Chapter 09

He twitched, his whole body jerking in a spasm. The pops of electricity dancing all around him, striking against metal and flesh, still rang deafeningly in his ears. He could still feel burning and freezing sensation battling inside him at each painful shock. His hair stood on end, and his skin tingled. His throat ran dry, and gasping for breath, Danny snapped out of his sleep, sweating and shivering. Around him was the machine that had excited his interested but now filled him with cold, paralyzing dread. He clamped his eyes shut, swallowing hard, trying to wet his parched throat and mouth.

When he opened his eyes again, he was sitting on his bed in his room, the pale morning light streaming in through the part in the curtains on his windows. Danny collapsed onto his back, his chest heaving as the nightmare - No! The memories flashed through his head on a constant loop. His stomach churned, and he pushed down the bile threatening to rise up his throat.

"Orion's belt!" Danny croaked out, his voice hoarse, as he rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his palms. It was real. What happened last night was all real. Some part of him hoped he had imagined the whole thing. Maybe he could concede that his sister was right and spending all night playing video games was a bad idea. But no, it was real. Somehow he had survived being electrocuted within the machine his parents built. It didn't make any sense. He should be dead after something like that. He lifted his hands from his eyes and held them over his head. Nothing looked different about them. He turned them over, eyes scanning for any evidence of what happened, but his skin was the same smooth pale as always.

With a groan, he forced himself to climb out of bed. He still felt stiff and sluggish from the events of last night. He scrubbed a hand over his face as he shuffled toward the door of his room, nearly tripping over his bag. After nudging the bag aside with his foot, he reached out to grab the doorknob.

"Ow!" He yelped, jerking his hand back as a bolt of static arched between his fingers and the doorknob. The brief flash of green stopped his heart. The memories washed over him again, just as vividly as if he were experiencing the accident again. His body trembled, his legs feeling almost too weak to support him. His breath hitched and rattled in his chest as all he could manage to suck in was short gasps of air. Trying force himself to calm down, he brought his focus back to the present, his bug eyed stare still on his outstretched hand. His stomach gave a lurch and his head swam as he took in the sickly pale green, almost translucent, skin of his right hand. Jagged veins of darker green spider webbed out from various points on his hand and up his arms. There was a word for that. Jazz would probably know it, but Danny's mind couldn't grab at any words at the moment.

After a minute, or twenty, of panicking, the color finally faded back to the usual pale he was used to, leaving no sign of the scars. Danny blinked a few times, rubbed at his eyes, but his hand and arm looked normal again. What had happened to him in that accident?

He grabbed the doorknob, harder than he meant, and he felt the metal knob give slightly in his grip. Ignoring it, he jogged down the hall toward the bathroom then slammed the door once he was inside it. He didn't even care if the noise woke up the rest of his family. Scrambling over to the mirror, he stared at his reflection, expecting - He wasn't sure what he expected. Maybe some sign like with his hand earlier? But he only saw the same old Danny Fenton staring back at him. He reached up and raked a hand through his hair.

He froze. Something registering within the panic of his mind. He stared at his reflection, nothing unusual about it, but his right hand remained tangled in his raven locks. His right arm. The one he injured yesterday while at Axion Labs. The one that should be throbbing in agony right now when he had it lifted. He tugged off his shirt, his breath short and heart pounding. The shirt was tossed to the side, and he lifted up his right arm, examining his shoulder. No bruises were left there, like the mechanical arm hadn't grabbed hold of him and nearly ripped his arm out of its socket. He rolled his shoulder, waiting for the throb of pain, the scream of protest from his muscles, but there was nothing. His injury had healed!

Curious, he turned his back to the mirror, twisting his head to stare at his reflection over his shoulder. Then he peeled away the bandage Dash had slapped over the cut. He could still remember the maddening intensity of the itchy sensation the cut had caused last night. Now he felt nothing. He stared at the back of his neck, almost expecting to find no sign of injury after seeing his shoulder. But a small scar remained. It stood out whiter than his skin, but - He moved closer to the mirror, squinting at the small, jagged scar. It held a faint green coloring to it that he probably would have overlooked if what happened in his bedroom hadn't occurred. He could also see a few greenish veins stretching out from the scar like branches of lightning.

What should he do? Danny rubbed the scar absently as he considered his options. Should he tell someone? His parents would be disappointed in him for disobeying them, and Danny wasn't even sure he wanted to know what they would do after hearing about the whole accident. And he still didn't even understand what the accident had done to him! He couldn't tell Jazz because she would simply go straight to their parents with the information. He bit the inside of his cheek.

Hearing a knock on the bathroom door, Danny jumped, banging back into the sink. Or he would have banged into it, except instead, he found himself standing halfway through it. "Uh," Danny mumbled, struggling to shove down the panic building up in him, but his mind kept screaming a string of curses and he couldn't think. His body was shaking, and it was the same weird sickly faint green his hand had turned after the electrostatic shock from the doorknob. He twisted around to face the mirror.

"Oh sweet nebula," Danny muttered, eyes growing wide. His eyes were glowing and green, and his hair was pure white! He raked a trembling hand through his hair and gulped down air as best he could.

"Danny," his sister called, pounding again upon the door. "Do you plan on spending all day in there? I would like to take a shower, you know."

"Uh, I'll be right out," Danny called, hoping his voice didn't sound as shaky as he felt. "Just give me a minute."

He stepped back away from the mirror, sliding easily out of the sink. But how to change back to normal? Before, in his bedroom, his hand had reverted back on its own. He took deep breaths to calm himself and his still racing heart. Maybe if he simply concentrated, he could do it. After some time, sweat beading upon his brow, his skin was back to its usual color. He blinked, and his eyes were blue again. Black crept back into his hair. With a sigh, he nearly sank to the ground, but another insistent knock on the door stopped him.

"Hold your horses. Geeze, Jazz!" Danny grumbled as he snatched up his shirt from the floor. He opened the bathroom door to find his sister waiting impatiently outside. "All yours," he told her, stepping aside with a sweeping bow.

"You're such a dork sometimes." Jazz rolled her eyes. As she passed him, she ruffled his hair then closed the door behind her.

Danny returned to his room, closing the door behind him. When he glanced at the inside knob, he frowned at the slight dent in the metal. What was happening to him? He needed to figure out some answers. Grabbing some clean clothes, Danny got dressed in a hurry, stumbling about as he yanked on his jeans and getting tangled up in his shirt before he straightened it out. He picked up his phone and hit the first number on his call list that wasn't family.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Sam demanded groggily when she answered.

Danny glanced at the clock. "It's a quarter to nine."

"On a Saturday," Sam stressed, clearly not a morning person.

"Sorry, but this is important. I really need to talk to you and Tucker about something." Danny tugged on a hooded sweatshirt, his Casper High one with their mascot the raven on the back. "Um," he scratched a hand through his hair then slapped it down against his side, "can you just meet me at the usual place?"

"Is everything okay?" Sam sounded more awake now, concern entering her voice.

Danny frowned as he considered his answer. "I'm not sure. Just meet me there, okay?"

"Okay. Yeah, okay. I'll pick up Tucker and meet you there in, like, twenty minutes."

"Thanks, Sam." Danny smiled in relief as he grabbed his keys and wallet. "And sorry about bothering you so early in the morning."

"Don't worry about it. See you there."

"See you," Danny agreed then ended the call and stuffed his phone into his pocket. He hurried down the stairs, making a detour to the kitchen to grab something to eat.

"You're up early," his mother said from the table where she was reading one section of the newspaper.

"Made plans with Tucker and Sam." Danny snagged an apple from the bowl on the counter. "I'll be back later."

"Don't ride that skateboard while you're eating!" his father called as Danny headed toward the front door. "And don't forget about your homework!"

"I won't," Danny shouted back. He grabbed his skateboard from where it rested against the hall wall near the door. As soon as he left the house, he put the skateboard on the ground and climbed on, pushing off away from the house. He munched on the apple as he leisurely made his way toward the usual meeting spot. It wasn't too far from his house, so he could get away with taking his time.

He reached the usual spot with plenty of time to spare, locating a trashcan in the corner of the front room in the abandoned house to throw away the core of his finished apple. The house was rather creepy, rundown and basically ready to be condemned. The city simply hadn't gotten around to caring enough about tearing it down and rebuilding something else on the lot of land. He remembered the first time he visited the house with Tucker and Sam on a dare when they were thirteen. Dash didn't think Danny would be brave enough to spend a night in the old house which creaked even in the gentlest of breezes. Danny guessed the fact he and his friends had not only stayed in the house but had a fun time playing stupid games the whole night was part of why some people thought they were freaks. No one else even wanted to set foot in the house, which made it a great place to meet and discuss things in private.

"I hope you have a good reason for dragging me out of bed so early on a Saturday," Tucker complained as he entered the front room. He reached up and covered a wide yawn with one hand, his usual red beret hanging slightly out of place on his head. Danny could see some of his friend's curly hair peeking out from under the beret. Tucker pretty much hated letting anyone see his hair, ever since one of the jocks had stolen his beret and showed off his shaggy locks to everyone at school. His face had turned almost as red as his beret before he managed to snatch it back and shove it back onto his head while everyone laughed.

"Yeah, you didn't sound good on the phone." Sam frowned at him in concern.

"Something," Danny sat on the creaky floor, his feet resting on his skateboard and absently sliding it back and forth, "weird happened." His friends joined him, sitting before him with their legs crossed and expectant looks on their faces. No backing out now, he realized. His friends would want answers, and they could be extremely persistent if he tried to avoid telling them the truth. He took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "Okay. So here's the thing. You know my parents are scientists."

"Yeah," Tucker said, cocking an eyebrow. "And you never talk about anything they do."

"Or why the basement is such a big secret," Sam added, and she narrowed her eyes with suspicion.

"That's because technically, I'm not even supposed to know about what they work on down there," Danny argued defensively. "And anyway the rest of the science community basically laughs at their theories because they believe in ghosts and think ectoplasm could be a useful resource once they've been able to study it and experiment on all the stuff it can do." His friends merely stared at him, waiting for more, and Danny relaxed somewhat in relief, thankful they didn't start laughing at him. "Ectoplasm is this rare thing, so they don't have a lot to work with. That's when they came up with the idea of creating a machine that could punch a hole between dimensions because they believe there's this parallel world where ghosts live."

"Danny," Tucker said warily, the color draining slightly from his face, "are we going to have to worry about ghosts popping up and terrorizing us?"

Danny shrugged. "It didn't work." He frowned, turning his gaze away. "At least, when my parents tried it, it didn't work."

"Danny!" Sam punched him hard on the arm. "You did not start up that machine!"

"I just wanted to take a look!" Danny rubbed at his arm. "By the way, ow." He leaned back on his hands. "I've been tracking my parents' progress basically since day one on that project. You can't blame me for being a little curious." But from the glares he received, he guessed maybe they could. "I don't know what happened. It didn't go on when I plugged it in. Then I was looking at things, and," he hunched up his shoulders, "suddenly I was trapped inside."

"Trapped inside?" Tucker's eyebrows rose, halfway looking concerned while the other half looked terrified.

"What exactly happened?" Sam questioned, leaning forward as her elbows balanced on his knees.

"Well, there was lots of," Danny forced down a sick feeling as he remembered what happened in the chamber, "electrical sparks shooting off. Um, hitting me. And then I kind of passed out."

"What?" Sam shouted.

"Dude!" Tucker's eyes were so wide Danny could see the white all around his irises. "If - If you were hit with enough electricity, you should be dead!"

"I've realized that. Thank you," Danny responded drily. "But that's not even the weirdest part."

"I'm not sure I like where any of this is going," Tucker mumbled.

"I can't really tell you what happened or even really explain it." Danny scratched a hand through his hair, frustrated with his lack of understanding. "Somehow I survived, even though I probably should have been killed, burnt to a crisp, after all that electricity hitting me. But I lived. And now," he sucked in a shaky breath, "now I have - I don't know." He glanced hesitantly at his friends. "Abilities?" His brow knitted with worry.

"Like those superheroes in comics?" Tucker asked skeptically as he folded his arms. "I think I'm gonna need some proof of that."

Danny rolled his eyes, but he couldn't blame his friend. If Tucker or Sam were telling a similar story to him, he would want proof too. "It's not like I have any sort of control over it." He tugged on an ear as he frowned. "It's just sort of happened."

"Well, if you do have powers, you should figure out how to control them," Sam said, her expression serious, but her violet eyes held a spark of excitement. "You don't want to be going through a day at school and suddenly do whatever you do. You might as well start trying to control it now."

"You seem way too happy about this." Danny sighed, but he tried to concentrate. Nothing happened, and he could see his friends begin to think he was only telling a tall tale. "I swear this morning I actually, like, phased through the sink!" he told them earnestly, needing them to believe him. Because if they didn't believe him, if he couldn't prove he was speaking the truth, then he could only think he was losing his mind.

Then, as if answering his desperation, he sank through the floor with a startled yelp.

"Danny!" his friends shouted as they scrambled over and caught his flailing arms before he could fall all the way through the floor. They helped pull him back up and onto his feet.

"Holy motherboard! Your hair is white!" Tucker gawked at him with wide green eyes and mouth hanging open. "You really do have abilities!" He poked at Danny's cheek, clearly fascinated by the strange appearance of pale green skin and darker green veins. Frowning, Danny swatted at the hand.

"I do have to pose the question though." Sam's mouth pressed thin, and she looked like she might not actually want to ask. "Why didn't you go to your parents with this?" Thankfully, neither of his friends showed signs of being disgusted or afraid of how he appeared.

"I panicked!" Danny's heart still raced from the shock of falling through the floor, but he felt relieved at the same time. He wasn't crazy. The accident had done something to him. He had powers, or at least, he was able to move through solid objects, though he had zero control over it at the moment. "And can you imagine the amount of trouble I'd be in if my parents knew I had been messing around with their research?"

"But on the other hand," Tucker cringed, "that accident could have killed you. And your parents sound like they're about the only people who would have any understanding about what happened to you."

"Yeah, great," Danny grumbled. "They can turn me into a lab rat or something."

"Okay. So we keep this to ourselves," Sam said, the excited gleam entering her eyes again, and Danny could only imagine how much she liked the idea of being a part of this secret. "We can test out if you have any other abilities and train you to control them."

"Yeah," Danny rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck, "I kind of put a dent in my doorknob already."

"Intangibility and super strength?" Tucker's eyes bugged behind his glasses.

"Definitely going to work on control then." Sam frowned, some thought passing through her head. "I don't want you to pat me on the back or something and send me flying down the hall at school."

Danny winced as he imagined that happening. "Yeah, okay. And we should definitely run some tests. Like a physical and blood work. That might provide some answers too."

"Well, my freaky friend," Tucker slapped a hand against Danny's back, "let's get started then."


panfan87: XD Well, the D was definitely male. And I usually don't cross over with the actual characters, so you can probably rule out Dudley Dursley. XD Poor Danny is probably having a heart attack right now. The injury definitely hasn't been forgotten.

Kuronique Misaki: He probably needs a better handle on them before he can really exploit them. XD;; It would be like he tries to sneak into the girls bathroom invisible and like chanting in his head "be invisible, be invisible, be invisible" but he's not and all the girls start screaming because they can see him. XD;;; He probably shouldn't do that.

The freedom girl: He'll become Phantom... eventually. Danny probably should learn not to talk to mysterious strangers over a video game. XD;;;

DB-KT: His weekend isn't starting so great either. XD So many questions! But yeah, Danny is still Phantom.

Tetractys: Danny should really learn not to poke at his parents' inventions. XD;; It was definitely a guy that Danny was playing against.

midnight: Poor Danny. He needs to be locked up so he can't get hurt anymore. XD;; I don't things are going to go very nicely for him. D:

MsFrizzle: I didn't have a logical reason for Sam and Tucker to be there. Sadly, they don't teach anything about ghosts and ectoplasm and the kind of work his parents do at school. XD If so, Danny would probably be acing those classes. I do think Danny is smart and could have done a lot better in school than what happened in the show if he hadn't been getting attacked by ghosts all the time. Aw thanks! =) I do so enjoy writing the domestic scenes.

HawkeyeLover: Danny needs to stop getting hurt! D: The mysterious D. 8) He'll come in again... eventually.