Chapter Text
Danny Phantom soared through the sky lazily, with one earbud in. He was tired, but he didn’t want to go home yet. His parents were on the other side of town on “ghost patrol”. Jazz was at home, writing her college application essay. Valerie and him had a current truce. He closed his eyes as he floated on his back, high enough so that he was above the light posts and most of the trees, but close enough to the ground that he could hear if anyone shouted for him. He was paying attention to his ghost sense. But not much else. If he bumped into a building at this speed, nothing would happen, he would just change direction. He sighed and took his phone out to change the song. Achilles Come Down began to play and Danny began to hum along to the tune before putting his phone into a pocket of his suit. Danny smiled as he got to relax for the first time in a while. That was, until something fiery slammed into him. It pushed him into the wall of a building and his head hit the brick with a loud crack. Danny then hit the ground and his earbud was ripped from his phone and ear, laying forgotten on the ground next to him. Danny’s vision blurred slightly and his head pounded. Danny felt the back of his head, his glove was stained green as he pulled his hand away.
“Who the fuck are you?” Danny asked the man who had attacked him. “You aren’t a Guy in White?” The stranger let out a hallowed laugh as he leveled his weapon with Danny’s chest.
“No, I’m not.” The strange ghost hunter smiled before pulling the trigger. Electricity shot from the weapon and hit Danny square in his chest. Danny screamed out in pain, his body convulsing. As the electricity faded, Phantom layed there, gasping for breath. The ghost hunter watched this, curiosity sparking in his dark eyes. Ghosts don’t need to breathe. And yet, the entity before him was most definitely a ghost. And it was breathing. The hunter shook his head. He had seen weirder in his life. Besides, this bounty was worth one million dollars. Dante didn’t care what this being was capable of. Though, it would be a lie if Dante said he wasn’t curious.
“Leave me alone!” The spectral entity threw a fiery green orb of ectoplasm at the hunter and attempted to turn intangible to escape, but the hunter was too fast. The weapon in Dante’s hands fired and Phantom let out another guttural screech of pain. Danny had to focus on keeping his ghost form together as his body shuddered and seemed to want to tear itself apart to leave his human form behind. Danny was reminded of Vlad’s electric powers, but this was not the same. Before the pain had faded from his body, Danny had a glowing cuff clasped onto his wrist. He tried to pull away but the electricity had left him weak.
“What?” Danny tried to growl menacingly as he recovered from the newest attack on his nervous system, but his voice cracked with pain. He tried to turn his arm intangible to escape the metal, but his powers didn’t work.
“I’m sure you don’t need me to explain to you what that little thing does.” Dante crowed.
Danny tried to fly, tried to throw an ectoblast, to use any of his powers, but none of them worked.
“Shit.” Danny mumbled, standing and getting ready for an unfair fight. “What, you know you can’t take me on if I have my powers?” Danny taunted. Dante smiled.
“Your schoolhouse taunts don’t affect me.” Dante walked up to Phantom, throwing his electricity weapon to the side. It clattered to the ground and the hunter smiled. "Let's have some fun, ghost."
“What do you want from me?” Danny asked before Dante swung at him. Danny dodged once, but the ghost hunter was expecting his dodge. Danny was hit in the chest and he stumbled backwards.
“I want the bounty.” Dante rasped. Danny’s eyes widened. He hadn’t worried about the bounty for several weeks. “However, right now I want to see what you are made of.”
Should I run? Should I try to hide and change back? Should I try to fight? I don’t have my powers, what if I can’t turn back? Danny’s mind raced. When the hunter stepped towards the ghost, Danny quickly decided to try to escape so he could try to get the cuff off his arm, or even just try to change back. He sprinted away, weaving through the streets. A few people gave him weird looks, seeing Phantom running instead of flying, but they moved out of his way, expecting a powerful ghost attack. Danny glanced behind himself to see his pursuer way too close to him for Danny to hide and change back in time, and he didn’t even know if he could turn back at all.
The ghost hunter was much faster than Danny was. The hunter was catching up. Danny attempted to take an alleyway shortcut, but he was blocked off by the hunter. Dante brandished a knife that glowed with faint ghostly energy.
“It’s a pity, I had wished you had put up more of a fight, but then again, I do want my money.”
“Vlad won’t give you the money!” Danny blurted, trying to stall for time, clawing at the cuff on his wrist to try to get it off.
“Oh, so you do know who is paying for your capture.” Dante said, spinning his knife in his hand. He grinned at the fear in his prey’s eyes. To Danny, it reminded him of Skulker. The look in Dante’s eyes was the same as the one Danny would see with the Ghost Zone’s “greatest hunter”.
“I wonder what Masters wants with you.” Dante mumbled aloud. Once again, Dante’s eyes were drawn to the ghost’s chest, which was currently heaving with fearful breaths.
“Does he want to show you off like a lion in a zoo, or does he want you caged all for himself? Or did you do something to the man and now he wants revenge? I can tell you are unique from the fact that you breathe, but there must be more than just that. One million dollars for a ghost that is only special because it breathes. No, there has to be something else. Maybe, I might be merciful if you tell me.” Dante was close enough now that Danny could smell his breath and the knife was far too close for Danny’s comfort. Danny tried to phase through the wall, but the cuff on his wrist stopped him from doing so. That damned cuff. This was his last chance. Danny attempted to leap to the side, but the knife was already swinging for its mark. It hit Danny’s abdomen and embedded itself in his flesh. Danny let out a sharp yell of pain. Fucking Ancients that hurt. Danny thought, but he knew he had suffered worse before. He had fought through worse pain than this, and he would do it again.
The hunter pulled his knife back and released a steady pouring of green ectoplasm out from the wound over the ghost’s stomach. Rings of light began to form around Phantom’s midsection, where his wound was. Is it attempting to heal itself? The ghost hunter wondered in his mind. At the same time, Danny thought, Huh, so I can transform with this stupid cuff on. Good to know. The rings dissipated. Danny knew then that if he could possibly reach safety, he could then transform. However, reaching safety would be the hard part.
Danny clutched his wound with one hand as he swung his other in a punch at his attacker. Dante deflected it and Danny took off as fast as he could. However, being powerless with a stab wound in his abdomen really slowed the halfa down.
“You are stubborn, I’ll give you that.” Dante purred.
Phantom ran, but with the cuff on his wrist, he lost his superhuman strength and his speed was diminished, even without the stab wound.
As he ran, Danny desperately searched for somewhere he could escape to where he could change without the hunter to see him. He didn’t get his chance, however. A net like rope wrapped itself around his legs. Danny let out a short shout of surprise before his face slammed onto the concrete ground. He groaned before pulling himself up and hurriedly trying to untangle the rope from his legs. A glance upwards showed him that Dante was walking up to him, not at all in a rush.
“Leave me alone!” Phantom shouted again. “Please!”
“I already told you, I want my money.” Dante kicked the ghostly teen down as Phantom tried to sit up. Danny rolled over onto his hands and knees. Danny was kicked again, this time in his ribs. Danny wheezed out a breath and clutched his wound over his stomach. Blood pooled beneath him, glowing slightly a toxic green. Danny threw a weak kick, not ready to give up, but Dante caught it and shoved Danny’s foot away.