The young girl's bright blue eyes were wide with confusion and terror. "Momma? I don't get it. Who are those guys? And why do I have to do with them?"

"It's alright, sweetie. They won't hurt you. It's for the best."

"But I don't wanna go with them. I wanna stay with you and Daddy? Where is Daddy? Make him tell the men that I don't wanna go!"

"Shh. It's ok. Daddy's not home right now, but he said to say that he loves you lots and lots. As do I. Never forget that, alright?"

"But Momma… I'm scared! I don't like the men!"

"Pardon me, ma'am. But your time is up. Following section eighteen J Q seven of the document, it's time for us to take the girl. Come along, miss."

"No! I don't wanna! Momma… please…"

"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. Goodbye, my sweet, darling Danielle…"

—

Her eyes snapped open. Around here was the familiar cool green liquid, gently swirling and bubbling around her. She could feel her heart racing, slowing, calming, as she floated. That dream, again. It was becoming more and more frequent. The two large white blobs, that caused her to tremble. The smaller, bluish one, with the mess of brown on top. And the voices: two low and dark, one higher and quavering, trying so hard to be calm. And the last, high pitched, childlike, and terrified. Somehow, she knew it belonged to her. She'd pondered it in the past, trying to figure out what it meant. Why she had it so many times. But it never made any more sense. And so she dismissed it, in favor of the green.

At some point, as she floated there, the color changed slightly, the green lightening, and she could just make out two fuzzy shapes, hovering outside the tube. This was not unusual. It seemed to happen on some sort of cycle. It was always the same: the green lightened a bit, the figures appeared and moved around a bit, a few muffled deep sounds were heard. And then they went away, and the darkness and the green returned to its normal shade. She had vague memories that once she'd been scared of the green and the shapes. That they had hurt her, and changed her, somehow. But she dismissed these as easily as the dream. The green was her world, its eddies and swirls her entertainment and companions. She needed nothing else.

Today, though, something changed as the blobs moved about around her. The green began to flow, towards her feet. Her world was draining away before her eyes. Suddenly, her vision was assaulted with unfamiliar things, as the liquid level passed below her head. For the first time, the blobs came into focus. People. Her brain supplied the word and the meaning. How, she wasn't sure. But they were… people. Like her. And like the figures in the dream.

Soon all her comforting green fluid was gone, and one of the people stepped forward, opening the glass panel to her world. She flinched instinctively as she was bombarded with smells and sounds for the first time. It was too much. Make it stop. Bring back the green. She felt herself shutting down under the onslaught of stimuli as a low voice said, "Experiment 247 is prepared for phase 2…"

—-

It never gets easier, she thought, as she opened her eyes. White. Always white now. Never her old friend the green. She recalled the first day, after they'd removed her from her world. How she'd panicked at the color. Then more at the fact that she could move. She'd screamed until the men came, and give her a shot. Then the black returned. The black was good too. So long as it wasn't interrupted by the dream.

Her days – the cycles she'd noticed before were days – were busy now. She woke precisely at 0600. She was to eat at 0615. At 0645, one of the men came, and took her to a different room, where she had… lessons. Teaching her about her "powers", as they called them. The tricks she could do. Flying, walking through solid object, disappearing. Creating balls of raw energy in her hands. She liked that last one. The energy was green. It reminded her of home. She liked her eyes too, for the same reason. It was good to know they hadn't taken all the green away from her.

Except when they made her do the other trick. The one she didn't like. It was hard, and it felt… wrong. It made her feel like the high voice, in the dream. And her eyes turned blue then, blue as the eyes of that little child. The one that was also her, somehow. It didn't make sense. It was bad. She didn't want to be blue. She wanted to be green.

There were other lessons too. Those were better. Reading and writing and mathematics, they called them. She liked the reading the best. The words reminded her of her thoughts, when all she did was float in her safe world. They taught her other things, about the "real world". About people. Schools and cars and families. She didn't like those lessons either. She didn't care. Why couldn't she go back to the green?

A panel slid open in her door, and a tray slid in. 0615. She climbed out of the bunk, and walked over to it silently, picking it up and placing it on her small table, sitting, and starting to eat. This was the only thing she truly liked about this strange world she'd been forced into. Food, she had decided a long time ago, was very good.

—-

"Congratulations. You've shown remarkable progress thus far. I believe you are ready for the final phase of your training."

She sat across the large desk from a man in a white suit. The Officer. He had another name, too, but she couldn't remember it. It didn't matter anyway. All that mattered was that he controlled all the other men. And she needed him to like her. Or else… bad things would happen. She smiled, nodding once.

"Thank you, sir. I am glad to know you are pleased with me."

"Indeed, my girl. Very pleased indeed. And that is why I have a job for you. Your first assignment, out in the real world. Now, I understand that this is a large step. You are free to turn it down, if you do not feel you are ready. Do you understand?"

She had been out to the real world a few times before. It was… interesting. Far more interesting that the Facility. She'd discovered that she liked the ordinary people pretty well. And so long as she was Blue, they liked her as well. She wasn't permitted to be Green, outside. She still didn't like it, but she understood. All of the men were like outside people. None of them had her powers. She could hurt or scare someone, if she was Green. Blue, however, was just like them. Except that she could still sometimes walk through things and disappear. But she was weak. They said she was "human", that way. And that Green was… ghost. It didn't matter what words they used. She was simply Blue and Green. Together, they were Experiment 247. She didn't know if there were others. She didn't particularly care.

She nodded once at the Officer. "I understand, sir. But I am ready. What do I need to do?"

He pushed a file across the table, and she picked it up in her small hands. "There is a boy. Daniel Fenton. He is your third cousin, once removed. And another, Danny Phantom. A ghost. We believe they are one in the same. Your task is to prove it. Earn the boy's trust, and convince him to transform in front of you."

She studied the two photographs, memorizing the faces of each. They both looked like her: one with hair as black as her sleep and bright blue eyes, the other with hair as white as her chamber walls, and eyes of her lost green world. She nodded again, looking up at him. "Understood. Will I be under supervision?"

"No. This mission only you can complete. You will be working entirely alone. We will give you a communicator, to contact us once you've befriended the Fenton boy, and determined whether or not he is also the ghost. Until then, you are entirely on your own." He studied her. She looked so small and young. Yet they had no other choice. Both boy and ghost had evaded them at every turn. "Can you do this?"

Her green eyes glowed as she looked into his dark sunglasses. "Of course. It is what I was born to do. I accept your mission."

"Excellent. Then there is only one last piece of business, before your debriefing and departure. You are no longer Experiment 247. You need a name. Do you have any preference?"

A name. Of course. That designation that other people had. She opened her mouth to say no, before a thought struck her. In the dream, the higher voice had called the girl who was also her something.

She looked directed into his face. "My name… is Danielle."