Chapter 10: Birthday

Disclaimer: I own nothing

"Every year on your birthday, you get a chance to start new."

Sammy Hagar

Chapter 10: "Birthday"

(Saturday-January 18, 2014)

Midnight. The twelve and two zeroes burned into her brain as she peered at her clock. She had been dreading seeing that time for the past month. The holidays had been a stressful time for her. Christmas and New Years were bad, but the last week in general had been terrible. This day was coming, and no one could stop it.

"Happy birthday, Rachel," Rachel Roth mumbled to herself as she pulled her knees to her chest and watches as the time continued to tick away. She clutched her purple pajamas and sat on her the middle of her bed in her darkened room, "Time to bring the apocalypse to the world…"

Fear gripped her heart as she looked around her room. The large bookshelves and demonic figures on her walls did not make her feel better. Dani was right, she did suck at decorating. She should have let her friends do some changes to her room.

"Damn, I'm already going nuts if I'm thinking that," Rachel sighed and laid back on her bead.

Today was the day. The beginning of the end. He would be coming for her to send a message. The time of Trigon's attack was now on its final countdown. All he needed now was for his Gem to open a path.

"Today is going to suck so badly," Rachel closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. Despite her efforts, blissful unconsciousness never came for her. Instead, she just laid there and thought about what was to come. Who really knew what her father had planned for today…

Sweat rolled down his body in waves. It was a useless body function for him now. He didn't need anything to cool him down. Everything about him was meant to burn. He was a blazing inferno of awesomeness after all.

Still, the sweat did bring an old comfort. Even years after his death, Torch still enjoyed the stress relief that was his workout. The tired aching muscles, the feeling of being drenched in sweat, and the cleansed feeling always made him feel alive. Of course, there were downsides to feeling alive again. It brought back old memories.

Music trickled into his ears. He knew it wasn't really there, but he always heard it when he exercised. Ellie's voice called to him. She motivated and pushed them. They would accomplish their dreams together. That's what she said every day. Each workout, she would be right there playing the guitar. He always pretended to hate it, but he secretly loved every second of it.

"You will remember Torch's name…" Torch muttered to himself. The bars over his shoulders pressed down with the massive weights on either side of him. His bare torso shined with sweat. Tone muscled clenched with each squat. The fiery tattoos that covered his back seemed to dance with each movement.

Off to the side, his right hand Bullet stood waiting. Torch knew what the man wanted to talk about, but he wanted to finish his workout. He never quit in the middle of anything. No matter what, he finished what he started.

With one last squad, Torch stood and allowed the weights to drop. The clang and bounce of the metal echoed across the walls. The ringing didn't stop even as Torch approached his second in command.

Handing Torch the reports in his hand, Bullet raised a single eyebrow, "You've been working out a lot again. You haven't done that since your last confrontation with Miss Ember."

Torch grunted as he looked at the reports, "So? What of it?"

"Did something happen with her?" Bullet questioned.

Torch paused. With a shake of his head, he handed the reports back to Bullet and grabbed his shirt and coat, "Torch is taking the day off. You handle those reports."

Despite his surprised look, Bullet nodded, "Very well. May I ask what's making you act this way? You didn't deny my question about Miss Ember."

"It's kind of about her…" Torch muttered as he walked out of the workout area of the prison. He stormed through the halls while putting his shirt and coat back on, "I have to keep her from learning the truth…"

The fire ghost had been looking out for years now. He knew it was coming. It was surprising that it took three years, but Torch knew that it would happen eventually. That old man wouldn't just die. Torch and Ember had to get their stubbornness from somewhere after all.

"I knew you'd come back. Get ready, Dad, because I'm coming for you."

"Surprise!" Everyone in Masters Mansion's main hall cheered as confetti rained down on Raven.

Raven looked around with a deep frown, "I hate you all."

"Oh, cheer up, Rae," Spirit swung her arm around her friend's shoulders, "It's your sweet sixteen. You have to have a party."

"Idiot," Raven hissed in the halfa's ear, "You know what today means."

"Yeah, I do," Spirit whispered back, "And that's why we're using your birthday as an excuse to have dozens of superheroes guard you in the most secure location in Amity Park."

Raven paused. Slowly, she nodded in understanding. That did make a lot of sense. Still, she got the feeling that her friend really wanted to throw her a party with a way to avoid having Raven either complain the whole time or just run off. It seems that Vision had passed a few habits onto her protégé.

"Fine," Raven sighed with a hung head, "But I won't act happy…"

"That's good enough," Spirit raised her other arm into the air, "Happy birthday, Raven!"

Everyone cheered along with her, "Happy birthday, Raven!"

"Yeah," Raven swung a finger around nonchalantly, "Woo hoo…"

"Come on, Rae!" A monkey boy jumped on her back, "It's a party! Lighten up!"

"I don't do light. I am a creature of darkness," Raven mumbled.

"Even nocturnal creatures need to see daylight at some point," Cyborg chuckled as he walked up to his friend, "Come on, I know what will cheer you up. We have caaaaaaaake."

"…What kind?"

"Your favorite," Cybrog gained a large grin, "Chocolate with purple icing."

"…Alright, you win. But only because of the chocolate."

"Raven, Raven, Raven," Cybrog shook his head each time he said her name, "Don't you know? Chocolate always wins."

"We have the entire city prepped for battle," Phantom noted as stood around the kitchen table of Masters Mansion. The sounds of the party outside danced around his ears as he continued to go over strategy plans with the people around the table, "The automated defenses are prepped and ready to go. We have Damon and J.A.Z.Z. using the sensors to track everything on the ground while Etrigan, Vision, and her birds handle the skies."

"That is good," Aqualad nodded to his friend, "With the city having a first line of defense, we can focus our efforts on the mansion. The defense systems will help. And the guards…"

Fright Knight looked to the Atlantian, "Yes, Plasmius and Colossus will handle the guard duty. That is more than enough for the outside. The rest of us will surround Lady Raven and make sure absolutely nothing happens."

"Nightwing's keeping a close eye on her right now," Phantom placed his phone on the table. Various holograms and images hovered around them, "How are things going, Wing?"

"Well, this isn't the craziest party I've ever been too, but a nice calm evening is good every now and then, right?" Nightwing spoke to both Phantom and Raven.

"Personally, I think all this is too much. I'm much rather be doing anything else," Raven spoke up.

"It sounds like we have done everything we could to prepare," Aqualad noted, "But I do have to ask, why not request help from the League?"

"I don't like to rely on them. Besides, who knows what they would do if they found out everything about Raven. Doctor Fate already wants to eliminate her. Only reason that hasn't happened was because Dora wouldn't let that happen," Phantom shook his head.

"The League would not eliminate her," Aqualad argued.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't put it above them to lock her up and throwing away the key…or just make her leave Earth," Phantom frowned, "And I won't let that happen. She's a member of my family, and I would never abandon her."

"If that is your wish, Lord Phantom, then it shall be done," Fright Knight bowed his head to his master, "I shall protect Lady Raven with my life. The family shall not be broken apart anymore."

"No, it won't," Phantom reached up and expanded one of the images. The holographic video shows a woman that was an older version of Raven. She had a tired expression on her face, a purple hoody covering her torso, and dark jeans covering her lower half, "And keep an eye out for Raven's mother. We don't know if Trigon will use her against us or not."

Dusk was not a party person. That was pretty much obvious to anyone that looked at him. Especially because all he was doing was sitting in the corner of the room. Even surrounded by friends and family, he wasn't comfortable in such a situation. The music, the dancing, the lights…none of them appealed to him. Of course, a lot of people in Young Justice were the exact opposite. They loved the party life.

"Hey there, Twilight!" Robin plopped down next to Dusk and swung an arm around the halfa.

Dusk's eye twitched, "It's Dusk. You know that, Robin."

"Yeah, well, that's for calling me Rollin for the first month I was on the Team," Robin chuckled, "You like that joke don't ya? I noticed that you do it with everyone. Although, I think that you get over it faster when you respect people."

"It's not a joke," Dusk argued, "I just don't bother to remember people's names if I don't like them."

"Now that I can get," Robin nodded in understanding, "There's not a whole lot of people I like at first. They always get on my nerves."

Dusk eyed the arm around his shoulders, "Yeah, nerves…"

Robin rolled his eyes and removed the arm, "Fine, fine. I can take a hint."

"Are thou sure about that, Robin?" Troia questioned as she walked up to the two teenage boys with a cup of punch in her hand, "Because I believe that thou are deaf to my words."

"Oh, you know you love me, Amazon," Robin grinned at her, "You're just too stubborn to admit. I know you just want to shove 'thy' tongue in my mouth."

"Thy words are ignorant and disgusting to my ears, thou pig," Troia pursed her lips.

"I love when you talk mean and dirty," Robin chuckled, "Do it some more, Princess."

"Just get a room already," Dusk shook his head, "You've been flirting like that for months. People can just feel the sexual tension oozing off of you."

"Nonsense! His very presence disgusts me," Troia argued venomously.

"Uh huh…" Sergeant Marvel snorted as he turned to them from the food table, "Then why do you keep approaching him?"

"I…um…"

"And why do you look at his butt whenever he's looking away?" Sergeant Marvel questioned.

Troia was shocked, "Wha…How…"

"Freddie!" Lieutenant Marvel punched her partner in the shoulder, "I told you that in secret!"

"Woops. Sorry. Must have slipped out…" Sergeant Marvel's dull tone made it seem like it wasn't an accident.

Troia blushed under the gazes of her teammates, "I…thou…Shut up!"

"You're even cuter when you're flustered," Robin's grin only grew as the conversation continued.

"I said shut up!" Troia stood up and marched off before Robin could say anything else.

"Hate to see her leave, but love to watch her go, right Dusk?" Robin lightly elbowed Dusk in the ribs.

Rolling his eyes Dusk began to get up and walk away. He was stopped by Robin when the Boy Wonder once again flung an arm over his shoulder, "Hey, man, don't leave. Come on, lighten up and let's have some fun."

"Parties aren't' my idea of fun," Dusk grumbled.

"God, you sound like Batman, and I get enough of that from him!" Robin let out a dramatic sigh, "Come on! We're young! We're badass! So we should party!"

"Those are not legitimate arguments for why we should party."

"I know, but it's sure as hell fun to say. Watch this," Robin then shouted out, "Are we badass, or what?!"

He was met with cheers from the members of Young Justice.

Sergeant Marvel snorted as he continued to snack at the food table, "Please. This is a party, you can people to cheer for almost anything. For example…Is this cake good or what?!"

He was met with cheers also.

"No one was asking you, Fredward," Robin pouted, "And besides this is good cake—stop trying to turn intangible, Dusk! I have a thermos, and I know how to use it!"

Dusk looked away and frowned, "Look. This just isn't my thing. I don't want to be here."

"Okay, okay, I get it, but we all need to get out of our comfort zones sometimes. It helps us forget the more unpleasant memories we have. Trust me, I know," Robin gave Dusk's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "Come on. Twenty minutes out here, then we can go to the training room and spar."

"…Fine."

"Alright! Because twenty minutes is all I need, man. First, we'll drink directly from the chocolate fountain. Then, we turn Raven's cloak pink just for giggles. And then, we do some flirting. You're my wingman now. You make it so Troia will at least give me five minutes, and I'll have you making out with Mary by the time the night is over."

"Eep!" Lieutenant Marvel gave out a tiny squeak from her spot beside Sergeant Marvel. She face flushed crimson as she placed her hands over her mouth in shock. Her reaction was only make more embarrassing by Sergeant Marvel's laughter at her reaction.

Obviously knowing that she heard him, Robin gave her a massive smile. He then pointed at her, move his hand to make a fake phone near his ear, and then pointed at Dusk. This only cause the blush and laughter to increase.

"No, I…I'm not interested in that right now…" Dusk shook his head later.

"Alright. I just wanted to test where you were at anyway. Let's just have some good old fun, and embarrass the hell out of our teammates, alright?"

"I think I can live with that," Dusk paused, "But I do think I could help you with Donna. She loves talking about weaponry. I think I could get you and her talking if I chose my words wisely."

"See? You're already thinking like a wingman. Give me some time, and I'll make you into a real party animal."

"Doubtful, but I'd like to see you try."

"This is amazing by the way!" Beast Boy shouted as he hung off of Cyborg's mechanical shoulder, "I knew that Fenton and Masters was friends of yours, but I can't believe they lent you this whole mansion just for a birthday party."

"Yeah, they're pretty cool. Although Fenton can be pretty uptight," Cyborg then glanced at Spirit, "Not to mention that Masters girl. I go to school with her, and I tell you, BB, she can be a total brat."

"Oh really? That's too bad," Beast Boy pouted.

"Yeah…" Cyborg glanced to Spirit one more time, "But she does have her nice moments…"

"I'm kind of surprised that you didn't tell Gar," Batgirl addressed Spirit as the halfa girl glared at Cyborg for his comment, "Everyone else on the Team knows after all."

Spirit looked away from the chatting guys a few feet away and looked over to Batgirl, "Yeah, well, I love BB. He's a ball of laughter and jokes, but he's kind of got a big mouth."

"Ah, got it," Batgirl nodded, "Not like I can talk too much about the secrets though, right? I mean, Batman keeps everything on a short lease. I'm still surprised that the senior members of the Team know so much."

"I may have let some things slip out," Nightwing grinned, "Batman wasn't feeling the aster on that one, but he got over it. Besides, how could I be the only one keeping secrets from the senior members. Especially after the first New Year we had."

"The famous first New Year…" Batgirl gave a wiry smile, "You know, you still need to tell me about that. If you don't, I might have to do a little hacking and find out the less difficult way."

"You're a hacker?" Raven raised an eyebrow, "Is that prerequisite for being a protégé of the Batman?"

"No, I don't think Robin is all that good with computers. Or at least not on our level," Nightwing sighed, "Of course, Batgirl is admittedly better than me with computers. She can do what I do with only half the processing power."

"And don't you forget it, Bird Boy," Batgirl chuckled, "After all, I was the one that got into your personal profiles and found out about that girl you were just—"

"Hey! You promised to keep that quiet," Nightwing hissed.

"And that should teach you not to challenge my skills," Batgirl winked at Spirit, "Can't let people question how good you are, right?"

"Absolutely," Spirit smiled back to Batgirl.

As the group of young heroes kept watching, Raven stood back and listened. Despite her earlier words, she was enjoying the party. Although she would never admit it, she always did enjoy being with her friend, even if they were often too loud for her tastes. This party was a nice. It was good to be surrounded by everyone she cared about with what she knew was going to happen today. She was feeling more at ease than she ever thought possible on the day her life was supposed to be ruined…

"Ah," Raven hissed as her hand suddenly burned in pain. Her reaction gained the attention of the people around her.

"You okay, Rae?" Spirit questioned.

Raven lifted her hand out of her cloak to show a glowing red mark on the back of her hand, "No…No, I'm not."

"Why do all of our parties have some sort of hidden agenda?" Zatanna complained to Phantom, "Can't we ever have a birthday party without a crisis happening?"

"Z, our lives are defined by crisis," Phantom mentioned with a shake of his head, "We wouldn't know what to do if our parties didn't end in extreme chaos."

"Still, Z does have a point," Rocket stated, "This whole party's purpose is to fight inter-dimensional demons. That's pretty intense even by our standards."

"Actually, that sounds like a real party to me," Superboy grinned, "A lot better than dancing and eating."

"What?" Miss Martian blinked at her boyfriend, "I thought you liked doing that?"

"Only when you set the party up for him," Kid Flash chuckled as he and Artemis leaned against each other, "Any other time, he just tolerates it."

"At least he doesn't complain about it all the time," Artemis gently nudged her boyfriend, "Whenever we do something that you don't like, the whole world has to hear about it."

"Hey, my Twitter followers deserve to know what's happening in my life," Kid Flash argued.

"Yes, all five of them," Aqualad smiled.

"Dude! Not cool!"

The group let out a round of laughter. It was always nice when the senior member of Young Justice got together like this. Phantom reminded of days past where they did this every day. Even with Nightwing guarding Raven, Red Arrow on his latest quest to find the original Roy, and Red Huntress…Well, it reminded him of simpler times.

"Danny!" Damon's voice sounded through his Fenton Phone earpiece, "Something's happening. The radars are going nuts."

"The temperature around the city is skyrocketing. The energy levels are off the charts too. And…I think mosters are breaking through the ground," J.A.Z.Z. spoke up as well, "It's not centralized either. It's happening all around the city! I've never even heard of anything like this in recognized files and doctuments. It's almost like the stories of when the gates of hell break loose."

"That's because it has…" Phantom looked to Miss Martian, "Hook everyone up, Miss M. It's time for the real party to start."

Vision had a secret distaste of insects. It wasn't anywhere near a fear, but it was prevalent disgust. She just didn't like them, even when she was young. As such, when giant bugs of flames rose up from the ground below her, she was immediately displeased. She did not wish to fight bugs, even if the strange four-legged beetles seemed to be made of lava, smoke, and fire.

Luckily, she wasn't required to fight against the demonic bugs. Amity Park's defense system was already active. The guns and lasers popped up and were tearing through the lava beetles. Oddly enough, though, the bugs seemed to just stand there and focus on healing themselves. They made no move to attack at all.

"Something's wrong," Vision looked over to Etrigan, "Why send an army and not let them fight?"

Etrigan snorted, "Trust me when I say that this is only the tip of the iceberg of Trigon's power. He is very known across the universe for his devastating power and cruelty. Making an army of those things is nothing for him."

"If he's so powerful, then the bugs are merely a distraction. A way to redirect the defense systems," Visions frowned and reached for her earpiece, "I'll need to contact Damon and have him redirect the main directive of the turrets. We will need to—Ah!"

Vision flinched as her Fenton Phone earpiece suddenly sparked and crackled. She instantly removed the piece of tech and flung it away.

"Sorry, Miss, but I cannot allow you to do that," A very polite voice spoke behind the two flying spiritual beings.

Both Vision and Etrigan turned to see a man with chocolate skin floating in mid-air. His thin body was dressed in a dark suit that appeared to be made of silk. His red tie stood out from the rest of his appearance, including his slicked back, black hair and darkened eyes. A small smile was planted on his face.

"And who in the seven layers of hell are you?" Etrigan growled out.

"I do have a normal name, but I doubt it caries much weight. As such, dear friends, you may call me Greed," The newly named Greed smiled.

"Greed?" Vision raised an eyebrow, "You seem a little young to be the embodiment of a deadly sin."

"Well, miss, I am not really the sin of man in flesh. A better description would be that I am the seed of my father's greed," Greed explained with a gentle tone.

"Your father? And who exactly is your father, boy?" Etrigan questioned.

Greed just smiled.

"I can't be…" Etrigan's eyes widened, "He didn't!"

"Oh, but he did, and he has gifted me with some pretty impressive abilities," Greed eyed Vision's robes, "What elegant robes. So beautiful. I want them."

"Well you can't—" Vision's eyes widened as her robes seemed to come to live. The cloth wrapped around her body and began to move her body against her will. In a blur of motion, she sucker punched Etrigan and sent him reeling.

"Damn!" Etrigan hissed and clutched his bruised jaw.

"And now you're robes are in my possession," Greed continued to smile lightly, "As it should be."

"The defensive systems seem to be working fine," J.A.Z.Z.'s voice sounded through the Fenton Ops Center. The large metal operations center above the Fenton Works building was filled flashing monitors, expensive hardware, and readied weapons, "But for some reason my communications…have..slowed…doooooown…"

Damon looked up from his work station as the words became slowed and slurred, "J.A.Z.Z.? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, man, she's just taking a little break…" A rather bored and dull voice spoke up from across the room.

Damon jumped to his feet and pointed an ecto-pistol at the voice. By the main hardrive of the computer connected computer systems, was a rather shaggy looking young man. He wore an old brown coat and faded jeans with multiple holes in them. His brown hair was unkempt and long enough to reach the center of his back. Unshaved stubble danced across his bored and dirt-covered face.

"Who are you?" Damon demanded.

The man removed his hand from the tech and shoved them into his pockets, "Does it matter?"

"Yes! This place is impenetrable! Who are you, and how the hell did you get in?" Damon was ready to pull the trigger.

"Gah…" The shaggy man groaned, "Fine, fine, my brothers call me Sloth."

"Sloth?" Damon frowned, "Why would they call you that?"

Sloth's tired eyes bored into Damon's distressed orbs, "It's a pain, really, but I suppose I could show you. It won't take too much effort to deal with you, after all."

"Give some space, Plasmius!" Colossus roared as he shoved Plasmius away. They stood on the streets of Amity Park's higher class neighborhood. Masters Mansion was not far from their position. Unfortunately, they would not be able to get to back to the mansion with their current condition.

Hot rage danced around Plasmius's mind. His temper was always a weakness he had to deal with. Press the right buttons, and anger was always at the front of his mind. This was especially true when things reminded him of his earliest years in life. He remembered back in high school. The swirlies. The assaults. The pushing. He hated the goddamn pushing.

Trembling, Plasmius fought against the rage in his mind, "Colossus…You must calm yourself. This rage is not your own. It is him."

Plasmius gestured to the smug looking man not far from them. He was an extremely large, muscular African-American man. His dark hair was pulled back into dreads. Red eyes glowed in glee. Large arms were crossed and caused the muscles to almost bulge out of the tank top on his torso.

"Wha? Me? I haven't done nothing to you, big guy…" Wrath chuckled, "I'm just standing here. It's that vampire man that's getting all up in your grill. He thinks that he's big shit. He thinks he's smarter than you!"

"Raw!" Colossus shoved Plasmius once again, "He's right! I'm sick of the fancy words and demeaning looks! Who cares if you're a little smart! I can crush you like an ant!"

Plasmius grinded his teeth together in an effort to not lash out, "I am not so weak that you could defeat me with such ease, Colossus."

"Oh, really?" Colossus shoved him again, "Then put your money wear your mouth is, weakli—"

Plasmius used his ectoplasm to push Colossus in a blast of magenta energy, "Very well! Let's see what you're really made up, you stupid brute!"

Wrath just grinned. That was too easy.

"Damon?! J.A.Z.Z.?! Plasmius?! Anyone, answer!?" Phantom spoked into his Fenton Phone earpiece, "Damn it, no one is answering. What the hell is going on?"

"Trigon," Raven's mother, Agatha Roth, spoke up as she walked over to where Danny's group was located, "This is what happens when he wants something. Every obstacle in his way crumbles."

"You have to be kidding me," Superboy gained a looked of scrutiny, "Amity Park is damn near perfectly defended. How the hell could anything crumble the defenses so easily?"

"Trigon is not a being that you can explain with simple logic," Agatha shook her head, "He is a near omnipotent being. Your simple guns and fighters have no chance. His only limitations is that banishment that was put on him millennia ago. He can't directly interfere with this dimension until the passage is opened by Raven."

"But how could he fight against Colossus if he can't directly interfere?" Rocket questioned.

"It is very simple," The group was surprised when Troia approached them. With each word, she drew closer to the group until she was standing right in front of them, "My Amozonian sisters know many tales. One of which is how the gods designate fighters and demigods to act on their behalf. That is the case here. Trigon has demigods fighting for him."

"But how do you know that's the case now?" M'gann questioned.

"Because I'm one of them," Before anyone could react, Troia flung flash pellets to the ground. The blinding light caused everyone in the group to flinch back as their senses were impaired. In the chaos, Troia moved. She sent massive blows to all of the members in the group. Most of the superhuman members of the group were fine, but Artemis and Zatanna were instantly knocked out by the sucker punch from the Amazon.

By the time everyone in the immediate area regained their senses, Troia had grabbed Agatha, pulled her a good distance away, and was holding a knife to the older woman's neck.

"Troia?!" Kid Flash snapped as he knelt down to examine his injured girlfriend, "What the hell are you doing?"

"What I need to do so Father's wishes will be done, you know what I mean?" Troia gained a sick grin as her form shifted and rippled. In a sickening display of morphing, Troia changed into the form of Wonder Woman, "Of course, I didn't expect it to be so damn easy. Take the form of the girl's mentor, hit here while her guard's down, and then do that same to you dopes using her form. I guess that old dude is smarter than I gave him credit."

"A shape-shifter," M'gann glared at the fake Wonder Woman, "But…something's off about you. Those hits were just like the ones Troia uses. Shape-shifting shouldn't let you do that."

"Oh, but I'm not normal shapeshifter," The fake Wonder Woman snickered, "I can take the form and abilities of any object of a massive amount of envy. Luckily, a LOT of women are envious of the Amazons."

"I see…" Agatha glanced at the fake Wonder Woman out of the corner of her eye, "I wasn't the only one Trigon seduced, was I?"

"Ding ding ding! You're spot on, Aunt Agatha," Envy grinned, "Ain't that right, boys?!"

It was at that moment that the still conscious members of the group noticed that there were other strangers in the room. Over in the corner was a very handsome man with defined facial features, slick black hair, and a rather built body frame. A bright blue bodysuit covered his body and drew a lot of attention to the man. This man was closest to Raven. Spirit stood protectively in front of Raven, but the rest of the people in her group had abandoned the effort and was fighting amongst themselves. Nightwing, Batgirl, Cyborg, and even Beast Boy were all arguing and bickering about who appreciated the man most.

At the far end of the room was a rather obese man. His simple white shirt and jeans were covered in food stains. The man's round was seemed to forever be in a squinting position as his shaved head wrinkled in thought. He piled handfuls of food from the table into his mouth as he stood over the Marvel duo who seemed to lose all their impressive muscles and was bone thin.

"Of course. Father always had a way of manipulating people to get what he wants," Lust mentioned as he eyed Raven.

"Yeah," Gluttony mumbled between bites, "Course, he only had one girl. Guess even a god can't choose what gender's going to pop out. Took seven tries to finally get the Gem."

Raven's eyes darted among the new enemies in the room, "I have…brothers? But...I don't…Why?"

"Oh, dear sister," Envy snickered, "Do you need to clean the wax out of your ears? You should really have learned the full requirements of our Father's return. The Gem needed to be a girl. Unfortunately, we were disappointments…until now. Now, we get to play our part."

"Come, Pride," Lust smiled brightly to his sister, "It is time for the End to begin."

"And before you say no, just look around," Gluttony chuckled out bits of food, "We have your friends at our mercy. Come with us to see the Messenger, or we'll kill 'em."

Raven looked around in despair, "I knew it. This was never going to work…Fine. Let's go. I suppose it's unavoidable."

"No!" Spirit grabbed Raven's arm, "You can't just give up. We'll find a way to win! Like we always do!"

Raven jerked her arm free, "Look around, Spirit. We've already lost. I have to go."

"But—"

"Hey girly! Shut up already!" Envy held the knife closer to Agatha's neck, "We're in control here, not you. Come on, Pride! Time to go!"

"Yes, it's time…" Raven did nothing as a black portal opened below her and began to pull her down. In fact, no one did anything as the same thing happened to all of Raven's brothers and her mother. In mere seconds, they were gone leaving only the now silent party behind.

"We need to get everyone back into fighting condition right now," Phantom grunted out as the young heroes in the room pulled themselves together. It had only been a few minutes since Raven disappeared, but even that was too long. They only had so much time to get Raven back before something bad happened. Phantom knew that much for certain.

"We're trying, Bro," Kid Flash stated as he helped Artemis back up to her feet.

"I found Troia!" Robin called from the hall, "That shapeshifter guy shoved her into a closet."

"I think she will be fine," Dusk mentioned as he helped Robin carry her, "She just needs a few minuted to come to."

"Unfortunately, that's not time we have…" Freddie grunted out. After the demon guys left, he and Lieutenant Marvel used the opportunity to change back into their child forms. Now they could only hope that when they changed back into their hero forms that they would be back to normal.

"Fred's right," Spirit glared around the room, "The first part of Raven's prophecy starts right now. This is our best chance to derail it. After this, things will only get tougher."

"We know, but we can't just rush in," Superboy frowned, "Their powers are strange. We'll need a plan to take them down."

"And that is why I have already created a plan."

Everyone turned to see the Fright Knight walk into the room.

"You have a plan already?" Aquagirl questioned.

"Yeas, I situated myself down in the lab during the party. I managed to get a quick observation of the six foes that have already appeared," Fright Knight explained, "They're powers seem to revolve around the seven deadly sins. Unfortunately, they were well aware of who their abilities would influence the most. But there is a bright side. With the right teams, I believe we can strike fast and take them down, Lord Phantom."

Phantom nodded quickly, "And you've come up with a strategy?"

"Yes, we need to break off into a few squads to fight back properly, but if we get the right match ups, we might very well win quite easily," Fright Knight bowed his head towards his master, "I am confident that the strategy will succeed, my liege."

"That's a bold statement. You only give your word like that when you mean it," Phantom smiled, "Alright, I trust you. What do we need to do?"

Raven groaned as she dropped to the ground. While she was used to traveling through magic portals, that one seemed to be a lot different than normal. It was more…potent with the evil influence of her father. It made her feel sick and disoriented.

"We have brought her as instructed," Lust spoke up first, "Your strategy worked."

"I knew it would," A deep gravely voice spoke out from the darkness in the room, "The information Master has provided me was more than enough to pick them apart."

"Yeah!" Envy let out a high pitched laugh, "Right now, they're licking their wounds! They have no idea what hit them!"

"I wish I got to absorb more of their energy," Gluttonys spoke through a mouth full of potato chips, "Those two Marvel guys has some tasty power. I bet some of the other ones would be even better."

"You'll have your chance. Knowing that Phantom fool, he'll have his team back up and ready in no time, and when he does come, I'll have the pleasure of burning him into nonexistence," The voice chuckled out.

Raven pushed herself up and peered into the darkness. Her vision saw clearly through the darkness. The sight before her rocked her to her core, "But Danny said you were dead…"

"Of course he did. He tried to kill me after all," The man stepped out of the darkness. His head was shaven, but a thick white mustache stood tall above his lips. A white suit showed of his rather built and muscular frame. While his skin was tanned and darkened, the more defining features on his body were the glowing red demonic tattoos that danced over his face and the rest of his body.

"Agent Z…" Raven whispered in horror. While she never fought against the man herself, she had seen the result of his actions. This mad had led a full assault on Amity Park, killed Klemper, tried to invade the Ghost Zone with an army, and then later betrayed Joel at the Ghoul Project. Needless to say, he was one of the Phantom Family's most dangerous enemies…before he supposedly died, "No…My Father saved you, didn't he?"

"That he did, Pride, that he did," Agent Z grinned widely, "Master Trigon knew that, out of everyone he could have chosen, I was the person best suited to get under the ghosts' skin and make sure that the return was eminent."

"Of course, there was Freakshow too," Envy spoke up as he pushed Agatha Roth away, "But Death had too tight of a hold on him."

"I doubt I would have worked well with that freak, though," Agent Z shrugged, "He might hold a grudge for imprisoning him and locking away the key. Besides, he's not one to follow orders."

"And you are?" Raven shook her head, "You're an idiot, Z. You think my Father will actually give you what you want?"

"Oh, I know some his promises will never come to be," Agent Z snorted, "He promised a lot of shit that I know is lost forever. My family and life have been gone for a long time now. His promises are completely empty in that regard, but there is one thing that he'll have to give me when he returns."

"And that is?"

"The end of the goddamn Phantom Family," Agent Z let out a growl, "Even if I don't get to do it myself, Trigon will have to do, because knowing them, they'll try to stop him. And the only result that can come from that is their complete demise."

Raven lowered her head. She knew deep in her heart that the man was right.

"So, for revenge, I'll do whatever Trigon asks," Agent Z stepped closer to Raven, "And it starts with making sure that the message is given to you."

Raven did nothing as Agent Z stood over her.

"Too think, a threat that was far greater than the ghosts was in Amity Park this whole time," Agent Z spoke with a wistful tone, "If I had known that back when the Guys in White were still around, I would have made sure killing you was a top priority. Now, though, keeping you alive is my prerogative. Funny how things work out, eh?"

"Weird. Torch was thinking the exact same thing."

Raven was shocked when Agent Z was hit with a large ball of fire. The ball exploded out once it made contact with Z and sent the ex-leader of the GIW flying away. As soon as that happened, Torch appeared in a blaze of fire. This lit up the room and revealed someone else in the room.

"Chuck?" Raven's eyes widened as Youngblood floated at the entrance of the room. The forever young ghost pointed his sword and shouted out a command to charge. Dozens of pirate ghosts and skeletons charged into the room and began to fight against Raven's brothers.

She had been wondering where the ghost was during her birthday party. Now that she had her answers, she was now beginning to wonder why he was hanging around with Torch.

"Thanks for the heads up, Agatha," Torch addressed the woman even though he didn't take his eyes away from the smoking area that he just sent Agent Z, "Leave the rest of this to Torch and Youngblood."

"And thank you," Agatha ran up to Raven, grabbed her arm, and began to move her out of the room, "Come on. Let's get out of here."

"But…What's going on?" Raven questioned as she was dragged by her mother.

"While I trust Danny, I thought a back up plan was necessary," Agatha pulled Raven to the door, "I won't let Trigon win. He can't have you."

"Mom…" Raven felt tears began to form in her eyes.

"Now let's get—Youngblood what are you doing?" Agatha frozen when Youngblood suddenly jumped in their path. Her question was quickly answered when a wall of black flames jumped up at the door frame and created a wall in front of their exit.

"He only needs Raven alive, not you," Youngblood noted, "You need to be more careful."

"R-Right…" Agatha nodded slowly. She was about to respond as dark flames burst around the room and cause the temperature to rise drastically. The group of three turned to where Agent Z was sent flying just moments ago. The large man slowly rose from his position on the ground. Black fames began to dance around him. With a wave of his hands, the agent of Trigon summoned several lava beetles from his flames to fight against Youngblood's pirates.

"And here I thought you were just a passive woman. The prefect hostage," Agent Z chuckled as he popped his neck, "But actually doing something to save your daughter? I'm impressed. Next time, though, I won't underestimate you."

"Tsk," Torch jumped in between Agent Z and Agatha, "Don't ignore Torch. Torch will be your opponent today."

Agent Z watched a crimson flames blared off Torch in waves. The man just chuckled, "Really? Is that all? I have to say that I'm not impressed at all, kid. Your flames are weak compared to the flames of Trigon. You'll never be able to hurt me with your weak fire."

"Oh really?" Torch formed a burning scythe in his hands, "Challenge accepted."

Wrath frowned as his little party was broken up. He had been enjoying the fight between the two ghosts. A brawler against a tactician. That was fun to watch. Of course, neither really gained an edge on the other, but it was still fun to watch. So why did those dumb heroes have to come in and ruin his fun?

Just as Plasmius and Colossus were about to seriously clash against each other, both ghosts were tackled. Sergeant Marvel jumped on Colossus' back and began to use his super strength to drag Colossus away. The massive brute fought against this, but he was forced several steps back before Sergeant Marvel was forced to let go before the giant could grab onto him.

Sighing, Sergeant Marvel jumped back. Colossus instantly turned and snarled at him. In his blind rage, the massive ghost swung wildly at the agent of Shazam. His moves were uncontrolled and wild. He seemed to lack any conscious control over his motions to the point that he didn't even use his shockwave ability to enhance the blows. Using his incredible speeds, Sergeant Marvel just dodged the blows. He didn't try to counter attack, because he didn't want this to be a full fight. Right now, he was just a distraction that could take a hit by the giant if necessary.

As this was happening, Cujo in attack form jumped on a surprised Plasmius and tackled him to the ground. Unlike Colossus, Plasmius had enough frame of mind to avoid redirecting his anger to someone else. Seeing his family dog, Plasmius instantly went from a kill strategy to a stun strategy. He tried throw Cujo off of him, but the attack dog refused to budge. Even as Plasmius struggled to free himself, Cujo held strong and kept Plasmius from attacking Colossus once more.

"Eh?" Wrath uncrossed his arms and glared at scene, "Who said you could jump in and ruin my fun?"

"I did!"

Wrath didn't see the blow coming. Lieutenant Marvel jumped out of his blind spot and sucker punched the demon. Surprised by the suddenness and power of the blow, Wrath could do nothing as he was punched into the ground. His head slammed viciously into the earth below. His body twisted and the earth crumbled before the force of his fall.

The female agent of Shazam would have followed up with that attack, but she paused. Memories of the last time she got out of control with her powers flared in her mind. She had promised herself that would never happen again. Thus, she stopped herself and flew back. It wasn't like the man would get up after that punch…

"Eh, not bad girly," Wrath chuckled as he pushed himself off of the round. He grinned at the girl and loudly popped his neck, "A few more of those, and I'd be hurting pretty badly."

Lieutenant Marvel quickly shook of her shock and took a defensive stance, "Alright. I guess that I'll just have to hit you some more."

"Hahaha! Well let's see if you can do that when I know you're coming—" Wrath was cut off when he was sucker punched again. Sergeant Marvel had rocketed forward from his spot by Colossus and hit the demon before he could react. Once again, Wrath was sent tumbling to the ground.

"Stay back," Sergeant calmly addressed the ghosts behind him. Both Colossus and Plasmius were in a dazed state behind him while Cujo stood by guarding them.

"Damn. Forgot about that," Wrath grumbled. He pushed himself up and rubbed his soar jaw, "Got to focus on 'em if I want to control their anger."

"Good to know," Lieutenant Marvel noted, "Thanks for the info."

"Eh, you already figured that out beforehand, though," Wrath chuckled, "You must be the brains of the two of you. Course you have the girl do the dangerous stuff while you take all the credit."

"Please, are you trying to make me mad?" Lieutenant Marvel scoffed, "Getting mad would be too much trouble."

"Huh?" Wrath's eyebrows rose, "What about you, girly? Can't take me on your own, so you need help from this douche?"

"I always accept help from my friends," Lieutenant Marvel declared proudly.

"…Oh, shit…" Wrath remembered something that his Father told him before all this. Shazam chose his agents very carefully after what happened with Black Adam. He required that any users of his magic be 'pure of heart.' And that meant, they wouldn't get angered by his influence.

"That was what we were wanting you to say," Sergeant Marvel mentioned as the Marvel duo rushed towards Wrath and beat him down once more.

"Peek Noisiv morf gnivom!" Zatanna shouted as the Superscycle flew her up to where Vision and Etrigan were flying above the city. While she could use her own magic to create a platform below her, she wanted to have her full concentration on stopping the demon's control on Vision's clothes.

Greed pursed his lips as his control over Vision was halted. It now felt like he was pushing against a wall to get to Vision to do what he wanted. Perhaps he should just focus more. His powers were always stronger when—

"Woah," Greed ducked under a kick directed at his head, "Didn't see that coming...literally. You can turn invisible?"

Miss Martian frowned as she exited her camouflage mode, "Mostly, it's camouflage."

"What an interesting power…" Greed smiled, "I find you Martians very interesting overall. So many powers…I like that…"

While this was happening, Zatanna and Etrigan were helping Vision into the Supercycle. Vision, however, didn't look like she was appreciating the help, "I can't believe it…My clothes were a weakness…I would have never thought of that…"

"There are some werid powers in this universe," Zatanna noted, "I still can't believe there's a Box Ghost."

"Your words ring true…" Vision frowned under her veil, "I'll need to come up with a contingency plan for such an unusual power…"

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Etrigan stated, "Until then, though, get her away from here, Zatanna. I'll help Miss Martian…who's charging to attack you right now. Damn, I'm really hating today."

Etrigan jumped in the way of Miss Martian and stopped her from attacking the weakened Vision. He was surprised when her form shifted and several arms grabbed and struck at him. Despite the pain, the demon did not release the Martian. He refused to let any of his friends get hurt.

"Did you really think that I could only control inanimate objects?" Greed smiled. His arms were extended, and his fingers moved about like the was controlling a puppet, "It's just more difficult to control people. But if I want a person's ability, I can control them just fine. In fact—"

"Let go of my sister!" Beast Boy cried out as he transformed from a green bird into a screaming monkey.

"AH! Monkey in my hair! Get it off!" Greed shouted out and clawed as Beast Boy bit at his head.

"Gar!" M'gann cried as the control over her was lifted, "We told you to stay at the mansion!"

"I thought you could use some help! And I was right!" Beast Boy grinned as changed back to his regular form, "Let's take him down!"

Sloth peered down at the weakened Damon Gray. All it took to take down the man was one punch. It had nothing to do with the strength Sloth possessed. After all, Damon towered over the demon's much thinner frame. That didn't matter to Sloth, though. Everything crumpled before his laziness.

"Arg…" Damon groaned out weakly. His muscles were now degraded and thin. The clothes that covered his body were now ripped and stained. A thick, bushy beard hung from his chin, "What did you do to me?"

"I just made you into what you would be if you were lazy," Sloth shrugged, "Just like with the computer lady."

"Damn," Damon tried to swing at Sloth's legs, but he felt too weak to move quickly. Sloth easily countered and kicked Damon across the face.

"Nice try, guy," Sloth shrugged and moved to sit down at Damon's station, "Don't worry, though, man. I'm not here to kill you. I already did my job, so I can sit back and—OOF!"

Sloth grunted as he fell to the ground. Groaning, he rubbed his soar backside and looked around, "Hey…Where did the chair go?"

"I took it."

"Ow!" Sloth hissed in pain as the chair slammed into his face. Now angered, Sloth pushed himself up and looked around.

Kid Flash stopped his fast movements and grinned at the demon, "Didn't see that coming, did you?"

"Craaaaaap…" Sloth groaned, "I thought the others were going to take care of you…"

"Yeah, well, they failed," Batgirl mentioned as she knelt by the computers. A holographic computer popped out of her gauntlet, and she began to interface with Amity Park's defense systems, "Keep him off me, KF. I'll get the systems back up and running in a minute. Might take a while to fix J.A.Z.Z., though."

"Hey!" Sloth moved to stop Batgirl, "Get away from—OW! Stop hitting me!"

Kid Flash once again rushed forward and struck the demon. Before Sloth could counterattack, the speedster rushed off and grinned at his enemy. To his surprsise, though, a long red beard appeared from his face, "Woah!"

"How do you like that?" Sloth wiped his bloody lip, "Anyone I come in contact with turns lazy into a lazy version of himself. And now, you won't be able to—"

Kid Flash once again punched Sloth in the face.

"Damn it!" Sloth cursed as he clutched his bleeding nose, "How can you even move!? I made you have the body of a sloth!"

"Dude, I already am a sloth," Kid Flash snorted, "It takes a lot to get me off the couch some days, but my powers makes it so none of my muscles degrade. The beard is a nice touch, though. I wonder if Artemis will let me keep it."

"She won't," Batgirl noted as she got the defense systems under control.

"Ah, can't you just let me hope for a few minutes?"

"Nope."

Torch's element had always been fire. Even when he was alive, his temper and passion easily aligned him with the flames. His life had been defined by fire. Of course, it was fire that also ended his life, but he didn't like to let that keep him down. To him, that meant that his very existence was defined by burning heat.

As such, he took pride in his flames. It was the one thing that he surpassed everyone in. No one could ever compete with his fire control and intensity. That was something everyone acknowledged. In the end, though, Torch knew that there had to be someone that could surpass him. He wasn't so arrogant to think that he was unbeatable. Still, he never suspected that it would be his father that would beat him in the department of fire usage.

"Tsk…" Torch hissed in pain as he looked down where his hands met his scythe. While the weapon was basically untouched, his arms were another matter. His sleeves had all but melted away. His arms were covered in burns and blisters. For the first time in years, Torch felt the pain of being burned, "Torch is impressed."

"And I'm bored," Agent Z grunted. Black Flames danced around his arms, but not a single burn covered his clothes or skin, "You can't compete with the flames of Trigon. He uses the very flames from Hell itself. No mortal can ever compare to that."

"Torch begs to differ!" With a grin Torch rushed forward again. Crimson flames danced around his scythe as he swung it at the agent of Trigon.

The flames around Agent Z's wrists spread out like a miniature shield. He then blocked each blow with in an almost bored manner. Each time the scythe and black flames met, a burst of fire blasted out and scorched the area around them. Unfortunately, only Torch was hurt by this. The black flames clung his body and began to burn away his clothes.

Seeing that the close combat tactics weren't working, Torch jumped back and sent serveal fire balls to distract Agent Z. This didn't entirely work, though. The agent of Trigon did nothing as the fire balls hit him. They were merely overcome by the intensity of the black flames on his body. Nevertheless, he didn't chase after Torch. Instead, he just stood there and waited.

With enough distance between him and his foe, Torch gathered his flames for a larger attack. The fire danced around the end of his scythe and formed a circle around the blade. Then, Torch thrusted the scythe out and let out a shout of battle. A pillar of fire blasted out from Torch and rocketed towards Agent Z's location.

Shaking his head, Agent Z formed a similar circle around his arms. Like Torch, Agent Z thrusted his arm forward and sent a blast of straight flames out at the fire ghost's attack. The two attacks met in a blaze of heat, and the black flames immediately overtook the crimson flames. Z's attack then continued forward and smashed into a shocked Torch.

The flames instantly covered the stunned ghost like a blanket of torture and agony. Crying out in pain, Torch collapsed to the ground. He began to roll around and use his own fire control to smother the flames. Slowly the fire dimmed, but the damage had already been done. Torch's body was now completely covered in burns and blisters.

"Owwwwwwwwwwwwwww…." Torch groaned as he laid beaten on the ground.

"It was a valiant effort. I'll give you that, spooks," Agent Z sneered at the fire ghost. He lifted his hand and began to gather his flames for a final attack to finish Torch off, "But it wasn't enough. I may not have been given a weird, special power like the Sons of Trigon, but I've been given a portion of his raw power. You could never compete with that."

"Damn it…" Torch muttered as he struggled to get up. Each attempted ended with him collapsing on his face, though. Shame rocked Torch's core when he realized just how pathetic he looked.

"Sorry, kid," Agent Z mentioned as the flames around his fingers grew, "Nothing personal. I've just got a job to do."

Just as Z was about to finish Torch off, he paused. A blaze of blue ectoplasm surged through the area and froze several of the lava beetles fighting against Youngblood's forces. Agent Z grinned as he recognized the energy. The ghost was finally here. The whole reason he played around for so long…

"Danny Phantom."

Gluttony really couldn't explain what had happened. One minute, he was absorbing the energy of all the pirate ghosts, which was a surprisingly delicious meal. The next minute, the room was suddenly freezing and covered in blue light. That was not something he was used to. Cold didn't suit Glottony very well. He gained his father's affinity to heat.

Pausing, Gluttony tried to look where the source of the blue light was coming from, when he was suddenly hit by something metallic and hard. The force caused the obese man to roll a few times before flopping in a heap. Unable to get up quickly, Gluttony could do nothing as the follow up kick slammed into him and knocked him into the wall.

"Huh?" Gluttony groaned as an arrow shot out at him. Just before it hit him, the arrow burst out into a net and covered the large man, "What the hell…How could you hit me? If people come into direct contact with me…"

Cyborg cracked his mechanical, "You can absorb their muscle strength, right? That's what I thought when I saw what you did to Lieutenant and Sergeant Marvel…Man, that's a mouthful. Can we shorten their names?"

"Let Nightwing do it, he's good with names," Artemis pulled out a foam arrow and pointed it at Gluttony. She would have preferred to get back at Envy for that sucker punch, but she was the only person that specialized in far range combat that didn't use energy attacks."

"Ah…" Gluttony gave Cyborg a look of disgust, "No muscle. Just rust and oil. That doesn't sound tasty at all."

"It's not supposed to," Cyborg stated, "Now stay down, or get beat down."

"Please," Gluttony began to clench his muscles…fat…to snap the net, but was stopped when Artemis fired her foam arrow. Immediately after that, Cyborg rushed forward and punched him squared in the nose, "Ow!"

"Damn, that's like punching a marshmallow," Cyborg mentioned as he stood ready to prevent Gluttony from moving.

"That's a nice change of pace," Artemis readied another arrow, "Because punching you hurts like all hell."

"Guess there are some upsides to being mostly metal," Cyborg chuckled as he looked down at the trapped and defeated Gluttony.

Lust smiled at his newest opponents, "Well, hello there. How are you?"

Silence.

"The strong silent types, eh? That means you prefer your fists to your words," Lust continued to smile, "Then, would you kindly fight each other, please? It would very much please me."

The response was to punch Lust in the face.

"Ah!" Lust cried out in pain. He jumped back and held his swelling, cut lip, "Wha? How did you resist my suggestion?"

"Only Lord Phantom gets to give me orders," Fright Knight stated.

"I don't even like fighting in the first place," Dusk noted, "Trying to get me to fight against my own friends is a stupid idea."

"Yeah, and I'm really bad at following orders," Robin spoke up, "And I mean REALLY bad. Sometimes, I don't even follow my own advice. And that leads me to get into a lot of trouble. I mean the kind of trouble that involves Batman lecturing me for hours…Which I basically tune out anyways. So, yeah, I guess I have selective hearing too…What were we talking about again?"

"And we can add a short attention span to the list," Despite the situation, Dusk couldn't help but smile at the antics of his teammate.

"So…That means…" Lust's jaw dropped, "My powers are useless on you three?!"

"Pretty much," Fright Knight shrugged.

"Oh…" Lust quickly turned and began to run away, "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Robin growled and began to chase after Lust, "Hey! Get back here, pretty boy!"

Fright Knight was about to chase after Robin but paused, "A teenage boy pursuing lust…Even I can't resist commenting on that."

Envy paused as he, even if he still appeared like Wonder Woman, was surrounded by the bubble of purple kinetic energy. Both Rocket and Troia dropped in front on his now trapped form. He had to admit, this was a good starting strategy. Wonder Woman really didn't have a whole lot of ways to escape a kinetic bubble.

"Nice, nice," Envy nodded, "You're using the weakness of the form I used. Very smart, humans, but do you really think that this is the only form I can take?"

Envy's form began to shift once more. This time, however, he took the shape of the Flash. With a wicked grin, Envy began to vibrate his molecules through the kinetic bubble. It was a rather slow process ironically, but he soon managed to get his head and hands outside the bubble.

Of course, this allowed Troia to repeatedly punch him in the face. Envy instantly pulled his body parts back into the shield, "OW! Damn it!"

"Do thou think that we are that stupid," Troia glared at the man, "We are well aware that thou can change into multiple forms. However, I did feel thy punch, which was cowardly and pathetic by the way…"

"Getting off topic, girl," Rocket gently chastised her friend,

"Yes, forgive me," Troia coughed into her fist, "Anyway, I recognized that you do not gain the full strength of my sister. That means that though cannot equally match the people thou copies. Thy attempt to vibrate through the bubble failed because thou cannot full match the Flash's ability to vibrate his molecules."

"Damn…" Envy muttered, "Didn't think you'd get it that fast…"

"But please don't let my realizations stop thee from trying to escape," Troia grinned at him, "I will enjoying stopping thy escape attempts in a very violent and vengeful manner."

"Woops," Envy rubbed the back of his head, "Guess I chose the wrong girl to piss off. Great, now I have to actually use my brain for once…Maybe I can try turning into Batman or something. He's good at escaping things, right?"

"Just try it," Rocket dared, "We have three proteges of Batman here ready to stop you."

"Well, crap," Envy's shoulders slumped, "Dumb brats actually got me corned. If I wasn't so upset, I'd be congratulating you…"

Phantom came crashing through the ceeling and stood protectively in front of Torch. Blue energy poured off of him and instantly clashed with the burning flames. Looking to the source of the flames, Phantom felt his insides flip in surprise and fear, "Agent Z?"

The fallen agent grinned at Phantom, "Hey there, Phantom. Miss me?"

Phantom only glared back to Agent Z. Even when Superboy and Nightwing fell down and helped Phantom surround Agent Z, he didn't change his expression. In that moment, Phantom was too consumed in his thoughts to use his voice.

Agent Z snorted, "Lost for words? Don't blame you. I was pretty much dead the last time you saw me. Especially because you were the one that did the final blow."

"Because you were suffering…" Phantom argued weakly. He glanced back at Torch for a brief moment, "Is he the real deal, or did Trigon make a fake to get under our skin?"

"Torch…" Troch groaned as he lay near motionless on the ground, "Torch is certain that's the real Agent Z. Torch just knows…Torch feels it."

"I see…" Phantom clenched his fist, "So you're real, huh? I guess Trigon really is a powerful guy, huh? He steal you from Death…Why didn't she tell me…" Phantom only whispered that last part.

"Kid, you have no idea," Z snorted, "Trigon is a god…a demon…a demon god. You won't believe the things he can do. You have no chance."

"I remember you telling me that two times before," Phantom noted, "If I remember correctly, I came out on top both times."

Agent Z frowned deeply, "That's different. I doubt even ascended ectoplasm could do anything to Trigion."

"Alright, now this guy is just talking out of his ass," Superboy mentioned, "Can we shut him up?"

"That's the plan," Nightwing readied his stun batons, "But be careful. He just beat Torch at a fire throwing contest. He might even be able to burn you."

"I'd like to see him try," Superboy cracked his knuckles.

"Come on, Rae," Spirit helped her friend up, "Time to go."

"Yes!" Aqualad shouted. He was holding off the lava beetles from the inside while Aquagirl and Tempest were using water from the fire hydrants to make a path outside the warehouse, "I do not know how long we can last. I can already feel the heat draining me."

"Right, right," Raven nodded, but as she was being dragged out the door, she suddenly hissed in pain and dropped to the ground.

"Raven!" Youngblood looked down in alarm at his fallen friend, "What's wrong?"

Agatha knelt down and gently moved Raven's cloak to reveal that her entire body was covered in demonic tattoos. Seeing this, Agatha instantly moved back just as a spark of dark magic blasted out to hit her, "The close proximity to her brothers have stirred her demon blood. She's losing control of her powers. We can't get close."

"…Yes, I can," Spirit gritted her teeth and lifted Raven over her shoulders. She then hissed out in pain as Raven's demonic magic began to blast against her angrily. It cut and snapped at her body as she gently pulled Raven up. It only took a few seconds for her to be covered in bleeding wounds. Despite the pain and blood, she refused to drop her friend.

"You can't do that, you'll kill yourself," Agatha warned.

"Don't…care…" Spirit groaned out in pain, "Have to…save friend…"

Gaining a look of resolve, Youngblood floated over and began to help Spirit, "Yeah, you're right. We won't lose any more friends—OW! Ah! That hurts! Owey!"

"Big baby," Despite the pain, Spirit laughed a bit as Youngblood shared her fate, "Come on, let's get her out of here."

Agent Z was surprised when Phantom's cryoplasm actually managed to push back his flames a bit. It was a lot different than trying to overpower Torch's fire. Of course, given enough time, Z was sure that he could fight against the cold with ease, but Phantom's friends didn't give him a chance.

Nightwing decided to keep his distance. Instead of running up close, he electrified some of his shruiken and threw them at the ex-GIW leader. Shocks instantly went through Z's system. The pain distracted him from trying to concentrate on the ice and cold.

Just as the electricity faded, Superboy rushed forward. He hit Z with several hammering blows to the stomach. The agent of Trigon reeled from the force of the blows. Even with Trigon's power, Z could feel the pain from the force of a Kryptonian punch.

Unfortunately, the pain only increased Agent Z's anger. The anger then fueled his fire. Just as several ice broadswords stabbed themselves in the ground around him, Agent Z blasted a massive wave of fire off him. The result of the fire instantly melted the ice, sent Superboy flying away from him, and caused Nightwing to flee back in caution.

Phantom's eyes widened as his blue hands remained on the concrete below him. He was hoping the catylyst strategy with his ice swords would work, but Z's fire proved to be more intense than he expected.

"ENOUGH!" Fire and smoke filled the entire wearhouse and caused everyone in the area to flinch, cough, and collapse from the heat. Completely distracted from the attack, no one could do anything as Agent Z rushed to Raven's location with speeds that was far above that of a normal human, "TIME TO END THIS!" Agent Z violently ripped Raven away from her friend's grasps and held her up in the air by her throat.

Agonizing pain shot through Raven's entire body. She instantly screamed from the torture. As she screamed, her two normal eyes shifted into four sideways slitted, red eyes. The demonic tattoos on her body danced around as her magic lashed out all around her.

In that moment, time froze for the people in the room. The area around them shifted, though, and showed a scene that could only be described as hell on Earth. Buildings were crumbling. Hundreds of people were turned to stone. The ground was covered in boiling water. Demons flew through the area and attack the humans that were not turned to stone.

The gore that followed once the demons caught the humans made the heroes feel like vomiting.

There was one thing that was even worse than that sight, though. At the center of all the chaos was a being as large as a mountain. His appearance could only be described as satanic. His skin was an angry crimson. His lower half was that of a hooved animal. Sharp white teeth rose from his mouth just like the sharp horns that rose from the top of his white hair covered heat.

The massive being sat on a thrown. The terrifying part of the thrown was that it seemed to made up of a crashed and destroyed Watchtower. All around him was the forms of broken and unmoving heroes. All of them were powerless to stop him.

Four sideways slitted eyes opened and glared down to where Raven was, "This is the fate of this world, Pride. Everything shall burn and die. Nothing can stop it, because it is meant to be. And it will be you, my precious Gem, that brings about this apocalypse. The day soon approaches. Be prepared, daughter. The next phase of my return starts now."

With that, the scene faded away. They were all left back in the burnt and smoking warehouse. None of the heroes moved. They were too shocked and fearful to move even an inch. The only one that wasn't paralyzed in fear was Agent Z. He quickly dropped Raven and turned back to Phantom, "Part of me wants to go for the kill now, but I want you to suffer first. I want you to see that become reality. And when it does, and everything you care about is gone, I'll put an end to your pathetic existence. Until then, live in fear knowing that we'll be back, and we'll be even stronger. Come on, brats! Time to go!"

In a blaze of black flames, all the demons in Amity Park disappeared. In their wake, they left an eerily silent city, a few abandoned fights, and a very frightened group of heroes.

Raven frowned as all of her friends slumped in depression in the now quiet Masters Mansion. The demonic tattoos and uncontrolled magic had already faded, so she was now back to her normal pale skin. As soon as this happened and the heroes regained their composure, the heroes quickly returned back to Masters Mansion. No one seemed in the mood for such a thing, though. Everyone refused to speak and seemed to being a very good Raven impression.

She could now see why people always tried to cheer her up. It was terrible to see people look so depressed. This wasn't going to change her normal behavior, of course, but it still gave her a good understanding.

Peering across the room, Raven sighed and said, "I'm sorry."

Everyone lifted their gazes to look at her.

"I tried to warn you. That was I was worried about. My Father will stop at nothing to make what you saw a reality," Raven looked down in sadness, "I thought that maybe if I came to Amity Park then maybe things could be changed, but I was wrong. My father is too powerful. I understand if you want me to leave Earth."

"Who said anything about that?" Dusk suddenly spoke up.

"Yeah, Rae. We may be a bit…shocked, but we don't plan on just abandoning you," Cyborg mentioned.

"But…You saw what I can cause. It's not safe to keep me here," Raven argued.

"You think that matters to us?" Spirit questioned, "Cause it doesn't."

"We don't abandon friends," Superboy stated with a glare, "No exceptions."

"Yeah, we'll just have to rethink our strategy," Artemis spoke up.

"We'll need more…everything," Batgirl mentioned, "Weapons, security…

"And a lot more people," Aquagirl agreed, "We might need to do some recruiting."

"But this isn't over, Rae," Beast Boy looked up to the now sixteen year old woman, "We'll always have your back just like you'll have ours."

"Yeah," Miss Martian gently patted the top of her adopted brother's head, "Well said, Gar."

"You all still belive that?" Raven questioned with wide eyes.

"We do, Lady Raven," Fright Knight bowed his head, "We will protect you and the planet from the demonic forces of your father."

"Yeah, I mean…We've fought worse odd before, right?" Kid Flash questioned.

"Um…Maybe with Freakshow…" Zatanna mentioned.

"Either way, we won't give up," Robin noted, "Not on the world, and definitely not on you."

"…Thank you," Raven's eyes teared up a bit. With a shaky smile, she used her magic to levitate the turned over food table and lift up the cake, "Um…I know that the moods kind of ruined, but…If you all want, we can still have the party."

Everyone smiled. Though their hearts held a great fear from what they witnessed today, they still pushed on. They knew that the trials to come would be harsh, so it was best to enjoy the peaceful time they had left until then.

They stood on the roof of Masters Mansion. All four of them were silent as they looked over Amity Park. Everything turned back to normal when the demons had left. It seemed their influence only held over things and people when they were in the same area. Still, while the physical signs were mostly gone, the memories were not going to fade any time soon.

"So…Agent Z," Phantom sighed as he stood at the edge of the roof.

A now bandaged and slowly healing Torch nodded as he sat by the standing Phantom. He was one of the few that held visible injuries from the ordeal, "Sorry that Torch didn't tell you when Torch felt his presense. Torch just…wanted to keep it in the family."

"So that guy's you're dad, huh?" Nightwing questioned as he leaned against the door to the roof, "Damn, it seems like everyone we know has some messed up family issue."

"That is the problem. Our blood ties does not come from our own choices," Aqualad noted.

"True," Nightwing nodded and then looked to Phantom, "I thought that you…took care of Z years ago at the Ghoul Project. Does that mean that Trigon can bring any of our dead enemies back?"

"I don't know…" Phantom shrugged, "I thought death was absolute, but…I guess a deal with the devil can bring you back. At great cost, though…"

Torch sighed, "It might seem cruel, but Torch was relieved when you killed Torch's dad. It brought and end to his suffering. Now…it's only gotten worse. No one in Torch's family is good at following orders. To willingly submit to someone else's power like that…He's fallen even further."

Phantom nodded slowly in agreement, "Killing Z…I never really let it weigh me down. At least, not nearly as much as I let other things do. I gave him every chance to surrender. He refused and suffered for it. To me…it was an act of mercy. A quick painless death over a long agonizing one. People may argue that I was wrong, but…"

"I believe you made the correct choice," Aqualad spoke up, "In reality, things are not always in black and white. Sometimes, you have to make choices that people will never agree with, even if they were the right decisions."

"Thanks," Phantom smiled at his second-in-command.

"Now, though, we still have to deal with Agent Z, the Sons of Trigon, and anything else Trigon can cook up," Nightwing frowned, "And I wouldn't put it past Trigon's powers that he could have watched us all this time. For all we know, he knows everything about us. Our strengths, our weaknesses, and our secrets. How do we fight that."

"I have no clue. Right now, we just continue to build up support and go from there," Phantom noted, "And we can think of ways to take on the part of Trigon's forces that we already know about. We already know that we can counter the powers of Trigon's sons, but Z's raw power and fire…We might need more fire uses, especially ones that could work well with you."

Torch glared up at Phantom, "No. You know that Torch will refuse such a request, especially in front of people who don't know."

Phantom glanced to Nightwing and Aqualad, "Those two are my second and third in command. They need to know everything in case something ever happens to me. Especially if you-know-who ever catches wind of all this and figures it all out, which is likely to happen. So, either you agree and we can come to a proper decision, or we leave things up to chance. And if my memory serves me, chance has never been kind to your family."

Torch paused for a moment in though. Then, he let out a deep sigh, "You're right. Ellie will be affected by this no matter what. I just…I want to protect her."

"I do too," Phantom knelt down and placed a gentle hand on Torch's shoulder, "I want to protect her, Raven, and the rest of my family. Please, help me do that."

Torch frowned but relented nevertheless. Before he revealed his greatest secret to Phantom's friends, though, he had one condition, "Alright. Torch agrees, but we're not bring Ellie into this if we don't have to."

"Agreed."

Ember was absentmindedly tuning her guitar. She had a few days before her next concert, so she decided to sit back and relax for a bit. Every once and a while it was nice to sit back and smell the roses. It wasn't like she got the chances to do that anymore. Well, more accurately, she didn't give her a lot of chances. She was the once that chose to be a rockstar, after all…

Still, she could have given herself more time to go home…well, to Amity Park. Ember didn't know if she could call it home anymore, at least after not all that happened with Trever…Torch…Jerkface. Whatever his name was. She didn't really care at this point.

Of course, she shouldn't take her anger at her brother out on the other ghosts of Amity Park, but Ember wasn't stupid. After having her memories jogged, she remembered a lot of things about when Danny and Trever intereacted. They always gave her a weird look. That meant Danny knew, and he never told her.

It was probably because Trever asked him too. Douche! He chose Trever over her after everything they went through together? The only reason she didn't yell at the dumb halfa was because of what happened with Valerie. He was suffering enough as it is. She couldn't kick the guy while he was down.

Still, Danny had to have a good reason for keeping it from her. Trever must have had a convincing argument, and that meant that there was more to this than Trever let on during their, really Ember's, yelling match. After cooling down, she realized that Trever's reason for pushing her away was probably the reason she and Danny broke up. Having relationships that pulled her away from her obsession would hurt her. Ember knew that much. So, one day, she would have to apologize to Trever for yelling…or kick him the in balls. Maybe both.

Despite realizing all these things, though, Ember felt as though she was still missing something. She didn't know what, but it was there. It was a glaring problem. She could feel it right on the tip of her tongue, but—

Ember's eyes suddenly snapped up. A weird feeling passed through her spine. She felt a spike of energy appear a long distance away. Very far away. It felt like heat…passion…anger…Why did it feel so familiar? It was almost like with when she was alive, and she got a lecture from her dad.

…Her dad…

Ember's eyes widened, "That's it…Whatever happened to Dad?"