Damon Gray had clocked out of work early, calling into his assistant and telling her, he was having a family crisis. Trisha Stonewell was going to be visiting at around four-thirty for a tour of Axiom’s R & D department and the security systems with Vladimir Masters. Damon swallowed. That man had single-handedly dragged him out of poverty and, as a single father, that had meant the world. That April three years ago had been the hardest he had since losing his wife. Planning the security for Axiom when they wouldn’t allow ghost technology from a private branch or ghost tech, in general, to be used for security of the facility had made things even harder. So he was forced to make do with what he could and installed equipment to the best of his abilities that following May.
Digital surveillance, retinal scanning access portals, titanium doors, laser deterrents….
“…..As promised, this is the most secure facility in the United States.” He closed his eyes, exhibiting every amount of confidence as he strolled with his boss and the two guards for the facility keeping pace behind them. At least he had hoped his claim wouldn’t be put under fire. Axiom had contracts with government interests and it’s research into the paranormal made speaking about such things taboo…. So his pleas for ghost proof tech for security had been looked at as mute. There was a glance to the older gentleman just behind him to gauge reaction, his smile still showing confidence.
Clint Rickman’s glasses were perched on his hawk-like nose boredly, hands behind his back to make himself more intimidating to his obviously slightly nervous employee. His dark eyebrow raised almost smugly to the man. Damon squeezed his wrist behind his back slightly to keep himself calm as the balding individual answered flippantly. “Well done, Damon. You can feel free to bill me for the remainder of your fee.”
His daughter was becoming quite the spender and had said something about her new top but the words were lost to him. He closed his eyes again this time in relief at the thought a paycheck would be coming in. Valerie had swiped his American Express for a four hundred and seventy-nine dollar top at a boutique near the mall that last Sunday and he was tight with rent for the month.Mr. Rickman was still speaking and Damon cringed internally. “It’s good to know those smelly security dogs are a thing of the past.”
And then everything Damon had prayed wouldn’t happen, did. Barking ripped through hall behind them in reverberating booms just before huge dents were slammed into the titanium armored doors. Doors that would normally hold up against a car railing into them at seventy-five miles per hour. Phantom flew in just after that, white hair disheveled more so despite being stuck in perpetual floating and freckled cheeks glistened with sweat, skidding on his back to land in front of the group. Damon felt like facepalming and his eyes were wide through his glasses.
“What are you?!” Valerie all but screeched, grey-green eyes both angered and muddled with caution and shock. Then again he doubted she remembered anything regarding the paranormal. A few eyewitness accounts and her popular friends being intrigued about the near-fatal collision. Damian Plasmius had been chasing a thief that stole Sanchez’s purse and his daughter had found herself thrown into the road in the chase.
It was almost sad irony she had been touched by a man gifted with apparently ghostly attributes and yet remembered none of the encounter. Damian had snatched her out of the way of oncoming traffic and here she was glaring at a teenage ghost with almost as much malice as the pedestrians that had rounded on both Damian and Valerie to bludgeon them out of fear of the paranormal. Damon Gray had only walked into the aftermath to see a man, human in every right except for his fangs and glowing red eyes, being beaten to death. He only found out later that Damian had somehow teleported the two out of the path of the vehicle thanks to the Axiom security cameras tested to monitor insurance claims for the businesses in the area. Paulina Sanchez and her friend Star hung out almost exclusively with Valerie for that entire month of April and leading into May due to the event. His daughter spent her every waking hour shopping and gossiping with the two thinking she had been gifted an upgrade in status.
Damon, in contrast, had spent his hours looking for Plasmius in abandoned warehouses, apartment buildings, rundown hotels, and alleyways…each search had been fruitless. The security office he spent time in for maintenance in Axiom even had the calendar set to the wrong month until mid-June due to his stress on both the project and his newfound friend’s unknown fate. He had assumed the demon cuffed to the man had dragged the poor soul away or worse…finally made good on her word to possess him. Damon cringed mentally as he drove, remembering how she had tasted Damian.
Looking at the road as he turned down the middle-class neighborhood he had moved his daughter to after being promoted, he continued reminiscing on that fateful day.
May 23rd, 2016, the day he was fired and his daughter found a new thing to hate with an unbridled passion.
The dog, Axiom Lab tags and all, busted through like a vindictive, slobbery spirit of retribution. Globules of green spectral slobber in bucket-like amounts were tossed to flop with sickening splats on all of them, the most seeming to lang on his daughter and her ridiculously overpriced gossip shirt.
Danny Phantom apparently tried lightening the situation with an awkward chuckle before answering her previous question while poking a white glove at her, “I’ll tell you what I’m not: Coated with dog saliva.”
Valerie screamed in anger.
The dog ran past them.
Then everything took an even sharper detour for the worst. Phantom could be heard yelling desperately for the animal to stop as the tank sized hound plowed through yet another armored door and proceeded to break and rip apart every single tether computer for the Axiom’s remote sourced files. Guns could be heard fired, the spectral technology he had been forbidden to use for the system. The guards were GIW issued and were meant to ascertain possible paranormal attack given recent issues in Amity Park. The blasters fired thick and congealed beams of harsh red laser-like light, much like ectoblasts but designed in theory to stun and possible knockout spectral entities. If either the dog or Phantom was shot they would most likely become permanent editions to the R and D department’s beaker collection…or at least what was left of it from the destruction. To Damon’s increasing horror the shots weren’t exactly ‘stun’ in setting and large pieces of support metal were blasted out so the ceiling began to cave in segments. These men were aiming to obliterate and not capture.
He needed to safely get the two trigger, happy idiots, away from their weapons. Regrettably, it was going to cost him but that was a small price to pay if it meant a spectral teenager trying to stop the destruction and a dog rightly justified in its revenge could escape. There was a swallow as he sprung forward to the green button by the steel doors, “Stand back everybody! This state-of-the-art security system can stop anything.”
The muted and non-spectral version of the lasers he had been allowed to build the security system with descended from the ceiling, meant to lightly zap and alert local police and firefighters of an attempted burglar. The sphere spun, lacing light in almost blindingly fast arches. Both boy and dog phased through the beams to Damon’s relief. He could hear two more GIW cronies coming up behind them to help with getting rid of the intruders. The lasers, of course, scanned the humans left in the room and deployed the net feature for restraint of the supposed intruders. Green whipped out and Damon felt the air knocked out of him as both he and his daughter were slung to be wrapped with the four GIW men and his boss.
“Except a pasty-faced teenager.” Rickman’s voice echoed in the smoking room as almost a growl but restrained due to the mixed company.
Damon already knew his damnation for netting his boss and the GIW agent’s under the company owner’s direct orders to supervise the supposed tour of systems. “I’m fired, aren’t I.” It was a statement of fact and he awaited the verdict to be cemented almost defeatedly. His daughter might as well hear from the horse’s mouth why they would need to be moving out of the house.
Rickman was turning red from embarrassment, “You’re not just fired, you’re ruined.”
He, of course, looked to his daughter just after that and found her staring back, shock evident on her face. Doing the right thing doesn’t always mean being rewarded. Val had needed to learn that lesson.
By the end of that May, he had ‘captured’ one teenager and filed countless reports of property damage and insurance claims to HQ. Things slowly got better with more funds being given to security and he began moving up month by month. Vladimir Masters had been a big part of that and an even bigger pushing force several months ago when Damon was promoted to head of Axiom Labs that February. It was nice having a sympathetic boss that didn’t blame ghost mishaps on him and helped as often as possible. When that virus invaded the system network for the satellite, Masters had simply waved it off and even given him a nice dinner out with his daughter for the trouble. The man had even offered Valerie an internship that she had accepted happily around a week ago. They were living modestly but happy now. Money was being put back for college and retirement. Plans were being made for a possible father/daughter camping trip just prior to school starting up….
Seeing the turn on Laurel for his house, the man swerved the wheel into the driveway and popped open the front door in a rush. A camellia yellow door swung inward to rattle against the doorstop. There was a stumble on the red welcome mat and a fumble for a wall before he picked his pace up again and turned to his office. He needed at least one spectral net from his stash and a gun in the event Agrat was chasing Plasmius for some personal bonding time. Opening his desk he fumbled frantically around the contents before his thumb found the latch for the faux bottom. Pulling it out with a practiced flick of his wrist, Mr. Gray reached into the pace for his weapon only to freeze at a footstep near the doorway. Gray-green eyes looked up to meet his daughter’s. Her thick mocha hair was braided this morning down her back and instead of her usual headband, she was wearing a few small flower clips to hold her bangs in place. A flowing yellow over- the -shoulder top with tiny lace scalloped edges at the hem fluttered slightly as a hand reached to the door frame. Her brow was furrowed.
Mr. Gray forced an air of calm and smiled gently to her, placing the gun just out of sight. “ Val? Have you seen that memo folder I had set aside last night for the cameras in hall J3?”
She relaxed immediately and gently smiled at him. “ No, dad. I was busy at Jazmine’s remember?”
Mr. Gray chuckled tiredly. There was a relief in knowing his daughter didn’t have a suit or weapons hidden in her room anymore and the fact she was socializing with people again was a blessing. There were still reports of a suit running around with a hover sled in Amity but his daughter had assured him she had taken care of the equipment. Another young ghost hunter supplied by a mystery sponsor in his daughter’s absence it would seem. He didn’t need his child picking fights with the paranormal or accidentally coring something innocent or kind like Plasmius or Phantom. He paused and took a small inhale before smirking, mustache crinkling slightly as his eyes smiled to his little girl. “ Someone’s dressed up. Are you going on a date perhaps?”
Valerie blushed and knocked a thickly curled lock of hair away from her eyes to be tucked behind her ear. “Wednesdays I don’t have shifts and with the summer work crowd, I doubt they’ll call me in anytime soon for a few hours of work. I’m going to try hunting some jobs.”
Mr. Gray put a hand to his chin and raised an eyebrow, “ You’re wearing lipgloss.”
Valerie turned mahogany and her ears tinted wine in hue from the teasing. Finally, she relented. “Okay …So I may have met a boy. He’s older than me though…”
Mr. Gray stiffened and then looked to his daughter with slightly narrowed eyes. “ How much older?”
Valerie stiffened. How to explain this one? She could just imagine that conversation, ‘Oh, you know… one thousand six hundred give or take a few years?’
Instead, she went the safer and less wordy explanation, “ He’s twenty-one…”
Damon froze up, “ You’re dating an adult….An adult who’s-”
Valerie rolled her eyes. “ We aren’t dating yet. I’m trying to lure him into it.”Then she froze and hands went to her hips. An eyebrow raised in offense as she thumped a hand to her breast. “ And I’m eighteen. It’s two adults hanging out.”
Damon sighed heavily. His daughter was strong and hot-tempered and she could hold her own in a fight or defend herself if the boy she was planning on dating turned out to be trouble.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he looked to her tiredly “ When do I meet this mystery man?”
Valerie’s eyebrow twitched. “Nope. Absolutely not.” A head shook. “ I do not need you doing something weird and ruining this for me dad. I know you threatened Danny when I dated him and-”
Damon raised an eyebrow and interrupted with a mock offense, “ Me doing something weird?” Then he noted the way his daughter was dressed more closely. Jeans, modest shirt, and light makeup…
He motioned to her again, “You’re done up. More so than the usual tank top and skirt you run around in most of the time and your hair is braided, not simply tucked under a headband. You’re sending me mixed signals and I’m curious as to why my daughter is showing less skin than she usually does in Summer.”
Valerie blushed and a hand went to her hair. “ Is it to much?” There was an ache of nervousness in her voice that almost cracked at the end.
Damon blinked. ‘ My God, my baby is serious about this.’ There was a gentle smile as he walked over to her, weaponry temporarily forgotten as he looped a hand to her chin. “You look lovely Valerie. I just want to make sure you’re safe. You’re the only thing I have in this world to protect and the most precious thing I have ever had the honor of holding. I just want to know my little girl is safe. Little reassurances. Phone calls, set dates, knowing the boy’s parents.”
Valerie smiled but it fell slightly in the corners. Romulus didn’t have a cell phone, parents, or even his own clothes as of now. She was the one setting up dates and tugging him into the world.
Damon noted the look and looked to her worriedly. “ Did I say something stupid?”
Valerie shook her head, “ No, I just realized he doesn’t have a phone or parents. He’s not exactly from around here. He was staying over at the Fenton’s because of a ghost attack and-” She shivered in remembrance of her suit’s blade puncturing through his chest. A hand gripped to her wrist, fiddling with a few silver bangles as she averted her eyes. “He’s been hurt pretty badly and needs help getting around.”
Damon stiffened, “What happened to him?”
Valerie had a choice to make. Tell her father she stabbed a ghost trying to save her in a possessed raid on a demon nest or give a half baked lie in appeasement. She took a deep breath. “Dad …remember my ghost hunting suit a while back? The one Phantom destroyed in front of the school last February?”
Damon tensed and nodded, looking to her worriedly. “Yes. The suit that was shot through the chest and dragged to Axiom in a still-smoking pile of plastic and metal. The one I had to see destroyed on the Axiom camera’s set up around Amity and the same one that suddenly snapped onto you when I confronted Phantom in the lab after he tried killing you earlier in the day?” His eyes hardened slightly. That could easily have been Valerie. “ The one you supposedly got rid of?”
Valerie winced at the memory, remembering how the new suit worked so effortlessly and who she had used it on. She had fried Daniel’s equipment and could have easily shattered the helmet providing air to him or stifled his lungs, leaving him to revert into his non-ectoplasmic shielded human form in the cold of space. The helmet only worked for him because his hazmat suit had released enough energy to the item to create a sort of vacuum seal. Just one more second against her board and she would have been a murderer. It was a miracle the suit’s mainframe had clicked on after she recovered from being knocked out. Vladimir Masters typing code frantically and giving her suit calculations to land back in Amity Park without frying on re-entry had been her only saving grace. She should’ve died and that lesson had come at a hard price. Masters requested a meeting at his manor for the suit to be returned. She complied but hated the idea of being ripped from the equipment because of her recklessness. Then her world was torn apart when he examined her and realized she was fused at a molecular level with a ghostly artifact due to ectoplasmic corruption. The next day at school was tough. Her life was too complicated thanks to what had happened for simply fading back into a normal high school routine. She would never be normal again.
And so she broke off dating Danny. Her father had been thrilled, thinking the resurgence of ghost attacks were partially related to the boy’s anti-ghost upbringing.
Confliction was quickly apparent on her features as she bit her lip and tried keeping herself from crying. By admitting this she would be admitting to her father that not only had she kept the suit instead of giving it back to her ‘secret sponsor’, but that she had also become terminally fused to it. “ Dad …There is something important I have to tell you…About the suit….”
Damon withdrew his hand like he had been tased and his eyes widened slightly, “Val? Please tell me that hunter on the news isn’t you. That you returned that suit to the person who gave it to you. Please sweety.” The last part became more of a plea. He wanted her to have a good life, a life not at constant risk of being extinguished because she picked fights with the paranormal.
She stiffened and, for the briefest moment, her eyes flashed a fluorescent purple. Damon blinked in shock. There was a swallow as he noticed the tears trailing down his daughter’s face. “Sweety? Please….What-”
Tired green-gray eyes looked up to him, silently pleading for understanding. “ Dad. The suit-” She took a deep breath. ‘ Just tear this off like a bandaid.’
“It’s not a suit anymore.It’s me.” She bit her lip awaiting a reaction.
Jazmine snorted at this remark, “Just chill, Plasmius. If you’re anything like Danny you need the food to keep both sides healthy.”
Vlad sighed and coincided, “ Yes, I need the substance. I just don’t need the possibility of hurling again.”
Jazmine and Daniel both smiled apologetically. Jazmine comforted, “You’ll be fine.”
Vlad weakly smiled as he was set down. “ If I can manage for four hours without another bout of nausea or a dizzy spell, I will be.”
Both Daniel and Jazmine questioningly looked to him for elaboration. Vlad tiredly rubbed a hand through his hair before laying against the table and curling his hands under his head. “ Firstly? You owe Mr.Foley twenty dollars for withholding information on your anatomy Daniel.”
Daniel crossed his arms, “ What are you yammering about now? Did you conk your head when you phased earlier?”
Vlad blearily shrugged. “ To answer your unspoken questions, Jazmine? Halfas digest food differently than humans. Our bodies take four to five hours to absorb the physical matter into energy directly. Our stomach also absorbs the vitamins and minerals needed to sustain our human form as the energy is absorbed. Everything is restricted to that organ so there are no distinguishable uses for the kidneys or intestines.”
A heart-shaped jaw dropped and Jaz’s head spun to Daniel in surprise, “Wait…So you don’t need to use the bathroom?”
Vlad popped a finger up to Daniel and snickered from where his mouth was obscured near his elbow, “ Bingo.”
Daniel’s cheeks flushed green, “Please tell me you didn’t tell Tuck.”
Vlad snorted, “ I told him by accident yesterday. It was kind of a delirious, pain induced lesson on halfa anatomy.”
Daniel groaned and rubbed his brow tiredly, “ So that’s what you meant by me owing Tuck money….Fine, I’ll make an effort to pay him back when I get my allowance.”
Vlad snorted from under his arms, “ Glad to hear it.”
Spectra nodded and after a moment pecked a small kiss on her husband’s cheek. Her eyes glinted warmly. “It’s going to be so wonderful finally breaking in all of the equipment and surgical tools…”
Bertrand grinned like a Cheshire cat. “ Ah….I almost forgot about all of the tools we carted to the Asylum prior to little Vladimir fleeing. I’m positive none of them are sterile anymore…”
Spectra giggled and purred, “What would that matter to a corpse?”
“ But…you had fangs!” Danny’s voice was laced with evident annoyance but wavered as he spoke.
Vlad, sensing an opportunity to both frighten the teen and shut him up, motioned the sixteen-year-old forward. Once within whisper distance, Vlad sneered jovially, “ If you were curious, next time just ask.” Opening his mouth ever so slightly he allowed the teeth to reveal themselves from under the guise.
Daniel starred in perplexed amazement. “ Woah! Wait. You mean you always have had those?”
Daniel leaned in closer making Vlad slightly uncomfortable.
Annoyed, he leered, “ Always? Pfffff. Spectral fangs just came up a few years after my little accident while I was in the hospital. It unnerves people so I keep them cloaked.”
Daniel rubbed his chin in thought. “So what about that cloak or cape you wear when you transform? It wasn’t some weird wear cosplay to science class day was it?” Daniel suppressed a snicker at the thought.
Vlad’s eyebrow lifted questioningly and his usually stoic face contorted in confusion. “Cosplay?” He questioned. Seeing Daniel’s amused smirk Vlad assumed insult.
“ I’ll have you know Daniel, I didn’t get the luxury of quick zap powers like a certain hyperactive brat.” He glared at the floating phantom, fangs fully exposed and his voice laced in venom.
Raising up his white-gloved hands, Daniel frowned apologetically, “ Sorry, I meant no offense fruit-loop.”
Vlad, still angry, continued. “ My cosplayas you so sarcastically put it just developed with my powers as I shifted from sickly human to half-ghost. I had no say in the matter.”
“ Vlad, do you realize how hilarious this is?” Daniel stifled a laugh. “ Your name is Vlad, you have fangs, and you have a cape!” He pointed toward Vlad’s annoyed skowl accusingly. “You’re an accidental Dracula knock off!”
Vlad’s eyebrow twitched. “ At least I’m not the half-ghost equivalent of insta-ramen, Mr. one minute spook,” Vlad smirked.
Vlad clucked in annoyance and his red eyes narrowed. “ You don’t change. Twenty years later and you’re still quick to jump the gun! Can you just think for five seconds?”
Her guard dropped from the causal statement and Vlad took the opportunity to rush her lithe form. A gloveless hand wrapped around her wrists as he pinned her against the floor while his left hand grasped onto the gun and pointed it away from the two of them. “LET GO!”
Vlad snarled, “ So you can murder me? Fat chance! I prefer not being six feet under!”
“ Funny? Isn’t that where you’re supposed to be?” Maddie hissed venomously. Vlad flinched and his grip loosened slightly.
“ You can’t be this blind… Maddie, don’t you notice? You’re a scientist! A doctor! Can’t you feel that I am tangible? That I have mass and life?”
Maddie tossed and struggled. Seeing his wounded shoulder she eyed him angrily. “All I see is a liar and a coward! You took Danny and hurt Vladimir!”
Vlad stared at her in absolute confusion. “ What type of lunacies are you smoking down at Fenton Works? Does it look like I-”
A sharp bang resonated through the foyer. In his desperate pleas to make her see reason, his grip on the gun had weakened, allowing her to subtly aim it at his already wounded arm. Red eyes weakly faded to a dull cherry, devoid of a ghostly glow. Ectoplasm slowly dripped down the arm and splattered against Maddie’s chest. She smiled in triumph only for something warm to land against her face.
“ You really can’t see my humanity can you Mads?”
Her eyes widened in confused perplexion. A hand let go of his wrist and trailed up to her face in wonder. A black glove tapped against the water and held it aloft. This ghost was crying…
Jack stiffly continued his walk into the kitchen and, grabbing a stool next to Phantom, sat down and placed his gun on the counter. A black glove tapped against the stone somewhat debating. “ Why are you here spook?”
Phantom snorted, “ Protecting people, fighting ghosts…. The family business I suppose?”
Jack glared, “ You know that’s not what I’m asking Phantom.”
Phantom’s green eyes dimmed and he hugged a knee to his chest. “You’re asking why I exist?”
Jack looked to the teen tiredly, “I guess I am.”
Daniel winced, “ Is it wrong? To want to live for others? To do the right thing…?
Jack paused and stared up to Phantom questioningly, “ Odd choice of words. You know you’re dead right?”
Daniel grimaced and snorted, “Am I really?” He chuckled bitterly, “ You know what? I think I’ve been dead inside for nearly two years now… Tell me da-Jack.” Daniel corrected and then continued, “ Am I really evil? Is my existence that big of a sin? What if I really wasn’t a ghost? What if I was something more?”
Jack raised an eyebrow and stared into the counter. “ But you aren’t. You’re not alive. Living people can’t do what you do. They’d die.You’re the ghost of some poor kid that couldn’t move on.”
(WOW! I Can’t believe how many likes this segment of the fic got! It’s being posted to AO3 at a rate of 3 chapters a day starting now but I feel obligated to drop a hint as to where this conversation actually veers. Warnings: Language and angst. ENJOY)
Daniel’s features cracked and his expression became broken. Rubbing his knee against his closed eyelid until he could see spots, he peaked his other green eye toward Jack. “ For someone who hunts the unknown and looks to every possibility you can be so narrow-minded.”
Jack rolled his eyes and motioned around himself, “ What am I supposed to think? Ghosts cause nothing but grief and heartache. They’re shadows that can’t-”
Daniel shot up from the counter and slammed his boots into the floor. New tears plastered through his glowing green freckles in waves and adorned his tanned skin like small pearlescent jewels. “-FEEL? YOU THINK WE’RE EMOTIONLESS?!?! FREE OF PAIN?!?! NEWS FLASH! I FEEL, DAMN IT! I FEEL YOUR WORDS, EVERY GODDAMNED STABBING SYLLABLE! I FEEL PAIN! I FEEL THE BLASTS! EVERY SINGLE SEARING BUZZ AND ZAPP THAT RICHOTETS THROUGH MY FLESH A MILLION TIMES MORE THAN A NORMAL WOUND! I FEEL EVERY SINGLE HIT THAT CONNECTS! I’M A HUMAN BEING FIRST!”
Jack stiffened and looked to the boy in confusion. Reaching a hand out to his shoulder and feeling solidity he froze. Daniel phased through his grasp. “ AM I THAT BIG OF A MONSTER? WASN’T I A PART OF YOUR WORLD FIRST?!?!”
Jack grimaced and his brow furrowed. “ Let’s change the topic Phantom.” His voice cracked. The ghost teen, despite the subtle glow and the echo in his voice deeply reminded him of Daniel.
Phantom screeched, “ Weren’t you the one who wanted answers? I feel! Ghosts feel! And ironically? Human beings have injured me more than the ghouls I fight! Do you have any idea how fucked up that is?!?”
Jack froze and dug a hand through his hair before bitterly snapping, “HOW? HOW CAN YOU FEEL ANYTHING? YOU DON’T HAVE NERVES OR LIVING TISSUE!”
The teenager dug his hands through his own hair and winced before turning away from his father. His voice fell and the water accumulating on his face splattered against the tile. “We’re the essence of feeling! The soul’s form of mind! We are nothing but feeling and emotion! How can you just negate that? Is it because ghosts don’t have physical bodies? I mean FUCK!”
Jack winced and turned away from the teen. “That’s enough Phantom.”
Daniel whipped around and unzipped a portion of his jumpsuit. Jack looked up at the sound and paled at what met his gaze. “ENOUGH?” A large blast mark he had received during his first year lay scarred over on the left side of his chest. “ You think it’s enough? How do you think it feels? To have your own par-” Daniel stopped and yanked up the zipper to conceal the damage.
Jack sat glassy-eyed, just blankly staring at Daniel’s now covered chest. He remembered that night. The image of the boy crying out in agony and gripping his dripping torso as he fell into the park still haunted his dreams. That human scream, those horrified and frightened green eyes…. Jack wasn’t one for regrets, he tended to reason his work as justified… but that night had undoubtedly changed his views on Phantom. He had even begun missing shots on purpose just to avoid having to see the same scene transpire. To now know that pain was possible or even plausible left a heavyweight in his stomach.
Phantom flung his free wrist out as he wiped away the water on his face, “What are you still doing here Jack? Go home!”
Jack jostled from his recollections and averted his gaze. “ I have some questions…”
Daniel snorted angrily, “Of course you do… What do I need to answer in order for you to leave?”
Jack snickered, “ First? Who were the two spooks from earlier?”
Daniel’s eyes flashed up and sparked menacingly, “ Sadistic fuckers with a taste for blood. They’re monsters.”
Jack paused at the glint in Daniel’s eyes and pushed, “ Do you know them?”
Daniel cringed and looked to Jack in disgust and disbelief, “ Just what are you implying? Do you honestly think I’d associate with that scum?”
Jack quirked an eyebrow, “ They seemed to know you Phantom.”
Daniel rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Pulling out a stool with his ecto-energy, the teenager tiredly sat down, “ If you haven’t noticed my line of work doesn’t exactly make me any friends, human or ghost. I’m positive whatever they mentioned about me was probably a negative relation. Beating ghosts up and stuffing them back through to their dimension doesn’t exactly make me a class favorite if you catch my drift.”
“ So you don’t know who they are?” Jack concluded flatly.
Daniel snickered and charged a hand threateningly. “ They better hope I don’t figure out any time soon…” Snarling, the teen subconsciously flared his core, causing a massive temperature drop. Jack sat unaffected by the sudden change as Phantom hissed inhumanly, “After what they’ve pulled? They’d be lucky if I left enough ectoplasm to fill a matchbox after I get ahold of them.”
Jack nodded absently as the white-haired youth extinguished the glowing mass in his hand. Taking a moment of quiet contemplation, he waited for the unsettling neon blue to fade from the boy’s eyes and then asked, “ They mentioned someone else to… Who’s Plasmius?”
Daniel stiffened and looked up to Jack apprehensively, “ He’s none of your concern.”
Anger flashed across the man’s face, “ Not my concern? You seem to forget I have a part in this mess now!”
Daniel raised an eyebrow and flippantly flicked his wrist outward, “ And what do you need to know about him? Better yet? What did those demons say about him?”
Jack pondered the teen’s question and off handled answered,“ They mentioned him in passing, the same as you.”
Daniel sighed heavily, “ If I answer you’ll leave so I can handle this right?”
Jack nodded in agreement and Daniel answered tiredly, “ You’ve met him before at Vladimir’s castle in Wisconsin. Pointy ears? Blue skin? A Romanian prince knockoff with a cheap costume?” Daniel rubbed his eyes and crossed his arms. “I think you and Maddie call him the Wisconsin Ghost?”
Jack’s voice echoed with malice, “That crazy son of a bitch is in on this?”
Phantom winced and stared up to Jack in confusion. “ Aren’t you being a little harsh?”
Jack snorted. “ Oh, forgive me… I seem to remember that freak possessing me, trying to steal my portal and threatening my family! Hell? You even teamed up with me to kick his ass out of my lab!”
Daniel tiredly rubbed his brow and turned to stand. Floating by the bar stool he languidly spoke in a hushed tone. “Everyone screws up. Things happen. That’s life. He’s made mistakes but he’s not the villain here.”
Jack snorted, “ Sure…”
Daniel voice softened, “ He’s not our enemy.”
Jack glared into the counter, “ I think we’re done here.” Holstering his weapon and standing from his stool, he made a move toward the door.
Phantom reached out and stopped him. “ Wait a second…. I know that look. What are you planning?”
Jack smiled cooly. “ Nothing that concerns you.”
Daniel’s eyes widened and his mouth became a tight scowl. “ If you haven’t noticed I’m already a part of this? Not to throw your own words back at you but here we are…”
Jack paused and laughed lightly. “Am I that readable to you?”
Daniel shrugged, “ No… not usually. But I’m familiar with that look. It’s the same look you give when you read about a ghost attack or some random spook and decide to go poking around.”
Pausing, Daniel prodded, “ What are you planning on doing?”
Jack turned to face the teen and pointed to the ceiling. “ If we’re playing twenty questions, why don’t you explain to me what happened in that room?”
Daniel flinched and locking his gaze with his father’s baby blue eyes he spat. “ I was under the impression you were going to leave things alone for me to handle Jack!”
“ You know something don’t you?” Jack calmly countered. Phantom’s eyes immediately broke contact and Jack snarled, “ You spooks never change! You do nothing but lie and harm people constantly.” Pulling out the gun and cutting off the safety with his thumb he aimed it toward the duplicate. “ Tell me what happened Phantom.”
Daniel’s head whipped up and something akin to terror and grief flashed across his features. That single expression crushed any resolve the adult could possibly have hoped to summon in order to pull the trigger. It was pure betrayal and heartache. Closing his eyes, Phantom spoke. “I can’t.”
Jack’s hands shook. “ And why not?”
Biting his lip and still keeping his eyes shut tight, the duplicate pleaded, “ I just can’t! It’ll hurt too many people! Please.”
Jack winced, “ And who could it possibly hurt?”
Daniel’s eyes flashed open and his hand drummed against his own chest, “ IT’LL HURT MY FAMILY!” Taking a ragged breath, which went unnoticed by the startled parent, he continued, “ You’re right! I’m dishonest! I lie constantly… but you know what? I lie to protect the people I love! I’m human …. was a human… I lie because I have no choice. To prevent the people I care about from suffering I’d gladly lie a thousand times over even if it costs me your faith!”
‘ Even if my own father hates me… It’s better he doesn’t know…’
“If you love someone wouldn’t you do the same?!?!?”
Brilliant green eyes locked with Jack’s blue and the man felt his hand loosening on his gun. Sighing he flicked back on the safety and tucked the weapon back into his belt.
“ I’d do the same thing for my family in a heartbeat Phantom. I understand where you’re coming from….but not telling me endangers my family.”
Phantom’s eyes saddened and he rubbed his arm tiredly. “ But if I tell you your family will be put in more danger. Jack, please? Just trust me? I know that it’s hard for you given that I’m-” Phantom flinched and swallowed.
Special thankx to all of the wonderful fanfiction writers that saw the first segment and made an absoultly lit parady fic off of each others writing! I ENJOYED EVERY NEW PIECE OF CONTENT ADDED<3 AND ANOTHER THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REBLOGGED or COMMENTED<3
