Project Experiment

Chapter Three

White Rings

A wise man will never tell a tale that doesn't have a lesson with it

Always listen

Jack grinned a little as a white ring formed around Phantom's body. It was stable. The ring stayed around his son, and he wondered why it seemed like it wasn't doing anything. It was hot in the room, but Flash was smiling too. Phantom's core temperature was slowly going down.

They had been at it for nearly twelve hours. Heating and letting Phantom cool the room. Flash didn't think it would really work, but it did. The ring was stable around him and Jack gently let his hand go through it. It felt a little chilly when suddenly the ring separated and the heart monitor started beeping, and Danny took in a deep breath. Almost as if his lungs had to adjust from the cold to the warm.

"Whoa," Flashed whispered seeing the change. That was awesome. The kid had one hell of a way to keep a secret identity. Banking on the impossible and hoping people never noticed the similarities. It was an easy change between identities compared to what some of the other heroes had to do. Like Batman.

"Yeah, kinda freaked me out too when I first seen it," Jack said softly as he held his son's hand. A low groan came from the bed as blue eyes blinked up at them.

"Dad?" Danny mumbled before closing his eyes again. Jack smiled. His son was going to be just fine. Now all they had to do was come up with a plan to save Amity.

And for the first time since the shield went up, Jack felt like it was finally possible.

Amity Park

Maddie felt the tears burning her eyes as she watched her son be tortured. She knew it wasn't really Danny. Masters had been trying to make a clone for the past two months. It hurt every time one of them failed.

She knew now that she helped take her son down. She knew that she deserved every bit of this torture. Her son was dead, and her husband was probably dead now too.

Jazz was gone. But Maddie had no idea if her daughter was alive either. It'd been nearly three months since she has last seen her.

Amity Park was suffering because the one thing that had been saving them was a fifteen year old boy who should have never existed in the first place.

And now he was dead.

Maddie knew that her son may never forgive her, but she wanted to see him one last time. Instead of the terrified boy she held in a net as those agents came closer; she wanted to see him alive and happy with his friends. She should have listened when Phantom told her she would regret her choices.

Did she ever regret her choices.

"It's going to be wonderful," Vlad whispered leaning against her cage. "You'll come to love it here, my dear. I may not have been able to get the original to agree to come with me, but the clone should be no problem, and we'll be one happy family. Just like we should have before Jack's idiocy came between us."

Of course, she hated that man, and she always would. She didn't open her mouth though. She never wanted to speak again.

She deserved it.

And she knew it.

She was the reason her son was gone.

Sam watched in horror as the ghosts marched the streets. They looked similar to the Ghost King's crew, but mixed with Walker's guard's uniforms. She wondered where Plasmius found them.

She wished Danny was here. He would know how to stop them. Or even prevented it from ever happening. Her and Tucker were going to steal the boomerang and speeder, but the tracker was gone.

And so was the Fenton Jet.

She wasn't sure at first if Jazz had taken it to save her brother, but then came to realize that Jack had taken it when he shouted that he had a lead on Danny.

Sam hasn't seen Jack since and can only believe that he died when he left. She wouldn't put it past Plasmius to actually do it. Her and Tucker had tried so hard to figure out where the GIW took Danny, but it was useless. Masters was in charge of them, and there was no telling where her best friend was. Tucker and she couldn't help keep the ghosts in line, and only now does Amity Park know exactly what Phantom was keeping at bay.

She hoped that when this was over, that Amity will fight for a memorial for her friend. He deserved to be remembered as the hero he truly was.

Danny felt pain as he pulled the warmth of his human half to the surface. Pain and a bone deep weariness. He vaguely remembered seeing his father and wondered if he had died.

He didn't think he'd feel pain if he died though. He pulled more until the room became clearer. He felt someone holding his hand and looked over to see his father leaning on his bed with his hand holding Danny's tightly. Jack's eyes were closed and he was breathing softly. Danny wondered what had happened when everything came back to him.

How did his dad find him? Did he know?

"Hey, it's good to see you awake," a voice greeted from the other side of the room, sounding pleased. Danny slowly turned his head to see a guy dressed in a red suit and a lightning bolt across the front. He knew who this was, but couldn't place the name. Danny shook his head hoping to clear it.

"Where…where am I?" Danny croaked, looking at the red weirdo.

"The Watchtower. Superman brought you here after you fell," Flash explained. "Your dad there caught wind that we had Phantom and begged for us to let him help. If it wasn't for him, you would probably still be unconscious." Danny looked back at his dad wondering how long he knew and why he didn't stop his…Maddie from taking him down.

"Here," Flash smiled before grabbing a glass of water, "You need to rest some more, but I think you're gonna be just fine. Although there are some of us that want some answers."

"I'm free," Danny whispered slowly reaching around his neck and looking at the black bangs that were hanging in his face. "Finally." Flash frowned as ice formed around the kid's hands. Danny smiled lightly before closing his eyes again.

"Yeah, you're free and safe, kid," Flash smiled before looking at Jack. The guy was a bit odd, but he clearly cared for his son and family dearly.

The next time Danny woke up, Jack was studying some power reading that he got from his tracer. He knew that watching the reading would give him an answer to how best to help his son, but he had no idea what was normal for Danny. The readings were all over the place from the point of being nonexistence to where he was concerned that the powers would burn up his now human form.

"Dad?" Danny whispered. Jack dropped all the papers before staring at his son who was watching him carefully. "How long?"

"You've been in a coma like state for about two weeks," Jack started only for Danny to shake his head.

"How long have you…?" Danny trailed off as he started coughing. Jack grabbed the glass of water that was left by Flash and helped Danny get a drink.

"Known about Phantom? The same day that…I was sitting in the RV trying to figure out some things when I watched you jump from your window and change," Jack answered with a small smile. "I was gonna follow…just to make sure, but you always returned. I didn't want to watch you fight this time, but you never came back. Maddie did."

"I'm sorry," Danny whispered closing his eyes as a sharp pain raced down his spine. Jack held Danny's hand as the teen slowly relaxed again.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. If anyone should be sorry, it should be me. I'm a horrible father," Jack whispered as he watched his son carefully. "I should have followed you when you flew off, but you always came back…and I didn't have any idea what I was going to say to you."

"I should have said something when it first happened," Danny said. "I shouldn't have kept it from you."

"You had every right to keep us in the dark," Jack whispered. "It's our job to protect you, and we failed when you felt the need to keep your secret from us." Danny looked down.

"How bad is it?" Danny asked worry in his voice. He had no idea how bad Amity Park would get without his help. He knew Masters was planning something, but he had no idea what it was. The only thing that was helping him at the moment was the fact that Masters clearly hadn't killed his father.

"Amity's been dark for four months. I have no idea what happened to Maddie or Jazz," Jack confessed sadly. "I got out before the shield was up when I was looking for you. I was afraid I was too late."

"Vlad would have killed you," Danny whispered. "You getting out was for the best. Maddie'll be fine." Jack noticed how Danny distanced himself from his mother, and Jack knew that part of Danny blamed his mother for what happened. He had no idea what really happened when the hero was captured, but he had a feeling that Danny tried to reason with her.

Danny was a forgiving kid to begin with, so something must have gone terribly.

"It…It was the portal right?" Jack asked. He needed to know what exactly caused this whole thing to happen.

"Yeah. But I technically died and was saved by the ectoplasm. Vlad was simply infected with it. Ectoplasm is a lot more complicated than you think. I don't think Vlad even knows exactly what it does," Danny explained. "It's not just the opposite of our world, but a balance to it." Jack nodded. There was so much to learn. So much that Danny could tell him or even help him understand. There was more to the world of ghost than he ever thought possible.

"There's a shield over Amity that's growing more and more every day, and the League can't break it," Jack started. "It looks like a spin off from a ghost shield."

"Knowing Vlad, it's a human/ghost shield. Probably been studying the League for years till he could prefect it," Danny said leaning back into the bed. "He's been trying to perfect it for a while."

"How…Do you have any idea what he wants?" Jack asked hoping his son could shed a bit more light on the psycho.

"Kill you, marry Maddie, and make me his son…or clone me. I think he hates me to the point of just cloning me," Danny muttered. "He's done that done once…I wonder if he's still trying. It's a little creepy to be honest."

"You were cloned?" Jack asked in shock. Not his son…His son shouldn't be dealing with things like this. He should be getting in trouble for being a teenager, not cloned.

"Yeah, but she's alright. I even got her stabilized and she's kinda running around everywhere," Danny smiled at his dad. "It's a little weird to be honest."

"I should have known," Jack whispered putting his head in his hands. He felt like crap. His own son had gone through so much.

"I didn't want you guys to," Danny whispered reaching for his dad. "Besides, it was one of the only things I had that prevented Vlad from outright attacking us. If you'd known about me, I wouldn't have had the leverage to stop him."

"I knew something was wrong, but I didn't want to believe it. I just thought…" Jack trailed off holding on to his son's hand.

"We didn't want people to know. There's a lot that has happened the past year before I was taken. But we need to save Amity now. We don't have time to feel sorry for past mistakes," Danny said tugging his dad's hand closer to get his attention and look him in the eye. "All we can do now is take down Masters and make sure he can't hurt anyone else." They both turned towards the door when someone walked in.

"Well, you're looking better than the last time I saw you," Superman smiled at the teen.

"I would hope so, I'm not being tortured to attack you anymore," Danny joked as Jack pulled away from his son to greet the Man of Steel.

"Good, you mind telling me what those guys wanted then? I got a couple guesses," Superman asked sitting down next to the teenager. Danny sighed before looking over to the hero.

"After I was captured in Amity, they were going to run experiments. I managed to set the lab on fire and nearly escaped, but someone else had been looking into the lab. They heard something powerful was there and wanted a weapon. I didn't find out later they wanted to take you out," Danny explained.

The world felt like it was on fire. Phantom slowly pulled himself from the rubble. Unstable raw ectoplasm was extremely flammable and if given the right amount of juice would explode. It was why maintaining permanent ghost portals were near impossible. They had to be careful.

"Quickly, boys, we have to…oh, what's this?" a voice asked looking at Phantom closely. Phantom could barely understand what was going on before something slammed into his head.

The next time Phantom woke up, he was in a cage made of glowing green bars. A bald man in a suit was smiling at him maliciously.

"It's good that you're awake. I've been keeping an eye on that lab for a few weeks after hearing about what was in there. My name is Lex Luthor. Now tell me, child, how'd a boy like you end up with that much power?" Lex asked as Phantom stood up with glowing eyes.

"I died," he answered before shooting the bars down and escaping only to be stopped when an electrical current rushed though his body. He screamed and felt his human side shy away from the surface.

That shouldn't have happened. It should have came closer to the surface. Phantom backed away from Luthor grasping the collar around his throat. Nothing was right, and he couldn't breathe.

Darkness filled his vision.

"It took them a couple months to understand exactly what powers I had. I wasn't very helpful, and I still held back a lot of what I could do. With Amity cut off, they had no access to information about me," Danny explained looking up at the ceiling. "I kinda planned to get a hold of the League as soon as I could. I needed help before Amity was taken over, but I didn't want you guys to come after me too."

"I guess we never looked into Amity Park as much as we should have. Batman wanted to go check it out before when the town disappeared, but…something came up and we never got around to it," Superman said with a hint of regret. Maybe all of this could have been stopped before it got this bad if they had gone there. If they had contacted Phantom before he was attacked. If they had given him some way to call for backup for when things got out of control. Maybe even given him protection from the Guys in White.

They had failed a hero.

And now they were paying the price.

Alright, so after having this have a panic attack and not work, I had to redo the damn thing.

This site has issues...why am I on it?

Also, what do you guys think about a Danny/Damian story? I have one started...I have problems...

Happy New Year, and try not to die? I guess...

Drop a review? Maybe...might help me feel a touch better.

May even be just enough to make me write on this instead of entertaining my inner fan girl.