Drabble 67-Bored part 3
Danny looked around at the small group that had decided to join, all geared up and ready to go. There were more volunteers than Danny was expecting. When he had asked them who wanted to pay Vlad a visit to help Tony out, almost every hand in the room went up. Thor had just shrugged ad left the room with his poptarts, not wanting to get involved with how mortal businesses work. But Steve had immediately volunteered, and because he did Sam ad Bucky joined in. When Bucky sighed and agreed to come along, Danny didn't miss the worried look on Steve's face, but he also noticed how Steve didn't protest. And then of course Tony was more than willing to fight for what was his. Danny could respect that.
The fastest way to get there was through a portal, but with Vlad's ghost proof mansion he could probably only get them to the fancy gates. When he told them this, Sam groaned.
"You mean we have to go through one of those gross portal things you shoot out of your hands?" He asked.
"Yeah. Relax, it's not like you'll be going to the Zone. Just to Vlad's mansion. You won't feel a thing," Danny said with a roll of his eyes. Bucky snickered as Sam groaned again, and the Falcon couldn't help but shoot him a glare. It had no heat behind it, though.
Danny held up his hand as it began to glow before focusing his ectoplasmic energy into the portal, imagining exactly where he wanted to be. The circle came out of nowhere, swirling beautifully with foreign shades of green. Danny smiled to himself before quickly turning to the others.
"After you," he said. They all hesitated for a moment, eyeing Phantom with a sort of worry, but in the end it was the great Iron Man who went first. Then it was Cap, Falcon, and finally Bucky, who hadn't said a word since he agreed to come along. He tested it out with his metal hand first before walking all the way through. Danny was right behind him, closing the portal behind him.
A part of him was happy to see such a familiar place, but a knot formed in his stomach. It was only familiar because Vlad had this-used to have-this obsession with making Danny his son. Danny couldn't help but briefly wonder if the cat was still kicking.
The mansion hadn't changed a bit on the outside. It was still the giant green long and tall silver gates and the red brick walls. Danny walked in front of them, his cape fluttering around his ankles. Vlad had to answer to his crimes, and Danny was more than willing to make him pay up, whether it was ghost related or not. You mess with Danny's friends then you get the full wrath of the ghost king.
"So, do we just knock?" Sam asked, picking up a rock and flicking it at Bucky. He was completely unfazed by the action. It must have been normal, then.
"Something like that," Danny grinned. He walked up to the lock, giving it a nice coat of ice before stepping back. He brought his knee up and kicked it as hard as he could. The gates opened with no problem, and they were now horribly dented. Oh, Danny had missed this.
"Looks like he's not home," Tony observed. "Should we come back later?"
"Nah, he'll show up. His sensors have already picked up ghost energy, so it's not like he already doesn't know I'm here."
"Wat about the rest of us," Bucky said. His gravely voice almost sounded worried, but his face remained completely void of emotion.
"I ind of have to agree with him on that one," Sam said. "If we weren't going for stealth then-"
"-You guys worry to much. I said he knew I was here. His equipment isn't going to pick up on you because it's to focused on me. Now come on, I know where his lab is."
They all shared a look as Danny turned and started floating up the long driveway and through the front door. He opened it for them, gesturing for them to enter.
The place was just as massive as Danny remembered, and he couldn't help the feeling of nostalgia of the first time he ever walked these halls, where he didn't have to worry about his parents' old college friend murdering him. Ah, good times.
He led them past the lobby and past the display cases filled with Packers shrines. They didn't stop until hey reached the den, where everything was coated in a very thin layer of dust. Danny eyed the giant painting of Vlad above the fireplace, his eyes boring into your soul. For a moment Danny thought they flashed red, but no. It must have been in his head. PTSD fro his years of fighting the older halfa.
"Grab onto me," he said. Iron Man took a shoulder, and Sam took the other. Steve and Bucky each took a hand, and Danny slowly brought them down. Somehow he thought holding four grown men up would be hard, but his ghost strength really paid off. It was almost effortless, really.
After maybe ten feet of dirt it opened up into this blinding white room with equipment everywhere, and old inventions that hadn't been touched in forever. Over on the far wall was the ghost portal, and on the long wall closer to the exit were several chambers that once held clones of Danny. He walked over and placed his hand on the broken on, thinking of the time he and Dani had kicked Vlad's butt when Dani was destabilizing. He let his hand slide down as he continued looking around.
Bucky watched as Phantom walked around like he knew the place. The way he looked at the chamber, the weapons, and especially the large doors off to the side with caution tape around the eight edges. What was that? And why was Phantom so chummy with this place? When had he had time to learn the terrain of Vlad Masters' home?
"I remember this," he said, picking up a small cube. He threw it to the ground, and it grew. The top of it had a large hole in it, enough to fit a head, but no more. "See, before I became a full ghost me and Vlad always fought. The whole arch nemesis type thing. He kidnapped me a lot, because I was just a scrawny teenager who had had my powers for a few months. He had had his since his college days though. He used to be a lot stronger than me."
"Why was he always kidnapping you?" Iron Man asked. The helmet gave a sort of ting to his voice.
"He had a major thing for my mom, who married my dad. Bu my dad was kind of an idiot sometimes. He was the one that caused Vlad to get ecto acne, and Vlad wanted him dead. He wanted to marry my mom and make me his apprentice, so I ended up down here a lot. It was awful. Now though, I almost miss it. I mean, not the whole fighting part, but the adrenaline and such. But I'm all ectoplasm now. It made my core feel good."
"Your core?" Steve couldn't help but ask. The boy looked so nostalgic, like he was stuck in the past where everything was right. Steve could relate to that more than he wished to admit.
"It's like a heart, but for ghosts. When I was a halfa is sat right next to my heart. It's als what gives me the ability to make ice. Different cores for different ghosts, depending on the obsession or how they died. Sometimes it's random. I think that's how I ended up with ice."
"So you weren't obsessed with the cold or anything, or died by ice?"
"No, not at all. I was actually obsessed with space. See, my parent had a portal just like this, except the on button was on the inside. It's what killed me the first time. A part of me feels like I should have gotten electricity powers. But when I died it gave me a new obsession."
"What was it?" It was Bucky that spoke up this time, eyeing Phantom warily. A look quickly flashed over his face, something to quick to read. If you blinked you would have missed it, but Bucky was searching for that reaction ever since they came down here. His shoulder was starting to itch.
"Something wrong?" Bucky asked. His voice still held no emotion, but he knew how to get into people's heads. He guessed ghosts weren't much different after all.
"No. But it-" Phantom sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and Bucky couldn't help noticing how the ghost's hands wrung. "Don't ever ask a ghost what their obsession is," he said slowly. Steadily, like he was trying to choose his words carefully. Like if he didn't control his language he would blow up in their faces. "It's very offensive. It," he paused, opening his eyes and turning to him, "it's like asking you why you're alive. Why do you keep living? What is our purpose on Earth?"
That made the other heroes think for a moment. They could all see how it was offensive, ad how it could have gone way worse if Phantom didn't know how to control himself. After all, he had to. He had to keep up his image, even in front of his friends. But within a few moments he was back to normal. Or at least as normal as a ghost could be.
"It was protecting, by the way. I just-I could never stop myself from getting a cat out of a tree or running into a burning building, you know? It-Your core pulls at you. Going against your obsession could be catastrophic to your very being. I didn't know anything about that at the time, though. I just...Did. Hell, the media even coined this dumb name for me."
"What was it?" Sam asked, because now he had to know. Phantom chuckled.
"It was," his chuckles grew, and his shoulders were shaking from contained laughter, "It was Inviso-Bill! God, I used to hate that name so much! It was freaking genius!" He was laughing now, the kind where you can't stop, and you're bending over backwards. It echoed around the room, and as they watched this, Phantom looked twenty years younger, almost like a happy-go-lucky teen. They couldn't help but crack a couple of smiles.
However all of them instinctively got into their battle stances when a figure in while floated through the large octagon doors, rolling his eyes as Phantom laughed. He was so focused on the ghost king he didn't notice the few others.
"Daniel, don't you have a kingdom to be running?" The older ghost snarled. His fangs were bright against his pale blue skin and red eyes, almost matching the white suit he had on, with the long cape behind him. This guy seemed more mildly annoyed at Phantom's presence than anything. Phantom wiped a tear from his eye as his laughter died down, and he faced Vlad, getting serious now.
"What are you doing buying up Stark shit, dude?" He asked, eaning against the table.
"Nothing that involves a child like you, little badger. Besides, I don't think you're small mind can handle it."
"Well, knock it off, Fruitloop. Give it back to Stark," Phantom snapped at him. He got off the table and stood to his full height, which was few inches over the other man. "In fact, I'm gonna need you to give it back to him."
Sam felt as though he was going to get whiplash from this guy's mood swings. One second he was laughing his ass off, the next he was deadly serious with a flaring aura. Vlad, however, just scoffed.
"And why should I? It's not like it involves you," Vlad sneered.
"Oh, but it does, Vlad." His voice boomed throughout the old chamber, and Tony was jut going to assume that that was his cue to make themselves known.
"Listen, Drac," he said, gaining the attention of Vlad. he bared his fangs at them. "I don;t like it when people take my stuff. So why don't you just give it back, and we'll call it a day. and my boy Phantom here won't blow you to bits." As he talked he walked over, finally putting his elbow on Phantom's shoulder. Phantom smirked, his confidence growing as the others slowly came as well, surrounding Vlad from all sides.
"The great ghost king couldn't come by himself?" Vlad haunted. "He needs these second-rate heroes to come with him? How pitiful, really. When you were a halfa you were much more frightening."
"They came because they wanted to. You know good and well I would have gotten the Fright Knight to come if I needed backup."
Something shifted in Vlad's face. Barely, but Bucky caught it. His lips dropped, and there was a brief flash of fear that was gone as quick as it came. So apparently Fright Knight was a big deal. He glanced at Phantom, who seemed to have notice the change in Vlad's mood.
"Just one little call would all it take. Now, you don't want that, do you?" Phantom asked, a sickly sweet. Vlad growled at him, but after a few moments of consideration, gave in.
"Very well. But if I see your face in here again I won't hole back, King or not. Now get out."
Phantom smirked as he nodded, giving Vlad a lazy two-fingered salute as the others began to get behind Danny so he could take them back to the Tower. Before he flew up threw the ceiling, he grinned at Vlad.
"Well, Fruitloop," he said, "as always, it was a pleasure doing business with you."
And then they were gone.
It was a matter of minutes before they were walking back into the Tower's kitchen. The phone inside of Tony's armor rang, and it was quickly answered. Danny tuned it out though, knowing that it was good news about Stark's business. Judging from the grin on Tony's face when his face mask pulled back, he was right to assume everything went well.
"Thanks, kid," he said. Phantom just nodded at them with a smile, and Tony led him to the tbale where everyone else had sat back down.
"So," Tony said, a shit-eating grin on his face. "Daniel, huh? Makes you sound like an old man."
"Whatever, Anthony."