A/N: Danny's voice is now in bold.

The explosion was what drew their attention. Sam and Tucker, who had been walking peacefully down the street towards FentonWorks, nearly jumped out of their skins when the massive BOOM suddenly rang out through the air.

"What was that?" Tucker glanced at his companion in confusion, but the goth girl merely shrugged. Another loud crash echoed across the buildings, and when a trio of screams followed the sound, the two teenagers both took of running. Sam let out a shrill cry as they drew close enough to see FentonWorks shaking and trembling, another crash sounding from inside the structure.

"Tucker, what if Danny's in there," she cried, purple eyes widening in horror. The young African American stared at the building in shock when another long scream came from inside, this time a very familiar and powerful cry the two had come to recognize...Danny's ghostly wail. Before they could move away, a blast of dark red energy exploded and broke through the front door, nearly blasting apart the wall and successfully shattering the windows into tiny bits of glass.

Sam and Tucker let out yowls of pain as they were lifted into the air and thrown to the ground, landing on the sidewalk in a jumble of broken brick and shards of glass.

"Ow…" with a groan Tucker raised his head off the concrete, wincing as he felt a burning pain above his eyebrow. Blood slowly dripped down his face and fell in drops to the ground, staining the gray concrete with bright red spots. "Sam...you ok?" A dull moan was his only answer, and with a grimace Tucker glanced around the field of shattered brick and glittering glass; Sam lay several feet from him, her black clothes and hair marred with dust and granules of glass. "Sam?" Tucker called, and he breathed a long sigh of relief as the goth slowly raised her head.

"Tucker?" He nodded, letting out a hiss of pain as he climbed up off the ground. Sam, unhurt save for a small cut running across her arm, grabbed Tucker's and rose up from the sidewalk. "That was Danny's ghostly wail," she murmured, "but I've never seen it that powerful." Tucker nodded, eyes narrowing as he stared at the twisted and broken shrapnel littering the street.

"Yeah...and it was red." He frowned, too busy pondering those two details to notice that Sam start walking towards the house. At the sound of her shout he broke out of the trance, his eyes widening as he saw his friend standing on the doorstep of FentonWorks.

"Sam, what're you…"

"Come on Tucker," she called, and he followed after her with a long sigh. Together the two teens slowly descended into the house, hesitation written across their faces as they neared the basement door.

"You...you sure you wanna go down there?" Tucker flashed an uneasy look at the shadowed doorway, but it faded as a harsh slap landed on his shoulder. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"Tucker, we have to see if Danny's ok! He might be hurt!"

Tucker continued to scowl at the teen's back when she began descending the stair into the basement, but finally he let out a long sigh and following after her.

"Geez, you can't see a thing through all this dumb dust," Sam remarked, pausing on the final step and peering out into the room. The dust hovered like mist, shrouding everything in the room, and the teens shuddered at the eerie feeling that swiftly descended over them. Straining, Sam finally managed to see a hazy form through the dust, and she quickly ran towards it. "Tucker! You've gotta come see this!" Sam laid a hand on the slumped figure, yelping when her hand came back slick with a warm liquid.

"Sam, what is it!?"

She choked, bile rising in her throat. "The--there's someone--oh no--I think it's Danny's mom!"

Tucker came running over to her side and winced, staring down at the bloodied figure lying motionless on the ground. "Who…who would do this?"

"I don't know, but we need to call an ambulance and find Danny."

"Aw Sam, that's cruel. Shouldn't you make finding your best friend your first priority?" The voice echoed through the room, cold and eerily seductive. Sam let out a choked gasp when a pair of eyes came into view, the eyelids rimmed in black and the irises a dark ruby red, and she felt Tucker grasp at her hand, his face pale beneath the dark pallor. "Come, Sammy, surely you care more about Danny than that," he drawled, and the teen let out a snarl at the sound of her nickname.

"Ok, I don't know who you are or what you want, but nobody but Danny can call me that…and he usually gets his butt kicked anyways!" Sam yelled at the shadowed figure, but it only chuckled and took a few more steps out of the dust.

"I guess I don't have a problem then." Sam flashed a look of disgust at the red eyed phantom, but curiosity was written all over her face. Evidently the figure noticed, for he let out a short laugh that positively made Sam's skin crawl. "You want to know who I am?" As if against her will Sam nodded. "Of course you do. You are familiar with the phrase curiosity killed the cat, however?"

"I'm no cat."

"No. I suppose not. You're more like a raging lioness, what with that nasty temper of yours. Honestly, I'm amazed that you haven't tried to lash out at me yet, especially since it was because of me that they're like that." He didn't have to specify; Sam knew who he was talking about. With another harsh laugh, the shadowed figure took several steps out of the dust, but his body was still shrouded in gray, making it impossible to identify him. "Tell me, Sammy, what do you think happened down here?"

"I--I don't know," she glared at him, gripping the boy's hand beside her. "But I'm sure you had something to do with it!"

"Sam…we should get out of here. We need to call the police and find Danny," Tucker hurriedly whispered into her ear, trying to ignore the frightening red gaze trailed on him, the irises angrily flashing.

"Oh, believe me, you found him." The phantom snickered at their frightened expressions, and his eyes glimmered with cruelty as he watched them glance behind them, searching for the body of their best friend. "Relax. He's not dead. Well…not all the way, at least. I mean, doesn't being a halfa insinuate being half dead?"

Tucker and Sam exchanged shocked looks. "You're a halfa too?!"

Red eyes flickered as the phantom stared at them through the dust, which was slowly dissipating and had revealed the cunning smirk on the lower half of his face. "Besides the cheesehead, I'd say I'm the only halfa….." he murmured, slashing an alabaster hand through the dust and fully revealing his pale, red eyed countenance framed by shaggy white hair.

"Danny?!" Sam and Tucker cried simultaneously, staring at the changed face of their best friend.

He smirked and brushed the remaining tendrils of dust away. "In the ghostly flesh."

"No….there's no way. You can't be Danny! You're just a ghost impersonating him." Sam shook her head defiantly and scowled at him, purple eyes suspiciously gazing at the sneering boy in front of her.

"Yeah, and you did a sucky job! Danny doesn't look anything like that," Tucker threw in.

Danny grinned at them, laughing at their shocked expressions when his razor sharp fangs were revealed. "Oh really? You don't believe that I am the real Danny Phantom?" They shook their heads, and he let out a dramatic sigh. "Pity. I suppose I'll have to prove it. Perhaps a demonstration of my knowledge about you two would be sufficient?" He tapped a finger against his temple, but Sam looked skeptical, while Tucker just appeared stunned.

"And how would tha--"

"In the seventh grade, Tucker was the one who stole the special candy your mom bought for you in Japan. Remember, Sam? He lied and told you I did it, and you punched me in the eye." Danny nodded at the stunned black boy, who flinched when angry purple eyes turned his way. "And Sam, you were the one who convinced me to go into the portal which gave me my powers, and you were also the one who messed with my jumpsuit the second time around and put this emblem on it." He plucked the front of his shirt, the DP insignia a familiar sight to the two startled teenagers.

Tucker, desperately trying to unlock the pale fist that now had a grip on his shirt, yelped and gave Danny a confused grimace. "Hey! How come you made me get in trouble and not her?!"

"Because I love seeing her get angry at you." Putting a finger against his lips in a mocking gesture of pondering, Danny turned to Sam and grinned. "In the eighth grade, Tucker told everyone in school that you and I were dating to get back at you for beating him at bowling and winning his allowance." Seeing Tucker's shocked-and scared-expression, he crossed his arms and sneered. "Sam, you were also the one who made me lose my powers when you told Desiree that you wished you'd never met me. Right?"

The girl didn't have to say anything; the look on her face gave him all the answer he needed. "Now, is that enough proof for the two of you, or would you like me to tell you any more information? Maybe like the time Tucker"

"No, dude, that's ok!" Tucker shot a frightened look at Sam, but his gaze slowly revolved back onto the white haired boy, with Sam's following. Who, it finally hit them, had actually told them knowledge only Danny would know.

"DANNY?!"

"Is that really you!?"

"Dude, what the heck happened to you?!"

Danny glanced from Sam to Tucker and flashed the aqua eyed boy a cold grin, pointed fangs gleaming in the dull light. "Let's just say I had a...change of heart. Or, perhaps the better phrase would be a change of mind," he chuckled, brushing a speck of dust off his bare arm. "Oh, and Tucker, do me a favor. Get your hands off Sam."

"But…why?"

Dark eyes began to glow a brilliant garnet red, and the halfa's lips curled up into a broad sneer. "In case you're planning on questioning my every action, let me be very specific…" Danny's brow furrowed and he bared his sharp canines, a low growl rumbling in his throat. "Remove them in the next three seconds or I'll rip them off."

Tucker immediately dropped her hand and stepped back an inch, giving Sam a scared grimace as he did.

The feral look on Danny's face disappeared, and he looked downright as he rapped the fingers of his hand against his thigh. "Much better. See how easier it is to listen without questioning?"

Sam and Tucker didn't respond, instead choosing to glance the halfa up and down. Their eyes widened in a mingle of horror, fear, and twisted approval-mostly in Sam's-as they took a good look at the startling changes that had overcome the teen.

Besides his burning red eyes, Danny now had black tips highlighting his normally snow white hair, and the gleaming locks had fallen out of their normal hairdo and now laid casually around his shoulders, several strands obscuring his unnaturally pale face.

The hazmat suit, once as much of his trademark as the DP insignia, was gone. A dark red had taken its place, one that snugly hugged Danny's chest and revealed all of the wiry muscles that had come with months of ghost fighting. Surprisingly, the DP emblem was still emblazoned on the shirt, but now the symbol was pitch black with a white edge. Baggy black pants hung over shining leather combat boots with silver buckles, the solid black broken by a gleaming silver belt with a white DP buckle. Over the whole ensemble Danny wore a sleeveless black leather coat that fell in gleaming folds to the floor, the shoulders decorated with inch high silver spikes.

Danny smirked, watching their eyes return to his face and stare at the red irises that glowed and cast his alabaster white skin with a bloody pallor. He ran a hand through his multicolored hair, the palm and wrist covered by a fingerless leather glove. Giving Sam a casual wink, he tucked a strand of hair behind his ear and revealed a row of silver hoops pierced into the flesh.

"Like the new look? I told you I had a change of mind, but with it came a change of clothes," he lowered his hand and gave it a flick; a ball of red energy erupted in his palm., looking uncannily like fire. "Personally I dig the threads, and the new firepower, but of course I'm dying to know your opinions," Danny grinned at the two, bloody eyes narrowing as Sam and Tucker took an unconscious step away from him.

"Dude, why did this happen," Tucker stammered, wincing as Danny turned to gaze at him. The halfa idly raised his other hand, flexing the bare fingers and chuckling at the worried looks that had appeared on Tucker's face.

"Now where would be the fun if I told you that? But," he let out a melodramatic sigh, totally out of place on a face marred by that evil grin, "I suppose you could always ask my loving parents. Oh wait," Danny faked a shocked expression, "that might be kinda hard, considering that I put them out of commission. But I guess you found that out the hard way."

With a wave of his hand the rest of the dust in the air dissipated, and Sam let out a shrill scream as the figures of Jazz, Maddie, and Jack fully emerged. All three were sprawled across the floor, the gray stone stained bright red with splattered blood. Grimacing, she glanced at her palm and nearly screamed as she saw the blood and torn flesh dripping down her fingers.

"You know, the ironic thing is I tried to warn them, but they refused to listen to the oh so villainous Danny Phantom," Danny added, his smirk widening with every second. "Well, guess who's the bad boy now!"

"Danny, how could you do this?!" Sam yelled at the halfa, but Danny merely shrugged and leaned casually against the basement wall, the blood slickening the walls sullying his bare arms.

"Hey, they were in my way, so I…" he slashed a finger across his throat, cackling hysterically as he watched his friend's eyes widen.

Sam let out a choked sob, but that only made Danny laugh harder. "Danny!" Startled, she jumped up from the floor, hands balled into fists by her sides. "This isn't like you," she cried, lunging at the halfa. Danny let out an irritated sigh when Sam grabbed his arms, her nails digging into his skin. "Danny, please, please tell me what's happened to you," she begged, pleadingly gazing into his face. He stared back stoically, but Sam thought she saw his eyes flicker pale blue. However, she blinked and they were still dark red, so she passed it off as nothing more than a trick of the light.

"And why would I want to do that? So you can try to help me," Danny smirked at her, grabbing the front of her tank top and pulling her close. "I don't want you to help me. I like being this way."

"Sam!"

Danny let out a snarl when Tucker came flying towards the two, and with a harsh shove sent Sam flying to the floor. "Oh please, do you really think that you're a match for me," he chuckled, raising a hand. "Don't make me laugh!" Dark ectoplasm appeared in his palm, and Danny swiftly tossed the glowing energy at the frightened teenager, his smile widening as Tucker was slammed into the far wall.

Groaning, the teen collapsed to the floor by Danny's parents and sister, smoke swirling off his clothes.

"Tucker! Danny, please stop!" Sam cried from the floor, blood streaming down her arm and dripping onto her legs. When he shot her a cold glare, she tried to scoot away, but in a swish of leather Danny leaned down and grasped her by the arms.

"You know, I would hate to have to destroy you," Danny hoisted Sam to her feet, pulling the goth up against his chest. "In fact, I would prefer to have you by my side…" he murmured, the seductive hue in his voice making shivers race down Sam's spine. Fingers grasped her chin and forced her to look up, to stare into his dark red eyes. "Tell me, Sammy, would you like to see what other skills I have acquired?" Before she could respond Danny had crushed his lips to hers. A rich taste flooded her mouth, like chocolate spiced with mulled wine, and Sam shuddered and unconsciously grabbed the halfa by the shoulders and pulled him closer, feeling his tongue slip into her mouth.

"Dan...Danny." She let out a sigh, the feeling of Danny's hands running down her back making her moan into his mouth. But, she yelped when she felt him toying with the edge of her shirt, lifting the black cloth away from her flesh. "Danny, what're you doing?!" Sam pulled away, panic beginning to color her voice. "Stop!"

"Now why would I want to do that…" he slipped a hand under her shirt, the silkiness of her flesh against his making the halfa growl in response.

SMACK!

Danny's head swung back, a bright red hand mark imprinted on his face. Sam, her breath coming in ragged gasps, stumbled away from him and nearly fell to the floor. "Did, did you...just...slap...me…" Danny growled, his fists erupting in ectoplasmic energy. His eyes began to glow a dangerous shade of red, the leather of his coat flapping as he took a step towards the goth. But, he stopped a mere inch from her, his head cocking and lips pulling down into a tight frown. Sam blinked, her surprise evident, but she took advantage of his pause and ran over to Tucker, unable to hold back her sigh of relief when she saw his chest steadily rising and falling.

Danny suddenly let out a hushed stream of curses, all ones no one would have ever imagined leaving the boy's lips. "Who the hell contacted the police," his gaze snapping over to the wide eyed girl. "Did you or Tucker call them," he snarled, rage coloring his cool voice.

"No...we...I...we didn't think to. We wanted to--to make sure you were okay," she whispered.

"Really? Well then, it must have been the explosion. My powers were a bit more damaging than I realized they would be." Glancing back down, Danny abruptly gave Sam a breathtaking smile, though it was somewhat diminished by his demonic eyes. "So. Care to explain why you slapped me?"

That was unexpected. "I….I," she couldn't make the words leave her mouth, so she forced her brow to furrow into the fearful glare that usually had him running instead. Danny didn't run away. He laughed and strutted across the concrete towards her, the energy fading from his hands. Kneeling down, his eyes narrowed as he glanced her over, his mouth twitching when he heard her gasp at his obvious audacity.

"So eloquent. What happened to the Sam who always speaks her mind?" He sneered, but his eyes snapped to the side when he heard something else. Something else he really did not want to hear. "Well well, seems that miss know-it-all's awake," Danny's irises glowed, the searing gaze fixated on his sister; the girl was slumped on the floor, but slowly she started to push herself up, letting out a moan of pain as her tear filled eyes locked with his fiery ones. A large gash ran down the span of her face, dripping red down her cheek and onto her curled hands, and several burns and miniature cuts were slashed across her pelvis and abdomen. "I thought you were dead."

Jazz let out a pained whimper as she shoved away from the wall, a panicked frown painted on her scarlet lips. "Danny, I'm so sorry! I, I didn't know what Mom and Dad had planned! I wouldn't have helped if I,"

"Shut it, Jazz. I don't give a fuck about your sob story," he spat.

Jazz winced, but her expression turned determined as she stared at the demonic version of her brother, and then at Sam, who was staring at her confusedly. "Danny, you have to find a cure! You're not bad! This is just the drug talking!"

"On the contrary, Jazz. This is me talking. Which me is debatable, I suppose, but, regardless, this is me. I'm not being controlled by a ghost or some spell. The Danny before you is the true Danny Phantom, leather and all."

"But Danny, I, I think the Ecto-Reverso only affected your ghost half!"

"Oh really…" Danny faked a loud yawn, but the anger flickering like fire in his irises couldn't be mistaken. He looked about ready to strangle the redhead.

"Yes!" Jazz seemed oblivious to the anger flowing off him, or else she was too frantic to care. "Ecto-Reverso was designed to only work on ghosts, not humans! Since it was administered to your ghost half, it was affected, but your human half wasn't!"

"Jazz, what are you talking about? What's all this about Ecto--Ecto Reverso?" Sam glanced between them, but they were too busy gazing at each other to notice her confused stare.

"Oh, big deal. I'll just have to take care not to change back," he mocked, but a flicker of worry had awakened in his bloody eyes.

Jazz's face turned pale, and she desperately grabbed at his arm. "Danny, no! If you don't do something, your human half will try to take control! It--it's like a split personality! Staying in ghost form for too long would be too huge of a strain on your psyche! There's no way you could remain totally sane," she cried, her fingers wrapping around his wrist.

"Danny, you should listen to her…" Sam started, but her voice broke when a seething pair of red eyes went her way.

"Danny, please! I know what I'm talking about! I was the one who told Mom and Dad about how the inner mind could be affected, and I,"

"Thank you for reminding me of your betrayal. And believe me, I understood everything you just said." He glared at the redhead, feeling a sense of pride when she gasped in shock. "After all, I wasn't just affected emotionally. The Ecto-Reverso also altered my cerebral cortex, which changed my thinking abilities. You'd be surprised how much I can actually understand now, including all that you and our dear mother have said."

Danny let out a guttural snarl and shot a hand out, his fingers wrapping around Jazz's throat and crushing her windpipe. Screaming, Sam made a move for her, but Danny easily knocked her aside with his arm and sent her sprawling painfully to the floor several feet away, her forehead knocking against the concrete.

"What you don't seem to understand, Jazz, is that I couldn't give a flying fuck about a damn thing you just said! I have no intention of returning to my goody two shoes persona! And if my human half is going to become as big of a pain as you said, then I'll just have to nip the problem in the bud," he chuckled, baring his pointed fangs.

Tightening his fingers, Danny held up his other hand and it exploded with ectoplasm, the red energy congealing and forming a spike of crackling plasma. Jazz let out a sickening scream when the point was thrusted into her side, the energy cutting a hole deep into her skin. "Ahhhh! Danny! It--it hurts! Aghh! Please!" She blindly grabbled for his wrist, but Danny pulled his hand back and slid the spike out of her, letting the blood gush from the ragged wound. "Da--Danny--" she choked, her body falling limp in his grasp. Cackling, he threw Jazz aside, watching with a bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes as her body slammed into the wall and fell to the floor.

"That looked like it hurt."

From the concrete she let out a dull groan, and on shaky arms she tried to push herself up, but she was barely to her knees when she went crashing back to the ground. Through bleary eyes she saw Danny standing over her, one of his booted feet lodged firmly in the small of her back.

"I'd stay down if I were you. After all, I have no qualms about killing you. It's in my nature," he cheerfully grinned, giving her a swift kick in the ribs before strutting away. Booted feet thudded against the blood splashed concrete as he walked over to Sam's fallen form, where she lay groaning on the cool floor. "You, however, are a much different story."

"Da--Danny--?" Sam raised her head, wincing as she felt blood trickle down her cheek.

Danny slid down onto his knees and brushed a finger over the tiny wound. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean for you to get hurt."

"Why…."

"Why what?"

"Why everything. Why did this happen? Why did you attack your parents and Jazz? Why do you even care if I got hurt?!" She started to scream at him, but a gloved hand pressed over her mouth and cut off the tirade.

"For the first two, you can ask Jazzy-pants when she's able to speak without moaning in pain every few seconds. The wound won't kill her. I didn't hit anything vital, and the wound is cauterized. As for your last question, it should be pretty obvious, Sammy, seeing as how you share the same-"

THUMP

Both teens jumped and glanced up at the ceiling. Loud thuds could be heard upstairs, repeatedly sounding in a rough pattern.

"Somebody's here. Probably the police. Figures they'd come at the least inopportune time," Danny rolled his eyes. Sam frowned, mentally trying to discern what the boy had been about to say. "Damn. Guess that's my cue."

"Your cue?"

"Yeah. You can't tell, but I'm actually hurt. My body's a canvas for cuts and burns right now. In fact, some have already healed over here on my arms," he pointed to his arm, and, sure enough, there were white lines slashed on the pale flesh. "Most of wounds aren't as bad as they were earlier, but there're still a few spots that could use some more healing time."

The goth felt her heart race when he stood up and walked away from her, heading towards the portal. He slammed a fist into the unlock button and portal doors slid open, filling the room with a bright green light.

"Take care of yourself until we meet again. And make sure Jazz explains how I came to be the most fucked up ghost to ever grace this world. It's partly her doing." Waving, Danny tossed a fireball of ectoplasm at the console and flew into the portal, the doors permanently snapping shut behind him. Hissing, molten metal dripped to the floor from the ruined panel; the only way to open and close the portal was destroyed.

'Meaning we can't go after him. He has to come to us.'

"Ughhh…" Tucker's faint moan and Jazz's intermingled, blending together into groans of pain as they both sat up and glanced her way. Sam hurried over to Tucker first, sighing in relief as she saw he was, for the most part, unhurt. Switching over to Jazz, she kneeled down on the ground beside her and eyed the singed wound on her side, which was now just barely oozing blood.

"Don't--don't worry about it. I think Danny meant to cauterize the wound when he stabbed me. Ughh, so wha...what happened? Where's is he," she groaned, pressing a hand against the wound and hissing as it throbbed painfully.

"He went through the portal, and destroyed the console while he was at it. Without your parents, there's no way…" Sam cut off, her eyes growing wide as she glanced at the fallen Fentons. She'd forgotten all about them!

"They're alive. Barely."

"We're all alive." Lumbering over, Tucker joined the two girls and plopped down onto the floor beside them, a hand pressed against a cut on his forehead. "So. What're we gonna do now?"

End of Chapter 2