Find your tribe in a Sea of Creativity
This is my first time doing this but here I go!
Hidden Opportunities - Chapter 1 The Gift
Red Huntress has been chasing the Phantom pest for the better part of an hour now. She was tired of the menace getting in her way and preventing her from catching ghosts. It had been a long fight against Skulker and she was winning! But Phantom just had to swoop in and distract her the run away with her catch. She was at the end of her rope with him.
The distinct sound of a Fenton Thermos catches her ear as she rounds the bend the two ghosts had disappeared behind. Phantom was floating there with a smug look on his face and Red Huntress saw red. This ghost has terrorized her and the town for too long. She would end the fight today.
Her bazooka whirred to life from where she had slung it over her shoulder. Phantom spun around to see a shot coming at him. He ducked away and flew back towards city limits from where they had been in the forest. She gave chase and pulled out her lighter gun to shoot at Phantom as he tried to escape her.
Phantom turned around briefly to try and take a shot at her but it was easily dodged. He seemed panicked. Which was a stark contrast to the usual cocky facade he put on. Red Huntress was not about to be lead into believing something was different though. No, this was yet another trick those pesky and manipulative ghosts used to gain sympathy. It was how Phantom was so popular in her school. The poor, innocent kids there had no idea. These ghosts had ruined her life, she was not about to let them get away with it.
She had almost cornered him in an alley when he suddenly turned around and aimed large pieces of ice at her. They had appeared from nowhere and there was not even a cool breeze to blow through the summer evening. It had seemed as if he had created the ice himself. But that could not be right. Last she checked, Phantom did not have any ice related powers. The ice was about to hit her when a beam of red light came and hit it out of the air. Both her and Phantom hovered there in shock before a flying man came up behind Phantom and grabbed him in a bear hug. All she could do was stare in continued shock as what appeared to be Superman grabbed and incapacitated Phantom.
“Red Huntress,” a voice growled from behind her, “we have come to give you an opportunity.”
She turned slack-jawed to see Batman standing behind her to the right. Even Phantom had stopped struggling to look at who was there. From around a corner Green Lantern and Black Canary joined their fellow heroes in the small alley.
“What do you mean ‘opportunity’?” She asked, suspicious. It had been a while since she had been offered an ‘opportunity’. That one ended when she realized that her mysterious benefactor was the very thing she hated most: a ghost.
“We’re offering you training.” Superman explained from where he was still holding on to Phantom. “It has only recently come to our attention that Amity Park has been facing threats with only one inexperienced hero.”
“Exactly,” Black Canary said, “it is far too much weight for one as young as yourself to hold on your shoulders.”
Red Huntress could barely believe what she was hearing. The Justice League, the people who barely acknowledged Amity before, were offering her training? She was waiting for this to be some fever dream concocted by her mind after Phantom had knocked her out. It was like waiting for the other shoe to drop. The freaking Justice League could never want something to do with her of all people. But here they were, waiting for her response.
Before she could respond, Phantom let out a laugh. It sounded off but she could not tell exactly why. He looked tired and resigned, something she had never seen on his face before.
“Ha! So, the Justice League finally crawled out of their hole and is taking sides now?” He gave a ruthful smile. “Great, I guess I know exactly where you stand right now. I’m assuming you’ve read the papers the GIW released about ghosts that the Drs. Fenton and Fenton wrote? You don’t need to answer that, it’s written all over your face. Contempt for my kinda is ingrained I guess.” He shrugged his shoulders then phased his way out of Superman’s arms. “Looks like you’ve got it handled here. I may see you around.” With that, he flew off.
The group of heroes were left stunned for a moment. Superman looked at his arms in disbelief. Canary had a pensive look while Green Lantern’s jaw was hanging open. Batman looked stoic as usual with his mask and cowl covering any facial expression he may have made. Red Huntress broke the unbelieving silence.
“Damnit! I was so close!” She yelled in frustration, stomping her foot.
“What was that?” Superman asked, still starring unblinkingly at his arms.
“What? The thing he did to get free? That was phasing.” She explained, typing something into her tiny wrist computer.
“Can all ghosts do that?” Batman asked.
“Well, yeah. It’s a pretty standard ghost power.”
“Standard ghost power?” She looked up.
“Did you guys come to Amity without researching the different aspects of ghosts?” She asked in shock. No wonder they brought heroes with powers, they did not know any better.
“We read enough to know that ghosts were a threat we had been ignorant of for a while. As well as there being only one hero who protected the entire town.” Green Lantern explained. “At that point it was our top priority to provide help.”
“Well read up more.” Red Huntress grumbled. “I don’t need a possessed Superman destroying Amity more than it is.”
“Possessed?” Batman repeated, all attention on her now.
“Yeah? As in ‘ghost takes over your body’ possessed.” She was getting pretty annoyed at how ignorant the heroes were. “If you don’t know anything about ghosts, how are you supposed to help me?”
“We can offer you training.” Was Black Canary’s immediate response. “There are other young heroes like you who are on a team meant to help train them.”
“With your ignorance about ghosts the team would only hinder me. Besides, I prefer going solo.” If this other team was anything like these four then they would only serve as a liability. Either way she hated deals where she was the only receiving something. She was tired of getting stabbed in the back by so called allies.
“Then you can teach them. Join them and learn about fighting while also teaching them about ghosts.” Black Canary offered.
Red Huntress thought about the offer for a minute before responding. “Deal, but first you’re going to need to get yourself some Fenton tech.” ~*~
On the other side of Amity, Danny was having a crisis.
The Justice League has shown up in his town and basically said they agreed with the GIW. It was frustrating to the point of anger. Where had they been when he was just a teen in over his head trying to stop the ghosts that his parents were responsible for? Where were they when the town was pulled into a different dimension and he was the one to save it? Where were they when he died?
Needless to say, he was pissed when they showed up and offered Valerie help. She could barely keep up with the influxes of ghosts that happened already. If Phantom left the scene it would be chaos. But wasn’t this what he wanted? His grades had been slipping since freshman year. He was barely getting three hours of sleep between homework, patrol, and random middle of the night fights. The inventions his parents had been making were getting a little too fatal for his liking. All in all, Danny was not a happy camper.
He wondered if it would be okay if he just relaxed for a bit. If he just stopped trying to balance everything on top of each other and messing up his sleep schedule. It would probably be okay if he saw where this went. When it seemed like he was needed he would step in, but other than that? Leave it for the heroes. The ones who have training and know what they are doing.
He headed home with the thought to talk to Sam and Tucker tomorrow. They would be able to provide a clearer perspective on things. He was currently too bogged down with emotions to even try and make decisions. For now, he would try to get as much sleep as he could.
The justice league FINALLY investigates Amity, and realizes that they’ve made a grave mistake by letting a burgeoning hero shoulder a large problem without any training or support. They rectify this immediately by offering a position in the JL along with an assortment of mentors and other teen heroes to bond with.
Red Huntress receives this invitation in front of Phantom, while actively trying to hunt him down.