Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Ultimate Marvel

Chapter 20: Lovelorn Spirit Part 1

(Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D)

"So, you are saying that Phillip Masters managed to escape?" Nick Fury asked.

"Yes, I had him one moment and the next he was gone." Duplicate Danny said. "However, on the bright side we managed to keep him away from getting the sand."

"Do you believe that the mutants are behind this?" Nick Fury asked.

"It could be possible." Duplicate Danny said as he brought his thumb and index fingers to his chin.

The original would regret that they had thrown the mutants under the bus, but it would be better than having the government be suspicious of him. He had no doubt that Nick Fury would question the guards of the Baxter Building about what went down and that would lead to questions of the original's actions.

"Great. That will be something that we will look into." Nick Fury said.

"You should still search into other leads. It would be a horrible mistake to let biases take over during the investigation." Duplicate Danny advised.

"We will look into all possible leads." Nick Fury said. "Do you think that you would be able to sneak into the Savage Land where Magneto's children are hiding?"

"I could probably find a way." Duplicate Danny said. "You think Phillip is being hidden there?"

"It's possible." Nick Fury said.

"However, if I am caught it would just make relations between the United States and the mutants of the Savage Land worse." Duplicate Danny said.

"I meant more as in a rescue attempt." Nick Fury said. "I have a better individual in mind for infiltrating the Savage Land."

"You going to give me a hint as to which agent that might be?" Duplicate Danny asked.

"That individual would rather I keep their secret." Nick Fury said. "I am sure that you can understand that."

"Very well. However now that I am back, I am going to talk with Electro." Duplicate Danny said as he looked at Nick Fury.

"You may use a quinjet for your trip." Nick Fury said. "However, we cannot risk Electro being freed so you will follow all the procedures at the Cube."

"I understand." Danny said as he stood up and walked out of the room.

0-0-0-0-0-0

(The Cube, Nevada)

Danny walked into the interrogation room and smiled at the man in the prison jumpsuit sitting at the table. "Hello, Electro, it has been a while. I hope that the government has given you a nice room."

The CUBE exists to hold and detain those that had their genes altered in defiance of the ban to grant them superhuman abilities. The cell Electro had been given kept him from using his powers. The walls are made of an incredibly elastic material. No matter how hot a spark Electro tried to generate he would not be able to burn his way out nor cause a power outage.

"What do you want?" Electro asked glaring at him.

"I just have a few questions that I want answered." Danny said as he sat in the chair opposite the prisoner. "I know that you used to work for the Kingpin. Before that you worked for Justin Hammer and went by the name Maxwell Dillion. I want to know how you were given your powers and the location of where the transformation took place."

"I ain't got nothing to say to you." Electro said glaring at him.

"While you are in here you should work on your grammar." Danny said with a smile. "What you just said means that you do have something to tell me."

"Keep testing me and see what I will do." Electro said glaring with his eyes beginning to glow that bright blue.

"I was afraid that you might hold a grudge against me." Danny said as he started tapping his finger on the desk.

"I ain't ever seeing the light of day again." Electro said, "In my dreams I see myself choking the life from you and your punk friend."

"I see that your time away has not done any favors for your aggressive temperament." Danny said with a sigh. "I can't even begin to wonder how your lawyer deals with you."

"He is just some chump public D.A." Electro said. "S.H.I.E.L.D. just assigned him to me so that it looks like they are obeying the law. We both know the government isn't going to let me go."

"You have committed crimes and should expect to face punishment." Danny said. "However, you can use this chance to help me do some good in the world and prevent more supervillains appearing in the world."

He did not mean what he was saying. He was just making sure that the cameras watching them saw that he tried to convince him to do things the "correct way.". Now he could let Clockwork do his part.

Danny rose from his seat the moment that he saw the medallion on his neck and the soldiers watching them by the doors frozen in the moment.

He had to go through so much effort to get some answers. He just hoped that the original had was having a troubling time in the school.

0-0-0-0-0-0

(Midtown High)

Danny gave a yawn as he walked out of math class. His math teacher could probably be a great cure to people with insomnia. One lecture and they would fall asleep faster than it took a kindergartner to stuff his mouth with Halloween candy.

As he entered the library, he saw Peter sitting alone at a table writing something in his notebook.

"Hey Peter." Danny said as he took a seat across from him.

"Leave me alone." Peter said with a scowl.

"I want to talk to you." Danny said. "I even brought you a gift from my trip."

He slid the magazine across the table. He had picked it up after he had the girls dropped back off at the Xavier Institute. On the front page is an image of Spider-man fighting Kraven the hunter. It seems that Norman Ozborn decided that he should take advantage of Kraven's desire to hunt Spider-man and contacted the producer of the man's show. Now they are aiming to make a show of it.

According to the article Spider-man and Kraven will battle inside a prepared area until the time runs out. Kraven would use his cunning and knowledge to try and come up with traps that would overcome Spider-man's strengths.

"I don't want to talk about it." Peter said as he crumbled up the paper and threw it in the trash.

"That cost two dollars twenty-five cents." Danny said. "I will of course forget that if you listen to what I have to say."

"What do you want?" Peter asked with a sigh.

"I have this friend that I want you to talk to." Danny said.

He had promised Dr. Storm that he would try and convince Johnny against going into the hero business as a solo act. He figured that Peter could talk to Johnny and warn him of the dangers that he had faced. Peter was all about guilt so he should be able to give proper warning.

"About what?" Peter asked.

"This friend recently happed to suffer an accident not unlike ourselves and wants to make something of this event. He is rather reckless, and his dad worries about him. Danny said. "I figured that you could tell him a few stories. Like that night at the gala where I found you outside."

"I am going to be rather busy." Peter said in denial.

"He has friends with some rather interesting connections in the scientific fields." Danny said. "Even if that doesn't tempt you think about the goods time we had."

"We did very little together." Peter said. "We failed to find something about our real target."

"Just give it time. I plan to have a very long "conversation" with our friend with the shining personality." Danny said with a smile. 'Is everything going alright?'

'I am working on it.' Duplicate Danny responded.

Danny watched as Peter clenched his fists.

"Even so I no longer have time to waste on that mission." Peter said as he moved to stand up. "If you want to continue on your own then good luck but leave me out of it."

"I know about what happened during the Christmas party." Danny said.

"How?" Peter whispered as he turned back to him.

"I have friends that are skilled at finding information." Danny said.

"Then you know that I cannot fight what is happening." Peter said as he walked back to the table.

"In times like these what you should do is reach out to your friends." Danny said. "That way we can help them out."

"What are you planning on doing?" Peter asked.

"I can make sure that there are "people" that can watch over them. Make sure that nobody gets to them." Danny said.

"You don't know what Norman Osborn is like." Peter argued.

"I have seen a few mob movies." Danny said. "I know what to expect and I believe that I can handle it."

"You don't know what you are talking about." Peter argued. "You heard about that monster that attacked the school?"

"Are you saying that monster works for him?" Danny asked.

"I believe so." Peter said. "He hinted as much during or conversations."

"Either way. Doing this alone is only going to hurt you more." Danny said.

"What can we do?" Peter asked.

"He wants you close then we should that to our advantage." Danny said.

"Seriously?" Peter asked. "If he learns that I am even trying that he will try and punish me."

"Are you going to just let him push you around." Danny said. "I may have known you for just a few months, but I can tell that has a very short time limit. You should use that time to figure out how to get your freedom and bring him down."

Then his ghost sense went off.

'What?' Danny thought as he looked around trying to find where the ghost might be.

"I'll think about it." Peter said.

"We'll talk more about this later." Danny said as he stood up and walked out of the library.

As he walked through the hall he saw a group of students gathered in a circle. He followed their gaze and looked up to see the school's football trophies hanging from the ceiling. They were not stabbed through though. Rather half of the trophies seemed to have merged with it.

"Seems like someone has decided to annoy Coach Fitz." The skinny boy with large hair on the left said.

"Hilarious." The chubby teen with braces said with a smile.

"How in the world do you think this happened?" the dark-skinned boy on the right asked.

"I heard that it was the work of the ghost of Garrison Jacobs." The skinny boy with large hair on the left said.

Ghost? Perhaps this is the ghost that had set off his ghost sense earlier.

"Who is Garrison Jacobs?" Danny asked as he walked up to them.

"Didn't your mother tell you that it is rude to eavesdrop?" The chubby teen with braces said as he glanced at him with annoyance in his eyes.

Not true Spectra and Vlad had advised him to learn as much about the people around him as he could. Their secrets and weaknesses would make it easier to find out how to take advantage of them.

"Who doesn't love a good ghost story?" Danny asked with a smile.

"You'll have to learn from someone else sophomore." The tall teen with large hair said. "Come on guys."

'Looks like I am going to have to find the information myself.' Danny thought as he resisted the urge to blast their retreating backs with an ecto-ray.

He had some time before he had his next class so he planned to go and see if he could find the ghost.

"What!" A voice shouted through the hall. "What are you talking about Rand?"

Danny found an older student with red hair in a letterman jacket talking to another letterman wearing teen with dark skin and a cap hiding his hair.

"Nelson someone trashed your car." Rand said. "Come see for yourself."

Nelson started running to the closest side exit. Rand followed after him at a more sedate pace.

'Maybe this has something to do with the ghost' Danny thought as he started following them at a distance.

He found that a group had already formed around the damaged car. It was not pretty. From what he could see the roof had been torn off, tires had been slashed, and the interior had been filled with garbage. On the windshield the words Ha Ha had been spraypainted.

"Who did this?" Nelson questioned as he turned to look around.

"Looks like someone is trying to send a message to you." a voice from the side said.

He is a skinny teen with parted black hair and glasses.

"You think this is funny Willie?" Nelson asked as he glared at Willie.

"That someone decided that they should tell you what they think of you and your flashy car." Willie said with a smirk.

It was like the kid had a death wish. Willie may be tall, but Nelson looked like he could eat three of him for breakfast.

Nelson dashed from his car and grabbed Willie by his shirt. "Sounds like someone has missed the feeling of my fist hitting his face."

So that is the type of person Nelson is. It made much more sense why something like this had happened.

"A trashed car that suits your trashy personality." Willie said without fear glaring down at him.

"You asked for it." Nelson said as he let go of Wilie and tried to punch him.

Danny's ghost sense went off again.

Willie caught Nelson's fist. "Violence is the only language that you speak. Very well. We will fight but after school. Some of us still hope on passing this year. How about Midtown Park?"

"Have it your way nerd." Nelson said as he pulled his fist back and returned to his damaged car.

Willie then walked away with a chipper smile.

'Looks like I have found my ghost.' Danny thought as he glanced at the teen walking away.

Now it is time to do some research on these two.

0-0-0-0-0-0

"Danny, can I talk to you for a minute outside?" Mary Jane asked as she pointed at the bleachers outside.

"Sure." Danny said as he stood up from the lunch table and followed after her.

"Have you heard the news?" Mary Jane asked as she walked up the metal stairs and looked over the school field.

"What news?" Danny asked as he stood in front of her and looked out into the distance.

"I heard some of the older students say that the school is haunted." Mary Jane said.

"Is this the rumor about Garrison Jacobs that is going through the school?" Danny asked.

"You heard about it?" Mary Jane asked as she looked up.

"I overheard a few kids talking about it." Danny said. "Apparently that is why he trashed Coach Fitz sports trophies. A sign of revenge."

"I have not heard anything about trophies." Mary Jane said surprised.

"What have you heard?" Danny asked.

"Apparently during a Spanish class, the chalk started levitating right in front of the class." Mary Jane said. "Garrison wrote Blade a love letter and drew the image of a rose."

"Blade?" Danny asked.

"Her name is Bobbi Sommers but all those that know her call her Blade." Mary Jane said.

"Do you know if Blade and Garrison were together before the accident?" Danny asked.

Maybe Garrison had an obsession with his girlfriend that tethered him to this world and so he had refused to pass on. Ember had died due to a house fire but her desire to live and be heard kept her going.

"No idea." Mary Jane said as she shrugged. "Are you going to look into it?"

"After school." Danny said. "Would you like to help me?"

"Really?" Mary Jane asked.

"You might be able to convince people to talk to you more easily than they would to me." Danny admitted. "I want you to look into the stories around the school about Garrison Jacobs and how he died."

"Do you have a plan for how to capture him?" Mary Jane asked.

"That depends how this goes." Danny said. "This could just be a simple final message but if it is necessary, I am going to take him down."

"How will you even find him?" Mary Jane asked.

"I have a good idea where to start." Danny said.

After all he is going to be in a fight after school.

"Where?" Mary Jane asked.

"I think that I have found the body he is hiding in." Danny said. "Some kid named Willie Watt."

"That explains how he took down Nelson." Mary Jane said.

"While you look up Garrison I will look into Willie's life and see if he knows what is happening." Danny said.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Just like the times of the Roman Empire a crowd had formed to watch as two individuals came to beat each other to a bloody pulp. You could look into the crowd's eyes and see that they were hoping that this would be a lasting and brutal showdown. That the two of them would fight till the sun went down.

The two extremes of man. Brains and Brawn. The large and aggressive tiger against the quick and agile bunny.

Danny watched the two teens from above on the park slide. Standing up here is the best way for him to keep an eye on the two and make sure no serious damage happened. He could have an invisible duplicate generated quickly and have him float down and break up the fight.

"I am surprised that you actually showed up." Nelson said as he hopped on his feet with his fists raised.

"I'm not scared of you." Willie said with a laugh. "All you are is a bully with a trashed car."

"You are going to regret that smart mouth." Nelson said as he ran at him with his fist raised.

"You learned nothing from earlier." Willie said as he caught Nelson's fist. "However what else could I expect from a kid that gets a B every once in a full moon."

Willie punched Nelson in the stomach so hard that he dropped to his knees.

"What?" Nelson asked as he coughed on the ground.

"Did you drop something Nelson?" Willie taunted before he kicked him in the side.

"You are going to regret that." Nelson said as he rose with an uppercut.

Willie moved out the way and punched down with a counter that hit Nelson's face and broke his nose. "Looks like today is just not your day pal."

0-0-0-0-0-0

"A kid in your school is possessed?" Rogue asked.

"It certainly looks like it." Danny answered as he placed Willie's address on the investigation board. "He is less than one hundred pounds and took on a two-hundred-and-sixty-pound wrestler that has won over five matches and won. If that is not a hint to superhuman abilities, then I had really underestimated the martial arts."

"He could be a mutant." Rogue argued.

"That is possible, but my ghost sense went off while he was fighting Nelson." Danny said as he looked through the school's files on Willie being printed out.

He had decided to use the protection of his basement rooms to hack into the school files. That way he would be protected from any interested parties from looking over what he was doing. He also had Joh scattering the location through obsolete satellites so that the hack could not be traced back to this location.

He worked with spies. He would be as careful as possible.

The view screen that is connected to his wall activated.

"Yes John?" Danny asked his robot butler.

Had something unexpected happened?

"Master, Ms. Watson is here." John said.

"Great." Danny said with a smile. "Tell her that she can come down."

"Who is Ms. Watson?" Rogue asked.

"Her name is Mary Jane. She is helping me learn more about the situation." Danny said.

"How close are you to her?" Rogue asked.

"I think she is great. I don't want her in danger, but I have been told that I need her help." Danny said as he glanced at the other board in his room. "That I could be in great danger without it."

"Really?" Rogue asked concerned.

"Yes. I will explain more later." Danny said.

"Alright." Rogue said. "Go and be Sherlock Holmes. I just want you to know that I love you."

"I love you too." Danny said as he hung up the phone.

It took her a few minutes to arrive.

"Hey Danny." Mary Jane said as she walked up and placed her bag on the chair.

"How has your search gone?" Danny asked as he held her hand.

"Great." Mary Jane said as she twirled the chair in a circle.

"So are Garrison Jacobs and Blade connected?" Danny asked.

"No." Mary Jane said shaking her head and stopping the chair. "That is where things get rather complicated."

"What do you mean?" Danny asked.

"It is believed by most that Garrison died a decade ago. That he died while the gym went under reconstruction." Mary Jane said. "He ran away from home one night and the only trace that could be found is his watch and a few drops of blood."

"Why would he mess with Coach Fitz and his trophies?" Danny asked.

"Those were all of his trophies." Mary Jane said before handing him a paper from her bag. "Garrison Jacobs was a top athlete during his time at Midtown."

He turned the paper over and saw that it is a picture of Garrison Jacobs. He had short dark hair, dark eyes, and a gold earring on his left ear.

"Great. This guy sounds like an overachiever." Danny said as he placed the image down.

"He was also the lead guitarist in his band." Mary Jane said as she opened her bag and showed him a picture of Garrison.

"Did they ever find proof that he died in the school?" Danny asked.

"No. It seems that the only reason they believed that is that his watch and wallet were found in the construction field." Mary Jane said.

It is probably what made the story so believable for the mystery.

"There was no sign of what happened to him that night, His friends discovered his wallet in the gym. His uncle eventually declared him dead once the police investigation stalled." Mary Jane said.

"Great." Danny said. "So, if he died a decade earlier has, he been haunting the school since? If not, then why start now?"

"Why is he so obsessed with Blade?" Mary Jane asked.

"Another good question." Danny said. "It seems that we are going to have to find the ghost and ask him."

"I have heard rumors that Blade and her friends are planning to visit the gym this weekend to try and perform a seance and contact the spirit of Garrison." Mary Jane said. "Do you think that is going to work?"

"It shouldn't but if Blade is the target of obsession Willie may show up anyway." Danny said.

"How has your research gone?" Mary Jane asked.

"According to the school Willie is a straight A student. He has high grades in math and sciences but has trouble with literature and physical activities like gym." Danny said as he tapped the report cards printed on the board. "He has filed complaints with the school about being bullied by Nelson and friends, but it seems that little has changed."

"Which would explain what happened to Nelson's car." Mary Jane said.

"Correct." Danny answered.

"So are Garrison and Willie working together?" Mary Jane asked. "Garrison takes revenge for Willie and so Willie does not try to fight him?"

"It is definitely possible." Danny said.

The key to freedom from being overshadowed by a ghost is to have an intense desire to fight it. To recognize your will and not allow another's to try and suppress it. To shove the intruder holding you captive out of your body.

"So how do you plan to get Garrison Jacobs out of Willie's body?" Mary Jane asked.

"I will have to whip something up." Danny said.

Luckily, he had plenty of experience building and fighting against tech mean to capture ghosts.