Chapter 25

The training session became more of a study session. Danny had a day of homework to make up, and his friends were there to help him when he had questions about what he missed. He was glad he only stayed home for the one day because he hated the headache of playing catch up with school work. Tucker had sat across from him and tinkered with some parts for the robot for his club. It wasn't looking good for them to complete the robot in time for the competition this year, but that didn't stop Tucker and the other robotics club members from working hard to fix the damage the explosion did to their robot.

"Oh yeah," Danny said, remembering something, as they neared his house after it got dark. He grinned a little, grabbing his bag in preparation to bolt out of the car if necessary. "How did the whole 'date' with Gregor go?"

The wheels squealed when Sam slammed on the breaks. She snapped her head around to face Danny, who was sitting in the back, and her violet eyes narrowed at him. "Do not bring up his name ever again."

"Wow," Danny breathed out, his eyes growing wide. "I'm guessing it was worse than I imagined."

Sam shuddered. "So bad! Ugh! He seems to think he's some gift to women or something, and he doesn't seem to comprehend that not all women are tripping over themselves to date him. He thinks when I say 'no' or 'I'm not interested in you' that I'm playing hard to get. And I'm not. I am so not interested in him. I hate being around him. He makes my skin crawl because he's so sleazy. But my mom acts like we're a perfect match. She couldn't stop going on and on about what our wedding should be like. As if I'm going to marry this jerk! But really, my mom only cares about him because he comes from a rich family."

"I'm so sorry, Sam," Danny said, cringing as he listened to his friend. He figured the dinner would be bad, with how Sam didn't get along well with her parents, but he couldn't have guessed just how badly the dinner went. "There's no convincing your mom that you're just not interested in a relationship right now, huh?"

Sam released a tired sigh as she continued driving toward his house, which was only a few blocks away. "Unfortunately, my mom is of the mind that I should be married by the time I'm in college." She shook her head. "I'll choose who I want to date and when. My mom should be happy I haven't kicked the snot out of Gregor yet."

"I would love to see that if you did though," Tucker said, laughing at the imagery. "From the way you talk, it sounds like he would deserve it."

"Oh, I'm tempted! Don't doubt that." Sam pulled over to the curb, parking her car in front of Danny's house. "You'll talk to us if you need to, right?" Sam turned around to frown with concern at him. Tucker did the same, his brow wrinkling with his worry.

"Yeah." Danny nodded as he pushed open the back door. "I'm just-" He looked away. "I'm not really up for talking about everything that happened right now. But when I am, I'll let you know. For now, I just need to," his mouth pursed for a moment, "sort things out on my own."

His friends nodded, and Tucker said, "We'll see you tomorrow," as Danny climbed out the door. He stood on the curb and waved, watching his friends drive off down the street. The whole study session at Sam's family's warehouse was just an excuse. Danny hadn't wanted to come home yet because he knew what was waiting for him when he got there: no Jazz and his parents dealing with the grief of losing their daughter. But even when he tried to pretend like it wasn't real and Jazz was still alive, the truth snuck back into his mind, hitting him with another wave of sorrow.

Danny braced himself before he opened the front door. His parents entered the front hall before he even had the chance to close the door behind him. His mother walked over to him and gentle combed her fingers through his hair. The smile on her face was sad.

"How was school today?" she asked. "You stayed out pretty late. Do you want dinner? I can heat up some leftovers."

"It was fine." Danny shrugged. "Just the usual stuff. I stayed out to study with Sam and Tuck. We picked up some Nasty Burger for dinner." He frowned as his brow wrinkled slightly. "Is that okay?"

"Of course." His mother nodded. "You just didn't call first, so we weren't sure where you were."

Danny winced. "Sorry. I'll remember to let you know next time." He took a step, heading for the stairs, but he paused. "I agreed to go over to Elle's tomorrow. She needs help with a school report."

His father clapped him on the shoulder with one of his big hands. "Jazz would be proud." The corner of his mouth twitched in a small smile. "If she knew you were devoting your time to tutor someone else, she would be really proud of you." Danny could only nod to the comment as the guilt weighed down on him. He should have done something more to save Jazz.

"Oh, your Aunt Alicia will be arriving on Friday," his mother announced before Danny could climb the stairs. "The police won't have released Jazz's body by then, but we still plan to hold a funeral ceremony for people to come and pay their respects. We don't know when the police will finish their investigation and return her body, so, well, we didn't want to have the funeral hanging over us for weeks or months." She frowned, lowering her gaze.

Normally, such an announcement would be received by grumblings from his father, who wouldn't be looking forward to his sister-in-law talking about how her sister could have done better. But his father was silent, the situation too grim. Danny nodded, which was all the response his parents seemed to need before they wandered off back into the kitchen.

Finally, Danny jogged up the stairs then headed down the hall to his bedroom. His homework was mostly done, and what he had left wasn't due until the end of the week, so he would be able to finish it later. Somehow, he managed to put it out of his mind while he studied with Sam and Tucker, but now his only thought was getting to Oak Street and finding the apartment building where Spike and his friends usually hung out. His friends wouldn't be happy with him when they learned he went there to confront Spike, but he knew they would insist on going with him if he had told them about it earlier. He appreciated the support, but this was something Danny felt he needed to do on his own.

He donned dark slacks and a black hooded sweatshirt. Then he quietly made his way back down the hall, being cautious of the squeaky floorboards since he wanted his parents to think he was still in his room. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he decided not to risk the door. He tossed a glance toward the kitchen, but he couldn't see his parents in the doorway. Then he forced the change, turned intangible, and stepped through the door. On the other side, he reverted to normal with a sigh, glad for the darkness of night and the fact that most people on his block would probably be sitting around the television watching the news or in bed at the moment.

Flipping up his hood, Danny jogged down the street toward Oak Street. If anyone saw him, maybe they would think he was merely out for a nightly run. He reached Oak Street in less than half an hour then had to spend another five minutes wandering down the street to locate the condemned apartment building. After a moment to stare up at it, Danny glanced around, but the street was quiet, thankfully since the apartment building wasn't exactly in a good neighborhood. He stepped up to the front door of the building then pushed it open and slipped inside.

Despite the dark, Danny could still make out what the inside looked like in the gloom of moonlight coming through the windows. The front hall had a tacky rug in a gaudy orange with bright pink patterns laid out on the floor. The plant in the corner beside the mailboxes had died ages ago, now appearing shriveled and black. The building lacked an elevator, but Danny doubted it would work even if there was one. If the building was scheduled for demolition, they would have shut off the power.

Danny headed up the stairs to the first floor of apartments. Down the hall, he spotted the flicker of light in the space beneath one of the doors. He switched to his ghost form as he quietly crept down the hall toward the door. He wanted to take advantage of surprising the man on the other side, and hopefully subdue him before he could grab a gun or any other weapon with which to defend himself. When he reached the door, he steeled himself for what might lay beyond it. He hoped it would be only Spike. But how could he know if Spike was even in there? The person beyond the door could be someone else entirely. Or no one could be there, and the last person to visit the apartment building had forgotten to put out the light before leaving.

After he released the breath he had held, a nervous chill washing over him, Danny phased his way through the door and prepared himself for a fight. He froze, recognizing that uneven Mohawk of the man sitting on a stool in the middle of the room with a small table next to him which held the source of light in the form of a flashlight. Different emotions warred inside him: anger at the man who had killed Jazz and horror when he noticed the needle of the syringe the man held about to pierce the crook of his elbow. The shock broke, and Danny shot over to the man then grabbed his wrist and yanked the hand holding the syringe away from his arm.

"Hey! What are you-" When Spike lifted his head, the color drained from his face, making his skin seem even more gray than usual. "Ah! Zombie!" He abandoned the syringe in order to flail and attempt to whack the "zombie" in the head with his fists. "Please don't eat my brains! I'm not that smart!"

Danny struggled against him. A fist clapped him on the side of the head, and he winced, but Dash had hit him harder in the past. The stool clattered on the floor when it was kicked out from under Spike. They hit the ground in a tangle of limbs, and Spike pushed at Danny, attempting to pin him to the floor. But Danny had superior strength now, thanks to the ghost powers. He had to focus to keep control of his strength, though, or risk accidentally snapping Spike's wrist. He doubted he would get any answers out of the man if Spike was screaming over a broken wrist. With only a little extra force, he slammed Spike to the ground, using his knees to pin the man's shoulders down as he pressed his forearm to the man's throat.

"I have some questions for you," Danny said in a cold, steely voice as his green eyes narrowed at the man beneath him. "So you better," he pressed a bit harder on Spike's throat, "answer truthfully."

Spike stared up at him with wide, wild eyes. "You - You're not going to eat my brains?"

Danny released a sigh, hanging his head. This was the man who killed his sister? His jaw set hard as he lifted his gaze to meet Spike's eyes again. "No," he growled, "I don't want to eat your brains." That announcement, at least, made Spike relax a little under him. "Why did you shoot Jazz Fenton?"

"W-What?" Spike's voice cracked. "I didn't kill Jazz! I couldn't - I would never touch a gun!"

"You shot her and ran," Danny shouted into his face, watching as the man flinched back as much as the floor would allow. His arm pressed harder against Spike's throat. "What reason could you possibly have for shooting her? Why was she even meeting you there?" When Spike didn't answer fast enough, Danny squeezed his throat until Spike tried smacking him while gasping for air. He let up, only because he wanted to know the answers. But part him kept whispering for him to keep the pressure on, to make Spike suffer a long, slow, agonizing death, because Spike deserved it for taking his sister away.

"I swear I didn't kill her. Wait! Wait!" Spike shouted before Danny could lean his forearm on the man's throat again. He took a few shaky breaths then continued. "For the past month, Jazz has been pestering me about quitting drugs and trying to do something more with my life. I always blew her off, but she just wouldn't quit. She was only there that night because she followed me to talk me out of doing drugs."

"So you shot her? Because she was trying to help you and you were too stupid to see that she only wanted to keep you from killing yourself with drugs?"

"No!" Spike shook his head as best he could. "I didn't shoot her! We were still arguing when the other guy came out. When he shot Jazz, I ran for it. I thought he'd shoot me too!"

"Who?" Danny demanded as he raised a fist, preparing to punch Spike. "You were the only one there."

"I was only there as the lookout. My partner was inside looking for the stuff. That's why I was trying to get Jazz and her brother to leave. I know I've done a lot of messed up stuff in my life, but it was never my intention to get Jazz involved in any of it." Spike clamped his eyes shut, and Danny hesitated, seeing the pain and regret twisting upon his face. "If she had just left when I asked, none of this would have happened."

Danny wanted to scream. Another person? There was another person involved in Jazz's murder? He slammed his fist down close to Spike's head, and the man flinch away as the floorboards cracked under Danny's fist. Danny managed to control his strength enough not punch straight through the floor.

"Who was it?" Danny shook with his rage. "Who was your partner?"

"I don't know! I swear!" Spike's eyes had gone wide with panic after Danny came close to punching him in the face. "It was the first time I worked with him. That's the whole point! We're paired up with people we don't know for the robberies so if either of us are caught, we can't rat out the other."

"Robberies," Danny mumbled, recalling past news casts about places being robbed, like the facility owned by Sam's family. "You must have at least seen the man. Describe him."

"I only saw him for about a second. He ordered me to take watch and went inside. Then everything happened so fast when he came out again and shot Jazz." Spike shrugged, or attempted to with Danny's knees still holding him down. "The guy was short. That's about all I can remember."

It didn't seem like Spike was lying to him. Danny frowned, staring down at the man for a long, silent moment. "Why are you robbing places? Why are you working for these people?"

"I owe money for the drugs I do," Spike explained in a hurry, maybe afraid Danny's next punch wouldn't miss him. "They approached me and said if I did a few jobs for them, they would pay my debt and get me more drugs."

Danny's mouth pursed, his rage feeling like a blazing fire in his chest. But a knock on the apartment door interrupted anything he might have shouted at Spike next. Danny craned his head around to stare at the door, praying whoever was on the other side wouldn't open it.

"Yo, Spike! Open up," a man called from the hall.

"Yeah, we brought you some food," a woman said with a hint of impatience in her voice.

Danny turned his gaze back to Spike. "I want you to go to the police and tell them everything you know about what happened the night Jazz Fenton was killed."

"But - But they'll kill me for talking!" Spike protested.

"The police won't let that happen." Danny climbed off the man. "Make sure you ask to talk to Police Chief Gray." At another, insistent, pounding on the door, Danny darted toward one of the side walls, phasing through it before Spike could get up to open the door. Once he was in the empty apartment next to Spike's room, he allowed himself to revert back to normal. He waited until he heard the door open and voices next door. Spike sounded almost normal, calm at least, as he spoke to the couple who brought him food.

After deciding it was safe to leave, he hurried out of the apartment and down the stairs to the lobby. He had expected to get answers out of Spike, but the answers he got only led to more questions. Who talked Spike into participating in robberies? Who was the partner he had Monday night that shot Jazz? Danny gritted his teeth in frustration as he jogged out of the building and down the street.

Danny continued running through the streets on his way home. He was nearing the edge of the not so good neighborhood until a familiar bark stopped him in his tracks. When he backed up to the entrance of an alley, Danny grinned and crouched as the puppy ran over to him.

"Hey there, Cujo!" Danny laughed as the puppy licked his cheek. "I wondered where you got off to." He scratched behind Cujo's ears, happy to see the puppy again. A rustling caught his ear, and Danny twisted around, keeping himself between the approaching person and Cujo.

The man put his hands up, the bag in one hand crinkling at the action. His clothing was dark, and he wore the hood up on his sweatshirt again. But Danny could recognized the curl of a smirk, the only visible part of his face. A lump jumped into his throat. He hadn't expected to run into the man who saved him from becoming road patty by a speeding car. The man walked closer, slow steps almost like he was trying to get close to a wild animal without spooking it.

"This isn't exactly the type of neighborhood I would expect to see you in," the man said, amused, as he crouched down near Danny. Cujo stepped toward the man then turned his head back to Danny and gave a whine.

"I was just passing through." Danny nudged Cujo toward the man with a light chuckle.

The man nodded as he opened his plastic bag, which came from a local mini mart based on the logo. "Is he your dog? I found him sniffing around here, so I went to get him a bit of food." He placed a bowl down before Cujo and filled it with some puppy chow. Cujo barked happily then dug into the food.

"No." Danny shook his head. "I came across him not too long ago. Some boys were harassing him so I chased them off. I want to adopt him, but," he sighed, shoulders slumping, "I still have to convince my parents." He turned his head away, his cheeks warming a touch. "Um, you disappeared last time."

"I had a job to do." The man shrugged.

"You didn't give me a chance to thank you though." With a frown, Danny turned back to the man. "Thank you. If you hadn't been there, I'd have eaten pavement."

The man leaned his head back, somehow managing to still keep most of his face in shadow. His hand disappeared under his hood as he rubbed at the back of his neck. "That's not really necessary. I was just in the right place at the right time. Anyone else could have done the same."

"Maybe, but you were the one who was there. You were the one who saved me."

"So adopting the pup," the man said hurriedly, obviously uncomfortable with being thanked.

"Cujo. He," Danny scratched the puppy's rump as his tail wagged rapidly, "seemed to like that name."

"Cujo then." The man nodded. "I can keep an eye on him while you try to convince your parents. You know," he shrugged one broad shoulder, "make sure he's getting food that isn't out of a trash can and staying out of trouble. Can't let some little punk bully the poor fellow."

Danny blinked, startled by the offer. Then he laughed. "Shouldn't I be the one offering something? For saving me."

The man shook his head. "Nope. Not allowed." Then he smirked. "Against the hero code."

"Oh, right." Danny nodded his head with a small grin. "Can't break the hero code." Then he sighed, slapping his hands on his legs as he prepared to stand. "I should probably get going though. I kind of snuck out." He cringed. "I want to get back before my parents discover I left."

"And I wouldn't want to be the cause of you getting caught."

Danny got to his feet. "Um, well, I guess goodbye then." He scratched behind one ear, feeling a bit awkward leaving it like this.

"See you around, cutie." The man smirked at him, and Danny had to turn away as a blush burned across his face. Did the man call everyone cutie? Or was he actually trying to flirt with him?

"See ya," Danny said, his voice cracking a touch. He walked, slowly, away and headed for his home, though he felt like bolting out of embarrassment. He hadn't even seen the man's face yet! After a few blocks, Danny smacked his forehead. He had thanked the man for saving him, but he never asked for the man's name. "Why do I keep forgetting to ask about stuff?" He shook his head as he walked.

The Magnetic Witch: I like making the A List more than just 1D stereotypes. XD;; Still haven't worked much with Star though. D:

YumiStar: Haha, and I thought Dash being nice was the start of the apocalypse. XD

BringbackDannyPhantom: Paulina just can't let anything ruin her image was the popular mean girl, huh? DX

HawkeyeLover: *whispers* How about right now? *shot* XD Now they just need to meet up in costume and stuff. XD;;

Poohbearmorris: And the mystery around Jazz's death continues! Thanks! =D

avater4eva: How about a face to face meeting with Dan instead? XD

Msawesome562: Danny's actually a junior, so he's 17. I fudged a little with their ages and made the gap between Danny and Jazz one year instead of two because I wanted Danny closer to being 18, but I needed Jazz to still be in high school so they could have sibling interaction before the shooting. The story wouldn't have worked if Jazz was supposed to be off in college. As for Dan, he's in his early twenties.

simplegayme: Danny and Kwan make a cute pairing! 8D I love them~ But I love a lot of pairings for this series too. XD I haven't thought about what the next side chapter will be. XD; I'm definitely going to do more of them though! And I definitely want to do one from Dan's perspective. I could do some for the A List though. Aw! Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy them enough to reread them. 8D

The freedom girl: We'll be okay. Danny's saved the world before. XD Whoops! Looks like he went after Spike after all. XD;;