"You defeated the potential biggest evil of the world and now you're nervous to face a bunch of 14 and 15-year-olds?"
"Vicious 14 and 15-year-olds."
"Who we lied to."
"Tucker, you're not helping!"
"Yeah, plus, we saved lives, remember? It was for their own good."
"Sam has a point, Danny."
"Still," Danny sighed, nervously tugging at his tie. "I feel really bad. Bakugou nearly exploded. Not that that's unusual for him, but I genuinely thought he'd take me with him. If it weren't for releasing all that power in the pocket dimension and that last-minute good guy speech, he really might've just finished the job—killing me."
Sam sighed. "If you're already making jokes about that again, you can't be that nervous."
"It's a coping mechanism, Sam. A bad one."
Sam rolled her eyes and grabbed his wrist, tugging him toward the door. "We can get you a better one when we're back in Amity. Talk to Jazz, take time off, and meditate if you want. We gotta get in there!"
Tucker took hold of his other arm and dragged Danny through the door to 1A as Sam shoved it open. Aizawa had his lips pursed and eyes cast to the ceiling in annoyance before blinking and facing them. "I really feel this could've been resolved better than this."
"Live interaction is good for establishing trust," Iida said from his chair.
Establishing.
Like they hadn't even had their trust once.
Iida seemed to be one of the few to be neutral about this. But the glint in his eyes told Danny he was curious as can be, eager to hear their story. Mina and Kirishima were bouncing in their chairs from anticipation. Some others had their arms crossed and a nasty looks on their faces. Bakugou looked strangely calm. Midoriya just smiled sadly at them.
Danny didn't know what was worse.
"Okay, well, first of all, hi," Danny said. "Thanks for letting us explain ourselves, Mr. Aizawa. We really appreciate it." Aizawa barely nodded before moving to the side so they could stand in the middle. "We were quite sure there would be a lot of questions and a lot of... Well, we figured it'd be best if we just explained ourselves a little."
Bakugou shifted in his seat. Danny nearly turned both invisible and intangible out of anxiety but managed to keep his stress to the shaking of his hands and the sweat on his back. What would they think? they lied, kept them on a leash, used them...
"So first a few truths," Tucker started. "One, we are from America. Just not this America. We're from a world where Quirks don't exist and superpowers are not as normal as they are here."
"How did you get here?" Kaminari interrupted, eyes slightly narrowed. "Cross-dimensional travel is a thing from video games and movies."
This time Sam spoke up. "We used the Infi-Map. It can take you anywhere, any time, any place. You just have to get specific about what you want for it to do this. We got the Quirks on the way and trained the three weeks before we actually started school."
"Got Quirks?" Uraraka asked, Infi-Map long forgotten. "How? And how did you even know where to go?"
"The God of Time." The class stared at Danny. "Only reason we're here is that he asked us to."
Kirishima nearly fell out of his chair while some others' mouths dropped open. "There's a God of Time and you're on speaking terms with him? How?"
"Saved the world a few times back home," Danny shrugged. "Guess that gets you on his good side. You see, he's not allowed to interfere directly because of this organization that rules a connected dimension to our own, so he asked us."
Danny gulped as the class fell silent, processing what they just heard. "But you got your Quirks when you traveled," Tsu noted. "So you saved the world without them?"
Danny hated this. He absolutely despised it. Tucker was just impatient waiting to see him transform after all this time and Sam couldn't wait for him to finally reveal that other half of himself. They were very eager to see it. Danny just wanted to show invisibility and run right through the door.
Sam softly grabbed his arm and took half a step forward. "This is supposed to be the world's biggest secret back home, so he's a bit shy. Superpowers back home mean government agencies trying to capture you and your parents hunting you to study you. At least, in the beginning, it does. The supervillains stay crazy."
"Supervillains?" Uraraka exclaimed. "But you just said superpowers aren't normal!"
"Ghosts are."
Tucker shrugged and grinned, launching into an elaborate spiel about the Ghost Zone and how the dimension was the other side of their coin. Danny tuned it out and focused on Sam's hand gripping his. He turned his eyes to Midoriya, who was intently listening to every word that came out of Tucker's mouth. Just in front of him, Bakugou was staring straight at Danny.
"So Danny is a ghost?"
Tucker fell silent, looking at Bakugou with panic before turning to Danny. He looked back and laughed in panic. "Wh— What makes you say that?"
"He told Deku over here. Said he used to train those Plasma Blasts back home. So he's superpowered. Ergo, a ghost." He threw his hands up and crossed them behind his neck, shrugging. "Figured we might want to get to the important stuff by now."
"Is that true?"
"You're a ghost?"
"Are you—"
"Did you die?"
Uraraka's teary eyes found his, and there was so much sorrow and pain behind them. Danny drew a sharp breath and exhaled slowly, gripping Sam's hand back. "I did."
Her lip trembled. "Can... Can you tell us?"
"It was the portal in my parents' basement. They're— They study ghosts, you see. They spent their college years and all the time after that trying to find them. Amity Park was the place where the border between worlds was the weakest, so they moved there. They built a lab in the basement of an old house and added all kinds of technology to it. Made the town a bit weary, I suppose. They used the basement as a lab, and they built the portal into the wall. You wouldn't believe how excited we were to find out they were finally gonna turn it on. I mean, ghosts? Come on, you would want to see it, right?
"So we were there when they flipped the switch on the power chords, but nothing happened. And you have to understand, they worked years on this thing. Calculated everything, got a recorder ready, everything. So when it didn't work... They left. Figured it'd failed. So it was just the three of us, in a basement, with a defective portal to another dimension. We figured it was worth a look inside, just to speculate about what might've been, I guess.
"The reason it didn't work was that the button to turn it on was inside the portal. We didn't know, but we found out. I went in, because I had a protective suit, and I accidentally pressed it. The other switches were still flipped, so it turned on.
"It punched a hole through that border between worlds, and the portal opened."
"What happened to you?" Mina asked softly. "Because you're standing right here, despite...all that. How?"
"We don't know," Danny said. "I stumbled out, suit in inverted colors, with white hair and glowing green eyes. I collapsed, turned back into a normal human me, and woke up without remembering that even happened. Took me a good while to figure it all out."
Tucker snorted. "You should've seen him walking through vending machines and getting stuck halfway through the floor. Or with suddenly invisible hands. It was hilarious."
"Invisibility?" Hagakure exclaimed. "I thought he just manipulated energy!"
Danny flinched. Time to explain all their lies, then. "Okay, so, that was a lie, which I'm sorry about." He turned to the rest of the class, eyes pleading and palms up. "You have to understand that we came here with good intentions, so we had to construct a few lies to be more believable. And I know how that sounds, but telling you we were from another dimension? It would've thrown a wrench in things. The timeline, especially. We had to be unassuming but believable. And with the whole Quirk situation...
"I didn't have a Quirk back home, but I had ghost powers."
"From the portal," Uraraka said.
"Correct. So while it's one form, it's a lot of applications. And that would've looked like multiple Quirks, which we really couldn't have. It was quite a brain-breaker to figure that out."
Midoriya raised his hand. "Multiple applications? Can you tell us which ones?"
"Sure!" Danny said, counting on his fingers. "There's the mist I used since that first two-on-two hero/villain scenario, which was just cooling down the air. A ghost leans toward a certain element, especially those with higher levels, so I can control a little of the temperature and I have ice attacks. The synching someone else with it was a recent discovery, but a useful one.
"Then there's invisibility and intangibility, which you never saw but I used during the laser tag in the woods..." Danny saw a lightbulb go off above Midoriya's head and knew he'd figured out he had pulled him out of the mess of evacuating students during the infiltration. "Then there's the Plasma Blast, which is a ball of energy made out of something called ectoplasm, the shields—"
Kirishima lit up. "He locked Bakugou in a dome during that sparring match!"
"Yes, I did. I also have enhanced senses, which basically means I could locate everyone much faster during exercises, and I have a side effect of glowing eyes when I'm not careful. I'm pretty sure I messed that up during the first few exercises."
"I knew I saw something green glowing!" Mina exclaimed. "After that first 2-on-2 fight with Aoyama! You had us and were posing all confident and I saw green! Thought I was going crazy!"
"Sorry about that," Danny said with a small smile.
"That's 10 applications," Iida noted, looking at Danny's hands. "That's...impossible."
"I have two more, actually." Danny scratched the back of his neck. "I borrowed some ectoplasmic power and made pocket dimensions." Iida's jaw dropped even further. "Tucker's pockets, for example. That's where all the marbles kept coming from. We used one in the apartment to train as well. And I used one for an exercise with Present Mic one time for my last power.
"The Ghostly Wail."
Sero snapped his fingers. "That's the thing you used to beat Shigaraki, right? The tornado?"
"Yes, but I had a little help from Midoriya and Bakugou. They put their power into a small pocket dimension I had connected to a battery, courtesy of Mei Hatsume. She's in the Support Course and is an expert at inventing. I believe she made Bagkuou's and Uraraka's hero suits. The battery converted energy into condensed ectoplasm, which I drew power from to unleash that Ghostly Wail."
That much power in one person wasn't the standard in this universe. Danny knew that. But seeing it dawn on these teenagers was truly something else. Some of them were looking at each other with disbelief, smiles on their faces like they couldn't believe he had helped them. Others just stared into nothing, mauling it over. Iida had his head in his hands. Twelve powers, in one person? Unheard of. Twelve—
"Oh and I can fly. Forgot about that."
Iida's head fell onto his desk.
"How did you even figure all of these things out?" Midoriya said. "You didn't have a mentor or teacher and still managed to figure out all these powers. How?"
"Years of fighting ghosts gets you some exposure to dangerous situations. You figure one out here, suddenly use another one there, and there are some ghosts that aren't keen on taking over the human world. Some of them helped me."
"Years?"
"We're seventeen," Tucker boasted. "Clockwork, the God of Time, just thought it'd be better for blending in. Danny's eighteen, actually."
"The accident happened when I was fourteen," Danny explained. "So almost four years of experience in the field."
"So you've been cheating the entire time," Kirishima grinned. "I want a rematch. One application only."
"I do too!"
"Sign me up!"
"Children, please," Aizawa groaned. "There are more important things than your pride."
Kirishima crossed his arms. Danny winked at him, turning Kirishima's face into a grin.
"Why are you here?"
Danny felt Sam glare at Todoroki at the question. "What do you mean?"
"Why are you in this universe?" Yaoyorozu backed Todoroki up. "To defeat Shigaraki? How did you know what to do?"
"Clockwork sent us here to defeat Shigaraki, but never told us details," Sam said. "Just that it was to save lives."
"We don't know whose," Tucker shrugged. "Maybe he just meant in general. That was good enough for us."
Danny just nodded. Maybe that one secret was worth keeping.
"And Nezu just allowed you to be here?"
Danny chuckled. "Nezu did. We had to convince some of the others."
"Must've been some presentation," Kaminari chuckled.
Danny smirked. "Oh no, we fought the teachers."
Kaminari's eyes widened, looking at them in disbelief. "You fought the teachers?"
Tucker grinned. "Three on three, but yeah. Us against Cementoss, Present Mic, and Eraserhead."
The whole class swiveled their heads to Aizawa, who was looking bored as ever. "It was all very well discussed before we did anything and everybody knew. Recovery Girl was ready and no one got seriously injured."
"They beat your asses," Bakugou laughed. "Three kids beat the Pro Heroes' asses. That's why they're still here."
Aizawa grumbled.
Kaminari and Kirishima launched into a fit of asking questions and speculations while the rest of the class continued to gape. Midoriya was whispering to Bakugou, who seemed to grin at whatever he was saying. Uraraka had turned to Iida, who was mumbling about how insane this all was while Tsu patted him on his shoulder. Mina was staring at them with wonder in her eyes while Todoroki and Yaoyorozu seemed to have a little chat in the back of the classroom. Multiple conversations started back up, all about them. Danny clutched Sam's hand and gave a little nod toward Tucker, who was grinning back at him.
The worst of it was over.
"You said white hair," Bakugou yelled over the noise in the room, which quieted everybody instantly. "White hair, green eyes, inverted colors. Is that still a thing?"
Danny looked at Sam, who shrugged with a grin on her face. Tucker gave a thumbs up, and Aizawa just waved at them. "Use the training grounds if you must. I'm going to take a nap."
Danny grinned. "I think you're going to like this."
The entire class was bounding through the halls as they moved toward the training grounds.
Tucker and Sam have taken the lead while Danny hanged at the back of the group, Kirishima and Mina excitedly asking questions while Sero and Kaminari pretended to not be as interested. They turned their heads toward him a little often for that to be true. They didn't dare ask anything too personal. Danny was flanked by Midoriya and Uraraka on one side while Bakugou was dragging his feet on his right.
Bakugo kept glaring at Mina and Kirishima, eventually yelling profanities at them and chasing them to the front of the group, but not before quickly darting a glance back at Danny. He tried to figure out what that was all about, except Bakugou has turned back before Danny can get past a sense of apologies and encouragement. He supposed that was all he was going to get from him. But that was enough.
Midoriya suddenly stammered an excuse and managed to get Sero and Kaminari to jog a little up front with him, leaving Danny with Uraraka at the back.
"Are you okay?" they ask at the same time. Danny laughs and gestures at her to go first. "I— It's really stupid, never mind."
Danny nodded and smiled softly at her. "I can tell something's bothering you. Know you can ask me what you want. I might not have an answer for you, but you won't know unless you try. I can't read minds. However cool that would be."
"Did it hurt?"
It slapped the smile right off his face.
"The portal."
"It did," he said slowly, trying to gauge what exactly she was asking him. "Not for a long time, though. It was everything all at once. After that, it was mostly just annoying. But yeah, it hurt."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that," she said, tears gathering in her eyes. "I can't imagine what that must've been like. To suddenly be like that when no one else is. And the secrets..."
"Lying to the people I care about was probably the worst part," Danny agreed.
Uraraka sniffed and nodded. "I'm glad it all worked out for you."
"I am too. And I'm sure it'll all work out for you, too."
"Really?"
"I'm sure of it," Danny said, face serious. "I might not have fought you, but I can tell from that first fight with Midoriya against Bakugou and Iida that you have what it takes. You're smart, good at improvising and adapting your well-formed plan, and you have the dedication to get where you want to be. And most essential, you know what's important. If you keep doing what you do and keep track of it all, you're going to be a great hero."
The air was forced out of his lungs as Uraraka slammed against him and wrapped her arms around him. "Thanks, Danny."
He hugged her back just as tight. "No problem, Ochako."
The group moved toward the site of their first-ever battles, Ground Beta. Tucker and Sam were standing with the rest of the class, single file near one of the walls of the buildings. Danny groaned, not too eager about giving a presentation. Ochaco gave him a thumbs up before running to Midoriya and whispering to him. Midoriya smiled and seemed to congratulate her. Bakugou was next to them and just huffed as Iida shushed them.
"Okay, so—"
"Oh, c'mon Danny don't keep us in suspense any longer!" Kirishima yelled. "We waited months for this!"
"Do not rush him! He is being very courteous already and you are not showing how grateful you are to get an explanation!"
"Iida—"
"It's okay, guys, I'll just... go ghost?"
Tucker and Sam stifled a snicker and Danny just glared before summoning the white rings and transforming. He held his hands out a little, shaking them. "Tadaa," he said.
"Enough information?"
"No way," Mina said, Kaminari right behind her, "we wanna see!" Even Ojiro and Shoji seemed to be joining in as the class started to cheer for him to show off a little. And when Yaoyorozu and Todoroki started raising their fists along with everybody else, Danny figured he didn't have much of a choice.
"Okay fine," Danny sighed. "I'll just..."
"Fight me."
Danny shot a look at Bakugou. "You want to fight me? Really?"
Bakugou pushed off the wall and sauntered forward until they were eye to eye. Danny never hated the fact he was short as much as he did then, at the same height while he was three years older. "I'm gonna kick your ass, Nerd."
"Have you been paying attention to what we've been saying just now?"
"Sounded mostly like you were bragging. Wanna prove it?"
Danny narrowed his eyes and put his hand forward. "Let's do it, then."
Bakugou shook it and turned on his heel, walking a good distance away before turning and turning his palms up. "Bring it on, Nerd!"
Danny turned to Sam and Tucker, who both gave him a thumbs up. There were shouts from the rest of the class, cheering both of them on to put on a good show. Midoriya was outright beaming with giddiness, vibrating next to Ochaco and Iida, who both seemed as excited.
"There are still villains here!"
"I'm looking right at one."
"You fucker! I said I'd kill you!"
They'd come a long way since then.
"I thought you cared about me."
"Because I didn't want you to die, dammit!"
Back in the USJ, when Danny had been alone with Bakugou, he had figured Bakugou knew more than he let on. And he had let on a lot, given how he had accused Danny of keeping secrets, of lying, of being a villain.
Bakugou had known Danny had multiple powers. And he had known a while.
Watching his training sessions with Midoriya, trying to fight him during sparring matches, and seeking him out even outside of school. He'd always been kind of close to them. Not quite next to, but always nearby. Watching. All three of them, but Danny in particular. Bakugou had wanted to fight him. Badly. But they never had.
Until now.
"You ready, Bakugou?"
And Danny wanted to fight him, too.