebon's eyes narrowed, "if you screw this up, it's on your head."

Shiv gulped and nervously chuckled as he gave a thumb's up.

Ebon glanced around the large dining area before announcing, "All right, crew, let's wreck this dump while we wait for the heros to show their faces."

It didn't take long for the heroic group to arrive, as the mall was not far and the majority of them could fly. Danny had to carry Sam and Tucker, a frequent transportation method of theirs, and dropped them off outside the building as backup. He didn't want them in an area that he knew would be a war-zone, and brooked no argument. Luckily, Sam and Tucker were well aware that the fight would likely make it outside before long, and agreed to not simply barge in after five minutes.

Flying into the food court, immediately inside the mall from that entrance, Danny, Static, and Gear found the place to be empty.

Static frowned. "Huh."

Gear took a step forward looking around carefully. "Well, this isn't creepy. They are here right?"

Danny felt a wisp of cold breath leave him, causing a tiny blue smoke trail into the air. "Yeah, they're definit-"

He was interrupted from what he was saying when a screech suddenly sounded from directly behind him. The high-powered sonics from the scream packed a punch and threw Danny forward in the air. He collided with a decorative, fake plant with plastic leaves and fell onto a table a few feet below.

Static and Gear turned to see the feathery foe tackle the latter, with Hot-streak tossing fireballs at former. "Didn't expect to see us so soon, did ya, Static? Ha-ha-ha!" The fiery villain tossed a few ectoblasts as well, but Static was ready for them and blasted them before they could reach.

Static laughed as he shot one of the green, glowing blasts. "Come on, Francis, you can do better than that!"

Suddenly the shadow that seemed innocent as the hero passed it lashed out, catching Static on the jaw. "Course he can, but he don't need to. That's what I'm here for!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Static saw Hot-streak head for Gear, who was once again having to deal with the intangible Talon. It seemed the Meta-Breed actually had a plan. Did they consider this a trap?

Dodging another attack by the shadowy villain, Static glanced over to see Danny getting ready to face Shiv. From the looks of it, it was only Shiv. By himself. Against Danny Phantom.

Static chuckled. "Well, if this was supposed to be some kind of ambush, I'll give you points for style. You guys came out of nowhere! Too bad the whooping we're about to give you makes it all pointless."

Ebon shot his arm forward in a punch, stretching it several feet thanks to his powers. Static rolled through the air on his disc to dodge and then raised his arms. Electricity hummed around him as he caught one of the fluorescent lights above his head and yanked it from the ceiling. Channeling his power through it, he shone it on Ebon's form.

The villain cried out in pain, but determinedly held himself there as he said, "You're forgetting something. There's a reason we wanted to stage this battle here."

Static raised an eyebrow, calm as ever. "Oh? Why's that?"

"Cause I can't fly, fool!" Without warning, two giant feet turned visible and pounded Static's back, the force of which threw him into a nearby wall, cracking it. Kangor landed victoriously on the ground, smirking, "And in here, there's nowhere to fly!"

Danny started out his fight laughing. He had been thrown from that first blast by Talon, but once he got up and reoriented himself, he found only Shiv approaching as his opponent. It was a fairly laughable situation.

At first.

The fight started about normal. Danny humored the villain and flew around him, shooting ectoblasts at the purple-haired loon's feet. Said loon kept jumping about, trying to avoid getting blasted, yelling, "Ouch-ouch-ouch!"

Danny fired at Shiv and watched the metahuman split into two copies on either side of the blast. "Oh, come on!" Danny shouted. "Do you know how much focus I have to put into doing that? How come duplication is so easy for everyone else?"

Both Shiv's shrugged, grinning. "Looks like you've got double the trouble!"

Danny snickered. "From you guys? I can take all four of you blindfolded."

The Shivs continued smiling. "There's not four of us, yet. Just three!"

Danny easily shot upwards as a purple sword slashed the air from behind where he had been. "Wait... Was I supposed to be surprised about the one 'sneaking' up behind me? Sorry."

All three Shivs got together and two of them lifted the third onto their shoulders. Danny could still stay out of reach if he lifted his legs to tuck underneath him, but he didn't bother. "Look, you guys, wouldn't it just be easier to just give up?"

All three Shivs simultaneously replied, "Feel free! We don't care!"

Danny gave an exasperated sigh. "You know I'm can just go intangible when you get up here, right?"

The Shivs positioned themselves and gave grins that looked positively murderous. If Danny hadn't been so sure of himself, he very well might've felt a bit of fear at the sight. The Shivs gave a count, "One for the money, two for the show, three for even more money, and four to GO!"

With a powerful push and a momentous jump, the third Shiv reached the calmly intangible Danny Phantom, ramming a sword clumsily upward. And hit.

Danny's eyes widened as he felt the slice that only caught the side of his lower calf. He grabbed his leg at the unexpected pain and flew upwards into the safety of height, holding himself against the roof as his mind tried to catch up to what happened. Shiv wouldn't be able to reach him up there. At least, normally.

But Shiv wasn't acting out his own poorly conceived plan. Someone else had given him a tip for just this kind of situation, someone with far more experience. Pulling themselves back into a pyramid, they repeated the process. This time, however, once the third Shiv was in the air, he duplicated. The fourth Shiv came into being crouched on the third, then pushed off, giving him the extra distance needed to stab a fire poker at Danny.

Danny reflexively went intangible again, but the poker stabbed the side of his arm. Once again, Shiv missed doing any major damage, but these were painful cuts that weren't suppose to be possible. Somehow, Shiv's power was unaffected by tangibility. This fight had taken a very unexpected turn for the worst.

Gear was having as little success as his teammates. Not only was he having the same problem with Talon as before, but now Hot-Streak was focused on shooting as much of the green, glowing substance he'd been given as possible. It turned to goo against Gear's machinery and one of the rockets on his left boot was already having difficulties. This was a battle he knew wouldn't last long.

Playing more a game of tag than anything, Gear took just a moment to check up on his teammates. He was shocked to see both of them struggling as well. This was... surprising.

Knowing he had to do something, Richie blasted himself past Talon and Hot-Streak, prepared a Zap Cap and threw it towards two Shivs. Aiming himself for Kangor, who no longer bothered being invisible, Gear used himself as a human torpedo and blasted into the jamaican from behind. Both slammed into the wall in front of them, knocking Kangor out and doing a number on Richie's already-present headache.

The Zap Cap that Gear had thrown to two Shivs expanded into several large, metallic arms that wrapped around them and contracted to trap them together. Danny, who had cleared his head some, flew off to the side of the remaining two Shivs. Staying out of reach, he sent powerful blasts into their chests, causing them to fade and return to the other two. With the Zap Cap keeping them from duplicating, the Shivs were no longer a threat.

As Danny turned to face Talon and Hot-Streak, Static stood in front of Ebon. Though the hero was obviously in pain, he stood in a fighting stance. "Okay, Ebon, looks like your plan failed." Cracking a smile, he added, "As usual."

"Plan?" Ebon laughed. "Hero, we haven't even started the plan, yet!" He pulled from nowhere a strange, cylindrical device. It... almost looked like a thermos. "All this was just to exert your little friend there."

Static looked in the direction his enemy indicated and saw Danny, exhausted and in pain. Ebon did as close to a smile as his blank, featureless face could get. "I guess we succeeded."

Before Static could do anything, Ebon uncapped the thermos and pointed it at Danny. Pressing a button, a powerful blue beam of light shone on the otherworldly hero. It didn't seem to hurt him, but instead pulled him towards it. Despite some resistance, Danny was quickly pulled into the thermos, somehow shrinking as he reached it. The cap immediately came back on, and Static was stunned to see that Danny was now out of the picture.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, he-ro, I've got someone to make a delivery to." Ebon gloatingly tossed the thermos up and down with his shadowy hand, before transforming into a shadow and racing away at a fast pace.

Static snapped back into reality and gave chase. Ebon was going unusually slow, but it was still a good speed. Perhaps Static had hurt him more than he realized with the light earlier. It would explain why the villain wasn't spending the energy to transport himself in his usual way.

Knowing that he might need some help, because Ebon could not be allowed to make off with his newfound friend, Static shot ahead at a faster speed and exited the mall first. He took a moment to look for Sam and Tucker before spotting them at the ready. Flying down to them, he quickly sputtered off, "Ebon used some kind of gadget that sucked Danny inside. He's about to make off with him!"

Sam and Tucker looked at each other in surprise, before turning back to Static. "By any chance, was that gadget shaped like a thermos with the name Fenton on it?"

Static blinked. He didn't remember the name, but it sounded like they recognized it. "Yeah, why?"

Sam spun to Tucker. "How'd he get a Fenton Thermos?"

Just then a shadow passed underneath them. Static desperately reached forward and pulled several streetlights out of the ground and hung them over Ebon. Pushing all of his energy into them, the light grew strong and powerful, sending the villain into screaming spasms. The Thermos appeared and Sam blasted it out of Ebon's grasp, following the slick shot with a shout, "Sorry, Danny!"

The shot had blasted a crack in the thermos, and it glowed from the power held inside. As the crack grew bigger, an enraged Ebon struck out. Knocking Static off his disc again, he also aimed himself for Sam.

Seeing that the very powerful metahuman, or Bang Baby as Static called them, was bearing down on her, Sam fearfully ran backwards. Tripping on a stone, she clumsily tried getting up and instead settled for crab-walking backwards. Static's quick blasts weren't serving enough of a distraction, and the dark creature was only a few feet away.

Tucker, scared himself, felt his mind racing for how to help his friend as he ran towards the darkness and tried shouting to distracting it. Suddenly, he hit upon an idea. A last ditch effort, but that was their specialty, after all. "Sam! They've got ghost powers! That means they've got a ghost's weakness as well!"

Sam blinked dumbly at him as she processed that, then her eyes widened in realization. Twisting herself to the backpack draped over one arm, she pulled out their own Fenton Thermos. Spinning around to the threat mere inches away, Sam yanked off the cap and pushed the button. A large light shone forth and captured the darkness in front of her. Ebon was pulled inside quickly, and Sam slammed the cap shut tight.

Smiling, she looked up to see Tucker pointing towards the Thermos with Danny trapped inside. "Sam, shoot the thermos! Danny'll be fine, trust me!"

Despite frequently beating up on Tucker, making fun of him, and generally treating him like a pest, Sam always knew to count on him when it came down to it. Without even hesitating, she let loose a blast that nailed the large crack on the side of the Thermos and shattered it. A puff of black and white smoke enlarged above it and transformed into the familiar figure of her best friend.

And boyfriend, she thought to herself. She always found herself having to add that part.

Running to him, she knelt down beside where he lay against a streetlight left from Static's use of them. He looked at her with exhaustion, but waved away her concern.

"Go on, Sam, I'll be fine." He smiled and she smiled back.

Static watched her run to Tucker and him, then the three turned and headed off to see to the mess left inside. Gear was probably frantically trying to keep order again. Static winced at the thought, knowing he'd owe his friend big after this. There was definitely vacation time in order.

As Danny sat there, about to get up and join the fight, he looked up and saw something familiar dash around a corner. Something he never thought he'd see here. Or, rather, someone.

Did I just see Skulker? Danny looked back at the fight and noticed everyone was doing fine without him. He sent a quick message to Sam and Tucker that he was looking into something and then flew after the Meta-Breed's ally, and one of Danny's most notable foes.

After taking a few twists and turns, Danny was afraid he might've lost him. But suddenly his ghost sense flared up again, dramatically, and Danny was grabbed from behind as he rounded a corner.

He felt himself thrown into a wall, then dropped like a brick to the ground that was, thankfully, nearby. After shaking his head and looking up at the culprit, Danny's eyes grew wide. The illusion of Skulker faded away, revealing the last person Danny would have ever expected.

His breath hitched with a spasm of fear as he whispered, "No..."

"NOOOOOOOO!" Talon screeched a deathly wail as she was pulled into the Fenton Thermos, leaving only two Shivs. As the four teen heros surrounded them, one yelled, "You'll never make us talk!"

Sam shrugged and sucked him in, smiling at his scream as he shrank into the tiny device now carrying seven criminals. Or five if you count Shiv only once, but he had successfully created two more duplicates. The problem being that they were stuck in Gear's trap like the original, which did him no good. Sam turned to regard the last Shiv, who visibly gulped before smiling very nervously. "What would you like to know?"

Sam, being the one with the 'weapon,' asked the question on everyone's minds. "Those aren't your powers. Who gave them to you?"

As Sam raised the thermos toward him, he started talking very quickly. "Uh, ok, well let's see here... He's green, well, more like a greenish blue... or a blueish green... I think he has all your friend's powers, the ghostly one? Yeah, and flaming white hair and glowing red eyes, yeah. And I think he and your friend were part of the same club or something, I mean why else would they be sporting the same design on their front, right? Hehe..."

Sam's bad feeling grew a thousandfold as she spun to see Tucker giving her the exact look she felt herself give him.

No...

"What's the matter, little hero?" The last part was said with a sneer. "Have you figured out who I am?"

Danny was shocked into silence, until what his evil alternate future self said registered in his mind. "Figured out? You mean, you haven't met me?"

The older ghost frowned. "Met you? I am you!"

"Yeah, but... I'm your past, right? I mean, we haven't battled before or anything, you just know me because you used to be me, don't you?"

"You're talking strange, kid. Of course we haven't fought, I'm your future!"

Danny suddenly grinned. "No. You're my past!" He stood up and faced his alternate future's self. "I've already beaten you where I come from, and I changed my future!" Danny mentally added a 'so far as I know,' but didn't care to share that information. "And I can do it again!"

Danny took in a deep breath, but something in his older self reflexed and the evil doppleganger jabbed his fingers forward into Danny's throat... hard.

After a moment of surprise on both ghosts' faces, the future version narrowed his eyes and regarded the younger one that was currently trying to breathe. "You've got the ghostly wail, don't you? You were going to use it on me, blast me out of the ballpark, weren't you?"

He grinned and leaned forward, whispering, "How's this for your plan?" The older ghost suddenly let loose a barrage of heavy hitting punches and kicks and numerous other painful attacks. As Danny felt a pummeling the likes of which he'd never before imagined, his far younger and less sturdy body began giving in to the brutal attack. The heroic half ghost slowly lost the energy to fight back.

A pain came over him as he lost track of the beatings he received, blurring his thought processes. The halfa wasn't even able to reply to the lovely voice coming into his ear with a strange sound of panic. When the darkness of unconsciousness came, he welcomed it.

"Danny! Danny, pick up! DANNY!" Sam jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to find Static looking at her in worry. They were all back outside, keeping an eye out for Danny.

"What's wrong?"

Sam took a breath and quickly explained. "I recognized the description Shiv gave. It's a ghost, all right, but not the one we were expecting. We've faced him before, and only barely won. We have to warn Danny before anything happens to him!"

"Oh, it's a bit too late for that."

Everybody's attention jerked upward, transfixed by the sight floating in the air. A very muscular blueish-green ghost with white fire for hair and deadly red eyes hovered calmly with Danny tossed over his shoulder like a weightless bag of potatoes. "Well, well, well. Sam and Tucker. If I had an ounce of humanity left in me, this would be a very touching little reunion. But of course, I surrendered any humanity a long time ago."

Sam blinked. That was precisely what he had said the first time. That doesn't make any sense. Unless... Without even realizing her lips were moving, she whispered aloud, "He's not the same one."

Danny's evil future self raised an eyebrow and frowned as he lifted Danny off his shoulder. "Strange, I've been getting that a lot recently." He unceremoniously tossed his past self to the ground a few feet away from Sam. Danny's body rolled a little before settling face up. Sam threw herself to his side and checked for a heartbeat, feeling tears welling up in her.

"He's alive," the evil Phantom's voice came from above, "but I think I left him in a coma. Guess I'll have to wait for him to come out of it before I can really break him down. I don't like the memories he brings up. Maybe, with a bit of work, I can even make him like me earlier than he's supposed to be. Wouldn't that be fun?"

Sam looked up to see the malicious being smirking at her. She gave him a hard look, trying to show that she wasn't afraid. Sam only wished it wasn't bluffing.

The other Phantom must have seen right through her, because he smiled sinisterly. "Either way, looks like I've got myself a brand new world to play in! I already played those meta-idiots like fools. They gave me everything I needed in exchange for a little bit of me, pieces of my ectoplasm that granted them temporary abilities. A trick I learned from Spectra and her lackey, if you remember. Now that I've regained my energy, however, I don't need help from anybody as I take over this world. I've already destroyed everything on ours, soon I'll be running this dump as well! Just call me Phantom, king of the worlds."

Despite the menacing ghost above, and his truly dangerous nature, Static and Gear looked at each other before laughing. "Sorry, Phantom," Static clarified after taking a calming breath. "It's just that... you'd have to go through the whole Justice League to do that. I mean, I can tell you're powerful and all, but they'll shut you down fast."

Richie picked up where his friend left off. "Totally. They've got Superman and Batman and all those other guys. You'll have to deal with them."

Phantom slowly slid a sinister smile onto his face before lowering himself closer to them. He calmly replied to their warning. "No. They'll have to deal with me!"

His chilling laughter rang through the air as the temperature dropped immensely. All four kids couldn't help but swallow hard when a powerful storm built up over the evil Phantom. He grinned viciously at them as he explained, "A little trick I picked up from a ghost calling himself Vortex. Just wait until I show you what I can really do!" With that, he shot up into the air and literally disappeared, yanking the thermos containing the Meta-Breed from Sam as it flew with him.

They all stared up at where the powerful storm had seemed to grow angrier in its master's absence. A bolt of lightning struck out, causing a citywide blackout. As another struck a building nearby, Tucker couldn't think of a single clever comment. Instead, all he could say was, "This... is not good."

Next Time...

"There's a big group of idiots in their underwear flying this way."

J'onn's sorrow-filled eyes turned to look at her. "His mind is okay, but his body's regenerative abilities have slowed considerably. It will take weeks for him to heal, at best."

"But we don't have weeks! We need him now!"

"With someone as powerful as Superman, I'll destroy your precious little city! And the rest of your world will burn after it!"

"This world doesn't have blood blossoms or ectoranium! How can we win?"

"I may know another weakness..."