Chapter 7: Freedom

*In honor and memory of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. April 17, 1954-July 31, 2015. Only he could play a bad guy most of his life and still be so beloved and respected.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

"I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free... so other people would be also free."

Rosa Parks

Chapter 7: "Freedom"

(Thursday-October 31, 2013)

Dusk swung around a bo staff that was black with green stripes running down the side. Named the Scribe Staff after the name of a fallen ally, the staff was different from Dusk's other weapons in that it was not created to take down enemies. As Dusk swung the weapon, it left a trail of thick ectoplasm as if Dusk was writing in midair.

Usually, the youngest halfa used this weapons to block multiple, small blows and to trap his enemies. Right now, though, he was trying to slow down Harm as much as possible. Using the reach of the staff to redirect the attacks of Harm's blade, Dusk continued to move around the psychopath and left trails of ectoplasm as he moved. At the same time, Secret, who was fighting at a farther distance, controlled her smoke to float around Harm and slow him down.

None of this seemed to slow Harm down, though. Covered in magical electricity, Harm forced the energy off of him so that the smoke couldn't grab onto him and solidify. At the same time, his enchanted sword easily cut through the trails of ectoplasm that Dusk tried to use to cage him in. Yellow energy danced around the blade, and Harm, with a swing of the sword, created an arc of energy that cut through all of the traps that Dusk and Secret crafted around him.

Dusk was forced to jump back and duck under the arc of energy to avoid damage. As soon as the arc passed him, it flew up into the air and began to cut through the clouds. Seeing that Dusk had retreated a bit, Secret rushed to him in order to come up with their next plan.

"This isn't working? What do we do?" Secret questioned.

Dusk's eyes flared around. He evaluated the situation to see if he could get any help from the others. It didn't look like that would be possible.

Jinx arms flared with pink energy as she traded blows with a large shadow creature with green eyes and sharp teeth. Normally, her powers made it so she could fight ghosts rather well. Unfortunately, the shadow had powers with similar effects to her powers. They both had the power of 'bad luck.' As such, their powers canceled each other and made it so they would have to rely on a fist fight.

The Bad Luck Shadow was surprisingly swift as it was vicious and powerful. Jinx, however, had far more skill and grace in her attacks. She danced around the Bad Luck Shadow. Her blows were a blur as she punched, kicked, and smacked the shadow around. As she did this, the Shadow used his superior size and bulk to block and counter attack. He didn't manage to land a blow, and he was slowly building up damage; but he was still fighting on.

Johnny 13's motorcycle roared as he circled the fighting. At random intervals, he would rush in and force Jinx to retreat. This was why the fight was taking so long. Jinx had never faced a foe that could fight so well against her abilities. The two-on-one scenario and the lack of effectiveness of her powers slowed down her progress and made it so that the fight would take a bit more time.

As this was happening, Black Bat was basically owning Kitty. Using her ectoplasmic empowered gloves and boots to beat the ghost down. Kitty's main power of banishing men to an alternate dimension was useless against Black Bat, and Kitty lacked the fighting skills to keep up with Black Bat's lifetime of training. From first glance, it looked like Black Bat would easily win the fight.

Something was wrong, though. None of the attacks seemed to do any damage. Kitty shook off the punches and kicks. She continued to rush forward to do wild strikes. Black Bat was baffled by this. Nothing was working, and she couldn't turn away without the threat of Kitty's blows hitting her. She would have to figure out what exactly Kitty was doing before she could help her allies.

Dusk glanced back at Secret, "I don't think going with the subdue tactic will work. We need to use more force."

"The its are only trying to subdue Harm? Fools…Harm cannot be subdued," Harm let out a laugh and pointed his sword at the two ghosts that stood before him, "Without the intent to kill, the its shall be crushed beneath Harm's power."

"Please, brother," Secret placed a hand over her chest, "We're just trying to help. If you continue this path, then you won't survive."

"Shut up! The Secret it knows nothing!"

"You're the one that knows nothing, Harm," Dusk shook his head, "Morgaine le Fey is just using you. She doesn't care about you. This has happened hundreds of times before with other men. She is a master manipulator."

"The it does not get to speak of Harm's mistress like that!" Harm roared. Electricity blared off him angrily, "Harm's mistress is not like that! She made Harm pure!"

"Pure or empty?" Dusk questioned.

"Silence!" Harm rushed forward once more. His eyes blared in anger.

Giving one last glance at Secret, Dusk formed his Burst Gauntlets once more. Secret understood his strategy. They would make Harm sloppy through anger and disarm him. Without the sword in hand, Harm had no magic. He would be easier to take down like that. Of course, the anger did make Harm more vicious and bloodthirsty, so they would have to be careful not to let the psychopath cut them down.

Green blood was pouring down her back as Spirit desperately rolled to the side. She managed to avoid Wulf's follow up attack but only by a small amount. The halfa girl felt the rush of pass by her face as Wulf's claws swiped down to where she was just at. As she rolled to her feet, Spirit saw the five deep gashed that appeared in the cement. That attack would have almost cut her into two pieces.

Spirit was not given time to rest. Before she was ready, Wulf attacked again. He rushed to her with his claws blazing once more. With the blood now completely soaking her back, Spirit forced herself to keep moving and dodge each blow. She tried to counter-attack, but every time she tried, a jolting pain rushed up her spine and forced her to stop. As of right now, she was completely on the defensive.

"Spirit! Hold on!" Raven cried out. She tried to use her spells to get to the halfa girl, but the ghosts and demons continued to pile up on her to keep her from moving. It was almost as if they were creating a wall between the two girls, and Raven would have to slowly push her way through.

Youngblood was frozen at his spot. He seemed to be struggling to move, but he couldn't overcome Harm's control. As the child ghost was forced to watch as Spirit fought for her life, a parrot that was completely a skeleton flew up and landed on his shoulder. Polly looked to be under mental control as well, but there was flashes in his eyes to indicate that he was fighting it.

Ducking and weaving under the attacks, Spirit weighed her options. Raven and Youngblood couldn't help her right now. Talking Wulf down obviously wasn't working, so that was off the table too. The only option left was Vision and Superman. Superboy was still too weak from the Kryptonite to help her, while Sphere and Wolf were being held down by piles of ghosts and demons. Vision probably felt the change in her energy after taking such a devastating wound. She was probably rushing to Spirit's location right now even if she didn't get the chance to help Superman.

Spirit would just have to keep moving until Vision arrived to help. That was easier said than done, though. Her injury was rally taking its toll. Pain and sweat rolled down her in waves. It was already hard to move. Luckily, her flesh was already knitting back together. Her regeneration ability wasn't as fast as Danny's, but it was still extremely quick.

'Jump on girl's back. Jump on girl's back. Jump on girl's back.'

Spirit flew up into the air to avoid the several ghosts and demons that tried to tackle her. It seems that they trying to work together now, because as soon as Spirit was in the air, they began to follow after her. Trembling and breathing in pain, Spirit forced herself to speed up and dodge the crowd trying to grab her. She had to avoid being slowed down. If that happened for even a second, she was dead.

"Raw!" Wulf seemed to have no regret in slashing away at the demons and ghosts that got in his way. He seemed to have at least enough of a state of mind to try to take out the extra enemies and give Spirit a chance to survive this encounter.

'Come on, Mom! I need some help here!' Spirit cried mentally as she rolled in midair to avoid Wulf once more. Now to the side of Wulf, Spirit debated if should get a small attack in with her Spectral claws and make his arm temporarily useless. Unfortunately, she didn't get the chance. Wulf had anticipated where she would move. His leg lashed out and kicked Spirit square in the stomach.

"AH!" Spirit yelled out in agonizing pain as she the force of the blow traveled through her stomach and to her back. Unable to focus, Spirit could not control herself as she was sent flying downward without a way to stop her momentum.

Gizmo grunted as he laid down on the top of Fenton Works, "Alright, I finished. All we need now is the jewel, and I can stop le Fey's orders."

Amity Park was filled with silence once more. Because of the preparation with the city's defense system, the fight had been rather short. For the most part, they managed to subdue the ghosts, but most of the demons and some of the ghosts had perished in the conflict. This left a heavy and sorrow filled atmosphere in the air.

A scratched and battered Cyborg looked down at the smaller teen, "What are you planning to do? Send the signal off the through our communication system?"

"Yeah, that A.I. is connected to it all, right?" Gizmo questioned as he rubbed his temples, "Using that, we can hopefully connect to the area around your friends and bounce the counter signal to make the fighting stop."

"Your plan is sound," Red X noted as the Fright Knight dropped him off on top of the building. "We can finish this all at once. Did you plan all that out as you were working?"

"Naw, I was planning how to take le Fey down since she captured me," Gizmo let out a deep frown, "But stopping her isn't enough. I'm going to make her pay for humiliating me like that. No one makes me look bad except for me."

"Now that is a moto to live by," The Fright Knight noted. Like the others, his armor was dented and scratched. He looked exhausted, "Your enemies should pay for stepping on your pride."

"Exactly," Gizmo sighed, "But I'll worry about le Fey later. Now, I just want to take a damn nap."

"Very well. You earned that much. Before you do that, tell me, when can we use this machine?" The Fright Knight questioned, "We don't have to charge it or anything do we?"

"As soon as your friends bring the jewel to me, I can stop the Snot Head ghosts and demons," Gizmo stated, "Those guys better freaking hurry though. This place may have been ready for a full scale attack, but very few cities were. I'd hate to see the casualty list when this is all over."

Frostbite was the type of person that usually lived by his instincts. Even when he first became a ghost, he made his choices based on his gut instinct. It was something that never failed him. This was especially true with people. When meeting people such as the Great One, Lady Spirit, and Lord Dusk for the first time, he instantly knew that they were trustworthy and deserving of respect.

Other times, though, he met people that he knew was rotten in their core. At first glance, he knew that Nekron, Freakshow, and Icicle Sr. were beyond redemption. They delighted in their own corruption, and Frostbite felt this instantly. It was only a matter of time before they proved just how right the yeti ghost was.

It was this kind of bad feeling that Frostbite got from Prince Orm. This wasn't something that could be explained. It wasn't Orm's body language, smile, or eyes that gave it away. Instinctively, Frostbite knew not to trust Orm. As such, he did not turn his back to Orm.

Even as the group of four fought together, Frostbite made sure not to face away from Orm. It didn't matter that they were surrounded at all sides and fighting to keep all the enemies back. Frostbite kept an eye on Orm the entire time.

His instincts proved to be right. Just as all the traffic of enemies was directed towards them, but before the backup arrived to assist them, Orm struck. Both Aqualad and Aquaman were too busy fighting to notice, but Frostbite was ready. Orm turned from his fighting momentarily towards the unprotected back of Aquaman. With a wicked grin, Orm went to stab his brother in the back with a golden trident.

Frostbite acted immediately. Before, he controlled his energy to make it so that water didn't get too cold for the Atlantians. While they had thicker skins and a tolerance for the cold, there was only so much a living body can take. Considering the situation, though, Frostbite would have to take a chance.

The temper of the water dropped immediately. Icicles formed all around the area. The water grew thick and heavy to the point that it was almost like swimming through cold syrup. This caused everyone in the area to become practically immobile, except of Frostbite. He moved with ease through the slush and ice and came right up to Orm and stopped the back-stabbing.

Holding the end of the trident with his ice arm, Frostbite glared at the prince, "What are you doing?"

Both Aquaman and Aqualad slowly turned to see what was happening. Despite be freezing cold, they could still somewhat move because of their Atlantian bodies. Their enemies didn't seem as lucky, though. All of them were frozen in place and unmoving.

"Brother?" Aquaman stared in horror at the trident that was only a few inches from him.

"Prince Orm…What is the meaning of this?" Aqualad was in shock.

"The prince isn't what he seems apparently…" Frostbite noted. "He was never loyal to you."

Seeing that he was discovered, Prince Orm decided to drop the act he kept for so long and vent out every frustration had had over the years, "Of course I wasn't! Why would I ever be loyal to a half-breed who stole my place as heir to the throne!?"

"But…Brother, we have fought beside each other for years…" Aquaman argued desperately, "You were there for the birth of my son…I shared everything with you!"

"I do not wish to share! I want to be king!" Orm snapped, "I was born and raised to be king, but at the last minute, you are introduced as the heir! You, who lived on the surface world all your life, became king overnight!"

"That was to help unite our world with the surface world!" Aqualad defended his king.

"Unite? We should not unite with them! We should rule over them! This world is mostly water! Our domain is dominant!" Orm gained an enraged look, "And I was going to make sure that happened! But you…you ruined that, Arthur Curry. Your passive nature made it so that we are still at the bottom. Almost everyone on the surface world looks down on us. All, except an enlightened few. The few friends that can see the truth. See the Light!"

"No…You're not…" Aquaman grew very pale.

Frostbite was surprised when the water began to swirl around Orm. It seemed that whatever magic he was using was overpowering the freezing water. After the cyclone had died down, Orm was replaced by Ocean Master. Covered in blue armor that covered his entire body, it was easy to see why no one could tell that Orm was always this villain. Nothing was shown through the armor except the mouth. Not even the eyes could be seen through the red lenses of the helmet.

Ocean Master let go of the trident and moved back. The armor around him seemed to protect him more from the cold, "And my friends will make it so that I replace you, half-breed. I thought that could happen today, but I underestimated this ghost. That's fine, though. I no longer need to keep up this hoax."

"King Orin, what do I do?" Frostbite questioned. He could rush forward to stop Ocean Master, but this was Aquaman's brother. It was the King's decision to decide what to do, "Do you want me to attack him?"

Aquaman was still in silent horror.

"My King…" Aqualad looked to Aquaman, "Please, now is the time to act."

The response was more silence.

"Soon, I'll be king. The plan is already in action," Ocean Master gloated, "Soon, when the Sorcerer Initiative is complete, you will be dead, and I will be king."

The water began to shift around Ocean Master once more. Seeing this, Frostbite decided to act. He could no longer wait for Aquaman's permission. He swam forward with the intent of cutting Ocean Master down, "Stop!"

"Until next time, brother," As he disappeared, Ocean Master smiled. Aquaman might not be dead, but his spirit was broken. That would make the takeover all the easier.

Frostbite tried to claw at Ocean Master, but all he got was water. The villain was now gone.

"Damn it…" Frostbit grunted out. He let the cold temperature rise to ease up the pressure on his allies. Fortunately, the enemies around them were already frozen, so they wouldn't be attacked immediately. He could see that more enemies were on the way. Luckily, backup was arriving as well.

"My King!" Tempest swam up as he led the reinforcements from the right.

"What happened!?" Aquagirl led the reinforcements from the left, "The water became unbearably cold, and we saw Ocean Master!"

"It…It is hard to explain…" Aqualad eyed his King in concern.

"The explanation will have to wait," Frostbite gained a determined look, "The last of the enemies approaches, and your King does not have the mindset to fight. We need to protect him while taking down our foes. Can you do that?"

"We will protect his Majesty with our lives," Tempest noted.

"Good…" Frostbite nodded, "The battle will be over soon. We just need to endure this last bit."

Plasmius had grabbed Robin and Batgirl and pulled them up onto the highest of the buildings. They were quickly joined by Batman and Nightwing. The five of them stood and watched as Undergrowth's plants fought off the enemy.

"This is unexpected," Nightwing crossed his arms, "And a bit ironic considering how we fought against him a few years ago."

"Huh?" Robin looked over to the person who previously held his title, "You fought him before?"

"That's in the classified files," Batman noted, "I'll let you take a look later, but long story short, he was originally part of the Injustice League."

Robin frowned, "I don't remember that."

"No one outside our allies remembers that," Plasmius mentioned, "Reality was changed so it never happened."

"Um…I don't get it…" Robin looked confused, "What does that even mean?"

"It's part of the classified portion of his origin," Batman explained, "It will be easier to explain it all once this is over, and I can show you the files in the Batcave."

"Hey, shouldn't we still be fighting?" Batgirl spoke up, "We can't let Undergrowth do all the work, right?"

"That will be difficult," Plasmius mentioned, "Undergrowth doesn't play well with others. He would recognize that we're not enemies, but he would still try to trap us in plant pods for safety. If we want to avoid that, then we should stay out of his way. Besides, he can handle this. His plants are suited for taking down multiple enemies. He's causing a lot of property damage, of course; but he's not hurting civilians, and he's keeping most of the enemies alive, so it would be best not to interfere."

"Well, if he's got this, then shouldn't we go help in a different city?" Robin questioned.

"I don't trust Undergrowth completely," Batman noted, "I won't leave my city in his hands, and in case something happen, I need you all here to stop him."

"He's right," Plasmius nodded, "While tamer, there's still knowing how much Undergrowth has changed from his other self. We need to keep an eye on him. Right now, he's saving lives. But if that changes, we need to stop him."

"So…We're just going to stand here and wait?" Batgirl questioned.

"Yep," Nightwing nodded, "Not like we have a whole lot of other options."

"Great, just great…" Robin sent a large spit wad off the edge of the building and frowned, "Just when I was having fun, I get stuck with borderline patrol duty…again. This sucks."

There were very few times that Dusk's Matter Make weapons were broken. As condensed ectoplasm formed into matter, the weapons were incredibly durable. It would take an absurd amount of force to break the weapons. Magic and ancient weapons, though, had more of an effect. The Fright Knight's Soul Shredder for example could leave deep gashes in the ectoplasmic metal.

Harm's blade seemed to be able to cut through Dusk's weapons pretty easily. Each time Dusk's Burst Gauntlets met Harm's artificial Sword of Beowulf, the metal cracked and faltered. That just showed the raw magical power of Morgaine le Fey. She knew how to make an excellent weapon, and Harm's incredible skill just made things more difficult.

As the two fighters continued to trade blows, Dusk was forced to continually repair his weapons. He could feel his energy levels dip with each repair. Considering the way this fight was going, that wasn't going to change. Without a doubt, his energy levels would go into dangerously low levels. If that happened, Dusk's form would become unstable, and he might dissolve.

Secret was attempting to help the best she could, but her fighting style did nor revolve around raw force. When unable to subdue an enemy with her smoke, she shifted more to a support fighter. The blonde ghost used her smoke to try to slow Harm down while using it to lighten the air pressure around Dusk to increase his speed.

Only half of that strategy seemed to be working, though. Dusk was moving a bit faster. Harm, however, didn't seem influenced by the smoke at all. Like before, the magic seemed to push the smoke away from the psychopath.

Knowing the current strategy wouldn't work, Dusk decided to change weaponry. As he ducked and dodged Harm's blade, he absorbed his right Burst Gauntlet. A Pendulum Nunchuku formed in the Gauntlet's place. Pushing energy into his left Burst Gauntlet, Dusk blocked one of Harm's downswings. The sword cut into the weapon, but that's what Dusk wanted. He rapidly repaired the weapon around the sword and trapped it there.

Then, the halfa swung the Pendulum Nunchuku. The chain extended and rapidly wrapped around the blade. Once that was done, Dusk began to pull at the magical sword and shouted, "Now, Secret!"

Secret appeared from the smoke around the two fighters. She flew towards Harm and went to punch her brother in the face. Harm saw this coming, though.

"Too slow," Harm drawled before yellow magical energy burst out from all around him. Both Secret and Dusk were sent flying backwards. They landed in the dirt and rolled a few times before coming to a halt.

As Dusk pushed himself up and helped Secret up, he examined his now shattered weapons, "Well, that's some energy I won't be getting back."

"Ah…" Secret looked over to Dusk. They were both covered in small burns and injuries, but lacked anything major, "Are you in the danger area?"

"Not yet, but I will be soon at this rate. I still have two ecto-boosts just in case, but I won't be able to use them while fighting this guy," Dusk stated and then looked to Harm, "We have to finish this fast."

"Harm will be the one ending this quickly, it," Harm smirked and twirled his sword around, "But Harm is curious about what makes it so confident."

Dusk eyed the sword in Harm's hands, "If we can't disarm Harm, then we need to destroy the sword."

"Destroy Harm's sword!?" Harm let out a large laugh, "Now this Harm has to see."

"Can you do it?" Secret questioned.

"Yes," Dusk took a deep horse stance. He punched his arms out forward. Energy formed around his arm. Four different stands burst out all around Dusk and locked into the ground. Black metal with green lines down the side extended forward from his arms into one long gun barrel, "I can with the Twilight Canon."

All the fights around him stopped and stared. This weapon was very different than his other weapons. Until this day, no one had seen Dusk create a gun with his Matter Make ability.

"What…What is that?" Secret blinked at the gun that seemed to originate from his arms.

"I began to develop this after I met with Dark Dan. I realized I needed something more…powerful to fight some enemies," Dusk explained. He pushed energy into the weapon. It began to glow and spark.

"Harm thinks that the it is compensating," Harm mocked.

"Believe what you want," Dusk stated uncaringly, "Secret, stand back. Trust me, this isn't going to be pretty."

Spirit landed on the cement with a solid crack. Pain shot through her in waves as her wounded back shattered the street below her. The shock and pain was so great that Spirit began to feel her vision began to fade. Her mind danced between the realms of dreams and reality for a few brief seconds.

Hey, kid. Now's not the time for this. Sis would have a heart attack if I let you fall asleep and die like this. Wake up, would ya?

Spirit's eyes snapped open instantly. Her Premonition began screaming at her. The message was lost to her, though, to the blazing stars in front of her eyes and terrible ring in her ear. Out of raw instinct, though, Spirit shuffled to the side. Even if she couldn't hear the message from her Premonition, she still that it usually meant that she had to move.

The complete message became clear, though, when Wulf crash landed on top of her. She was instantly grateful that she moved a bit. Wulf had been aiming to jam his claws into her head. Her shuffling made it so the claws missed their target. Unfortunately, she still took damage as the dimension ripping claws jammed into her shoulder.

Once again, agony rushed through her, but she fought to stay focused. Spirit tried to force the claws out of her shoulder; but she couldn't use the now injured arm, and Wulf's full weight was pressing down on her wounds. She then tried to activate the Spectral Claws in her uninjured arm, but she couldn't focus enough to make that ability work. Thus, all she could do was claw desperately at the arm that was stabbing at her.

"RRRAAAWWW!" Wulf looked up to the darkened sky and howled.

Spirit looked around desperately. No one was able to help her yet. She was still alone, and she had to way of protecting herself.

With another roar, Wulf raised his free hand far above his head. His sharp as daggers claws gleamed brightly in the moonlight. Spirit could only look on in terror as Wulf's claws pointed down at her head. Her attention was moved away from the claws, though, when she felt tiny droplets of water fall onto her cheeks.

Ashamed tears ran down Wulf's fur covered face. He shook and sobbed as he fought to stop himself. His raised claws slowly began to descend despite his fighting. In a desperate attempt to stop Wulf from killing her, Spirit reached up and tried to push Wulf's arm away from her with her only working arm. Despite all this effort, though, the claws continued to lower down to Spirit's forehead with the intent to tear the life out of her.

The entire street was on fire. Blue and red flames danced around each other in a dance of heat. The blaze was so intense that even from half a city away, the Martians flinched and shook under the heat. Even Red Tornado had to keep his distance from the heat so that he wouldn't melt.

Inside the blaze, Ember began to sweat and breathe heavily under the intensity of Torch's fire. While she was used to her own fire, she still preferred to use her sound attacks more. As such, Torch was far more advanced in his flame control and intensity. She couldn't compete in that, so she tried to retreat to use her guitar. Torch wouldn't let her do that, though.

Staying close to Ember, Torch rapidly swung his scythe. Ember was forced to block dozens of blows from all directions. Each blow was barely stopped, but for some reason, though, both she and her guitar had yet to be damaged. Every strike was just slow enough to block. The fire seemed just cool enough not to burn her. In fact, everything Torch did was right below the line of hurting her.

One thing that it was doing to her, though, was tiring her. Her arms ached. Her body sagged. She felt like was about to collapse under the intensity of Torch's assault. At the same time, though, Torch seemed to be wearing down slowly. Going at such a high, non-stop pace was burning his energy away. He didn't seem to care, though, because he didn't even slow down a little.

After a few minutes, Torch stopped his rapid swings. He hooked the blade of his scythe around his guitar and pulled. At the same time, the fire ghost used his foot to push Ember away. This combination plus the exhaustion in Ember's arms made her do something that she would never do in any other circumstance. She let go of her guitar.

With a swing of his scythe, Torch threw the guitar away and then jammed his scythe into the ground. Then, with a spin, Torch lunged forward to Ember. The siren ghost tried to escape, but she was too exhausted to move. She tried to punch him back, but Torch used his superior strength to knock the fist away and continued forward to…hug Ember.

Torch held her tight. Ember began to thrash around. She kicked, clawed, and head-butted the taller Torch to make him let go. He weathered the storm and refused to let go, though, despite the pain.

"Shh…" Torch whispered in her ear. The fire around them continued to dance. The blue flames were violent and angry, but red flames seemed to be calm as they tried to force the blue flames down.

Ember refused to calm down, though. She yelled and screamed at him. In her rage, she even began to bite into her shoulder.

Torch winced. He thought maybe he could subdue her without hurting her or buy enough time for the others to stop the mind control. This didn't seem to be the case, though. Ember would keep fighting until she couldn't get up. Eventually, Torch would either get hurt or be forced to hurt her, and he couldn't bring himself to hurt her.

In that moment, he knew what he had to do. Torch would have to wake her up through shock. She already almost had enough control to fight the mind control. He had to give her that last jolt if he wanted to keep her uninjured, even if he didn't want to.

"Ellie…" Torch mumbled.

Ember froze.

"You're stronger than this, Ellie. Don't let the witch control you. You're the world's greatest rockstar, right?" Torch hugged her close, "And rock stars don't let anyone tell them what to do. That's what you told Torch at least. Fight the power. Fight le Fey's control."

Ember's eyes began to clear up. The flames around them faded down and eventually died down to leave a smoke slowly rising from the street. Seeing that she was no longer struggling, Torch released her and stepped back. Ember looked at him with wide eyes and a shocked awe on her face.

"Trever?"

Artemis really hated her job sometimes. Most of the time, she loved what she did. Saving people, stopping bad guys, and kicking ass was her favorite things to do. It was days like today, though, that made her want to quit.

"I don't get paid enough for this!" Artemis shouted. She and Green Arrow were on the rooftops shooting their arrows up at Dora to get the amulet off her neck. While this was happening, Black Canary was protecting them from the stray ghosts and demons that tried to sneak up on them.

Up in the air, Etrigan was fighting against Dora. The demon seemed to be holding his own against the dragon, but he was obviously having a difficult time avoiding hurting her. He was used to mauling his enemies, but during this fight, he was just trying to distract her. Etrigan flew above the dragon so that none of the fire would fall on the city. He did have hurt her a bit with a scratches and gashes to keep her attention though.

Both of the archers continued to try and shoot the amulet. The managed to get close, but the dragon was high in the air and kept moving. In addition, they had to avoid shooting their ally, which made their job all the more difficult.

"You don't get paid," Green Arrow noted.

"Exactly," Artemis grunted, "No health benefits, no pay, but I have to fight a dragon with a bow and arrow. I should protest."

"Good luck with that," Green Arrow mentioned, "Superheroes don't get union reps."

"Would you two stay focused?!" Black Canary snapped as she finished her latest Canary Cry, "You two still haven't gotten the amulet off yet."

"We're trying…" Artemis reached up to her ear and pressed her Fenton Phone earpiece, "Etrigan, can you get her down lower? You're barely in range."

"I'll try," Etrigan mumbled. The demon then rocketed down at Dora. He smashed into her back and forced her down a few dozen meters. Before she could fall too far, he grabbed some of her thick, scaly skin and held her up for a moment.

"Perfect!" Green Arrow yelled as the demon put the dragon down to the perfect height. The archers then readied themselves to shoot the amulet, but they stopped when Dora suddenly twisted around. She flared about randomly and smacked Etrigan away. Dora then turned to the archers. She raised a claw to cover her neck and glared down at them.

"That's not good…" Green Arrow muttered.

"Nope," Artemis drew and arrow and shot towards Dora's eyes. The arrow struck the large, slitted eyeballs and erupted into giant wads of foam. This caused the dragon to roar in confusion and claw at her face. Unfortunately, she still covered the amulet with her other hand.

"Damn, we got to move," Green Arrow mentioned.

"But we're so close to stopping her," Artemis frowned, "If only we have a clear shot."

"I do…" Black Canary stepped forward, "One Canary Cry, and she'll stay down."

"Dora might just go deaf from that, though," Artemis noted, "Her hearing's enhanced in that form, right? If we do that, then she might no longer be able be Doctor Fate."

Green Arrow's eyes narrowed as Dora pulled the foam of her eyes and prepared to breath fire down at them, "Looks we don't have a choice anymore. I don't want to be a shish cabob."

"Alright," Black Canary took a deep breath for her Canary Cry. She paused, though, when Dora suddenly froze.

The golden amulet slipped down from behind her claws. A red arrow stuck out from the hook of the jewelry. As the amulet fell, Dora shrunk down to her normal form. A light blue dress covered her green skinned form, and her blond hair was pulled into one long braid. Now free from control, Dora slipped into unconsciousness and began to fall. She didn't get far before Green Arrow rushed forward to catch her.

"Gotcha!" Green Arrow had to reach over the edge of the building to catch the ghost, "Whew…I definitely prefer the beauty to the beast. She's a lot lighter like this. Cuter too."

"I'll ignore that," Black Canary mentioned.

"What happened anyway?" Artemis' eyes followed the path from which the arrow originated. Across several rooftops, she saw another archer, "Roy?"

Red Arrow eyed his previous teachers and teammate. He held his bow in front of him and, as always, had a serious look in his eyes. At his side was a confused Etrigan who he caught before the demon could fly too far way.

"Gah…" Etrigan looked up from his spot on the floor up to the archer, "You have my thanks."

"Thank Danny," Red Arrow mentioned as he lowered his bow, "He's the one that called me and asked me to come help out here."

"That guy…" Etrigan let out a laugh, "He sure knows how to bale me out of trouble."

Phantom felt power rush through his entire. Energy flowed out of him just as quickly as it was absorbed from the air. The halfa used this power to bombard the Spectre with hundreds of blasts of ectoplasm, bone crushing punches, and violent moves designed to cause as much pain as possible.

His lasted blast of ectoplasm sent Spectre crashing into the trailer of a semi-truck. The entire bent under the force of the crash. It cracked and slid a few yards before coming to a stop. Before the ghost of vengeance could recover, Phantom was on him once more.

"Gah!" A small amount of blood and spit rushed out of Spectre's mouth as Phantom's fist rammed into his stomach. This repeated dozens of times as Phantom sent rapid, hammering blows to his midsection. The force of the blows caused the trailer to bend and crack even more around the Spectre.

After a full minute of this, the trailer finally gave way to the force behind Phantom's blows. The Spectre crashed through shards of metal as Phantom's final blow cut the trailer in two. Spectre landed on the ground and skipped a few times before landing on his face. The damage done to the Spectre could not be seen through the rising smoke from his body.

Once again, the Spectre tried to get up. Phantom, again, prevented that. The halfa landed on top of the Spectre and caused the cement to crack below them. He then grabbed the back of the Spectre's head and repeatedly began to ram the Spectre's head into the ground to the point that the street seemed to have an imprint of the old ghost's face.

After one last shove, Phantom held the Spectre's face down and began to move. He dragged his opponent's face to the ground and left a long trail of broken cement behind him. Phantom dragged the Spectre like this for several blocks before the halfa spotted a condemned building. With a roar, he pulled the Spectre's head up and flung the ghost of vengeance into the building in a blaze of green. The sound of crashes and a collapsing building brought a satisfied smile to Phantom's face.

Nevertheless, Phantom felt sweat pour down his face as the exhaustion from going all out for a long period of time began to take its toll, "How do…pant…do you like that, you bastard!"

"I will admit, that was impressive."

Phantom could only look on in horror as the Spectre's form rose from the wreckage. While he was covered in small bruises and burns, he lacked any injury that would be considered above an annoyance to the ancient ghost, "How? I hit you with everything I had."

"Fool, I am one of the strongest ghosts in existence," The Spectre shook his head, "Your power is impressive, but it's still nothing in comparison to me."

"Well…maybe it is…" Phantom admitted, "But I know a power that exceeds even yours!"

Energy blazed off of Phantom. He yelled out as he absorbed as much energy as he could. The halo of energy expanded rapidly and began to increase in its glow. Soon, strands of white and gold energy began bleed into the blaze. Phantom's eyes flashed white for a few brief seconds. Then, with one final yell, Phantom began to pull that power into him...

…Only to find it to disappear completely...

Gasping in sudden exhaustion and loss of breath, Phantom dropped to his knees and clutched his chest, "W-what? H-How? It never…I never…"

"Do you take me for a fool, Danny Phantom?" The Spectre questioned, "You were the one that reminded me of your ability to absorb energy of the deceased. From there, I recalled just how powerful you could become if I let you, and I did not wish to test myself against the power of ascended ectoplasm."

"But…how did you stop it?" Phantom gasped out. His exhausted eyes began to lose focus as he eyed the Spectre.

"By creating that," The Spectre pointed up. Phantom followed the gesture to see a thin dome covering the entire city, "While you were bombarding me, I spread my energy out around the city. Once you tried to absorb more energy, I willed my energy to create a dimension altering shield around the entire city. While in here, the outside energy of the deceased cannot enter. I activated the shield at the opportune moment. While you were absorbing more energy, I left you without a source to draw energy and pulled the energy you borrowed out, effectively making you helpless."

"No…" Phantom whispered in horror.

"Yes, and now…" The Spectre disappeared in the blink of an eye. He appeared right in front of Phantom and sent a massive uppercut to the halfa's stomach. The force of the blow lifted Phantom up, concaved his stomach, and caused a fountain of blood to pour out of his mouth. Phantom's eyes quickly became unfocused and hazy as the pain rattled his very soul, "It's time for you to die."

Zatanna decided that today was up there on weirdest day list. It wasn't exactly worthy of the top five list. No, most of the days that far up were reserved to her first few months in Young Justice. Compared to those days, every other day was normal. Today, though, still ranked pretty high up there in the top ten region for two simple reasons, or more specifically, two new people. There were now three Captain Marvel's flying around. That was definitely two more than normal.

It started when the Box Ghost collapsed the building that Captain Marvel was in. Lightning crashed down from the sky and consumed the falling rubble in blinding light. For a brief moment, Zatanna felt her heart stop as the thought of Captain Marvel turning back into his thirteen year old form and getting crushed. Her worries were quickly crushed when two beings rushed out from the rumble in a blur.

She wasn't the only one shocked by this development, though. The Box Ghost didn't know how to react when he was rushed by a dark haired young woman in her late teens and dressed in a feminine version of Captain Marvel's uniform complete with a skirt. He was even more shocked to see a man who appeared to be a slightly younger version of Captain Marvel but with a blue uniform.

The shock and sheer speed of the attacks caused the Box Ghost to freeze. He was quickly beaten down by an assault of two Captain Marvels. The blows were hard and devastating. In a few brief seconds, the ghost that had caused them so much trouble was left a bruised and bleeding mess on the ground.

The two knew Marvel heroes then turned their attention to the Lunch Lady. Both of the magical brawlers flew to the giant meat monster with a sonic boom. Covered in magical electricity, they rocketed through the giant meant monster. Once they passed through it, they turned around and flew back the same way. They continued this several times until the meat looked more like swish cheese.

Eventually, the form of the monster had to give way from the lack of stability. The meat collapsed downward in a wave. The Lunch Lady was dragged with it. The female Marvel saw a glimpse of green, though, and went to intercept her. With the force of a rocket, she rammed into the Lunch Lady and caused the female ghost to cry out in pain as her ribs cracked. In a blur, she was sent flying towards the new male Marvel. The new guy raised his arms to knock the Lunch Lady down to the street below.

"STOP!"

Freddie froze in his swing. Instead, he allowed the Lunch Lady to ram into him and caught her instead of hitting her. He was shocked to see her hurt and broken from.

Captain Marvel, carrying the unconscious and bloody Box Ghost, flew up and frowned at the two new Marvels, "You can't just go all out like that. I may not know what happened to you exactly, but if you have my powers now, then I know the damage you can do. Look at them. This is what happens when you lose control."

Both Mary and Freddie looked in horror at the Box Ghost. He looked like he had been run over by a monster truck several times. His face was covered in blood, and his left eye was swelled and smashed.

"Right now we don't have time to figure all this out," Captain Marvel stated sternly, "I need you to go direct the civilians. Be careful with your strength if you touch anyone. One wrong move, and you'll break someone's bone."

"Ah…Okay, Captain…" Mary lowered her head in shame.

"Right…I, uh, we'll just do as you say," Freddie clenched his fists in anger at himself.

Sighing, Captain Marvel took hold of the Lunch Lady and gently lowered the ghosts to the ground.

"What was that?" Zatara questioned with wide eyes.

"I have no idea. I was trying to save some…friends, and I think they received a copy of my powers," Captain Marvel shook his head. He gently placed the ghosts down next to each other.

Zatanna brought over Box Lunch, who she managed to get a hold of during the chaos and put the baby in between the injured parents, "Is that really possible? Did you know that could happen?"

"I didn't know at all. It's weird. There's no way that should have happened, but when I reached out to Mary…" Captain Marvel looked at his fingers.

"What is it?"

"I don't know. I guess I felt something familiar. Like some sort of connection. I think the powers of the wizard transferred through that connection and surged into the Freddie during the process." Captain Marvel frowned, "The only question is what was that connection?"

Troia felt beads of nervous sweat roll down her face. She slowly circled a very relaxed Nyx. Her pride ached by Nyx's casual stance and lack of carrying about the whole situation. She did not register as a threat to Nyx, and Troia really couldn't blame the other girl. She had seen what a regular ghost could do. A ghost that could use both ectoplasmic and magic like Doctor Fate did? That was a terrifying opponent.

Yet, here Troia was facing her. She really needed to work on her tendency to rush into situations. It seemed to always get her into situations that were above her head. Damn pride. No wonder it was considered a sin.

"Are you going to attack me, or are you just going to dance around me all day, Princess?" Nyx mocked and did a fake yawn.

Deciding that she stalled enough, Troia rushed forward. She sent a powerful punch to Nyx's form, but it didn't get close. Nyx's shadow jumped up and formed a wall in front of the ghost. The Amazon's brick shattering punch was stopped with ease. The block seemed almost effortless too.

Out of raw instinct, Troia flew backwards to avoid the spikes that suddenly burst out from the wall. As quickly as possible, Troia zoomed around the shadow and went to kick Nyx in the side. With black electricity dancing around her arm, Nyx blocked the blow by merely extending an arm. Troia expected this, though. She already knew that she could not with brute force. Thus, she fought with skills that she spent years building.

Hooking the arm with her foot, Troia pulled her foe forward. She then twisted herself and kicked Nyx in the face with her free leg. Nyx was sent flying back. The Amazon went to follow the ghost but was shocked when Nyx's body disappeared into the ground as a shadow. Troia tried to follow the shadow, but she couldn't stop it from getting right behind her.

Nyx popped out of the ground, wrapped her arms around Troia, and then sent magical electricity through the Amazon's body. Troia cried out and shook in pain from the magical attack.

"I guess I underestimated you," Nyx mentioned as a small trickle of blood fell from her lips, "Good job hurting me. You showed some real skill there, but all the skill in the world falls before raw power."

"Says…thou!" Troia rammed her head back. The back of her skull rammed into Nyx's face. This instantly caused Nyx to release her hold. Troia swirled around. She began to rapidly punch her opponent's form. For a few brief seconds, she had the upper hand.

This moment of dominance was instantly shattered when Nyx retaliated. Troia's own shadow seemed to jump out of the ground. It shifted and took the form of a large cat. The tiger shadow bit Troia in the shoulder and pulled her back. Thanks to her durability, Troia's skin was not completely torn from the bone, but blood began to pour from the wound.

The pain only continued as the shadow tiger began to scratch and claws at Troia's back. She would have flipped the shadow creature off of him, but she wasn't given the chance. Nyx took advantage of the situation. She grabbed Troia's head and began to repeatedly knee the Amazon in the face.

"Kekekekekeke! You're actually pretty damn good! You made me go all out here!" Nyx didn't stop her assault on the Amazon as she spoke, "I'll kill you quickly as a reward—"

Nyx paused when she felt a spear pointed at her back.

"That's enough, Nyx," Pandora ordered her child.

"Please, I know that you won't actually hurt me, Mom," Nyx snorted.

"No, it is clear that I could never bring myself to harm you, but…" Pandora glanced around. The various Amazons around them had a look of murder in their eyes and had their weapons ready to attack, "I can't say the same for them."

"So this is your attempt to save me from the bloodthirsty Amazons?" Nyx let go of Troia and dismissed the shadow tiger. This caused the bleeding Amazon to fall to the ground, "Thanks, but I don't need your help. I could run away the moment they tried anything."

"I know…" Pandora frowned, "But my actions aren't about rationality. It's about love."

"Love? That's funny," Nyx let out a chuckle, "Is love what makes you point your spear at me? Is love what makes the Amazons so filled with rage that I hurt their precious princess?"

"Yes."

"Then it's stupid," Nyx shook her head and reached down to grab Troia's lasso, "I won this. It's mine now."

"Gah…" Troia looked up as Nyx took the lasso, "Very well. That was the agreement. I'm sorry that I could not save thee."

"Save? I don't need saving," Nyx mentioned, "It's you Amazons that need saving. Cause soon, you're all going to be wiped out."

"What?"

"Just a little spoiler for fun," Nyx's grin was almost wide enough to split her face, "I wanted to see what your face would be like. I'm not disappointed. I can't wait to see it again when the real fun happens. But until then, I've got work to do."

"Wait! What does the Light have planned!?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" With that, Nyx disappeared in a swirl of black electricity and shadow. She left a silent and somber island in her wake.

Shiva had to make a choice now. Ubu or Talia. She had to direct Cain to one of them right now. The problem was that she couldn't tell which one was Amorpho and which one was real. In any other situation, Shiva would have praised the ghost for creating such a perfect disguise. Right now, though, she was cursing him to the pits of hell.

'Damn it. There's no way to use reason. I just have rely on chance. I hate relying on chance,' Shiva hissed mentally. She was a person that always relied on skill alone. Luck was never part of the equation. Considering this situation, though, she might as well flip a coin like Two-Face.

Just as Shiva was about to choose, an explosion went off at the far wall. Reacting out of pure instinct, Shiva jumped in front of Ra's to protect him from any follow-up attack. Ra's didn't seem surprised at all by Shiva's actions. Talia didn't give Shiva a side glance either, but someone did. Ubu with a single hand raised, looked with shocked eyes as Shiva moved Ra's back away from the large man's head. Shiva could see a small black chip in Ubu's hand.

With a determined face, Shiva shifted her body weight and subtly gestured to Ubu. Cain acted immediately and shot the disguised Amorpho in the neck with the trank. The dart hit the assassin, and he tumbled down like a ragdoll.

Shiva caught Amorpho and addressed Talia, "I have Ubu, get the Great One out of here."

Nodding, Talia followed her father as he rushed to avoid sniper fire. As they did this, Shiva dragged Ubu away. Despite the scramble of assassins, she could still tell that Madame Rogue was no longer among them. She must have seen Shiva's distress and went to do something to give her an excuse to act.

'I'll have to buy her a drink later,' Shiva's mind was filled with relief. Her cover was safe, David probably already escaped, and now there would be an excuse when Ubu awoke later with a headache and no memory of what happened. Considering that subtly of Amorpho's mission, Ubu was probably just drugged instead of killed. She would have to find the real Ubu once she moved Amorpho out of the compound. It would be hard to explain why she supposedly dumped Ubu in a closet or empty room.

Right now, though, she had question she needed answered. Taking the dark chip away from Ubu, Shiva was surprised to see that it looked like a black tentacle with pulsing wires in it. It was a black version of the infamous Starro Tech, the mind control devices that once allowed the Light to control the entire Justice League and Danny Phantom. Even without sensory abilities, Shiva could feel something off about this chip. It was wrong, corrupted…evil.

'If Morgaine got this on Ra's, the whole world could have been thrown into chaos,' Shiva realized. She then remembered something else, 'Other members of the Light were here earlier. What if he managed to get one of these chips on them?'

"Come on, it!" Harm laughed as he rushed forward, "Try and use the big, bad weapon on Harm!"

"Stability: Set. Energy level: 50%. Target: Acquired," An eye piece rose from the gun and targeted Harm. Green energy sparked off the weapon. Raw heat and steam could be seen rising from the weapon. Even from a distance, the other fighters could feel the raw energy coming off Dusk's newest weapon, "Twilight Canon…Fire!"

The boom of the canon was so loud that even the veteran assassins flinched under the sound. In a blaze of green, a concentrated beam of energy fired out of the canon. It caused the air to flee and the ground to give way. Almost instantly, the concentrated blast of energy closed the distance to Harm. In alarm and fear, Harm tried to use his blade to block the beam. A magical energy shield appeared around Harm and attempted to protect him.

Harm was shocked as he and his shield were pushed back. The beam didn't stop. It didn't even slow down. The attack continued forward as if Harm was merely annoyance. Fear sparked down his spine as his magical shield began to crack. Under the force of the canon fire, the shield began to break apart it as it was pushed back. In mere seconds, the shield shattered like glass.

All that was left to guard Harm from the attack was his blade. Even as he felt his feet skid back, Harm did not drop his guard. He continued to push back against the attack. His shock turned fear immediately began to change into sheer terror when his blade began to crack as well. The sword that Morgaine le Fey enchanted to be as strong as the Sword of Beowulf began to brake under the power of the Twilight Canon. Then, just like the magical shield, the sword shattered, and Harm was consumed in a blaze of green.

The following explosion was so bright that everyone had to cover their eyes. Soon, the light faded and left a blanket of smoke in dust in the air. Without even hesitating, Dusk absorbed the canon and began to walk forward through the smoke. As he moved, the blanket of dust faded to reveal a downed and defeated Harm. Small burns and cuts covered the psychopath's body.

"Oh my god…" Secret's whisper was barely audible, but it still rang loudly through the now silent cliffside, "How…What was that?"

"Like I said, I designed to Twilight Canon to take down stronger enemies," Dusk stood in front of the downed Harm, "Instead of finesse and technique, the Twilight Canon uses raw power. An unbelievable amount really. There are problems, though."

Dusk knelt down and began to look through Harm's pockets, "The first problem is mobility. That gun has one hell of a kick, so I need to anchor myself to avoid being flung back. As such, I can't move it all that quickly. Luckily, this moron didn't even try to move."

Dusk found the Infi-map and le Fey's gem in Harm's trechcoat and began to pull them out, "The second problem is energy. I use myself as a power source, and using that thing is a pain on my reserves. As of right now, I'm completely out of energy, and I only used half power. I'm right on the line of the danger zone. If I try to use even the most basic of my powers, I'll begin to decompose."

Dusk stood and raised Morgaine le Fey's mind control jewel into the air. Both Kitty and Johnny looked to the jewel and were released from their brainwashing, "The third problem comes from the design. That weapon is designed only for the purpose of taking enemies that are stronger than me down. One wrong move…One wrong calculation, and the enemy might die. Especially if I use this on anyone that's durability isn't superhuman. Luckily, Morgaine's magic protected him for the most part. Sorry, Secret. I know that I said that I would try not to hurt him, but this was the only way."

"That's fine…Hurt is better than dead…" Greta gave him a grateful smile, "Thank you, Joel."

Dusk felt contentment fill his heart, "You're welcome. We'll take Harm and the jewel back to Amity Park. Then you can try to talk with him if you want—"

"Dusk, look out!"

In his exhausted stated, Dusk forgot to tie Harm's limbs. As such, when Harm regained consciousness, he could still move. He immediately went into a craze. The psychopath pulled an all too familiar dagger from his boot and lunged at Dusk. Surprised, Dusk raised his arms to block the descending blade. He would get cut, but Greta was there to heal him, so he wasn't too afraid.

There was a problem, though. Harm never got to Dusk. Someone jumped in between the two fighters.

"Johnny, no!"

Spirit desperately tried to push Wulf's claws away from her with her still active arm. Blood continued to pour out of her open wounds and take her remaining strength with it. Feeling weak, Spirit could not fight the arm anymore and just clung to it.

At the same time, Wulf continued to lets tears run down his face. He couldn't stop himself. Morgaine le Fey's control was too strong. His claws were going to cut down no matter what. Wulf knew this even as his arm trembled and clenched from his attempt to fight the control, "No…Please, no…Not my friend…"

"Wulf..." Spirit gasped out, "Just, hold on a little longer. Mom's coming. I know it. Just a few more seconds."

"I can't!" Wulf sobbed, "I can't fight it anymore!"

"Please! Just a bit more!" Spirit pleaded.

"I…I don't want to kill you!" Wulf whined in despair, "But…I don't have a chose! I'm sorry!"

"It's not your fault," Spirit let her arm drop in acceptance. The claws continued downward toward Spirit's forging eyes, "I'm sorry I couldn't save you and Youngblood. Live on for me and tell the others that I love them, okay, Wulf?"

Memories flashed in Wulf's eyes. He remembered the circumstances of his death. Soldiers attacking that poor girl. He stepped in. They arrested him. Prison. Prison. Prison. Execution. Acceptance. Smile.

Wulf's eyes flashed. Not like this! Not with his friend! "NO! I REFUSE TO OBEY YOU! I WILL NOT HURT MY FRIEND!"

Green claws became a blur as Wulf stopped fighting. They swung downward and curved so that they missed Spirit's head. Instead, they swung upward and…

Right into Wulf's own chest.

Green blood poured down Wulf's hand and arm. Droplets of blood fell from the arm and began to paint the shocked girl below the beast. The tears that flowed from Wulf's eyes stopped. His grimace changed into a smile of victory, "I...did it…"

The pain and closeness to Death's door broke Wulf free of le Fey's control. Using the last bit of energy he had left, Wulf retracted his claws. The claws removed themselves from Spirit's shoulder and Wulf's chest. This caused blood to platter and covered Spirit's form in the green liquid.

With that done, Wulf was out of energy. In exhaustion, he collapsed forward and landed on top of Spirit in a heap. Spirit would have grunted in pain if it wasn't for the complete horror and shock that was running its way through her system.

After a few brief seconds, Spirit came to enough of her senses to begin to push Wulf off of her. With her one working arm, Spirit began to roll Wulf off of her as gently as possible. She managed to get Wulf on his back and saw the gruesome wounds in Wulf's chest. Instantly, the halfa began to push pressure on the wound despite Wulf's cries of pain.

"Damn it!" Tears now ran down Spirit's still horrified face, "Why the hell did you do that?!"

"I…had to…" Wulf's breath came out in wheezes, "I couldn't hurt a friend. If I did that…Then I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

"But...That was never your obsession…" Spirit began to sob, "You were meant to run free! Unchained, and free! That was what you wanted, right?! How can you be free in life if you kill yourself for me!?"

"I was free…only because of you and Danny…" Wulf let out a deep chuckle, "Without you, I wouldn't have ever had the chance to get out of Walker's prison. That's something…I could never repay. To come and go as I please…but also having a family to come home to…That's true freedom. I could never get enough of it. I could never willingly move on…"

"Right! It's not enough!" Spirit argued, "You can't die! Not yet! Not like this damn it!"

"Hehehe…There's never a right time," Wulf's body began to dissolve, "But I've always been prepared. I'm not afraid, and I really have no regrets. And that's good enough for me."

"Please, Wulf!" Spirit begged as placed her head down and cried into his chest, "I'll get a medic! Don't give up!"

Wulf gently placed a dissolving hand on her head, "I'm sorry. This isn't what I wanted. Tell everyone I said thank you. The past three years have been perfect for me."

"No! Nononononono!" Spirit shouted, "Don't die! Stay with me! Come on, Wulf! What will we do at if you're not here!? We can't protect Amity Park without you! Home won't be the same without you! Who will I fight with over who gets the last strip of bacon!?"

"I'm sorry, but this is it for me…" Wulf's body was almost gone, "It may not have been perfect…but it was good enough. I'm so grateful..."

With that, Wulf was gone. His form dissolved and spilt through Spirit's fingers to the street below. All that was left was a puddle of ectoplasmic ooze that rippled as Spirit's many tears continued to rapidly roll down her face and fell down like tiny rain drops.

"Dani! Dani, you have to get up!" Vision's voice called out as various ghosts and demons began swarm around the mentally distressed girl, "I know that the loss hurt, but you can't let yourself get killed!"

Spirit ignored her mother. Instead of getting up, she wrapped her arms around herself and began rocking back and forth. She didn't even try to fight against her mental breakdown.

"She's not listening!" Raven yelled.

"Keep going!" Superboy roared, "We can save her!"

Everyone had been trying to get to Spirit and Wulf for several minutes. When Wulf met his end, they were all shaken to their core. Most of them burst into tears as Wulf slowly dissolved. Their first instinct was to stop out of shock and despair, but they forced themselves to keep going in order to save Spirit.

The ghosts and demons all focused on stopping their charge, though. Not even Vision or the injured Superman could get through the wall of enemies yet, even as they continually knocked enemies away with ease. They would soon get to the center, but by the time they did that, it would be too late. If only Spirit would fight from the center, she could be saved. It seemed as though the halfa no longer cared.

"Fight, Spirit!" Superman shouted, "If you don't fight, you'll die!"

Spirit didn't seem to care as she hugged herself. She did nothing as the ghosts and demons finally got to her. The halfa refused to protect herself, and there was no one ready to protect her.

…Or so everyone thought…

A large flash of green light blasted out from where Dani was. Waves of righteous anger and protective feelings washed over the area. Giant blasts of ectoplasm spread out from the center of the chaos. A man wearing brown, leather cloths designed to look like a pirate stood at the center of the explosion. A large, thick green beard covered the man's face. His hand and foot which were once covered by a hook and peg leg was now covered by large ectoplasmic canons that continued to fire at the enemies charging at Spirit.

After a few seconds of fighting from both sides, all the enemies in the area were defeated. All the fighters from the outside were shocked to see the man.

"Youngblood?" Raven questioned with wide eyes, "How…How did you break from the mind control?"

"I was always trying to fight against it," Youngblood, in adult form, stated, "But le Fey's control was strong, and I couldn't beat it in my child form. And when I tried to break the seal holding me in my child form…"

"You couldn't," Superboy stated as he panted from his injuries. Both an injured Wolf and a barely functions Supercycle stood beside him, "She commanded you not to break the seal, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Then how did you manage to get free?" Superman questioned.

"I heard something that was louder than le Fey's control," Youngblood turned to look at the downed Spirit. Everyone looked at the halfa girl and saw a heart breaking sight. She looked completely broken and destroyed by Wulf's death. Now that that they no longer had to fight, they allowed themselves the time to let the situation wash over them.

Wulf was gone forever. A friend and ally died on the field, and none of them could have stopped it. Raven felt bile rush up her throat as she began to say her magical chant to avoid having her emotions go haywire. Superman and Superboy bowed their heads in respect. They didn't know Wulf all that personally, but they respected the werewolf.

Spirit was sobbing. This was so hard! Why?! Why did he have to die!? She didn't mean for him to get hurt like that! She was trying to protect him! Why did this have to happen?!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The halfa girl screamed up into the heavens.

She could feel their eyes watching her. Her friends...her comrades…they didn't understand. Yes, they were saddened. Yet, they didn't truly understand. They didn't know the true extent of what happened.

Spirit had just caused a ghost to give up his obsession.

"Dani…" Vision stated gently. She knelt down next to her daughter and held out a hand. The woman had unshed tears in her own eyes, but she refused to let them fall just yet, "I know that you're hurting, but now it not the time to mourn. We can cry over Wulf later. He would want us to—"

"Don't tell me what he would want!" Spirit snapped as she violently slapped the arm away, "I know what he wanted! And he gave all that up for me! That damn fool! I never asked him to do that! I didn't! And now…and now he's gone because I refused to stop him with force! Aaaaaahhhhh!"

"Dani…" Vision muttered sadly.

"If only I wasn't so weak minded! If only I was willing to knock the sense back into him! I was so stupid…Talking wasn't going to help him! I knew that, yet I tried it anyway!" Spirit wailed. The hot tears felt like they were burning her cheeks.

"It's never wrong to try and talk down your enemy," Superman noted.

"Shut up!" Spirit violently shook her head, "I knew talking wouldn't help, but I did it anyway! I didn't do what I had to because I didn't want to hurt him, and now he's dead! He died because of my weakness…"

"Dani, it's not your fault. You tried your best. You're a good person that tried to save your friend without hurting him. There's no sin in that," Superboy tried to reason.

"That's right…" Youngblood spoke up, "You're the kindest person I know. You care, and that's why you're crying. But Wulf's death isn't your fault."

"No…It is…But not completely," Spirit looked. Slowly, her look of despair and grief morphed into anger and hatred, "Harm and Morgaine le Fey are the ones that started this. They're the ones that deserve to be dead, not Wulf."

"Dani, don't let your anger guide you," Superboy warned, "Trust me on that. It doesn't pay off."

"I don't care," Spirit hissed, "They're the reason Wulf is dead. They deserve to pay," Spirit looked to Youngblood, "Youngblood, do you know where they are?"

Youngblood frowned, "I don't know where le Fey is…but I do know where Harm is. They weren't very quiet about their plans around me. He's right outside Dakota City, and…OH Hell, I forgot! He was going to use the Spectre to kill Danny!"

"What?!" Everyone snapped.

"NO!" Spirit roared, "I won't let them take someone else from me! Raven, can you use your magic to teleport us to Dakota City?"

Raven nodded, "Yes."

"Wait!" Superman glared at them, "I can't let you go. Not only is it too dangerous, but I can't in good conscious let you go kill him out of revenge. It's not the right thing to do."

"No…It think it is…" Spirit frowned, "The one time I didn't follow my instincts, a friend died. This time, I'll listen to my heart…and kill Harm."

"Spirit, you'll regret that," Superboy glared, "Come on, Raven, you have to agree with me on this. Don't let her do this."

"Sorry, but I agree with Dani on this one," Raven trembled as she forced her rage down, "My demon side is screaming out for blood, and I'm inclined to allow it."

"If that's the case, I'll have to stop you—" Superman paused when Youngblood pointed his hook canon at the Kryptonian's head.

"Sorry, but the ladies have made their decision. As their friend, I side with them," Youngblood stated, "You can try to fight, but trust when I say I'm one opponent you can't beat. I'll de-age you until you can't even walk on your own."

Superman frowned. He knew Youngblood was right. Time was a power not even he could fight.

"I got your backs," Youngblood addressed the girls, "Take me with you. I have been a crappy friend these past few years. I think it's time to make it up to you."

"Right," Spirit nodded. "Raven, take us there."

"Hold on," Raven's eyes glowed white, "Azaroth Metrion Zinthos!"

In a flash of black and white energy, they were gone.

Superman turned and glared at Vision, "Why didn't you stop them?"

"…I saw my daughter in pain…" Vision stated, "I didn't have the heart to stop the one thing that could make her feel better. Besides, I'm not the person to say that revenge is wrong. I have killed many of enemies in cold blood before. Besides, it sounds like Danny is going to need all the help he can get."

"But why not go with her then?" Superboy questioned, "If you support this decision why let her go alone. I would have gone, but they knew I'd just try to stop them."

"And leave you here alone? You're still weakened by the Kryptonite," Vision shook her head, "There are still enemies here. If I left, one of you might die, and I won't let another ally die because I couldn't help."

"But what if they kill Harm?"

"Then we will have one less psychopath in the world," Vision stated coldly.