Chapter 8: The Faceless
Before the group were the aliens of the comic, known as the Faceless.
It took a moment, but the initial shock left Danny, Sam and Tucker as they got a good look at them. Instead of the same horrified look as Star, the three looked with confusion and bafflement.
"Uh… these are aliens?" Sam asked.
"They don't look like aliens… they look like mannequins made of rocks… with togas." Danny said.
"They look more like fantasy monsters in a tabletop RPG. Not that I play those, too low tech." Tucker insists.
Star's initial shock goes away too as she starts being rather critical of their appearance.
"Yeah, I agree. I think they should've looked more bug-like or even humanoid with tails or claws. Clichéd? Perhaps. But I've heard familiar designs help people get more comfortable wi-"
"Ahem!" Misery cleared her throat loudly, getting their attention. "Can we get on with your destruction?!" She looked to the aliens before pointing to Team Phantom. "GET THEM!"
The four marched towards the group.
As Danny readied for battle, Sam and Tucker were terrified as they were still unable to escape while Star stood by Danny's side.
"Um...Star...can you keep these guys away from us?" Sam asked.
"I can try!" Star said.
"Try?" Sam questioned.
"This is bad, you guys...these guys have super strength and durability!" Star said, quickly reacting to one trying to grab her.
Danny knees the rock monster in the vacant face.
"Get away from her!" He shouts, only for the Faceless to be unaffected as it slowly turned its head as though it were looking at him. "Faceless… right… no nose to break." He mutters.
The Faceless then punched Danny, making him hit the wall.
Rebreather attempts to get back into the action, but Misery holds her arm out to block him.
"Mistress?" He asks.
"Calm yourself, old friend… let's let these aliens deal with this for us. For now, let us see if Exodus is next to form in this world." She said to him.
As the two walked away, Sam and Tucker overheard that and became a little concerned about that name.
"Who's Exodus?" Sam asks.
"Is he another bad guy?" Tucker added.
Star struck a Faceless trying to grab her, striking the fingers off before they reform.
"He's comic Danny's long lost older brother who was kidnapped by Misery and turned against him! He's got a cape, a magic staff and is totally obsessed with destroying him!" Star called out.
As Danny grappled with a Faceless, Sam made a face at that.
"Okay… this comic is starting to sound like weird and potentially bad fanfiction…" She said in a disgusted tone.
"I don't know… I kinda like it!" Tucker said with a smile.
"Are you gonna use that in your comic?" Sam asked.
Tucker's smile dropped as he flinched and looked bashful.
"No…" He said in a tone to suggest he's lying.
It was then they noticed the other two aliens were approaching them and they screamed.
"Tucker! Sam!" Danny called out as he fired ice beams from his eyes, trapping them from the waist down. "That should do it…"
The Faceless looked down and tried breaking out of the ice with punches.
"We gotta deal with these guys, then find a way to get rid of that pen!" Star called out as she somersaulted over the Faceless that came after her.
"But, how do we win? What's their weaknesses?" Tucker asked.
"Hit them… very very hard.. "Star revealed. Everyone stared at her like she's stupid for saying that. She rolled her eyes. "I never said it wasn't simple…"
After that, Danny sucker punched a Faceless.
"Okay… hit them very very hard it is." He said.
He fired a beam at the head of the Faceless trying to attack Star, causing it to splatter before reforming and directing its head to Danny's direction. Losing interest in Star, the Faceless marched towards Danny, swinging a fist that he was able to catch. Struggling to push it back, Danny thought fast by bobbing to his right and uppercutting the stone monster.
As this attack sent the stone monster back a few feet, the other one grabbed Danny from behind. However, Danny used his own strength to plant his feet down and kneel forward fast, swinging the false alien towards its ally.
With both of them knocked down, took a moment to sigh in relief before hearing the sounds of loud cracking.
He saw what was the cause. The other Faceless he froze have now broken free and approached him, intent on payback.
Star ran in and used her ecto-saber and struck one in the leg, causing it to splatter and fall due to being lopsided.
"Stay away from my boyfriend!" Star shouted.
The Faceless, now on one knee and its hands, looked up at her. The head motioned forward as it glaring at her, the leg regenerated as it stood up, staring down at her menacingly.
Undaunted, Star swung her ecto-saber, only for the Faceless to grab it by the "blade", to her surprise. It then pulled it out of her grasp and tossed it aside.
"Okay… that's kind of all I got…" She said as she stepped back.
"Star!" Danny shouted as he phased into the floor, avoiding the fists of the stone monster. He then phased up and kicked the Faceless about to attack her in the head, knocking it to the floor. "Your sword!"
"On it!" She said as she jumped over the alien and grabbed her sword. "Got it!"
With that, she saw the other three approaching her and Danny.
"Not very talkative, are they?" Danny asked.
"Well… no face." Star pointed out.
"So… how do they live? I mean… how do they eat? How are they seeing us? How do they even smell stuff?" Danny asked.
"I don't know! Just because I read the comic doesn't mean I hold all the answers!" Star responded as she swung her weapon to keep a Faceless from grabbing her.
"Fair enough…" Danny said.
Meanwhile
Misery stood before a puddle of ink now forming, tapping her foot impatiently with Rebreather at her side.
"Just like a man-thing… taking too long." She muttered.
Rebreather looked at her before looking at the puddle.
"Is this more Faceless or is Exodus coming?" He asked.
"At this point, I don't care… as long as they deal with these pests." Misery answered.
She was still fuming as the sound of a wall breaking caught their attention.
Turning their heads, they were too late to react as a Faceless came flying at them, knocking them both down.
"Heads up, web lady" Danny called out in mockery.
Rebreather pushed the Faceless off him.
"Get off of me, you ugly pebble!" He grunted as he got up, turning to see Misery still on the floor. "Mistress!"
Misery took his hand.
"I am well…" She looked at the puddle, annoyed that there's no change. "But whatever is coming out isn't here yet!" She shouted angrily.
The Faceless got back up and charged at Danny before an idea came to his mind.
"Questions, assuming they're actually made of rock, how heavy are they?" He asked Star.
"Well… judging by height, assuming at least a granite composition given a line in the comic, I'd say… 30 tons each." Star said as she ducked from an attack by a Faceless.
"I noticed these guys don't jump." Danny points out.
"That's because they're too heavy, why?" Star asked.
"An idea…" Danny responded with a smile.
All four of the Faceless surrounded them now, ready to get a hold of them. Star grew increasingly worried as Danny remained still.
"Danny-boo? You know I trust you but what the heck are you planning to do?" She asked.
Danny held his arm out to her.
"Hold onto me!" He ordered.
Doing as said, Star held onto Danny as his other hand touched the floor once all four were around them.
Once the floor turned intangible, all four of the Faceless quickly sank in. As soon as Danny held his hand up and restored tangibility, all four of the stone monsters were neck deep in concrete. Once they realized what had happened, all four struggled, trying to pull free but can't, due to being too heavy.
Danny let Star go and she sighed in relief.
"Dang… the comic version of you never tried something that smart." Star admits.
"Good to know art doesn't always imitate life… Now, for those two." Danny said as he directed his attention to Misery and Rebreather.
With a powerful blast from his hand, Danny sent Misery and Rebreather flying out the truck stop, sliding on concrete for a bit, leaving some ink behind in the process from their bodies.
Seeing one of the trucks they stole, Danny lifted it and tossed it to the villains. Rebreather, not seeing it at first, came running at Danny, but was too late to stop the truck from hitting his master. "Mistress Misery! LOOK OUT!" He shouted.
She looked up and was too late as it flattened her, making a splash of ink as soon as the truck hit the ground.
"One down." Danny said as he dusted his hands.
Angered, Rebreather drew his anchor out again.
"You're through, you irritating punk!" He shouts.
He swung the anchor in his hand before tossing it at Danny. In return, Danny raised a shield, but the anchor's weight and momentum still pushed him back into the wall of the truck stop.
Star, seeing Danny down, glared at Rebreather and held her weapon up.
"You were always my least favorite bad guy! You're just a lame imitation of Skulker!" Star shouted.
"I have no idea who that is… but you're going to suffer for saying that!" Rebreather shouted before taking out his harpoon and using it like a spear.
Both charged as their weapons collided. Rebreather tried sweeping his weapon, but Star's gymnastic skills allowed her to jump out of harm's way. She swung her saber into his helmet, making a sort of dinging sound that, while not harming him, did cause some irritation as he stepped back.
Star swung her weapon and struck him in a horizontal manner.
At first, it didn't seem to do anything as Rebreather looked down and was confused, only for the first step to cause his upper half to fall back.
"Looks like you've been cut down to size." Star quipped with a hand at her hip.
Danny, seeing this in action, couldn't help but smile at seeing her handle a bad guy so well.
Best… girlfriend… ever… Danny thought appreciatively.
Shaking his fist in rage, Rebreather pulled himself up, literally, and climbed up his lower half before reattaching.
"You can't destroy me, you landlubber! Made of ink, remember?" He questioned.
Star stepped back and looked over her shoulder.
"Tag, Danny-boo. You're in!"
"Thank you!" Danny said as he flew in, swinging the anchor.
The impact sent the fake ghost into the front of the truck his master went splat under. Rebreather was about to dodge it before he noticed his anchor wasn't so much impaling him as it was molded into him.
"What the…?!" He started to question.
As Star cringed at that, Danny realized why this happened.
"Duh… his weapon's made of ink too. It must've mixed with his body's ink." He reasoned before an idea sprung up. "Which means…"
Danny then flew to Rebreather and grabbed the anchor sticking out.
"Hey! What're you-" Rebreather's words were cut off.
Danny grabbed the anchor and flew up. He began spinning around, taking Rebreather with him at an increasingly fast speed, spinning him around like he was attached to a top.
"Thank you for flying Air Phantom! I'd say please enjoy your flight, but I really hope you don't." Danny said with a smile before letting him go and sending him flying away.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS, KID!" Rebreather yelled before crashing into another abandoned building, a diner of some kind.
With that, Danny dusted his hands clean and landed by Star.
"Okay, looks like we got rid of all of them. Now, let's see if I can melt that pen." Danny said.
However, his girlfriend looked unsure.
"Wait... this is too easy. Something's wrong." Star said.
"Like what?" Danny asked.
"Usually, each story involving Misery's plans failing ends with her going..." She makes a face and shakes her arms in a faux-angered reaction. "Curse you, Danny Phantom!" She then goes back to normal. "And then that's it."
Danny laughed.
"That's kinda cliched, don't you think?" He asked.
"Hey! That's how the comic goes!" Star defends herself.
"Star, this isn't a comic. Trust me, it's fine..." Danny assured with a hand wave.
That's when the sound metal being torn was heard as they turned their heads.
The truck had something green pierce through it from below, splitting off into four. It turned out to be four green spider legs that were pulling something out.
That something was a very enraged Misery Vex.
"Don't bet your life on it..." She said with a scowl and a murderous look in her eyes.
New chapter with thanks to Flower princess11.
2 more to go. Yup, wanted this to be a short one.
RonaldM40196867: Nope, it works. Probably?
pokemon fan 1991: Thankfully an easily thwarted "alien" invasion.
Invader Johnny: It's only Misery Vex who's left.
Jebest4781: Thanks.
AKGakg: I sure do. Meant to months ago but RL stuff happened. RL as in real life, not RL Stine in case people were wondering...
Leonardo: Honestly, I just figured Tucker would have the ego to make himself Iron Man, didn't recall everything "you know who" said about his "future". I use quotations because I don't consider the videos canon and I'm fairly certain Nickelodeon would never use them anyway. Also, yes, I will continue and finish those stories.
