Danny Phantom

Invasion

Author's Notes: Yes, yes, another update, and sooner than I'd expected. Like I said, I'm attempting to speed things along to get to the on-the-edge-of-your-seat chapters. Also, I would like to give credit to the HALO novels for the idea of Zim rearranging symbols in the hologram, more specifically the Forerunner technology. Since I can't remember if they ever gave Mr. Lancer a first name, I made one up. IF someone knows otherwise, please let me know.

Also, I'd like to give a short thank you to those who've been patient enough to keep up with me. Thanks.

Chapter Seven:

Memories of the Elder


"So, who's next on the list?" Zim asked, somewhat disinterestedly, and mostly for the sake of breaking the awkward silence that surrounded the boys as they traveled like a mist through the city, unseen and unheard. He didn't exactly care who they were after, only that they get there quickly. He'd been tracking something following them since they'd arrived at the old woman's house earlier that morning, and it was rather unsettling. What was worse was that the other two didn't seem to notice the pillar of smoke rising from their previous destination. The fact that this happened to be the most crime-ridden city on the human dirt ball suggested that they'd grown used to it. Zim didn't care, so long as whatever was following them gave up soon.

"Well, Lancer is closer, so why don't we give him a visit?" Dib said, looking at the list in his hand. Danny nodded, not daring to speak, lest he break his concentration and they find themselves only partially phased through a brick wall. "Alright then, let's get moving. I think, if we pick up the pace a little, we can be there within the hour."

Danny didn't say anything, though he did look a little disheartened by that statement. Zim was busy with a holopad, once more rearranging the symbols that Dib knew to be the Irken language. In any normal circumstance, he'd be trying to steal it, but these weren't normal circumstances and the fact that Zim did have advanced technology would probably help them at some point in time or another. After all, this "Xanu" guy or whoever was threatening Zim's job, and the young Irken always took Earth's side when such a situation arose. So Dib wasn't really worried. More annoyed that Zim wasn't telling them what he was doing.

The green-skinned boy shot Dib a glance and rolled his blue eyes. "If you must know, I'm looking up some history. The shifters have a bad habit of trying to out-do the Irken Empire, but I have no clue why. This 'weapon' of ours probably had something to do with a plan of theirs to destroy the Armada. As far as I know, every attempt they've made has been a colossal failure."

Dib nodded. He didn't question the power of the Armada, especially since he'd seen the schematics for the Massive, and always made a point to stop Zim from bringing the ship to Earth. However, if the Armada could put a halt on the shifters plans, Dib wasn't going to argue.

"Hmmm... it appears that Xanu is no longer their King..." he muttered. "In fact, their new leader is female." He raised an eyebrow. "And she appears more or less human, even if her skin..." he said, trailing off as Danny swerved hard to the right. "The sooner we do something about this the better," he said. A metal appendage sprang from the pack, holding the crimson cuff. "And no matter what, we can't let them get this."

Sacred Memories Nursing Home, the sign read. Danny wasn't going to question how the already-balding, forty-something teacher had managed to live this long, but if he could give them the information they needed, then he wasn't going to ask questions. The receptionist was a blonde woman, hardly twenty-five. She looked up at them with a clueless smile, which Danny tried to ignore. "Hi there! Can I help you?"

"Yes, I wanted to visit John Lancer, please."

"Family?"

"Er..."

"Yes! We're his great grand kids!" Dib interjected, standing on his toes to see over the counter. Zim rolled his eyes. "I'm... James, and these are my cousins... Torque... and Greeny."

Zim shot Dib a scathing look, one that read "You'd better hope the shifters kill you before I do" if looks could speak.

"Well John never mentioned grandkids, but he doesn't really talk about his past much. Alright, I'll show you to his room."

She led them down the almost-too-white hallway and into another wing of the building. At last she stopped and rapped gently on the door. "John?" she called, opening the door to let the boys in. He was sitting in a chair, facing the window. "John, your great grandkids are here to see you."

"What? I don't have any..." he started, turning in his chair. His eyes fell on Danny, who was pleading him with his large blue orbs. Mr. Lancer's mouth was hanging open slightly. "I don't have anything... for them to eat," he finished at last. She smiled and backed out the door, leaving the four of them alone. He slowly got to his feet. He'd lost all of his hair and his skin was wrinkled. Danny tried not to look too shocked at the change.

"Mr. Fenton... and after all these years, we thought you were dead," he said quietly as he shut the door. Danny nodded silently, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. "So what brings you here? I'm not going to ask the obvious question, 'what happened,' because I know you better than that, and I expect you will make up some far-fetched story to hide the truth."

Danny stared at his shoes, not uttering a sound, so Mr. Lancer went on. "I imagine you can here to ask me some questions, then." He sat on the bed. "Go ahead, ask your questions. I will tell you what I know, and then, when you finish, you will let me ask my questions. Fair?"

The teen smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that's fair." He looked up and took a deep breath. "I guess my first question is, what happened the night of the disaster? Where are my parents? And my friends, what happened to them?"

Lancer was quiet for several moments. "That night... let me go back... that was a long time ago for me, and the years have not been kind. Sadly, that is one night my ailing memory will not allow me to forget. Let me see... I was at home when it started, if I remember right..."

It was quiet that night, a calm, gentle night sometime in mid-June. John sat in his recliner, reading the paper as he did every night, mostly for the sake of routine. He was lounging, a perfect night to do so, since he only had a few months until school began once more and he was forced again to pick up the old routine of paper-grading. A gentle breeze blew in through the window.

Only a few minutes passed before he smelled it, the unmistakable odor of burning wood and drywall. He bolted out of his chair and dashed to the door, throwing it open. What he saw made his jaw hang open with mingled shock and disbelief. The buildings down the street were each, in turn, going up in a pillar of white-hot flames that nearly touched the sky. "Lord of the Flies, what is going on?" he shouted. People were running, screaming, trying desperately to escape this terror. No one really knew who it was.

A cold, cackling laugh rang through the flames. One of several soon to follow, but this one was darking, more foreboding. And it came from a young girl, not more than seventeen...

There wasn't time to ponder why Sam was shooting flames from her hands. Something else was moving down the streets. They looked like men, but they most certainly weren't. Their leader, a man with jet-black hair was attacking anyone within range, anyone he could. Cold metal tendrils morphed from his hands and pierced his victims as he went. He ran on them, as well, but the fact that he was skewering people left and right was a bit more noticeable.

Lancer stepped back a pace to allow the large metal assault vehicle barrage past. That's when he realized that there was still hope for him to live, so he ran. He ran as fast as he could, and considering he was out of shape, it might have killed him before the tentacle-people did. His car was there... just ahead...

And then he heard something. Screaming in an alley. He paused to listen, but only for a moment, and only caught a few sentences of the shouted conversation.

"No! I... I... please! I don't know where he is!" someone shouted, a young woman. He recognized her, but he was too intent on running to place her face with her voice.

"Then you will tell me when he comes to find you! Swear it!"

"I..." was all he heard, because by now he was out of range. He kept running, until he ran right into his car. Lancer fumbled with the keys until at last he found the right one, jammed it into the lock, and threw open the door.

"I barely escaped, because that wasn't all that happened."

"What? What else could have possibly happened?"

"Oh trust me, there's more, Mr. Fenton..."

"Guhn!" he gasped as his car came to a dead halt. "What was that...?" he breathed, and didn't have to look far to find out. His bumper was being held fast by the man, the leader of the tentacle-people. The man sneered.

"Human skewers... my favorite..." he whispered and moved forward, dragging his metal appendages back as he moved. Lancer slammed on the gas.

"C'mon, c'mon! I don't want to be ka-bobbed!" he shouted at the gas pedal.

Something hit the back of his car, jarring him free. The tired squealed. In the rear-view mirror, there stood a boy, with dark skin and a red beret, waving him to go. And Lancer did.

As the car sped down the highway, he said a silent thank you, and a memorial, for the boy that saved his life.

Danny was silent. "Tucker..." he whispered.

"Now it's my turn. My question to you is this: How is it that you, just a teenager, are able to stand before me, unharmed, unaged, and with no idea what happened to your own family?"

Danny stared at the floor. "I was... trapped. I don't really know why. I just know that... I have to find them. I have to do it soon, because if I don't, something terrible is going to happen to them."


"Mistress, what are your orders?"

She was silent. "By now he's gone to see that senile old man. Before long he'll know, and we must stop him before he gets that far. He mustn't know of our plans. He mustn't know that his little girlfriend is being overshadowed by the very entity he tried to save her from."

He nodded. "Very well, mistress. What would you have us do?"

She started at him. "I want you to get rid of the sister. She'll know more than the others. The old man will have already told him everything he knows. So get rid of the girl, and we'll see what he does next. He's an unpredictable creature, so unlike the rest of these pathetic humans."

"He's not human, though."

"Exactly." She stared into the mirror. It wasn't Sam staring back, but a different woman, one with skin as white as snow and eyes as red as hell itself. She sighed. "And how is the progress on my body?"

"Coming along quite nicely. By our calculations, the body should be operational tomorrow evening."

She smiled. "Good. When I have united with my body, I want you to bring me the old man."

"Mistress?"

"Bring me the old man. The boy will come after him to try and save him. You can take the little Irken brat, and I will kill Daniel. Do what you want with the other little human boy."

He nodded. "You will keep your end of the bargain, won't you?"

"Yes, yes, but I can only grant you what you want when my body is completed."

"And the weapon?"

"Keep it, destroy it, do what you want with it, just be certain that Danny Phantom doesn't put it on. He's already quite powerful without it."

He nodded once again. "Very well. Is there anything else you wanted?"

She thought a moment. "No, that will be all. You are dismissed."

She was tired, so very tired. "My goodness, I am ready to be rid of this body..." she whispered.

Sam had remained dormant for fifty long years, pushed aside and forgotten, inside of her own body. She'd been no match for the other spirit that inhabited it. But at last, after over half a century, she felt something... a spark, when she heard Danny's name. Whatever had died inside her when Danny had vanished into the cold of the Ghost Zone had been revived.

He's alive...


"Where is she?" he snarled, holding the girl by the collar of her shirt. She giggled madly. He'd been interrogating her like this for so many years, did he think she'd suddenly change her mind and decide to tell him?

"I told you," she said, smiling insanely. "I don't know. She never told me what she was going to do."

He threw her back into her cage and slammed the barred door on her, locking it. He floated into his sitting chamber and stared into the face of the grandfather clock. "That wretched little liar..." he whispered. Depravity had escaped only days after he'd imprisoned her here, and in truth, it had been a brilliant idea.

Part of the ancient was still here, sitting in her room. However, she'd somehow fractured her soul, sending a good portion of her evil, brilliance, and cruelty out into the world of mortals. Since she was still here, she was also allowed to leave. Nothing would stop her. And now she'd already obliterated a human city, amongst other things, such as making herself the ruler of an alien race and planning to destroy all mankind, but those were things he'd expected of her anyways.

But he couldn't find her. The mad little wretch in the cage had told her the secret to binding herself to a human body, and so he couldn't track her. He supposed if he ordered Malygrymm to follow the carnage, he'd find her. But he didn't. All that happened to be there was a mad little human girl who'd become drunk with power. Sadly, no one dared stand up to her.

Mobieus growled. What was he to do?

He got up once more. The part of Depravity that remained in the fortress wasn't telling him anything, just that soon, they would all die. That was the majority of whatever conversation niece and uncle ever had.

And Danny... he'd seen him only months ago, traveling through the ghost zone, putting order to its unruly inhabitants. If Depravity had wanted to kill him so badly, why hadn't she attacked him in the Ghost Zone? She'd have had a better chance here than anywhere else. But then, Mobieus didn't dare question the strange thoughts of his niece. After all, she was much like her father, the lord and master of Hell.

Again the question arose: What was he to do?

And it occurred to him: Find Daniel.

It had to be soon, lest the twisted ancient find the half-ghost first.


The boys walked through the streets of the small town. They'd never really bothered finding out its name, since they wouldn't be staying very long. Danny's mind was realing. Tucker? But... hadn't the records said that he'd never been found? Maybe they'd incinerated him...

"So... how about that story?" Dib said, shattering Danny's concentration. He shrugged.

"You have to hurry, Daniel. They're coming, I know it. They'll look for her, first, so you have to hurry. Time is running short, and before long, you may not even get to speak with Ms. Jasmine..."

"Let's move," he said, pulling them into an alley. The three boys vanished.