The Third Generation Part 7: Michael
Chapter 1
To say that Michael was born to greatness would be pretty on target. After all, a boy named after the Archangel St. Michael himself has a lot of expectations riding on him. And of course seeing as he was born in one of the wealthiest families the world ever knew made sure of that too. But even if he hadn't had his name, or his family's wealth, he would still be destined for greatness due to his Grandfathers; Danny Phantom: Earth's Greatest Hero, and Vlad Plasmius: Earth's First Supervillain. Michael had all the power that implied and more.
Right now he was floating above the Food Court of the Buy More Supermall in Millertown, Wyoming. He was in his Ghost Form, meaning that right now he had green skin, red eyes, black hair and a black jumpsuit and cape with white belt, boots, and gloves. In the Food Court five masked men had taken forty people hostage and were demanding to speak with a Phantom. Unfortunately, his parents and twin brother Gabriel were busy on the other side of the City dealing with five giant moose ghosts. Michael was on his own for right now. Michael considered his options; he didn't know what these guys wanted. They could want money, to kill hostages just because, to kill him for being what he was, or for their fifteen minutes of fame; that was more common than anyone wanted to think.
Michael went intangible and floated down, making sure his cape billowed in the wind to look more intimidating. He stopped right above the circle of hostages and said in as intimidating a voice as a fifteen year old could make, "I'm here." The masked men all looked at him and Michael had a good look at their guns, they were old ecto-rifles. Michael's Dad had made newer ecto weaponry that only worked in the presence of a ghost; they wouldn't work against a human or halfa. That wasn't the case with these older models. Stay calm Fenton, Michael told himself as one of the men spoke, "We were wondering if you cared." "Of course I care. Look, we just want the hostages freed, that's it, no one has to get hurt," Michael said, hoping the guy wasn't out for blood. The apparent leader nodded to his comrades and said, "You five, you four, you, and…you ten, get out." The twenty people that had been pointed out all got up and left warily.
"Alright, you guys look pretty reasonable, so, what is it you want?" Michael said, spinning around slowly to look at all the hostage takers. All of them looked pretty fit based on their stances, and were definitely confident with their weapons and each other. Professionals, ex military maybe, Michael thought. He had experience around guys like them, his family had spent the past summer helping rebuild Amity Park with the rest of their extended family and help from the local ghost fighters, Foley's Fighters. "We want $800 million, in five yellow duffel bags delivered to us in an hour," the leader said.
"That's a lot of money, can we talk it down?" Michael said, trying to buy time to think of a plan that would put the remaining hostages in the least amount of danger.
The leader pointed his ecto-rifle at a woman's head and said, "Each hostage is worth $40 million." Crap! Michael thought as he looked at the leader's eyes. He meant business. "Okay, just let me go out and-" "Forget it Ghost Boy, we all know you freaks can make copies, send one out there," one of the other hostage takers said. Double crap…wait that gives me an idea, Michael thought as he took a breath. "All right, just watch where you're pointing those guns okay?" Four of the hostage takers pointed their ecto-rifles at him while the leader kept his trained on his hostage. A copy of Michael appeared beside him and flew out.
Alright, let's hope those other copies I made stay invisible, Michael thought as he mentally commanded them to get near the hostage takers. Michael raised his hands and said, "You guys don't strike me as the kind that do this all the time. So why start now?" "None of your business Richie Rich!" one of the hostage takers said. "We can't all be born rich," another said. "Yeah, why shouldn't we get a cut of the pie?" the first speaker said. "Cool it," the leader said, and they all stopped talking. Okay, copies are in position. "Sorry about this guys, but no one is getting rich today," as soon as he said that, Michael's five copies simultaneously froze the hostage takers ecto-rifles with freeze rays and at the same time knocked them out with ghost stinger attacks.
Michael's copies became visible and he told the hostages, "Alright, you're all free to go." Michael led the hostages out of the store while his copies restrained the hostage takers to cheers from police and random passerby who heard about the commotion. After giving a small wave to the crowd, Michael headed home.
Author's Note: For this story, and maybe the next one, I plan on trying to portray the religious implications of the world of Danny Phantom. Lets face it, in the real world, if ghosts could unequivocally be proven to exist it would send shockwaves throughout the world's religions and our understanding of life after death. I want to try to show that, and show religious superheroes as well with this story and the next.