Tony landed roughly on the ground, his boots making a metal clank as they touched the pavement. He quickly straightened his arm to aim his repulser at the god of mischief. "Put the kid down, Loki!" He demanded, his eyes narrowing angrily beneath his faceplate. Even if he was worried about checking on the ghost, he never took his eyes off Loki.
Clint and Nat ran over closer to the situation. They had only seen it from afar. Clint quickly raised his bow aiming the arrow straight at Loki's chest. Now they were in a standoff. Nobody moving a muscle.
Danny was held, floating about 3 feet off the ground. His back slightly arched as his limbs limp. Ectoplasm dripped onto the ground from his back, forming a small pool of glowing green liquid beneath him.
Loki didn't move, he still kept his hand in place and the gold power surrounding the ghost. They knew that if they did anything to Loki, he would probably do something to the kid. "Put him down now!" Clint growled.
Loki hesitated, his eyes shaking back and forth slightly. He slowly lowered his hand and Danny was placed gently and nicely onto the ground. The moment the boy was no longer sounded by the magic, a blue, red, and silver shield flew from behind the group. It was about to hit Loki in the chest when the god teleported away in another flash of light.
The shield bounced off a building that was behind where Loki was standing and right back into the Captain's hand. A couple pieces of the wall crumbled to the ground at the sudden impact. He turned to face Clint and Nat. "You both track him down, me and Stark will take care of the kid." He commanded. Both assassins nodded and started heading off. Clint looked back at the young ghost one more time before he left. Hoping that the kid was okay.
As soon as Cap gave the command Tony instantly whipped his head around to Look at Danny. "Jarvis give me an analysis." He rushed over in his armor to kneel down next to the kid. He put his armored hand on the boy's shoulder.
Cap walked over next to Tony and looked down at the boy. The ends of his snow-white hair had been burned but only slightly. His suit that he was wearing had also been torn up a bunch, and they hadn't even seen the back yet.
Jarvis spoke up. "Sorry sir, I can't get a proper reading. His physiology makes no sense." Jarvis scanned one more time. "There is no heart, but there is a mass of energy in his chest reading a temperature of nearly 300 degrees below freezing."
Tony took off his faceplate and tried shaking the kid. "Kid?" He called out. His tone was slightly worried. Suddenly Danny groaned and moved a bit. The two men breathed a sigh of relief. Danny's eyes fluttered open and he looked up at Tony and Cap who were standing over him.
He started moving but squinted from pain. "Did anyone get the number plate of the spaceship that hit me?" Danny put his hand on his head and then moved it down to cover his eyes from the sun. "And who turned up the sun?" He groaned.
"You gave us quite a scare Casper," Tony commented, trying to help the boy up very carefully.
Danny smiled slightly, closing his eyes. "Gave you a scare? I was the one who almost died…re died? -something like that-." Danny started coughing. He coughed into his hand and when he looked at it he saw that it had ectoplasm in it. "That's not so good." He rolled his head back onto the ground.
Cap and Tony looked slightly alarmed. "We should get you to a hospital as soon as possible," Cap said.
They were surprised when Danny tried sitting up quickly, almost as if he was trying to get away from them. "I can't go to a hospital." Danny's ears were pinned back and shook his head from side to side closing his eyes tightly. The two men could see both how scared he was. He was more alarmed by the thought of going to a hospital than almost sacrificing his afterlife to stop an alien invasion.
"Okay, okay that's fine," Tony said reassuringly, he held out his hands in a non-threatening gesture. "We will just take you to the tower to get you patched up. No hospital." Tony explained. He would have to figure out later what the kid hated so much about hospitals.
Danny tried to sit up more. "I'll, I'll be fine." He paused. "I've had way worse." He tried to reassure. But it didn't help.
"Worse!?" Tony questioned concern in the back of his voice.
Danny ducked his head down slightly. "How about we get to that tower." He chuckled nervously.
Tony and Cap look at each other quickly before Cap bends down to help Danny up. The ghost grabbed his hand but squinted in pain as he was standing up. Danny had used a bit of his levitation to make himself lighter, and he could see that Cap was surprised at how light he was.
Danny nodded to Cap, he started to try and walk on the ground but his legs didn't really want to walk. Danny hissed in pain as he stepped back slightly. Tony reached his hand out to grab onto the teen's wrist so he didn't fall backward.
Danny closed his eyes and started hovering just above the ground with his feet tucked beneath him. "Much easier." He sighed in relief.
"Flying is easier than walking?" Cap asked.
"For ghosts it is anyw-," He was interrupted by his coughing, more ectoplasm spurting from his mouth and onto the ground. Danny groaned in pain. Right now he was just thankful he was able to stay in his ghost form through this whole ordeal.
"We need to get you to the tower." Cap insisted.
Danny sighed. "Yeah, we-, should." He reached for his belt and pulled out a small white device with a green button on it. When he pressed it, it expanded into a full-sized green and white thermos.
"Now is no time for soup Casper, you're bleeding out." Tony started.
"It's for my ectoplasm." Danny opened up the thermos and the ground where he was laying a moment before was enveloped in a bright blue beam. When he capped the thermos, most of the ectoplasm was gone, Only some small dark green stains on a few stones remained. "We can't let anyone get their hands on it. It is very dangerous." He coughed again. "We… can go to the tower now." His voice sounded very pained.
X
The tower wasn't that far away from where they were at. It would take maybe 5 minutes to get there. Danny was very careful to stay behind the two men, not that he didn't trust them or anything. But he was worried if they saw how bad his back was they would freak out. Danny knew that this injury was going to look terrible. At least for people who weren't used to seeing things like that every day.
They walked with Danny into what looked like a small room with a bed, it was mostly white, which gave Danny shivers down his spine. He didn't want to be in a room like this longer than he needed to. Danny floated over to the bed and sat down on it. Front-facing towards the men.
Danny without really thinking reached into the pocket of his hazmat suit and pulled out a long coil of Fenton fishing wire. He often used this to patch himself up with injuries like this. Most normal strings would slowly disintegrate instantly after being in contact with the ectoplasm, because of the acidic properties it carries. He quickly pulled out an ecto green needle and fazed the string through the loup instead of spending 30 minutes trying to thread it.
Danny knew his back was the worst he would have to work on that last as it would be harder to reach. Although he could already feel his skin starting to knit itself back together. His core hummed loudly as it was trying to pick up the slack from all of the missing ectoplasm.
He noticed a large cut across his shoulder and he started to stitch that part first. "You've done this before?" Cap asked. Danny jumped slightly, he glanced back up at the two men. He forgot they were in the room. His ears twitched for a second as he thought.
"Yeah, I have to do it a lot." He averted his attention back to the injury. "Although lots of the time my friends help out. Mainly because I might be-, um-, unconscious or something." Danny shrugged slightly. He then bit his lip as he hissed in pain again.
"What is that string?" Cap asked.
Danny didn't look up from his work. "Fishing wire." He said calmly.
Both men's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Fishing wire!" They both exclaimed at the same time.
Danny chuckled slightly. "It's mainly used to trap ghosts. It's something they can't faze through, and the ectoplasm won't eat through it. But it will still disappear after a couple of days. It's completely safe… I think." He muttered that last part to himself.
Danny was trying his best to ignore the walls of the room. He was going to give himself a panic attack if he stayed very much longer. He was slightly glad that the two men were there too. "I have accelerated healing. I will be completely fine in a couple days. It just goes faster and is less painful if I sew it together first."
Tony started to turn around. "I'll call Dr. Cho in here. They'll be able to help with your back."
Danny's core dropped slightly. He looked up at Tony and his eyes glowed brighter, his ears pinned back once again. "I-I, would rather not be around any more humans today if you don't mind." He paused. "I'll be fine doing this myself."
"You sure you'll be okay kid?" Tony asked.
"Yeah…" He thought for a second. "Wasn't there an alien invasion like 10 minutes ago? I'll be fine here, you guys should go."
Cap nodded. "Kid's right Stark." Tony paused for a second before nodding as well. The moment both men left the room Danny sighed in relief. Sure it helped his nerves to talk to someone, but he didn't really want to be patching himself up in front of them the whole time.
As soon as Danny was done patching himself up he would need to go and find Loki. He just hoped that Loki hadn't gone too far. Last he saw of him they were talking on the roof where he teleported away. Danny could've told Tony and Cap a couple of minutes ago, but that would have been a bad move.
First things first he needs to get out of here and find Loki before anyone else does, That shouldn't be too hard, right? He then needs to free Loki From the mind control, and then he could explain everything to the others, and hopefully, they will listen.
X
After about 40 minutes of healing, Danny finally felt good enough to get out there and search for Loki. He quickly fazed through the ceiling and out into the open sky. Looking out, he could now see how many of those creatures were taken out during the fight. Danny hated to see so many deaths. It hurt his core.
He shook his head. Realizing that he was slowly floating down towards the ground. He needed to find Loki right now, that was what was the priority. The first thing he did was take off in the direction of where he had last seen Loki on the roof. That was the best place to start.
He was just starting to get close when he quickly felt the presence of Loki's magic. Lots of it had been used. Danny suddenly changed course and started heading towards the ground. He quickly realized that the magic was coming from the place he had woken up earlier. What would Loki have been doing there? Was he there the whole time and Danny was too distracted to notice?
He quickly turned invisible before dropping to the ground with a light thud. He sniffed the air a bit. Loki had definitely used his magic here at some point. Was he trying to find Danny? Did he come here to try and track his ectoplasm?
Danny's ear twitched as he looked around the area. He couldn't see anything of use to him. Maybe if he had gotten the staff back he could get some help from Cujo or Wulf to track Loki down? Danny didn't have time for that now. But it might end up being the only option if he doesn't find Loki soon.
Suddenly the com that was still in his ear crackled to life. He jumped slightly back from the sound. He had completely forgotten about it. He quickly put his hand up to his ear and was about to take it out when he heard someone talk over the com. It was Clint! "Loki is in custody. I repeat Loki is in custody. Over."
Danny's core dropped. He took off to the air and waited for a second. They eventually mentioned that Loki was on one of the top floors of the Stark building. Danny without a second thought took off back in the direction of Stark tower. A sonic boom was heard at the speed Danny took off. He just hoped he wouldn't be too late.
X
Loki had been taken down by Hulk. They managed to get him into cuffs before he was able to escape. Nat had left to go and brief Fury on the situation, and that left Tony, Steve, Thor, and Clint waiting with Loki. Hulk had now turned back into Bruce Banner and was recuperating in a med room.
Two SHIELD agents had arrived and gave Loki some sort of muzzle to stop him from trying to manipulate anyone who would talk with him. The plan was that Loki would be taken into custody temporarily by the government for a couple days until they discovered the extent of the damage he had caused, and the names of all the people he had enslaved.
After that period it would be decided whether or not they would hand Loki over to his brother for him to be taken back to Asgard. Or if he would be taken into permanent custody of the US government. They still had to convince Thor though if they wanted the second one to work.
Everyone stood around Loki waiting for Fury or someone else to arrive. Suddenly they heard someone call out "Wait!" Everyone in the room turned to look as Phantom flew into the room with great speed. "Wait." He repeated. He was now landing, almost tripping forward he caught himself after a couple large steps.
He glanced at the others in the room before his eyes locked on Loki. The first thing Danny noticed on him was some sort of muzzle that was covering his face that prevented him from speaking. Danny's blood boiled at the sight of it. How could someone-? Ugh.
Loki was on his knees, but he looked up at the ghost. His eyes flickered with hope. "You can't take him." He started. Everyone in the room seemed confused. "You don't have the whole story."
Clint raised his eyebrow. "Kid, what part of the story do we not have? He came here, tried to take over, and killed thousands of people in the process."
"You don't understand, Loki he-"
Suddenly Danny was cut off as another man entered the room, accompanied by two other agents. "-Phantom I am going to politely ask you to step away from the fugitive." The man said with a stern and cold voice. He had white hair and a large mustache to match. He seemed to be a general of some kind.
Danny heard Tony mutter "Ross." Angrily under his breath. Danny, instead of complying with the general, stepped in front of Loki, blocking him from the agents in the room. He didn't trust this one bit.
"No," Danny said sternly. The others looked at Danny with a surprised expression on how weird the boy was acting. "None of this is Loki's fault! He's being mind-controlled!" Everyone's eyes widened as they looked at Danny.
"And did he tell you that?" The general scoffed. "You can't believe a word that comes out of his mouth."
"What do you mean kid?" Steve asked, trying to ignore the general in light of seeing what the ghost had to say.
"He's been controlled this whole time. Everything that happened, he wasn't in control. He had been trying to fight it this whole time. We wouldn't have beaten the invasion without his help." Danny started explaining.
"What do you mean?" Clint asked. He looked from Loki then back to the ghost.
"During the fight, I saw him on the roof. He managed to explain to me through the mind control as best he could how to close the portal. He left his staff behind so that I could take it so we could make our plan." Danny paused for a second. "I could feel him fighting it this whole time. I just didn't realize it until I touched him when I was with Tony. It's the same as it was with barton."
Thor piped in. "But if he was the one controlling people in the first place."
Danny turned to look at thor. "Have you really not noticed anything different with him? He's your brother for crying out loud!" He threw his hand to the side angrily. "You've known him longer than anyone else in the world. And a ghost that had known him for under a day was able to tell he was acting strangely." Thor backed up a bit looking at his brother with a slightly saddened look.
Ross rolled his eyes and took a step closer. "Wow, just like a ghost to go side with the bad guy." He scoffed. All of the avengers were taken aback by that comment. Only looking with wide eyes at Ross.
Danny, pinned ears against his head and his teeth sharpened giving him a slightly more threatening appearance. "I promised him that I would help him! Free him!" He snarled.
"Get out of the way ghost," Ross demanded. "Before I call in the people who are supposed to deal with things like you."
Tony was so surprised at how Danny was being treated. He was even being called a thing! He stepped in front of Danny. "Ross. Stop." Cap, Clint, and Thor stepped forward as well.
Danny took his eyes off Ross to look at the others in surprise, his ears coming forward slightly. They were defending him? The intensity of his eyes lowered as he didn't know what to think in this moment. Ross crossed his arms. "I will not hesitate to arrest every one of you." He warned. "Loki is a criminal."
Danny looked back at Loki, he was glancing up at Danny worriedly. Danny turned back around with determination, he pushed in front of Tony to stand head-on with Ross. "I will take responsibility for him," Danny stated.
Ross narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"I'll be responsible for him. After he is free from the mind control, anything that he does I will be responsible for." Danny started. "If he does anything bad like this happens again under his own free will, you call the Guys in White on me, take me away, whatever!" He threw his hand to the side. "I will not let something like this happen to him, not over something he can't control!"
Ross smirked slightly. "Did you really think a deal like that would work?" He asked. "I could call the GIW on you right now if I wanted to, and I would still get my way."
Danny narrowed his eyes at the man. "But you won't be able to get me, and you know that. You guys have wanted to experiment on me for ages. This is a risk-free deal on your part." He jammed his finger into the general's chest. "If something bad goes down, you get me. And Loki."
The room was dead silent. Everyone just stared at Danny, who refused to move an inch from his spot until he got an answer. The general paused for a second, glaring into Phantom's glowing green eyes. "One chance." Danny felt his core leap. "And if this goes south, you get a free trip to a dissection table." He turned around and started walking out. "Freak."
The moment the general's face was no longer visible by the others he smirked darkly. The two agents followed after the general, being silent and emotionless the whole time. The moment they left the room Danny collapsed to his knees on the floor and clutched his core. Tony rushed over to him and kneeled down next to him. That was one of the most terrifying things Danny had ever done. And he just hoped he hadn't made a huge mistake.
Authors notes
OMG, This chapter was so hard to write! I had rewritten it at least 4 times. XD. I had bad writer's block for the first half took me a bit to get over it. The end was always the same though. I have been waiting to write that scene since day one! Few.
Okay so forgive me if I have done anything wrong with General Ross I don't know the character that well. I hope everything was fine.
So most of the chapters so far have been more action and stuff like that. I have many fluff chapters that will be coming up soon and I am so excited for them. There will definitely be more action chapters too don't worry.
I am so happy that so many of you are loving this story. I have so many ideas! Hehe, Danny is now responsible for Loki. Ooo what's going to happen next? Please tell me what you thought of this chapter I worked so hard on it. Love you all!