So, without further ado, the story continues:
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Chapter 3
Sam studied Danny's face for any sign of a reaction as Maddie asked, "What is your name?"
She was shocked at how flat his voice sounded as he said, "Danny Phantom."
His voice was as dead as he looked, and Sam's heart squeezed again. She was relieved that he had answered that instead of Fenton, but because he appeared to be in a trance, she could not tell if he had any control over what he was saying. Maddie continued with questions about his alleged crimes, which he answered with no indication of his real identity. At his answers explaining his innocence, the crowd grew restless, requiring the intervention of the mayor to quiet them. Sam could hear some whispers from around the crowd, and as before, the crowd was split. Those who believed he was guilty thought the Fentons' invention wasn't working, and those who thought he was innocent began defending him with all of the good he had done. Sam smiled at that, but once the crowd had calmed, Maddie changed her line of questioning.
She asked, "When did you die?"
"I never died ()," was Danny's short answer. At this, Sam turned to Tucker, who had set down his PDA, letting out a deep breath. He whispered, "I'm done. It's up to him to figure it out and escape. I have everything shut down." Sam nodded and turned to look at Danny, who had indeed appeared to notice that the band had been deactivated, though no one else had. His eyes were searching the audience, and when his found hers and they locked gazes, she nodded. She knew now that while he would probably not lie, he could stretch the truth a great deal and find his way out with his secret intact. Danny was more clever than he seemed; he may have been a C student but he was not as stupid as Vlad may say he was.
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Puzzled by his answer, Maddie continued the questioning by asking, "What do you mean you never died?"
"I was created when your portal was activated, so in essence I was born, but never died."
Maddie was taken aback by this. It went against all known theory that ghosts were 'ectoplasmic manifestations of post-human consciousness', and were created upon a being's death. It might, however, explain his reluctance to harm humans, especially her and Jack. It could also be that because it was their portal, he saw them as pseudo-parents. That might be why he had slipped up in the past with references to their family, and he called her 'Mommy' earlier. Shaking her head and filing those thoughts away for later, she chose her next question carefully.
"Why do you haunt this town?"
"To protect it." His answer not only shocked her, but it seemed to have the same reaction among the crowd. The mayor had to come forward and calm the audience again.
"Why?," she asked.
"I don't like seeing people get hurt, and since I have the power to stop the ghosts from coming through the portal to wreak havoc on the human world, I use it to help. I consider myself a guardian of sorts, and have taken this responsibility upon myself to protect this town and its inhabitants from the ghosts. I hang in the balance between life and death, preventing the dead from preying upon the living. The dead are not meant to walk in this realm, nor do humans belong in the ghost zone. The invasion of Pariah Dark proved that." His soft spoken eloquence held everyone's attention captive, so that no one noticed the slight movements that betrayed his impending freedom.
Coming out of her stupor somewhat, Maddie asked, "What about all of the damage you have caused? Someone has to answer for that."
"Yes, some damage is unavoidable, but what I do must be done to prevent death or the enslavement of the human race. The cost of repairing a few damaged buildings is much less than the alternative if I were to let them roam free."
"Does this mean you consider yourself good?," Maddie asked with a hint of incredulity in her voice. His statements were once again chipping away at all known theories about ghosts and their intentions.
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Danny paused before answering, turning his head to look his mother in the eyes. He knew this was his chance to not get free, but redeem himself in his parents eyes if he was successful. He knew he might not come back alive, but he at least wanted his parents to know he was not evil and that he still cared about them even though they had unknowingly done this to him.
"Good and evil are relative terms. There is evil in everyone, but in my case, I have seen what would happen if I allowed the evil within me to surface, and prevented that destruction from happening, with help from a friend. Having faced and conquered my demon, literally, I can honestly say that every day, I make a conscious effort to be good. That is all I can admit to."
"How could you face your own evil? How is that possible?"
"I traveled into the future with the help of a friend." Upon her questioning look, he continued, "Yes, ghosts have friends, and I for one have very good ones. So good, they have given me a means of to redeem myself in your eyes. I am going to rescue your son or at least die trying."
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Maddie gasped and rushed over to Danny as he began to fade into an ectoplasmic mist, the band falling to the floor with a resounding clank. Within seconds he was gone, but she could swear she heard her son's voice saying, "No matter what happens, I want you to know I love you and forgive you."
As Maddie stood there, she cursed herself for not noticing that his bonds had been deactivated. She had been so wrapped up in what he was saying that it had not occurred to her that he should not have been able to turn his head and look at her if the band was working properly. She knew there was no use in going after him now, so her immediate goal would be to figure out what he meant, and who had helped him to escape. They had to have been human, because none of the sensors had picked up any ghost activity within a hundred feet of the building. Steeling her resolve to find out who it was, she went over to Jack, who was looking over the equipment for any malfunctions. She would get that ghost and her son back, and nothing would stop her.
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As Danny became solid in the air over the town hall, he let out the breath he did not know he had been holding, and made a note to buy Sam and Tucker huge thank you gifts once all of this was over. Turning invisible, he set off for his house and the portal, knowing that a journey through the Ghost Zone would be the best way to reach Vlad's. Reaching his house, he phased through his bedroom wall, stopping just long enough to leave a note for Sam and Tucker on his computer. He told them his plan, and what to do if he did not come back after a certain amount of time. He knew he needed them to explain what had happened to his parents if something went wrong.
Getting ready to leave, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Frowning at his appearance, he decided to test Plasmius' work and see if he could go back to human just in case. Excitement when the rings appeared at his waist quickly gave way to disappointment as he noted his now clean looking white hair and repaired jumpsuit. "Well at least I don't look like I need a tailor and a shower anymore,"he noted and phased downstairs. Reaching the lab, he was not surprised to find the portal doors open, and plunged in, on his way to Plasmius' portal.
After flying for nearly an hour with very little resistance, he was relieved to see the purple football that marked the entrance to the Plasmius Portal off in the distance. He was almost there, but figured that would have to wait as his ghost sense went off. It was not the first time it had happened on his journey, for the Box Ghost had already interrupted him twice, but it was the first time he could not find the ghost. Pausing and looking around, he was puzzled as his ghost sense kept going off. Normally he would have seen the specter who had set it off rushing off in the distance, but this time he saw nothing. He would soon find out who it was though, as he felt a sharp stab hit him on his right shoulder blade. He wheeled around, once again seeing nothing, as whatever had hit him began to work. He figured it was Skulker, who had been sent by Vlad to retrieve him, but was surprised to find that it wasn't. As his vision blurred and he began to lose consciousness, he could barely make out the form of Walker's right hand man, Bullet, and nearly half a dozen other guards from Walker's prison as they became visible right before Danny blacked out.
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Bullet laughed softly as he watched the ghost boy pass out and go limp, floating there. Everything was going to plan. He pushed a button on his communicator, "Sir, I have the ghost kid in custody."
The voice on the other end of the line said, "Good, bring him back to the prison. We will be ready for him shortly." Bullet smiled and ushered two of the guards to put the restraints they had been given on Danny and they dragged his flaccid form behind them all the way to the prison.
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AN: Dun Dun Dun! I have added yet another twist to the plot. Will Danny ever make it to Vlad's to reverse the effects of the Plasmius Maximus? What is Walker going to do with him once they reach the prison? You may just find out in the next installment, but
I'm not saying... Thank you for reading again and please review.
() I don't subscribe to the half-dead theory. I am just not that morbid I guess. I think that he is completely alive, but gained powers and a ghost form when the ectoplasm fused with his DNA. I think that if he really was half-dead, then his secret would have been figured out easily in a routine checkup at the doctor's office, and that Vlad would have been figured out in the same manner if he really did spend all that time in the hospital with ecto-acne.