In Which Danny Goes a Little Phantom
Danny was having his best day in awhile.
Sure, it had started with a horrible run in with Skulker at five-in-the-too-early-morning, but after that it'd been smooth sailing.
Well, after his conversation with Sam it'd been smooth sailing. Before that, he'd been experiencing an anxious knot of broiling emotion doing cartwheels in the pit of his stomach.
Danny had always had a special hate for relational tensions; his parents' near-constant bickering at Christmas? Horrible. He and Tuck's few and far between disagreements? Hell.
He couldn't stand it when people, more so the people he cared about, argued. Especially when said argument was between him and another person.
Which is why their argument last night had been slowly eating away at his soul. He'd been practically giddy with relief when the woman had told him she wasn't kicking him out.
Personally, Danny blamed aforementioned giddiness for his strange behaviour toward her afterwards. When he threw her onto the bed, for example.
The raven-haired man sprinkled some cheese onto the pizza he was making, trying to ignore the heated flush colouring the back of his neck.
It'd been all fun and games until Danny had realized he'd practically been straddling Sam, who was sort-of-not-sort-of his landlord.
He shoved the memory of her body under his aside, once more putting his focus on the pizza beneath his hands.
Now was not the time to ponder his touch-starved body's reaction to human contact, nor would it ever be.
Ever.
"That doesn't look like pizza."
Danny almost drop-kicked the small girl, having completely forgotten her quiet presence in the kitchen. "Jeez," He placed a large hand over his heart, "You scared the fudge out of me."
"Sorry, Sir Danny," Mack looked contrite, crystalline blue eyes cast to the floor. "I didn't mean to."
He shrugged, setting aside the cheese grater and slipping on an oversized over mitt. "Accidents happen, but, I am no longer Sir Danny."
The girl looked at him fearfully, her hands clenching an unclenching against her small arms.
Absently, he wondered who'd hurt her. Who'd made her react this way to a simple change in tone.
Pasting on a smile, he tossed the thought into the dissociative, steadily increasing pile of them at the back of his mind.
Jazz would have a field day with his coping methods if she were still around.
"When I'm in the kitchen, it's Chef Danny." He gave her a two-finger salute, the blackened fabric of the oven mitt pressing against his forehead.
Mack giggled, shooting him a large, relieved toothy grin. "Am I still a princess?"
"Only if you want to be." The man gestured at the old oven, which was desperately in need of a good cleaning, "Now open up!"
She giggled again, obliging his command.
He slipped the pizza in on its tray and stepped back, admiring his handy work with a raised brow. "I think even Ramsey would approve of this one. What do you think, Mackstar?"
The girl closed the oven again, nodding with mock seriousness. "I think so too, Chef Danny."
"That's very good, Princess Head Chef Mack."
He'd just clicked on the stovetop timer when it happened; a puff of icy air exiting past his lips.
Covering his mouth quickly with the back of his hand, he glanced down at Mack to see if she'd noticed.
She had, her eyes wide as she gazed up at him. "Are you cold?" Her small fingers traced the bare skin of his forearm, "You don't feel cold."
Danny could feel the range of ghostly power that'd set off his senses; it was at least a four. Which likely meant Skulker.
Though there was something else, another indistinguishable presence his ghostly affinity couldn't gauge or recognize
He stared down at Mack, carefully weighing his options. Technically, he could just leave her. She'd likely be fine and was more than capable on her own.
But he couldn't do that to Sam; she'd trusted him with her child. He would never betray that trust of his own free will.
So what next?
He glanced at his phone, wondering if Tucker could get over fast enough.
The techno-geek couldn't make it on time.
Every second he wasted here thinking was a second someone could be getting hurt. His secret meant nothing to him if it cost people their lives.
Breathing in deeply through his nose to steady himself, he quickly bent to Mack's level, placing his hands lightly on her shoulders and snaring her eyes with his own.
"Look, Mack, I have to do something and you're going to have a lot of questions and I promise I'll answer all of them, but we have to keep this a secret. Do you think you can do that?"
The girl looked confused, nose wrinkling, but she nodded anyway. "I can do that."
"Good." Without moving, he willed the familiar rings over his body. It felt like being embraced by an old friend, or coming back home after a long day.
Sometimes, he hated how comforting it felt.
Mack let out a squeak, her thin brows almost at her hairline. "Mr. Phantom?!"
"Yeah," He felt the strain in his grin and was certain she could see it too.
Though Danny had gotten a little more adjusted to his other half over the years, he still had a sort of love-hate relationship with it. On one hand, it allowed him to keep the city safe. On the other, it was the result of his hapless actions.
Of his family's deaths.
Not to mention the only other person he'd ever 'gone ghost' in front of was Tucker, who'd been forced to come to terms with the fact that his best friend was half dead after the accident.
He'd never had to explain things to Tucker, and the techno-geek had never really asked. They had a mutual understanding that there were some things Danny wasn't ready to share.
All this meaning that Danny hadn't wanted to share this secret with his two newest house guests any time soon; maybe even never.
He didn't want to see their perspective of him change, to deal with all the questions sure to follow.
"I'm really sorry, Mack. I didn't want to tell you at all, especially not under these circumstances." He took his now gloved hands off her shoulders, carefully folding them in his lap where she wouldn't have to feel them. "You have every right to be mad, and I totally get it if you don't want to be around me anymo—"
What little breath there was left in his undead lungs wheezed out of it, small arms wrapping around the back of his neck as someone crashed into him.
It was Mack. She was hugging him.
Usually his Fenton instincts would've kicked in by now (one did not simply refuse a hug) but he was too shocked to return the gesture, his brain short circuiting in wake of the unexpected reaction. "What—"
"Shut up, Sir Danny." Her words were somewhat muffled, arms seizing him even tighter, "You saved me."
"But I also lied to you. I lied to your mom, too."
"No, you didn't." She pulled back, fixing him with a lethal glare. It reminded him of her mother and a smile unwillingly wormed its way onto his face. "You never said you weren't Mr. Phantom."
"True, but—"
"No." The girl said it with such finality that Danny's protests died in his throat, his mouth popping closed. "Now let's go save someone else!"
Danny nodded, still flabbergasted at her casual acceptance, but she had a point. Whoever or whatever was attacking wouldn't stop just because he was having a personal crisis,
"You're, uh, right. Let's go, I guess." He opened his arms for her hesitantly, still not entirely believing she was really okay with all this.
Proving his fears ungrounded yet again, she leapt into them and held on. "Are we going to fly? Like Superman?"
Her comment quirked a smile from him. "Yeah. But better."
And then they were intangible, speeding up and through the ceiling towards the ghostly signature.
BREAK
Danny had done many potentially dumb things in his life, but taking a child to a possibly lethal ghost fight definitely took the cake.
He was torn, as leaving her home would've been arguably just as dangerous, and, worse, would have betrayed Sam's newfound trust in him.
For some reason, the latter notion made his insides curl. Why? He really couldn't say for sure.
As it were, Mack and he were hurtling towards the park where his sense placed the ghost attack.
A heavy plume of coloured smoke was rising into the air, blocking out the crisp autumn blue sky.
Glancing down with battle-hardened observation, he quickly determined that the area was much too populated for a full out fight.
He'd have to distract this ghost somehow, get them up into the air if they weren't already there.
Ringing the clearing where the smoke was emanating from where thick hedges, dwarfed by towering pines.
Swerving, Danny quickly touched down in their shade and dropped his invisibility, gently placing Mack in the cover of the leaves.
"You have to stay right here, okay Mack? You can't move from this place." He adopted the tone he usually used on injured civilians, strong and full of caring urgency.
It seemed to work, the girl's blue eyes widening as she came to terms with the seriousness of the situation.
"You'll be perfectly safe," He continued to stare at her, making sure she took every word to heart. "I know that for sure, but that also means you can't leave until I come back. Can you do that for me?"
She nodded, then reached out, gently pressing a thin finger to the tip of his nose. "I promise."
Her words sent a spiral of cracks through his Phantom façade, a crooked smile showing through. "You're one amazing lady, princess."
And then he was gone, going intangible through the thick hedges and back up into the sky.
Once he was at least thirty feet up, he glanced back down at the girl's hiding spot.
It was nearly perfect, completely out of sight and hidden behind both a towering oak and the gnarled ring of tangled hedges. She'd be safe.
Letting out a breath of relief, he was about to fly higher when a burning blast missed his face by mere inches.
Swerving quickly, he followed the smoky trail to a familiar metallic shape.
"Skulker!" He roared across the sky at the other ghost, raising a fist and allowing lime green fire to coat his hands. "Get over here!"
Usually, he'd maybe start with a few quips and flit around for awhile, riling his opponent up so they'd make a dumb mistake.
This time, however, he was experiencing some genuine anger directed at the hunter for choosing now of all times to attack. He'd been forced to let Mack in on his secret, possibly endangering her, and had to bring the girl with him.
Skulker didn't seem to respond to his taunts but did rocket towards him, flaming green hair snapping in the air as he flew.
Oddly, the ghost didn't speak, simply hefting his bazooka higher up on his shoulder and taking aim.
Danny didn't let him do so for long, utilizing his hard-earned reflexes and firing off a few well-placed shots.
Searing green ecto energy spiraled from his palms as he and the mechanic hunter took up their usual song and dance, a bitter copper taste filling the air and making even Danny's ghostly hairs stand on end.
Only once his palms began to tingle from overexertion did he switch to ice, eyes burning cold in their sockets as they turned a frigid blue. "We've really got to wrap this up, Skulky. I've got a pizza in the oven."
Surprisingly, the other ghost forwent a retort, instead simply flashing his metal teeth in Danny's face. Then he seized Phantom's arms, which was exactly what Danny had been hoping for.
As soon as they were connected, ice snarled its way up Skulker's hands and quickly swallowed his whole upper body, glimmering pale blue in the sunlight.
Danny snapped his hands out of the ice and kicked his opponent hard in his frozen stomach, sending the struggling hunter spiraling.
Following quickly before Skulker had a chance to recover, Danny settled into a dive and peeled towards the ground, air whistling past his ears and squeezing tears from the corner of his eyes.
The other ghost hit bottom, ice flying in every direction as it shattered on impact. Danny spotted a few metallic bits among the wreckage, but for the most part the hunter looked unfortunately intact.
Phantom stopped inches from the ground, his white boots almost touching the ruined grass. He'd have to remember to apologize to the groundskeeper later.
"You give up yet, Skulks?" He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at the downed ghost. "Or do I have to completely destroy your—"
His next words were cut off by the hunter's abrupt recovery, a ball of green energy nailing him in the stomach.
Danny flew back, branches snapping around him as he collided with a sordid pine. "Ouch." He blinked the stars behind his eyes away, taking to the air again in with a jolt.
Skulker looked a little worse for wear, his suit clanking and smoking as he tried to get up. With a final grind of metal on metal, he collapsed, twitching slightly.
Phantom, victorious once again, took the other's head off with a clean shot to the neck.
Usually he avoided completely wrecking the hunter's suit, but today was different. Today he actually had something to be angry about.
Which is why he had such a violent reaction to the sudden and abrupt gasp that sounded from his right.
Growling, canines bared, he spun around to confront the possible attacker, instead coming face to face with none other than Sam.
The woman was standing at the edge of the clearing, wearing those same tight fitted pants that had made his head spin earlier. A blonde—who he vaguely placed as Star—stood next to her, mouth popped open in shock.
He wasn't sure who had gasped, but both seemed equally surprised. Which wasn't too weird, given the fact that it likely looked as if he'd just decapitated a ghost.
"Uh," Trying for a friendly grin that hopefully didn't come across as predatory, he gave a half-hearted wave. "Hi?"
Without warning, Star careened towards the dirt, Sam barely reacting in time to catch her. "Shoot!" The raven-haired woman seized the blonde by the arms, supporting the other's neck as her head lolled.
Danny blinked, powering down the ecto-energy that'd pooled in his hands at the unexpected motion. "Do you, um, want help?"
Sharp violet eyes flicked up towards him, crinkled in a frown at the corners. She hesitated briefly, seizing him up, before coming to some kind of conclusion. "Of course I want help. Get over here."
He winced slightly at her tone, abandoning the defeated ghost behind him and ambling forward.
Well,
So much for his good day.
(A/N): GOSH. I am so sorry for dropping off the grid! My life recently kinda hit the fan. Like 'CPS-and-rando-lawyers' hit the fan. It's been whack.
Anywho, I smooshed two (unedited) chapters into one to make up for my impromptu disappearing act! Hope it wasn't too much :/
Thanks for reading! And a huge, massive, double thanks to those who reviewed: Cyber-Geist(twice!), Abbi of a thousand spellings, ReflectiveReader, Phoenixdellaverita, Snowflame 98, I can cry you a river, ShadowDragon 357, darkangeloflove15, Guest 1, Elizabeth, and Guest 2!
I seriously would not be writing this at all if not for your support 3 each one means so much 333
Hope you have an awesome Friday :)
~ASL