#danny's powers are getting weaker and his control is slipping

[wolfjackle-creates]

Got some bad news today and I want to forget it. So I'm gonna share a bit of something here as a distraction.

Earlier today I referenced a smut piece I've started working on. Dead on Main. How would you guys like to read the set up for it? (No actual smut in this snippet.)

Enjoy these 800 words!

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Danny’s leg was bouncing and the girl sitting in front of him in the lecture hall turned to glare at him. He forced it to stop and pulled out his water bottle, only to realize he was down to his last few drops of ectoplasm.

It wasn’t enough.

He’d thought Gotham would have enough ambient ectoplasm that there’d be a bunch of other ghosts hanging around, even if they were weaker than the ones Amity got. But apparently not. It was already mid October, almost Halloween, and he hadn’t met a single other ghost. He’d even gone looking.

He needed some ghost-on-ghost interactions. Non-liminal humans were fine, necessary to hang out with from time to time even. But not enough for him anymore. His ectoplasm intake had tripled since he moved here to make up for the lack and it wasn’t working.

The girl in front of him turned around again and hissed, “Cut it out.”

Shit, his leg was bouncing again. He stopped it and looked up at the powerpoint the professor was teaching off of. Then back down at his notes. Well damn, he’d missed a few slides.

He ground his teeth and shoved his things into his bag. Clearly sitting here was a waste of time if he couldn’t focus. As quietly as possible, he slipped out of the lecture hall and made his way outside. He was wound too tight. Needing to do something, anything, he loosened his control on his aura, letting it spill out around him

If he’d still been in Amity, everyone would know Danny Fenton was having a bad day. Here, no one spared him a second look. He stalked off campus and through the streets of Gotham, taking turns when needed to match the street lights or avoid getting run over by a car. He had to keep moving.

He didn’t know how long it had been or how far he had traveled when he felt it: the brush of another ghost’s aura against his. Another ghost who was just as angry and frustrated and lonely as him. Danny was moving in their direction—into a park—before he ever consciously made the choice.

The other ghost was moving closer, too. Danny grinned, showing a bit too much teeth. Maybe he’d finally have a chance to let loose, get rid of the frustration he’d been feeling.

And then a man in a leather jacket came running into view. Danny allowed himself a moment of surprise at seeing another apparently-living human who set off his ghost-sense. Could he be a halfa, too? Whoever they were did not seem to be surprised like Danny was, however, and moved faster as soon as they saw each other.

Danny shook off the shock and laughed as he rushed into the fight. He needed this.

Though his aura, Danny sent out his feelings of frustration and isolation and delight at finally meeting another ghost. Then they were trading blows.

He got the same sense of anger and frustration from his opponent, mixed with some confusion. But Danny didn’t bother trying to parse out the guy’s emotions. That could happen later, after they were both finally sated.

His opponent didn’t use any ghost powers, so Danny followed his lead. He dodged a kick and blocked a punch only to return both. He managed to get a grip on the guy’s jacket, but the other did something that twisted his wrist painfully, forcing him to let go.

Danny dropped to the ground and tried to kick at his opponent’s legs. But he only got a glancing blow that barely tripped the man up. Danny jumped up, and managed to head-butt the other’s chin. His opponent growled and kicked out; Danny was sent sprawling. Then, the maybe-halfa had him pinned to the ground.

They both paused for a minute, just breathing. Around them, indistinct voices cried out in panic, but Danny ignored them. He let his hands be pinned above his chest, his legs held down by the other ghost’s knees. Even his aura was pressing down on Danny, holding him in place. Danny could’ve fought back, but something about this felt right.

So, for the first time, he let himself look at his opponent. His ghostly nature was evident in the streak of white hair that fell over his forehead and the ectoplasm-green eyes that stared down at Danny. But what really struck him was how much physically larger he was than Danny. How they appeared to be about the same age.

He was fucking hot, too. Strong as well, if his aura was anything to go by.

Danny licked his lips and let a little lust leak into his own aura. He quirked an eyebrow in question.

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Next

This song is the inspiration for the fic and will help set the tone for how things're gonna go. (NSFW lyrics, make sure you listen in an appropriate location or with headphones.)

[twoidiotwriters1]

Copycat: Genesis —(Marvel Fem!Oc)

A/N: I’M GOING TO THE ERAS TOUR!!! -Danny

Words: 1,387

Phase Six Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: ‘Lovebug’ -by Jonas Brothers

xxxiii: Trust

"Can't you guys trust me?"

"Noup!"

"Last time we trusted you, you tried to blow yourself up along with Russo and his limousine," Kate replied, her end of the call was noisy as hell.

"You're talking out loud about your super secret plan in the middle of an L.A. street?" Cat asked in annoyance. "And you don't trust me?"

"If the street's busy, the fewer the chances of the wrong person hearing me. That's just how it works."

"It's true," Harley said from his end of the call.

"Okay, geniuses, if you're so smart then I'm guessing you know where Kraven is already?"

"His pretty mansion," Harley replied. "That he paid with hard and honest work."

"Is it the one he bought from Dmitri?"

"Nah, that one got busted by Nat's squad. This one's bigger, and it's in the country," a crunch let her know Harley was currently eating. "Same state as us."

Cat tensed. "What?"

"Westchester County."

"That's north," she looked out her window "He could get to me in less than a day."

"Yeah, but something tells me he's waiting for you."

"Harley has a theory," Kate sighed.

"I would love to hear it," Cat said sarcastically.

"Good! Because you're going to," he replied. "Two words: Behavioural mimicking."

"Three words! What-about-it?"

"Kraven knows your weakness is the core of your powers. You mimic too well. When he put that collar on you this last time, he wasn't hoping the switch inside your brain would go feral, he just wanted you to be weak and vulnerable. Why was that, Stray?"

"The weaker my body, so is my mind," she replied, understanding his point right away. "Harder to control my behavioral mimicking if I can't heal right or think straight."

"It explains why our first plan backfired on you," Kate said. "He knew that you would chase after them even if it killed you because you'd started to mimic his methods. He would've killed you hadn't been for that other Spider-man."

"He knows your fighting techniques by heart," Harley sighed. "Now, don't get mad at me... but a dormant part of your brain has Kraven rooted into it, and the moment you get close to him, it awakens as a survival instinct. He'll know how to take you down because he knows himself better than you do."

"But I'm stronger!"

"That doesn't mean anything. Brains are better than muscle, you taught me that, remember?" Kate said. "You have triggers, Cat, and he knows all of them. He pulls the right one..."

"And you're dead," Harley said.

"So what am I supposed to do? Should I just stand there while he tries to kill me?" Cat paused, then she sat back on her bed and stared at the wall in realization. "Am I your bait?"

There was a split second of silence. Kate blurted out her response. "Well, it's what you always wanted!"

"Kate!"

"She deserves to know! And honestly, it's better if she knows, otherwise, she'll get mad while it's happening, and her mind could slip easier."

"That is not the point, Cat's a controlling —"

"Guys," Cat spoke out. "It's a good idea. I'll do it."

After another second of silence, then it was Harley's time to break it. "You mean it?"

She leaned against her headboard, allowing Felix to climb while she petted him. "For all I know, Harley's theory is correct. I don't want to play Kraven's game, so maybe I... I can't be the one who fixes this."

"There's no need to sound so disappointed," Kate tried to cheer her up. "We all know that if you could you would do it in no time, you and Kurt are amazing heroes— And we still need you to help us with something, so you won't be completely out of the fight."

Cat was having good progress when it came to re-learning to be part of a team, fighting against this plan felt like moving backward, so she had to push through it. "Is Kurt bait as well, or do you trust him more than me?"

"He can be bait or help us, it's up to him."

"I see, blue privileges," she joked. "What do you need me to do, then?"

"You won't like it."

"Probably."

"We need you to copy Kraven before we go, and look through his memories," Kate said. "Find his weaknesses."

"It'll be okay, Stray," Harley eased her. "We won't let anything happen to you, we promise."

"We know you can take care of yourself, anyway. So we do trust you can do this on your own?"

"Yeah, I can," Cat sighed. "Let's try out your plan."

Parker visited exactly two weeks after his prior visit. When she pointed that out he teased her. "You've been keeping count?"

Cat pinched the bridge of her nose, but she was actually trying not to smile. "I told you not to come all the time!"

"It's spring break!"

Cat snorted. "Listen, I know there's no point, but I do want to ask you," she turned on the couch to face him. "Does crime increase when you're out of the picture?"

"Actually, I think it makes them paranoid," he said with amusement, propping his arm on the back of the couch to mimic her pose. "If I'd known that not showing up for a whole day would make them even more scared, I would've done it sooner!"

"What do you mean by paranoid?" She grinned. "They think you'll materialize behind them if they shoplift like some kind of Krampus?"

"I have this cop friend, Dewolff, she says when I'm not around and they drive 'round the city the sketchy guys always look like they're waiting for me to show up from behind a dumpster."

Cat laughed. "That's the Parker luck. Wish that was my case too."

"Not everyone can be a Parker, only the hottest people on every earth," he replied with a huge grin on his face.

"But you're friends with a cop?" Cat made a face "That's not very hot of you. It is a big red flag, though."

"Not like you're planning to date me," his face inched closer, and the rest of his body followed.

"Still, I make a point of not fraternizing with the enemy."

Parker raised a brow. "I thought the hunter was your enemy."

"People who want me to work for free are my enemy," she clarified with a shrug. "Same difference."

He snorted. "Well, Dewolff is really nice, and she respects Spider-man."

"Oh, good for Officer Dewolff!" She replied sarcastically. "Would she still respect you knowing what I know?"

Parker frowned. "I'm not sure I wanna know what you mean by that."

Cat held onto Parker's arm propped behind her head and leaned forward, she brushed his nose with hers. "Does she know Spider-man ends his day of crime-fighting deeds having salt crackers and apple juice as his super healthy dinner?"

Parker laughed so hard he moved back by impulse. "It's not always that!"

"Not so glamorous now," she smiles and pokes his belly. "I'll make sure to tell her next time I visit."

He paused. "Next time?"

She realized her mistake too late. "If I ever visit."

Parker's shit-eating grin was enough response, but as usual, he taunted her. "That's not what you said."

"I don't know what you mean."

"I think you do."

It was awesome to have Parker come and distract her from time to time. He was good to her, and more importantly, he was good for her, she had the feeling Parker's presence lessened the anxiety Harley and Kate's plan poured on her when she was left alone.

"Are you here to correct the way I talk or to have fun?"

"I'm having fun," he shrugged with the same expression as before.

She scoffed, abandoning her seat. "Laugh all you want, then. I'll be in my room."

Parker got up right away. "You started it!" He laughed. "With your salt cracker jokes and anti-cop agenda..."

"Everyone is so easy to wind up but everything slips of you like you don't even hear it," she pouted. "Not even the Peter from this world is like that, I'm frustrated."

"Have you noticed how you no longer call him your Peter?" He asked, casually wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer as they got to the bedroom.

It was true, she didn't call him her Peter when she mentioned him, in her mind both Spiders had ways to be distinguished now. "I'll go back to it if you piss me off," she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled the ends of his hair playfully.

"I'll shut up then," he pecked her lips before sweeping her off her feet and carrying her to the bed. "For now..."

Next Chapter—>

Taglist.

@mikaelsonwhxrebae @ieatpanicattacksforlunch​​​​​​ @jesuswasnotawhiteman​​​​​​ @siriuslysirius1107​​​​​​ @greengarsstuff​​​​​​ @itsyagirl01 @23victoria​​​​​​ @espressopatronum454​​​​​​ @jkthinkstoomuch @slytherinnqueen​

[whimsicalwhespir]

As I've said before, I have a lot of aus! My friend @deuynndoodles said I should make a masterlist of all of them. So I did! I was so tempted to keep writing stuff about them because I'm horrible at writing short summaries while also getting thr basis of the story across so it was a bit of a challenge cause when I start it's hard to stop me.

Anywhoooo heres a list of all my aus at the moment! There are minor ones I have and ones I've tossed out or forgotten but these are the ones I like so I hope you like them! (And if you have any questions at all please feel free to ask! I love talking about my aus!)

MY HERO ACADEMIA:

Ratiocination (Indigo Jets)- Vigilante Izuku, he has a quirk called pause that allows him to stop time but he cannot move and the longer he stays paused the more of his memories get erased. He's childhood friends with Bakugou and Shinsou who both worry when he disappears from their lives. His vigilante name is Indigo Jets.

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Emerald Eyes (Manx)- Short Izuku with cat eye syndrome, he has a quirk that allows him to make bubble-like force fields similar to Steven universe. He's found by the Wild Wild Pussycats and they train him and later on becomes a part of the team. His hero name is Manx.

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House of Glass (Rose/Grim/Grimrose)- Izuku is raised by the League of Villains and they're his big happy family. He has a quirk that allows him to erase and manipulate people's memories as well as a telekinetic quirk given to him by All For One. He's sent to UA as a spy but he ends up making friends and enjoying himself. He has the hero name Rose and the villain name Grim.

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My Angel (Starlight)- Izuku has a quirk that gives him the powers of an Angel. He has wings and a halo and he's also an empath with healing abilities. He also has the power to visit the dead, his mom, and it's difficult not to fall in love with him when people meet him. His hero name is Starlight.

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Out Of Reach (Tapeti)- Izuku Midoriya is taken by the league after making a deal with Shigaraki on the roof where All Might leaves him. They turn him halfway into a nomu, experimenting with quirkless candidates. Meanwhile, Bakugou is trying to find his friend through his years at UA, only to find out Izuku doesn't remember him, having been brainwashed and taking up the villain name Tapeti.

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Green Thumb Garden- Izuku was sold to villains as a child because Inko couldn't afford to take care of him. He escapes a few years later and is shrugged off by a hero. He's taken in by a family who runs a garden shop and as they get older, he begins to run it. He believes he is quirkless but later on finds out he has a quirk that allows him to speed up the growth and healing of organisms like an enhanced fertilizer would.

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Cerulean Flames (Deku)- Izuku gets lost in the crowd during a villain attack and can't find his mother. Instead, he finds a runaway Touya Todoroki who leads him back to safety. Izuku visits him almost every day and Dabi teaches him how to fight, play dirty and is there like an older brother for Izuku. When getting one for all, he also participates in helping Izuku train with All Might.

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Glass Wings (Sterling)- Izuku is taken in by the Shie Hassaikai when he runs away from home. Over the years he learns that they're not all they seem, trying to unravel it from the inside out with his sister Eri and friend Rappa. They're about to run for it during the raid but are caught by heroes. Izuku, being so close to Eri and not having any recorded crimes, is put in a villain rehabilitation program at UA. His old villain name is Sterling, turned codename.

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All For You (Deku)- Older Izuku, he went to school with Aizawa, Nemuri, Yamada, Oboro and Tensei, he being the closest with Tensei. In an accident with Oboro, Izuku is blinded in his right eye. Both are injured but survive. They all grow up to be heroes, Izuku also acting as an older brother figure to Bakugou. Izuku is also a teacher at UA in the heroics department, he teaches the students how to be safe and reduce damage to their surroundings and self. 

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Ignite (Phoenix)- Vigilante Izuku, he loves to sing and perform at the hotel and karaoke bar his family owns. The hotel is open to heroes, villains, vigilantes, civilians, the poor, discriminated against and everyone in between. His father was in an accident when he was young which paralyzed him from the waist down because a hero failed to save him. 

Izuku becomes a vigilante to look for people to come to the hotel. People who need the safety and those who have no place to stay. He has a quirk that allows him to manipulate fire. He doesn't need to look for people to pay because so many patrons already donate. Later on, Phoenix stops being a vigilante and becomes a full time singer. His name is Phoenix.

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Circus Caliber (Ringleader)- Inspired by The Greatest Showman, it takes place when quirks are only beginning to appear. People believe them to be freaks and shun them from society. Izuku is quirkless but admires quirks and looks for people to join his quirked circus (everyone in 1a and thensome). He wants to show the world that quirks aren't bad or destructive. That they can be good if given the chance.

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Panacea Paradox- Post quirk era, Izuku is a scientist who is fascinated with quirks. He tries to bring them back through experimentation and tests the completed formula on volunteers (1a). The experiment goes wrong, they have quirks yes, but they're all painful and grotesque. (An example would be Bakugou's explosions burn his hands horribly, mutation quirks have dead limbs, much bleeding and injuries, etc).

Izuku panics and drinks the last of the liquid, he gains a quirk that allows him to temporarily remove other's pain by inflicting it on himself. He desperately tries to find a cure but people die in the time he isn't able to. He means well but he makes many mistakes. (It's a rather dark au)

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Fractured But Not Yet Broken (The Free Hero:Arrow)- Izuku has an incredibly self destructive quirk, it's called Fracture. It allows him to impact incredible telekinetic force to the point of breakage but in turn harms him immensely, broken bones, internal bleeding, lots of pain. The quirk gives him a slightly higher pain tolerance as well. 

Inko is immensely overprotective, sheltering him entirely from the outside world besides internet access. He goes to UA secretly while she's at work and becomes very close with his friends and the UA staff, Nezu especially. They take away inkos custody later on and he gets to live in the dorms. His hero name is Arrow.

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Send A Sign (Beetlejuice)- Izuku dies hundreds of years ago (he's the same age as All For One) by being struck by lightning. He wakes up in the current day with no memories of his past.  He can only remember the word "Beetlejuice" as it was the musical he and his mother were going to see before he died. He wanders around and begins following a 4 year old Bakugou and it stays that way. Izuku's like his guardian. 

One day Bakugou says "Beetlejuice" 3 times while listening to the song and Izuku is now visible to him (part of quirk). Izuku is his friend, teaching Bakugou lessons and acting like a big brother. Izuku goes to UA with Bakugou and after the blass says his name, they all see him and he spends time with them, trying to regain his memories and joining them through the ride of becoming heroes. (I'll explain all of his powers some other time, it's a long list)

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DANNY PHANTOM:

The Spectral Hero: Danny Phantom (Danny/Phantom)- Danny has a quirk that allows him to breathe and survive in space with no equipment but he doesn't know that since he's never been. The Fentons move to Japan from Amity. He's shocked by the portal and gains his normal ghostly abilities, telling people that is his quirk and not the result of a freak accident (he tells Aizawa later because he can't erase Danny's ghostliness). He has the persona of vigilante Phantom as well as Danny, the UA student. Aizawa knows it's him and they have a playful relationship, him acting as Danny's mentor. He later reveals to his class he is Phantom when moving into the dorms.

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Pink Slip- Danny is more affected by the portal accident, as Fenton it makes him weaker and more vulnerable but it feeds into his ghost half with more power. He misses school for a month after the accident and doctors take the ectoplasm in his blood as some disease. They give his school a pass so he can visit the nurse at any time. Since he has an excuse, he often leaves class with full permission of the teachers cause they think he's just going to the nurse's office. People don't question why he always looks tired and has bruises on his body, just thinking he's weaker due to the accident.

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Broken Watch- Danny is an ex a-list student who leaves when they start bullying kids. He takes a larger hit from the portal, giving him an electric core and powers that are more difficult to control but pack more of a punch. He gets taught about the ghost zone and other things by Clockwork after Dan and is given a defective pocket watch. Clockwork says by the time Danny fixes it, things should be alright. All or the numerals on it represent people in his life he must get closer to and those who will help him throughout his life to reach his full potential. 

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GRAVITY FALLS:

In A Black And White World- Dipper has the ability to see a dimension in between his and another, it's a dimension filled with magic. He is able to manipulate it but nobody else can see. He keeps it a secret until later on. It allows him to feel, see, taste, hear and smell others emotions and intentions. Their energies and feelings. He can see creatures that travel in the dimension, including Bill who teaches him about magic. He eventually manages to develop it enough so it becomes visible after seeing Bill use it in his body after his betrayal. 

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DUCKTALES: 

Operation Oversight- On an adventure, a bracelet with an intelligent sentient robot attaches itself to Louie when he examines it and through nightmares and threats convinces Louie to pursue Louie.Inc through any means necessary. This means forgetting his loved ones to reach his goal. His family finds out months after the adventure and they manage to break Louie out of the trance enough so he can destroy the bracelet. 

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Adroit- (similar to the concept of epithets) A small population of people in this world have superpowers and it just so happens everybody in the mcduck family gains powers. The story is basically all of them using their abilities and discovering different parts of them. (I'll get into all of their powers later on)

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EDDSWORLD:

Chaosworld- A scientist with a vendetta against Tom attempts to steal his monster abilities but instead manages to give harmful mutations and powers to the gang. They try to revert the mutations and find a cure before it's too late for them all.

(Also also, I'm very sorry to those who follow me solely because of Chaosworld. I probably wont be writing anything for it for a very long time if I ever do get back to it. It just dosent really inspire me anymore, I'm sorry qwq. )

[whump-with-wren]

For your Bad Things Happen bingo card, how about "drowning" with Danny and Ward, on their Asia trip maybe?

Bingo Prompt: Drowning

Fandom: Iron Fist

Characters: Danny Rand, Ward Meachum 

Word count: 1,333ish

A/N: This was fun! Also, endings are hard. I think I’ve mentioned this before. And for once, it didn’t take me ages to figure out how to write new characters!

__

Danny glanced nervously down at the water below them as the small party stepped onto the boat. Beside him, Ward seemed to sense his hesitation, leaning closer to ask him softly “everything okay?” 

Danny nodded, a little unsettled by the slightly rocking boat. It wasn’t a large one - a small yacht off the shore of Hong Kong. He had to admit he was less than thrilled that the lead they were following had brought them here. At least it wasn’t a plane. Danny had been in enough planes lately. 

“I’m fine,” he said in response to Ward’s question. “I’ve just never been the strongest swimmer.” 

Ward snorted slightly, likely remembering how Danny used to panic and flail every time he got a little too deep in any body of water. Danny’s grin turned much more serious as the woman they were here to meet stepped forward. 

She was younger than Danny had expected, though still older than both he and Ward. Her hair was tied back tightly, her posture clear that she was confident and in control. The scar along her face told Danny she had earned that confidence. 

He bowed slightly, and Ward beside him stiffly echoed his movements. 

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with us,” he said, speaking in English for Ward’s benefit. She nodded, her expression guarded, but a slight hint of disapproval showing as he spoke. “We heard you might have information about…” he trailed off as she raised a hand, nervously noting the small circle of men standing around. He resisted the urge to ball his fists and wished he had insisted a little harder that Ward stay behind. He had known from the start there was a large chance this could go south very quickly. 

“I have heard of you, Daniel Rand,” she said in Mandarin, her voice even and commanding. Danny shifted his balance, recentering his chi in preparation for a fight, should it come. “You have been asking many questions - questions that should not be asked.” 

Ward glanced at him but Danny didn’t pay him any mind, focused on the woman before him. 

“We mean no harm - we only wish for answers,” he answered, slipping seamlessly into Mandarin. 

“The knowledge you seek is forbidden.” She stepped back, folding her hands behind her. “You have already been warned.” 

Her movement was so subtle Danny almost missed it - a slight nod of the head. Almost instantly, the circle of men closed around them and Danny balled his fists. 

“I take it that didn’t go well?” Ward asked. Danny snorted. 

“You could say that.” 

There was no time to talk - two of the men charged Danny and the world exploded into a blur of limbs, blood and blows. He was confident he could take the group - at least enough for them to escape - but Ward’s presence worried him. His friend didn’t have the training he did.

But he had no time to worry - no time to think - as the men pressed in close. They exchanged blows, Danny constantly moving, blocking, dodging, trying to ignore the pull to use a power he no longer had. 

A gunshot exploded behind him as he knocked one of the men to the ground. He glanced behind him, towards Ward. To his relief, Ward was the one who had shot the gun, another of their attackers lying motionless on the deck of the boat. Satisfied Ward was safe for now, Danny turned back to the fight. 

But even the slight distraction was enough for his opponents to gain the advantage over him. An unnoticed fist slammed into his chest and Danny stumbled back, gritting his teeth. He lunged forward, but a blow to the side of his head sent him staggering back again. A dagger arched towards his face and instinctive, Danny blocked the arm holding it, grabbing the attacker and pulling him close enough to throw him to the ground. 

He stepped back against the edge of the deck, breathing heavily, his head ringing. But before he had a chance to recover, a body slammed into his and for a moment that felt like forever, he fell backwards.

 The world seemed to freeze for a second, and he could see Ward, gun raised, standing on the deck. Then the cold water exploded around him and his vision cut off. The arms around his waist loosened and he instinctively kicked at whoever had tackled him, separating them. He hung in the water, the sudden silence of the world after the noise of the fight a shock. 

Slow panic began to take hold as the thought of breathing came to him. He began to claw in the direction of what he thought was the surface, the murky water making it difficult to tell up from down. 

Finally, he burst to the surface, frantically gasping for air. A wave smashed into him, knocking him back into the murky silence, water filling his lungs. He tried again, panic becoming stronger, all the lessons he had been given as a kid suddenly gone. 

Once again, he burst to the surface, coughing to rid his lungs of water so he could gasp in the sweet air. But the waves were too much, his body too heavy to keep above the water and he was sucked under again, sinking into the depths of the sea. 

Again, he tried to claw to the surface, but it was getting harder. The water felt like it was dragging him down, his lungs screaming for air. 

Ward. I have to help Ward.

He tried to force down his panic, knowing it wouldn’t help, and kicked strongly up, bursting into the cold air again. He gasped, but a hand grasped his leg and suddenly he was yanked down again. Precious bubbles of air escaped his lips as he cried out in surprise, kicking frantically at whoever was holding him. 

His foot connected, and he managed to loosen the grip enough to swim away. But he was frantic for air again, and again he tried to haul himself above the surface of the water. This time, however, he had been dragged down much farther, and the surface seemed impossibly far away.  

A muffled sound rang out above him as his kicks became weaker. He needed to breathe. He needed to breathe. He kicked, knocked around by the underwater currents, trying to reach the surface, trying to reach the air he so desperately needed. 

A hand grabbed his arm and he stiffened, trying in vain to pull away. He was hauled upwards and he burst into the air. He gasped, trying to refill his lungs, only to be stopped by a violent cough. Someone was supporting him, stopping him from sinking back again. 

They reached the wharf where it sunk into the sea and Danny was hauled onto the surface, still coughing and gasping. He collapsed onto the wood, lying on his back, enjoying just breathing again. 

Ward’s worried face appeared above him, helping him to sit up and rid his lungs of the last of the water he had inhaled. Ward’s hair was wet, sticking to his face. His lip was split, a black eye was beginning to develop and a trickle of blood rolled down the side of his face, but other than that he looked alive enough. 

Now that he wasn’t dying, Danny began to shiver, his wet clothes stealing the last of his warmth. He grinned up at Ward, trying to hide his shivers. 

“Told you I couldn’t swim,” he managed between chattering teeth. A grin broke over Ward’s face, mostly of relief. He stood, holding out a hand to help Danny up. Still shaking, Danny took it, knowing that movement was the best thing until he could get into dry clothes. 

“We’ll have to work on that,” he said, throwing an arm around Danny to offer him some extra warmth. Danny gladly leaned into his brother as the two of them made their way back to their hotel to get dry.

[darks-ink]

Play Your Part 4

Chapter 4: I Am Trying To Be

This chapter's title is from Paradise Lost by Hollywood Undead. For maximum effect, imagine "What you're dying to see" stuck on the end. ;)  Also, as a reminder! Next chapter releases on Wednesday, August 28th, and the last one is uploaded on September 4th (the Wednesday after). The Saturday slot will instead be filled with Weirdward for the next... several months.

[first] [previous] [next] [AO3] [FFnet]

“Danny,” Jazz said, her face doing something complicated. “What was that?”

“What was what?” he replied quickly, trying to smooth his face into something casual. He hadn’t thought about his ghost sense going off around his parents. But of course they would be in their ghost forms. Of course.

Maddie’s expression was less than impressed, and he grimaced. “Danny, honey, I thought you were worried about your ghost powers? Why aren’t you excited?”

“It’s nothing.” He shrugged, still trying for casual. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it’s nothing-- nothing impressive, or anything.”

His dad laughed. “Danny-boy, no one has ‘impressive’ powers when they first get them.”

“That wasn’t--”

“Danny,” Jazz said again, her voice dropping its amusement. “Please stop denying it, it’s not healthy.”

“I’m not--” He balled his fists, driving the nails into the soft flesh of his palms. Stay calm, Fenton. Don’t get angry. Don’t make your eyes glow. You can still get out of it. “It’s not--”

A hand landed on his shoulder, and he jerked, startled. His mom stood next to him, now, chartreuse eyes softening. “Danny… it’s okay. You’re allowed to be excited to get your powers.”

“How long have you been doing that thing?” his dad asked, his glow brightening. “What’s been triggering it? Do you know what it is?”

“I’m--” he stammered out, but Jazz approached as well – in her human form, thankfully.

“How’re you feeling, Danny?” She crouched slightly, so she was at eye level with him. Darn her tallness. “Excited? Curious? Scared? All of the above?”

Danny growled under his breath, his hands aching from how deep he was digging his nails. He jerked around, dislodging all the hands and breaking the eye contact.

“Just-- I don’t want to talk about it!” he snapped, glaring at them.

They gasped, various shades of excitement and startlement.

“What?” he asked, backing up a step or two. Why were they so…

oh.

Oh no.

He had… he had accidentally loosened his grip on his core just a tad too much.

“Your eyes,” his dad sniffled, breaking out in a wide grin. “Danny-boy, they’re just like your mother’s!”

“Nonsense,” Maddie denied, turning slightly to face Jack. “They’re too green. They’re a perfect middle of ours, Jack.”

Oh no. He’d really screwed up now.

Like, on one hand, this was better than getting caught with his own parents. Unlike his own ghost-hating parents, these guys are not only okay with it, they were actually expecting it. They were genuinely happy and excited that he was half ghost!

But… but that’s the problem. He isn’t their Danny. And when – and it will be when, not if – when he swaps back, the other Danny is… well, screwed. Unless he can somehow gain the powers he was supposed to have but doesn’t…

Was that why they were swapped? Because his own universe had already given him ghost powers once, so it can do the same for this powerless Danny?

Surely not? Sam and Tucker had already gone through the accident once with him. There was… there was no way that they would do it again, right? Especially if there were no guarantees that this Danny would survive, too.

A pointy elbow dug into his shoulder, and Danny snapped out of his thoughts to see Jazz leaning on him. Her expression was soft, lips quirked into just barely a smile. “What are you thinking about?”

He hummed, noncommittally. “Just… things, I guess.”

“Excited to finally have your ghost powers?” She jostled him a little, playfully. “Remember, no using them to get back at bullies, Danny!”

“I wouldn’t dare!” he assured her, raising his hands placatingly. He’d already tried that once, anyway. Well, more than once. A lot of times. But using your powers against a powerless human was very different than using them against a fellow half-ghost…

“Yeah, uh huh.” Her expression clearly said that she wasn’t convinced. “You’re all still young, anyway, and you just barely got your powers. That would be like picking a fight you couldn’t hope to win, Danny. And you know better than that.”

The snort that slipped out at that was entirely involuntary. Him, picking fights he couldn’t win? No, he would never, sir!

Jazz rolled her eyes, then ruffled his hair. Her smirk made it clear that she knew he hated that, but… it was nice. This… this acceptance, this playfulness around his powers. He was used to it from Jazz, to some extent, but…

It just… it felt more right here, now. Not having to worry about hiding it from his parents. And it wasn’t… it wasn’t some dark thing, here, caused by a terrible accident with a dangerous machine. There were no injuries, no fighting against ghosts bigger and stronger than him…

It just was. It was just how things are, here.

“If you get into trouble, I’m not helping you.” Jazz stepped back a little, purple ectoplasm whirling around her hand, her eyes lighting up the same color. “Until you can do this, too, you don’t stand a chance.”

He stuck out his tongue at her, pressing down on his desire to prove himself. He could. He absolutely could do that. But he’d already done enough damage. If he showed off, if he let them all see how powerful he really was…

There was no doubt in his mind that he was far more powerful than he was supposed to be. All these natural born halfas, they seemed to grow into their powers. Hell, most of the students didn’t even trigger his ghost sense. Even accounting for the weakening of his sense due to them being only partially ghost, that meant that they were, what? Twice as strong as the Box Ghost, tops?

That was nothing compared to some of the other ghosts he fought. Skulker, Technus, hell, even Ember probably wasn’t all that much weaker than them. And that wasn’t even going into ghosts like Pariah Dark or his own evil future self.

God. He really really couldn’t show of his powers, could he? Even with his powers known, he still had to hide.

Although… he supposed that the basic powers could be alright. Invisibility, intangibility… and yes, flying, oh, he had missed it so.

He would just have to avoid his ghost form. Everyone else seemed to dress normally. Just color-swapped versions of their normal outfits. If he was the only one who dressed significantly different in ghost form, that would raise questions, wouldn’t it? Even if his parents did dress in the same hazmat suits.

A heavy hand landed on his shoulder, and Danny automatically jerked into intangibility and away from it. His dad laughed, loud and surprised and clearly cheerfully. “There’s my boy! See, didn’t your mom and I tell you not to worry about your powers?”

Danny chuckled back. “Yeah… Yeah, I guess. Sorry for, uh, doubting you.”

“We’ll call you in sick tomorrow, too,” his mom added from his other side. Her eyes were soft and warm, and he could almost ignore how strange it was, to see her with irises that weren’t violet. “So you won’t have to worry about anyone picking on you for still learning to control your powers.”

“Oh.” He hadn’t even thought about that. Was it normal for these people to get their powers in control so quickly? He’d spent weeks hoping not to get caught, and they… they just took a day? “Um, yeah. Thanks, Mom.”

She pressed a kiss to his temple, her skin just a little cooler than his own. He finally understood why everyone always commented on that while he was Phantom. “Of course, sweetie. And if you need us to help you or explain anything…”

“Right, uh. I’ll… keep that in mind.” They were just so… so nice. They were trying so hard to help him!

Couldn’t… couldn’t his own parents be more like this? None of the… the hatred of ghosts, of the stone-cold conviction that ghosts were evil creatures and that half-ghosts couldn’t possibly exist…

Just… acceptance?

Oh, but it wouldn’t last anyway, would it? If these guys found out that he wasn’t their Danny, then surely they wouldn’t… they wouldn’t be as nice, would they? Because he had replaced their son, had made them think he finally got the powers they were so excited about?

Maybe he would just… never switch back? Was that why he was here? Because this was here he was supposed to be, from the start? Another half-ghost in a universe full of them?

“Danny,” Jazz said, her tone hard to read. “I heard back from Dora.”

“Oh?” He perked up, looking up from his homework. It was interesting, to see how different things were in this universe. And! No bashing of humans, of people like him, in any of his work! Lancer had been genuinely excited to see his finished homework! “About the necklace?”

“Yeah. Can you call Sam and Tucker so we can talk about it with all of us present?”

“Uh, sure, hold on.” He dug out his phone, buried under loose sheaves of paper. “Do we need some kind of excuse, or…?”

“Nah, they can let themselves in.” Jazz shrugged, sitting down on the edge of the bed. She wasn’t looking at him, but at the homework he had surrounded himself with. “Mom and Dad probably won’t even notice. If we need to get into the lab we’ll need to get them out, first.”

“And you think that that’ll be necessary?” He frowned, considering this. He supposed it made sense. His own parents already spent a lot of time in the basement lab, and of course they would spent even more time there, in a universe where the thing they hunted was already known to exist.

“Probably.” She shrugged. “Somehow things always come down to their tech, when we’re dealing with ghosts. It’s how… Danny… hunts ghosts, too. He can fight them all he wants, but to get them back to the Ghost Zone he needs to rely on the Fenton Thermos.”

He made a face at her as he unlocked the phone, scrolling through his contacts to get to Sam and Tucker. “A thermos, really?”

“Not just a thermos, the Thermos.” She puffed out her chest, doing a bad impression of their dad. “The Fenton Thermos!”

Danny snorted, then finally reached the contact he was looking for, and dialed. Sam answered quickly.

“Heard back from Dora?” she asked the moment it connected.

“Uh, yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck, caught off-guard by how… how she immediately jumped in. “Jazz wanted me to ask you and Tucker over so we could discuss it.”

“I’ll bring Tucker,” Sam assured him, then hung up.

He blinked at the phone in hand, dumbly. What had just…

“Ah, they’re on their way?” Jazz said, tone knowing. “Good, good. I’ll hold off from telling you what I know until they’re here, then. Won’t be long.”

“Right. I knew that. They can… fly… oh.” He cleared his throat, ignoring the blush that crept to his face. “Right, no flying. How fast is it on foot?”

“They’re not on foot, Danny, they’ve got scooters.” Then Jazz jerked her head away from where she’d been looking at his homework. “Wait, don’t they have any kind of transportation besides flying in your universe?”

“Not… really?” He shrugged at her incredulous expression. “Everyone can fly, anyway, and most can fly at high speeds. What else would we use?”

“Well, what do you do? Walk everywhere?”

He shrugged again, turning his head down. “Well, yeah?”

“Oh.” The sound was long, drawn out and weary. “That’s… unfortunate. I’m sorry, Danny.”

“It’s alright. Not your fault.” He played with the paper in front of him, then looked up again. “I don’t blame you for being curious, anyway. It’s interesting, seeing how things are different between my universe and this one.”

“Is that why you’re so interested in this homework?” She smiled, gesturing at all the books. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Danny work on his homework voluntarily.”

He gasped, faux-offended. “What a crime! He gets a chance to do schoolwork that doesn’t insult his state of existence, and he doesn’t even take it? Awful!”

She snorted, then dissolved into actual laughter. “You sound like me,” she said in-between cackles, “Danny would be so annoyed!”

“What, because the teachers are gonna expect him to do well?” He smiled as he straightened the work up again, preparing to clean it up. “Or to try, at least, since I bet I wasn’t doing well with my wrong-universe knowledge anyway.”

“Well, that isn’t your fault anyway.” She reached over to help him clean up too. “But yeah. He’s kinda been turning his reputation in something where he’s doing so bad that most teachers don’t try correcting him anymore. Now he’s gonna have to start all over again.”

“Oh no, poor him,” he said, keeping his tone light. “The expectations are simply too much for his poor half-ghost mind.”

She shot him a look, too heavy for the conversation they’d been having. One that clearly said, I know what you’re not saying, Danny. But she didn’t comment on it, and for that, he thanked her. Mentally, of course.

Footsteps on the stairs, two pairs, one heavy and clunky and the other just heavy.

“Ah, and there’s Sam and Tucker,” Jazz said, offering him the books she had picked up. “See, I told you it wouldn’t take long for them to get here.”

“Right.” He took the paperwork from her hands, then dumped them all in his backpack next to the desk. “About as fast as flying, then.”

“Really?” Tucker asked as he entered the room, having apparently caught the tail-end of their conversation. “Our scooters can barely keep up with Danny, usually.”

He shrugged at the other two as they came in, then closed the door. “Young half-ghosts aren’t very strong or fast, and you two-- or they, I guess-- aren’t usually flying at top speed.”

“That makes sense,” Sam allowed as she rolled his desk chair out and sat down on it. “And as fascinating as that is, could we maybe focus on the news? What did you hear from Dora, Jazz?”

“Right, well.” She cleared her throat, straightening her spine as if shifting into a more focused persona. “Apparently the necklace is, indeed, a ghost artifact. Its origin is unclear, but its purpose is known: it balances the different dimensions, or universes or timelines or whatever you want to call it.”

“So it… swapped me here to… to balance things?” Danny frowned, considering this. “So it is a thing of me being human and your Danny being half-ghost, and now we match our universes?”

“I don’t think it’s that straight-forward.” Jazz twirled a strand of her hair, turning to look at him. “Obviously the research isn’t foolproof, but from how Dora said it, it sounded more like it was ‘fixing’ things. Like you were supposed to swap back once the universes were balanced properly again.”

Danny gestured aggravatedly. “What, so I’m just supposed to spontaneously develop my ghost powers after all?”

“Well, not spontaneously, maybe…” Sam said, slowly, one finger tapping on her cheek as she thought. “But we already gave our Danny ghost powers. Not once but twice. So why couldn’t we do the same to you, too?”

“Twice?” Tucker repeated, one brow raised. “What do you mean, twice? What’d I miss?”

She flapped a dismissive hand. “Eh, don’t worry about it. Just some thing with Desiree. Anyway, Danny, what’d you think about that? Want to try it?”

He blinked. “Um. Is that… a trick question?” If it was, he wasn’t sure he knew the right answer. Of course he wanted the powers he was supposed to have, but… Sam was so big on individualism, on being who you are and not changing that to fit in. Wouldn’t that be exactly what he was doing, if he accepted the offer to become half-ghost?

“It doesn’t matter if he wants them or not,” Tucker pointed out, apparently deciding to bypass that whole mess of a conversation, “since we don’t know why he doesn’t have them, if he’s supposed to. Isn’t everyone in that universe born half-ghost? Why wasn’t Danny?”

“I… don’t know,” he admitted, rubbing his neck. “I mean, you’re born half-ghost but you generally can’t really use your powers until you’re older. They get stronger as you grow, you know? And can you imagine trying to take care of a baby that can turn invisible and intangible on command?”

Jazz snorted. “A good point. So you just… never grew into your powers? Or have you never had even the smallest inclinations of them?”

“Not that I… know?” He frowned, digging through his memory. “I mean, I must’ve, right? If my parents are so certainly that I’m half-ghost, then I must’ve shown some kind of potential. But if I have, it was so long ago that I can’t remember.”

“Well, if our universes are so similar, maybe that is mirrored from our Danny, too?” Tucker suggested, fingers rattling on the edge of his PDA as he thought. “Our Danny had an accident that gave him ghost powers, so maybe… maybe you had an accident that lost you your powers? Is that possible?”

He opened his mouth to refute it. Then paused. Closed his mouth again.

“I… think it might be, actually.” He took his hand off of his neck again, laying it down in his lap. “I can’t really… remember? It was really long ago, but I think…. I think I had one when I was young?”

“What, with the Portal? Way back then?” Jazz looked downright offended. “They let you near that while you were so young?”

“What? No!” He waved his hands around, dismissing it. “No, no, no. I think I had an accident with one of their normal human-hunting inventions. I can’t really remember its name… the, uh, Human Trapper? Mortal Snare? Something like that, at least.”

Sam and Tucker shared a meaningful glance. “The Ghost Catcher,” they stated in perfect sync.

“The what?” Danny considered it, though. It sounded like it could be a ghost equivalent of the same invention. “I mean, maybe? It sounds like it could be the same thing, yeah. What is it supposed to do?”

“In this universe? It… oh.” Jazz’ eyes grew wider as she caught on too. “It removes ghostly influence from objects or people. Like… it’s supposed to remove all ectoplasm from a non-ectoplasmic subject.”

“And for Danny? It split him in separate human and ghost selves,” Tucker added, flipping through his PDA as if searching for something. “Like, a fully human and a fully ghost version of him, at the same time.”

He held out the device, now, showing Danny what he’d been looking for. On the screen was a photo of, indeed, two identical versions of him. Only one was human, black hair and blue eyes and regular clothes, while the other was a ghost, with white hair and green eyes and a black jumpsuit.

“Oh.” Danny tore his eyes off of the screen again. “I mean… I’m not sure what ours was supposed to do, since my parents gave up on it after my accident, but. I guess it might’ve done something similar?”

“And if it purged your ectoplasmic ‘contamination’, that would explain why you never got your powers.” Jazz nodded. “You purged your ghost side before it got a chance to develop into something strong enough to maintain a form of its own, hence why you can’t just re-fuse with it.”

“So we do need to give him powers again?” Sam smirked, leaning down to grab the backpack she’d brought. “We’ll need access to the lab, then.”

Jazz made a face. “Yeah, I guess you will. I’ll go lure away my parents, you guys make up a game plan. I’ll text…” She looked between them. “I’ll text Danny when I’m sure they’re gone, and then I’ll join you guys as soon as possible, okay?”

“Sounds good to me,” Danny agreed, pulling his phone closer. “Good luck, Jazz, and… thanks.”

“Thank me by getting better,” she said, patting his knee. “You’re great, Danny, but… I want my brother back.”

Danny looked at the giant metal arch in front of him, his fingers twisting in the fabric of his shirt. “And you’re… sure about this?”

Sam hummed from where she was fiddling with some kind of control. “It worked the last two times, and it’ll work this time, too. Are you sure you don’t want the jumpsuit?”

“I mean, no one wears different clothes in their ghost forms where I’m from.” His voice echoed back at him from the empty tunnel. Dully, he wondered if that was what he would sound like as a ghost. “So I’m sure this’ll be fine.”

“I still don’t know what you mean with the whole ‘twice’ thing, Sam,” Tucker commented from where he was standing in the middle of the lab. “It’s not like Danny could’ve gotten his powers twice over.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sam dismissed. She stepped back from the control panel, looking it over critically. “Alright, I think it’s ready. Are you, Danny?”

He bit down his automatic first reaction – ‘is anyone ever ready to embrace part-death?’ – to summon as much confidence as he could muster. “As ready as I’ll be, I guess.”

“You remember what you’re supposed to do?” She joined Tucker in the center of the room, stuffing a photo in the backpack she’d left there.

“What, step inside and hit the button?” He huffed out an unamused breath. “Not that hard to remember, is it?”

“Just making sure.” She straightened up again. “Nerves can make you stupid, and all that. Well, go on then.”

“Right.” He turned forwards again, facing the deactivated Portal in front of them. “Just… go in and turn it on. Easy.”

He lifted up his foot, ready to step into the metal tunnel, when--

A shriek from the lab entrance.

Danny jolted backwards, whirling around. Jazz stormed down the stairs, eyes fiery. The effect wasn’t lessened by the fact that they didn’t glow violent purple as usual, against his expectations.

“What are you three doing?!”

“We’re… giving him ghost powers again?” Tucker tried, apparently also shaken by Jazz’ anger. “The way we did it for Danny?”

“So you’re repeating the accident that almost killed him once?!” she snapped at him, gesturing at Danny and the Portal. “And, what, just hoping that it’ll go okay this time too?!”

“Well, he already had powers once, right?” Sam shrugged, remaining cool under the fury that was now aimed at her. “So of course his body will just accept them back.”

Jazz hissed. Actually, straight-up hissed, in anger. “If his body is fundamentally different,” she ground out, slow and heavy, “then it would make sense that there is a less dangerous way of doing this. Right?”

“Can’t you, I don’t know, test it?” Danny tried, stepping away from the Portal. He wanted his powers, yes, but the invention quite frankly scared him. It felt… dangerous, somehow. Like he knew, on some deep instinctual level, that another version of him had almost died there. “To see if I’ve got signs of ghostliness in me, still?”

Sam and Tucker shared a glance. Then Tucker said, carefully, “I mean… I guess that that’s a better idea, yeah. We can compare your stats to those of our Danny.”

Convinced that they had dropped the Portal plan, Jazz relaxed a little. “And you really didn’t think of that before now?”

“Well, this is kind of our go-to, I guess?” Sam shrugged, moving to the Portal to safely turn it on again. “It’s how he got them the first time, and then when Desiree removed them I replicated the accident, too. We know it works, so it makes sense, right?”

Danny made a face at Tucker, and the boy laughed back. “Felt dangerous, though,” he told him, quietly.

“Yeah?” Tucker pulled open one of the desk drawers, pulling out a strange machine Danny couldn’t place. Definitely FentonWorks tech, though, in silver and glowing green. “Could you sense it, somehow?”

“I guess.” Danny reached to accept the machine, but Tucker grabbed his wrist to drag him over to a table instead. “What, uh, are we doing?”

“It’s like an X-ray,” Jazz explained, joining them. “But for ghosts. It’ll show us if you’ve got traces of ectoplasm in you, still.”

“Oh.” He let them force him onto the table so he laid flat on his back. “Do I have to take my shirt off, or…”

“Nah, the machine can filter out the trace ectoplasm it’ll contain.” Tucker placed the invention on Danny’s chest, extending its legs so it stood on its own. “You know how an X-ray works?”

Danny snorted. “It’ll take a picture, yeah? Anything I have to worry about?”

“Just stay still and it’ll be fine.” Tucker pulled a panel on the side loose, revealing a cord with a button on the end. He waited until Sam rejoined them, then he turned back to Danny. “You ready?”

“Sure?” He forced himself to lay as still as possible, waiting for the photo to happen. The machine hummed and buzzed, then suddenly spat out a piece of paper from one end.

“Oh,” he said, feeling a little let down. He had expected to, like, feel it work? Or something. “Well, uh. How does it look?”

Tucker peered at the picture, then showed it to Sam and Jazz. They all remained silent, staring and pointing at it.

“Guys?” Danny tried again, not wanting to jostle the machine and risk it falling. “How is it?”

The three of them snapped their attention back to him, then shared a glance. Finally Tucker held out the picture so Danny could see.

“See for yourself, dude.”

[walpurgisakjr]

BC im phandom trash but bad at writing stories here’s my DP OC, Enver Jageilo

he was an IRS auditor investigating Vlad’s rapid and suspicious accumulation of wealth about 5 yrs before the beginning of the series. He saw something he ought not have, so Vlad, as Plasmius, kidnapped Enver to find out what else he knew. When that was done, Vlad, never one to waste a convenient test subject, decided to use Enver in his research to understand Human/ghost hybrids. Vlad ended up doing.... something.... to essentially permanently overshadow Enver with the ghost of badger. (why a badger? ....Mumbles something about Vlad and U Wis-Madison) Vlad is kinda shitty about it, but I dont think he did it on purpose. Anyway, Enver escapes soon after, runs into the GIW briefly, and spends several years just trying to stay ahead of them, and hunt down Plasmius, who he knows is connected to Vlad Masters somehow (but doesnt really suspect the truth). 

The ghost was not sentient or strong willed enough to take control of Enver permanently so he’s in control, but it definitely slips out a lot and influences his emotions. When he gets out of control, the ghost starts to manifest ectoplasm to form a body around him. He’s not got all the powers that Danny, Dani and Vlad have: no intangibility, invisibility, flying, teleporting, duplicating, or super-healing. What he does have is the enhanced strength, speed, endurance, and senses, and several ectoplasm-based abilities. He even has a scream thingy pretty similar to the Ghostly Wail, but way weaker. Plus several years of experience of using his abilities to escape and defend himself. Haven’t decided if he has some form of ghost sense. He definitely sets off Danny’s tho.

If were to write a story about him, it would be based around him showing up in Amity Park either pre-PP or in a no PP AU, having heard that Plasmius has shown up several times to fight Phantom. he’d have an initially hostile confrontation with Phantom, possibly with Phantom trying to push the ghost out of Enver. Eventually though Enver would explain why he’s in Amity Park, leading to Danny confronting Vlad about Enver’s existence. This would turn into a fight between Phantom and Plasmius across the town. At some point, Enver would jump Plasmius, leading to the last picture above. Danny, of course, is fucking horrified with this and blasts Enver off of Vlad, then tries to get him some medical attention. Not sure if this leads to a Reveal, or Vlad or Enver dying, or both, or some other thing. Anyway it’d be angsty as fuck what with the moral tension between Vlad deserving at least some retribution for what he did, but Danny not really wanting him to die, having sympathy with Enver, but fighting against him to keep Vlad alive. Maybe the ending would be tragic, but im kind of a huge softie, so most likely it would lead to Vlad surviving and becoming a better person, and Enver giving up his revenge because Danny is Good and Pure (tm) and saves him from his Inner Demons. I doubt that Vlad and Enver would actually bury the hatchet, but they’d at least be willing to work together to help Danny.

Anyway, yeah im not a great creative writer, just making the plot synopsis was Exhausting but here’s the epitome of my Phandom nerdery on open display.

[hellosimplylizzie]

Imagine Dean, Sam and Cass saving you from your abusive ex.☽

Trigger warning: Relationship Abuse ~ Verbal/Physical

Intro: Ilaria {pronounced ee-lah-ree-ah}, was at her ex boyfriends house, trying to salvage whatever was left of their relationship. Soon after showing up, Ilaria came to the realization that Danny just called her over for a booty call and didn’t care about talking their issues out.

“I thought we could work something out but clearly this was a mistake so fuck you. I’m leaving.”

“We aren't done discussing this?” Danny ordered, aggressively grabbing Ilaria by the wrist before she could turn away.

”Let go!” Before she could use her free hand to fight him off, he grabbed that wrist too and gripped both of them firmly in front of her. ”What the hell!” Ilaria yelled in his face before trying to pull free from his grip but it was useless. She tried kicking him but he got closer, locking her legs in between his.

”Cut the shit, Aria! You're pissing me off!” He threw her arms away from him, letting her lose her balance and fall to the floor.

She fell, attempting to use her arms to catch herself from behind but it didn't prevent her from falling full force. She landed sideways, her hip taking most of the impact. ”YOU ASSHOLE!” She blurted out in pain.

”You gonna behave now?” He questioned before approaching her again.

”You're psychotic!” Ilaria wanted to get up but the pain was too much to make any sudden movements just yet.

”I’m sorry, Baby.” Danny bent down beside her and tried to lift her chin with his forefinger.

”Don’t touch me!” She spat out, jolting her head in the opposite direction.

”Remember who the hell you’re talking to!” He argued before brutally swinging his arm and hitting her across the cheek with the back of his hand. The force sent her dropping to the opposite side she had been leaning towards.

“’Cass.” Ilaria mumbled as she scurried to the corner of the room and hugged her legs into her chest.

“What was that?” Danny questioned, tilting his head.

“Castiel. I need your help.” She internally cried a prayer to her angel friend so Danny couldn’t hear. ”I’m at Danny’s house- please, HURRY!” She panicked, seeing Danny squat down beside her as she tried to slide against the wall, and away from him.

"Aria?” Castiel choked after the sudden interference in his mind.

”Dean.” Castiel’s deep voice called out as he ran into the kitchen quickly.

”Yeah, Cass?” Dean had just pulled a beer out of the fridge and twisted the cap off. Before he could take a sip, he noticed a concerning look on Cass’ face. “What's going on?”

”It’s Aria. I heard her prayer— She’s in trouble and sounds like she's in a lot of pain.”

“Where is she?!” Cass watched as a distraught Dean slammed his beer down and grabbed his gun from his waistband. He cleared it before re-loading it, then shoving it back in his waistband.

“At Danny’s house?” Cass stared at Dean, waiting for a reaction. He had no idea who Danny was but by the looks of it, Dean knew exactly who Cass was talking about.

”Son of a bitch!” Dean mouthed before swallowing hard.

”Wait? Danny? Her ex-boyfriend?” Sam interrupted with worry, shooting up from his seat at the kitchen table. He had been so invested in research, Cass hadn’t noticed him until his out burst. Dean took off, running out the kitchen, Sam following close behind. ”Cass go help her! We'll be there in a sec!” Sam yelled back before making his way out the bunker with Dean.

“Come on, Baby. It’ll be like old times.” Danny whispered in Aria’s ear as she struggled to pull away.

”Aria!” Castiel’s stern voice caught her’s and Danny’s attention after he had appeared in thin air.

”HHHHMMM!” She let out a muffled cry, struggling to get out of Danny’s grip. He held a knife to her throat, threatening to use it, once Cass tried to approach.

“Get the hell out or I swear to God I’ll cut her!” Danny yelled, getting frustrated by Cass’ presence.

An angry Cass summoned as much power as he could and forced Danny’s hand that had been holding the knife, out and away from Ilaria.

“What the hell!” Danny was shocked as he lost control of his arm and felt his grip on the knife loosening.

Ilaria squirmed on the bed, away from Danny, before hearing the door open and seeing Dean and Sam rushing in.

With a final force, Cass sent the knife flying from Danny’s hand and into the wall across the room.

“Aria!” Sam yelled, running to her, catching her in his arms before she had fallen off the bed in an attempt to wiggle herself free from the ties that imprisoned her. He pulled out a pocket knife, cutting the rope around her wrists and pulled the bandanna loose from her mouth.

“Sammy!” She wrapped her arms around him, relieved to have been rescued by her friends.

“YOU’RE DEAD! You hear me?!” Dean groaned, running over to Danny and picking him up almost effortlessly by the collar and pinning him against the wall.

“Dean.” Cass said, walking over to them, hoping to calm him. ”It’s done.”

“No, Cass! It's not. He's gonna pay for what he did!” Dean yelled before punching Danny in the cheek repeatedly and then slamming him to the ground. Cass tried to yank him off after seeing that Danny was nearing death judging by the blood and fractures he had endured.

“Dean!” Ilaria cried, wanting nothing else but comfort at this point. He froze and let Danny’s almost-lifeless body fall limp on the ground. He turned around and saw Ilaria hunched over, releasing Sam from a hug and a sad, pain-filled expression on her face. “I wanna go home, Dean. Please...” She looked back to Sam who offered her his arms again. She accepted readily. Dean’s heart sunk in his chest after seeing the hurt in Ilaria’s eyes.

“Bastard!” Dean let his anger get the best of him once more and kicked Danny in the ribs, leaving him curled up in a ball, grunting in agony. “I’m sorry, Aria...” He ran over to assist her and she let him. Sam and Dean gently lifted her up from the bed. She limped, feeling pain in her hip and thigh from her fall earlier. ”Here.” He wrapped an arm around Aria’s torso and let her hold onto his shoulder for support. He guided her out to the Impala, Cass and Sam following close behind.

The entire drive home was silent. The boys were too afraid to say anything and Ilaria didn't mind. She was hoping for a quiet ride after what she had just gone through and she couldn't handle even more humiliation.

Cass was the first to get out of Baby, then Sam followed suit. Dean had his hand on the door, about to swing it open but stopped after noticing Ilaria wasn't moving from the passenger seat. She was just staring at the handle, her hand resting gently across her body, on her throbbing hip. She took a glance up at the side mirror and thought to herself with an undertone of sarcasm and displeasure, ’wow. My face doesn't look too bad either. Awesome.’

“I’ll help you out!” Dean said before stumbling out of Baby and jogging his way to the passenger door.

“I’m fine...” Ilaria winced after swinging the door open herself. Sending a burning sensation down her torso and to her hip as she tried to step out the Impala.

“You're not... Where the hell did Cass go so he can heal you?” Dean mumbled trying to gently help her out.

“No!” She insisted, standing up straight, giving in to the pain. She hated being healed, just as much as Dean did. She would feel weaker if she got the easy way. And quite honestly, she felt she deserved it. She shouldn't have been at Danny’s house. What was she thinking?

“I hate seeing you in pain.” Dean sighed, guiding her through the bunker doors.

“Oh, how selfish of me.” Ilaria mumbled. Her soft chuckle coming to an abrupt halt due to pain.

Dean helped Ilaria to her bedroom. She picked out a pair of pajama’s and threw them on the bed in front of her. Without thinking, she quickly yet confidently ripped off her shirt, to change into her pajama top. She slipped it on and then turned to look at Dean. His boyish grin and wide-eyes said it all. But she didn’t really care if he saw. It’s nothing he hasn’t seen before.

*Part 2*

☽ In the meantime~

*More SPN Imagines: Masterlist*

*Other Imagines: MasterMasterlist*

[standbyphoenix]

River Phoenix Ranks Acting Below Animal Rights and Music, NY Times, 1989.

When River Phoenix learned he had just won the National Board of Review's award as best supporting actor of 1988 for his performance in ''Running on Empty,'' his first response was to ask what the society was.

A few months past his 18th birthday, Mr. Phoenix is not yet into glittering prizes. If the awards ceremony conflicts with an anti-fur concert at which he has agreed to play his guitar, the popular young actor says he will keep his commitment to the animal-rights group. He does not wear animal skin on his back, at his waist or, most of the time, on his feet. And he has been a vegetarian since he was 8 years old.

During his most recent trip to Hollywood from his home in Florida, he picked at some vegetables mixed with tofu and talked about the immorality of eating meat.

''When I was old enough to realize all meat was killed, I saw it as an irrational way of using our power, to take a weaker thing and mutilate it,'' he said. ''It was like the way bullies would take control of younger kids in the schoolyard.'' 

As Danny Pope, who has spent 15 years hiding behind false identities in ''Running on Empty'' and who must choose between betraying his parents or his future, Mr. Phoenix earned enviable reviews, as well as a nomination today as best supporting actor for the Golden Globes given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. But the film did poorly at the box office last fall, selling less than $3 million worth of tickets. In a quest for an Academy Award nomination for Mr. Phoenix, Warner Brothers re-released the movie at a theater in Los Angeles a few weeks ago and intends to reopen in New York in the middle of this month.

Mr. Phoenix's reviews have been glowing since his first appearance as the sturdy 12-year-old leader of four young boys searching for the body of a dead boy in ''Stand by Me.'' He even got away relatively unscathed when critics mauled ''Little Nikita,'' in which he played the all-American son of Russian spies, and ''The Mosquito Coast,'' in which he played Harrison Ford's son.

The young actor has just finished a cameo role in Steven Spielberg's new movie, ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,'' in which he plays Jones as a teen-age daredevil, ''with lots of mad escapes.'' He said he did not mimic Mr. Ford's Indiana Jones, but ''used him as a reference.''

''When Indiana Jones is in trouble,'' Mr. Phoenix said, ''he'll give a real laugh and dart his eyes to the right or left and freeze a smile, a perpetual smirk.''

The new movie will reveal the origins of Jones's phobia about snakes. ''I had to do a scene where I'm at the bottom of a crate in a circus reptile car and I have to deal with thousands of snakes,'' Mr. Phoenix said. 'Built-In Barometer'

Sidney Lumet, the director of ''Running on Empty,'' has said of Mr. Phoenix: ''The talent is original and the personality is original. River doesn't know how to do anything falsely. Give him a false direction and he'll look up helplessly. Henry Fonda had that built-in barometer of truth.''

Still a little awkward about being interviewed, Mr. Phoenix concentrated on squashing bits of rice into the paper tablecloth. With crayons supplied by the restaurant, he drew a rainbow of lines that eventually turned into ''either a spaceship or Flash Gordon's pistol,'' he said.

Mr. Phoenix already has to struggle against the image that strangers are drawing of him, including a paperback biography that he says ''is so bogus it's amazing.''

''They say I'm 155 pounds with the build of a football player,'' he said. ''I'm 137 pounds. And the image the teen magazines want to manufacture is goody-goody sticky-sweet.''

The actor is the oldest of five children: Rainbow is 16; Leaf, the only other son, who is also an actor, is 14; Liberty is 12, and Summer is 11. He had a childhood almost as strange as that of his character in ''Running on Empty.'' Street Guitarist at 5

In the film, Danny Pope's parents had protested against the war in Vietnam by bombing a napalm laboratory when he was 2 years old. When River was 2, his parents joined the Children of God, a religious cult, and preached in Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. By the time he was 5, he was playing his guitar in the streets of Caracas.

''That was my only reality,'' Mr. Phoenix recalled. ''I would sing at jails with my sister and stand on street corners passing out literature containing uplifting messages about Jesus. I was nearly 7 when my parents started to leave in the middle of the night.''

In 1977, Arlyn and John Phoenix walked away from the Children of God, although their decision stranded them in a foreign country with four children, no money and no place to live. ''The group was being distorted by a leader who was getting very full of power and wealthy,'' Mrs. Phoenix said. ''We were serving God; we weren't serving our leader. It took several years to get over our pain and loneliness.''

After a few months of living in a rat-infested beach hut, the family slipped out of Venezuela on a freighter taking a shipment of toys to Florida. 'Pure, Naive, Poor'

In Florida, Mr. Phoenix said: ''Rich kids gave us their old clothes, which were the best clothes we had ever had. We were these very pure, naive, poor children. The rich kids called us a lot of names, but it never bothered us because we didn't know what the words meant.''

River and his sister Rainbow won so many local talent contests that they were written about in The St. Petersburg Times. A copy of the article found its way to the casting department at Paramount Pictures, and the family received a letter saying the children could be interviewed if they were ever in Los Angeles.

The family loaded the old station wagon and drove to California, but Paramount wasn't interested. Mrs. Phoenix found herself a job as a temporary employee at NBC. Then River's musical skills won him a role in the television series ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.''

He has not been in a regular school since fifth grade. ''Whatever I missed, I exchanged for something else, and it was worth it,'' he said. ''I love thinking and writing and researching stuff, going to the library and looking at microfilm. Environmental concerns are top on my list. If we don't heal the earth, we're gone.'' In Support of Chickens

His attitudes and ethics obviously echo the 60's sensibilities of his parents, but it was the 8-year-old River who persuaded his parents to give up milk and eggs. ''The chickens that lay eggs are so frustrated,'' he said. ''There's no sunlight in egg farms. It's like a concentration camp. Just the squealing of thousands of birds.''

Although the movie industry is usually a quick cure for naivete, Mr. Phoenix has not yet lost an artless trust in the kindness of strangers. Despite the superficial similarities between his childhood and that of Danny Pope, the actor said he used nothing from his own life in ''Running on Empty.''

''It takes away from my character's identity if I cross my past with his,'' Mr. Phoenix said. ''He needs to have his own life. I find it funny that so many actors are so self-centered about everything.''

The family retreated from Southern California to Florida a year ago. ''They moved for the kids,'' Mr. Phoenix said. ''The kind of people you attract in Hollywood don't have their heads in the right place.''

At the end of last month he and a band made up of Rainbow and teen-age friends rented a local theater for $65 and gave a concert of the progressive folk-rock music he composes. The first 65 people donated $1 each. Everyone else got in free. Music has always been his first love. Now, Mr. Phoenix said, acting is starting to catch up.

—  By ALJEAN HARMETZ, Special to the New York Times | Published: January 5, 1989.

[junker-town]

The Lakers beat Kawhi Leonard and Paul George by avoiding them

LeBron James found a new way to beat the Clippers.

This is the adjustment that helped LeBron James and the Lakers beat the Clippers’ vaunted defensive duo.

Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are two of the best wing defenders in NBA history. Their dual ball hawking mimics Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen at their peak. Their growing chemistry has enabled them to switch, deny, and help each other in increasingly devastating ways for Clippers’ opponents. They are the driving force behind a Clippers’ defense that seems tailor-made to shut down any opposing star. You wonder how any team can score on that combination in crunch time.

Yet LeBron James and the Lakers found an ingenious and sure-to-be-repeated-if-these-teams-play-in-the-spring way to score on them in Sunday’s third Battle of LA by not trying to score on them at all. In hunting down and targeting the weakest Clippers defender on the court with a series of ball screens, the Lakers posed a question that could shake up a matchup the Clippers had previously dominated: What’s the point of having two all-time stoppers if neither of them are in position to do the stopping?

That’s what James and the Lakers ensured when it mattered most. From the eight-and-a-half minute mark of the fourth quarter until the final James three-point play to put them up 12 with 40 seconds left, the Lakers targeted Lou Williams and did everything in their power to ensure one of the three weaker Clipper defenders — Williams, Montrezl Harrell, or Marcus Morris — was ultimately the one contesting their shots. The Lakers posted an offensive rating above 125 in that stretch, ballooning to a whopping 144.4 in the final five minutes. They scored 20 points on 16 total possessions, including 13 on their final eight. Those are terrific numbers prorated over a whole game, but they’re even better in a tight, half-court slugfest when scoring is supposed to be challenging.

Watching James go to work was like seeing a great quarterback audible at the line of scrimmage. He directed his teammates into different spaces, putting them in motion like Tom Brady might in order to read the defensive coverage.

James and his teammates were all bought in on one goal of finding Williams and making sure he was involved in the main action. The best-case scenario would find Williams switching onto James, creating an obvious mismatch. But any Clippers coverage that included Williams in any way was just fine too, because Williams is that poor a defender. No matter how the Clippers tried to minimize Williams’ defensive role, the Lakers had an answer.

It all began when Kentavious Caldwell-Pope slipped out of his screen twice to the top of the key. Williams was slow to recover the first time and slow to communicate a switch to George on the second. Caldwell-Pope attacked their closeouts easily for a layup and a drive-and-kick to Davis.

The Clippers adjusted by having Williams jump out higher to stop the ball-handler from turning the corner, which worked once before James made a change. Rather than try to drive, he decoyed like he would go around Williams and then stopped to hit the slipping Lakers guard going back the other way. That led to one more drive for Caldwell-Pope and an open three for Avery Bradley.

The Clippers’ next chess move was to have Williams jump out on the screen, but not as far. Again, that worked once. But next time, Danny Green made extra sure to hold his screen to force Williams to switch onto James, and that predictably ended badly for the Clippers.

Once Williams checked out of the game, the Lakers simply shifted their attention to Morris, who’s much better defensively than Williams, but still not nearly as dangerous as George or Leonard. That led to a two-shot foul when Morris conceded too much of the baseline despite having lots of help in the middle.

And then to this:

The Lakers’ floor manipulation turned the Clippers’ two elite perimeter defenders into mostly aimless bystanders. By my count, George and Leonard were only directly involved in contesting the Lakers’ eventual shot on five of those 16 possessions. The other 11 were some combination of Williams, Harrell, and Morris.

The defensive shortcomings of Williams and Harrell will be an issue for the Clippers at any point in the playoffs. They lost control of the game in the third quarter, when Doc Rivers went back to a Williams-Reggie Jackson backcourt with Harrell playing center. Rondo, who had a dismal game up to that point, starting running pick-and-roll with Davis down the Clippers’ throats. They went right at some combination of those three weak Clipper defenders time after time after time.

George and Leonard were the other two Clippers in the game for large stretches of that time, but they might as well have been invisible. That’s because the Lakers kept pulling them away from the play and feasted in the resulting three-on-three scenarios.

From the 4:30 to the 1:13 mark of the third quarter, the Lakers scored 17 points and only failed to get a bucket on one of their nine possessions. That stretch turned the tide of the game, and then the James-led fourth-quarter matchup hunting sealed it. It was straight out of the playbook James used to target Stephen Curry in the 2016 Finals, except even more effective.

The good news for the Clippers is they have options to counteract this Lakers strategy. One is to sit Williams in favor of Patrick Beverley or Landry Shamet, both of whom offer better defense. With Leonard cannibalizing the offense late and George picking up any leftover scraps, there’s not as much use for Williams’ shot making late in games as there was in years past. Rivers should also use the Williams-Jackson combination more judiciously in this potential matchup, especially when Harrell is also on the floor.

But the simplest answer should reveal itself in the crucible of the postseason. For all of Leonard’s defensive brilliance even in this game, this was not his finest fourth quarter. He jumped to James’ left far too early on this play, allowing James to waltz down the lane before the help was set.

And the Clippers have to hope the intensity of the postseason means he’ll work harder than he did to avoid being screened by Green on the one play in which the Lakers successfully forced Williams onto James.

The Clippers will also get better at scram switching and communicating on the backside as they get more reps together. George occasionally looked slow toggling various assignments, and Morris seemed to let his desire to win a macho battle against James distract him from executing the Clippers’ scheme on those final two drives. There’s still lots of time for them to build reps before a playoff rematch.

But at least the Lakers have a method to attack the vaunted Clippers wing duo that supposedly can shut down any great scorer. Thanks to James’ greatness, they have the personnel and the strategy to keep George and Leonard as distant from key crunch-time defensive possessions as possible. If the Lakers can do that four times out of seven, this inevitable playoff series will be theirs to lose.