Reveal

"You're supposed to eat that, not stab it to death," McCoy told Phantom while the latter continued to poke around his breakfast with his fork.

"You are tense this morning," Kirk remarked. "What's wrong?"

Phantom put down his fork and ran his hand through his hair. "Nothing is wrong. Well, I…" Phantom swallowed and sighed. "I haven't been entirely honest with you. I wish to rectify that, I just don't… I've never told anybody…"

"If it is this difficult for you, why did you decide to tell us?" Spock asked.

The boy looked extremely uncomfortable. "You've earned my trust. And I think I need your help, but in order to help me, should you choose to, you need all the facts."

Spock put his spoon in his now empty bowl and raised a signature eyebrow. "Should we choose to? Why would we not? Besides, I believe at least I have a debt to repay."

The ghost looked at him wide-eyed before shaking his head. "You owe me nothing. I did what I had to do."

The three officers exchanged glances. "Phantom," Kirk began gently. "Why do you do what you do? Why do you endanger yourself with fighting off the ghosts in your town when all the humans do in return is try to shoot you down and dissect you?"

"They're not all like that. Only slightly less than half the town believes me to be bad," the boy mumbled. He sighed and shrugged. "The first time I fought, it was to protect a friend. I found that even though I could not control my powers yet, maybe they were good for something. That I could use this newly gained natural advantage for keeping the humans safe, who rely heavily on equipment while all I need is the thermos. I guess… it just felt like the right thing to do."

"And now you're in over your head," McCoy summed it up.

Phantom shrugged. "Pretty much."

They all finished eating and headed to sickbay. Phantom sat back down on the examination table, intently studying his boots.

McCoy drew a privacy curtain around them, instructing his staff not to disturb them. "So kid, what is it that's bothering you so much and what can we do?"

Phantom said nothing for a while, fidgeting nervously. "It's about the whole hybrid thing again. They exist, even if they are rare. But they were not created the way you might think."

They stared at the ghost in disbelieve. "How many?" Kirk questioned.

"Three. Plasmius, a girl named Danielle and… myself."

Spock nodded in understanding. "That is what Skulker meant when he said I was even rarer than you."

Phantom nodded. "Skulker hunts me because to him I'm a rare specimen. He'd never risk a fight with Plasmius, especially considering he sometimes pays Skulker to do his dirty work, and Danielle is fairly young and nobody knows where she is."

McCoy tilted his head. "You sound worried about her."

The boy sighed in distress. "Yeah. She flew off to see the world. But her ghost half wasn't stable the last time I saw her. If she exerted herself, she'd start melting into a puddle of ectoplasm."

"Ectoplasm was the stuff you said your body consisted off?"

"Yes. You said you wanted a blood sample anyway. Do it now, so you can see."

The doctor took a hypo spray, put it against Phantom's upper arm and drew 'blood', which was actually a toxic green, glowing, gooey substance.

McCoy held out the vial for the others to see. Spock raised both eyebrows. "Fascinating. How did you become half ghost? Is that the correct term?"

Phantom nodded. "I guess. The ghosts call us halfas, half a ghost, half a human."

Kirk looked surprised. "The ghosts know?"

The boy chuckled. "The entire Ghost Zone knows what and who we are. But apart from Skulker, nobody ever mentions it. But for the GiWs it would only make me a more interesting lab rat."

The humans winced. "What happened to you?"

Phantom sighed. "Plasmius went to college with Maddie and Jack Fenton, who weren't married back then. Vlad, that's Plasmius's actual name, had a thing for Maddie and helped them with a prototype for a ghost portal. Due to a… confusion of chemicals, the prototype blew up in his face, landing him in a hospital for years, ruining his social life and when his best friend, who he blamed for the incident, married his love, he became bitter and vengeful. Vlad used his powers to gain wealth and influence and now he's still trying to get revenge."

He took a deep breath. "When I refused to join Vlad, he decided to clone me. Danielle was the first sentient clone, but she still wasn't what Plasmius wanted. He used her to get the missing DNA sample from me, which I didn't give him. She eventually figured out that to Vlad she was a mistake and a mess he wasn't gonna clean up and helped me to escape. I haven't seen her since."

McCoy looked at him in shock. "He cloned you? That's just messed up!"

Phantom gave a shrug. "I know. But it's not her fault. She's family. We call each other cousins, even though, technically, I guess we're siblings."

"You sell yourself short. It's amazing you think of her that way. But you still haven't told us what happened to you."

The halfa smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. When the Fentons first plugged in their portal to the Ghost Zone, it didn't work and they quit. My friends thought it would be cool to check it out and I got curious, pulled on a hazmat suit and went in. Turns out, the on-button was inside the portal. I accidentally pressed it and the portal turned on with me still inside."

Phantom looked at a point somewhere beyond their heads. "Apparently, in some cases it is possible that human DNA fuses with ectoplasm, creating a half ghost. I passed out and when I woke up…" he trailed off.

Kirk nodded. "You looked like you do now."

The boy made a noise to the affirmative. "First we thought I'd actually died and panicked. I remember freaking out, that I couldn't face my parents like this. And then… there was a flash of light and suddenly I was the way I was before."

"Who knows? You said your friends were there?"

"My friends Sam and Tucker and my sister Jazz, who found out later."

"So your parents don't know?" McCoy asked.

Phantom rubbed the back of his neck and gave a lopsided, sheepish smile. "Well, you see…"

Spock cut in. "More importantly, what were you doing inside the Fentons' laboratory?"

The boy bit his lip before suddenly sitting up straighter and looking right at them. "Maybe I need to introduce myself properly. I'm Danny. Danny Fenton."

This earned him startled expressions. "Your parents, who are considered experts on everything related to ghosts, have not been able to figure out that their own son is one of them?" McCoy exclaimed incredulously.

Phantom, Danny laughed. "No, every time I set off their equipment, they think it's malfunctioning. And the GiWs' equipment doesn't pick up on me at all when in human form. And I can also get past a ghost shield this way."

"Am I right in assuming that you requiring our help is related to your ability to switch forms?"

Danny blinked at Spock. "Yeah, you're right. I've tried several times, but I just can't change back. I'm stuck in ghost form. Probably due to the cuffs or the device that knocked me out. It has happened before that something designed to block my powers made it impossible for me to change back."

He fell silent, suddenly afraid of what they would say.

It was McCoy who placed a comforting hand on the halfa's shoulder. "I'm sure we can figure out what's wrong and fix it. Right, Jim? Spock? What do you think?"

"Absolutely. Spock, what do you think?"

"I believe," the Vulcan intoned. "That the next logical step is to find out how to reverse this. How did you get your powers back the last time this has happened?"

Danny's eyes shone with gratitude. "By being zapped with the same device that had rendered me powerless." He looked slightly scared. "Do I really have to go through that again?"

Spock turned to the captain. "I would prefer to study the devices in question first and then analyze their effect on a sample of Phantom's ectoplasm."

Phantom smiled. "You can draw as much as you need. As long as it doesn't kill me."

Kirk clapped his hands together. "Alright. Bones, Danny, I need you to provide Spock with a few samples to work with. Spock, I don't believe I have to tell you what to do."

"I believe not, Captain."

"Aye, Jim."

"Yes, Sir!" He smiled brightly, his eyes glowing even more than usual. "Thank you so much."

Tada! I've never used my laptop this much on the train until now. Hope you enjoyed it.