Chapter is a bit late tonight, sorry, but here it is!
Amity Park, Three Years Before Present...
"So, you got blackmailed by a caveman." Dani deadpanned at him.
Danny glowered at his clone/cousin/whatever. He hated that she put it like that, "Vandal's not blackmailing me."
"I mean, there are a lot of implications for what happens if you don't join this, what? Evil team-up?" Tucker pointed out from where he sat.
"Organization for the betterment of mankind." Danny quoted robotically.
"Gotta say, that sounds pretty evil." Dani pointed out.
The three of them were plopped in his office, formerly one of the bedrooms of his old house. The building had been turned into a proper office/research facility; it always had the potential for. The exterior hadn't changed much but the interior spaces had been entirely redone with the exception of the lab in the basement and the Saucer on top.
"To be honest, it sounds nice enough on the service, work with like minded individuals, sometimes behind the scenes, sometimes at the forefront in order to bring about the betterment of mankind as a whole, not just a few super powerful individuals like the justice league turning everyone else into essentially sheep. It seems like a good choice to go for." Danny elaborated.
"I'm sensing a "but" here." Tucker theorized.
"But… it also feels pretty obvious what happens if I say no. It's the trap, I say yes and I'm in with all the benefits, I decide no and well." He gestured around vaguely. "I'll be disappearing, and not in the usual way."
"I doubt he told you as much though." Dani commented offhandedly. "Ugh, this reminds me of Vlad."
"Vlad was a businessman and this guy knows business and more. A lot more."
"Hmm." Tucker didn't actually give his own opinion, likely not wanting to openly discuss the fact that Danny was beginning to resemble Vlad a lot in his own ways. Silently he thanked his friend for not bringing it to the forefront.
"So what does he want from you exactly." Dani asked. "He wants you to join, sure, but why? What do you bring to the table that he can't get elsewhere."
The elder halfa snorted. "Feeling the love there Danielle. But you're not wrong, I had the same thoughts."
"What's the answer he gave you then?"
"Well the answer he gave me is that he wants open access to FentonWorks tech, I mean, we can create flying vehicles and energy weapons. And I believe that's true on some level at least…" He explained.
"That part makes sense, though if he wanted stuff from you he could have tried to buy you out, or just buy from you."
"He knows about the ghost stuff and he already thinks I overshadowed people to maintain my current position." Only partially true, there had been some overshadowing involved but Fentonwork's initial baggage had kept problems away until they'd already stabilized, the only overshadowing involved had been to get investors. Well that and one guy from Axion who had tried to trick him into handing over the company.
Probably should have dissolved Axion labs when he had the chance. He'd deal with it later.
"Well that's the reason he gave me, I'm betting he wants something else.
"He wants the Ghost Zone." Tucker realized.
"Access to it at least." Danny confirmed. He had managed to figure that part out pretty quickly. "An alternate dimension connected to ours, the way he talked about the world and humanity, he wants to make sure it either isn't a threat or that the status quo is maintained while taking advantage of it."
"What are you planning to do then?" His clone asked him.
"We already know what's going to happen if I refuse and really," He stood up and stretched, turning to look out the window at the darkened street below. "Is it really such a bad thing to let them have access to the zone, through us and us alone? We may be able to control what they see and what they know about it."
"That's a risky gambit." Danielle warned.
"Think about it though, what reason is there to say no to him? He might have his own goals but then again so do we. I want FentonWorks to thrive and be what it always had the potential to be and I think that this might just be the chance I've been looking for." He picked up the glass on his desk and took a sip.
"What you need to remember is that even if he's using me to get what he wants, I'll be doing the same thing. It's a win-win scenario for the both of us. All we have to do is keep tight-lipped about how the portal works and we'll always have the advantage in any negotiation involving the ghost zone." He sat down behind his desk.
"You have a few good points." Tucker admitted to him. He shaked his head, sighing. "I don't like it though, I get the idea once you're in, it's for life."
"Good thing I'm already dead." Danny joked, a thoughtful smile on his face. "We'll need to let Sam know about this, honestly it could be helpful for her position depending on who else is going to be on the payroll."
"Or detrimental." Dani warned standing up herself. "I wouldn't be surprised if he's got a few politicians in his pocket, he may want his own people on top."
"Sam's running for senate of one state, she definitely has plans beyond that but for now there shouldn't be any conflict of interests." Tucker pointed out.
"True." The ghost girl admitted. "I'm heading home for the night, try not to get mugged by a Viking."
"That is at least a few million years separate from each other." His tech minded friend whined at her.
"Semantics." She waved off as she left the room.
"I'll be heading out as well." Tucker told him. "Are you going to let Jazz know about this yet, or after you give your answer?"
"I'm not sure yet." Danny admitted. "Jazz has her own things going on and I'd like to keep the number of people aware of the Light to a minimum for now. I might not tell her at all unless she wants to take a more active role in the company."
"Careful not to shut her out too much." Tucker told him.
Danny rolled his eyes. "I'm not shutting her out, she's my sister. Just because I don't tell her about the morally dubious organization I'm going to join doesn't mean I'm ignoring her."
The other man held his hands up in surrender. "Fair enough. I'll see you tomorrow."
"'Night Tuck." The halfa responded as the door closed behind him. He sighed and leaned back in his chair a moment. Running through everything again in his mind.
Danny knew he had never been the smartest. It had been very obvious when he was younger, but it was a skill he was working on. Oddly enough, while he might not have been the best at figuring things out, he was pretty good at processing things. Basically he was a fast thinker but he wasn't very good at applying it. Give him a room full of people and he could probably figure out what everyone had been doing, but ask him why they'd been doing it and he'd stare at you numbly.
At least he was aware of his limits, and he'd been able to pull off some clutch victories in the past. He had a slight suspicion his ghost powers may have affected the way that he thought sometimes. There was no concrete evidence just a feeling he'd occasionally get when talking to others and he'd consider something that just seemed completely outside of normal human thought.
Accepting that joining the Light would be the best for not just himself but FentonWorks as a whole as well as beneficial to some of his loved ones was the first step.
Making sure they wouldn't try and push their luck and try abusing their new relationship was the next step.
He pulled out his private laptop and went through Team Phantom's old ghost files. He'd need to keep the Ghost Zone under a tighter leash if he wanted to maintain a beneficial relationship with the light. Not necessarily a violent or cruel leash, but a firm one nonetheless.
If there was one thing that not being the smartest had done for him, it had given him an appreciation for hard work, and it was time to do just that.
Days Later…
"As our first order of business today I'd like to welcome our newest member, Mr. Daniel Fenton, CEO of FentonWorks." L-1, or Vandal introduced him to the other leaders of the Light.
Danny looked at the other screens, or at least the boxes that contained the other faces. He was not entirely impressed with the setup but he supposed it was easier to do this remotely, at least initially while the organization was still growing its roots.
"Thank you." He accepted the introduction. "I'm sure our working relationship will be mutual beneficial, not just for us but for all of mankind."
"FentonWorks? I believe I've heard of you. I suppose if L-1 decided to reach out to you there's a bit more to your so-called clean energy?" L-3 or if he was correct, Lex Luthor asked. He was not particularly surprised that something as big as LexCorp was a member but he wondered what exactly Luthor was bringing to the table.
"It is clean, well ecologically at least." Danny smiled in remembrance of some of the messes of green goo that the earlier works of his parents had made. "But you're right that there's more to it than that."
"I look forward to learning more." The Halfa kept his grimace from showing. He had no intention of letting his company be eaten up by LexCorp anytime soon.
"I must admit I question what a small company can bring to the table no matter what your technology is." L-6 questioned. Danny had no frame of reference for this one, it looked like a brain in a jar. A very technologically advanced jar, but still a jar.
"It's not necessarily what his company can offer that led me to extend an offer." Vandal, or apparently L-1 explained.
"True, I was wondering how open you were going to be about it Vandal, or should I stick to the codename?" He asked the immortal man.
"Codenames please, they're not exactly needed at this phase but it would be best if we became used to them sooner as opposed to later. We will be acting anonymously as we reach out in the future and it would be better if no slip ups are made." Savage explained.
"Alright, L-1 brought me on due to my connections to the former hero Danny Phantom, alongside access to his point of origin, and yes I know about the name similarities there's a reason for that." Danny was careful with his words for now, not sure if he would let the truth out in this initial meeting or the near future.
"Ah right, some so-called ghost hero ran around for a few years before dropping off the face of Earth." L-2 recognized, jeez, that haircut looks like it came right out of an old horror movie.
"It's surprising how quickly you realize that hero's cause more problems than they solve when a town is literally under siege from an alternate dimension." Danny explained. "But that's the main reason I was brought on, I have access to that dimension and a significant amount of sway among its inhabitants."
"Ah right, I forgot the big bad king woke up a few years ago, I was ready to take my shit and leave the house before he was put back to sleep." L-7 sneered out. "You've got access to the infinite realms? Make sure to check under your bed at night."
Danny deadpanned at the odd looking… boy(?) That was L-7. "I'm guessing you at least have a passing knowledge of it? Anyway, I have some of the general details in a file I'll make available to you all, I'd rather avoid spending the entire meeting expositing details about it."
"I'll take you up on that." The only woman among the group, L-4 smiled at him in a way that could only be called seductive. He felt his chest flutter at the look and quickly realized what she was doing.
"L-4 play nice, we've only just met the young man." L-2 shut her down quickly.
"*ahem*" L-1 coughed to refocus the meeting. "Now that L-8's introduction is out of the way we have other matters to discuss. The Justice League has begun vetting members for their "next wave" other heroes who have been around a few years and were not already a part of the league. We unfortunately do not have access to their internal memos as of yet so we'll have to do research the old fashioned way. Let's see if any of the potential members have something we can exploit to either take them off the roster or manipulate them in some way."
"I'll be able to create a comprehensive list of all the potential heroes." L-6 announced.
"Aquaman might let something slip to me if I press him correctly." L-5 added into the conversation.
Seeing a chance to contribute Danny took it. "I have someone who can create a comprehensive list of strengths and weaknesses if you point him in the right direction. He'd make a bit of noise with it but he's good at what he does."
"Very well, you three communicate after the meeting and get to work on the most likely members." L-1 confirmed. "Next we need…"
The rest of the meeting passed fairly quickly and Danny remained quiet for the most part aside from voicing an opinion or two. He was not quite willing to let too much go too quickly to these people.
After the meeting he and the other two who offered to look into the potential league members spoke and he got some names for the two of them. The Brain for L-6 and Ocean Master, for L-5
"Once you get the list I'll speak to Orin, see if I can get an idea for who they're focusing on. Daniel, will your man be able to hit all of them?" Ocean Master decided.
"He'd probably love to but I've also got to make sure he doesn't go too far with any of them, I'm not sure if he could actually beat them or not but it's better safe than sorry. Also we probably shouldn't have him attack all the potential members." Danny suggested.
"True, focusing on all will arouse suspicion of potential information leaks. Further suggestion, target unlikely heroes as well, potentially villains as well and original members of League." The Brain explained.
"Agreed. I'll get in contact with him tonight, tell him to prepare for the hunt of his life." He smiled at the irony of what he was going to be doing.
Skulker better appreciate this chance to stretch his legs. Or jetpack as it were.
Shortish chapter but I think a lot happened here.
I'm not sure what else to say about the chapter itself and unlike my other stories I'm not going to go through all the reviews as there were quite a few of them. Especially for the first chapter.
That being said I still very much appreciate the reviews. So do not let this dissuade you, just because I don't write a response to them does not mean I do not read them.
On a related note, come on guys. Can we not get into a debate about whether Danny could beat Superman or not? Like some of you had points, but again, this is Superman, Danny's powerset is much more diverse but I don't think he has anything to actually hurt the guy. Like being able to reach inside of him with intangibility does not do much if you can't do any damage.
Actually the Ghostly Wail would probably hurt him, but Superman's survived sonic attacks before.
Regardless, any theoretical fight with the blue boyscout is a long way off for now, just enjoy the evil.
Until next chapter!
~FriTik
R&R
