Chapter 18: No Sacrifice

Disclaimer: I own nothing

"You can't achieve anything in life without a small amount of sacrifice."

Shakira

Chapter 18: "No Sacrifice"

(Thursday-April 10, 2014)

She knew something was wrong the moment she woke up. Happiness filled her chest in a way that she never remembered happening so naturally. She instantly knew that it wasn't her own joy. It was the delight of a sick monster preparing to destroy an entire world's worth of life.

Raven's eyes instantly snapped open. Snapping up to a sitting position, she pulled up at her pajama sleeves to show deep red glowing tattoos. A quick look at the mirror to the side of her bed showed that the mark of her father had branded itself across her forehead once more. Through all, the sickening joy continued to thump in her chest like a terrible infection.

Closing her eyes, Raven took a few deep breaths. She mumbled her unique chant and focused on controlling her emotions just like she did every day. The only problem was that it wasn't working at all. The joy never faded. In fact, it intensified. A dark chuckled echoed through her ears, taunting her and telling her that it was no use.

Today was it. The end of the world.

Fear and anguish mixed in with the terrible joy. She had wanted more time. She just got Chuck and Nyx back not too long ago. Now, she was the one that had to go away, one way or another. Part of her wanted to pretend nothing was wrong. She would try to give everyone a good day before their lives were ruined forever, but she would never get away with that. Even with how well Amity Park hid energy signals, people would tell just by looking at her.

Rising from the bed, Raven's pajamas changed to her usual vigilante attire in a swirl of magic. She then floated out of her room to the rest of the apartment. Before, her mother had struggled to support them, but Master had provided more than enough financial assistance so that Agatha didn't have to work herself to the bone to survive.

Once she made it to the kitchen, Raven floated down to her feet and lowered her hood. Her mother was at the oven preparing breakfast. God…she thought it was a normal day. Hell, everyone thought it was a normal day.

Raven's voice came out quiet and weak, "Mom…"

"Good morning, sweety," Agatha stated without turning around, "I'm making French Toast. We haven't had it in a while, and I know you'd need a pick-me-up with that test you have today."

"Mom."

"Vision asked us to come over to breakfast again, but I refused. We bother those nice people enough," Agatha let out a sigh, "They've been more supportive of us than I thought anyone would be. Even in Aza—"

"Mom!"

"What is it…" Agatha turned around. Her annoyed expression instantly dropped into that of horror, "No…It's today?"

"It is," Raven nodded, "I'm sorry, Mom."

Agatha took a shuttered breath. Tears began to stream from her eyes. She slowly stepped over to her daughter and pulled her into a hug, "Me too, Rae. Me too…"

Hugging her mother back, Raven used the reality that for once she could let herself feel without losing control of her magic. Letting out a sob, Raven returned the hug and began to cry into her mother's shoulder because she knew, without a doubt…

Today was the day she was going to die.

"We relocated your mother so she couldn't be used against us like before," Phantom stated as he stood in front a seated Raven, "We have an idea of what your brothers and Agent Z can do, so we prepared the best we could."

"And this bunker is supposed to help?" Raven's eyes slowly followed the lines of the steel walls around her. Each piece of metal was covered with different runes and symbols.

"Zatanna, Blood, and Constantine lined the mountain with those symbols," Phantom explained, "No teleporting except through the Zeta Tubes. To get to you, Trigon's forces will have to fight their way up the mountain and get past this door."

"It won't work," Raven stated, "My father will just laugh at this. There's no way to stop him."

"I don't believe that," Phantom noted, "I've faced a lot of enemies that were 'unbeatable,' yet I still managed to find a way."

"This is different," Raven shook her head, "You've seen it. What my father can do. He even stole from Death. How can you beat that?"

"You're talking to ghosts, Rae," Spirit decided to speak up from her position in the door frame, "We all kind of gave Death the finger."

"That's not the same and you know it," Raven sighed, "I just…Maybe it would be better to go with Doctor Fate's plan."

"We aren't banishing you from Earth," Spirit glared at her friend, "That's not an option. We're not going to sacrifice you when we don't have to."

"You're going to regret that," Raven looked down in despair.

"No we won't," Phantom reached forward and gently squeezed her shoulder, "Look, hold tight. I'll be back in a few minutes after I go over everything with the defense force."

"Yeah, we'll hold the line," Spirit grinned and turned to walk out of the room, "I'll see you when this is all over, Rae. And it will be over soon."

Phantom released Raven's shoulder and started his retreat as well, "What she said. Don't worry. We have your back, Raven."

With that, Phantom stepped out of the bunker and closed the door. Raven was now alone in her cage. The silence filled her with dread of what was to come.

"I know. You'll all fight to the death for me…" Raven reached down into her boot and pulled out a long kitchen knife, "I'm sorry. I can't let you do that for me."

Phantom eyes swept across the holographic images feeding in from the security cameras. The entire perimeter of Mount Justice was surrounded by members of Young Justice and the Justice League. They all stood or floated ready to fight. Everything was as prepared as they were going to make it. Nodding to himself, Phantom turned and began to walk out of the meeting room of the Cave. He would go prep Raven for the full plan and then go outside himself.

Harriet looked over to Phantom, "Shouldn't we have the ghosts here too? They would make defending this place easier."

"No," Phantom shook his head, "Vision and Plasmius are with Constantine and Entrigan working on the final details of the Banishment Box."

"And the others?" Mal questioned without looking away from his screen.

Phantom closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath, "I don't like leaving all my eggs in one basket. If we fail, we need the ghosts ready for the backup plan."

"That's smart," Batman noted as he entered the Cave's main hall, "You should always plan for the worst situation."

"Speaking of the worst situation," Phantom eyed Batman, "Any word on Doctor Fate?"

Batman shook his head, "No. He has failed to respond to any of my attempts to contact him."

"Damn," Phantom clenched his fists, "I knew he would do this. Even if the League agreed to my plan, Nabu's not one to leave things to chance. Doctor Fate might try to kill Raven, or at least banish her."

Batman let out a sigh, "Raven has proven her loyalty. We could not overlook that. No one gets to choose our parents or our childhoods. The League members know that more than anyone, but Nabu…He sees things only as order and chaos. He doesn't comprehend controlled chaos."

"I'll have to guard Raven myself then," Phantom noted, "I might be able to talk Doctor Fate down."

Batman nodded, "You two do have a history. Very well. I'll stay and lead the operation. Just be careful, and don't underestimate him."

"I won't," Phantom fidgeted uncomfortably, "And if I can't talk Doctor Fate down…If he attack Raven…I might have to stop him. Maybe in a long term manner."

Batman frowned, "The League has already voted to protect Raven. He knows the rules. We always go by the decisions of the majority vote. If he disregards that, then that means the League will have to distance itself from him."

"So…" Phantom's eyes narrowed, "If I'm forced to destroy the helmet?"

"No one will be happy about it, but if it has to be done, so be it."

Dusk's eyes darted around the area as he flew around Mount Justice. He saw the dozens of heroes of both the Justice League and Young Justice standing in small groups and preparing for the fight that was come. Almost all of their allies stood ready to fight. Only a select few were missing. Of course, not everyone looked please to be here. Red Arrow looked outright angry, but that might be because Mentor hadn't been able to get info on possible whereabouts of the Shadows and the original Speedy for well over a month.

Of course, Red Arrow wasn't the only one upset about that…

Landing down beside Black Bat, Dusk quickly spoke up, "It looks like everyone is together and in position."

"That's good," Black Bat was looking blankly off to the distance, "We wouldn't want that Envy person impersonating any of us."

"Did you see any sign of enemy approach?" Damon asked from beneath the Exorcist Amor.

"No, but I doubt we'll get any sort of warning. Their last attack was completely unexpected," Dusk noted.

Black Bat nodded curtly, "Then we would stay focused."

Dusk frowned at the girl, "Cass…"

"Stop it, Joel. I've told you one hundred times," Black Bat shot him a glare, "I don't want to talk about it."

"But you helped me when I needed it," Dusk gave her a sad look.

"You can help me by not giving me such pitiful looks," Black Bat snapped at him, "And it's not like there's any secret you can share that will make me feel better. My parents are dead, and Ra's Al Ghul is responsible. I can't let that go."

"You'll feel better—"

"I don't want to feel better," Black Bat interrupted him, "I want Ra's dead."

"Now that doesn't sound very heroic," Agent Z's voice called out.

All three of the fighters quickly went on alert as Agent Z appeared in a burst of fire only a few meters away from them. They immediately hit the alert buttons on their communication devices to warn the others that it was time to fight.

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Agent Z remained in a relaxed stance as he watched his enemies' comms devices flash red, "They still have a few minutes until the attack begins."

"Then we should put you down and get you out of the way," Damon snapped as he held up the Exorcist Armor's arm cannon.

"Very vicious," Agent Z let out a smile, "I'm surprised the heroes agreed to have you fight beside them, Damon. After all, a man that's lost his children really doesn't have anything else to lose. He tends to go—"

With an angry snarl, Damon opened fire on Agent Z. He sent several large blasts of ecto bullets at Agent Z. Calmly, Agent Z raised a hand and created a shield of fire to stop the attacks. After a few more blasts, Damon stopped his attacks.

"Nuts at times…" Agent Z finished his last sentence.

"Don't you talk about something you know nothing about!" Damon roared at Agent Z.

"Oh, but I do know about that," Agent Z stated, "Dusk knows. He probably never told anyone, but I lost my children to ghosts too. Why do you think I even started my agenda to destroy all the spooks anyway?"

"Because you're insane," Black Bat spoke up.

"Exactly," Agent Z nodded, "Like I said. Losing your children…It changes a man. People talk about maternal instinct all the time, but so few people ever really consider just how much a father loves his kids. A real dad would do anything for his children, don't you agree, Cassandra?"

Black Bat clenched her fists.

"Stop it, Z," Dusk glared at the former leader of the GIW, "I won't let you get under our skin."

"That's not what I'm trying to do," Agent Z suddenly sighed. He reached up to rub his temples, "I'm tired kid. I'm ready for all this to be over. To finally get my revenge on the ghosts…on Danny Phantom. But before I do that, I wanted to speak with you."

"Fine, but don't expect me to let my guard down. I know Trigon's sons are around here somewhere," Dusk noted. He had one hand behind his back, messing with his Tucker Phone. A quick few taps of the finger sent a message that Agent Z was right in front of him.

"I…I wanted to say I was sorry. To you and no one else. I did you wrong after you helped me like no one else did before," Agent Z stated.

"I've long since moved past that," Dusk shrugged.

"I know, but…" Agent Z paused for a second, "I've had years to think while waiting for Trigon's plans to come to the end. I've thought about many things. One of the biggest things I realized was that there was one thing I ever really regretted doing. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of things I regret not doing, but I stand by almost every decision I ever made. No matter how terrible or evil they were. I regret none of the people I killed, ghosts I eliminated, or orders I carried out except for one. Betraying your trust."

"And why exactly do you feel that way?" Dusk questioned.

Agent Z removed his sunglasses and revealed deep red eyes from Trigon's influence, "You remind me nothing of my son. He was brash, and you're patient. He was loud, and you're quiet. He was flashy, and you're subdued. Yet when I look at you, all I can think about is him. Because there was this one time in the Ghoul Project that you gave me this look. A look that Trever gave me once upon a time. It was a look of complete trust. Looking back, I see that you were a kid looking for someone, anyone, to look up to, and I completely trampled on the hope that I could be that person."

"I see…" Dusk gave a small nod, "Then for what it's worth, I'm willing to forgive you, but only if you stop this madness. Don't help Trigon, help us instead, and you'll be redeemed in my eyes at least."

"Now you know I can't do that," Agent Z placed his shades back on, "I told you once, Joel. Once I decide something, I follow through with it no matter what."

"I see…"

"Yeah," Agent Z raised a hand. With a quick snap of his finger, fire erupted around the base of Mount Justice. Red beetles seemingly made of fire and lava stepped out to begin their march up the mountain, "This is the end."

"It is. But I have to apologize as well. You see, I did tell someone about your children," Dusk noted as his companions raised their weapons, "Mentor may have figured it out first, but everything finally clicked in my head when I realized that Torch and Ember are related and that Torch has some sort of grudge against you."

"What are you talking about?"

"HE'S TALKING ABOUT THIS!" Torch shouted as he flew down behind Agent Z and swung his scythe down at his father's unprotected back.

Spirit's head shot up as the alarms went off, "We're out of time, Zatanna. Is everything ready?"

"Yeah," Zatanna nodded as she knelt and looked over the various writings that danced over the metal doors that allowed entrance to the cave, "I was just double checking. Everything looks in order. No one with demonic origins gets in our out without my say so."

"Then let's go, Sabrina," Nyx crossed her arms and glared at the sorceress, "There are a bunch of baddies I can't wait to kick the crap out of."

"Alright," Zatanna nodded and stood up, "No need to—argh!"

Cyborg quickly stepped forward and stopped Zatanna from falling down. Said magician was clutching at her stomach and gritting her teeth in pain, "Woah! Maybe you should stay inside. It looks like you still haven't healed completely."

"No," Zatanna hissed and quickly stood up on her own, "It's already been too long. I need to do this. I can't just give up."

Yougblood's eyes jumped rapidly up and down from Zatanna's face to the hands clenching angrily at her stomach. He then gained a saddened look, "I get that you're angry, but forcing yourself to fight now will only get yourself killed. There are other options when one door is closed, you know."

Everyone gave Youngblood a strange look. Zatanna, however, looked absolutely horrified that he was calling her out, even if it was in an indirect way.

"Um, Chuck…" Nyx blinked at Youngblood, "What are you talking about? Door?"

Youngblood looked away, "Nothing. I just…Maybe I should take Zatanna inside? I think I need to talk to her in private about a few things."

"Maybe that's for the best," Spirit admitted, "You've been acting weird too. Almost like maturity or something, but that's…"

"Okay, come on, Miss Zatanna," Youngblood walked up to the door, "Let's get out of way so we don't burden them down with our baggage. We can find a way to help from a distance."

"Miss?" Zatanna blinked.

"You getting out of the way?" Nyx frowned.

"Baggage?" Cyborg questioned.

Youngblood paused at the door. He took a deep breath, "It's something you know, Victor. You never know what you're missing until it's gone. And then, you're always angry about losing it. Even if you're better at hiding it."

Cyborg looked gob smacked as his jaw dropped a little and Youngblood's words stung his soul.

"You three go. Mis…Zatanna, please open the door," Youngblood stated as he absentmindedly reached up to stroke Polly's head.

"Um…Right," Zatanna went to open the door, but she was stopped.

"Wait!" Spirit held her arm out as she saw some people approaching the entrance, "It's too late! The enemy's coming!"

All five of the young people took a battle stance as they turned to the people approaching them. They were expecting one of Trigon's creatures or sons. Instead, though, they saw Aquaman, Lagoon Boy, and Bumblebee leading a bunch of strange people in white robes.

"Greetings!" The oldest person wearing the white robes spoke up, "My name is Brother Blood! Could I perhaps have a word with you lovely young people?"

Raven felt her heart beating faster than she had ever felt it go. It was almost painful to the point that her insides were burning. At the same time, a cold sweat had broken out all across her trembling skin. The conflicting feelings made her nauseous. This sickness plus her fear made her hesitate as she held the knife to her thumbing chest.

She had to do this. If she continued to live, then everyone would die. A few years ago, she had long since accepted her fate. She would either die or be the passage for Trigon into this dimension. It was just a fact that her life would either be meaningless or a curse to the planet.

Then, she got a vision. It wasn't something that happened often to her, but there were times where she saw glimpses of the future. In a haze, she saw the form of Danny Phantom in a blaze of white and gold. He stood victorious in a war between human and ghosts. He brought peace to a situation that should have ended in mutual destruction. In that moment, she knew that Phantom was the one who could change fate.

As soon as the sight was gone, Raven gained something she never had before.

Hope for the future.

That was why she came to Amity Park. That was why she befriended Dani. That was why she stuck so close to the Phantom Family. Things changed, though. What was once a quest for herself became something more. She became a hero. She gained irreplaceable friends and family. She had found a home that accepted her for what she was.

And most of all, she learned that the prophecy was just a big sham. It was made up by Destiny to bring attention to Phantom, to give him a chance to be what they wanted him to be. That wasn't something she could place all her faith. She couldn't risk everything she loved on some hope that Danny might find an answer.

Tears rolling down her eyes, Raven muttered her signature chant to calm herself. She then closed her eyes and raised the blade up. With a little whimper, Raven brought the blade down to her chest.

It never made contact.

Eyes snapping open, Raven's teary gaze met the angry face of Danny Phantom. One of his hands was reached and grabbing the blade of the knife. He held onto the blade tightly to stop it from moving forward even though the knife dug deeply into his palm and was now covered in his blood.

Phantom's other hand was holding his Tucker Phone up to his ear, "Jen, I'm going to have to call you back. Try to get here as soon as you can."

Raven watched as Phantom hung up the phone and yanked the blade away from her. In a blaze of blue, the knife was covered in ice. Then, in a burst of green, the knife shattered into pieces.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Phantom glared at her.

"I was thinking that I was going to save the world," Raven answered. She tried to keep her voice neutral, but the crack in her voice and the puffiness of her eyes gave away her true feelings.

Phantom's eyes shined in anger, "By killing yourself?"

"Yes, it's the only way," Raven took a shuddered breath, "I won't let any of you die for me. I won't let you sacrifice the world for me."

"We won't! We have a plan!" Phantom argued, "We're going to use a banishment spell Constantine and Entrigan made to banish everything relating to Trigon away. That's one of the reasons why you're in here. This room will keep you safe from everything."

"It won't work."

"It will!" Phantom grabbed he shoulder and stared into her eyes, "We talked it out. We can do this."

"The world is going to end." She said with tears in her eyes. "This world will burn and there is nothing you can do about it."

"Yes there is!" Phantom yelled. "There is always something that can be done."

"No…there is only two options now." The girl cried. She knew the truth. "Both of which involve death."

"Whose death? Yours? Everyone's?" Phantom questioned angrily. "Because I'm not willing to give up any of them."

"You don't have a choice…"

"There's always a choice."

"Why are being so stubborn!? My death will save the world! Are you actually willing to risk the world for one worthless girl!?"

"Yes…" Phantom hugged her tightly. "Because I would never sacrifice my sister."

Raven froze within Phantom's arms, "Sister?"

"Of course," Phantom gently rubbed her back, "Everyone on the Team…Everyone who fights by my side is my family. My brothers and sisters. I will protect all of you no matter what. I promise. There will be no sacrifice today."

"That was always your biggest problem, Danny. You were always willing to sacrifice yourself, but you were never willing to let others suffer for the greater good."

Phantom instantly released Raven. He held a protective arm in front of Raven and glared at the new entrant into the bunker room, "Doctor Fate."

"You again?" Agent Z grunted as he blocked Torch's attack by covering both of his arms in flames, "I already beat you once, kid. What's your issue anyway? I don't remember doing anything to you."

"If you don't remember, then Torch won't tell you!" In a burst of flames on behalf of both the flame users flying away from each other. Landing on the dirt of the mountain, Agent Z slid several feet before coming to a stop. He didn't have the chance to contemplate Torch's words because Damon was already on him.

Rushing towards the agent of Trigon, Damon activated the Exorcist armor's gattling gun and opened fire at his enemy. Creating a shield of flame, Z managed to stop the dozens of bullets flying at him. The distraction left him open for a different attack. With a swing of his scythe, Torch created an arc of flames that smashed into the agent. Still, the fire really did nothing to hurt Z who had long since became accustomed to the flames of hell.

Dusk and Black Bat tried to move forward to help, but the lava beetles quickly got in their way. Creating his Pendulum Nunchucku, Dusk tried to mow his way through the beetles. Similarly, Black Bat pulled two hidden knives from her utility belt and began to cut through the strange creatures in front of her.

After a few seconds of making minimal progress, Dusk felt frustration began the boil in his stomach. With each lava beetle he destroyed, two more appeared in front of him. Anger trickled through him with each passing second. The same thing could be said for the usually calm Black Bat. Her normally calm and calculated movements were becoming wilder with each attack.

"Hey! Don't get in Torch's way!" Torch pushed Damon away.

Damon, however, wasn't willing to take that, "I'm trying to help you, idiot!"

It was then that Torch and Damon completely took their attention away from Agent Z. They began to bicker and began to push each other rather violently. The pushing was nothing compared to the pillar of fire that Agent Z sent to them, though.

Dusk then realized something. A glance across the island showed the various members of the Team and the League were also fighting against the lava beetles but nothing else. He couldn't see all the way around the mountain, but he did get a good view of the battlefront. From what he could see, the Sons of Trigon were all still at the base of the mountain. They were just standing and watching. Maybe they were waiting for an opportunity to abuse an opening. Or maybe they were just going in waves…

Damn, it was hard to think. He was just getting so frustrated…Wait.

"Wrath!" Dusk shouted as he whirled around to see the muscular half-demon standing behind them.

"Oh?" Wrath raised an eyebrow, "Figured it out, did you? Nice job. Too bad the others are in such a dark place. They let their anger get the better of them."

A glance behind him showed that his allies were losing it. Black Bat was now just moving in a wild frenzy. Torch and Damon were actually fighting each other at this point. Everything was just chaos, and no one seemed to care that Wrath was manipulating them.

"Damn," Dusk hissed out. Doing his best to control his temper, he rushed towards the muscular demi-demon. With a swing of his arm, Dusk extended the chains of his weapon and wrapped the nunchucku all around Wrath. He then tried to send a surge of energy through the chain and tried to shock his enemy into unconsciousness.

Wrath, however, just laughed at that. Before he could even get shocked, he shattered the chains holding him and rushed forward. Dusk responded by forming his Reflection Shield. With surprising show of speed, Wrath sent several jabs at Dusk from different angles. The halfa blocked each blow with the shield and went to send a blast back at Wrath, but the massive man shockingly moved out of the way and smacked the surprised Dusk away.

As he was flying back, Dusk formed his Scribe Staff. As he was about to land in the crowd of lava beetles, he swung his staff around and destroyed the creatures. Able to land safely, he immediately faced towards the son of Trigon again. Forcing the anger that was bubbling inside of him down, he managed to stop himself from doing something stupid and get himself killed by blindly rushing forward to Wrath.

If only the others thought that way.

"AH!" A scream from Damon instantly drew Dusk's attention away from Wrath. Agent Z apparently took advantage of Torch's and Damon's fight to get an edge over the two. He knocked Torch back in a fiery blaze and grabbed Damon by the neck.

Flamed danced over Damon's entire body. The metal didn't seem to help him from the pain based on the shouts. Light shined out so brightly from the fire that Dusk was forced to look away. By the time the light and shouts died down, Dusk had to blink to get his vision back under control. When the blurs faded, he was shocked by what he saw.

There was nothing where Damon just stood. No melted steel, no ashes, and no sign that a man just existed were left. Damon was completely gone.

"Who the hell are you?" Nyx glared at the man who called himself Brother Blood.

Brother Blood gave her a smile that could be that of a grandfather's, "So rude. A young lady should treat their elders with more respect."

"I ain't no lady, and I only give respect to people who earned it," Nyx spit on the ground, "So tell me who you are before I use your shadow to strangle your balls."

"I don't think you heard me…" Brother Blood raised a hand. Lagoon Blood suddenly expanded into his puffer fish mode. He wrapped his massive hands around Bumblebee's neck and began to squeeze. This caused Bubblebee to gasp and desperately try to breath even though she wasn't fighting back, "Show me some respect, little girl."

"Fine! Fine!" Nyx gained desperate look as she saw the massive form of Lagoon Boy choking the life out of Bumblebee, "I'm sorry for my disrespect, Brother Blood!"

Brother Blood lowered his hand. Lagoon Boy immediately released Bumblebee allowing her to gasp out for air, "That's better. Now, let's get down to business. I'm here for the Gem."

"There's no way we're letting you through," Spirit's eyes glowed menacingly at the man.

Brother Blood's eyes began to glow a deep red, "You don't have a choice. Stand down."

"Like hell!" Cyborg readied his stomach canon, "Right guys!? Guys?"

Cyborg looked over his shoulder to see Spirit and Zatanna have glowing red eyes. They were in a complete trance. Zatanna turned around and tried to open the door behind her. Youngblood quickly stopped the women from moving.

"Strange," Brother Blood noted as his glowing eyes swept across the three people who fought against his control, "Why can't I control you three?"

"I don't do mind control anymore," Nyx noted. Her own immunity was something she had worked on ever since her friends freed her from Klarion. She couldn't exactly say why Cyborg and Youngblood weren't effected, though.

"Hmm…" Brother Blood frowned at them, "Immunity. Part machine. And a very strange mind. Interesting, but pointless. I suppose you three are throwaways then. Oh well, I have the other two. Little boy, let the magician go."

"No," Youngblood hissed.

"Alright," Brother Blood shrugged, "Miss Spirit, would you please put those beautiful claws of yours to you neck?"

Spirit did just that. With a blaze of green, her Spectral Claw jumped to life and pressed against her neck. The claws pressed against her skin, cutting into the flesh just enough to allow a trickle of blood to run down her neck.

As soon as he saw this, Youngblood release Zatanna without a second through. Neither Cyborg nor Nyx argued against this decision. They did, however, have gritted teeth and were giving Brother Blood a look of complete hate.

"Good, now let's go inside. I believe it's time to put an end to this farce."

"Step away from the girl, Danny," Doctor Fate ordered, "This has to be done."

"No, it doesn't," Phantom argued. He continued to stand protectively in front of Raven, "If you received out message, then you know about our plan. It will work, but only if we all stand together."

"You're wrong," Doctor Fate shook her head, "I have seen all of your plans. They never work out the way they should."

"Maybe because it's outliers like you that I can't plan for!" Phantom retorted.

"Or maybe because you're a flawed leader," Doctor Fate took a step forward, "You don't recognize that people need to be sacrificed sometimes for the greater good."

"I did that once," Phantom noted, "In a simulation. I instantly regretted everything I did. I lost everything. Then. Back with the Nasty Burger Incident. I won't let that happen again. I won't lose everything a third time."

"Then let me deal with Raven," Doctor Fate nodded, "One person for the rest of your family. Seems pretty fair to me."

"Not when I can save everyone."

"You can't save everyone," Doctor Fate stated, "Things are never that simple. You know that much. Remember, we were one for a while. I know you better than anyone else on this planet."

"Then you know that I won't just step away," Phantom remarked.

"Yes…" Doctor Fate raised a glowing hand, "Such a waste."

"Wait," Phantom raised a hand, "I have a proposition for you."

"Oh?" Doctor Fate paused in intrigue.

"If we fight, we both lose," Phantom noted, "We'll destroy this room and part of the Cave. The enemy will get in. They'll get Raven."

"Then I can only hope that she'll get caught up as a casualty," Doctor Fate noted.

"You don't like to leave things up to chance. You're Fate, after all," Phantom mentioned, "But, if we settle this another way, then there will only be one true winner."

"What is your proposition?" Doctor Fate questioned.

Phantom took a steady breath, "I put on your helmet. We have a battle of wills. You win, you get control of my body forever and get the full power we had before. If I win, Raven gets to walk away safely. The winner gets what he wants without a physical fight."

Doctor Fate let out a chuckle, "Really? You know that no one can overcome the will of Fate. You will just lose."

"Probably, but it's the only chance I got," Phantom admitted, "Like you said, I always try to sacrifice myself first, and you know I'll go through with it. I always keep my word."

Doctor Fate nodded, "Indeed. Very well. I look forward to the good we can do again when we are one once again."

Raven reached up and grabbed Phantom's shoulder, "Danny, don't. Just let her get to me. That way only the only person we have to lose today is me."

Phantom grinned at her from over his shoulder, "That prophecy thing may have been made up, but I'm willing to make it true to protect my family. So go ahead and call me the Fate Changer. Because I'll make the prophecy real if I have to."

Slowly, Doctor Fate reached up to remove her helmet. With a flash of gold, the helm was removed revealing the form of Dora the Dragon Ghost. Her face was twisted into that of concern, "Danny…This isn't a smart move. I took the burden of the helmet so that you could be free."

"And I'm going to make up for that now," Phantom smiled at her as he gently took the helmet from her, "Trust me. I got this."

"I do, but…"

"No," Phantom glared at both Dora and Raven, "This is my decision. If it looks like I'm about to lose, try to knock me out."

"You know that won't work," Raven stated, "Doctor Fate will be too strong. Why don't you just put the helmet down? That will solve the problem."

"I can't," Phantom noted as he lowered the helm over his head, "I gave him my word."

As soon as the metal covered his face, Phantom felt Nabu go on the mental attack. Thousands of golden spears stabbed against his mental plane. His will instantly staggered back from the blow and damage Nabu instantly established. Before he could recover, Nabu had his fingers in Phantom's mind, controlling him like a puppet master would.

Control over his limbs vanished. Feeling across his entire body disappeared. With a massive shove, all of his senses except sight were quickly overcome. In desperation, Phantom pushed back. Using every bit of will power he had, Phantom fought against the control of Doctor Fate. It was an uphill battle, though. He didn't even push Nabu back a little bit.

Your will is strong, Danny, but you can't win.

Unable to divide his thoughts on understanding the mental words, Phantom continued to push.

I am a being that has existed from the Beginning. The very concept of ghosts is like a new born babe to me. Order is not something you can overcome.

Phantom felt himself get pushed down and into the shadows of his own mind.

Forgive me, Danny. This must be done. I wish that you saw reason.

Reason? What reason is there in killing an innocent girl because of who her father was? Outrage surged through him. With a mental roar, he pushed up, managing to barely make up the ground he lost from the last attack.

Impressive, but not enough.

The golden spears stabbed forward once more. They cut him, sending pain up through his very soul. Despite the feeling of blades digging into his spine, Phantom did not halt his pushing. In fact, the pain continued to drive him forward in his fight. He slowly began to push Fate's hand back up.

What?

No. He wouldn't lose like this. There had been so many fights he struggled through to get at this point. After everything he went through, he couldn't lose here. Not after everything was sacrificed for him.

NO!

Fate began to push down with full force. In that instant, Phantom felt like the weight of an entire planet slammed down on his shoulders. He push forward was instantly halted, but he did not fall back. He refused to go back.

I refuse. I will not go back to the plain in between! I was watching for so long! You can't take this from me, Danny! Please, the world needs Fate!

Then why did you put him in a position where he had to fight against you?

Part of the weight lifted off from his shoulders.

Leave this be, Endless! You have no right to interfere!

Of course I do. You're the one that decided to invade my domain. My avatar decided that this girl should live. Fate may something else, but fate can be changed.

Order trumps Death! With order, Death can be controlled and tamed!

That may be the case sometimes, but not today.

With renewed energy, Phantom began to push up once more. The spears attacking him melted away giving him more room to move. Slowly but surely, Phantom regained control over his mind and body. First, his hearing became his own once more. Then taste. Smell. Finally touch came back.

Fate commands you to stop! Order shall save this world! I will gain this vessel and kill the girl!

Zzz…Order…Zzz…Too much…Chaos is gone…Balance must return…For life…Zzz…

All of the weight disappeared from Phantom's shoulders. Power rushed through him just like at the Sorcerer Initiative.

Entity? What are you doing?! Why are you awake!

…Noise…Lanterns…Tired…He will deal with it…Go away…Zzz…

Phantom quickly raised his arms and placed them at the top of the Helmet of Fate. His fingers dug into the metal and caused the golden steel to crack.

Please, Danny! Phantom! You can't do this! We're friends, right?!

'Friends don't betray each other. Without Klarion, the world doesn't need Fate. Forgive me. Goodbye, old friend.'

With a giant roar, Phantom shattered the Helmet of Fate. The golden steel fell to the ground like shattered glass. As soon as the metal hit the floor, it disappeared in tiny bursts of light. Breathing heavily, Phantom looked across the room to see the shocked faces of Dora and Raven.

"See...Raven…" Phantom smiled at her, "I won."

With that, Phantom collapsed into an unconscious heap.

There was a moment of silence that spread through the battlefield. Dusk wasn't sure if it was real or not, though. The fighting didn't stop. Trigon's forces continued their march up the mountain, but all this was lost on Dusk. No, his focus was solely on the horror in front of him.

Damon was gone. If Dusk was being honest, then he would admit that he didn't know the man very well. They're interactions were minimal despite Valerie's relationship with Mentor. Still, Dusk did have sympathy for the man. The man had lost his daughter in her fight for justice. That was something that wasn't easy to go through, but the halfa had never seen Damon take his grief out on someone else before today.

Suddenly, something sparked in Dusk. The outrage of the unfairness of it all surged through him. Why must good people suffer so much? Why does the world take and take while never giving back? Just why?!

A familiar rage burst in his chest. Restraint fell away under the hate of losing yet another person in their never ending war and the influence Wrath had over the battlefield. All Dusk could see was red. There was suddenly a sword in his hands created instinctually from his Matter Make. He swung and cut. The lava beetles around him fell, but with each swing, Dusk's awareness and skill faded away into nothingness.

The next thing Dusk knew, he was being held to the ground by Wrath. The large demi-demon was chuckling, "Guess you have some hidden darkness in you too, eh?"

Dusk was about to respond when he saw Black Bat and Torch fighting against Agent Z in the corner of his eyes. They weren't' doing well. Torch's passion and Black Bat's grief made them all too susceptible to Wrath's reach. There was no control or grace in their battle. Agent Z battered their wild swings away with ease.

Seeing that his friends needed his help, Dusk prepared to turn intangible and faze into the ground below him. He stopped, however, when a voice sounded out around the entire battlefield. He wasn't the only one that stopped, though. The lava beetles immediately went inactive, and Dusk's allies froze in shock at the voice announcing from the Cave's intercom system.

"Hello! My name is Brother Blood. You all probably have no idea who I am, so I'll just say that I am a loyal follower to Master Trigon. With that out of the way, I should probably tell you a special gift I have. Something of the mind control variety. Tell them, Miss Spirit."

Spirit's voice quickly followed the strange man's voice. The normally passionate girl now sounded cold and unfeeling, "Yes. Brother Blood has shown us the truth. We will follow his every order."

"Thank you so much, my dear. Now, I have complete control over the surveillance system. So I can see each and every one of you. Surrender to our forces now or I'll order your friends to kill each other. You have thirty seconds."

There was an eerie stillness over the once chaotic battlefield. Almost immediately, Dusk's allies quickly held up their arms in surrender. The lava beetles quickly subdued the heroes. Agent Z, however, wasn't so kind.

With a flame covered fist, he smacked Torch away and sent him flying up the side of the mountain. He then flung a massive fireball to the ghost and covered him in a giant sphere of flames. As for his other opponent, he grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air.

In a scream of pain, Black Bat met the same fate of Damon. Consumed in bright flames, her form completely disappeared leaving nothing in its wake.

Dusk suddenly felt numb on the inside, "What…What are you doing?! You won! Why did you kill her!?"

"It's a personal thing," Agent Z noted as he took several steady steps forward, "But this...this is business."

Wrath released Dusk allowing Agent Z to grab Dusk and raise him up into the air just like the two people before him. Dusk just glared at the man, "Nothing personal, right? It's just who you are."

Agent Z frowned, "Yeah…"

And with that, Dusk was consumed by the flames.

"AH!" Martian Manhunter shouted in agony as Agent Z sent a small burst of fire at him. The flames smacked into the Manhunter's face. This caused the Martian to collapse in a heap as the flames of Trigon singed his skin and instantly sent his body into a shutdown mode.

This caused all the captives to fight against the lava beetles holding them down in the middle of the Cave with their arms locked behind their backs. The beetles gave no give, though, for the relatively normal members of the heroes. As for the powerhouses, they quickly stopped when the mind controlled allies began to choke themselves.

"Don't get your panties in a twist," Agent Z scoffed, "I didn't kill him. He's just one of the few people that could pose a threat to the situation. Speaking of that, where's the other Martian?"

"Her Bioship went crashing away during the battle," Greed mentioned, "I have Envy keeping a mental radar out for her."

"Good, good," Brother Blood let out a smile, "Then we are secured. Everyone is accounted for."

Robin suddenly snapped, "Except for the people you killed!"

Agent Z frowned at the glaring Boy Wonder, "I get that you're upset, but you better calm down before I'm forced to put you down too."

"Just trying you piece of—"

"Robin!" Batman glared at his partner.

Robin instantly shut up, but he didn't look happy.

"The green boy is missing," Greed mentioned, "We never saw him."

"He's probably hiding," Z shrugged, "He's not a priority or a threat. The only priority now is Trigon's pride and Phantom."

"They're accounted for," Lust stated as he led a reluctant Raven and Dora into meeting hall. Behind Lust, Wrath carried an unconscious Phantom over his shoulder.

"You knocked Phantom out?" Brother Blood questioned.

"Nope," Wrath shook his head, "He was like this when we found him. He's totally out of it."

"Well, that makes it easier for us…" Agent Z eyed Phantom. In any other circumstance, Z would take this opportunity to kill the weakened halfa. Trigon wanted to deal with Phantom himself, though, and Z didn't feel like having his soul burned into nothingness.

"Dora," Superman frowned at the ghost, "What happened to Doctor Fate?"

"He and Phantom had an argument," Dora explained, "Phantom won…"

"We can see that," Brother Blood let out a laugh, "Poor fool. He fought so hard to save the Gem, and now we won with ease. Isn't that right, Spirit?"

Spirit nodded numbly. Her eyes still glowed a bright red, "Yes, Brother Blood."

"Such a good girl," Brother Blood gave her a fond smile, "You know, I studied the ghost mind very hard to make sure I could control you. It was worth it, though. Just look at you…" Blood reached up to gently stroke Spirit's face.

"Don't touch her, you freak!" Cyborg snapped.

Brother Blood gained an angry scowl, "Freak? Look who's talking. You're more machine than man, boy."

"I'm more of a man than you could ever be," Cyborg let out a growl.

Brother Blood was about to respond, but he was stopped by Agent Z, "Blood, stop it. The kid's right. It is creepy as all hell. Let's just go. We got what we needed."

Blood let out a sight, "Fine. But I'm not letting my new recruits go. The young can still be molded into somebody worthy of living in Trigon's world. As for the relics, well…They can be used as an example. Aquaman, cut off your hand."

Aquaman immediately obeyed. Raising his trident, he brought the weapon over his left hand and stabbed down. The magical weapon instantly tore through the flesh of his wrist. His severed hand fell to the ground accompanied by a spray of blood and gasps of shock and rage from the captives. None were angrier than the Atlantians in the group, though.

"If any of you try to come after us, I'll have Lagoon Boy bite through his own tongue and Bumblebee electrocute herself to death," Brother Blood noted as he pushed the bleeding Aquaman to the ground in front of their captives.

Without another word, Agent Z raised his hands and commanded flames to dance around all of Trigon's forces plus the captives under their control. The fire blazed around them as they disappeared from the Cave. The only ones left were the defeated heroes and the lava beetles. With the enemy now gone, they quickly tried to fight back, pushing the beetles away and rushing towards Aquaman to stop the bleeding and try to save the king's life.

Raven's eyes danced all around the dark cavern. She was surrounded on all sides by her father's forces. They were descending down stone steps with the only light to guide them were the torches hanging from the walls, "Where are we?"

"On the west coast. A place called Jump City," Agent Z took steady steps behind her. He was ready to move in case she decided to try to flee. It was unlikely with so many of her friends under Brother Blood's control, but people did strange things to avoid the end.

"Huh," Raven would have laughed in any other situation, "So the gates of hell really are below California?"

Agent Z scoffed, "It appears so."

Once the large parade of people reached the bottom of the stairs, they all began to spread out in the large cavern. They filled the damp cave almost completely. The only space left open was a pathway wide enough for her walk down. At the end of the path was a large alter with a stone bed for her to lie on top. She was expecting something like that. What she wasn't expecting was at the foot of the alter.

"Why is Danny here?" Raven glared back at Agent Z.

"Trigon wants to deal with him personally. No funny business. No chance of him using the ascended ectoplasm," Agent Z stated.

"I won't be a part of plan to outright kill him," Raven snapped.

"Oh yes you will," Agent Z pointed to the members of the Team that knelt by Brother Blood. Spirit looked up. She stuck her tongue out and began to bite on it so that a tiny bit of blood began to trickle out.

"Damn it…" Raven took a deep breath and began her trek over to the alter. With each step, her mind raced with thoughts of a way out. Running wouldn't work. Fighting was a dumb idea. And her original idea…Her eyes drifted to the unconscious Phantom. No. It was too late for that. This was it. It was time for the end of days.

Lying down on the stone bed, Raven closed her eyes. Just like this morning, glowing red tattoos shined from her body. Her eyes split into four slitted eyes. Black smoke and red energy began to pour out of her mouth. The smoke, energy, and markings spread all across the room causing the cavern to tremble. Soon, the energy began to collect and pool at the top of the cave.

With a blast of red light, the ceiling of the cave exploded. The rocks flew away from the force of the red energy and smoke. Then a bright light shined above the open cave. When the light shined down, a large shadow covered all the kneeling people as Trigon looked down at his followers.

"It is done! I am free!" Trigon shouted out as he raised his hands up in victory.

"Hail Trigon!" The people below bowed before their demon god.

Trigon let out a small grin, "Well done, my loyal believers. You shall all be rewarded for you efforts. Starting with you, David Zempell. Remove my daughter from the alter and put the Phantom there."

Wrath and Lust quickly obeyed. Lust carefully removed Pride, who was smoking and trembling in pain as her form began to glow a dull red. Wrath, however, was less careful and just tossed Phantom onto the alter.

"This is the beginning of my reign, and it will begin with the death of Danny Phantom!" Trigon raised his hand. Energy began to pool around his massive red fist. A wave of energy shot out of his hand and fell down to the alter. It completely consumed the stone and everything on it. When the energy and smoke finally died down, the only thing left was a deep hole that was so deep that no one could see the bottom of it.

"Hail Trigon!"

"Hail Trigon!"

"Hail Trigon!"

"And now for the rest of this forsaken planet!" Trigon raised his hands. Energy blasted off him and into the sky. In an instant, the once darkened sky was now a bloody red.

Calmly, Agent Z reached up and removed his sunglasses. He watches as storms formed all across the sky, the earth trembled, and red smoke spread across the land. Even though he was far way, Agent Z could hear the screams of the people as demons descended from the bloody sky and red smoke spread across the planet, infecting the people and turning them to into stone.

Back at the Cave, all the members of the League and the Team began to panic as the Cave began to shake. Red smoke flooded into their weakened stronghold. Several of the closer heroes held each other as they awaited their doom. They began to scream, but the sound of their shouts were quickly drowned out by the strum of a guitar and a flash of pink.

All the while, the rest of Trigon's forces continued to cheer for their evil master. Agent Z on the other hand was silent. He looked towards the crater that once held Phantom. It was over. The ghost was dead. He finally got his revenge.

Turning, Agent Z began to walk back up the stairs. With that done, he only had one thing left to do. It was time for him to confront the past.

"What's going on?!" Elinore Stone shouted and clutched a table to stop her from falling over.

Axion Labs was trembling. The reinforced building was shaking under the force of what was happening outside it. Of course, none of them were too fearful of the building collapsing. The lab was designed to withstand nuclear fallout. No, they're real worry was about what was going on outside.

"It seems that the original plan has failed!" Silas noted as worked on not falling over, "They weren't fast enough at building the Box!"

It was then that the shaking stopped. All the scientists immediately righted themselves. The lab was a bit of a mess. Papers were scattered every. Some of the equipment broke from the earthquake. Everything that was essential for the backup plan, though, was still perfectly fine.

Nicolai pulled out small monitor device and stared at it, "Still no word from the Ghost Zone. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing."

Serling looked over to a large cylinder device that sat at the end of the room. They had worked tirelessly for months trying to get the machine to work and stabilize the pathways from the Ghost Zone to the human world. Luckily, they had managed to find a way to keep weave together the tears in the dimensions and temporarily keep the two dimensions separated, "Should we wait to turn off the Dimensional Stabilizer then?"

"No," Silas shook his head and began to stride over to the glowing machine, "It would be best to turn it off now. You never know what may happen—"

"AH!"

Silas instantly turned around at the sound of his wife crying in pain and shock. With widened eyes, Silas watched as his wife's body began to turn into stone. It started at her feet and worked its way up. Within seconds, Elinore was a statue from the waist down. Not only that, the same thing began to happen to all the scientists. Rock began to dance up their bodies causing them to scream in panic.

Realizing what was happening, Silas gave his wife one last glimpse before trying to lunge at the machine. His attempt quickly failed, though, as his feet were now stone. He tumbled to the floor several feet away from the Dimensional Stabilizer. Stars danced in front of his eyes as landed nose first to the metal floor.

"Silas!" Elinore cried out as the rock raced up her neck, "Please! You have to get to the machine! Save the world! Save our son—"

Elinore was silenced when the rock completely made its way over her head leaving her in a statue state. Motivated by his wife's last works, Silas ignored his bleeding nose and began to drag himself forward. Each pull forward was made even more difficult as the stone made its way up to his waist.

Desperately, he tried to scramble forward. He couldn't fail. Not again. He already messed up so much in his life. He wanted the opportunity to fix things with his son. They were almost there. Silas knew that. It was a slow process to forgiveness, one that was made even harder with all the preparation that was needed for both the Sorcerer Initiate and Trigon's attack. Despite everything, though, Silas had hoped to finally get the chance to be the father Victor always needed but never got.

"No," Silas moaned out as his torso was completely covered in stone. The rock was now working its way up his neck and arms. Reaching out, he tried to press the button on the side of the machine. Despite his best effort, though, he was a hair's width too far away to reach the button. Tears began to roll down Silas's face as he realized that he had failed once again, "I'm sorry, Victor."

Then, there was only silence. Everyone in the room was now a stone statue of their former selves. Most of the scientists were frozen in a state of horror. Silas, however, was frozen with a face of regret and despair. His fingertips were pressed against the red button on the side of the Dimensional Stabilizer, but they would never be able to complete their mission.

After a few seconds of total stillness, there was sudden movement in the room. The echo of boots against the metal floor bounced across the room. Dressed in a custodian uniform, a rather simple looking man with plain feature and brown hair walked over to Silas and examined the machine.

"Such is the nature of man, Mr. Stone," William Hand noted to his boss, "They struggle and fight for their goals only to come up short before a greater power. Tis the horror and reality of life."

Looking at the black ring that covered his finger, Hand released a small smile, "Luckily for you, death is on your side today."

Walking over to other side of the machine, Hand began to push the machine to Silas so that the stone fingers would press the button of the machine. The effect was instant. The machine began to glow a bright green. Electrical sparks jumped off the cylinder and began to tear through the air, showing what looked like tears being held together with stitches. With a gentle pull, the stiches came undone and allowed the holes to the Ghost Zone to open once more.

Not wanting to be around when the ghost appeared, Hand turned and began to walk away, "Be grateful, Mr. Stone, that Master Nekron is allowing you one more chance with your son. Enjoy it, because once Trigon is dealt with, the real end of the world will come."