Chapter Eight - Gotta Tip on the Tightrope

It took a minute but all were making their way to SHIELD via a Quinjet well... Most of them. Danny had refused to ride inside with Thor, not to be a diva or anything but you would be trepidatious too if the guy who wanted to take a magical hammer to your head would be sitting directly across from you. He was flying beside it, Shiva's Arm's protecting him, Tony had outfitted them all with a com-link so he could hear the inside conversation but didn't weigh in.

"How dare the Man of Fury enlist such a monster for aid? " Thor fumed in his ear, Danny grimaced. The thunder god had been on his case since getting his ass kicked by the teenager, CLEARLY it was self-defense.

"You came at me first." He thought to himself.

"You're just pissy cause you got your ass handed to you by Mad Limbs out there." Stark interjected, the halfa Prince smiled at the quip.

"I'm still on the fact, Fury pulled a child into this mess. " Bruce chimed.

"Do you have any clue how to hit something you can't see? " Widow. "Mind you with the enemy we're heading up against, I don't think not being able to hit his targets would sit well with the 'Other Guy '."

"The kid is half-dead... " Cap randomly stated, more to himself than the others. Danny frowned at bit at that, the man was from the 40's when any sort of defiance to order and logic practically gave the world a heart attack especially since that was the pre-beginning of World War II. He sighed.

"It's not ALL bad. " He chimed unto the Captain yet everyone heard him. "Despite the fact I'm half a walking corpse, I've been able to do good and help people. My only complaint ~!"

"Being a beast of hell bound scorn. " Thor butted in. To this he heard a slap which was actually a high five from Tony.

"Congrats on your first sarcastic comment, L'Oreal. " Danny snickered at the nickname being he had to admit the Asgardian had good hair but was still aggravated with him.

"Funny last time I checked this hell bound BOSS tossed you out a window." At this Danny looked into the jet and immediately saw Thor trying to come and attack him only to be restrained by Steve into NOT breaking the jet. "If it means anything, you got a mean left hook. "

"I WILL HAVE YOUR HIDE, HELL SPAWN! " The yell made Danny's head hurt but nonetheless he snickered to himself and flew on ahead. After calming Thor and flying through a nice biting jet stream courtesy of the offended halfa, they made it to the Helicarrier.

The tension between Thor and his new half-dead rival caused a pure cloud of hatred to descend in the Helicarrier conference room. Thor couldn't believe they were allying themselves with this monstrosity, he glared at it in hatred and in return it stared at him and smirked. He wanted nothing more than to pound Mjolnir into the heathen's face. Tony and Bruce were ecstatic to be working with the creature, he was a whole new uncharted territory of SCIENCE! Tony could just envision himself and the boy together in his lab with Bruce and together they could create a whole string of technological advancements. The child was an enigma like Bruce plus in truth they had a lot in common with one another, scientists for parents, had another person inside of them who maintained their true power, hopefully they'd get along. After a bit more tense silence, Fury finally made his appearance — after assessing how the other Avengers would fare with Danny.

"Hello, Avengers. " He greeted. "Getting to know your new teammate ?" Natasha and Clint smirked but looked to Danny who smiled.

"This is a new low even for you, Fury. " Cap commented while posted up on the wall, he had been avoiding the ghost-boy since the revelation. Who could blame him, there was a literal dead man in the room But above all the boy was a child, he had no business in a war let alone one against two supervillains.

"No disrespect, Captain Rogers but you haven't seen his resume so allow me to lay it down FOR you. " The Director countered. "But that BOY has been taking on ectoplasmic entities four times his size since he was fourteen years old, his powers included Cryokinesis, telekinesis and Energy blasts plus the ability to make an entire legions worth of duplicates. He has an IQ of 142 which puts him near Stark's league and he has allies that will be beyond helpful. He has a plethora of information on the secondary enemy, who mind you destroyed an entire city in a matter of minutes and bonus... This BOY has a scream that could level two NYC's and a Seattle if raised to its highest level. Any questions?" Tony raised his hand like a sassy grad school student and for once no one stopped him as they were too astonished with Danny to directly say anything even Thor developed some respect for the 'hell spawn'.

"So what are you like~ half-dead ? Half-alive? Like how were you even made? "

"I'm a halfa, I'm half-dead. "

"How this even happen? " Bruce asked, Danny smirked catching that glimmer in his eyes. He liked this guy, they could relate to each other.

"Same way you became the Hulk... Lab accident. " Danny mused. "Only I was being a shitty teenager while you were actually saving somebody." Bruce smirked at this. "But enough about me, what about this ~ Guy? We're supposed to be hunting? What's his name, Loptr or something? " Thor perked at this and gave the young royal a questioning look.

"You know old Norse? "

"Uh ~? Does playing Bayonetta count?" Steve, Thor and surprisingly Tony and Bruce were lost but Natasha clued them in.

"Video game, boys. " They all 'Oh'd ' at the same time with some minimal understanding.

"Anyways. The man we've gathered here to capture today, Draugr is my brother." Thor began. "LOKI, known by you humans as the God of Mischief."

"Mischief?" Muttered Banner. "More like cat crazy chaos. " The thunder God glared but Bruce who just shrugged in a 'just sayin' manner at which Thor sighed and continued on.

"Anyways, he has come here and we do believe he is up to his old tricks only thing is... We have no clue of his new ally's origins and from the looks of the matter we may be in over our heads. " Natasha piped up and took the reigns.

"Which is where you come in Danny. We need to know all you know about ~ Him. " At this she laid a picture of Plasmius down on the table and noticed the enraged twitch jet through the young royal.

"That BASTARD... Is the reason, the GZ hasn't seen peace in over a year." Danny started. "Some time ago, after a massive war and coup against the former ghost emperor, Pariah Dark. I was declared Prince of the Ghost Zone but Plasmius ~ the crazed up FRUIT LOOP. We gotta fight is after me now, he wants my crown... And just like me he has a duel-identity. "

"What? " Fury moved closer at the claim, his lone eye bulged in curiosity. But the others were just as much interested as they all tuned in and got ready for the big reveal.

"What if I told you... One of the biggest CEOs in the nation was a hellbent warlord? " Tony slammed his hand down on the table and Steve glared at him as he spun in his chair.

"MASTERS! " He proclaimed with anger and satisfaction. "I FRIGGING KNEW IT! " Danny was appalled but chuckled, leave it to Tony Stark to figure out a rival is really a supernatural evil a-hole or somebody trying to knock his suit's swag.

"You knew?" Seethed Romanoff as she stood up to beat Stark down to a pulp for keeping this a secret for so long only.

"NO!" Tony declared before he caught a kick to the head. "B-but I figured! That bastard always creeped me out every time I had to have a meeting with him. Like he was always trying to hypnotize me or something. Would-be Dracula. "

"That is one of his powers. " Danny mused. "But somebody like you is too~ Buzzy. To jilt properly. "

"I'll take that as a compliment." At this Natasha's earbud snapped to life.

"Wait a minute ~! WHAT? Where?! " She looked to her fellow Avengers and boss. "Copy that. It's Loki, he was just spotted in St. Petersburg and it's not looking pretty. "

The team moved out and as they were running down the hall, Danny caught up with Romanoff. He felt guilty, like all of this could've been avoided if he had just handed Plasmius his throne. He was young, naive, he had no true experience running a kingdom let alone a company, the only real reason he had gotten his throne was because of a power he didn't even understand. He transformed and flew by her side before asking what he needed.

"Was Plasmius with him? "

"No, but from the way you talked about him, he'll pop up eventually..."

"If it means anything, I'm sorry. " But Natasha must've not heard him because she moved passed him and towards one of the Quinjets in the docking bay but Clint had paid him mind.

"There's no sorry in alien warfare, kid. " The boy sighed but moved to hop on the jet with everyone else but someone caught him, he turned only to find Thor and the god had a solemn look on his face.

"Young Draugr, we may not have not started our companionship on the best of terms but~..." He took a pause to gather his pride and words. "Know that none of this is of your fault, you earned your rightful throne. Believe me or naught, I was once in your shoes and I had to fight to claim my place as well especially when my brother aimed to steal it from me just as your opponent does you. You challenge your adversary and let it be known he nor others shall not take your place nor harm those in your care to do so. For those who try to control the inevitable end up in the void of their own madness fueled by personal gain yet ponder their eternal misery. You are not at fault here. " Danny smiled.

"Let's go kick some fruitloop ASS then. "