Chapter 11
Danny sighed as he dropped onto a bench at the park. Four days passed since the incident at Kwan's apartment. After he checked on Kwan, Danny went to their precinct's headquarters. By that time, the Guys in White agent was awake and being questioned. Danny sat in the observation room and watched a portion of the interrogation. Naturally, the agent refused to answer many of the questions, lied on the ones that he did answer, and only told the truth when he said he didn't stab Kwan. Danny found out later that they were forced to release the agent when the Guys in White came to collect their own.
Of course he gets away, Danny thought bitterly. The rest of the officers at their precinct were angry about that as well. They didn't want the man that stabbed one of their own to skip out on a "get out of jail free" card because of the government. Danny knew it was a ghost that held the real responsibility for stabbing Kwan, not that he could come out and say that to the rest of the precinct though. "Possessed by a ghost" was no longer a valid excuse in Amity Park. Over the years since ghosts became a common occurrence of their daily lives, criminals would claim that they only broke the law because a ghost possessed them. While that may be true in some cases, it wasn't true in all cases. Unfortunately, that meant innocent people sometimes got locked up because of what a ghost made them do while they were overshadowed.
But Danny doubted the agent was completely innocent in the incident. The agent may not have been in control of his body when he stabbed Kwan, but he did attack Dash and Kwan before being overshadowed. Danny also preferred the idea of having one of the Guys in White agents locked up and out of commission for a while. He still couldn't understand why the agent didn't leave Dash and Kwan alone after he left. Did the agent assume that they knew Danny Phantom personally? But how did the agent find him so quickly? Danny leaned forward, putting his head in his hands. The questions kept circling in his mind, but he couldn't find any answers. The whole thing was distracting him from his work. He caught up to a few of his contacts, but none of them knew anything about a new dealer.
"Fenton?"
Danny jerked and lifted his head at the familiar voice. "Dash?" He blinked at the blond man decked out in a sweat suit. His hair wasn't slicked back as usual, and beads of sweat trickled down his face. "What are you doing here?" he asked dumbly, despite the obvious answer.
"I jog through this park every day." Dash bent over and flicked Danny on the forehead. When Danny grumbled and rubbed the sore spot, Dash chuckled. He moved to the side then dropped onto the bench. His arms rested on the back of the bench.
Danny sighed and leaned back. "Right. Sorry," he mumbled, feeling stupid for asking. "How's Kwan?" Sam and Tucker would probably question why he should even care after how the two jocks treated him in high school, but Danny cared. He wasn't the type of person to turn his back on someone that was hurt, no matter how terribly they treated him. It was his fault that Kwan got hurt. He was supposed to protect people, and he failed that day.
"He's doing better." Dash rubbed his forehead then dropped his arm back onto the bench. His fingers brushed Danny's shoulder. "He's taking it easy for now. He hates it, and so does his boss."
Danny cracked half a smile. "I hate being forced to take it easy too."
"So what's going on with you? You looked kind of gloomy."
Danny stared at him, wondering why Dash would even care. He turned his head away and gazed at the stretch of green before them. "I'm not making any headway on this case. The dealer's gone into hiding, and the supplier isn't making any new moves. At least that means no one else is using the drug right now."
"Or," Dash hesitated when Danny's head swerved back to him, "the supplier moved on to another town."
Danny frowned as he looked away again. It was an entirely plausible, but he hated to think it was correct. "Then the bastard got away." His hands squeezed tightly around his knees. He hated thinking that he let the supplier escape. "I wanted to nail this bastard," he muttered, and he was glad he faced away from Dash because he could feel the shift in his eyes. For a moment, his eyes glowed green.
"It almost sounds like you're taking this a bit personally," Dash said carefully. He removed his arms from the back of the bench and held them up defensively when Danny shot a glare at him. "Trust me. I understand wanting to catch the bad guy, but you can't always be the hero."
Danny stood suddenly, making Dash jump to his feet as well. He knew the man was trying to console him, which felt strange, but the comment struck a nerve. He was supposed to be the hero. He was Danny Phantom! Being the hero was pretty much his job description. But he couldn't tell Dash anything about that or even try to make the man understand. He started to walk away when Dash grabbed his arm.
"Whatever I said to upset you, I'm sorry."
The words took a while to process through his mind. Danny turned around and stared at Dash like he grew another head. "You're actually apologizing to me?" Was the world ending? He almost expected to see the four horsemen of the apocalypse riding through the sky above their heads.
Dash raked a hand through his blond locks, looking like an awkward teenager instead of a grown man. "I know I was a total ass to you in high school. I was an ass to a lot of people back then." He shrugged. "But you weren't so terrible to hang out with on Saturday, and you kicked that guy's ass for us. I owe you thanks for that." He laughed at something, not seeming to take notice of the flustered feeling consuming Danny presently. "I almost forgot about that time you led us all in that fight against those ghosts to get our parents back. You were pretty awesome back then too."
Danny shrugged awkwardly, feeling heat rise to his cheeks. What was he supposed to say when his high school bully started saying things like that? "Well, someone had to do something. And I was the one with ghost hunters for parents, so it made the most sense."
"A lot of people wouldn't have stepped up like that though." Dash looked away as he folded his arms. "I probably wouldn't have. I was totally freaking out."
Danny shifted his weight, looking anywhere but at Dash. The conversation took a sudden turn to weird. He still didn't know how to react when Dash was praising him for past deeds. But his mouth pursed slightly as he stared at the other man. "And yet, you continued to treat me like garbage."
Dash sighed, head dropping. "Like I said, I was an ass to a lot of people." Then he snapped his head up again to meet Danny's gaze. "And I didn't treat you like garbage the whole time. Okay," he rolled his eyes when Danny glared at him. "I wasn't nice to you, but I stopped tracking you down to beat you up after we entered junior year."
Danny opened his mouth to argue about that but paused. When he thought about it, he realized Dash had a point. His last two years of high school were relatively more peaceful than the first two years. Dash certainly didn't treat him like a friend, insulting him here and there whenever they passed each other in the hallway, but Danny recalled a lot less running away from the jock. He didn't get crammed into the lockers as much either.
"I guess you weren't so bad those last two years," Danny mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.
"You can thank Kwan." Dash shrugged. "He reminded me that if I didn't start getting serious about school, I'd be repeating my last year and probably wouldn't get into a good college or get a good job. That, and he helped be find a better outlet for my anger."
"And what was that?" Danny almost laughed. What better outlet could Dash find than using him like a punching bag?
"Kwan has this uncle that knows tai chi, karate, judo." Dash's shoulders lifted briefly. "Some martial arts thing. Anyway, Kwan thought it would be good for me, so we started practicing that with his uncle. Anyway, it helped me get control of my anger, so when I got pissed off, I stopped taking it out on people around me."
Danny nodded understandingly. Fighting ghosts was a good source of stress relief for him. He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. It was weird talking like this with Dash. They weren't fighting or throwing insults. How were they managing to have such a civil conversation with each other?
Dash seemed to realize that as well and looked away with an uncomfortable shift of his weight. "I was thinking of doing another movie marathon night this weekend. Usually we wouldn't have another for a while, like a month. But I thought after that whole thing with the Guys in White, Kwan might like a relaxing night of doing nothing but vegetating. We'll do it at my place this time though. Don't need Kwan spending hours in the kitchen making some big meal."
Danny laughed. "What's the deal with that anyway?"
"His family is always like that." Dash rolled his eyes with an exasperated look. "Every time I went over there, they always had to make a big meal, even when it wasn't necessary. And now that he's living on his own, Kwan does the same thing. No matter how many times I tell him a big five course meal isn't necessary, he just gives me that I have no idea what you're talking about look, like he's completely forgotten the conversation." He shook his head and chuckled. "Sometimes, I really don't understand what goes on in his head."
"It must be nice sometimes, though. I don't exactly do a lot of cooking myself." Most of what Danny ate involved microwaveable meals that he picked up from the convenient store near his apartment.
"Yeah, sometimes," Dash agreed. "But the point was, if you want to come, you're welcome to." His grin slanted across his face. "I'll even let you choose the theme of the night."
Danny blinked. Kwan said before that he wanted Danny to join them again, but Danny didn't expect Dash to be the one to bring it up and ask him to come to the next movie night. A chilly tingle alerted him to the presence of ghost. Danny needed to end this conversation quickly so that he could go deal with it. "I'll make sure to bring some good movies then."
"You better. If you bring something lame, you'll regret it."
Danny didn't doubt Dash would act on that promise. "You're the one that picked romantic dramas." He grinned at the scowl on Dash's face.
Dash rolled his eyes. "Then I'll see you Saturday. I should finish up my run."
"I should probably get back to work." Danny almost breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't have to think up some flimsy excuse to cut the conversation short. After their goodbyes, Danny stood as he watched Dash leave, jogging down the trail through the park. Then he turned down the opposite way and followed his ghost sense.
The ghost was female this time, dragging her feet as she walked the path toward Danny. Her long dark bangs hung down in her face, obscuring most of it but her nose and mouth. Danny wondered if he should transform but thought against it after the last two times resulted in the Guys in White appearing shortly afterward. The ghost didn't seem to be doing anything bad. Yet. He couldn't know her true intentions until he spoke to her.
"Hey," Danny called out, drawing her attention.
The ghost halted before him then lifted her head. Her bangs parted a little, showing off one red eye. "Who are you?" She backed up, looking suddenly spooked. "What do you want? I don't have any money!"
Danny blinked rapidly at that response. "Ah, no," he raised his hands as a sign that he meant no harm. "I wanted to know your intentions." Why would a ghost think he wanted money from it?
"What do you mean?" The ghost stuttered when she spoke. She backed away some more, almost seeming terrified that he would do something to harm her.
"I'm not going to hurt you." Danny didn't dare try stepping closer to her for fear it would spook her even more, causing her to flee. "I just need to know if you're here to cause trouble."
Confusion worked its way through the ghost's expression. But she didn't get a chance to speak again. When electrical currents suddenly danced across her being, she screamed out in agony, collapsing to the ground. Danny launched into action without thinking. He raced toward the ghost and looked for the source. It was a small device on her attached to her back, sending out waves of electricity. Danny grabbed, holding back a shout as pain shot through his arm. His teeth ground together, and he cringed back as the electricity grew more intense with each passing moment. He tugged on the device with all his strength until it finally released itself hold on the ghost. It slipped from his grasp and landed on the ground. His strength was failing him. His eyelids grew heavy, his vision fading. A white booted foot appeared on the ground before him. Then Danny collapsed, no longer able to cling to consciousness.
