Disclaimer: All rights go to the respective owners of Marvel and Nickelodeon/Butch Hartman.
Chapter 4: Portals: Both Fun and Frightening
In the week since Captain America and Black Widow had rejoined the Avengers, things had been relatively quiet. Crusher Creel had proven to be a difficult foe, but a dense one. He had the incredible power of absorbing the properties of whatever he touched, which meant that Captain America had to avoid using his shield against him, or else Creel would have turned into living vibranium. Despite his powers, Creel wasn't very bright. Eventually, the Avengers were able to stop him.
Since then, there hadn't been any super villains causing trouble. After the Avengers had reunited, crime actually seemed to drop. The team used their free time to search for the remnants of HYDRA. But, presently, they had zero leads.
So, the Avengers were left with nothing to do but get settled in Avengers Tower. Natasha had convinced Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, to join the team once more. Neither had said where Barton had been; no matter how much Stark asked.
Currently, Danny was lounging in his apartment in Avengers Tower. Well, not so much "apartment", so much as "lavish bedroom with it's own bathroom". Despite the size of Avengers Tower, each member of the team only had a large bedroom with it's own bathroom. The reason being was that most of the Tower was used by Stark Industries, and to a lesser extent Hill and her intelligence units. Only Tony himself was afforded more living space. This was because it was his tower, more or less, so he and Pepper had an entire floor to call home.
Speaking of, Tony was in his workshop, toying with the idea JARVIS controlling a group of unmanned Iron Man drones to assist with evacuating civilians during a battle, and thereby lowering the risk of collateral damage. An "Iron Legion", of sorts. Tony smirked to himself; he liked the sound of that.
"Excuse me, sir," came JARVIS' ever-polite voice. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything important."
Tony chuckled. "Nah," he replied. "I was just thinking about you, buddy."
"How flattering," JARVIS said. "But I thought you should know that Dr Jane Foster is attempting to contact you."
Tony quirked an eyebrow at that. A rather curious event took place in England a few days ago. Thor had returned to Earth, and subsequently saved it from a group of renegade beings called the Dark Elves. An ancient weapon of mass destruction called the Aether had been unleashed by a celestial event called the Convergence. This event caused the Nine Realms to align in such a way that only happened every 5000 years, or so.
Long story short, Jane Foster became infected with the Aether, Thor took her to Asgard, which was then invaded by the Dark Elves. Thor freed his brother Loki, and they lured the invaders away to a realm called the Dark World. Loki was killed, and Jane was freed from the Aether, which was stolen by the Elvish leader, Malekith. The villain then arrived on Earth, only to be thwarted in his schemes by Thor, Jane, her assistant Darcy Lewis, and Erik Selvig. At least, that's what the report from SHIELD said.
"Huh," Tony muttered. "I wonder what she wants?"
There was no reply for a moment, only for JARVIS to respond, "Dr Foster wishes to come to Avengers Tower to discuss dimensional portal technology with Dr Banner. She would like to use the resources at the Avengers disposal for her work, with your permission, of course. She also said that they are already on their way, because Thor has apparently informed her that we would gladly welcome them with generous open arms."
Tony groaned and rolled his eyes. "Gee," he sighed. "How thoughtful of him. Well, JARVIS, better let the troops know we're gonna have company."
After letting the other Avengers know that Thor was coming, with company, everyone just... waited. Steve and Clint were in the gym, sparring. Even though Steve had a physical advantage, Clint refused to admit defeat. Banner was in his lab, preparing an area for Dr Foster to work. This left Natasha, Danny, and Tony alone to greet the arrivals. When Danny asked Natasha why she rarely trained with the others, she simply replied, "None of you could handle my training regimen." This comment left Danny and Tony glancing nervously at one another.
Before any more could be said, a loud booming of thunder could be heard outside. "Give you one guess as to who that is," Danny said. The three Avengers walked out onto the landing pad, and saw a lone figure coming in fast. The God of Thunder had arrived. Thor grinned at seeing his fellow Avengers.
"My friends, it is good to see you all again!" he bellowed. He looked at each of them, before greeting them individually. "Stark, Man of Iron, 'tis good to see you sober! Phantom, Slayer of Pariah Dark, I'm pleased to see you still defend Midgard! Miss Romanoff, Agent of the SHIELD; Blackest of Widows, you look as deadly as ever!"
Stark and Danny looked slightly taken aback, nearly forgetting Thor's enthusiasm. Natasha nodded at her fellow Avenger, her expression giving away nothing. Danny shook his head. "Uh, good to see you too, Thor," he said, grinning.
"Welcome back to Earth," Natasha said.
"Uh, huh," Tony said. "What's this I hear about you telling your girlfriend she could come to my- I mean, our tower and mess with my- our stuff without running it by me first?"
Thor blinked at Stark's comment, looking bewildered and at a loss for words. "Uh, er, well, I, you see-" he stammered as he helplessly fiddled with his hammer, Mjolnir. Danny and Natasha exchanged a pitying glance.
"Don't worry about it, Thor," Danny said. "Tony's just being Tony."
Thor glanced between them. "Yes, of course," he said, eyeing Tony.
"We're glad you're back," Natasha said. "Where is Dr Foster? I thought you were coming together?"
"Ah, yes," Thor replied, as the four heroes walked into the tower. "Jane and her assistant Darcy are coming by way of one of your 'air planes', she called it. They will be arriving later this evening. I chose to come here my way because, according to Jane, my hammer would not make it through security or customs. I'm still uncertain as to why this is. Would my hammer not make the ship more safe? And what did she mean by 'customs'? Is there some Midgard ritual involved with flying across the ocean that my hammer would interfere with?"
Danny had to keep from laughing during Thor's lengthy explanation, while Tony rubbed his forehead and Natasha looked slightly amused. Thor still had a great deal to learn about the Earth, it seemed. "Well," Tony said. "After that rousing tale, where were you since our last little get together? After you took Loki and the Tesseract back home, you didn't call, you didn't write. We were starting to feel a little hurt."
"Yes, I apologize for that," Thor said heavily, hanging his hammer on his belt. "But after Loki's invasion, the Nine Realms were cast into chaos; many believed that with Midgard under attack from an unknown force, lead by my brother of all people, that Asgard was not the beacon of safety it once was. Skirmishes began rising up, from Vanaheim to Nilfheim. My father, Odin, tasked me with returning the peace across the Nine Realms"
"Sounds rough," came the voice of Steve Rogers, who had just finished his spar with Barton. "I heard you were coming back." He held out his hand to Thor.
"Captain, it's good to see you are well," Thor said, taking Rogers hand. Thor genuinely respected Rogers. To Thor, Cap was a truly noble warrior, whose valor was to be praised. And the feeling was mutual.
Natasha glanced over Steve's shoulder, her eyebrow raised. "Where's Clint?"
"Licking his wounds," Steve chuckled.
"No way," came an exhausted whine from down the hall. Clint was slowly hobbling towards the group, covered in sweat, and breathing heavily. "I'm... just getting my... second wind," the archer panted. Thor laughed at Barton's exhaustion.
"Take heart, archer," he chuckled. "Your aches and pains will only make you stronger!"
As the Avengers awaited the arrival of Jane Foster and Darcy, Thor regaled his friends of his recent adventures. Banner had finished preparing his lab for Jane, and the Avengers were gathered in the Tower's common area. The group sat around a glass coffee table on the plush couches and chairs. Soon, though, the conversation turned serious, when Thor asked what had happened to Loki's scepter after the battle in New York. Barton got a dark look in his eye at the mention of Loki.
Natasha informed Thor that the scepter had been lost after the events with HYDRA. Presumably, HYDRA agents had taken the staff, along with other highly dangerous items and information during the chaos.
"That is most distressing," Thor growled. "My father wants the scepter locked away in Asgard. We should make finding it our top priority." Barton and Steve nodded in agreement.
"Don't worry," Natasha said. "We're searching for what remains of HYDRA. It's only a matter of time before we find them." This seemed to satisfy Thor for the moment.
Wanting to change the subject, Banner asked Thor, "So, what does Dr Foster want, exactly? She and I have never worked together before. I've worked with Selvig a long time ago, before my accident."
"She was quite insistent on speaking with you on her work with dimensional portals," Thor explained. " Jane would like your opinion. She holds your intelligence in high regard."
Banner chuckled softly. "Well, that's not exactly my field," he explained. "Danny and his family would know more than I do on that subject. His parents have a fully functional portal to the Ghost Zone in their basement, and Danny can form portals to the Ghost Zone on his own now."
"What?" Thor seemed somewhat startled by that bit of information. He was unaware that humans had already built portal technology. Some times, humanity's ingenuity startled him. At times they could be as savage as Kree, and other times as intelligent and logical as Asgardian scientists. The fact that Phantom could open a portal to another dimension of his own free will was both impressive and frightening.
"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly the expert on the subject, either," Danny said. "But I'd be glad to help!"
When they reached word of Jane and Darcy's arrival, Tony sent his driver, Happy Hogan, to pick them up at the airport. Upon their arrival, Jane and Darcy were greeted by Pepper Potts, who guided them to the top floor. "Wow, cozy," Darcy commented as they exited the elevator and walked into the team's common area. "I could seriously get used to this."
"Jane," called Thor, who quickly crossed the floor. He hugged her, and kissed her cheek. "I'm glad you and Darcy arrived safely."
As the two spoke more, Darcy wandered around the large area. She noticed a glowing blue panel on the wall. Her quirky curiosity got the better of her, and she reached out to press it. "I wouldn't, if I were you," came an echoed voice behind her. She gasped and whirled around. Danny Fenton appeared in front of her. "That panel activates the tower's security. And believe me, you wouldn't want that."
"Sorry," she replied, straightening her hat. "Force of habit."
Danny merely shrugged. "Don't worry," he said. "I'm the same way."
"Uh-uh, no," came Tony's voice from across the room. Stark pointed at Jane and Thor as he walked into the room with Banner behind him. "No lovey-dovey stuff in here from anyone but me and Pepper. Take it into your room, if you can't keep your hammer in your pants." Thor wore a bemused expression at Stark's teasing, while Jane looked slightly irritated. Tony walked over to the bar to talk with Pepper, while Banner shook hands with Jane.
"Uh, Dr Foster, hi," he said. "I'm Dr Banner. Nice to meet you. Don't mind Tony."
Jane nodded. "Dr Banner, I've read a lot of your work," she said. "Erik Selvig said he worked with you some time back."
Danny and Darcy walked over, and Darcy commented, "Wow, really? That must have been a long time ago, 'cause Erik is kinda old."
Jane sighed, embarrassed. "Dr Banner, this is my assistant, Darcy Lewis," she introduced them.
"Whoa," Darcy said. "You're Banner? Sorry about that old joke. Please don't go all rage monster on me!"
Banner just chuckled, slightly. "No, it's alright," he shook his head. "I have to work with Tony everyday; I'm used to it."
Noticing Danny standing nearby, Bruce said, "Oh, Jane, this is Danny Fenton. Danny, this is Dr Jane Foster."
Danny smiled as he shook her hand. "Oh! You're Danny Phantom," Jane exclaimed, embarrassed, as she suddenly recognized the name.
"Last time I checked," Danny chuckled.
Shortly, Banner led Jane, Darcy, Thor, and Danny into his lab. Jane looked around impressed. "This is a really nice set up. It's so much more clean and open than our place back in New Mexico." The room was an impressive mix between a lab and a workshop; everything sleek and state of the art. Bruce, with the help of JARVIS, explained how everything worked. Jane had no problem keeping up, seeing as how she had one of the best scientific minds on Earth. Danny was able to keep up a little, as well. Spending so much time with Stark, Banner, and his own parents had smartened him up, though, only to a point. He was no Jane Foster or Tony Stark.
"So, Dr Foster," Danny said. "Thor said you wanted to talk about portals?"
Jane nodded excitedly as she turned to Danny. "Yes, that's right," she said. "It's my chosen field, now."
Darcy snorted. "That's putting it mildly," she said. "More like 'stalkery-obsession'."
Jane frowned at her. "Darcy," she scolded. "I'm an astrophysicist, who just happens to be very, very passionate about her work. And I'm a professional; I don't obsess over things."
Turning back to Danny and Bruce, she continued, "As I was saying, yes. I want to use your equipment to run some experiments to see if that sort of thing is possible. After studying the Convergence and it's effects, I've come to the conclusion that in a few decades, maybe sooner, we can harness that energy and manufacture portals to other worlds!" Bruce and Danny exchanged a glance, smirking.
"Well, Dr Foster," Bruce said. "I'm sorry for your wasting a couple of expensive plane tickets for you and your assistant, but... well, Danny's parents, Jack and Maddie Fenton, have already made a fully functional portal to a dimension called the Ghost Zone."
Jane looked mildly confused and taken aback for a moment. "Wh-What? I'm sorry, I'm not sure I heard you," she stammered. Someone else had already made a portal to another world?
Danny shrugged and nodded. "Yup, it's true," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's how I got my powers, actually." He may be well known around the world after the Dis-asteroid incident, but the whole story of how he got his powers wasn't widely known. Sadly, the majority of the scientific community still didn't fully accept Jack and Maddie's theories and work, despite the role they played in saving the planet. The stigma of ghosts and the paranormal being silly superstitions held firmly, in some cases, despite the fact that everyone knew ghosts existed.
Danny noticed Jane's uncertain frown. She knew that random, natural portals could be formed, but she wasn't aware of any man-made portals. For a moment, he thought he had crushed this woman's dreams and life work! He felt guilty, and was about to say something to her, when she surprised everyone.
"This is incredible!" she shouted excitedly. She began pacing back and forth across the room in a bubbly manner. "This means that my work is absolutely right! And these advances can be made- have already been made- and we can start moving forward with our understanding of the universe far faster than ever! We can now go across the galaxy in less than a moment! This could seriously alter everything we know about... everything!"
Thor and Darcy shared a look. Jane was rarely this excited. But Thor was happy that she was so happy. She then began asking Danny questions at a very fast pace, and Danny could barely keep up with her. When she paused for a breath, he interrupted her.
"The only downside is that my folks' portal only goes to the Ghost Zone; it can't go anywhere else," he explained. "Well, not yet, anyway."
Jane only looked slightly disappointed at that. "But still, it's a start," she said, still excited. "So, what is this Ghost Zone like? Have you studied it in detail, yet?"
Danny nodded. "Oh, yeah," he winced. "Very much."
Thor laughed grandly. "Indeed," he said. "Phantom is the one who defeated Pariah Dark, and prevented him from invading Midgard! Your 'Ghost Zone', as you call it, is not limited to just Earth; it is connected to all the Realms! On Asgard, we call it 'Helheim'. It is, more or less, a part of Valhalla." This was news to Phantom. But, then again, he never got a chance to speak to Thor in depth about such things.
"I can also form natural portals into the Ghost Zone on my own," Danny continued.
Jane looked even more surprised. "Could you demonstrate?" she asked. "Or, maybe, we could even explore part the Ghost Zone!"
Danny didn't like the sound of that. He knew all to well that something like that could go badly. Just watch any number of science fiction movies! "Umm, I'm not so sure that's a good idea," he said. "My control over that power isn't that good; I can't decide where the portal will open up!"
Bruce somewhat shared Danny's resistance after his own experience with ghosts. He had no desire to have a repeat of what happened in Amity Park. Before he could voice his opinion, Thor spoke. "Jane, this may indeed be unwise," he said. "The dead are not to be trifled with. Their realm is not for the living."
Darcy shrugged. "I don't know, might be cool," she said. "Couldn't be any worse than evil space elves."
"Exactly," Jane said. "And it's not like we would be exploring it in depth at the moment. Plus, we're in Avengers Tower! It would be in a controlled environment; Dr Banner and JARVIS could monitor the whole thing." Danny and Bruce sighed. Jane had a point; the Tower was ghost-proof. Anything that came through would be easily contained.
"Alright," Danny relented.
Soon, the lab area had been prepped, and Danny was in his Phantom form. Jane, Thor, and Danny would enter the Ghost Zone and Banner and Darcy would remain behind to monitor the experiment. Danny had set ground rules: They wouldn't stray far from the portal entrance; and if anything went wrong, they would leave immediately.
Taking a deep breath, and praying the portal wouldn't open up somewhere too bad, (or embarrassing), Phantom held up his hand, and the bright green portal flashed into existence. Jane and Darcy jumped slightly, startled. "How long will this portal remain open?" Thor asked.
"As long as I want, I think," Phantom replied. Danny stuck his head inside, and saw that it had opened in a thankfully empty area. Nodding to Thor and Jane, the three stepped through into the Ghost Zone.
"Wow," Jane whispered. Danny and Thor looked around warily. The three of them were standing on a massive floating chunk of rock. Everywhere they looked was a dark green swirl. Nearby, purple doors were floating.
"Oh, yeah," Danny chuckled. "I probably should have told you. The laws of physics don't apply here."
Jane reached out and poked a tiny rock that floated past. "Wow," she repeated. She pointed to the doors. "Where do those doors lead?"
"Trust me," Danny said. "You don't want to know. A lot of those doors are the ghosts' lairs or homes. Others lead to, well... You know, I'm not really sure."
Thor looked very uncomfortable being there. Jane pulled out some of her equipment, her inner scientist taking over. "I've never seen anything like these readings," she murmured. The pair walked a few feet further on the rock.
The more Danny looked around, the less certain where in the Ghost Zone they were. "I don't think I've ever been to this are of the Ghost Zone, before," he said. Peering over the edge of the rock, he saw an floating obelisk-shaped rock covered in a language he didn't recognize. It looked similar to the ancient writing on Thor's hammer, which the Asgardian was clutching tightly.
"Hey, Thor," Danny called. "Come look at this. Does this look familiar?"
Thor stared at the stone for a moment, silently mouthing the words he read. A look of utter dread crossed his face. "Odin's beard," he quietly cursed. "Jane, Phantom, we must leave now!"
Jane looked up from her device, confused. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"We are in grave danger," Thor said. "Pariah Dark may no longer rule this Realm, but someone far more dangerous does. And I fear we are now trespassing in her domain."
Danny cocked an eyebrow. "Who are you talking about?"
Thor regarded his young friend grimly. But before he could reply, a bright green flame struck Danny violently in the side, knocking him flat on the ground. Thor whirled around, hammer in hand, a scowl on his face.
Above them floated an eerie feminine figure. She wore a skin-tight green outfit with jet black lining and strange designs. She wore long black, tight finger-less gloves and knee-high boots, and her fist and eyes glowed with the same, unnatural green glow as Phantom's. Surrounding her was a long green cape with a tall, flaring collar that rose above her head. Her head itself was covered in a black and green mask with tall, black decorations coming from her headdress that were reminiscent of dead tree branches or antlers. Her mouth and chin bare, she had a dark smirk, her dark green lips glistening.
"Hela," Thor growled.
The woman nodded, her dark smile growing. "That's right, Son of Odin," she purred, her voice low and seductive.
"It was not our intention to trespass, Hela," Thor tried to explain, moving protectively between Hela and his friends. Jane was crouched by Danny, who rolled over onto his back in pain. Danny grunted as he held his side.
"Oh, yeah," he said weakly. "I forgot I can be hurt here..." He lost consciousness, and reverted to his human form. The portal he had formed between the worlds vanished. Jane gasped, and Thor growled.
"I do not care what your intentions were when you came here," Hela said, her voice like silk laced with venom. "None of you will leave."
Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location, Nick Fury, the former director of SHIELD, was taking it easy, for the moment. SHIELD had to recover from what HYDRA had done. It was true. Rogers had been right. They all had to atone for what they had allowed to happen. HYDRA should never had allowed to grow to such an extant. Numerous agents that were loyal to SHIELD had either quit or retired early, having lost faith in the organization after the incident. Fury also went undergound;
But Nick Fury had a secret weapon: Phil Coulson. The Avengers thought that Coulson had died at Loki's hands, and in a sense that was true. Somewhat. Coulson was indeed still alive. But the Avengers didn't need to know that. Not yet, anyway. They needed the push at the time to rally together to stop Loki. Now recovered, Coulson had been entrusted with re-building SHIELD by Fury personally. Nick Fury trusted very few people. One of them was Phil Coulson. Coulson was the one in charge of starting over. And do it right, this time. Fury felt his phone buzz on his belt. Seeing the encrypted number that only he had, Fury smirked. Speak of the devil. He answered the phone, "Talk to me, Phil."
"Sir," came Coulson's grim voice. "We have a situation. You won't believe who we just found. We need you down here, ASAP, sir. I'll have May send you the coordinates."
Upon arriving at the secret base that the remnants of SHIELD operated from, Nick Fury was met by Coulson, and his second in command, Agent Melinda May. They were the only two among Coulson's team that knew Fury was still alive. Wasting no time on ceremony, the two agents led Fury to the base's holding cell; which had briefly held the traitorous agent Grant Ward. After Coulson brought down the cell's security camo wall, Nick Fury was both startled and shocked by who he saw. The man had dark circles under his eyes and long, ragged silver hair. The man was in desperate need of a shave, and wore what remained of a once finely tailored suit.
Vlad Masters. The man who once blackmailed the world to get what he wanted. The man who once, for however brief a time, ruled the entire planet. The half ghost billionaire also known as Vlad Plasmius. "Right now, only Agent May and myself know we have him here," Coulson explained. Being Director of SHIELD held meant that Coulson didn't have to tell his team everything.
"We found him in the woods during an intel mission," Agent May explained. Fury leveled a glare at the prisoner in front of him.
Coulson stepped up beside Fury. "We ran all the tests on him," he informed Fury. "He's clean. No traces of ectoplasm in his system. No clue how that's possible; he hasn't said a word."
Vlad looked up at Fury and met his gaze with a tired, hollow look. "Director Fury," he rasped. "I believe you have some questions for me, dear man. Or, should I call you former Director?"
