Apologies for the late chapter. I have had a splitting headache these two days. But rather late than never as they say.
Now for all the reviews and questions I received about the last chapter(Thank you for those by the way), a 'quick' explanation for Damien's behavior and his powers.
Firstly, Damien is a 16-year-old kid who isn't perfect, which means that his plans aren't always the best course of action. He didn't want to go straight to the Russian bosses by using his powers because he thought that it would be suspicious if they disappeared from a closed room without a trace. And make people like SHIELD presume it may be the work of someone with powers.
It was a case of Damien thinking he was smarter than he really is. Don't forget he has never done anything like this before.
As for his casual murder of the goons, well, I have been dropping hints here and there in the previous chapters, but basically, Damien is trying to act like he is still a normal human. But he really isn't. Death and killing do absolutely nothing to him anymore.
You can see that in the last chapter in how the tiniest inconvenience made him resort to killing. No one saw them do anything yet. He could have tried fighting without using some of his more obvious powers.
Between a trained fighter like Laura and his 'peak-physical' self, they may have succeeded, but nope he straight-up murdered everyone when it got a little bit difficult for him. Why he is like this will be explained in another chapter, I have already touched upon it in a previous chapter.
Now about Damien's 'mastery' of his powers.
1. He hasn't mastered anything. He can use them; there is a big difference.
2. Danny Phantom(the show) shows that the basic powers every ghost can use(flight, intangibility, invisibility, basic ecto-manipulation) come instinctively to even the newbies of newbies.
Danny could use those powers literally on the first and second episode and he had absolutely no clue of what should be possible. Damien, on the other hand, has a very big clue.
And that I don't write every training scene doesn't mean Damien isn't training. He is simply training the little things that he can do without finding somewhere abandoned, like controlling his ecto energy, connecting with his core in human form, and learning more about what he can do. it's all happening just in the background.
I hope that this has answered most of the questions I have received. Now, without further ado chapter 6 of Marvel's Phantom!
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Fidgeting slightly, Leland tried to hide his frown. Standing a few meters away from Nobu and Gao, who were both standing completely still, he tried to keep his mouth shut.
Those two always made him uncomfortable when he was alone with them.
Instead, he looked around the parking garage they were standing in, attempting to distract himself. Workers walked around cleaning and working on cars, trying and failing to ignore the strange group standing amongst them as best as they could.
Fortunately for Leland, a black SUV drove into the parking garage just as he couldn't take it anymore, and two men stepped out.
The first to step out of the car was a man in his mid to late twenties wearing a black business suit and glasses.
The other person was a bald, heavyset man in his forties. Like the other man, he was also wearing a black suit. His, however, was clearly more elegant and expensive than that of his associate.
"Why aren't we meeting in the usual place?" Leland asked as soon as he caught sight of Wesley and Fisk.
That they were meeting somewhere other than their usual place was another reason why he tried not to fidget and frown, this entire business stank to high heavens.
"We have reasons to believe that the usual place has been compromised," Fisk answered smoothly.
Madame Gao said something in Mandarin.
"She is happy to see you," Wesley translated for the group.
"My apologies for calling all of you to an unknown place on such short notice," Fisk said, walking forward.
"What makes you believe that our usual meeting place has been compromised?" Leland asked for further elaboration, "And where are the smiley twins?"
"The Ranskahovs are no longer part of this organization," Fisk answered casually, "they and 9 of their men have disappeared into thin air."
"Do you think they took off?" Nobu asked in heavily accented English, narrowing his eyes.
If the Ranskahov brothers took off without telling anyone, it could mean only one thing; they had betrayed the organization. Which would be a problem with everything the brothers knew of their operations.
"No," Fisk reassured them all, "according to the Russians, they had a meeting last night in Veles Taxi and just disappeared."
"We sent our own people to examine Veles Taxi as soon as we were informed of the situation," Wesley continued for Fisk, "they found fresh bullet holes and blood, all of which points to a battle, but no bodies were found."
"They were attacked in the middle of the night and most likely killed. The killers took the bodies with them, no doubt to dispose of them somewhere else and get us off their trail," Wesley reported, "This was a professional hit."
"Or the brothers staged the whole thing and are somewhere in Russia laughing at all of us," Leland suggested, his voice full of skepticism, "or worse, someone has abducted them, and they are currently singing all of our secrets as we speak."
"We were very thorough, if they really staged the whole thing they have done so perfectly," Fisk answered, "but we indeed can't dismiss the possibility that whoever attacked them took the Ranskahov brothers alive, which is why I changed our usual meeting place."
Madame Gao gripped her cane and spoke once again in Mandarin.
"She wants to know what this means for the distribution of her product now that the Ranskahov brothers are no longer with us," Wesley translated.
"I had Leland purchase Kitchen's Cab to give to the Russians to widen their distribution infrastructure and double our profit, which is a moot point now. We will use it to continue distributing Madame Guo's product until we are absolutely sure that the brothers are truly dead and haven't talked about our operations," Fisk explained, "after that, we will merge Kitchen Cab with Veles Taxi and continue like we always had."
"How convenient that you had something like this ready," Leland whispered under his breath before noticing the look Wesley was giving him, "I'm just saying."
"This is an opportunity for all of us who are willing to cease it. A rising tide raises all boats, after all," Fisk said, "the profits we were sharing with the Ranskahov brothers will be divided evenly amongst us, 4 shares instead of 5."
Fisk looked at each of them for a minute, pausing long enough to look them all in the eyes.
Madame Guo and Nobu thought about the proposition for a moment before nodding their heads in agreement.
"Leland?" Fisk asked when Leland stayed quiet.
"Of course I agree," Leland conceded, "it isn't like I can go against the three of you."
"Then we are all in agreement."
"Do you think this could have been the work of the man in the mask?" Nobu asked after a moment of silence.
"It is unlikely. So far as we know, the man in the mask has never killed anyone before," Wesley replied, "let alone covering it up this good afterward."
"Who knows what crazies like that are prepared to do. Maybe he got tired of beating the Russians unconscious and started taking them out more permanently," Leland grumbled as he walked to his car, "all I know is that it is time I got my stun gun out of storage."
"Remember your promise to me and those I speak for," Nobu said as a parting comment to Fisk as he took his leave.
Madame Guo simply nodded goodbye before she too went to her car, which was opened for her by one of her two bodyguards.
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(Damien)
When we were done incinerating all the bodies of the Russians and the heroin yesterday, it was already too late to go to the Hand's base, so we took the bundles of cash and high tailed it out of Veles Taxi before any more Russians could come around.
I glance at the bag full of cash lying on my bed and grin.
All in all, it was a highly profitable day of work. We got the information we originally went to look for and even got 90 grand in cash as payment for all our hard work.
I just made more money in one night than I had stolen in both my lives combined.
But that wasn't the only reason why we pushed the raiding of the Hand's base to the next day. I also wanted to do some research on the location before we raided it, know your battlefield and all that.
I was certain that I heard the name Rand somewhere before, but I just couldn't remember where.
After a night of well-deserved sleep, we did some research and figured out that Rand Enterprises was a company founded by Wendell Rand. The father of Danny Rand, also known as, the Immortal Iron Fist.
I knew that I heard that name somewhere before!
I haven't seen or read much about The Iron Fist, but I have heard of him and skimmed his wiki page before. All I truly know about him is that he was a martial artist that used chi, that he trained in K'un Lun(a mythical city in another dimension connected to earth), and that he and Luke Cage start Heroes for Hire in the future.
Before I died, I heard that the MCU changed some things and made him the mortal enemy of the Hand or something, but I don't know if that was true in this world also.
If that is true here too and she was aware of it, Gao had some big brass balls to make her base, the company Iron Fist's father had founded, and no doubt left to his son after his death.
Danny Rand was still missing and assumed death like his parents, so he is probably still training in K'un Lun and hasn't returned to earth yet.
After learning about where Gao's base was, we put the money we stole to good use and went out to buy a good USB that could hold the information we were going to steal from her computer.
Hearing a knock on my door, I stop my plotting and open it.
Standing outside my door was my roommate John.
John was everything you would expect of a typical jock. He was tall, had broad shoulders from playing football, blond hair, blue eyes, and a standard pretty boy face. Basically, he was the American boy.
He was a college student that was 4 years Damien's senior and liked to party. He was everything the original Damien usually hated in a person, and yet for some weird reason, they became the best of friends.
John was the one that offered Damien a room when he ran away from his uncle's house, even though he could get in trouble and lose his scholarship if anyone found out.
"I had been wondering why I haven't seen you around lately," John whistled as he looked over my shoulder at Laura, who was lying on my bed watching Youtube videos while keeping an eye on John from the corner of her eyes, "but now I know why."
I grimaced as I saw his smile grow into a grin.
He also liked to act like Damien's big brother, which means teasing him about the girls in his life, or rather his lack thereof.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?" He asked loud enough for Laura to hear.
Laura lifted her head away from the laptop screen and looked at us.
Sighing, I turned so that I could look at both of them, "Laura, this is John, my roommate and overall pain in my ass," I introduced, "John, this is Laura, who is not my girlfriend."
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"Nice to meet you, miss not girlfriend," John winked.
Having no idea what was happening, Laura waved confusingly and went back to watching her video when it became clear that John wasn't a threat to either of us.
"Laura is a friend I made online," I explained, coming up with a fake story on the spot, "she lives out of town. We applied to the same boarding school, and she needed a place to crash before we check it out tomorrow."
"Why didn't you tell me about this boarding school," John asked, his face becoming serious.
"I didn't know if it would pan out," I answered, looking down.
I felt bad about lying to him, but I couldn't tell him that I was a Mutant that was going to a school for Mutants. John was a good guy, and I didn't want to drag him into all the dangerous shit that came with being a Mutant.
"And?" He asked, his voice full of excitement.
"We got accepted," I replied coolly.
"Of course, you did!" John praised, rubbing my hair, "they would have to be crazy not to accept you with that big brain of yours."
I slapped his hand away and grumbled about him messing up my hair.
But to be honest, it felt good to have someone in my corner who believed in me and cared about my well-being like a real sibling. In my previous life, I was an only child that had to grow up fast and take care of my sick mother by myself.
Walking to the bag of cash still on the bed, I fished a bundle of about 10 grand out and threw it at John. It was the least I could do for everything he had done for me.
Reflexes from years of playing football made him snap the bundle of cash out of the air seamlessly.
"What is this for," he asked.
It wasn't until he noticed how thick the bundle was and that all the bills were hundreds that he truly realized what he was holding.
"I made a little more than I had anticipated on my last job."
John looked shocked at the bundle of cash before remembering that Laura was in the room with us. He looked at her quickly, noticing that she was still fixated on her video, he went to hide the cash.
"Don't worry. She knows what I do," I reassured him.
His brows furrowed at that, but he kept quiet. If I wanted to tell someone I was a thief, well, that was my business.
"You need this more than me," John said as he tried to hand me back the money.
"The school offered me a full ride and free boarding," I told him, pushing his hand back, "and I got more where that came from."
John grabbed me and pulled me in a manly hug, "remember, you can always come back here."
"Now enough of all this mushy shit, we have to celebrate you guys getting into a fancy private school. And I happen to have some extra cash to spend!" John said grinning.
And we did just that. We went out and celebrated till late into the night, after which Laura and I made an excuse to leave and finish our mission before we could leave New York City tomorrow.
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There is nothing quite like flying through the New York sky under your own strength.
Laura was in my arms, and we were both currently invisible and intangible for the off chance that something could pick up on us using infrared or some other high tech gadget that some bored supergenius had designed.
Unfortunately, being intangible also stopped me from enjoying the wind rushing through my hair.
Arriving at the Rand headquarters building in the middle of the city, I counted till the 13th floor like Vladimir said and flew inside.
Laura and I had talked it over when we were planning the raid, and we both agreed to go in silently and get what we needed before leaving just as stealthy. We didn't really care about The Hand one way or another. Laura was only after them for information, and I was only here to help Laura and get some loot while I was at it.
I kept my hand on Laura's shoulder to keep us invisible as we walked around the offices on the 13th floor, just in case. I very much doubt that everyone in a company as big as this one left for home already. There were probably at least a few workers working through the night.
The 13th floor was nothing special. It had offices on each side of the room with glass walls you could see through from the hallway, 4 elevators, 2 at both sides of the hallway, and one office that stood out from the others, not because it was nicer or anything but because it had real walls instead of walls of glass.
Phasing through the door, we walked inside a huge office with way too many lamps. There was a desk in the middle of the room, with a computer and a bonsai tree on it, and two filing cabinets in the corners.
I searched around the room for any cameras when I found none, I let go of Laura and made myself visible.
Laura went straight to the computer and turned it on. According to her, the Facility taught her to hack into computers for when she needed to retrieve information after killing her target.
I, on the other hand, with no idea how to even begin hacking a computer, went to inspect the Bonsai tree on the desk. With this being a comic book world and me being the master thief that I am, I was 99% sure I knew what it was for.
I pulled and pressed down on each branch of the bonsai, nothing. I tried pressing every inch on its base, and still nothing.
Laura gave me a strange look before going back to typing on the keyboard.
Was I wrong?
Was this truly just a regular bonsai tree put there for decoration...Nah!
Grabbing hold of the stone pot the bonsai was in, I first turned it clockwise when that did nothing I turned it counterclockwise. I heard a click before a motor in the left wall started whirling. A little piece of the wall slid away to show a safe hidden in the wall(I knew it!).
Laura looked up, hearing the sound of the motor whirling, and looked at the hidden safe before giving me a deadpan look, "how?"
"I'm a master thief," I bragged as I walked over to the safe.
The safe looked to be made from titanium or even tungsten and had a dial combination. The safe was probably rigged to destroy its contents if someone entered the wrong combination or tried to force it open.
Making my hand intangible, I bypassed all that and went straight for the contents of the safe, which turned out to be just a book.
It is weird how I can feel and grab hold of things and make them intangible when I shouldn't be able to make contact with physical things in the first place when I was like this.
Whatever, I will just blame it on comic book and cartoon logic.
Taking the book out of the safe, I made it and my hand tangible again.
My first impression of the book was ancient. My second impression was that it was even older than I first thought as a piece of the cover turned into dust while I was holding it.
The book was completely red and had about a hundred pages made of the skin of some kind of beast.
I turned it over and...nope, no name on either side of the cover.
Opening the book, I saw that it was full of...nonsense. I had no idea how to read any of this or if it was even a language for that matter. Opening my backpack, I placed the book slowly and carefully in it.
A mysterious old book that was kept in a safe by a thousand-year-old woman made of the skin of an unknown beast, written in a language I have never seen before. If this didn't scream side quest, I don't know what would.
Walking back to the desk, I turned the bonsai pot clockwise and watched as the wall slid back in place.
"How is it going over here?" I asked, a furious typing Laura.
"Not good," Laura growled, her voice full of frustration, "this computer has the best defenses I have ever seen on non-military or Stark computers."
Her right eye twitched in annoyance when she mentioned Stark computers.
There is a story there. I just know it.
"It will take me hours to get in without any of my programs," she admitted after a moment.
It was times like these that she really regretted that she had to leave all her 'stuff' behind when she blew up the Facility and fled.
"Let me try something," I said after a moment.
Laura glanced at me before shrugging, 'give it your best try' is what her expression said as she rolled her chair back to make room for me.
Becoming intangible, I flew into the computer. If Danny Phantom can go in a game and play as his game character, not to mention all the shit Technus does, I should be able to go in a computer and bypass its defenses.
Luckily for me, it worked, and I didn't end up permanently fused with the computer or some other freaky shit. The computer reacted to my every thought and desire. Every time I wanted to do something, I would see the corresponding zeros and ones run to do my bidding.
Wanting to see what was happening outside the computer, I turned on the built-in webcam. Laura was standing in front of the computer screen, trying to look into it.
I bypassed the need to log in completely and simply went on the only account on the computer.
Opening a notepad, I asked Laura what she wanted me to search for.
"$#%" Laura asked, surprised.
Hmm, I couldn't hear her, which made sense, I guess. I didn't have any ears to hear with at the moment, after all. It would be weirder if I could hear her, and the computer didn't have a microphone, either.
"I can't hear you," I wrote, "type it."
Comprehension passed over her face, and she leaned in to type, "how are you doing this?"
"I don't know, I just do," I wrote back, "focus, we don't have the whole day. What should I be searching for?"
"Search for anything related to Zander Rice, Kimura, Sarah Kinney, The Facility, and Weapon X-23, no matter how small."
"Gotcha!"
And I did just that. I searched through the entire hard drive for files mentioning those terms. Instead of reading everything I found now, I put everything directly into the USB plugged into the computer.
While I was doing that, I was also looking around for files mentioning The Hand and money.
I found a few offshore accounts with a hundred thousand dollars in them each, which I looted.
But that couldn't be all of it.
Madame Gao was at least a few centuries, if not a millennia-old. There is no way that a few measly hundred thousand was the entirety of her fortune. She must be hiding the lion's share of her money somewhere else.
I felt the files complete downloading onto the USB.
Ah fuck it, as long as I don't go on a spending spree, I have more than enough money to live the good life.
Shutting off the computer, I phased back out and was immediately hit with sensory overload.
It never occurred to me how much I actually saw and heard when I was in Ghost Form. I mostly tune it all out to normal human levels, but after going from no senses at all to superhuman senses, it took a moment for it to dial back to normal human levels.
I tried to tune everything out until my senses went back to normal, but one sound kept repeating in my skull.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
What is that?
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
It sounded like something softly and rhythmically hitting the floor, like a...cane.
My eyes shot wide open. Shit, Madame Gao is here!
I tried to hear anything else, footsteps. Hell, even clothes shifting around with her movements but nothing. All I could hear was the almost noiseless sound of her cane hitting the carpeted floor.
I shushed Laura and pointed to the door.
Laura nodded that she understood and removed the USB from the computer. Taking hold of her, I guided us to the right wall before making us invisible and intangible.
And not a moment too soon because the door opened not a second later.
We could have left through the wall but I was curious as to why Madame Gao was here so late.
Madame Gao walked in with two men in black suits on each of her sides. The moment she was about to walk past our hiding place, she paused in her stride before turning to our invisible and intangible bodies, almost like she could see us.
Faster than a woman her age should be able to move, she executes a palm strike in our direction, from 15 feet away. I feel something hit me in the chest and blast me into the wall behind me.
I grunt as I feel all the air leave my lungs, even though I was a blob of ectoplasm at the moment.
That fucking hurt. It felt like someone hit me in the chest with a baseball bat.
My intangibility and invisibility cancel from the shock of getting hurt and getting hit in the first place.
What the fuck?!
How did she know we were standing there, forget that, what the fuck did she hit me with and how?
"Snikt!"
Laura, who hadn't gotten hit but was just as visible and tangible as me, growls in anger and releases her claws before lunging at Madame Gao.
Only for the old woman to dodge all of her attacks like she was playing around with a little kid. It was weird, Madame Gao wasn't even moving that fast. It was simply that her every action was perfectly executed, without a single wasted movement.
I watched enchanted as she deflected Laura's arms and claws away from herself with no effort whatsoever, almost like they were doing a choreographed dance.
Madame Guo was obviously the better fighter with centuries worth of experience, but Laura was no slouch herself. What she lost out on technique, she more than made up with her enhanced speed and animal-like instincts.
Standing up, I take to the air to help with my speed and maneuverability before charging at Gao, only for her to let go of her cane and send another palm strike my way without taking her eyes off Laura.
Instead of going intangible, I dodge away from the path of her hand. Hearing something crack behind me, I spare it a quick glance, only for my eyes to widen when I see a hole in the wall.
Was she shooting some kind of chi blast?
Well, two can play that game.
Catching her cane mid-air, Gao hammered the underside of it to the side of Laura's head. Sending her flying. Before she can fly too far, I catch her and set her back down.
"Take care of them," I told Laura, pointing to the two bodyguards, who hadn't done anything so far except for taking out their katanas to show they were, surprise surprise Hand ninjas, "I will take care of her."
Laura looks uncertain, but even she has to admit that she wasn't going to beat Madame Gao anytime soon. She nods and disengages from her fight with Madame Gao and charges at the two ninjas.
Instead of following Laura, Gao turns to me, "who sent you?" she asked in perfect English.
I thought about saying it was one of the other members in her little criminal organization, like Fisk, but there was no need to play mind games with a woman who was about to die.
As I said before, unless I can't help it, I won't leave an enemy who has seen my powers alive, when I'm doing things I shouldn't. Madame Gao had seen more than my powers, she had detected and hurt me when I was both invisible and intangible.
Which means she was dangerous and had to go.
She can't be allowed to leave this building alive.
"No matter, you will be begging to talk soon enough," twisting the head of her cane, Madame Gao removed a sword from inside it.
Rather than charging her again, I gathered ecto-energy in my hands and shot four rapid-fire blasts at her.
Gao narrowed her eyes before moving her sword swiftly through the air and cutting all four of my blasts in two, making them fly past her and into the floor. Surprising me once again.
My ecto-energy should have blasted right through her sword. Was she enhancing it with chi somehow, or was the sword itself magical?
She points her open palm my way, and I feel an invisible force take hold of my body, dragging it down to the floor. Putting more power in my flight, I resist the force before twitching my muscles and breaking her hold on me, much to her chagrin.
Noticing her just standing there, I sight. I had been expecting more from one of the five fingers of The Hand. If all she could do was shoot chi blasts and use some rudimentary telekinesis, then she had no business fighting an opponent like me.
I had to admit that her invisible chi blasts were dangerous, but that is only when they hit their target.
I feel my feet change in a ghost tail as I get ready to really make use of my speed. The power I have the most practice with besides my Ghost Rays is flying, after all.
The air cracks as I break the sound barrier and appear in front of a shocked Madame Guo. Her eyes widen, and she goes to swing her sword upwards, but it is already too late.
My intangible hand snatches her still-beating heart right out of her chest cavity before she can raise her sword more than a few inches. Her body shivers mid-swing as it notices the absence of her heart.
I retreat and look down at the bloody heart in my hand.
My original plan was to blast a hole in her chest, but I decided to test this out at the last moment. I had always known that I was strong with the powers of Danny Phantom, but to think that I could remove someone's heart from their body this easily.
Madame Guo's eyes go to the heart in my hand. She looks at it for a moment before touching her chest. Feeling no heartbeat, she lets out a bloody laugh.
There was no fear in her eyes, only amusement as she slowly closes her eyes and collapses with a smile on her face, dead.
Whether she smiled because she knew that she could be revived or that she truly didn't fear death after all this time, only she would know the answer of.
Looking over at Laura, I saw that she had finished her fights before me. She had been waiting for a chance to jump in and help me if it was needed.
I knew that she wouldn't have problems with only two ninjas after fighting seven of them two days before, but this has to be a new record.
"Good work," Laura said as she looked at the unblemished corpse of Madame Gao.
"You too," I replied, throwing Gao's heart on her body, "help me place their bodies in a pile so that I can incinerate them."
I already fucked up the whole MCU tv-series canon by killing Madame Gao might as well make sure that she stays dead.
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No offense to The Hand(A lot of offense) of the MCU but they were fucking useless and weak. Except for Madame Gao(Why the fuck is she the only one in the whole organization that is using chi?) and Nobu(Who was stronger than his own master) all the other fingers of The Hand were weak sauce.
Their stories also don't make sense so I will be adding to their lore(K'un Lun, the Beast, mystic powers, etc)
But that won't change that Danny Phantom ghosts are kind of OP, you need to get to Thor and Hulk levels of bullshit to seriously threaten them, not only because of their speed and strength but also because of their many haxes.
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