Author's Note: once again I'm here to remind you this was rated teen for this chapter as well. It got a bit gory. You've been warned. ^^
Chapter 14
"You killed her!" Danny realized, crying it out at the demon floating in front of him.
Wingspan waved his hands, the claws gripping Danny's eyes let go, but still held onto his head. "She's not dead. Actually, this is the most alive she's ever been." He said, rolling his gray eyes.
"How do you call that alive?!" Danny demanded, venom lacing his voice.
"Well, I must admit, she might bleed to death." Wingspan said, putting a finger under his chin as he thought. He turned to look at the motionless body still laying where Danny threw her, now a puddle of mostly red blood dripped around her worse wounds. "How her blood still has ectoplasm is beyond me though." The ghost looked back at the glowing orb in the jar still in his hand. "You know, it's cool to think that if the core of a normal ghost is extracted, the core will dissolve into just a puddle of ectoplasm and yet here's your daughter's. It's still glowing with life and radiating an ever so softly tune."
"Then put it back into her or so help me-"
"You can't do anything, Phantom." Wingspan laughed, leaning forward so he floated just over the boy's lap. "It's still glowing cause she's still attached to it. I have the 'on-off' switch of her life right in the palm of my hand! So" he leaned down so his face was level with Danny's as his voice dropped to a whisper "if you want her to stay living, you'll do as I say, kapeesh?"
Danny's jaw cracked as he fought what he really wanted to say. "Fine." He muttered through his teeth.
"That's a good Daddy Phantom." Wingspan said, patting the boy's unruly black hair. Danny spit at the ghost, getting a disgusted reaction from it.
Wingspan floated backwards, a few feet in front of the boy, before recomposing himself to say, "I've caught a ghost that I've been meaning to dispose of for a while now. I want you to kill it."
"I don't kill." Danny stated, looking at Wingspan in the eyes, gray to flashing green.
"Don't you want to save your daughter?" Wingspan asked, gripping the jar with both hands. The jar concaved at his strength, showing it was made of a more rubbery substance than glass or plastic. A small scream escaped from the lid as if the pressure hurt the girl's ghost.
Danny gasped as he heard movement from the body lying beside his chair. "Stop!" Danny ordered.
Wingspan smiled, knowing he won as he loosened his grip on the jar. Cat stopped convulsing as the screams vanished.
Danny shivered as his ghost sense went off. Before him, Wingspan materialized a three by four foot box made of blue energy. Inside Danny could see a boy ghost that could not be any older than seven, if judged by human years. His hair was a blond, almost golden in color that half hung over his face. The boy looked up, terror showing in his purple eyes as he stared at Danny. It quickly changed to anger, almost a rage that sent a new shiver down Danny's spine, as the boy quickly got to his feet and in a fighting stance.
"Daniel, meet Andrew. Andrew, Daniel." Wingspan laughed before he disappeared from sight. "Have fun."
Danny felt the claw released his head right before the chair disappeared out from under him, forcing him down to the floor on his butt. In front of him, the child was released from his prison, the blue box disappearing all together.
"Oh, by the way, you both also have Ghost Mites inside your body trying to eat at your cores." Wingspan informed, his voice coming from everywhere as the room lit up.
Danny glanced around as he stood up, seeing they were in a room similar to the one Cat had been tortured in. His eyes traveled back to the kid only to find himself dodging to avoid a golden ectoblast.
"I don't want to fight you, kid!" Danny cried, using his quick reflexes to dodge the blasts and to lead the kid's aim away from where Cat still laid.
"Why not?" Andrew yelled out, firing blast after blast at Danny. "You're the one who tried to kill my father!"
"What?!" Struck dumbfound for a second, Danny stopped, letting the kid get a still target. Danny fell over as a burn caught him off guard on his side. He looked up, surprised the kid had stopped attacking. He saw the boy floating over to him, his hands glowing in a golden fire.
"Stand up." Andrew ordered in a voice deeper than a kid that age should have. "My father taught me to never fight when my opponent is down."
"No." Danny stated, deeming the floor was safest right now. "Who's your father?"
"You know who he is!" Andrew yelled, tears brimming his eyes and blurring his sight. He closed his eyes before ordering, "Now Get Up!"
Danny found himself flying backwards towards the wall as the words physically impacted him. The wall found itself going outward, creating a Danny-sized dent as the teen pulled himself out.
Danny turned to face the boy, anger ruling his body as he called on the white rings so he could have easy access to his powers only to have the rings back fire, shooting back into his body and forcing him down to his knees in response.
At the same time, Andrew found himself dropping to the ground, his hands no longer glowing.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you." Wingspan's voice laughed. "Ghost Mites have a tendency to eat up their host's powers after a spell."
Andrew showed his fear as he looked at his hands, trying to create his ectoblast only to have a small amount of golden light jump from one hand to the other. He looked up at Danny, the two looking eye to eye as Danny released his grip on his stomach.
"Oh, I know that look." Wingspan cooed "Just remember I have Cat's core in my hands."
"GARRR!"
Danny looked up, finding himself being pushed into the wall next to his dent by a surprising amount of force aimed at his neck from the little boy. Tears streamed down the boy's cheeks as he pushed on Danny's trachea.
"I will….not….fight." Danny struggled to say, only lightly gripping the boy's hands to fight back the black spots that threatened to take over his vision.
"Why not?" Andrew demanded, his voice not quivering though the rest of him was. "FIGHT!"
Danny found enough strength to grip the kid's hands and free his neck, allowing a huge rush of air into his lungs to clear the black dots. Once he could see straight again he held the kid's hands up above both their heads. "Listen to me." Danny hissed, hoping Wingspan couldn't hear as he fought against the boy trying to free his hands. "I don't know who your dad is but Wingspan lied to you cause I don't kill anybody."
"I don't believe you!" Andrew hissed back, almost spitting Danny in the face. "I have to protect my family."
A small high pitched scream stopped the two, turning their attention towards a window to the left of them to see Wingspan on the other side. He smiled at them as he showed he was squeezing Cat's jar. Cat's body started convulsing again, this time fresh waves of blood gurgled out of her neck wound.
"Cat!" Andrew cried, freeing his hands so he could run over to the body. He put his hand to her throat to stop the blood only for his hands to go right through her. He tried again and again, panic in his eyes. "Why can't I touch her!?"
Danny scrambled up to his feet and dropped down on the other side of Cat. He put his hands where the boy could not and applied enough pressure to stop the blood from escaping. "Wingspan! Stop this now!" he demanded.
"Humm…" Wingspan looked up as if the answer he was looking for was above the window. He turned back to look at the three and laughed, "Na, I like this. And the irony of it all is hilarious."
"Enlighten us on how this is ironic." Danny grumbled through his teeth as he ripped off a piece of his already blood soaked shirt and did what he could to wrap it around her throat. He managed to glance down at her stomach and found himself staring as the remains of the ectoplasm in her blood had already covered her exposed ribs and organs.
Wingspan smiled down at the scene playing out before him as he stopped squeezing the jar.
Before the boys, Cat's body ceased in its movement. Danny silently prayed that that didn't mean she was dead. He looked up to see Andrew crying harder than before, the kids amethyst eyes not leaving Cat's body. The boy clinched his hands tight as if fighting emotions. He looked up and faced Danny's blue eyes.
"If you care enough about Cat, you must be telling the truth." Andrew said, starting to believe. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand as he stopped crying. "You have an idea?"
"One-"
"Boys. If you don't start fighting again, I'll start squeezing." Wingspan interrupted with a threat.
"Follow my lead." Danny whispered before lunging out, grabbing Andrew by the shoulders and forcing the two in a tumble. Danny stopped their momentum, landing himself on the bottom and cried out, "NO! Don't hurt me!"
Andrew bit his lip to hid his amusement as the boy realized what Danny's plan was. He pulled an arm back and forced a punch to Danny's face, phasing through at the last second.
Danny did his best to make it look like the punches where doing what they should. "Ok." Danny whispered as best he could while still keeping the act up. "Can you throw me somewhere?" Danny wasn't sure if the kid could physically throw him since he was more than two times the size but the kid slightly nodded his head as he gripped Danny's shoulder and pulled him up so the two where eye level.
"Never hurt my family again!" Andrew growled, though not directed at the teen he faced. The boy used the last of his ghostly energy to fly upwards, dragging Danny up with him, till the boy's golden hair brushed the ceiling. He closed his eyes as he threw Danny down to the ground.
Andrew opened his eyes to see Danny laid in a crumpled heap in the center of a small crater. The boy dropped down to the ground, placing his feet by Danny's head as his body trembled with fear that the teen might have died.
Danny opened one eye and flashed a quick smile to the kid to let him know he was ok.
"I won, Wingspan. Now give Cat her ghost half back!" Andrew ordered, his hands in fists at his sides as he looked at the ghost on the other side of the window.
"You haven't won yet." Wingspan said, crossing his arms over his chest. "You see that green glowing through his shirt?"
Andrew looked back at Danny and saw what the ghost was referring to. Under the blood and ectoplasm mix of colors on his white shirt, a glowing green penetrated through, centered at his heart.
"Give me his ghost core." Wingspan ordered.
"I won't!"
Wingspan disappeared from the window to teleport next to Andrew and Danny. He knelt down beside the teen's body and smiled, "Than I will."
"Not today, psycho!" Danny said, flashing open his eyes as he quickly punched upwards.
His fist connected with Wingspan's face, forcing the ghost back on his butt as Danny used what was left of his powers to float to his feet. Danny leaned down to grab the collar of Wingspan's top, pulling him so they were eye to eye. "Even with my ghost powers gone, I can still beat you to a pulp." Danny threatened.
"Oh, you've got me quaking in my boots." Wingspan mocked, looking bored. "But you forgot one thing."
Danny frowned for a second, giving Wingspan a questioning look that instantly turned to pain and surprise.
Wingspan had plunged both of his sharp hands into Danny's chest, ripping away skin, muscle, and brace like they were tissue paper. Danny screamed in pain to the point it was obvious he was in agony in just hearing his voice as he gripped Wingspan's cloth tighter. The ghost smiled as he gripped onto Danny's core, sitting right next to the boy's human heart. Wingspan pulled both of his hands out quickly, ripping not only the core out but pieces of bone and blood spattered around.
Danny fell to the ground, pain surrounding him as he fought to stay alive. He saw Wingspan stand up, a dark green orb in his hand. Laughter reached his ears as darkness consumed him.