Chapter Text
Technus knew that if he wanted his plan to work, he’d have to act quickly. He needed to find a way to spread to as many phones as possible, and from there he’d gain control of every technological device in the world! First, though, he needed to choose an “app” to infiltrate. He glazed by a couple of promising ones that looked popular, but his eyes were drawn to a certain site whose data seemed to be… off somehow. Almost alien.
He was sure the Box Ghost could cause a decent distraction for a couple of moments longer while he discovered the source of the weird code. He entered the app and was pleased to find that it was buzzing with life. It didn’t seem as hyperactive as some other sites he had heard of, and some had even thought Tumblr to be dead, but users continued as normal, making posts and sharing them nonetheless.
Technus looked into the trending tags, trying to decide what would reach the most people, but his eye caught a tag that hadn’t even made the top 8. Buried within the endless amount of tags, one titled “Dannypocalypse” stood out to him. The tag seemed to have only been used once, and it was around this time last year. However, unlike the other older tags, this one was chained with a lock around it, almost keeping it in place and it shook slightly. It gave off a strange aura, but Technus could sense it was a powerful one as well. Maybe this “Dannypocalypse” would be useful in his journey to world domination!
He isolated the single tag, floating closer to it slowly. If he really paid attention, he could hear a faint screeching noise and see an almost light emitting from the tag alone. No matter the results, this would certainly be interesting.
Summoning an electric shock, he carefully aimed for the lock and fired, breaking it instantly. The letters began to shake violently, and before he could realize what was happening, thousands of creatures seemed to appear and rush past him in a blur. He turned around to try and see where they went, but the moment he blinked they were gone. The only thing he was left with was the sinking feeling that something was about
to go horribly wrong.
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If you had asked Danny how he thought this fight would go, he would’ve told you that it all would’ve been handled in less than 10 minutes/ He should have been able to return to his chemistry lab before his teacher noticed he was out, and continue with his day as normal. It was just Boxy he was dealing with after all, why would it be a problem?
Well, apparently it wasn’t “just Boxy,” because when he caught up to him and was just about to capture him, he immediately ratted out that he had also been working with Technus. He also graciously added that he would never figure out what he had planned, because he hadn’t told him either. It was sure to be great though because Technus was super smart! Boxy’s words, not his.
After capturing the Box Ghost, Danny had a solid 5 seconds to think about what to do before all hell broke loose. A phone started floating towards him, and if that wasn’t suspicious already, he could also hear a very familiar ringing emitting from it as well. His calculating look from before dropped into one of pure dread as the phone screen brightened before releasing the creatures with his face.
They dispersed quickly, the screeching sound getting louder as more exited the phone. Using pure reflex alone, Danny tried to use the Fenton Thermos to capture some of them, but it had no effect, their unknown path never changing course. All Danny could do was stand and watch as the creatures rushed past him, spreading endlessly through Amity Park.
After a while, the phone suddenly dropped a distance away from him, with no more creatures flying out through it. Danny flew towards it, catching it before it hit the ground. It looked completely ordinary despite whatever had just happened moments before.
Suddenly, a scream rang out from somewhere in the town, probably due to whatever chaos the creatures were causing after being recently released. Danny sighed as he started flying to try and figure out how to deal with them when he was interrupted by a voice.
“In all honesty, I was not expecting this to happen.”
Danny whipped his head towards the sound to face none other than Technus himself. His outfit and hair were disheveled, and he looked like he had just walked out of a tornado. Danny cringed before moving closer to address the other ghost.
“So I’m going to assume this was your doing?” Danny asked with a sigh. Technus paused for a second, seemingly looking for a reasonable excuse, but after coming up with nothing, simply dropped his head and nodded.
“But it wasn’t even a part of my grand scheme!” Technus said. “I originally just wanted to use a popular app to then take control of all technology, as one does-”
“Yeah, ‘as one does’,” Danny muttered while rolling his eyes, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“And then I see this one app that seems to have some weird data running through it, so of course I have to see what’s going on with it. It could’ve been dangerous!” Technus exclaimed, seemingly pleading to get Danny to understand him.
Danny simply gawked at him after that sentence. “So you can feel perfectly fine taking over all existing technology, but a bit of weird code is where you start thinking about danger?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Me taking over technology would not be dangerous at all! Maybe it will even benefit some of you to step away from the screens. Corrupted data, however, could lead to important files just disappearing, and everything crashing!” Technus responded matter-of-factly. “Obviously, it was so well hidden that only I, the great Technus, would’ve been able to handle it effectively,” he said to himself with a nod.
Danny dragged a hand down his face in frustration. “I’m gonna need you to hurry this story up. Those things are still out there, and I still have no way to know how to send them back from wherever they came!” he exclaimed, before adding under his breath, “Again.”
“Alright, fine,” Technus acquiesced. “They came from this app called Tumblr and they were locked behind this tag called Dannypocalypse. That’s where the weird energy was coming from. It was locked in chains so I broke them and now here we are,” he quickly summarized. “Also, does that ringing seem familiar to you?”
“YES, because I had to deal with it for days on end LAST YEAR!” Danny yelled, with Technus floating away from him slightly in surprise.
After a pause, Technus spoke up again, rambling while slowly moving away from Danny. “Well, it seems like this problem is now out of my domain. I do wish you the best of luck, Ghost Boy, but it seems like my time here is up. I know my way back to your portal, you don’t have to worry about-”
Danny cut him off by grabbing his wrist and pulling him with him. “Oh no, you’re not leaving me to deal with this mess alone. I don’t know how much help you can be, but I do know that if you sneak away before this gets resolved, the next time I catch you, I’m keeping you in the thermos for the next 3 months. Got it?” Danny asked with a smile, but Technus could see the dark glare in his eyes and could interpret the threat from a mile away. He nodded wordlessly before following Danny out of the mall’s loading dock.