Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Ultimate Marvel
Chapter 18: Puppet Master Part 1 (Edited)
"What did you think that you were doing?" Nick Fury asked.
He would have liked to pretend as if he did not know what Nick Fury is talking about but that would be rather hard with the screen behind him showing an image of him and the Thunderbolts. He also could not blame his duplicate as he was just acting on what he would have wanted to do.
However now he had to deal with the consequences.
"I was making sure that nobody died." Danny answered. "I thought that you would be glad that your hero at the scene made sure that no one was hurt."
"You had very simple orders." Nick Fury said. "You were to watch and report. Now Osborn will grow paranoid that S.H.I.E.L.D is watching his heroes."
"How could I be a superhero if I let the city get wrecked by an angry villain?" Danny asked as he rose his arms and held his palms up and aimed outwards in a questioning gesture. "There will be other chances to find out what you want."
He was glad that every word that Nick Fury said was analyzed and recorded. He doubted that the spy wanted it on record that he wanted him to ignore people in need.
Nick Fury just glared with his one eye before taking a deep breath. "Very well. We can use this opening to see what Osborn is up to."
"Great. I will be on my way to The Raft." Danny said standing up so he could leave the office.
He wanted to start asking Electro his questions.
"No, you're not." Nick Fury said stopping him. "I have called for you because I have another assignment for you."
"You already gave me permission." Danny reminded Nick Fury.
"You can do that when you get back. The criminals inside are not going anywhere." Nick Fury said. "Something has come up and this needs to be taken care of first."
"What do you want me to do?" Danny asked.
"Earlier today in Philadelphia a satellite crashed into a beach irradiating the sand." Nick Fury said sliding a file forward. "I want you to go to the Baxter Building in Philadelphia and watch over the scientists as they perform experiments on it."
"You want me to go and watch over glowing sand?" Danny asked. "Is this supposed to be a punishment?"
"No. This is not a punishment." Nick Fury denied. "Helping people in need is your job as you have just reminded me."
He learned another thing about super spy Nick Fury today. That he could be incredibly petty when he wanted to.
"I thought Iron Man was supposed to be helping them?" Danny asked.
He had read the files about the people transformed by the Baxter Portal Incident in the Nevada Desert. Reed Richards had gained the ability to stretch his body as if it had made of a super elastic rubber, Susan Storm gained the ability to turn invisible and create forcefields, Johnny Storm gained the ability to ignite on fire and fly, and Benn Grimm gained super strength and durability at the expense of turning into a creature made from a rock-lick substance.
The incident had also teleported them away from each other. Reed had been left behind at the portal while Susan had been transported hundreds of miles underground in New York, Johnny had been found in France, and Ben had been found in New Mexico.
"He is busy dealing with a criminal hacker named Mr. Fix." Nick Fury replied.
"Is that something that requires the mighty powers of Iron Man?" Danny asked.
"He has a very dangerous criminal working for him named Whiplash." Nick Fury said. "It is beyond the ability of the police to deal with him."
"Captain America? Hawkeye?" Danny asked.
"They are dealing with the disappearance of the cruise ship Juliette and its two hundred passengers." Nick Fury said. "Giant-Man and the Wasp are dealing with the theft of the Goliath Serum. You are the only one available."
"Fine but if I am doing this, I want to be able to pick my resources." Danny said looking at Nick Fury
"What resources would you need for such a mission?" Nick Fury asked. "All you are doing is making sure that no one interacts with the sand."
"Space can be dangerous." Danny said. "Lots of horror movies start with something falling from space."
"Very well. You can take what you need." Nick Fury said as he started tapping his desk. "You have until the end of the day to finish packing and head out."
"Alright." Danny said as he left the room.
The moment that he left the office he teleported to his home.
He had a ghost to talk to.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
(Clockwork's Lair, Ghost Zone)
"We have a problem." Danny said as he walked inside.
"Hello Master Daniel." Clockwork said turning to him in child form. "What is bothering you today?"
"Fury wants me to go to Philadelphia and check on some radiated sand." Danny said. "That will make it kind of hard to question Electro."
"Send a duplicate." Clockwork said.
"I thought of that, but I am worried that my persistence will tip Fury off that something is wrong." Danny said. "He is the type that will look for any method to control me."
"So, you want my help to prevent him from noticing your interrogation of Electro?" Clockwork asked.
"I would like you to freeze time when I get inside so I can get the information." Danny said explaining his plan.
"Let me look into it." Clockwork said as he turned to the screen.
He waited five minutes for him to finish.
"So, what is your solution?" Danny asked.
"I will help you when you get back." Clockwork said. "This mission Fury is sending you on can be useful."
"How useful?" Danny asked.
"That answer will be revealed in time." Clockwork said putting out his hand. "Give me your phone."
"Why?" Danny asked as he de-transformed and pulled out his phone.
"On your mission you will want to reach me." Clockwork said causing the item to glow. "This will alert me and save you the time of teleporting back and travelling through the portal."
"What about Fury?" Danny asked. "I have no doubt that he can access my phone records if he wants to."
"With Technus available that will not be an issue." Clockwork said. "He can make sure that any attempt ends in failure."
"Alright then." Danny said as he put his phone back.
Clockwork opened a ghost portal.
After he stepped out and found himself back in his basement, he re-transformed and then pressed Rogue's number.
"Yes Danny?" Rogue asked as she answered on the other end.
"How would you and Kitty feel about coming with me to Philadelphia for a couple of days?" Danny asked.
"Some time away from the mansion sounds great." Rogue said.
"Ask Kitty if she wants to come as well." Danny said as he walked up the steps.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
(Xavier's School for Gifted Students)
"We are here Master Daniel." John said.
He had altered his face with his holographic emitter. Now he looked like a middle-aged man with muttonchops and brown eyes.
"Hey Bobby." Danny said as he walked out of his car and up the steps of the X-mansion.
"I heard that you and Kitty and Rogue are going on some top-secret mission." Bobby said while playing a game on his PSP.
"I figured that they could use some space from here." Danny said.
He thought it even more seeing the graffiti on the walls outside the school.
"Don't we all." Bobby muttered with a sigh. "Now the mobs are spray-painting insults outside the school's walls."
"What does the Professor feel about this?" Danny asked.
Rogue had told him that the majority of the discussion was with the X-men team and so he figured why not ask a member.
"The professor says that we should not do anything. That reacting with violence would just make the situation worse." Bobby said.
It was kind of a funny statement coming from the man that caused the problem.
"This is a do as I say and Not as I do situation huh?" Danny asked.
"Yup." Bobby said.
"How are you guys feeling about it?" Danny asked.
"What?" Bobby asked.
"You guys were the ones that fought him when he attacked The White House and Xavier did not tell you he was alive." Danny asked.
"I am kind of torn." Bobby said. "Obviously I am pissed that he did not tell us, but I get that the fewer that know a secret the more secure it is."
Before he could say anything else the door behind Bobby revealing Kitty and Rogue.
"Hey Danny." Kitty said as she walked with her bag over her shoulders.
"Let's go." Rogue said.
That was all he needed.
"See you, Bobby." Danny said turning and leading the girls to the car. "Let me tell you guys what you can expect when we get there..."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
(Baxter Building, Philadelphia)
"Nice to meet you Phantom." Dr. Storm said holding out his hand.
Dr. Storm was a tall man with blonde hair and a white trench coat. He had been the overseer of the Baxter Building when it had been used for the Think Tank. After the accident that gave the four their powers the other members of the Think Tank had been moved to Oregon. Now the top portion of the building was reserved for the team and their military security team.
Below that portion were the few individuals that are paying the rent.
"Nice to meet you as well." Danny said shaking the offered hand.
"This is my daughter Susan." Dr. Storm said as he turned to the blonde woman standing behind him.
Susan Storm had been a member of the Think Tank and graduated early college with a degree in biology. She is wearing a heavy dark blue jacket with matching jeans. There is another member of the Storm family that resided in the building. Dr. Storm's son and Susan's younger brother Johnny Storm.
Johnny unlike his sister had not been a member of the Think Tank.
"These are my friends behind me." Danny said. "The one on the left is Shadowcat and the one on the right is Rogue."
"Nice to meet you." Susan said putting her hand out.
"Nice to meet you too." Rogue said to Susan. "Ah heard that there were four of you."
"They thought that since they were not needed to watch the sample that they could spend their time doing something else." Susan Storm said.
"I can understand that." Danny said. "What are they doing if you don't mind me asking?"
"Johnny is probably racing his car, Reed is working on some project, and Ben is probably with his new friend." Dr. Storm said. "Phantom can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Yeah?" Danny asked walking to the doctor.
"Would I be correct to believe that these two are mutants?" Dr. Storm asked with a whisper.
"Yes." Danny said wondering if they were going to have a problem.
"Are they telepaths?" Dr. Storm asked.
"No." Danny denied.
"Has Directory Fury given them permission to help?" Dr. Storm asked.
"Yes." Danny said.
Nick Fury did say he could anything that he believed that he needed to complete the mission.
"Very well then come on in." Dr. Storm said at regular levels as he walked inside of the building.
"Hello Dr. Storm, Hello Susan, Hello Guests." a voice said from above.
"I assume that is H.E.R.B.I.E." Danny said.
H.E.R.B.I.E. (Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-type, Integrated Electronics) is the security system for higher levels of the Baxter Building. It had access to all the main floor on the building. The only places not being searched were the tenant's rooms.
"Do you wish to see the sample?" Dr. Storm asked.
"I would but first would you mind showing me and my friends a place where we can put our stuff away first." Danny said gesturing to the bags that he had a duplicate carrying.
"Oh right." Dr. Storm said in realization. "I'll show you the rooms where you and your friends can stay."
0-0-0-0-0-0
There was a knock at his door.
"Hello." Susan Storm said as she stood outside his door.
She was now wearing a lighter jacket than the one she had been wearing outside.
"Come in." Danny said taking a seat on the bed he had been given. "Do you need something?"
From his position he could see across the hall to the room that Kitty and Rogue are sharing.
"I just wanted to talk." Susan Storm said. "I have seen you on the news and I had some questions."
"What kind of questions?" Danny asked.
"I wanted to know how do your powers work?" Susan Storm asked. "I know the story you gave during your first interview, but I wanted to get the answers straight from you."
"Well, then you should have the answer." Danny said. "I am a ghost."
"I am a scientist. I do not believe in the supernatural." Susan said.
"A hundred years ago people would say they could not believe somebody could open portals to another dimension." Danny offered with a smile. "You and your fellow scientists proved that belief wrong."
"Alternate dimensions can be proved with science." Susan said. "People are still debating the matter of souls and the afterlife."
"Then just think of what happened to me was I accessed an alternate dimension when I died, and the experience changed me." Danny said.
"If you really want me to believe I would like to take a sample of your blood." Susan said as she held up a medical device.
"I am sorry but that is not happening." Danny said.
He refused to give it to S.H.I.E.L.D. and he would refuse her as well.
"We just met Dr. Storm. You could at least offer me and my friends some food first before you try to dissect us." Danny said.
It was about dinner time, and he could use something to eat.
"I understand." Susan Storm said with a sigh.
Good. At least it seemed that she would be patient. He just hoped that she would not act like a mad scientist try and get samples from him in his sleep.
"Let's get you something to eat." Susan Storm said as she turned around. "Bueno Nacho should still be open."
Not what he meant but it seems that she was not deterred so easily.
"Very well. Let me go and see if Rogue and Kitty are hungry as well." Danny said as he got up from his bed.
He would bring them along to make sure that Susan did not knock him out and bring him to her lab for secret tests.
He left his room and he knocked on their door.
"Come in." Rogue said.
He could see that Rogue was finished packing and was reading one of those twilight books. Kitty was typing on her laptop.
"What's up?" Kitty asked as she turned to him.
"Are you two hungry?" Danny asked.
"I could eat." Kitty said.
"So could Ah." Rogue said.
"Great. Susan offered to show us where we can get something to eat." Danny said.
0-0-0-0-0-0
"So, what type of Satellite was it that crashed into the sand?" Danny asked as he lifted his nacho chip dipped in cheese sauce.
He ignored all the people recording him on their phones.
"The satellite belonged to the Think Tank." Susan said stabbing her fork into the leaf of her salad. "It was from before the accident. Reed was part of the class that designed it."
"That sounds amazing." Danny said. "What was the purpose behind sending it into space?"
"The goal of the project was to use the satellite to study the Van Patten radiation belt and find if there were any beneficial properties." Susan said.
The Van Patten radiation belt is a layer of charged plasma that surrounds the earth. They are carried by the solar winds and are trapped by the planet's magnetosphere. Earth's two main belts extend from an altitude of about 640 to 58,000 km.
"Did he find any?" Danny asked.
"Reed hasn't talked about it lately. He has been too busy since the accident." Susan said.
"What is he working on?" Danny asked.
"He spends most of his time searching for a way to turn us back to what we were like before the accident." Susan said. "We tried to get the information from an old classmate, but it did not end well."
He had read about how the four of them had tried to invade Denmark to fight Victor Van Damme to gain information to turn them back. The U.S. government had shown up to try an apprehend him after his attack on the building, but The Danish government rebuffed them and the U.S. government and told them to go back home.
"Do you think that he could make a cure?" Rogue asked holding her burrito in her hand.
He glanced at Rogue as he could hear the hope in her voice and could see that Kitty was doing the same.
"Reed believes that he can do it. He has been stuck in his lab trying to find another way to fix it. I am rather worried about him." Susan said.
"Do you want a cure?" Danny asked.
"I'm fine with what happened to me, and Johnny loves his powers." Susan said. "Ben however is a different story. He desperately wants one."
"I think that Reed should have a few more scientists look over his work before he takes any serious steps." Danny said.
He could understand Reed's desire. It had been his device that caused his and his friends their mutations. Jack Fenton would have done something similar to help Vlad in his original universe if had been aware of what happened.
"Does he have any idea what caused the satellite to crash?" Kitty asked changing the subject.
"Reed believes that the crash happened because it collided with the man that fell into Salamanca a couple of days prior." Susan Storm said.
A few days after he destroyed the large meteoroids, he learned that among the ones that had hit the earth one was actually a person.
"The one the newspapers have been calling the Crimson Dynamo?" Kitty asked.
The fact that the media had gotten the name had made Fury mad. He was looking into S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to find out where the leak had come from.
"The man is a cosmonaut named Ivan Vanko" Danny said.
"Are you allowed to tell us this?" Susan storm asked.
"None of it is classified. You can look it up on the internet." Danny said. "Ivan was a part of Project Pegasus."
"What did they do?" Rogue asked.
"Project Pegasus had been an aeronautics company. Ivan had been a Russian cosmonaut that had been on a mission to observe the sun and unfortunately due to a solar flare had gotten stuck orbiting the sun for two years."
"Two years?" Kitty asked. "That must have given him a killer tan. How did he survive that long?"
"He survived due to the suit that he was wearing. It had preserved him in stasis well enough so that when he came back to the earth, he was no worse for wear." Danny said.
He is currently being healed and observed by S.H.I.E.L.D. medics. To find out if his stay during space had affected him negatively. S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists are also working at understanding how the suit functioned and if the technology could be incorporated to Nasa.
"His people just left him there?' Rogue asked.
"The company thought he had perished." Danny said.
"That's horrible." Susan Storm said.
"Space is a place of incredible beauty and horrifying terror." Danny said.
He hoped the people of this world were ready when they eventually left the solar system.
The door opened and somebody ran inside the room.
"Where is he?" He heard a voice shout.
"Who is that?" Rogue asked shifting to a defensive stance and taking something heavy to use as a weapon.
She had spent years in weapon X and the small amount of time with the X-me had not been enough to get rid of her training.
"That would be my brother Johnny." Susan answered Rogue while looking at her brother.
"Do you think that he would get along with Bobby?" Danny asked Kitty.
"His powers make me want to say no but given what the file said probably." Kitty answered.
"Johnny slow down." Susan said as she rose and turned to her brother that walked up to them.
"Sorry sis but slow is not how I live." Johnny said putting out his hand and slamming onto the table. "I am the Human Torch and I want to know how I can join the Ultimates."
He certainly was eager.
"I believe that is a conversation for another place, but I can see what Nick Fury thinks about it." Danny said.
At the very least he might allow him as a temporary member of the team.