Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. This is a fanfiction.
The lab seemed empty. The computers were humming without complaint, the experiments peacefully waiting where they had been left, and the Ghost Portal idle; a state Danny wished he could force it to stay in. So what then had thrown papers all over the floor . . . and how had it made such a loud thud.
"Danny, I've told you a thousand times to clean up the lab," Jack Fenton followed his son down the steps of their basement, both waiting at the bottom step. "It seems every time I come down here there's another mess you haven't cleaned."
"I-I did," Danny protested glaring around the room. "Someone else did this."
"You can't blame the fudge ghost for your lack of responsibility," Jack placed a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Before you go out with Sam and Tucker tomorrow, you'll be cleaning this place up. Now get back up here and help me look for that ghost."
The man was back upstairs and in the refrigerator with alarming speed. Danny linger downstairs however. Unlike Phantom, Danny didn't start monologuing, he was scanning the place.
"I know you're there," Danny spoke to the dimly lit room, ready to go ghost with the full intent of pursuit.
"Danny!"
The teen turned to see his dad screaming from the top of the stairs.
"I caught him, Danny! I got the fudge ghost!"
Before Danny could respond he heard his mother's voice drifting in from behind the man.
"Jack, I told you I don't want to be woken up every night . . ."
By the time his parents became completely distracted by their argument, Danny knew the sneaking ghost was long gone. Even if he did race through the basement to find the ghost, he wouldn't be sure what he was looking for. He'd have to wait for the ghost to show again to have a chance to catch him.
"Well Sam," Danny sighed heading back upstairs. "It looks like you were right. Ghosts never take a break."
The door to the basement was shut, the only noise was the muffled complaints of Mrs. Fenton at the realization that her husband had nabbed their daughter again. Jazz's complaints could also be heard, but all were ignored from Valerie position.
It seemed like the most illogical hiding place at the time; she hid behind the same table. When Valerie had fallen down the stairs, her notes had scattered everywhere. Luckily the stolen weapons were close enough for her to grab and place back in her bag. Valerie knew the Fentons were going to see the notes everywhere. Fortunately a keen eye wasn't among their talents, and they didn't decide to search the room. Valerie gathered what she could of the papers, rallied her courage, and went back up the steps.
A quivering breath lingered in her throat as Valerie stared at the basement's door. She could still hear the Fentons fighting; Mrs. Fenton was clearly winning. Her voice sternly louder and more driven than that of her husband's. Jazz was still whining, but not very loudly. Danny might have said something, but his mother was quick to rebuttal him with an authoritative, "Danny you're just as much in trouble for encouraging this in the first place. Carlos is going to call the police on us again if you two keep doing this."
Danny began making his defense, but Valerie's mind became distracted.
"Mrs. Fenton?" Valerie gently placed a hand on the doorknob. With even greater care, she cracked the door. Mrs. Fenton in full view. "It is her," Valerie gasped. "The woman Vlad was talking to . . ."
Valerie dropped her gaze upon memories of the hologram from last night. It was Mrs. Fenton! Danny's mom was the one Vlad was sharing his plans with. Why?
This new information just made Valerie stomach turn.
Once the lights were off Valerie took a few soothing breaths before heading back into the kitchen. The room was dark again, the computer closed by one of the family members. Valerie carefully maneuvered around the space entering the living room.
Valerie had never felt more relieved and yet so anxious as that moment leaving Fenton Works through the window. What should have brought her answers had only served to befuddle everything she was certain had been true before. Nothing made sense anymore.
Now wasn't the time to think about it!
Valerie pulled back her long sleeves and glanced at her watch.
"How is it already 2:30?!" Valerie began jogging home. "I have to get this stuff hidden before dad gets home." And she needed to check the website again . . . and contemplate what she had just seen in the Fenton's basement. Phantom . . . no, not now!
It didn't matter that tears were freely escaping her eyes or that several of her notes were taken by the wind, all Valerie wanted was to be home. Now! She felt so awkward running. It was almost like lead weights had been tied to her feet; like she was caught in a bad dream running in slow motion. Her own footfalls sounded loud as they echoed off the surrounding buildings and empty streets.
Her apartment building also seemed to have grown taller. She didn't even live on the top floor, but it felt like she had just climbed Mt. Everest. Valerie retreated to her room and slammed the door behind her. It wasn't like she was being followed, but the motion came naturally to her. Valerie leaned against the closed door and let her bag fall to the floor, its contents spilling out on the carpet.
"How couldn't I have noticed?" Valerie reprimanded herself, again banging her fists on her forehead. "This whole time he was human and I've been trying to kill him. He goes to my school! I dated the guy!"
Valerie physically cringed at the thought of 'dating' Phantom. The thought still bothered her and she felt the sudden need to pace her room and just shake her limbs. It was like grabbing that beetle again only this time there was no way to drop it.
"Danny can't be Phantom, he just can't!"
Valerie's heart began pounding. The thought of her crush being that hateful . . .gah! It was disgusting and heartbreaking all at once. The feelings she had held for them both separately were now tearing her apart as her mind replayed every encounter she had with both ghost and boy.
"It's just not possible! There is no concrete proof. There could be a thousand reasons Phantom was in the lab, cleaning, and talking about the book report. I mean why wouldn't a ghost have homework in the ghost world too! Maybe Phantom's just a student. And Maybe I'm losing my mind! Heck, maybe we're all ghosts!"
Valerie stopped her pacing; anger and confusion still welling up inside her. She then glanced at the Fenton's weapons on her floor. It was a small ray she had taken off a hanging belt. Valerie give it a swift kick sending it across the floor crashing into a wall.
"How is this all possible? Half-ghosts, Vlad, and now Danny! I can't let myself get too carried away; I mean, Phantom can't be Danny, he's . . . it's not Danny. Gah!"
A sudden banging came from the floor. It was the neighbors downstairs. Valerie hadn't realized just how much noise she was making until that moment. Valerie just stood there breathing heavy, trying to calm herself. Slowly she lowered herself to the floor, her breathes slowly becoming more stable. Yes, this was more proper for an experience ghost hunter such as herself.
"I need to first find out what half-ghosts really are," Valerie began putting her thoughts in order. "It doesn't matter if Phantom's half-human if I still don't know what that means."
Okay step one: What were half-ghosts? Step two: Are ghosts 'living' or are they just post-conscious ectoplasm? Step three: Is Danny Phantom a half-ghost and if so . . . is it even possible for Danny to be the human half. Step four: Stabilize her suit. Step Five: With all this new knowledge, Vlad must be stopped. Step six: Deal with Phantom; whatever that meant.
. . . How to start . . .
"I can't say whether or not there are half-ghost-humans out there, but I will say this; if Danny Phantom was one, he'd never use his powers for evil. To answer your question PhanLuver, yes I've heard of hybrids and researched them, there's nothing to it really. There is no evidence to believe Danny Phantom is half-human. It's best to say they don't exist."
Valerie's fingers hovered over the keyboard. She would respond to that thread posts.
So many more posts had been added, but she didn't care to read them; nothing but hormonally charged dribble by mindless fangirl. Valerie began her reply.
"Ghost_Getter1, where did you do your research? I just want to make sure what you're saying is creditable. I haven't been able to find anything about half-ghosts online, and I don't think any of Amity Parks ghost hunters are looking for them. I really want to find out more."
It seemed like such a needy response. But the truth was she needed answers. Valerie gazed out the window. Her mind was swimming with ideas. Dani was half-human and Valerie had seen the human half. She looked like a normal little girl. She even needed to eat like a human did, hence Dani's stealing. Dani was smart and full of emotion; she was human by all accounts. And yet. . .
Dani had transformed, right in front of Valerie's eyes. The flesh and blood gone and enveloped in ectoplasm. Dani looked like any other ghost Valerie had seen. No difference. She was a ghost. But how?
All other ghosts were, well, dead. They used to be people, maybe, but death was the prerequisite for ghost-hood.
"How could a little girl become a ghost without having died first?"
Even if Valerie was willing to entertain the idea that all ghosts were in fact human spirits, how could a spirit manifest in ectoplasm if it's natural body wasn't dead?
"Is it possible to half die?" Good luck finding a scientist willing to research that.
By it's very definition, death was the end of a person. The idea of being alive while having the ability to be dead wasn't possible. There was nothing more the body could do after death. Maybe Dani was fully dead and it was merely a ghost power to look human. But how could Valerie test that. . . Could Dani age? When cut as a human, did she bleed ectoplasm? Did she need to sleep?
Valerie didn't know enough about Dani to answer any of those questions. What about Phantom?
If he was a half-ghost, how come she hadn't noticed. Well, obviously half-ghosts went to great lengths to hide the fact that they were. Dani was immediately capture when her secret was discovered; Phantom too would become an easy target if people knew. The human half would be a breeze to catch and, assuming he was human, there would be a natural instinct to protect one's self.
"So if Danny was Phantom, why would he have dated me?" Valerie sent her bitter gaze to the newspaper clippings of Phantom littering her walls. "That monster is nothing like Danny. But . . . why would Phantom risk getting that close to me. He'd have to know he couldn't hide it from me forever."
Ghosts were simple things. They wanted destruction, so they did everything they could to get it. Danny becoming Valerie's friend may have been a trick . . . but it would be too elaborate for a mindless ghost. Danny would be putting his ghost half in danger by being with her. That went against the little nature she knew of these hybrids. Hybrids didn't want to risk anyone knowing, even to their own hurt. And with this knowledge it should stand to reason that Danny wasn't Phantom, and yet her mind kept wondering.
There were a few theories, assuming Danny were Phantom. Theory one: Phantom is a hybrid just trying to get closer to her to kill her; which almost explained why Phantom destroyed her suit. But, the suit was trying to kill Danny, and Danny had seen that Valerie wasn't in the suit. So if the two were one in the same, Phantom would have taken that moment of Valerie's weakness without the suit to kill her. He didn't, he stopped the suit . . . which of course saved her life.
Valerie's heart skipped a beat and replaced it with a pang of guilt.
If Phantom was a hybrid and was Danny, then theory two would look more like this: Phantom was always telling the truth. Danny is honestly her friend and she was the biggest idiot for treating both Phantom and Danny the way she did. The fact that Vlad so easily used her made Valerie even more angry with herself. Theory two was looking sadly probable.
"But why would he hide that from me, why not tell me!" Valerie had banged a fist on the floor before she could realize what she was doing. Another thump came from the neighbor below. "Screw you!" Valerie pounded the floor several more times before returning to her thoughts.
Half-ghosts didn't want to be discovered. This was the only true 'ghost' fact she had. Danny was living up to that. Being he was human, he probably had a whole list of reasons why he didn't want someone finding out his secret. Humans are complex, thinking and by all accounts not driven in the same way mindless ectoplasm was. So, did this mean Danny was half dead?
Time for a new theory: Danny isn't Phantom and Phantom's nothing more than a ghost. In which case, Phantom was evil and needed to be captured.
Or: Danny isn't Phantom, but Phantom is still a half-ghost. That would explain why Phantom cares so much for humans. It was just strange for a ghost to help people as consistently as Phantom had. (That had proven harder to admit than Valerie expected). Valerie was so convinced the ghost was doing it for glory. Another one of the ghosts had done something similar. She needed the praise of humans to grow stronger, Valerie wanted to assume Phantom was doing the same thing. But that behavior wouldn't be constant with the times when his popularity polls were down. He still did good by people, and when his polls were up he never used his power for pure evil. Well, a few times it seemed he did.
If Phantom was a full ghost, he wasn't getting much from helping people. Being half-ghost at least satisfy the human half when people were pleased with him.
"So are half-ghosts fully human?"
There was only one way to find out; she'd have to capture one and test it.
"And in doing so, I could kill the human half," Valerie sighed. "That's the whole reason I saved Dani in the first place. I can't be responsible for the death of someone."
Too bad she couldn't just ask one. Why hadn't she taken Phantom up on his offer? Because it wouldn't have been right. He had just saved a little girl's life . . . a little girl who was his cousin . . . Danny never mentioned having a cousin.
"He never mentioned Vlad's obsession with his mom either," Valerie ran the family connections through her head. Did the Fenton's know about half-ghosts? No, they would have said something about it by now.
Something wasn't adding up . . .
"Valerie!"
The teenager almost jumped out of her skin when she heard her father's voice booming through the house.
"What is he doing back so soon!" Valerie's eyes darted to all the new ghost gear on the floor; her father would know she had snuck out for sure.
"Valerie, you'll never be able to guess!"
The door handle to her bedroom shook as her father tried to make his way in. Valerie slammed her body against the door to hold it shut. What else could she do?
"Uh, I'll be out in a minute."
"Are you on the computer? I told you you're not allowed . . . oh who cares, hurry up."
Whatever he was excited about must have been quite the deal, Damon was letting her off for disobeying him. Her father could be heard going back out to the living room and placing his work items down. Valerie raced around the room pushing everything under her bed. The notes she quickly gathered and hid under her book report.
Valerie hesitantly left her room. It was only a little after three, why was he home?
"Valerie, guess what," the older man stood beaming with a pride Valerie couldn't place. His smile promptly faded as he got a better look at his daughter. It was then Valerie remembered she was still dressed in all black; an odd night outfit no matter how she tried to excuse it. Damon removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose; a sigh Valerie had come to know meant, 'I'm not going to say anything now, but I'll address it later.'
"I haven't been ghost hunting daddy," she didn't know why she felt like she needed to explain that, he had already drawn his conclusions.
"That's not what I want to talk about right now," he said with a happy, but weary tone. "I've got news that's too good for us to start fighting."
"Not to mention the neighbor's about to have a conniption," Valerie added under her breath.
"I've gotten a pretty serious promotion at work," Damon smiled wildly as he signaled for his daughter to join him on the couch.
"That's great dad!" Her response was genuine.
"I won't have to work so late at night, and the benefits will cover both of us at no additional charge, and . . ." Damon held out to build suspense.
"Yeah," It was the best news Valerie had heard all day, or night.
"Well, I'll be making enough to finally move us out of this apartment. I've already been given a pretty hefty bonus. Mayor Masters came to the lab himself to present me with the check."
Valerie's continence dropped. Vlad had made good on his promise.
"Mr. Master's apparently has been watching my work on upgrading the ghost proof security systems. He thinks I show a lot of potential. He's making me head of the Ecto-security branch in the lab. This couldn't have come at a better time."
Damon continued to list the perks and tasks of his new position, Valerie simply let the sickening feelings turn in her stomach. She would be lying to say she didn't want to move out of that apartment, but she'd rather spend the rest of her life rotting there than take anything from Vlad again. It angered her to think he was only giving this promotion to her dad so she'd continue doing his dirty work without question. Valerie hated that ghost.
"No, that hybrid."
"What was that sweetie?" Damon stopped and frowned at Valerie's expression. The girl was quick to change to a smile however.
"I'm just, so happy for you dad," Valerie leaned over and gave her dad a brief hug. "You deserve it."
She only wished he'd worked in a place where he could have honestly earned it.
"That's not all Valerie," Damon grinned. "Mr. Master's is holding a banquet for me, and the rest of the research team."
Valerie couldn't cover the discontent on her face, luckily her dad was too far gone in his excitement to notice her fowled expression.
"He's starting construction on a new research satellite, something to do with finding reusable resources across the Earth's surface. He wants the project to remain secret from the rest of the science community, but he also wants it protected from ghosts. I'll be working with some of the companies greatest minds to build not only a ghost shield, but the first ecto-scrambler. It will prevent ghosts from even registering that wing of the lab."
"Dad, I don't think . . ."
"Don't worry about it," Damon cut his daughter off. "I know this is a big social event. I'm going to use some of my bonus to buy you a beautiful dress to meet the mayor in."
"What?!" Valerie was on her feet in an instant. "I'm not going to that banquet with that man!"
"Why not?" Damon was startled by his daughter's sudden outburst. "This is a very important project Valerie. The fact that Mr. Master's considered me for the job at all merits our respecting him. He invited both of us; you're going."
"Dad, I can hardly stand that I live on the same planet as that man, let alone be in the same room with him, breathing the same air."
"Valerie!"
She couldn't stop herself from cringing from his yell.
"Why would you say that? What has Mayor Masters done to you? He's my boss and the mayor of our city. I will not have you talking about him like that. You're going, that's final. And for Pete's sake, seem a little happy that our live's are getting better."
Valerie lowered her head in slight shame. She didn't mean to make her father upset, but how was she supposed to take that news. Vlad was her father's boss, a fact that she had all but forgotten in her vows to seek revenge. She hated that man, but she loved her father. If she didn't want to hurt her dad, she'd have to . . . sigh.
"I'm sorry dad."
"You should be. Now head to bed, you should be asleep already."
"Yes sir."
"And don't think I didn't notice your outfit young lady, we'll talk about it in the morning."
This had been the worst day ever. How had so much gone wrong in such a short amount of time? Danny, hybrids, Vlad, this promotion . . . sigh.
(A/N) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! Sorry if there are a few typos in this chapter. It's literally 4am where I am, but if I don't post this now I won't have time the rest of this or next week. I wanted to post before the holidays. I had some fun writing this chapter; thinking up all the possibilities. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review if you can. Thanks!