Chapter 10

Shots Fired

"You know how we tell the good guys from the bad guys? The bad guys shoot at us." -Rick Yancey

A/N: Features a smarter, consciously aware Amity Park, a mischievous (powerful) Danny, and a real life situation that should be taken seriously, but isn't.

(T- Several uses of language.)

It doesn't matter how prepared people think they are for an unexpected situation, when you're staring down the barrel of a gun the only thing on your mind is how close to death you are at that very moment.

Amity Park was a small town in the Northwestern hemisphere of the USA that dealt with ghosts. As ludicrous as that sounds, even the federal government acknowledged the dangers this strange town faced and sent them grants of money for repairs after supernatural attacks and to "keep everything looking normal." If word got out about ghosts, then the USA would suddenly be handling a nationwide panic.

This small town used the money to protect themselves under the leadership of their mayor, Vlad Masters. They had shields and barriers set up, courtesy of the Fentons who are the town's ghost experts, and police/firefighters had access to anti-ecto weapons whenever they were needed.

Amity Park deals with ghosts. It does not, however, deal with human enemies; specifically ones who wield guns inside schools.

Despite suddenly becoming hostages in some crazy guy's nefarious plan, the situation didn't become real to the students of Casper High until Danny Fenton was shot in the head.

Casper High 11:32 AM

Lancer was teaching his 5th period Junior science class when suddenly an alarm went off. He paused in the middle of his lecture and listened for a moment while turning confused eyes towards his students. Usually the faculty was informed before the school ran a drill. "That's not the ghost alarm," he voiced.

His students looked less than thrilled. They were sick of ghost attacks, even though it meant Phantom might show up.

"Doesn't sound like the fire alarm either," Sam said, unconcerned.

Dash looked surprised. "We have a fire alarm?"

Lancer was pretty positive this was just some random kid's idea of a prank, but decided to call the office just in case. He was the Vice Principal so it was important for him to know what was going on constantly. The odd thing was that there wasn't a lot of noise outside his classroom which usually indicated a ghost attack of some sort.

His door opened before he could make the call, and a head of wild red hair peeked in. "Lance? Do you know what's going on?" the teacher at the door asked, two of her students curiously peeking in from behind her. "This isn't the ghost alarm, right?"

"I'm not sure, but I was about to call in to check," he replied, startling when he was cut off by a crackling noise.

"Students, this is an emergency. All faculty must proceed to the nearest exit. Get out now!"

Despite the tone used in the broadcast, there was silence as the voice from the speakers abruptly cut off. Lancer and the other teacher shared worried glances as their students mumbled about "another ghost fight, really?" The teenagers were used to ghost attacks by now and tended to rely on ecto-technology, the Fentons, or Danny Phantom to come rescue them so they remained calm about the seemingly "emergency situation." However, both adults felt a deep sense of unease.

"God, what is this, the twelfth time we've had an attack this week?" Kwan complained, sinking into his seat in exasperation. His friends nodded.

"Dude, and it's only Tuesday," Star groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Mr. Lancer, I need to go to the bathroom!" Valerie shouted, looking affronted when she was denied. She sat back down and shoved something from her backpack into her pocket when no one was looking.

The red-headed teacher told her students to get back in her classroom and lock the door. They went without arguing while she shut Lancer's door and stood next to him. "Have you called the office?" she asked over the hushed chatter of the teenagers present.

Lancer shook his head, feeling extremely conflicted. Was it just him or did the air suddenly seem thicker? Normally when a ghost attacked the air become cool and thin. He shushed his class before turning to dial the phone. The device made a weird clicking noise and refused to sound a dial tone. This caught the attention of the students.

"I normally do computer stuff not phones, but I definitely know that noise isn't a good sign," Tucker commented from the back.

Mikey nodded. "Actually, that's an indication that your phone line has been disconnected."

The woman teacher's eyes widened, fearfully turning towards the door of the classroom. "But... that's the office line," she whispered, drawing attention to the fact that the office was right down the hall from them.

There was a pause, then Lancer moved to the door. The lock clicked loudly in the silence of the classroom, atmosphere suddenly becoming apprehensive as everyone read the tension coming from the two adults in the room.

"My students," the woman teacher voiced weakly, worried about her class down the hall.

"They'll be fine, you had them lock the door as well," Lancer reassured, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I think it's best that we lock the windows too."

Some of the students stood up. "What's happening out there?" Valerie asked, moving towards the door. Several students followed her before Lancer put up a hand to stop them.

"I don't know what the situation is, but Lord of the Flies, remain away from the potential threat, people!" he ordered. His students dealt with dangerous supernatural attacks everyday so he knew they wouldn't be as panicked as most would, but they should at least be using some common sense.

A loud bang from the hallway had everyone reacting at once. The students startled, chairs scraping against the floor as they stood. That noise was something they only ever heard on television; ecto-weapons sounded distinctly different than normal weapons. "No way, was that?" Paulina whispered, eyes wide as she backed away from the door.

"Sir, that sounded like a gunshot," Sam hissed, grabbing the hands of her two best friends.

"Danny," Tucker said, stepping closer to the black haired teen.

Another gunshot sounded and the students automatically dropped to the ground, their ghost training during drills finally kicking in. "My students!" the woman teacher cried, racing out the door.

"Mary, don't!" Lancer warned, reaching out too late. The sound of her body hitting the floor right outside their classroom caused several students to scream, running to the farthest corner of the classroom near the windows.

This wasn't a ghost attack. This was much worse.

As the threat slowly approached their open door, the students couldn't help but wish this really had been another boring drill.

Casper High 11:45 AM

They were being attacked by a human being.

Actually, several human beings.

As the students were held at gunpoint by their four attackers and forced to walk towards their school gym, they couldn't help but feel shocked at this turn of events. It wasn't a crazy spectral entity waving its glowing fists at them, instead it was a humane situation that felt so real. It had been years since Amity Park faced a threat like this; no one dared to fight amongst themselves when they had ghosts to deal with. Whoever these guys were, they must've been from out of town.

One of the men chuckled as the group met up with another similarly dressed figure who was herding two confused looking freshmen. "Aren't I lucky," the man chuckled to his comrade. "I found an open door and a bunch of hostages laid out just for me. It must be Christmas."

A student from Lancer's group sniffled.

"Now now, don't be like that," the man shushed, moving the gun to point at the kid, unaware that the child had merely been fixing his runny nose. "As long as your mayor does what I say, there won't be a problem, right?"

The teenagers remained silent, unsure of how to respond as they gazed uneasily at the loaded weapon before them. It was difficult for them to be afraid of a metal weapon after everything they had faced in this town. The man made a disappointed sound, figuring they were paralyzed with fear. "Man, and I was really hoping one of ya'll would try and be a hero or something. Would've given me an excuse to shoot ya."

Everyone shifted at that. His cocky voice reminded them of a ghost dead-set on getting revenge for some reason. What did these guys want?

The short man they approached looked at the leader in surprise. "Oh, wow! Ya got a lot! I only just found these two hiding in the bathroom," he whistled, pointing at the freshmen who were trying to communicate "are these guys serious?" to the class with their eyes. "Want us to take 'em to the gym?"

The leader chuckled. "Yeah, this should be enough. That principal was too quick," he sighed, shaking his head. "Her damn message probably reached everyone by now so there won't be much left."

"Stupid bitch, good thing ya killed her," the third man chuckled, grinning at the kids as he approached them.

The students sent each other incredulous glances. After living with the dead for so long, most of them could tell when someone was killed within a few yards from their current location, and they hadn't felt anything yet. Even when the woman who tried to escape to her students was shot they knew she hadn't been killed, probably just knocked unconscious. Despite their attacker's big talk, they didn't seem to realize they hadn't actually killed anyone yet.

These guys were definitely not from around here. Casper High's occupants could use this to their advantage.

They reached their location in silence. Normally the gym was a fun place for the kids; it was spacious, inviting, and the games they played within it typically brought a joyful break from their stressful academic lives. Now, however, there was an unrecognized tension in the air. The students may not have been scared out of their minds, but they were certainly being cautious; the teachers even more so.

As the doors opened, the students of Lancer's class noticed that there were at least two more classes worth of kids huddled in a corner looking rather disturbed. Three more guards blocked the entrance.

The leader of the group raised his weapon high and fired two warning shots, hoping to terrify the kids. The students were startled, but thankfully the men misinterpreted their curious, awe-filled looks for fear. "All right, every single one of you, listen up!" he shouted, lowering his gun and continuing to walk forward. "You all are here because-"

Suddenly, one of the teenagers he was leading tripped and fell onto him, cutting his speech off abruptly. The kid's grabby hands shook as he desperately tried to righten himself. "Oh- oh! I'm s-sorry!" he whimpered, shoving himself away from the man. The leader hissed angrily and held the shaking teen by the throat. "P-please."

The students had no idea why Fenton was acting so scared when they knew even he wasn't terrified of a lot of things after prolonged exposure to his parent's ghost hunting ways, but no one was going to voice this out loud. Right now it wasn't social classes verses popularity standards, it was us verses them.

Lancer turned around when he noticed the commotion and immediately tried to interfere. He too knew Danny was probably acting, but was worried whatever crazy plan he had come up with to fight would backfire on them. "Wait, please! He's one of my clumsy students, he didn't mean it!" he pleaded, trying to diffuse the situation before Danny tried anything stupid.

Sam reached for the closest guards, bumping two of them closer to Danny and the leader. "Please don't hurt him!"

"No!' Tucker cried, moving as well while another guard joined the fray.

The class all joined in. "Seriously, Fenton's always falling all over everyone. He trips on his own two feet!" Dash argued, testing how far they could push their attackers.

The leader, still holding Danny Fenton's throat, laughed and shoved the child to the ground. Before Danny could recover, a gun was pointed at his head. Everyone froze.

"I want to make something very clear to all of you," the man shouted, making sure everyone in the gym could hear him. "This is not a negotiation. Your lives mean nothing to me. One step out of line and all of you are gone." He paused, hovering over the teen who refused to look him in the eye, before moving his gun away and kicking him in the stomach.

Danny hurriedly jerked away and his two best friends helped him to his feet. Lancer wanted to ask if his student was okay, but speaking would likely get him shot so he remained silent, hoping that his students would stop playing games and corporate. If all went well, the mayor, the Fentons, or even Phantom would come to rescue them soon. They just needed to buy their time until then.

The arrogant men chuckled and continued to move the class into the corner. Only three people in the room knew that the situation was over before it had even begun.

Hidden under his lowered head, Danny Fenton grinned.

Amity Park 11:59 AM

Vlad Masters honestly could not believe he was dealing with this type of situation.

He had been in the middle of organizing plans for Amity Park's new recreational downtown area when his emergency response button starting blinking. Vlad stared at it for about five second before realizing this meant either one of three things: the threat was too big for the police to handle on their own and Danny Phantom hadn't shown up yet; the threat was too big for the police, Fentons, or Danny Phantom to handle and needed help; the threat had killed all first responders, the Fentons, and Danny Phantom.

The location read "Casper High" and Vlad teleported on site immediately.

"Mayor Masters!" the chief of police exclaimed as he approached. "That was incredibly fast!"

"Unimportant," Vlad answered, out of breath with barely concealed panic. "What's the situation?"

The chief of police grew serious, gaze shifting to the hundreds of students being ushered away from the school. "The principal issued an emergency warning this morning, but it was the old one used to alert police and firemen of a danger," he explained, pointing to a red-haired woman by the ambulance. "When we arrived, all these kids were outside following the emergency ghost drills with their teachers like usual, but that lady suddenly raced out with a bullet in her hip."

Vlad's eyes widened at the implication. "A... bullet?"

"No doubt about it," he answered, sighing heavily. "She says some guys shot her. Humans."

"This is an attack on our school by humans? You must be joking, Davis." The mayor shook his head incredulously. This was not what he expected.

"No joke sir," Davis assured. "As of around 11:30 this morning, Casper High was taken hostage and placed under lockdown. Three classes are unaccounted for. But that's not even the worst part of it, sir."

"The worst part?"

Davis turned to face Vlad before answering. "The emergency procedure activated a ghost shield around the school. Phantom won't be able to get in."

Vlad Masters took a deep breath, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Have you contacted the Fentons?"

A deputy stepped forward to answer. "Phantom's still missing, but that isn't surprising considering this isn't a ghost attack. He might not even know it's happening," she supplied. "The Fentons arrived moments ago."

"Take me to them."

Casper High 12:10 PM

After settling the kids in one corner to make them easier to keep track of, the men brought out what looked like a radio. Tucker explained to anyone close enough to hear his whisper (which was pretty much all of them) that the men were broadcasting a noisy signal in order to get the Police's attention.

"So they want to negotiate for our lives then," Sam huffed. "This is so much more boring than a ghost attack."

"I don't know," Valerie whispered, moving slightly to get a better look at their weapons. "The conventional use of their machinery is interesting. I wonder what type of guns they're using."

"I think they're automatics," Nathan informed, recognizing them from his grandfather's old shed. "Which means they can fire and keep firing, but they have less accuracy."

Dash made a small sound of amazement. "Wow, I haven't seen one of those in years, and even back then it was just on TV!"

One of the men who was originally in the gym when they arrived shot at their feet, forcing the teens to jerk backwards in surprise. "No talking!" he ordered gruffly, grinning to terrify them.

The teens weren't even paying any attention to him. They were staring at the hole centimeters from Dash's foot.

"How fast do you think that traveled?" Mikey whispered, eyes wide in excitement.

"It had to at least been over 2,000 ft per second," Star observed, having always been good with numbers.

Dash rubbed a finger over the singed hole in the floor. "Do you think a ghost would have been able to dodge that?"

"Nope," came the answer from Danny Fenton, having seemingly recovered from his earlier encounter with their attackers. "But a ghost doesn't really need to dodge bullets since they're only made to kill humans."

Everyone in Lancer's class gave the teen A Look, even Lancer. "What are you planning?" Valerie asked, warily, eyeing the teen up and down.

The raven haired boy grinned, pressing a finger to his lips. Used to his weird quirks, the class sighed.

"Fenton, please don't get us killed," Dash groaned.

Amity Park 12:15

The chief of police looked at the ghost weapons from the Fenton's truck in awe. It seemed they had brought every weapon they'd ever made.

Mayor Masters had been discussing tactics with the parents for several minutes, but the chief of police knew that they had to act now. "Excuse me," he interrupted.

The three ghost experts paused. "Can we help you?" the woman asked.

"We're getting a lot of feedback from a radio channel," Davis explained. "We think it's the men inside."

The Fentons tightened their hold on their weapons. "Have you answered it?" Jack Fenton asked.

"No."

Jack and Maddie turned to Mayor Masters. "Vlad."

The mayor nodded. "I'll discuss the situation with them. The two of you try to figure out how to deactivate the ghost shield from the outside."

"On it, V-man. Have you seen Danny?" Jack pleaded.

Mayor Masters paused with a peculiar expression on his face. "I apologize, Jack, I have not seen Daniel yet."

Maddie bit her lip and nodded. "All right, let's get this shield down."

The chief of police left the determined hunters and walked the mayor to the table of a collected number of technology. Two woman stood over the devices as static and grunts came through the radio. "We think we've got a signal, sir," the first woman informed, handing Vlad a small microphone. "They have attempted to make contact already, but we felt safer waiting."

Vlad gave them a nod and cleared his throat. He absently noticed that everyone got quiet as he opened his mouth to speak; even the press and children. "This is the mayor of Amity Park. What is it you desire?"

There was a long pause before the reply came through. "Desire? Interesting wording. Hello Vladimir Masters, I know who you are."

"If you have a grudge against me, I'd be more than willing to see you in court," Vlad drawled, slowly. He began to test the waters. "Are you after my wealth? You could have just asked rather than threaten children."

The man on the other side snorted. Vlad nodded to the behavioral psychologist standing next to him writing the interaction down. At least the man seemed amused with the banter; he wasn't a live wire prone to rash decisions.

"For some reason this town receives triple the normal insurance money and federal support than any other location in the US. I want the money-"

"That is no problem, I can have it wired-"

"-and I want to know why."

Mayor Masters hesitated. The people listening frowned, less than thrilled with the situation. Amity Park held a lot of pride in their strange town and made extra sure that tourists believed all the ghost attacks were staged. It was a personal secret that only the locals shared, and it was special to them. Also, the government wanted them to stay silent; they legally weren't supposed to talk.

"I am.. unsure If I can have that arranged," Vlad finally replied.

The click of a gun was heard. "Well now, that's too bad. These kids here would look pretty cute filled with holes."

"Hey mayor Masters! Want me to show them?" came the voice of a child, sounding innocent. Hushed whispers of 'Danny!' followed the announcement.

"Do you want to die, kid?" the leader hissed, sounding farther away.

Despite the strange change of situation, several people noticed Vlad's facial expression and startled. Their mayor looked like the cat who caught the canary.

"Thank you for the offer, young one," Masters said suddenly. "But don't worry, we may have a phantom of a chance to get through this on time. Excuse me, sir, how would you like to start the exchange?"

The man paused. "Wire four million to the account number 6775-ka-477a by 12:40 or we will start shooting hostages.."

"And the time to reconcile is at 12:40?"

"Yes, and I want an answer, Masters. We'll talk then."

The static returned as both sides let go of their button. Vlad breathed a long, drawn out sigh. "Get started on voice recognition and the psych evaluation," he ordered the police chief. "I want that bastard's identity now."

"Sir, we need that money for repairs," Davis voiced, weakly. "Obviously we're going to do everything we can to save the children, but-"

"-Don't worry," Vlad shrugged, waving a hand to cut him off. "I gave our resident ghost hero twenty-five minutes to take control of the situation. Everything will work out."

"But sir, Phantom can't get past the ghost shield!" the assistant from earlier pointed out.

Vlad grinned. "Ghost shields don't work if he's already on the inside."

Casper High 12:18 AM

"Danny, I swear to God, do you have a death wish?" Valerie hissed when the man turned his attention back to the radio.

The teen blinked at her. "Been there, done that. Didn't know I was supposed to make a wish."

"Not funny, Fenton," the female snapped.

"I find it hilarious!" Tucker said.

"Students, please," Lancer whispered. "I know you all have zero concerns after three years of living in this town, but please understand the situation."

Dash sighed, shifting so his legs wouldn't fall asleep. "Dude, we know, but this kind of stuff just gets… what's the word? Boring?"

"Predictable," Paulina voiced.

"Repetitive," Mikey added.

"Yeah, those, after a while," Dash finished, smiling at the two students. "We're just used to it."

One of the other teachers who had been taken with his class placed his hand on Lancer's shoulder. "I know what you mean, Edward," he sighed, gesturing to his unconcerned students. "But it is kind of hard for them to be fearful when this has happened every day for the past three years of their lives."

Lancer snapped. "But these are guns and humans, not ghosts. One shot and it's all over!"

His students nodded at this. At least they seemed to recognize that there was a danger, they just didn't think it was as bad a situation as it usually was. "Then we just don't get shot," Kwan stated, simply.

Danny Fenton made a face and said quietly, "Well there goes Plan A."

"Danny!" Valerie hissed.

Casper High Intruders 12:18 PM

"Hey, Mike," Dante whispered, pointing his weapon backwards, "them kids are talking again."

The leader raised an eyebrow as he clicked the button to stop his conversation with the mayor. "And?" he asked.

"Well, shouldn't we shut them up? They might be conspiring an escape behind our backs."

Mike laughed while several of the men nearby joined in. "And how exactly do you think they're going to fair against these?" he snorted, raising his assault rifle.

Dante rubbed the side of his nose and shrugged. "I guess they won't."

The leader rolled his eyes. "If one of them tries to run or create a distraction, shoot 'em full of holes. We grabbed extra hostages for a reason, didn't we?"

The men grinned, eager to start target practice. "But what if the mayor refuses to pay because we shot some of the kids?" Charles asked, greed overwhelming his primal desire to kill.

"And how exactly will he find out before we let them go?" Mike answered easily, beckoning three of them to follow him back over to the kids. "Jim, Garick, you two guard the front doors. We already barricaded the back, but don't go too far because the police might try to sneak through a window. Report any changes."

The men left. Mike pointed at two more. "You two stay just outside the hall. There was a huge hole near one of the classrooms for some reason and I don't want anyone sneaking in that way. Shoot first, ask questions later."

"Ha, no problem," Charles grinned, nodding at his partner as the two of them left the gym.

"The rest of you are with me," Mike ordered to the three remaining. "We're on babysitting duty except we still get paid even if we shoot the suckers."

"It's every babysitter's dream," laughed Dante as the approached the kids.

Casper High 12:20 AM

"Man, twenty minutes," Danny groaned, looking at the clock of the men's radio. "Vlad barely gave me any time to work with."

The students sent him incredulous looks. "Danny, please for the love of God don't do anything stupid," Valerie prayed, pinching the teen on the cheek.

Apparently Danny whined too loudly because suddenly the men were right in front of them again. "I thought I told you all not to move," the leader snapped, raising his weapon at Valerie and Danny. The students shifted uneasily. They may not have been afraid, but no one really liked the idea of staring down the barrel of a gun.

"Sorry," Valerie managed to say, placing her hands in her lap. The prideful girl knew she could take on these men if they didn't have their weapons, but as long as they remained in possession of something that could knock her down before she even stood up, the hunter would remain docile.

"Actually you didn't," Danny reminded, cheerfully. Valerie's hand's twitched to smack his stupid head into the floor.

The men froze as if they honestly could not believe that a kid was talking back to them. "What did you just say to me?" the leader breathed, cocking his gun back.

The class prayed for Danny to sit down and shut up for once, but it seemed the Fenton bravery (and stupidity) was hereditary. "Oh, well, you never really told us not to move."

"He's right." Sam shrugged from her seat next to Danny. "You kind of just shoved us into this corner and went to go silently brood with the rest of your friends."

The third member of the trio decided he just couldn't be left out. "Where'd they go by the way? I swore there used to be more of you," Tucker observed.

Lancer thought his soul left his body when the leader was suddenly pressing the tip of his gun against Sam's forehead. "Brood?" he snapped. "Oh, child, I will show you brooding."

Sam stared unflinchingly into the eyes of the man who held her life in his hands. The leader, finding no fear in her eyes, finally grinned and pulled the trigger. The class jerked, for merely a second they remained terrified that their classmate would be killed right in front of them, but the only sound that came from the weapon was a soft click.

Sam raised an eyebrow at the leader's startled expression. "Having some issues?" she challenged.

Angry and frustrated beyond belief, the man reached behind himself to grab his spare pistol from his belt. When his hand met empty air, he visibly startled. "What? Where…?"

His associates became concerned. "Sir? What happened to your weapon?" one of the other men asked, confused.

"I don't-" Suddenly the leaders eyes widened. He whipped around so fast that the motion became a blur to anyone watching. "You!" he cried, before freezing as the cold metal of a gun was pressed against his forehead.

Danny Fenton grinned down at him from the other end of the pistol. "Me."

Several things happened at once. The other men jumped backwards and exclaimed loudly that one of the kids had stolen a gun. The students attempted to catch up with the events that had just taken place, and the group suddenly found themselves at the end of three gun barrels instead of one.

"Drop the gun now, kid!" one of the men shouted, raising his weapon higher so the kid would know he's serious. The other two followers mimicked his motion, but did not fire for fear of Danny killing their leader.

Danny frowned. "Aw, but c'mon! Don't you want to know how I got it?"

"In the beginning," the leader growled, still frozen. "That stupid cry baby routine- I should have seen right through it."

The teen shrugged. "You had other things to worry about, I'm not offended," he reassured as if discussing the weather with an old friend.

"Danny, what the fuck," Dash breathed, voicing the thoughts of the other students. "No, seriously. What the fuck."

"Did you really think I'd just sit back and let these guys do what they wanted?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow at the exasperated audience of his peers. "My parents would be so disappointed in me. These guys aren't ghosts, they're human."

The men sent each other 'what the hell' looks. "Ghosts?" one of them muttered.

Lancer stood up, but paused when the other men moved their weapons to focus on him. "Danny," he pleaded. "Hand me the gun."

"Nobody is moving, old timer!" the shortest man ordered. "All of you stay put!"

Everyone remained seated except Danny who was still holding the weapon against the leader's head. Finally, the leader spoke. "So what now, kid?" he asked, sounding amused. "You gonna shoot me?"

"Yes," Danny replied, and the leader froze because words could be forged from lies, but this kid's eyes were not lying. Not only did this kid have the motivation and ability to shoot him, he'd actually do it. What the heck was wrong with this town?

"Not a good idea," Mike swallowed, trying to gain control of the situation. "You shoot me and my men shoot you."

"And?" Danny voiced, head tilted to the side. "You'd still die." Mike started sweating because it honestly seemed like this kid didn't care about his own life.

"Put the gun down and we'll forget this ever happened, okay kid?" one of the men reassured.

"Sorry, but I can't let you guys think you have the advantage again."

Discretely, Mike made a motion with his left hand behind his back. He wanted this kid dead now. Unfortunately one of the brats noticed.

"Danny!" Mikey shouted.

Thankfully the kid's warning wasn't fast enough and Mike felt relieved when his men moved into action. His relief was short lived when three loud clicks echoed in the silence that followed and the men stared at their weapons in shock. "No way… all of our weapons couldn't have broken at once."

Laughter from the class caught everyone's attention. "Broken?" Tucker snorted, holding up a handful of metal casings. "I think you mean out of ammo."

Everyone stared in shock. "When…?" the men whispered even though they already realized that their ammo had been stolen from them at the same time Danny had stolen their extra weapon. In a matter of moments, they'd been overtaken by a couple of kids.

"That's impossible," the leader exclaimed, gaping at the kids when Sam and Danny both patted their pockets filled with ammo. "You couldn't have taken the fucking bullets straight out of our guns without us noticing."

Danny smiled. "What can I say? Sometimes I'm so fast you can't even see me."

Amity Park 12:40

"Sir, It's been 20 minutes, but the men haven't called us back," the chief of police informed.

Vlad Masters stopped helping Maddie and Jack with dismantling the ghost shield and smiled. "No problem, I knew they wouldn't."

Davis startled. "Sir?"

Vlad ignored him in favor of walking to the radio once more. The escaped students had been moved farther away from the school, but the press, parents of students, and bystanders were adamant about remaining close. Everyone paused to listen when Vlad once again spoke into the radio. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Almost a minute went by before the other end replied. It was a higher pitched voice than earlier. "We're here," it replied.

"I assume everything has been contained on that end?" Vlad grinned, gaining concerned looks from everyone.

"Sir, please," Davis spoke softly, confused.

Another pause and then a reluctant reply. "If you mean the fact we're on the wrong end of our own weapons right now then yes," he snapped, bitterly.

The audience was both shocked and happy. The students had managed to fight the men off?

"What next?" Vlad prompted.

"We have four men held in the gym right now, one is the leader. Two are guarding the doors right outside near the hole made by Skulker Monday and two more are by the entrance. The police can use ecto-weapons to surprise and stun them, but these guys are carrying some pretty loaded human weapons so be careful," a teenager voice came through the speaker.

Maddie and Jack suddenly stood up. "Danny? Was that our son?!" they exclaimed, racing towards Vlad on the opposite end of the field and making the audience even more confused. Had Danny Fenton aided in the transfer of power?

A loud shot from the radio and then screams from the other side suddenly cut off everyone's good mood. Before whoever held the button down on the other end let go of it, one loud scream echoed through.

"DANNY!"

Then static.

Maddie and Jack came to a breathless stop before Vlad, grabbing the device from his hands. "Danny?!" Maddie cried desperately. "Danny, answer me!"

Masters carefully took the device from her hands. "Madelyn, it's all right."

"No! That was a gunshot, I know it! And Danny!" Jack pleaded.

Vlad placed a gentle hand on the two frantic parents and lowered his voice to a more soothing tone. "Jack, Maddie, listen, I promise you your son is alright," he reassured, motioning for the chief of police to come closer. "Now would be an optimal time to enter the school, ghost shield deactivated or not."

The woman sucked in a deep breath and rubbed her eyes with her gloves. "Yes, now is- now is fine. We have to get to them, Danny will need- oh 911 the hospital- can we call?"

Behind the adults, the police assistant nodded and dialed her phone for an ambulance. They had police and firefighters on the scene, but an ambulance would have to be called in. Vlad saw what she was doing and smiled. "Don't worry, no more negotiation. We're going to get the kids out of there," he said, determined to fight back.

Davis reached for his communicator. "All units, we're going in."

Casper High 12:45 AM

The students of Casper High were well acquainted with death; one could claim it practically followed them around. But although they had experienced death on a level most humans cannot, watching the breath leave the body of someone as they die was a completely different experience.

Danny Fenton's body hit the ground with a dull thud. The bullet wound in the side of his skull soaked the floor in seconds and his pulse silenced.

Nobody moved.

Nobody breathed.

Then the man at the door of the gym cheered. "Woowee! That was one hell of a shot, aye Mike?" he celebrated, tapping his gun. "Good thing ole Charles and I came back to check on ya'll when we did. How'd you lose to a couple of kids anyways?"

The students remained staring at Danny's body in disbelief. His blue eyes faced the ceiling and were glazed over with the telltale sign of death. They even felt the change so the students knew this wasn't another one of Fenton's stupid plans. Danny Fenton was really dead.

"Daniel…?" Lancer whispered.

The worst part of it all was when the class noticed that Sam and Tucker hadn't moved an inch. It seemed shock had consumed them as soon as death had consumed their best friend.

"You shot him," Dash chocked, grabbing a fistful of his own hair. "You actually shot him."

Chuckling because he had control over the situation again, Mike replied as he stood up, "But of course. He was warned."

The two men who had fired the killing blow through the window of the gym moved to join the group. "Seriously, why were ya'all just standing there? You have guns for a reason," Charles asked, rolling his eyes.

"Damn brats took our ammo."

"No fucking way!"

While his men bickered, Mike faced the grieving classes. "This bought of heroism will be the last movement I tolerate from any of you," he warned, prying the pistol from Danny's corpse. "Next time someone feels like being a hero, I shoot all of you."

The class didn't move. Despite suddenly becoming hostages in some crazy guy's nefarious plan, the situation hadn't become real to them until Danny Fenton was shot in the head.

Satisfied, Mike snapped the pistol back onto his belt and made to approach his fighting men before a voice froze every thought in the gym.

"Dude, do you have any idea how much dying hurts?" Danny Fenton groaned, rubbing the back of his neck as he sat up.

Mike and his gang jerked backwards, tripping over their own feet in an effort to get away from the slowly rising, blood covered teen with a bullet in the side of his head. Although shocked beyond comprehension, the class remained seated and continued to gape at the miracle before them.

"I mean, seriously, it's probably on my top 10 list of most painful and annoying things, right between Vlad and toast," Danny continued, unconcerned that he had just risen from the dead. He blinked when silence met his exclamation. "Wow, you guys look like you've seen a ghost."

"I killed you!" Mike suddenly cried, cocking his pistol back and firing two consecutive shots into the stomach and chest of the swaying teen. The class screamed.

Danny's body hunched forward, and even though a little blood dripped out of his chin the teen managed to look at the leader through the edge of his bangs and smile. "Yeah, sorry, that won't work," he laughed, slowly uncurling. When his head finally lifted, the men almost dropped their weapons at his grin and green eyes.

"You see, it's kind of hard to kill someone who's already dead." And with that, Danny Fenton disappeared before their very eyes.

Mike coked his gun and waved it around the room. His eyes were panicked once again and his men followed his actions. "Where the hell are you?!" he screamed. "What the hell is going on?!"

Danny's body appeared right in the middle of the circle of intruders. "Well, you're the one who wanted to know why we get so much money from the government," he answered, reaching through the guns of the remaining men with ammo to disarm them. "I'm just showing you."

The intruders whirled around and fired straight through the transparent, cocky face of the teenager. "Too slow!" Danny laughed, flying through their bodies and out the other end. He absentmindedly set up a green shield behind him when some of the men tried to use knives as he walked towards his class.

"I think this has gone on long enough, and the adults are probably taking care of the other two guys right now so let's say we all get out of here," Danny suggested, green eyes smiling.

"Man, you sure took your time healing," Sam whistled, finally removing the heavy ammo from her pockets.

"You say that as if restarting my heart isn't a hard task," Danny muttered. Tucker snickered at them both.

The students had learned to feel when someone dies, but what they could also do was recognize the different feelings, or aura, each ghost gives off. "Phantom?" Paulina asked, eyes disbelieving.

Danny waved.

Amity Park 12:58

The first two men were easily taken down; one should never get between a Fenton and their child. Vlad thanked the heavens that Jazz was in college and Danny was the only one they were worrying about.

Casper High was relatively in tact, thankfully. Small mercies were always helpful. They'd found the unconscious body of the principal earlier and had escorted her out, careful not to disturb the gun shot wound on her stomach.

The mayor led the charge to the gym of the high school followed by the Fentons and several armed police officers with any human weapons they had gathered. They were ready for anything, except Danny sitting on a pile of bodies in the middle of the gym and holding a discussion with his class.

"No, I cannot shoot lasers from my butt, Dash," the teen groaned.

"Actually, you did that one time when you lost your memory-" Sam reminded.

"-No I didn't and let's stop talking about it."

"Do your waste functions still remain operational during each form," Mikey asked, excitedly.

"… did you just ask me if I can poop?"

"You know, this is really not how I imagined this going at all," Tucker pointed out.

The group by the entrance stood frozen, even the Fenton parents as they seemed to be distracted by the shocking ghost tracker results on the screen of their device. "What in tarnation?" the chief of police finally exclaimed.

The class looked over at the adults, completely undisturbed by the bodies they were sitting by, and waved. Danny groaned. "Oh man, now I've got to start all over again!"

A/N: Over 7,000 words because who needs sleep, right? I left the ending open. Maybe Danny explained everything to the adults, maybe he didn't. Just wanted to write a hostage situation for Casper High kids while they're juniors and more connected and used to the dead. Hence the whole "taking everything in stride" kind of attitude.