Arrival
Ever since his identity as 'the ghost kid' had been revealed while saving two worlds from an asteroid, Danny had found himself with little free time to himself. If he wasn't being swarmed by paparazzi wanting to know every detail about his life, he was mobbed by girls wanting a slice of the 'Danny Phantom pie' so to speak. It got so bad that Sam almost knocked a few of their teeth out. Thankfully, when you can turn invisible, slipping past these mobs is a cinch. His friends suspected that it was this reason that Danny had been spending a lot of time down in the basement alone. Tucker, too, had been meaning to ask him about why he had requested some very odd, but devastating weapons designs that Danny had proposed. He had said that the purpose behind them was to better fight off ghosts, but Tucker knew when Danny was hiding something.
On one afternoon, Sam and Tucker were going to Danny's house to hang out as they usually did, as they resolved not to let the fact that one was a ghostly superhero and another was town mayor stop them from being themselves. Tucker had knocked on the front door and Jack, Danny's father, answered.
"Oh, Mr. Mayor. Welcome to our humble home," Jack greeted.
"Please, there's no need for that. While I'm here, I'm just Tucker," Tucker rebuffed.
"Where's Danny?" Sam asked. Jack's smile faded a tiny bit.
"Where he usually is," Jack answered. The mood changed while Sam and Tucker were being let inside. They could hear the sound of what sounds like weapons fire coming from the basement, and that could mean only one thing, Danny was testing the new weapons that Tucker had made for him.
"He's been doing that quite a lot lately. We're starting to worry," Jazz piped up.
"We'll see what we can do, but no promises," Sam replied. They went down to the basement where the Fenton portal to the Ghost Zone was, and it was there where they found that Danny had set up a makeshift firing range, only instead of the typical circular targets, they were triangles instead, and all of them had crude drawings of a singular eye and a bow tie on them.
"Commence weapons testing recording of Anti-Cipher prototype quantum rifle. Phase 1 testing initiate," Danny dictated to a recording set up he put together. He had been recording and reviewing the effects that the weapons had. Every test he had performed all had satisfactory results on the range, but Danny couldn't help but wonder if it would be enough against the real thing. He fired the quantum rifle at another target, which disintegrated with almost no kickback. "Results of quantum rifle test prove successful on target. Will commence testing of prototype photon blades next week," Danny ended testing for the day.
"Nice to see you've been trying my latest commission for you," Tucker joked.
"These weapons will do perfectly, thanks again," Danny responded. Sam, however, was inspecting the targets that Danny had used.
"You said these things were for fighting ghosts, but I've never seen this one before. What's he called, the Specter of Isosceles?" Sam quipped.
"This is no laughing matter. The damage this guy can do, well let's just say you'll be glad we had these. They may be our only defence," Danny dismissed.
"Said the human/ghost hybrid who can shoot energy out of his hands, breathe ice, and fly. What makes Pythagoras over here so intimidating?" Tucker inquired.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Danny replied. Sam and Tucker almost took offence to that remark.
"After everything we've seen, all the ghosts we've fought, what makes you think we wouldn't believe you?" Sam probed.
"We can handle it. Trust us," Tucker urged. Danny sighed heavily.
"OK, it's better if I showed you, but you won't like it," Danny resigned.
"After having Vlad as mayor, nothing will phase me," Sam assured. Danny was about to show them footage of the triangle's previous visit when a beeping noise could be heard from the Fenton speeder.
"What is that?" Tucker queried. Danny went to check and when he saw what was making the noise, his worst fears had been confirmed.
"Oh, no. I thought we'd have longer," Danny remarked.
"Why? What is it?" Sam questioned.
"This means that the time for further testing is over. These weapons have to be ready now. You still want answers, then come with me, but as I said, the story isn't pretty," Danny pressed.
Danny, you're starting to scare me. What's going on?" Sam asked.
"Hold all questions until we get there," Danny rebuked. He opened up the Fenton portal and started the vehicle. They travelled through the Ghost Zone until they came across a hub of sorts, with various portals leading who-knows-where. "This is a dimensional nexus. From here, we can go to other worlds, but the one we're looking for is similar to our own," Danny explained.
"And you found this how?" Tucker queried.
"It's safer to say I stumbled upon it by accident," Danny clarified. He found the portal he was looking for and took them through. The group ended up in some sort of chamber, although it looked more like a bank vault than anything else. It had a portal device similar to the one in the basement inside, only the design was like nothing Tucker had seen before.
"This kinda looks like the HQ for the Guys in White," Tucker said.
"It isn't. A friend of mine works here," Danny calmed tensions. Before anyone else could speak, a singular guard approached them.
"Can I help you?" the guard demanded. Danny then produced a communicator from his pocket.
"The Captain is expecting me," Danny replied. At first, the guard was skeptical, but upon inspection of the communication device, he knew that Danny was telling the truth. He took out a device of his own that looked like a portable iris scanner.
"Heightened security policy. My apologies, but everyone has to be cleared before they can see him, your friends included. You understand, right?" the guard informed.
"I get it. Do what you will," Danny allowed the guard to scan his, Sam's, and Tucker's eyes. Upon confirmation that they were clean, the guard informed the captain's yeoman over comms that his appointment has arrived and escorted the group to the captain's office.
In light of the discovery that magic itself has vanished, Albert, Stanford, Kilstone, and Monogram were discussing alternative defence options against Bill. Thankfully, there have been no Bill sightings since they got back, but they weren't about to rest on their laurels. Deep down, Albert knew something big was going to happen, and soon.
"We have an entire archive of inventions that Phineas and Ferb have built over the years. We could utilise them," Kilstone suggested.
"Haven't those boys been through enough with Bill? To tell Phineas that Bill has returned would break him irreparably," Monogram shot down.
"One, they already know. Phineas took it rather well, all things considered. Two, what about time weapons? Brick and Savannah have given us plenty," Kilstone piped up.
"When you mess with time, it has nasty consequences and it should only be done if there is no other way," Albert pointed out.
"Like with Earthguard," Kilstone commented.
"All is not lost. With luck my message was received," Albert said with some hope.
"What message?" Monogram probed. Just then, Albert's yeoman was on the line.
"Sir, your appointment is here," the yeoman alerted Albert.
"Good, send him in," Albert instructed. The person he contacted came into his office. What took the three other men by surprise was that the door was still closed, he had walked through it.
"Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce this dimension's only human-ghost hybrid and, hopefully, our salvation. Say hello to Danny Phantom," Albert introduced the boy dressed in black with a white 'DP' logo on his chest and hair as white as snow. Meanwhile, Sam and Tucker had to physically open the door to come in.
"So, he has returned then?" Danny asked morbidly.
"I'm afraid so, my friend. What's worse is that the current circumstances have left us almost defenceless, hence why I called you," Albert responded.
"What's it like out there?" Danny inquired.
"In short, a catastrophe. Through the destruction of magic itself, our world has become fused with another. We've been adapting as best we can, and Moon and Eclipsa have been a big help, but we still need something of a fighting chance," Albert briefed.
"I see, well we have weapons in the speeder back in the vault. Maybe you can use those," Danny suggested.
"Kilstone, have a tech team examine these weapons, see if we can make some of our own," Albert ordered. Kilstone acknowledged the order and left to carry it out. Meanwhile, Tucker chose this moment to clear his throat in a way to draw attention to himself.
"Meanwhile, Danny, I'd like to know how you know this guy. Who is he? What is this place? What is this great threat you're fighting right now?" Tucker quizzed.
"Yes, I'd like to know where you managed to find a human/ghost hybrid. In all my years, I have never seen anyone like him," Stanford added.
Well, I suppose it's storytime, then. It all started just after the Cipher War ended, and we were on the long road to recovery after having nearly lost everything…." Albert recalled.
Flashback to three days after the end of the Cipher War
Danny, Sam, and Tucker were down in the basement, going over the diversion that Tucker had in mind for Danny. He had wanted to get away from the mobs that followed him everywhere he went, asking for autographs, requesting TV appearances and interviews, and then there were the fan mobs. It seems every girl, and even a few boys, Sam noticed, had a crush on Danny Phantom. Even though he had said to multiple media outlets that Sam was his girlfriend, they were persistent. In the end, Tucker came up with an idea to take his mind off it all, send Danny on a mission to map out the Ghost Zone in full. It didn't compare to fighting Skulker or pranking Vlad, but it was better than being hounded by mobs.
"What is this?" Danny asked, upon finding a small device that looked like a pager but had some weird modifications attached to it.
"Oh, that's a prototype for an inter-dimensional communicator. I've been studying inter-dimensional physics in between homework and mayoral duties. It's quite the diversion," Tucker replied.
"Just when I thought you couldn't get any brainier," Sam remarked.
"What if Danny gets lost? He might need that. It helps to be prepared," Tucker countered.
"I'll be fine, Tucker. I'm pretty sure the mobs won't follow me in, plus the ghosts are not fans of mine, but they know not to pick a fight. Well, most of them anyway. But I have to ask, why would we need a map of the Ghost Zone again?" Danny inquired.
"Research purposes. There's still lots we don't know about it. Aren't you the least bit curious?" Tucker probed.
"Honestly, no, but I figure a map will make my dad happy, so might as well," Danny replied and started up the Fenton speeder. Once the portal to the Ghost Zone was open, Danny took the speeder in. The inter-dimensional communicator flared to life and Tucker's voice came out of it.
"Comms systems check. Can you hear me?" Tucker checked in.
"Loud and clear. All good so far. The sooner we get this done, the sooner Sam and I can go see that movie," Danny notified. It was tough arranging their first official date with paparazzi following Danny everywhere. They wanted to not be disturbed, but Danny's new-found fame made that nearly impossible. They had an idea to get around that; leak it to some magazines that they were going to be somewhere else for their date and watch from afar as the privacy invaders flocked to find absolutely nothing while they enjoyed themselves far away from them.
"Well, Danny suggested a karaoke date, but you really don't want to hear him sing," Sam responded.
"Hey! I have a great singing voice," Danny rebuffed.
"Yeah, our choir teacher would disagree with that statement," Sam bantered.
"My voice was breaking," Danny argued.
"Keep telling yourself that," Tucker teased. Suddenly, Danny's instruments started going haywire. The speeder was hit by turbulence and being rocked to and fro, with no sign as to what the cause was.
"Guys, I'm going to have to turn around. This area's proving very unstable," Danny updated.
"But that area's uncharted. Not even the ghosts go anywhere near that part of the Zone," Tucker said worryingly.
"I've got no choice. If I stay here any longer, the speeder will break apart," Danny replied and he took the speeder out of the turbulent area. The turbulence ceased and the speeder was stable again. "Any idea what that was about?" Danny probed.
"Beats me, but I'm getting some odd readings from that area. It seems there are multiple breaches in the fabric of space-time that have made the area a little sensitive. Best chart that part later, when they've healed fully," Tucker explained.
"Space-time breaches? What could've caused them, and why do they make travel so bumpy?" Danny questioned.
"The first one's a complete mystery, but the second one should be relatively easy to answer. Think of a space-time breach as a hole in your shirt, and you travelling around or through it as sticking your finger through said hole. It'll just make the hole bigger and you'll most likely struggle to get it out again," Tucker lectured. There wasn't much time to contemplate the breaches any further, as Danny was now focussing on where he was right now. He found himself surrounded by portals on all sides. Maneuvering around them was going to take skill. But before he could react, one portal appeared in front of him and engulfed the speeder.
"Guys, I've got a problem here!" Danny said before the comms went dead. Tucker tried to re-establish, to no avail.
At Excalibur HQ, Albert and the rest of his staff were monitoring the global recovery from the Cipher War. He was pleased to note that many Anti-Bill resistance movements were coming up from the sewers to find their homes and businesses restored and were re-adjusting to normal life. Numerous world leaders were directing all their efforts to healing the physical and mental scars that the war left behind, while also rebuilding their security in the event of another attack, though that seemed unlikely. All in all, Albert, and the world at large considered themselves extremely lucky.
But Albert knew that luck had nothing to do with it. It was only through the sacrifice of a boy named Milo Murphy, the one who was willing to lose everything to save them all, that Bill was defeated. Miraculously, he survived the ordeal, but he went in expecting to meet his maker. Knowing that Milo sought neither fame nor glory, Albert did his best to keep Milo's part of events out of the official story. Instead, the story went that the zodiac weapon was assembled successfully and was instrumental to Bill's downfall, which was true to an extent.
That didn't matter now. What mattered in this instance was the election of a new President of the United States, since Bill murdered the previous commander-in-chief as his opening act that started the war. There were two chosen candidates, a woman named Essery, who previously served as Senator for Ohio. A distinguished political veteran, she championed the need for international co-operation and unity, that the US should work with its neighbours to establish peace and security. The second candidate was a man named Simon Edwards. Albert knew little about him, save that he was wealthy, and had funded a new security network called the Overseer Project. He stated that Overseer could guard the US' technologies against invasion and infiltration from the likes of Bill, and it could link to phones, laptops, any device connected to the Internet.
While Albert never got involved with matters such as this, he had to keep an eye on this election because the President was one of a select few people on Earth who had the clearance to know about Excalibur, and whoever was elected, he had to brief about the organisation and what it had the power to do. But he had little time to dwell on this since he had an organisation to rebuild. His yeoman approached him with an update.
"Captain, I am pleased to report that all departments are operating at peak efficiency. Our agents in the field have been re-inserted into their respective positions and all systems are back online," the yeoman informed. Excalibur had very minor rebuilding pains, seeing as how the majority of their staff had been petrified and turned into a Bill statue just last week and had to undergo physical and mental therapy before Albert could approve their return to work. Before the yeoman could update further, an alert buzzed on the monitor.
"Sir, we are monitoring an unknown object flying over Danville airspace," one of Albert's employees notified him over comms.
"Track its course," Albert instructed. As they did so, they noticed that the object, whatever it was, was flying very erratically. Finally, it impacted the ground, thankfully far away from any populated areas. Excalibur had tracked the unidentified interdimensional object as it crashed into the Tri-State Area. Since the end of the Cipher War, tensions were high as some were skeptical about Bill's supposed death. Was he really gone? Was this another one of his tricks? Albert was quick to order the crash site sealed off from a curious public. He ordered a team to investigate and Kilstone, the team leader had just reported in.
"We did a clean sweep, Captain. We found nothing except one survivor, teenage male, unconscious, awaiting evaluation from our medic," Kilstone gave his report.
"What is the extent of his injuries?" Albert inquired.
"For someone who was in the pilot's seat when it crashed, his injuries were light. He is incredibly lucky, if I may say so," Kilstone answered.
"And the vehicle itself?" Albert asked.
"It's in salvageable condition, but it's not going anywhere anytime soon," Kilstone updated. Albert thought about this for a moment. "Should we take the boy to a local hospital, Captain?" Kilstone probed.
"No. Bring both the boy and the vehicle to HQ. I'll have engineering and medical teams examine them," Albert ordered.
"As you wish, Captain," Kilstone acknowledged. He had the field medic load the boy onto a transport. Kilstone could not help but notice the boy's clothes, which were black and white with the initials 'DP' on the front, and his hair was whiter than any senior citizen he'd met previously. He was able to establish his name from a student ID card found in his wallet. From it, Kilstone learned that the boy's name was Daniel Fenton.
"If his last name's Fenton, what does the 'P' stand for?" Kilstone asked himself. After the vehicles containing the boy and the crashed vehicle arrived at Excalibur HQ, Doctor Pike saw the boy to the medical bay, while an engineering team led by Paulina Farran, a graduate from MIT with a master's degree in engineering that Albert brought on after he heard she had family in Gravity Falls when Bill attacked the first time, took the vehicle to engineering.
"Kilstone, you have a look at the vehicle, see what we can ascertain from it. I'll investigate the boy," Albert ordered. Kilstone accompanied Farran to engineering while Albert went with Doctor Pike to the medical bay. What Pike found a bit excessive was Albert ordering two security guards to the entrance of the medical bay.
"Do they really need to be here?" Pike asked bluntly.
"You never know, this could be one of 'his' ploys," Albert answered.
"Well, I would say that's stretching it, but after examining his bloodwork, I found something unusual," Pike replied. Now Albert was curious. "Have a look down this microscope. Tell me what you see," Pike guided. Albert did so. He saw normal human cells, but something was off. "It's present throughout his body. Somehow his DNA is a mix of human and some other organism I cannot identify. He's a hybrid," Pike explained.
"Is he part nightmare beast?" Albert wondered.
"No. If I may offer my opinion, I don't think he's an agent of Bill, willing or otherwise," Pike replied. Albert gave this some thought.
"Is it possible he might be able to tell us?" Albert probed.
"I don't see why not. He should be safe to answer some questions when he wakes up, but I wouldn't push him too much," Pike briefed.
"Fix him up as best you can. Inform me when he regains consciousness," Albert concluded.
"Aye, captain," Pike acknowledged and returned to his patient. The base comms then came to life.
"Kilstone to Captain," Kilstone called.
"Albert here," Albert replied.
"Farran has acquired the data from the vehicle's onboard computer. Apparently, it was mapping a realm called the 'Ghost Zone' when it fell through a portal and crashed. We're still sifting through the data from the black box, but we've determined that neither the boy nor the vehicle originated from the Nightmare Realm," Kilstone outlined. Relieved to hear that, Albert ordered security in the medical bay to stand down. Still, the existence of a 'Ghost Zone' was a subject worth looking into at some point.
"Did the data say anything about our patient?" Albert inquired.
"Only that his name's Daniel Fenton, he's 14 years of age and he's some sort of human/ghost hybrid. We should have more within the hour," Kilstone responded.
"Keep me posted," Albert said and terminated the call. His attention then turned to the boy he now knew was called Daniel Fenton. "Well, it seems like you have a lot of questions to answer," Albert mused.
Author's note: Well here it is, my first Danny Phantom story. I hope I do it right. Admittedly, I have only marathoned the show once, but it was a good run. I am also a little nervous. While I do have an idea of where I want the story to go, I am worried that it may not be long enough. Still, I'll do my best. I also need to correct a mistake I made in my last author's note. In it, I said I'd be returning to work in a few days. At the time, I thought that was true, but upon my arrival, I learned that while teaching staff at my college returned that day, technician staff (i.e. me) do not return until September, so I had time to start this. The usual disclaimers, I own nothing. Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon own Danny Phantom. Enjoy.