When blood calls...

Chapter 19

Happy Holidays to everyone! From me a new chapter, hope you like it! 

- Phantom, where are you?- asked Aqualad through the earpiece

Right then he heard two bodies hitting the ground and he knew where Phantom was. They had been fighting for an hour and Aqualad needed to refresh himself.

- Two more down, twenty-one more to go!- shouted Phantom, but was interrupted by Aqualad raspy voice

- I need...some water...-

- Shit! Hang on, fish boy!- shouted Phantom quickly flying towards Aqualad

In a few minutes, Aqualad was in Phantom's arms, they were above the water and Phantom let go of Aqualad. Phantom was breathing hard for a minute and he heard Robin's voice, he wasn't happy.

- What's going on over there?-

- Well, for starters why didn't anyone tell me that Aqualad would need water after an hour of fighting?- shouted Phantom

- Dude, you called him fish boy, wasn't it obvious.- said Beast Boy

- Well, dude, I'm a ghost and I still need to breathe!- Phantom said without thinking and it only took a second for him and his original to realize his mistake- You know what, forget what I said. I'm going to look for Aqualad and capture the twenty-one criminals that are still missing.- with that, he dived into the water and took Aqualad out, who was looking better than ever

- You alright, fish boy?- said Phantom with a serious face

- Do you realize that you are the only one I'm going to allow to call me like that?- asked Aqualad with a grin

- Alright, you can call me ghost boy and we'll be even!- answer Phantom with a grin of his own and soon they were fighting again

It had been an hour since that incident and Phantom along with Aqualad had finished with the criminals; on the villains list, they still had eight more to go. Raven was fighting with Dr. Light near a company that specializes on electricity, Beast Boy and Cyborg were dealing with Billy Numerous in the bank, and lastly, Robin and Starfire were in a theater trying to capture Mumbo. Meanwhile, back at the tower, Phantom was floating next to Danny watching the others fight and Aqualad was just seating in the sofa waiting to be called to help the others or to be sent to capture the other six villains that still were on the loose; the H.I.V.E. Five and Plasmus.

- Hey, Robin, I know that it's a bad moment but you know we are ready to help.- said Phantom

- I know, but we don't need you!- responded Robin and ended the communications

Phantom looked furious and Danny had a similar expression since he wasn't able to contain his emotions like he had to. Without a word or a look to each other they started to work; Phantom became invisible and intangible, and flew towards the blob's current location. Meanwhile, Danny read the blob, known as Plasmus, file and Phantom got the information and knew how to defeat him. But at that moment Aqualad got off the sofa; he saw that Phantom wasn't there and that Danny had opened Plasmus's file. He knew instantly what had happened and decided to borrow one of Robin's motorcycle and tell them of the situation on the way.

The good thing was that the others were about to finish with the villains that they were fighting against. Raven had just broken Dr. Light's lightbulb, Beast Boy and Cyborg were able to knock out Billy Numerous, Starfire broke Mumbo's wand and Robin was receiving Aqualad's call.

- Robin here, what's wrong?-

- Phantom's gone and Danny had Plasmus's file open; he must be there. I'm already on my way and you should start moving as well.- shouted Aqualad

- Grr, I told him that we could handle it! We'll be right there!- shouted Robin

- Then I send you the coordinates, Aqualad out!-

Robin quickly communicated the news and the coordinates to the others; after that, he got on his motorcycle and drove away. It only took them twenty minutes to get to the coordinates, but they were too late. Phantom had left, there was residue of the toxic waste that surrounded Plasmus's human form and he was asleep in the grass. They were all impress, but thinking that the H.I.V.E. Five were left make them worry about Phantom. Robin was furious and wanted to scream, but knew that Danny wouldn't help if he shouted for directions.

- Danny, tell us where's Phantom heading to?- asked Robin in a low voice that was anything but calm

- ...fine, he's going to the mall.- said Danny in a whisper after a few seconds of silence and then ended the communications

The team quickly moved towards the mall and Aqualad was right behind them; he had missed Phantom's confrontation with Plasmus as well. They were able to get to the mall in ten minutes and they saw the H.I.V.E. Five waiting by the entrance.

- Finally, the dorks are here!- shouted Gizmo while getting ready to fight

- We got here before Phantom?- asked Beast Boy and then they all heard a laugh that echo all over the place

- Of course not! I was just waiting for all of you!- said Phantom in a loud voice

- Why were you waiting for us?- asked Beast Boy again

- So you could all witness the show!- answer Phantom and then started his attack

Phantom flew down from a nearby roof and landed in front of Mammoth; he tried to hit Phantom, but he quickly became intangible and then back to normal with his fist about to meet Mammoth's face. That's all it took to knock him out, his next target was Kyd Wykkyd. He started to teleport with his cape, he would disappear and appear in different places but when he stopped and let go of his cape Phantom appeared behind him. With a powerful kick, Kyd Wykkyd was sent towards a wall and didn't get up.

- I'm not weak!- said Phantom in a strong voice (not shouting) before disappearing

Everyone was stunned and paralyzed, but the members that were left reacted and were trying to locate Phantom. The only thing that disturbed the silence was the sound of Gizmo's backpack breaking, it had been torn apart with ice, and then Phantom appear in front of him about to punch him, but was caught off-guard by See-more's attack. With a laser beam from his eye, he sent Phantom flying towards a building but the crash wasn't heard. Next thing to happen is that See-more is flying towards Gizmo, they collide and while they tried to get up Phantom knock them out with a few punches and kicks.

- I'm not useless!-

He was going to finish with Jinx, but suddenly he couldn't move anymore.

- Sorry sweetheart, but that as far as you get!- said Jinx after surrounding Phantom with her bad-luck energy

- Why did you wait so long?- asked Phantom calmly, like he wasn't trapped at all

- Well, I wanted to see you in action and I didn't want to ruin my clothes!- answer Jinx with a teasing smile

- You know what, you just made me feel better. But I need to finish this!- said Phantom before disappearing

- Where did he go?- shouted Jinx

- And I'm not selfish like you!- said Phantom before overshadowing Jinx and knocking her out

After getting out of her body, Phantom looked around to make sure they were still knocked out and then his gaze landed on the titans. He first looked furious, then a bit sad and finally emotionless. He didn't say anything before disappearing and none of them tried to stop him.

Eventually, the police came and took care of all the villains, so the titans returned to the Tower to rest. Aqualad decided to return to his team and said his goodbyes. Meanwhile, Danny had stayed calm and quiet; only saying that he needed rest and that he would explain things in the morning. The team been so tired agreed with him and then went to their rooms to sleep. Danny had actually made the decision to reactivate the Portal with them present and, later on, take them for a trip into the Ghost Zone. Besides, he knew that soon he had to tell them about his secret.