[Third Person Pov]
Roy and Kid Flash did not argue.
There was something deeply wrong about the way Danny stood there. The air around him continued to freeze, frost spreading across broken asphalt and shattered concrete while thin crystals of ice crept along the edges of the crater. Even breathing near him felt difficult, as if the temperature had dropped far below what their bodies could handle. Kid Flash grabbed Roy's arm and helped pull him up, both of them still shaking from the cold and from the unsettling change in Danny's presence.
"Come on," Kid Flash muttered weakly.
Roy glanced back once at Danny before allowing himself to be pulled away. Spectra had already begun dragging herself upright, her shadowy form struggling as the ice covering the stumps of her arms slowly cracked and crumbled away. Even without limbs the darkness around her writhed and twisted, reshaping itself while tendrils of shadow stretched outward from her body.
Her gaze locked onto Danny.
For the first time since the fight began, there was hesitation in her expression.
Danny did not move.
He simply watched her, he allowed her to fix her shattered arms.
Spectra's shadows thickened and surged outward, forming new limbs that resembled elongated claws made entirely of darkness.
The moment they finished forming she lunged forward with a furious shriek, her new arms tearing through the air toward him.
Danny moved the instant the attack began.
His body blurred forward and a wave of ice erupted from beneath his feet. A thick wall of frozen crystal surged upward and collided with Spectra's claws, the impact exploding into fragments of ice and shadow that scattered across the battlefield. Spectra immediately pushed through the obstruction, shadows ripping apart the frozen barrier as she rushed him again.
Her claws slashed toward his torso.
Danny tilted his body slightly to the side with a calm, almost mechanical motion, allowing the incoming attack to pass within inches of him. The strike tore through the air where he had been standing only a moment before, but his expression did not change in the slightest. There was no rush in his movements, no panic or urgency. He simply adjusted his position with controlled efficiency.
He countered immediately with methodical precision. A concentrated blast from his cryokinesis erupted from his hand, the air around him instantly dropping in temperature as a violent surge of freezing energy struck Spectra head on. The force of it sent her flying backward across the battlefield. Her shadow form twisted and distorted from the impact as razor sharp winds of frost cut into her intangible body. Jagged icicles formed within the blast itself, slashing across her form like a storm of frozen blades while layers of frost rapidly accumulated across the edges of her shifting darkness.
The battlefield itself began to change under the influence of their powers. The ruined street and shattered structures around them were gradually covered by a lingering mixture of cold mist and creeping shadows. Frost spread along the broken pavement while tendrils of darkness slithered through the haze as Spectra tried her best to retaliate.
Her response came quickly. Blades of shadow tendrils lashed outward from her body, whipping through the air in erratic arcs. The dark constructs extended and snapped forward like living whips, slicing violently through the mist as they attempted to catch Danny from multiple angles. The attacks came in waves, slashing sporadically and unpredictably as she attempted to overwhelm him with sheer volume.
Danny moved through them with effortless maneuvering. His body shifted and stepped with smooth efficiency, avoiding each strike by narrow margins. When an attack came too close to dodge cleanly, he responded by instantly forming crystallized ice structures in the air around him. Translucent barriers of jagged frost materialized at precise angles, intercepting the shadows and shattering them upon contact.
While maintaining his calm defensive movement, Danny reached down into his utility belt. His fingers quickly located three small pellets which he held between them with practiced familiarity. With a flick of his wrist he tossed them toward the ground between himself and Spectra.
The pellets struck the pavement and detonated instantly.
A thick cloud of green gas rapidly expanded outward, flooding the surrounding area and enveloping both of them within seconds.
"A smokescreen?! Don't kid with me, who do you think I am?!" Spectra snarled viciously from within the cloud. Her voice dripped with contempt as she found the tactic laughable. "That won't protect you from me!"
Dark energy surged outward from her body as she blasted through the cloud with a wave of her shadow powers. The gas was violently displaced as swirling darkness pushed the green haze away from her position.
However, as she didn't bother to protect herself from the gas, her body reacted immediately.
Spectra began to cough.
The irritation hit her lungs harshly as she tried to clear the gas from around herself. She coughed repeatedly while forcing the cloud away with expanding bursts of shadow energy. When she finally managed to blow away the remaining haze in front of her, the battlefield became visible again.
Danny stood there calmly, completely unmoved.
A black gas mask now covered his nose and mouth, the filters quietly working as the last wisps of green gas drifted away around him.
"It wasn't smoke," Danny answered coolly. His voice came out slightly muffled through the mask, but his tone remained perfectly steady. "It's anesthetic gas."
He paused only briefly before continuing.
"One I specifically designed to be able to affect ghosts."
Spectra's coughing only grew worse as the effects began to spread through her system. The stability of her shadow form started to falter, the darkness composing her body flickering and breaking apart. Gradually the form collapsed entirely, forcing her to revert back into a far more humanoid appearance as the shadows lost cohesion.
"Had you inhaled all of it, you would most likely have been reduced to a puddle of ectoplasmic goo," Danny continued calmly as he reached up and adjusted the mask slightly. "But killing you was never my intention."
"Y-You— Cough— What are you— CoughCough—" Spectra struggled to speak between violent coughing fits.
"The amount you inhaled should be more than enough to suppress most of your abilities and control."
Danny removed the mask once the green gas had completely dispersed from the area and placed it back inside his utility belt with deliberate care.
Spectra immediately attempted to summon her shadow form again. Dark energy gathered in her hands as she tried to force the transformation back into place.
But it slipped from her control.
The shadows unraveled between her fingers like smoke being torn apart by the wind, dispersing without ever forming into anything solid.
Her teeth clenched tightly while her fists trembled with rage. A powerful sense of humiliation burned through her thoughts. She had never been placed in a position where she had been this vulnerable before.
Which had been part of Danny's goal from the start.
To make her experience the same helplessness she had inflicted on others.
Spectra forced her body upright despite the weakness creeping through her limbs. Even without access to her shadow form she still retained fragments of her other abilities. With an angry scream she launched herself forward, ectoplasmic energy surging through her arm as she prepared to strike him with her Ghost Stinger.
Danny did not step back.
As she closed the distance he simply reached out.
His hand grabbed her wrist mid strike with precise timing.
Before she could even react he drove a devastating palm thrust directly into her arm.
The force shattered the bones instantly.
A loud crack echoed through the ruined street as her arm collapsed under the impact. Fragments of bone tore through her ectoplasmic flesh as the limb twisted unnaturally.
"AAAAH!!" Spectra screeched in pain.
Danny stepped in closer without hesitation.
His elbow drove directly into her sternum.
The impact caved her chest inward as the blow launched her body backward across the ground. She skidded violently along the frozen pavement before crashing into the debris behind her.
Danny's eyes ignited with an intense blue glow.
Twin beams of concentrated ice energy erupted forward from his gaze, striking Spectra before she could recover. The blast slammed her back down against the ground and rapidly spread outward across her body. Thick layers of ice formed over her torso and legs, partially encasing her in frozen restraints.
Spectra struggled as she rolled onto her knees, clutching her shattered arms tightly against her body. The ice covering her wounds made the pain nearly unbearable. The extreme cold seeped into the injuries, slowing her regeneration and leaving her trembling as the freezing sensation spread deeper through her form.
Danny came flying in and grabbed Spectra by the throat before she could even steady herself. His grip tightened around her neck as he lifted her effortlessly and hurled her into the air. She barely had time to react before he was already moving again. Danny did not allow even a second for her to recover as he launched upward after her and immediately began bombarding her with a relentless series of attacks.
His foot drove into her abdomen with crushing force, folding her body around the impact. The strike knocked the air out of her lungs and sent her tumbling backward through the air, but the assault did not stop there. Danny raised his hand and unleashed a violent storm of ice shards that ripped through the space between them. The frozen fragments tore across her body like a blizzard of blades, leaving behind thousands of thin cuts that spread across her skin and shadow-stained flesh.
As she staggered in midair, Danny formed constructs around his fists. The frozen energy shaped itself into heavy gauntlets that wrapped around his hands and forearms. Jagged spikes formed over the knuckles, each one sharpened like a dagger.
His expression remained completely blank throughout it all.
There was no anger.
No satisfaction.
No smirking.
No clever quips.
Only cold calculations guiding every movement he made. Each attack was chosen with deliberate intent. Which strike would cause the greatest pain. Which one would leave her stunned long enough that she could not retaliate. Which blow would dismantle her ability to fight back.
Danny drove forward and struck her again, the ice gauntlet slamming into her ribs before he followed with another blast of cryokinetic force that detonated against her body. The impact sent her hurtling across the battlefield as droplets of green blood sprayed through the air.
Before she could travel too far, Danny snapped his hand outward.
Constructed chains of solid energy erupted and extended out under his control, wrapping around her legs mid-flight, ensnaring her before she could escape the range of his assault.
Danny seized the chains and began spinning.
He swung her body around above him in wide arcs as though she weighed nothing. The speed increased with every rotation until her body became a blur before he abruptly redirected the momentum.
He slammed her violently against the side of a nearby building.
Concrete cracked under the impact as her body struck the wall. Before gravity could take hold, Danny yanked the chains back toward himself and spun her again.
This time he hurled her straight into a large billboard mounted on the side of another structure. The metal frame twisted and shattered as her body smashed through it, scattering debris across the street.
Without slowing down he pulled the chains once more and brought her crashing down into the asphalt below.
The ground fractured on impact. Cracks spiderwebbed outward through the pavement as her body slammed into the street with devastating force.
When the dust settled, Spectra lay there wheezing.
She coughed violently as puddles of green blood spilled from her mouth. Her limbs were bent in unnatural directions, bones protruding beneath torn ectoplasmic flesh. Her once pristine appearance had been completely destroyed, reduced to something that resembled a bug crushed beneath someone's foot.
Danny landed in front of her with quiet precision.
Spectra weakly tried to push herself back up, trembling as she attempted to lift her broken body.
Danny calmly placed his foot on her chest and pushed her back down.
"Regenerate first," he advised her.
"W-What?" Spectra stared up at him, completely speechless.
"I said to regenerate. I'll continue once your body is healed," Danny replied.
His voice was as cold as the look in his glowing blue eyes. The way he stared down at her made it clear he was not even looking at her as a person anymore.
"Hehehe," Spectra suddenly laughed, her lips twisting into a sadistic grin despite the blood on her face. "You really are a villain."
She tried once again to provoke him, hoping for any reaction.
"You're right, Spectra… I won't deny it," Danny said impassively. "I'm no hero."
"I am a villain."
He pressed his foot down harder, forcing her deeper into the cracked asphalt while maintaining direct eye contact.
"Because no hero does what I'm about to do with you. I won't try to run away from that fact. I'll embrace the role from here on out."
Spectra's eyes trembled slightly as she realized she was not getting the reaction she had hoped for. There was no emotional response. No anger she could manipulate. Just that same empty expression.
"So regenerate," Danny said as he removed his foot and crouched down to her level with one knee.
His hand began to glow with cold blue light as the energy of his cryokinesis gathered around it. Slowly, deliberately, he reached his hand toward her chest.
"And once you're healed, I'll fill your lungs with so much of my coldness and ice that every breath you take will be filled with agony. For every last breath someone took because you, you are going to feel breath you take to so you could understand it's significance"
"No!" Spectra cried out, genuine fear suddenly overtaking her expression.
She could see it in his eyes. He was not bluffing. He was not exaggerating.
He meant every word.
"I'm sorry!" she shouted desperately.
Her arms, which had begun to mend themselves, pushed against the ground as she scrambled backward in panic.
"I was wrong! I learned my lesson! I'll stop—"
Danny grabbed her legs before she could escape and dragged her back toward him.
"I don't think you've learned your lesson enough."
His eyes continued glowing with that cold blue light.
"After all, there's no such thing as a painless lesson… and tonight, I intend to make you very wise."
…
Robin, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Speedy, and Kid Flash were all engaged in their own battle against Bertrand.
The street surrounding them had become a chaotic warzone. Arrows were embedded in shattered walls and pavement, various gadgets from Robin had detonated across the area, and large craters scarred the ground while thin clouds of lingering green smoke drifted through the battlefield.
Kid Flash held a bundle of plastic explosives that Robin had handed him moments earlier. He dashed forward at super speed, weaving through the battlefield while narrowly dodging blasts of Ghost Rays fired from the massive mechanical body Bertrand controlled.
Energy beams scorched the street behind him as he closed the distance.
In a blur of motion he slapped the explosives directly onto the mech's armored chest before instantly diving away.
"Now!" he shouted.
Robin triggered the detonator.
The explosion was massive.
The entire area shook from the force as fire and smoke erupted outward, sending debris flying in every direction. The shockwave rolled through the street like a small earthquake before gradually fading.
When the smoke finally began to clear, several of them clicked their tongues in frustration.
Bertrand was still standing.
His mechanical body was covered in soot and black scorch marks from the explosion, sections of the armor visibly damaged, but the structure itself remained upright.
He huffed smugly as he looked down at them.
"This body is reinforced with my energy. Good luck—"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
The shrill sound of pure agony suddenly pierced the air.
The scream echoed across the battlefield with such intensity that a chill ran down their spines. Several of them instinctively stiffened as the sound made the hair on the back of their necks stand up. Even Kid Flash slowed slightly as the sound made a cold sweat form along his skin.
"Penelope…" Bertrand muttered with a deep frown as he turned his head toward the distant direction the scream had come from.
He had no idea what was happening.
But he knew that voice.
And he knew that scream belonged to her.
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