Chapter Text
𝙰𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚔
The park was in ruins. Deep gashes littered the landscape. The trees splintered and burned from enemy fire. The water fountain that Desiree loved to haunt now nothing more than gravel, water still gushing and spilling over the ground.
"I don't think the job description of being the mayor includes wrecking the local recreational areas, or flinging kids into water fountains," Danny grumbled as he poured energy into his shield to protect from the ectoblasts, still feeling sore from the earlier collision.
Vlad only sneered, firing another blast at the teen. "You are only making this difficult for yourself Daniel. Hand it over."
"Not even if it's your birthday." Danny huffed, not dropping the shield as he lifted a gloved hand wipe at his sweaty brow, snow-white bangs clinging to skin.
“Please my child, aren’t you tired of this?” At this point the older half ghost had stopped his attack, waving an arm to the side as if gesturing to something. “Why should we be constantly at each other’s throats when we could simply bury the hatchet?Join me Little Badger: you are meant for great things. We could rule all as-"
"If you say 'father and son', I will hurl,” the teen deadpanned, neon green eyes staring down scarlet red, “I said it once, I have said a million times, and I will say it again: NO you will NOT be killing Dad, you will NOT be marrying my mom, you will NOT be taking over the world or whatever cheese-headed plan you've concocted, and I will NEVER join you!”
”And I ask you to reconsider. We are the only two in this world that have been afflicted with these abilities that no one, even in their wildest wishes, could hope obtain, let alone understand.” His expression changed, almost soft. “For years have I desired someone that could understand, to emphasize with me, and I am fairly certain that you have felt that same deep desire too. A desire of not being alone.”
Danny jabbed a thumb behind him, to where his friends and sister were fighting off Vlad’s ghostly animals. The vultures had halted in their attack as well, watching their master attempt to convince the younger half ghost to join the dark side. ”Need I remind you of who’s kicking your minions’ butts?”
”But do they understand you? There is a difference between sympathy and empathy. They do not have the same trials as you face with every breath. They cannot comprehend your experiences, but I can: I can help you with your powers, to become the best version of yourself that you can be.”
“You probably could, but not at the price you’re asking. So whatever you are planning, forget it! Go back to your mansion in Wisconsin moping about how the city of Green Bay won't sell you the Packers and get yourself a lonely guy cat, because you're not going to be changing any of those facts any time soon."
The ghostly man gave a condescending look, the hint of his fangs seen through his smirk. "That's where your facts are wrong Daniel."
“What, you actually got yourself a cat?” The teen snarked.
“Besides that.”
Danny then blinked in surprise. “Wait, you actually got a cat?"
"Well, yes but-" Vlad was then interrupted by uncontrollable laughter from not only Danny, but also Sam and Tucker, who had overheard Vlad’s little speech. Jazz gave no reaction other than an eye-roll.
"Hahaha! You actually got a cat!"
"Oh dude, that's too much!" Tucker wheezed.
Vlad bristled. "It's my sister's cat!"
"Oh sure it is," Sam snarked, rolling her eyes. "And let me guess, you named her Maddie." The teens then noticed Vlad's creepy grin. "He did… Oh gross! I was only kidding!"
Tucker was also visibly disgusted. "That's just sick and wrong."
"You should see his holograms," Danny said, just feeling quite done with the man's creepy behavior. "I cannot stress this enough: you are one seriously crazed-up fruitloop."
"I am the man who became a billionaire practically overnight in a series of brilliantly thought out burglaries and later became the mayor of this backwash town through similar means. I am the one who designed miss Grey's ghost-hunting equipment. A fruitloop wouldn't be able to accomplish all that I have done thus far. I. AM. NOT. A. FRUITLOOP!"
"So you say, yet here we are."
Vlad then conjured up an ectoblade, moving to strike the teen down. Thinking fast, Danny used his ice powers to make his own blade and blocked. The sounds of the blades clashing echoed in the park, quite similar to ice hitting a hot pan in a furious sizzle.
”WHAT ARE YOU IMBECILES WAITING FOR?!” Vlad yelled at the trio of ghostly vultures, “Restrain Daniel’s little friends!”
“Ya heard the boss: GET ‘EM!” The vultures dove down at the teens, fully confident that they would be easy to subdue. They would be, unfortunately, very wrong in that assumption.
"Will you brats hold still?!" One of the fez-wearing vultures demanded. What he got in response was a blast to the face. Tucker blew out the smoking end of the lipstick ecto-blaster and smirked.
Vlad was losing his patience: Daniel's little friends were taking care of his minions with ease and Daniel himself was still resisting him- his train of thought was cut off by an ectoblast to the face.
"You insufferable child!" Plasmius roared out, lunging at his teen nemesis.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Vlad attempted to stab Danny. Seeing the incoming attack, Phantom contorted himself, avoiding the blade by a hair. Danny could feel the heat of the ectoblade as it was so close to his belt line at his back. Pivoting, Danny delivered a roundhouse kick to his opponent's head.
Right as he was delivered the kick, something began to feel off. Being overcome with vertigo, Danny stumbled to the ground. The air around him began to ripple with green energy.
"What's going on?"
Danny couldn't quite tell who had asked that. Not that he had time to figure it out, as he was occupied with the overpowering wave of power. It became so strong that it became quite painful.
That was when the world around him blew up.
"DANNY!" Came the desperate cries of his friends and sister.
Danny let out a scream as he felt himself, his essence if you will, being pulled. The sensation lasted for what felt like an hour (in reality, probably only a few minutes) before Danny felt himself tumbling to the ground. He remained there for a few minutes, feeling worn from the sudden… whatever it was… teleportation(?) before letting out a groan.
"Ugh… Darn that fruitloop. This was most definitely his fault."
While he wasn't a novice at teleportation, this time around was more unpleasant and disorienting than anything he had felt from other times that teleportation had occurred. Pulling himself from the ground, Danny dusted himself off as he gained his bearings. He most certainly wasn't in the park anymore.
"Okay, definitely at some sort of warehousing district," Danny noted, as he looked around. Old and worn was the appearance of the structures, with the tinge of pollution hanging in the air. The scurrying of small creatures nearby and the distant sounds of traffic reached Danny's ears. Danny looked up at the sky, the light pollution suggesting that he was within a large city. Time change: here was late evening with some sunlight still in the sky, compared to the completely dark night back at home.
He had no time to dwell on his observations, for it was then the sounds of fighting and yelling came to the ghostly teen's attention.
“Sounds like trouble,” the boy mused, “better go check that out. But first…”
Checking his surroundings first, he called up his transformation, reverting to his human form to stow the gear and other items that he had on his ghost form into his backpack, which was full of equipment for the raid on Vlad’s place before the sudden teleport. Danny switched back to his ghost form and, being the hero he is, made his way towards the sounds.
Using intangibility, Danny stuck his head into a wall to view the inside of one of the warehouses. Confirming the commotion was originating from this area, Danny fully entered the structure.
By what Danny could tell was some dudes were smuggling something obviously illegal. Floating up to the rafters, he silently watched the men work, catching snippets of conversation that confirmed his suspicions of the operation being illegal. The burly men hefted crates filled with drugs (Danny rolled his eyes. What people wouldn't do to get high… what stupidity) and were loading them into armored vehicles. There were about 20 or more men in Danny's line of sight, clad in dark clothes and bullet proof vests.
Danny hesitated for a moment, unsure of what he should do in this situation. Everything he dealt with previously had to do with ghosts, and that was simple: fight the ghost, exchange witty banter, then suck them into the thermos to send them back. The few humans he did deal with were either the Guys In White or other ghost hunters, which Danny didn’t fight, or a certain ringmaster from the creepy circus with the magic artifacts.
This situation was a different as this was a crime being committed by ordinary humans, which Danny never really dealt with the normal, human crimes.
Does he just make an anonymous phone call and tip off the police? Or does he beat up the gangsters, and then make the phone call?
"Well, looks like we have a little spy," A gruff voice said, breaking him out of his thoughts.
Danny managed to duck just in time, as what seemed to be a metal bat was about to beam him on the head. Danny flipped away from his assailant. He was a tall, buff looking guy decked in armored-up sporting equipment. A hockey mask covered his face, only showing his brown eyes.
"Don't the hockey mask dudes try to kill their victims with chainsaws, not brain them with baseball bats?" Danny quipped.
Even behind the mask, Danny could tell the man was sneering. "How original kid." Hockey mask then pulled out a javelin and threw it at the ghostly teen.
Danny sidestepped the weapon's trajectory, leaping to another beam of the roof's supports. He then dodged two more javelins and caught the final one with his left hand. "Do you seriously think a bunch of pointy sticks are going to do anything to me?" At this point, they had gotten the attention of the guys on the ground.
"Not bad kid. Too bad this little game's gonna end," Hockey mask man said in a dark tone before engaging Danny in melee combat.
"Oh, so this is all just a game! Good to know!" Came Danny's sarcastic remark as he and hockey mask guy continued their fight on the rafters. Guess this isn’t too different from the ghost fights. "You're even wearing protective gear. That's good! Wouldn't want any brain damage- that's assuming you actually have one."
This seemed to anger hockey mask as his attacks became more frequent and with more force. This made little difference to Amity Park's resident teen hero, as he's used to more speedy and stronger attacks from otherworldly adversaries. This foe right here, though tough, was only human. Just as hockey mask charged at Danny, ready to deliver a punch, Danny simply turned intangible. Not expecting this at all, the larger attacker stumbled through the teen, trying to regain his balance. With a smirk, Danny delivered a well placed kick to the rear. Hockey mask then fell onto a stack of crates.
"And that's 1 for Phantom, zero for stupid," Danny cheered, then startling a little from a bullet wizzing past before ducking gun fire from the men below. "Sheesh, no love for the visiting team? Harsh."
That was when a wall exploded, taking some of the goons with it. Out of the smoke leapt two figures.
The first was a blond woman whose attire Sam would really get into: black choker, black leotard paired with gray stockings, black calf-length boots, black fingerless gloves, and a dark leather jacket of sorts. The blond woman had landed in a crouch, then sprinted towards the hired thugs. She was skilled in hand to hand sparring, gracefully weaving through assailants and punching them out with the grace of a violent ballerina.
Her companion was what Danny would call a 'Robin Hood' look alike. Judging by the goatee and mustache, Danny took the man was blond like his companion. Dressed in green, the man had with him a compact bow and quiver full of arrows. Unlike the blond woman, the man attempted to obscure his identity with a hood and a black domino mask. Using a zip line he had shot out, he sped toward his cluster of thugs and… wait, was he humming- yes, he was singing to himself some dramatic tune as he dropped onto the heads of the thugs, making quick work of them.
Not being one to stand on the sidelines, and already determining who were the good guys, Danny leapt to action. Using a stack of shipping crates as stairs, Danny made a quick descent to ground level.
Hockey mask then had pulled himself from the crates. Regaining his senses, he zeroed in on the halfa, who was knocking out bad guys.
"Alright Snowy, no more mister nice guy."
Danny sees within his peripheral vision something about to strike him. Rolling out of the way, Danny avoids hockey mask's-
"Woah! Is that an Olympic hammer? You really take the sport theme seriously. What's next: exploding golf balls?"
Hockey mask only growled at the teen. He was about to attack the teen again when Robin Hood guy shot him with an arrow. Upon making contact, bolas sprang out and wrapped themselves around Hockey mask. Danny noticed that all the henchmen were subdued.
Danny dusted his hands. Not bad for a day's work. Just as he turned to leave, he then registered that Robin Hood guy had his bow drawn. Gothic Blond lady stood a couple paces to the side in a ready position.
"Who are you kid and where did you come from?" The archer asked, eyeing the teen.
"Hey! I'm not a kid and I just helped you two, thank you very much!"
"You didn't answer my question."
"My mom told me not to talk to strangers, Robin Hood.," Danny snarked, "now if you'll excuse me-"
Danny made to leave, but his path to retreat was blocked by the archer.
"You'll gonna have to come with us for questioning." Robin Hood made to grab the kid, but was surprised to suddenly be flipped and tossed to his companion. Who knew the lanky kid could be so strong? Using the brief moment of distraction, Danny fled.
"Hey, come back here!" Both adults chased after the white haired teen, but were shocked when turning the corner that there was no sign of him.
"Dang, he's speedy for someone his size," The archer muttered.
"Not to mention strong. Did a kid seriously threw down Green Arrow just like that?"
"Haha, you're a riot." Green Arrow rolled his eyes at the teasing as the woman pulled out a comm link.
"This is Black Canary and Green Arrow to the Justice League."
"Superman here. What's the trouble?"
"We tracked down Sportsmaster. Apparently he's working with someone to transport some sort of drug. We already subdued the men, but found something else."
"Something else?"
"Young teenaged male. Dressed in what looked to be a black and white jumpsuit with a stylized 'D' insignia. White hair, glowing green eyes- actually, his entire body glowed." Green Arrow commented.
"Sounds like a meta. Where is he?"
"He slipped away from Green Arrow and ran. We'll search as soon as the police take Sportsmaster away."
"Okay then. I'll send out an alert to the rest of the league."
…~~~oOo~~~…
Danny lost the two adults easily with his invisibility and flew off. After flying for a bit, he came to rest on a museum.
"Okay, now that that's over, time to… where am I?" Danny did not recognize the layout of the city that lay before him… the 'much, much larger than his hometown' city. Taking note of where he had stopped, Danny descended to ground level.
Star City Museum of Natural History an elaborate sign declared proudly at the entrance of the building.
'Star City? Where the heck was that?!'
