Work Text:
Original prompt by Lexiepiper - When an astronaut gets stranded during a mission in space, a rescue mission would take too long... until NASA is approached by a ghost who had always wanted to be an astronaut.
Character list: Danny, Sam, Tucker, a random assortment of NASA people, Jazz, Jack, Maddie
Categories: Adventure, fluff and all the feel good stuff to warm your heart.
Warnings: N.A
Total word count: 8,303
It was just after the last day of classes in June, when Sam brought up to her parents the potential of using the beach house in Florida, for her birthday present. She would be turning 16 in August and was hoping to go there with her friends during her birthday week.
Her mother, delighted she'd asked for a much more 'lady-like' present had eagerly agreed. Sam was delighted to learn her grandmother would be the chaperone for her 'little getaway' instead of her overbearing parents.
Her main reason for requesting the vacation however, was more to give her best friend, and resident ghost hero, a 'birthday' present of his own.
When Sam told the male counterparts of the trio her plan, emphasizing that the beach house was right along the Daytona beach, and the week they'd be going, Danny caught on instantly and lit up like a Christmas tree...
Literally.
Tucker complained all day that the halfa's excitable bouncing off the walls was worse than when he'd been given that borderline illegal coffee, with caffeine levels so high, more than one cup could cause your heart to explode. Of course Danny would continue to count down the days getting more excited the closer the date got.
The reason he was so excited? The Kennedy space centre, barely 50 kilometers from the beach house. More importantly the week they would be going to said beach house was the same week a shuttle would be returning from it’s orbit, landing late on the Thursday afternoon in the last week of August.
So when the time came to go on their adventure Danny’s friends could hardly contain him. The teen had barely been able to sit through the ride on the private jet and was even more fluttery when they actually entered the beach house. It was a miracle in of itself that Ida hadn’t seen Danny’s eyes shining like headlights on the flight over.
The elder woman herself wheeled into the beach house and claimed the room at the back with the large bay window, unpacking a few of her things before tossing Sam a credit card with a simple command of; “I don’t care what you three do as long as you clean up after.” She grinned mischievously as she turned to leave having called a driver to cater to her for the week. “Now I got some old fogies to annihilate in the bingo pool. Ta!”
Tucker’s eyes lit up upon seeing the platinum credit card they had been given and immediately called a near-by pizza place to order them each a 12 slice pizza, catered to their individual tastes.
While the week leading up to the main event (in Danny’s mind that is) was spent generally goofing off and enjoying the reprove from the ghosts that plagued their home town, Ida seemed to have all but disappeared. The elder woman popped in once a day, to check on the teens and grab a few things before taking off once again.
None of the three really wanted to question the woman, especially after she had mentioned upon leaving the first night there, something about not waiting up because she had a gentleman caller. They were happy to assume she meant that she was just getting really aggressive at bingo…
Soon, but not soon enough for Danny the day had arrived.
The halfa was never a morning person, but was eager to get going to the centre, and thus woke his friends up at 7 AM. Sam hissed dramatically as the blue eyed teen pulled open her curtains, which only caused the boy to laugh. This earned him an assault to the head via pillows and a water bottle, before the dark haired teen took the hint and scuttled away.
Tucker was easier to rouse. And by easier it meant that Danny had simply phased all the blankets away before dumping a large pile of self made snow onto the now angry teen. Once again he was assaulted, and this time Tucker and Sam had decided to tag team him, threatening to lock him the thermos they brought if he wasn’t able to cool his jets.
“But come on! The sooner we get there the longer we can have to see every thing! Lets go! Turbo!” Danny chirped clapping his hands eagerly much to the distain of the other two in the room.
“If you don’t knock it off I’m taking back the reservations I made for us…” Sam teased. She held a pamphlet in her hand that she waved under his nose tantalizingly.
“What’s that?” Danny asked following the tri-folded paper with his eyes a moment, before making a move to snatch it away.
If possible he seemed to vibrate in elation, even though he was still in human form. His ghostly glow even began seeping through his skin, giving him the more tan appearance that was normally reserved for Phantom.
“And with my, special influence-“
“You bribed ‘em?”
“Not important Tucker. Point is I got us not only the usual tour they run but we can go into some of the more restricted areas” Sam grinned proudly.
Danny seemed to explode. He launched himself at the goth tackling her to the ground as he launched his affection at her, squeezing her in a hug tighter then any his own father could pull off thanks to his ghostly strength. “Oh man Sam! You have no idea how much this means to me!”
Off to the side Tucker snickered, only to be silenced by a violet glare.
Danny was able to reign himself in after that… Barely. The ride over was almost too much, as the halfa would occasionally let out small excited giddy giggles. As they approached the Space Centre Danny seemed to be vibrating again, and almost instantly bolted as soon as the car started to pull into a parking spot.
“Danny, breathe man!” Tucker laughed catching the giddy half ghost by the belt loops of his jeans.
“Right, Right. Your right. Sorry…” Danny rambled off, although his eyes betrayed him. It took a bit but both his friends were able to get him to relax a bit, reminding him how his ego would shine through otherwise. It seemed to help, somewhat outwardly at the very least. However if you knew what to look for one could still hear the excited vibrating of his core.
Luckily the whole building hummed with various electronic devices so it wasn’t too noticeable, and could be passed off as a phone vibrating, if anyone did get too curious.
They started the tour in the main part of the centre where there was, front and centre, a large explorable mock space shuttle. It took both Sam and Tucker to restrain Danny from heading up the stairs and right into the cockpit of the huge display piece.
“Come-on space ghost, we can explore more after. We gotta stay with the group for now.” Sam chided pulling a pouting Danny away from the staircase as the guide lead them to the burners on the back of the rocket.
After seeing some actual salvaged rockets that had gone to space and out lived their usefulness, they moved on to satellites. Even Tucker found something to be fascinated with as the guide handed off questions to an actual computer engineer. Sam found her interest peaked as they entered the section with the telescopes, where they had a display of vantablack, which was used to line the telescopes.
Needless to say Sam would be trying to get a dress made out of the stuff at some point.
After a section of smaller bits in a museum like set up, with space suits and equipment that had been used through out the ages, the tour group were set free upon the gift shop. Danny instantly darted to the near by photo booth where they allowed patrons to get their pictures taken while wearing a spacesuit.
Sam smiled at the boys antics, far too child like for any teenager. “Just like his father is with ghosts” she mused aloud, causing Tucker to snort. Sam didn’t even bother to put up any fight with getting the pictures of the three of them in space suits, in front of the green screen.
“Alright we’re going to make it look like your flying in front of a shuttle so give me your best aerodynamic pose!” The attendant smiled pleasantly and the trio could help but laugh at the irony.
After they had their pictures in hand, and let Danny go nuts in the gift shop for awhile the trio was approached by a well poised man, wearing a polo shirt and pressed dress pants. “Hello, You are Miss Mason correct?” He asked a bright smile in place.
Sam nodded and introduced her friends. “Pleasure to meet you all. My name is Dave, and I’ll be the one treating you to a behind the scenes tour as thanks for your sizeable donation.”
“Bribery.” Tucker stage whispered to Danny who snorted.
“Well shall we?” Dave asked gesturing grandiosely to an off shoot hall behind the cashiers counter.
“Oh man am I ever!” Danny chirped. Tucker was pretty sure he saw his friend hovering off the floor a little bit.
“Love the enthusiasm.” Dave chuckled as he swiped his key card on the door before holding it open for them. “Are you hoping to catch the shuttle coming in for a landing later today?”
“Oh definitely!” Danny beamed, wiggling like an over excited dog.
“Alright well, I know there was an interest in having you watch the landing from the birds nest, just behind the control room if that’s something you’d enjoy I-“
“Oh man yes! Yes! Yes! That would be amazing!” Danny cut the man off unable to contain his exuberance. Dave simply laughed.
“He always wanted to be an astronaut.” Tucker teased.
“Ah, so dream come true a little bit then eh? Or feeling like you’re a little closer to it anyway.” Dave chuckled as he lead them down a hallway which lead to a long flight of stars and an elevator. Their guide pressed the button on the elevator, which opened with a ‘bing’ before they all filed in. When they exited they were a few floors up and Dave led them down another long string of hallways before bringing them out into a final gangway.
Another swipe of the key-card gained them access. They entered what was simply a fully enclosed glass walkway overlooking the manufacturing facility. Danny watched with stars in his eyes, as the white clad, coverall suited men and women toiled away building something that looked to be some kind of rover.
The pure white clinical suits would normally freak Danny out more, but here high above the droves of people and the soon to be Mars rover, he couldn’t be more happy. “Um, Is someone’s phone ringing?” Dave asked blinking in confusion at the trio of teens.
“Yea sorry, the vibration’s kinda loud on my phone.” Tucker offered a sheepish grin, elbowing Danny when Dave wasn’t paying attention. The blue eyed teen’s face flushed a deep red before, attempting to cover it up with a cough.
“They don’t want to have any sort of earthly contaminates to muddy the results the rover might get and-“ Dave went on explaining everything Danny asked of the him, laughing along with the teen, and smiling brightly. The teen’s ghostly output seemed to be effecting everyone near him, as even Sam had a genuine smile on her face.
Dave took them next to the computer programming room, and allowed them to peer into the window of the server room they had on site, which Tucker was happily drooling over. Dave did his best to explain the different types of navigational programming they used all the way up to how they can write programs to control the various rovers and satellites they have already in orbit or on their way to other planets.
It was when they finally arrived at the ‘Bird’s Nest’ that Danny had his first real ‘moment.’ To the left of the Bird’s Nest they could see the runway where the shuttle would be landing, ant to the front was the control room. As the teen peered through the thick glass into the control room which held rows and rows of computers facing a main screen at the front, Danny’s eyes began to glow as his core vibrated in his chest. Luckily Dave never noticed the bright reflection of green that suddenly flooded the room.
The main reason the guide didn’t was because he was too busy frowning at something on the main screen in the control room.
Danny noticed the worry suddenly dripping of their guide, like a sour drink hidden in a sweet one. “What’s the matter?” He asked suddenly snapping into focus, or as his friends called it: Hero Mode.
“I’m not one-hundred percent sure… I’ll be right back, Fell free to make yourselves comfortable here.” He gestured to the plush looking chairs that were in the room. “Your welcome to any refreshments in the fridge there as well, if you like…” Dave pointed to the small fridge on the right wall sitting alone on the counter by a sink and a coffee machine. “Bathroom is right there.” He pointed to the door on the left of the counter.
With that their guide left the Nest, only to reappear in the control room a moment later. “What do you think’s goin’ on?” Tucker asked.
“Not sure, but I do know one way to find out!” Danny smirked his eyes flashing neon once again, though this time on purpose.
“Ugh, nothing we say is gunna change your mind is it?” Sam chided rubbing her forehead feeling a headache.
“Nope!” Danny chirped, popping the P with a grin. The halfa dove behind the chairs in the room, blocking himself from the glass to the front and side, as well as the camera that was hanging over the door they entered in. Phantom shot his friends a shit eating grin before flickering invisible and phasing through the glass, heading directly into the control room.
“Are you sure it’s the heat shield that got damaged?” One blonde woman asked worrying her lip.
“Yea, the reports are crystal clear on that. Chances are they won’t hold up for re-entry…” A middle aged man with white hair replied.
“ETA on repair?” The blonde asked, shifting nervously from leg to leg.
“Too long, three days at best.” A younger looking brown haired man shot over his shoulder from his computer.
“Damn. They only have enough in the life support for two at best…” Dave frowned deeply running a hand through his hair. “That’s not even enough time to gather and launch more supplies to keep them going longer either…”
“Sir?” The blonde asked turning to the white haired man. “What’s our best course?”
“Maybe we can send them out to the international station for a spell, least it’ll keep ‘em alive long enough to get them supplies. Do we even have enough fuel for that?”
“Negative, only enough to realign the shuttle upon re-entry and slow its decent.”
“Do what? Were supposed to bring them down with a faulty heat shield?” The blonde shouted. “There’s a good chance the ship’ll explode if the shield isn’t up to snuff!”
“We have to try, we can’t let them suffocate up there.” Dave shot back. “Less you wanna simply ask them how they would rather die?” That simple statement seemed to silence everyone in the room.
“Um… Maybe I can help?” Danny’s nervous tone broke through the tense silence. A dark haired woman jumped away from her desk as he suddenly appeared in front of her.
“How the hell did this kid get in here?” The white haired man growled out. “Seriously I didn’t even see the door open!”
“Oh I didn’t use the door at all! I’m Phantom! Nice to meet ya!” Danny offered with a grin.
“Phantom? That’s an appropriate nick name…” The dark haired woman offered sheepishly. Her arm slowly fell away from clutching at her chest as she moved to stand, almost hide behind, Dave.
“It’s not my nick name.”
“Great kid, but we got bigger things to deal with that you.” The blonde woman piped up.
“But I can help!” Danny insisted.
“Sure kid, and what exactly do you expect to do?” The white haired man said clearly trying to humor the kid.
“Well I don’t know about the ship, but I can bring the astronauts back safely.”
“Uh-huh,” The blonde scoffed. “Look I’ve no idea how you got in here but unless you can fly I doubt-“ Danny simply hovered slightly in the air. “Ah well.. Right then?” The woman looked between all her co-workers before falling back into a chair.
All the adults in the room gaped openly at the floating teen. “Ugh… Kid's glowing too…” The brown haired man stuttered.
“I'm a ghost, we glow.” Danny shrugged, turning his legs into a wispy tail for emphasis. “But never mind that, I can help! It’s the heat shields that are the issue on the shuttle right?”
“Y-Yes… B-But the repair time will take too long even if we can get them the supplies…” The white haired man said, eyes darting about nervously.
“I can fly them home! Their space suits will protect them and if were not going too fast when entering the atmosphere, we won’t burn up.” Danny offered almost too eagerly.
The white haired man was about to reply, but was cut off by a new person entering the control room.
“Right, I just got off the phone with- WOAH!” The man looked younger then most in the room, maybe late twenties early thirties at best, wearing a similar business casual style as Dave, but with orange red hair, pulled back into a pony tail.
The newcomer stood stunned staring at Danny a moment, before he seemed to snap free of what ever had transfixed his gaze. “Oh my! Your Phantom! Like THEE Phantom! I am such a huge fan! Oh jeez, can you sign my mug!” The redhead rambled excitedly.
“Um, sure. You are?”
“Oh sorry, Simon, but most people call me Red.” The now named ‘Red’ jumped forward to shake the ghostly teen’s hand. “Man I never would have thought I’d get to meet you in person!”
“You know this kid?” The white haired man asked, with raised brow.
“Not personally, Dr. Andrews, but I’ve seen a lot of the videos online! You’re a hero man! What the heck are you doing here?” Red asked, confusion edging into his voice.
“This, er, Ghost… wants to help get our crew home apparently…” The blonde woman gestured uncertainty in Danny’s direction.
“Oh! That’s awesome! He’ll bring ‘em back safe and sound then! I got a negative with the Germans anyway.” Red grinned as he looked back to Phantom in awe.
“Oh I can for sure! The ship will be a little too heavy for me to slow down, my lifting limit is pretty much capped at a busload of kids, and even that was a struggle, so I won’t be able to do much with a shuttle. It’s a little too big for me to keep intangible for long enough to keep it safe either. How many are on the team?”
“It’s a quad crew.” Dr. Andrews offered his expression changed to something a little more hopeful now.
“Give me something to make it easier to secure them to me and I’ll have em back on land in no time!” Phantom chirped.
“Well you heard him find some tandem harnesses!” Dr. Andrews barked across the room, nodding curtly as a woman and man in the back of the control room ran out.
“I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut you know! It was my dream to work for NASA and go to space!” Phantom said as his glow brightened, reflecting his happiness.
“Oh wow really?” Red asked back, stars in his eyes as well. “Well in that case, Come with me!” Red eagerly grabbed onto the ghost and pulled him out of the room.
“Dr. Crass?” Andrews barked turning to the blonde. “Call the team up there, and let them know what’s happening.”
“Sir, are you sure this will work? And ghosts…. Really?”
“Red seems to think so. Any way to get those people back safe that’s even marginally higher then the estimate, I’m more then happy to try.” Andrews said sincerely.
Danny couldn’t believe what was happening. He floated after Red who was delighted to know the real life super hero was interested in him, in his career, and he was all too happy to tell the teen anything he asked, reveling in the shared delight.
Red was still working towards his PHD in astrophysics, but his theories and research papers had caught the attention of the higher ups at the centre, allowing him to work in the field while he draws up his final thesis. The man’s dream was to be able to send his own rover designs into space.
It was when Danny was brought into what looked like some sort of storage and training facility that he almost blinded his temporary guide. With a pleading look, all it took was a nod from Red before Danny shot off.
He dove into the giant pool of water marveling at the setup within, before shooting back up and out and zipping along the gym. The ghost was happy to flutter from one interesting thing to the next eagerly examining everything he could.
“Phantom!” Red called Holding up a rather thin looking space suit.
If possible Danny’s eyes lit up brighter, as he zoomed down from the celling and over to Red, his tail popping back to legs as he examined the suit.
“Thought you might like that.” Red laughed. “It’s one of the water suits we use for the observers, it’s not really rated for space, though I figure you shouldn’t run out of oxygen, and cold isn’t really a problem to ghosts… But it’s a NASA official.”
“Yea! I’m pretty resistant!” Danny said, almost drooling on the suit.
“Well try it on, man!” Danny didn’t need to be told twice, and instantly phased himself into the suit. “Looks a little bit big on you-“
“It’s fine I love it! I get to wear this for the rescue mission?” Danny affirmed.
“Yep, just gotta swap out the transmitter for a longer range, if you wouldn’t mind, um” Red made a spinning motion with his finger, to which the teen responded instantly allowing Red to easily access the panel on his back.
That done Danny tried out his movements in the suit. While baggy, it wasn’t too bad, and he could still see out the helmet once that was secured. All in all the teen was over the moon to be in an actual space suit, and not the props from earlier at the photo booth.
“Oh man this is like a dream come true!” He said giddily. “Hey, You want me to fly us back to the control room?”
“Oh hell yes!” Red exclaimed just as giddy. Phantom took flight and scooped up the intern under his armpits before taking off straight through the wall. A loud whoop and a few loop-de-loops later they returned to the control room, once again startling half the people in the room.
“Oh my!” A slightly modulated voice caught his attention.
Danny looked up onto the screen to see a floating woman. “Captain Jameson, Phantom.” Andrews said gesturing to each in turn as he introduced Phantom to the astronaut, being the first to recover as the ghost and his passenger entered the control room.
Red helped Phantom with the helmet and the ghost stared up starry eyed at the woman who simply smiled back at him in return.
“Huh well I’ll be. Y’all weren’t kiddin’ about ‘em” She said with a laugh. “Nice ‘ta meet ya there Phantom! My son’s a huge fan a yours! Guess we really will be in safe hands then!”
“It’s an honor to be here.” Danny offered breathlessly as he looked up onto the screen, causing the woman to laugh.
“Naw, pleasure’s all mine, kiddo. Not too often we get ta see celebrities come to space!” She chuckled. “You certainly look all official! We’ll dock at the ISS as requested, and await our ride.” The Captain said with a smile to the ghost.
“I won’t let you down!” Danny replied back instantly pulling into a military step and giving a solute. Though the effect was ruined by his blinding grin.
“From what my son’s shown me? Y’all will do fine.” Jameson grinned back. “Signing out.” And with that the screen dimmed and went blank.
“Right then er, Phantom.” Andrews turned to look at the ghost in the borrowed space suit. “Red and Dave will help you get into the harnesses and make sure everything is working properly before we sent you out.”
Twin replies of “Sir” came back to the elder before Phantom was once again ushered off to a new location.
It wasn’t too long before they had set Danny up with a GPS unit and camera and made sure they had backups in place. The ghost walked out onto the tarmac of the launch pad with a broad grin. The ghost boy stood on the large platform looking at the tracks that would stabilize the rockets sent off here.
Wrapped around his chest was a tightly secured safety harness, It’s added pressure made the space suit look less baggy on him. It criss- crossed along his front and back securing around his upper arms and between his legs, and wrapped around his waist like a belt. He had carabineers hanging off his set up everywhere.
“Testing Phantom come in.” A slightly modulated male voice came into his earpiece.
“Here, um, over?” Phantom tried.
“Ya can just talk normally kid. Name’s Mason, I’ll be your liaison. I’ll be the one making sure you get to where you need to be when you need to be there, alright?”
“Alright! I’m ready then!” Danny spoke back slight quiver in his voice partially due to excitement, partly because he was nervous.
“Do you want a countdown?” Mason asked. Danny could almost hear the smirk in his voice.
“Um, sure? Want me to make some fireworks like a rocket too?”
“What ever you want kid.” He laughed. “All right then, in T minus Ten….” Mason drawled out the numbers and Danny crouched low wiggling as if a cat getting ready to pounce. When the 1 was said he jumped up shooting skyward quickly, letting his ghostly glow go as bright as he could get it even firing a few weaker ecto blasts from his hands as he shot skyward.
The laughter he could hear through the headset was worth the added effort.
He shot up further and further as Mason helped him correct his course slightly on occasion, as the ground he’d left became smaller and smaller beneath him. Soon the sky seemed to darken, and Danny could feel the lower half of his space suit seem to inflate as the air pressure changed, and lessened.
“Alright and you are officially in the stratosphere. Anything to report?”
“It’s feeling a little more chilly?” Phantom offered offhandedly.
“I bet.” The sky around Danny continued to darken and a deep blue as he broke through the ozone and moved onto the ionosphere.
Danny looked over in awe as he finally broke past the last few layers of atmosphere, the fuzzy blue fringe that seemed to hover over the clouds almost brought tears to his eyes.
“Welcome to the Thermosphere Phantom! How’s it feel to be officially in space?”
“I-I can’t describe it!” Danny marveled at the inky blackness that seemed to now surround him. The earth beneath his feet still looked huge, he could barely make out the North American contents through the cloud coverings.
All in all it was a beautiful sight.
“Alright kid, continue at a slight angle to the left, about two degrees, and continue at your current speed and you should hit the station as it comes around it’s orbit.” Danny veared slightly correcting and overcorrecting a few times before he got on track.
It wasn’t long before he could see the metallic gleam of the station fringing into the edges of his helmet.
“About two hundred kilometers now….”
“Oh wow it’s huge! I mean I know it was big but it’s really bigger then I thought!”
“I bet! Pictures just never do it justice I think. Right so now your gunna want to grab along those rails there and the airlock should be just to the-“
“I’m in!” Mason made a sort of choking noise as the video feed blinked black only to open up to the inner sanctum of the station. “I just phased through the wall dude, easy!”
“Ah, I suppose that’s also an option…” Mason offered. “Well, head along to the north wing then, the team will be there.”
Phantom continued to fly along the hall before entering the described area. The Captain floated into view giving the ghostly teen a bright smile.
“Ya made it!” She laughed out. “We were expecting ya at the air lock. But I hear ya made ‘ure own way in.” Her southern drawl seemed to thicken as she laughed.
“I’m just that good!” Phantom laughed back. “This is so totally awesome!” He cheered looking around the station with an overjoyed expression.
“It certainly is an experience.” The man slightly behind Jameson chuckled. “My names Will” He introduced.
“Alex” The second female offered.
“Rick” The other male nodded.
“An’ Ya already know me, but it’s Morgan.” The Captain offered.
Danny had managed to talk the quartet into a tour of the station before they headed out onto the route back home. The halfa couldn’t get enough of everything. The stars were a blinding white mass in the distance. His ghostly vision could make out swirling gasses that seemed to dance in the vacuum.
If he focused he could even make out the red-ish tint that made up Mars. He gawked at being as close as he was to the constellations he knew by heart. He marveled in how he could give up his control over his flight and feel the weightlessness from their orbit.
But more than anything he stared at the Earth.
The great blue ball he’d taken upon himself to protect. It was mesmerizing, and his core vibrated happily in agreement. Even the quartet of astronauts he was with felt the overwhelming happiness the ghost was emitting.
He was up there for a good three hours before the team of astronauts and the people still in the control room were able to convince him to head out.
The men and women secured their carabineers to the ones hanging off of Danny double checking their own harnesses.
“Right so how are we gunna do this?” Rick asked after helping the ghost re-secure his helmet.
“Well once we’re suited up, we just go? Least that was my plan.” Danny shrugged up at the floating space cadets, while he himself opted to stand on the floor, ironically making them look like the ghosts.
“All right then...” Alex’s voice suddenly was patched through Danny’s headset.
“Everyone ready?” Phantom chirped quivering once again in excitement. He was helping NASA!
With the round of affirmatives, the ghost launched himself forward suddenly pulling all four humans along with him. Danny couldn’t help but smirk at the yelps of surprise that followed as he extended his intangibility and pulled them all through the wall of the station.
“That... was something...” Morgan said uncertainly through the coms.
“Tingly, like an electric current.” Alex supplied.
“Alright!” Phantom grinned, though it was hard for anyone to tell through the headset. “My top speed is a little over Three-fifty K, I’ll ramp up slowly and if anyone feels it’s too much let me know, and I’ll knock it back.”
With his bit said Phantom shot off, gradually building speed until he maxed himself out. “Everyone good? This is about my max” Phantom laughed.
“I’m good.”
“So far!”
“Yep.”
“Might be more nerve racking once we get back closer to earth and can actually see the speed more...”
Phantom laughed nervously spinning checking over his shoulder to his ‘tails’ who seemed to have taken to all holding on to each other’s shoulders for stability, and to stop from banging into one another.
“Approaching, Ionosphere.” Mason’s voice entered the com.
“Whoa, this feels kinda weird” Rick commented. “It’s like I can almost feel the air changing.”
Down they descended, once again Danny getting directional corrections from Mason. Slowly the blue began to lighten up as they continued on their flight path towards the ground.
Danny grinned to himself as he flew through the atmospheric layers once again. The four people behind him seemed to marvel at everything they passed with just as much revere as the ghost himself.
As they continued downward something suddenly seemed to change. The group who’d been behind Danny as a tail up until this point suddenly raced ahead of him, catching the ghost off guard, and dragging him along behind them for a moment.
The group yelled in fright as they suddenly felt the speed they were travelling. “Phantom!?” Morgan called her voice wobbling, her free arm flapped uselessly outward while her other remained firmly attached to Will.
“No worries!” Phantom called back through the com. “You want speed or you want to enjoy the view?” He asked, his coy tone coming through loud and clear.
“What do you mean?” Rick asked intrigued.
“This” Phantom grinned and suddenly stopped fighting the pull of the humans he was tethered with, allowing them to speed downwards. The group fell freely for a moment before Phantom latched onto Will and Alex who were the middle of the group, and extended his intangibility.
Suddenly the fearful heat they were feeling disappeared, but their speed certainty didn’t.
“Okay this is really cool!” Alex laughed watching as umbra of blues raced by. “Were like human meteorites!”
“Oh man! We’re way past human terminal velocity!” Will laughed. He let out a short whoop of excitement as they started seeing noctilucent clouds, shimmering in the sun’s light.
“Intangibility lets us pass through air resistance!” Phantom declared jovially.
They continued to fall watching as the ground slowly seemed to gain more and more details and they fell further through more and more clouds. It wasn’t until Danny felt his space suit start to deflate slightly that he decided to take back the control of their flight path.
Now well out of the danger from burning up while entering the atmosphere, Phantom began angling their flight, once again gaining four tails as he pulled them along.
He was literally chasing the landing strip at the space centre while the planet revolved beneath him. The human meteorites had transformed into human kites.
It didn’t feel too long before he could start to make out cityscapes as they approached into the altitude most planes cruise at. Mason continued to chatter into Phantom’s com angling him to meet his mark.
He started to recognize the little area of Florida that the centre was located on, and aimed directly for the station.
Mason called out the height in kilometres as they came into view. He was directed to the tarmac that made up the landing strip, and slowed himself and his passengers down before carefully dropping their feet down onto the asphalt. Phantom floated down a mere second later, his knees wobbling after such a long flight with out the use of his tail, and not to mention how long he’d spent in his ghostly form.
A loud cheering erupted just as Phantom fell backwards onto his butt, no longer able to support himself, and feeling his exhaustion kick in. He grinned sheepishly at the crowed of people that had gathered off in the distance by the centre, and the news cameras that accompanied them.
“Come on Captain Morgan!” Alex teased as the other woman pulled at the ghost boys helmet.
Phantom blinked up at Morgan grinning brightly as she messed up his hair affectionately. “See I knew ya could do it!” She chuckled, tossing the helmet to Alex. The shorter woman caught the helmet swiftly and added it under her arm.
The males of the for person team caught on to what their superior was planning and instantly swooped up the tired, and surprisingly light, ghost onto their shoulders.
Phantom protested weakly at the men who hoisted him up onto their shoulders, but he couldn’t deny he was too tired to walk anywhere at the moment, never mind fly any further.
“No worries kid! You carried us through space, least we can do is carry you in to the station!” Will laughed out, reminding Danny of his boisterous father.
“Oh they got cake!” Rick cheered as they neared the crowed. “Wait can ghosts eat?”
Phantom let out a small chuckle. “Yea I can eat”
“Well that’s good to hear!” Dr. Andrews voice called above the noise of the crowed. “Ya did well kid!” He smiled brightly before giving the returning astronauts a salute.
Phantom’s aura light up bright as ever as he gave the salute right back.
“Mommy!” A young boys voice called as he slipped through the crowed and past the security before launching himself at Morgan.
“Daniel! Hey sweetheart!”
“Oh wow! It’s true! Phantom!” The little boy looked up at the ghost with wide eyes. “I’m Daniel!” The child beamed.
“Hey it’s awesome to meet you buddy!” Phantom grinned toothily. He always had such a soft spot for kids. “Wanna know a secret Daniel?”
“Yeah!”
“My name was Daniel too. My friends call me Danny.” He laughed loudly at the light that shone from the kids eyes at that revelation. Danny ruffled the small kids hair much like Morgan had done to him earlier.
“Oh wow! Mommy can I be Danny to?” the child asked excited voice coming out as more a squeak then anything.
Morgan laughed. “Now look what you’ve done Phantom!” She teased. “We’ll have to change all your stickers now!”
“That’s okay! It’s worth it! I wanna be more like hero Pha- Danny!”
Phantom laughed as did the men who were carrying him. He was eventually placed in a simple plastic chair to relax while the returning astronauts went off to give interviews to the media and reunite with their families, that they hadn’t been able to see in person for, who knows how long.
It wasn’t long before the reporters to take an interest in the tired ghost boy, and everyone seemed to form a media scrum around the teen.
Questions flew, and there were microphones from every angle shoved under his nose. The majority of them were about the mission he had been self recruited on, but there were the odd one that cropped up about his ghostly nature.
Phantom answered to the best of his ability with everything they could and even managed a bit of energy to demonstrate his invisibility and intangibility.
Danny was pretty sure the only reason he hadn’t turned back to Fenton at this point was due to all the ambient happy energy he’d been absorbing throughout the day.
Once the media personal seemed satisfied with his sound bytes and visuals they had collected they were ushered out of the area, Leaving Phantom to sag into the chair with a sigh.
He was tired, which he was rather used to, but he was also so incredibly happy. The halfa’s eyes slipped closed as his core vibrated in contentment.
“’Ey there Mr. Hero. You want some help outta that suit?” Red asked spurring the ghost from his meditative state.
“That would honestly be great... I’m too tired to really do much at this point” Phantom said honestly flashing the other man a grateful smile.
“Heh, I bet.” Red laughed as he moved to unbuckle the harness the ghost was still strapped into. “You still owe me an autograph.” Red said as he loosened the restraints.
“Fair is fair.”
“You know, you really didn’t have to stop up like you did today, but I’m glad you did. I got to see you in action and those four are home safe because of your efforts.” Red continued pulling off a shoulder restraint.
“I couldn’t leave them to die!” Phantom protested. “Humans are fragile and dying in a painful way sucks! That much I can say from experience.”
“Oh?” Red mused. “Well, I won’t pry, but I’ll admit I’m curious.”
“Electrocution...” Danny sighed out rubbing at the now freed shoulder.
“Ouch.” Red hissed in sympathy. “Need ya to stand up bud less you want the strap between your legs to be even more awkward.”
Phantom laughed and stood on shaky legs. Red undid the strap and Danny couldn’t help but let loose a relieved sigh, earning another chuckle from Red.
It didn’t take too long after the harness was off to get Phantom out of the space suit fully. The ghost stretched out his form using a slight bit of spectral manipulation as he twisted about. With that done Red tossed the ghost a permanent marker, which the ghost wasn’t fully ready for and thus ended up smacking him in the chest.
“Good think I didn’t toss you the mug!” Red laughed as Phantom flushed a brilliant green as he retrieved the marker. He quickly made a loopy signature on the white NASA mug.
“Why a mug anyway?” Phantom asked handing the things back to Red.
“Well I use a mug for coffee every morning, and this way I’ll always get to show off as I tote it around work!” Phantom couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Come on, there’s one more thing you need to sign.” Red said a mischievous smirk in place.
The pair walked into the building and down a long hall before they stood just out side the main area of the museum. Most of the patrons had been cleared out now that the main event had concluded. Red handed the marker back to Danny who stared down at the thing in confusion. Red pointed off to the small crowed who were all grinning ear to ear.
Danny saw Sam and Tucker who seemed to be snickering at something. He hated it when they did that, it usually meant embarrassment for him.
“There’s the man of the hour!” Dr. Andrews voice carried happily as he stood, arms wide as if awaiting a hug.
“Come on got a special one for ya!” Morgan grinned almost as brightly as Danny’s aura upon seeing what they were referring to.
The wall behind them was a simple, white painted block wall, to be fair. It was however, all the signatures that adorned it that made it special. The plaque above the wall stated it’s purpose simply.
“The brave men and woman who went to the edge and returned to tell us their tales.”
“Every NASA astronaut who lands here has to sign the wall, It’s tradition!” Dave laughed at the astounded ghost.
“But I’m not really-“
“Dude! You went to space on a NASA mission! You qualify!” Tucker teased from his spot.
“Just sign it bud, put your ghostly mark upon that wall!” Sam encouraged, a smirk adorning her lips.
Phantom smiled brightly and moved to see where they had picked out for him. It was one of the higher spots, and the block itself had been painted neon green, almost the same shade as his glowing eyes.
If he wasn’t in public Danny was pretty sure he would have cried in happiness.
As it was, he was surrounded by people, and so simply flew up to sign his name on his place on the wall of hero’s. When he finished he noticed they left a bit of the green untouched, leaving a negative from the white wall beneath proudly displaying his DP logo.
“How’s it feel?” Sam asked moving to stand beside her friend as he landed back on the ground staring up at the wall in pure awe.
“Couldn’t describe it even if I tried.” He replied breathless.
“Between you and Sam, you three have given us quite a lot!” Dave said looking at Danny pointedly. Phantom blinked and raked his eyes across the NASA team. “Oh was it not...? Dave looked back to his team and the other two teens confused.
“It kind of was obvious, especially you, er black haired you disappeared from a secure facility.” Dr. Crass offered with a shrug. “But we will keep this amongst ourselves if it's something you want kept from public eye.” She said shirking flicking a blonde strand of hair from her eyes.
“That would be best actually...” Danny sighed deeply, running a gloved hand along the back of his neck. “I'm not quite ready to give up my ghost, ya know?” His friends snorted at his joke.
“I'm not surprised the smartest people on the planet figured it out.” Tucker shrugged.
Sam nodded in agreement “I swear some days Amity shares a single brain cell.”
Phantom snorted, before his eyes caught something being passed amongst the crowed.
“On behalf of the team here at NASA we would like to present you with this, it's an honorarium more than anything, but it got passed around to the team you rescued, so we all signed the certificate.” Morgan grinned as the ghost once again lit up.
“It's an honour!” Phantom breathed out as he was presented with the framed certificate.
“We also passed a thank you card around the place, and got most of the ground team to sign it too, but that's not as impressive.” Dr. Andrews said with a chuckle.
“That's amazing... I-“ Danny's voice hitched as he wiped away the tears that had been threatening to fall for a while now. It was all he could do to not bawl in his pure bliss.
“I suppose we'll have to look into sending ghosts to Mars at some point.” Andrews teased, as Danny swiped at his face with one hand, while clutching his gifts in the other.
“If you do I'll be the first ghost to volunteer for the mission.” Phantom laughed.
“I don't doubt it.”
The rest of the trio’s vacation was certainly fun, but was nothing compared the highlight that was his out of this world trip with NASA. His friends had been relentless in teasing the ‘ghostly space case' all the way up until they returned to Amity Park.
When he finally was able to get home into Fenton works however, he was immediately met and swept up into a delighted hug from his sister. “We saw the news! I’m so happy for you little brother.” She said squeezing him tightly.
“Danny boy! We saw on the news that spook Phantom followed you down on your vacation! He’s got a good portion of the media calling him a hero now!” Jack groused.
“That ectoplasmic goo had better not have done anything to hurt my baby!” Maddie chimed in.
“I’m fine guys really. Didn’t even really see Phantom while we were at the Centre” Danny lied smoothly.
“Still, I don’t like the idea that Phantom might be stalking you... We may have a truce, but if he touches a hair on my either of my babies...” She trailed off letting her threat hang.
“Love you too Mom!” Danny laughed as he grabbed his suitcase and made his way up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Jazz was quick to follow a knowing smile on her face as she entered her little brothers room.
“So I wanna hear all about it.” She said taking a seat on his bed, getting comfortable. “Something tells me it’s going to be a long and detailed story.” She teased.
“Hey!”
“Well I know how you are, if it’s something that gets you excited you can ramble for hours.” She chuckled. “But for what it’s worth.... I am really proud of you little brother.”
“Thanks Jazz.” Danny smiled brightly as he began retelling his adventure. He felt almost complete as he placed him back in those memories. He doubted anything would ever be able to top the experience.
˜Complete˜