The majestic hallway echoed with each heavy step taken by the obscure group. Tall golden pillars stood grandly either side which loomed over them to reach the domed ceiling, adorned with traditional paintings of Nordic mythology – or what Steve supposed was actual history – depicting a great battle between some gods and an army of menacing, green-glowing monsters. The marble floors reflected the glow of a neighbouring planet as the lights from the city below dimmed one by one.
"Wow," Steve whispered in awe, his head constantly twisting to take in each glimmering feature of the alien world, "This is amazing."
At the front of their escorted group was Thor, along with Jane. Thor was hunched over, traded whispered words to the astrophysicist with quiet smiles on their faces, walking just a little too close to be appropriate as they wandered through the halls at a slow pace. Steve felt slightly awkward watching them, as if he was invading a private moment, and so kept his focus on the scenery.
Approaching a large set of heavy intricately-designed gold doors, the thunder god called out, "It is I, Thor, Son of Odin. Open these doors as so I can present the Midgardians to my father."
There was a pause before the doors creaked open slowly, presenting Steve to a lavished throne room. A long walkway led to a flight of marble stairs where at the top sat an old, powerful-looking man in an embellished throne, two guards stood either side on the platforms below.
"You have returned I see, my son. With good time as well," Steve watched as the man leaned forwards in his seat. A flash of gold caught Steve's eye, making him stare curiously at the old man's plated eye-patch.
Thor fell to his knees in respect, the rest of the Asgardians following suit. Steve hurried to do the same, being one of the few left standing. Jane, having been pulled down by Thor, was already holding her arm across her chest in a cultural display of respect.
Hearing a slight rustling of cloth to his right, Steve glanced up. Standing proudly without any incentive of bowing to the god in the throne was Tony.
"Stark! What are you doing?" Steve hissed.
Tony lazily tilted his head towards Steve, "What? I'm a modern American. I don't bow. It's not my nature."
The ex-veteran caught many deadly looks from those in the room. Bowing his head he whispered harshly, "Your nature of what? Stupidity? This is a deity you're acting up against, in case you hadn't noticed!"
"I thought that there was only one god for you?"
Steve grunted, "There is, but I'm not going to say so when I'm in plausibly unstable territory!"
Tony barked out a laugh, "Unstable territory? I say bring it on. I can take a god. I've done it before, and I can do it again," Tony smirked, nodding his head towards the front of the room, "Besides, I'm expecting reinforcements soon."
Lifting his head uncertainly, Steve found himself looking straight into the eye of Odin, who was glaring down at the two of them, and mumbled, "We're doomed."
/ / /
The party was in full-swing when Darcy and Danny arrived. The 'little celebration' Darcy had described on the way over-exceeded Danny's simple ideas. These scientists really knew how to party.
Dropping the bags of food near the entrance and walking further into the room, Danny followed Darcy to a line of computer monitors, covered in rows of numbers and extra-long scientific words that Danny couldn't be bothered to recognise or understand. The word 'Asgard' popped up more than once.
Standing on a chair, Darcy called for the attention of the room, "Everyone! I would like you to meet our newest friend, Danny! He's here to celebrate our great invention with us! Just be sure to keep him away from the booze – or at least don't let anyone see – he's underage," Darcy finished with a stage-whisper.
The room chuckled before a round of applause was held for Danny. The boy hesitantly lifted a hand in response, mentally scowling. Attention was the last thing Danny wanted – he had planned to silently sneak into the portal to drag back Tony and his friends unnoticed, before thoroughly destroying the portal and heading home.
As drunken physicists, inventors and astronomers surrounded him in an intoxicated cheer, he scanned the room for Tony's portal. It was easy enough to find, seated directly in the middle on a raised platform. Danny had to admit he was impressed, whatever upgrades Tony did not only made the portal sleeker, but apparently portable as well from its lack of backing.
Shaking hands with people whose faces he instantly forgot, he inched his way through the crowd towards the large hexagonal frame. The new portal seemed strange to Danny – rather than the familiar swirling green of the Ghost Zone, he saw a sparkling night sky which pulsed with colourful energy. It was too dark to truly tell what was on the other side. Maybe it was a new trick Tony made in his upgrade?
As Danny slowly made his way through the crowd, he noted the many generators. It would be easy to cut off their power supply and just collect Tony from his parents' portal, instead of playing this game of cat-and-mouse. All it would take were a few well-placed kicks…
Danny shook his head, tucking the idea back into the darkest recesses of his mind. If Tony and the others had truly made it to the other side, it would take up way too much of Danny's personal time to find them again. Besides, that would mean he would have to wait even longer before he had a chance to beat Tony to a pulp.
The crowd was still thick around him as Danny tried to inch his way past. However, due to his great height, he was an easy target and the scientists appeared to be an overly-friendly group of people, despite lacking in understanding of what personal space was. Becoming quickly agitated at the swarm of people still surrounding him, Danny blurted out in desperation, "Darcy's got food!"
Hungry and slightly-blurred eyes turned to the young woman still perched on top of the computer chair, before loud whoops of excitement filled the room. As the crowds rushed towards a slightly panicking intern, Danny hurried up to the front of the makeshift portal. Glancing over his shoulder to check for spectators, Danny raised a hand up to the dimensional veil.
And fell right through.
/ / /
Jazz Fenton had been holed up in her room for the past week, trying to find out about that strange woman, Natasha Romanoff, who had invaded their home and disappeared without a trace. She had approached Danny about her suspicions of the woman being more than she seemed, yet Danny had blown her off without listening. Jazz supposed she had chosen an awful time to try to talk with her little brother – Vlad Masters had been visiting then, which, as always, left Danny in a very bad mood.
Jazz rubbed her eyes as the words on the bright screen started to blur together, shifting back back into her computer chair more comfortably. After many hours of snooping around, Jazz had found out very little about Natasha Romanoff except her real name, Natalia Romanova. Sadly, even that little breakthrough had led to a dead end, as she discovered that her birth-parents had died when Natasha Romanoff was young, with no leads to who her guardians were or where the woman had ended up after the age of five.
Hearing a floorboard creak, Jazz quickly put the computer to sleep and shuffled her way to the doorway, cautiously peeking her head over the lip to peer into the hall ready for any jump attacks by ghosts or strangely secretive women. What she saw, however, was far from alarming – yet slightly disturbing. It appeared as if both Danny's friends, Tucker and Sam, had been trying to sneak into the house, which would have been easy enough if not for Tucker constantly crouching into barrel-rolls every few feet, fingers pointed like a gun. It appeared that Sam had resigned herself to plodding slowly behind, embarrassment evident on her face.
Jazz rolled her eyes, "Uh, what are you guys doing?"
Tucker somersaulted into a wall in fright, "Jeez, Jazz. Give a guy some warning before you jump out of nowhere," he sat up, rubbing the top of his head.
Jazz closed her bedroom door behind her and leant on the frame, "Considering that this is legally my house and you are both trespassing, I'd say I have every right to, Tucker."
Sam smirked at Tucker's back, "She's got you there."
"So what are you guys doing here? And where's Danny?" Jazz crossed her arms in front of her.
"First, where are your parents?" Sam mimicked Jazz's posture stubbornly.
"They went to get supplies for their latest invention at the hardware store. Something about Dad wanting to show off to Vlad Masters because of how excited he seemed on Dad's last project."
Sam's shoulders sagged slightly in relief, "Okay, good then. We just came by to grab some stuff from Danny's room. You know, in case anything happens this weekend on our big sleepover…"
Jazz was quick to respond, "Well why isn't Danny with you now?"
"Because he thought hanging out with über-hot Mexican chicks was more important than hanging out with his friends," Tucker's voice was twinged with jealousy.
"Mexico?" Jazz squeaked.
Sam growled audibly, "Shut up, Tucker! And how many times do I have to tell you that Mexico and New Mexico aren't the same?"
"Hey, I'm failing geometry. What do you expect?" Tucker simply shrugged as he stood up from his seat on the floor.
"It's geography, you doofus."
"Whatever."
"New Mexico?" Jazz squeaked again, "Why is my little brother in New Mexico?"
Tucker and Sam stared at one another with twin looks of trepidation before turning back to Jazz.
"Uh, he thought his complexion was getting a little pasty?" Tucker hesitantly replied.
Jazz's eyes narrowed, "The truth this time. And don't leave anything out."
/ / /
Stepping through the portal, Danny ducked low, looking around cautiously. Seeing no potential threats, he crept forward, away from the opening of the portal, "Huh, this isn't any part of the Ghost Zone I've seen before."
Looking down, he found the ground pulsing, letting off an array of colours and sparks. Following the electric current, his eyes widened at the sight of a majestic golden castle, visible even in the darkness of night.
Danny shook himself out of his trance, "Okay, time to get serious. Just grab Tony and his friends and go. No messing with the locals. Don't want to make any more enemies than I already have."
Danny focused himself as – feeling the familiar pressure build up inside himself – he allowed a halo of white energy to rush over him, engulfing him before dissipating shortly after, leaving Danny as his alter-ego, Phantom.
Giving one last glance at the familiar swirling green of the portal entrance, Phantom took off down the path towards the castle.