Road To Ruin- Liz 3

Going ghost took more courage than expected.

Despite being sure in their decision to help, Danny and Liz were slow to follow the Titans and slower still to use their powers. They trailed after them on foot until they were out of the city, waiting to find a secluded spot to transform and finish the journey invisible.

They arrived in time to see Cinderblock run through a series of walls, releasing prisoners.

"Huh," Danny hovered in the shadows. "That's not great."

"They don't look friendly," Liz frowned.

In the yard, Robin was trying to stop a nosebleed while explaining what kind of inmates had been set loose. "Oh, just gang members, murderers, and-"

"Hey, Robin!" A tall man with a creepy smile waved. "Heard you were legal now, Pretty Boy! Kinda takes the fun out of it, but I'll make an exception for you!"

"And sex offenders," He finished with a heavy sigh.

Liz gagged, and Danny shuddered with disgust.

"I think they have their hands full with that," She decided. "Let's see if we can catch Dwayne the Cinderblock Johnson; hopefully, that'll be enough."

"Enough for what?"

"Dunno," Liz admitted. "Convince them we're on their side? If superheroes are a thing here and no one else seems to know it, we might have found a place that's safe from the Guys In White."

"Here's hoping."

Following the path of destruction, the two found Cinderblock crawling out of a hole in the ground; in his arms was a tank almost as big as he was, housing what looked to be a man floating in some kind of gel in suspended animation.

"The hell is that?" Danny asked, watching the man gently bob up and down.

"Disgusting," Liz decided. "And definitely bad news."

Danny's fits lit up, but she pushed them down. He raised an eyebrow. "Are we not gonna stop him?"

Liz shook her head, watching the block monster wrestle his way out of the ground. Something in her gut told her that something much bigger than a robbery- or technically kidnapping- was happening. "I think we should follow him and see what he does. There's obviously something weird about the dude in the tank. Without knowing what, the best we can do is try and figure out why he's so important to Cinderblock."

The giant was struggling to free himself, trying to climb out while holding the tank with both hands.

"I don't think he's smart enough to know why the guy is important," Danny said. "But the tank is the target- he doesn't care about any of the other prisoners; they're just a distraction. He's following a plan made by someone else."

Finally out of the hole, Cinderblock hooked an arm around the tank and leisurely walked through the remaining prison walls, down a hill, and towards a large sewer gate.

Liz swept out her arms. "After you, Detective Danny."

It wasn't difficult to follow Cinderblock; he was slow, loud, and dumb as a rock, pun fully intended. The sewers he trudged through were massive and poorly lit, and he didn't notice the two ghosts on his tail.

"This is wild," Danny whispered after a while. Cinderblock didn't hear him.

"Following a walking rock through Godzilla-sized sewers? However do you mean?"

"Not that," he snickered. "I meant this." He gestured to his feet, floating half a foot above the floor.

Liz took a minute to appreciate what he meant. She'd been so focused on their self-appointed mission that it hadn't set in that she was using her powers for the first time in over a year.

"I'd forgotten what this feels like," She said softly.

It felt amazing, like scratching a hard-to-reach itch. Physically she felt stronger, taller, more energetic. Something buzzing in her veins had chased away all her anxiety and paranoia and replaced it with self-assured confidence. She felt powerful. She felt like herself.

Tucker had spent hours trying to convince Liz that she needed a costume to match Danny's, even going so far as to make her one himself, logo and all. So many times since escaping she'd considered getting rid of it, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. It connected her to Danny, keeping them looking like the team they were.

Purple and neon green light reflected up at her from the sewer water. Phantom and Phasma. She'd forgotten how brightly Danny's eye could glow.

"You're staring at me," He said, startling her out of her thoughts.

"Not all of you, just your eyes."

He brought a hand up self-consciously. "What? Is something wrong?"

"No," Liz brushed his hand aside. "I just missed seeing them. Is that weird?"

He smiled softly, reaching up to push a piece of her hair behind her ear. "No, I get it. I missed seeing you like this too."

Cinderblock stopped abruptly in front of a black brick wall, and Danny and Liz fell silent. With a gravelly grumble- maybe an attempt at words- he pushed against a patch of the wall; it caved in with a hiss, and Liz realized it was a button. The wall fell away to allow the giant entry and closed immediately after.

"Super secret sewer lair," Danny shook his head, hands on his hips. "Who is this dude, Master Splinter?"

"You hate the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," Liz pointed out, flying up to inspect the hidden button.

"Doesn't mean I can't use them as a reference," He rapped his knuckles on the door. "This thing is solid. Someone went to a lot of effort to hide this place."

"Which means it's well guarded, or at least well monitored. Trying to get in the same way as Cinderblock would be a dumb move, if it works at all."

Danny nodded with a smirk. "Ghost powers to the rescue." He turned intangible, walked into the brick… and bounced right off.

"Did… did you do it right?" Liz asked, holding back a grin.

"Is there a way to do it wrong?"

"Apparently, 'cause whatever you did didn't work."

He huffed indignantly. "That doesn't mean I used my powers wrong!"

She crossed her arms. "Well, you didn't use them right, or you'd be through the wall right now."

He tried again. And again. It didn't work. "What the hell!"

Liz was working very hard to keep herself from laughing. "Are you sure you're going intangible, not just invisible?"

Danny glared at her. "Are you serious? Yes, I'm sure."

"I'm just saying, it's been a while, so I wouldn't blame you if you're a little rusty or if you've forgotten a few things-"

"Forgotten a few- You know what, wise ass? If it's so easy, you do it." He took a step back and crossed his arms, eyebrows raised expectantly.

"Watch and learn!" Liz was only mildly mortified when she also couldn't pass through the wall.

"Did you do it right?" He mocked. "'Cause I wouldn't blame you if you've forgotten a few things."

"Ha ha," She ran her hand over the brick. "It's ghost proof… How- why- is it ghost-proof?"

Danny worried his bottom lip between his teeth, studying the wall. "What if it wasn't intentional?"

"What do you mean?"

"What's the one all-natural thing ghosts can't phase through?"

Liz dropped her head back with a sigh. "Ice."

What the hell.

It was a stupid setback. Ice and the cold in general had never been Liz's thing, but being physically held back by it was a unique kind of annoying. It wasn't like blood blossoms; those hurt like a bitch and presented an actual threat. Ice? Realistically all she needed was salt and heat to melt it, but she was fresh out of both.

Goddamn it.

"Ice in the walls of a super secret sewer lair," she summarized. "If we just stumbled onto an organ harvesting farm, I quit."

"I'm never letting you watch Riverdale again," Danny rolled his eyes. "Plan A is dead. What's plan B?"

"Wait for him to come back out?"

"Yay," He deadpanned. "Waiting. My favorite."

They wouldn't sit on the ground because gross, gross, gross, so instead, they lounged in the air. There wasn't much conversation, but there didn't need to be. Silence was comfortable between them now.

When they first met, Danny and Liz hadn't trusted or even liked each other. Trying to talk was an awkward chore they both tried to avoid. Now, they could practically speak telepathically; Liz knew Danny was about to challenge her to a game of rock-paper-scissors before he could open his mouth.

"Boring," She said as he raised a fist. "Pick a better game."

"Like what?" He flipped to his back, looking at her upside down. "It's not like we have a deck of cards."

"We could play 20 questions."

He narrowed his eyes. "Will you play fair this time?"

"The fact that you didn't know The Outsiders is both a book and a movie is so not my fault, let it go."

"Fine, fine," He stuck his tongue out playfully. "I'm thinking of a movie."

Of course you are. "Is it Star Wars?"

"There is no way you just knew that!"

"I'll take that as a yes," She giggled.

"Um, no, no way. Not unless you can name the specific-"

"The Phantom Menace."

Danny threw his hands in the air, flipping so he was facing Liz. "How in the hell do you do that? No hints, no clues- you didn't even ask one question!" She decided not to tell him that picking his favorite movie was a predictable move. "You have some kind of psychic powers, don't you? You've got a whole Raven-Baxter thing going on and you won't admit it! What number am I thinking of right now?"

Liz's face was split with a smile as she guessed, "Eight?"

"No," he tapped his forehead against hers. "But I know you only said that to throw me off. I'm onto you, Liz!"

"Yeah, sure, Danny," She poked his sides, and he rushed to move away, stifling a laugh. "Time to see how you measure up. I'm thinking of a tv show."

"Is it an animated show?"

"No."

He hummed, looking into space thoughtfully. "Have I ever seen this show?"

She nodded.

"Is it a true story, like a docuseries?"

You nerd. "It is not."

"Okay, a live-action series that I've seen," His lip was back between his teeth. "Does it have more than one season?"

"Yup," Liz answered, floating on her stomach. "Way more."

"Is it a streaming show?"

He was getting closer. "No, it aired on cable."

"So it's ancient," He joked. "It's not Friends, is it?"

Liz raised an eyebrow. "Is that really what you want your 6th question to be?"

"No, never mind, that's a stupid question. You hate that show. Is it Parks and Rec?"

An excellent guess, and one of her favorite shows, but, "nope."

"No? Oh- duh, I can't believe it took me this long. It's The O-" He cut off, eyes widening. "-It's opening."

The hidden door was just as silent as when it had first opened. The two had just enough time to go invisible before anyone came out. Luckily the only person- thing?- exiting was Cinderblock. He didn't have the man in the tank with him.

Briefly, Liz considered making a break for the opening to see what was beyond the door, but she decided against it. Her goal was to catch Cinderblock; she could always tell the Titans about the super secret sewer lair later.

"So, uh," Danny pointed at Cinderblock. "Rocky's going the wrong way."

Liz made a split-second decision, dropping her invisibility and flying in front of the giant's face. "Hey! Hi there Big Guy! Why don't you take a nice walk the other way?"

He noticed her and lazily tried to shoo her off. He wasn't particularly interested in the flying ghost girl, and nothing she said got his attention.

She huffed, turning to Danny. "Your turn."

His approach was more hands-on. He grabbed onto Cinderblock's shoulder and tried to forcibly turn him around. He was easily shrugged off.

Danny scoffed when the giant continued to ignore him. "Fine. Guess we'll have to do it the hard way."

The 'hard way' had them both get in front of him and start throwing ecto-blasts.

He stopped ignoring them.

Oh no.

"Duck!" Liz yelled, diving away from a fast flying fist.

Danny yelped and dropped, barely avoiding the attack. "He can move a lot faster than I thought!"

Liz agreed. Considering the giant walked like he was wading through mud, Cinderblock was surprisingly quick. His eyesight was impressive too- he had no issue tracking the ghosts as they flew around.

"Gonna be honest," Danny said, dodging another attack. "This is not going how I thought it would."

"It's like he doesn't even feel our attacks," she frowned. Nothing she threw at him had left so much as a scuff; all they were doing was annoying him.

Flipping over Cinderblock's shoulder, Danny hovered next to Liz. "Got any ideas?"

"If we knock him out we could drag him back to the prison?" She suggested. "Or if we could just get his arms tied up- something to get him to stop swinging long enough to think of something better."

"Liz," His green eyes lit up, "You're a genius!"

The temperature dropped drastically, frost forming on the walls and a thin layer of ice freezing over the sewer water. Danny aimed, and a second later was floating proudly next to an ice-encased Cinderblock.

"Daniel James, you are brilliant!"

"It was your idea," He dismissed, ducking his head to hide the pink on his cheeks.

Liz found it adorable and resisted the urge to tease him about it. He was easy to embarrass, and she loved when she got him blushing all the way to his ears. Not the time.

Instead, she grinned. "C'mon genius, let's get him back where he belongs."

Ghost powers may provide above-average strength, but not enough for two teens to carry a three-ton rock. After hours of trial and error, they developed a system where Danny flew in front, creating an icy path that Liz steered Cinderblock down. It wasn't easy, but it was effective. The sun was setting and the Titans were arguing when they finally made it back.

"This conversation is over, Cyborg," Robin's voice was dark.

Liz glanced at Danny, doubt fluttering in her stomach. They were still far enough away that no one had noticed them. What next? Butt into the conversation and introduce themselves? Leave Cinderblock and disappear into the night? They weren't given a choice as Cinderblock slid into the light, catching Beast Boy's attention.

His eyes went wide. "Uh… guys?"

"Why don't you trust us?" Cyborg asked Robin, either not hearing Beast Boy or ignoring him.

Starfire noticed them and gasped. "Holy glorphnor..."

"I don't- that's not what this is about!" Robin stuttered angrily.

Cyborg folded his arms over his chest. "Then why aren't you telling us more?"

"Why don't you trust me when I tell you there's nothing more to tell?"

"Guys!" Beast Boy yelled. The Titans turned to where he was pointing and fell silent.

It was like being the new kid in school and having the teacher stand you up in front of a classroom full of strangers and asking you to introduce yourself. Not an unfamiliar feeling for Liz, but still uncomfortable.

Here goes nothing. "Hi," she offered a small wave and immediately felt silly. "Sorry to interrupt, but, uh, I think you lost this?"

Danny gestured at Cinderblock with stiff arms.

Beast Boy's jaw dropped. "What- how- who?"

Starfire asked, "Did you do this?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded. "He uh. I used ice- my ice- so he's stuck. Until it melts anyways."

She wasn't put off by his less-than-eloquent explanation. "How has it not already melted?"

"It's… it's not normal ice."

Liz winced. It wasn't a great answer- not that she could have done better.

"I'm going to need better than that. Who are you?" The hostility in Robin's voice caught her off guard. Suddenly, she wasn't sure bringing Cinderblock back had been a good idea.

"That's kinda a long story," She answered, purposefully vague.

"Let me guess; long and complicated?" Narrowing his eyes, the leader of the Titans pulled out a metal bo staff.

Liz was, frankly, insulted. Did he really expect she'd be threatened by a silver stick?

"Dude, put that down," Beast Boy whispered, but was ignored.

"Tell me again how you trapped him," Robin snapped.

The attitude was getting on Liz's nerves. "Ice," she repeated.

"My ice," Danny jumped in, taking half a step forward and shoving his shoulder in front of her. She wanted to tell him to back off and let her show Robin just how unless his glorified twig was, but the look he gave her had her backing off. Robin was the only one who seemed suspicious of them; the others were curious. There was still a chance for the interaction to end well. The last thing they needed was more people holding a grudge.

Once he was satisfied she wouldn't start throwing punches, Danny held his hand out to the Titans. A stunning ice crystal formed in his palm.

"See?" He said with forced lightness. "Ice."

"Huh," Cyborg leaned in for a closer look. "I'll be damned."

Liz saw Robin lunge half a second too late. His staff shattered the crystal. "Holy shit!"

A shield was up, and Danny was pulled behind her before the shards could hit the ground.

"Holy shit," Cyborg echoed in shock.

Anger flooded Liz's brain. "What the hell was that?" Danny was holding his hand close to his chest- the staff had hit him.

Starfire was trying to pull Robin back. "You're scaring them."

No shit. Panic was sitting hot and heavy in her chest, warring for priority with the anger pulsing in her palms. Robin just hit Danny and it was taking an enormous amount of self control not to hit back harder.

"We don't want to hurt you," Beast Boy said.

Danny shook his hand out. "Yeah? Tell him that."

The green teen put himself between them and Robin, hands held up placatingly. "Everybody take a breath, okay?"

"Don't come any closer," Fear flashed in Danny's eyes.

Panic won out, and that was the final straw for Liz. "This was a mistake."

"Perhaps you would be willing to answer a few questions?" Starfire offered.

Not a chance. Not when the leader had already attacked unprovoked.

"Yeah," As if to prove her point, Robin shoved Beast Boy away and stalked closer. "Let's start with who you are and how-"

He came too close. Danny fired an ecto-blast and Robin fell on his ass. Liz might have laughed if Cyborg hadn't raised his blaster; a blast of her own had him scrambling to dodge. In the confusion, she grabbed Danny's hand and took off, flying far away from the Titans.

It was late evening when they stopped at their tree in the park. Whatever anxiety that had built at the prison was gone by the time Liz leaned against the truck. She was pissed.

"That was so rude," She blurted.

Danny choked on a laugh, sliding down to sit on the ground. "Which part? The one where they were suspicious of total strangers, or the part where Robin smashed the ice of the suspicious stranger?"

Well, when you put it like that. "We did bring them their escaped man-rock."

"In their defense, we showed up out of nowhere. Imagine if someone just appeared to offer us Skulker in a cage; would your first thought be friendship?"

He had a point, though Liz didn't want to admit it. She knew from past experience that it wouldn't be. When Dani, Danny's clone, had first shown up, he hadn't trusted her for a second. Granted, she was part of Vlad's plan to kidnap Danny and steal his DNA, and the subsequent fight resulted in Liz gaining a clone of her own, but in the end, she came around.

Her heart pinched as she wondered where they were, Dani and Leon, and how they were doing. Hopefully, they were as far away from Amity Park as possible, keeping out of trouble.

"Smacking me with his stick was uncalled for," Danny conceded. "It wasn't even threatening- it was a crystal."

"Maybe he has a deep fear of chandeliers and your crystal reminded him of that."

They laughed, high-strung emotions melting into an adrenaline crash. Exhaustion was setting in, and Liz was brutally reminded how much energy it took to use her powers.

Next to her, Danny yawned. Before her energy vanished completely, she pulled their beat-up emergency blanket from their backpack. He flipped his hood over his head and held the blanket while she tucked herself around him, legs hooked over his lap, cheek pressed to his chest. She could already tell it would be a cold night, but they knew how to handle it.

"Christ, your hands are cold," Liz hissed as Danny's fingers brushed her neck, repositioning her so the blanket covered her head entirely. Her hood had been torn off ages ago, and Danny insisted she covered her ears at night, hoping she'd sleep better.

His ribs vibrated with his laugh. "They tend to do that after freezing half a sewer."

She took his hands in hers, trying to rub some warmth back into his fingers. He rested his chin on her head and yawned again. Typically, they slept in shifts, but neither of them was going to be able to stay awake.

"I can't believe we used our powers again," Danny whispered sleepily.

"I can't believe we can still use them so well."

The wind blew in a chill, and Danny shifted to better protect his face. "Think it's gonna snow?"

Liz scrunched her shoulders up to her ears. "God, I hope not. I hate snow."

"Golly gee, I never would have known."

She snickered, letting her eyes fall closed. "Goodnight, Ghost Boy."

"Goodnight, Ghost Girl."

Fic will be updating every other Friday! (Except this one- it's two days late cause my internet went out. My B!)