…hated writing this chapter because I realized my mind broke on this fic. And now I have shattered pieces strewn everywhere. Oh well. Enjoy what you can out of this.

Thanks for reviewing princess moon shadow, tbsavafob, ruelle d'aly, Bored2Deth, Hordak's Pupil, Crazy Joe, ImmortalPhantom22, Miriam1

21. Truths, Treasures, and Trials

"Gotta make everything really difficult, doesn't he?" Phantom growled to himself, his hands alight with emerald energy as he floated alongside the lieutenant. "Invisibility, wicked grudges, and anything but the kitchen sink."

Horatio smiled for a split moment, hugging the corner of a wall and glancing around into another room. He motioned to the teenage hero to come inside and look around, his own face portraying utter disbelief. He lowered his weapon and took a full three hundred sixty degree turnaround to see what had really happened. His partner blinked and watched the lieutenant's gaze, shaking his head as Horatio walked over to the table with chemicals and other various substances. "What the hell was he doing in here?" he wondered, snapping on a glove and picking up a glass filled with ectoplasm.

The half-ghost floated over to a stack of papers on the other end of the room and landed, picking them up and hearing a distinct crash somewhere in the building. Ignoring it and swallowing, he flipped through the scientific speak and stared at the numbers and back at Horatio, his voice quaking. "I think I figure out what Vlad was doing, Lieutenant." He waved one of the packages of notes in the air and motioned him over. "He was trying to create ghost and human crosses with nothing but a serum."

The crime scene investigator looked over Phantom's shoulder and cocked his head, turning back to the teen and stepping around the table to look at the liquids he had concocted. Greens, blues, yellows, and many other colors were strewn on it. He picked one up and saw the bubbles, pursing his lips and appearing thoughtful. "But what was the reason, Phantom? He couldn't have just been doing it for his own selfish purposes, right?"

"To invoke revenge? Vlad loves to get back at people who did stuff to him in the past." The teenager sighed and set down the papers, shaking his head with disbelief. "Why he wanted Ryan, though, is the big question. Did he have some grudge on you or something along those lines? I mean, there isn't a reason for him taking the guy without a purpose, you know?" Phantom studied Horatio's wearied features. "What did he do?"

The lieutenant looked down at the floor for a moment, voice bitter. "It's complicated." He then looked back up at Phantom. "College- he went to Florida State University. Did some things that weren't exactly in line with the code of conduct. And I found him doing illegal experiments one day that involved ghosts. He told me not to tell anyone and bribed me. I didn't take it, and… he got kicked out after I told the school officials about it all. I heard he was off to Wisconsin after that."

Phantom held the serum he had picked up in one hand and glanced at Horatio. "Well, that could explain a lot, to be honest." He glanced back down at it and slowly, realization dawned on his features. "Ryan was going to be his first test subject, and he didn't even know the full extent of what it could do. If it would kill, destroy, infect, mutate- Plasmius didn't have anyone to use it on, and he followed me to Miami to…" The teen looked down at the medicine. "We may never really know the answer."

Horatio held out his hand, and Phantom cautiously placed it into his grasp. "Evidence for later. Is there another one there?"

"Yeah. Why?"

The lieutenant smiled. "Someone needs to test it out at the right time."

The teenager shook his head. "You could die!"

"I've been waiting for death to take me for a while, Danny. Another brush with it won't kill me."

As Horatio slipped one serum into his pocket and another one into his hand- thanks to a reluctant half ghost- the duo exited the room and looked around the corner, not noticing… "There you are!"

The team of heroes flicked their heads in the opposite direction and it was the ghost teen that swallowed. Plasmius was giving them the evilest of stares, and it was in the right of mind that Horatio and Phantom bolted in the opposite direction of the raging billionaire. Horatio growled and cocked his weapon. "I want to know if he killed that child a few days ago. And if he did, that could land him in prison for a couple of years."

"Right now would definitely not be the best of times to do that." The teen turned around and fired a ghost ray in the other man's direction. "You run, I'll hold him off." He had a sort of cocky grin on his face. "When he's mad, he becomes a bit more… crazier than normal. Take the serum somewhere, and if he's got you cornered- well, I don't know what to say from there." His hands placed a shield in front of them, nodding to Horatio and racing towards Plasmius.

The lieutenant ducked behind a wall and began to run to the other side of the hall area, his weapon still cocked. Something was obviously wrong about all of this. Surely Vlad would have had a ton of guards all around the place, but… no one was around. No weird glowing figures, no stupid guys wandering around shooting stuff- none of it was there unless he had something really wicked planned. Horatio hugged the wall and looked out before pointing his weapon out and letting out a deep breath. 'I'm not liking this,' he thought grimly, carefully moving down the hall.

There was a muffled THUD, followed by more sounds of blows being traded. The red head growled and moved slightly quicker down the hall, peering in each room for any signs of ghosts or other various items of who knew what lying around in the billionaire's house. For all Horatio knew, he could have very well kept a room full of other unknown experiments used on people in there. He quietly edged down the rest of the corridor, never shaking and always vigilant. Was this how Phantom had to be every time he faced his foe?

The sound of body hitting wall forced Horatio to take a deep breath and turn the corner again with swift, nearly inhuman speed. He stood there, seeing Phantom shoot another ghost ray and growl angrily at the foe in front of him. Horatio lowered the weapon and took a deep breath, taking out the serum. "You could die!" the teen's words echoed in his mind, sounding desperate. He gripped the vial in his hand and winced when he looked up and saw Vlad nail him right in the stomach with a ghost ray.

Without a second thought, Horatio stabbed the serum into his arm and injected the ectoplasm into his blood. The effect was immediately. He felt as if he had been shocked into total nothingness, the pain searing everywhere. The lieutenant dropped to one knee and gasped, gritting his teeth and holding his side with the serum vial. The fire seemed to take over him, and the lieutenant couldn't help but gasp immediately with pain. Phantom took a quick glance at Horatio before staring at him head-on. "W-what did you do?!"

"Sacrifices… gotta be made… sometimes…" Horatio grunted between gasps of pain. "You should know that… better than all of us!"

Before Phantom could offer a well-placed comeback, Plasmius slammed his fist into the teen's stomach in the form of a sort of thrusting punch that sent him flying into the next room. Horatio growled and held his side still, closing his eyes and feeling a sort of cold sensation rush through his body. He looked down at his hand- only to see it wasn't there. His other hand was lowing with a sort of bluish aura, and it was right then that the lieutenant knew he had pretty much turned into a temporary half ghost… however the hell that was actually possible.

Plasmius smirked at the teenager in the other room. "Poor performance ind-"

WHAM. The billionaire suddenly found himself careening with the logs and spluttering to himself only to look up and see Horatio pointing a hand at him with glowing energy. Phantom floated out from his own collision and rubbed his head to see him… well, nearly deformed. With one hand invisible, another flaring with sky-blue energy, and no seeming change in his appearance, it was a wonder that the lieutenant was standing on both feet. "Horatio?"

"I blame the serum," he grunted, his hand lowering and watching Plasmius warily. "Not you."

Plasmius stumbled to his feet, shaking his head and staring at the new hybrid in front of him. There was a sort of euphoric rush that soared through his blood, allowing his lips to curl into a tight smile. "Looks like it worked- the medicine, I mean. My first real test subject still standing and alive with new powers he can control with odd ease! This… this give me more than enough data I need to complete it and…"

Horatio found Phantom at his side within a few moments. His voice choked slightly. "You are not getting away with this, Vlad. We could reveal you to the whole world right now for the fake you really are." His eyes flashed. "We could give the motive for killing that kid in Florida. Unless you have one that you would be so inclined to share the real reason behind it."

For a split moment, the billionaire allowed fear to creep into his gaze. "You wouldn't."

"I can do it right now," he growled. "Killing innocent children for your own twisted experiments? I'm pretty sure the business world wouldn't like they discovered one of their major business partners was doing illegal things with human beings. Would they?"

Plasmius snarled inhumanly. "You do any such thing, I swear I will show some of your dark secrets of the past- killing your father, going to Brazil without a referral from the county… I can look all of it up and have you fired in a heartbeat, Caine!"

Horatio allowed a ghost of a smile to appear on his lips. "You'd love to do that, wouldn't you? Unfortunately for you, that won't happen." His hand flared slightly. "Go ahead and try it. I'm sure a lot of people would love to hear about your exploits. It's only a fair trade, Vlad." He shot a ghost ray at the killer, which connected with his chest, and fell back on one knee, Phantom giving him support and making sure he didn't hit the floor. "Your move."

"You're a very tricky one, Horatio." The billionaire smirked grimly. "Fine. I killed the girl- she could have become an experiment, my first test subject of the medicine. But it was too strong. She ended up dying because of her young age. Tried to revive her, but alas… all that remained was a single handprint."

Phantom clenched his teeth. It was disgusting. Plasmius had turned into a monster. A disgusting, despicable man whose sole purpose was to only make money on the market. At least he was out of the damn picture now. "You killed her with your own dirty hands!"

Plasmius looked plainly smug. "That much is very true."

Horatio now had an arm on Phantom. His eyes flashed green for a split second, warning the teen to not try and do anything foolish. He glanced back at Plasmius, growling lowly. "We pretty much got everything we needed here. But since I can't arrest you on the grounds of being with Miami and you're all the way here in Denver…" He stood up painfully, shaking his head and gripping his weapon. "Just know this, you son of a bitch- you do it again and you're still in Miami, it'll be your last day enjoying the sun's rays."

Phantom couldn't believe this was happening. "You're letting him get off?!"

"I can't do anything about it," Horatio quietly admitted. "He's not in our district. I'm as mad as you, Danny. Know that." His hand reappeared suddenly, his breathing slowing. "Let's go."

Plasmius tried to stand from the rubble, but Phantom shot him another ghost ray, knocking him flat and into a state of unconsciousness. He looked down at it and sighed for a moment. "These powers can be good and be really bad."

"It all depends on how you look at the situation, Phantom," Horatio reminded wearily. "For you, it's for good. Plasmius, it's for evils unknown to all."

Phantom blinked. "And you?"

Horatio could offer no answer as he held out his hand to the ghost teen. "I'll tell you when I take those antibodies that get rid of them."

Inspired by "Colin Hopes Link will Save Them" from the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess OST and "Deep Ambitions" from the Resident Evil 5 OST.

That was a pain to write. Just looking at this fic is painful now. All the errors, horrible mistakes, and stupid author cracks are… god, I think they're OOC too. I've only got two chapters left of this thing, so just hang on a little longer. We're almost home, guys. Promise.