Predictably, the sand dumped them on top of yet more sand.
"Oh, jeez," said Valerie, squirming. "I think there's sand in my underwear."
"The risks of going to the beach."
"This is not a beach."
In fact, they seemed to be in the middle of a sweltering wasteland. Tucker scanned the green and swirling sky for landmarks. Although things moved frequently in the Ghost Zone, they tended to move together.
Tucker shrugged. "It's sort of a beach. Beach-like, anyway. You should suit up."
Valerie scowled at him, but activated her suit, the red crawling over her limbs. Before it had finished assembling, Tucker had roughly figured out where they were.
"Far Frozen is the closest. Unfortunately, Skulker's Island is closer." He pointed at the skull-shaped island. "We'll want to avoid him until we have backup, but we might want to swing by later."
"You're kidding," said Valerie.
"Not really. He's a pain, but he's got that weird sense of honor. He won't go after Danny when he's mind controlled."
"Yeah, but he might go after me. Or one of you two idiots. It's not like Norse gods are common." She flicked her hand out towards Thor, then looked at him. "What is he doing?"
Thor was also surveying the sky, looking grim. "So… This is Helheim."
"Maybe?" said Tucker with a shrug. "I don't really know how well your history lines up with mythology, or even if there are, like, other afterlives. Could be a completely different afterlife."
"It will be difficult to find Banner here. I had hoped he would be somewhere nearby."
Tucker hadn't. He was all for giving the guy a good long time to cool down.
"Well, maybe we can get Skulker to find him for us. He's good at that kind of thing."
"Yeah, if you want him to hunt Dr. Banner down," said Valerie.
Tucker turned to look at her. "You sound very incredulous for someone who came to help me recruit ghosts to fight aliens."
"And you sound very judgmental for a guy who's going to be riding shotgun on my hoverboard."
"Hey, this staff isn't just for show. I can fly, too."
"You what?"
.
"Oh, hey, is that who I think it is?" asked Tucker as they started to angle down into the heart of the Far Frozen.
"It is!" exclaimed Thor, putting on a burst of speed. "Banner!"
Dr. Banner jumped, partially dislodging the thick fur blanket the yeti's had draped around his shoulders.
Well. That was easier than expected.
"Don't startle me," he said. "Did you not see what just happened?" He stressed the words, but the rest of him was a picture of practiced calm.
"Now, now," said Frostbite, "I think you have a much better handle on your condition than you think."
Dr. Banner responded by rubbing his face. "Everything about this week is so… How did you even get here?"
"Magic," said Tucker, raising his staff. "And Valerie's hoverboard."
"And my hammer! It's good to see you, Dr. Banner!"
"You're a doctor!" exclaimed Frostbite. "Why didn't you say so? We're always thrilled to meet fellow healers."
"Oh," said Dr. Banner. "Um. I didn't realize you were…"
"The Far Frozen has some of the best doctors in the Realms," said Tucker.
"We like to think so, certainly! Are you here to pick up your friend? Will the Great One be joining us as well?"
"Er, about that. We need your help…"
.
Stark Tower was in that strange architectural limbo between 'almost finished' and 'move-in day.' Sure, such a big building in such a big city would have people moving in as it was finished, not just after the finishing touches, but it was far from full. The top, private, floors were the only ones that were entirely fit for habitation. Most floors lacked furniture, finished paint and other decor, and key wall and ceiling panels.
And, therefore, people.
Ground floor security was easy to take out. From there, it was just a matter of getting the portal set up. Wires put in place. Final touches on the portal device. Alignment. Breaking into Tony Stark's private bar.
"Are you sure you should be doing that before a battle?" asked Danny.
"We do not become intoxicated nearly so as quickly as you humans."
He paused, digesting that. "Do Asgardians get alcohol poisoning?"
"No," said Loki.
Too bad. That meant Danny couldn't cause mischief by knocking bottles out of Loki's hand to protect him from the evils of alcohol.
"This is really quite good for a human brew," mused Loki.
Danny shrugged. He wouldn't know.
A streak of red and gold outside the window caught Danny's eye.
"They're here," he said. "At least one of them."
"Wait for him," ordered Loki. "I am sure we will not have to wait long."
.
Tony flew by the tower again, this time spotting Loki through the windows, leaning against his bar. With the portal device having reached the point of being self-sustaining (despite him and the Fentons both believing it wouldn't get to that point just yet), it looked like he might have to go to Plan B. Or C. Honestly, he'd lost track at this point.
He landed on the platform, past where the gauntlet would have activated. He didn't want to strip this armor. Even if it was a bit banged up, it was the only set he'd modified to deal with ghosts. With Fenton.
Now, if the aliens started showing up, he might have different priorities.
He glanced upwards at the portal device at the top of the tower. Nothing yet. The Fentons had assured him that he'd know for sure when it was finally activated.
He walked in.
"Please," drawled Loki, "tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity."
"Uh," said Tony, improvising. "Actually, I'm planning to threaten you."
"Really," said Loki. "That explains why you've kept your armor on."
"Hm, yeah, I know, not very hospitable of me. I'd offer you a drink, but it looks like you've already made yourself at home."
"Stalling me won't change anything."
"Oh, I know, I know. But I'm not stalling. I'm threatening! By the way, you doing okay over there, kid?" asked Tony.
Fenton gave him two thumbs up and a dopey grin. "Copacetic."
"Practicing for your SATs there, kid?"
"Nah, I'd use something like superlative or splendid if I was doing that."
"Right," said Tony. "Anyway, you sure are drinking a lot. Having second thoughts?"
Loki rolled his eyes. "What is there to have second thought about? The Chitauri are coming, and nothing can change that. What do I have to fear?"
That… sounded weirdly resigned.
"The Avengers?"
Fenton snorted. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, that just sounds like the name for an edgy boy band. Do you have matching outfits."
They didn't, thank God. Teenagers were brutal. "You won't be laughing when you're up against the rest of the team. Earth's mightiest heroes."
"Well, yeah, you've got to save your air for breathing in a fight. Hey, Loki, can I call you Loki Ono?"
"Absolutely not."
"Come on, she's famous for breaking up a band."
"No."
"We're not the Beatles, kid."
"Yeah, if you were musicians, I'd actually be scared."
"What, and you're not scared of the demi-god, the super soldier, the Hulk, and a pair of master assassins? All of whom your boss has managed to piss off?" At least partially by kidnapping Fenton, but that was beyond the point.
"Not really," said Fenton as Loki continued to sip Tony's top-shelf… actually, no, wait, that was the mead. Why did Tony even have mead? "Not even sure what a Hulk is in this context. That's not the name of your helicarrier thing, is it? Because if so, yikes. Might as well call it Titanic II."
"Okay, fine, you're a teenager, you're not scared of anything. What about your parents? And what's his excuse? Kinda sucks to be hiding behind a kid, man."
"Enough," said Loki. "I have an army."
"We have a Hulk."
"Do you?" Loki smirked, then stalked forward until he was standing just outside of Tony's reach. "For all your talk of allies, you are awfully alone up here. Tell me, have they abandoned you and whatever ill-formed plan you have to, what, exactly? Save a few more lives? Stave off the… inevitable?"
"You're missing the point. There's no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes. Maybe it's too much. Maybe you win the day. But that's as far as it goes, because what we can't protect, we'll avenge."
Loki regarded him coolly. "Vengeance, is it?"
"I consider it more balancing the scales of justice."
"And do you think this world is in balance?" Loki laughed, the sound slightly hysterical. "There are those who would disagree with you!"
The tower shuddered, just slightly. Tony twisted to see a beam of light pushing its way into the sky. So much for his hope that Loki would have to do something to the portal to make it work. But that had only been Plan G.
"Take care of him."
Tony turned back to see Fenton directly between himself and Loki. The boy smiled the kind of smile that wouldn't be out of place on an exhausted child actor. Cherubic and unhinged.
"Speaking of vengeance, I never did pay you back for what you did to Tucker, did I?"
He put his hand flat against Tony's chest and shoved.
.
This was one of those good news, bad news situations. Only, it also had a worse news category.
Good news: Mr. Stark, Iron Man, whatever, had added ghost countermeasures to his armor.
Bad news: They hurt.
Worse news: They didn't hurt nearly enough to stop Danny.
Good news: Loki seemed to be processing some of the cognitive dissonance that had (presumably) been shoved down his throat via mind control.
Bad news: There wasn't any more time for him to process it.
Worse news: Even if this fight turned out the way they hoped, Loki would probably be killed for what he'd done.
Good news: Selvig had successfully put a couple of really nasty fail-safes into the design of the portal device.
Bad news: No one that wasn't mind-controlled knew about them.
Worse news: There was an alien army descending on the streets of New York, and despite all his hinting, it looked like his ghost army plan had fallen through.
Millions of people could die today.
Danny would be, at least partially, responsible.
But there wasn't time to contemplate any of those problems, because being thrown through a window didn't really stop a guy with jet boots.
Iron Man shot a volley of ectoblasts at Danny. The mechanism for the blasters seemed to be shielded, or at least notably altered from his parents' original designs, so he couldn't steal the spark from it like he'd been able to do with the SHIELD agents in Germany. That was fine. Danny deflected half of them and snatched the other half out of the air before throwing them back, pushing Iron Man further away from the window.
Please let him decide the aliens were the bigger threat. Danny didn't want to be stuck fighting him.
Luckily, his prayers seemed to be answered. Iron Man pulled away, spiraling to meet a flight of small alien ships. Danny watched him for a moment before turning and following Loki out to the balcony.
"Now what?" he asked.
"Now we wait," said Loki.
.
The Ops Center threaded its way between skyscrapers. "Not a lot of places to park, here, guys," said Jazz, glancing over her shoulder in hope of guidance. "Someone's going to have to give me more directions soon."
"Just keep following that light," said Captain America, shrugging on a backpack of some sort. "You'll want to wait until you're as close as possible to turn on the ghost portal."
Jazz did a doubletake. "Is that one of the emergency parachutes? I don't know when they were last checked—"
"They're from the quinjet," said Black Widow, striding by with a parachute of her own.
"But—"
"We're hoping you can park us on a skyscraper, don't worry," said Barton.
"Easy for you to say," grumbled Sam.
"I don't know, you're the one with a jet pack."
"I'm the one that knows how to use a jet pack. And I'm staying with the Ops Center, anyway."
Something Jazz was glad for. The Ops Center was great, but it would be a sitting duck once it was parked and acting as a platform for the portal, and she, well, she had an arrow hole in her shoulder. Not great for the whole fighting thing. Or even really for flying.
This injury would definitely have repercussions later in life, which was something she was trying not to think about too much right now.
"Oh, what is that? Is that a space whale?" asked Sam, leaning forward over Jazz's shoulder.
It did in fact look like a space whale.
"I don't know," said Jazz. "Should I put down?"
"We'll want our portal as close as possible, sweetie!" called Maddie from somewhere in the depths. "Keep going!"
"We're not quite done with it yet, anyway!" yelled Jack.
Black Widow hissed something in Russian. Jazz reciprocated the sentiment. They didn't really have time.
But what they had would have to be enough. The radar screen lit up, beeping urgently.
"We have fliers inbound."
"Great," said Black Widow. "Let's see if we can't get a couple."
.
Natasha stood next to Barton and watched as Captain Rogers cranked open the lower hatch, then tapped her earpiece. "You'll have to get us over them and slow," she said. "Still think you can do that?"
"I said I could," said Jasmine Fenton.
Natasha almost rolled her eyes. Teenagers. Except she'd never been quite like that. Never got the chance.
(She couldn't help but think that Jasmine Fenton would have made a great Widow. She already had ignoring pain down.)
"Hold on tight, everyone. Ride's about to get bumpy."
The Ops Center tipped upward suddenly, forcing everyone to grab onto the handrails, and accellerated.
"So, uh," shouted Barton over the wind, "I don't think we actually discussed how we're going to do this!"
"That's because we're not! I am!"
"Oh, that really makes me feel a lot better!"
"Contact in five, four, three—"
The rest of Jazz's countdown was cut off by the impacts of the chitauri's weapons on the Ops Center shield.
"Be ready to cut shielding!" She saw black-brown outside the window, getting closer. "Now!"
She jumped. Free fall lasted less than a second and then she was bringing her knee down on an alien helm. She twisted, kicked, and grabbed the handlebars. Time to see whether or not these aliens thought similarly enough to humans to design vehicles in a way she could understand. Not at all guaranteed, given that American and Russian vehicles often felt like they were made on two different planets.
But that was what the parachute was for.
It was fine.
She pulled back, the vehicle arcing, reversing course. Great.
"Bringing it back around."
"Great, tell me when you need me to let you in."
"The portal is ready," chimed in Maddie Fenton. "Should we activate now, or…?"
"See the building at our two o'clock?" asked Captain America.
"Yeah?"
"Anchor there. Hawkeye, is that a good enough position for you?"
"I can make it work."
"Great," said Natasha. "Captain, get ready for pickup."
"Roger that."
.
Jazz pulled a lever and felt a jolt as two thick Fenton Cables hit the roof of the building under them, securing the Ops Center as much as it could be away from its home base on top of Fentonworks.
"Ready, sweetie?"
Jazz locked eyes with the spindly, monster-spewing white tower extending upwards from Tony Stark's skyscraper. At this range, she could see small figures moving around on the roof of the building.
"Yeah, ready," she said. "Ops Center secure."
The lights flickered, and a high-pitched whine emanated from belowdecks. Then, from right beneath where Jazz's pilot seat, a horizontal beam of bubbly green shot out before splashing against nothing, only meters away from the Tesseract portal beam. She twisted her controls, changing the Ops Center's bearings and sweeping their portal beam further away from the other portal beam. She didn't know what crossing them would do, but she didn't want to find out.
The end of the ectoplasmic beam twisted, trembled, flexed, and a vibrantly green portal swirled into existence.
"Guess we're just waiting on Tucker, now," said Sam.
"Or on Danny," replied Jazz, grimly. The figures on the roof had stopped moving.
She was quite certain one of them was her brother.
.
"What in the Nine Realms is that?" demanded Loki.
"A ghost portal," said Danny.
Loki bared his teeth and visibly started to grind them. "One of your parents' creations?"
"Most likely."
"Do you know how to disable it?"
"Probably, yeah. Are you going to tell me to do it?" If he did, and if Loki was clever about his wording, Danny would have to hope that his nature as a ghost would be able to overpower the mind control in at least this specific instance.
Loki glared down at him. "No," he said. "You're staying with me. Let them play with their toys. They will be no match for the chitauri."
.
"… And that's why we need your help."
Pandora nodded gravely. "I see," she said. "We will join you. An invasion of Earth affects all of us, even here. I will send one of my fastest messengers to the Dragon Kingdom, so you may lead us to the portal at once."
"Er, problem," said Tucker. "There is no portal yet. It's—"
The Fenton Finder beeped. He pulled it up from where it hung on his belt, scanning the screen.
"Never mind," he said. "Portal's right this way."
.
.
.
This is probably it for this fic for the next month or so! I'm participating in the Phic Phight again this year, and that usually sweeps me away quite handily. You might see more chapters for Dannymay, though!