A/N: Well, here's part two!
Danny flew over the city, mumbling in annoyance. He was out on patrol alone tonight because both Sam and Tucker were busy that night, but that's not what was bothering him. It was the fact that a twenty-five dollar charge had mysteriously appeared on his Nasty Burger tab, and he had a good idea where it came from.
He was going to have a talk with his best friends tomorrow.
Tonight's patrol looked quiet. He was about to go home when a voice interrupted him
"Hold it, Phantom!"
Danny turned to see his former love interest Valerie Grey fly up to him on her jet sled.
To Danny's surprise, she wasn't wielding a weapon. Still, he got in battle position. "Look, Valerie, I was having a peaceful night, can't we keep it that way?"
"Ease up, Phantom, I just want to talk."
Now that caught Danny off guard. "Talk? You?"
"What's so surprising about that?" Valerie huffed.
"Well, you usually shoot first, ask questions never."
Valerie found she couldn't argue with that. "Look, I want to know more about Vlad."
"Plasmius or Masters?"
"Both. After you left last night, I found out they're the same person."
Once again, Danny was stunned, but happy too. "I see," he said, floating toward a building roof. Valerie followed. When they landed, she retracted her jet sled then both of them took a seat on the side, their feet dangling off the edge. "So I suppose you have questions."
"Yeah, like how he got like that."
"Well, back in college his was roommates with Da…Jack Fenton. The two of them, along with Maddie, worked on the first ghost portal. Unfortunately, the calculations were wrong, and Vlad got an explosion of ectoplasm in the face as a result. The accident caused his molecules to merge with ectoplasm, turning him into a human/ghost hybrid."
Valerie nodded. She remembered Vlad mentioning something about the accident when they were first introduced. "So, I take it that's how he got rich?"
Danny nodded. "Yeah. If you check his business history, you'll see that several businessmen signed their companies away to him for practically nothing. Suspicious, isn't it?"
Valerie didn't answer. Instead, she looked down, shaking her head. "I don't believe it. I looked up to Vlad, I respected him. He was just using me."
Danny nodded understandingly. "Vlad's good at deceiving people. He tricked me when I first met him, he's still tricking Jack and Maddie, he tricked Danni, and he's tricking the entire city by putting on this 'loving mayor' act." He paused for a minute. "He's the one who gave you the first suit, wasn't he?"
Valerie just nodded.
Danny shook his head. "I wouldn't be surprised if he sent that dog here and planned to make your dad lose his job. His plans are usually that well planned."
"Still, how could he have fooled me for so long?" Valerie asked.
Danny was silent before speaking. "Do you want an honest answer to that?"
Valerie gave Danny a weird look, but nodded.
"It was your anger. You were so angry with me that you ignored everything else. Getting revenge was to important to you."
Valerie looked down. As much as she would have liked to, she found she couldn't argue with that.
Revenge had been important to her, too important. She wanted it so badly she had broken up with Danny to get it. Sure, at the time she had told herself it was because she had to protect Amity Park, but looking back, it was her hatred for Phantom. She had broken Danny's heart out of something as petty as revenge.
Suddenly, she thought of something.
"Who was controlling my old suit?"
Danny perked up at the question. "What?"
"My suit, the one that attacked Danny. Who was controlling it?"
"Technus, one of my enemies."
"Well, why was it after Danny?"
Danny froze. How could he answer this without giving too much away. "Because he's…my…supplier."
Valerie blinked. "Supplier?"
"Yeah…haven't you noticed that I use Fenton weapons all the time? I met him the first day I stumbled out of the Ghost Zone. When I told him I was going to protect the town, he offered me anything from his parent's weapons vault."
Danny paused. Had he made a mistake? He had hoped Valerie's attitude toward Phantom had softened enough for her to accept at least a friendship between him and Fenton. Had he miscalculated?
Valerie was shocked. Danny worked with Phantom? That meant that Danny was already in danger from a ghost attack. Meaning her break up was even less justified than she thought.
"I can't believe it. I broke up with him for nothing."
Danny sighed in relief. "I'm aware. He's my friend, and so are Sam and Tucker. That's why they weren't happy with the two of you having a relationship."
"What about you?"
"Well, it never really bothered me. I never saw you as an enemy. In fact, I've always wanted to be friends."
Valerie was silent.
"So, are we friends now?" Danny asked.
"We're allies," Valerie answered. "At least, until Vlad's gone. Maybe we'll be friends later."
Danny smiled. Finally, Valerie was listening to his side of the story. Maybe, at last, they could make peace.
"Trust me, I want Vlad out of my hair as soon as possible."
"Causing you a lot of trouble, huh?"
"Oh yeah. He's turning the town against me, I can't give Danni the home she deserves, I can't be with the girl I like…"
Danny stopped. He hadn't meant for that last one to come out.
"Wait…you mean you have a crush?" Valerie asked, sounding surprised and slightly amused.
Danny hung his head in defeat. "Yeah…she was my best friend in life, and, lately, I've begun noticing…how great she is. I really want to be with her, but if Vlad found out, he'd try to use her against me."
Valerie nodded understandably. That's one of the reasons she had broken up with Danny. "And what about Danni?"
"Well, as long as Vlad's around, she isn't safe with me. I really want her to have a good home on Earth, but Vlad's always going to be looking for her, so I had to send her to live with a friend of mine."
As Valerie listened, she realized something. "You're half human too, aren't you?"
Danny tensed up. "What?"
"You called Danni your cousin. She must be related to you. You're half human."
Danny began to sweat. She was getting too close for comfort. He wondered how to respond to this. Finally, he decided the truth.
"Fine, I'm half human," he sighed in defeat.
"Well, how'd you get that way?"
"Sorry, but I'm keeping quiet on tha till we're better allies."
Valerie looked like she was about to say something else, but decided against it. "Fine. So what about Vlad? You said you have friends in the Ghost Zone. Why don't you gather them up and we an go flatten his mansion?"
"Valerie, you're doing it again."
"Doing what?"
"Letting anger make your decisions. Think about it. How would it look if we were to attack the home of someone everyone thinks is a charitable billionaire? I don't exactly have the best PR as it is, and something like that would make us look like the bad guys."
Valerie didn't speak. She knew he was right. Danny continued.
"Plus, I'm trying to improve human/ghost relations and something like that definitely won't help. What we're going to do is wait for the right moment to strike. If we hit him when he's weak, we can stop him for good."
Valerie nodded. "Let's hope that's soon."
"Trust me, I do. In fact, a have a feeling everything's coming to a head soon."
"One more question. Does Danny still…love me?"
Danny paused. Then, he sighed. "Actually, I think he's finally starting to see how much Sam means to him."
Valerie felt crushed, but did her best to mask it. "Oh…" she said softly.
"But he still wants to be friends," Danny added.
Despite herself, Valerie smiled. "I think I still want to be too."
Both Danny and Valerie rose to their feet. Valerie activated her jet sled. "I'll be seeing you around, Phantom."
Danny smiled. "I look forward to working with you."
With that, the two allies went their separate ways, each beginning to formulate their own plans of attack.
