Ghosts Don't Exist

Chapter 21: Melancholy and Pedantry

He felt a sudden sense of something that was best described as conniving. It left as quickly as it came, but it left him uneasy.

Maybe coming out here was a bad idea.

"There!"

Danny looked over at Tim, who looked over Damian's shoulder. He pointed accordingly at a technological ghost that Danny recognized right away. Technus. Danny was never able to make proper friends with him for reasons he couldn't understand. Something about 'his ideas were not up to my standards,' which he wrote off as both sarcastic and dramatic.

"Why's he here? Does Gotham have any advanced technology anywhere? Are there any buildings with industrial equipment? Like large amounts of highly sophisticated tech anywhere?" Danny felt his chest tighten. Tim tapped his chin with the knuckle of his thumb. "Gotham is known for smuggling illegal things, including technology." He stated, tilting his head towards Danny. "What's his name?" Damian asked. He never took his eyes off the ghost. "Technus: dramatic, enthusiastic, uncomfortably personal (on a cyber level), and loves talking about how great he is with technology. He is also very open when he talks about what he wants to do, evil wise."

Tim groaned, "Great, he sounds like someone I know."

"The only place I could think of is the new shipment of nuclear weapons down by the docks. We get them twice a year. They ship it here, and then Gotham ships it to either the city over or inspection if there's anything wrong with it." Damian explained. "Yeah, those shipments are huge, but why would he need them?" Tim asked. Danny looked over at Technus, who was going in the direction of the docks. "I think he knows that. He can manipulate technology for him or to him."

Damian pressed the buttons on his comms, "Hey, we need a thermos down by the docks, we got a ghost, and he's not exactly friendly."

Danny heard it through his earpiece before Bruce responded that he would get it to them, but they were dealing with a ghost right now themselves. Vlad, they sounded like they were in a disagreement. A heated dispute at that.

"Alright, let's go."

"What?"

Tim and Damian looked at Danny, confused. "I know exactly how to deal with him. He likes pulling last-minute tricks, so we'll have to make a plan as we go along." Danny followed him from on the ground, and he didn't attempt to hide in public; that's not how he ever did things. "You're just going to waltz on in like you own the place?!" Tim could be heard through the earpiece.

"That's what Vlad does; it always worked for him. It hasn't failed me yet."

Though Tim and Damian had been told, recently, going in with a plan was safer, it didn't mean that they hadn't gone into things head first. However, Daniel Fenton, inside of stepping into the pool, he'd just straight cannonball. Scratch that, a river. With snakes. That were venomous.

He'd straight cannonball into a river with venomous snakes.

He had an idea of what he was dealing with, and that was all he needed. Technus couldn't have evolved that much. Right?

Danny flew overhead and found the docks; he was right on Technus' heels, watching him go through a building, passing guards. Danny made himself intangible and followed Technus into the building through the roof.

Did Technus always look that... advanced? Was that Tucker's old ghost tracker? Why did Technus look... mature? Yeah, he was an old man, but he was moving swifter, smoother.

Picking what he might want and leaving, barely even glancing at what he didn't want. He clearly knew what he needed and knew where to get it. He was building something.

Danny wasn't sure how to assess the situation; this was a new Technus. One that held old tricks he had familiarized himself with, but held new tricks with unknown possibilities. He was, admittedly, scared.

What happened in Amity Park? How many people, dead and alive, did he affect? What was his hometown like now? Does Vlad know what happened?

"Little Phantom?"

Danny looked up to see Technus looking at him strangely. And, unsurprisingly, shocked. "You aren't completely dead, are you?" He questioned. Danny shook his head. He carefully held his hand out. He was shaking.

"It's nice to meet you again, I wish it were under different circumstances."

His voice quivered, and there that... feeling was again. The welcoming open arms promised things he had only dreamt of. It offered to take care of Technus itself. He sighed quietly, trying to calm it. It did everything but.

Technus clapped his hands, and his wristwatch glowed softly before launching a very large plasma ball at him. He dodged it barely.

"As do I, Phantom."

Danny turned his legs into a long wisp of a tail before summoning his plasma-infused attacks. Ice and his ghostly howl were off the list of things he was using. For one, controlling either was hard, and they could easily kill someone.

He shot his own at Technus, Danny's aim was not dead straight, but he was scathing the technological ghost.

Said ghost, cackled just as Damian and Tim got in. He was bending the weapons and metal to his will. Some were encasing him.

"Danny, what ya got? This isn't really our field of expertise."

Tim's voice asked quickly as Technus caught them in his line of sight. "Nothing! I have a new style and a new sense of what's going to make me more powerful!" Technus was smug about it and spoke as if there was no way he'd lose. "We need- HEY!"

The comms had been roughly yanked out of the trio's ears and split apart, giving themselves a different purpose. Being part of Technus' forming metal suit of severely dangerous weaponry. Danny produced a giant ball of... ice?! What the hell?!

He launched it unconsciously, hitting Technus' left side, freezing it, and spreading ten feet out.

"Get as much weaponry out of here as possible! I'll handle him!" Danny yelled as Technus broke free of his ice problem. The two nodded and got to work.

"My my, you've seemed to have improved since your disappearance." Technus mused, staring interestedly at the ice before slowly turning his head up to Danny. His lips held in a tight amused smile. "However, I don't think you meant to send that in my direction, little Phantom." His words spilled out smoothly.

Danny didn't like this new ghost he was familiar with but not at the same time.

He floated back as Technus summoned his new line of weaponry and raised it high. His eyes glistened with a light Danny wasn't sure whether he should prepare for the worse or if he should prepare himself at all. This wasn't a Technus he liked, and he wasn't with his friends. He was with his brothers, but would it hurt more if they got hurt?

They weren't Jasmine, they had grown up with a mentor who guided them into a life of crime fighting. Jasmine was going off of morals and wits.

It's okay, I trust whatever it is you want to do. Just make sure you really want to do it. Make wise decisions, okay?

"Danny!"

He... opened his eyes? He looked around to see plasma everywhere. Technus glared at Danny as he was sucked into a thermos. He looked down to his right at Tim, who was grinning and holding a thumb up. Damian looked shocked but was smiling. So they won, but he didn't remember doing anything.

There was a rush of heat pulsing against his back before vanishing, along with that feeling from earlier. He closed his eyes and sighed before lowering himself to the ground and turning his tail into legs. "I might have lost control, there." He muttered.

He couldn't let that happen again. He could have done something he regrets.