Spiderman took a steadying breath.
"We're coming with you. If Technus can take all those villains into the system, then you should be able to take us too," Spiderman reasoned. Danny looked ready to protest.
"You'll be outnumbered if you go alone," White Tiger added.
"Not to mention, we know SHIELD better than you," Powerman reminded the ghost. Danny folded his arms and scowled.
"I don't really have a choice do I?" He remarked. The heroes shook their heads. Danny sighed.
"Who's going to tell Nick what happened?" Danny asked.
"We could try to send a message when we get inside," Nova suggested.
"Or we could just use our coms," Iron Fist recommended and pulled his wrist up to himself and tapped on a now visible green watch.
Iron Fist took a step away and began to explain what happened to their boss. Danny then turned to the control panel and then scanned the team. He bit his lip and scowled in thought.
"Is something wrong?" Spiderman asked, noticing the ghost's expression. Danny shrugged.
"I've never tried to bring a human into a computer system before. Especially not so many. Turning so many people intangible is difficult, let alone turning them intangible enough to merge with the system. I'm worried that I won't be able to bring all of you," Danny admitted. Spiderman nodded but didn't know what to say. He didn't think that maybe Danny wouldn't be able to do what Technus could. He'd assumed that he could. But it seemed that Danny wasn't so sure.
Iron Fist turned off his watch and turned to his team.
"Director Fury says they've managed to track Technus and his associates. They've trapped them in a training programme for the time being. He said they'd try to alter the programme as much as possible to give us the advantage but he said first priority is to get those criminals out and then Danny can deal with the ghosts," Iron Fist explained. Danny nodded.
"Alright then, hold hands. I need to be in contact in order to spread my powers," Danny ordered. Spiderman and White Tiger grabbed Danny's hands and Nova grabbed White Tiger's, Powerman grabbed Spiderman's and Iron Fist held Powerman's.
Danny then took a deep breath and closed his eyes in concentration. His eyes snapped open and flashed pure green as he turned to group intangible and pulled them into the control panel. Suddenly they fell onto a grassy field. Danny got to his feet shakily and held his head as the superheroes gathered themselves. Spiderman noticed Danny's wooziness.
"You alright?" Spiderman asked nervously, he didn't want to push Danny too far. Danny shook his head slowly.
"Fine, just light headed. That always happens when I make a lot of people or something really big intangible. Give me a sec and I'll be back to normal," Danny assured the hero and took few deep steadying breaths.
While Danny recovered, Spiderman and his team scanned their surroundings and saw that they were not in a field after all, they were in a forest clearing.
"Wow, Nick sure knows how to build a training programme," Danny commented as he floated up a few feet and turned slowly in a circle, clearly recovered.
"You should see the LMDs," Powerman suggested with a smirk.
"LMDs?" Danny repeated confused.
"Life Model Decoys. They're really realistic. SHIELD got hacked once and a mutant tricked us into following a fake Nick Fury's orders," Spiderman explained with a shrug. Danny nodded.
"Think I'd like to see one of these LMDs," Danny agreed.
"Might help with my grades," he muttered so soft that Spiderman was sure that he wasn't meant to have heard the comment. Spiderman decided to ignore the peculiar comment and cleared his throat.
"Alright team, we're not going to find these criminals or ghosts just standing here. We need to start looking," Spiderman announced and led the way into the dark forest.
The group of teens walked silently through the trees, keeping a sharp eye and ear out for any sign of the villains. Everyone was tense, ready for a fight or to dodge an unexpected attack. Danny frowned at the trees and looked up. Without a word, he floated upwards and scanned the forest canopy. He spotted a mountain. He also noticed that the sky looked unnatural, bright and sunny, no clouds but also no sun was visible. He floated back down to the heroes.
"I'm going to go ahead. Hopefully I can draw them out. Skulker won't pass up a chance to fire a weapon at me at least," Danny told them and before any of them could object, he zoomed off through the trees.
"Is that a good idea?" White Tiger asked. Spiderman shrugged.
"He seems to know what he's doing. And he did read the situation at the cells pretty well," Spiderman observed.
"I don't know Webs. What if it was all an act? I mean, Fury usually doesn't read people so bad. He seemed to think that Danny wasn't an ally as such. More like the Hulk before you made friends. An animal that you could only hope to aim away from you. He knew you weren't a menace," Nova interjected. Spiderman frowned.
"You heard how powerful Danny is, bucket head. He could have beaten you up and taken his thermos. But he didn't. He asked for it back," Spiderman pointed out.
"What do you think Fist?" Powerman inquired. Iron Fist, the most spiritual of the group, frowned in thought.
"I don't feel any… malevolence from that ghost. But I don't understand his reasons for his actions. I do believe he thinks he's doing what's right but it would be wise to be cautious. He seems… more unstable and unpredictable than the other ghosts," Iron Fist explained.
"I think we can trust Danny, guys. He's helping us and he brought us in here," Spiderman decided.
"Spidey… you have read people wrong in the past. I mean you thought you could change Sandman," White Tiger pointed out.
"And let's not forget Andy Android," Powerman interjected.
"Or what about swarm?" Nova added.
"What has that got to do with me judging people wrong?" Spiderman retorted. Nova blinked.
"Oh, I thought we were just recalling times Web head messed up," Nova mumbled.
Spiderman scowled underneath his mask and folded his arms.
"Whatever. I know we can trust Danny. I just get this feeling about him. Like he understands us more than we think. He's been pretty truthful with us. He admitted to stealing that thermos. He told us the powers he had," Spiderman pointed out.
"Then why do those Guys in White guys want to catch him so badly?" Powerman inquired. Spiderman huffed in annoyance.
"I don't know! Why does J.J.J. hate me?" Spiderman growled angrily.
"Maybe because you wreck his bill boards, his screens and that satellite," Nova guessed. Spiderman shook his head.
"Spidey, I know you like to look for the good in people, but there has to be a reason why Danny is so disliked. Maybe we should be cautious with how we deal with Danny. Just until we're sure he can be trusted," White Tiger suggested.
"Which is why we just let him fly off to who knows where," Nova remembered.
"Fine, if you guys are so worried, Nova find and follow Danny. If he argues, tell him we thought he should have some back up, just in case," Spiderman decided. Nova bit his lip nervously but didn't object before flying off to find the ghost teen.
"Meanwhile, we should keep looking for those supervillains and ghosts," Spiderman concluded once Nova had gone.
Well, couldn't have all the heroes being too trusting.
Let me know what you guys think.
Someone asked if Sandman was good at this point, and no. He isn't. This fanfic is set after the team move out of Aunt May's but before the triskellion was built.
Don't forget to check out my website and cast your vote in the poll. It will be closing after chapter 11. Don't miss out. There's a link in my bio.
Until the next chapter.