Master of All Things Electronic and Beeping

Note: I don't own Danny Phantom, and all things considered it's probably a damn good thing I don't.

Warnings: Mature content, graphic violence

When he reflected on the day he died, Technus had to repress a bitter smirk. He wasn't supposed to die that day, after all. Hell, he'd only been out of college for nine months. He had his whole life ahead of him, and had even planned to ask his girlfriend to marry him a few weeks later on Christmas Eve. Looking back now, he should have known a trap when he saw it, but he supposed it was too late now. That November day, his entire life plan fell to pieces around his ankles, dooming him to an eternity of bitter despair and electronics.

Twenty-five-year-old Nicolai Technus was a technician working for Mobile Computing Solutions, an on-call tech support service. It was Friday, November 10, 1995, and Technus had just gotten to work and settled in at his desk when his boss approached him. "You. My office. Now." Groaning, the young man followed the boss back to the corner office, wondering what he had done this time. If Tiffany Gibbons was stealing office supplies and trying to pin the blame on him again, heads were going to roll.

"Is something wrong?" Technus had asked, hoping to get this meeting over with quickly so that he could get back to work. The boss glowered at him.

"You haven't been off-site in weeks!" the large man yelled, spraying spittle everywhere. "All you do is hide in your cubicle while everyone else goes out to fix the computers we get calls about! Quit slacking! I want you to go out on the next call we get." Technus had to force himself to hold his tongue- he would have dearly loved to explain to the boss that the "house calls" Ronald Ohta and Brian Arp answered were really excuses to visit strip clubs, that Tiffany Gibbons was using the excuse of "I need to go fix a computer" to cheat on her boyfriend, and that Matthew Chopin really went out an played poker whenever he was on a call, but restrained himself. Even if he was the only one around this miserable place that did any real work, pissing off all of his coworkers was probably not the smartest thing to do.

"Alright sir," he simply said instead. "I will." With that promise, the boss let him go, and Technus slunk back to his cubicle, reminding himself that the only reason he was working was this job was so that he would be able to provide for his girlfriend once they were married. That thought alone was enough to restore a smile to his face, at least temporarily. Once he sat back down, he allowed himself a few minutes to think about the future before pulling up the inventory Excel spreadsheet. Hmm. They were running out of printer cartridges. Tiffany Gibbons was probably stealing them again...

Before too long, the phone rang. "Mobile Computing Solutions, can I help you?"

"Oh good, I called the right number!" a syrupy-sweet female voice chirped. "I'm having such a difficult time installing my copy of Windows 95. Will someone from your office come over and help me?" Technus sighed, but supposed it could be worse. After all, an operating system install wasn't a particularly onerous task.

"Of course. What is your home address?"

"1466 Manor Road," the woman replied. "When can I expect you?"

"Half an hour to forty-five minutes," Technus replied. Then, figuring that he might as well do the thing properly, added, "We're looking forward to doing business with you."

Going to get the keys to one of the cars, the boss spotted him and gave him a thumbs-up. Technus just nodded in acknowledgment before heading out the door. He just wanted to get this over and done with. After all, he needed to do other things for work. If he didn't inventory the extra cables, order the next set of manuals, and clean the coffee-maker, no one would.

The drive to the house took about twenty minutes. When the woman opened the door, her face lit up, although she seemed rather nervous. "Oh my god, you're here so early!" she cried. "I wasn't expecting you to be here this soon! I'm... I'm not even properly dressed!" Although he hadn't noticed anything prior to the woman's statement, Technus was suddenly acutely aware that the woman was wearing nothing but a short silk bathrobe over a nightgown. Strange, he thought, it was nearly 10:00 in the morning. Usually by that point, most people were dressed.

"Um, I apologize," he said awkwardly, averting his gaze. "Can you tell me where the computer is?"

"Huh? Oh, the computer," the woman said, looking around nervously. "It's... it's in the den." She pointed Technus in the right direction, and he quickly set to work, setting the disk in the drive and restarting. He really hoped this would quick. He just wanted to collect the payment and get back to the office. And the sooner he got back to the office, the sooner he could go home. As soon as he got home he was going to look around on the Internet for an acceptable engagement ring for his girlfriend.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the door to the den opening soundlessly, or the woman slip in. In fact, he was so unaware of her presence that he wouldn't have even suspected that she was anywhere near him until he suddenly found his lap full of customer.

"Excuse me? Can I help you?" he asked calmly, although inside, his heart was pounding. Something wasn't right here. The woman was wearing an expression that he could only assume was meant to be sexy, but it looked more like the kind of smile you wear when you're trying to hide how much pain you're in, but then the woman started trailing her fingers provocatively up his chest.

"I wasn't expecting you to be so hot," she purred. "I was expecting some creepy nerd with glasses!" Technus opened his mouth to explain that he was a creepy nerd with glasses, but he never got the chance. The woman took advantage of his momentary hesitation to forcibly kiss him, her tongue invading his mouth with a certain desperation.

No, stop! Technus yelled to himself inside of his head. You're here to work! You have someone that you want to spend the rest of your life with! Push her off, for god's sake! Gathering up his strength, he did manage to force her off of his lap. She pouted at him.

"So... so you want to play rough, huh?" she asked, although something seemed off in her tone. Technus didn't really notice this, however, as he was a bit preoccupied with trying not to freak out.

"No ma'am, I just want to install your software and pay," he replied. The woman didn't like that answer.

"What is wrong with you?" she practically screeched. "I'm offering you sex and you're just sitting here working on the damn computer!" As if to prove her displeasure, the woman forcibly straddled Technus' hips, pressing against him intimately and kissing him again, even more intensely this time.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?" a completely different voice yelled. Both Technus and the woman looked up in alarm. "Libby? What's going on?" the large, angry man demanded to know.

"Jacob, don't do this, please," she said desperately, but the man brushed her off.

"I'll deal with you later," he snarled at her before turning to Technus. "Do you think it's funny, touching someone's wife in that way? You filthy little bastard! I'd bet that you're just pretending to be tech support so you can go around and fuck other people's women! Well, that ends today!"

"B-but-" Technus tried to explain before he realized he was staring down the barrel of a handgun.

"Stop it, Jacob, I can't go through with this!" the woman cried. But it was too late. He pulled the trigger, the bullet hitting Technus between the eyes. He died instantly, blood and brain matter spattering the screen of the computer, red ooze obscuring the progress of the install.

"Hmph, that takes care of that," the man said callously, aiming a vicious kick at Technus' fallen body. Then, he turned to his wife with a cruel leer. "You were perfect, Libby," he said. "Now all we need to do is dump the body somewhere and then call Mobile Computing Solutions. We'll get the compensation money since the tech guy never showed up."

"I can't believe you really went through with it," the woman said, looking physically ill, as though she couldn't believe what had happened right in front of her eyes. "You killed him so you could get a couple hundred dollars from a company. You killed him!"

"And you helped," the man gleefully reminded her. "You were the one who set him up, after all."

When he came to, it didn't take Technus long to realize he was dead. Floating above the place where your shattered, bleeding body lay was a pretty big clue that you were no longer alive. It didn't take him very long, either, to realize that he had been tricked. There was no operating system to install. He had been called there as part of a trap. He was dead because of some stupid scheme.

The first thing he felt was despair. His girlfriend wouldn't know what had happened to him, and never would, unless someone found his body. Briefly he considered revealing himself to her, but then thought that would cause her more undue pain. He was never going to get to experience the things that other men his age would- he was never going to be a father, he was never going to get that job at Microsoft he secretly wanted, he was never going to get to travel the world after retirement like he'd always planned, and most of all, he was never going to be able to be close to the woman he loved again.

And then, he thought of something. He lost so much that day, that he might as well get something back. After all, he was dead. What would the authorities do to him? Put him in prison?

Technus smiled evilly. He could hack the Pentagon now if he wanted. He could easily use technology to rule the world! Now he didn't have to worry about repercussions that could be instituted on a human. He was free to do as he pleased, and if it helped him avenge his death, then he didn't see a problem with it.

After all, he was the master of all things electronic and beeping in life, what was to stop him from being the same in death?

End

Author's Comments:

Damn, I really depressed myself here. Poor Technus. And yes, I know his death is kind of out there, but it was a good way to explain why a guy who used to be a mild-mannered IT professional ended up a megalomaniac of a ghost hell-bent on controlling the world with technology.

-Kaboom