Not Just a Kid (DP Avengers Crossover)

Chapter 14

"Well, that's unnerving." Bruce said, pursing his lips. He and Stark were both looking down at the readings from the medical equipment they had attached to Phantom. They both knew it probably wouldn't show anything, but they weren't expecting it to really not show anything. They both could hear the steady tone coming from the machine as it showed a singular straight line. But instead of the line being at the bottom of the graph it was in the middle and vibrating. They came to the conclusion that his body somehow messed with electromagnetic fields.

They wouldn't even know if the kid was still 'alive' if it weren't for Loki explaining that if he had died or 'faded' he would be a puddle of ectoplasm and a glowing orb laying on the medical bed. Tony was still trying to wrap his head around it. He certainly still had hundreds of questions on how these beings worked.

Both Bruce and Tony had been watching Danny for a little over three hours now. He seems to be healing more and more with the ectoplasm they had been slowly giving him with the IV. But the kid didn't seem to be waking up yet. They were going to take off his battered suit but it seemed as though the suit was repairing itself.

They had discovered through trying to cut off small pieces of it that if it stayed away from the ghost for more than 5 minutes it would dissolve into green ectoplasm. They both came to the idea that the suit was made of ectoplasm, as well, and was just an extension of Phantom. Which was very interesting in and of itself. But it also meant that if they took it off, it would only come back with time and he could lose more of his ectoplasm trying to remake it.

Both men turned at the sound of a light knock on the doorframe. They turned around to see Steve standing there, now in civilian clothes and bandages on his side and arms. "How is he?" He stepped more into the room looking down at the boy.

Tony walked closer. "He's stabilizing, but he should have woken up already."

"We don't know anything about his species, and the stuff we are learning is coming from Mr. Trickster in the hallway." Bruce jabbed his thumb in the direction behind them where Loki was. "We don't know exactly how true the stuff he is saying is." He turned back to the useless equipment in the room. "We can't even do any experiments because we have no idea what it will do to his energy signature."

Cap nodded as he looked over to the EKG, eyes narrowing at the straight line. Suddenly he felt a shiver and turned back to the ghost. "It's so cold in here.'' His brow narrowed as he concentrated on the feeling around him. It felt like he would be able to see his breath, soon.

"It's coming from him." Tony pointed with his pen. "His body seems to be simultaneously giving off cold and sucking in heat. It must have something to do with his energy source."

"Should we turn up the heat?" Cap asked.

Banner shook his head. "We believe that he is trying to fight off the heat. It might expend more of his energy if we add more."

"But he's getting colder and we don't know why, and if it goes any further we don't know what to do." Tony said.

Cap's brows furrowed. "Have you talked with Loki?"

"Not yet. The cold is new." Tony responded. "We were going to watch him for a bit more first."

"And his phone?" Cap tilted his head looking at the item on the desk. It had a wire sticking out of it and was plugged into one of the monitors and Tony was trying to hack it. The screen was practically shattered. But it looked like it had been for a while.

"Surprisingly I haven't gotten that far with it. I'd like to shake the hand of the person who programmed the lock on this." He put his hand to his chin. "But I managed to get in far enough so that we could reach the last number he called. I just hope they know what to do." He picked up the phone and passed it to Cap.