As the Sentinel was about to finish off Wolverine for good, it felt its systems slow down before eventually shutting down. The yellow eyes dimmed as all the crew and personnel came out to assess the damage.
"Cage the mutant for now and run a full-scale diagnostic on the Sentinel." Trask ordered his underlings. Despite the Sentinel failing, he felt that they were one step closer to eradicating the mutant race. "I want to know exactly how well it withstood our little exercise. And then we'll try this again."
Back at the institute, the New Mutants were still having trouble as they fought against the mansion's defenses. Wanda, who was trying to escort everyone out, was having trouble. Turns out that the hatch she melted through had been replaced with another, and as she used her powers to melt that one, another appeared, this time glowing green. It was clear that her powers would be of no help here. The ecto-energy was strong enough to repel her powers.
It also didn't help when there were lasers shooting at her as well.
"Alright, whose fault is this?" Jubilee demanded as she threw her pyrotechnics at the defenses, unaware of one laser aiming at her from behind.
"Hit the deck!" Thankfully, Bobby pushed her out of the way before freezing the weapon.
"This place is getting way too unfriendly." The girl quipped. "We gotta bust out."
Wanda was getting more and more irritated as she kept on trying to break through the front door. Finally, she decided that it was fruitless to go out that way.
"Tried it; I don't even think a nuke would put a dent in that door." She said to the others.
"Or we can try and shut down the computer." Bobby suggested.
"I thought Beast was working on that?" Alex said.
Just then, more defenses opened up as the amateur mutants started to fight their way through the hall.
"Well, something tells me he could use some help." Ray snarked.
Down in the computer room, Beast was sweating as he was attempting to deactivate the self-destruct program.
"Come on, come on, come on." He had to stop this somehow. Who could have done this?
"The institute will self-destruct in seven minutes and thirty seconds." The computer reminded as Beast was putting his brain to the limit in an attempt to save them all, but the countdown still remained.
At the abandoned warehouse, the Blackbird had landed, with the X-Men splitting up into teams to search the area, while Xavier and Storm remained in the Blackbird to examine their surroundings with the jet's cameras.
As Xavier was observing everything, he spotted the five metal orbs. "Magneto's here alright, and he's not alone."
"I should be out there with them." Storm said, feeling worried for the safety of the others.
"You will be." Xavier assured her. "Let's first see what surprises are in store for us."
"Team 2, you'll find familiar-looking orbs near the loading docks." Storm informed them over their com link. "Stay alert; Magneto brought friends."
"Understood." Jean replied.
"Team 3, what's your status?" Storm inquired.
"We're proceeding into the next sector." Danny said as he, Rogue, and Kitty continued to look around for any trace of Magneto.
Kitty was getting creeped out. "I can't help feeling like we're being watched." A fly buzzed by her as it was snatched up by Toad's tongue.
"Oh, sorry." Toad apologized as the three turned on him.
"Toad? What are you doing here?" Danny asked as the three wondered if Toad and the rest of the Brotherhood had joined up with Magneto.
"The same thing you're here for." Toad replied as he jumped down from the trash can he was perched on. "Mystique sent us in to bring Magneto down."
"Great." Rogue gritted her teeth. "Now we have to deal with her too."
Danny activated his com. "Phantom to X-Men, be aware that the Brotherhood is here looking for the same guy we are."
He heard a sigh from Cyclops before the leader said, "Alright."
In the building next to the three X-Men, Quicksilver was standing by the door as Avalanche and Blob came out. Mystique told them to scope out for their enemy, but there was no sign of anyone here.
"Empty." Avalanche said. "Man, I'm getting creeped out here. Where are they?"
Blob just shrugged as the Brotherhood continued their search, not noticing the smirk that was on Pietro's face.
Nightcrawler was teleporting on top of the spheres to make sure that they were empty.
Jean, hiding behind a corner, saw this and spoke into her com. "Confirmed the orbs are empty."
"You know, I don't get this." Rogue said as all the X-Men met up. They combed the entire area and found nothing.
"Yeah, they gotta know we're here." Spyke added.
"Now, what?" Nightcrawler brought up. If Magneto wasn't here, then how in the world were they gonna find Wolverine?
Before anyone could come up with any ideas, a card floated near them. Danny glanced at it and saw that it was glowing suspiciously.
"Run!" He cried as all the X-Men moved out of the way as the playing card blew up. The explosion set off a couple more, leaving a fire big enough for the Brotherhood to see from their position.
"Looks like they found him." Toad commented as they started heading toward the explosion.
"Finally, some action." Avalanche cheered. He was getting bored and was glad to have found someone to fight.
"You have no idea." Quicksilver said quietly before speeding off in another direction. While he claimed to Mystique that he didn't know what Magneto was up to, he actually lied. Truth is, he knew, and he was in on it as he made sure Mystique and the other members of the Brotherhood were here for what his father had planned.
Both the X-Men and Brotherhood all watched as all the metal was lifted up in the air, from pieces of equipment to the metal beams that made up one of the warehouses. It eventually ended with an abandoned water tower being pulled apart, revealing Magneto's top mutants.
The two teams saw a wall of fire form behind the group, making them look more menacing. Pyro laughed as he flexed his powers. Sabretooth growled as Colossus crossed his arms and looked defiantly at them while Gambit sat on a crate, flipping through his cards.
It was now up to the acolytes to keep both teams busy until it was time for Magneto to pull his finishing move.
There was only one problem. The acolytes were prepared for everything except one important detail.
Danny.
The hybrid phased through the fire that Pyro sent his way and ripped off his flamethrowers before punching him in the face. He then grabbed Gambit's bo staff when it was swung at him, phased it out of the Cajun's hands, and sideswiped him with it. Colossus tried to throw a jab at the X-man, but Danny caught the fist and squeezed it before pushing the metal mutant to the ground.
Sabretooth tried to tackle Danny from behind, only for the hybrid to point a finger over his shoulder and fire a ghost ray at the feline mutant. The other three acolytes tried to tackle him, only to fall right through him and into Sabretooth. Danny then fired a small ecto-blast at the pile, causing the four to crash into a wall.
"I was expecting that to go a whole lot differently." Pyro groaned in an Australian accent.
"Magneto could've told us that one was a powerhouse." Gambit agreed as he pushed the pyromaniac off him.
Danny then landed in front of them, with the X-Men and Brotherhood joining him. "Where's Wolverine?" He interrogated, but the four stayed silent. "Alright then." Danny smirked. "You don't tell me; I'll sick Cujo on you." He smirked at Sabretooth as the archenemy of Wolverine started to sweat and tremble in fear at the idea of coming face-to-face with that dog again.
"He's underneath us!" Sabretooth cried out as the other acolytes stared at him, wondering what had gotten into the intimidating beast to make him squeal so easily.
"What?" The hybrid was now confused. Wolverine was under them?
Things at the mansion were sadly not going as well as they were with the X-Men. All of the New Mutants had managed to fight their way down to the computer room, only to find a solemn-looking Beast in front of the computer console.
"Beast, what's going on?" Bobby demanded.
"The institute will self-destruct in one minute." The computer stated, making everyone on edge. One minute. That was all they had left until this whole place went up in flames.
"It's no good." Beast brought his fist down on the keyboard in frustration. "I can't get it to disarm."
Ray had an idea. "Out of the way." He moved Beast aside as he aimed his hands at the computer. "I'm gonna fry this turkey!"
"Wait!" Beast stopped. "Do that, and it's all over, and I don't mean in a good way."
"Who did this?" Jubilee was terrified of dying here.
"I don't know." Beast was now pulling the keyboard apart, but the countdown was still going. It was counting down from thirty seconds.
"Who cares?" Ray grabbed Beast, knowing he was the only one who knew a way out. "Let's just get out of here!"
Beast looked back at the monitor. "There's no time. Only fifteen seconds left."
"Well, what do we do, Mr. McCoy?" Amara inquired desperately.
All the New Mutants were giving him pleading looks, all praying that he knew the solution to this conundrum.
"Yeah, what's the plan?" Bobby begged.
"Mr. McCoy?" Tabitha pried when Beast stayed silent.
"Ten seconds to demolition." The computer said, snapping Beast out of his musings. He didn't know a way out, but he knew a place where they could all hide out and survive the blast. The bunker. They could make it there in time.
"Follow me!" Beast ran on all fours out of the computer room, with the New Mutants following. All of them except Wanda, who looked at the countdown and got an idea. Perhaps she could use her powers to prevent the explosion from killing them all.
Closing her eyes and concentrating with all her might, she held out her hands as the computer glowed with red energy as the countdown was now at ten seconds.
"Nine. Eight. Seven. Six."
Sweat poured down her forehead as she prayed to whoever was listening that this would work, that they'd survive this, and so would the mansion, and she would get to see Danny and Rogue again. She had just gotten a new family, and she sure as hell wasn't going to lose them like this. Not on her watch.
"Five. Four. Three. Two. One." At that, the explosion finally let loose, but before it could spread throughout the whole building, something took hold of it. As Wanda gritted her teeth, the contained fireball became smaller and smaller before finally imploding into itself.
With a massive sigh of relief, Wanda fell to the ground, exhausted.
Back in the bunker, Beast braced for impact with his charges when he heard no sound. No boom or anything. Realizing that the explosion had been stopped, he got out along with the New Mutants and went over to the computer room to see what had saved them.
They found a barely conscious Wanda breathing heavily on the floor with a burned-to-crisp computer.
The New Mutants all started cheering at Wanda, with Beast picking her up in his arms to carry her to the infirmary. "Well done, Wanda." He praised. "Well done."
The daughter of Magneto gave a smile despite her tiredness before finally falling unconscious.
While the New Mutants were finally relaxing now that the danger had passed, Wolverine was hooked up to a machine that was analyzing his vitals. Trask was looking over a screen of the mutant's biology and was impressed to see how fast his body was repairing itself.
"Amazing regenerative powers." He commented. "His wounds are healing at an accelerated rate."
"Dr. Trask, you better see this." A subordinate turned on a monitor that showed footage of what was going on above their headquarters. Sabretooth was right. Wolverine, Trask, and the others were all underneath them. Trask let out a sneer as the monitor showed Danny interrogating the acolytes.
"Mutants." He snarled in hate. "Is the Sentinel back online?"
"No, sir, not yet." His underling replied.
"Well, get it back online." Trask ordered, determined more than ever to finish these freaks off for good.
While the Sentinel was being ready to come back online, Pietro was now reporting back to Magneto as the two stood on top of a building, looking over the whole scene.
"Father! They're here!" Pietro cried as he came up to his side.
"And it appears Danny has defeated my acolytes." Magneto observed, impressed that Danny had done it all on his own. They were the most powerful mutants he had acquired on his travels, and yet they had been pummeled in just a few seconds. What an extraordinary mutant Danny was. "I guess I'll have to move things along much quicker than I anticipated."
Magneto held out his hands as the ground underneath the X-Men, Brotherhood, and Acolytes shook.
"Oh, no." Xavier said in worry from the Blackbird as Storm went over to aid the others. The psychic could only hope that, despite whatever was going on, his students would prevail.
The ground crumbled as all three groups plummeted down below. Thankfully, Danny and Rogue used their flight to save themselves from a rough landing.
With the sudden breach in their base, the alarm was going off as the soldiers were preparing to move.
"How many?" Trask asked calmly as he walked beside his second-in-command.
"At least a dozen, sir." His underling revealed. "According to scans, all mutants." He then pulled out a small handheld device with a screen that showed an image of Danny. "Except that one."
"What do scans say about him?" Trask wondered as he looked over this particular being.
"They're unable to categorize him, sir." The second in command answered.
Trask hummed in thought. If he wasn't a mutant, then what was he? Oh, well, it didn't matter. He had powers and, therefore, was a threat and needed to be exterminated. "Another freak to die alongside the mutant plague." Trask said off-handily. "They don't know what they've blundered into. Is the Sentinel ready?"
"It's awaiting your command, sir."
"Good." Trask said in approval. "Set it loose, and let them face their future."
Back with the mutants, Danny, Rogue, and Storm gently landed with the rest of the others, who were a bit injured from the fall, when they all heard guns cocking.
"Uh-oh." Rogue murmured as they all saw dozens of soldiers aiming their guns at them.
"Nobody move." Storm ordered as she tried to think of a way out without anyone getting hurt.
"Who wants to move?" Toad replied sarcastically as Trask came over to his men.
"Hold your fire." He ordered as they all felt the ground shake yet again.
"Now what?" Spyke muttered in irritation.
Nightcrawler listened closely. "Sounds like footsteps."
"Operatives, move out!" Trask commanded as his men left, leaving the Sentinel to take care of the intruders. The metallic behemoth burst through a set of metal doors as it slowly approached the petrified mutants.
Danny and Rogue shared a glance with each other. Neither were amused nor impressed with the Sentinel. The two each raised a hand and let out a ghost ray at the machine, incinerating it, leaving nothing but a pair of metal legs.
Up above, Quicksilver was watching everything going on when he saw Danny and Rogue destroy the Sentinel. In a flash, he went back to Magneto.
"He released the Sentinel, but Danny and Rogue destroyed it." Quicksilver stated as Magneto's eyes widened in shock.
"What?" They destroyed the Sentinel that quickly? The master of magnetism didn't know what to think. On one hand, he was glad that such a weapon against his people was destroyed, but now he had nothing to use to expose the world to the existence of mutants.
Back underground, Trask was on his knees, looking over his destroyed creation.
"NOOO!" He yelled out in pure agony. All of his work and all of his planning. The engineering and the constant tests. All for it to be destroyed in just two seconds. "That was my life's work."
"Really?" Danny asked. "Then you must live a sad life."
Glaring at Danny in rage, he pulled out a pistol and was about to fire at the hybrid when an ecto-blast hit him, knocking him out. The mutants all turned behind them to see Vlad Plasmius smirking at them with an elderly woman next to him.
"You don't mind if I drop in, do you?" Vlad asked humorously.
"Plasmius!" Danny got in front of the others and took a fighting stance. He then noticed the woman beside him. "And who's that with you? Did you take my advice and do some online dating?"
The woman and Vlad gave him disgusted looks. "She's my cousin, actually." He revealed.
This made Danny stop. "Cousin?" He didn't know that Vlad had family. He always saw him as a loner, so it was a big surprise to see the Cheesehead had relatives.
"Yes. Agatha Harkins." The witch introduced herself. "It's nice to finally meet the boy that Vlad always talks about."
"Enough chit chat, dear Agatha." Vlad chided gently before his eyes glowed malevolently. "It's time to do what I came here for."
A dozen duplicates of him were summoned as they all charged at Danny and Rogue, who fought against them. With those two distracted, Vlad made a beeline to Jean and grabbed her before brining her over to Agatha.
"Jean!" Cyclops fired an optic blast, but Vlad blocked it with a shield. As the two ghostly X-Men were preoccupied with his duplicates and the other X-Men were prevented from saving Jean from the shield he put up around the three, it was time to release the Phoenix.
"Let me go!" Jean cried as she failed to break out of Vlad's grip.
"I will." Vlad admitted. "But first, you got some precious cargo with you. Something that a mere novice like you couldn't handle. In fact, I'm doing you a favor." He nodded to his cousin. "Now Agatha."
Agatha soon started to chant a spell that made Jean start to scream. She could feel like her insides were on fire, and a massive headache was threatening to split her head apart. Plasmius let go as Jean started to become surrounded by flames. All the X-Men, including Danny and Rogue, who managed to fight off the duplicates, were all trying to break through the ghost shield, but it was no use.
"JEAN!" Cyclops was in anguish over not being able to help the girl he loved.
With one final cry, a beam of fire came out of Jean and broke through the top of the shield and into the sky, where Magneto and Quicksilver could see it.
"What is going on down there?" Raising his hands again, Magneto made the platform underneath the X-Men rise up, bringing them back up above ground. As they were all back at ground level, they could see Jean collapse to her knees as the fire finally left her.
When Plasmius released the shield, Danny grabbed him by the throat. "What did you do to her?" He demanded before being thrown off.
"I simply released the entity within her." Plasmius pointed up to the sky, where, to everyone's amazement, a pillar of fire slowly came down and formed into the figure of a phoenix.
"The Phoenix." The elder hybrid proclaimed before smirking at the group. "An entity that is far beyond any of you." He then grabbed Agatha, and the two vanished, leaving them alone with the fiery creature.
All of them were quiet as they gazed upon the avian in the sky. Before anyone could make a move or utter a syllable, the Phoenix let out a massive shriek and then let loose a torrent of flames at the mutants, making them all move out of the way to avoid being burned. The acolytes used this opportunity to race back into the metal orbs, which took off.
Back in the Blackbird, Xavier was taken aback by the appearance of the entity and wondered about its origin. Did Magneto have something to do with this?
Danny fired an ecto-blast at the Phoenix, which made it cry out in pain for a brief moment before it let loose another strain of fire, which managed to burn Danny on the side of his arm.
"Ahh!" He cried out in pain as he looked at the damage done to him. Gazing back at his enemy in trepidation, the half-ghost felt that this creature was something beyond anything he had ever encountered. "Everyone run!" He ordered as they all decided to move out of the Phoenix's path.
Cyclops grabbed the weakened Jean and carried her behind a warehouse. She stirred as she came back to her senses. "Scott, what happened?"
The one-eyed mutant glanced at Danny, who was firing his ghost ray at the Phoenix. "I don't know. But whatever that thing is, we have to stop it."
Jean looked in his direction and gasped at the living flames. "What is that?"
Cyclops didn't know what to say. He had never seen anything like this. "I don't know."
The Phoenix let out another shriek before shooting out fire from its beak at the mutants, who all scrambled to get out of the way. Up above them, a news helicopter was taking its normal path as a reporter was giving his statements.
"With some traffic slowing on the I-95 past the..." He stopped as he looked to his right and saw the Phoenix and the mutants. He got his cameraman's attention. "Frank, you might want to get this."
The camera started recording as Storm threw a bolt of lightning at the Phoenix, which only served to aggravate it as the avian entity dived at the mutants, only to be pushed back by a duo of ghost rays sent by Danny and Rogue.
"Control room, this is news chopper six." The reporter said as he looked at the battle in awe. This story was going to make history and, most importantly, his next paycheck. "We got something here for the network feed. The whole world's gotta see this."
Getting annoyed with the two ghosts, the Phoenix let out a burst of energy that pushed the two hybrids away. With nothing else in its way, the being started to fly into the city, with Storm going after it to stop it. She tried to throw another bolt of lighting at it, but the flaming bird let out another burst of energy that sent Storm to the ground.
"Auntie O!" Spyke cried before firing his spikes at the powerful psychic construct, but they only went through it. Blob tried to help by throwing an unattended car, but it exploded once the heat set off the fuel inside it.
People were fleeing in terror as the X-Men and Brotherhood tried to stop the Phoenix from hurting anyone. Danny started throwing more ecto-blasts at the Phoenix, making it cry out in pain. The fiery avian then opened its beak as a large fireball took form before sending it at Danny, who flew out of the way. The blast hurled into the ground like a meteor, causing an explosion that, while not hurting anyone, did send Blob crashing into a building, knocking him out.
Danny looked at the damage and back at the Phoenix as Rogue flew up beside him.
"How do we beat that overgrown chicken?" Rogue was looking to her boyfriend for guidance, as she had never faced anything quite like this before. 'Vampira, do you have any ideas?' She asked her ghost half.
"How should I know? I'm just a part of your mind." Vampira reminded her. "If you don't know, then neither do I."
"It's using stronger attacks now." Danny said to her as he saw the flames that the Phoenix was made of glowing brighter. "It must not be at full strength yet. We got to stop it before it does." Realizing that they had a time limit to beating it, he started to fire off more of his ghostly energy.
"Start firing, Rogue!" He ordered. "We got to stop it before it goes supernova on all of Bayville."
"On it!" Rogue started repeating the same actions as her boyfriend. The two kept maneuvering in the air around the Phoenix, dodging its attacks as they sent back their own. The Phoenix was getting angrier as fire started to seep out of its body and rain down on Bayville.
"Frightened citizens flee in terror as strangers with inhuman powers desperately fight the fire bird." The reporter stated as the news feed showed footage of Danny and Rogue fighting the Phoenix. It also showed the X-Men and Brotherhood using their powers as they tried to avoid the rain of fire that was coming from the Phoenix. People across Bayville, such as Principal Kelly, Duncan (who's eyes were wide at seeing Jean using her telekinesis to redirect the fire), Taryn, Amanda, and Paul, were all watching the news and were all bewildered at what they were seeing.
As Danny and Rogue kept on badgering the creature, the Phoenix's eyes glowed a bright yellow as it released a shockwave that pushed them back to the ground.
Jean, thinking that she could take this thing down mentally, tried connecting her mind to the Phoenix, only for her to cry out in pain as Cyclops tried to help her.
"Jean!" He cried as she fell unconscious in his arms. Before he could do anything, he saw the car beside him float into the air, along with all sorts of junk from buses, telephone booths, light posts, and traffic lights. They were all being lifted into the air by the Phoenix's powerful telekinesis before being slammed down as a nearby bus ended up exploding, sending Cyclops crashing onto a police car that just rolled up. The officers pointed their guns at him before realizing that he was unconscious.
They then aimed their guns at Storm, who was walking past them, her eyes glowing white as her attention was focused on the Phoenix as she summoned a wind that formed a tornado and sent it flying at the entity. The Phoenix flapped its wings to let out a wave of air that pushed the twister back, forcing Storm to use powers to make it dissipate before it could hurt anyone.
Spyke once again tried firing his spikes, but the Phoenix simply made the spikes turn back around in his direction, causing him to be stuck to a wall by his own protrusions. The Phoenix roared before a massive ecto-blast from above crashed down into it, making it fall onto the streets.
Danny and Rogue landed in front of it as they tried to catch their breath. They thought that had they managed to stop it only for them to watch as the flames started to grow even brighter. No matter how much energy was thrown at it, it just wasn't enough.
Still, he couldn't lose, not without a fight. With determination flowing through him, he continued to fire on the Phoenix, with Rogue following his example as the cameras recorded them.
Back in Amity Park, everyone was watching the news as it showed their former town hero, or menace, depending on who you asked, battling some kind of bird along with other people with powers.
Dash Baxter had his eyes glued to the television along with his friends Paulina, Kwan, and Star. The four had been watching a movie when the broadcast was interrupted by news showing footage of Danny and Rogue as they tried to contain the Phoenix.
"I can't believe he's back." Dash had missed the town hero after he disappeared mysteriously. Since then, the ghost attacks have been handled by the Red Huntress, but Dash still longed for his hero to come back.
"I knew he would never leave me." Paulina fawned. As the most popular girl at Casper High, she was the crush of every boy there, but none of them ever caught her interest. None of them were rich or popular enough for her. To her, they were all losers, except one. The famous Danny Phantom had captured her heart, and she had made it clear to anyone who would listen that the two of them were destined to be together.
She had been heartbroken when her soulmate disappeared, wondering why he would leave her. But now she was excited that he had returned, though she was curious about what he was doing in Bayville along with those other weirdos that appeared. Were they ghosts as well? As she looked at them, she concluded that they weren't but instead some type of freak.
They also noticed the ghost girl who was fighting alongside Danny Phantom. Paulina sneered at the sight of the girl, thinking of who this ghost was and their significance to her ghost boy. It was clear that they were partners, judging by how well they fought.
The other three people in the room were also curious about the ghost girl and what her relationship to Danny Phantom was.
"Who do you think that ghost girl is?" Dash asked them. "You think she's Phantom's sidekick?"
Kwan shrugged. "Maybe she's his girlfriend." This ended up earning him a slap from Paulina, who glared venomously at him. "What was that for?" Kwan asked innocently, which only earned him another slap.
"My ghost boy would never betray me." Paulina declared vehemently as she turned her attention back to the news, getting lost in the fantasy she had of herself and her soulmate.
As everyone in Amity Park watched the news, one girl was glaring in rage at seeing her hated enemy. Valerie Gray thought that she had seen the last of him, and she was disappointed that she didn't get to be the one responsible for his disappearance. That ghost, along with his filthy dog, had cost her father his job, resulting in them losing most of their wealth.
She had been cast out by her friends when that happened, leaving her all alone. That was until she received a generous donation of ghost weapons from Vlad Masters, giving her the tools she needed to put Danny Phantom, that ghost dog, and all others like them down.
Observing the battle, she noticed the students of the institute, and though she was curious about their abilities, her attention was drawn to Phantom's partner, another ghost that had his logo on her belt buckle.
Valerie sneered. It seemed that Phantom had a partner in crime now. One who could help him cause havoc and destruction like they were doing now. It was obvious that the bird or whatever that thing was was brought here by them, and now they were getting rid of it to appear as heroes to earn the people's trust.
That trick wasn't going to fool her. Phantom would always be a menace. Him and all ghosts like him.
Back in Bayville, Toad and Nightcrawler were avoiding the police when Toad pointed up to the sky, where several helicopters were arriving. "Hey, they called in the marines."
The military force had gotten Magneto's attention. While the master of magnetism had no idea where the Phoenix came from, it did the Sentinel's job of drawing the X-Men and Brotherhood out and showing the world the presence of mutants. Still, it wasn't time for any human interference. "Not yet." He raised his hand and used his power to force the choppers back.
He then noticed the Blackbird as it was firing on the Phoenix. Raising his other hand, he kept Xavier from being able to assist his students. Magneto believed that Charles had coddled his students long enough and that it was time for them to face the real world.
As he was concentrating on keeping them at bay, Mystique was in the building across from him, aiming a sniper rifle at him. Her plan of using the Brotherhood to lure out Magneto so she could sneak attack had worked. And now that he was preoccupied with something else, she had the chance to finish him once and for all.
As she was about to pull the trigger, she felt someone snatch it out of her hands.
"Hope you don't mind if I borrow this." Quicksilver said before dashing out, leaving Mystique alone without a weapon. She cursed at Quicksilver and then Magneto before hearing the Phoenix roar. Looking through a window, she saw that the beast was preparing to lash out again. Knowing that revenge against Magneto wasn't worth her life, she turned into a bird and flew off.
Back with Danny and Rogue, the two were wiped out as they couldn't force any energy to keep the Phoenix under control. Moreso for Rogue, who was forced to transform back into her human form, unaware that it had been captured live on television.
At Amity Park, all the people were in shock at seeing the ghost turn into a human.
"What was that?" Dash said as the news showed Rogue in her normal form. "Did she turn into a human?"
Paulina sneered at the girl's goth-like attire, which reminded her of that loser, Sam Manson.
Back at her apartment, Valerie looked at Rogue in suspicion and wondered what kind of game that ghost was playing. It had to be some kind of trick.
As the entity lifted off into the air, it then dove down, heading straight toward Danny.
There was only one way out of this.
Danny turned to Rogue. "Cover your ears." He ordered.
"What?"
"Just do it!" Danny snapped, making Rogue comply as Danny looked back up at the approaching beast and inhaled.
'I never thought I would have to use this power again.' He thought to himself before releasing his most powerful attack. A series of green waves of energy exited Danny's mouth as it released a horrible sound that forced anyone in the vicinity to cover their ears. X-Men, Brotherhood, and all the innocent civilians were gripping their heads as they tried to drown out the noise.
Even Magneto was forced to let go of his hold on the Blackbird and the military force in order to cover his ears. What was that thing? And how could something like that have so much power?
Xavier was forced to set the Blackbird to autopilot so he could save himself from going deaf while the military force immediately retreated. While everyone hated how loud the noise was, it was nothing compared to Rogue, who was right next to Danny as he let out the attack.
She was clenching her teeth as she tried to ignore the awful sound. It sounded like a legion of tortured souls, all crying out in pain. Despite how painful the sound was, she couldn't help but be in awe of its power. She had seen Danny do some amazing things before. But she had never seen something quite like this. A part of her wondered if she was capable of this.
Despite the pain Rogue was in, at least she wasn't the target of the attack. The Phoenix was being pushed back by the massive sonic blast as Danny poured more power into the attack. As it tried to inch further and further toward Danny, it felt its flames start to die out before it eventually blew out like a candle, leaving no trace of it.
With the Phoenix seemingly gone, Danny finally let go as the terrible noise finally ceased, making everyone breathe a sigh of relief. Danny fell to his knees as Rogue went to his side, giving him a proud look.
The two then heard the Phoenix cry out as the fire reformed. As Danny was about to finish it for good, he noticed something. It's eyes. Before, they were filled with rage and felt like those of a wild animal, but as he gazed into them now, he could see something in them. Intelligence.
The Phoenix cocked its head curiously at Danny, scrutinizing him. The fiery bird was now the complete opposite of what it was moments before. It felt calmer now, as if Danny's ghostly wail soothed it. Perhaps its rampage from before was its way of acting out after being woken up.
It then gave the slightest of nods to Danny before turning into a pillar of fire that went up to the sky, past the stratosphere, and into the great beyond, leaving this planet behind.
Rogue felt her body relax at seeing the Phoenix leave before smiling at her boyfriend. "You did it." She said before kissing him.
This tender moment was captured on camera.
"THAT BITCH!" Paulina raged as she saw that goth loser kiss her boyfriend. Where did that little homewrecker get off on making a move on her ghost boy? They were destined to be together forever.
Valerie narrowed her eyes at the display of affection. That was impossible. Ghosts weren't capable of love.
Rogue then pulled away, as she was now curious about Danny's new power. "That power you used. What was that?"
"My ghostly wail." Danny said tiredly. He hated using that power for two reasons. One because of how much energy it used, and two because of the memories it brings.
"It was pretty strong." Rogue observed before she grinned. "You think I could learn that?"
"Please say yes." Vampira begged inside Rogue's mind. She had also been impressed by the power and wanted to learn it so badly.
"Uh, about that..." Danny was about to explain why he didn't like using that power without having to talk about him when he felt the rings come out. "Oh, no." He tried to force them back, but it was too late. The rings went over Danny Phantom, turning him back into Danny Fenton.
"Nobody saw that, right?"
At Amity Park, everyone was exploding in shock or anger. The ghost boy of Amity Park was revealed to be the son of the town's former ghost experts. This revelation had set off many questions in their heads, the most popular being: How did this happen?
At Dash's house, the bully and his friends were struck silent by the revelation that the school loser was their hero.
"Danny Fenturd is Danny Phanturd?" Dash couldn't believe that the kid he used to pick on the most was his hero. Kwan and Star were of similar minds, while Paulina was just silent.
"That loser is my soulmate." She finally uttered as she remembered Danny Fenton, another dweeb who had a crush on her but whom she paid no mind to. She then realized that Fenton had a crush on her. That could only mean one thing. "That means the ghost boy really does love me." She cheered.
While Paulina was happy, Valerie was feeling the exact opposite. "No. That's..." This couldn't be happening. "That's impossible." She couldn't believe that Danny Fenton, a boy she first despised before becoming friends with, was her hated enemy. How could this be possible? Danny was alive, and Phantom was dead. They couldn't be the same, could they?
Or has Danny been dead all this time while Phantom has been using his body? Whatever was going on, she was going to get to the bottom of this.
Vlad was infuriated and in awe. He had thought the Phoenix would be what he needed to beat Daniel, but the boy overcame the odds yet again. "He beat the Phoenix." He mumbled, refusing to believe it despite seeing it with his own eyes.
The Fright Knight wasn't at all shocked. He knew that there was more to Danny than meets the eye. "I'm not surprised. He did after all seal up Pariah Dark."
Agatha nodded, impressed with what she saw from the young hybrid. "He really is as strong as you said." She said to Vlad.
Rogue saw the panicked expression on Danny's face. "Are you okay?"
Danny shook his head. "No." How could he be okay? The world knew. Not only about his friends but about himself as well. He briefly wondered if the people back at Amity Park saw this before his thoughts were interrupted by Xavier landing the Blackbird nearby as the remaining X-Men, some of whom had been captured by the military and police, assembled.
"Get in!" Xavier ordered his charges. "Now."
"What about the others?" Danny argued.
"We'll have to come back for them." Xavier said regrettably. "Move it!"
"He's right." Storm agreed. "Everyone onboard."
They all gathered on the Blackbird as it took off just in time as more police, firefighters, and paramedics arrived. The world had changed this day as humanity learned about mutants.
"Battled a gigantic bird made of flames using their superhuman powers." A reporter said as the news exploded with the events that had happened in Bayville. While everyone was up in arms about mutants, Amity Park was more preoccupied with something else.
"Danny Phantom has reappeared in Bayville along with a bunch of other superhumans recently dubbed mutants." Lance Thunder said. "In an incredibly series of events, the ghost boy has been revealed to be former Amity Park resident Daniel Fenton, the only survivor of the horrible Nasty Burger explosion."
Other news reports jumped on the Danny Phantom bandwagon, as while they had discovered the truth about mutants, another question appeared: what category did Danny Phantom fall under?
"Do you believe ghosts are real?" An interviewer was asking a scientific expert, who scoffed at the question before giving his answer.
"Absolutely not; it is obvious that he is a mutant just like the others."
"There can be no question that he is a mutant that has powers similar to those of a ghost." A paranormal expert said on another channel. "It's not like one can be both alive and dead. Something like that can never exist."
"I had a sister who lives in Amity Park; she tells stories, but I never believed them." One man said as he was being interviewed by a reporter. "Now, with the existence of mutants, it's obvious that those supernatural claims were just the result of some mutant terrorizing his town along with mass hysteria."
Another channel showed the chief of police in Amity Park. "An arrest warrant is out for Daniel Fenton, aka Danny Phantom."
At Amity Park, the townspeople were being asked about their thoughts on Danny Phantom and whether he was actually a ghost or a mutant.
"That monster held the mayor hostage." An old lady snarled.
"I can't believe our ghostly hero wasn't a ghost but some kind of mutant." A small teenager with glasses said.
Dash was looking distraught as he appeared on camera. "I wailed on my hero."
"I always knew there was something freaky about that Fenton kid." Star said as she shivered.
"Ghost or mutant, he's gonna marry me!" Paulina proclaimed for the cameras.
However, despite the revelation of Danny Phantom's return, many people were still focused on the revelation of mutants.
"Who are they?" One female reporter asked. "Where are they from?"
"Rest assured, we're doing everything in our power to get to the bottom of this." One government official promised.
"Your take, senator?" A reporter asked. "Men or monsters? And if they are human, can we trust them?"
"Alien invaders or some kind of strange mutations?"
The constant fear and distrust persisted as the entire world was now wondering where these mutans came from. Can anyone be a mutant? And are they a threat to their way of life?
As the fears of humanity were steadily increasing, the Blackbird landed in the hanger where Beast and the New Mutants were waiting. Rolling down the ramp, Xavier saw the concerned expression on Beast's face.
"I take it you saw the news." Xavier said, believing that to be the reason for Beast's dreary mood.
"Yes, but there's more." Beast said. "Someone activated the self-destruct function. The mansion would've been destroyed if it weren't for Wanda."
Danny made his way over to Wanda, who was looking exhausted. "Are you all right?" He asked her, making her smile, which assured him that she was fine.
"Yeah." Wanda hugged him as Rogue joined in.
"How did you stop the mansion from blowing up?" Rogue asked after finishing her hug.
Wanda blushed. "I just made the explosion implode on itself."
Rogue was impressed by Wanda's quick thinking, and so were Danny and the others.
"That was actually pretty cool." Vampira couldn't help but admit. "Still keeping my eye on her."
Beast and the New Mutants informed the X-Men about how they had no idea who could've set the self-destruct switch, while the X-Men in turn revealed that Magneto had set a trap and that Vlad had interfered along with the Phoenix.
"What was that thing, anyway?" Danny asked. "It just came out of Jean."
"It's possible that it was some psychic manifestation of Jean's powers." Xavier guessed. It had unnerved him a bit that Jean had such an entity within her all this time and that he had never noticed, but that wasn't important right now. Right now, his main priority is protecting his students from the world that is now aware of them.
After everyone had been informed of the events that happened, they gathered around a computer as Xavier turned it on, showing the news and how the whole world was now aware of who they were.
Danny looked down, blaming himself for all this. If it weren't for him, Vlad wouldn't have unleashed the Phoenix, and they wouldn't be in this situation right now. "So what do we do now, professor?" He asked himself, wondering if there was a way to fix this mess.
"We must leave the mansion." Xavier stated. "The secret is out. And now I believe things are about to get much worse."