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Hero Rule 1: Adapt

Today.

Today, the thermos wall was going to give out and he would finally be free. As he continued to wail on the thinning wall of the metal container, his glowing, red eyes burned with determination. A week? Months? Only those outside of this hellhole really knew how long he had been stuck in here. The fact that his weak, half-human self had beaten him and forced into the thermos and, knowing Clockwork, had his family saved from the imminent explosion infuriated the ghost. The first thing he was going to do when he was out of this blasted thermos was punch Clockwork in his smug face, at least that's he would try to do before that meddling ghost paused time and erased him from time itself. Just thinking about his whole situation with his younger self made him dig his fists farther into the steel. Of course, he always told himself every time he would start pounding on the container's walls that it would be this time that he would break out and enact his revenge. Whenever he wasn't taking his never-ending anger out on the steel surrounding him, he'd be imagining himself destroying his bratty, younger version and the time-controlling ghost. Still, he pictured Clockwork's face in front of the deep dent. With each thought came a punch: that dumb, stupid, piece of s-

Riiipppp.

Dan Phantom ignored the fact that he was embarrassingly sprawled out on floor in favor of savoring the new, open space around him. He quickly waved his monochrome cape off of his face. Although the floating gears and clocks reminded him that he was in the meddling ghost's home, it was better than staring at the barely visible gray of the Fenton thermos. Dan quickly got off the floor and lit his fists with green ectoplasm, but the only thing he heard around him was the ticking of the endless floating clocks. He had expected Clockwork to appear behind him at any moment, pause time, and say some snarky jab before wishing him out of existence, but… nothing.

"Clockwork! I know you're here!" he growled. His black gloves squeaked with how tightly he clenched his hands. On the floor below laid the broken thermos, a gaping hole where Dan had punched his way out of. He ground his foot into the container, snapping it in two. The ghost took another few steps before flying out of the room through one of the many halls. In the maze of the clocktower, Dan flew carefully, looking around for the other ghost or for an exit. Green, swirling portals to different timelines passed by him as he went further into or out of the tower. Turned out he was heading further into the tower as he arrived into a central room, with a large, glowing screen framed with gears in the middle of the room. Dan huffed as he landed on the ground in front of the portal. At least if Clockwork was going to try and erase him, Dan could possibly escape into whatever timeline was through the screen.

But as he landed, the screen flickered from swirling green to a moving scene. A modern city with people and cars filling it. But as he looked longer, Dan could see some odd things that stood out. Some people were normal, but a majority had some weird features. Those with blue skin, fur, horns were walking the streets without a care in the world. Parents holding children with wings and claws were on their way to school. Even then, above the "common" people, costumed ones raced through the roads. Like those from comic books, multiple spandex-wearing superheroes dotted the scene, as if they were ready to take on petty crimes and accidents. Dan leaned in close and narrowed his eyes as he tried to understand what was going on in the screen, nose nearly touching it. "What the-"

"Have fun."

"Clockwork?!" Dan whipped around, his flaming hair flaring as the time ghost surprised him. Even then, he was only able to catch a glimpse of the smirking, blue face before he was shoved through the portal. You son of a-

When he woke up, Dan had a number of expletives to say to the meddling ghost. The ghost groaned as he propped himself up with his arms. His trail of curses grinded to a halt by his unfamiliar surroundings. Being in a dirty alleyway at night in the unknown city wasn't exactly where he wanted to be. As he stood, his balance shifted, almost making him topple over. As Dan looked at his body at the unexpected shift, he let loose a shout of surprise. Instead of his twenty-four-year-old muscled body, skinny arms and legs glared back at him. A broken piece of mirror on the floor exposed his youthful face and surprised expression right back at him. No facial hair, no white, flaming ponytail, just big, round, red eyes staring back at him. He looked just as he did back when he was first… created. Dan growled.

"Well, well, well, look at what we have here, boys. A hero-wanna-be." A sleazy voice sounded from behind Dan. Japanese. the ghost immediately recognized the language. Luckily, he had retained some memories of Vlad's long years of international business. Even though he had gone ten years not using the language, his human half had practiced it enough that he was basically fluent. After all, Japan was the main country invested in Vladco's anti-ghost technology. His language skills were rusty, but he had gotten the gist of the message from the tone of voice. The ghost turned around to meet the oddest group of thugs he had ever seen.

The one that spoke was long to put it mildly. Even as he was hunched over, the guy was probably eight feet tall, with his legs and arms proportioned to match, but he was built like a stick. Another looked like a writhing mass of dark green vines, in fact one wouldn't know he was a person if not for the eyes and feet poking out of the foliage. The last one behind them was a literal troll; dumb-looking but built like a truck.

"Tell ya what, give us your money and anything else that might make us happy, and we'll let you off without a scratch. Then we'll let you keep playing 'hero'," the lanky one spoke again. All three of them smirked at the ghost (or at least he guessed with the one covered in vines).

They didn't even mention any of his own odd features. Dan didn't see any fear or revulsion about his appearance. Instead, it was only a look of a thug ready to wail on a brat. A different situation, but one he could definitely work with. Faced with a bunch of idiots thinking that they could actually beat him in a fight, Dan was not going to miss this opportunity to let out his anger. And he had a lot of anger after being in a tiny confined space for who knows how long. The ghost let loose a wicked smirk and lit a fist with green energy, making the trio lose a bit of confidence. "How about this? I beat the crap out of you three, and one of you is going to tell me what I want to know."

"You little shit! We'll-" A green fist in his face launched him into one of the walls of the alley before the skinny one even finished his sentence. Dan floated slighted off the asphalt and turned to the other two. A cock smirk invited them to make their moves. The troll look-alike charged at him with a roar while the bundle of vines moved farther back and fired off some sharp leaves and thorns. Dan snarled as he fired off ecto-energy to counter the floral projectiles aimed at him. Leaves burned up as they each met a glowing blob of ectoplasm.

"You, little punk!" The muscle of the group was almost upon him, winding up a giant fist to slam the ghost into the ground. Too slow. But the leaves were starting to be a nuisance. Might as well take care of the long range before going for the wall of muscle. The phantom turned intangible, flying through the troll look-alike in front of him and going for the green thug in the back. When the living bush noticed the translucent shape of Dan, he let out a cry of panic and let off another round of projectiles.

Obviously, it wasn't the best plan with Dan still intangible. The leaves and thorns that were planned for the phantom flew right though the ghost and instead stabbed right into his troll teammate. Dan heard the roar of pain behind him. The ghost grabbed the living bush by a vine and launched him into the body of muscle. The two cried out as they collided and fell backwards. Dan followed up with a ghost ray. Dan huffed when the smoke cleared. Instead of two corpses, the buffoons were now knocked out in the middle of the alley. Damn, so he really had lost those ten years of his growth.

He floated over to their lanky leader, dazed and against the wall like he had left him. The ghost grabbed him by the throat and hoisted the would-be robber farther up the wall so that his feet weren't touch the ground. Dan lifted a glowing green hand to the thug's face. "Now then, you're going to answer some questions I have, and if your answers aren't to my liking, you can kiss your face goodbye."

"Al-alright, I'll talk! Just- just don't hurt me, man!"

"What's up with people around here? Is it normal for you all to have some mutation or something?"

The thug lost some fear in his eyes in exchange for confusion. "You mean our quirks? What are you talking about, dude? You grow up under a rock or somethin'?"

Dan tightened his grip on the man's throat and brought the glowing hand closer to his face, making him cry out as the green energy singed his face. "Your job is to answer my questions, not ask them." As he withdrew his hand, the man against the wall rapidly nodded his head. "Do most people have quirks?"

"Y- yea, man. Last time I checked, only twenty percent of the world's population don't have quirks."

"And what's with the costumed ones? Heroes?"

The thug looked down at Dan's own jumpsuit but didn't question it. Good decision. "Yea, but you have to get a license to become a hero. Being a vigilante is illegal, and if you use your quirk for crimes, you're a villain."

"Tch." Dan suddenly slammed the lanky man against the wall, knocking his head against it to make sure the thug was passed out. He floated back down to the ground. Clockwork definitely intended for him to land in such a timeline, no, world.This place was completely different from his own. Instead of ghosts making a mess, powered-up humans ran around. But now what?Dan didn't exactly have a place to camp out. Before in his original timeline, he flew back to his human half's home to use the ghost portal and camped out in there. Grabbing the air in front of him and pulling at his ghostly core to make a portal, he swiped down. No green, swirling portal formed. Nothing.

But why did Clockwork send him to this world in the first place? Was this supposed to be his last stand? His guess was a bit of a stretch, but all he could gather was either get erased or get taken down by the heroes of this the world. Destroying his own world and timeline had been devastatingly easy. With no widespread anti-ghost artillery, it was simply a game of how many buildings he could destroy before getting bored. Here, there were superpowered humans who were literally testedto see if they could be a hero or not. If he was going to get erased from the timeline whenever he accomplished whatever Clockwork might have planned (because when didn't the time ghost have a plan in place), Dan might as destroy as much as he could. He charged up his already lit fist, ready to blast a hole straight through the twig-like man.Might as well start off with these three.

A roar sounded off behind him. Dan turned around to see a giant fist falling towards him. The troll guy had woken up and was in position to take the ghost out. Just as Dan was about to turn intangible, a gray scarf wound around the giant fist and yanked it back. The giant mound of muscle toppled backwards as more gray strips bounded him and moved him away from Dan. A pale hand rose behind the thug and did a quick chop to the meaty neck, rendering the would-be robber unconscious.

"Being a vigilante is a criminal offense, you know." The scruffy looking man said as he bound the hands of the two downed thugs. A loose, black jumpsuit, gray scarf, and dull golden goggles marked him as a hero.

"Is self-defense a crime?"

"In that outfit and this time of night? Yeah, it is."

The man passed by Dan to cuff the lanky man against the wall. No comment about his green skin or flaming hair at all, just like the three before. If his own appearance wasn't a point of conversation, Dan had to wonder what the limits of these "quirks" were. The man whipped out a phone. Probably to call the cops, and if what the hero said about him taking down the thugs being illegal, Dan wasn't sticking around.

"Fine, I'll get out of your way then." Dan was ready to turn invisible and fly away, but the moment his feet left the pavement in a little hop, he couldn't. "What the fuck?!"

Gray bands wound around Dan, and he couldn't even turn intangible to escape. None of powers would respond, suddenly locked away and suppressed. Instead of being weightless like a ghost, his body sunk back down to the ground. Dan fought against the scarf around him, even his super strength had left him. The ghost twirled to face the scruffy-looking hero, who's black hair was now floating along with sections of the scarf, ready to bind him even further. It had to be this guy's "quirk". Dan continued to struggle. "What are you doing?"

"Not letting you continue run around the city dressed like that. You're Daniel Fenton, right?" The man walked closer with his phone in hand, still looking straight at him.

"Who- how do you know that name?!" Dan snarled. He hadn't been called that since, well, since he had become a full ghost. After that, he had become "Phantom". Even the name "Dan" wasn't something anyone else had used when referring to himself.

The hero held up the glowing screen. Dan was speechless as his current face stared back at him in a profile picture. Beside the picture was basic identification information; eye color, height, age, and with "Daniel Fenton" at the top in bold. How the hell…Only that meddlesome, time ghost could've done this. The phantom was so shocked that he didn't even notice he was still being carried along by the hero. After Dan had snapped out of his stupor, he shouted in rage and started his struggle anew, not even noticing his powers return to him.

Of course, this alerted the hero to start floating his hair and shut down his means of escaping through intangibility. "You're lucky I'm willing to let you off with a warning, only since you saved me a bit of trouble with those thugs."

"Who the hell even are you anyways? And where are you taking me?!"

"Name's Eraserhead, pro hero. I know you're from America, but did you really move in so recently that you don't even recognize your own place? It's listed as your current address."

"Wha…" What kind of name is that?!

"Listen, don't let me catch you out there with that get-up again, or else I'll take you in for vigilantism." And just like that, the gray scarf receded and his powers return. Dan was about to snark back as he turned to scruffy man, but he was already leaping away to his next crime scene.

"Psh, whatever." Dan turned around to the door of his apparent apartment. He tried the door knob. Locked. Dan just rolled his eyes and floated through the door. Turning on the lights inside, he saw that the apartment was small and sparely decorated. A kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom fit inside the one floor space. The fridge and cabinets were somehow already stocked with some food. Plain clothes in black or white filled the drawers in his bedroom. How the hell is this place even mine?As he passed by a table, he noticed a pile of papers out of place. On top of the stack, a very familiar medallion and note laid on top.

Dan grabbed Clockwork's medallion and wound up to throw it against the wall but stopped short. He stopped short and slammed it back down on the countertop. Throwing it and damaging the wall wasn't going to do him any good. Shuffling through the papers, Dan could see his bank information, school transcripts, and identification papers. School books laid below the loose papers. U.A. Exam Prep andIntro to Heroics. Finally, he picked up the neatly folded note that would possibly (not likely) explain Clockwork's reasoning.

Dear Daniel, he immediately scowled.

I hope you enjoy your time here in this new timeline. As you are wondering what exactly I have planned for you at this time, I'm afraid that is something you will have to figure out yourself. I've started to push you in the right direction by giving you all your needed documents and allowance. No need to thank me. Dan actually snorted at this. "As if I'd ever thank you, you meddlesome ghost."

As you have heard, heroes require licenses to preform heroic acts. To obtain a license, one must attend and complete education at a school that has a hero course. You will complete this course.

"Are you kidding me?!"

You know what will happen if you try to turn rogue or attempt to flunk out of school. I've even handled signing you up for the entrance exam at U.A. High School. The exam is in two months, so prepare to study up. Although I do admit I have an ulterior motive, the Daniel that you faced before believes in second chances and I've decided to give you the same opportunity. Don't mess it up. Who knows? Maybe you'll actually like your time here. Actually, I do know whether or not you'll like it.

Sincerely,

CW

Dan scrunch up the note in his fist. He threw the note in a nearby trash can and turned off the lights. As soon as he entered his room, he threw himself onto the bed without making use of any of the new clothes provided. Dan shut his eyes and huffed out, "Fuck you, Clockwork."

3141 words

Wow, hi! Welcome! So I guess this is my first fan fiction that I plan to continue and finish. I'm kind of sad to see the lack of Danny Phantom and My Hero Academia crossovers, even with Danny as the main character. I just thought it'd be an even better fic if I were to write my favorite character, Dan Phantom/Dark Danny :) It's such a pet peeve of mine to see stories listed under Dan Phantom when in reality it's just Danny and/or Pitch Pearl. I just need more buff, evil, 24-year-old Phantoms! I know it's pretty hard to write redemption fics right but I'll definitely try my best.

Reviews and constructive criticisms are welcomed! Feel free to PM me as well!

I also want to be clear about my updates. I will definitely be inconsistent, but I will definitely try my damn hardest to update once a month. Surprisingly for some, I do have a life outside of fanfiction as a college student. If not, light a fire under my ass by writing well-written reviews. Nothing motivates me more than reading some reviews ;)