Chapter 5: "Foresight"

Disclaimer: I own nothing

"Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised." Denis Waitley

Chapter 5: "Foresight"

(Tuesday-August 3, 2010)

"Danielle?" Vlad walked into the training room of the mansion. It was filled with punching bags, weights, and other specialized equipment. "Are you alright?"

Spirit looked up from her spot in the middle of the floor. She had been working on improving her speed by flying back and forth through the room. "Yeah…"

"Really…" Vlad approached the girl. "Because you've been training all morning."

"Danny was in here too." Spirit argued as she landed on the ground.

"Yes, but that was two hours ago." Vlad mentioned. "Yet here you are still training…"

"What's wrong with training?" Spirit mumbled defensively.

"Nothing as long as you give yourself time to rest." Vlad frowned.

"I took some breaks…" Spirit mentioned.

"Not enough." Vlad stated. "Come downstairs and get something to eat."

"I don't feel like it." Spirit turned away. "I'm going to keep training."

"You make it sound like you have a choice." Vlad raised an eyebrow.

Spirit whipped her head and glared at her father. "And I don't?"

"No, your father is giving you an order." Vlad explained.

"So you're ordering me to stop training, but you let Danny train all night at times." Spirit huffed. "That's a double standard."

"Yes, perhaps it is…" Vlad nodded slowly. "But his case is different."

"And why is that!?" Spirit snapped. "Because I'm young? Because I'm a girl? Because I'm weak?"

"No, Danielle." Vlad knelt down. "It's not because of any of those things, and it's most definitely not because you are weak, because you're not."

"Then what?! Why am I always held back by you?!" Spirit yelled. "Why do you always let Danny do more than me?!"

"He is my responsibility, but Daniel has never been one to listen to me. He has already found his own path. I don't know where it leads, but I respect the fact that he has chosen that path, because despite the fact that he is under my protection, he is not my child." Vlad stared Spirit in the eye. "You are, though."

"No I'm not…" Spirit mumbled. "I'm a clone of Danny, an imperfect one at that…"

"You may not be my child in blood, but that doesn't matter." Vlad noted. "You are my daughter, and nothing will change that."

"…" Spirit looked away. "I know that, but I'm tired of this. Each time there is a challenge, I'm held back. I either have help, lose, or am kept from the fight altogether. I'm tired of it!"

"Danielle…"

"Dad, I'm weak!" Spirit clenched her fists. "I have always been weak, but was too suborn to admit it."

"You are not weak, Danielle." Vlad tried to comfort the girl.

"Yes I am." Spirit took a step back. "And I'm sick of it. I want to be able to fight on my own. I want to win with my own power."

"Your own power? You are able to throw grown men around like rag dolls. You can defeat ghosts that many of the meta-humans on the planet would have trouble with. You can predict a person's intentions and avoid attacks that would hit either Daniel or I." Vlad noted. "How can you undermine that power?"

"It's never enough, though!" Spirit cried. "Every time a crisis occurs, I can never help like I want to! With Mirror Master, Freakshow, and Grundy, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't stop Klemper's death, and I definitely couldn't save Danny when he was about to be killed!"

"…I see…" Vlad nodded.

"No, you don't!" Spirit yelled.

"Danielle, it wasn't your fault-"

"No! No more excuses!" Spirit stepped away. "I'm done with this!"

In an instant, Spirit had turned intangible and flew out of the room. Vlad did nothing to stop her. She needed to cool off some. It reminded Vlad a lot of how Danny was before the war.

Yes, she definitely got those emotions from her genetic father.

Phantom could honestly say that he was completely exhausted. The past few weeks had been non-stop work for the halfa. He had to juggle his time between Young Justice, Axion Labs, protecting the Mirror of Memories, keeping the search going for the missing ghosts, and trying to keep the peace between the humans and the ghosts.

Actually, that last one basically summed up everything Phantom went through for the past few weeks. Trying to keep the peace between humans and ghosts was easier said than done, and just saying it was hard enough.

After the discovery of the Mirror of Memories, the relations of the ghosts and the humans became even rockier. Vision had tried to convince the humans to either put the mirror in hiding, or give it to the ghosts for safe keeping. In truth, this wasn't a too outrageous request. The memory of war was still fresh in the minds of everyone, though, and that complicated things.

Many humans, the US government, the UN, and the Justice League specifically, didn't want to take orders from a ghost. Thus, the first barrier appeared. The humans were unwilling to cooperate.

Phantom couldn't barely believe his ears. He knew that the UN and League had to be…insecure about ghosts, but didn't they understand the danger? Were they really letting their pride get in the way of the safety of both their worlds?

Granted, the UN's (and to a lesser extent the United States) reputation went south after the GIW went rogue and decided to attack the Ghost Zone, but they shouldn't blame the ghosts. The ghosts merely defended themselves. That may have been the problem, though. Everyone knew that the humans were in the wrong and that the UN made a mistake. It had to be a difficult fact to accept.

Then, the Justice League…

Phantom could honestly say he was disappointed in them. Were they really that bitter about the war? Yes, almost every Leaguer was either defeated or pushed to a standstill against the ghosts (or in some cases, two Leaguers were defeated by one ghost), but they should get over it. Phantom lost a lot during his time as a hero.

Of course, not all the Leaguers had such feelings about the ghosts. Some such as Superman and Captain Marvel were ready to trust the ghosts. Others seemed a lot more paranoid, though.

So…maybe it was Vision herself that might be the problem. As a master strategist, espionage expert, and genius, Vision had discretely discovered all the secret identities of the League. Phantom could understand the mistrust that was directed at a being that could not only defeat two Leaguers with ease, but also ruin the entire League's secrecy with a few choice words.

Nevertheless, Phantom had to intervene. The halfa had a lot of good will from all parties. He was the person who saved the Ghost Zone, stopped the GIW and the war, and was also a member of the ghost's Council of the Elite and Young Justice.

…Yeah, he had a lot of crap going on…

Luckily, that helped in this situation. He managed to cool everyone down and get everyone to agree to at least move the mirror. That, however, led to the current problem.

No one could agree on where the mirror should go.

The ghosts wanted it in the Ghost Zone. The UN wanted it locked away in secret, or even destroyed. Even the League was arguing to have it under their protection.

With that problem, however, Phantom didn't know what to do, and with more and more people trying to steal the mirror…He might not have the chance to fix it.

"Danny? You wanted to speak with me?" Superman flew up the halfa who was floating above Metropolis.

Despite the craziness with keeping the mirror safe, lowering tensions between ghosts and humans, and even trying to get Technus to work with the humans at Axion Labs, Phantom still took his role as leader of Young Justice seriously. He tried to go out of his way to help his team adjust to the change of having to rely on people other than their mentors. For the most part, that part was easy, but there was a single problem.

Superboy.

"Hey." Phantom waved tiredly. "Yeah, thanks for agreeing to meet with me."

"It's not a problem." Superman smiled. "It's rare that you meet with anyone in the League when it doesn't have to do with a crisis…It's not a crisis, is it? Because if its about the Mirror of Memories, then you should know that I'm on your side. Batman and I are trying to get everyone in agreement, but…"

"That's okay. This isn't about that." Phantom noted.

"Then what is this about?" Superman questioned.

"…Superboy…"

The expression on Superman's face instantly went from happy to annoyed. "I see…"

"Look, I'm not here to get on your bad side." Phantom tried to calm the Kryptonian. "But I've been hanging around SB for weeks. He's angry as hell, and I don't blame him. I know that you must feel violated, but don't take it out on him. All he's trying to do is make you proud."

"I understand what you're trying to do, Danny. I really do. You're looking out for your team, but that doesn't have anything to do with me." Superman frowned.

"Yes it does." Phantom stated without a single hint of doubt. "Like it or not, you two are connected. You are related by genetics. That means a lot to Superboy. There is not a single other person on the planet that can relate to him as a Kryptonian."

"Blood isn't the only things that makes family."

"No, it doesn't. Most of my family is not related to be, but that doesn't change anything." Phantom eyed the powerful being before him. "Family is family, and neither of us is allowed to be picky here."

Superman sighed. "What do you want?"

"Just spend some time with him." Phantom clarified. "He looks up to you as a goal and role model. Basically, he already idolizes you. Just give him a chance. Do a patrol or help train him. Anything will do. Hell, I bet a freaking pat on the shoulder and a 'good job' will make his day."

"Okay, I get it, but this is different than anything you dealt with." Superman argued. "This is my clone. You don't realize how I feel about that. Someone took my DNA and created another person without my knowledge or consent. That's wrong, and I cannot support it."

Phantom had to fight not to snap out at the Kryptonian at this point. He didn't know?! Phantom understood this better than Superman ever could. The hafla stayed quiet about this, though. If he told Superman about Dani, then the entire League would know.

"Superboy can't help how he was created." Phantom argued. "To blame him for that is wrong."

Superman was silent.

"Just give him a chance." Phantom pleaded.

"I-" Superman's head whipped to the side. He was looking off to the Metropolis Bridge. "There's trouble."

In an instant, the Man of Steel was gone.

"…Damn…"

"Tensions continue to rise between the ghosts and the Justice League-"

"Amity Park has been attacked several times over the past couple of weeks. Reports indicate that most of the attacks were cause by what can be considered 'magical' foes to the Justice League-"

"What is it with that city!? A year ago, no one even heard of it. Now, it's the center of all the chaos happening in the world-"

"What exactly are they hiding-"

"Now I know what you're thinking. Good old G. Gordon has actually changed his mind…and you bet I have!" G. Gordon Godfrey spoke through Dani's phone. "It's only been a few months since the GIW started a full fledge war against the ghost, and the only ones that seem to want peace anymore are the ghosts!

"It was the ghosts that initiated a treaty talk. It was the ghosts that gave all the compromises. It was the ghosts that promised to abide by our rules, yet our so called leaders and protectors refuse to even listen to a simple warning from them. Am I the only one that sees the problem with that?!

"You all know that I was never a supporter of the ghosts. They appeared to be in the wrong at first, but actions speak louder than words! Their actions, especially Danny Phantom, have shown that they want peace. And for the sake of that peace, they have asked the UN and Justice League to move a dangerous artifact away from Amity Park and to guard it.

"That doesn't seem like a difficult request, right? Wrong! Both the UN and the Justice League have been acting like children in this matter! There have already been five attacks to Amity Park, and no action has been taken. Is Amity Park a separate nation or something? Because if not, then, why is it being treated like one?!"

Dani turned off her phone. "That's a good question…"

After leaving her home in anger, Dani made her way to the safest place in Amity Park besides her home. Fenton Works was armed to the tee and was relatively comfortable. Because Vlad knew that the rebuilt Fenton Works would rarely be used compared to their home, he merely added the essential furniture to each room.

Dani was currently in what was Danny's old…rebuilt…room. It now only had a bed and a desk, but Dani didn't care. She just needed a place to cool off.

"You shouldn't listen to that man." Fright Knight noted as he stood at the doorway. "I don't trust him."

"You've been listening to Danny too much. Not all reporters are bad." Dani shrugged. "Besides, he seems to be on our side."

"But for how long…" Fright Knight sighed.

Dani couldn't really complain about the Fright Knight's presence. This was where he was currently living after all. She was the guest here. "Hopefully long enough to get the mirror out of Amity Park."

"Yes. It needs to be moved. That much is true." Fright Knight agreed. "Freakshow, Wotan, and even Klarion all attacked already."

"I think that everyone agrees that it should be moved, the only question is where." Dani noted. "I feel bad for the Justice League, though. They're getting the bad press from this."

"They should be a little more trusting if they didn't want bad publicity." Fright Knight stated.

"But you and the other S-rank ghosts don't trust them. You're just acting like you do." Dani mentioned.

"Indeed…" Fright Knight nodded. "And that is why we have the good publicity. We can act."

Dani snorted at that. "Okay…By the way, was there something you wanted?"

"Ah…yes." Fright Knight nodded. "I figured you had enough time to cool off. What happened?"

"Nothing…" Dani mumbled. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Ah…" Fright Knight rubbed the back of his helm. "I see…You do not wish to speak of it."

"Yeah…" Dani sighed.

"Then I shall leave you be." Fright Knight stated and began to leave.

"Hey…" Dani stopped the knight.

"Yes?"

"How do you become strong?"

Fright Knight paused for a moment. "That is a difficult question to answer. It is different for different people. For people like my liege, battle and hardships make them stronger. Others go through rigorous training. And sometimes, people are just born with strength."

"Which one are you?" Dani questioned.

"A combination of the three." Fright Knight stated.

"And…which one am I?" Dani asked.

"…Hm…" Fright Knight crossed his arm in thought. "Well, you are related to my liege in blood. There is a good chance that you thrive in battle. You might become stronger through challenges."

"But how will I do that if I always have help." Dani frowned. "You even stated that you'll keep following me on patrols until I'm strong."

"You didn't notice?" Fright Knight chuckled as he walked out of the room. "I haven't followed you in your patrols since the mirror was discovered."

"Phantom!?" Superboy yelled when Phantom grabbed him by the shoulders, turned him invisible, and took off into the sky.

"Sup?" Phantom questioned.

"I should be the one asking you that!" Superboy snapped. "Let me go!"

"If I do that, then you won't talk to me." Phantom noted.

"And if you don't, I'll break your teeth out!"

"So that's how you want it…" Phantom quickly flew them to a nearby empty warehouse. "Fine then."

After he fazed them through the warehouse, Phantom dropped Superboy. The clone landed on his feet and glared at the ghost. "What the hell was that?!"

"I wanted to talk in private." Phantom explained as he lowered himself to the ground. "Standing on the Metropolis Bridge is kind of public."

"Why are you even here?" Superboy growled.

"I came to talk to Superman." Phantom said the truth. "But he blew me off when the bridge was collapsing."

"What! Why!?" Superboy was angry that Superman would talk to Phantom and not him.

"It was about you." Phantom shocked Superboy. "I was trying to get him to give you a chance."

"I don't need you to fix my problems!" Superboy exclaimed angrily. "It didn't work anyway…"

"Yeah," Phantom nodded. "I saw. That's why I decided to talk to you."

Superboy crossed his arms and glared away. "What? Are you going to tell me to keep my chin up and get over it?"

"Nope." Phantom shook his head. "I decided that I better calm you down before we meet at the Cave later."

"And what if I don't want to calm down!?" Superboy snarled. "What if I want to be angry and crush everything in my way!?"

"You can try, but that will be hard considering that I'm your first obstacle."

"You really want to fight me?" Superboy smirked. "I'm a juggernaut, and I already beat you once…and you had the help of the others."

"You had help too. This is one-on-one." Phantom slid into a stance. "Come on, let's see if you're so tough when I don't hold back."

"Hold back? Like you can actually hurt me!" Superboy lunged at the ghost.

Phantom knew that fighting Superboy with raw power would be stupid. Even if he was at full strength, Phantom's physical strength was still lower than Superboy's…not to mention his durability. No, he would have to fight smartly here. One hit could really hurt the halfa. But Phantom had a basic idea of how Superboy fought. Dodging the clone would be simple, especially with Phantom's plan.

"Woops…" Phantom turned intangible and allowed Superboy to go flying through him. "You missed…"

"Gah!" Superboy turned and threw a wild punch.

Phantom ducked under the punch with ease. "Too obvious, man."

Superboy snarled. He put his fists together and tried to hammer strike the halfa. Phantom dodged to the side, and the blow soared by him and crushed the concrete where Phantom once stood.

Phantom quickly noticed the opening Superboy gave him. The clone was completely off balance and unguarded. Raising a glowing green fist, the halfa punched the clone in the face. He put everything he had into it, and the force caused Superboy to go flying across the warehouse.

Superboy landed and slid across the ground. In a rage, Superboy quickly jumped to his feet. Phantom could see that his blow didn't really injure the clone all that much. He probably felt it, though.

With a roar, Superboy ran at Phantom. He sent several wild strikes at the halfa. Phantom merely danced around the various attacks. None of the blows even came close to hitting the ghost.

"RAW!"

"Slow."

"ROAR!"

"Nope. Not even close."

"AH!"

"Oh! So close…"

"Stop moving!" Superboy glared as he pulled back for another punch.

"Ok."

Suddenly, Superboy slipped. In his rage, the clone didn't notice as Phantom froze the ground beneath them. The clone tumbled forward into Phantom's waiting kick. Superboy landed with a thud on his back.

Before the clone could get up, Phantom stepped on his chest. A broadsword made of ice was pressed against Superboy's throat. He could feel frost forming on his skin.

"You lose." Phantom stated simply.

"That won't hurt me." Superboy growled. He tried to get up, but his limbs were now frozen to the ground.

"Maybe not, but there are plenty of things that can." Phantom noted. "If this was a magic blade, you would be dead."

"Yeah, 'if.' But it's not." The ice cracked under Superboy's power.

"We don't have the privilege of ignoring possibilities. If you want to follow this path, you need to prepare for any situation." Phantom stated.

"My powers will crush anything in my way!" Superboy yelled. The ice shattered. Phantom flew back to avoid Superboy's punch.

"Oh, really?" Phantom questioned. "I have a lot of powers, and I can tell you from experience that they won't always save you. Sometimes, you just fight a mismatched enemy for you. And in those instances, you can't lose your cool. Letting your anger take control will get you or others killed."

"What?! So your telling me how to feel now?!" Superboy yelled.

"No." Phantom shook his head. "I can't tell you how to feel. In fact, for a long time, I had similar feelings about the world. The anger doesn't go away easily, and I know that people telling me about my anger never made it leave any faster."

"Then what do you want?!"

"I want you to use that anger." Phantom stated. "Control it, instead of letting it control you. That's the reason I wanted to fight you. I knew that you would lose control at the drop of a hat, because I used to."

Superboy was silent.

"And look at what happened." Phantom noted. "You had a huge boost in power and intensity, but you got sloppy. You left yourself open. Then, all I had to do was some tricks, and I took you down with ease. If I were someone else, I would have killed you."

Superboy looked away ashamed. He hated feeling weak.

"No emotion is inherently evil. Fear, desperation, and even anger…they aren't evil. Emotions are just information, and information is in itself powerful. Don't use them in the wrong way." Phantom explained. "If you do, you might accidentally hurt someone that's innocent, and trust me, that is not something you want to happen."

Superboy frowned. "Why?"

"Why, what?" Phantom questioned. "I think it's kind of obvious why you don't want to hurt someone innocent..."

"Why do you care?" Superboy looked up. "No one else would go this far. And don't give some, 'I'm your leader bull crap'."

"…" Phantom took a minute to think. "If I tell you the truth, will you tell anyone else?"

"…" Superboy met the ghost's gaze. "No."

Phantom didn't know whether he should be revealing this information, but he felt that Superboy had the right to know. "You know about Spirit, right? My partner from Amity Park."

"Yeah…"

"Most people think that she's my cousin, but she's more than that. She's like a sister to me, but actually, she's genetically my daughter." Phantom explained.

Superboy's eyes widened.

"She's my clone." Phantom further explained. "That's why I came here in the first place. I, above everyone else, know what this situation's like for Superman. Unlike him, though, I almost instantly accepted D…Spirit."

"And what makes her different!" Superboy was obviously upset by this knowledge.

"I was completely alone when she came along. I had no family or friends to turn to. I looked at her, and…I saw Spirit's genetic mother too. I saw part of the girl I once loved, and I couldn't hate her. I couldn't turn her away." Phantom stated. "Superman…is much more stable than I'll ever be. But more stable means less open to change, grey areas, and unusual circumstances…like clones."

Superboy nodded. "I see. You're just a weirdo."

"…Ok…" Phantom didn't know whether or not to be insulted.

"Then, what do I do about Superman?" Superboy questioned.

"Show him that he's wrong. Show him that you're good, and that he's a fool for turning you away." Phantom state. "Either that or stop caring, but you don't seem like that type of person."

Superboy nodded slowly. "Okay…and thanks."

"No problem." Phantom smiled. "Oh, and one more thing."

"What?"

"Anger might not be evil, but I can tell you this. There isn't a moment that anger will ever bring you happiness."

Dani had to admit, it was nice to just relax at times. The quietness of Fenton Works was a nice change of pace compared to the loud city and chaos at home. Here, Dani had time and peace to think. It was nice…

Until she got bored that is. Unfortunately, the Fright Knight refused to allow her to break anything, so she had to find another way to quell her boredom. Her normal way would be training, but Fenton Works lacked the room necessary for her destructive training.

Not to mention all the delicate equipment…

Dani looked up from her paper. The lab of Fenton works was filled with half-finished machines, weapons, and armor. There was a small open space, though. In the space sat the Fright Knight. He appeared to be meditating.

Apparently, that was how he relaxed. He had noted that everyone had different ways to relax and recharge after hard times. Mediation, reading, inventing (guess whose pastime that was) were all different forms of relaxation.

According to the Fright Knight, such things were necessary. If warriors didn't have such recreations, they would go insane. Everyone needs a break from time to time.

Dani decided that she might want to try distracting herself. She ran into some trouble, however. Mediation was too quiet. Reading was boring. And those machines…Yep, she couldn't do that.

So, Dani decided to take just doodle. It was a simple pastime to do, and drawing the people she knew in various ways was really funny.

Eventually, Dani grew bored of this, though, and began to sketch the room. There was a lot of things to sketch in the room. Dani's favorite so far was the Fright Knight. His armor was extremely detailed and sharp.

Besides this, Dani was extremely interested in one particular item in the room. The halfa girl had heard stories about this particular weapon. Danny apparently wore that battle suit a lot before the GIW War.

The Red X suit…

Dani stared at the black cylinder which contained the suit. It had a space of its own. The halfa girl had a feeling that Danny had spent quite a bit of time staring at the cylinder as well. Dani knew of his exploits in the suit, and knew how it affected him.

While in that suit, he was a mercenary. He was brutal and ruthless. If anyone got in his way, Red X would crush them. And that scared Danny. So, he kept it here. There was a good chance that he wanted to destroy it, but he knew that it might be needed later.

So, the suit stayed…

"Friend!" Wulf flew into the basement lab. He seemed to be in hysterics.

"Wulf?" Dani eyed the fur covered ghost. "What's up?"

Wulf was so agitated that he couldn't speak English correctly. He was rapidly yelling in Esperanto. Dani couldn't understand a word of it, though. Unlike Danny, Dani had never learned the native language of their friend.

"Woah! Slow down." Dani put her sketch pad down. "I don't know what you're saying."

"Smell is off!" Wulf barked out. "Enemies! Necromancers!"

"What!?" Fright Knight jumped to his feet. "You sense those infernal killing machines!?"

"Si!" Wulf nodded vigorously.

Dani remembered the Necromancers. Originally designed and later hidden by the Fentons, the Necromancers were the perfect ghost killing machines. One Necromancer had the power to defeat dozens of ghosts with ease. The halfa girl still remembered when the first Necromancer they encountered had killed Klemper. It was a dark day for the Phantom Family…

Their ectoranium armor and powerful attacks made the fight difficult or near impossible if a regular ghost got caught unprepared. Not to say that a Necromancer was unbeatable to ghosts. With the right amount of strategy or raw power, a Necromancer could be defeated, but unless the ghost was S-rank, there wasn't that good of a chance for victory.

"Where are they?" Dani asked.

"Don't know…too many smells…ghosts and humans…" Wulf tried to communicate.

"Vision's servants must be distorting his senses…" Fright Knight growled. "The extra protection has hurt us…"

"We need everyone on alert then." Dani noted. They should probably call Danny too… "Do we have enough people for this? I mean, tons of Vision's servants are here. Then there's you, Cujo, Wulf, me, Dad…"

"…" Fright Knight paused for a moment. "We should alert Lord Phantom, but tell him that the situation is still under control for now. No need to worry him without a situation that needs his intervention."

"Right! Let's do this! I'm going ghost!"

Recognized: Danny Phantom B04, Superboy B05

"Hey, Superboy." Miss Martian smiled at the clone. "How was Metropolis?"

"Mixed…" Superboy shrugged at the Martian.

"Hey, people!" Phantom walked into the center of the cave. "Air Hockey, huh?"

"You any good?" Kid Flash questioned.

"Nope."

"Good. I'll play you next."

Unfortunately, they never got to play. Black Canary and Martian Manhunter arrived for their training. The green alien greeted and hugged his niece. Phantom thought it was nice that they had such a good relationship, but quickly remembered Superboy and placed a hand on the clone's shoulder. Superboy nodded at the ghost in understanding. He understood the message.

"Alright, class is in session." Black Canary stepped out into the now glowing circle and began to remove her leather jacket. "I consider it an honor to be your teacher. I'll throw a lot at you. Everything I've learned from my own mentor-guh…and my own bruises."

"What happened?" Miss Martian questioned worriedly.

Phantom playfully elbowed the green girl. "Experience. Next time, she'll duck. Trust me, the bigger the bruise, the quicker you learn."

"Very true." Black Canary nodded. "Combat is about controlling the conflict. Putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting. I'll need a sparing partner."

"Nose goes." Phantom quickly placed his finger on his nose. Most of the other members of Young Justice quickly copied their leader, but Kid Flash didn't. He seemed to want to get in the ring with Black Canary.

Poor sap…

Five seconds later, Kid Flash was on the floor groaning. "Oh…It hurts so good…"

"Hahahahahaha!" Phantom ended his video and put his phone away. "Can't put that on Youtube, but this will bring me joy for years to come."

"Can I get a copy?" Robin questioned.

"Yep."

"You guys suck!" Kid Flash commented as Black Canary pulled him up.

"Good try, but did anyone see what he did wrong?" Black Canary questioned.

"He hit on teacher and got served?" Robing suggested.

"He got in the ring with you?" That was Phantom.

"His eyes weren't they should have been?" Even Aqualad made a comment.

"Et tu, Kaldur?" Kid Flash threw him a betrayed look.

Kaldur shrugged as if to say, 'When in Rome…'

"He allowed me to dictate the terms of the fight." Black Canary explained. "He let me attack first, and it was his downfall."

"Literally…" Superboy mumbled.

"Anyone else up for the challenge?" Black Canary questioned.

Silence.

"Meh…" Phantom shrugged off his trench coat. He did not want that to get ripped…again…for the hundredth time… "I'm going to regret this."

"Get you're phones out." Robin joked.

"Be careful, Phantom!" Miss Martian called.

"Don't die." Superboy smirked.

"I hope you get your ass kicked, you jerk." Kid Flash muttered.

"Love you too, Wally."

"Okay, then." Black Canary smirked. "Ready?"

"No."

"Too bad." Black Canary lunged forward.

On instinct, Phantom circled to the side. He tried to roundhouse kick the heroine, but merely hit air. Black Canary had jumped into the air. She tried to kick Phantom, but Phantom rolled back. At least he managed to avoid getting hit…

Phantom got to his feet, and readied himself. He was just in time to get punched in the face and kneed in the gut. Black Canary then grabbed his arm, twisted it, and put him in an armbar.

"Can you get out?" Black Canary questioned.

"Gah…not without using my powers…" Phantom tapped out.

"Okay…" Black Canary let him up. "That was pretty good, but you still retreated too much."

"It's hard not to instinctively use my powers…" Phantom admitted. He had trained for hours to get to the point where he instinctively used his powers. Now, it was hurting him…Oh, well, he needed to be ready in case he couldn't use his powers.

"And that's why we're training-"

"Batman to the Cave." Batman's face appeared on a hologram. "Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary. The attacker was capable of studying, then duplicating the powers and abilities of its opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant."

"Woah… One guy with the powers of the entire League." Kid Flash muttered.

Phantom frowned. He did not like the sound of this…

"In the end, it took eight Leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android." Batman further explained.

"Android…" Phantom muttered. Not a lot of people could make that kind of tech. Even fewer could make one this powerful. If he remember correctly, there was only two people that could make something like that, but…

"Is it TO Morrow?" Robin interjected.

"That thing doesn't look, act, or sound like TO Morrow's work." Phantom gained everyone's attention. "No color scheme, it copies other people's powers, and it has no elemental theme. Not to mention the plating is all wrong."

"How can you tell?" Miss Martian questioned.

"…I like to know what can hurt me." That was not a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth. Danny Fenton had studied TO Morrow's work while improving the Fenton Exoskeleton and creating the Red X suit. Who knew it would come in handy later? "But if it's not TO Morrow, then it could only be Professor Ivo."

"Or it could be that Fenton Kid from your home town." Kid Flash smirked. "Have you seen the stuff he makes? It's insane."

"Besides the dumb household crap you mean…" Superboy rolled his eyes.

Phantom forced himself to stay quiet.

"Doubtful." Martian Manhunter noted. "Phantom is right. It has the insignia of Professor Ivo."

"But Ivo's dead…" Kaldur noted.

"So we all thought…or hoped." Black Canary looked back at the Atlantian.

"To make certain that this threat is permanently neutralized. We're sending two trucks carrying the androids parts to two separate Star Labs in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken." Batman explained. "We'll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo or anyone tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard to two real trucks."

"Yes!" Kid Flash cheered. "Road trip."

"Hmm…" Phantom frowned. "This is bad timing. There's a possible crisis back in Amity Park. Spirit texted me a while ago about possible Necromancers."

"Those androids that were used to kill ghosts?" Kaldur frowned. "Is this related?"

"Possibly…" Phantom admitted. "But if it is Ivo, I don't see how. A scientist isn't the type to try and steal a well-protected mythical item."

"Either way, both sides need to be protected." Batman admitted. "Is your presence immediately required in Amity Park?"

"As of right now, no…" Phantom noted.

"Then I will put the choice in your hands." Batman stated. "Decide which situation needs you more."

Phantom nodded. "The coordinates have been received…I'll deal with this first. Then, I can head over to Amity Park. Okay, let's move."

As Young Justice moved out, Phantom hoped that he made the right choice. He had a feeling that if he didn't go with the team, it would end badly, but Amity…

Well, it had a small army there. Not to mention the other S-rank ghosts were on call. Even if there were Necromancers, the situation would be handled quickly…

Dear Lord, he hoped it would be handled quickly.

"Are you sure they're here. This is pretty far away from the museum." Spirit noted. They had searched until Wulf found a trail and led them here.

"Si." Wulf pointed down into Casper High School. "It here."

"Why here, though…" Fright Knight wondered. "It's not strategically positioned at all…It must be for subtlety and isolation. Some teachers and custodians will be here, but if the enemy is careful enough, then it's the perfect hiding spot."

"You should go tell Dad and Vision." Spirit commented to the Fright Knight. "They will want to know."

"You want me to leave you here?" Fright Knight questioned.

"Look, you're the fastest." Spirit stated. "You can get them here faster than we can."

Fright Knight nodded slowly. "Fine, but remain hidden."

"Roger Dogger."

When the knight ghost was gone, Spirit turned to Wulf and Cujo. "I'm going in."

"But…remain hidden…" Wulf noted.

"I won't get caught." Spirit rolled her eyes. "You two keep watch."

"No like this…" Wulf muttered. "Should call Friend Phantom."

"No." Spirit quickly said. "Er…I mean, he's busy right now. Plus, we can handle this."

Wulf muttered to himself but said no more. Cujo eyed his owner. He obviously didn't want her to in either, but he would obey his master.

"Good boy…" Spirit patted Cujo's head. "Both of you."

Wulf snorted.

"I'm off…" Spirit turned invisible and passed through the ceiling of Casper High. This place was usually a hot spot for ghosts…before the war, at least. This summer, however, it had been dead quiet. No one had thought too much of it because it was summer.

Spirit quickly made her way through the halls of Casper High. She remembered all the chases and fights that occurred here. They seemed like such a long time ago…

Suddenly, Spirit heard a noise. It was the shuffling of feet. Someone was in the gymnasium. Of course, that's where they had to be…

The halfa girl silently made her way into the gym. She was shocked by the sight. The room was occupied with several…ninja. Not any tupe of ninja, though. Spirit recognized these guys.

They belonged to the League of Shadows…

Spirit let out a silent gasp as her ghost sense went off. 'Oh no…'

"Shiva!" Walker stormed into the room. He was addressing a beautiful woman with long black hair. Even with her large trench coat, Shiva's hourglass figure could be seen. Not only this, Spirit could practically feel the danger rolling off the woman. This woman was not to be messed with…

'Shiva…Where have I heard that name?' Spirit thought to herself. She had never seen this woman before, but that name struck a chord. Did Danny mention here before?

"Walker…" Shiva glared at the ex-warden. "What do you want?"

"Why are we using those infernal machines?!" Walker pointed to three large crates. "I may hate the Phantom family, but I refuse to use this filth. Hundreds of rule abiding ghosts were killed by those Necromancers."

'Wulf was right…' Spirit realized.

"They are useful weapons." Shiva noted. "And I refuse to underestimate anyone from this city again. Both Fenton and Phantom have made a fool of me before, and I refuse to let it happen again."

"Fenton won't fight." Walker stated. Spirit then realized that Walker had not informed anyone of Danny's secret. It made sense. There was an unspoken rule about revealing a ghost's secrets to the humans. "And I can handle Phantom."

"Doubtful." Shiva noted. "You had Jinx's help, and you couldn't defeat Phantom."

"That was because Jinx kept getting in my way." Walker snarled. "But I can defeat Phantom now…"

"You will have your chance." Shiva stated. "We will begin our assault soon enough. Soon the mirror will be ours."

"What mirror?"

"The Mirror of Memories! Haven't you been…Cassandra! What are you doing here!?" Shiva yelled at the girl standing next to you.

"I wanted to see Amity Park." Cassandra answered. She was a girl about Dani's age. She had short dark hair and appeared to be of some Asian descent like the woman she was talking to. "So I hid in one of the crates."

"…I taught you too well…" Shiva sighed. She then glared at the ninja. "How did you miss her?!"

All the ninja cowered in fear.

"To be fair, my size makes hiding easy." Cassandra noted.

"That does not give them an excuse!" Shiva glared.

"Forgive us, Lady Shiva…" The ninja bowed.

"So your daughter's here…Will this affect the plan?" Walker questioned.

"No. She will remain here." Shiva eyed her daughter. "While we get the mirror."

"With the Necromancers…" Walker looked displeased.

"If you have a problem with it, speak to the Master." Shiva stated.

Walker obviously didn't want to do that. "Fine, but I still don't think those things will help us."

"And I believe they will." Shiva left no room for argument. "If you didn't want to be my subordinate, you should have worked with Jinx."

"A choice between working with machines meant to kill me, or a witch that uses bad luck." Walker frowned. "Both sound so appealing…"

"You knew what you signed up for." Shiva glared.

"Mother." Cassandra looked up at the older woman. "Will you fight Danny Phantom?"

"Most likely…" Shiva glanced at the girl. "Why?"

"No reason…"

"Bazinga!"

Everyone in the room froze. Shiva looked around. "What was that?"

'Oh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!' Spirit groaned mentally as she floated above the gym. That was her phone. She forgot to put in on silent. Curse that funny ringtone! If she wasn't in mortal danger, she would be both angry and amused.

"I don't know…" Walker observed his surroundings.

"It sounded like a phone." Cassandra noted. "More specifically a Big Bang ringtone."

'Please don't go off again. Please don't go off again. Please don't go off again.' Spirit chanted in her head as she reached for her phone to turn it off.

"Bazinga!"

'DANG IT!' Spirit mentally cried.

"Yes, that was definitely a phone." Shiva eyed the other ninja. "Was that you?"

They all shook their heads.

'Don't look up! Don't look up! Don't look up!' Spirit mentally chanted after she turned off her phone.

They all looked up.

'Come on! Nothing's going my way today!'

Phantom looked down at his disguise. Like the others, he had forsaken his combat clothes and was wearing a disguise as a biker. At least his clothes fit his usual color scheme of black and white…

The halfa had divided his team in half to follow the trucks. He, Superboy, and Kid Flash would follow one truck, while Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Robin would follow the other. This way, no stupid hormones would get in the way at least…for now.

"They're about to pack up." Phantom noted to his team.

"About time." Kid Flash smirked. "I'm ready for this!"

"Stay focused, Kid. We are transporting dangerous cargo." Aqualad stated.

"That's pretty cool if you think about it, though." Robin remarked. "The League is trusting us with something this dangerous."

"It's kind of scary…" Miss Martian mumbled.

"Don't worry." Phantom encouraged the only girl in Young Justice. "This will go smoothly…I hope…But some info would be nice. Hey, SB, can you hear what the League is talking about?"

Superboy paused. "The android…danger…ghosts…mirror…You mentioned that back at the Cave, right? Is that the thing the news is going on about?"

"Yeah…" Phantom nodded. So the League was discussing this now…or at least some of them were. "What about it are they talking about?"

"The name…Vision…is coming up a lot." Superboy noted.

"Hmm…" Phantom nodded. "Oh, well. We should focus on the task at hand."

Yes, focus now, then worry about the mirror. Right now, he had to deal with this…Amazo. If this thing was assembled and managed to get the powers of more people…it could be unbeatable. Phantom couldn't even fathom what would happen if it a copied the powers of some of the ghosts he knew.

Phantom felt a shutter roll down his spine. He couldn't beat this thing. Even if the entire Young Justice team were to fight together…it might not be enough. No, this thing had to be stopped before it could even begin…

Yes…that's what Vlad taught him…

Memory sequence begin

"Check." Vlad moved his knight in front of Danny's king.

"Dang…" Danny sighed. "How does that always happen?"

"You are far too predictable, Daniel." Vlad chuckled. "Your method is all offence and no defense."

"Yeah, well it's just a game…" Danny muttered.

"Is it?" Vlad raised an eyebrow. "Chess is often compared to real battle. Strategy is the key, and your strategy sucks."

"I'm better in the spur of the moment." Phantom argued. "In a real fight, I'm pretty good at getting my opponents in the right situation for me."

"Yes, you have a talent for quick thinking during a battle, but your prep strategy is terrible at times." Vlad noted. "For example, when you first fought Torch, you never scoped out the battle field before the fight even though you had time."

"I didn't know that I would get in a fight…" Phantom moved one of his pieces.

"When escaping from the Shadows, you tried to just tried to plow your way through the base. If Klemper hadn't saved you, you would have been captured." Vlad moved his queen.

"Hey! I managed to send out a distress signal at least. I was just trying to buy time for you guys to save me." Phantom frowned.

"Don't even get me started about what happened in Gotham…" Vlad rolled his eyes. "You acted like a total brute. You're assault on the GIW base there worked, but now everyone wants a piece of 'Red X'."

"I didn't exactly have a lot of time or resources on my hands…" Phantom saw that Vlad's king was vulnerable and moved his pawn. "Check."

"And let's not forget your contribution to Vision's plan for the GIW War. If involved you most likely dying." Vlad moved one of his own pawns. "Checkmate."

"What?!" Danny's eyes widened.

"You're problem is that you only look at the situation from one perspective." Vlad pointed at the board. "I pictured what you would do in a situation, and manipulated you to do it without any effort on my part."

"I do that in a fight…" Danny mentioned.

"But that's the problem. You don't always have to fight." Vlad stated. "Sometimes, the best victories are the ones that you don't have to fight for."

"Cheating you mean…" Danny muttered.

"Cheating? Is it cheating to use your advantages? Is it cheating to trick others into defeating themselves? Is it cheating to win by default?"

"No..." Danny admitted.

"That's right." Vlad nodded. "So, next time, put yourself in my shoes. What would I do? How would I do it? What can you do to stop me before I even get the chance to act."

"…You would get me to fall into a trap. You would do that by appearing weak. And I can stop that by doing the exact same thing." Danny noted.

"Exactly." Vlad stated. "Despite what anyone says, human behavior, for the most part, is rather predictable. All you need to do is put yourself in their perspective."

Okay…With this situation, he has the opportunity to act before the mission could begin. Batman had set up a lot defenses for the android parts, but a lot of that protection was Young Justice. If they failed to protect the android parts…It would not end well.

If the inventor of Amazo really was Ivo, then the inventor would definitely come for the parts. Danny was an inventor himself. If his toys were taken, he'd be mad. He would definitely try to get the parts back.

There was almost a 100% chance that Ivo would track down the parts, because Danny would definitely put a tracker in them somehow. That means that Young Justice would definitely be attacked. The only question was by what?

He had to protect the parts, but with the team separating, it would be difficult. If they were distracted long enough, then the parts would be stolen. There was a pretty good chance that there would be a lot of attackers too…Batman must know that, but he's trusting Young Justice.

So, Phantom had to be smart about this. There was a good chance that Ivo would get the parts back…to him…Directly to him…

Phantom smirked. Oh…That's good. That's really good.

"Run!" Spirit grabbed Cujo and Wulf and began to drag them away from the school. "Run! Run! Run!"

"Why?" Wulf questioned as he and Cujo flew after the girl.

Suddenly, a blast of ectoplasmic energy zoomed by them. Then came a second and a third. In a few short seconds, they were dodging barrages of ectoplasmic bullets.

"That's why!" Spirit shouted.

"Said would stay hidden!" Wulf growled.

"I'm sorry! I blame Harriet! She just had to text me!" Spirit argued. She noticed the bullets stopped. They must be out of range.

"ROOF!" Cujo stopped and turned.

"Cujo, we can't stop. They may not be able to fly, but…" Spirit saw what Cujo had noticed. "Walker…"

"If it isn't the little punk." Walker glared. "And the dumb dog and old prisoner. I see you found us."

"Yeah, but I never thought that the Shadows would have the balls to attack this place again." Spirit noted.

"Yes…" Walker nodded. "I did not believe that this was a good idea at this point, but the others were persistent."

"Then you shouldn't have joined them." Spirit stated. "Now, you have the entire Ghost Zone as an enemy. That includes Vision, Frostbite, Pandora…"

"I know that." Walker glared. "But it will be worth it in the end."

"End is now!" Wulf glared at his previous warden.

"He's right." Spirit nodded. "You can't win against the three of us."

"It's not just me…" Walker frowned and pointed behind him. Three Necromancers were quickly approaching. They were large nine foot tall androids. Their heads were smooth and round. They had no nose, mouth or ears, but they had glowing red eyes. Each one was covered in thick ectoranium armor, but unlike the Guys in White versions, they were painted black and grey. "I have those things to take you out."

"Crap..." Necromancers weren't good at fighting in groups, but if Walker separated the three ghosts, then it wouldn't be much of a fight.

It was then that Spirit gasped out blue smoke.

The girl smirked. "Uh oh…"

"Don't smirk at me girl." Walker growled. "You may not be Phantom, but I will still take great joy in killing you."

"You won't get the chance, though." Spirit noted. "You will have to deal with them first."

"Who.." Walker froze.

Behind Spirit appeared a small army of ghosts. They were the servants that Vision placed here to guard the mirror. At the front of the small army was Vision, Plasmius, and the Fright Knight.

"Walker." Vision eyed the ghost. "It's a pleasure. If you give up now, I won't kill you."

"…I think you have bigger troubles…" Walker pointed down below. The ninjas of the League of Shadows were all running to the museum.

"Stop them!" Plasmius ordered Vision's servants. "Protect the mirror!"

"Who said you could order around my servants?" Vision questioned.

"I figured it was implied after our last date." Plasmius shrugged.

Spirit had to fight off a gag.

"It's fine for now, but we'll talk about that later. Now…" Purple energy flared around Vision. "There are some trash cans that need smashed.

"Agreed." Fright Knight unsheathed his sword. "It is time for battle."

"Alright!" Spirit smirked. "About time!"

Phantom groaned a he pealed himself out of the dented truck. "Well that didn't go well…"

Like he thought, the truck was attacked. The halfa had anticipated that. It was the robot monkeys that threw him off. They were definitely Ivo's things, but they were incredibly annoying.

Trying to protect the cargo while fighting off hordes of monkey was incredibly difficult. The robot monkeys scrambled around and confused them. Phantom managed to destroy a large portion of the monkeys with the help of Kid Flash and Superboy.

In fact, for a while, Phantom thought they would be successful in protecting the cargo. He managed to get Superboy and Kid Flash to work fairly well together. The speedster protected the tires while Superboy protected the top. Phantom was in charge of the sides. For a while it went well…

Until Phantom's powers stopped working.

Suddenly, in the middle of the fight, Phantom could no longer call on his ghost ray. He felt gravity overtake his body. In an instant, he was weak.

At that second, Phantom realized that he had exhausted himself by fighting Superboy and Black Canary consecutively after weeks of mentally draining stress…

"Damn!" He shouted.

That was when the robots struck. They surrounded the halfa and blasted him from all sides. The rest was a blur for the halfa. He remembered the monkeys overwhelming them and getting into the truck.

After freeing himself from the dented truck, Phantom watched as the monkeys flew off. If he focused enough, he might be able to follow them, but he would be in no position to fight off the monkeys…

Oh well, he had time.

"We have to go after them!" Kid Flash urged.

"I'm on it!" Superboy was about to jump after them.

"Wait." This caused Superboy to freeze instantly. Phantom was glad that he was listening to him.

"Kaldur, how's your end?" Phantom questioned into the radio.

"Unfortunatley, we failed…" Aqualad noted.

"We should have had them!" Robin ranted.

"We can still stop them." Miss Martian reasoned.

"Stop them from what?" Phantom questioned.

"Reconstructing the android, bro!" Kid Flash yelled.

"Oh, that." Phantom reached into his pocket. He pulled out a Portable Fenton Crammer, a machine that shrinks items for storage. He then opened the metal box and pulled out its contents. "I don't think that will do anything without this."

"…That's Amazo's head…" Superboy stared.

"Yep."

"Why do you have it?" Miss Martian questioned.

"I took it for insurance case in case we failed." Phantom answered. "Thinking from Ivo's perspective, he would have some way to track them, so I came up with Plan B."

"When did you take it?" Kaldur questioned.

"While we were waiting." Phantom answered. "My Fenton Crammer jams signals, so the head didn't send off a signal."

"Hahahahahaha!" Robin laughed. "That is awesome! Ivo definitely won't be feeling the aster after he finds out."

"Not only that…" Wally smirked. "We can track Ivo because of the parts he stole."

"Yep." Phantom smirked. "He'll lead us right to him."

"Hehe…" Superboy laughed lightly. "Now that's funny."

Spirit had to wonder how she got into this situation. At the beginning of the fight, she though that she would be fighting Walker or one of the Necromancers, but that was not how things went. The halfa girl had started out fighting in the air, but she was quickly grounded. Someone had dragged her down using an ectoplasmic grapple…

"What do you want?" Spirit questioned after freeing herself. "Shouldn't you be going after the mirror?"

"The others can handle that." Lady Shiva noted as she put the grapple away. "I, however, need to keep the attention here."

"My attention?" Spirit raised an eyebrow. Why here when there were three incredibly powerful ghosts not far from them. "I'm not exactly the heavy hitter here."

"Perhaps not, but you and your partner have always been the wildcards." Shiva noted as she paced around the ghost girl. "Your influence has always been the deciding factor between victory and defeat."

Spirit clenched her fists. "That's not what this is about. I can sense your intentions. Your goal isn't to defeat me."

"…Perhaps not." Shiva admitted. "Perhaps I want to use this opportunity for a little bit of personal revenge too. If I fight you, and make it look like I will kill you, then Phantom will come. I have studied his patterns, his habits, and his sense of morality…If you are in trouble, he will come. He will fight me, and this time, I will win."

"Tsk!" Spirit rolled her eyes. "Humans are so arrogant. Think just because I'm young that means I can't at least hold my own against an unprepared human? Wrong! You may be some hardcore assassin, but I have faced far worse odds than this and survived."

"Yes, but that was because you had help. You are alone now, child…" Shiva lifted up her arms. They were covered in a thin gauntlet. It was then that the gauntlets and the woman's boots began to glow green. "Can you survive without help?"

"Okay, lady. You want it like that…" Spirit glared. The woman had struck a cord. She was bringing out the feelings that Spirit had been feeling for weeks. It was the feelings on inadequacies. "You got it, but you better be prepared, because I won't hold back."

"Gah! Stupid brats! Unhand me!" Ivo cried as Superboy held him down. The inventor was an aging redhead man. His short and small stature made him appear nonthreatening, but Phantom knew from experience that looks were deceiving.

"Um, let me think about that for a second." Kid Flash smirked. "NO!"

"Yeah, Ivo, we've got a nice comfy prison cell waiting just for you." Robin noted as he placed cuffs on the inventor. "Don't want to keep it waiting, do ya?"

"I'll pass…" Ivo grumbled. "Stupid monkeys, if only they got the head…"

"That's what you get for relying on monkeys." Superboy noted. "It came back to bite you in the butt."

Young Justice had quickly tracked Ivo down. After the inventor learned that Amazo's head was missing, he ditched the android parts and tried to run. He fled into Gotham's underbelly, and might have gotten away…

If it weren't for the trail of monkeys impaled by arrows…

"Oh! I wish we had a dog!" M'gann noted.

"…Excuse me?" Kaldur stared at the Martian.

"You know, so he could say, 'I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids and your stupid dog'." M'gann stated.

"Now that would be awesome." Robin smirked.

"He can still say the first part." Kid Flash eyed the inventor.

"I will not degrade myself to quoting a childish cartoon." Ivo frowned as Superboy lugged him over his shoulder.

"Your loss." Superboy stated.

"Phantom?" Aqualad looked over at their leader. He was examining the arrows that came from the monkeys.

"Huh?" Phantom looked up.

"Dude, is that GA's arrow?" Kid Flash questioned.

"That's so lame! They still don't trust us!" Robin ranted.

"No…" Phantom shook his head. "I've seen GA's arrows, and these aren't GA's arrows."

"That means…"

"Speedy." Kaldur smiled.

"Alright! He's got our backs!" Kid Flash cheered. He grabbed the arrow and added. "Souvenir!"

This time, Phantom did not argue. He knew who the arrows belonged to, because he created those arrows. There was no way these belonged to Speedy, but they did belong to another person that was good with a bow…

Bzz! Bzz! Bzz!

Phantom reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone. He saw the message and scowled. "Crap…"

"What is it?" Miss Martian questioned.

"An emergency." Phantom stated. "Robin, I need to get to Amity Park now."

Robin nodded in understanding. He eyed Ivo as he said, "Okay, I'll take you to the…station."

"Superboy and Aqualad, guard Ivo. Miss Martian and Kid, guard Amazo's parts until the League shows up." Phantom ordered. "Batman will be here soon. Something tells me that this isn't our mission anymore."

(Play: Sick of It by Skillet)

Spirit had to say…Lady Shiva was perhaps one of the most dangerous enemies she had ever faced. The woman was skilled, armed, and deadly. The halfa girl instinctively knew that fighting this woman up close would be stupid, so Spirit tried to keep her distance…

Key word is tried…

"Hiah!" Shiva sent a roundhouse kick at Spirit's head. The halfa girl quickly ducked under the kick. It soared past her head at break neck speeds.

After the kick had passed over her, Spirit tried to blast Shiva away with a blast of ectoplasm. The blast did not hit Shiva, however. Instead, the blast soared past the assassin as she skillfully dodged the devastating blast. In a motion that was elegant as dancing, Shiva spun and sent a spinning back fist at the halfa.

Spirit did not have enough time to totally react to her Premonition screaming at her. The blow hit Spirit in the head. Despite this, Spirit managed to lessen a lot of the blow by flying backwards. Nevertheless, the halfa girl felt her head rattle from the blow.

Now free from Shiva, Spirit tried to distant herself from the assassin. She tried to fly up into the sky. Thinking logically, this strategy would work. Shiva's hand-to-hand combat skills would be useless in a far ranged battle. Unfortunately, Shiva knew this, and prevented it from happening.

With speed that Spirit could barely consider human, Shiva lunged at the halfa. The assassin grabbed Spirit's coat and dragged the halfa down. Spirit tried to fight the assassin off, but the assassin threw her to the ground faster than she could react.

('Raise leg into air. Axe kick the girl. Break bones.')

Spirit heard her Premonition loud and clear. She rolled out of the way just as Shiva's glowing green heel was about to hit her. The assassin's kick hit the concrete and caused cracks to appear.

('Follow through. Lunge. Right cross. Left hook. Spinning roundhouse. Finish with knee to face.')

Focusing as quickly as possible, Spirit used every bit of grace and speed she had as she tried to dodge the blows. She danced around the assassin's devastating blows in a blur. Finally, after the final strike, Spirit tried to follow through with an attack.

She sent a kick at Shiva. Unfortunately, Shiva caught the kick. Spirit tried to turn intangible, but Shiva's ectoplasmic gauntlets held Spirit in physical form. It was then that Shiva went in for the finish. She flipped Spirit and got the halfa into an arm bar lock.

"AH!" Spirit cried as she felt her arm bending in the wrong way.

"Apologies. I take no pleasure in harming a child." Shiva stated. "But I have a mission…and a matter of pride to deal with. If only Phantom got here sooner."

"No!" Spirit struggled and fought, but could not get out of the arm bar. In desperation, she swept her arm around. She tried to focus ectoplasm into her hands, but could only manage a small amount. It wasn't near enough to send out a blast…

"Ah!" Shiva cried as Spirit reached around and brushed her fingers against her shoulder. A decent sized gash appeared on the assassin's shoulders. In surprise, the assassin released some of the tension in the lock. It was only a small difference, but that was all Spirit needed, though.

Spirit desperately pulled her aching arm away from Shiva. Rolling away, Spirit tried to take a moment to compose herself. Luckily, Shiva allowed it.

"That's what I get…" Shiva scowled. "I underestimate another ghost hero and it comes back to bite me…"

Spirit eyed Shiva's wound. It wasn't terribly deep, but there was a decent amount of blood. But…how did the wound happen? She had focused energy, but it wasn't that much…

But maybe…maybe that was the trick…

Spirit focused her energy to her hands again. It wasn't enough for a blast. It was the same as before…It was then that her hand began to glow. It was a lighter glow than before, but now it seemed sharper. Upon closer inspection, Spirit saw that the energy in her hand had extended into sharpened tips on her fingers.

Spirit smirked. Oh, she could work with this…

"This time, however, I won't hold back!" Shiva ran at Spirit with lighting speed.

Using her Premonition, Spirit dodged around Shiva's blows. It was like their previous exchanges, except now Spirit could counter attack. Spirit swung her hands at Shiva. The assassin sensed the danger this time and went out of the way to avoid her hands.

Spirit smirked. It was working! She was fighting on her own! She was going to win!

('Throw shuriken. Blades curve. This stops Spirit from moving back. Spirit is hit by Shiva.')

This Premonition hit just as Spirit. Whoever that was attacking didn't intend to kill her. They were trying to stop her dodging. If she moved back, she would be hit by the blades. If she didn't, Shiva's powerful kick would hit and most likely knock her out.

Of course, Spirit would take being knocked out compared to being stabbed. But this really stung! She was actually holding her own! Why did someone have to interfere now?!

…Wait…What was…Oh…Okay then…

Spirit continued to move back. She ignored the shuriken flying at her back. The halfa girl knew what would happen. She knew because her Premonition told her…

Rachel was here.

As Spirit moved back, the shuriken gained a light glow of white and black energy. The energy caused the shuriken's path to be altered. Instead of hitting Spirit, the blades zoomed past her and went towards Lady Shiva.

In alarm, Shiva ducked under the blades. Trying to use this opportunity, Spirit swung her arm to try and cut along Shiva's midsection. Before the attack could hit, though, Shiva caught Spirit's arm. This did not deter Spirit, though. She followed with her momentum, raised her leg, and kicked Shiva in the head.

"Yah!" Spirit cheered at finally landing a full blow on Lady Shiva.

That victory was short lived, though…

"Ack!" Spirit groaned as Shiva struck her in the face. Shiva followed through with a vicious combo. In a moment, Shiva had Spirit pinned to the ground once again.

"I am impressed child." Shiva ignored he swelling cheek and kept speaking. "You have true talent, but I have faced people far more skilled and ruthless than you."

"Does that include me?"

Spirit suddenly felt the weight fly off her. Shiva went tumbling as Phantom knocked her away from the other halfa. Spirit smiled as she saw her brother kneel down next to her. "You okay?"

"No, not really…" Spirit groaned. "But I'll live."

"That's good enough." Phantom looked to see Shiva glaring at him.

"So…you finally show." Lady Shiva stood.

"Yep, it's been a while, Shiva." Phantom got to his feet as well. "What's with you and picking fights with children? First it was Fenton and I, and now it's Spirit? Can't beat any of the grownups so you attack the young? Seems like a bully to me."

Shiva smiled lightly. "I wouldn't call you ghosts children. For all I know, you're older than I am, but appear to be young to deceive the world."

"Ah…" Phantom rolled his shoulders. "Then perhaps I can show you what I can really do and knock out every one of your teeth for attacking someone from my family."

He was bluffing. Phantom didn't have anything left in the tank. Getting here at his top speed had drained the rest of his powers. He couldn't even fly or turn intangible at this point. There was a possibility of fighting Shiva in a fist fight, but he would most likely lose…

"That was my goal." Shiva took a self-defense stance.

"Mother…" A voice behind Shiva called.

"Not now, Cassandra." Shiva ordered.

A young girl walked around the woman. Cassandra spoke again. "I believe the battle is lost."

Shiva looked up in the sky and sighed. "You are correct. The Necromancers are almost destroyed, my forces have been captured, and Walker has run away. It would be best to leave before the other ghosts arrive."

Phantom glared at the woman. He had to keep bluffing. If he stalled her, she might stay long enough to be captured "What? Running away already?"

"Count yourself lucky, ghost." Shiva glared. "You would not have won this fight."

'I know…' Phantom frowned. "That's big talk for the loser."

"It is true, mother…" Cassandra did not tear her eyes away from Phantom. She was watching him almost…expectantly. "You have failed in your mission."

"Be silent, child."

"Yes, mother."

Shiva glared at Phantom. "We will fight again. At that time, neither of us will have assistance, and I will win."

"Bring it on." Phantom answered.

It was then that a cloud of smoke appeared around them all. Phantom prepared himself for a sneak attack, but none came. It was quiet. When the smoke cleared, the assassin and girl were gone.

"…" Phantom relaxed. "You can come out."

Rachel appeared in a burst of white and black magic energy. "Hello…"

"Hey." Phantom eyed the girl. "You need to be careful interfering like that. If they had caught you…"

"I was safe." Rachel answered.

"I bet." Phantom nodded. "Anyway…thanks. You really saved my sister and bought me some time."

Rachel nodded. "You're welcome."

"You know…" Phantom smiled at the girl as he knelt down and picked up the now unconscious Spirit. "You might have a talent for this sort of thing."

"Maybe I do…"

"Dad..." Dani walked up to her father. He was in his office working on his paper work.

"Danielle!" Vlad smiled at his daughter. "Daniel told me about your fight."

"Dad..."

"Fighting off Lady Shiva. It's quite the impressive achievement." Vlad commented.

"Dad..."

"Of course, you are already impressive. And strong." Vlad kept talking. "I'm just saying that-"

"Dad!" Dani stopped Vlad mid-sentence. "It's okay."

"Ah...I see."

"And I'm sorry." Dani stated. "I shouldn't have gotten angry, but..."

"I know, Danielle..." Vlad sighed. "I know..."

"Can...can you start helping me train more?"

"Of course."

"Sounds like you had a tough day." Ember remarked as she and her boyfriend relaxed on the couch and watched a movie.

"Yeah…" Danny mumbled. "But everything worked out. Ivo was captured. The Mirror of Memories was protected. And no one was hurt."

"Yeah, and I bet after this, they'll finally move the mirror." Ember noted. "Before, it was small attempts, but this was a freaking army that tried to get the stupid mirror."

"Don't remind me…" Danny sighed. "You should have heard the crowd after everything settle down. The people of Amity Park are mad. If the mirror was moved sooner, this wouldn't have happened."

"They do seem to have an 'It's us against the world' type of mentally." Ember agreed.

"Can you blame them? After what happened when they tried to protect me…I bet it wasn't easy to be contained like that." Danny noted.

"Maybe I'll make a song about it." Ember stated. "People will freak."

"Mhm…"

"Hey what about that Gotham chick you mentioned?" Ember questioned. "Are you going to talk to her about acting out in Gatham? I mean, that's Gotham we're talking about. You can't get away with anything without the Batman knowing about it."

"Tomorrow…"

"Hehe…You'll have a busy day tomorrow too, I bet." Ember smirked. "You'll run yourself ragged at this point."

"Yeah…"

"Glad we have this time at least." Ember noted. "I'd be mad if you were all work and no play."

"Mmm…"

"Speaking of play…"

"…"

"Danny?"

"…Zzz…"

"Sigh…Goodnight, Babypop."

"…Imagine what we could have done with that mirror…" One of the scientists remarked.

"Yes, it's a shame they were unable to retrieve it." The other scientist noted.

"Well…perhaps there is still hope."

Joel had no idea what they were talking about. Yet that was all he heard about for weeks. Mirror this. Mirror that. It was all very strange.

"Not only that, Professor Ivo was captured by Phantom apparently."

"Oh, this day keeps getting better. He and that family of his seem to have a hand in everything that prevents our progress."

The young boy stopped in the middle of his kata form. He decided to take a moment to digest that bit of information. So, it was Phabock…No, Fanon?...No…

No, it was Phantom. Yes…Danny Phantom.

Joel knew who that was. Heck, everyone knew who that was. He was the hero ghost from Amit Park that ended that war. Joel remembered watching that.

So, Danny Phantom was an unintentional enemy of the Ghoul Project. His actions hurt this project and stopped the progress. After all, how many days had been spent of building that machine that was supposed to use the mirror? Now, all that progress was lost apparently.

Joel had to wonder how many lives that Phantom unknowingly saved. Several subjects weren't forced through the torture of the experiments because of the mirror machine. Everyone knew, though, that after the mirror arrived things would be even worse. They didn't know what the mirror was, but they knew that it was trouble for them.

Yes, many were given more time. This even included Joel.

"Danny Phantom…enemy of the Ghost Project…" Joel gave a small smile.

He like him already.

Bonding Moment: Superboy

"…What are you doing?" Phantom questioned as he approached the clone sitting on the living room couch in the Cave.

"Watching TV." Superboy answered.

"But…it's not even turned on." Phantom noted.

"Don't care." Superboy said simply.

"But aren't you bored?" Phantom questioned.

"Yes, but no one is willing to train." Superboy grumbled. "I was just getting that combo down too."

"People have limits, SB." Phantom flopped on the couch. "Sometimes, you just need to relax."

"How do you relax, then?" Superboy questioned.

Phantom paused. "I don't think you have the patience for what I do."

"Oh…" Superboy looked away.

"But I'm sure I can think of something you can try." Phantom noted. "What do you like?"

"Fighting." Superboy stated.

"Okay…what else?"

"…Training…"

"Alrighty then. Do you like anything non-violent?"

"Not that I know of."

"Okay then…" Phantom nodded. "So, basically, you're an angry guy that's way too into violence."

"Yep." Superboy agreed.

"Then I know what exactly you will like."

(Ten minutes later…)

M'gann walked into the weirdest sight when she entered the living room. Usually, Superboy didn't watch anything on TV, or at least he didn't care what he watched. Now, though, he seemed to be into it…

"Hit him with a chair!"

According to his yelling, at least.

"Oh! He's setting up a table!" Phantom pointed.

"Yeah! Power bomb!" Superboy grinned.

"Is that…professional wrestling?" M'gann questioned.

"Yep." Phantom nodded.

"What was that?! That can't be legal!" Superboy yelled at the television.

"And why are you watching it?" Miss Martian questioned.

"I thought SB would like it." Phantom shrugged.

"YEAH!"

"…and I was right…"

"Okay…" M'gann began to walk away. This really wasn't her thing, but…

"High five!"

"Up top!"

At least Superboy seemed happy…

Phantom grinned at the clone. "And just way until I show you MMA fighting."