Chapter 6: Seeing Red

Disclaimer: I own nothing

"Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy."

Aristotle

Chapter 6: "Seeing Red"

(Thursday-October 31, 2013)

Several balls of green energy burst out of Phantom's hands and knocked the surrounding ghosts and demons away. This didn't do much to help the situation as a whole, though. Dozens of enemies took their place and kept charging at the Phantom. Before the halfa could react to the danger, Red Huntress quickly jumped into action. She threw a grenade at the enemies. As soon as the weapon made contact, it burst open into several large sprays of ectoplasmic goop which engulfed the demons and ghosts and held them to the ground.

"This isn't working!" Red Huntress yelled as she grabbed a demon and flipped it into a ghost. "We're too outnumbered! We need help!"

Phantom growled as he punched a ghost down with enough force to crack the cement, "I know! But Icon and Rocket won't get to us at this rate! They'll have to force their way through a sea of ghosts to get to us!"

"Then we need to lighten the load!" Red Huntress reached to her belt and pull out two metal cubes. She threw them to ground. As soon as the metal touched the street, the machines shifted into turret gatling guns. The weapons turned to enemy ghosts and demons and started shooting out blazes of ectoplasmic bullets, "What about your catalyst strategy!? Do you think that you can pull it off?!"

"I'm stilling working on the bugs!" Phantom glanced over his shoulder at his girlfriend, "I can't guarantee anything!"

"Well, you do your best work under pressure!" The metal that covered Red Huntress' arms shifted into sonic wave canons. She then began to use sound waves to force the enemies back, "Just try it! I'll cover you!"

Phantom grinned. There wasn't even a hint of doubt in Red Huntress' voice, "Alright!"

At that moment, Phantom's energy changed from a blazing green to a frosty blue. His now ice blue eyes shined brightly in the darkened street as he focused his energy above him. A giant ball of cryogenic energy formed like a swirling, miniature sun at his fingertips. Just as quickly as it was formed, the ball transformed into several ice broad swords and shot out across the street. None of the ice weapons hit the enemies, though. Instead, they sunk deeply into the pavement.

As this was happening, Red Huntress was using every weapon she had to keep their foes away from them and the small group of civilians they were guarding. Rocket launchers popped out of her shoulder pads and shot the various enemies around them. At the same time, Red Huntress' sonic canons and turrets helped buy Phantom some time.

"I'm ready!" Phantom yelled once all the swords were set.

"Do it!"

With a roar, Phantom slammed his hands onto the ground. Light blue energy spread across the ground and covered the area. A slim layer of ice covered the ground. Once the ice touched the swords, the entire street was covered in blue lights. The swords burst out in giant chucks of ice. When the ice touched one of the demons or ghosts, the controlled spirits were instantly halted in their charge. Ice quickly spread up their bodies and froze them completely.

"Whoa…" Red Huntress let out a low whistle as she looked across the rows of ice statues, "Nice work."

Phantom stood upright and smiled, "Thanks. I'm really glad that worked."

Red Huntress chuckled and shook her head, "Please, I knew that you weren't going to fail. You're you after all. Besides, I was right by your side. That made losing impossible."

"I guess it did," Phantom could only smile as he waved the civilians they were protecting to lower the shield.

Virgil jumped up and looked around in awe, "Wow! That was freaking awesome, man!"

"I can't believe it…" Richard was still knelling down examining the ice. "Energy that actually pushes heat away to flash freeze objects. This shouldn't be possible."

Phantom was shocked by the kid's observation, "Most people don't question it…You're a smart cookie, eye?"

Richard blushed as Virgil grinned and elbowed him in the ribs.

"Thank you so much…" Jean looked close to crying again.

Phantom reached down and helped her up. "You're welcome. Here…" A duplicate of Phantom appeared in a blaze of green, "My duplicate will get you three to safety."

"Grab on, and I'll fly you into one of the buildings," The duplicate ordered as he gathered the three civilians to him. He then flew them off to safety.

"Looks like there are no more enemies right now," Red Huntress still didn't drop her guard, though. "We should rondevu with Icon and Rocket while we can."

Phantom nodded, "Yeah. We can come up with a plan then, because we still need to help the people in the city to safety before we go."

"That is already accomplished," A very deep voice spoke out to both Phantom and Red Huntress. The owner of the voice was a large, muscular man with dark skin. A mask covered his eyes while a red and black uniform covered his body. A large, black cape fell from his broad shoulders and down his back.

"The paramedics and firefighters have got almost everything under control from what we saw," Rocket explained, "They got the chance to act as soon as you guys drew the ugos. Um…Sorry about not getting to you, by the way. We couldn't push our way here until you started a new ice age."

Phantom shrugged, "It's fine. So we got all the demons and ghosts?"

Icon nodded slowly, "I believe so. There is no more fighting, and besides from the sirens, the city is quiet."

"Alright, we should do one last sweep before we go help the other groups," Red Huntress suggested.

"Yeah, let's—" Phantom paused and gasped out blue smoke. "Damn, there's at least one more ghost. Is he hiding for sneak attack?"

"No, true vengeance doesn't hide. It wants to see the face of its victims," A new voice called out. All four heroes turned to see an extremely pale man wearing a green cloak with a hood. The front of the cloak was open to reveal a shirtless muscular body and green tights. The man's hood hid most of his face, but a pale chin could still be seen despite the darkness of the early morning.

"Spectre?" Phantom relaxed when he saw his old ally, "Hey! Good to see you, man! It's been a while. Are you here to help us with the ghosts and demons, because we already finished."

"No. That is not why I am here," The Spectre's voice was low and somber.

"Then why are you here?" Red Huntress questioned with crossed arm.

"For revenge," The Spectre rushed forward at speeds that made him look like a blur. He rushed to Icon and sent a glowing green fist at the man's unprotected face. At the very last second, Icon tried to put up a kinetic shield, but it was too late. Spectre's fist already made contact. With a loud crack and a boom, Icon was hit with a massive blast of green energy that sent him flying through a building.

"Icon!" Rocket cried in horror. After the shock died off, she flew off in a burst of kinetic energy to find her mentor and friend.

"What the hell are you doing, Spectre!?" Phantom roared in anger.

"Getting them out of way of my targets…." Spectre slowly turned his head to look to Phantom and Red Huntress. "You two."

"Damn it, Wulf!" Spirit snapped at her long-time friend, "Snap out of it!"

Wulf's form trembled a bit, but his body still continued to move without his consent, "C-Can't!"

"Crap…" Spirit hissed. She ducked under Wulf's wild strikes. Usually, the werewolf ghost had a bit more finesse to his moves, but his fighting against the brain controlled made him more uncontrolled and open to attack. The halfa girl thought that maybe she could talk him down, but her words proved fruitless. She would have to take extreme measures to stop her friend.

Jumping into the air, Spirit flipped upside down. She placed her hands on one of Wulf's massive arms as the man beast tried to claw her to death. Spreading her legs out in a splits, Spirit began to spin around using Wulf's own moment to help her up. The halfa girl did several helicopter kicks across Wulf's faces. The force of the blows stunned Wulf enough to allow Spirit the chance to do a larger attack.

Spirit turned sideways so that her head was pointed away from Wulf while both her legs were pointed at the werewolf ghost's head. She then thrusted her now ectoplasmic empowered legs towards the side of Wulf's face. Her feet smashed into the side of Wulf's head and sent him crashing into the side of a building.

With that done, Spirit turned to help Raven and Superboy, "Sorry, Wulf. It was a matter of life and death."

The halfa girl rocketed towards her friends. As she went, she was caught up to by Vision. The ghost of strategy had subdued a large number of the enemies with her excellent control of her ectoplasm. The ground was littered with bodies restrained in blazing ropes of purple ectoplasm, "Spirit, can you help handle Youngblood? I need to help Superman. Having our powerhouse out of action will only make this more difficult."

"Of course! I got this!"

Vision nodded, "Good. My visual birds have located Polly. He can't stay too far from Youngblood without breaking the seal. Once I'm done with Superman, I'll destroy the bird, and Charles will change into his adult form."

Spirit didn't want Polly to get hurt, but he was only an extension of Youngblood. The skeleton parrot of Youngblood could be reformed once everything was done. Plus, having Youngblood change into adult form would probably free him of Morgaine's control. That way, they would gain an ally instead of a defeated enemy, "Alright, I'll try to keep the damage to Youngblood a minimum."

With that, Vision departed from the halfa and flew towards the place Superman went. Spirit, though, went to her friends. Raven, the Supercycle, and Wolf, the living wolf that served as Young Justice's pet, were trying to protect Superboy from Youngblood's Kryptonite. Unfortunately, their attempts were being blocked by the dozens of enemies all around them.

The constant threat of airborne enemies made it so that the Supercycle had to continue moving. She couldn't get a chance to get a good shot in to the ground. Wolf was being overwhelmed by the more maneuverable and bloodthirsty enemies that were piling on top of him. Raven was holding her own with her demonic magic. She created a dark void around her that sent out bird claws to catch the demons and ghosts. The claws dragged the enemies into the void and then shot them out in in encasement of black and white energy.

Youngblood managed to avoid the claws and cut them with his hook. He then pushed his way to Superboy and jammed the Kryptonite in the clone's face. This caused Con-El to shout out in agony and flinch under the green glow of the stone.

"Stop it!" Spirit roared as she flew through the opening created by Raven to get to Youngblood. The female halfa then activated her Spectral Claws. She swung them at Youngblood's chest. The child ghost reacted by forming his hook into a jagged machete and blocking the blow. "Leave Conner alone!"

Youngblood struggled against Spirit's pushes. His unfocused eyes examined her face, "D-Dani…"

Spirit beamed with a smile, "That's right! It's me! Come on, Chuck, we're friends! And I know you're strong enough to fight this!"

"Dani…" Youngblood stopped his struggle and let his blade fall to his side, "You…have to…run…"

Spirit blinked as she let her Spectral claw fade, "What?"

"Harm…targeted…you…" Youngblood seemed to struggle with his words, "Told me…to distract you…"

"What do you—Ah!" Spirit cried out in pain as five deep gashes appeared on her back. Green blood began to ooze out of the new wounds. Her focus on Youngblood made so she completely tuned out her Premonition.

"SPIRIT!" Raven called out in alarm as she watched her friend drop to her knees.

"RAW!" The newly recovered Wulf held up his bloody claws and prepared to strike again.

A green broadsword a miniature pumpkin at the end of the hilt swung through the air and cut deeply into a horned demon with a goatee. Once the blade made contact, the demon disappeared with a pop. That was Soul Shredder's greatest ability. It could send anyone it cuts to a dimension made up by the victim's greatest fears. This function was made to strike terror into the Fright Knight's enemies, but now it was used as a method to avoid killing enemies.

With that enemy defeated, the Fright Knight turned his attention to the three ghosts that jumped at his back. A single slice of his sword hit all three ghosts. They all disappeared with a simple pop, "These foes give no challenge!"

"To be fair, the defense system is doing most of the work. Thus…I'm doing most of the work," J.A.Z.Z.'s voice sounded out from a rather strange source. A dark metal suit stood in the streets of Amity Park. Dark red x's dotted the suit across the chest, gloves, and boots. A dark coat flowed down the shoulders of the suit, but the black and red utility belt could still be seen through the cloak. A metal helmet with a visor covered with a skull.

"True, the system has lowered the numbers, but…" The Fright Knight cut through more of his enemies, "Could you please not use that voice for the Red X suit!? It doesn't fit the mystique of the costume! It is your duty to fit the role of Red X!"

"Fine, fine…" Red X's voice changed from the feminine version of J.A.Z.Z. to the deeper, metallic voice of Danny when the halfa used the Red X suit. "Happy?"

"Very much so. Thank you, Joy Analyzer."

Red X used the twin ecto-pistols that he always carried on his belt. The A.I. controlled suit shot two demons in the face with blasts of ectoplasm. He then flipped the pistols into the air. As he did this, Red X extended his right palm and shot a gooey, red x out of his palm. The x expanded and caught several ghosts into a single cluster. The suit then grabbed a demon out of the air with his left hand. Electricity shot through Red X's arms and shocked the demon. With that done, Red X flung the demon away, caught the pistols as they fell, and continued to shoot all the enemies around him, "Yes, that is part of my name and my programming. My user's happiness is all that matters."

"I can never tell if you're using sarcasm, or if you're being serious!" The Fright Knight spun his blade and stabbed a ghost behind him, "Either way, I like it. I do enjoy a good mystery."

Red X continued to fight. "Of course you do…"

"How is the machine doing, by the way? Is it almost fixed?" Fright Knight questioned.

"I believe so. It appears that Cyborg and Gizmo are making a lot of progress."

On the top of Fenton Works, Cyborg used his energy canon to blast several demons away. At the same time, a Fenton Thermos popped out of his other forearm. He used that weapon to capture the ghosts in the area, "Connect the blue wire already!"

"I can't do that until I change the configuration!" Gizmo snapped. He kept his attention on the machine despite the distraction.

Rocket launchers popped out of Cyborg's shoulders and shot missiles at the enemies. Satisfaction ran through his veins as his enemies were knocked back by the blue blaze of his explosives, "Then do it already!"

Gizmo growled as he continued to type on the keyboard of the machine, "Hey! You try doing this when you can barely move, Snot Head!"

"Do we need to switch places?!"

"No, Fart Breath! I can't fight now!"

"Then what use are you?! You can't fight, and you can't fix your own machine!"

"Don't insult my skills! I'm better at this than you, Blue Boy!" Gizmo stated as he switched from typing on his keyboard to messing with the wiring, "Just be a good bodyguard and buy me some time! I'm almost done!"

"You better be!" Cyborg momentarily stopped his fighting and turned to the smaller teen, "I have no idea what's happening out there, but it sure as hell can't be good for my friends."

After a few hours of fighting, the Atlantians and Frostbite retreated in order to come up with a new strategy. While they were doing that, the Atlantian soldiers would hold the enemies at bay. This would buy some time to come ups with a strategy to handle all the ghosts and demons while minimizing the damage and injuries.

"Is it possible to push them to one area?" Tempest questioned.

Aquaman pointed to the map that they placed on the ground, "We could herd them outside the city, then begin to push them to one point."

"That will take a lot of time, brother," Aquaman's brother Prince Orm noted. He a tall man with his black hair slicked back. His eyes were bright blue. Red and gold clothing covered his form. "Many will be injured or killed in that time."

"We could speed it up by creating bate for the ghosts and demons to be attracted to," Frostbit spoke up, "I am a rather powerful ghost in my own right. They will flock to me if I use my full power."

Aquagirl gained a worried look, "That sounds rather dangerous. You will be greatly outnumbered."

"Perhaps some of us could give you backup," Aqualad mentioned, "I volunteer. I have a lot of experience with working Phantom's ice powers."

"The water will get rather chilly around me, can you handle it?" Frostbite questioned.

Aqualad nodded, "I can handle the cold."

"The two of you won't be enough," Aquaman stated, "I shall fight by your side as well. As king, it is my duty to everything I have to in order to protect my home."

"I shall fight as well to make it an even number. Better luck that way," Orm noted, "Tula and Garth can lead the charges on both sides and try to lighten the waves of enemies we have to face."

"Agreed," Aquaman looked around to his companions, "Are there any objections?"

Everyone was silent.

"Then let us go. We have much work to do." Aquaman commanded.

Aquagirl and Tempest swam in different directions while the others moved to the designated point for the bait strategy. Aquaman led the charge while Aqualad and Frostbite followed close behind. Orm, though, staid back a little. He eyed Frostbite and remembered when the yeti ghost went on an anger induced rampage. Everyone was aware of it at this point. If something were to happen to the king during the heat of battle, the blame would immediately shift to the ghost.

The prince that was secretly the villain Ocean Master smiled, "I can use that…"

A young woman dressed in a more feminine version Batman's uniform jumped into the air and did a split kick on two of her enemies. Her long, blazing red hair flew through the air as she landed in a kneeling position. With sky blue eyes blazing in focus, the woman reached to utility belt and pulled out a few smoke pellets.

The three ghosts that charged at her were all covered in deep black smoke once the woman threw the pellets to the ground. Confused by the smoke, the ghosts could do nothing as they crashed into each other. Even though the smoke was still thick, a blaze of blue could still be seen as the woman captured the ghosts with the Fenton Thermos.

"Batgirl to everyone," Batgirl spoke as her black gloves gained a green tint of energy and allowed her to punch a ghost that was to her right, "I have a problem. The Batcycle was destroyed. I'm stranded on 2nd Street and completely surrounded."

"Batman to Batgirl," Batman's voice sounded through Batgirl's cowl, "I already sent backup. They should be there shortly."

Batgirl ducked under a punch from a demon and flipped backwards to kick the demon on the chin, "Understood, what's the E.T.A.?"

"Right now! Hahahahahahaa!" A light chuckled sounded through the street. As the noise faded, Robin jumped out and kicked a ghost that was behind Batgirl, "Hey, Red! How's it going!?"

Batgirl nodded in acknowledgement, "Brat, thanks for the help."

"It's not just me," Robin gestured down the street. As he did this, magenta energy blazed to life several meters from their location. Plasmius blasted his way through a wave of demons and ghosts.

"Well, that's more backup than I expected," Batgirl mentioned, "Especially because I was coming to help you guys."

Plasmius grinned as he created duplicates to subdue the enemies, "It would be rude to make such a beautiful, young woman come all the way to us without coming to meet her at least half-way."

"Gah, another charmer, eh?" Batgirl rolled her eyes, "Like we don't get enough of that with Nightwing."

"At least he's not trying to get in your pants…" Robin paused in the swing of his metal staff, "You aren't, right? Cause that would be weird."

Plasmius gave him a look of outrage, "Of course not! I've been happily engaged for years!"

Robin laughed as he continued his swing and smacked a ghost away from him, "Afraid to pull the trigger? I don't blame you."

"I can see why everyone calls you a brat…" Plasmius muttered.

"Nightwing to everyone. Things aren't looking good around the city," Nightwing's voice called through intercoms, "There's too many enemies. It will take forever to beat them all, and by the time we do that, half the city will be destroyed. Are there any more heavy hitters that we can call to help us speed this up?"

"Actually, there is," Plasmius mentioned, "I called an old acquaintance before I left. He should be arriving shortly."

It was at that moment that the ground began to tremble.

Robin deepened his stance to keep from falling over, "Whoa! The hell's happening?"

"That would be my acquaintance…" Plasmius paused as the cement below him began to crack, "Let's hope he doesn't get disgusted by Gotham's pollution and leave."

"RAW!" A massive cluster of roots, green vines, and thorns popped out of the ground in the center of the city. They all formed a giant humanoid being with glowing red eyes, "All tremble before the power of Undergrowth!"

Phantom felt panic rush through him as the Spectre rushed to him. The Spectre was one of the strongest ghosts to ever live. Only Colossus and the Ghost King were ever able to defeat him. That fact did nothing to ease the halfa's nerves.

A large pale fist was sent flying towards Phantom's head. Phantom put up a guard to block the blow but soon found that his block was unnecessary. A bubble of kinetic energy formed around the Spectre. The shield immediately absorbed the kinetic energy of the punch and stopped the Spectre's assault.

Rocket glared at the Spirit of Vengeance. Despite her desire to help Icon, she stopped mid-charge to help her friends. After all, Icon could survive that hit easily, "Yeah, what do you think of that, jackass? Not so tough when we see the punch coming."

Spectre pulled his fist back and examined the shield.

"Rocket, wait, the Spectre has dimension altering pow—" Phantom didn't get a chance to finish the sentence. The Spectre reached out to the shield. The air shifted and altered around him. A crashing noise filled the air as the kinetic shield shattered into shards of glass.

"What?!" Rocket's eyes widened her kinetic energy belt sparked and smoke from the backlash.

The Spectre slowly turned his attention to Rocket. Green energy danced around his fingertips. Right before he sent a ball of ectoplasmic energy at Rocket, Red Huntress used her wrist gun to shoot the crook of Spectre's elbow. The blast caused the arm to move to the side and send the blast away from Rocket. The ball of energy flew past the heroine and obliterated a semi-truck down the street in a burst of green explosions.

During the Spectre's attack, Phantom rushed forward like the Spectre did before. This time, though, Phantom managed to land his blow. His fist smashed into Spectre's face and sent the full ghost flying down the street in a blaze of green. He then turned to Rocket, "Can your belt still work?"

"I…uh…not at full strength…" Rocket winced as she reached down to touch the belt and was shocked, "Or not at all. Damn, that smarts."

"Then go help Icon, and take Cujo with you," Red Huntress ordered as she pulled Cujo out of her bag and handed him to Rocket, "The Spectre isn't someone you can fight with broken equipment."

"I can still fight him up close and personal," Rocket argued even as she took Cujo in her arms.

"That's not a good idea," Phantom stated, "He could throw me around like a ragdoll. A human without a weapon? He'd kill you in one blow."

Red Huntress prepped her guns, "So go. We can't fight him and be worried about you at the same time."

"You sure?" Rocket questioned.

"Yes, go!" Phantom shouted as he saw the Spectre getting up. "Before he comes back!"

"Alright…" Rocket with Cujo in her arms slowly began to retreat, "I…I'll try to get my belt fixed or wake up Icon so you can get some help."

"Thanks! Now go!" Red Huntress shouted.

In the blink of an eye, the Spectre had flew over to them once more. He waved his hand at the ground and commanded it to break apart. Phantom and Red Huntress were forced into the air to avoid the rubble below them. While this was happening, the Spectre flew up to Phantom. As revenge for what happened, Spectre punched Phantom right on his nose.

Phantom felt his nose crack as lights flashed before his eyes. He dipped in and out of consciousness for a few brief seconds. By the time the halfa regained his bearings, he was crashing down the street as if he was a skipping stone in a pond. Flipping over, Phantom pushed his hand down into the cement and dug his fingers down to stop his momentum. After sliding a few meters, Phantom stopped and looked up to reveal the blood pouring down his nose.

As this was happening, the Spectre turned his attention to Red Huntress. He sent dozen of ectoplasmic blasts the size of footballs at the ghost hunter. Red Huntress used her hover board to fly around and dodge the attacks. She then activated the bazooka attachment to her back and sent several blasts of her own shots at the Spectre. All of the blasts bounced off him like balls of paper against a chalk board.

"Is that really all you have?" Spectre questioned with a raised eyebrow, "You weak humans are disappointing to fight. All you have are useless tricks. I'm already bored, but I suppose I'll push through it. This is necessary for Harm's revenge."

"Damn, it Spectre, you don't have to follow his commands. You're strong enough to fight against the mind control," Red Huntress argued.

"I am indeed strong, but without my human anchor, all I have is the thirst for revenge," The Spectre explained, "Harm gave me a chance to take revenge on someone. Phantom's death will be the thing that hurts his deepest enemies the most overall."

"Yeah, I get that…" Red Huntress sighed, "Then I guess we have no choice do we?"

"No we don't," The Spectre raised his arms once more. "I shall—Ah!" Phantom had rushed from his position down the street and returned to send an ectoplasmic empowered knee into the Spectre's spine.

Red Huntress smiled and aimed her bazooka at her enemy's head, "That's called stalling, Spectre! It's one of the useless tricks we humans use to fight enemies stronger than us!" With that, she fired her weapons and nailed the Spectre with an explosive blast of ectoplasm.

Harm stood several miles away from Dakota city. On the edge of cliff, he had a perfect view of the chaos that was happening in the city. The sight brought a psychotic grin to his face, "It's beautiful, isn't it the secret it?"

Secret and her group stood several meters behind Harm. They had successfully tracked him and might have set up a sneak attack if they didn't know that Harm could sense them easily, "No, Billy, I think this is disgusting."

"Don't call Harm by that name!" Harm snapped and whirled around, "Harm is Harm! Billy is dead!"

"No, I don't believe that. I know my brother is in there somewhere," With a hand on her silver amulet, Secret was about to take a step forward but was stopped by Black Bat.

"Don't get too close. He's dangerous, and we have no idea where the Spectre is," Black Bat stated as she held Secret's shoulder firmly.

Harm smiled, "The Spectre? It is no secret where that it is. It is in the city killing the Danny Phantom it."

This caught Jinx's attention, "What?"

"The Spirit it judged Harm so harshly in Harm's attempts to be pure," Harm explained, "Now the Spirit it shall taste was the purity of losing a sibling is like."

"I see…" Dusk then formed his Burst Gauntlets around his arms, "Then the Spectre can't stop us from getting to you, right?"

Harm reached behind him and pulled out his enchanted sword from its sheath, "Harm doesn't need the Spectre it to protect Harm."

"Dusk, wait, let me talk to him," Secret pleaded as she turned to look at the halfa.

"Greta, I promised to keep him alive, so that's what I'll do," Dusk stated, "But Mentor cannot hold off the Spectre forever. We take Harm down first, get the jewel, then you can talk to Harm."

"…Fine." Secret reluctantly agreed.

"This shouldn't take too long," Jinx did a fake yawn, "I've watched footage of this guy. He's good, but he can't take all of us at once."

"That is true," Harm admitted, "These numbers do not favor Harm. That is why Harm brought a few ghost its to help Harm."

As soon as Harm stopped talking, Dusk's ghost sense flared. Two ghosts turned visible right behind Harm. One was a dirty blonde haired man dressed as in a biker jacket. The other was a red eyed woman with wild green hair. She wore a red jacket over a black top that showed her midriff and a red skirt with fishnet leggings underneath it.

"Johnny 13 and Kitty?" Dusk asked in confusion. While stronger than humans, neither of those ghosts were the best at fighting. If Dusk was picking bodyguards, he would definitely choose different ghosts, "Out of all the ghosts you could choose, why choose them?"

"Because there is something off about them," Secret spoke, "I can see it in their souls. Something is wrong. It's like…they're not really themselves."

"Not themselves?" Black Bat looked to Secret. "What does that mean?"

"Oh, you its are about to find out," Harm pointed his sword at the group of four in front of him, "Attack, its. Kill your master's enemies."

After hours of trying to force Morgaine le Fey to let him out of the weird pocket dimension, Colossus decided that he should try other options. He tried to fly to the edge to break a wall, but found that he just went in a big circle. Then, he tried to send out massive shockwaves to destroy the pocket dimension. That didn't work, though. Thus, he went with his last option.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Morgaine blinked at the sight of Colossus yelling out to nothing, "What are you doing?"

"I saw this on TV!" Colossus explained, "If I yell loud enough, I can tear a hole in time and space to escape!"

"That is literally the stupidest thing I have ever hear of," Morgaine le Fey noted.

"Well it may be stupid, but it's also dumb!"

"What? That doesn't make any sense."

"I know! But I'm out of options, and I'm frustrated damn it!" Colossus roared. He then sighed and sat cross-legged in midair, "I don't know how to deal with situations like this."

"That much is obvious. In fact…." Morgaine trailed off, "Ah, I see. It's begun. Time for the next phase of my plan."

"Eh?" Colossus looked over to le Fey and saw her summon an amulet in a burst of magic, "Wait, I know that thing. It belonged to Dora before she became Doctor Fate. I thought Vision had it."

Morgaine smiled, "Yes, she did. But I had an ally get if for me while everyone was distracted." In a blaze of red energy, the amulet disappeared.

"What? Where did it go?" Colossus questioned.

"I returned it to its owner," Morgaine then lifted up a hand to her mouth and giggled, "And with that, all the beings that can interfere with the Spectre have effectively been distracted."

"What?!" Colossus' indignation spiked when the Spectre was mentioned, "What the hell does that mean?"

"You'll see once this is all over."

"Ah...Where did the meat monster go?" Kid Flash took a big bite out of the stake in his hands.

"It appears to have teleported magically," Doctor Fate closed her eyes and focused on the energy around her, "I sense Morgaine le Fey has done something."

"But why?" Flash questioned, "It really doesn't make any sense. It would have taken more time for us to defeat the, err, Lunch Lady," Well…He heard weirder names than that. One of his rouges called himself Captain Boomerang after all, "Why suddenly move her and let us go help other people?"

Doctor Fate shook her head, "I have no idea. Perhaps it is merely a distraction or a fake out. Either way, we should—"

The ghost, magic user hybrid paused when red energy flared around her. She tried to shield herself with some golden energy and seemed to stop whatever was attacking her. Unfortunately, something slipped through the shield. It was something that her energy recognized as an ally. It was Dora's golden amulet that allowed her to change into a dragon.

As soon as the amulet wrapped around her neck, Doctor Fate let out a scream. Red energy blared around her in a blaze. In mere seconds, she disappeared from the sights of the Flash boys. All that was left in her place was the Helmet of Fate.

Kid Flash dropped the stake in his hand. It landed on the ground with a solid splat, "What…what the hell just happened?"

"I have no idea, Kid," Flash knelt down and examined the smoking helmet, "But something tells me that it's not good."

"RRRRRRRRROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!"

Etrigan blinked up to the dragon roaring in the sky, "Haven't seen a sight like that in a while."

The large dragon had light blue scales and a thick underbelly. Her curved horns were green like the spikes that came out of her spine. Large, thick wings lifted her muscular body off the ground.

"Wait! I recognize that dragon!" Artemis lowered her bow, "That's Dora! But why isn't she Doctor Fate?"

"Based on the feel I get from her and the magical glow around her…I would guess le Fey had something to do with this," Etrigan noted, "She always did love her dragons."

"But how could she do overcome Doctor Fate's power?" Black Canary questioned.

"Every way of living in the physical plane is risky," Etrigan noted, "Doctor Fate uses bodies as physical anchors, so Namu gains the weaknesses of that body, including death and the tendency to overlook what is familiar to the body. But I bet only Morgaine le Fey could pull this off."

"That's all really fascinating, and I would love to hear more but…" Green Arrow pointed at the dragon, "She's coming right at us! Everybody move!"

Green Arrow and Black Canary rolled to the right side of the street. Artemis and Etrigan rolled to the left side of the street. They managed to get out of the way just in time. Dora flew over the street and blew out green fire across the cement. The flames blazed and forced the heroes to shield their eyes from the heat.

"She's most likely in a dazed state from le Fey's influence!" Etrigan shouted to his allies, "It might be some time before the influence fades! We have no choice but to fight!"

"I heard about Dora's dragon form from Danny!" Artemis roared as she readied her bow, "Aim for the amulet! If we get if off, then Dora will change back to normal! That way, we don't have to hurt her!"

Green Arrow readied his own bow, "Sounds like a plan! Let's do this!"

Phantom crashed into a car with a loud creak. He sat on the dented side of the vehicle and let out a deep breath to try to forget the pain in his rips, "Damn, he hits hard…"

At that moment, the metal of the car twisted and came to life. The right front tire reached up and pushed the halfa into the ground. In response, Phantom turned intangible and fazed through the ground. He then burst out from the side. Sending out a blast of ectoplasm, Phantom caused the possessed car to burst out in a blaze of metal shards and flames.

"OW!" Phantom eyes rolled back into his head a bit as the Spectre sunk his fist into Phantom's spine. The Spectre then grabbed Phantom's head and began to push it to the ground. As he did this, a fist made of cement rose from the ground and met Phantom's face as as the ghost fell. The halfa's head smashed through the fist and continued down to smash into the street. The entire street to crack and crumbled beneath the force.

"Don't let your guard down!" Red Huntress roared as she got right behind the Spectre. She held a Fenton Thermos in her hand and pushed it against Spectre's back. In a blaze of energy, the Spectre was captured into the Thermos.

Kneeling down, Red Huntress began to help Phantom, "We did it, Danny. We got him."

Phantom looked to Red Huntress as he was helped up. He was the one that fought the Spectre up close and took all of the damage from the fighting. The halfa was well aware that his girlfriend was tough, but one of the Spectre's attacks could basically shatter her. Even though his endurance was over a dozen times better than a normal human, Phantom's face was bloodied and bruised, many of his ribs were broken, and his right shoulder was cracked, "Good…That's good…"

"You okay?" Red Huntress questioned.

"No…" Phantom let out a groan and fell back down. Red Huntress was instantly by his side. As she did this, she placed the thermos behind her, "Damn. He got me good."

"Can't you just use your regeneration ability?" Red Huntress questioned, "I know it uses a lot of energy, but it's not like you can go around like that."

"Yeah…" Phantom nodded as his wounds began to knit themselves back together, "Maybe I should start carrying ectoplasmic boosts like Dusk to regain energy."

Red Huntress smiled at her boyfriend, "Knowing your luck, you'd just break or lose them before you could use them."

Phantom let out a chuckle, "Yeah that seems to happen to everything I own."

"Come on," Red Huntress helped Phantom up once more, "Let's got check on Rocket and Icon. The probably—"

Red Huntress froze when the thermos behind them began to shake and rattle. Before the two of them could turn around, the thermos meant to contain the most powerful of ghosts shattered. In a blaze of green the Spectre formed in front of them once more.

"How?" Red Huntress was gob smacked, "The thermos never broke before…"

"It is impressive that it could contain me for even a few seconds. It seems that no amount of raw power can help a ghost escape," The Spectre admitted, "But you forget, I can distort inanimate objects to follow my will. A container with no life force in it could not hope to contain me."

With that said, the Spectre reached out. His glowing green fingers seemed to distort the air around them as they reached out for the Red Huntress. Acting quickly, Phantom flung his girlfriend back and ducked under the hand.

Phantom had a few aces up his sleeve. One of his favorite was the Ghostly Wail, but that was too dangerous to do with all the frozen and unconscious ghosts around. The sound waves would kill them. Thus, Phantom resorted to an ace that he only used in battle once. He would combined his powers.

His right hand blazed in a combination of green and blue energy. The skin beneath the energy began to peel and rip away from the contradictory combination of hot ectoplasm and freezing cryoplasm. He ignored this, though, and continued with his attack. Phantom punched up at the Spectre's head with the intent of finishing this. The only problem was that the Spectre dodged.

With his head tilted to the right, the Spectre looked behind him. There was a giant, smoking crater covered in ice right behind him. The crater was five times the size of the Spectre. Eyeing the crater, the Spectre knew that even he would have been injured by that attack, "Very impressive. You combined your contradictory energies to create an explosive reaction. Ingenious, yet…" The Spectre eyed Phantom's shattered, bruised, and bleeding arm, "Dangerous. That arm does not look usable anymore, and your energy levels are dangerously low."

Sweat poured down Phantom's brow. His arm fell dead to his side. He trembled in exhaustion and a little fear, "Damn it, I—"

The Spectre reached out once more. This time, he managed to grab the halfa and silence the words, "My apologies, but I don't have all day. I'll end this quickly."

Phantom's world erupted into a blaze of pain and agony.

Torch brought up his scythe to block the swing of Ember's guitar. Blue flames met red fire and began to push against each other. Using his greater physical strength, Torch pushed Ember back. He then began to spin and swing the side of the scythe that had no blade at the female ghost. Each swing was blocked by Ember until she moved back to gain some space.

The siren ghost then brought hands across her guitar strings and sent a wave of sound energy at the other fire ghost. Torch responded by thrusting his scythe forward and creating column of fire that consumed Ember's attack and rocketed towards Ember. Another swipe of the guitar strings created an ectoplasmic shield around Ember.

Ember was surprised, though, when Torch charged through his attack. He forced the blade of his scythe into the shield of sound and tore it apart. After that was done, Torch raised his foot and kicked the guitar in Ember's hand up. The siren ghost managed to keep a hold of the guitar, but her guard was wide open.

Torch took advantage. He spun one last time and used his momentum to thrust a palm at Ember's midsection. As the attack flew forward, it was encased in fire that seemed to take the shape of a roaring chimp. Torch was prepared to tear through Ember with that attack. At the last second, though, Torch looked up to see Ember's face.

"Trever, I'm going to be the greatest rockstar in the world! I don't care what Dad says. You follow your dream, and I'll follow mine. And, in the end, I'm sure we'll come out as legends."

The flames around Torch's arm died away. He stopped the momentum in his arm and gently placed his hand on Ember's stomach. Then, he pushed the girl away from him. She flew several feet and stopped in midair.

Torch looked like he was about to say something, but he didn't get the chance to. Ember was quickly blown away by a twister. She went flying down into the street below.

"It looked as though you could use some hel—" Red Tornado was silenced when Torch whacked him over the head with his scythe.

"Stay out of this fight!" Torch hissed, "This is Torch's fight. If you interfere or hurt Ellie, Torch will kill you."

Red Tornado rubbed the cracks that appeared over his head, "This is unusual behavior for you. You're holding back against her and threaten me if I hurt her. To my knowledge, she is not one of your 'minions.' Is she a lover of yours?"

"That's sick!" Torch snapped.

"Then what is it?"

"Don't worry about it," Torch grumbled as he twirled his scythe, "Just leave Ellie to Torch. She's my responsibility, and Torch will save her without hurting her."

"Where did the meat monster come from!?" Captain Marvel questioned as he dodged the Lunch Lady's massive meat fist while trying not to drop the building he caught from the Box Ghost. The Lunch Lady randomly appeared in a blaze of magical energy. Her combination attack with the Box Ghost was surprisingly whelming.

"Euqebrab eseht krop spohc!" Zatanna cried as she extended her hands. Fire erupted from her arms and roasted the flying wads of meat that were flying at her. When the piles fell to the ground a safe distance from Zatanna, she spoke again, "Okay, ghosts are really weird. Controlling boxes? Forming giant monsters of meat? Could there be weirder powers?"

"Do not underestimate them," Zatara pointed his wand at the smaller meat monsters that spawned from the giant monster and shouted, "Etucortcele meht lla!" Electricity shot out of the wand and obliterated the monster in a blast of lightning.

Zatanna flipped back to avoid being smashed by the giant monster of meat, "Yeah, I know that. The powers may sound dumb, but they're dangerous."

"Dumb but dangerous…"Captain Marvel paused after he placed the building down as gently as possible, "Dang, there's so many people I could make fun of right now. Who to start with?"

"Captain Marvel, stay focused!" Zatara yelled out. A bubble of energy formed around the magician to protect him from the giant meat monster.

"Huh?" It was at that moment that Captain Marvel was blindsided when the Lunch Lady's massive foot crashed into the magical man and send him flying into a building. He crashed through a wall and was smashed under a pile of concrete and brick.

For a second, Captain Marvel just lay there under the pile of concrete. He deserved that. Taking his eye off the ball was a rookie mistake. This was his punishment. He shouldn't get any relief, even if it didn't really hurt him.

"Get...off…digging."

"I…digging….dunderhead!"

Captain Marvel felt the weight on top him lighten. Someone seemed to moving the pieces of wall off of him. He wasn't sure if it were his friends or civilians, but considering that they going through the trouble of helping him, he should probably be nice enough just to lie there like a log

Sitting up, Captain Marvel pushed the concrete off of him and looked to who was helping him. A thirteen-year-old girl and a boy of the same age stood before the captain. The girl had curly black hair, while the boy had shaggy brown hair. Both of them were dressed in simple sweatshirts and jeans.

"Are you okay, Captain Marvel?" Mary Bromfield questioned. She leaned in to the point that she was invading his personal space and examined his face.

The boy in the blue hoody, Freddy Freeman, scoffed, "Of course he's okay. He's invincible, right?"

"Not completely, but pretty close, Freddy," Captain Marvel stated without thinking.

"You know my name?" The boy's bored looking eyes widened slightly.

"Err…I saved you once…" Captain Marvel lied about the fact that his secret identity, Billy Batson, was close friends with Freddy.

Freddy obviously didn't buy it, but Mary seemed to, "Yeah! It was a few years ago! Oh my gosh, I can't believe you remember us!"

As Mary talked, Captain Marvel looked around to see a lot of people huddling and hiding. It appeared that they had taken refuge in this building to get away from the fighting.

"Beware," The Box Ghost's voice sounded out through the room. It was then that the entire building began to shake and trembled. The walls began to curve as if they were sides of a box being folded.

Captain Marvel jumped to his feet, "He's going to bring this place down! Everyone out now!"

The chosen person of Shazam quickly ushered the people out of the room. They exited through the whole in the wall and the main entrance. Under his guidance, almost everyone got out of the building. Like in every situation, though, there were people who didn't leave immediately.

"Come on, Freddy!" Marry called to her friend.

"One second!" Freddy reached under a desk and pulled out a five-year-old girl with blond curls. "Now's not the time to hide, stupid!"

"Don't call her stupid, she's scared!" Mary argued as Freddy began to carry the little girl to the entrance.

"No excuse to do something dumb. I—" Freddy's eyes began to widen as the hole in the wall began to collapse. Out of reflex, he flung the little girl in his arms out of the hole and into safety. He did this just in time, because the hole fell as soon as the girl was outside.

Captain Marvel, who was at the other entrance, looked over to see that Freddy and Mary had yet to escape. He instantly began to fly to them with the intent of covering them with his body. "I'm coming!"

Both teens saw him coming and moved to meet him part-way. Before they could move far, though, a large piece of concrete fell to where Freddy was standing. Seeing this, Mary pulled Freddy out of the way with as much force as she could muster. As she did this, she tumbled and fell pulling Freddy with her.

Freddy looked around and realized that Captain Marvel was too far away. They were doomed, "Well…that sucks…" Closing his eyes, Freddy hugged Mary close in a desperate attempt to shield her from the damage.

"Mary! Freddy!" Captain Marvel shouted. He was almost there. With his arm outreached, Captain Marvel flew to cover the two. As the ceiling finally came crashing down, though, he was mere fingertips away. Mary had reached out to him in a sign of trust and belief, but he wouldn't make it in time. "NO!"

Electricity sparked between Captain Marvel and Mary's fingers. The electricity spread through her body and then moved into Freddy because of his hold on her. The two teens were filled with magical energy and power they never realized existed. Neither of them knew why, but a single word popped into their head. They felt compelled to say it. The word was almost instinctual as it left their lips.

"SHAZAM!"

"That girl is your daughter?" Queen Hippolyta questioned, "Normally, I would celebrate such a moment, but I don't feel as though this is a good thing."

"It's not, Mother," Troia took a battle stance, "That girl is under the control of the enemy."

Queen Hippolyta looked at all some of the unconscious bodies on the ground, "Like the other ghosts?"

"No, Mother. Nyx is controlled by a different enemy," Wonder Woman explained.

Queen Hippolyta nodded slowly "Hmm...The workings of Man's World are very strange."

Pandora ignored this exchange and looked to her daughter, "Nyx, I implore you. Come home! Klarion has twisted your mind! You're not thinking straight!"

"Oh? Because I think my mind's never been clearer," Nyx gave a smirk, "I have always been drawn to chaos. Everyone I know will admit that much. Sure, Dad did start the spark, but I'm the one that turned into a firestorm. The whole reason I was created was to destroy and to cause mayhem. All I'm doing is living in my true nature."

"You're wrong! Nyx, you are just as much a part of order as you are part of chaos!" Pandora argued with passion in her eyes, "I raised you to have a sense of justice and love for the world. You may not be perfect order, but you're also not perfect chaos. You are the perfect combination of the two. From the beginning, you've been controlled chaos. That is who you are, my daughter."

Nyx had a bored look on her face as she cleaned out her ear with her pinky finger, "I'm sorry, did you say something? Cause all I hear was 'wah wah wah'."

Pandora clenched the box in her hands.

"Oh? Are you thinking about using that box on me?" Nyx gained an amused look, "You just said that I'm divided between chaos and order. What do you think will happen if you try to take that chaos? What will happen if you rip my soul in half and put it in that box?"

Pandora looked down in shame.

"I thought so," Nyx let out a giggle, "You're so predictable, Mom. That's the problem with order. You always know what's going to happen next. Anarchy is so much more fun. That's why people clamor for it in some way. Without a desperate struggle or an endangered world, all that would be boredom; and no one would like that."

Pandora looked on the verge of tears.

"That look just proves my point. You know that I hated living with you. I felt like I was going to die of boredom—"

"ENOUGH!" Troia roared.

Everyone looked to the young Amazon in shock. Donna had a look of pure outrage on her face. Her body was struck with tremors, and her breath was coming out in heaves.

Nyx raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"I said that was enough!" Troia exclaimed. "Can thou not see how much thy words hurt thy mother!? And it is not because any of that crap is true! It is because thy words are not thy own! The sight of thee being under the control of another pains her to no end! That is why that look is on her face!"

Nyx's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly, "Oh really?"

"Yes, she sees how deep thy suffering is right now," Troia explained, "To have no control of thy actions or words…It is a pain that I cannot hope to understand. But I can certainly do my best to ease this burden."

"Ease this burden? The hell does that mean, Princess?" Nyx questioned.

"I challenge thee to a duel!" Troia took a sword from one of her Amazonian sisters and pointed it to Nyx, "We shall fight, and I shall beat the evil influence out of thee!"

"Donna, what are you doing?" Wonder Woman questioned, "You do not have to fight alone. We are all here to help you."

"I am aware of that," Troia did not take her eyes off of Nyx, "But this is the only option we have. If more than one of us attacks her, then she will flee. She is not stupid enough to fight against all the warriors of Themyscira at once or even more than one at once. This is the only way to get her to fight."

"Are thee sure about this, my daughter?" Queen Hippolyta questioned, "I sense a great power from her. I do not think that skill alone can best her."

"It has to be me, Mother," Troia noted, "Pandora has the most ties with Nyx, but it would be cruel to ask a mother to do such a thing to her daughter. After her, though, I am the only one with a connection to Nyx. She is my teammate's close friend. As such, she is my friend as well. This duty falls on my shoulders."

Queen Hippolyta gained a proud look, "Thou have grown much, Donna. Thy words make me proud."

"But still…" Wonder Woman eyed Nyx, "A combination of Pandora and Klarion the Witch Boy? Can anyone warrior best her?"

"I have to try," Troia stated with resolve in her eyes.

"Troia…" Pandora muttered, "Thank you, but you don't have to do is."

"But I do," Troia's resolve did not waver, "This is a matter of pride and honor. I cannot back down."

"Wow, that was a really moving speech, Princess. Only one problem…" Nyx pulled down her eyelid and stuck out her tongue, "Why should I even fight you? I won't get nothing from fighting you on your home turf."

Troia seemed shocked. It hadn't occurred to her that Nyx wouldn't want to fight merely out of pride, "Very well. What do I need to offer in order to get thee to agree to do battle with me?"

"Hmm…" Nyx's eyes swept over Troia's form. For some reason, the Amazon felt very uncomfortable under the gaze. It was familiar for some reason. Satisfied judgment trickled through Nyx's eyes as a smirk donned her face. Oddly enough, Donna recognized that look. It was the look she received from…

"That rope," Nyx finally stated as her eyes settled on Donna's waist, "I want the rope that makes it so people can't lie."

"What?! Why?" Troia demanded.

"Simple. Without lies, all there is left is the painful truth, and often times, people can't take that," Nyx explained, "Think of the chaos that I can cause with that thing."

Donna looked at the Lasso of Truth at her waist. It wasn't the original lasso, but it was still a gift from her mother. The weapon meant a lot to her, but this was a matter of pride now, "Very well. If thou wins, then thou gets the lasso, but if I win, thou will return to thy mother and must reveal all the secrets thee knows about the Light and why they would have thee scout both Atlantis and my home."

"Seems like a fair bet," Nyx let a crazed grin cover her lips, "Let's fight then, Princess. Be careful not to chip a nail."

"I got an open view of the courtyard," David Cain whispered into his voice piece. He was perched on a tower that over looked the courtyard of the Shadow's compound. All the assassins and shinobi were called for an announcement of strategy. Normally, Cain would be salivating at the cash he would receive from the juicy info he could sell to Fenton, but right now he had a mission to do, "I got everyone in scope. Just give me directions, and I'll shoot 'em with a trank; then one of you drag 'em out before Ra's realized anything is going on."

Lady Shiva had to fight not to look at David's position. The towers a good place for a sniper, but one wrong move could reveal his location. That was why she didn't speak back to Cain. It would be too suspicious if she spoke to no one.

This would not be an easy task. Everyone that was located at this compound was in the courtyard for this announcement. This included Ra's Al Ghul. As such, this would be the place Amorpho would strike no matter what his goal was. Either he was after Ra's or the Lazarus Pit. No matter what Amorpho was really after, Ra's was a necessary target to guard.

Madame Rogue had blended in with the crowd, but Shiva followed her movements. The shape shifter looked for anything unusual in the crowd. That was a problem. Everyone was the same. They all looked up to the steps leading up to the compounds main building made out of stone. It was akin to a castle in many ways, which was suiting considering Ra's status.

Shiva stood behind Ra's Al Ghul. He was a man who appeared to be middle aged spoke. He had black hair with streaks of grey, long black mustache, and long black eyebrows. The man wore a regal green cloak with black clothing underneath. Despite appearing somewhat young, Shiva knew that this man was well over 600 years old.

On Ra's right was another woman. This woman appeared to have Arabian heritage. She had high cheekbones, green eyes, and long dark hair. Her leather outfit was revealing, but not overly so to the point that it would hinder her movement. She was Talia Al Ghul, Ra's Al Ghul's daughter and trusted right hand.

On Ra's left was a large, muscular man. Towering over Ra's, this man looked intimidating with his massive muscles, shaved head, and mean expression. This man, Ubu, had his arms crossed over his sleeveless black shirt. Ubu was Ra's most trusted and loyal servant.

Frowning, Shiva looked across the crowd. They only had one shot so they had to take down the right person. Once Cain made his shot, Shiva could cause a distraction while Roque quickly dragged Amorpho out of the compound. If everything went perfectly, Ra's wouldn't even know about Amorpho's presence.

Even as Ra's began speaking, Shiva focused on her search. All of the people at the bottom of the steps were too far away to charge at Ra's and not get stopped by a crowd of assassins. Plus, considering Ra's ability to sense presences around him, he would notice if Amorpho tried to get close using invisibility. How exactly did Amorpho expect to get to Ra's? To get the jump on the Great One, the ghost would have to right by Ra's…

Wait.

Shiva's eyes glanced back and forth between Talia and Ubu. Neither of them had the tensioned look of being overshadowed by a ghost. Could Amorpho have done a sneak attack on one of them and replaced them? Amorpho was a good actor, so it was possible. If that was the case, though, then Amorpho was standing right next to his target.

They had act quickly. Morgaine le Fey was master manipulator. She probably had something planned to get control of Ra's. If that was done, she would gain complete control over an army of assassins. They could not let that happen.

'What can I do? What Morgaine has planned could be very subtle. Just physical contact could put him under Morgaine's control if the sorceress planned things out smartly. We have to take Amorpho down right now.'

There was only one problem, the new target to take down was one of Ra's Al Ghul's most trusted friends and followers, and they were standing right next to the man. He would surely notice if they did anything, and if Shiva got caught, she would be questioned as to how she knew about Amorpho and why she was working with David Cain, a known criticizer of the League of Shadows.

And if they found out the truth that she was working as a spy…She and her daughter would be killed.

'Damn it…'

Red Huntress had been pushed back hard enough by Phantom to send her sliding back several meters. By the time she steadied herself and looked up, a massive crater had formed behind the Spectre. Phantom had missed in his last desperate move.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Cries of agony beat against Red Huntress's ears as the Spectre grabbed onto Phantom's face. A swirling green energy bubble appeared around them. The inside of the bubble looked hollow, but the air seemed to distort and twist around the ghost. Spectre didn't seemed affected by the dimensional ripping, but Phantom was taking the full brunt of the pain.

His skin twisted and pealed. Bones rattled and cracked. Green blood oozed out of his eyes, nose, and mouth. He clawed desperately at the Spectre's arm, but he could do nothing to break the hold. All he could do was regenerate his injures and endure the agony of having his body torn apart nerve by nerve.

Red Huntress instantly went into action. She deployed two more turrets and allowed them to fire at the Spectre. The ghost hunter then formed her hover board under her feet and flew around the bubble. She shot at the Spectre in a desperate attempt to free her boyfriend. All of her attempts to free Phantom proved fruitless, though.

The bubble reflected all ectoplasmic attacks and bullets. Guns, explosions, and even blades bounced off the shield as though they were nothing. None of her ranged tactics seemed to work, so Red Huntress did the only thing she could. She flew straight up to the bubbled and attempted to pull Phantom free.

As soon as Red Huntress reached a single hand into the bubble, she regretted it, "AH! What the hell!?" Pulling her hand back, Red Huntress looked at her hand. The armor on her arm was cracked and bent. She could feel the skin underneath the armor blister and boil in pain. She wasn't as hurt as Phantom was because of her armor, but that still hurt like hell.

'He must feel like he's being tortured,' Red Huntress realized. If she was in this much pain from a second of the pain while protected by her armor, Phantom's pain must have been enough to kill someone several time over, 'I have to get him out of there!'

Ignoring her own safety, Red Huntress plunged her hands into the bubble. Shouting from the hot needles that seemed to be stabbing into her arms, Red Huntress had to fight the urge to pull her arms out. Instead, she focused on saving Phantom and pushed her way further into the bubble. Fighting not to let tears fall from the shear torment of the attack, Red Huntress managed to fully submerge herself into bubble of dimensional distortion.

It took everything Red Huntress had not to pass out from the pain. She fought against blissful unconsciousness and endured the suffering. Red Huntress went to attack Spectre, but she found that her weapons were all destroyed by the dimensional distortion. Thus, she did the only thing she could. She ripped off a piece of her shoulder armor and used it as a dagger to stab the Spectre in the arm. Surprised by Red Huntress' bold actions, the Spectre released his hold on the halfa.

Seeing this, Red Huntress instantly grabbed onto Phantom and began to pull him out. As she did this, though, the Spectre reached out with his other hand and grabbed onto the back of her helmet. Now unable to move out of the bubble, Red Huntress did the only thing she could think off before the Spectre could grab Phantom once more. She used all the energy she had left and pushed Phantom out of the bubble.

Phantom landed on the ground clumsily. His skin was raw and aching. His energy reserves were at zero. He could barely think straight, and moving was a tedious process. It was almost like he was swimming through honey. Despite all this, he attempted to turn back around and reach into the bubble. His thoughts were only to save his girlfriend, but before he could reach the bubble, it faded.

Focusing his vision, Phantom looked up from his position on his ground to see the broken form of Valerie Gray. Her armor was cracked and broken to the point that it was falling off. The broken portions of her armor revealed that the skin underneath a cut and bloody mess. The worst part, though, was where the Spectre was grabbing.

The force of the Spectre's grip shattered Red Huntress' helmet to reveal Valerie's face and dark, wavy hair. Phantom cried out as he saw Valerie's face. It was bruised, cut, and bloodied to the point of beyond recognition. The single eye that still shown on her face was filled with agony and suffering.

"Valerie," Phantom began to cry as he reached up slowly and took her hands in his, "W-why? Why did you take my punishment?"

"I…refuse…to…abandon…you…" Valerie's words came out as pained heaves. Her voice was cracked and barely audible, "Not…like…last…time..."

"Specter, let her go!" Phantom begged desperately. He tried to pull Valerie away from the Spectre, but he barely had the energy to hold onto Valerie, "Please! She's innocent!"

"No one is innocent," The Spectre's words pierced Phantom's heart like a spear. His arm clinched and bent as he prepared to toss the broken girl away like she was a piece of trash. Still, Phantom did not let got. He would never let go.

"Danny…" Valerie could no longer breathe correctly. Words felt painful as they left her lips, and she lacked the energy to speak much more. There was so much she wanted to say to Danny. She wanted to proclaim her love for him. She wanted to say how proud she was to be able to fight as he equal. She wanted to thank him for making her into a better person. The ghost hunter could say none of these things, though. Her body wouldn't let her say more than one more word, so she gave him one last loving look and said the one word that explain exactly how she felt about Danny, "Yes."

As soon as that was said, the Spectre tossed Valerie away. Phantom did not let go, so he was dragged with her. Because of his lack of energy, though, Phantom could not stop their momentum or even pull his girlfriend close to shield her from the impact. Thus, he could do nothing as Valerie's unprotected body crashed through several buildings, landed with a solid crack, and then rolled into a broken, unmoving heap.

Still not letting go of Valerie's hands, Phantom crawled his way up to her side and sat on his knees next to her, "Oh God, Valerie…"

There were no words to describe the state of Valerie's body. The mere sight of her shattered form caused bile to crawl up his throat and tears to pour down his face. Phantom was in no way a medic, but there was no question that she was dead. Part of him wanted to go into denial, but the truth was right in from of him. Death stood before him.

"Danny…" The girl in front of Danny appeared as a teenager that was close to adulthood. She was pale and was wearing pure black clothing. A black ank hung around her neck. In fact, black seemed to a consistent color for her with her black hair and makeup. Her voice was filled with sympathy as she spoke to him, "I'm so sorry, Danny."

"Don't take her," Phantom sobbed desperately. He clenched Valerie's hands tightly and looked into her wide, unfocussed eyes, "Please, not her. I love her so much…"

"I know, but there's nothing I can do," Death explained as she shook her head, "It's just her time."

Phantom whipped his head up to the standing girl and roared, "But that's not fair! She's young! She's a hero! She deserves to live!"

Death gave him a look of complete disappointment, "Danny, I'm disappointed in you. You, more than anyone else, should know that I am fair. It is life that isn't fair. But for me…for the last force a soul will ever have to endure, everyone is treated equally. Not everyone can live a long and fulfilling life, but everyone dies. It doesn't matter who you are. That is why Death is the only true fair thing in this universe."

"I know…I know…" Phantom sobbed, "But…I…I can't…just...She said yes."

"I know, Danny," Death placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "I know."

Still crying, Phantom gently placed Valerie's right hand down. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box that he kept with him at all times during the past couple of weeks. Inside the box was a golden ring with a diamond on top. Taking the ring, Phantom gently placed it on Valerie's ring finger, "I-I'm sorry I didn't get propose properly. But you still knew. You were always so good at reading me..."

"Oh my god…" A gasp appeared behind Phantom. It was the woman that he saved before, the medic. She probably saw the crash and came to see if they were okay. She was still flanked by the two children who looked in horror at the scene, "Let me take a look at her! Maybe I can do something!"

Phantom shook his head. He gently placed her down and closed her unfocused eyes. "No…She's gone, and she's not coming back."

"But…"

Phantom took of the remains of his torn coat and placed it over Valerie's corpse, "Please, look after her."

He wasn't sure who he talked to in that moment. Perhaps he was talking to the medic. Maybe he was talking to Death. Or he might just be berating himself in his failure.

"O-okay," Jean Hawkins knelt down next to the body, "I-I will."

"Don't worry, Danny," Death gave him a gentle smile, "She's going to a good place,"

"That's good…" Phantom mumbled as he began to walk back through the holes that they created in the crash, "Because that's more than I can say for the Spectre."

Phantom walked slowly back to the street that the Spectre was waiting. The halfa's head was bowed as silent tears continued to fall.

"Are your ready to die now? Because I grew tired of waiting for you," The Spectre gestured to the shattered statues of the ghosts and demons that used to be down the street, "I decided to reap some revenge while I waited. Now, it's only us."

"Idiot."

The Spectre raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

"You're an idiot," Phantom stated. He came to a halt right in front of the Spectre, "You let your instincts cloud your judgment. You forgot everything about who I am…So let me remind you."

"Your words make no sense," The Spectre reached out once more. He planned to finish Phantom with the same attack that he used before. This time, though, the Spectre didn't manage to grab his enemy. With a shocking amount of speed and power, Phantom dodged Spectre's arm, moved forward, and punched the spirit of vengeance in the face.

The Spectre went crashing down the road. He bounced several times before coming to a halt. With a look of shock, he looked up to see Phantom with his arm still extend.

"My name is Danny Phantom. I have survived more near death experiences than I can count. You want to know why?" Phantom lowered his arm, "The closer I am to Death, the stronger I get, because my existence is connected to Death like yours is connected to vengeance."

"No…" The Spectre whispered as he remembered what Phantom was talking about, "When ghosts die, you can absorb the energy…but that's only when they allow it…"

"Not just that anymore…" Phantom stated, "You've been gone too long, Spectre. I've delved more into my existence. You see, I learned more about my powers. It doesn't matter who anymore. If someone, anyone that uses ectoplasmic or magical energy dies, I can absorb their energy temporarily. It doesn't matter who they are, I can make their energy obey my will. And guess what, Spectre…Ghosts and demons are dying all over the world right now!"

The first sign of energy the Spectre saw was a simple stand of green energy rose from Phantom's form. It was quickly followed by a few more. Then came dozens, hundreds, thousands of blasts of energy that bled together and form a green halo around Phantom.

"You like vengeance, right?" Phantom roared. He took a deep stance and snarled at Spectre. Despite the deep rage that gripped his heart, the tears of sorrow continued to flow, "Well guess, what! You got vengeance! I'm gonna punch a hole in your goddam chest!"