Danny had, for some godforsaken reason, decided to leave Amity Park for a while. The reason? He was apparently “too obsessive” and “scaring the tourists away”. Well, it's not his fault the tourists were giving the GIW money by buying into the tourism scam and coming there to awe and ah at the structural features created by literally fighting the king of the dead in the damn Infinite Realms!
Ahem. He's a bit… opinionated. On this. If anyone couldn't already tell.
Reasons aside; Danny was Stressed™. His core was projecting Stress/Tired/Exhausted through the entire town, and even his subjects thought he should take a break, which, rude, he rules them not the other way around!
So. He left Amity. Only for a few months, he'd been told, it'll be alright, he'd been told, you'll have fun, or so he was told. Well, spoiler alert. He's here, and he's not having fun.
He first decided to go to some city called “Metropolis”, but there was some weirdo in spandex flying about like a lunatic and everyone worshipped the guy, so Danny decided it was a bit too off for his vacation. Like, seriously, they were worshipping the guy (well, not really. Danny considers himself a connoisseur on cult worship, considering he had his own pseudo [pseudo because he doesn't run it, doesn't have anything to do with it, and wants it gone] cult, and has been summoned by many-a cult). Danny hadn't liked it, so he left.
Then, he went to Central City, and that was almost weirder. The ‘superheroes’ there were at least cool. Their names were almost as cheesy as ‘Superman’, though. ‘Flash’? ‘Kid Flash’? It's almost as bad as ‘Superman’ and ‘SuperBoy’. But, well, Danny could appreciate a good pun, and the way that Flash and Kid Flash always said they'd be ‘back in a Flash’? He appreciated that, a lot. And by the looks of it, they did too. The annoyed groans he would hear from people whenever he overused a bit were funny, too. Impulse was cool, the kid lived up to his name, though.
He met them a lot, actually. Apparently, the Flashes had taste, and went to a lot of the best diners in the city. He asked them for tourist advice, and they'd been happy to give him a free tour around the city at superspeed. From then on, he'd share his food every time they had a big fight nearby. He figured it worked a lot like his powers. Use, energy to recharge, big uses are bad for the body. Granted, Danny usually recharges with ectoplasm, but the sentiment is there.
But, there were just too many mad scientist villains around there. Reminded him of his parents. And he just couldn't say no to Jazz when she informed him that it was adding to his stress levels. So he left. He had stayed there for about a month.
With two cities under his belt, he felt he was rather well travelled, not as much as Ellie, sure, but he was! So, he decided to just start driving (yes, driving, he's been told to get the ‘full human experience’ of travelling, by Ellie, so he has to drive) and see where he ends up.
Four hours later, captured in some creepy death/cult cave, he wished he had just stayed in the SuperCity. At least there he wasn't being sacrificed to some random god!
It wasn't like any god would take him as an offering, either! He was the King of the Infinite Realms, Ruler of the Dead and Never-Born, no god would dare to use his mortal form as an anchor for entering this world lest their soul be tormented after their timely death!
Worst part is? There were heroes here, too! And Danny is on vacation! He can't be involved with hero stuff on vacation, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker will be mad.
He was tied to a stone slab in the middle of the dungeon-like cave. Rusted chains littered the walls behind the cultists. Around the slab of stone, blood decorated the floor in a pentagram-like shape, but Danny couldn't read the runes inscribed due to his positioning. There were heroes tied to the walls as well, off to the side so the Cultists could see them if they tried to make a move. Funnily enough, the chains for them were brand new, so it was clear that the rusted ones were just a stylistic choice. Danny may have found that funny, if not for the current situation.
One of the heroes must have noticed the change in expression, as the Flash (and yes! He likes this one! He'd heard Clockwork rant about him and his family many times, but he persisted to let them alter the timeline, so he must like them too) called out, “Hey, kid, listen! You're going to be just fine, alright? Just stay calm, we'll free you soon. And anyway, magic isn't real, they'll fail!” He said with a bright (yet clearly fake) grin.
A haggled looking man in a beige trenchcoat (that had obviously seen better days, damn) glared at the Flash, “This again? Magic is real, dumbass.”
It quickly devolved into arguing, Flash steadfastly refusing to acknowledge magic's existence while the annoyed, clearly exhausted man continued to shout indignantly about all the times the Flash had obviously encountered it.
Danny almost laughed at the scene, it was hilarious. He knew magic was real, Pandora had told him as such, but this human's refusal despite having seen it himself was funny. Keyword; ‘almost’. He could see the Bat Guy staring at him, obviously only letting his coworkers argue to put him at ease and distract him from the situation. Superman was there, too, he kept looking between the cultists and him with uncertainty, but couldn't move due to the Kryptonite lining on his cuffs.
“Enough!” One of the cultists interrupted. He was clearly the leader. He wore ecto-green robes, unlike the plain white robes of the others (and wasn't that dumb? They were wearing white robes… in a dusty, dirty cave. Talk about stupidity.), that had silver, star adorned jewellery all over them. “We are here to summon our King, not to listen to your petty squabbling over the existence of the divine!”
Ancients, what a prick, talk about pretentiousness? He literally spoke like some asshole from a historical, fantasy romance manhwa trying to convince the love interest to date him (Danny had no idea why that would be the first thing to come to mind, but it did, and now he has that mental image forever, thanks brain.).
Trenchcoat shut his mouth with a click. Flash looked hesitant, but a glance in Danny's direction had his mouth reluctantly shutting too. How sweet.
Batman spoke up, seeming to grasp the situation faster than the other two. “Your ‘King'? And who is your ‘King’?” He asked.
Trenchcoat's jaw stiffened. Oh, so that one is the one with knowledge of magic in the little group. Damn. They chose a sad trenchcoat man to lead them through dismantling a cult (that's the only reason Danny could think of for them being here)?
The cult leader grinned manically under the hood (ew). He spread his arms out wide, gesturing to the cave around them. “Our King! The Everlasting One! Ruler of the Never-Born! Conqueror of the Tyrant!” Oh. Oh sh*t. Danny doesn't like where this is going. And by the look of it, neither did Trenchcoat, by the way he'd stiffened up, going pale. “The Ghost King! Phantom! Ruler of the Infinite itself!”
No. No, no, no, no no! Seriously!? He got captured by his own cult as a sacrifice!?
Trenchant began whispering frantically to the other two, obviously looking panicked. Flash's face dawned with realisation, and he went pale, trying again to phase through the cuffs. Superman froze, his eyes flickering red for a second as he pushed against the chains. Batman only grunted once, but Danny could feel the fear for him, which would have been quite sweet from a brood-y hero, if Danny wasn't too busy trying to figure out a way to get out of this without outing himself.
The cult leader grinned at their expressions.
Trenchcoat called out to them. “But, the Ghost King's summoning doesn't require a human sacrifice!” He almost pleaded.
That's correct, actually. All Danny usually needed for a summoning was pure, silly, or benign reasoning and a snack. That's usually why he got summoned to sleepovers, but he rolled with those, a kid gave him a tootsie roll once, and he'd cried with some kids over exam season and studied with them.
Sometimes, though? A world ending cult would get ahold of his summon and get around the intention-based requirement (how? Danny couldn't find out, really, and he'd tried). Usually, he'd just let them down gently, or tell them to get mental help, but still! He'd never been summoned in this dimension, well, by a death cult in this dimension, Sam and Tucker summon him all the time. Usually just to say hi, since they're over in college right now.
“We know what His Majesty truly wants!” Another cultist called out, glaring. Danny cringed. He does not want this. He has never wanted human sacrifices. He's almost glad it's him and not some random person, but he still doesn't want any human sacrifices.
“Yes, His Majesty will revere us when we give him the life essence of a citizen in this world!” The cult leader proclaimed. Ew. No he won't. He's more likely to spit on someone if he was given life essence. “We will add to his army of the dead with this sacrifice!”
Danny doesn't even have an army. He has his royal guard, sure, but they aren't an army. His royal guard is just a way to train his subjects and give him a legal reason to help them out. The Observants can't berate him for setting up new regions if he says it's to give his new knights places to protect, now can they! The training also doubles as bonding, so some ghostly families will join his guard to bond with each other. The royal guard is more of an honorary army than an actual one, he has Fright Knight (who will be retiring as soon as Danny finds a substitute, poor ghost has had a long afterlife) and not much else in terms of protection.
Trenchcoat muttered something about, “fools getting us all killed, f*cking bastards.”
Danny almost laughed.
The cult leader stepped forward, a ritualistic blade in his hands, a manic grin on his lips. The blade was decorated with nebula-like designs, all silver. The dagger was ornate, and clearly custom made. Danny couldn't help but see its potential if infused with some ice. Shame it's going to be used to stab him.
The cult leader raised the dagger above his head in both hands. Danny rolled his eyes, what a cliché.
The heroes tugged harder on their chains, save for Trenchcoat, who just looked irritated, but knew he couldn't get out of magic saturating chains.
The dagger plunged into Danny's heart.
Huh.
He could actually feel the summons. He could deny it, of course, but… Danny hadn't had fun in a while. And, well… He couldn't out himself as maybe-kinda-quasi-immortal to berate the cultists as Danny Fenton, but he could berate them as Phantom. The opportunity was right there!
So, Danny allowed his mortal form to fall away, tugging on the summons. The room glowed green. Danny felt his body begin to disintegrate into ectoplasm to fuel his summoning. Huh. They might actually know some stuff about summonings, considering the energy transfer was working.
He felt his body fully fall away.
The energy of this summoning was great. Wait. Was the circle made of ecto!? That's… That's tasty ecto. It's not gross like ecto-dejecto. It's more like the rich ecto-wine he's served at Royal Galas.
He couldn't help it, he absorbed it.
He let the summoning fully happen, appearing above his body in his kingly form. His soul had been pulled out of it because of the ritual, so he let the body fully dissolve into ectoplasm. He'll make a new human form later.
He glared down at the cultists. He wants to scare them. They disrupted his vacation, they kidnapped him, they ruined a perfectly good blade with his blood!
“While I thank you for the good meal,” He started. The ecto was good, alright!? Jazz had taught him manners! “I'd like you to explain why in Ancients’ name I am here.”
…
Bruce didn't know what to do. He had only wanted to stop a rookie cult based near Gotham. He didn't expect this.
Zatanna had warned them that there was a magical energy building up near Gotham, a malicious energy. Unfortunately, she was on a show in Brazil, and had only been able to warn them in a brief space between acts.
So, Bruce had called Constantine up to the watchtower. Barry and Clark had been there too, talking about some kid they'd met. Apparently, there was a kid Barry met in Central City who kept giving the Flash Family food, but flinched at loud noises and from the mad scientist villains more than others. He'd shown Clark a picture he'd ‘snuck’ (read: he used superspeed to take a picture before he noticed) of the kid.
Clark had recognised him, and it had devolved into them talking about concerning behaviours the child had. But Bruce wasn't there to dilly dally, he was there to speak to Constantine, so he'd told them to be quiet and asked Constantine to accompany him to the outskirts of Gotham and investigate.
Barry and Clark obviously (since they didn't understand that Gotham business was Gotham business) wanted to accompany them, too.
After some haggling, it was agreed that they'd all investigate together (with a lot of reluctance on Constantine's part).
Then they got captured. And everything went wrong.
They woke up restrained to a wall. There was a black haired child unconscious on a slab of rock. He was tied down. There was a ritual circle around his body.
Barry made a wounded noise. “That's the kid.” He whispered.
This child was the kid Barry had been talking to for nearly three weeks? A possible runaway? He looked around fourteen, even smaller tied up on that giant stone slab.
Bruce felt his heart sink.
Clark looked at the child, too. He looked furious. He tried to pull on the chains. Nothing happened, other than him letting out a grunt of pain. “Kryptonite. There's Kryptonite on the chains.” He choked out.
Bruce tried to check his toolbelt. Empty. His emergency stores. Empty. Nothing was left. His cowl was cracked in the side, right up the comm and the emergency comm under it. No reinforcements.
…
The kid was stabbed through the heart. Green energy exploded from the wound, spreading through the child's body like a rot. It decayed the skin around it and spread through the child's veins, disintegrating and rotting the body around it.
Clark made a wounded noise, surging forwards in the chains. Barry choked on a cry. They'd known this child for a while, Clark not so much, but knowing a kid who had called him a ‘weirdo who wears his underwear outside of his pants’ was being rotted from the inside to bring some cosmic horror would do that to someone.
The cult leader grinned manically. “Finally, our Lord will accept our sacrifice and bestow us eternal power!”
Right, there's a god being summoned. A powerful one, if Constantine is to be believed. A god whose ritual doesn't even need a sacrifice. This child died for nothing.
Bruce felt like he was going to be sick.
A form appeared in the air above the corpse. White hair, flowing down its back. Bright, glowing green eyes (were they eyes?) with slitted pupils. In place of legs were mere wisps that looked like smoke. There was a crown of ice upon its head, a glowing abyssal cape falling from its shoulders. The cape was a deep black, yet glowed with the intensity of a black hole.
Its hands moved, and Bruce realised why. On the inside of the cape was a moving galaxy of celestial bodies.
The being glared down at the cultists, and despite the look not being aimed at Bruce, he felt dread creep up his mind. It licked its lips.
The corpse exploded into a green dust, being absorbed by the creature.
“While I thank you for the good meal,” It started. That was a child, not a meal! Bruce's mind cried out, but his mouth wouldn't move. His body wouldn't even twitch, frozen in fear. This was worse than fear gas, worse than anything he'd ever experienced. “I'd like you to explain why in Ancients’ name I am here.”
It wasn't a question, it was a demand. This being's slumber had been disturbed (Constantine said it hadn't been summoned on this plane in millenia), and it was angry.
The cult leader stepped back. “My Lord!” He simpered, his eyes wide with fear and excitement. “We have called upon you to end this world, and ascend us to its leaders!” They want to rule the world? “Put all beneath us as our slaves, so we can craft this world into your image!”
The being's lips curled in distaste. “You think..” It started. “If I were to want this planet, I wouldn't have claimed it already?”
“Who are you, to presume to know of my whims, to demand I put you in a position of leadership?” It took a step down from the air, towards the leader, with each statement.
Finally, a step in front of the leader, all the other cultists having parted like the red sea around him, the being whispered dangerously, “Who are you, to assume that I have any use for you?”
“If I had any need for you, it would be to fill my dungeons.” It hissed.
It flicked out a hand, and the cult began to disintegrate. It was the same process as with the child, but much faster and less painful looking.
A cave full of people, dead in an instant.
The being turned around, staring at them with dead eyes. Ghost King.
It tilted its head.
Bruce felt their chains come undone. Barry sagged down, breathing heavily. Clark was much more steady on his feet, but he was shaking. Constantine looked like all life had been sucked out of him, pale and unblinking at the creature.
It sniffed in distaste.
The creature disappeared.
The child sat up on the stone slab.
…
Danny was kind of annoyed.
Turns out, the cultists were just some ecto-deprived liminals. Probably from all the tourism going through Amity right now. They'd become liminal then left and become obsessed with him. Figures.
He sent them to the Far Frozen for treatment, and freed the heroes.
Poor Flash and Superman, though, they looked really upset. And, well, his core didn't like that. He sighed internally.
He disappeared. Then, he went and lied himself back down on the table invisibly, shifting out of his royal form and remaking a human form.
He turned visible, wrenching himself up and trying his best to look shocked and traumatised.
He saw the way the heroes, particularly Flash, sagged in relief.
Flash, well, flashed forward, checking him over in an instant.
“Are you alright? How are you back? Is there any damage? Are you hurt anywhere?” He asked more questions, but by then he'd devolved into superspeed.
Danny groaned in his mind. He's never getting these heroes to leave him alone now.
