WARNING: Chapter is mostly talking and not much really happening. The next chapter will be better, I promise.

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Chapter Ten: The Carrier

The helicopter touched down on the deck of the Valiant and the back door opened. A sudden gust of bitingly cold air filled the cabin, and Jimmy shuddered involuntarily.

"Brilliant," Atkinson muttered under his breath.

He led the group and the soldiers out onto the flight deck. Jimmy's jaw dropped.

The Valiant was tethered by way of giant steel cables to the unmistakable lines of the SHIELD helicarrier. A dark mist had descended over the ships and it was getting darker – lightning could be seen in the distance – but fluorescent lights kept the flight deck clear. Dozens of planes, many experimental in nature, were lined in neat rows on the side of the carrier.

"Look at all this stuff," Jimmy breathed, "This is cutting edge."

"Sir!"

A soldier in very thick white cold-weather gear ran over to them, nearly slipping on the damp deck.

"Thunderstorm," he warned.

"I had noticed," grumbled Atkinson, "Why didn't we pick this up sooner?"

"Sorry sir," replied the soldier, "We were too busy monitoring the Warlord to worry about the weather."

He shook his head.

"It'll be colder then Everest within five minutes, sir," he added, "I've been ordered to bring everyone inside."

Atkinson nodded, and the group followed him towards the bridge.

Timmy, Jenny and Dani were sitting outside the door of the conference room on the Valiant, looking out the window at the oncoming storm. Behind them, Dr. Thourrel was in a very animate conversation with Tony, while Captain Richardson stood in the corner, anxiously looking at the clock.

"I can't believe he's gone," sighed Timmy.

"He might not be," shrugged Dani, optimistically, "I mean, he-he could've escaped..."

"Officer on deck!"

Captain Richardson snapped to attention and saluted as the Colonel led Jimmy and his team into the room. Atkinson shook his head.

"No salutes, Captain, there isn't time," he barked, "Is the conference ready?"

"We've patched in representatives from the US, Russia, China and Australia," replied Richardson, "Director Fury and Commander Hill are already talking with them. Come on."

"Dr. Thourrel, Mr. Stark, we'll need you in there," called Atkinson, "You too Mr. Neutron."

Timmy raised an eyebrow.

"Wow," he nodded, "You're here for two seconds and you're already being forced into politics."

"Not by choice, Turner," shrugged Jimmy.

The boy genius followed Atkinson into the dark conference room, and the door shut behind them.

"Well," grumbled Timmy, "Now we play the waiting game."

He went back to looking out the window.

"...I hate this game so much."

"...General, in all due respect, I don't think you're qualified to talk down to me about an extra-worldly crisis! SHIELD has a plan to deal with this..."

"We already tried conventional warfare, Fury! Our forces in EAGLE HAWK were near destroyed, and I am not going to stand around while some glorified zombie with a Napoleon complex is destroying our..."

"Would you care to fill me in?"

Colonel Atkinson strode into the small, dark room, stopping in front of the four holographic screens in front of him. Director Nick Fury, who had been engaged in an animated argument with one of them, gave him a stern nod. Behind them, Jimmy, Tony and Dr. Thourrel stood next to Maria Hill, who was looking very unamused.

"How's it going?" asked Tony.

"Horribly," Hill replied.

The man on the furthest right screen, an American general replete with an almost stereotypical cigar in his hand, turned to Atkinson. A nametag above his right breast pocket identified him as 'Rickers.'

"Colonel, thank you for joining us," he nodded, "As you're aware, Operation EAGLE HAWK has failed."

"It was always going to," nodded Atkinson, "Conventional force can't beat the Warlord. Even if they had been competent, the Guys in White could only have slowed him down."

"Exactly," nodded Rickers, "Which is why we're pulling out all the stops."

"Our Premier," continued the man in the second right screen, who wore an impeccable green suit, "Has been in discussion with his counterparts in America and Russia. We have come to the conclusion that we must use our most powerful weapons to stop the Warlord."

Atkinson paled.

"You have got to be kidding me," he said.

"We don't joke about these matters," the man on the left-most screen, a general in a bright green uniform and slouch hat, "A nuclear strike at the heart of Amity Park should hit the Warlord, provided we hit the greatest possible area..."

"You are talking about killing innocent civilians!" thundered Fury.

"To save billions!" retorted the woman in the last screen, who was wearing a dark blue uniform, "Is it not worth the cost?"

"It won't work!" snapped Atkinson, "The Warlord's been preparing for this for millennia! He's not going to be stopped by a particularly large bomb!"

"Then we'll follow him," snapped Rickers, "If he retreats to one of the other cities, we hit him there!"

"Wait, nobody mentioned nuking the other cities," snapped the green-suited man, "You made it quite clear there would be no threat to Beijing..."

"Course I did, I came up with that plan right now," nodded Rickers, "We nuke him wherever he goes! And quickly, before he starts trying to taint our bodily fluids with some kind of zombie thing..."

Atkinson pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Gentlemen," he grunted, "Ma'am, what if I told you I had a plan?"

There was a short silence.

"What sort of plan?" asked the Chinese representative.

"We cannot win with a conventional army," replied Atkinson, "But what if we had an unconventional one?"

It had felt like hours, but eventually the conference room door opened. Nick Fury walked out first – his presence was almost a magnet for the attention of the room.

Fury turned to Timmy, Dani and Jenny. Timmy gulped.

"Atkinson tells me Phantom is key to beating the Warlord," he snapped, narrowing his eye, "If I'm gonna put all of my eggs in one basket I need to be damn sure I know everything about him."

"...well, um, I don't think I can tell you that because..." Timmy began.

"All bets are off, Turner," growled Fury, "We need to know who Phantom is."

"Fletcher knew," grumbled Atkinson, emerging from the room, "But he never told me."

"Timmy," sighed Jimmy, emerging after him, "We have to tell them."

"It's not your secret to tell, Neutron!" shouted Timmy.

"What does a ten-year-old kid know about secrets?" asked Tony, raising an eyebrow.

"More then you know, Stark," snarled Timmy.

There was a brief silence.

"...and I resent that, I've been eleven for six weeks."

Fury leaned down, towering over Timmy.

"I am the master of secrets, Turner," he growled, "I know when people are holding out on me, and I will not let that jeopardise the safety of this planet..."

"Danny Fenton."

All eyes fell on Jimmy.

"His name is Danny Fenton," Jimmy replied.

"As in the Fentons?" quizzed Tony, "The crazy ghost hunters? Yeah, probably shouldn't be surprised..."

Timmy shot Jimmy a very dark glare.

"That was Danny's secret, not yours," he snapped.

"Why do you care so much?" spat Jimmy, "It's not like you've ever had to hide anything like that! I mean, the holo..."

Timmy turned his back and walked away.

"Hey! Hey, get back here!" demanded Jimmy, "We've actually got a plan, Turner, you can't just walk away..."

"Watch me," hissed Turner, walking out the door.

There was a long silence.

"I thought you said you were a team," said Tony, "Because that? That was pretty terrible."

Timmy finally sat down next to a fighter jet in a hanger several floors below the bridge. Cosmo, Wanda and Poof poofed up next to him.

"Well, that could've gone better," shrugged Cosmo.

"I can't believe him," snapped Timmy, "Danny's been keeping that secret for as long as I've known him and Neutron just blurts it out! I mean, Danny trusted him..."

"Come on, sport," reassured Wanda, "I'm sure he means well..."

"You don't just give secrets like that away," said Timmy angrily, "It'd be like if Cosmo went around telling people he was my fairy godfather!"

"Not it's not," said Wanda, "Danny isn't going to lose his ghost powers just because Jimmy told Fury his identity..."

"...and you know what, that's completely unfair!" shouted Timmy.

He stood up, starting to pace.

"The only reason you guys is still here is because everyone's too gullible not to buy my holograms excuse!" he ranted, "Maybe if Jorgen would just cut me some slack and let me tell someone the truth, I could solve this whole problem! I could just wish away the Warlord and none of this would've happened and nobody would have died!"

He sat back down, burying his head in arms.

"If...if it makes you feel better, I don't think our magic works that well on ghosts anyway," said Cosmo, patting Timmy on the back.

"Jimmy has his smarts, Danny has his powers, Jenny's almost indestructible and even Spongebob's got his absorbency," he muttered, "What do I have?"

He sighed heavily.

"I'm a failure."

"Is someone there?"

A door opened, and Cosmo, Wanda and Poof quickly turned into a row of oil drums. Timmy didn't look up.

He nearly jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up.

"Need someone to talk to, kid?" asked Captain Steve Rogers.

AN: My favourite Avenger...is Iron Man but my second favourite Avenger is now in this! Yaaay!

Now that I've essentially split everyone up, I think it's time to start bringing everything back together... ;)