"DO NOT WORRY, FOR I AM HERE!"

Danny was eating his morning sandwich in one of the joints, one that had awfully little ham and was way too dry. The manager of the coffee shop was sitting just a couple of tables away from the teen. Having the unchecked powers being a manager gave him, the man had switched the tv to one of the channels. Danny didn't mind, since he appreciated every bit of trivia he could get. The TV showed an absolute behemoth of a man, tall and muscular, dressed in a suit of blue, gold, red and white. His long blonde hair had two strips that were sticking up in the air. The man bore the brightest and proudest smile Danny had ever seen in his life or afterlife. He was obviously a big shot, judging by the squeals and exited shouts from the people present in the cafe.

"Wow, it's All Might!"

"He is so amazing, isn't he?"

Danny took a sip of coffee, looking at the screen from which the number one hero stared at him. It had been a week since he came to that world. The teen had done his homework, since that was basically all he could do with his free time. All Might, the Symbol of peace, they called him. When he first heard about it, Danny thought that the guy had an excellent PR agency behind him. Unlike the half ghost who was always one step away from being considered a wanted criminal. What was it about the blonde giant that Danny lacked in that regard? Aside, of course, from the aforementioned PR agency. Danny even had plushies of his persona, ones that were quite popular among the locals and tourists, but unlike All Might they never gave him a single penny. They hadn't even contacted him. And in a situation where his only income was a part-time job at the local supermarket it only aggravated the teen even more. Each time he looked at his plushie (which he for some reason had decided to bring along) it filled him frustration.

Perhaps it was just how the world was. Being the only hero in his own world was a peculiarity in itself. It naturally made people worried. In this universe, most people had powers of their own and heroes were pretty numerous. It had become a trend by that point, a new normalcy. They made laws, established agencies, all for the purpose of adapting to the changed reality. Although, by that time Danny had learned that most of those abilities were pretty useless or a good utility at most. Actually few could be properly utilised in combat. He saw many heroes on TV, one could grow as tall as a building, while the other could burn people to a crisp. Those were pretty helpful, unlike a single extra eye the barista in front of the teen spotted.

But that was not the main point.

It had been a week, and it still boggled him. Maybe the townsfolk had feared him because Phantom was a teenager. And those were unpredictable beings, more so than ghosts. They never sold guns or alcohol to children legally, and yet there was a boy that could blow people up with a look. And nobody could do anything to stop him. To them he was a ticking bomb. And perhaps that's why young children and other teenagers adored him. They had no such prejudice. There was also the wild preaching of his own parents, who spoke before the townspeople with the zealousness of Salem witch hunters and Savonarola combined, saying that every ghost was a vile creature from another world.

"Phantom simply claimed the town as his property," they said.

"He fights not for you, but to keep intruders out," they assured.

What would the Fentons claim now when he was gone? They were now stuck between two of their theories: that ghosts could not leave their haunt and that Phantom had marked his territory. Either was wrong, but if Danny knew his parents, they would never admit anything. For being scientists they were too stubborn and unwilling to change their theories that had nothing behind them but wild speculations. The Fentons could make incredible inventions, but when it came to the topic of ghostly behaviour and biology, their knowledge was abysmal. It wasn't very surprising, no scientist could specialise in every field. They had mistakenly stacked every aspect of ectoplasm and its original world into one science, which was evidently the wrong idea. Physics and Chemistry are different, despite both of them dealing with atomic structures. And someone who created medicine could not engineer an atomic reactor. An architect would not be able to decipher ancient writings. Every science took years of hard work to have an understanding of, otherwise one would be the jack of all trades and master of none. It wasn't shameful to admit, but Fentons' arrogance clouded their judgement. They thought of themselves as experts, and they were the one-eyed guides in the kingdom inhabited by blind people. There was nobody to address their idiocies but ghosts themselves. But since they were labeled as evil, few actually listened.

The conclusion? Fentons were specialists in engineering, while arrogantly believing that they knew everything else. They by definition were not jacks of all trades. Unlike Danny. He knew a bit more about biology, but he wasn't nearly as good at engineering. Even if he had managed to modify his thermos to be accessed only by him. But at least Danny never entertained any delusions. He was a kid who never even finished school. He could, technically, apply for a high school in Japan, but he knew about how difficult it would be, both in terms of submitting the papers and actually passing an exam, which was supposed to be much harder in there. And yet, without that he would be left to toil for the rest of his days at a low paying-job. It was a difficult conundrum Danny didn't know how to solve.

Even if he didn't start school that year, there was still the next one. But obviously at some point he would be too old for that, so his time was limited. As he had come to learn, the schools would be holding exams in one month. That wasn't nearly enough for him to catch up. So, Danny pretty much made up his mind to make some savings for the upcoming year. Maybe he would get promoted by that time and he would also be able to afford the student books and such. The boy was allowed to dream of such things. It was, to a degree, ironic how now he didn't have any distractions but he still had obstacles on his way to knowledge. The obstacles he would definitely overcome, he told himself and fist pumped.

An hour later he was already at the store, wearing the green shirt, black pants, a black apron and a cap — all part of their uniforms. The manager hadn't asked for much when hiring the boy. Danny didn't know if his passport was legit in that world, most probably not, but it seemed that way to the lady that eventually hired him. She bought his story about being an exchange student looking for work. One of his first tasks was to arrange the products where they belonged and set up the price tags. Nothing too difficult, even his dumb little brain could manage. It took some running around until it dawned upon the teen that he wasn't at all restricted to use his powers. He had seen one of the employees splashing water from her hands right on the floor before washing it. Danny wasn't sure if her strategy was valid, but nobody scolded her. Thus, the half-ghost allowed himself some tricks. Soon, nori chips, some rice cookies started floating out of their boxes in accurate lines, cans of differently-coloured sodas floated in the fridges. He tried to avoid hitting the customers, or obstructing their path in any way. Danny's eyes and palm sparkled with green energy as his left hand directed the lines of floating products to the shelves.

"Fenton-san," the lady manager approached him, fixing the glasses over her snake eyes. "You haven't mentioned this Quirk of yours."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, ma'am, I just saw others use theirs, so I thought it was okay..."

"I don't know how it is done where you come from, but there are papers you and I will need to fill. Then you are free to use yours while performing your job."

The teen sighed and nodded. "I understand. Sorry for inconvenience."

The manager didn't seem that angry, probably because his power was actually useful. The issue also introduced Danny to another aspect of the superhuman world.

Bureaucracy.

Every person around had their abilities registered by the government. It made sense, Danny thought. The Police could catch a criminal by power description alone. The lady-manager was nice enough to explain the basic laws of the house, buying the half ghost's reasoning that in his home region they were different. Danny was warned against using his powers in public. That surprised the teen, but then again, the only public use of a Quirk he had seen was with those ruffians. Yet, he was allowed to use telekinesis during the job as long as the manager had a special paper filed. When it came to writing down his power, Danny hesitated. What exactly was he supposed to write? But he quickly purged away the doubt and wrote "telekinesis" down. He would restrict himself to using only that power when he was near his co-workers, but it would keep his strangeness a secret.

The street bandits were hardly the best people for getting information. Danny found no info on people with two Quirks. But there were those who had multiple abilities hailing from one. It was an easy misconception to make. As for Danny, he probably could lump most of his abilities into an obscure, draft category of a "Ghost". Then again, some of his powers were not something their kind was famous for. It was his best covert option, nonetheless. IF he was forced to write down everything he could do. Until that happened, telekinesis it was. The manager seemed satisfied with the paperwork, so Danny quickly went back to work.

The half ghost decided to put his mind to it, as well as some actual labour. Even if he was paid 3 dollars an hour, he was going to perform at the top of his abilities. Somewhat human abilities, that is. The manager could only watch in wonder at how Danny sorted out the goods in a matter of minutes, then being quickly assigned to the spot of a cashier. With a bright smile the teen worked swiftly, his telekinesis allowing him to work several times as fast. That power really was perfect for the job at hand. Closer to the evening Danny was also the one to unload the boxes from a truck. Other employees were thankful to the teen for doing the last work for the day in a couple of minutes. It meant they could go to home earlier. But by the time the day was over, Danny started to feel winded. Of course he was, he had been using his ghost power for hours, in his human form, no less. Another reason behind that really worried the teen.

Until he left, Danny had been living atop of a gateway to the world his powers originated from. Just living, sleeping nearby was enough to fill his battery to the brim, free to use whenever he felt like it. Now there was no such option, and the job had fallen on the tiny nuclear reactor that replaced his heart. It could produce ectoplasm as easily as human body made blood. But there were limits to how much blood a human can lose before kicking the bucket. Danny's abysmal diet didn't help the matter. Food needed to be split apart into atoms and made into ectoplasm. And then the ectoplasm, having an enormous absorbing potential, could not only serve as his own battery, but to grasp the residual ghostly energy in the air, present even in that world. Actually the residual energy was quite strong, which was odd. Before Danny could go all out, he needed to start eating something but instant ramen. Ideally, ten large steaks a day.

'Ancients, I sound like Tucker,' Danny thought grimly and shook his head.

The manager was still satisfied with his results, because one boy worked as much as ten more people. All for the pay of a part-timer. She needed to encourage him to put just as much effort later on. That's why he got a couple of extra yen as a bonus. Happy about the small reward, Danny clocked in and left. Before going home, however, Danny bought himself a couple of chocolate bars for a treat. One of them he munched through before he even reached the door of the haunted house.

"So fleeting are the pleasures of the world," he said dramatically, before invisibly getting inside the house.

During the last week Danny had been making every effort to make his part of the place more liveable. He decided to leave the floors as decrepit as they were for an appearance sake. The attic was the place that he paid attention to, using the items he salvaged from the local junkyard for money-saving sake. Firstly, he covered the window with a black curtain when it was night time. With the window already being mostly barred, nobody would pay attention to the fact, and nobody would see the light coming from the inside, either. It meant that Danny could freely use the lonely desk lamp.

That brought him to another issue — electricity. It has been mentioned that he had some basic skills in engineering, and they came in handy. On his hands he had the battery in the form of Fenton Thermos. It could remain autonomous for months, after which the battery had to be filled with ectoplasm. Danny assumed it could feed one room for at least a couple of weeks before he had to indulge in self harm to get some ectoplasm. The possibility of him being encumbered without electricity was bigger than him meeting a ghost around there, so he decided to make that sacrifice. He could always put it back together. At least he hoped so.

Thankfully, the thermos battery's output slot was designed like a normal accumulator. Danny decided to be unorthodox. Salvaging an extension cable from the junkyard, he ripped away the plug, leaving only the naked wires. After some time of very dangerous soldering process, he got himself three fully functioning sockets. Danny felt really proud of atrociously looking amalgamation that he created. And besides, now he could charge his phone and PDA, as well as use the aforementioned lamp and a tiny portable TV. It really baffled him how much good stuff people just threw out. Yes, he had to fight a smelly vagabond on that one, yes, the guy had toxic vomit, but at least the TV was still in a very good condition. Danny could still enjoy a wacky Japanese evening show while eating his ramen noodles. The electric kettle was, of course, salvaged as well.

All in all, his living conditions weren't so bad, he wasn't very picky by nature, but Danny was still worried about the roof holding up against the possible rains. Looking at the floor of the attic, the planks hadn't rotted so far, which meant that there wasn't any extra humidity and the water didn't have access there. A good sign. Danny was about to call it a day when, all of a sudden, he heard loud voices outside. His mouth full with noodles, Danny switched the TV and the lamp off, quietly got up from his futon and approached the window. He pulled the curtain just a bit to peek in between the planks and gulped down the last bit of his dinner. Even without hearing what the people outside said exactly, he knew exactly why a bunch of kids would approach a house such as his. Putting his ear to the thin window and focusing on his hearing, he got his confirmation.

"Are you sure that's the right house?"

"I am telling ya, that's it. This house is the talk of this area."

"What's the story with this one?"

"I heard that a drunk father drowned his kid in a bathtub."

"Really? I thought there was a yokai that ate children."

Danny rolled his eyes. That urban legend didn't even try to be original. And his diet were those stupid noodles.

"Oooh, and is it still inside?" An excitable girl whispered. "I wanna go inside."

"Are you sure? This place looks like it will collapse any second."

"Really? Or are you chickening, Kirishima?" The girl teased.

"Am not! I am just... concerned."

"Should you really be worried? I don't think collapsing roof can actually harm ya."

There were at the very least four kids outside, if the numerous voices were anything to go by. Danny got everything he needed. So, those guys were into the usual dare game of going into a haunted house, threatening to uncover his hideout. A devious smirk crossed the teen's features, his eyes gaining a mischievous green gleam. If those teens wanted a haunted house, they were going to get one. Danny jumped and fell through two floors, stopping an inch above the lowest one. Glancing towards the door, he floated and waited until the teens went in, the gears in his head spinning, trying to come up with what exactly should a ghost do. He didn't have much time before the door opened and exactly four teens went in. The invisible half-ghost floated closer, examining the uninvited guests. There wasn't anything particular he could point out about them.

The aforementioned girl shivered.

"Guys, is it just me or is it colder here all of a sudden?"

Danny realised that he had gotten too close. Making some distance from the group, he also floated upwards.

"Stop it," a boy complained. Danny recognised his voice as Kirishima's.

"I am serious," grumbled the girl.

"Must be the wind," Kirishima shook his head. "Yo, you guys are gonna stand at the doors or what? You are the ones that dared us, you know?"

The other two boys finally stepped forward, looking malcontent with having to get deeper into the house.

"What, ya need emotional support, Kirishima-kun?" One of them mocked.

"Enough, you guys, I did come in as you asked, right?" Kirishima crossed her hands.

And they were going to regret it, Danny thought and smirked. Now, for the beginning of every cliché haunted house. With enough force behind a telekinetic push, he thunderously shut the door behind them. The teens jumped in surprise and looked towards it.

"Very funny," Kirishima looked at other boys, but Danny could see that the boy was shaken himself, "How did you guys do that?"

Their scared faces served as a proof of their innocence, but they still chose to answer.

"It wasn't us! It must be the wind."

Danny rolled his eyes, his hands folded behind his back. That obviously wasn't enough for them. Well, he still had some tricks in his sleeve. Next was lowering the room temperature. His core pumped out the cold air that served that very purpose. The visitors now could see their breath. And the closer Danny got to them, the colder it got.

"The windows are all closed!" Kirishima raised his voice. "Admit it, you brought someone with a cold Quirk here, right?"

"We didn't bring anyone!"

Danny guessed that the instigators were the weak part of the chain. As it usually was. He held back a chuckle at remembering Dash's girlish screams each time he saw a ghost. Deciding to strike at that weak spot, Danny did relatively little. A single cold touch on each of the boy's necks. They looked at each other angrily.

"What was that for?!" They shouted at each other.

The girl looked at Kirishima. "What if it really is a ghost?" She whispered to him. "I don't think our Quirks are fit for that."

"They aren't," the raven-haired teen mumbled, looking at her. "But hey, I can just break the stupid door, so your tricks aren't gonna work."

Danny supposed that it was still just an upfront. He was feeling like a horror movie watcher.

"W-wait! We agreed that you go to the top floor!" One of the teasing boys got over his brief fear.

"Aren't you yourself scared shitless, though?" Kirishima gave a toothy smirk.

"Yeah, if you don't want to stay here, then we can just go," added the girl.

"No. You didn't win the bet yet."

The greed oughtweighed any semblance of self-preservation in their minds. Danny sighed inaudibly. Perhaps he could let the kids reach the second floor. Just so those idiots lost. The half-ghost floated to the second floor, waiting for them to come up. Then he got a neat, if not wasteful idea. He quickly floated to his hideout and picked up a huge bottle of water. He left it in the bathroom and waited until the guests went upstairs. And as they did, entering an empty room, Kirishima grinned triumphantly.

"See? We got to the second floor no problem! Don't you guys owe me something now?"

Grumbling something, one of the boys dug in his rucksack and took out several snacks.

"Here, those are yours," he said dejectedly.

All of that for a couple of snacks. Danny shook his head with a smile. He almost felt bad for giving them a scare. Almost.

After Kirishima stacked the food in his own back, the visitors could hear the murmur of water coming from the bathroom. If Danny wasn't preoccupied with slowly pouring the water into the sink, he would have seen all the colour drain from the teens' face. He also opened the door. Very lightly. So that they could see it moving, but were unable to peek behind the stage. This wasn't quite enough, Danny decided, tossing away the bottle. It flew inside the bathtub and created a hollow noise as it tumbled around. Come on, Fenton, he told himself. He had to be more assertive. It wasn't a horror movie, they had brains, they would tail the second they got a chance. So, he needed to give his best as fast as possible.

"Is it coming from the bathroom?" The girl squealed. "Is it the ghost?"

Danny approached them and leaned closer to her ear.

"Leave at once," he whispered in the creepiest, most hoarse voice he could muster. And then he ripped the planks off the walls, floor and the window, let the ice reach as far as their feet.

The teens screamed and bolted towards the entrance. The purposefully thin layer of ice was simple to break out of. Danny peeked his head through the floor and watched how Kirishima actually broke the front door to let others come through as well. That boy must have been very sturdy. And the visitors ran as far away as they could from the house. It was then when the half ghost broke into a loud laughter, leaning against the wall for support. Oh, how his ghost side relished that. And his human one did to an extent. This was ought to keep them away from his house.

"I never actually locked the door, though," he mumbled, wiping a tear from his eye and shrugging. "You could just open it."

-Linebreak-

Taking a public bath — sento, as they were called in Japan — was initially a hard one for the half ghost. When they said those were public, he had assumed that they were simply like gym bathrooms, without the gym part. The culture shock once again was his worst enemy. He probably should have guessed that the 'bath' part implied lack of showers. The people there, younger and older, just shared a single bath or poured water over themselves from small basins. It was, frankly, quite bizarre for him, but Danny had to get over himself, as it was the only way he could stay clean. After a short while he got used to the extra company and just washed himself without much care. Or, if he liked, he could just remain invisible, but wearing a headband so that nobody bumped into him. It was more difficult that way, since he only had his muscle memory and dimensional awareness to go by.

One of those days Danny was coming out from the bathhouse fresh and reinvigorated, thinking about having to wash his clothes soon. There must have been a public laundry somewhere near. He could swear he had seen one around. But it was also another strain on his tiny budget that made his heart and core writhe in pain. Guess he would need to go to an even cheaper brand of noodles on laundry days. Deciding not to ponder on the painful topics, Danny switched his mind to the thoughts about his plans for the evening. His research demanded his full attention. Well, to call it 'research' would be giving it too much of a credit.

The teen wanted to know more about that world. He didn't want to get caught violating some obscure law and getting hunted for it. He was beginning his life anew, and Phantom was not supposed to be considered a criminal by anyone. His PDA came at handy while getting some basic information, but there were still plenty of white spots. He could fill those in with some additional, practical lessons. Practice in this case meant standing by the side and watching others do the hero job. To learn the ropes, to know what he should and shouldn't do. It didn't mean that he was going to don a fancy cape and start running to the rescue, but in a society where everyone could potentially have an ability to kill you and the instability to actually use it, Danny needed to be ready for everything. He had seen the official recommendations, and they were too unspecific. They just told the civilians to run away and let the heroes handle everything. Self-defence was permitted, but actually neutralising the criminal could be also interpreted as a violation. The legislation of the place was too confusing, and he, a kid with less than average school performance, should not have been able to see those flaws so easily.

"Or maybe you are just too dumb to understand, Fenton," the teen muttered.

It was late evening when he entered the district closer to the centre. Crimes involving strong villains usually took place there. The crime-ridden places were where small fries lived. Standing atop one of the tall office buildings, Danny put his hands on the belt of his ghost form and started waiting. Tucker's PDA truly had everything, and the tech-wizard had come up with a special app that could pick up police frequencies so that they could hunt ghosts together with more efficiency. Danny wasn't sure how it was picking up those frequencies, but he recalled Tucker saying something about keywords. As long as the usual police terminology was used, the PDA hijacked those. The PDA was originally Japanese, so it was no wonder it could also understand the locals. Until that happened, Danny was just sitting on the edge of the roof eating his dinner, consisting of a purchased burger. In the meantime, a radio broadcast was turned on.

"How are you doing, folks?" Came the loud voice of the radio host. "Enjoying the lovely tunes so far? I know ya all do, or I am not Present Mic, your lovely host..."

Danny heard the white noise coming from the PDA and interrupted the broadcast.

"We have an assault in Takahashi district! The villain has an Emitter type quirk. I repeat, the villain discharges electricity. Call the nearest heroes!"

Electricity. How he loathed those that abused that natural power. Danny's core always reacted violently when seeing ghosts that did that. The process of turning into what he was involved dying in a gruesome way, and the portal releasing thousands upon thousands of volts of electricity, burning away the skin, puncturing his organs, frying the neurones of his brain bit by bit. It was a painful memory. If not for the ectoplasmic charge of monstrous proportions, all that would have been left was a scorched corpse eventually put in a coffin. A small one. He wasn't very tall back then. The half ghost was satisfied with the arrangement, but his hatred of being electrocuted was going to stay with him to the end of his days. Shaking off the painful memory, Danny unfolded the map, and his eyes darted from one corner of the map to another in search of the district.

Then, an explosion of electric currents caused destruction far at the distance. Or he could just fly there. That worked just as fine. Danny tossed away the map and jumped off the roof, turning invisible on his way down. Flying around was also hardly legal, so he didn't want any extra attention. The half ghost picked up the speed, flying forward and reaching the destination as quickly as possible. Danny wished to stay far away from lighting, far away from the one who was throwing away, and consequently, the electric plant where the fight was taking place. But he was committed to his plan, and his stubbornness was legendary. He could find a safe spot and watch. He didn't need to fight that walking battery. Taking a deep breath, Danny took a dive towards the plant.

The half ghost entered the place through the wall, softly landing in an empty office. The personnel must have been evacuated.

Or taken hostage.

Danny couldn't dismiss that thought just yet. But he also didn't want to hurry, because otherwise he would learn nothing about how things were done around that place. No matter how compelled he was to save those in trouble. Danny roamed the corridors while staying invisible, trying to find the path to where action was taking place. From the towering chimneys outside he could guess that it was a coal plant. Since it was an electric villain, he didn't need to be around all that coal and steam, no, by all logic he would be where the steam was getting turned into actual electricity. Where he had an advantage. Danny felt really proud of himself for deducing that, but it remained to be seen if it was true. Using the signs on the wall, the teen made his way towards the generator room, without making a sound. As he got closer, he could hear the sounds of gunfire. Not good, no matter who was firing.

Danny went through the closed door. However, upon arrival, the half ghost had to dodge a bolt of lighting, one of many that were so thoughtlessly thrown around. So much for his plan to sit and watch. The situation wasn't looking pretty for the officers, armed only with their guns. Yeah, only heroes had the permissions, Danny got that part correct. Still, against the hulking behemoth of a man those pistols could hardly do anything, because his lighting was too fast. Danny wasn't sure if the tesla coils on his shoulders, the source of the electricity, were a part of the man's body or a simple tool. Everything was possible in that bizarre world. The villain laughed loudly, seeing the men in uniform out of commission.

"You wimps never stood a chance. Bring out a proper hero now!"

Danny wondered who that guy was even talking with. He didn't seem to be in a hurry to kill the policemen, so the teen decided to keep watching. There also didn't seem to be any hostages, from what the teen could observe. So, the half ghost sat on one of the steel fittings lining the walls, eagerly waiting for the hero to come. At the same time the villain didn't stand idle, he ripped the wires connecting the generator with the outside lines, using them to fill his own inner batteries by sticking them into special ports in the coils. With a yell he began leeching on the still functioning generators, and it made the teen feel really uncomfortable. Too much electricity that the bad guy would definitely discharge at some poor soul. That was odd, though. What was that man after, Danny wondered. The villain wasn't looking for anything, he was simply preparing until a hero would show up, also down the electricity in the nearest area. Was it some stupid desire for a challenge? If so, Danny had to take a note that such people existed as well.

The half ghost expected the hero to come through the main entrance, but with the edge of his eye he noticed the door to the maintenance room opening. If Danny recalled correctly, there was also a corridor with windows. The newcomer must have come through those. Deciding to take a closer look, the teen hopped off his place and slowly descended, right towards the sneaky man who rightfully assumed himself to be still unseen. Well, the self-absorbed villain was now oblivious to two foreign presences. Danny had to stop himself from coming too close, lest the man remembered that a coal generator was not supposed to be ice cold.

The supposed hero didn't appear as much at the first glance. Then again, who was he to judge. Phantom was a scrawny teen in a hazmat suit. The man had a tall, but slim figure. Danny couldn't quite make out his face, due to the shoulder-long messy hair that also hid it. The man was wearing a baggy black outfit and pants of the same colour that were tucked into his boots. Danny wasn't sure if that was really comfortable. A utility belt also didn't go unnoticed, as well as the striking feature of a scarf around the hero's neck. His observations were cut short when the man, without saying a word, leaped forward, towards the villain the second he saw him. The half ghost smirked and jumped on one of the pipes nearby, preparing to watch the show unfold.

The villain heard the rapid footsteps, turned around as quickly as he could.

"Ah, finally!" He exclaimed and outstretched his hands towards the man. "I hope you are tougher than those idiots!"

Danny fully expected the bad guy to fire lighting. Except it never came. The half ghost leaned forward, a confused expression on his face.

The hero unfolded his scarf and struck.

"It's a weapon?" Whispered Danny.

The hero wrapped the scarf around the villain's shoulders and pulled. The opponent fell forward just as the man was close enough to strike the head with his knee. It allowed the villain not to fall on the ground, but the pain made him yell and stumble, as the hero loosened the scarf's hold on the shoulders. But the hero wasn't done. Before the villain could retaliate in any way, he threw the scarf again, but now aimed for the legs. Another pull, and the giant was toppled. The hero jumped over and landed another kick straight on the criminal's face. Danny could only watch the scene in amazement. But why wasn't the villain using all that energy he had stored? He obviously wanted to use it. Could Quirk malfunction like that? Danny really needed to keep a journal of those things.

"Wait... I know you. Damn Eraserhead!" The villain tried to break free, still somehow conscious after several kicks.

"And I don't know you," responded Eraserhead in the most bored and apathetic voice Phantom had ever heard.

The villain smirked. "Luckily I was prepared."

The coils on his back began to spark with electricity. An explosion of lighting followed and forced the hero to jump away, releasing the hold on the criminal. The villain started to laugh, electricity still all around him like a shield.

"You may turn off my Quirk, Eraserhead, but my coils have been charged. Best purchase I've made!"

So that was the hero's power. Danny found himself intimidated by the possible extent of the ability he wasn't going to test. He was also immensely intrigued by the criminal actually using techs to boost his capabilities. The hero too was using a very strange scarf. Danny wondered how one got their hands on those, his thought process more resembling a fast ramble. The villain meanwhile cracked his fists.

"There is also something else. You must choose, hero. Either me or the poor staff downstairs, sharing a room with a bomb. The detonator, however, is right by my side," he pointed at a small device hanging on the same suspenders that held the tesla coils. "You are not getting past me."

The hero came to the conclusion that the villain was stalling. There was no other explanation for a break-in and the strategy he employed. What for, remained to be seen. Danny just wondered about how cliché the trick was, not paying much attention to the reasons. And perhaps, that was his time to shine and get rid of the advantage the thug had. Eraserhead was going to be busy fighting the electric thug. So, the half ghost took a deep dive to the floor beneath them.

He landed in a pristinely clean white corridor. Shivering a bit, the teen began his search. The shaking and noise above his head indicated that the fight resumed upstairs. He just needed to find the captives. The search didn't take long, as the sounds of his footsteps were heard by them. Danny heard the banging on an iron door nearby, as well as the shouting.

"Please! Anyone! We are locked in here with a bomb! Please help us, whoever it is!"

Danny decided to remain invisible for the encounter. Stepping before the door, he began speaking.

"How many of you are there?" He asked.

"Around ten! Can you get us out?"

Danny examined the obstacle separating them, before looking at his invisible hand. He put it on the door.

"Go through it," the half ghost instructed.

"What?"

"Go through the door already! It's intangible!"

Slowly, but surely, the surprised workers started emerging one after another, piling up in the corridor and looking for their saviour. After they stopped appearing, Danny smirked and released the hold.

"Was there any bad guy besides that lighting enthusiast?" His disembodied voice reached everyone present.

"N-no, I think he was alone," a scared lady said. "Where are you?"

"Right near you, lady. Don't pay attention to me, you should get out. Do you know the way?"

The man that had been calling for him nodded. "Yes, there is an emergency exit. But... the bomb! If it blows up, it can reach the coal reserves."

"And we will have a fiery party, I get it. I'll take care of the bomb, you must run. Avoid the generator room at all costs. The criminal is there," Danny commanded.

"We will, thank you so much! Everyone, come on!" The guy in charge led the others down the corridor.

Phantom couldn't help but smile. It felt nice receiving some gratitude for a change. He then quickly snapped his attention to the locked room. Upon entering it, the teen was faced with a ticking haphazard device that resembled a bomb. The captives were hesitant to touch it, and for a good reason, too. Nobody knew how to disarm it, and the half ghost was none the smarter.

"Why can't I just cut a wire..." he moaned and looked at the ceiling. "Come on, think. You are Phantom, you got out of even tougher situations," he whispered.

He couldn't diffuse the bomb, he couldn't leave it there either. Maybe, if it was going to explode, he would have to take it where the explosion wasn't going to harm anyone. Yes, the area around lacked any tall buildings. That could work. Danny carefully picked the ticking device up and tried to fly as carefully as he could, lest the extra shaking caused it to explode prematurely. He flew through the ceiling, past the ongoing fight that had the criminal run right through him. Eraserhead appeared to be unscathed, if a bit winded. The thug, on the other hand, was somehow still moving despite the beating that had taken place before, but one of his hands was constantly on the detonator.

"Stand still, you piece of shit!" The villain yelled and discharged more electricity from the coils.

Danny had no time to ogle. He needed to get rid of the bomb. Floating even higher, the teen ended up on the roof of the coal plant, but he went even higher. Until he was much higher than the smoking chimneys. Phantom turned visible, aimed for the sky and threw the bomb as high into the sky as possible. It was a single glowing dot in the night sky, and even if the moon shone brightly, it made it difficult to aim. Danny pointed his hand into the sky, supported it with another, waiting. Then, after several agonising seconds, the teen released an ectoblast, as wide as a palm. In a split second, the collision happened, and a bright explosion lit the surroundings.

"Ha! Take that!" Danny said and turned invisible again, knowing that all eyes would be turned to him. Or, rather, to the explosion that happened not so far from him. Without wasting time, the bomb situation resolved, the half ghost returned to the generator room.

Eraserhead was still fighting the criminal. The hero ran up close to the thug and tried to land a hit. The thug was about to release more electricity, but the hero dodged under the strike, came behind the villain and wrapped the scarf around his neck as he went. The momentum and the weight allowed to pull the enemy to the ground. The coils finally snapped, their metal soft after the extensive heating the electricity had caused. Danny smiled. That hero could have handled everything himself, it seemed.

"Now stand still," the same bored voice of his commanded. The criminal was now completely helpless before his Quirk. The hero kicked the criminal in the face, effectively knocking him out.

It seemed that the situation was resolved. Eraserhead quickly rushed to the doors, still under the assumption that the hostages were there. Danny felt bad for making him run like that. He probably was worried sick that the hostages were blown up. But that wasn't the boy's problem. Sighing, Phantom stood near the unconscious criminal, dropping his invisibility for a moment. With a smirk, he lightly kicked the man's hand.

"That was very exciting," he said. "But I guess not as much for you, people. You see this stuff each day."

He then examined the coils. Without touching them, of course. He didn't know if they could still shock him. It was an interesting piece of machinery that seemed to be an extra storage space for him. If the criminal's opponent wasn't the guy who negated his original power, he would have been much more formidable. It was a test of endurance until he wastefully spent his batteries. Danny would kill for something like that and he actually wondered where the criminal got a toy such as that. He didn't strike him as a very intelligent person. The villain suddenly groaned, startling the teen, but didn't move much. Then, Danny saw that something had fallen from the man's pocket. Curious, the teen kneeled and picked up a small card. It looked like a business card. It read: "Giran" and then also gave a phone number. Maybe that was the answer to his question. Danny snapped a picture of the card with his phone and dropped the piece of carton on the ground. Curiosity or not, it was a clue he wasn't going to take from the police. And upon hearing the footsteps outside, the half ghost took them as a cue to leave. He had seen enough.

Several minutes later, as disgruntled Eraserhead approached the police force, he asked them to share what happened.

"We aren't really sure, there was an explosion up in the sky. Green laser, too."

"Lasers don't appear out of thin air," Eraserhead crossed his hands.

"You can ask around, but I don't think anyone saw where it came from."

"Ehm... excuse me..."

The lady, one of the people Danny had rescued, came up to the conversing men.

"Are you one of the heroes that saved us?"

Eraserhead raised an eyebrow. "I work alone, miss."

"You do? But then, who got us out?"

"You didn't see that person?" Asked the hero, trying to understand what was going on.

"No, I think he was invisible. But he got us out of the locked room and told us what to do. He sounded very young, like a boy even... oh, he also promised to take care of the bomb!"

"The bomb, huh?" The police officer mused aloud. "That explains the explosion, I guess. It seems we have a vigilante case as well, if he really is as young as this woman thinks. We'll need to check the database for invisible young men."

"He also could make the door intangible," the woman added, her look then turning concerned. "He is in trouble, isn't he?"

The officer chose not to indulge a very sensitive question. "That does narrow the list. It's a curious combination for a Quirk."

"You still don't have much to go by," Eraserhead mumbled. "Did he say his name?"

"No, I don't think so."

"What do you think, Eraserhead?" The police officer looked at the tired-looking hero.

"The vigilante is secondary. I will try to find out what the villain was after. And why he decided to cut off the energy supply for this whole area. I'll stay in touch, call me when the villain cracks."

Without saying anything else, the hero left the scene of crime.

Even though he was apathetic to the unknown boy, Aizawa Shota could still make his own conclusions. And as he was traversing the urban jungles, he had plenty of time to think. There couldn't have been much time between the rescue of the captives and the explosion. Certainly not enough to make it to the roof and blow the bomb up. This meant that something or someone else was used in that messy situation. And those lasers... something was definitely amiss in that story, but the Erasure Hero had another job at his hands. Lack of light enticed criminals to go out and commit their acts more often, and thus Aizawa had his job cut out for him.