Guys, you have no idea how much pleasure it brings me to update this story. I know, I know; ten months is a ridiculously long time between updates. But in my defense, this has been an extremely transitory part of my life with lots of stress and distractions. Plus, I wanted to make sure this chapter was not a slipshod affair I threw together just for the sake of updating; the quality of the story matters more. I owe it to you, my faithful readers, to give you good reason to continue to follow this story.
So, finally, here we are! Enjoy :)
Small recap to remind you where we are, since it has been rather a long wait since the last update: After being chased from a Midtown-Long Island City high school football game by GIW drones, Danny Phantom found himself at May's workplace, Mount Sinai hospital. She cleaned and stitched up a pretty serious gash on his right thigh, leaving him with an injured leg.
A wraith attacked Danny and Peter while they changed in the locker room after P.E., destroying the overhead lighting in the process. Danny's ice powers revealed themselves to both boys at once and left Danny in an awkward position regarding his secret identity. We pick up immediately after with one frozen wraith and two excitable (and undercover) teen heroes trying to make sense of what just happened.
General Notes
"This is dialogue."
"This is alternative dialogue, meaning whispered or spoken from a distance such as on the phone."
'This is thought.'
This and THIS and *this* are emphasis. The *this* emphasis is more along the lines of the snarky or sarcastic.
[This is digital text, such as notifications on a computer or smartphone. It also represents A.I. voices, such as Karen or F.R.I.D.A.Y./"Friday" (because I really don't feel like typing out the full acronym with periods every time she comes up).]
I do not own Danny Phantom nor Spider-Man.
Ch. 11 originally published: Friday, May 27, 2022
FIRE WITH FIRE
11 — This is Fine
Astoria — Thursday, September 29, 14:50
Oblivious to Danny's growing panic, Peter took out his phone and used the flashlight to get a better look at the wraith from all sides. "Since when do you-whoa!" Peter cried, slipping on the tile floor now slick with condensation. He regained his footing and continued, "Since when do you have superpowers?"
Automatically, Danny denied, "I don't!"
"Um—" Peter mechanically gestured from Danny's raised arms to the frozen wraith with the beam of light. "You do."
"I—" With a quick appraisal of the wraith and the frost dusting his left arm, he said, "Yeah, okay. Sure. Ice powers. This is—this is fine!" Danny fidgeted with his hands before closing them into fists. "This is fine," he breathlessly reiterated, relaxing the fists. Danny swayed but accidentally put too much weight on his injured leg, so he leaned against the nearest locker bay for support. "It's just…another one to deal with."
"Another-augh!" Peter yelped as he fell on the slippery floor once more. Catching his balance, he admonished, "Get it together, Parker. Another what?"
Danny's heart leaped, having forgotten he wasn't with Sam and Tucker. "Uhhh…you know, just a, uh…thing."
Peter stared. "Superpowers are a pretty big 'thing.' "
"Well, yeah, I know—I mean, I'm sure, but—I—" Danny's voice died in his throat, his whole person ceasing to move.
Peter waited a tense moment for his friend to continue. "…But?"
Danny continued to display signs of rigor mortis.
"Oh…you're in shock!" Peter realized.
A spark lit behind Danny's eyes, and a smile began to tug at the corners of his mouth. "Yyyessss…shock. I'm in shock! Ha-ha! Because I have no idea what's going on! That must be it!"
"Okay. You, uh, lie down on the bench." Peter guided Danny to sit on the nearest one and extend himself along its length, cautious not to jostle the injured right leg. Disappearing momentarily to grab something from his locker, Peter returned with a bulky lump of fabric in hand. "Here, use my sweatshirt until I can find a blanket."
"But why do I need a blanket?"
"For the shock," Peter shortly explained as he spread the hoodie over Danny's exposed torso.
"Why?"
"I don't know, nerves or something. Look, I'm trying not to go into shock myself, so let's not ask too many questions right now, alright?"
"Fine, okay, that's cool," Danny said and covered his face with the hood. "I'll just…lie here."
Peter paced back and forth for a few moments, gathering his own nerves while occasionally checking on his peer. When Danny's arms had eventually relaxed their grip on the hoodie, Peter sat down near him. "So…did you fall into a vat of toxic ice?"
"The heck? No, that doesn't exist," Danny retorted, voice muffled by the fabric. "Besides, how could you fall in-" he pulled down the hood to level a pointed stare at Peter "-to solid ice?"
"Could be ice cubes. You could—slip in between them, or-"
"Pretty sure that's not how superpowers work."
Peter shifted to cross his legs on the bench. "Well, why not?"
"I dunno, logic?" came Danny's sardonic reply.
"Oh, and suddenly you're the expert, Mr. I-Don't-Have-Superpowers?" Peter taunted with a smirk.
Danny's face sank into a grimace. Covering his head with the hood once more, the teen whined, "Doesn't this stuff just happen sometimes?"
"What, like the meta-gene?"
"No! This isn't Young Justice. This is real life…with superheroes..." Danny trailed off. "Okay, I see the flaw in my argument, and I would appreciate you not poking more holes in it. I'm in shock, remember?"
Chuckling, Peter looked over at the frozen wraith's dark form that loomed several feet away. "I can't believe you didn't know."
Danny pressed his palms against his eyes through the sweatshirt fabric. "No, I did not know I have ice powers."
"So, uh, what's the game plan?" Peter asked, tilting his head at the motionless monster. "Can you melt it out?"
"I dunno?"
"Should you even melt it? How are we gonna get rid of it if it gets free?"
"I dunno."
"And ghosts can pass through walls and stuff; why isn't it just phasing out like you said other gho-"
"I DUNNO!" Danny snapped, bolting upright and ripping the hoodie off again. "They're supposed to be, like, soulless animal ghosts; so maybe it's just too stupid to think of it? Can you just get off my case for a second while I figure this out?"
Peter faltered and offered a gentle, "Sorry. So, what do you normally do when weird ghost stuff happens?"
"I…uh…" Danny glanced around the room for ideas. "Um—"
"What if we called your parents?" Peter suggested. "They'd know what to do, right?"
"Well, yeah, but I don't want them knowing about my ice powers!" Danny defended. "They can't know what's going on before I know what's going on."
"But they're scientists. And they're your parents. Wouldn't they be, like, the best people to help in this situation?"
Danny's expression fell into deadpan. "Would you call being shoved into a centrifuge to 'spin out the crazy' helpful?"
Peter blanched. "Well—uh—no. But—"
"Or how about attacking your sister with a modified vaccuum cleaner to suck out a ghost that doesn't exist? Would you call that helpful?" Danny droned on.
"Um-"
"Would you call-"
"How about we just get dressed and dip ASAP before anyone knows we were here for it?" Peter interrupted.
"Now you're talking," Danny agreed, scrambling to his feet and passing the hoodie back to his friend.
Peter accepted it, turning around to head back toward his locker, out of Danny's line of sight. En route, he stumbled across his locker's deformed door and quietly placed it on top of its bay. "Don't forget your shirt," Peter reminded Danny before fishing for his own jeans.
"Do you see it?" Danny asked.
Peter glanced around, but the room's shadows made it impossible to find. "No."
Danny pulled out his phone and used its flashlight to search the dark room. "Found it," he announced.
"Put it on and let's go."
"Small problem: it's frozen," Danny replied with a sigh.
Sure enough, it had been caught in the tempest. Only a single sleeve of the shirt hung free while the rest was trapped within the ice supporting the wraith.
"Leave it. We'll say you lost it," Peter said.
Danny skipped removing his shoes and P.E. shorts, going straight to pulling his jeans over them. The left leg slipped on with only some resistance, but the right's fabric snagged on his sneaker and made Danny lose his balance. He winced in pain when the subsequent hopping tugged on his stitches in an awkward way. Seeing Peter was distracted with pulling on his hoodie, Danny used a blip of focused intangibility to slide the shoe effortlessly through the rest of the pant leg. With that done, he found his normal NASA tee and slid it on as well. Wrestling his backpack free of the compact locker, he waited for Peter to finish dressing.
"Okay, let's bounce," Peter declared and strode for the exit.
Unfortunately, the door opened just before he could reach it.
"Parker, Fenton, I got detention duty in five minutes. Why are you two still—" Coach Wilson's voice tapered off as he entered the room. After letting his gaze meander from the darkened light fixtures to the disheveled boys, he flinched upon seeing the trapped wraith in the light of the open shower door. "What in the hell?"
Sporting wide, innocent smiles, the two boys had never looked so guilty.
Thirty minutes later found the boys lurking off to the side as Danny's parents set up their equipment under Principal Morita's watchful eye. A trio of portable work lights illuminated the locker room and refracted on the ice's surface. Everyone inside sported at minimum a hoodie, but no one's winter gear could match up to the Fenton parents' Stark Industries-branded parkas.
As Jack untangled an unfathomably complex device, Maddie came over with a survival kit blanket. "To think, just one more day and we would have been on-site already installing the anti-ghost tech." Holding out the blanket, she chided herself, "We should have made the school a higher priority."
"N-no, I'm fine, really," Danny declined, trying to refuse the foil-like cover.
"Danny, I can see your breath, and you're shivering more than a terrified chihuahua!" Maddie insisted before forcefully wrapping him in the blanket. "You're probably in shock, if not hypothermic."
Despite his stubborn façade, Danny melted into the blanket's warmth.
"How are you holding up, Peter?" Maddie asked her son's companion.
"I'll be okay, Dr. F," Peter replied with a slightly infantilized tone. "It was just really scary!"
"I can't believe neither of you saw what happened," Maddie complained, mostly to herself, but she did notice Danny was actively avoiding eye contact at the words. "You're sure you can't tell us anything?" she pressed.
Her son didn't respond beyond maintaining a slightly shell-shocked expression.
"Danny?"
"I, uh…blacked out?" the boy suggested. "I dunno. Like you said, I'm in shock. See? I've got a blanket."
Maddie rolled her eyes and sighed. "Jack, I'm going to call Happy about refrigerated transport to get this thing back to the lab," she said and, taking out her phone, left the room.
Coach Wilson came over to stand with the boys. "This is some freaky-ass shit," he commented, snapping yet another photo of the wraith.
"You said it, Andre," Principal Morita agreed as he joined them.
Next to them, Jack's face fell into a concerned frown as he monitored several equipment displays. "This whole place is oozing ectoradiation," he observed. Seeing Coach Wilson's confused face, Jack clarified, "Ghost energy everywhere."
"Maybe it's because of the ghost," Danny muttered, earning a slight snicker from Peter.
"Even the ice is ectoactive," Jack added and passed an instrument's wand over the pedestal's surface.
With a quirked eyebrow, Peter studied Danny beside him. The youngest Fenton nervously met his gaze before swallowing and looking away. After glancing at Danny's exposed hand, which held his mylar blanket together, Peter similarly returned his attention to the older Fentons' work.
"And you're sure neither of you saw anything?" Morita prodded.
"Sorry, Mr. Morita," Peter replied. "I hit my head on a bench and was kind of out of it."
"Mr. Fenton?"
Danny shrugged under his covering.
Morita turned his bemused expression back to the rest of the locker room. He suddenly scoffed. "Damn it, Parker, another one?"
The boys followed his gaze to Peter's destroyed locker.
"The wraith did it!" Peter explained.
"This is getting really- frick!" Morita cried, slipping on the still-frosty floor as he went to assess the damage.
Danny noticed Peter wipe his forehead with the back of his sleeve.
Someone knocked at the door. "Is everyone dressed?" came a feminine voice.
"Yes!" Danny called back.
The door opened to reveal his sister. Jazz inched her way inside after checking that everyone was indeed clothed, leaving the door ajar behind her.
"Hey, Danny, I got your text and I didn't really understand what you—" Jazz's greeting died on her lips when she saw the frozen wraith. "Um…what?"
A majority of the Academic Decathlon team flooded in behind her, Michelle and Flash at the forefront. All their breaths immediately fogged in the cold atmosphere of the room, and the entire group began to shiver. Seeing the wraith, Flash yelped then flailed as his shoes lost grip. The boy landed hard and shuffled back from the monster.
"Damn, I've heard of the mannequin challenge, but this is a bit much, huh?" Charles quipped, stepping around Flash without taking his eyes off the wraith.
Jazz came over and flanked her brother's right side opposite Peter. The rest of the decathlon team surrounded the wraith despite Jack's efforts to keep them back.
"Danny, what's going on?" Jazz asked lowly, leaning in so only the two boys could hear.
Seeing the other students and adults were well and truly distracted, Danny replied, "Well, turns out I have ice powers."
"What?! That's crazy talk!" she hissed, eyeing Peter.
"Peter saw it happen. He knows," Danny explained.
"I can't believe it: ice powers too!" the elder sister said.
"Too?" Peter commented.
Jazz inhaled sharply.
"Only. Not too," Danny stressed with a miniscule shake of his head and a glare the other boy couldn't see.
The girl's face dashed through a flurry of emotions, ending with sudden comprehension. "Ohhh…oh! No, sorry; I meant…in general? Regarding the many things he's dealing with in this transitory phase of his life. Like the move, and struggling with Spanish," she finished.
"Oh," Peter said, dismissing his suspicion and transitioning back to eager excitement. "It was awesome, though, Jazz. You should have seen it when he used his powers! He was glowing and everything!"
"Glowing?" Jazz repeated.
"Only under the skin," Danny clarified. "There was this weird pattern sort of spider-webbing up my left arm."
"Huh, I wonder what that could be from," Jazz mused. Noting Peter's interest, she diverted the conversation. "So what's the cover story? How did the ice get here?"
"We don't know," Danny said.
"I hit my head," Peter added.
"And I'm in shock," Danny finished, gesturing to his blanket.
"Playing it fully dumb, I see." Jazz harrumphed. "Well, that'll keep them off the scent for now. At least it happened in a room without security cameras."
Danny gulped at the thought.
"You're taking this really well," Peter gently accused with a suspicious squint at Danny's sister.
The Fenton siblings exchanged a fleeting glance.
"You get used to weird stuff growing up in Amity Park," Jazz explained. "Ghosts, alternate dimensions, possessed household appliances…and, apparently, brothers with superpowers."
Peter looked to Danny for elaboration, but he only received a disinterested shrug in response. Any further interrogation was squelched when the other Decathletes came over.
"Holy shit, Fenton," Charles said, "this thing is even bigger than the ice sculpture my parents got for my bar mitzvah."
"Midtown is cursed," Flash croaked, staring into the middle distance. "Haunted by reapers. We're all doomed."
"It's not a reaper," Danny corrected.
"Just a non-sentient ectoplasmic entity from the depths of an alternate dimension feeding off of negative emotional energy," Jazz said nonchalantly.
"There's the HGTV I know and love," the younger Fenton teased.
"INTJ, dumbass," the elder sassed.
Betty burst into the room. "Michelle, I got your text!" she greeted and gasped upon seeing the wraith. "Oh my gosh! This is just the sort of thing Midtown News wants to feature!"
Danny frowned at MJ, who merely replied with an indifferent, "Shit's getting weird. People oughta know."
Danny vented his frustration with a grunt.
Hanging up her phone, Maddie re-entered the locker room and immediately saw Betty getting too close to the wraith for comfort. "No, please, sweetie; please stay back," she asked with a note of desperation. "We don't have the situation fully under control yet."
"Interesting," Betty muttered to herself, completely ignoring the older woman and as she continued to snap photos with her phone.
Giving up, Maddie came over to her children. "Danny, you really are our only insight into where the ice came from since Peter hit his head. Do you remember any details at all?"
"I—I—no?" Danny stuttered. "I can't remember anything. Sorry, Mom."
A dissatisfied frown crossed the scientist's face.
"Lay off the poor boys, Mads," Jack called over. "Remember when I broke my femur playing frisbee golf at UW Madison? I still can't remember most of what all happened that day. "
"I should probably take Danny home. He needs time to decompress and process this traumatic incident," Jazz said. Seeing the ghost of a protest on her mother's lips, she interrupted, "Peter, do you want a ride?"
"Ah, no, thanks," Parker replied. "I've still got some stuff I have to do before I can go home."
"Okay. Let's head home, little brother." Jazz put a hand on Danny's back and gently ushered him to the door. They stole one last glimpse of the room's monstrous centerpiece before making their escape.
Agent O knocked twice before entering his supervisor's office. "Sir, another wraith has been spotted in Queens," he stated.
Agent Alpha, expression unreadable behind his ever-present sunglasses, didn't look up from the open folder in his hands. "Has it been eliminated?"
"Negative."
"Contained?"
"Not exactly, sir."
Alpha huffed. "Then what are you doing here instead of hunting it down?"
"Drs. Fenton were already on-site before a squad could be dispatched."
For the briefest of moments, Agent O could see his superior's eyes glaring from above the jet black lenses. Alpha sat up in his chair, Manila folder creasing slightly in his grip. "We are supposed to be tracking every single ectoplasmic being in the city at all times, such that the GIW is first to arrive at any incident."
"Understood. Unfortunately, Daniel Fenton was on scene before anyone and must have contacted his parents."
"Damn that kid!" Alpha exclaimed and threw the folder across the room. His anger evaporated instantly. The man added more calmly, "Apologies for the display of emotion."
"It never happened, sir."
"Daniel Fenton is a nuisance," the director continued. "With his luck and the Fentons' diligence, our entire agency's legitimacy could be jeopardized. Keep closer eyes on them."
"The wraiths or the Fentons?"
Agent Alpha's face was unreadable.
"...I'll give the order."
"Goddamnit. I'm turning into Klemper!" Danny cried with an angry thump on the passenger door's armrest.
Jazz snickered beside him as Sam burst out laughing on speakerphone. "Danny, you're not turning into freakin' *Klemper.*"
"No, of course not," Jazz agreed. With a self-satisfied smile, she added. "But I think this does explain your *frosty* demeanor lately."
"I'm gonna pretend like I didn't just hear that," Danny groaned. "What am I supposed to do now? I can't hide it; like, Peter already knowsbecause he was there. I don't need any more civilians knowing my secret."
"I'll try not to be offended by being designated a mere 'civilian,' " Sam interjected.
"You know what I mean. Non-powered people. Actually…even any *powered* people."
"And nobody HAS to know," Sam assured. "As far as Peter knows, you just have ice powers. You didn't let anything slip about ghost stuff, right?"
"No. Fortunately, I was too shell-shocked. Jazz almost blew it, though."
"I did not!" Jazz whined. "I misspoke. *Excuse me* for doing my best with absolutely no knowledge of the situation ahead of time. I'm not the one who was glowing while using my powers."
"Crap, Danny was glowing?" Sam asked.
"Only my left arm and chest, and it wasn't like my usual ghostly aura," Danny said. "It was weird, like a lightning bolt or something lit up when the energy began flowing."
"It kinda sounds like a Lichtenberg figure," Sam said. "Mr. Falluca was teaching us about it last week. One sec; I took some notes…. Okay, they're kero—kaura—ke-rau-no-graphic markings that show up on the skin after being struck by lightning."
Danny grew unexpectedly somber.
"Have you been hit by any ice lightning lately?" Jazz drawled, trying to lighten his sudden shift in mood.
Her brother met her gaze as they arrived at a red light. "No, but I can think of a time when I got a bit of a shock." He wordlessly held up an invisible arm.
"Oh…yeah," Jazz said and returned her attention to traffic.
"I—my left hand was making contact with the portal wall when it activated," Danny explained. "So that's why it's on the left side."
"Why haven't we seen it before?" Sam asked. "You use your powers all the time."
"Well, I guess as Phantom it's always covered by the hazmat suit." Danny absently massaged his left forearm. "But in human form, if I'm just turning invisible or intangible, you wouldn't see it anyway…"
"What about when you use an ectoblast?"
"I almost never do it in human form; and let's be honest, it's usually for a prank when I do. So I never really paid attention." Danny held up his left hand and charged his palm with a low-level ectoblast. Sure enough, a mysterious pattern illuminated along his arm as the energy bled from his core. The boy's eyes widened in amazement, now that he had an opportunity to study it.
"Whoa!" Jazz exclaimed. "Yep, that's definitely a Lichtenberg."
"Oh, man, what if Peter sees me using my powers as Phantom and I have the same pattern on my arm?"
"How many times have you actually seen Peter when you're hero-ing?"
Danny calmed slightly. "Okay, fair. I guess as long as I keep my hazmat suit on, we're good."
"Exactly. Just…keep your powers and identities straight."
"Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom…and Danny Fenton with ice powers."
"Easy peasy."
"I wish you and Tuck were here to help," Danny sighed into the phone.
"Hey, we've got your back," Sam assured. "Plus we've got Jazz on-site to represent Team Phantom."
Condensation began to appear on the windshield, so Jazz turned on the defroster. "I'll be spending most of my time keeping Mom and Dad distracted." With a fatigued sigh, she added, "While also somehow preparing college applications and doing Academic Decathlon."
"Geez, chill out," Danny sassed. "You're not the one who—oh crap, pull over."
"What's going on?" Sam asked.
"Danny we just left," Jazz protested. "Can it wait till-"
"Do you want your car to be a solid block of ice?!" Danny interrupted, undoing his seatbelt. "I can't control it yet! Pull over!"
Eyes bulging at the sight of Danny's glowing arm, Jazz whipped out of traffic and unlocked the doors. Her brother sprinted from the car into the burnt-out husk of Delmar's sandwich shop.
"…Danny?" came Sam's distant voice. "Are you guys still there?"
Peeling her eyes away from the shop, Jazz noticed Danny's phone face-down on the floor and stretched over to pick it up. "Uh, Danny just ran inside an abandoned store and-"
Jagged ice exploded from the depths of the blackened eatery with enough force to rock Jazz's entire Jetta with the air displacement. The ice layered over everything inside and crept along the outer walls like arctic vines. Multiple passers-by stopped in their tracks to marvel at the sight. Everyone, Jazz included, watched and waited for a few tense moments.
"Well, that just happened," emanated a voice from the backseat.
Jazz spasmed from the surprise and nearly dropped the phone. She turned around, finding Danny cramped into the rear passenger floor.
Danny contorted to peek out the window. "Can we please go now? Before someone sees us?"
"Uh, yeah," Jazz agreed and smoothly pulled away from the curb.
"Guys, hello? Best friend? Still here?!" Sam reminded the siblings.
"Danny just froze a store," Jazz replied in a tattling tone.
"It was already burned down!" Danny defended.
"Well, in Danny's case, I guess net-neutral damage is better than nothing," Sam said.
"Ha ha," came the boy's beleaguered reply. "Oh, great, I just remembered I'm on dinner duty tonight."
"I'll talk mom into getting takeout," Jazz suggested.
"Good." Danny held up his slightly frosty left hand. "I definitely can't help in the kitchen like this."
"Not unless your mom is making chilled cucumber soup with a pasta ice sculpture centerpiece."
"I gave my sarcastic 'ha ha' too early."
"Oof, that was close," Spider-Man commented as he landed on a perch overlooking Delmar's. Frost inched its way onto the sidewalk from inside the shop, coating everything in a fuzzy white film.
[His powers appear to be potentially problematic,] his suit's AI noted. [Should I alert Mr. Stark to Danny's situation?]
"No; not yet, anyway," Spider-Man replied. "I need to think about it."
[Your aunt might know what to do. You should ask her.]
"Yeah, but I don't really wanna tell her yet either…"
[Local dispatch reports a patrol car en route two blocks west.]
The hero looked west for a moment before returning his attention to the store. He watched his neighbor's white Jetta pull away from the curb as a crowd began to form.
"Wait, Jazz is just leaving him? Did you see Danny come back outside?"
[No. Do you want to go help him?]
"Maybe…" Peter frowned beneath the mask. "Have Droney run thermal on Delmar's."
The spider-shaped drone popped off of the young hero's chest and flew closer. A heat map overlayed on top of his mask's visuals, showing no living beings inside. Rotating the camera towards the departing Jetta revealed a Danny-shaped body in the footwell of its backseat.
"That's weird…he's pretty quick."
[Visual contact was lost when you looked for the police car. He must have escaped then.]
"I guess you're right. Well, let's stay on their tail to see if any other fires need to be put out."
[Very clever wordplay, Peter,] Karen complimented.
"Thanks, Karen."
May Parker looked out onto 43rd Street, letting the afternoon sun wash over her at her bedroom window. She dialed Peter and happened to notice as Jazz parked her car on the street below.
After the third ring, Peter answered the phone. "Hey, May, I was just thinkin' about you. What's up?"
"Hey, Pete, are you gonna be home soon?" the woman asked, casually watching the Fenton siblings come inside their apartment building. "I'm brainstorming for dinner tonight. How does roasted chicken and veggies sound?"
"Sounds great. I should be home pretty soon, just giving the neighborhood a quick check."
"What about your homework? Do you have it under control?"
"Don't worry, May. I've managed to keep a straight-A average despite Spider-Man-ing on the daily!"
"I'm just making sure!" she retorted. "It's my job to look out for you, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah," Peter said. "Ooo, a robbery! I mean…oh no, a robbery! Gotta go."
"Wait, be caref-!"
The line went silent.
May heaved a sigh then tossed her phone on the bed. Appreciating the relief of taking off her scrubs after a stressful shift at the hospital, she slipped on a casual t-shirt and sweats before heading into the kitchen. May grabbed a Gatorade from the fridge and brought it to Peter's room, leaving it on his desk. A final check of the room revealed the window was locked, so the woman unlatched and cracked it open for easier entry.
Some motion in Danny's bedroom caught her attention. Since her neighbor's curtains were open, May had an uninterrupted view of Danny putting his right foot on his desk chair while he scratched furiously at his thigh. Just before she could turn away, May saw a bright flash as it lit up Danny's room. Where Danny Fenton stood only moments before, Danny Phantom now floated.
May's jaw went slack with enraptured fascination as he slipped through the ceiling and darted off into the sky. Her brain stalled while processing what she'd just seen. Eventually, a self-satisfied smile took over. "So that's how he does it."
"Is Danny about ready to come out and help?" Jack complained from the kitchen.
"You know he needed to lay down after the excitement earlier! Shock causes exhaustion eventually; it's a miracle he lasted this long," Jazz defended before returning her attention to the half-typed essay on her laptop. "Just let me finish this paragraph and I'll help set up for dinner."
"To think I could be at the lab right now tearing apart that wraith molecule by-"
"Dad!" the girl interrupted. "Please, I can't focus."
"We're on the brink of a scientific breakthrough, but *no,* we have to come home and be a *family,*" the man bitterly grumbled to himself. "As if we're not a family already."
With an angry huff, Jazz slapped her laptop closed. As she stood, she saw a bright flash escape from under Danny's bedroom door. The girl set the computer aside and began collecting silverware and plates from the kitchen.
The youngest Fenton emerged from his room after Jazz had already set the table for four. Motioning for her brother to follow, she led the way into her own room. "Did the flight do you some good?" Jazz asked once they were alone.
"Yeah, I made it all the way to an island under the Queensboro Bridge," Danny replied. "It really helped clear my head. Thanks for the suggestion."
"Good." Jazz peeked out into the common space. "I managed to keep Dad off your case for now. He's itching to get back to the lab, though."
"Do you know what Mom's picking up for dinner?"
"No, Dad said it was a surprise."
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of keys jingling in the lock. Maddie pushed it open with her back. "I've got pizza!" she announced gleefully, several boxes in hand.
"Oh good, finger food," Danny grumbled. He felt a sympathetic pat on his shoulder as the pair rejoined their parents.
Maddie obliviously plopped her purse and keys down at the entry and came inside. "Today is such a special day-"
"-because I got attacked?" Danny quipped quietly.
"-not just for our prestige as ectologists," Maddie continued, "but for the betterment of the science as a whole. So I think a celebration is in order!" She spread out the boxes on the bar. "I got everyone's favorite: combo for Danny, four seasons for Jazz, meat lovers for Jack, and Hawaiian for me."
"No matter how many times you order it," Jazz said, "it won't make it okay to put pineapple on pizza."
"Which is why I got everyone their own so I can have it all to myself with no complaints!" Maddie answered with an affectionate boop of her daughter's nose.
Jazz rolled her eyes.
Maddie went to the sink to wash her hands. "Everyone help yourself. Buffet style tonight."
"I'll get yours," Jazz whispered to her brother and took his plate.
Soon, the family had settled down around the table and commenced the meal. However, the teens' parents eventually noticed when their son didn't dig into his food.
"Everything okay over there, Danno?" Jack asked.
Danny looked up from his plate. "Oh—uh—yeah, just waiting for it to cool off a bit."
Feeling an echoing chill in his right palm at the thought, the boy extended his left to grab the parmesan shaker. He took the glass container in hand and began gently shaking it over his food. A crackling sound met his ears, so he slammed it back on the table and withdrew his hand. Seeing Maddie's confused frown, Jack's peaked eyebrow, and Jazz's bit lip, Danny hid the frozen cheese behind his water glass and hesitantly reached for a slice of pizza instead. Jazz cleared her throat, however, aiming her gaze at the fork and knife next to his plate. It took a moment for Danny to understand, but he picked them up and cut off a piece.
"Dearest son. Oh, my sweet, sweet, troubled boy…what are you doing?" Maddie asked in disbelief. "No one eats pizza with a fork and knife."
"Europeans do!" Jazz interrupted. "Our history teacher told us about it. Danny just wanted to try it out. It's very Neapolitan."
Danny wordlessly chewed a bite of pepperoni and mushroom.
Seemingly on the edge of his seat, Jack inquired, "So how is it?"
Danny swallowed the bite and began cutting another "Uh…Less messy?"
May watched Peter absently chase a pea around his plate for the fifth time.
"Everything okay, Peter?"
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Let's say…hypothetically…someone I know recently discovered they have superpowers-"
May's eyes briefly flicked away before returning to her nephew.
"-and they don't really know what they're doing or getting into and could use some help? As…Spider-Man, I have a unique opportunity to help. But, hypothetically, this person doesn't know I'm Spider-Man, and there's no way Spider-Man would know this specific—non-specific person has powers. Should I tell him—th-them?"
"I don't know. I understand feeling like you share something with this person."
"Well, Ned already knows and nothing bad has happened."
"True," May agreed with a pensive nod. "But, then again, you've known Ned your whole life. How long have you known this person?"
"About a month. Hypothetically."
"Hypothetically." May couldn't quite keep the smile away as Peter nodded dumbly. She shifted in her chair and reached for the water pitcher. "I'd probably wait until you know he—they—can handle superhero secrecy before letting them in on it. Until then, just be supportive."
"Would you tell Mr. Stark about the powers so he can help mentor the other person too?"
"I think it should be your friend's hypothetical choice. Did you like it when Tony knew your secret ID before you even met him? Did you wish you could have told him yourself?"
"Yeah, that kinda sucked…I thought I was so careful, you know? And like, I thought it would be awesome for him to know, but I never got to decide for myself. He was just that smart."
"Sounds like you have your answer. Now you'll get a taste of what my life is like: helplessly cheering on a hero from the sidelines. Enjoy the civilian life for once."
Peter huffed a laugh. "I will. …W-would. Thanks, May."
"You're hypothetically welcome."
Peter's face contorted into a bemused smirk as his aunt sipped innocently.
"-another wraith attack in Astoria this afternoon," WHiH anchor Christine Everhart said, eyes tracking across her teleprompter. "This marks the third confirmed appearance at Midtown School of Science and Technology. With the incursion on the school's Homecoming dance as well as a lunchtime assault on Queens native, Peter Parker, these concentrated attacks are becoming a major concern."
Tony harrumphed, dragging his attention away from the large containment device in the lab space below. The cube's transparent walls softly glowed, distorting the frozen wraith inside with a soft green hue, and its thermostat indicated a subzero temperature.
The monitor's video feed cut to several images of said wraith with a small credit to Betty Brant's social media account in the corner. "Rumors have begun circulating as to why these mindless beasts seem so drawn to Midtown's student body, both on and off campus," Everhart narrated over the pictures. "From suburban house parties to this week's football game against Long Island City, these children can't seem to catch a break. We spoke to Doctors Jack and Madeline Fenton, the ectologists who managed to take the wraith into custody."
WHiH cut to a pre-recorded interview with Maddie Fenton in front of ex-Avengers Tower. "Jack and I are really excited to be able to examine this specimen. If we learn more about its nature, its habits, its origin, we may be able to identify just how they're getting into the human plane from their own dimension. And hopefully, we can figure out why they seem to like this particular school so much. Then it's a piece of cake to prevent it from happening in the first place."
The anchor continued, "People are asking how the Fentons were able to successfully detain a wraith when the government's own supernatural taskforce, the so-called Guys in White, has failed. After a disastrous intervention at yesterday's football game and subsequent drone clean-up outside Mount Sinai, the GIW tried to skirt the blame. The agency cites a lack of adequate funding as their primary obstacle in preventing or alleviating any of these incidents."
A feed of Agent K outside GIW headquarters replaced the anchor. "Our agency is still in need of additional resources to thoroughly cover an area as large and densely populated as New York. Regardless, we are working diligently to protect Americans. The fact that these sporadic wraith attacks aren't a continual infestation is thanks to our current intervention. We ask that you lobby your local senator to ensure comprehensive protection."
"Friday, mute," Tony ordered, and the news immediately quieted.
The silence caused Happy to look up from his tablet. "Guess it's a good thing the Fentons are scheduled to start installing anti-ghost tech at Midtown tomorrow," he commented.
"How are the kids?"
"Barely injured and in shock, according to Jack," Happy replied.
"Do we buy that?"
"I don't see why not. Danny could barely speak."
"Hmm." Tony lazily spun on his stool to face the lower lab.
Happy pulled up the containment device's metrics on his tablet screen. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking something else weird has happened with Danny Fenton close to its heart. The kid's a magnet for trouble."
"Well, almost all the incidents at Midtown involved Danny in some way," Happy agreed. "Actually, both him and Peter."
Noticing Agent K's image had returned to the silent newscast, Tony frowned. "Have we made any progress getting our own system set up to see where all the wraiths are coming from?"
"Maddie mentioned they couldn't find their tracking device. They have the schematics to reproduce it, but it'll take a while."
Tony rubbed his eyes, "And let me guess: the Goofs in White won't be able to do anything to help in the meantime."
Astoria — Friday, September 30, 08:00
The students of Mrs. Warren's homeroom were about as enthused to be present for 8:00 AM physics as any sane teenager would be. What made things worse, however, was the bone-deep chill nipping at the class' noses despite it still being a late summer morning.
"P-please, Mrs. Warren, can we turn up the AC?" a shivering quarterback asked.
Peter and Danny exchanged a tense look.
"You mean turn down," another student corrected.
"What did I say?" the quarterback asked.
"You said 'turn up the AC,' which would make it cooler. You meant turn down."
"No, turn up the AC, as in raise the temperature on the thermostat."
Danny nervously scratched at his healing thigh, having phased the stitches out that morning.
The other student frowned. "No, that would mean you're making the AC more powerful, so it would get colder in here. Like I said, you should turn down the AC, which would mean to have the system pump out less cool air."
"No—no! That's stupid. I said-"
"Everyone, please be quiet!" Mrs. Warren interrupted. "The semantics don't matter; I was able to understand what he meant from context. And Russell, the system is switched off, so it must be broken. It's out of my control. I'm sorry."
Danny cringed in on himself and begged his core to calm down.
11:30
The situation hadn't improved by fourth period. Word spread through the school about the mysteriously dysfunctional air conditioning that only affected select rooms. The flurry of rumors did little more than stoke the fires of Danny's anxiety.
"Do you think the AC has something to do with the frozen ghost thing yesterday?" / "It's got everything to do with it."
"So weird that it's only random rooms. Like, only one classroom at a time?" / "I heard it's not even for the whole period; Betty said she had two classes that warmed up after five minutes, but her Chem class was fine until halfway through." / A third friend piped up, more than a little sarcastically. "What, you think the Night's King goes to our school?"
"Lucky Fenton. At least he has his hoodie with him today. And his gloves. I left mine at home." / "How much do you think he'd take for them?"
"About a million dollars," Danny deadpanned in response to Jason Ionello's last comment.
Midtown's nervous newcomer continued along the hall in the direction of his next class. A bit further along, Danny maneuvered between the cheer squad and a stepladder where his father was installing a sensor on the ceiling. Exchanging a quick nod and wave with Jack, who held a few screws between his teeth, Danny paused at a water fountain and leaned over to get a sip from the tap.
A pulse deep inside his core.
A gasp of surprise.
The metal fountain creaked and moaned, its water flow stopping altogether despite the depressed button now stuck in place. Danny hurriedly hobbled away when the metallic groaning got louder. Eyes forward, the halfa didn't turn back, even after a sharp crack echoed through the corridor. Water started to spray across the hallway from a burst internal pipe and sent the cheer squad screaming. Jack cried out when a panicked cheerleader bumped his ladder, but he composed himself and eagerly searched for the catalyst of the chaos.
Flatly refusing to acknowledge the pandemonium in his wake, Danny merely opened the door to his next class.
12:45
Peter eventually gave up trying to focus and merely set his pencil aside.
Danny, gloved hands in his lap, frowned in concentration as he chased his straw around the cup with his tongue. He eventually lassoed the straw and pulled it to his mouth for a sip, then he used his notebook to nudge the cup aside. An involuntary twitch tipped the cup over, and he instinctively reached out to stop it. However, he only succeeded in releasing a burst of frigid energy from his covered fingertips and freezing the sloshing liquid midair. With a gasp, he quickly checked to make sure the librarian was still distracted before grabbing the abstract icy mass and hiding it under their table.
Peter sighed. "Dude, you gotta pull yourself together."
"I have a system," Danny retorted.
"A system consisting of never making direct contact with any liquids ever again?"
"Not ever, just-" Danny self-consciously glanced around "-just until I get this under control. I mean, I wasn't exactly physically gifted before. I was permanently banned from handling anything made of glass back at Casper."
"Oh yeah, I think May mentioned something like that."
"I better get a handle on this, and quick. Otherwise, I'll leave the five boroughs in ruins before I'm through."
Peter's face lit with an idea. "Hey, what if it were already in ruins?"
"What?"
"Yeah! I know the perfect place to get in some practice. It's already old and decrepit, so we won't have to worry about damaging it too badly. It's pretty far from anyone nearby, at least once they close down for the night. And it's a nice open space with a few trees and walls for privacy. Plus, it's in the middle of the river, so the nearest buildings are hundreds of yards away."
Danny eyed the condensation swirling in the air around his hand. "Maybe that's a good idea. I can get Jazz to cover for me."
"Okay. Before too long, you'll be good enough to go out and fight crime like Spider-Man!"
"What?!" Danny said with a bubble of laughter. "No! I'm not a superhero! I just don't want to freeze Midtown solid."
"You could be! Like Frozone, or Mr. Freeze."
With a snort, Danny replied, "Isn't Mr. Freeze a villain?"
"Or Elsa!"
"No, I won't do it. Just let it go."
"You know how the police always say 'Freeze!'? Well, for you, it's, like, literal!"
Danny chuckled. "With those puns and playful banter, are you sure *you're* not the one cut out to be a hero?"
Peter's chuckle died off.
Roosevelt Island — 21:30
Creeping along West Loop Road, Danny warily eyed the skyscrapers across the river. "Are you sure no one can see us from Manhattan?" he asked for the millionth time. "We've got a great view of Manhattan, so they've gotta have a great view of us…"
"Even if they do see us, New Yorkers religiously follow a 'not my problem' philosophy," Peter responded. "Your ice powers glow blue. They'd probably just think it's welding anyway."
"Well…if you say so." Danny shivered and snuggled into his hoodie, leaving a trail of frost along the sidewalk where he'd walked. "How much farther? I need to let out some of this ice before I freeze solid."
"Come on, it's just up here." Peter pulled his hood up, prompting Danny to follow suit. The local led the way past the closed and locked Four Freedoms Park entrance to a stretch of trees along South Loop Road. Peter carefully eyed the east-pointing security camera and halted in its blind spot, pulling Danny into the shadows with him. After a cyclist passed, the boys scaled the fence and made their way through the greenery, avoiding the other cameras that monitored the main paths.
Danny hesitated when they arrived at a looming stone wall facing the trees. "This place is creepy as hell, Peter. Why are we here? What's wrong with backroads or something?"
"We're in freaking New York City. Do you have any idea how far it is to the nearest backroad? Just trust me. This old hospital was built like a fort, and everybody stays away at night because they think it's haunted."
"Not surprising," Danny commented drily.
Hopping another fence, the boys clambered into the building through a hole in the chainlink that covered its openings. With the entire roof and most of the interior having long since rotted away, the outer stone construction was the only remaining feature of the original hospital. Newer steel beams and columns crossed this way and that to reinforce the decrepit structure, creating an elaborate web of shadows and crevices.
The teens surveyed their makeshift training grounds and decided to stay in the northeast corner of the building, it being the least visible from Manhattan. As Danny marveled at the eeriness, some dust irritated his nose and caused him to sneeze.
"Bless you," Peter said automatically.
"Tha-ah-choo!" Danny sneezed again. "Thanks. Ugh, if I'd known how dusty it was gonna be, I would've taken a Benadryl."
"But then you wouldn't be conscious for power practice, which sorta defeats the purpose." Peter swung his backpack off and set it against the wall. "Okay, first off, we gotta work on activating your powers on command."
Danny bit his lip. "Uh…yeah, I should probably learn how to do that."
Peter leaned against a reinforcement column and crossed his arms. "So how did you feel when the ice came out? Like, describe your headspace."
Danny half-shrugged. "I don't know; I felt cold because of the lockers, I guess. And I was thinking about how to stop the wraith from attacking you after you hit your head. And then my arm started glowing."
"So, it's like a protection thing? Some instinct buried inside you, like fight, flight or freeze," Peter finished with a slight chuckle.
Danny rolled his eyes. "Really, it was super natural. I mean, very natural, like a subconscious thing."
"So try focusing on that again. Here, take off your sweatshirt to feel colder if that helps." Peter motioned for Danny to hand over the garment, and he did so.
Feeling exposed and slightly chilled, Danny bounced on his toes. "Okay okay okay, I can do this," he muttered aloud.
"Just get the energy…turned on, or whatever. Don't worry about throwing a blast yet."
"Right." Danny stilled and balled his fists, placing them at his sides in a power stance. He closed his eyes and held his breath, pretending to concentrate hard. Danny waited a few moments before panting and releasing the power stance. "Nothing. Gah, I'm useless!"
"Hey! Hey, come on," Peter snapped. He pushed off from the wall and gripped Danny's shoulders with an encouraging smile. "You saved my life earlier, Danny. And this was only your first try. I know you can do it because you kinda already did yesterday. You got this!"
Feeling slightly guilty, Danny returned the smile and nodded. The halfa settled back into his power pose and took a few deep breaths while waiting for Peter to step back. Danny crossed his arms in an X over his chest, eyes shut to block out all distractions. For a few tense moments, Peter watched and waited, listening to his friend's breathing go slower and slower. Danny finally opened his eyes and thrust his arms outward with every muscle flexed, aquamarine power flaring along his limbs as his pupils burned with arctic fury.
"Yes!" Peter shouted with a small hop and a victorious fistpump.
"Ha!" Danny cheered, mimicking Peter's gesture and accidentally releasing a blast into the supports above them. The boys' joy dissipated with each second they spent staring up at the inverted icicles protruding up toward the sky.
"Okay…maybe power de-activation next," Peter suggested and looked down at Danny's glowing arms.
This time, Danny actually did have to concentrate. However, within half an hour, he could summon and suppress the cold more or less on command.
After a short break, Peter swung his backpack onto a ledge and unzipped it, taking out a six-pack of Coke. "Next up: target practice."
Danny frowned. "Why soda though?"
"Because your ice will cool it down and then we can drink it to celebrate your progress!"
Danny reluctantly nodded his agreement. Peter set up the first can on a heap of unused stone and stepped aside, watching his friend with an unsettling intensity.
"Uh…can you not stare like that?" Danny asked.
Peter twitched. "Oh, sorry." He relaxed his expression and turned to face the soda instead, though he still sent surreptitious glances at Danny every couple of seconds.
Danny shook his head and refocused. He raised his right arm and called upon the glacial energy churning in his core. The power bled along his veins and entered his palm. Danny aimed, however—
"Ah-choo!"
The blast released far off course and coated a section of wall with ice.
Peter's eyebrows raised dramatically. "Benadryl."
"Benadryl," Danny agreed and set up for another shot. He released another blast, this time controlled, but Danny purposefully aimed slightly to the right and only jostled the can. He lowered his firing arm and evaluated the angle.
"Hey, not bad for your first blast!" Peter said. "I would've been way off just starting out." His mind appeared to wander briefly as embarrassment flushed his face. He caught his inattention, though, and reenergized his smile.
"I had a little practice aiming with my parents," Danny explained. "They wanted Jazz and me to be able to defend ourselves safely with their anti-ghost stuff."
"Nice! It looks like you might be a little rusty, though. Keep going."
Danny nodded and raised his arm once more. Squinting one eye for effect, he released an accidentally overpowered shot and knocked the soda clean off the pile. The ice built up around it, though, and it was frozen a few inches above the bricks mid-flight. Turning to a shocked Peter, he suggested, "Well, it'll definitely be cold enough to drink?"
Peter dumbly nodded and went to retrieve the soda. He struggled against the ice a little too much before breaking the can free and setting another on the bricks. "Okay, go again. And try to make the blast smaller and more focused."
"Right. I can't go freezing city blocks every time I wanna fire some ice." Danny's focus wasn't a charade this time, and it took three more cans before he was able to fire a single concentrated blast just big enough to hit the soda off the pile or freeze it—and only it—in place.
"Alright, two cans left," Peter announced and stepped back after placing the fifth soda.
Concentrating hard, Danny aimed his hand with the fingers in a clawed position, creating an almost invisible singular beam of power. It struck the can dead-on without knocking it out of position, only a light layer of frost forming around the lip.
Peter stepped closer to get a better look. "Wow! Talk about control, it's not even fro-holy crap!" His compliment cut off as the highly pressurized can exploded its slushy contents all over him.
Danny winced. "Sorry?"
Peter shook out his hair before waving off the other boy's apology. Setting up the final can, he came to stand further behind Danny than he had previously. "Okay," Peter said, "for this one, let's see what you can really do. See how powerful you can go."
Worried, Danny glanced over his shoulder. "Um…are you sure?"
"Yeah! Who knows how epic it could be?"
"Well…" Danny took a deep, controlled breath and widened his stance into a sumo pose. He scrunched his eyes shut and cupped his palms in front of him as if they were holding an invisible basketball. Energy coursed through his veins, illuminating the spidering scars along his left arm and casting an eerie glow on the steel surrounding them. As a sphere of glacial power formed in Danny's palms, the air began to swirl through the abandoned hospital due to the sudden drop in temperature. It quickly disturbed the dust and debris and blew them into the boys' faces.
Danny's eyes shot open. "Oh no."
A different type of shiver danced along Peter's nerves and he subconsciously fell into a defensive stance.
"Ah-" Danny cried.
While Peter stepped back towards a stack of unused girders, Danny desperately tried to reign in his charging blast.
"Ah-!"
Peter squinted at the skyrocketing brightness, diving aside just as Danny gave up trying to reabsorb the energy pooling in his hands. The sphere swelled out of control and forced Danny's hands further apart, until—
"Ah-CHOO!"
An ear-shattering explosion rang out, forcing Danny to his knees. The icy attack disintegrated the nearest wall, pouring out of each window and doorway as it mercilessly froze everything in its path. The resulting shockwave rippled through the park's trees and disturbed the water of the East River beyond. Airborne crystals formed as the glacial energy assaulted the humidity in the air. Finally, a distant, receding crackle heralded the end of the blast, replaced by the sound of waves lapping against something.
Four Freedoms Park fell into an unsettling serenity. The island-wide cloud of diamond dust sparkled brilliantly in the city lights. Icicles had formed along each window ledge, door frame and exposed piece of structure above the boys, radiating at an angle from the epicenter of the discharge. Above the hospital, the gentlest of snow flurries started to slowly blanket the entire tip of the island. Individual flakes landed on Danny's head and shimmered against his jet black hair.
Panting and looking around, Danny shakily got to his feet in a minuscule circle of undisturbed ground. Each of his arms had a solid layer of ice encasing them up to the elbow joint. Danny smacked them together just hard enough to crack the ice before shaking them off. He sniffled and called out weakly, "Peter? Are you okay?"
Horizontal ice had cantilevered over Peter where he'd taken shelter behind the girders. He emerged from his hiding spot with rapid, fogging breath then wordlessly nodded. Stumbling his way back to Danny's side, Peter surveyed the destruction around them and eventually muttered, "…Bless you."
"…Thanks."
The boys lethargically clambered out of the hospital ruins and assessed the damage. Four Freedoms Park was now a winter wonderland encased in a glistening shell, each tree and lamppost now a pillar of ice. A few of the lights flickered and died as a result of the pressure while the closer trees crackled and moaned their threat to explode.
A groan drew the boys' attention to the water. Expanses of ice radiated out from the southernmost point of Roosevelt Island, blocking half the East River on both sides and emitting an audible protest against the current.
"How's that 'not my problem' philosophy gonna treat this?" Danny quipped.
Peter looked from the frozen river to the park, to the hospital, to Danny, and back to the river. "Maybe we should go," he said.
"Yeah."
"Like—"
"Now."
"Yeah."
With Danny ignoring the last remnants of the pain in his right thigh, the boys sprinted through the trees back towards the main road.
This chapter's Easter eggs and references:
- Meta-genes and Young Justice: Yes, that IS a subtle reference to my other fics involving the Young Justice canon! Recognized, Night One, Beast Within…
- "I'm in shock. See? I've got a blanket": shoutout to my fellow BBC Sherlock fans!
- INTJ: a personality type I myself possessed until I lived in a house with 15 people for a year. I should probably redo the Myers-Briggs test to see what I am now
- Lichtenberg scar: Yep I'm adopting that headcanon for this story FIGHT ME
- Pineapple on pizza: Look, y'all, I'm not gonna take sides. But I live in Italy. So let's be real. And I recently found out my Spanish flatmate likes it. I have not told the Italians we live with because I have no interest in starting a war.
- The AC turn up/turn down debate: Included purely out of spite because it drives me crazy lol
- Roosevelt Island: I actually went there doing site research last December! It's a fantastic place far from the usual touristy hubbub. Highly recommend. It's also the scene of the final fight between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin during the first Sam Raimi movie!
- Six pack of Coke: "How could this possibly be an Easter egg?" you may ask. People, you have no idea how ridiculously thoroughly I research for my fics, often by accident. As a result of unbridled curiosity while writing this chapter, I went on a deep dive to find out who created the idea of a six pack of sodas, and it was Coca-Cola in 1923. People used to buy a cold soda at the corner store every day, but when people started having refrigerators at home, Coke marketed an easy-to-carry convenience pack to buy multiple Cokes and store them at home.
I'd like to give the absolutely biggest, most massive thank you and shoutout to my fandom friends who supported me through these rough months and helped me workshop this chapter to an acceptable level, including LetTheChaosEnsue here on FFn, Weshney and SummersSixEcho over on AO3; and ghostiemouse, arken-99 and tytach over on tumblr, among others.
Also, this chapter includes site photos! I went to New York last December and spent a few days exploring Manhattan and Queens. I can't embed images here, so if you go to Imgur and add /a/kjiVqZc after the com in the url, you can see the ones related to chapter 11.
I can't make any promises about timing for chapter 12; I've got a lot to do this coming month (still on that job hunt grind and my entire portfolio is currently shit) and I have very few scenes already drafted. But I hope this chapter proves to you my heart is still in it and I will not be abandoning FwF anytime soon. :)