Not quite as quick as I'd hoped, but still the same weekend. If you haven't read this in more than 2 days, go back and be sure you've read the previous chapter before going on to this. Again, thank you for the reviews and keep them coming!
Jazz paced the floor of the Ops Center restlessly, worrying about Danny. The Ghost Shield hummed quietly in the background. Her father had gotten it back up and even declared it "more powerful than ever." Damon Gray had somehow helped amp up the power.
Team Phantom had managed to put off questions about where Danny was for the moment, not that her mom and dad had stuck around long anyway. They were determined to go out and hunt down Phantom –either one. Jazz offered to go and help, just in case, and so did Sam and Tucker when that failed, but all that had earned them was a lecture from her mother.
"Hunting Phantom is not a job for teenagers," Maddie said seriously. "What Valerie has been doing is extremely risky. She's lucky she hasn't been killed. I want you all to keep that in mind." Her eyes softened as she turned to Jazz. "Jasmine, I know your father and I have been trying to get you interested in ghost hunting with us, but not like this. This situation is too dangerous. Let Jack and I handle this ghost." It had taken all of Jazz's willpower not to roll her eyes at her mother.
Damon had given a similar rant to Valerie, unsuccessfully trying to elicit a promise from her to stop ghost hunting and leave it to the "professionals". Fifteen minutes later he had stormed out with an exasperated sigh and let Jack lead him down into the basement to get his opinion on why he couldn't get his latest invention, the Fenton Ghost Extinguisher, to work.
Maddie and Jack got an anonymous tip soon after about a Phantom sighting near Casper High and took off immediately. Damon stayed brooding in the basement, looking over Jack's invention. Jazz would have gone down and tried to talk to him about Valerie, but she was too preoccupied fretting about Danny.
Jazz thought she was going to wear a hole in the metal floor before she finally spotted Danny staggering up the sidewalk. She couldn't quite see what was wrong with him from where she was, just that his dark head was down and his steps were uneven. Danny walked to the edge of the Ghost Shield, but when he tried to go through it Jazz saw a green electric charge shoot through him and he collapsed to the ground.
"Danny!" Jazz called futilely. Turning to the control panel next to her, she quickly turned off the Ghost Shield then launched herself down the elevator to the main part of the house.
Sam's voice suddenly blared in Jazz's ear, tight with worry, "What's going on? The Ghost Shield is down again."
Jazz touched her Fenton Phone to respond, but didn't slow down. "Danny's back. He's hurt and he couldn't get through the shield now that Dad did whatever to it! I'm going to go get him. You stay with Valerie to make sure the other Phantom doesn't attack."
Sam started to argue that she should go too, but Tucker's voice cut her off, "Got it, Jazz. We'll watch Val." Jazz thought she might have heard a smack before the phone hung up.
Jazz's heart almost stopped when she got a clear view of Danny's still form lying on the sidewalk in front of Fenton Works. His normally white t-shirt was singed and stained a mixture of the distinctive green of ectoplasm and red of blood. His black hair was matted to his head, and one of his shoes was missing. His arms were tightly wrapped to his chest, protecting something Jazz couldn't see.
She fell to her knees next to him. "Danny!" Danny stirred slightly at the sound of his name. Jazz bent down over him, and his glazed eyes opened to stare up at her dazedly. "Danny! What happened?!"
"Got him," Danny said hoarsely as he loosened his arms to reveal the metal thermos he had been clinging to. He coughed roughly and tried to sit up. "Can't get through the Ghost Shield for some reason though."
Jazz helped Danny to a sitting position and shook her head. "Dad and Mr. Gray did something to it when they got it back up. Super-charged it I think."
Danny groaned in pain. "Great…"
Jazz flung an arm around Danny to support him. "Come on, let's get you inside and clean you up." Danny nodded and stood shakily. Jazz took a moment to touch the Fenton Phone still at her ear and say, "I've got Danny. We're coming in."
A few minutes later, a battered Danny pushed open the door to the Fenton's guest room, now dressed in a clean set of clothes and without the thermos or shoes.
"Danny!" Sam jumped up from her position by the window and ran to Danny, pulling him into a tight hug. Danny tried to hide his wince, letting himself be hugged as his face turned slowly crimson.
"Ahem," Tucker coughed after a minute. Sam blushed too as she quickly let go of Danny and glanced back at a bemused Tucker. Then she spotted Valerie's confused expression.
"I just…um… Danny…."
Tucker intervened smoothly, "Danny got a little banged up earlier when R.E.P. attacked. He's been recovering downstairs, but Sam was wor-ried about him." Tucker drew out the word "worried" with raised eyebrows and an insinuating smile.
Sam gave Tucker a death glare, but her cheeks once again turned pink. Tucker shrugged, ignoring Sam. "We didn't want you to worry too, since, see – he's fine."
Valerie didn't look entirely convinced.
Sam recovered her composure and took Danny's hand, starting to pull him out the door. "Come on, Danny, let me double check to make sure you're ok. You should probably still be resting in your room anyway," she said a little too stiffly. As she passed through the door she mouthed, "What happened?", so that only Danny could see.
Danny didn't follow Sam out of the room though. Instead he stood his ground and gently pulled his hand out of hers. "Sorry, Sam. There's something I need to do first." Sam stepped reluctantly back into the room and looked questioningly at Danny.
Danny turned to Sam and Tucker, his eyes downcast and his face serious. "Guys, can I talk to Valerie alone for a second?"
Tucker and Sam glanced apprehensively at each other. Sam started to say something but Tucker shook his head slightly. Sam frowned. "Sure," she finally said sullenly.
"We'll go make some sandwiches and bring them up in a few," Tucker offered, trying to diffuse the tension.
Danny gave a tight smile. "Sounds good." As they walked past him, Tucker whispered to Danny, "Glad to see you're ok, man." The pair left the room, with one last hurt and uncertain glance back from Sam.
Danny waited a few seconds to make sure they had gone down the stairs. "Val…" Danny breathed as he turned back around and stepped up to the bed. He looked up at her and Valerie's breath caught in her throat as she saw his glowing red eyes.
A bolt of green ectoplasmic energy caught her off guard and threw her from the bed. She landed painfully on the floor against the far wall, her head hitting with a dull thud.
Danny moved quickly to stand over her, another ball of crackling green energy ready in his hand. Valerie lay stunned, unfocused eyes staring up at him. A determined grimace was set upon his face as he raised the glowing hand to aim at Valerie's head.
Then suddenly his expression twisted in anguish, full of conflict, and Danny staggered back a step, lowering his hand. He held his head, shaking it back and forth. With a scream of "No!", the red-eyed Phantom was expelled from Danny's body.
Danny and Phantom stared each other down for a moment, each waiting to see what the other would do. Then Phantom smirked and, charging a fist with ectoplasm again, started to turn back toward Valerie.
A flash of white light in the corner of his vision gave him pause, as he was suddenly tackled by a furious green-eyed Danny Phantom.
The doppelganger managed to throw Danny off, and with a calculating look back at a dazed Valerie, he phased through the ceiling and out of Fenton Works, Danny pursuing him.
Pain coursed through every limb of Valerie's body as she was slammed to the floor, the front of her shirt singed with ectoplasm. Her vision wobbled and faded in and out as she lay there dazed from the pain and the new blow to her head. But she saw Danny – her Danny, but not her Danny, with glowing red eyes that looked so WRONG on him and a ball of ectoplasm in his hand – poised to kill her. Glaring down at her.
Then Danny's expression changed and he stepped back. Her breathing hitched as she recognized the conflict she saw on his face as someone fighting being overshadowed. Suddenly, Phantom was there and Danny was back to his blue-eyed self. No, not quite himself. There was a look in his eyes she had never seen before – of anger, determination, and most of all, confidence. As they were distracted by each other, Valerie tried to will her armor to her but the effort made her head swim more. She was helpless.
A bright flash brought Valerie round to herself again, and when she could finally focus, she saw Danny Phantom there with his green eyes glowing menacingly after the departing form of his doppelganger. And then he was gone too.
Silence for a second, then she called, "Danny?" There was no answer. "Was he hurt?" she thought. She forced herself up into a sitting position against the wall so she could look around the room. "Danny?" He wasn't there.
Valerie groaned and slumped back down, staring at the ceiling where the two Phantoms had left, wondering if Danny was ok and trying to remember where she'd seen that flash of white light before.