Within seconds the corridor was filled with ghosts, mostly animal ghosts but there were a number of humanoid ones too, most looking extremely annoyed. But none of the ghosts paid any attention to Spiderman, his team, Agent Coulson and Nick Fury. Instead they glowered at Danny Phantom. A robotic looking ghost with flaming green hair grinned maliciously at the ghost teen.
"About time Whelp. But I see that we're not in the Ghost Zone. Thermos trouble?" the ghost leered. Danny scowled.
"You could say that Skulker," Danny replied, giving Nova a pointed glare.
"In that case, the hunt is on!" the ghost declared, earning more grins from the large crowd of ghosts. Without warning the ghosts lunged at Danny and a one sided fight broke out, Danny getting beaten up. Not knowing what to do, the humans and super powered teens stared in horror. Finally Danny was thrown into a wall and the ghosts dispersed, cackling loudly. Danny grumbled inaudibly under his breath as he got back to his feet.
"You alright?" Spiderman ventured. The ghost looked dishevelled, bruised and there were a few scratches on his face and through his suit.
"I'm swell. Give me the thermos," Danny snapped. Nova glanced nervously at Nick Fury.
"Phantom, we still want to look at it," Nick reminded the ghost. Danny scowled angrily.
"Look, I'll get you another one, but I need to get a move on if I want to stop those ghosts from trashing this place and getting out. Last I looked this place doesn't have a ghost shield, which means they can get out and attack anyone nearby, which they will do. Now give me the thermos, I can't catch them without it," Danny explained heatedly. Nick scowled.
"You'd steal a second thermos?" Nick pointed out.
"Yes, if it means I can get that one back now. Nick, I told you some ghosts are more dangerous than Technus, that includes some of the ghosts that guy just released. Give it back and I can start catching all those ghosts," Danny replied sharply. Nick nodded in understanding and waved to Nova begrudgingly. Nova floated down and handed the thermos to Danny. He grabbed the thermos and flew down the corridor after the ghosts.
"Spiderman, I want you and your team to keep an eye on him and help in any way you can," Nick informed the remaining teens. They nodded happily. This was their fault after all for not listening to the ghost. They sprinted after the angry ghost.
By the time they caught up with Danny, he'd already tracked down and was in the middle of fighting a ghost wolf. Danny kicked the ghost into a wall and grabbed his thermos and pointed it at the ghost and it screeched as it was sucked into the device. Danny huffed angrily and clipped the thermos to his belt.
"Should have just overshadowed the guy," the ghost grumbled as he scanned the hall ahead of him. Nova gulped, knowing that the ghost was talking about him. Spiderman glanced at Nova and cautiously cleared his throat.
Danny turned to them and scowled in annoyance.
"Let me guess, you're here to make sure I don't join the other ghosts," Danny accused.
"What? No! We're here to help. We're sorry we didn't listen to you," Spiderman corrected quickly. Danny raised an eyebrow but sighed in resignation.
"Fine, probably could use your help anyway. I've lost the other ghosts. It's going to take me a long time to track them all down, especially since I don't know this place. Why don't you start by giving me the grand tour," Danny decided, tone more annoyed now than angry.
"Sure, we can start this way," Spiderman decided and pointed down a corridor. The group of teens walked in relative silence. After a few minutes, Danny froze and gasped. A small puff of blue mist came from his mouth and he immediately fell into a defensive stance. A few steps later, Spiderman and his team noticed that Danny was no longer following them. Confused, they watched him.
Without any further warning a ghost eel swam through a wall and then spotted Danny. They had a moment of glaring at each other before the eel charged at Danny and Danny dodged the eel. Then the ghost teen's fist glowed green and he fired green energy at the eel. The eel was stunned by the blast and Danny quickly pulled out his thermos and with a flash of light and a cry of anguish, the ghost eel was caught. Danny then clipped the thermos back to his hip and motioned to the masked heroes to continue the tour wordlessly.
"You act like that was nothing," Powerman pointed out, a little in awe of the ghost. Danny shrugged.
"That's because it was. Pretty sure that that ghost only had the basic ghost powers, you know, flight, invisibility and intangibility," Danny replied, closing the gap between him and the superhero team.
"So, why're you so angry if those ghosts are that easy to catch?" Nova asked without thinking. Danny scowled in annoyance, his eyes flashing brightly momentarily.
"Because not all the ghosts are that easy! It took me almost a week to catch all these ghosts the first time around. At home, it would usually take me hours to track down all these ghosts and even then, I might miss a couple until they decide to pick a fight with me," Danny retorted angrily. Nova shrank away slightly. Spiderman noticed his team mate's nervousness and possible fear and stepped up to the ghost.
"We said we're sorry. And we are. But why do all those ghosts attack you anyway? Shouldn't you… I don't know, get along?" Spiderman ventured. Danny laughed bitterly.
"Right, and you get along with everyone you meet? Spiderman, ghosts are a lot more complex than most people think. Heck, the Fentons think ghosts can't feel or think or anything like that. Besides, I'm not exactly popular amongst my kind. Most ghosts hate me and attack me every chance they get," Danny explained, much less angry now.
Spiderman considered what Danny said. It made sense, Spiderman didn't get along with everyone. In fact, most people either hated Spiderman or was a villain or distrustful cop shooting him. There were very few people, especially before he joined SHIELD, that liked Spiderman. Suddenly Danny gasped and a puff of blue mist escaped his mouth.
"Excuse me a sec," he muttered and put some distance between him and the heroes as a massive white and green cobra slithered through the ceiling and wrapped itself around Danny. The heroes cried out in surprise and ran forward a couple of steps in an attempt to help the ghost teen. But Danny simply turned intangible and phased through the floor and reappeared a few feet away and blasted the snake with his green energy again. While the snake tried to gather itself, Danny pulled out his thermos and sucked the ghost cobra inside. Danny once again clipped the thermos to his belt and turned to the superheroes.
"What were we talking about again?" Danny prompted as though nothing had happened.
So, the whole thing is mostly an annoyance to Danny.
But there were a few powerful humanoid ghosts thrown in there too… any guesses who?
Let me know what you guys think so far.
Until the next chapter.