Chapter 09: The Ghoul Empire Part 1

Vlad narrowed his eyes as he looked at a shadowed figure that stood near him. "You know your mission?"

"Yes." A dark mechanical voice said with no hesitation.

"I want you to bring Daniel to me alive." Vlad held up his hand to stop the figures protest. "But everyone else that is with him will be collateral damage."

A sick grin could be seen from the figure. "And where will I find the Ghost Child?"

"I tracked him in New York." Vlad answered passing a file to the figure. "But where is not clear to me."

"New York?" The figure frowned. "The Ghost Child is smart, there are a lot of strange people there, he would fit in very well."

"Well draw him out." Vlad told him with a glare. "And see how strong you are with your upgrades."

"It is my pleasure."

As the figure left, Vlad opened a different file showing a decayed Phantom body. "Another failure." He muttered in disappointment before sighing. "Oh well, when you fail try and try again."

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Danny just stared in disbelief at the scene in front of him as Laura, who was normally calm, had her claws out trying to kill Nyx who was laughing because she dumped a bucket of yellow liquid on her.

As for why Laura was pissed, well think very hard what the yellow liquid was and you'll get the idea.

"I'm going to gut you for that!" Laura snarled chasing her around.

"Nyah." Nyx stuck her tongue out ducking the claws. "Not if you can't catch me."

"Should we stop this?" John asked feeling the same disbelief that Danny felt.

"No." Ray gasped out from where he was on the floor laughing. "This is too great!"

"Uh Laura." Danny called out being ignored, so he decided to look at the youngest. "Nyx?" She too ignored him in favor of laughing while avoiding certain death. "Guys?" Danny was about to get between them when John pulled him back.

"I'm not sure if it's the same in this era, but a wise man never interferes in a fight between two females." John explained as Laura clawed at the wall where Nyx was earlier.

"John, if this keeps up there will be two possibilities." Danny said dryly before he went to stop it. "One, the base won't be standing and two, one of them would end up dead."

While they were talking, Nyx shot purple energy at Laura with a smile, but she dodged and since Danny was behind her at that moment he took the brunt of it and was sent flying through the wall and not in the nice, painless intangible way.

"Ow." Danny muttered in pain as he was stuck in the wall.

"Danny." Laura and Nyx stopped what they were doing as he pulled himself out of the wall holding his head in pain.

"Why are there three of you?" Danny asked dazed as he looked at them before shaking his head.

"Eh, sorry." Nyx apologized sheepishly.

It's been a week since Nyx joined up and she's been pranking everyone. John had to clean out the Haven because of cooking grease in the engines and Ray had to get the shaving cream out of his mask.

The only person she hasn't pranked was Danny and it was because he reminded her of Loki and she could never bring herself to prank the man who was like a father to her so in hindsight, since Danny reminded her of Loki she can't bring herself to prank him.

The reason she gave was that she respected him more.

"Alright, Nyx I'm glad you're getting comfortable here, but I think that last three were going a bit far." Danny said getting up while Nyx looked a bit sheepish. "And Laura, you have a right to be pissed, lord knows I would be, but it's not worth gutting anyone over alright?"

Laura gave a short nod and sheathed her claws, although she still glared at Nyx before she left to take a shower while Nyx stuck her tongue out at her before leaving with a skip in her steps in the other direction.

'Why am I the one to fix arguments between everyone here?' Danny thought to himself as he walked back to see that Ray left, probably to visit his parents while John looked like he wanted to talk with him.

"Are you ready?" John asked and Danny immediately knew what he was referring to.

"To test the ecto energy power plan?" Danny asked to be sure.

"Yeah." John said with a smile because the other night they finished rebuilding the Ghost Portal and even though John wanted to turn it on right then and there, Danny insisted that they did so when they were well rested. "And if it works we'll be off the grid."

Danny nodded as they went to the basement lab to see the huge hexagonal machine covered with a blast door. "Are you ready?" Danny asked with a smile as he put on welder glasses.

"Ready as I'll ever be." John had a similar smile as he plugged the machine into the power lines while taking the actual power out causing the lab to go dark before Danny turned the machine on as the green swirl of the ghost portal lit up the room. "Well that's pretty bogus."

Then the room lit up as ecto energy filled the base. "It worked!" Danny pulled the goggles off with a smile. "It actually worked!"

"Yes." John went for an evil laugh gaining a weird look from Danny.

"Please tell me you aren't going mad scientist on me."

"What can I say?" John asked with a shrug, but he had a pleased smile. "It's pretty fun to act like that."

"Uh huh." Danny said dryly with a look before leaving to go back to his room.

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"Sorry I haven't visited in a while." Ray apologized as he ate lunch with his parents. "It's been pretty hectic."

"How so?" Marie asked her son as she watched him take a bite out of the sandwich.

"Well, we saw the Ghost Zone." Ray explained with a chuckle. "A dimension where Ghosts come from and dethroned a prince."

Lou raised an eyebrow. "You dethroned a prince?"

"The guy was a jerk." Ray defended himself with a shrug. "He was arrogant, stuck in medieval times and his men attacked us first."

Marie winced not used to her son being able to fight like this. "And were you injured?"

"No." Ray lied not going into how his leg was twisted in the wrong angle and was thanking God for his healing factor. "But I did get the last laugh by taking an amulet off of him to render him powerless and we're heroes in that realm."

"An amulet that granted powers?" Lou couldn't wrap his head around it.

Ray smiled knowing this would make him even more confused. "We also got a new recruit, Nyx a ten year old girl who can do magic."

"Alright, that is impossible." Lou replied thinking there was no such thing as magic.

"That's what I thought at first." Ray shrugged as he leaned back. "But the way I see it, magic is just science we don't understand yet… I learned to look at my stuff in fear of it being covered in shaving cream though."

Marie had a mischievous look. "So a prankster?"

"Yeah." Ray chuckled with a smile. "And I'm enrolled in Bayville High, so I'm still continuing my education."

"That's great." Lou said with a proud smile before he frowned. "We also need to talk about something."

Ray blinked in confusion. "Alright, what?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Some Government officials were here earlier this week." Marie said getting a tensed response from Ray.

"SHIELD?"

To his surprise, Lou shook his head. "No, they called themselves the Guys in White."

Now Ray had a deadpanned look. "That just sounds like a rip-off of Men in Black." He said before looking serious. "What did they want?"

"They were looking for Phantom." Marie said getting a curious look from Ray.

"Phantom?" Ray thought about it and shrugged. "Well I guess he would have some people interested in him, but why would they look for him."

"They were Ghost Hunters." Lou answered as silence reigned around them before Ray nodded.

"I'll let Phantom know to see if he knows anything about them." Ray said not knowing how dangerous these guys were but the term Ghost Hunter didn't sound too good to him.

The Chan's nodded before Marie smiled. "Now tell us more about Bayville."

Ray grinned before complying.

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Laura had her back to the wall as she felt the water pouring on her thinking about how she lost her cool with Nyx earlier; it was just that the little girl reminded her of Kimura with how she acts, just not as sadistic.

Then Laura got to thinking about how she fit in this team.

Danny was the one person that she trusts right now. She's still struggling to accept John and Ray and it'll take a long time for Nyx to be accepted by her and she's trying to forget about the last sixteen years of her life.

But to forget those years, she would also forget the one person who truly mattered to her.

Sarah Kinney.

~Eleven Years Ago~

X-23 growled as her claws were still bone at this age, wearing a blue hospital gown while some of the guards mocked her calling her a Mutie.

They laughed, even shot at her for their own amusement, because she could heal and wouldn't die.

"What's the matter Mutie?" One of them asked as a bullet tore through X-23's leg. "Want to cry to your parents? Oh that's right you have none."

What she didn't know was that Sarah Kinney was watching from another room with Zander Rice and she looked a little green while Dr. Rice smirked. "Amazing isn't it? No matter what she heals and in two years she'll be ready for the Adamantium Bonding Process."

Schooling her features, Dr. Kinney looked at Dr. Rice. "Not if those men keep messing with the Weapon."

"Why Dr. Kinney, you sound like you care." Dr. Rice said in a dark tone.

"I don't." Dr. Kinney answered with a shrug. "All I care about is the results."

Dr. Rice gave her a suspicious look before shrugging. "So true." He said with a smirk. "But about your idea in training her won't work unless she trusts someone."

"I don't think that'll be possible." Dr. Kinney deadpanned knowing fully well that X-23 wouldn't trust any of them.

"For us, no." Then Dr. Rice gave a sick smile. "For you, yes."

"What?" Dr. Kinney asked in horror at being in a room with that thing.

"She hasn't met you yet." Dr. Rice explained his reasoning. "So if you can gain her trust then everything will work out well."

"I don't like it." Dr. Kinney glared at Dr. Rice.

"Just do it for the results." Dr. Rice said with a shrug.

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Dr. Kinney sighed as she entered the cell as soon as the guards left and X-23 had her back to the wall eyeing her suspiciously. "Um… Hi." Dr. Kinney said sitting in a chair nearby. "My name is Dr. Sarah Kinney."

"Doctor?" X-23 had a distrustful look. "I already saw the doctor today."

Swallowing her nervousness at being gutted, Dr. Kinney continued. "Are you alright?" She asked feeling that being concerned about her wellbeing would be the first step to gaining her trust.

Blinking in confusion, X-23 nodded warily.

~Present~

Laura knew that Dr. Kinney was just trying to gain her trust now at that time, but overtime Dr. Kinney actually began to care for her and it ended with Laura killing her.

'Damn that trigger scent.' Laura thought looking down as she remembered the vial of liquid that Dr. Rice had broken on Dr. Kinney and how it brought out her feral side.

~Nine Years Ago~

"What's this?" X-23 asked as Dr. Kinney brought in a book.

"It's a story I want to read to you." Dr. Kinney knew she was starting to gain her trust and she smiled before realizing that she was smiling at the child she was supposed to only gain its trust, not trust it. "It's about a puppet named Pinocchio that wanted to become a real child."

"Story? Puppet?" X-23 sat on her lap as Dr. Kinney began to read and while Dr. Kinney stiffened a bit at the weapon sitting on her lap, she couldn't help but feel a little happiness.

'What's going on?'

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"You're beginning to care for her aren't you?" Dr. Rice confronted Dr. Kinney while X-23 was screaming from the Adamantium Bonding Process and Dr. Kinney was looking sick and horrified.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Dr. Kinney denied as she saw blood pour on the examination table with the needles deep in X-23's skin. "I'm doing what you told me to do."

"No you're not." Dr. Rice pushed her against the wall with anger in his eyes. "You're only supposed to gain its trust! That creature is not a child! It is a weapon and you better remember that."

~Present Time~

Turning the water off, Laura discovered that she was crying a bit as she thought about her mother before she wiped her face and wrapped the towel around herself to exit the bathroom.

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A stable Ghost Portal appeared above Bayville as the figure flew out before looking at a device on his wrist. "Time to draw him out."

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'Well we have an unlimited supply of power, we should have the security feature installed in two or three days.' Danny thought to himself as he walked down the hallway. 'So far this is going pretty well.'

But Danny was also a little off because next week would be the 3rd anniversary of the Nasty Burger incident and he hasn't visited his parents and friends graves the last two years due to being in hiding, he wants to visit them soon.

'Am I ready?' Danny looked down not noticing where he was walking. 'Can I go to Amity Park without breaking down? …What do I tell the the others? They don't know anything about what happened to my family and it'll take two days to get to Amity Park.'

With a sigh, Danny looked up only to walk into Laura and they both fell down with him on top.

"Uh sorry." Danny replied before freezing because she was only wearing a towel. 'Yeah… This just got really awkward.'

Laura raised an eyebrow at how quiet Danny got and was confused on why his face was going red before he got off very slowly.

"Again sorry." Danny apologized rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment his face resembling a tomato right now. "Wasn't really paying attention to where I was going." Looking around, he was annoyed at how there was nothing to change the subject with.

"Your face is red." Laura commented getting up and looking a little concern. "Are you alright?"

"Uh." Danny felt like his brain turned to mush as he was trying to think of a way out of this damned awkward situation. "Nothing serious." He squeaked out. 'Did I seriously just squeak? Man that's pathetic.'

"Hello Ghost Child."

Danny stiffened hearing that voice. "Who's there?" He turned around warily. "Who's talking?"

"Danny, what are you talking about?" Laura asked now feeling concerned. "No one is talking."

"I'm speaking with you through a frequency only Ghosts can hear and as for who I am, take a guess… Whelp."

"… Skulker." Danny narrowed his eyes before looking at a confused Laura. "Sorry, but I need to greet an old friend."

With that he went Ghost and flew through the ceiling, leaving Laura to run to her room to get changed just in case he needed backup.

Pulling her suit on, she got a phone and called Ray to get him to come back.

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Ray sighed as he got off his phone. "I need to head back." He said to his parents. "I'll visit again soon."

With that he took off before his parents could say anything else.

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"Where are you Skulker?!" Phantom shouted as he flew around Bayville. "And how did you find me?"

"Plasmius paid me to come and get you alive, whelp." Skulker explained with what Phantom could imagine as a sadistic smile. "And it's not Skulker."

"What?" Phantom asked before his Ghost Sense went off and a metal tentacle slammed him into a nearby building and he shook his head before he saw his enemy.

In bulky, black armor stood Skulker only his head was now a green flame and he wore black combat boots with more high-tech upgrades.

All in all, he looked exactly like the Skulktech that he fought before meeting Dan, but without Technus's face on the chest.

"N-No." Phantom backed away at seeing this, having flashbacks of Dan. "No, no."

Skulktech frowned a bit. "Pity, I was hoping for more of a challenge." He said in a disappointed tone.

"HOW?!" Phantom corrected his statement by launching an overpowered ecto beam blasting Skulktech back. "HOW DID YOU BECOME LIKE THIS?! I MADE SURE THAT FUTURE WOULDN'T HAPPEN!"

Not having the slightest clue on what Phantom was talking about, Skulktech raised an arm with an ecto gun popping out. "So Whelp are you going to come quietly?"

"How's this for an answer?" Phantom shot ecto energy blasting Skulktech back and nicking the armor but he paused when he saw the armor repairing itself. "Nothing is ever easy."

"My turn whelp." Skulktech shot forward and Phantom was shocked to see metal rise with him.

'Magnetism?! That's new.' Phantom barely threw up an ecto shield, but Skulktech shot an ecto blast that went right through it and knocking Phantom into a building. 'Great he's even stronger.'

"So far you disappoint me, Whelp." Skulktech muttered before Phantom smirked.

"Then let's try this?" Phantom used his Cryokinesis to catch Skulktech off guard.

"New trick?" Skulktech sounded amused. "How about this?"

Throwing a pod, Phantom's eyes widened as it exploded allowing electricity to course through him reverting him back to his human form in midair, where he began to fall to the ground, before landing on his arm and leg with a sickening crunch. "Gyah!" He cried out his arm and leg breaking.

"Your powers are inactive for the next few hours, Whelp." Skulktech landed and began to walk towards him, his metal boots making noise with each step. "And now you're too injured to run or fight. This hunt is over."

Danny glared at him while berating himself over not focusing due to him being Skulktech instead of Skulker. 'And I came without any Ghost Hunting Tech, I'm a freaking idiot making a rookie mistake.'

Snikt.

"Wha?" Skulktech turned only to be stabbed by Talon's claws. "Gah! Who the hell is this?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know, cat?" Forge asked as he came down his sonic cannon blazing at Skulktech knocking him back, especially since he added the Anti-Ghost Ray to his arsenal.

Shaking his head Skulktech saw Talon coming at him, so he focused and all of a sudden she stopped. "W-What?" Talon felt herself rising in the air.

"Metal skeleton?" Skulktech mused as he mentally blasted her back. "Bad choice to fight me, Whelp."

Hearing fast footsteps, Skulktech didn't have time to react as a blur slammed into him and as he stumbled it happened again, but the third time he threw his fist catching Speed Demon in the chest and he was sent sliding on the ground.

"That's the second time I was clothes lined." Speed Demon muttered under his breath.

"Interesting." Skulktech took the time to examine them. "Powered humans, they would make fine trophies."

Danny glared wishing his powers were active so he could blast Skulktech in oblivion.

"Sorry, but we're not things Robo." Nyx shot her energy at Skulktech knocking him back.

"I wasn't informed of you." Skulktech muttered getting a wide-eyed look from Danny. "Yes Whelp, Plasmius knows all about your little team you have, although this little one is new."

"Plasmius?" Forge looked at Danny who had the decency to look a little guilty. "We're having a talk about this later."

"No you aren't." Skulktech blasted them all back with ecto energy. "Because I'm taking the Whelp with me."

"Like hell you are." Talon spat out as she ran at him only for Skulktech to sigh.

"Didn't you learn last time?" Skulktech asked as he magnetically held her up.

"Oh she did." Nyx teleported behind Skulktech and blasted him into the wall. "That is why she was a distraction."

Growling in anger, Skulktech shot forward blasting at the team but they were dodging left and right with his blasts nearly hitting them.

Speed Demon managed to catch one of the rockets and turn it around to have it hit Skulktech while Forge came in his arm shifting into an energy sword.

"Since when could you do that?!" Speed Demon shouted as Skulktech deflected it with his own blade.

"Danny suggested it." Forge said with a shrug. "He figured that the energy cannon was becoming repetitive."

"It's not enough-Gah!" Skulktech forgot about Talon as she was on his back slicing her claws through the tech. "ENOUGH!" Letting out a blast of raw ecto energy, Skulktech blasted them all back except for Nyx who teleported out of the way. "I'm not playing around with you children."

"Who's playing?" Nyx teleported in his face to blast him back, but Skulktech grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the wall, knocking her out with some blood dripping out of her mouth.

"NYX!" Forge came forward with the energy sword but he was knocked back when Skulktech blasted the ground and he collided into Talon before Speed Demon tried to run at Skulktech but the Ghost just punched him right through the brick wall.

"LEAVE THEM ALONE!" Danny shouted in anger at being helpless and at his friends for being hurt before he came to a decision. "I-I'll go with you."

"Danny!" Talon pushed Forge off of her to stop this but Skulktech held up his hand and held her magnetically again. "Gyah."

"Wise decision Whelp." Skulktech had a satisfyied smirk. "And know this, once Plasmius is done with you, I will finally hang your pelt on my wall."

With that he threw Talon before grabbing Danny and opening a portal to the Ghost Zone.

Pulling himself out of the brick wall, Speed Demon saw what was happening, so he ran quickly to stop it, but Skulktech saw that and spun around.

Snikt.

Speed Demon stopped as pain overcame him before he looked down to see a glowing green dagger in his gut and he fell down as Skulktech let go of it.

"RAY!" Danny shouted as the portal closed.

"Shit!" Forge ran over to Speed Demon and pulled the dagger out but a lot of blood was coming out. "Ray, keep your eyes on us man! Don't lose consciousness, let your healing factor heal you!" He looked at the shell shocked Talon. "I NEED HELP HERE!"

That snapped Talon out of her shock as she ran over to check on Nyx while Forge was with Speed Demon.

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Danny was thrown none too gently on the ground and he bit his tongue to stop himself from crying out in pain due to his broken limbs.

"Hello little badger." Danny's eyes widened as he looked up at the face of Vlad Masters. "It's been too long hasn't it?"

"Vlad." Danny spat out in anger.

To Be Continued…

After nine chapters I decided to do a two part here, or three if I make it long enough.

I had Phantom get kidnapped because on figuring out it was Skulker, not knowing about Skulktech, he would've gotten cocky at fighting one of his most persistent foes and he was trying to get out of that awkward situation with Laura so he didn't think about bringing Ghost Hunting Tech.

Plus it was to show that the Renegades won't win every fight they get in, because so far they have been doing just that.

Now as for why Danny was freaking out over Skulktech, it's simple.

Seeing Skulktech was like a slap to the face revelation that Dan's future was unavoidable due to first meeting Skulktech before fighting Dan. I won't have Danny obsessing over Dan a lot but it will haunt him and whenever he fights Skulktech he will think about it.

Now next time he will be a prisoner while the Renegades try to rescue him. How will they do it? Will Plasmius and Danny fight? Will the Renegades win or will they fall to the Ghoul Empire?

Alright and this is what Ray's mask looks like.

ojisanjake. blogspot 2008/ 06/ blue- oni –demon –or – ogre – mask . html

He's also wearing black track pants that were created to withstand high speeds.

Now Danny did grow a few feet so he's 6ft4, I forgot to mention that in the first chapter.

His human form wears a black unzipped hoodie with a red t-shirt and blue jeans.

I've also started another Danny Phantom story that's a crossover with Ultimate Marvel called the 'Spider of Amity Park' give it a read if you're curious and I have three chapters of it, soon to be four up.

Review Time!

Coldblue: Thanks, it was hard doing the Nyx parts with Thor considering I don't know much about the Marvel version but I'm happy you liked the idea with Nyx being Loki's apprentice and will eventually become the Goddess of Chaos. The Guys in White will make an appearance soon with meeting the Renegades and I'll have Nyx find out about her grandparents being Sabertooth and Mystique soon but after a few more chapters. And I'll have them start a company soon as well. But I hope you liked this chapter, especially with how strong I made Skulktech. Also you're not annoying me with the reviews, you help a lot because honestly I didn't think about using Skulktech before you said something and you submitted two OC's, so thank you!

NightMaster000: Thanks! It took a long time to think about what to do with Nyx and as I thought about it I figured having Loki be put in would make perfect sense. My first thought was Doctor Strange, but then she wouldn't love chaos as much, so that's what had Loki come in. I wasn't sure what people would think about the Natalie Creed part, but I figured it would've added more character to a great OC and Ying being a plushy was actually last minute but after reading the other stories I couldn't imagine Nyx without Ying, so I figured that would work. Plus the tension with the Renegades and the Avengers will be good because of Odin's idea to cast Nyx out for no reason. As much as Odin seems like a good guy he can be a douche… I mean what kind of man steals a child as a spoil of war?! That's messed up!

Phantom Fan: Thanks I figured it would've worked and sorry about Danny freaking out about Dan, I'm not trying to overdo it but it's an important part of the story and I didn't want to forget about it.

The Summer Stars: Sorry about that, things are pretty hectic here.

The White Titan: Don't sell yourself short, you still did a good job of using Nyx in your stories as well! By the by I'm a huge fan of the Ghostly Leaguer!

Shugokage: Thanks!

TitanX: Thank you and I will.

Inviso-Al: What Magneto does remains to be seen. That is possible, but it will be a long road before Nyx does befriend Thor. And I figured with SHIELD being hacked the first person being investigated would've been Tony.

JP-Rider: I'm sorry to say that she'll be in the X-Men because I have a few planned people in the Renegades.

Tobi1989: I actually have due to Technus talking slang from the seventies but I'm going to wait to see if I should do that or not and if I do it'll be a mother of bombshells for Forge.

Whumbly: Thanks it means a lot!

Alright, see you guys later!