A/N - Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews on the first chapter, it makes my job easier. Now, a few of you were concerned that I would "make Danny gay", when I had already stated he was attracted to both men and women. Yes, there was a possibility (high) of a male/male ship, but I've decided that I'm not going to have Danny paired with anyone. At least, not until the very end. This story doesn't focus on romance, anyway. ^u^

Unless it's an overwhelming majority on the poll on my profile, Danny will not be shipped with anyone. I don't like the Danny/Sam pairing, and there's no other boy/girl pairing I'd write right now. Thank you for your patience!


Chapter Two

Exploring the Expo

Danny couldn't keep the grin off his face as they pulled into the parking lot near where his parents would be lecturing. Everything looked so modern, very futuristic with sleek designs, plenty of chrome, and advanced gadgets. The child in him desperately wanted to run off at top speed and explore as much as he could.

"Alright, sweetie," his mom said, turning to him, "we're going to be giving lectures all day, with only a brief break for lunch. I doubt you want to be stuck in a stuffy room with a bunch of scientists for hours, so I'm going to let you wander around on your own. You're certainly old enough to."

Danny nodded. "I've got my cell phone, and my wallet. Do you want me to come back here by any specific time? I can always call a cab to get back to the hotel."

Maddie shook her head. "No, it's better if you come back around five. We're going to a formal dinner party tonight, that's why I had you pack your suit. It starts at seven, so that leaves us two hours to get ready and get there." She pulled out a few twenty dollar bills and handed them to her son. "Use this for food or admission to a couple places that catch your eye."

Danny smiled and gave her a quick hug, carefully relaxing his muscles to avoid giving anything away. His mom didn't know about his more athletic physique, and he wanted to keep it that way. Sparring matches with her were bound to end badly, one way or another.

"Thanks, Mom. I'll be back around five, then," he replied cheerfully.

As he began to wander, Danny realized he had no idea what to do there. There were so many cool things, so many interesting exhibits. Hell, there was even a designated area for space-faring tech! As soon as he checked a map to find out where NASA's exhibits were located, he sped off. He was going to enjoy his time at Stark Expo. He just knew it.


Somehow, he had completely exhausted himself in the flight simulation machines NASA had set up for children and teenagers. Danny knew he must have spent well over an hour in the simulator for zero gravity. It was just so similar to his flight that he couldn't help himself. The only difference was that he couldn't propel himself without pushing off a wall or another object.

Clueless he was not. At least, not any more, that nickname had died over the three years since he had become a halfa and since he began exploring his sexuality. Therefore, the teenager had noticed the surprised looks some of the staff had when he exited the simulator. He briefly considered giving them his contact information, but shook his head sadly and walked away. The chances of him becoming an astronaut had evaporated when he became half-ghost.

It really did hit home sometimes that he was half-dead, and in those times, he'd struggle with a sense of being other, or wrong. Being a halfa meant going against nature, somehow. Nothing should be both alive and dead at the same time. His death bled through to his human form, and his life bled through to his ghost form. More often than not, he would be stitching up a gash and get his hands covered in green-and-red fluid, blood and ectoplasm mixing.

So, he just sighed and walked away. There was nothing he could do about it, NASA wouldn't take him even if he did get his grades up. He'd automatically fail any physical health exam they gave him, and would probably fail most mental health exams, too.

The thought of Jazz psychoanalyzing the doctor who was meant to be psychoanalyzing him was actually pretty funny, though. Danny grinned and glanced around, scanning the area for any interesting things. There was a... robot-building contest, Tucker would've enjoyed that. And to the left, some company was giving a demonstration of their hovercraft, not that the thing would be even remotely street-legal anytime soon.

Maybe he'd enter the robot-building contest, just for kicks. It wasn't like he could program it, but experience building one might get him points with his friend, and they could work together on one when Danny got back to Amity.

Taking a deep breath, Danny decided to try it out and enjoy himself. Building was his thing, even if he didn't know any technical terms. A robot couldn't be that hard to build, right?


He was wrong. So horribly, terribly wrong. It wasn't that the robot was hard to build. It was that the rules and guidelines confused the crap out of him. He didn't know any technical terms, so he had no idea what was against the rules, aside from not making his robot dangerous. He had no clue what not to do.

He sat there for the first ten minutes, just staring at the rules and then at his parts, and then back at the rules again. When someone finally came over and asked him what was wrong, he let out a breathy sigh and scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit.

"I-I don't know any of this," he admitted, waving his hand at the rules. "I can't tell what I'm not allowed to do, besides make a dangerous robot." He tugged lightly on a lock of hair and bit his lip, still looking between his parts and the rule list.

The judge who had come over to ask what was wrong blinked a few times, then let out a harsh laugh. "Alright, kid, since you don't seem to know anything, just do whatever you want. We'll tell you what's wrong when everyone's done," he drawled condescendingly.

Danny pushed the initial anger at being treated like he was stupid down. It wasn't like it didn't happen at school every day, he could handle this. "Cool, thanks. I don't know how to program, though. I'm just good at building tech. If someone wants to, they could program my robot for me," he replied politely, extending an offer to the rest of the contestants.

The judge narrowed his eyes and sneered. "Fine, but you just agreed to share the credit of whatever you make with a random stranger. Will that be okay with you, kid?"

Danny just gritted his teeth and nodded in silence. When the jerk left, the raven-haired teen began to assemble his robot. He thought of Technus and Skulker, of what their tech could do, of how versatile it was without necessarily being dangerous. Skulker's suit was a robotic marvel that he and Tucker had managed to study briefly.

He wanted to make something nice. He thought of Cujo and Vlad's cat, Maddie (who apparently liked his company). An idea popped into his head. There were so many kids who couldn't have a pet because they were, or some they lived with was, allergic. If he were to make a cat, it would require more fine-tuning than he had time for, so he went with a dog.

Danny modeled it after Cujo's puppy form, being more familiar with that than any living canine, and started to assemble the pieces. The participants had two hours to build something functional, and that was all Danny really needed for a simple, functional frame.

He had just finished tightening the last screw on one of the legs when he felt the presence of someone behind him. It wasn't threatening, or malevolent, that he could sense from a distance now, so he just grabbed his "blueprints" (more like a general shape and the original purpose of the robot) and thrust it over his shoulder.

"Are you the programmer they sent? Sorry I couldn't make actual blueprints, but you get the gist of it, right?" Danny commented, not taking his eyes off his work. Another leg was finished and he reached out to his pile of components only to have the parts he needed next pushed closer. "Thanks. You can decide what you want the dog to do. Heck, you can even name it if you like. I've never been good at naming things."

"Alright," came a smooth, masculine voice. There was a hint of warm amusement in his tone that made the teen relax a bit more. "Its basic functions are walking and... standing, huh? Just a simple dog?"

Danny nodded. "I couldn't do anything complicated in two hours, and I didn't know if the programmer they were gonna send me would be any good, so I kept it simple. Besides, I don't have much experience building robots. Containment devices and alternate-energy-sourced weapons are my strong points," he explained.

The man he had yet to actually see let out a chuckle and commented, "Well, I'm a pretty damn good programmer. Made my own A.I. when I was younger than you, so I can do as complicated or simple as you want. Y'know, we could probably make it do a backflip, if you wanted. Just to add a little excitement to the whole thing. Hm... what do you think about the name Clint? Or Bruce. Thor is pretty good, too. Oh, oh, or how about Steve?"

The blue-eyed teen let out a happy chuckle. "Steve is a little odd for a dog, don't you think? Thor is a name I'd actually expect a dog to have, out of all the names you listed. But really, Bruce? Clint? Maybe I really should name it."

"Fine." Danny could almost feel the pout he knew the man had on his face. "How about Rover? Spot? Or maybe Fido, that's a really good one."

"No, no, those are so... unoriginal." Danny sighed, and mumbled, "Great, now I sound like Sam..." Then, louder, "How about Chronos? Titan of time." For some reason, Clockwork had popped into his head when he was thinking about names, and he couldn't get him out.

The man laughed. "Sure, why not? Robots don't age and die like humans do, and you could add a clock to the thing somewhere."

Danny chuckled and went back to his work. By the end of the two hours, both teammates had done their parts, and turned to talk face-to-face.

The man who had coded for him had short, dark brown-black hair and blue eyes. He also had a little goatee and his hair was artistically styled to look messy. He had a nice suit on, with a deep blue tie that offset the outfit nicely. There were wrinkles in the corners of his eyes from smiling, and he gave off a relaxed and playful feeling.

Danny extended his hand with a shy smile. "Thanks for doing the coding. Danny Fenton."

The man shook his hand firmly, but didn't use one of the death grips the teen was familiar with, and for that, he was thankful. "Tony Stark. No problem, kid."

Danny scowled. "Please, don't call me kid. I'm turning eighteen in a couple months, and I'm just sick of it," he asked, glaring at the ground. He really was sick of it. All of the ghosts he fought called him a variation of 'kid'. 'Dipstick', 'ghost child', 'little badger', and on the list went. He really was tired of it, but he didn't need to take it out on Tony.

Tony... Tony... where had he heard that name before? "Oh. Oh. Tony Stark. Stark Expo. His company invited my parents to come speak. Sam has talked to this guy before. Oh," Danny thought suddenly. He knew who the man was, now.

"Did... did you actually come up to me to help?" He was worried he had overstepped his boundaries by making that assumption. Wow, no wonder his friends still called him 'clueless'. He had basically roped a billionaire into a lame robotics competition and bossed him around. If he made this guy mad, he could probably get his company to pull their support and no longer let his parents lecture at the Expo. Man, did he fuck up.

Tony shrugged. "Not really." The teen winced, and Tony continued on. "I was bored, though, and you were the only one whose robot looked even remotely interesting. I did say it was no problem. Heck, I'd probably even do it again. It was fun."

Danny blushed and ducked his head. "Still, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you involved, I just didn't know the first thing about programming, and I sensed someone behind me, and you didn't feel threatening or anything, so I just assumed-"

"Wait," Tony interrupted. "You sensed me?"

Danny's expression froze and he let his hands drop to his sides. Slowly, hesitantly, he explained, "Yes. It's an ability anyone can develop, really... it has to do with hearing, sensitivity to pressure, and the awareness of your surroundings. Have you ever seen a person react to your presence before you make yourself known? Anyone can train that feeling, if they try."

The billionaire's eyes narrowed in curiosity, and he considered what the young man had said. It sounded true enough, and it was certainly a skill Natasha and Clint had perfected. The only issue with the explanation was that Clint was hard of hearing, and often needed hearing aids to make sense of what anyone was saying, if they weren't facing him. A skilled lip reader he may be, but that required lips to read.

"Hey," he mused aloud, "do you have anywhere you need to be?"

Danny blinked a few times and mutely shook his head. Recovering from the sudden change of subject, he cleared his throat. "Not until five o'clock. My parents and I are apparently attending a dinner party this evening, and they wanted to meet up with me so we could all get back to the hotel and get ready."

Tony pulled out his phone, checked his schedule, and checked out the surname 'Fenton' in relation to Stark Expo. "Are your parents the... paranormal scientists and inventors giving lectures on ghosts and... ectotechnology?" he asked, a little confused.

Ducking his head to hide an embarrassed blush, Danny replied, "Yeah. They were invited here to speak about their unusual field of study by your company." He hated that his parents' interest (read: obsession) in ghosts managed to always come up in conversation with complete strangers. It made everything awkward.

Tony visibly processed the information he had just gained, and then beamed at the teen with a dazzling grin. "Great! That means you can accompany me back to Stark Tower! I want to talk to you about your engineering skills, I can tell you're talented, but from what you said, you don't have any formal training, do you? It's a sad waste of potential, Danny, and you seem like a fun person. I can even show you my workshop if you like!"

The babbling genius gently grabbed Danny's upper arm and began guiding him towards one of the Expo's entrances. The poor teenager was barely able to process what had just happened before he was herded into an expensive sports car and driven away from the Expo.