[Third Person Pov]
As Technus's body hurtled through the air at supersonic speed, the metallic ghost forced himself to grind to a halt. The air around him warped, momentum ballooning outward in a concussive shockwave that rippled across the sky. He straightened with a furious shudder, sparks dancing along the joints of his armored frame.
Technus lifted a trembling hand to his cheek where Danny's fist had left a perfect imprint—an outline of knuckles dented deep into polished metal. His fingers brushed the corner of his lip, smearing the streak of ectoplasmic blood that trickled down. He rolled his jaw slowly, testing it with a low growl, before spitting out a shattered silver tooth that clinked against the air like a tossed coin.
"You'll pay for that, you miserable brat!" Technus screeched, voice crackling like static as he blasted forward in a violent burst of speed.
"Urgh—seriously!? Just how sturdy is this guy!?" Danny groaned. He shot forward as well, fists drawn back and glowing fiercely, arcs of ecto-energy coiling around his arms like flaming green serpents.
The pair spiraled through the sky like twin streaks of spectral ribbon, twisting, clashing, and ricocheting off each other with explosive force. Danny could feel Technus's blows hammering down on him—each one fast and merciless, like being hit by a bullet train. By comparison his own punches felt clumsy and heavy, more like being rammed by a runaway truck. Technus had the edge in both raw power and blistering speed, but Danny kept himself afloat through refined technique and experience.
Far above them, Superman spotted the Technus-bot reentering the atmosphere. It tore across the sky like a flaming meteorite, the heat of reentry igniting its frame until it looked like a comet aimed straight at Metropolis.
With a crack of displaced sound, Superman rocketed upward, leaving behind expanding rings of pressure. His fist was drawn high, aimed with perfect precision. As he slammed into the Technus-bot, the machine erupted in a massive, blossoming explosion—one large enough to have flattened the city below. The shockwave rolled outward, but Superman's punch carried so much force that it dispersed the explosion entirely, scattering the inferno into harmless drifting embers.
His ears, finally healed, twitched as a distant grunt of pain reached him. He turned sharply—and froze for half a second. Technus, still in Metallo's stolen body, had drawn his electric Morningstar weapon and was swinging it down at Danny with murderous intent.
Danny conjured a force-field around himself—multiple layers thick, each one reinforced with every scrap of energy he could muster. But Technus's newfound strength inside Metallo's frame rendered those layers meaningless.
The Morningstar crashed into the shield with a deafening impact. A detonation of electric charge burst outward, lighting up the air in web-like streaks of white-hot lightning. The energy crawled over the force-field in a violent storm—before the entire construct shattered in an instant.
Every layer—gone, obliterated.
The next blow slammed into Danny's body. He felt the world flash white, his consciousness tearing at the edges like paper. He was launched downward, trailing a serpentine path of electricity as his limp body plummeted toward the maze of shipping containers near the docks.
He struck the ground like a falling star.
A thunderous shockwave exploded outward, flattening stacks of massive shipping containers and leaving a smoldering crater where he landed. Green ectoplasmic blood splattered across the dirt and crater. His clothes were shredded, bones horribly displaced, bruises blooming deep across his skin. Blood trickled from his mouth; several broken ribs jutted grotesquely through torn flesh.
"DANNY!!" Superman roared, the cry splitting the air as he broke the sound barrier rushing toward him.
Technus arrived first, landing with a metallic thud beside Danny's motionless body. He raised the crackling Morningstar high above his head. "Goodbye, nuisance!"
The weapon came down—only to crash into something unyielding.
A red-and-blue blur intercepted the strike, Superman planting himself protectively over Danny with his arms raised like pillars of steel. The Morningstar smashed into his forearms, sending a colossal jolt of force rippling through his entire body. It traveled down his spine, into his legs, and burst outward from his feet, widening the crater beneath them like an expanding bomb blast.
Superman felt his strength bleeding out of him again as he stood too close to Technus's kryptonite-powered body. His vision blurred, knees buckling as an invisible weight crushed down on his chest.
"ARGGHHH!! All of you are a bunch of nuisances!" Technus roared. He swung his crackling Morningstar across Superman's face, the impact launching the Man of Steel like a ragdoll. Superman slammed into a massive shipping container, the metal crumpling inward with a shriek as his body embedded into its side.
Technus spun back toward Danny, weapon raised—only for Superman's heat vision to blaze across the battlefield. A searing beam struck the Morningstar, blasting it out of Technus's grip. The villain barely had time to reach, Superman shot forward, hands outstretched.
Their hands locked—metal against trembling flesh—and the resulting shockwave nearly sent Danny's unconscious body rolling across the crater.
As they fought for dominance, Technus unleashed a surge of electricity that wrapped around Superman like living chains. "ARGGHHHH!!" Superman screamed, electricity crawling across his suit, burning into his skin. But he refused to let go. Letting go meant Danny would die. Letting go wasn't an option.
Superman's cry tore Danny back to consciousness.
Danny's eyes fluttered open. His body screamed in agony, tears slipping from the corners of his eyes unbidden from the pain alone. He forced himself upright, every movement sparking white-hot pain. His legs nearly gave out immediately, but he dug his heels into the cracked earth and fought to stay standing.
He opened his mouth to speak—only for a mouthful of blood to fall heavily at his feet.
His breathing was ragged. When he looked down, he saw his broken ribs sticking out through torn skin. "That is… definitely not where that belongs…" he wheezed.
"Danny, go!" Superman shouted between gritted teeth. "I'll hold him back!!"
"How are you still standing in your condition?!" Technus screeched, eyes snapping toward Danny in disbelief.
Danny lifted a trembling hand to his face as a stabbing migraine shot through his skull. "Sorry, Supes… I can't do that." He coughed, wiping away more blood. "I'm not leaving you behind. I'll fight with you—right to the very end."
He placed both hands over the ribs protruding from his chest. With a sickening crunch, he pushed them back into place, grunting as pain overwhelmed his senses.
"And the answer to your question, Technus?" he panted, shoulders squaring despite the agony. "I'm a hero."
He closed his eyes. Faces flashed through his mind—his family, their pride when they learned the truth about him. His mother's smile. His father's awkward joy. Jazz's pride.
'I'll keep making you all proud… I promise…'
Danny's eyes snapped open. They pulsed with a vibrant green glow as his determination ignited something deep within him. His aura flared wildly.
"And the essence of a hero—" Danny roared, muscles tightening, power swirling around him like a storm, "—is standing back up when they're down!!"
With a cry ripped straight from his soul, Danny shot forward. His fist collided with Technus's jaw with a thunderous boom, the sheer emotional force behind it sending the villain skidding backward across the yard.
Superman dropped to one knee, steam rising from his scorched and battered body. Danny stumbled over to him, draping Superman's arm across his shoulders.
"I'm the one who should be supporting you…" Superman muttered with a guilty frown. "You're in worse shape than I am."
Danny winced, one eye clenched shut. "We'll support each other…"
Superman gave a weak, breathless chuckle. "I like the sound of that, partner."
"You two are seriously getting on my nerves!!" Technus snarled, summoning his weapon back to his hand in a flash of electricity.
Danny and Superman exchanged a nod—and flew in together as a unified front.
Superman used his ice breath to freeze Technus' hands to his weapon, while Danny unleashed a blazing, ecto-charged punch into Technus's torso. Side by side, they struck in perfect rhythm. Sonic booms. Heat vision. Ecto-constructs. Every trick they had. Every drop of strength they could muster.
But it still wasn't enough.
Technus backhanded Danny out of the air, sending him spiraling into another shipping container, metal exploding outward in a shower of sparks. Superman attempted to retreat, but Technus seized his cape and yanked him down with such force that the concrete beneath them cracked like glass.
Technus's chest plates split open, revealing the glowing kryptonite core. Its sickly green light washed over Superman.
Instantly, the pain intensified. "Ahhhh!!" Superman cried, clutching his face as the radiation tore into him. His cheek and hands blistered grotesquely, skin mutating and peeling away.
Danny phased into existence beside him, face contorted with determination. He pulled two flying disks from his belt and hurled them. Technus phased through the first one—but the second detonated prematurely, unleashing a blinding flash that forced Technus to recoil with a scream.
Danny dropped a smoke bomb at their feet. The battlefield vanished into thick green haze.
Technus swung wildly, his voice rising in furious confusion. "Again!? Where did they go?!"
…
Danny carried Superman up above the clouds, phasing them through the mist until they reached the open sky, it was late afternoon where both the sun and moon were present at the same time.
He formed a wide, glowing ecto-platform beneath them. The moment their feet touched it, both heroes collapsed, gasping for breath.
"This… is proving to be impossible…" Danny muttered, clutching his ribs as he fell to one knee.
"Don't say that…" Superman forced out, every word strained. "You mustn't lose hope. There is a way to beat him. We just… haven't thought of it yet."
Danny groaned in frustration. "Yeah, but how do we beat him? Technus inside Metallo's body is a nightmare. He's stronger and faster than I am—and at the same time he's making you weaker than him the closer you get. It's like… the perfect counter to both of us."
He paused and his widened as an idea sparked behind his eyes, he pushed himself to quickly stand—
—then instantly sat back down with a yelp. "Ow! Ow—okay, nope, stood up way too fast!"
Superman blinked at him. "What is it? Did you think of a plan?"
Danny nodded, then winced as the motion sent another stab of pain through his skull. "Yeah. A crazy one. But I think I know how to beat both Technus and Metallo."
Superman leaned closer. "I'm listening."
"The answer," Danny said with a shaky breath, "is… we copy them."
Superman stared at him. "Huh?"
Danny grit his teeth and forced himself upright. "Okay, this is going to sound beyond insane, but I need you to trust me. I need to… overshadow your body."
Superman didn't even hesitate.
"Go right ahead." He laid flat on the ecto-platform like he was preparing for a nap.
Danny blinked rapidly. "Huh? That's it? No questions? No concerns? No moral objections about ghost-possession?"
Superman lifted himself on his elbows, giving Danny a warm, earnest smile that practically radiated sunlight. "Of course I have questions. But you told me to trust you, didn't you?"
Danny's breath hitched.
"And I do trust you," Superman finished. "We're partners. And partners trust each other."
Danny looked down, fighting the huge grin trying to break across his face. His chest warmed. His eyes softened.
"Thank you," he said sincerely. He extended his hand toward Clark. "Now let's go stop him—together."
"Together," Superman said, taking Danny's hand without hesitation.
The moment their hands touched, Danny's form flowed directly into the crest on Superman's chest, while simultaneously the sun kept descending and the moon started to rise higher and higher.
Superman gasped sharply as his body straightened. His eyes squeezed shut as his back arched, power surging through him like a tidal wave.
The iconic House of El symbol on his chest released an emerald light—then began to shift.
The red and yellow drained away, replaced with stark black and blazing white, forming a new insignia: the SP emblem.
Color bled outward like living ink—Superman's blue suit shading into deep phantom black, his red cape bleaching into a brilliant ghost-white. His hair paled strand by strand until it was snow white, shimmering in the growing darkness of the night.
Green light pulsed beneath his eyelids as he rose and stood with his back towards the moon.
Then—slowly—they opened.
Twin orbs of glowing jade stared out, crackling with a mixture of heat vision and ectoplasmic fire.
His aura exploded outward, a blend of ghostly energy and kryptonian might twisting into a spiraling halo around him. The air itself vibrated with the power of two heroes merged as one.
A voice echoed—not quite Superman, not quite Danny, but a perfect fusion of both.
"I think this partnership deserves a name…"
He placed his hands at his hips, chest thrust forward with pride and unstoppable determination.
"From now on…" the dual voice declared, rumbling with heroic power, "we'll call ourselves—
THE SUPER-PHANTOM!!"
*Title Reveal: Metallo-Technus Vs. The Super-Phantom!*
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