Chapter Ten: Ultimate Betrayal

"Where? My ghost sense isn't going off." Danny turned to leave. "I really think we're done here."

Jack walked up behind him and grabbed his shoulder roughly. As Danny turned to see what he up, he thrust the Ghost Claw into the boy's chest. His eyes widened in shock as Jack ripped Phantom from his body, throwing the disoriented ghost into a clear box that shut and glowed green, trapping him with a Fenton Ghost Shield.

"D-Dad?" Danny asked shakily. "W-What did…why?"

Jack didn't answer, instead dragging the boy to the shadows. Phantom banged on the walls of his box as Jack strapped the human boy onto a lab table, yelling something he couldn't hear.

"Danny? Danny!" Phantom banged on his cell, his eyes widening. "What are you doing, dad? Let go of Danny! Stop it!" His ghost abilities allowed him to see in the darkness, and he saw all kinds of Fenton Gear set up. "You…was this…a trap?" He whispered, moving away from the walls of the cell.

He could see Danny begging, pleading to be let go. He couldn't hear anything, but Jack – his father, who he loved so dearly – had the coldest expression on his face as he picked up a scalpel. He was saying something to the human boy, and he saw Danny cry out in reply, thrashing in his bonds as tears slipped down his cheeks. Then he couldn't see Danny through Jack's body, but Danny froze and stopped resisting.

"Danny…" Phantom grit his teeth and tried blasting at the walls of his cell. "No good…I can't destroy it that way…" He banged on the walls again. "Hey! Dad! Mr. Fenton! HEY!"

He saw Danny's legs jerking and his head tilted back, but he couldn't see what Jack was doing. When Jack stepped away, he was horrified by what he saw.

Danny's shirt and sleeves were cut open, and he had a big cut on his arm. Jack was looking through a microscope at something on a petri-dish, leaving Danny to bleed, pleading words Phantom couldn't hear.

Finally, Jack returned to Danny's side and wrapped up the cut, but then his attention was on Phantom. He approached the cell and pushed a button on a machine, which opened a tiny hole just big enough for his arm. "Put your arm through there, Phantom." He heard Jack say. His voice was cold…cruel. He didn't know this man.

A pointed glance to Danny warned Phantom that if he disobeyed than Danny would be hurt more, and he put his arm through, wincing when Jack took off his white glove and used the scalpel to cut his hazmat suit's sleeve to get to his arm. "How can you do this?" Phantom asked. "To your own son? How could you?"

"My son died long ago." Jack replied. "All that's left of him after you came along is a monster that is neither human nor ghost."

Oh God, please let Danny have been asleep and not heard that. Phantom looked towards the human boy and couldn't tell if he heard or not, he was lying perfectly still as he stared at the ceiling, tears slipping down his cheeks. "You said…you were proud of me, though." Phantom said, looking back at Jack.

"Oh, yes; pretty words that you bought into so easily." Jack chuckled a bit. "You really are just a child, even if you're a ghost. Any other ghost would've doubted me, but you trusted me wholeheartedly, didn't even notice when I was detaching you from your regular life." He looked at Phantom's furious face. "A fool." He held out a petri-dish that caught Phantom's blood as he cut into his arm with a scalpel.

"You're the monster, not me!" Phantom said, but Jack cut him off mid-sentence by shoving his arm back in and closing the hole, effectively muting him.

Jack moved over to the microscope again and moved Danny's blood to look at Phantom's blood through it. He seemed elated by what he saw, taking notes in a notepad.

"He's right…" Phantom looked towards his arm, which was already healing. "I was a fool. And I showed him all my tricks, told him everything about me…" He banged his fist on the wall. "I was such a FOOL!"

He saw Danny turn his head towards his cell and try to give a comforting expression. He knew they weren't getting out of this, he knew his—their—father was ruthless when it came to ghosts. They would be trapped until Jack had learned all he was going to, and then what?

He saw him as a monster. He would never let him go. Phantom slumped to the floor of his silent prison, clenching his fists against the wall. They had been tricked and betrayed by the one person they hoped would never hurt them.

He half-dozed after a while of being left alone, but awoke when he heard his cell opening. He was then caught by the Wraith Wrangler and dragged out, carried to the empty table. Gasping, he looked around and saw Danny lying against the wall on the floor in chains, his head bowed.

"What did you do to him?" Phantom growled as he was placed on the table and stepped down. Then the Wraith Wrangler released him and Jack stepped away. "Hey! What did you do to him?!"

"Maybe you should be more concerned about what I'll do to you." Jack said, pushing a button that sent n electrocuting current through Phantom's body.

"Guuuuaaaaaaaahhhhh!" Phantom thrashed in his bonds, his eyes squinted tight in pain. "Ahhh! Gaaaaahhhh!"

Danny looked up at him with concern and started to get up to go to him, but the chains kept him down and still. "Phantom! Dad, let Phantom go! He's not a bad ghost!" Danny pleaded, his voice hard to hear over Phantom's own screams. "Please, dad! Let him go!"

Jack either didn't hear him or didn't care, his eyes darting from the screen showing some kind of reading and his notepad. Finally, he turned it off and turned to Phantom, who was silently smoking on the table. "Well, that was an interesting study." He said, walking over to Phantom. "You were able to be electrocuted for 15 minutes before finally showing signs of lasting effects."

Phantom didn't reply, his body trembling. Danny struggled against his chains again. "Dad, please…"

"Danny? Are you awake?" Jack looked towards him. Danny shrank back in terror.

Phantom's eyes snapped open and he glanced at Jack. "Don't…don't you touch him…"

Jack looked at Danny thoughtfully. "I wonder how long you can hold your breath?" He mused to himself. "Breath tests I can't do with Phantom, but you?"

"Stop it!" Phantom yelled, struggling in his bonds as Jack approached Danny, the boy shrinking away in fear. "You leave him alone! I'm the ghost, not him!"

Jack ignored him and unchained Danny, lifting the boy into his arms and walking out of the room. "Hey!" Phantom yelled. "Hey, come back here! Put him down, dad!"