Chapter 25: The Ghost Leaguer
Metropolis was being invaded by forces led by Darkseid. Things we so dire even some Avengers showed up to help. "Batman might have somehow dodged my omega beams but you won't be so lucky, Shield Man." The God of Apokolips stated as he fired said beams at Captain America, whose shield withstood the beams.
"He doesn't have to, villain." The Mighty Thor replied as he hit Darkseid's face with his hammer. Darkseid retaliated by hitting Thor with his beams. Meanwhile, Kalibak was fighting Superman and decided Thor's hammer would give him an edge and took advantage of the distraction caused by his father to steal the hammer, which suddenly gained extra weight and fell on the floor, with Kalibak unable to lift it. "What's wrong with this thing?" The villain asked.
"Only the worthy may wield Mjolnir!" The Mighty Thor declared. "Like me. Come to me, Mjolnir!" The hammer did as commanded by the God of Thunder.
"Two can play that game." Kalibak said. "Come to me, Mjolnir!" And the hammer came to him… because Thor tossed it at his face.
"Pathetic." Darkseid commented only to be punched by Superman. "Taking advantage of my moment of distraction to strike me, Kal-El?" He asked and smiled. "Well played."
Meanwhile, Supergirl was struggling to defeat Darkseid's parademons. Fortunately, Danny Phantom showed up. "Cover your ears, Supergirl." He said.
Knowing what was about to happen, she and the Man of Steel flew away as Danny used his ghostly wail. "Impressive." Darkseid commented. "I should have Granny Goodness raise you to be one of my warriors."
"And I should send you to a funny farm." Danny replied.
"But for now, I'll just retreat since I cannot complete my takeover of this insignificant planet without parademons." Darkseid commented as he opened a boom tube to return to his own dimension.
"Well fought, Phantom albeit I wonder why you would send a villain like Darkseid to a place meant for fun." Thor said.
"Funny farm is a way we refer to places where insane individuals are locked up, Thor." Captain America explained.
"Well, for as long as he's not allowed near any animals…" Thor said.
"Thank you, Danny." Supergirl said.
"You're welcome, Supergirl." Danny replied and then saw a reporter approaching them. "Lois Lane, Daily Planet. Danny Phantom, are you a Leaguer or an Avenger?"
"I just help other heroes on occasion, Ms. Lane." Danny answered, remembering the cover up he discussed with the League.
"The Avengers are more flexible about the secret identity issue." Lois commented. "Any chances you'd join them instead of the Justice League?"
"I never discussed the matter with any of them." Danny stated. "I'm sorry but I must go home now. Goodbye." He flew away.
"I wonder which ghost back in Amity Park is making him so worried." Lois commented.
Later on, Danny was at home doing homework. "Let me get this straight: you just fought alongside Leaguers and Avengers, got an interview with Lois Lane, and flew out of it to do homework?" Sam asked, not believing what Danny just did.
"The villains were already defeated and Mr. Falluca seems to be under the impression all of us are using the Internet to do homework, Sam." Danny explained.
"I'll do your homework for you if you bring me Batman's autograph or at least talk to him about it." Tucker proposed.
"I'm no longer an A-Lister, Tucker." Danny replied.
"Danny, I understand you're upset the Justice League won't give you full membership but it's no excuse to take your frustrations on me." Tucker argued. "I can give you a new identity."
"I just want to keep a good grade and I won't abandon my life." Danny argued.
"Danny, you're a superhero and known as such." Sam said. "The school should cut some…"
An explosion was heard and they ran to the lab. A small boy in green with some sort of hovering device was stealing tech. "That's Hive Five's Gizmo!" Tucker said in excitement but then took a serious pose. "The Hive Five are a team of villains usually stopped by the Teen Titans." He explained.
"You heard of me?" Gizmo was flattered.
"You steal tech." Tucker said. "You'll never get my PDA!"
"Who cares about PDAs nowadays?" Gizmo mockingly asked.
"Don't mock my friend, you little chip!" Danny ordered.
"The name's Gizmo!" The villain angrily shouted.
"To me you look more like a chip than a gizmo." Danny teased Gizmo.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Gizmo demanded and drew a bazooka. A bazooka that Tucker Foley recognized.
"Is that Skulker's arm?" Tucker asked.
"I don't know." Gizmo answered. "The Hive Five stole it from the feds in white. Why do you ask?"
"You'll see." Tucker maliciously replied as he started typing on his PDA.
"Ha!" Gizmo laughed. "What do you expect to do with such a relic?" Right after he asked the question, his hovering device spoke. "Tracing route to Amity Park Zoo." "What?" He asked upon being taken away. "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
"Good work, Tucker." Danny said.
"You're welcome, Danny." Tucker replied and then kept looking at his PDA. "Look! The Teen Titans have just beaten the rest of the Hive Five nearby. It seems they were supposed to distract the Titans while Gizmo robbed Fentonworks."
"I'll call Starfire." Danny said.
Later on, Danny and the Teen Titans captured Gizmo at the purple-back gorilla's cage. "Thank you for your help, Danny Phantom." The first Robin said.
"You're welcome." Danny replied. "But the real credit should go to Tucker, who managed to hack into this villain's system."
"Defeated by a PDA operated by the most geek-looking nerd I ever met?" Gizmo asked in frustration. "I'll never live it down."
Cyborg then approached Danny. "Danny Phantom, the Teen Titans…" He paused and looked at Robin. "Most of us, at least, agreed to give you this." He said and gave Danny a communicator with a T on it. "You'll be able to call the Teen Titans and we can call you whenever it's needed."
"But it's only for emergencies." Raven said. "Don't even think about setting me for a date with TooFineTucker."
"Consider yourself an honorary member of the Teen Titans." Beast Boy added.
"I express my hopes we will become friends in spite of you choosing someone else over me." Starfire replied.
After the Teen Titans left, Danny told his friends about the meeting. "You met Cyborg? Is he nice or does he retain his jock mentality?"
"A jock?" Danny was confused.
"Before the disaster that made him need replacement parts, Cyborg was a jock named Victor Stone." Tucker explained. "Like your parents, his also created a portal to another dimension. One day, a monster came from their portal and almost killed Victor. If not for his father using STAR Labs equipment to turn him into a Cyborg, he'd have been killed back then but it ended his football career and his dating life as his girlfriend dumped him."
"How do you know all that?" Danny asked while thinking about the fact it could have been him.
"With all those metal parts, he could never keep a secret identity." Tucker stated.
On the next day, Danny was having a normal day at school. As normal as one could have while being known as a superhero. He was soon approached by other students. "Fenton, do you have Supergirl's phone number?" Kwan asked.
"Do you have Invisigirl's?" Another one asked.
"I want Kim Possible's!" A third boy said. "She might have no superpowers but she's a cheerleader!"
"Forget about superheroines." A fourth boy asked. "How about Felicia Hardy's number?"
"I'm going ghost!" Danny said and, after becoming Danny Phantom, became invisible and intangible to avoid those boys. He then entered Mr. Falluca's classroom and changed back into Danny Fenton.
"Fenton?" The teacher asked. "I didn't see you entering."
"I used my powers to escape those crazy fans, Mr. Falluca." Danny explained.
"Don't worry, Mr. Fenton." Mr. Falluca replied. "We've phoned Middleton High for advice on how to deal with having a publicly known world-saving student. They reassured us the novelty factor will wear off in a few days."
Valerie Gray then showed up and Danny wasn't sure about how to feel about her. While it was easy for him to believe she would report him to the Masters' Blasters, he wasn't sure about taking Plasmius' word for it. Fortunately, the awkwardness ended when the other students supposed to be at Mr. Falluca's class showed up.
During lunch break, it seemed Danny would be safe from those crazy fans even if it was probably because they were afraid of approaching Sam. "Did you bring your Titan communicator?" Tucker excitedly asked. "Let me see it!"
"I don't think it's a good idea, Tucker." Danny replied. "It's only for emergencies and Raven said it's not to be used to set her for a date with "TooFineTucker"."
"Please, Danny." Tucker begged. "I'm still coming to terms that, out of us, it was you who dated a robot."
"Tucker, I thought having a girlfriend would change that about you." Sam commented.
"Geeks like Velma Dinkley barely register as more human than the average machine, Manson." Paulina said as she intruded on Team Phantom's conversation.
"Don't talk about her like that, Sanchez?" Tucker firmly replied, impressing his friends with his increased maturity.
"Who cares?" Paulina disdainfully asked and then turned her attention towards Danny. "So, now that everybody knows you're my ghost boy, you can date me without it being suspicious. Aren't you happy?"
"I'm happy." Danny replied and Paulina smiled until he completed. "Happy I'm not dating a shallow girl like you."
"You're very mistaken if you think a girl other than the goth would like the loser you used to be before becoming the ghost boy." Paulina said and left.
"There's Valerie!" Tucker replied.
"Shut up!" Both Danny and Sam told the techno geek.
After classes ended, Danny went home, did some studying and readied himself for another date with Barbara. "Don't worry, son!" Maddie reassured the ghost hero. "We'll keep things in order while you're away."
'That's what worries me.' Danny thought but went to Gotham City anyway. Upon arriving, he saw a portion of the city covered in ice. Looking around, he saw Robin and Batgirl fighting a villain in a blue winter coat shooting at them with an ice ray. "Mr. Freeze, I presume." Danny said as he placed himself between the villain and the caped heroes.
"Wrong ice-themed villain, ghost." The villain said. "I'm Captain Cold."
"Really?" Danny asked and laughed. "Are you a fan of alliterations or just not cool enough for a cool name like Major Flu?"
"Is he for real?" Robin asked Batgirl. "I thought you said he was good at jokes."
Annoyed by Danny's sense of humor, Captain Cold tried to freeze him but Danny used his own ice powers to block the villain's beam. "Okay, time to escape." Captain Cold said and turned around, only to see Batgirl punching his face, knocking him down.
"Thanks for your help, Phantom." Batgirl said while Robin tied the villain down.
"You're welcome." Danny replied and then looked at Captain Cold. "Does he need a special way to be contained?"
"Nah, just search for hidden weapons and handcuff him." Batgirl reassured Danny and offered him a pair of Batcuffs.
Some cops then approached him. "Good job, kids." Detective Bullock begrudgingly said and then looked at Danny. "Ghost punk, the Commish wants to see you, and not only to testify about this guy's crimes." Bullock added.
"Can it wait, Detective?" Danny asked. "I've got a date with…"
"That's the problem." Bullock replied.
Afraid of what his girlfriend's father wanted, Danny went to the Commissioner's office. "How may I help you, Sir?" Danny respectfully asked.
"You may call me James, Phantom." Commissioner Gordon replied.
"Only if you call me Danny." Danny counter-proposed.
"It's a deal, Danny." The Commissioner said. "Now, I want to discuss with you about the consequences of my princess being known as a superhero's girlfriend."
Danny gulped.
End chapter.