Notes
Thank you all so much for your amazing comments so far they mean so much. I have had the pleasure of posting a chapter update once a week so far for this story. The reason for this is I had already written and posted the chapters and posted them on ao3 and FF. But I am now getting into stuff I have not completed yet. For my other accounts, I have been posting approx once every two weeks. It may be a little bit longer between chapters depending on if I get writer's block or not. I have been extremely lucky so far as to not get it too bad, and I hope I don't get it in the future so I can continue making content for all of you amazing people. Thank you for the comments they give me inspiration and joy every time I read them. I would like to thank everyone who has voted, commented, and added this story so far. I have gotten to #6 on TV, out of 14.3k stories!!! O-O I have never gotten that high on anything before. ^^ It means so much to me, thank you all. <3
-PlayedCrowd5610
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Danny was floating down the halls of the hellicarror when he heard someone call out to him. He quickly whipped his head around to make sure that the person calling out was okay and not in danger. He was relieved to see Agent Barton speed walking over to him in the hall. Looking fine. Well, as fine as a person who was just being mind-controlled for the last few days can be.
Danny sighed in relief. "Yeah?" He turned his body around, facing the Agent with his whole body in the mostly empty hallway. Danny lowered down to the ground so the agent would not feel weird with the ghost floating. "I thought you wouldn't be allowed to leave the med bay." Danny commented.
"I have my ways." Barton answered Checkley, rubbing his wrists. "So, you were the one to free me from the control?"
Danny nodded to the man but seemed slightly embarrassed by the fact. "Ya, but I am sure any ghost with a core could do that." He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, his eyes darting to the floor to avoid the agent's eyes.
The agent tilted his head to the side. "But from what everyone else has been saying around here, not any 'ghost' would." He carefully put his hand on Danny's non-injured shoulder, trying to ignore the cold resonating off the boy. "Thank you, really." He sighed. "It made me do terrible things. Stuff I am not proud of."
"Look I understand... you see..." He looked up a bit. "I was controlled once too, not the same circumstances but, I know what it is like. My friends had to remind me who I was, and it was... hard." He sighed.
"I don't remember exactly what happened when you showed up in that dream thing, but you did save me. I would still be stuck if it wasn't for you." Danny looked up at the archer with a smile on his lips. Barton smiled back reassuringly, his eyes darted over to the boy's shoulder and cringed. "Sorry about your shoulder."
Danny chuckled, waving him off. "I'll be fine after a day or two, really."
Suddenly Danny's ears perked up as he heard two people rushing down the hall in a hurry. Clint noticed the halfa's quick change and turned his head to see Tony and Cap rush up to them, Tony seeming slightly more out of breath than the super-soldier. Which was understandable. Cap was first to speak up in a commanding tone. "We need to go."
"Go where?" Danny asked first, even if both he and Barton were thinking the same question. He floated up off the ground again readying himself to take off and help them. He could hear both men's hearts and they were thumping quickly, like they were worried about something. Even if Stark's heart was hard to hear with the buzzing of the arc reactor placed in his chest.
"Stark tower." Tony started. "Loki is going to power the cube there. And we're going to stop that from happening."
Cap turned to face Barton more directly. "Do you know how to fly one of those jets?" He asked.
Barton nodded. "Yes." He smiled and crossed his arms. "And I can do it in style."
"Good, you're coming with me." Cap stated, tilting his head at the archer.
Tony spun on his heel and started walking away from the group waving his hand behind him. "Casper, care to join me? I might need an extra pair of ghostly hands with this one."
Danny nodded and started floating over to follow the billionaire. Cap reached over and grabbed his arm stopping Danny from moving.
Danny looked back at the super-soldier with a slightly confused look on his face. "Are you sure you want to do this kid?" Cap asked.
Danny chuckled and fazed his arm from the Caption's grip. "I already got both feet in the grave Caption. What is the worst that can happen?" He quipped, causing Tony to chuckle down the hall.
X
Danny and Tony both dashed through the air, their job was to get their first and try to take down whatever Loki and his controlled goons were setting up. They still had no full idea about what Loki's plan was. Barton seemed to keep most of his memories from the traumatic event, unlike Danny's previous encounter with mind control. But Clint was never told directly what the plan was, only the facts he needed to know for his part. And because he was being controlled, he didn't question it.
The SHIELD ship wasn't that far from Stark tower when they left so it wouldn't take that long to fly there. They were going on ahead because they could both probably make it there before any ship could.
Danny was flying slightly ahead and lower in the air than Tony's suit, his legs transformed into his ghostly tail for a nimbler flight. He was slowing down slightly to stay at the same pace Tony was flying at. Danny could probably be much faster than Stark and speed on ahead, but he wouldn't want to use all of his power on flying there and have his core drained for a fight if it was needed.
Tony was already at full power with his suit, His boot jets sparking out every once in a while. Caused by the attack earlier that day. But something was nagging at Danny's mind. Why would Loki set up the Tesseract in such an obvious spot? And why were his aura and actions so strange?
It seemed part of Loki didn't want to launch his brother out of the ship. And if Danny wasn't there Thor could've died from that fall. Loki even stayed when Danny had rushed off to stop Thor and Tony from killing each other. What was going on here?
"You okay kid?" Stark's voice rang through his head, knocking the halfa out of his trance. Danny quickly flipped himself onto his back so he could get a better view of the armored man. Tony had given the ghost a sort of com thing when they were leavening, and Danny hesitantly put it in. Tony had said that it was blocked from all outside transmissions that weren't authorized by Stark himself.
Danny blinked a couple of times remembering that Tony had just asked him a question. "Oh, ya I'm... fine. Just thinking about how this is going to work out."
Tony's helmet seemed to have nodded, you couldn't really get an expression from the outside of the suit. "Don't think about it too much kid, you will just get stuck in your own head."
Danny flipped back over onto his front to continue flying. "Ya, I am just getting caught up in my head..." He sighed. It was strange, it seemed Tony had started trusting him. Or at least sort of trusted him. He was sure that Tony didn't truly believe that he was a real ghost. But it still seemed like Tony might even, like him. Despite what he had to have been told by SHIELD or any other ghost hunters that he might have been in contact with.
Danny thought for a moment looking at the rapidly approaching city in the distance. "Tony?" He asked, getting a 'hmm?' in response. "Why do you trust me? Or at least ask me things, or even talk to me? I mean you had to have been told things by SHIELD right."
Tony's eyebrow beneath his faceplate raised. "Do you not think you deserve to be trusted?" He asked. Danny lowered his head in response. "You haven't done anything wrong yet. And besides, I am a scientist, I will always question things I am told. Whether it be that you're really dead, or you are some evil ghost trying to trick us."
Danny nodded slightly mulling over what Tony had said. "Not all scientists are like that. Sometimes you can never change their mind."
"I never said that I wasn't hard-headed, kid. I just don't like to trust everything other people tell me. I make my own decisions."
Danny chuckled. "Well," He paused. "...Thank you." Danny started speeding ahead a bit. Tony was confused and saddened by the fact that the kid would feel like he should thank Tony for just not ridiculing or hating him off the bat. Tony felt bad for the kid. Even if the SHIELD agents were ready to shoot him or put him in a cell at any second, he still showed up to help.
As soon as Stark tower was close enough into view both the heroes could see the glowing blue light on the top of the building. Danny looked back at Tony. "Is that normal for your tower, or...?"
"Definitely not normal Casper, and I bet that this is somehow Loki's doing." They quickly pulled up to the outside of the tower to see Dr. Selvig. He was standing next to a contraption that seemed a lot like a bunch of tesla coils surrounding the glowing Tesseract. The cube itself was floating and slowly spinning around, blue electricity flicking off of it every couple of seconds.
Tony spoke up first using his outer coms to talk to the doctor. "Shut it down Doctor Selvig." Tony demanded. He was now hovering in place above the roof of the building. Danny flew closer to the contraption only for it to send off a spark his way. Danny quickly backed up away from the blue barrier that was now forming around the cube, after Danny got close. It seemed the Tesseract was trying to protect itself.
"It's too late!" The doctor looked back and forth between the cube and Tony. "You can't stop her now. She wants to show us something... A new universe." Danny felt the aura again around the doctor.
Tony looked over at Danny who was now looking at the doctor with a slightly concerned expression. "Okay then." Tony muttered, raising his arm to send a repulsor blast at the blue shield surrounding the cube. But it did the opposite of what he wanted. The shield absorbed the blast and shot it back out from all sides throwing the doctor off the roof.
Danny quickly recovered from the blast and darted down after the doctor, Picking him up from underneath his arms. Danny then fazed the man through one of the lower floors of the building to keep him safe, for the time being. He quickly darted back up to Tony who was scanning the cube with his suit.
Danny could hear Jarvis in Tony's suit tell him that the shield was made of pure energy. Tony turned back to Danny who just zoomed up next to him again. "Casper, can you get through there?"
Danny floated down to the cube again and circled it. He hesitantly reached forward his hand to touch the barrier, his ears pinning back a bit, as if he was expecting to be shocked. Once again the shield sent an electric shock, this time hitting Danny's hand. He quickly yanked it back and looked at it. It hurt but there was no major damage done. "It's a no-go."
Tony sighed and looked out the corner of his eye to see Loki standing on the balcony below them holding his staff. "Then let's go to the source of the problem." Danny quickly turned to where Tony was looking and saw Loki, he must have been watching them the whole time they were trying to take out the tesseract.
Tony lowered himself down to the ground landing on some sort of suit helipad built into the building. Only for it to start taking off pieces of his armor one by one. As that was happening Danny saw Loki start to walk inside to talk with them.
Danny darted down and started floating next to Tony, subconsciously putting himself in between where Loki was walking and where Tony was. Loki stopped walking once he reached around the middle of the room. Still holding his staff in front of him. Loki chuckled. "Please tell me you're going to try and appeal to my humanity."
Tony walked behind the bar in the room with his hands behind his back. "Actually I am planning to threaten you."
"And you need your guard dog for this?" Loki gestured to Danny who crossed his arms in response.
"Yeah. He kinda helps, and you've got the glow stick of destiny, so it's only fair. Would you like a drink?"
Loki tilted his head slightly. "Stalling me won't change anything."
"No, no. Threatening." He grabbed a cup from the shelf and held it out. "No drink? Are you sure? I'm having one." He held the glass up to the ghost. "You old enough for one Casper?"
Danny slightly smiled and held his hand up to gesture no. He then floated down to the ground and started leaning up against the wall. It seems Tony had a plan of some sort for this, so he was going to sit back and watch. And he would be there if the plan went sour.
Loki walked over to the glass wall of the skyscraper and looked out over the city. "The Chitari are coming. And nothing can change that." Danny was surprised that he seemed almost disappointed by that fact. Danny could feel the strange aura around Loki's, there was then a pulse of power that resonated off the god. His manar quickly changed as he turned back to face Tony. "What have I to fear?" Danny narrowed his eyes. What was with Loki changing back and forth so suddenly?
It seemed that Tony wasn't noticing how weird Loki was being, or Stark was just really good at hiding it. Tony poured his drink and looked back up to the god. "The Avengers." Loki tilted his head slightly. "It's what we're calling ourselves. We're sort of like a team. 'Earth's mightiest heroes' type thing."
Loki walked forward again closer to Tony, Danny tensed slightly but barely enough for anyone to notice. "Yes, I've met them."
"Yeah." Tony took a sip of his drink. "Takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But let's do a headcount here. Your brother, the demigod. A super-soldier, a living legend who kinda lives up to the legend." Danny saw Tony grab a piece of tech from under the table and slip it onto his wrist. "A man with breathtaking anger-management issues, a couple of master assassins. And last but not least, Casper here." Tony gestured to Danny. "The 'not so friendly ghost'." He put his drink down and pointed at Loki. "And you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single last one of them."
"That was the plan."
"When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."
"I have an army."
"We have a hulk." Tony retorted.
"I thought the beast had wandered off."
"You're missing the point here, there is no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it is too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the earth you can be damn well sure that we will avenge it." Tony walked over closer to Loki.
Loki smiled. "How will your friends have time for me, when they are too busy fighting you two?" Loki raised his staff up and was about to tap it on Tony's chest when Danny suddenly flew over in a flash and grabbed onto the staff pulling it away from Tony.
"I don't think so." Suddenly Danny's eyes widened. The staff could feel Loki's emotions. Everything. That was the answer. How could he not have seen it before? Danny looked up to Loki's eyes, his hand still on the staff, and still standing between Loki and Tony defensively.
Loki's smile wavered as he started to step backward. He knew that the ghost realized, maybe... suddenly a huge bang rang from outside as a blue beam shot into the sky causing everyone to turn and look to the window.
Loki pulled the staff away from Danny's hand as he was distracted. "It's too late. They're here."
There was then a blinding gold light in the room causing both Tony and Danny to close their eyes, but when they opened back up again Loki was gone. Great Danny finally got the answer and Loki left. He didn't know what it was, but the magic around prevented him from telling him where Loki left to.
He looked back to Tony. "He's gone." Danny's eyes quickly darted over the window and the blue light. The raw power coming from the tesseract. His core humming, warning him, telling him. Another invasion...
Just great.
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Notes
I have been trying to concentrate on making the story different and original and not copying the movie. But I am focusing too hard on it and making it hard to come up with ideas. I am sorry for the people who are mad at me and think I am copying the movie too closely, but when the movie portion is finished, nearly all of it will be original content.
I also really wanted the Tony speech in there because it was one of my favorite scenes in the movie. This chapter was hard to make. Sorry if it seems a little dry compared to my other ones.
Thanks for all the comments on the other chapters. Every time I wake up and see a new nice comment it makes me happier and happier to be continuing this story. YOU GUYS ARE SO AMAZING! XD
Please tell me what you think of this chapter. <3