Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom. If I did I'd sell him and pay off my student loans.
Valerie Grey sped through the night sky, the lights of houses and streets streaking by beneath her. She glanced down at the tracker on her wrist where two blinking lights indicated the presence and direction of two powerful ghosts. From the way they spun and bounced off one another, she could guess that they were fighting. She was pretty much certain she knew the identity behind one of the lights but the identity behind the second was a mystery. The light representing it was bright and pulsing, however, so she knew that whatever it was, it was powerful. There was a small knot in her stomach, almost like stage fright, as she raced towards the fight.
By the time she arrived at the scene, her visor had begun to fog up slightly in the humid summer night. She tilted her head and tensed the muscles in her shoulders causing the internal cooling system to activate. While the suit had originally been impressive enough, the enhancements it had acquired with its ghostly upgrade still astounded her. Technology that sensitive (and amazingly accurate, she mused, as none of the suit's devices were never triggered by accident) seemed like something out of this world- which of course it was, really.
She hovered just on the edge of the city park and watched as the two specters flashed past her eyes. Despite their high speeds it only took her a moment to analyze them. There was the one she had expected, the ghost boy, flying towards the one she didn't recognize. It was a large hulking figure with a human-like form. Its face however, was that of a beast's; sharp teeth in a canine jaw, large glowing cat eyes, and the pointed ears of a wolf. Spread behind it were a pair of enormous half decayed feathered wings, mottled and dead, making it a sick parody of an angel.
Suddenly the paranormal creature stopped dead in its tracks and whipped around to face its pursuer. The aura that surrounded it began to glow more intensely, filling the air around it with a sickly pale light. The ghost boy made no move to indicate he was intimidated, instead he charged ahead flying at the thing at full speed with a determined yell. A sound, that only a beast could make, came out of the creature's mouth, wailing into the night. There was a flash of light and the boy was sent hurtling through the air and crashed loudly into a tree before falling to the ground.
Biting back the temptation to yell something at the demonic figure, Valerie took careful aim and shot the thing squarely in the back. It gave a howl and whipped around to meet her, receiving another shot squarely between the eyes. Not hesitating another moment, it launched itself through the air towards her, its monster's mouth clenched and menacing. She dodged and flew right, jumping out of the way of its grasp not a moment too soon.
She prepared to dodge again and readied another shot but it wasn't needed. A column of light shot out behind the beast and she watched as the blue beam dragged it backwards, its unearthly howls echoing into the night, its human-like hands clawing at the air. In a matter of seconds it had disappeared.
She flew over to the white-haired ghost, who was now holding the beast prisoner.
"What the hell was that thing, Phantom?" After two and a half years her first reaction was no longer to shoot first and ask questions later. She couldn't exactly be said to hold any affection for the ghost but she recognized he was helpful more often than he was harmful. So she grudgingly allowed him to help her fight and only shot at him when she felt he'd done something to deserve it. He would be tolerated as long as he was useful she'd decided, feeling proud of herself for putting her personal feelings aside for the sake of the greater good.
"A pretty rotten ghost," he shrugged. "That's all I know." His attention seemed diverted as he glanced over his shoulder.
"What did it want?"
"Children." He said flatly.
"Children?" She repeated, a chill running down her spine.
Phantom nodded. He seemed to catch sight of something and darted over towards a bush. Valerie followed, then landing, retracted her sled into her boots and peered over Phantom's shoulder.
Behind the bush sat a young girl in a nightgown, perhaps eight or nine. She was holding a younger boy in her arms, also in his pajamas, trying with everything she had to protect him. Tears ran down their faces while they clung to each other.
Phantom knelt down and held out his gloved, softly glowing hands to the children.
"It's all right now." He said softly. "The bad thing is gone. You're safe."
The girl looked up, not saying a word, her face quivering as she tried to stop crying. The boy kept his face buried in her shoulder.
"Are you hurt?"
The girl shook her head.
"Come on," he said. "We'll take you home." The ghost gestured to himself and Valerie. "We're the good guys."
We? She thought, for the thousandth time. She still couldn't figure this one out. She knew by now that the ghost boy thought of himself as a hero. But if he was so good why hadn't he moved on? Why didn't he just let death take him? Why stay lodged in a hellish existence between life and death? The only thing that made sense was a sort of obsession, like all ghosts had, binding him to the world. Playing the hero must simply be his obsession.
The little boy had dared to look up from the girl's arms and was now staring at the two unusual figures in front of him.
"I'll carry you and my friend here will carry your brother, okay?" The girl looked her brother.
"Do you want to go for a ride?" He asked the little boy.
"Home?" The little boy's eyes shone in the moonlight.
"Home." The ghost boy smiled. The little boy nodded. Valerie took her cue and approached him.
"Hey there, kiddo." She knelt down. "You're going to come with me, okay? We'll be home in a jiff." She pulled the frightened child into her arms, feeling him tense up as she did so. "Gosh, you're heavy." Valerie said, triggering the release on her sled, pushing them about a foot into the air. The kid squeaked and threw his arms around her neck. She rubbed a gloved hand over his back. "Shh. Its okay now."
Phantom held a hand out to the little girl. "Are you ready?"
The girl nodded. "Okay."
"I'm warning you, I'm very cold. So don't be surprised when I pick you up. But I'll take care of you, I promise."
"All right." She put her hand in his. She was still afraid but she was being brave. Valerie saw the ghost smile. At moments like this he seemed almost human. He picked up the little girl and she squealed.
"You are cold!"
He laughed lightly and turned to Valerie. "Follow me. I know where they live."
With that they took off into the night, traveling slowly and flying low, trying to scare their young charges as little as possible.