“And as a lonely single man in your 40s, might I suggest internet dating? Or a cat!”
The show had a lot of inconsistencies, but I can’t quite understand why the decision to completely change Maddie’s design. The first one was the most adorable, but I guess evil villain needs an evil-looking cat. I don’t need to tell you now which one was the first design now.
This is the ending, ya’ll! Thank you so much for reading this comic, I’m so happy to read your responses and comments, likes, and reblogs! ( ; ///w///; ) I learned a lot of things drawing Phantom in the Mirror, especially since it’s so different from my usual style. I’ve had this comic in mind for a few years now, so I’m glad it’s out lol.
Sometimes, the mayor would call Phantom a menace, trip him down pretending it was an accident, and try to get him in trouble for the smallest things.
Other times, he would shoo away reporters that made him uncomfortable, check up on him after fights, and hands him money telling him to ‘go eat something you look pale’.
you know I never DID design that bad-timeline +20yrs Vlad for the Danny B. Fenton au…….. wanted 2 fix that. :)
(all the designs here are concepys for the +20yrs Vlad design, despite what the text might accidentally imply. i just had fun drawing on top of everything lol)
Before the team can do so much as think to go after Phantom, a group of waitstaff has entered the room and surrounded them.
Maids, butlers, out-hired servers for the gala. Even a couple gardeners with sharp looking pruning sheers.
All with glowing red eyes.
They’re cornered.
M’gann, Red Huntress and Dani rise above the group.
“What do we do? We can’t fight all of them..” Artemis says, sweeping her bow over the crowd. She has maybe 4 non-lethal arrows left. Seven if she aims right and maybe 9 if she can pick a few back up.
Red Huntress looks at Dani from the corner of her eye, then back to the bloodthirsty possessed crowd they face.
“Dani, Debate Team still hasn’t found Vlad’s plans for the city. They need backup, they need help,” Valerie urges.
Dani suddenly looks very torn between staying and leaving, she looks at Valerie fully, “You’re sure?”
“Yes. Go. Make sure AMITy gets those plans, we can’t leave without them. They need you.”
Dani nods and zooms off down a different hallway- nope, wait- just straight through a wall.
Robin narrows his eyes and looks at Red Huntress skeptically, “Why’d you send her away? She would have been helpful in this fight. We need to get out and go after Phantom,”
Valerie sighs, weary, “You guys might not get it, but Dani’s still a kid. She shouldn’t have to be fighting these battles. But her obsession… all she wants is to be able to help, to be needed. And right now, I needed her to be safe.”
Robin looks thoughtful for a second, “Y’know, you’re still a kid too, Huntress.”
Huntress straightens her shoulders and raises her chin like a soldier, then she scoffs and looks out on the possessed crowd, “We’re all kids, Robin. Even you.”
Robin looks away as well.
“Enough talk. You’re in my way, children,” a possessed maid speaks, sounding like someone else.
Like a switch is flipped, the rest of the crowd rushes forward.
And the fight begins anew.
——
Fueled by the rage and lingering electricity in his ectoplasm, it doesn’t take long for Phantom to find Vlad. Always a coward, hiding away and manipulating instead facing the damage hecauses.
Phantom fades into visibility right in front of Plasmius, catching him by surprise as he blocks the doorway.
“What’s wrong, Uncle Vlad? Surprised to see me? Ghost got your tongue?” Phantom says with thinly veiled fury.
The desperation vanishes as a languid smile slides over Plasmius’s face, “Quite the opposite little badger, I’ve known you and your friends were here since the very beginning, Daniel. That’s quite the assortment of heroes you’ve collected. And yet you still refused to be my protégé. Why, so you could waste your potential with them?” Plasmius says as he backs into the room. It’s the newest lab, the secret doorway left wide open in his haste.
“They are my friends, Vlad. Something you’d never understand.”
Plasmius snarls, “I have friends, you insolent little child!” His hand wraps around something on the table behind him.
“My parents don’t count when you relentlessly try to kill one of them and then wipe their memories like the lonely old man you are!”
Plasmius lunges forward, a taser crackling in his hand. Immediately, Phantom grabs his arm, turning it back and jabbing the sparking blue electricity into Plasmius’s chest instead.
He shouts in pain as the light flashes under his skin. His transformation falls around him and Vlad is left standing there, heaving for breath as electricity continues to flow.
“How does it feel, Plasmius?! To have it stripped away from you? A taste of your own medicine!”
When Phantom finally lets go of the taser, Vlad whips his head up, “I was trying to help you! I protected this town in your absence! I could have protected you if you’d just listen-“
“You were the one that handed me over to them!” Danny screams. He refuses, outright refuses, to listen to any more of Vlad’s manipulations, “And they killed me!”
Vlad reels back.
He struggles to regain his composure, “It was never meant to go like this, I-“
“Oh I know all about your little plan, Plasmius. To get me to like you, to trick me into thinking you saved me..” Danny says with visceral anger. Each time getting closer to him.
Vlad takes a forcefully deep breath and straightens the sleeves of his suit, “Yes, well.. every king must make sacrifices to win the game. It was just-“
“I am NOT your pawn!” Phantom yells and fires off an ectoblast. He keeps going, one after the other, not even noticing as the balls of ectoplasm grow shards of ice and freeze over, he just wants Vlad to stop, to stop talking, stop lying, stop breathing-
“Phantom!” A familiar voice shouts.
Phantom freezes, fist poised above Vlad Plasmius’s bloody face. Red mixes with pink and flecks of green. He doesn’t even care.
He feels like he should be heaving for breath with the effort of fighting. But he’s not.
Yet another thing Vlad has taken from him.
“So dark, Daniel,” Vlad tsks with a wince and whispers bailfully, “it’s a wonder you fit in with those heroes at all..”
“Raah!” Phantom reels his arm back with a shout, ready to slam it into his face-
Only to have it stopped by strong hands holding him back.
He tries to phase through, but when he looks back, Plasmius is already on the other side of the room. Dumped there in a rush by Kid Flash.
“Phantom, this isn’t how we do things. You need to calm down,” Superboy says from beside Phantom.
“Calm down?! Calm down?!Wouldyou calm down if it was Luthor?!” Phantom yells as he stands, “Or-or- Black Manta?! Or Sportsmaster?!-“ he gestures at Aqualad and then Artemis.
“That’s not the same Phantom!” Artemis says vehemently.
“Yes it is! He doesn’t deserve your protection! Not after everything he did!”
“You almost killed him, Phantom!” Robin shouts.
“Then Fine! No one would miss him! Why shouldn’t I-!”
“We don’t kill, Phantom!”
“Hekilledme!” Danny feels his eyes flare with the shout, his words echoing louder, bordering on his wail, “He stuck me like this, trapped me, and then handed me over to the GiW to let me die! Why does he deserve to keep what he took from me!”
“Because it’s not yours to take!” Artemis says, “Don’t you get it? This is what he wants from you. To stoop to his level, to be just like him. Is that really what you want?”
Righteous anger surges through him.
“HeERASEDME!“ Danny wails, his voice throwing the team back, even Superboy being pushed halfway.
All he wants is to be okay, to be happy and safe and free.
To be able to live.
And that can’t happen with Vlad still here.
He looks back to where Vlad now sits alone.
Vlad chuckles at the destruction as he struggles to sit up, “We could be so powerful together, Little Badger.. If only you would see-”
“I’m never joining you Plasmius! What don’t you get about that!? I’m nothing like you, I protect people! Protect my friends, my family, my team!“
Vlad snarls, “You think you’re better than me? How are you better when you’re the one hurting them!?” He points to the side and Phantom follows his finger.
His team lays there,
Artemis,
Robin,
Aqualad, and Kid Flash, all slowly groaning and trying to get up.
Superboy has blood leaking out of his ear and M’gann.. M’gann’s still completely unconscious. She must’ve hit her head when his wail threw them back.
Whenhiswail…
his.
He did this. Not Vlad, Phantom.
His eyes widen and he rushes over to his friends, hands wild and desperate.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to! I was just so angry and I-“
Wally lifts a hand to stop him, giving a weak smile, “Man, it’s okay, we get it. We know you’d never hurt us on purpose.”
“But I-“
“Dude, none of this is your fault and we don’t blame you for it. So just chill and let us get our hearing back for a second, okay?”
Phantom steps back as the team slowly gets to their feet, shaking it off like it’s nothing. The nervous clamp of guilt around his heart loosens, if only barely.
Even M’gann is fine after a small shake of her shoulder. He can’t believe he lost control like that.
Robin is the first to start speaking.
“You understand why we stopped you, right Phantom? Why we couldn’t let you kill him?”
Danny averts his eyes, breathing deeply, “Yes, I just..” Danny runs his hands through his hair roughly and shakes his head, “It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have hurt you.”
Superboy raises an eyebrow, “I’m just surprised you were able to.”
“Daniel is stronger than any of you know. Than even he gives himself credit for,” Vlad’s voice sounds from the other side of the room and they all look over, “And he squanders it playing hero like the rest of you.” Vlad spits the words like they’re a disgrace.
Righteous anger roils up in Phantom’s core again. This time, though, he knows what he wants from it.
Phantom stomps over to Vlad, purposefully making his steps loud, and grabs him by the front of his shirt.
He ignores his teams halted actions behind him and pulls Vlad’s face up inches away from his own, “I don’t really care what you think of me, Plasmius. And I don’t need to. Here’s what you are going to do. You’re going to pull yourself together, tell me how to help my parents,” Phantom leans in, eyes glowing viciously, “And then you are going to fix it.”
Vlad eyes were wide as he tried to retort, voice wavering, “You think you scare mechild-?”
“And if you don’t,” Phantom growls, “I will expose your secret to the rest of the world. My parents, the town, the GiW. I wonder if they’ll come up with anything new for you, Vlad. Or maybe you’ll end up as just another cheap knockoff.”
Phantom pushes Vlad off him, staring down from above, “I have nothing to lose anymore, Vlad. You made sure of that when you took all of it from me. But you still have everything, and I am happy to return the favor.”
The team approaches from behind to stand with him.
“I believe you should listen to him, Plasmius. You are vastly outnumbered.” Aqualad says with a glare.
Superboy hits his fists together, “And overpowered.“ He growls.
Vlad scowls and wipes green-tinted blood off his faces. He hesitates for a second, “Their mental data was funneled into a device. I’d originally planned to use it on you before them but-“
M’gann’s eyes light up with a glare behind Phantom.
“Evidently I didn’t,” he rushes, then, “I can easily modify to return them. If you would be so kind as to allow me my tools.”
Phantom looks down at him with narrowed eyes, “Fine. Do it.”
Vlad nods and moves to get up, stuttering when a batarang lands between his fingers on the floor.
“If you try anything, we won’t hesitate, Masters,” Robin says, purposefully using the man’s real name.
Vlad lip curls in distaste, but he relents, “Of course.”
As soon as he’s up, Vlad heads over to one of the non-destroyed shelves in the room. He pulls back a secret keypad, opening a compartment high on the wall.
“If you would, Daniel?” He motions at it with his eyes, “I seem to be in too rough a shape to grab that myself.”
Instead, M’gann’s eyes light up and the object inside floats down by itself, landing heavily and roughly in Vlad’s arms. He almost falls with the new weight.
The object is a round, elliptical container with several technical looking designs, locks and buttons. The edges and lines of it pulse with glowing blue.
“I just have to make the modifications for it to release your parents memory data,” Vlad says as he limps towards a workbench. Phantom floats right behind him.
“Must you linger so close, Daniel?”
“I’m not letting you out of my sight until I know you can’t try anything. You might not be able to transform right now but I’m not fool enough to think that means you’re harmless.” Phantom says as he floats over to lean against the far side of the table and ignore Vlad as much as he can.
Vlad gives a wry smirk and purses his lips, “Then at least I’ve taught you something.”
Artemis scoffs, “Phantom didn’t get anything from you, creep. He’s nothing like you.”
Vlad snarls lowly at the female archer approaching him, “I made him what he is! I gave him a goal and purpose!”
“You hurt a perfectly good person is what you did!” Artemis sweeps out a hand to gesture at Phantom, “Look at him! He’s got trauma!”
Phantom snorts with laughter at the end of the table.
Neither of them notice the way Vlad’s eyes soften with sadness and regret as he looks at Phantom. He quickly turns instead to focusing on the modifications needed on the machine.
As Wally steers Artemis away to discuss with the team, Danny splits his attention between half-listening to them and watching Vlad in his peripheral.
As time creeps forward, he notices Vlad keeping sneaking glances at Danny out of the corner of his eye. It’s almost as annoying as him talking, but that’s a veryhigh bar.
“Are you really..? Your other half, I mean..” Vlad says hesitantly, again looking at him from the corner of his eye, not quite looking away from the machine.
Andthere’s the annoying talking thing.
“Shut it, Plasmius, I still fricking hate you,” Phantom says without even glancing his way.
Vlad turns back to his invention.
A few seconds pass by, then- “But yes, I’m fully dead now. A ghost through and through.” Phantom says quietly, his hair hanging over his eyes.
Vlad’s shoulders crumple, he stares emptily at the gears in front of him, “Then I am alone once again.”
Danny scoffs, “Only ‘cuz you choose to be, Vlad,” he says and pushes away from the table.
As he walks over, the team peppers him with questions. Phantom explains it briefly; the taser, Vlad’s plan, how the GiW got him.
There’s still a few gaps from the haze of pain; between getting taken and waking up, all he remembers is feeling suffocated, drowning and surrounded by…something.
Assumedly when the corrupted ectoplasm was put into his system. The entire experience is still a blur of ‘Who am I?’and‘Don’t know, don’t know.’ and‘Find out. Explore. Discover… who?’
The team backs off when he goes quiet, evidently unable to make sense of any more than they already knew.
A somber stillness settles over them, the team and Phantom keeping a watchful eye on Vlad until he straightens from his work on the machine and breaks the silence.
“It’s done,” he says.
“And you’re sure it’ll work?”
Vlad scowls, “You doubt me, Daniel?”
“Highly.” Danny replies with an angry look.
Vlad sighs but hands it over all the same, “It will work, just press this button there and their minds will be restored. Though I can’t imagine Jack has much of a mind to restore to begin with.” He mutters.
“Better than whatever shriveled up mess you’ve thrifted for a heart, Fruit Loop.” Phantom takes the machine and turns to his team, already rising in the air, “Let’s go, guys, our work here is done.”
“Ungrateful child,” Vlad snarls to Danny’s back and scowls, “I’d be careful out there, Daniel. You never know-“
Superboy’s fist slams into his face, hitting him solidly in the jaw. He watches as Vlad hits the ground, unconscious, with a satisfying thump. Superboy jabs a finger out, “That was for Dani, you smarmy jerk.”
The team stares at him with wide eyes.
Superboy raises his chin and stomps past them, “He talked too much.”
Phantom blinks slowly.
A smile creeps onto his face as warmth blooms in his chest.
He laughs brightly, “Feel free to punch Vlad anytime, SB.”
Superboy gives a gruff nod and the team continues to follow Phantom as he floats through the hallways to the mansion’s exit.
As they make their way out, Robin is able to send a small update to Batman. It’s the first time he’s had a chance since they’d met Red Huntress. Confirming that ‘No, B. We don’t need full League response. We have it handled. Yes I’m sure.’
It’s seconds after he hangs up that the team steps out of the building only to be confronted by a veritable army of white vans pulled up in front of them. The side of each marked with the black blocky letters ‘GIW’ and agents standing with ecto-guns aimed directly at them.
The team freezes, filled with dread-
“Damn Daniel…” Wally says breathily, “Back at it again with the white vans.”
Robin wants to laugh, but the dread curling in his stomach chokes it, “Maybe I should’ve accepted Batman’s offer for backup.”
“Ya think?” Artemis says sarcastically, slowly angling towards her bow.
“Maneuver 26? Smoke and Evade?” Robin asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Works for me, Rob.“
“M’gann, link us up.”
“Ready.”
Robin sees an agent step forward and acts on reflex. He smashes a smoke bomb to ground.
He can feel the team around him as they shoot forward and fight to clear a path.
The crowd of agents starts shooting randomly, no wait, not randomly-
“Phantom!” Aqualad shouts in their minds.
Robin turns back to see the shadowed figure of Phantom still in the smoke cloud.
Green blasts light up the dust, back and forth, both natural and manufactured, silhouetting his fight in neon snapshots.
“Phantom! Get out of there!“
“What are you doing, we need to run! We can’t fight them all!”
There’s a second of hesitation before Phantom’s voice echoes across their mindscape,
“Your name was Danny?” Wally says in his mind, “Really?That’s what your parents named baby-you?”
Phantom gives him an affronted look, “No need to sound so disbelieving, man. It’s short for Daniel and it’s not that bad,”
“It kind of is. You just don’t really look like a Danny, Phantom -sorry- Danny-sorryphantom-wait, which do you want us to use now?” Artemis stumbles over her thoughts as they run.
“Phantom in the field, as always,“ he thinks with a roll of his eyes, then looks away a bit, “But when we’re back at the cave, yeah… I think it would be kind of nice to be called Danny again,”
Red Huntress flies a little closer to the group and leans in, “I don’t know what the hell kinda weird ghost mojo you’ve got going on that’s got you so distracted,” She gestures at the whole team, “But cut it out, Phantom.”
“Wait, do they not know?!” Artemis says in their mind.
Phantom shushes her out loud, then says mentally, “Huntress doesn’t know anything about the Halfa situation, except that Dani is one.” Phantom pauses, “Oh, and Vlad too.”
Wally speed trips over his own feet, falling to the ground rolling, as does Artemis, though more gracefully. Even Robin and Aqualad stumble and screech to a halt.
“He’s a what!?” They shout out loud.
Red Huntress swoops down and sweeps them all into an alley.
“What the hell was that?! You nearly got us all caught yelling like that!”
“Vlad’s a halfa?!” Robin whisper-yells.
Huntress furrows her eyebrows below the mask, “You told them?”
He hadn’t even told her, in fact, he’d told her she had to keep it a secret when she found out, so why now-
“Phantom, Huntress, this is pertinent information that you should’ve shared with us before we set out.” Aqualad says. Not quite angry, but scolding, upset at least a little.
“What if we had encountered him? We would have been caught off-guard and unprepared! This could’ve put us in danger, Phantom!” Robin says, more visibly upset.
“Vlad’s identity as Plasmius was always a secret, guys, I didn’t think about it.. ” Phantom says, then pauses and adds in his mind, “Me and Vlad had a mutually assured destruction agreement to keep each other’s secrets. Now that I’m not a halfa…”
A look of understanding crosses their faces, though they still don’t look happy.
Aqualad steps up, “This has to stop. We are trained for these situations, as are you Phantom. I can no longer just let us run blindly into a situation we know nothing about without a plan.”
“Aqualad, I told you-“ Huntress starts angrily, Aqualad holds up a hand.
“I’m not saying we can’t go through with it, but I am saying we need to be organized about it. You have the rest of your Troupe meeting us there?”
Red nods skeptically, “Squads Ducky, Rubber & Maximus, at least. Squad Yellow had a history project due and Squad Five is still out of town for the mathlete tournament.”
“Good enough,” Aqualad turns to his team, “Kid Flash, you run ahead with Red Huntress and Robin. The three of you get as many AMITy people into the mansion, replace guards etc, get Robin inside. Robin, take down the security systems and get cameras, you’re our eyes and entry. The goal is to stay as undetected for as long as possible.”
The three nod, Wally scooping Robin up and running off. Huntress holds back for a second to jab a finger at Aqualad, “You better not mess this up,” she says harshly then flips her hoverboard out and soars after the blur of yellow lightning.
“What about us, Aqualad?” Artemis asks.
“We’re going to be the front team. Phantom, you think you know enough to get us there swiftly?”
“For the opportunity to get back at Vlad? Absolutely.” He says with confidence.
“Let’s hurry then, I’ll communicate the rest of the plan once we’re closer.”
Phantom nods and grabs Superboy and Aqualad, turns them both invisible and rises into the air again.
Knowing how close they’re getting makes his senses tunnel to one objective. Find Vlad and make him pay.
He barely notices Artemis running on the rooftops next to them or the concerned looks M’gann shoots him under her camouflage.
Robin’s voice through the bond pulls him out of it, “I’ve got his defenses down, and something called ‘Ecto-Repeller-Glamicus-Wall 3.0’ is offline as well.”
“That’d be the Ghost Shield, ghosts can’t get through it.”
“Oh, didn’t know that existed, that’s helpful,” Robin hums.
“Good job with the infiltration, Robin. Phantom, when we get in sight, drop us and fly ahead. We need to get inside fast and without being detected. Kid Flash, is there anyone around the building who will see us when we lose Phantom’s invisibility?”
Wally’s thoughts rejoin the bond, “We saw some civilians around the building, all acting strangely. There was also a few mail-order security guards and some private guards in white,”
“Did AMITy take them out?”
“Some of them, I mean geez, that blond kid and his friend tackle like a wall of bricks, hell, like a Kryptonian.But I think there’s a few of the ones in white suits still lingering around.”
Danny flickers a bit, hands tightening. He’s lucky both his flying passengers have superhuman durability.
Sure enough, as Danny comes around the bend to Vlad’s mansion, he spots the telltale bleached fabric of the GiW agents scattered around the edges of the property.
He drops Aqualad and Superboy, both of them landing and rolling into taking down their target. M’gann and Artemis appear as well, finding their own to take down.
There’s still six or so agents left standing obliviously on the perimeter.
Danny smirks without humor, “Hello anger management.”
The mere minutes it takes him to beat the suits into ground are well worth the looks he gets from the team for being late. Clean white suit? How’s half buried in the ground for ya?
All the same, the team moves on, stalking through the halls, taking out cameras permanently and avoiding the intensely focused eyes of various strangers.
Some of them seem to be dressed in various levels of fancy. As if they’d been pulled straight from a party.
Hadn’t Tucker said there was a rich people gala tonight? Was it somewhere near here?
Either way, they end up fighting more and more of them. Civilians thrown into those fight like they didn’t matter. Like Vlad didn’t care about their lives.
He probably didn’t.
The number of overshadowed people keeps rising, and the Team is at a disadvantage, they can’t hurt the people they’re fighting.
The ghosts possessing them have no such qualms.
Ignoring the occasional GiW agent being beat and thrown to the side, they’re losing.
It’s hard to fight multiple enemies. It’s dang near impossible to fight so many and not hurt them.
They keep trying to keep pace with the relentless civilians. But every time they go down, they get back up. It’s right when the overshadowed crowd really starts pushing them back that Danny gets worried they truly might not win, then the lights go out and the room fills with smoke.
He vaguely catches a figure dropping from the vents with a cackle.
“Robin?”
There’s a flash of a smile as a GiW agent goes down, “Yep.”
Danny almost gets thrown to the side, startling him enough to speak out loud at a harsh whisper, “Aren’t you supposed to be taking care of Vlad’s tech?”
“He had a little help from the Tuck-Meister” A voice speaks in everyone’s ear.
“Tucker? Did you hack into our spare comms?” Phantom asks, looking up to where he knows there’s a security camera, one of five not blasted from the fight.
“Yep. I hacked a superhero team’s comm system, dang, I really am pushing the limits of your justice league-adjacentness here, aren’t I?” Tucker pauses, and there’s the sound of buttons clacking while the rest of the team still looks shell-shocked. “Oh well, they couldn’t stop me if they tried. Like I was saying, I’ve got this, so Robin can enter the fight, you guys keep going.”
“Thanks man. I’m always glad to have you at my back.” Phantom says to the camera with a smile before he zooms off down the hallway with the team.
There’s a quiet pause and a sigh, then, “Thanks man, me too.”
And the fight continues.
A hit there, a punch here. Covering each other’s blind spots and the Team working in sync with barely a word.
Well. Barely a verbal word. Wally still hasn’t stopped complaining about missing dinner. It starts a debate about meal times in the ghost zone. And still they fight on.
Like a well oiled machine. Except this machine has been running a bit too hard for a bit too long.
Wally lags first, catching a stray laser on his calf. You’d think his speed would make him harder to hit, but apparently aiming tactics for ghosts transfer remarkably well to hitting speedsters too.
He stumbles a little bit, enough to distract M’gann, who nearly gets jumped by an agent, only to be tackled by an angry Superboy.
From there it starts devolving.
It doesn’t help that Red Huntress is backed into the room as well by a hoard of possessed party-goers.
It throws yet another wrench in the fluidity of their movements.
Nobody knows how to intrinsically fight with her. Except Phantom, who’s style changes so quickly they are left with larger gaps in their defenses than they’d even known.
“Where is Dani with those weapons?!” Phantom says as he blocks a hit heading for Aqualad and goes down with a grunt.
“Here! I’m here!” A voice echoes from the sky. Sure enough though, in her arms are at least four bags of Fenton Gear. She drops them to the team, “I’m not alone though, I brought company!”
The Fenton GAV roars down the street behind her.
“I thought you said you never got caught!” Phantom yells with panic.
“I’m here aren’t I? I didn’t get caught, I got seen!”
“That’s not much better right now!” He yells. Ancients, Dani makes him want to rip his hair out sometimes! But before that, he’s got more people to fight.
“Oh Danny, by the way, you’ll never guess who I ran into!” Tucker says in his ear, and it must be just his comm because nobody else seems to react.
“Who?”
The comm crackles interference, “You and I are gonna have words, you self-sacrificing, ghost-huntingidiot!”
Phantom falls through a punch at the sound of Sam’s voice.
“Sam!? You’re here?!” He says as he regains tangibility.
“Of course I’m here! I’ve been here all night! I was stuck with my parents for months Danny! Months! I wore a primary color! I attended a Gala!”
“Danny, this pretty serious, man, I think her face is turning a primary color-OW! Sa~am..” the sound of a thump is followed by Tucker’s pouting whine.
Danny wants to laugh. Then he catches sight of another GiW agent and the anger flairs back up again. Danny punches the agent with a wicked smile on his face. Whoever said he couldn’t multi-task?
Phantom spots Plasmius step out from a newly collapsed janitor. It was probably just a duplicate, a clone, but even that could lead him to the real one. This was his chance.
Somehow, the duplicate sees him coming. He turns with supernatural speed, firing off an ectoblast and rising into the air.
Phantom dodges and goes after him. He has to get closer. His own ectoblasts are still burning him, so the only option is to simply deck the man.
He can’t wait.
This excitement is halted by the sound of his name being yelled, “Phantom! Watch ou-“
Everything moves
Slower.
He turns in time to see tendrils of electricity reaching towards him from GiW agents gun.
And then a flash of pink in his peripheral vision. Vlad. An ectoblast hurling towards him.
The man-made lightning hits him first, striking his side and back, throwing him into the burning force of the ectoplasm blast flying at him.
It hits within a millisecond, burning hot against his front, sharp lances in his back, colliding against each other, pushing, pulling, yanking, screaming-
He gasps, freezing in the air as memories flash behind his eyes.
The feeling of air against his skin, wind in his hair and then-
Pain
Electricity shot through his veins from his back. He fell out of the sky, crumpling into himself on the ground.
Blearily, Danny pried open an eye to look above him, “Plasmius? Wha-?”
His bleary form smirked, “Why hello, little badger. How nice to see you again. Feeling tense, are we?”
Danny groaned, flinching as electricity sparked under his suit, “What did you-What did you do to me? The Plasmius Maximus?”
Plasmius held up a glowing taser, only this time, the electricity coming off it is pink, not green.
“Something like that, yes? I don’t quite have a name for it yet, but it’s the Anti-Plasmius Maximus. You won’t be able to transform back for at least a day with each shock. Maybe longer, I don’t know quite yet, I wasn’t able to test it.”
“You trapped me in Phantom form? Why? To make me leave my parents?” It was the first thing he thought of, after all, how could he explain to his parents who he was if he couldn’t prove it.
“Hmm, no, although that would be a good idea. No… I’ve trapped you as this so our secret doesn’t get out to some rather unfriendly individuals when they come pick you up. Surely you’re familiar with the Guys in White?”
Danny’s eyes widened, and he tensed more, feeling sparks run through his muscles, “You called the Guys in White on me? Why? You know what they’ll do. Where they’re going to take me.”
“Why, dear Danny-boy? Well because I’m going to rescue you from them. Making me..,” he poised a hand over his chest, “Your savior. Forever in my debt. Forever thankful.”
Danny scoffs as best he can, “Then why the hell you’d tell me that, you Fruit Loop? Now I know it’s you.”
Plasmius smirked again, now so much closer, so much harsher, “Because it’s not as if you’ll remember this. I made sure of that.” He stabbed the device into Danny’s side. Danny screamed as the pink-tainted electricity tore through his body, raging and raking against his cells, burning and sparking in his ectoplasm.
That same burning that blanks out his mind, that follows his nightmares in green, of a portal, a stupid dare, a picture-
He screams again, and again and again, every time there’s a moment of clarity, electricity reminds itself in his core.
Until finally, he’s being pushed into a container, it’s all he knows, the sparks still crackling along his suit.
Heaviness starts to fill around him, he pulls away, it’s wrong, wrong so wrong he can’t touch it, there’s no-
Electricity screams again, him with it and the heaviness weighs on his skin, under his suit, into his being, his plasm, his core.
It seeps deeper and deeper, urged on and bonded with the sparks still lingering.
Until finally it has wrapped itself around, strangling his core.
Trapping that electricity in the very center of his being.
Danny gasps and jolts forward from his place on the floor.
Everything in his mind starts to clear. It clicks into place with a snap and a spark.
Electricity that has been held against his core for so long finally releases, mixing with what had been renewed.
It jumps across the outside of his suit, his second skin. It lingers further.
That’s fine.
He’s not quite done with it yet.
Danny feels it at the edges of his awareness as the temperature drops dangerously, but ignores it.
He only cares about one thing now. Now that he knows. He’s going after that duplicate, and it’s going to lead him to Vlad. Whether it likes it or not.
He’s already back in the air when he hears,
“Phantom, wait!” M’gann calls after him.
“You need to be careful, stay with us, we’ll go to together! You can’t handle Plasmius alone and there could be Guys in White still down there!” Artemis says, trying to convince him. To reason with him. She knew the dangers of acting on anger, on revenge.
Phantom slows for a second and looks back to them, eyes glowing bright with fury and electricity still crackling along his skin,
“And what? What are they gonna do? Killme?”
“I’m already dead,” He sneers. “I’d like to see them try.”
Hello anonymous person! Here is your request, I hope you do not disappoint. I do not know, I think this would be the closest thing to Jack, Maddie and Vlad in genderbender. Hope you like it and all too. If someone else wants me for something in particular, feel free to do so. Come into my blog and send your question in the section that says: “Ask whatever you want”
Just reposting the fanart @fruitloopghost did last year for the Eidolon Complex. Part Two is kicking off with a bang (almost literally) so be sure to check out the parody work on AO3.
“ But…you had fangs!” Danny’s voice was laced with evident annoyance but wavered as he spoke.
Vlad, sensing an opportunity to both frighten the teen and shut him up, motioned the sixteen-year-old forward. Once within whisper distance, Vlad sneered jovially, “ If you were curious, next time just ask.” Opening his mouth ever so slightly he allowed the teeth to reveal themselves from under the guise.
Daniel starred in perplexed amazement. “ Woah! Wait. You mean you always have had those?”
Daniel leaned in closer making Vlad slightly uncomfortable.
Annoyed, he leered, “ Always? Pfffff. Spectral fangs just came up a few years after my little accident while I was in the hospital. It unnerves people so I keep them cloaked.”
Daniel rubbed his chin in thought. “So what about that cloak or cape you wear when you transform? It wasn’t some weird wear cosplay to science class day was it?” Daniel suppressed a snicker at the thought.
Vlad’s eyebrow lifted questioningly and his usually stoic face contorted in confusion. “Cosplay?” He questioned. Seeing Daniel’s amused smirk Vlad assumed insult.
“ I’ll have you know Daniel, I didn’t get the luxury of quick zap powers like a certain hyperactive brat.” He glared at the floating phantom, fangs fully exposed and his voice laced in venom.
Raising up his white-gloved hands, Daniel frowned apologetically, “ Sorry, I meant no offense fruit-loop.”
Vlad, still angry, continued. “ My cosplayas you so sarcastically put it just developed with my powers as I shifted from sickly human to half-ghost. I had no say in the matter.”
“ Vlad, do you realize how hilarious this is?” Daniel stifled a laugh. “ Your name is Vlad, you have fangs, and you have a cape!” He pointed toward Vlad’s annoyed skowl accusingly. “You’re an accidental Dracula knock off!”
Vlad’s eyebrow twitched. “ At least I’m not the half-ghost equivalent of insta-ramen, Mr. one minute spook,” Vlad smirked.
Vlad clucked in annoyance and his red eyes narrowed. “ You don’t change. Twenty years later and you’re still quick to jump the gun! Can you just think for five seconds?”
Her guard dropped from the causal statement and Vlad took the opportunity to rush her lithe form. A gloveless hand wrapped around her wrists as he pinned her against the floor while his left hand grasped onto the gun and pointed it away from the two of them. “LET GO!”
Vlad snarled, “ So you can murder me? Fat chance! I prefer not being six feet under!”
“ Funny? Isn’t that where you’re supposed to be?” Maddie hissed venomously. Vlad flinched and his grip loosened slightly.
“ You can’t be this blind… Maddie, don’t you notice? You’re a scientist! A doctor! Can’t you feel that I am tangible? That I have mass and life?”
Maddie tossed and struggled. Seeing his wounded shoulder she eyed him angrily. “All I see is a liar and a coward! You took Danny and hurt Vladimir!”
Vlad stared at her in absolute confusion. “ What type of lunacies are you smoking down at Fenton Works? Does it look like I-”
A sharp bang resonated through the foyer. In his desperate pleas to make her see reason, his grip on the gun had weakened, allowing her to subtly aim it at his already wounded arm. Red eyes weakly faded to a dull cherry, devoid of a ghostly glow. Ectoplasm slowly dripped down the arm and splattered against Maddie’s chest. She smiled in triumph only for something warm to land against her face.
“ You really can’t see my humanity can you Mads?”
Her eyes widened in confused perplexion. A hand let go of his wrist and trailed up to her face in wonder. A black glove tapped against the water and held it aloft. This ghost was crying…
Jack stiffly continued his walk into the kitchen and, grabbing a stool next to Phantom, sat down and placed his gun on the counter. A black glove tapped against the stone somewhat debating. “ Why are you here spook?”
Phantom snorted, “ Protecting people, fighting ghosts…. The family business I suppose?”
Jack glared, “ You know that’s not what I’m asking Phantom.”
Phantom’s green eyes dimmed and he hugged a knee to his chest. “You’re asking why I exist?”
Jack looked to the teen tiredly, “I guess I am.”
Daniel winced, “ Is it wrong? To want to live for others? To do the right thing…?
Jack paused and stared up to Phantom questioningly, “ Odd choice of words. You know you’re dead right?”
Daniel grimaced and snorted, “Am I really?” He chuckled bitterly, “ You know what? I think I’ve been dead inside for nearly two years now… Tell me da-Jack.” Daniel corrected and then continued, “ Am I really evil? Is my existence that big of a sin? What if I really wasn’t a ghost? What if I was something more?”
Jack raised an eyebrow and stared into the counter. “ But you aren’t. You’re not alive. Living people can’t do what you do. They’d die.You’re the ghost of some poor kid that couldn’t move on.”
(WOW! I Can’t believe how many likes this segment of the fic got! It’s being posted to AO3 at a rate of 3 chapters a day starting now but I feel obligated to drop a hint as to where this conversation actually veers. Warnings: Language and angst. ENJOY)
Daniel’s features cracked and his expression became broken. Rubbing his knee against his closed eyelid until he could see spots, he peaked his other green eye toward Jack. “ For someone who hunts the unknown and looks to every possibility you can be so narrow-minded.”
Jack rolled his eyes and motioned around himself, “ What am I supposed to think? Ghosts cause nothing but grief and heartache. They’re shadows that can’t-”
Daniel shot up from the counter and slammed his boots into the floor. New tears plastered through his glowing green freckles in waves and adorned his tanned skin like small pearlescent jewels. “-FEEL? YOU THINK WE’RE EMOTIONLESS?!?! FREE OF PAIN?!?! NEWS FLASH! I FEEL, DAMN IT! I FEEL YOUR WORDS, EVERY GODDAMNED STABBING SYLLABLE! I FEEL PAIN! I FEEL THE BLASTS! EVERY SINGLE SEARING BUZZ AND ZAPP THAT RICHOTETS THROUGH MY FLESH A MILLION TIMES MORE THAN A NORMAL WOUND! I FEEL EVERY SINGLE HIT THAT CONNECTS! I’M A HUMAN BEING FIRST!”
Jack stiffened and looked to the boy in confusion. Reaching a hand out to his shoulder and feeling solidity he froze. Daniel phased through his grasp. “ AM I THAT BIG OF A MONSTER? WASN’T I A PART OF YOUR WORLD FIRST?!?!”
Jack grimaced and his brow furrowed. “ Let’s change the topic Phantom.” His voice cracked. The ghost teen, despite the subtle glow and the echo in his voice deeply reminded him of Daniel.
Phantom screeched, “ Weren’t you the one who wanted answers? I feel! Ghosts feel! And ironically? Human beings have injured me more than the ghouls I fight! Do you have any idea how fucked up that is?!?”
Jack froze and dug a hand through his hair before bitterly snapping, “HOW? HOW CAN YOU FEEL ANYTHING? YOU DON’T HAVE NERVES OR LIVING TISSUE!”
The teenager dug his hands through his own hair and winced before turning away from his father. His voice fell and the water accumulating on his face splattered against the tile. “We’re the essence of feeling! The soul’s form of mind! We are nothing but feeling and emotion! How can you just negate that? Is it because ghosts don’t have physical bodies? I mean FUCK!”
Jack winced and turned away from the teen. “That’s enough Phantom.”
Daniel whipped around and unzipped a portion of his jumpsuit. Jack looked up at the sound and paled at what met his gaze. “ENOUGH?” A large blast mark he had received during his first year lay scarred over on the left side of his chest. “ You think it’s enough? How do you think it feels? To have your own par-” Daniel stopped and yanked up the zipper to conceal the damage.
Jack sat glassy-eyed, just blankly staring at Daniel’s now covered chest. He remembered that night. The image of the boy crying out in agony and gripping his dripping torso as he fell into the park still haunted his dreams. That human scream, those horrified and frightened green eyes…. Jack wasn’t one for regrets, he tended to reason his work as justified… but that night had undoubtedly changed his views on Phantom. He had even begun missing shots on purpose just to avoid having to see the same scene transpire. To now know that pain was possible or even plausible left a heavyweight in his stomach.
Phantom flung his free wrist out as he wiped away the water on his face, “What are you still doing here Jack? Go home!”
Jack jostled from his recollections and averted his gaze. “ I have some questions…”
Daniel snorted angrily, “Of course you do… What do I need to answer in order for you to leave?”
Jack snickered, “ First? Who were the two spooks from earlier?”
Daniel’s eyes flashed up and sparked menacingly, “ Sadistic fuckers with a taste for blood. They’re monsters.”
Jack paused at the glint in Daniel’s eyes and pushed, “ Do you know them?”
Daniel cringed and looked to Jack in disgust and disbelief, “ Just what are you implying? Do you honestly think I’d associate with that scum?”
Jack quirked an eyebrow, “ They seemed to know you Phantom.”
Daniel rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Pulling out a stool with his ecto-energy, the teenager tiredly sat down, “ If you haven’t noticed my line of work doesn’t exactly make me any friends, human or ghost. I’m positive whatever they mentioned about me was probably a negative relation. Beating ghosts up and stuffing them back through to their dimension doesn’t exactly make me a class favorite if you catch my drift.”
“ So you don’t know who they are?” Jack concluded flatly.
Daniel snickered and charged a hand threateningly. “ They better hope I don’t figure out any time soon…” Snarling, the teen subconsciously flared his core, causing a massive temperature drop. Jack sat unaffected by the sudden change as Phantom hissed inhumanly, “After what they’ve pulled? They’d be lucky if I left enough ectoplasm to fill a matchbox after I get ahold of them.”
Jack nodded absently as the white-haired youth extinguished the glowing mass in his hand. Taking a moment of quiet contemplation, he waited for the unsettling neon blue to fade from the boy’s eyes and then asked, “ They mentioned someone else to… Who’s Plasmius?”
Daniel stiffened and looked up to Jack apprehensively, “ He’s none of your concern.”
Anger flashed across the man’s face, “ Not my concern? You seem to forget I have a part in this mess now!”
Daniel raised an eyebrow and flippantly flicked his wrist outward, “ And what do you need to know about him? Better yet? What did those demons say about him?”
Jack pondered the teen’s question and off handled answered,“ They mentioned him in passing, the same as you.”
Daniel sighed heavily, “ If I answer you’ll leave so I can handle this right?”
Jack nodded in agreement and Daniel answered tiredly, “ You’ve met him before at Vladimir’s castle in Wisconsin. Pointy ears? Blue skin? A Romanian prince knockoff with a cheap costume?” Daniel rubbed his eyes and crossed his arms. “I think you and Maddie call him the Wisconsin Ghost?”
Jack’s voice echoed with malice, “That crazy son of a bitch is in on this?”
Phantom winced and stared up to Jack in confusion. “ Aren’t you being a little harsh?”
Jack snorted. “ Oh, forgive me… I seem to remember that freak possessing me, trying to steal my portal and threatening my family! Hell? You even teamed up with me to kick his ass out of my lab!”
Daniel tiredly rubbed his brow and turned to stand. Floating by the bar stool he languidly spoke in a hushed tone. “Everyone screws up. Things happen. That’s life. He’s made mistakes but he’s not the villain here.”
Jack snorted, “ Sure…”
Daniel voice softened, “ He’s not our enemy.”
Jack glared into the counter, “ I think we’re done here.” Holstering his weapon and standing from his stool, he made a move toward the door.
Phantom reached out and stopped him. “ Wait a second…. I know that look. What are you planning?”
Jack smiled cooly. “ Nothing that concerns you.”
Daniel’s eyes widened and his mouth became a tight scowl. “ If you haven’t noticed I’m already a part of this? Not to throw your own words back at you but here we are…”
Jack paused and laughed lightly. “Am I that readable to you?”
Daniel shrugged, “ No… not usually. But I’m familiar with that look. It’s the same look you give when you read about a ghost attack or some random spook and decide to go poking around.”
Pausing, Daniel prodded, “ What are you planning on doing?”
Jack turned to face the teen and pointed to the ceiling. “ If we’re playing twenty questions, why don’t you explain to me what happened in that room?”
Daniel flinched and locking his gaze with his father’s baby blue eyes he spat. “ I was under the impression you were going to leave things alone for me to handle Jack!”
“ You know something don’t you?” Jack calmly countered. Phantom’s eyes immediately broke contact and Jack snarled, “ You spooks never change! You do nothing but lie and harm people constantly.” Pulling out the gun and cutting off the safety with his thumb he aimed it toward the duplicate. “ Tell me what happened Phantom.”
Daniel’s head whipped up and something akin to terror and grief flashed across his features. That single expression crushed any resolve the adult could possibly have hoped to summon in order to pull the trigger. It was pure betrayal and heartache. Closing his eyes, Phantom spoke. “I can’t.”
Jack’s hands shook. “ And why not?”
Biting his lip and still keeping his eyes shut tight, the duplicate pleaded, “ I just can’t! It’ll hurt too many people! Please.”
Jack winced, “ And who could it possibly hurt?”
Daniel’s eyes flashed open and his hand drummed against his own chest, “ IT’LL HURT MY FAMILY!” Taking a ragged breath, which went unnoticed by the startled parent, he continued, “ You’re right! I’m dishonest! I lie constantly… but you know what? I lie to protect the people I love! I’m human …. was a human… I lie because I have no choice. To prevent the people I care about from suffering I’d gladly lie a thousand times over even if it costs me your faith!”
‘ Even if my own father hates me… It’s better he doesn’t know…’
“If you love someone wouldn’t you do the same?!?!?”
Brilliant green eyes locked with Jack’s blue and the man felt his hand loosening on his gun. Sighing he flicked back on the safety and tucked the weapon back into his belt.
“ I’d do the same thing for my family in a heartbeat Phantom. I understand where you’re coming from….but not telling me endangers my family.”
Phantom’s eyes saddened and he rubbed his arm tiredly. “ But if I tell you your family will be put in more danger. Jack, please? Just trust me? I know that it’s hard for you given that I’m-” Phantom flinched and swallowed.
Special thankx to all of the wonderful fanfiction writers that saw the first segment and made an absoultly lit parady fic off of each others writing! I ENJOYED EVERY NEW PIECE OF CONTENT ADDED<3 AND ANOTHER THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REBLOGGED or COMMENTED<3
