Daniel Fenton stared up at the Tyrannosaurus Rex display with a scowl. The metal frame that remained of the statue was wrapped up in tarps and plastic string, and a giant laminated sign was taped to the base reading "Under Construction". About two hundred feet away were a bunch of GiW agents and construction workers wrapping up the bones and loading them up onto a truck.

He sighed, slumping in defeat. All in all, the museum park seemed nothing short of a disaster. And it was all Cujo's - and therefore, his - fault.

It was afternoon now, not even a full day after the Cujo Incident. The sun was warm on his skin, and a gentle breeze was rolling in from the coast - the park was located very close to the Atlantic. Today was the first day of the Amity ghost convention, and he'd already ditched the first lecture within the first fifteen minutes. Everyone in that room was a ghost fanatic, and the last thing he needed was to hear all of them go on about how they wanted to tear him apart, molecule by molecule.

Finding nothing better to do, he'd made a lap around the campus and the bordering park, slowing to a stop when he approached the victim of last night's "escapade".

Danny shoved his hands in his black slacks and glared at his most recent failure - another problem to add to his ever growing list of things to feel shitty about. He'd barely slept as it was because he had left Amity Park to fend for itself while he was "off on vacation". They'd left the portal unattended in their basement. It was a recipe for disaster, one that Danny couldn't do anything about so long as he was stuck here. Valerie could take care of even the worst of the ghosts, but even then, it wasn't enough of a consolation for him to be totally okay with being a five hour drive away from home.

And then there was the whole Cujo thing. During his walk he'd seen tons of residents and tourists and ghost hunters alike loitering around the museum park; he'd caught parts of conversations, heard them whispering about Inviso Bill or Titans every once in a while as they snapped pictures on their phones. From what it sounded like, he'd become the villain even though he was the one who stopped Cujo in the first place.

As soon as he'd heard someone start going on about the one incident where he'd allegedly kidnapped the mayor he tuned them all out. The last thing he needed right now was a harder blow to his self-esteem.

From what he'd heard, the Titans seemed hellbent on villainizing him, too, which really didn't help matters, since people actually listened to them. They'd been his obsession growing up, especially Robin and Cyborg, second to space travel. And now that he had ghost powers, they had become a role model for how he handled situations as Phantom. But his first encounter with them had been a complete bust. Robin had seemed suspicious of his intentions, and though Cyborg had shown some semblance of sympathy, he was definitely on Robin's side.

But to be fair, his reputation was enough of a reason for Phantom to never be on good terms with the Titans, no matter how hard he tried.

He found his gaze drifting to the ocean, past the railings and bridges. The Titans Tower gleamed in the distance, the tacky T-shaped structure sticking out of the Atlantic like a beacon of hope. The whole thing screamed recognition - trust. They were official. It was probably nice to be relied on by others, to be seen as competent superheroes on the side of the law.

Who was Danny Phantom but an out-of-control freak with a hero complex?

Danny's stomach twisted into a knot at the thought. There was an ugly, long brewing resentment there in his heart, one he couldn't get rid of even if it was a little selfish. But he would kill to have that sort of recognition, just once. Just once…

"They say that the guilty always return to the crime scene," a voice sang, breaking Danny out of his reverie.

Danny's head snapped behind him, falling into a knee-jerk battle stance. But when he saw his sister's face, he relaxed, exhaling hard.

"Geez, Jazz," he murmured quietly, tugging at the red tie at his collar. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Geez, Danny," she mocked back. Her expression turned into something sympathetic. "You look half dead, by the way. No pun intended."

Danny made a noncommittal noise, trying to shrug it off. But Jasmine Fenton's stare was hard to turn away from. Slowly, he raised his eyes to meet hers. Jazz's auburn hair was tied into a simple braid over her left shoulder, her bright blue eyes blinking quizzically back at Danny's. She looked pretty in her light blue dress; the ruffles suited her and made her look her age, unlike the adult-looking, business casual clothes she'd usually wear to school.

"You had something to do with all that commotion over there," she said, motioning to the yellow tape, the tarps. "What did you do?"

"That was Cujo, not me," Danny said defensively.

"Yeah, I know. But what did you do?"

He shrunk, not meeting her gaze. "I handled it, okay? No big deal." This wasn't fair; he didn't have enough energy to walk away from this conversation, and Jazz was taking full advantage of that. Danny suddenly felt the need to curl up into a ball and die.

"Come on, little brother. You know you can't get away with half-assed excuses with me."

She pulled out her phone and brought the screen in front of his face, and Danny gulped when he saw the headline of the article she'd pulled up: The Dinosaur Disaster: Titans Have Their First Encounter with Ghost Activity.

Danny's gaze shifted between his sister's pointed look and the news article before he let out a defeated scoff, throwing his hands up and crossing them tight around his stomach.

"Look, Jazz," he grumbled, "I don't know what else I was supposed to do. My ghost sense went off. I found Cujo about two blocks from our hotel chewing on a perfectly harmless dinosaur exhibit. The Titans were having trouble, so I helped them. By the time we settled the situation it was light out, and now I'm tired."

"Wha - what? Wait, did they see you?" Jazz asked, concerned.

"You read the article, didn't you?" Danny snapped. "Why are you asking me?"

"Only the headline," Jazz said, her scolding tone returning. "And I'd rather get my information from a primary source anyway, thank you very much."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Fine. They saw me. Kinda. I mean, I sort of argued about how I'm not actually trying to destroy everything, and I gave them some advice on ghost equipment stuff - "

"Dannyyyy," Jazz groaned, smacking her head. "If the ghost hunters - no, scratch that, if dad finds out that Phantom is in Jump City - "

"He'll give up looking for me because I won't show up on the radar again," Danny lied, knowing full well that his alter-ego was definitely going to show up again - though, preferably off radar from now on.

"You better not," Jazz said sternly. "Remember the sign we passed on the way here? 'Home of the Teen Titans'. This isn't your place to protect. I'm not saying you aren't capable," she added, raising a hand when Danny sat up to protest, "but I'm saying you don't need to be. The Titans have handled pretty crazy stuff before. They can handle the ghosts. Don't over-complicate things by becoming a third party in their jurisdiction. Unlike you, they've got the side of the law."

"Fine, fine," Danny brushed her off, feeling jealousy dig its claws in his heart again. "I get it."

"I know you're already beating yourself up over it, so I won't push it," Jazz said, her tone softening considerably. She ruffled his hair. "Believe it or not, I only came here because I wanted out of that stupid lecture, too. This really is a nice spot."

"Yeah," Danny affirmed. "It was getting stuffy in there. I wasn't going to sit there and listen to old people talk about wasting ghosts for two hours." He gave his sister a tired grin. "Never thought you'd skip a lecture in your life, though."

"You're rubbing off on me," she joked. "By the way… how're you faring without Sam and Tucker around? They're usually the ones keeping you sane whenever you're in the middle of any sort of craziness."

Danny's face fell. His two best friends couldn't make time to come, and it made Danny feel worse about it. Tucker was probably at home, locked away in his room and blasting through the new levels in Doom while finishing up that internship at a huge tech corporation. Sam had gone off to London with her family, much to both of their dislike; she got away with roaming charges, though, complimentary of her unlimited allowance, so they texted every now and then.

But it just wasn't the same. Tucker and Sam were the only people, besides Jazz, who knew his secret identity and actually appreciated him for what he did.

"It sucks," Danny admitted quietly. "I mean, we still talk, but you know."

"Have you told them about what happened yet?"

"I'll - I will. Eventually." Danny scratched his head. "I mean, even I don't, they'll find out anyway. News travels fast."

Jazz rolled her eyes. "I'm sure they'd rather hear it from you. But anyway, if you need to talk or anything, you have me," she said, patting him once on the shoulder, "if that counts for anything."

Danny gave her an appreciative smile in response.

Jazz's phone jingled. She checked the message.

"Dad and mom texted," she said. "We should head back. They just got out of the afternoon seminar."

As they made their way back on campus, Jazz spent a couple minutes flipping through the article from before.

"I wonder how Cujo even got here in the first place," Jazz mused. "From what the report says, the Titans are just about as confused as everyone else… Oh. Here you are." She motioned for Danny to come closer so that they could both read.

...According to the young leader of the Teen Titans, a figure referring to himself as Phantom was seen with the beast before both disappeared amidst the chaos of ghost hunters arriving at the scene. The boy referred to the dog as Cujo, and was described by Robin to be young, with snow white hair and glowing green eyes. Sources have confirmed that this was the infamous Inviso Bill seen engaging the Titans with his disastrous companion.

"So you really did talk to Robin," Jazz said with a roll of her eyes. "And now they think you're evil again because of your stupid pet dog."

"You'd think they'd forget about calling me Inviso Bill after the whole Pariah incident," Danny grumbled.

"I don't think that should be your main concern," Jazz said, smacking him once on the arm. "Hmmm… Blah blah blah, the police are pushing for further investigation, but - " Jazz's eyebrows shot up. "The Guys in White are trying to pressure Jump City's law enforcement to let them take over even though the Titans usually handle stuff like this. That's ridiculous; why would a giant government agency be involved? They rarely ever showed up in Amity Park even for the most severe cases of ghost activity."

"But they're the main ones who are funding the ghost convention, and this is their chance to prove themselves to everyone that they aren't a bunch of dimwits," Danny supplied with a snort, rubbing his shoulder. "Of course they're gonna try and catch every single green thing that shows up in Jump City."

Jazz stared at Danny. "I thought you weren't interested in the ghost convention," she said with a raised eyebrow, "but it looks like someone actually did their research for once."

"Hey!" Danny said, flushing. "Sure, I really didn't want to come, but they're trying to turn me into a lab rat. You'd think I'd know better than anyone else what they're up to." Danny smiled humorlessly. "Last time I ignored them, they'd let Freakshow loose with the Reality Gauntlet, and trust me, that's the last time they should've been trusted with anything."

Jazz blinked. "I… don't remember that. When exactly…?"

"Oh. Never mind." Danny averted his eyes with a sheepish look. "That's a story for another day."

"... Fine." Jazz looked down. "Chief W is the director, then?"

"Yep. He's pretty lame, though." Danny shrugged. "He's a "doesn't-get-out-much" type. That's why the GiW is really screwed up."

"That's odd for you to say," Jazz said, frowning. "'Cause he seems to think he's pretty capable here."

Jazz handed Danny the phone and waited for him to finish reading. Danny's eyes widened.

The Titans were given strict instructions by the government not to interact with the ghosts despite "engaging supernatural or alien threats" being within their job description as the protectors of Jump City, as Beast Boy stated the morning after the incident. When questioned, however, the GiW made a very large show as to who was really running this convention.

"A group of fifteen year old fools cannot possibly uphold the law as efficiently and logically as a well-staffed, well-organized, federally funded agency", Director in Chief W remarked that night. "With our eyes on the convention, there is no need for any insignificant third parties to interfere - especially after the remarkable performance we witnessed today."

It seems that Chief W is for once taking full control of the situation: a move that, according to many sources, is very out-of-character for the typically soft-spoken man.

"Huh," Danny said, handing the phone back. "See - like I said, it's not like him to be on top of anything. But whatever." He shrugged with a confident smile. "Either way the GiW is way out of its - "

Danny stopped abruptly, freezing in his tracks. Something… something was here. He could feel it. It wasn't a ghost; his insides didn't fill up with that familiar cold, but his hair was standing on end. It was that pull in his gut, that voice inside his head that had learned from years of being caught off guard by his enemies that someone was watching them.

He whirled on his heel and looked up at a tree branch, and for a moment he thought he saw a flash of ruffled black feathers.

Were they being followed? Was someone listening in on their conversation? He was too experienced to know he hadn't imagined that shadow. His heart hammered heavily in his chest. Panic alarms blared in his head, drowning out reality with a haze of fog.

"Danny?" Jazz called, her voice sounding far away.

"...league," he finished, his tone a little deeper. He eyed the branch for another couple seconds before turning back to Jazz. "Sorry. Just forget it. I thought I saw something."

She let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, okay. I thought you jumped because you heard my stomach growl." She let out a sheepish laugh. "It's getting late, and I'm getting hungry."

Danny scratched his head. "Yeah… it's like… 2 pm now."

"How about after we meet with mom for a bit and then we grab something to eat?" Jazz gave him a pointed look. "You look more half-zombie than half-ghost now, anyway."

"You gotta stop making those dumb jokes," Danny mumbled. "Really. Leave the bad puns and banter to me."

They made it back to the lecture hall in five minutes, and all the while Danny couldn't get rid of that bad feeling in his gut. He tried to distract himself with anything and everything he saw; the white walls, the marbled gray floors, the halls covered in thick-framed portraits of official looking people and official looking paintings. But the prickly feeling on the back of his neck hadn't gone. He looked up at Jazz desperately, but she was walking ahead, flipping through her notifications, and Danny couldn't make his voice work from all the stress.

Suddenly, when they turned a corner, a hand grasped Danny shoulder out of nowhere, and for a frightening second he couldn't breathe, drowning in his fear - his eyes scrunched shut, a gasp the only thing escaping his throat from surprise -

But then there was a sound much like fizzling electricity - a bzzzt, like the sound of an electrical cable snapping in two. His mind went blank, and cold, and then… calm. Danny realized he was breathing again - normally, now, instead of the ragged breaths he was taking earlier. Slowly, he opened his eyes, realizing that he felt at ease all of a sudden. His shoulders sagged, his heart rate came down to a steady beat, and for a moment, the weight of the world he carried as Phantom disappeared.

The hand on his shoulder released its grip. "There. You should feel better now."

The voice was deep, monotone. A girl. Bewildered, Danny turned his head, then his whole body fully around. The first thing he thought of when he saw the girl was Sam. Ashen skin; dark, indigo eyes. Sharp features, sharp gaze. She had short black hair chopped off just above her shoulders. A navy blue robe swallowed the rest of her form, and the part of Danny's brain that hadn't shut off wondered how the heck she was able to stand the heat of summer in that get up.

Recognition caught up and smacked him in the face. This was Raven, one of the Teen Titans!

She kept her eyes trained on him, frowning a little. "You alright?"

"Y-yeah, I think so," Danny stuttered. He placed his hand on the shoulder she had touched, astonished. "What did you… what was that?"

"I'm an empath," she explained, lifting a hand and turning it face up. "I can see auras. You just seemed abnormally stressed, so I calmed your nerves." Her gaze drifted to the side. "You should try meditation. Teenage years are stressful. I would know."

Danny stared at her, a little speechless. Could it be… was she was the one following him this whole time? He frowned, slightly irritated. Even though she'd managed to temporarily take away his stress, she'd been the one to cause it to skyrocket in the first place.

A shuffling of feet caught both of their attentions. Jazz was fast-walking towards them, having walked too far before realizing Danny wasn't beside her. "Oh my God. Excuse me," Jazz said, her pitch rising exponentially. "But are you… are you Raven? From the Teen Titans?!"

"The one and only," Raven deadpanned, her eyes lazily drifting to Jazz. She abruptly turned on her heel with a wave, ready to step away as quietly as she had arrived.

But Jazz sprung forward, and when Danny saw her face, he was almost horrified by the sparkly, excited expression his sister was making - one that rivaled their parents' faces whenever they talked about ghosts. "No, wait!" Jazz said. "Please! It's such an honor! My name is Jasmine Fenton. I've read your blog on introspection and meditation! I've been wanting to meet you for ages!"

Raven stopped in her tracks. "You've… read my blog?" Her voice crackled pleasantly, and when she turned around, there was a shine in her eyes that Danny didn't expect out of her.

"Of course! The Secrets of Azarath is an inspiration and so incredibly underrated," Jazz squealed. "Is it okay if I can talk to you for about it? That would be so cool!"

"I…" Raven seemed to be conflicted. She turned a little to the side, her narrowed eyes flicking between the nearest exit and Jazz's hopeful face. "The Titans have been assigned to patrol the ghost convention for the rest of the week, and I've been called for a meeting with the others."

"I thought the GiW was taking care of everything here," Danny said - although, as soon as he did, he regretted it. He knew he'd struck a chord. Raven's face twisted into a dark grimace, and she shoved her fists roughly into the pockets in her cape.

"We're still involved. You know. Just in case." She said the last part with a snort, as though she almost expected something terrible to happen.

That was not reassuring in the slightest - not for Danny, anyway.

"Anyway, I take it you're both here for the event?" she asked. When Jazz nodded vigorously, Raven gave her a subtle smile. "Then we can talk another time."

She then met Danny's gaze. Danny straightened up, feeling very conscious under her meaningful look.

"Take care," she told him. "I'm sure we'll meet again soon."

They both watched her leave. As soon as she rounded the next corner, Jazz excitedly whispered, "I think I could die happy now."

"You're so embarrassing," Danny grumbled, shoving her hard.

"So what exactly did she do, anyway?" Jazz asked, nudging him back. "When I turned around, you sort of… deflated."

"Yeah… she said she used some sort of calming technique on me because I looked on edge," Danny said. "But that didn't sound right. That aura she was talking about… you think she knows who I am?"

"The Titans tend to confront people they see as a threat, so I highly doubt it," Jazz said. "Maybe she was just concerned."

"That's what I was thinking," Danny agreed. "But it's weird… I don't think she'd go around doing that to random strangers." Danny shook it off. "Let's go meet mom. She's probably waiting for us."

They found Maddie Fenton standing by a set of large doors along with other tall, well dressed men and women. She was staring thoughtfully at one of the many posters and displays set up down the corridor.

Danny stared at her very normal, dark purple dress; it had sleeves that reached a little past her elbows, the skirt reaching all the way to her knees. Her silver earrings dangled lower than her short auburn hair.

Danny couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen her wearing something other than a hazmat suit in public.

"Hey kids!" Maddie squealed happily, waving at the two of them. "Can you believe it? These displays were set up by college students studying ectology! In school! They actually have full classes on ghosts now, and they're pushing to give ectology its own minor!" She suddenly turned to Danny. "Wow - that nap seemed to really do you a favor, young man. You look very relaxed."

"Uh, thanks, mom." Danny said, scratching the back of his neck. He hadn't slept at all. But now that he thought about it, after his encounter with Raven, the buzzing in his head had subsided a bit. "H-how was your day?"

Maddie lit up instantly. "You won't believe how great these speakers are. The topics that they brought up, everything - gosh, it feels so good to know we aren't the only weirdos in this country who like studying ghosts, you know?" Maddie clasped her hands together. "Oh, it was just amazing. The GiW has really raised its game."

"Really?" Jazz asked.

"Oh, yes," Maddie gushed, not noticing her children exchange looks. "They're the ones heading the Convention this year. And their director - Chief Agent W. He really knows what he's doing, which is a huge change from last year. All of his information about ectology, ectoplasmic shields and incorporating ecto-technology into equipment - he was so well prepared! He mentioned me specifically, called me onto stage and everything. " Maddie put a hand on her chest, averting her gaze with a mischievous look. "Of course, your dad was going crazy because it was just me - but it was just so nice to hear someone who prepared such a wonderful introductory speech from someone who knew what they were doing!"

"An introductory speech? For four hours?" Jazz crossed her arms. "Mom. That's, like, insane."

"No, no, I mean," Maddie says, waving her hand, "today is only the first day. We're here until next week, dear, you know this. He explained that there was a new type of technology the government was working on - one that had a lot to do with studying ghosts and the energy that they produce. They haven't told us much about it yet. But they're just keeping us on the edge of our seats. He was setting us up to look forward to the rest of the week, I'm sure."

His mother was speaking so fast that half the words were flying over Danny's head. She kept going on about the more detailed information that he couldn't care less about. Thankfully, Jazz at least looked like she was interested, making up for Danny's periodic zoning out.

But it was nice to see his mom so excited. Normally she'd be so holed up in her lab, a frustrated look on her face from slaving away at their work. Now she was basically jumping up and down in heels and geeking out about science. It was a good look for her, Danny figured with a smile.

"Aaahhh," Maddie sighed, having finished her spiel. "Well, it seems like everyone's heading for lunch. We may as well join your father and find something to eat, hmm?"

Jazz stepped in and shook her head, waving her arm. "Is it okay if Danny and I went off on our own? I promised we'd go out and get some pizza."

Danny internally did a victory dance for getting out of another long-winded explanation from his father. Smooth, Jazz. Real smooth.

"Of course that's fine! Make sure you have enough money. Here, I can - " she made a move for her purse, but Jazz stopped her.

"Mom. It's fine. I made sure I had enough already. We'll just go now."

"If you say so. Have fun, kids! Meet us back here around 6 - they're going to have a bunch of food trucks and stalls every evening near the park, okay?"

"Sure, mom. See ya." Without another word, Jazz grabbed Danny's arm and marched him out of the building. Once they made it to the street, she stopped, whispering quickly into her brother's ear.

"Don't you think that's really odd?" Jazz said. "The GiW taking charge of everything? Jump City, the convention, everything? For the entire week? And efficiently?"

"Well you're right. Something is weird," he agreed, scratching his chin. "Considering they've got a history of being amateur losers."

Jazz clenched her fists, glaring down at the pavement. "We're missing something."

"I thought you told me to stay out of this," Danny said, raising an eyebrow. "You look like you're more willing to get involved than me now."

She sputtered, averting her gaze. "Well, we can just do some detective work, right? The Titans can take care of the rest, of course, and - "

"That's still called getting involved, Jazz," Danny pointed out.

Jazz folded her arms, choosing to ignore her brother. "Whatever. But we won't find a solution on an empty stomach. Come on. Let's get some pizza."

After a few minutes of googling and mapping out their directions on their phones, Danny and Jazz headed for a pizza joint in the middle of the city. They took their orders and decided to take a table on the balcony.

What they don't expect to find, however, was another group of teens sitting on the top floor.

"Oh my God, Danny," Jazz said. "Those are - "

"The Teen Titans," Danny said, tensing. Sure enough, there they were - the five heroes of Jump, massacring what looked like three large boxes of pizza. Cyborg and Robin were busy stuffing their faces while Raven and Starfire seemed to be chatting as they kept their own boxes on a few plates. Beast Boy had an entire cheese-less pie to himself that he was quickly working his way through.

Danny looked both ways before grabbing Jazz's wrist and attempting to drag her out from where they came. "Okay, Jazz, we're gonna just bolt for the ground floor before we make things worse - "

"Danny - " Jazz yelped, startled, "what are you - "

"They might recognize me! Or, or, or something!" Danny flailed, eyes bugging out of his head.

"Are you kidding me?" Jazz hissed, grinding her teeth. She yanked Danny back abruptly, forcing him to stumble into her. "First off, they won't, because the whole world is too stupid to realize that nothing except your color scheme changes when you go ghost. Second of all, that's your problem. You aren't dragging me down with you! If you want to leave, go ahead!"

"Oh, come on Jazz - you're so all of over the place!" Danny hissed back, frowning at her. "One minute you tell me to lay low, the next you drag me straight into their field of vision? I mean, we're probably just gonna bother them anyway. Now let's go before they - "

"Hey. Jasmine, was it?"

The siblings jumped, caught off guard. Raven had showed up out of nowhere - or maybe they were too engrossed in their conversation to notice her approach. Thankfully, Raven seemed unphased.

"Uhhhh - h-hi," Danny said. Real smooth, he thought, internally face palming.

"You wanted to talk about my book?" Raven asked Jazz, nodding once at Danny. "You can join me with the others back there, if you'd like."

"We'd love to," Jazz said forcefully, flashing a triumphant smirk at Danny. "And please, just call me Jazz."

With a resigned breath, Danny followed, the droop of his scowl heavy enough to pull him into a sulky slouch. He tried ignoring the dread crawling straight up his spine.

Something told him this probably wasn't going to end very well.

Alright! Second chapter up, and I'm still somewhat on top of things!

I'm not gonna give you a specific deadline because, trust me, I'm probably not gonna make it. But chapter three should be done in the next couple of weeks. (Should.) We'll see, though. I'll try and keep you posted.

Hope you enjoyed it. Please try to comment and let me know what you think. Or if you just wanna geek out about TT or DP, I'm down for that too. These two shows are my guilty pleasure, in a way, 'cause I get mad shamed for being obsessed with "kiddie shows". But that doesn't mean I'll be stopped!

Hopefully I'll see you soon.

-Blaze