Chapter 14

With Dani now playing for the other team, they were at a disadvantage. Yeah, having three experienced ghost hunters and a team of superheroes who had saved the world wasn't a bad mix, but having a halfa on your team definitely helped. But now Freakshow had two, and that was a recipe for disaster.

"We can't go through the Zone like we were planning to," Sam said. "Ghosts will be even more dangerous than usual now that they're under Freakshow's control. It's safer to go in this world."

"How will we get there, though?"

"I finished building the Avengers quinjet. We can take that," Tony said.

"Perfect," Valerie said. "Tuck, while we're in the air can you make it ghost proof?"

"Yeah. It won't be the best because of the time crunch but I can make it work."

"Good. Let's go, then."


In the air, the atmosphere was filled with even more tension than at the Tower. Most of it was coming from the newcomers. Steve could understand how this was affecting them. They had all known each other since they were kids, and would kill for any one of each other. Hell, they're not even there yet and Sam is already having to talk Tucker down from committing murder. Steve didn't know whose side he was on, because while he didn't want to kill anybody, this Freakshow guy messed with his new family. And he would do anything for his family.

He saw a lot of Bucky in Tucker. The smarter, more responsible friend who was always by your said, and is closer to you than any brother one could have. Bucky and Tucker were the science obsessed right hand men who would march to the ends of the earth for their brother, and Steve found that admirable. It almost distracted him from the pain in his chest that the lack of Bucky has caused.

Tucker messed around with wires, clipped them here and there and added his own technology, trying to distract himself from the mission they were currently on, but he's done this kind of thing enough times to go on autopilot, which was a problem. Once he was on autopilot, he was done with.

"How's it coming along?" Bruce asked him. Tucker just shrugged. He knew what Bruce was trying to do, which meant that his emotions were written all over his face.

"I've almost got this one. I'm gonna add one in the other three as well. Hopefully it'll be enough."

"You're incredibly smart. Like a younger, more tolerable Tony Stark. I'm sure it will be."

Tucker couldn't help the smile that graced his lips, even if for a moment.

"I appreciate that, but these shields weren't built for quinjets. They were built for armor. At this point I have to go for quantity over quality, I don't have enough time to make them strong enough over trillions of ghosts and their king."

"Still, it's impressive how you're able to deal with that and the mission at hand. How do you stay so calm?"

"Distractions," Tucker answered simply. "If I don't think about it I can't get stressed out about it."

"Distractions can also be dangerous," Bruce said, turning away from Tucker to look out of the window. "I would be careful about doing that."

"What, you're not going to tell me to find healthy coping mechanisms like every other older person in my life?"

"Not my place. Besides, you have a pretty good head on your shoulders for someone who is constantly stressed out about ghost invasions. No therapist would understand, or believe you if you talked about ghosts and aliens."

"Are you speaking from personal experience?" Tucker stopped for a brief moment, glancing over at Bruce, before going back to his work.

"Something like that."

Sam watched as Tucker and Bruce talked for a bit while Tucker installed the ghost proof technology. Valerie sat next to her, and Sam sat there, pretending not to notice the picture of her and Danny from their honeymoon in their hand.

Sam tried to think about when times were simpler. Before the war, before the diplomacy, before alien invasions. Even when Danny got his superpowers, things weren't as hectic as they were now. Except for when Dan came along, but she didn't even remember that thanks to Clockwork.

"How are you feeling?" Valerie asked her, bumping her shoulder. Sam shrugged.

"As good as I can be. I'm just worried."

"You guys have faced Freakshow before. Anything that can help us?"

"He's got ghost envy. That's what Jazz told me anyway, last time he showed his ugly face. Wants to be like them. For Danny, to get him out of Freakshow's control I had to surprise him. So I kissed him. But I don't think that'll work from you since you guys are married and everything. I doubt kissing will be surprising."

"No, but there are a lot of other things that can surprise him."

Sam didn't notice the way Valerie's hand went to her stomach. Instead she just looked down at her shoes.

Thor had a lot of mixed feelings. He was still processing this whole situation, and even though he was angry, the more he thought about it, the more he realized he was angry at the wrong thing. The wrong person.

It wasn't Danny's fault he was doing this. It was this Show of Freaks. And it wasn't Danny's fault that he was a halfa.

Thor sighed and ran a hand down his face. He hasn't felt this weary in such a long time. He didn't miss it.

Over the course of the ride to Amity, everybody was quiet for the most part. They were gearing up for battle, or stewing in anxiety and resolve. Valerie couldn't believe that Danny had made such a big impact on all of these people's lives, but at the same time, she wasn't surprised. He had always been a people person, always wanting them to like him and for them to be his friends. But he was smart enough to know who his real friends were, and these guys? They were it.

"What the…?"

Valerie looked over at Tony, who was looking out of the window.

"What's wrong?" Tucker asked.

"Do you have those shields up yet, kid? Because I have a feeling we're going to need them."

"Yeah, just give me a minute."

"We don't have a minute."

And then Valerie saw it. They all did. Everybody's attention was at the window due to Stark's stressful words.

A green flash zoomed in front of them. Then another. Then several more. Then large groups of them. Slowly but surely, they eventually ended up right in the middle of a sea of ghosts. Valerie's heart broke when she saw Dora floating by, quickly followed by her twins.

"How far away from Amity are we?" Sam asked.

"A few minutes, but I think we're gonna have to walk the rest of the way."

"Done," Tucker said. He pressed a button and a green shield engulfed them. A large amount of ghosts got knocked back, but not a single one was phased by it. Their only purpose at the moment was to answer to the King's Call. "Make sure your deflectors are activated, this could get ugly."

"How are the shields?" Tony asked.

"They're not going to be able to last much longer. There are way more ghosts than I anticipated for. If even one of these things goes out, we're done for."

"Sir, I suggest we land," Jarvis says.

Before Stark can give his own AI a snarky remark, the cabin started to shake. Tony looks around, and the ghosts, instead of ignoring them, have started to compress themselves onto the shield. They're pressing themselves against it as much as they possibly can, using their powers to help them out.

"Stark, we have to land, now," Tucker said, looking worried.

"They know we're here," Valerie said, pulling her mask over her face. She pulled out her big blaster and charged it up as the cabin violently shook again.

"Have you had that on you the entire time?" Clint asked, eyes wide.

Nobody bothered answering, because right after the words left his mouth they started falling.

They fell quickly, and for a short while before they finally busted through the sea of ghosts. Unfortunately they almost hit the ground, but thanks to Jarvis and Tony they were able to not die a fiery death.

"Oh, I'm gonna throw up," Clint said, holding his stomach with one hand and the rail with the other. Tony was alert, staying low to the ground as they came up quickly on the edge of Amity. But before they could land, the back of the ship was tipped over, and they went spiraling down the road.

Valerie and the others braced themselves, and Jarvis brought extra padding out of nowhere.

Thankfully the ship itself was pretty durable, so it didn't get too damaged, but there wasn't a single person in that ship who wasn't in some sort of pain from the crash.

"You're bleeding," Valerie said. Sam touched her forehead, which was in fact bleeding. She rubbed her hand on her pants and shrugged it off.

"I'll be fine. But we have to get out of here."

Before any of them could agree or disagree, several ghosts appeared out of nowhere. The whole cabin turned icy, and Valerie could see her breath. She held up her gun and pointed it at them, but another one hit her in the back of the head. Hard. She crumpled to the ground, out cold.

It didn't take long for all of them, being as outnumbered as they were, to be captured.

Frostbite looked around at the fallen heroes being carried off by other ghosts. He picked up Valerie, his queen, and threw her over his shoulder. A part of him tried fighting this, tried breaking free, but he wasn't strong enough against both Freakshow and his king. But Freakshow had made something crystal clear.

They had a new king now.