Righty, so, recently I found that between working on the comic version of this story and various other things, it was becoming extremely hard for me work on this fanfic. However, my friend FunkyFish1991 offered to help me out with it and is now doing most of the writing based around the storyline and events from my comic. For simplicity's sake, we're going to keep posting it here, but the real work was done by FunkyFish, I just did the Beta-work. So there may be some noticeable changes in writing style here. Anyways, hopefully this will mean more updates with less wait between them. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Oh, and to read the comic version, copy and paste this address without the spaces- the –alchemists -muse. deviantart. com/ gallery/
Disclaimer: Danny Phantom doesn't belong to me or Funkfish1991, it belongs to Butch Hartman. Oh well…
Chapter 7
'1Stp Klosr'
'Everything you say to me
Takes me one step closer to the edge
And I'm about to break
I need a little room to breathe
'Cause I'm one step closer to the edge
And I'm about to break'
-'1stp Klosr' by Linkin Park
The hallways were abandoned. The whole place was pretty much silent – though far away in another wing Valerie could hear violent shouts and a strange clunking that she recognized as the army of troopers being mobilized. She was glad that they were out too, but the thought of waiting for their backup never occurred to her.
Her feet pounded against the floor, but as Valerie drew closer to her destination she forced herself to land lighter on her feet. She was rushing past rows of heavily secured doors, scanning the numbers on top of them, but ignoring them for the most part in favor of throwing glances all around her, unsure of exactly what she was expecting to see.
All her senses were on high alert, her heart thumping powerfully in her chest. She thought she might have been in a little bit of shock over the sight of the dead trooper, but she refused to think about it – forced herself to concentrate on where she was now and what was around her.
Valerie reached the end of the hallway, and slowed right down to a fast walk, striding around the corner, where she knew Phantom's cell was located.
But when she turned to look at it, she froze, her eyes shooting wide open.
The hallway was decimated. The door to Phantom's cell was torn open, the crumpled steel door strewn on the floor. The floor was coated in steaming ice, and a thin green smoke curled up from several green fires blazing across the walls and tiles.
But then she noticed Kwan.
Valerie darted over to him frantically. He was slumped unconsciously against the wall opposite the door, blood streaming from a wound on his head, dripping down onto his neck and shoulder.
She fell to her knees beside him.
"Kwan! Hey, c'mon, wake up!"
She lifted her hand, unsure whether or not she should shake him. Up close, she could see all the blood soaked into the shoulder of his lab coat, and panic flared inside her. Kwan suddenly moaned and his leg twitched. She breathed out in relief.
"Uh…huh?…Valerie?..."
He sounded dazed, and by the look of his head, she decided that was a fair guess. His green eyes flickered open, searching for her, and opening further when he located her at his side.
He immediately curled his arms around his chest and rocked forwards, his face contorting in distress.
"Ahh! Ow…oh man…my ribs ache…" Kwan groaned.
Valerie blinked once as he twitched painfully.
"Your ribs? What about your head!?" she practically yelled at him.
His arms fell from his sides. "Huh? My head?..." He pulled up his right hand to his head, twitching when his fingers felt the bloodied gash. He was swaying slightly, leaning forwards from the wall. His eyes were a little unfocused as he retracted his hand and looked down at the scarlet blood now coating it.
"Oh, wow…"
Valerie stared at him, amazed that he hadn't realized that he had been so badly injured. He probably had a concussion. He was still looking down fuzzily at his bloodied hand.
"That's why my head's throbbing a little…"
A little???
Before she could say anything, he began to lean further forwards.
"Whoa," She instantly pressed her hand against his shoulder, forcefully keeping his back against the wall. "Don't move so much! The blood loss–"
But he cut her off as he reached into his coat. "Hey, wait…it's okay…" He still sounded a little off, his voice slurring slightly. But when he retracted his hand, in it were two small syringes, green crosses on their fronts. "See? I've got these."
She relaxed slightly, but still gave him a weird look through her helmet. "Medical-repair Nanite injections?"
Kwan pulled the cap off the first one, his hands a little shaky.
"You carry those around with you?" Valerie asked.
He tensed up as he pricked the little syringe into the side of his head, wincing quietly. "Yeah…Supervisor Marshall makes everyone carry some…in case they get hurt…"
Valerie grinned humorlessly. "I guess this proves it makes sense, huh?"
Kwan didn't respond, but was already starting to look a little better. He had stopped trembling and looked less ill. He sighed as he pushed himself further up the wall. Valerie stood, her hands on her hips.
"So…you're gonna be okay?" she asked the injured scientist.
"Yup." He reached down and tore a thick strip of cloth off the bottom of his coat. "I feel kinda woozy, but the Nanites ought to fix me up, blood loss and all." He glanced at his blood-soaked shoulder. "Plus, it really does look worse than it is."
Valerie gave him a skeptical look.
Kwan caught her disbelieving expression. "Really!" He started to wrap the cloth around his head in a makeshift bandage. "Even shallow head injuries bleed a lot!" He tied off the end of the cloth. "Trust me, I've gotten hit on the head before, I played football!"
"Okay, fine, I believe you." There was only a trace of sarcasm in Valerie's voice. "Now–" She turned to look behind her, and suddenly remembered with a jolt the scene around them.
The gaping hole in the wall stared at her, revealing the dark cell behind. The dark, vacant cell.
"Kwan…please tell me that didn't used to be Phantom's cell." She begged him, though she knew he would be lying.
"Um, sorry, Valerie…it kinda is…"
Valerie gritted her teeth and wheeled around to face him. "That stupid ghost, you mean me did all this?" Her voice was beyond a yell.
Kwan drew away from her. "It wasn't Phantom."
She stared at him, still fuming.
"You're gonna think my memory's messed up from getting thrown into a wall, but…it was a Ghost Dragon." His eyes flitted sideway almost guiltily. Valerie glared at him as he shrugged, before turning once more to look at the glowing mess that was the hallway.
"A Ghost Dragon. Great. Whatever." She began to walk away, slamming her feet angrily down onto the tiles. "All I need to know is that there's a rogue ghost loose in the Facility, Phantom's cell is ripped open and he's gone."
Kwan watched her fume away, before suddenly remembering something. He darted forwards and grabbed her wrist.
"Valerie, wait!"
She turned to look at him, though her body was still turned away. He swallowed nervously.
"Valerie, um, there's some stuff I gotta talk to you about." He started fidgeting nervously, his hand still wrapped around her wrist. "Something I need to show you and such…"
"Okay, what?" She sounded impatient. But Kwan glanced nervously to the side, suddenly releasing his hold on her.
"I…I can't tell you here. In this Facility, I mean…"
"Alright, fine." She seemed to sense how nervous he was and calmed herself down a little. "You know that café on Riddick Street in the south section of the city? The one with the manager with the really deep voice?" She turned away and tossed the last bit over her shoulder as she began to run. "Meet me there in two days at 11a.m.."
Kwan blinked once before calling after her. "O-okay! See you then!"
She rounded the corner and left him alone in the messy hallway with the ice and green fire. He stared after her, the throbbing in his head dying down – and a huge grin smeared across his face.
"Hey, maybe it's work-related, but it's one step closer to a real date!"
Danny lunged forwards and slammed his broad shoulder into the chest of the Agent, who dropped his gun in pain. The weapon whirred and with a strange squeal shot a glowing blue blast into the air. Danny threw himself backwards to avoid the blast.
"Yikes!" He yelped as the beam missed him by an inch.
He recovered quickly and fell back into a crouch, ready for whatever came next. He looked up to see the Trooper aiming another, much bigger gun, at his head. Danny ignored the groaning Agent slipping to the floor beside him and focused on the Trooper.
Man he hated these guys.
The floored Agent looked furtively up at the ghost looming over him, and shot out an arm to grab his fallen gun. Danny's eyes caught the movement.
"Nuh-uh! Not a chance!" he said as he kicked the gun violently out of the Agent's reach, ignoring the man's yelp of protest. The gun soared through the air and hit the Trooper sharply on the helmet.
"Ack!" The Trooper buckled and began to swear viciously as both Danny and the Agent looked on, the Agent looking more and more worried, and Danny blessing his good luck.
He suddenly remembered the other problem, and turned to the sweating Agent. The half-ghost's lips curled into a devious grin as he laughed silently at the man's terrified expression. He absolutely towered over the other guy, neither of them could help but notice.
Without warning, Danny whipped his head down into the forehead of the Agent. Their skulls met with a deadly cracking sound, and the Agent yelled in agony, while Danny's face still held a trace of a smile.
The Agent collapsed, dazed and bruised, but Danny had already forgotten him. He glanced back over his shoulder.
The Trooper was paying him no attention at all, still nursing his head and muttering darkly against the 'stupid ghost'.
Danny jumped into the air as best he could, his strait jacket making him off balance. It was only then that the Trooper noticed him. His pupils dilated when he saw the huge bulk of the six foot four inch tall ghost flying at top speed towards him. He didn't have time to react before Danny's foot landed heavily on his face.
"Arrgh! Not again!" the Trooped moaned, his knees buckling as Danny's foot crushed into his helmet with a sickening, unidentifiable crunching sound.
The Trooper yelled in pain as Danny continued on in his jump over the obstacle, landing lightly on both feet and carrying on seamlessly.
Danny looked back over his shoulder as he rounded the corner.
"Well, that was fun, gotta go, bye!" He called out to the injured GIW men and then he was gone.
The Trooper stared after him, his hand pressed to his head, the unconscious Agent still on the floor behind him.
No way. Not without hazard pay. There was no way he was chasing that psycho. He was certain his nose was broken anyway.
"I'm not paid enough."
Danny's long legs powered him at high speed down the corridors, gaining speed and momentum.
Suddenly his strait jacket flashed brightly and he felt a strange current surging through him. But instead of getting a power boost, he rocketed down to the ground with a groan. He slammed onto his knees and felt painful vibrations shooting through his legs. He sat back on his heels and groaned, gasping furiously.
Dammit…the strait jacket keeps sucking out my powers…at this rate, soon I'm not going to be able to move at all…
He panted for a few more seconds, before struggling once more to his feet. He didn't even try to start running, worried about what would happen if he was rendered powerless.
Suddenly his vision shifted. He slumped involuntarily against the wall beside him, staring vacantly forwards with drooping eyes.
Oh…
His back slumped over as his eyelids dropped further and a sense of unreality began to fall over him.
The Not-Real feeling is back again…
The hallway moved and shifted before him, blurring and focusing and blurring again. His legs felt shaky, and he felt uncertain and lightheaded, not able to trust his own vision anymore. He tapped the floor with his toes before taking a step to assure himself of where the ground was.
Just keep walking…just…
He forced his eyes open, willing his vision to clear, but he still saw hazily. He felt as though he was dreaming, but still wide awake at the same time. He wasn't sure where exactly he was – lost within the labyrinth of the Facility. But there wasn't much else he could do…
Just…just keep going…and stuff…
His hearing faded in and out, and he passed a branching hallway without even registering it – just walking.
He also didn't notice as a cane tapped the floor of the hallway, and a suited figure inched around the corner. Vlad's piercing dark blue eyes followed the staggering young ghost stoically down the hallway.
The billionaire's face slowly curved into a scheming grin as twin black disks emerged from his core, glowing red as they traveled up and down his body, peeling off his human form and leaving the ghostly body of Vlad Plasmius in its wake. Little had changed in him over the last fourteen years.
The wide white lapels still fanned out under his gelled black hair – still spiking up over his head devilishly. His eyes were still eerily red, framed with black. His fangs still protruded over his lower lip as his twisted smile widened.
"Found you…"
Danny half-collapsed against the wall, his shoulder hitting it roughly as one of his legs threatened to buckle on him.
Oh, look…
He smiled faintly as he recognized an old friend.
That dancing cactus is back…
His smile fell away as he moved closer and closer to the short cactus, shaking its maracas cheerfully at him, smiling happily under its sombrero. It faded away like a mist when he drew closer, and Danny felt a strange pang of loss.
Suddenly a door to his left swished open with a tiny beep of its control panel. He swung his head round to look at it.
Danny blinked, his lower lip jutting out as he stared.
"Door?"
He grinned and then shrugged. "Okay. Why not?"
Danny stepped through the doorway, distantly pleased to note that the dream-like feeling had faded away with the dancing cactus. It was dark in the room, a faint blue light radiating from somewhere.
Suddenly, the doors slammed shut behind him with a violent clang.
"Hey!" he yelped, jumping forwards before his pants got caught. Before he could investigate what had almost claimed his butt as a trophy, he was distracted by what he saw before him.
"Wha?" He said in surprise, taking in the appearance of the room for the first time.
A reaching platform was on his right, two steps leading up to it, a podium rising out of its center, and a projection screen stretched across the wall behind it. Rows and rows of tiered seating rose opposite it – but apart from that the cavernous space was empty.
"Whoa…big room…"
It was almost silent, his voice echoing deeply but quietly through the room.
Then someone else spoke.
"It's been a long time…"
Danny froze and stared straight in front of him as he recognized the voice.
"I think about eleven years, wasn't it?"
The horribly familiar voice curled around his ears and sent unpleasant shivers down his spine. He started to turn around.
"Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter."
Vlad. Vlad was floating right behind him. Danny's stomach clenched.
"Hello… Daniel." The man said softly, a smile on his inhuman face.
Daniel. That was a word he hadn't heard in a while. Danny stared blankly at the ghost before him. Vlad. It was Vlad. Vlad from before…Vlad who knew his name…Vlad who called him by his name…Vlad who…
Danny's eyebrows turned right down. He was beginning to bare his teeth without even realizing it – his eyes narrowing darkly into furious slits as he didn't even bother to control himself.
But suddenly he lifted his head. The snarl on his lips curved up into a twisted, creepy smile, his eyes widening and his eyebrows arching.
It was a disturbing expression that you wouldn't ever want to see on anyone's face…
"Hi, Plasmius!"