Disclaimer: All rights go to the respective owners of Marvel and Nickelodeon/Butch Hartman. The author of this story owns nothing; this story is for fun, not money or profit of any kind.
Chapter 10: Thunder and Fear, Part 1
Thor threw his hammer at the Fright Knight, who didn't even budge as the hammer headed towards him. He merely turned himself and his steed intangible, causing Mjolnir to fly clean through him. "Fool," Fright Knight spat, turning tangible. "You are nothing compared to me!"
Thor smirked, slightly, and raised his hand. Mjolnir froze in mid air, and immediately flew back the same way it came! It collided full flush with the back of Fright Knight's head, causing him to yell out in pain as he and his steed toppled over. Catching his hammer, Thor grinned. "You may be strong," he said. "But I am mighty."
The Avengers were preparing to depart to the location Vlad had provided, under one condition: They take Vlad with them. Most of the team's reaction were obvious; oh, yeah, that's really gonna happen.
"What's with the bravery, all of the sudden?" Captain America asked, a stern frown across his brow. "I would have thought you would want to be as far from Dark Phantom as you could be.
"Because, if I'm right, you'll need my help to gain access," Vlad replied. "And I'll refuse to give you the coordinates to where I think his lair is if you don't take me."
"Don't act like we're fools, because trust me, I could make you tell us right here and now," Widow said, threateningly grabbing Vlad by the throat. "What's the real reason?"
"Fine! I think he's found and is using my old lair!" Vlad snarled, slapping Widow's hand away from his neck. "It's located in an underground cavern on my old mansion grounds in Wisconsin; the perfect place to operate from. And the reason I want you to bring me with is that no amount of hitting or shooting will get you down there; you'll need my fingerprints, and an eye scan to gain access."
"Or, we could just cut off your fingers and cut out your eyeball," Hawkeye suggested, to which Vlad's expression warped into fear, and he looked as though he was going to wet himself.
"Barton, you know we don't do that sort of thing," Cap scolded.
"I know, I'm just messing with him," Barton chuckled.
Stark didn't object to the idea of taking Vlad with. Tony made it clear he in no way wanted Vlad Masters in the Tower.
"Could this be any more of a bad idea?" Banner said, giving voice to the thought everyone had on their minds.
"Maybe so," Captain America said. "But we might actually have the upper hand, here. Even though he knows we have Vlad, Dark Phantom might not suspect us to hit him where he lives so soon. We have to take this chance. Before anyone else dies."
"Hey, guys," Tony said. "Before you go, I have some new toys for you to try out in the field. Been working on them for a while, now, with Bruce's help." He led the Avengers down to his armory. "JARVIS, hit it." Individual pods opened up, and revealed new equipment for the Avengers.
"It's all top of the line; spared no expense, and all that" Tony said nonchalantly. "Still haven't quite figured out a way to incorporate anti-ghost tech into cloth form, but, hey. These new slick duds are way lighter and are more damage resistant than your old ones. I didn't just make weapons, back in the day. I also made strides in lightweight defensive materials. And, as an added bonus, they just look slick."
Cap glanced at his new uniform and frowned. "You know, looks aren't everything, Tony," he said. His uniform still held the American flag design, but with added Stark flair. Over all, though, it looked more durable and easier to move in.
Tony scratched his neck. "Yeah, well, you'd know about that better than most," he retorted. "That's why I'm in charge of the gear. I know how to make things work, and make you guys look good in the process."
Widow had already changed into her new uniform, which had upgraded ballistic fibers and new, more advanced Widow's Bite gauntlets which also sent electric blue energy along the piping of her suit that gave off a faint feedback field that added extra protection. "Not bad," she commented.
"Hey, Bruce, heads up," Tony called over to Banner. He tossed a simple pair of incredibly stretchy dark blue pants to Banner.
Bruce looked incredulously at Tony, who shrugged. "What were you expecting?" Tony asked. "You turn into a huge, green rage-machine. We can't have your pants rip off during a fight, again. It makes people think the Hulk is a nudist. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but no one wants to see a giant, pissed-off, naked green guy." After stocking up on all the anti ghost weapons they could, the Avengers Quinjet lifted off.
Thor was discovering the Fright Knight to be a more powerful opponent than he had anticipated. Thankfully, his hammer was able to connect with the Soul Shredder without sending him to the realm of fear, and thus kept him safe. But the glowing blade was not his only weapon.
Fright Knight hurled a flaming purple crystal at Thor, who grunted as he dodged the projectile. Immediately, the Knight was on him once more, slashing relentlessly. Thor was unused to being on the defensive. Fright Knight was very fast, and an expert swordsman.
"Your legends do indeed ring true, Thunderer," Fright Knight said. "But soon, even the Gods of Asgard will perish. My new master will see to that, personally."
"Asgard will never fall; least of all to the spirits of the dead," Thor raged, twirling his hammer at full speed. Ominous thunder clouds formed over head, and lightning bolts sparked and struck the ground around the two combatants. Fright Knight didn't even flinch.
"You cannot intimidate me," the Knight said, shooting purple ecto-blasts from his eyes. "I am the embodiment of fear, and you are a spoiled brat!" Back and forth, the battle raged. Each blow, each blast, further fueling the warriors desire for victory.
No further words were spoken by either combatant. This was a true warrior's battle. Thor managed to roll away from another strike. Thor quickly pointed Mjolnir at the Knight, and shot blazing lightning from it. The Knight growled as he was now on the defensive, using all his strength to deflect the lightning with his blade. The noise of the thunderous battle echoed for miles.
"We are currently 2.5 miles away from the coordinates Mr Masters provided us," JARVIS notified Tony, who was in the cockpit of the Quinjet.
"Thanks, bud," Stark said. "How's that little project we discussed?"
"Everything's ready, and waiting for your disposal, sir," JARVIS replied, quietly.
"Good," Tony said. Leaning back, he yelled to the other Avengers, who were going over their plan of assault, "Hey, guy? Tighten up your undies, we're landing in a couple minutes."
"Dark Phantom has been at it again," Captain America said to the other Avengers, who were gathered around the circular hologram table in the main area of the Quinjet. "JARVIS has been constantly monitoring media and law enforcement around the country since the incident in Amity Park, and so far, over seven more brutal attacks have happened in and around Amity Park since then. On top of that, media nation wide is calling for Danny's head."
"It's like the Frank Castle case in Hell's Kitchen all over again...," Black Widow murmured, looking over the news reports. The media had labeled Danny a criminal and a murderer, and a nation wide man-hunt was under way. The G.I.W. were leading the investigation, which only complicated matters.
Without SHIELD or Nick Fury to protect Danny from the G.I.W., the Avengers hands were basically tied on a public front. This also meant that every costumed hero and vigilante would be on the hunt, and Danny had virtually no protection from the ghost hunting organization, which is why they had to find the real Danny before anyone else, and take down this evil impostor.
"This guy clearly wants everyone to see Danny as the villain," Banner said. "So he's probably reveling in the chaos he's causing."
"That's why we need to stay alert and be ready for anything," Cap said.
"If I may," Vlad said, lifting a finger. "I freely admit, I'm no soldier. But, I do know about discretion. Stealth might be our best bet of getting in unnoticed."
"Thanks for the input, Vlad," Cap said, frowning at Masters. "But that was our plan. Myself, Widow, Hawkeye, and you are going to go in, find anything of use, and get out. And if Dark Phantom is in there, Iron Man and Banner are our back-up. He hasn't dealt with Hulk, yet. We can use him as the element of sur-"
"Uh, yeah, gonna call an audible on that," Tony said, walking back after setting the Quinjet on auto-pilot. "I say we take Vlad, he gets us in, and all of us go in, guns blazing. We hit him hard, and right where it hurts."
"That's suicide, Stark," Barton said. "We have no idea what we're walking into."
"Barton's right, Tony," Banner said.
"Is he?" Tony said. "Look, so far, we've tiptoed our way around this monster. I'm done playing it safe; that's not my style. He took one of us out. Danny is our friend, dammit. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let this guy go around making people think Danny's a killer for one more second. He's been parading around, out there, posing as one of us!"
"Look, Tony," Cap said. "I know it's been hard, for all of us. But we can't just-"
"But nothing, Cap," Tony said, standing eye to eye with Cap, his usual laid back demeanor gone. "Danny's a good kid; he didn't deserve this. Hell, out of all of us, me and Banner are usually the ones getting the bad press, no offense Bruce. But Danny? Kid's maybe the most heroic out of all of us. And we need to stop this monster. End of story."
"I admire your loyalty to Daniel, Stark," Vlad said. "But I'd say majority rules. Besides, we're already here." He pointed out the window to show that the Quinjet had indeed landed.
"Yeah, well," Tony muttered, ignoring Vlad. "JARVIS, let's rock and roll." Tony made his way to the exit, hauling Vlad by the collar, and his armor assembling around his form as he made his way to the door.
"Unhand me, fool!" Vlad sneered.
"Tony, don't be a fool," Cap called.
Iron Man ignored Cap, and kept on his way. "Well, there goes the element of surprise," Widow said, quickly heading out behind Iron Man. Hawkeye shrugged at Cap, and quickly followed suit.
"Damn," Cap said. Turning to Banner, he said, "Dr Banner, Code Green, only. Stay in here, and have JARVIS turn the ghost shield on."
"Right," Banner said. Captain America ran out the exit of the Quinjet after the other Avengers, heading for whatever awaited them.
Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location...
Nick Fury wasted no time heading to his destination. After receiving a coded message from Romanoff about the situation, he knew what needed to be done. He could count the number of people he could trust on one hand. And he wasn't afraid to cut off fingers. He just hoped it wasn't going to come to that.
"Sir, I'm beginning to wonder if you want your old job back " Director Phil Coulson said lightly, Agent Melinda May at his side, as usual."What with how much you've been popping in, lately." They were sitting in Coulson's office in the new SHIELD HQ. It was still a small time operation, sure, but Fury knew it would take time to get SHIELD back on it's feet.
"No chance, Phil," Fury said easily. "I'm enjoying being dead, too much. Just wanted to give you an update on the ghost situation in person. Don't trust electronic communications with the Devil himself out and about. Also wanted to make sure you and your team haven't been hit, what with Vlad being held here not so long ago."
"No signs of anything on our sensors," Coulson answered. "Agents Fitz and Simmons managed to put together a pretty darn good ghost scanner for the base and surrounding area."
"Good," Fury nodded. "That's real good. From what Romanoff told me, this ghost is real nasty."
"We know," May said. "We've been watching the news, too."
Coulson shook his head. "I still can't believe Phantom would turn on us," he said. "Guess you never can tell about people."
That was all Fury needed to hear. "Mm-hm," Fury nodded, sighing and slowly standing up, and turning to look out the window. He put leaned on the wall with one arm, and casually ran his hand along his belt. "Gets you every time. As if Pierce wasn't hard, enough. Now, an Avenger. Anyway, how's Lola?"
"Uh-I, um, fine, sir," Coulson stuttered, caught off guard. "Lola's fine, sir. We just had dinner last night. It was nice."
"Well, that's nice," Fury said. "Except it's kind of hard to have dinner with a car, Phil." Spinning around, he pulled a silver pistol from under his jacket and fired a green laser at Coulon's chest! Coulson yelled out, and fell back out of his chair.
Instantly, May was on him, her eyes glowing red. She literally flew at Fury, but recoiled in pain when a green energy field surrounding Fury electrified her! Fury smirked, tapping his belt, which held a cleverly hidden Spector Deflector. She regained her senses, and pulled a gun from her belt and opened fire, causing Fury to duck for cover.
"Anytime, Ms Gray," he muttered. Out in the halls, the sounds of laser fire echoed, and May whirled around just long enough for Fur to blast her in the back. After a few moments of listening to the sound of gun fire, a figure in a black and red set of armor glided in on a flying jet board. "Your timing could use some work, Ms Gray," Fury said. "Or, should I say, Red Huntress?"
The Red Huntress' helmet opened up to reveal a young, dark skinned woman named Valerie Gray, who was the same age as Danny Fenton. "Sorry, Mr Fury," she said. "Wasn't sure what the signal was. Also, can I keep the invisibility device? Even these spooks didn't know I was there!"
Fury sighed. "Did you get everyone?" he asked, hoping to reign in the young girl's attention. When she nodded, he said, "Good. Now, how do we get these, uh, duplicates out of my best agents?" Valerie smiled at the thought.
Shortly, the two had gathered Coulson, May, Fitz, Simmons, Skye, and the other agents in the facility. They tied them up with a specialized ghost proof cable that was invented by Jack Fenton. "Simple as this," she said, raising a large energy weapon.
"You sure this won't kill them in the process?" Fury demanded. "I admit, I'm not the biggest expert on ghost hunting, but I need these people alive."
"Don't worry, Mr Fury," Valerie said. "I know just how to deal with these spooks!" With that, she raised the weapon and fired, a large wave of anti-ghost energy shot out of the weapon and fell over the agents, who recoiled in pain.
Within moments, several shadowy figures were ripped out of the agents bodies, and evaporated. All but one, who barely clung to existence.
"Clever, Fury," the thing growled weakly in Dark Phantom's voice. "I wondered where one of my most hated enemies was at. Should've figured you'd take Valerie under your wing. But this is far from-" Valerie let loose another volley, and the duplicate evaporated.
The agents groaned, aching and confused. Valerie and Fury began to untie them. "Ungh," Coulson groaned, his eyes clenched tight, as though seeing light again after being in a dark place for an extended period. "Wha-where? Fury? What's-what's going on?"
"You and your team have had a serious case of ghost fever," Fury said. He helped his old friend off the ground, and helped him into a chair, while Valerie checked on the the other agents. "Now, this is going to take a while to explain, so hold onto your ass. Speaking of, how many times do I have to save yours, Phil?"
Coulson chuckled, and rubbed his forehead. "Oh, a few more times, I suppose," he said. "It's all so blurry."
"That should clear up, shortly," Fury said. "Now, where to begin?"