In Which It Begins
Valerie Gray had her life ruined at the ripe age of fourteen.
Before that, life had been great. Her father served as the head of security at the prestigious Axion Labs, which led to the family being solidly upper middle class, if not a little wealthy. Valerie herself was noted for being pretty, popular, a successful martial artist,and a solid student in school. What more could she ask for?
Then the ghost boy and his ghost dog had to come along and ruin everything.
Her father, Damon, had not only lost his job, but they also had to move from their house to a small apartment and sell so many of their family possessions. Her last concert tickets had been sold to another classmate just to pay for the moving van (and even then, so much that had been placed in the truck had been destroyed). And to make it all worse, all her friends had abandoned her.
Valerie couldn't recall having ever felt such fury. Mama, when she'd been around, had always warned her about her temper. "Understand, baby girl, that a black woman's anger is something everyone is afraid of, white, black, every color. And for good reason. It's hard for us in this world. But don't let it control you."
How could she do that, though? It seemed like no matter what she did, everything kept going wrong. Even her bagged lunch at school had been taken from her.
What had she done to deserve this? Heck, what had her daddy done to deserve this?
Absolutely nothing.
When her father came home from his first new shift guarding the lab the old fashioned way, she questioned him about how it went.
"Just fine, Valerie," he said, handing her the food he'd promised. "And don't worry, we're gonna be just fine."
"It's just not fair, though," Valerie said. "You didn't do anything! It was all because of that ghost boy and his dog!"
"I'm not happy with them, either, Valerie, but it's not like they work at the lab. Those ghosts aren't the ones who designed the security system, and sadly for me, I failed to account for ghosts. They're also not the ones who chose to fire me."
It was at that moment that Valerie Gray's rage was directed from the ghosts to a new target: her father's boss. "You're right! How could he fire you? You didn't know that ghosts were real!"
After all, until recently, everyone in Amity Park had agreed that the Fentons were crazy. Somehow they had been right all along. Surely her father's boss should've been willing to accept that it hadn't been his fault?
Her father gave her a weak smile. "I wish, honey. But sometimes the world just isn't fair. The boss has a lot of power, which is why I spent so many years working to get such a good job." He sighed. "I just wish you didn't get hurt by this."
"I hate your boss."
"It's not him, Valerie," he said. "It's just the power the position gives him. And I don't blame him. I was a boss, too. I maybe made some bad calls, looking back, to secure my position but I was looking out for you. I'm sure he's doing the same."
Valerie missed the days when things were simple. But she could not disagree with her father's words: Daddy had been a boss, and it only made sense when you had employees to cut out the ones that weren't benefiting your position in the workplace. "But it still wasn't you. They're just doing this to save face."
"That's life." He smiled bitterly. "But don't worry. I'll handle this. I just have to work my way back up the ladder."
She promised her father to stay out of trouble. And she would. But that didn't mean she couldn't at least look into things, did it?
The next day after school, she went to the library to look up some books and things on the Internet about how to deal with corrupt bosses and how to expose them. Much of the results were on things like labor unions, which apparently were in more industries than she'd assumed.
That was why her dad had been fired so suddenly and no one seemed to care, she realized. U. S. labor law had something called at-will employment, which meant workers could be fired for any reason other than discrimination like racism or sexism. The opposite was just cause employment, where you could still be fired but it had to be for a truly worthy reason like being lazy, and just cause employment came from contract negotiations. And unions were the leading source of it in the country.
Valerie had never given much thought to workers, unions, or labor before but now it was impossible to unsee. It explained literally everything: why certain jobs were worse than others to work (which was why Daddy encouraged her to not go into certain industries), why college was emphasized so much in school, and also why her life had gone down the drain. Sure, the ghost boy and his dog had caused the damages but they'd dumped her father for literally no good reason and it was only because of America's labor laws that they'd gotten away with it.
That night, she sat on her bed, legs pulled up to her chin, thinking things over. Then she came to a decision.
Ghosts were scary and powerful. She understood that they were by far the biggest threat in her life. But she had nothing to fight ghosts. It didn't matter if she was a ninth degree black belt if they could phase through her father's specially designed lasers or fly. But fighting corrupt bosses and Axion Labs? Now that was something she thought she could do.
Valerie Gray's life may have been ruined, but she wouldn't be a passive victim. She would expose Axion. Surely they had to have been doing something scandalous enough to get the media to care. And she would get a job of her own to pay for college so her father wouldn't have to try and work himself to death. But more than anything, she would take control of her life.
Author's Note: I don't know what this is. It's completely indulgent and I have no idea how long I'll keep going with it. But I've been rewatching Danny Phantom and have had so many Valerie feels.
For example, it's now occurring to me just how much of her character revolved around being manipulated. (And wow, she's in so few episodes? Weird.) So if Vlad and Technus never used her as their pawn, and she never got ghost hunting tech, who would she be? Maybe not this, but my angry socialist energy meant I was furious rewatching Shades of Gray and seeing how easily Damon's boss just destroyed their lives.
I imagine having mostly original content but showing over time how it changes things with Valerie staying civilian. And yeah, for the sake of this fic let's assume Vlad doesn't choose to use anyone else in school as a ghost hunter since I doubt anyone else would act exactly like Valerie.
All feedback, especially constructive criticism, is welcomed.