FENTON FAMILY FEUD
PART FOUR
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom; Butch Hartman does. This story was written just for fun, so enjoy!
The ghost-girl raced back towards Plasmius' lab, careful to not get caught by any more of Jack Fenton's ghost-catching inventions, but also taking care not to lose him in the swirling, misty ghost world. She only hoped that Plasmius hadn't harmed Danny. She honestly felt bad for the kid; he hadn't been anything but nice to her since the moment they'd met, and she returned his kindness by handing him over to a nutcase. She shook her head to dislodge the sympathetic thoughts.
This is no time to go soft! She reminded herself. Just stick with the plan; it's almost over. Everything you ever wanted will soon be yours!
Just before reaching Plasmius' portal, the ghost-girl stopped and turned to face her pursuer. Jack brought the Speeder to a screeching halt mere inches from her spectral body. He slammed his fist down the button on the console, engaged the exterior speakers, and leveled a venomous glare at the ghost.
"Where is my son?" he demanded.
"Chill out, Jack, I'll take you to him," she responded. "But, before I do, I just want to say . . . I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" Jack yelled, incredulous. "You steal my son, drag him into the Ghost Zone, hold him prisoner, and you're sorry?"
The ghost-girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was getting harder by the moment. She thought of all that was at stake, brought up the necessary emotions, opened her eyes, and read her lines with feeling: "You don't understand! I didn't know he was your son! I never woulda . . . if I'd known he was yours! Jacky, I am so sorry. Please, please forgive me!"
The ghost calling him by the nickname only used by his late sister enraged Jack. "Don't you ever call me that, ghost!" he growled.
She leaned on the glass shield, and looked him in the eye. "Look at me, Jack Fenton. Look at me, and tell me you don't recognize me."
Jack narrowed his eyes as he took in the ghost's appearance: the ghost's hair was tied in long pig-tails behind each of its ears, it wore a t-shirt, and a satin baseball jacket, faded jeans, and high-top sneakers. The ghost looked exactly like his older sister Danielle did the night she graduated from high school - the night she was taken into the Ghost Zone - but Jack still refused to believe it. Glowing ectoplasmic tears streamed down the ghost's face, and for a moment, Jack's heart melted just a bit. But, no. This was wrong. It had to be a trick! He squeezed his eyes shut against the horrific sight. He remembered his son.
"It's me, Dani-Jean. Your sister!" The ghost's voice, choked with emotion, echoed through the cab of the Speeder.
Jack's blood reached its boiling point. "NO!" he cried, and sent the ghost flying back with a blast of green light. She hit the ground hard, but recovered quickly. "Jacky, please . . ."
Jack fired at her again, but she deflected the blow with her hand, sending it shooting off into the distance. "Jacky!"
"Give me back my son, ghost!"
The ghost-girl hesitated only a moment before zipping through the portal. Inside she found it was empty save for the boy, now back in his human form, lying curled up on the floor; the ghost cage was gone, as was Plasmius. She knelt by the boy.
"Danny?" she whispered and reached her hand out to touch Danny's shoulder. "Danny, are you okay?"
Danny moaned; his body cold and trembling. He struggled to open his eyes. "Aunttt . . . ddd . . . Dan . . . ielle?"
"Get away from him!" Jack's voice boomed in the lab. He landed the Speeder and jumped out of it, racing towards his son. The ghost-girl slowly backed away, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
"Danny! Son! Are you okay?" he cried, cradling Danny in his arms.
Danny opened his eyes part way. He shuddered and his teeth chattered. "I'm . . . fff . . . fine . . . dd . . . dad," he managed to say. "R . . . real . . . ly.
Jack stood, Danny in his arms, and leveled a vicious glare as the ghost who had stolen his son. "If you ever come near my son, or any member of my family ever again, I will destroy you."
The ghost-girl winced at the venom in his voice. "I won't, Jacky. I promise I'll never bother you again."
Jack turned and carried Danny back to the cruiser when suddenly the lab door opened and Vlad Plasmius burst in, gasping at what he saw.
"What the . . .? Stop them!" he ordered the ghost-girl. "They're getting away!"
"No! I am not going to hurt my family any more!" She placed herself between Plasmius and the Fentons. "And I won't let you hurt them, either."
Plasmius snarled, and threw an energy ball at the ghost-girl, who managed to deflect the blow with a small energy ball of her own.
"Jack!" She cried. "You and Danny have to get out of here! Now!"
Jack Fenton tossed Danny into the Specter Speeder, then climbed inside while the ghost shielded them from Plasmius's blows. Danny, almost fully recovered from his entrapment in the ghost cage, strapped himself into the passenger seat, and watched anxiously out the window as the two ghosts continued to fight.
Plasmius fired at the girl, but she leapt out of the way; the beam blasted a hole in the wall behind her. She picked a chunk up off the floor, and advanced on Plasmius, smacking him on the side of the head with the broken masonry. He howled pain, and crumpled to the floor.
Running to the Speeder the ghost-girl cried, "Get out of here! I'll make sure he doesn't follow you. I won't let him hurt you ever again! I promise!"
"But what about you, Aunt Danielle?" Danny asked, leaning forward in his seat and pressing his hand against the glass.
"Don't worry about me, Danny," she said, gently, putting her own hand on the glass over his. "I've been out there a long time; I know how to take care of myself. And, Jack? I really am sorry about all this. Whether you believe it or not, it's the truth."
"You rotten little girl!" Plasmius screamed behind her; she spun around. "How dare you betray me like this!"
"Excuse me?" She shrieked, incredulously. "I betrayed you? Oh, I don't think so, Plasmius! You betrayed me! You promised you would help me if I brought you the boy! Remember? You said you could make me human again! But, you just used me, didn't you? You lied to me!"
"Okay, yes, I lied," Vlad confessed, though his tone suggested no remorse. "Once a ghost, always a ghost, I'm sorry to say. You're doomed, Danielle Fenton, to spend the rest of eternity out there, in the Ghost Zone. As for your precious family, well, just look at them." Plasmius took the girl by her shoulders and spun her around to face the Speeder. Inside Jack glowered at her and Danny stared with wide and fearful eyes. "Your beloved brother hates you, and your nephew is terrified of you."
Tired and beaten, the ghost-girl dropped to her knees and wept. Plasmius shook his head, tsking mockingly.
"Oh! Poor little ghost," he said with feigned sympathy. "You may have been in the Ghost Zone, fending for yourself for twenty-nine years, but you're still just a pathetic little eighteen-year-old girl, aren't you?"
"Hey!" Danny shouted from inside the Speeder. "You can't talk to my aunt like that! Dad, do something!"
"Oh, I'll do something alright," Jack said, as he spun the Specter Speeder around, and zipped through the portal, back into the Ghost Zone.