By Nyassa Kaiba
Chapter 3After cocoa and cookies Hexa departed home. She was walking by an alley when the puff of blue came. "Crud." She swore as she heard the swooping sound behind her.
Black Velvet, in all her unholy Gothic Glory swooped in, tackling the young Lady Phantom. "Hi there, bet you haven't seen me in awhile."
"Victoria! S… stop… leave me alone… after all you've done!" Could be heard from the alleyway.
"Oh no, I'm not finished tormenting you. You thought that just because you moved to a new town you were safe didn't you? DIDN'T YOU? After what's happened between us before I'm not about to let you escape, and from the Zone I can get you ANYWHERE!" A pained moan was heard from the alley. "You don't pass out on ME Spellman!"
"Please! S… Stop…! That hurts!"
"Does THIS hurt?" Demanded BV.
A scream was heard, and silence, an eerie sort of silence as Black Velvet overshadowed Hexa, taking her hard and viciously. Hexa screamed as she fought inside her own mind. "You're… not… going… to take… me…!"
"Yes I am!" Black Velvet replied. "And I have!"
Hexa's eyes flickered from pale green to red, an evil, evil blood red. She was wrapped in thick, velvety black. It hurt… so bad… what Tori had done... They had been friends once, such good friends… Where had that love gone? And then she knew no more.
An hour later Hexa still hadn't returned home. Her mother called the Fentons. "Mrs. Fenton, I'm sorry to bother you, but if Lexain is still there she's grounded."
"Lexain left an hour ago." Mrs. Fenton looked over at Danny, who was playing monopoly with Tucker and Sam.
Jazz was reading a book and keeping an eye on the game. "Tucker, you just calculated wrong. The percent interest was off by fifty dollars."
"Aw man! That means I'm out!" Tucker whined.
"Sorry Tucker, but that's the way the cookie crumbles." Said Sam as she counted the money she'd just gotten from Tucker.
"Easy for you to say Miss Boardwalk and Parkplace with hotels…" Tucker whined.
Mrs. Fenton bid Hexa's mother goodnight. "You guys, Hexa hasn't come home yet. Danny, can you try to look for her?"
"Sure mom." Danny got up and grabbed a backpack. "I need to find a safe alley to faze in."
"Bring Sam and Tucker along, they've helped you so far right? And if my mother's intuition is correct, Hexa is in deep trouble."
Danny nodded. "I'll be careful mom."
Sam and Tucker got their stuff together behind him. "We'll find her Mrs. Fenton."
Danny changed in an alleyway nearby. He grabbed Sam and Tucker by the hands and the three of them flew in a slow spiral, searching.
"I saw something!" Sam pointed, "Down there!"
"Where?" Danny turned and saw. "There she is… Oh no!"
Beaten and bloody down below, Hexa lay, propped against a dumpster.
"Bring us down! We have to get to her!" Sam cried.
"Easy, whoever did it might be still around!" Danny warned. "I'm not so stupid as to walk right into a trap!"
"But she's there! And I don't see anybody!"
"I should have brought a ghost scanner." Danny sighed as he swooped down and landed a few feet away. The three of them gathered around Hexa. "Hexa, wake up… come on Hexa." Danny shook her gently.
Hexa's eyes fluttered open, glowing red. Tucker jumped back. "You guys, her eyes are glowing red…"
"No duh." Sam commented.
"Glad I couldn't fool you." Black Velvet sneered as she stood. "Don't worry, I didn't harm Hexa too badly. She is my ex girlfriend after all."
"WHAT?" The three of them chorused.
"That's right. We were involved with each other once, totally innocent. I didn't even know that ghosts existed. I thought it would be a wonderful joke to shove Hexa into the ectosynth vat. That's where it all went wrong. Then SHE gets powers and starts fighting evil ghosts. I wanted to fight be her side, be her trusty sidekick. I took one of the ectosynth pills and this is what it did to me. Now I've got her and I'm not letting her go easily." Black Velvet growled.
"Then fight me." Danny growled, falling into a fighter's crouch.
"He, I never thought you'd ask." Black Velvet pulled out a fencing foil. "This thing won't kill you, but it does leave horrible bruises."
The two of them charged. Black Velvet fell into a lunge. Danny caught the blow on his wrist, hissing in pain as the foil left a stinging sensation. Then he punched out, catching Black Velvet in the gut. The ghost lost concentration and released Hexa, taking the foil with it. Sam and Tucker dragged Hexa out of the way and Danny continued the fight. He threw another right hook. Velvet parried the blow and reposted, hitting Danny in the chest. Wheezing, the Phantom ducked the next blow by sheer luck and fell back. "We need to get out of here. She's too strong in her ghost form!"
"I'll run for it." Tucker told them. "I'm fastest, you take Hexa and Sam back to the house and put up the Fenton Shield."
"Gotcha!" Danny grabbed Sam by one hand, Hexa by the other and flew off, keeping an eye on Tucker as he ran. His friend was making good time for somebody on foot. Only one thing worried him.
As they flew away, Black Velvet cried after them. "Go on Phantom! Run as far and as fast as you like! What I've taken from Hexa, you can never take BACK!"
Danny came through the wall with them and cried. "MOM! DAD! PUT UP THE SHIELD! HURRY!" He let go of Sam and Hexa and tumbled end over end through the wall and landed in the kitchen, rolling to a stop with curlicues for eyes.
"Son, are you alright?" Mr. Fenton asked.
"Bit off… urrg… more than I could chew." Danny replied, slowly sitting up.
"The shield is up. You managed to rescue Hexa?" Asked Mr. Fenton.
"Yeah, where'd I drop her, I didn't mean to, I miscalculated and ended up falling over." Danny answered.
"Your mother is taking a look at her wounds." Mr. Fenton replied.
Danny stood and almost ran towards the living room where he'd dropped them. Sam and Jazz had managed to get Hexa up on the couch. Mrs. Fenton was scanning her. "She's been overshadowed?"
"Yeah, but look at her. It must have been some fight." Jazz shook her head, dabbing antiseptic on the various cuts.
"I'm worried." Sam commented as she sat down next to the couch. "Black Velvet said something about her taking something that Hexa could never get back. Do you think that means…"
"That Hexa's a ghost permanently? I don't think so." Mrs. Fenton commented. "She still appears to be human. And she's still got a human heartbeat. That's one of the things that threw us off Danny's trail, his heart was still beating, indicating that he was still alive and thus not a ghost."
"She needs her medicine." Danny spoke up. "Remember? She has to take it every night."
"Right." Sam started digging through Hexa's bag, searching for the pills. "Found them."
Hexa stirred, eyes half fluttering open. "S… sam?"
"Hexa, you need your medicine." Sam gently placed the pill in Hexa's mouth, then pressed a mug of herbal tea to her lips. Hexa drank, taking the medicine as she was supposed to.
"So tired…" Hexa said softly. "Tori… what happened to her?"
"Tori can't get to you here." Sam said, slight steel in her voice. She had an idea of what Velvet might have taken from Hexa. And that… that was inexcusable. If her suspicion was correct, Sam could never, would never, forgive Black Velvet for what she had done. "We'll protect you… it's okay."
Tears streamed from Hexa's eyes. "It won't ever be okay again. Sam, I could feel Tori's anguish. I could feel her anger. She… she blamed me for what happened to her…"
The phone rang then. Danny ran to it. "Hello?"
"It's Tucker, I managed to make it home in one piece. But my folks are angry for staying out late. Looks like I'm grounded for a couple of days."
"Great." Danny rolled his eyes. "Sorry about that. I'll see you at school okay?" He asked.
"Sure. Has Sam gone all mushy on Hexa yet?"
Danny looked over at where Sam was holding Hexa close, tears of sympathy streaming down her face. "Yeah, as mushy as she dares with my folks around."
"Great, see you tomorrow!" Tucker hung up.
Mr. Fenton came in then, tiny cellphone in his massive hands."I've called your mother, Hexa. She says to stay here for the night."
"You didn't tell her everything did you?" Hexa asked.
"I told her you were mugged, but I don't like having to lie to another parent."
"I didn't like having to lie to you and mom." Danny pointed out.
"Remember dear, Hexa's mother doesn't believe in ghosts. She'd have us locked up if we said she had been mugged by one." Mrs. Fenton reminded her husband.
"I suppose you're right." Mr. Fenton leaned back against the wall with a sigh.
Hexa propped herself up against the arm of the couch. "Where do I sleep?" She asked.
"You and Sam will stay in my room." Jazz told her. "I'll take the couch for the night. Just don't make a mess of things okay?"
Hexa nodded and Sam helped her up the stairs to Jazz's room. "So can you tell me what happened?" Sam asked as she helped Hexa to bed.
Hexa shook her head. "No… I can't talk about it…"
"She raped you didn't she?" Sam asked.
Hexa gasped biting her lip, then nodded, more tears streaming down her face. "Don't tell the others… please don't tell the others…"
"I won't. I… well… I sensed it somehow. And Velvet said you two had been involved with each other, and that she'd taken away something that you could never take back." Sam explained in a rush.
"BV was right. She's my ex-girlfriend." Hexa flushed shyly. "I… I wasn't going to tell ANYbody. I… I'm a lesbian." This was whispered softly.
Sam blinked, pulling back slightly. "That must have felt horrible."
Hexa nodded. "It did. It does. And now I have nobody."
"That's not true. You have us." Sam pointed out, indicating Danny and Tucker and Jazz and Danny's parents. "You don't have to be alone."
Hexa blinked. "You're right. I'm not alone…s… stay with me." She pulled Sam down into her arms.
Sam flushed. "I… I'll stay." She whispered in Hexa's ear, nuzzling her gently. The goth kicked off her shoes and Hexa did the same. Then they both fell deeply asleep.
