Work Text:
Power
Danny was really glad that he took the internship at Stark Industries that summer. At first, he was a little skeptical about being so far from home for so long. He was also worried about how it would be living and working in such a large city without knowing anyone there, but Danny’s rather easy-going spirit made it easy to become acquainted with the city and people around him. At the internship, Danny was able to learn so much more than he had before — and it was things that he was actually interested in, so that was a big plus. It was also nice, in a way, taking a break from his superheroing (and that was something that Danny thought he would never say). In New York, he finally realized just how run-down he was and also how fixated he was on his self-proclaimed duties, often forgetting other important things that he needed to do. (Jazz always barraged him on that, but it never really set in stone). All in all, Danny was grateful for the opportunity.
Danny had just finished his internship for the day and was heading back to the small dorm-like apartment only a few minutes walking distance from the tower (traffic actually caused it to be faster to walk than drive, not that Danny had a car anyway). Although it was early in the evening as it was only five o’clock on a summer night, Danny was ready to just relax and have a calm night; he was so tired he was basically dead on his feet. It was an interesting type of tiredness because it was more mental than physical, but Danny knew an evening on the couch would help fix that.
As Danny entered the outside of the apartment building, he saw aged Mrs. Brush and said hello to her and her dog (Scruffles) as they walked past him towards the park. Almost every day he saw the lady walk past, and it was sort of a daily ritual to talk to her. So far, he learned that she started as an elementary school teacher but then rose to become a professor at Columbia University. Her husband was in the Air Force for some while, but later on, he became a private pilot. Their oldest daughter became a neurosurgeon. To say the least, Danny was amazed. Of course, he also told her about himself, but he made sure to omit any of the concerning sides of his double life.
The entrance of the apartment building was grander than one would have thought when looking from afar or knowing the size of the apartments, but it wasn’t The Plaza. The floor was hardwood and shiny despite its old age. The tall ceilings of the ground floor along with the large, but barred, windows allowed in an abundance of natural light that mixed with the interior lighting to create a bright glow. The inset postal slots covered the left and right walls while the elevator stood opposite the front door. Danny first checked his postal box — it was empty — then pressed the lit “up” button on the elevator.
The wait for the elevator and the ride didn’t take very long, and Danny was grateful for that. He entered the fifth-floor hallway that his apartment was on and dug through his bag to look for his keys as he walked down the hall. As Danny reached his door and began unlocking it, the man who lived across the hall and one door down was leaving. The man gave Danny the same odd look he did every other time he saw the halfa in the hall. As the neighbor walked past Danny towards the elevator, he looked at Danny one last time and then shivered. Danny just sighed and entered his apartment. He knew that the man knew there was something odd about Danny, but there was not much Danny could do about that; as long as he did not pose a threat, Danny was fine with just living his temporary New York life.
Being as tired as he was, for dinner, Danny opted for the Chicken Soup for College Students: Top Ramen. As he ate it at the small table in the kitchen area, he watched YouTube on his laptop. The apartment was publicized as “fully furnished” which meant that it had a rickety table with two chairs in the kitchen, a small couch and side table, a twin-sized bed, a small dresser, and a few lamps spread around the apartment. So Danny’s television was his computer, and his kitchen table was his work table, but it worked out anyway, and Danny made do.
After a bit of “relaxing” as Danny and his friends would call it, or “being lazy” as the adults in his life would say, Danny wanted a change in pace or at least activity. As odd as it would seem, YouTube can actually become boring and uninteresting. Danny would go to the cafe like he normally does every night, but it was closed that day so the owners could celebrate their anniversary of twenty years. Stumped, Danny decided to resort to what he knew. A little flight around wouldn’t hurt. Would it? He would just have to stay invisible, he guessed.
So, Danny relinquished his plans for a fully relaxing night inside for a, hopefully, peaceful and serene flight above the city. In a flash (and with a flash) Danny transformed to his ghost half and instantly began floating involuntarily. He turned invisible and then traveled through his outdoor wall into the warm summer evening air.
As soon as the wind hit Danny’s face, he didn’t know what he was thinking before about trying to only stay in his human half for the whole summer — some things you just always miss but sometimes don’t even notice till later. Seeing the city bustling below from way above was really serene, especially the way the beginning of the setting sun laced the sky with warm hues. But, it was too good to be true, being so at peace. In a moment, Danny knew he jinxed himself.
Between the maze of streets, buildings, and alleys slightly below Danny, he saw a skirmish below. Okay, maybe skirmish wasn’t the right word. It could be better described as a battle between two superpowered beings: one being one of the superheroes around New York that Danny heard about — Spider-Man, he thinks — the other being a figure dressed in deep navy and also glowed blue who seemed to not have a care in the world about other people or her surroundings (Danny saw her telekinetically throw a car straight into someone’s little corner shop. The only reason it didn’t crash into any person was because Spider-Man shoved it out of the way just in time).
Just by looking at the scene, Danny could see that Spider-Man was struggling to fight the relentless villainess. While Spider-Man had quick reflexes, strength, and webs, the villainess had power focused on deceptiveness and more mental-based attacks. So, even though Spider-Man is an excellent hero, he was sadly overwhelmed. The halfa knew that he had to enter the fray lest the villainess prevailed (because, of what Danny saw of her in the last few seconds, he knew she would wreak complete havoc).
Danny returned to the visible spectrum, swooped down to the scene, and formed an ecto-shield that surrounded the villainess. “I hate to be the bearer of bad blues ,” Danny said innocently, “But you seem to be stuck.” The villainess seemed surprised at the vivid green sphere along with the new appearance. Her venomous attention shot away from Spider-Man towards Danny. Anger boiled inside of her, and she clenched her fists even harder as the blue glow around her grew. “Don’t turn blue in the face. It doesn’t suit your complexion,” he bantered.
Danny floated there in ease for exactly two seconds while he started to devise a plan until a car suddenly flew straight into him, knocking him into the adjacent wall. His focus on the shield faltered, and so did the shield. “Ouch,” He said, but then quickly phased through the car despite that, “I take back what I said! Blue does wonders for your complexion.” Danny shot an ectoblast at the newly escaped villainess, who hissed in pain.
Suddenly, webs shot past Danny to the villainess and latched her to the wall. She struggled against them, but to no avail. It seemed that she would be stuck there for at least a few moments. “Who are you?” Spider-Man asked, who was suddenly only a few feet away from floating Danny.
With a wave, Danny said, his voice echoing, “I’m Phantom. And I am here to help you stop this crazy blue lady here. I’m totally on your side, Webs. Any tips?” Danny smiled at him (which did not have exactly his intended effects with his eerie aura).
Spider-Man faltered for a second but then said, “Hands. We need to aim for her hands because that is how she uses her power. If she can’t use them then she is defenseless, and we can trap her until she can be taken away — Duck!”
Danny ducked, and then two seconds later a chunk of the car that already hit him flew over his head. “Nice one, Webs!” The halfa didn’t know how Spider-Man knew the debris was going to fly towards them, but he was thankful that he did. Danny then shot an ectoblast at the villainess's left hand and then turned invisible for a surprise attack.
The villainess turned around in a blur of blue, looking for her latest assailer, but Danny was already long gone. In her momentary distraction, Spider-Man came in with a kick from above which slammed her into the concrete street. Her head spun as she became dazed. Danny shot duel ecto-blasts at her hands, and she tried to yank her hands away, but at the same time, Spider-Man webbed her down with a greater focus on her hands and arms. Spider-Man webbed her up a bit more for good measure. The blue illumination from the villainess dimmed down.
When Danny noticed that her reign of terror was terminated, he promptly brought a shield up around her to help keep her contained.
“Too bad, but it looks like you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, or at least the asphalt and a weird glowing green thing,” Spider-Man said jokingly to the contained villainess, “Rest azured, though. You will be placed in good hands in villain prison. I’ve heard they have excellent French Toast.”
The villainess made a cry of a comeback, but it was muffled underneath the webs. She even jerked around a bit to try to get free of her bonds, but they did not even shift. Danny was impressed with whatever the webs were made or manufactured of.
Then, the authorities that handled apprehending superpowered threats showed up. Danny realized that someone must have called them in (Karen the AI actually did). The authorities came out with special restrictive devices like handcuffs to restrain the villainess. With command, they instructed Danny to remove the ecto-shield (or “barrier” as they said), and he abided. They applied the restrictive device at the same time as they applied some chemicals to the webs, which dissolved (Spider-Man later explained that he supplied them with it after too many uncomfortable situations). After they placed her in the back of the vault-like vehicle, they drove off, of course not without forgetting to first reprimand the mess left behind while looking at the two heroes.
Spider-Man turned to Danny and rubbed the back of his suited neck, “Thank you for the help back there. I, uh, don’t know if I could have done it without you.”
“No problem, it’s the least I could do. And us heroes have to help each other out, right? I’m not from around here, but I will be for a while. So, if you need any help later, I’ll try to help out. Although I don’t know how we would contact each other,” Danny said, trailing off.
“I bet we’ll stumble upon each other again,” Spider-Man looked at the sky and appeared as if he just noticed how dark it became, “Ah, geez, I have to go. Thanks again!”
“It was fun. See you around, Mr. Pun Master.” Spider-Man swung off, and Danny began to head back to his apartment, invisibly of course.
It wasn’t the restful night that Danny expected to have, but maybe it turned out to be what he needed: a night doing one of the things he does the most and best, along with meeting a new ally (in an alley … ).
When Peter arrived home later that evening, Aunt May reprimanded him for being late yet again. “At least I didn't lose another backpack!” He retorted back. They had dinner, but after Peter decided to do some research on the ally he just met.
His dimly lit room glowed from his computer screen that read “Phantom: Amity Park Ghostly Hero”. “A ghost, huh?” Peter said to himself. He wouldn’t have thought that at first, but now, it makes sense. Who would have thought that a ghost would have helped him battle the powerful villainess?