This was completely not supposed to happen. I was supposed to be sleeping. Please don't expect two chapters in two/three days to happen ever again.
WARNINGS: One or two cuss words, info-dumping, Danny seems OOC because he panics, Danny seems OP because he canonically is tbh.
"Hey, Danny!"
The teen looked up from his lunch to see Tucker walking towards him, a tray of school's so-called 'food' in his hands. Danny grinned and gave a small wave.
"Hi, Tuck. What took you so long?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
Tucker sat down across from Danny, to make conversation less awkward. Digging into his grayish so-called meat product, he spoke with a full mouth, "Shorry, shumbuty wush ashkin me if-"
"Tucker. I have no idea what you're saying." Danny said in a flat tone.
Tucker swallowed, "Right, sorry. Anyway, I said that someone wanted me to confirm the whole limiter rumor. Word really gets around!"
"I've noticed. People have been staring at me since the beginning of second period." Danny pointed out, prompting Tucker to look around at the other tables. Several people quickly turned away.
"Creepy."
"Yup."
The two fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence, hyper-aware of the eyes returning their table. After a beat, Tucker drew in a breath and spoke with forced cheer, "So, you said you wanted to talk. Why just me?"
"Yeah. I originally didn't want to tell anyone at all, but given recent events I think it's better to have to tell you than to let everyone find out. Actually, I'm pretty much okay with anything as long as my parents and other adults don't know, but all of the other students knowing would still be... um, problematic at the very least." Danny explained, voice quiet and gaze flitting between his hands and Tucker's face. His friend was taken aback by the second bout of distinctly un-Danny-like behavior that day.
"Dude, what're you talking about?"
Danny met Tucker's eyes dead on, "First you have to promise me two things. You can't tell anyone, especially my parents, and you won't hate me. Okay?"
The African-American boy blinked in confusion, "Sure, man, but why would I hate you? You're my best bro!"
"Tucker, promise me."
"...Alright, I promise."
Danny let out a long breath to steady himself, tensing visibly. He looked back down to where his hands were clasped tightly together on the table. The knuckles were white even against his pale skin as he spoke in a wavering voice, "Y-you know how I said that the limiters won't really do much of anything if I turn them on? For me, I mean."
"Yeah, 'cause your power levels are too low. There's no point in repressing something as harmless as changing eye colors anyway, right?" Tucker asked, raising an eyebrow at the unexpected subject.
But the nervous teen shook his head, "No, I never said that, not really. I said these don't have much of an affect. You asked if it was because of my power levels, and I said yes. Neither of us specified whether they're too high or too low. My reasons are different from yours." The last sentence barely made it above a whisper.
Tucker's brows furrowed in a strange mix of concern and confusion. He paused as he remembered the earlier conversation, "That's true. Danny, are you... Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"
A short, nervous laugh, "If you think I'm suggesting that I haven't figured out how to completely neutralize an esper of my level, then..." He trailed off, knowing that Tucker would see it for the confirmation it was.
He heard the seat across from him creak as Tucker leaned back heavily, letting out an equally heavy breath. The breath soon morphed into a quiet, disbelieving laugh. Finally, Tucker asked, "What's yo-"
"As of my check last night, 8.3 and still rising." Danny interrupted, wanting to get it over with. The silence pressed on him like an anvil on his shoulders, making each breath slow and agonizing.
"Holy shit, man."
At the whispered curse, Danny chanced a look up at his best friend. As he took in the air of wonder and almost dazed surprise, he didn't realize that Tucker could now see how afraid he really was.
"Hey, Danny?" Tucker tried tentatively, "You need me to know this so I can trick the scanners, right?"
Danny nodded, looking away once more, "Yeah, that's all I need. After that, I can help you find a good cover-up for whatever you want to do. I mean, if you get your family to let you change schools it's pretty much on you, but I'll do what I can. That is, unless you just want me to stay away at all costs? I can do that, t-"
"Danny!"
The boy flinched, accidentally meeting Tucker's teal gaze in surprise. The feeling deepened when he saw that Tucker wasn't angry or scared at all. Instead, he seemed to be almost... Amused?
"I'm not going to hate you. I already promised that, remember?" The boy said with a grin.
All at once, Danny felt as if the weight of the world was lifted from his shoulders. His friend didn't hate him! He wasn't going to be left alone!
"Thanks, Tuck." Danny sighed, realizing how tense he had been when his body complained at his relaxing. He let out a snort of laughter.
Tucker blinked, "Uh, what's so funny?"
The blue-eyed boy smiled, "You're the one who just found out that you're best friends with someone who may or may not be the most powerful friendly esper known to man, and I'm somehow the person so scared I could barely move."
Bursting into laughter, Tucker and Danny enjoyed a moment of carefree fun before the technopath realized what was said. He froze, "Whoa, wait. Really?"
Danny tilted his head slightly in question.
"You mean you're the most powerful esper that doesn't want to kill us all?"
The boy shrugged, "I dunno, probably? The only espers I know of that are stronger than me - and that's not many - are out to either rule the world or commit mass murder. The strongest recorded friendly esper is a 6.5, and all he has are ice powers and intangibility. All known neutrals are level five and below on the scale. There are beings that are more powerful, but as far as I know there are none among the non-evil espers. So yeah, I'm definitely the most powerful in the nation at least, unless you count criminals."
Tucker let out a whistle and whipped out his PDA. He fiddled with it for a long moment, then beamed, "That's awesome on so many levels. Can you describe your abilities to me?"
"Tuck."
"Hey!" He defended, "I might also need this to delete information from the scanner files. It's not just for fun. Besides, now that I know, I can be your techie sidekick! That'll work, right?"
After a bit of thought, Danny relented, "Fine, as long as you stay at some designated base and don't get yourself hurt. Deal?"
"Deal!" The two shook hands, "Now, about your powers..."
"Cool, but I'm not gonna describe them unless you actually ask. Most of them are pretty self-explanatory."
Tucker shifted into a more comfortable position in preparation for speedy typing.
"Ready?
"Of course."
"Then I'll just try to list them in order of approximate weakest to strongest. That means... Invisibility, intangibility, and possession are probably all about the same caliber."
Tucker glanced up, "Possession..?"
"Yeah," Danny said with a shaky sigh, "Possession. It works on pretty much every animal I've tried, and any person who doesn't have either a strong will or telepathic abilities. They don't remember anything afterwards, and I can also suggest ideas or do minor memory manipulation to cover that up."
"You hate it, don't you."
The boy smiled and gave a relieved nod, "Yeah. It's great for pranks, sure, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, so to speak. Anyway, I also have a weak electrical ability. It's really hard to control, so I rarely use it. Actually, that and my acquired weather powers are the main targets for the limiters I wear. On anyone without either of those powers they'd work normally, but the way I synced with them makes them eliminate those two powers completely. They can't do anything else because of that, though, so it only brings me down to somewhere around a six."
Tucker nodded as his thumbs sped over the keys, mumbling slightly. He finished as he questioned, "So what else is there? The others aren't enough to make you a level six esper on their own."
"Um... In no particular order, there's telekinesis, telekinetic energy manipulation, aura sensing, flight, a sonic scream, ice powers, creating dimensional pockets, and I guess limited shapeshifting? I'm still working on teleportation, duplication, telepathy, and mind reading, 'cause I'm pretty sure I can do all of them but I don't really know how. I think that's it, but I can't really be sure. Basically if I've needed something to defeat an enemy, it just kinda pops up. Sometimes if I try to copy someone else's powers, I can actually get them that way, but there are a lot of abilities that I think are unique to me."
Danny didn't realize Tucker was gaping at him until he finished, but when he did he nearly lost himself to a fit of giggles.
"Wha- you- you make it sound as if you're-" if possible, Tucker's eyes grew wider, "No."
Nodding silently, Danny gave in to the laughter, shaking as he tried to muffle it behind a hand.
"You can't mean-"
Another nod, raven hair flopping into eyes shining with amusement.
"You, of all people!? You're-" Tucker was cut off by Danny's free hand over his mouth, the pale boy instantly sobering.
"Shh!" He hissed, almost literally, "Remember where we are. But yeah, that's me." He lowered his voice even further, "I'm Phantom." His hand dropped away from his friend's mouth.
Tucker took a calming breath, "My best friend is a literal superhero."
Said superhero shrugged. "I just do what I can." He said with a genuine smile.
The two then discussed it for the small remainder of the lunch break, Danny telling stories and Tucker frantically taking notes.
Much to Danny's disappointment, the comfortable and carefree attitude only lasted a short while. Any remnants were utterly shattered when English class ended and Mr. Lancer asked to speak with him.
"Is something wrong? I thought you said it was fine for the meeting to be held in here."
The teacher frowned slightly, "Yes, well, that was before I discovered that the majority of the school was to be in attendance. The other teachers and I have decided to relocate to the auditorium. Can you work with that?"
"I guess so? It probably just means more questions. Lucky me, it's interrogation day."
"I suppose it is."
Without another word, Danny waved and casually strolled to his destination, leaving his teacher to redirect the other students.
Along the way, he thought over the kind of information he would be asked to divulge, and how much he would actually need to tell. Unfortunately, it seemed as if hundreds of people would be there. The kinds of questions that many people could cook up was unpredictable to him.
All too soon, the time was upon him. He took to the middle of the stage. Nervous, Danny almost froze up, but relaxed when he saw his two best friends waving at him from near the front. Smiling back at them, he took a deep, shaky breath and began to speak.
Yeah it'll definitely be a while before the next chapter now. I'm completely reworking everything after this exact spot because I recently stumbled upon some much better ideas (partially because of some of you who reviewed, thank you so very much!).
Firstly, Danny seems really overpowered here, but in all honesty that's partially because of wording and the fact that I'm not easing through the process of him learning all of those powers one-by-one. Many of his enemies have similarly adjusted power sets, too, so while he's completely devastating compared to a normal human, most of his foes are still potentially dangerous to him anyway.
To respond to a guest who used the name ToastyMcToaster: You've got some idea of where I'm going with this, but the sort of really powerful beings that you're thinking of are... something else, let's put it that way. For espers, they might be considered overkill even compared to someone like Danny, but there are other ways to look at it that will be talked about in later chapters. On the topic of Danny's powers, it'll be explained soon!
Anyway, thank you very much to everyone who has reviewed so far, and I look forward to seeing more of your thoughts and ideas!
Word Count: 1901
Thanks for reading, and please have a nice day/evening!
