[Third Person Pov]
Danny and Superman met again the next morning, right where they'd first been introduced—on the roof of the Daily Planet building. The city below was just waking up; car horns echoed faintly through the morning haze, and the Metropolis skyline shimmered beneath the rising sun.
Danny sat perched on the edge of the roof, swinging his legs idly over the drop as he watched the streets far below. The breeze ruffled his hair, carrying the faint smell of morning coffee from the cafés below.
He was mid-swing when a streak of red and blue blurred past his peripheral vision—so fast that he barely caught the motion before he was suddenly yanked up by the back of his jumpsuit collar.
"Ahhhh! Let go of me!" Danny yelped, flailing wildly in the air. "I swear I know karate! And I'm not afraid to use it! And I'm not just saying that—"
"Danny, it's me," Superman said, his voice calm but tinged with mild amusement. He flew effortlessly, cape rippling in the wind as he looked at the ghost boy with a bemused, almost deadpan expression.
"Oh…" Danny opened one eye, then blinked up at him. "Pfft, yeah, I totally knew that. Just… testing your reflexes."
"Mhm," Superman hummed, a small smirk forming at the edge of his mouth. "Sure you did."
Danny crossed his arms, pretending to be offended. "So what's with the ghost-napping, Big Blue? You could've just said hello."
"There's an unusual bank robbery happening nearby," Superman replied as they cut through the air at incredible speed, the city below blurring into streaks of color. "I didn't want to keep you waiting, so I figured we could stop it together."
Danny's brows rose as he was carried along through the air. "Unusual how?"
"You'll see," Superman said, his tone growing serious as they weaved between skyscrapers. The wind howled past them before they slowed, hovering above Metropolis Bank.
Superman placed Danny down in front of him and gestured forward. "See for yourself."
Soldiers were marching in and out of the bank carrying stacks of gold bars, but these weren't your average armed robbers. They were massive green toy soldiers—plastic sheen, blank faces, stiff joints—each lugging gold bars toward bright green tanks parked outside.
"Toyman?" Danny guessed, glancing at Superman with a raised eyebrow.
"You know about Toyman?" Superman asked, sounding genuinely surprised.
Danny scoffed. "What part of 'big fan' did you not understand yesterday? Of course I know Toyman."
Superman chuckled at that. "Alright then. Follow my lead."
His voice shifted, firm and commanding—the tone of someone used to taking charge when things went sideways. Danny nodded, energy already buzzing at his fingertips.
Down below, chaos broke out. The bank's security guards opened fire on the advancing soldiers, but the bullets merely bounced off their glossy green shells with dull plink! sounds. The toy soldiers dropped their loot in unison and raised their rifles—bright green, cartoonish, and yet firing very real rounds.
Superman swooped down like a thunderclap. The bullets ricocheted harmlessly off his chest as he landed between the guards and the soldiers. In a blur, he ripped a rifle out of one toy soldier's grip and smashed it against the creature's head. The plastic split apart, sparks flying as its mechanical parts burst into smoke and flame.
Danny dove in right after him, turning intangible as a barrage of bullets passed harmlessly through his torso. He zipped through three of the toy soldiers in quick succession, his touch short-circuiting their circuitry. Their heads spun in wild circles before exploding in bursts of fire and molten plastic.
One soldier hurled a tiny grenade toward Superman. Without thinking, the Man of Steel caught it midair—but the toy detonated into a blinding flashbang.
"Ah!" Superman winced, covering his eyes as the flash disoriented him.
Danny groaned. "For someone who can hear a pin drop from orbit, you really didn't see that coming?" He swooped down, grabbed two of the nearby guards, and carried them to safety away from the fight. "I'll handle the inside! You got the outside covered?"
Superman rubbed his eyes, blinking through the spots in his vision but gave a confident thumbs-up. "I might be blinded for a moment, but my ears still work perfectly."
With that, he vanished in a sonic blur, the sound of shattering metal and exploding plastic echoing from the street.
Inside the bank, the chaos was even worse. Civilians hid behind overturned desks, while Clerks huddled together behind marble counters, trembling and whispering prayers under their breath. The toy soldiers inside were stuffing duffel bags full of gold bars, each armed with bright green Tommy guns spitting real bullets.
Danny phased through the ceiling, unleashing twin blasts of ectoplasmic energy that struck the first two toy soldiers square in the chest. The impact sent them crashing through a row of marble pillars, their heads sparking violently before exploding into showers of plastic shrapnel.
One of the civilians screamed, another ducked, but Danny stayed laser-focused. He ducked under a hail of bullets, phased through the ground, and emerged behind the toy squad. A grin spread across his face.
"Boo."
A powerful wave of ghost energy burst from his hands, lighting up the bank's interior in a brilliant green glow. Toy soldiers melted and collapsed under the force, their weapons falling uselessly to the floor.
The battle inside turned the bank into a warzone of shattered plastic, sparking wires, and drifting smoke.
Danny darted through the air as a storm of bullets followed in his wake, each round phasing harmlessly through his spectral form. He twisted mid-flight, grabbed two terrified bystanders by their arms, and turned them intangible before the next volley could hit. One by one, he flew the civilians to safety, placing them behind the reinforced glass partition where the bank clerks were already hiding.
"Alright, everyone safe and sound behind reinforced glass," Danny said proudly, brushing his hands together. "Now… time for my cheesy one-liner."
He floated forward, his boots hovering just above the marble floor as sparks from broken wires flickered across the smoke-filled air. "Playtime's over, fellas," he announced, his voice echoing through the ruined bank lobby. "It's time for you guys to be put away—permanently."
His eyes and fists began to glow with an emerald hue, ghostly energy thrumming through his veins. -'Nailed it~,' he sang in his head with smug satisfaction.
The toy soldiers didn't seem impressed. They launched several plastic grenades in his direction—bright green spheres that beeped like ticking toys. Danny's grin widened. With a flick of his wrist, he caught all three midair using telekinesis and sent them spiraling back toward their senders.
The explosions went off in a series of muffled BOOMs that shook the floor and cracked the marble tiles. Smoke rolled across the floor, and when it cleared, half the soldiers were nothing but twisted green fragments and puddles of melted plastic.
Before the rest could react, he raised both hands. A spectral aura surged outward as the remaining toy soldiers were yanked off their feet and suspended in midair like rag dolls. Their weapons fired wildly in random directions as their limbs jerked and flailed, bullets pinging harmlessly against the walls.
Danny slammed his hands together, and the soldiers crashed into one another with a deafening clang, sparks bursting out like fireworks.
Not finished, he spread his fingers apart, gathering a swirling orb of emerald fire between his palms. The light from it reflected off the glass and marble around him, casting a ghostly green glow over the frightened faces of those still hiding.
"Let's wrap this up, boys," Danny said softly. Then, with a sharp thrust of his hand, the orb shot forward. The ghost fire erupted across the room, consuming the soldiers in an inferno of green flames. Their plastic shells warped and melted, collapsing into a bubbling puddle of molten toy material that hissed and steamed on the scorched tiles.
Danny dusted his hands off and floated toward the glass partition. He phased his head through the barrier, flashing a confident grin at the people huddled behind it.
"Everything inside the bank's handled," he assured them. "Superman's taking care of the outside, so you can all relax. You're safe now."
"W-who are you?" one of the clerks—a young woman with shaky hands—asked, her voice trembling between fear and awe.
Danny gave her a mock salute. "Danny Phantom. Part-time ghost hunter, full-time hero, at your service."
A few people blinked, unsure whether to laugh or clap. One older man in a security uniform finally stepped forward, clearing his throat. "Did you, uh… take out the ones in the vault too? There were more of 'em down there."
Danny froze midair, blinking twice. "...The vault, right. Nope, didn't get to those yet." He gave a sheepish grin. "Don't worry though, you're in perfectly capable ghostly hands."
Without waiting for a response, he phased through the floor, descending into the lower levels of the bank. The moment he entered the vault, the air shifted—the temperature dropped slightly, and the metallic tang of gold filled his nose.
Rows of duffel bags stuffed with gold bars lined the floor, while more toy soldiers continued their methodical march, loading more loot like wind-up machines.
Danny hovered above them, watching for a moment. His lips curled into a mischievous grin.
'Oooh, another chance for a one-liner,' he thought gleefully.
He planted his hands on his hips and floated into the center of the room. "Drop the gold, soldiers. It's about time you guys got… honorably discharged."
He winced.
'Hmm… could use some polish, should I have said discontinued since they're toys' he admitted mentally as every toy head turned toward him in eerie unison, their eyes glowing a mechanical red.
The soldiers raised their guns, clicking and whirring.
Danny's grin sharpened into something feral. "Good," he said, cracking his knuckles as a low hum of energy built around his hands. "I've been meaning to let out some pent-up aggression lately. How kind of you to volunteer."
He didn't wait for them to fire. In the blink of an eye, Danny blurred forward, a streak of green light tearing through the vault. His fist glowed bright, and when it connected with the first soldier's chest, the toy exploded in a burst of molten plastic and sparks.
A devilish grin spread across Danny's face as he rocketed toward the next wave.
"Oh yeah," he said under his breath, his eyes flashing neon green, "this is gonna be fun."
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