A/N: Wow look at this here I am, returned to the first story I ever tried to write, ready to give it a facelift and reworking. I can't say I ever really expected to be here again, I hit a major block the first time around where I had no real idea of where to go with this thing. For those who were fans of the first, this will likely be much different from what it was. That will become apparent in the first chapter. Other than that, well the title has (or might change at some point) changed. I have matured as a writer from my first stumbling foray and so this will hopefully be much more up to par than the previous iteration.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, locations, artefacts and plots contained herein and in future updates and chapters to this work remain the exclusive property of their respective owners, the author claims no ownership to these elements and receives no monetary compensation for this work.

Author: Nazran

Shattered: Act I

Chapter 1

§Oo–.–oO§

He fired out of the portal, skidding over rough ice. He had come back to the Human Zone from the Ghost Zone, bruised, beaten and barely conscious. Slowly his head raised up, shaggy white hair over his eyes but what his eyes saw froze him . . .

There, below the tower that connected the transfer cables to the ecto-amplifier, was situated the command center for the entire operation. It was filled with his loved ones, with dozens of people from Amity Park. His mother, father, sister, best friend Tucker and the girl he loved Sam were all in that tower but something was off. No one was moving. He squinted, green eyes glowing between slits. Without warning his vision magnified and he nearly fell over from the disorientation. Some new power perhaps had developed. But that was not his concern, the fact that everyone he knew or cared about was stone, unmoving unloving stone.

Happening to glance higher his eyes widened in horror, the magnification disappearing. A piece of the Disastroid, as the government had called it, had not escaped the atmosphere. It was coming back. Fear clawed at the boy's heart, he could not stop that. Nothing could be done. But that meant . . .

The rock from space radiated immense heat as it tumbled closer. Reflexively the ice core within him reacted and kept him from being roasted but sweat and tears began to leak form him. It struck, crashing into the tower with the screech of tearing metal, the hot breath of fire. A massive shockwave rolled out from the impact, hot wind rolling over the barren ice, carrying ash and death with it. He was unaware of it but his body went intangible as the killing force billowed over him.

The troupe of ghosts that had aided in saving the planet, and in tandem their own world, materialized before him. "Get away! Go!" he screamed, voice ragged.

"Ghost Child—"

"Leave me alone!" the first waves of a ghostly wail seeped from his mouth, the pressure of the sound pushing them away.

Skulker glided forward, broad and grim in his robotic body, "Very well whelp, but remember we will be back." The crowd faded away, silent as the grave.

The tears leaking from his eyes evaporated as they left, joining the steam rising from the pools of melted ice. Barely conscious, his heart shattered he crawled to the wreckage, ignoring the red hot metal. With feverish madness he ripped apart the wreckage, enhanced strength and speed shifting through massive amounts of the detritus. He tossed aside a girder and recoiled when a piece of the anti-ghost element was exposed. The white rings, purified ectoplasmic energy materialized around his body and he became human again. The pain from the element lessened.

Another boulder and girder shifted and he saw something. Desperately he clutched at it and tugged it free in batter pale hands. He choked. As his vision cleared from grief stricken delirium he saw what was in his hands, rough and pockmarked was half of the face that had once belonged to Jazmine Fenton. He shuddered, hands trembling, a sob threatening to explode beyond his control. And then it happened. A flicker in the air, the world darkened red for an instant and suddenly the stone in his hands became flesh.

Danny screamed.

§Oo–.–oO§

Daniel Fenton rubbed the grime from his eyes and stumbled into the shower. The hot water cascaded over his cool skin in a burning rain. Eventually, after many minutes beneath the torrent, the teen boy stepped from the small stall into his tiny white tiled bathroom. Towel wrapped about his waist and another ruffling through his long ragged black hair. He pulled it tight about his shoulders, stretching his back and flipping damp chunks of raven hair from his eyes. He looked in the mirror, cold blue eyes piercing even to their owner.

The boy was pale, an effect of his half ghost nature. His heart—well it no longer beat with the rhythm of a human being, but rather a slow ponderous beat of only a couple times per minute. His eyes were as dead as his ghost half, devoid of emotion or expression but for a haunted nuance. There remained little of the boy, the hero from Amity Park within him and little was recognizable of him. With age the thin frame of a boy had given way to the broader shoulders and slim waist of a fit young man. The hero may no longer exist but the habits never faded and the constant movement and preparation meant he stayed fit. Scars, from years of saving and from that one day months ago crisscrossed and splashed across the thin skin wrapped about muscle. They were not the only marks, his hair, lustrous as it was, had a shock of white through it; another scar of sorts from the past he no longer considered.

He strode out of the bathroom and into the small bedroom with its double bed and wardrobe crammed close together. Danny pulled black straight leg jeans from a drawer and a tightly fit dark grey shirt with long sleeves of thin, cooling material. He got dressed efficiently, wasting no time and threw together a breakfast of a bagel and water. Thick soled black leather shoes, rugged and all purpose, fit snugly over his feet as he went out the door.

The sun was bright when he reached the bottom floor of the apartment building he lived in. California weather was always pleasant, particularly in Jump City where it was a rare day to see a cloudy sky. The city bustled happily, few areas of Jump being as crime ridden as say, Gotham had become as League duties took more and more of the Bat's time. Here the city was happy and lively but for the occasional metahuman villain; though the Titans tended to take them down relatively quick.

Danny drifted through the streets, separate from the happy populace, invisible but not. He was of the world and not, half in and half out. His demeanor, reserved and silent kept others from taking note despite his stature and striking features. He had only been in the city for a month or two, he wasn't sure anymore. The passage of time had started to mean less and less since that day. Recently he had gained employment at a pizza place, something to help him pay rent for the apartment and keep his human half fed. Thus his priorities had maintained a little more structure for time.

He arrived at the two storey restaurant, slipping behind the counter as customers thronged about. The chef, the one in charge, threw an apron at him. He slung it on and snapped the hairnet onto his head to contain the long locks of his hair. He washed his hands and put on the nitrile gloves, diving into kneading and shaping lumps of dough. Moving smoothly his hands ripped pieces from a large mass and formed the circular sheets for the pies.

A commotion sounded from the seating area. Some fans blathering excitedly, the Teen Titans were here again. He had not meant to get a job where the heroes of the city happened to frequent but he needed the work so there was little he could do. His eyes tracked them taking their regular table, the fans dispersing after the initial worship shock.

"Fenton! Bella called in sick, I need you to take over her shift." Delonte, the junior manager of the pizza shop called over the din of preparation. Danny nodded mutely. He discarded the apron and hair net, taking a note pad from his boss. "Get the Titans' order first."

Danny ran a hand through the front of his hair, clipped short as it was at the back. He watched the heroes for a moment. Beast Boy in his black and purple outfit, the sparsely fuzzy face split in a grin that showed the ivory fangs in his mouth. He was lanky but quick, nothing giving hint to the ability to change his biomass and shape. Cyborg, big, broad. Powerful with grey-blue metal armour and black synthetic muscle fibres glowing with pale blue tendrils of biosynthetic fluid. Dark skin meeting metal in a harmony rarely seen. Robin, shorter of stature but with great intellect, body corded tightly beneath a fitted costume of high tech fibres and plates. Highly trained and just as determined. Starfire, the unearthly beauty not of this system, her slim fit body golden beneath the slight purple and silver of her outfit. Naïveté, pure and so innocent. And Raven. She was silent, ignoring the chatter of the others. Her hood was up, purple eyes reflecting light from within the depths of her long dark cloak. The jewels upon her forehead, collar and waist glowing with magical energy. Grey skin coated, but for her legs, in a dark one piece suit, matched with calf high boots. They were a family, despite the variety of them.

Danny stood silent for a few scant moments while the green one and the augmented human argued over vegetarianism versus meat eating. It was obviously an old argument, they stepped through various points with a familiarity wrought from repetition. Starfire and Robin were seated close together watching with amusement. Only Raven noticed his arrival. They locked eyes for a moment before he brushed hair from his eyes and she cleared her throat. The teens fell silent.

"What will be your order today?" His voice was smooth and echoed of a dimension unknown to most. It grabbed the powerful teens' attention immediately.

"Yeah, uh we'll get a large all meat deep dish bonanza and 2 cokes."

"And the forest pizza special dude! . . . With wheatgrass!"

"And I would enjoy a—a plain four cheese medium." Starfire spoke uncertain. The other four looked at her surprised.

"With 2 iced teas," Robin added.

Raven glanced up from a book she had produced, "Water, please"

Danny scribbled everything down on the page, his writing cramped and tiny. He nodded to them and retreated. Heedless of the curious look Robin was giving him. The Boy Wonder read something odd in the waiter's demeanor. Something off. He shook it off and turned back to his friends.

§Oo–.–oO§

Starfire heaped mustard upon her slice of pizza, enjoying the tangy richness afforded by the thick Earth beverage. Beast Boy and Cyborg stared at her incredulously but she paid them no mind, though she was very aware of Robin's eyes upon here, crinkled in amusement behind the white material of his mask. She snuck a glance at him and blushed when he smiled back at her. She was not uncomfortable though, this place was almost like Titans Tower for its familiarity.

Her eyes watched over friends. Beast Boy, so carefree and oblivious to everything around him. Cyborg, ignoring the light tension that had followed the team for the past few months. Raven, always reserved and in control, hints of the intensity she felt slipping through. And Robin, amused but highly focussed, always mindful of the looming secret they all shared. For it was true, as happy and carefree as they all seemed, there was a spectre that stalked each member. Dogged them relentlessly, leading to the signs of stress that only those who knew them could tell.

Slade. Even the name would drive Robin in a mad rage, ranting about finding the man and stopping him. And whatever he had planned for the dark titan. It was concern that kept the others up, and despite what she might have tried to say, fear that kept Friend Raven on edge. The villain was planning something, what exactly it was it seemed none of them would know. She absently munched on more of the pizza, such a wonderful human invention, pizza.

The boy who had taken their order, the tall one with black hair came back and asked if they needed anything further. The Tamaranean could appreciate the beauty of the young man, his frame just as lean and tight as Robin's but broader and bigger. The long hair that fell about his face and the startling blue of his eyes. Her Robin was still more to her liking though, there was something about the way Robin conducted himself that was fascinating and this other boy lacked that same quality to the same degree.

A scream broke the thoughts whirling around her alien head. She looked and saw a car in the street below flipped over as something exploded from the hole of man that it had been stopped on. A great green flying octopus soared into the sky, following behind it another. The People on the street and the in pizza place scattered and ran into the relative safety of the buildings.

"Titans Go!" Robin shouted in his usual battle cry, leaping over the table and pizzas before vaulting over the railing and into the street. Beast Boy followed as a hawk and Cyborg jumped down to the street as well, the sonic cannon his arm became going off as he went; a beam of blue energy cutting through the air. Raven looked up from her book and shot into the sky, powers glowing at her fingertips. Star followed her.

The sonic energy hit the first creature, blasting it into a nearby building and Cy could be heard yelling Boo-yeah down below. The changeling hit the second as a ram but somehow went through it and hit a car instead, denting the door heavily before reverting, dazed on the ground. It screeched and threw the metal disc from the manhole at Robin.

Star fired a slew of bolts, peppering the street but missing her target while the first one pulled itself from the crater it had made in the high rise tower. The piercing screech sounded again, ripping through the ears of the teens with an unearthly quality. The thrill of battle coursed through her veins, igniting her warrior culture and setting her mind a race. There was nothing quite like battle.

She turned and screamed, a giant green blot filling her vision as the octopus thing charged at her. She braced herself for the impact, ready to accept the pain of carelessness but it never came, a purple beam shooting up and striking it. As it was forced up into the sky a light pole encased in black magic swung at it, bashing the creature down the street. Starfire looked down and saw her saviours, three men in white suits wielding energy weapons with glowing veins of the same strange purple as the beam were climbing out of the hole. She watched them, mesmerized by the energy.

"Star!" Robin yelled again, firing his grapple and launching into the air. His voice was frantic, cutting through her daze like a blade.

She turned and caught a pole in the face, swung by four arms of the eight armed flying thing. Her vision spun, flickering as she spiraled toward the pizza shop. Vaguely she realized she would soon hit the concrete of the building but the impact never came. Instead she hit something else, something upright and softer than the ground would be. She felt whatever she hit move with her and the sound of wood breaking in the background, the tinkling of glass. Fear clawed at her heart, if she had hit a bystander and they were hurt. Pain surged in her body, washing aside the fight.

Cold arms were wrapped around her securely. Star opened her eyes and found it blotted out by grey, she lifted her head and through her red hair saw blue eyes. It was the boy who brought them pizza. He groaned and she shot off of him, spinning to help him up but when she did he was gone. For a moment she said nothing, looking at the shattered remains of the table and the cracked concrete, the shards of the window scattered about. There was no time to consider anything though, her friends needed her in the fight.

She floated out of the pizza place. The 2 green monsters were down, glowing nets wrapped around them as they struggled on the road. Several white vans had arrived and squads of the men in white suits with sunglasses and the same energy weapons stood around. Robin was arguing with two of them men.

The alien girl floated down to the team where they stood behind their leader, "What are those things? And who are you?" his voice was lined with venom.

"None of your concern citizen." One of the men was short and abrupt with the hero.

"Citizen! Man, do you know who this is?" Cyborg spoke loudly.

"I know who you all are Mr. Stone. However this is a government matter and you will back away."

Cy was speechless and Beast Boy's eyes bugged out. Robin spoke, "What agency then? Who are you people?"

"We are the GIW and I'll ask you and your team to leave the scene. We have it under control."

One of the creatures screeched in the background, struggling but an agent stepped forward with a metal prod and electrocuted the beast. "Clearly." Robin ground out angrily. He turned and stalked away, "Let's go team."

"Dude! We're just going to let them—"

"I said let's go." His tone brooked no argument. One by one the team stalked away, Star hesitating only a moment to glance at the second level of the pizza place.

§Oo–.–oO§

Danny let out a breath. The alien girl hadn't seen him, invisible where they had landed. Propped up on a broken table half and gouged ground. He knew already she would be asking way too many questions he didn't want to answer. He got up and dusted himself off, thankful that the patrons had retreated into the lower floor with the manager. He couldn't hear a fight outside anymore but someone was directing pedestrians down below.

The boy blinked and phased through the wall into an alley where the garbage was left for the pizza place. Carefully he crept forward, peeking around the corner for an instant before jolting back. The Guys in White! What the hell? This was not good. They shouldn't have been in Jump City at all, it was one of the least haunted places in America (despite the exceptionally high level of metahuman criminals). And why were they chasing ectopodes? Granted the ghosts had been stronger and larger than he had ever seen them before, and with more arms.

He hesitated, a thousand thoughts racing through his mind before taking off down the opposite side of the alley. He ran and didn't stop until he reached his tiny apartment. He slammed the door, panting and sank to the floor against it. Everything was going wrong already. Not so long ago he had saved the world from the Disasteroid and lost all those whom he had cared about most. Danny had come to this place to escape the GIW, the ghosts, the memories in Amity Park, the heroism that had always been needed from him. Now ghosts were here, and the GIW, all of the memories they brought. He had even kept Starfire of the Titans from worse injury. Granted he was now sore but relatively unharmed, a perk of being a reincarnated Halfa.

During . . . those events, his powers had been taken. He had been human again and while he thought he would have liked it turned out to be less than what he wanted. Toward the end he had regained his abilities, his status, but things had changed. It was different this time. His strength and durability were enhanced. New powers had developed while in his undead form, or dead form—it was never clear whether he was dead or undead as a ghost. And it was easier than ever to use his abilities while human.

Now though all of the power in the world wouldn't fix his problem. The Titans would no doubt be asking questions because of Starfire, the GIW with their infernal detectors and scanners for ghost energy would be tracking ecto-signatures. He didn't have a lab anymore, there was no place to have one. He had a bag half filled with blueprints and half filled with various pieces of ghost and ecto technology. It was all he managed to rescue from Fenton Works before the government had ransacked the place. Now they had several decade's worth of research into transport, capture and weapon ecto-tech along with the majority of the other working and prototype Fenton inventions and the Ghost Portal itself. Not the most comforting thought in the world.

He clenched his hands in his hair. Time to quit at the pizza place, so much for that source of income. For an instant it flickered through the dark recesses of his mind to just up and leave this place. To get out of the city entirely but it did not last long. The city was several million people strong and had a private team of funded by both the UN's Superhero Support Fund, UNSSF, and privately through corporations that wanted to build good public face with donations. The Teen Titans were, after all, a Justice League sanctioned group. This was one of the few places he could maintain total anonymity. It would simply be more difficult than he originally imagined.

He thought about it carefully and then made up his mind. The next day he would return to the Pizza Corner and quit. With luck Starfire would not immediately act on her curiosity about what happened and he would have time. He was competent and quiet, another job would not be too difficult to find. He could probably stay in this apartment, he couldn't get out of the rental agreement yet anyways but it was far enough from the incident. As for the GIW, well he would not use his powers, nor would he experiment with any of his parents' designs for the time being. He needed to find out if the GIW had any operations in the city first.

He pushed himself up onto his knees and walked to the nearby sink in his kitchen. Cold water splashed across his face, though he felt little of the temperature. He ran a hand though his hair again. Then he blinked, Danny really needed to break that habit.

§Oo–.–oO§

Beast Boy flopped into his usual seat on the half-moon couch, remote in hand and a tofu calzone on a plate. He sighed appreciatively. Fighting freaky green monsters after pizza ruined the whole experience of eating the Forest Special from Pizza Corner. Especially when big buff dudes in white suits show up with guns and piss off your leader. The stress really wasn't good for his lifestyle of doing as little as possible . . . unless of course there was a villain that needed to be stopped.

He took a large bite of the vegetarian food, barbecue sauces dripping from a corner of his mouth. The television they had projected on to the special coating of the window flickered life and Beast Boy started hitting the button to change channels. He hated watching the news.

The screen changed, smaller screens appearing where once there was one large. The changeling's show was reduced to less than a quarter of the screen. Multiple news reels appear in other squares, surrounding a larger database window. Robin flicked his wrist, pulling up one of the news channels while using his fingers to cycle through pages in the database.

"Hey! Dude I was watching that!"

"Not now Beast Boy, we need to figure out what happened today."

Beast Boy grumbled then burst out, "Dude! Since when could you control the TV with your fingers?"

"Since I installed the newest tech from Wayne Industries Grass Stain!" Cyborg hollered out in a voice always loud. Even if his head was jammed into the oversize refrigerator looking for food.

Robin's eye twitched at that but he kept silent. The database became a large window again, "Search Key Word: "GIW"," a bar appeared across the screen, searching.

Beast Boy's head cocked to the side and he watched the new software at work. He had to admit that the technology was pretty cool. Wiping barbecue sauce from his face he asked, "Hey Robin, why didn't we stay and investigate today? Isn't that kind of your thing? Investigating . . ."

Robin merely grunted.

Beast Boy looked around, mouth pinched. He felt awkward, more so than usual and it was starting to bother him. He watched information from the search scroll by in white and black, Robin's fingers dancing in thin air as he directed the electronic system. A few minutes and BB lost interest in the torrent of tiny black words filed by. How can Robin stand this? It was silent as he searched except for Cyborg's loud munching in the background.

"Found them!" Robin exclaimed, startling Beast Boy from his reverie.

"'nnd?" Cy was trying to speak around a mouthful of left over ribs from the previous night.

"GIW aka the Guys In White. They were telling truth about being government. They are filed as another division of Task Force X and Argent both. According to Justice League files they fulfill a super natural control role, being both research and active operations but their exact origins and position among the other agencies is unknown. Clandestine." Robin's voice got more and more frustrated as he spoke. "In other words we can't even begin to find out what they're about without breaking . . . at least a dozen federal laws."

"'o 'at do you 'ant oo do?"

"Damn it Cyborg swallow then speak!"

"All right man, relax. What do you want to do about it?"

"There isn't much we can do. I expect they have the scene cordoned off and by the time we're given access there will be nothing left."

Beast Boy spoke up, "So what does the mean for us?"

"It means all we have left to do is look into what those things we were fighting are and try and find out if any previous activity from this agency showed up in any media sources. Not many other choices available to us."

"Friends, have we discovered anything about what happened while we were out for the pizza?" Starfire and Raven entered the main common area of the Tower.

"We got nothing Star." Beast Boy spoke, his voice forlorn. He hated when Robin got into these moods, it brought his vibe down.

"Perhaps may we search for something else then?"

"What do you want to look for?"

"I think today, when that green creature hit me into the Corner of Pizza I crashed into some one. The bringer of our pizza I think."

"Star! Why didn't you mention something, was he hurt?"

"I do not know. He disappeared."

"Disappeared, what do you mean? People don't just vanish!" the changeling was intrigued now. It was like a mystery, people vanishing after being hit by the gorgeous alien girl.

"I got up and when I turned to see if he was unharmed, he was gone."

No one spoke for a moment. Robin stroked his chin, Cyborg crammed more ribs into his mouth and Raven blinked. Then the Boy Wonder spoke up, "Okay. What does anyone remember about the guy who took our order?" He pulled paper from a drawer in the coffee table in front of the sofa, along with pens. "Write down everything and I'll cross reference it with the government databases we have access to."

Each teen took up a pen and sat down, either at the island for the kitchen on the sofa before the screens. And they began to write.