Okay time for another story, first off all you all should know that this isn't your average Danny Phantom phanfic. In here the original story is completely overhauled and turned into something new. Some familiar elements will be present though and I will try to cover the entire series. (Try to!). Otherwise enjoy.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Clockwork once said there are infinite timelines, thus infinite possibilities
Though every time certain details remain unchanged, every time there are the same details we all know
Other details however changed, some drastically.
Yet there is always one man or boy rather, and his two friends.
Let's see what this timeline brings us…
London, night
It was a temperate and starry night at the end of May. There were some people on the street going out or returning home from a family visit. A quiet night all in all.
However unknown to most regular citizens there was someone who didn't quite believe in quiet night without trouble. Someone who was watching over no matter what.
Up above Parliament Square and the Westminster Bridge, on the very top of the Big Ben clock tower sat a man scanning the skyline. The man was clad in a high-tech armour, made up of the most advanced nanotechnology that wasn't even known to the public. The suit was mostly black though it had some white and neon green highlights however. The armour looked like it was build up out of pure muscle, its fibres running all over the man's body making a complex looking muscle structure that was only ever so often broken by metal plates and joints. The lower legs and arms were fully metal plated as well with a small screen build into the left gauntlet. Making the armour look even more sturdy. Over the suit he was wearing something like a trench coat made out of the same materials reaching to just below his knees and with a hood covering most of his helmet, though one could still clearly see the glowing green eyes just underneath the rim.
The trench coat was special as well, not in a sense of colour because it was just plain black. It was special because it had a lot of attachments. The back was covered by metal plates and on his hips were two rocket thrusters making up a jump pack. Just above that was a metal cylinder that looked like a silver and neon green soup thermos. He also carried a hover board that was compacted so he could easily carry it around when not in use and a large ecto-gun higher on his back. But those weren't the only weapons he wore.
On his belt was a smaller long-barrelled pistol and another cylinder that could extend to the size of a fighting staff on his right hip and a knife sheath on his left respectively. The gun wasn't a normal one though. It had been especially designed for him. Inspired and looking just like a Desert Eagle Mark XIX - .357 magnum with a square barrel extension, this wasn't a ballistic weapon. This particular gun was an energy gun capable of firing stunning shots that could immobilize ghosts and by extension humans… or kill if set on a high enough power setting.
The man's black helmet covered his entire head and consisted of a filter like mouth piece, a faceplate with two narrow green glowing eye slits and two spiky antenna's on either side of his head by the ears.
By the public this man was known as by many names: Hunter, Reaper, you name it. But the name that most people including himself used was Phantom. One of the best ghost-hunters in the world. True he did have quite the reputation, even if he just appeared out of nowhere two years ago.
Unknown to the public was that this man was just a boy merely sixteen years old who went by the name Danny Fenton. Son of Maddie and Jack Fenton, two of the most successful ghost researchers on the planet and founders of Fentonworks.
One might be wondering why a sixteen year old is sitting on top of the Big Ben inside a high-tech nanosuit scanning for ghosts. Truth be told this didn't happen in just a day, this spans back…a long time.
It all began over twenty years ago during Danny's parent college years. During those years his parent were known as complete nutjobs, and it's easy to understand why. Both were obsessed by the would be existence of ghosts, and they were going to prove that they did. They also had one good friend called Vladimir Masters or just Vlad as they called him. Together they worked months on a device which the three of them believed would punch a hole into the Ghost dimension or Ghost Zone. This project would be known as the proto-portal.
Although Vlad was more sceptical about the whole thing the three of them went through with it no matter what. But when they were finally ready to test the device a tragedy happened. During testing a mistake by Jack caused the portal to malfunction and Vlad, who was unfortunate enough to be right next to the portal was blasted in the face with an enormous amount of ectoplasmic energy. Vlad was rendered unconscious and ended up in the hospital afterwards. Vlad had contracted a disease Maddie identified as ecto-acne and was comatose for a while. Jack naturally blamed himself for it and swore he wouldn't rest until he had his best buddy back. Thanks to the combined efforts of Jack and Maddie Vlad recovered remarkably quickly and woke up only two months later as opposed to the predicted two years. Of course Vlad was angry at Jack in the beginning but when he heard about all the things he did to bring him back he quickly forgave his larger than life friend.
Later testing performed by the Fentons pointed out some complications though, it seemed that the blast had changed Vlad. Changed up to a genetic level. He began showing signs of ghostly powers, later they discovered the accident had turned Vlad into a Human-Ghost hybrid. Vlad freaked out when he learned he was essentially half dead but he got back up due to the support of his both friends. Together they learned how to control Vlad's powers and in the process they learned a lot about ghosts. In the end they became lifelong friend, bonded together by the experience. The three did many thing together, Vlad was there when they developed their first piece of ghostly technology. He was Jack's best man at his wedding with Maddie. He supported them when they founded their very own company: Fentonworks. A company specialized in ghostly tech and their applications. Soon it grew into a multinational company with applications in ghost defence, security and medical technology. With a little help of Vlad.
Vlad meanwhile founded his own company named Dalv co. and made his own fortune. Though the three friends never grew apart. They supported each other at every turn, even when the Fenton's moved to London for their company. Although Vlad was saddened to see his friends leave he understood that this was the way of life. And with his ever developing ghost powers he was only hours away.
The three friend were never truly separate, that had been apparent in college. When the time came when the Fentons got their first child, a daughter named Jasmine they decided that Vlad could be a real part of their family. In turn Vlad was asked to be their kids' godfather. Vlad was overjoyed and accepted. Since then both Fenton children have seen him as uncle Vlad.
Years passed and it became apparent that the Fentons were a true family of geniuses. Jasmine or Jazz excelled at her studies and took an interest in psychology. Danny was smart as well, taking up advanced subjects in school and taking an interest in his parents' profession. When his fourteenth birthday rolled around his parent were setting the last hand at their new and improved ghost portal. An improved version of their proto-portal that turned Vlad into a halfa. This time however they were certain it would work. Danny had chosen to help out his parents with the project seeing he had a reasonable knowledge of the advanced physics and engineering to necessary to understand the project. He was the one who identified a fatal flaw in the design, the on/off button was placed inside the portal. If this had gone unnoticed it could have killed someone. The button was moved and the portal was successfully activated, punching a stable hole in the Ghost Zone.
Now they had another problem though. Due to their portal experiment they had caused the barrier between the human world and the Ghost Zone to become thinner. This caused the release of more and more ghost into the human realm. Some of them were of the more malevolent kind.
In the beginning Jack and Maddie tried to catch them themselves but they quickly came to the conclusion that they were better scientist than ghost hunters. And so we come to the point Danny takes up the mantle as ghost hunter.
His parents objected at first but when they saw the amount of skill and resolve he showed during training sessions they realised they probably wouldn't be able to stop him. So they began supporting him and began developing and constructing the various weapons and equipment he would need. It took Danny some getting used to the first few months but after some practice and training from Vlad who had come over especially to train and guide his godson he became one of the best in the business. Hence beginning the reputation of the Phantom.
Now he was sitting on top of the clock tower scanning the city while his right hand hovered over the screen in his left gauntlet, controlling his music player while he listened to the modern tunes of Humpty Dumpty and the classics of British rock like The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd.
After a little while his HUD beeped and indicated the scanner had picked up an ectoplasmic signature. The radar pointed north and Danny got to work. He shut off his media player and grabbed his hover board from his back. The board deployed to full size on command and powered up. Danny threw the board on front of him and jumped after it, off the clock tower.
The board stabilized itself and Danny landed expertly on it, the engines roared to life and he shot off into the night. Drawing the gazes of a few bobbies (police officers) on the ground.
"What the bloody hell was that?" A rather young officer asked.
The older, more experienced officer looked at him incredulously and then chuckled in realisation. "Ah, right. You're a rookie." He laughed. He then pointed up to where Danny just had been. "That my dear boy, was the Phantom."
"The ghost hunter?" the young one asked.
"Aye, he has this habit of sitting on top of the clock tower sometimes. Most of the times we never even knew he was up there." The veteran said.
"Why did he leave like that? It sounded like he was in a hurry." The younger said.
"Aye, when that happens it is very likely he found something." The older said.
"Like…a ghost…?" the young one asked nervously.
The older one chuckled. "Most likely, though we'll never know for sure. Most of the times he grabs them well before the new even catches wind of it."
"Shouldn't we call him in? He technically is a vigilante?" The young one asked uncertainly.
"Nah, we'll never catch him. And he's a reckoned ghost hunter actually. As long as he obeys the standard law he's free to go. Don't worry, he doesn't hurt anyone and knows what he's doing." The old one said.
"I guess you're right." The young one concluded.
Meanwhile Danny was flying northbound, zoning in onto the ecto-signature. The scanner pinpointed three different level three ghosts over the National Gallery at Trafalgar square. Danny slowed down his flight and landed on the National Gallery roof silently. His hover board compacted itself again and Danny put it away on his back. Then he pulled his plasma-rifle and activated his suit's cloaking engine.
See there was a reason why the suit was made entirely out of high-tech nanotechnology. Not only gave it excellent protection against any attack it also had been made specifically to completely cloak the wearer, rendering Danny completely invisible. He crept around the domed roof and saw three green spectres floating just above the roof only ten meters away looking down through one of the glass ceilings. He charged and aimed his weapon and dropped his cloaking, revealing his presence to the three ghosts.
"Freeze!" Danny shouted.
The ghosts were very surprised and made a little jump so to speak and turned to the approaching Danny, who had his gun pointed directly at them. The ghost's eyes betrayed that they were afraid, after all they were only level three in power. One of them was smaller and his behind the two bigger ones.
"What are you doing here?" Danny asked commandingly.
"Please don't hurt us…" The first said with a scared ghostly echo.
Danny realized that this probably weren't malevolent ghosts and lowered his weapon slowly. There was a low whine when the weapon powered down slightly.
"I won't hurt you if you don't mean harm." Danny said still with a commanding tone.
"Dad… is that man going to hurt us?" The small ghost in the back said.
Now Danny fully lowered his weapon. He began to understand what he had in front of him, you see some ghost are essentially dead souls who had unfinished business in their lives. And he had a feeling this group might be a very tragic story.
"I'm sorry let's try this again. What are you three doing here?" Danny asked in a much gentler tone.
"We're sightseeing, we always wanted to travel the world as a family." The second said.
'Ah, they're a family who wanted to see the world but died before they could finish their goal.' Danny thought.
"Ah, so you don't mean any harm I suppose." Danny said while putting away his rifle.
"No, we just want to see the world." The first said.
"That is acceptable." Danny said.
The little one had now come floating out of his hiding place behind what Danny thought to be the little ones parents and curiously floated up to him. The two bigger ones looked nervous, Danny couldn't blame them though.
The little one eyed him from all corners. "Who are you sir?" he asked.
Danny chuckled. "I'm known by many names little one. But most of you will know me as Phantom, the ghost hunter." He said.
The three recoiled, fearful of the man in front of them. Ghost hunters were known to catch and kill indiscriminately, though truthfully that was just the GIW. "you're a hunter? But why are you letting us go?" the first asked.
Danny signed. "Not all ghost hunters are hell bent on destroying ghosts. That is only a small and hated part of the community. Most of us just catch the dangerous and malevolent ones, the rest we leave in peace. We just want to understand." Danny explained.
"Oh…thank you…" The first said.
"You're welcome. Any other places you want to go?" Danny asked while turning around to leave.
"Uh…yes. We want to see the Tower of London. Do you know where it is?" The second asked.
Danny turned back around and pointed to the east. "It's that way. Just follow the Thames and you'll find it." He said and then turned around. "Stay out of trouble." He called back.
The three ghosts nodded and flew off, leaving Danny alone on the roof.
Then his radio came to life. "Cerberus base to Phantom…come in Phantom…"
That voice was his sister's, Jazz. His sister was four years older than him and as much of a genius like anyone in the family. Graduating college early with a degree in psychology and working on a doctorate in paranormal sciences while working Fentonworks in the meantime. She had been there when Danny took up the mantle of ghost hunter for the first time. She had been strongly against it at first but later succumbed to the fact that Danny wouldn't stop. Since then she has been actively helping him with his hunting. Handling communications with Danny, monitoring spectral activity on the larger scanners and feeding him tactical information when necessary. It was also her idea to use a highly encrypted radio signal to communicate, making sure his identity was never discovered.
"This is Phantom, hearing you loud and clear. What's up Cerberus base…?" Danny asked through the radio.
"How is it going over there little brother… scanner picked up three signals…" Jazz asked over the radio.
"They were nothing, non-malevolent ghosts who were just sightseeing…" Danny said while looking over Trafalgar square. "Any news you want to give me…?" He asked.
"Yeah, mom and dad said to call you home if possible… they said they had an important announcement…" Jazz briefed.
"Alright, I'll be there soon…" Danny said.
"Good, Cerberus base out…" Jazz said.
Danny grabbed his hover board from his back and deployed it. He jumped on when the board was steadily hovering but he didn't leave immediately. He first activated his cloaking again rendering him and his board invisible, then he shot of into the night. Silent like a leaf in the wind.
Some might be wondering why he didn't catch or destroy the three ghosts he encountered. You see over the years the Fentons learned that only a very small fraction of the ghost population is malevolent. Most of them just want to be left alone and complete their obsessions so they can move on. Jazz had done multiple psychological studies on this phenomenon and Danny swore that he would act responsible. After all most ghosts were human once, he found it fair to only attack and catch those who caused harm to others. Unfortunately this philosophy wasn't followed by everyone.
About twenty minutes later Danny arrived at his family's house in the more quiet area outside of downtown London. Where the houses weren't so close together and people couldn't see him. The house was more of a sizable mansion, complete with a large garden so he could land without being seen. His parents bought the house when Fentonworks became a successful multinational and transformed into their very own private laboratory. Underneath the house was a sizable array of labs and garages for all of the project his parent worked on. But the crown piece was the functioning Ghost portal in the centre of the lab.
Danny dropped his cloaking as no-one could see him here and walked inside into the kitchen and then into the living room where Jazz was seated reading yet another book on psychology. When she heard him come in she raised her head and greeted his in the light British accent they all possessed.
"Evening little brother." Jazz said cheerfully.
Danny brought his right hand up to his helmet and clicked the button by his right ear to open the faceplate. The glowing green eyes deactivated and the helmet opened. The mouthpiece lowered down while the rest of the faceplate slid up to reveal Danny's ocean blue eyes and black hair. "Hi Jazz; are mom and dad around?" he asked.
"They're still down in the lab but I guess they'll come up soon enough." Jazz said.
"Alright, say I'm going to change really quickly and then I'll join you." Danny said.
"Fine by me." Jazz said.
Danny then made his way out the living room towards his own bedroom to change out of his armour, take a quick shower and put on a fresh set of clothes. In his room he had this cylindrical storage tube where he fitted his armour in and put his weapons inside for charging. Normally he would make a stop in the lab to empty his thermos but seeing that he hadn't caught any ghosts today that wasn't necessary. Once everything was in place he pressed a hidden button on his nightstand and the storage unit contracted into the floor. Hidden safely. Afterwards Danny jumped in his bathroom for a well-deserved shower.
Another twenty minutes later Danny was finished with his shower and was on his way to the living room where Jazz and his parents were likely waiting. He was now wearing some blue jeans, a red shirt and a black hoody. On his feet he was wearing black slippers. When he came in the living room he could already make out the shapes of his parents both sitting in the couch across from Jazz wearing their ever present orange and blue jumpsuits covered by white lab coats they always wore when busy in the lab.
Jack was first to notice Danny walking in the room and greeted his son. "Hey Dann-o! how was the hunt?" He asked.
"Meh, nothing special. I encountered a group of non-malevolent level threes." Danny said while sitting down next to his sister. "I pointed them toward the Tower. They were sightseeing."
"That' good son, a night without a ghost-attack is a good night." Jack said.
"Indeed…" Danny answered.
"Now kids, you obviously know why we called you here." Maddie began.
"You said you had something to tell us." Jazz said.
"Yes Jazzy-pants! We have some pretty big news!" Jack said.
"Now that the company is running stable we have more time for our research and you of course. Now we have noticed that ghost activity is declining in London and added to that we have been thinking to go back to our roots." Maddie said.
"Meaning that…?" Danny asked.
"We're moving!" Jack said enthusiastically
"WHAT!?" Both Jazz and Danny shouted.
"Where?!" Danny asked.
"You kids remember you always wanted to see uncle Vlad more? Well we've discovered that ectoplasmic activity is on the rise back in the States. And we wanted to move back to the place where it all began." Maddie said.
"But…what of my doctorate?" Jazz asked.
"You can take the Fenton-jet back here when you need to present it in December pumpkin." Jack said.
"But we'll be closer to uncle Vlad?" Danny asked.
"Much closer. Vladdie can come visit us at any time, he'll be welcoming us when we arrive there." Jack said.
"What do you kids think?" Maddie asked.
"I'm game. London is quasi secure by means of ghost attacks, the bobbies are equipped to handle threats and a change of scenery would be nice… maybe I can make some real friends there as well." Danny said solemly.
Maddie nodded knowing what her son meant. In the past Danny's "friends" only hung out with him because the Fentons were semi-famous and had a lot of money. But Danny wanted friends who liked him for who he was, not the money they had.
"I'm sure you'll find somebody little brother." Jazz said offering her brother some comfort. Being a ghost hunter wasn't easy.
"What about you Jazzy? You okay with us moving?" Jack asked.
Jazz shrugged. "Eh, why not. I can finish my doctorate in the States as well and use the jet to come here. Question though, where are we going and when do we leave?" She asked.
Maddie smiled. "We plan to move out at the beginning of summer, about a month from now." She said. "Our new house will be in the new hot-spot of ectoplasmic activity,…Amity Park."
End of chapter one guys. This has been an idea I've been working on for a long time but I didn't want to publish until my other story had been finished, writing two stories at once creates problems. And now maybe for some background info.
As you all will realize in this story Danny doesn't have any ghost powers. For as far as I'm concerned Vlad is the only half ghost in existence. The suit is based on several things: the bulk is inspired by the nanosuit from the Crysis games, it also looks like it except the extra metal plates on the arms and legs. The trench-coat comes from the character reaper from Overwatch. The helmet could be seen as a combination of Iron Man's and Ant Man's helmets and the rocket thrusters on his back is an idea I got from a game called Titanfall. Note: he can't use those thrusters to fly, just make very high and far jumps and use it to do wall runs like in the game. Alright have I said everything about the suit?
Also I think it is pretty obvious Danny doesn't know Sam or Tucker yet but that will change very quickly. He does have a good relationship with his uncle Vlad though. As for the ghosts, Danny has been in the Ghost Zone a couple times and knows some of the ghosts or has heard of them. Otherwise the only interaction he had with them is through Vlad or in the field.
About Fentonworks, officially the company makes and distributes ghost defence and security tech and works on several medical applications. They don't officially make weapons for obvious reasons, there are other companies doing that however. Like Axiom labs, Dalv co., FN Herstal and Meinhard weapons factory in Heilbronn used by the GIW. (All are fictional factories except FN, no offence intended.) Unofficially the Fentons have been building the weapons Danny uses and it is a big mystery for the world where the Phantom got them. Most think he build them himself. As for those guns think a generic Fenton weapon from the series for the plasma rifle and the earlier described pistol for…well pistol… For the sounds they make look for the plasma rifle from the Xcom enemy unknown game and the blaster sound from Jango Fett's WESTAR in Star Wars episode II.
Phew, that was a lot of background.
Anyway hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think and see you all next time.