"You brought this on yourself, you know?"

Technus growled something that might have been concession and might have been denial.

Kat rolled her eyes and tapped on the ghost glass that separated her from her prison-bound father. "Don't go blaming Phantom for this, Dad. And don't blame Walker, either. It's your own fault you're stuck in here."

The Ghost Zone's premier techno villain laughed mirthlessly. "If it weren't for that ghost child, that world would be mine!"

"If it weren't for Phantom, you wouldn't even have access to it."

"Semantics." Technus waved the rebuttal off casually. "I would find a way, for I am Technus! Master of computerized circuitry! And you had better not touch my lab while I'm stuck in here, missy!"

"Too late, daddy-o," Kat said with an evil little grin. "I reorganized all your drawers so that now you can actually find things in them."

"What? Now, I'll never find anything!"

"Place needs a woman's touch. You should think about finding a nice wife who'll tolerate you better than mom did."

"Your mother," Technus began in that tone of voice he reserved only for Kat's mother. "Your mother…never approved of anything."

Kat groaned. "Oh, don't remind me. What you saw in her, I'll never know."

Technus muttered something that sounded like, "Your guess is as good as mine," and sighed.

A guard interrupted them then to tell Kat her time was up, and she stood. "So, dinner tomorrow?"

"Better make it next week," Technus answered, standing as well. "Walker's got more guards on me, this time."

Kat smiled brightly and tipped her hat. "Next week, then. Cheerio!"

Danny stared into the darkness, unable to sleep. He felt bad for mistrusting Kat, but he couldn't find her to tell her so. He rolled over and nearly shouted at the pair of glowing blue-white eyes that stared back. "Morning, sleeping beauty."

"Kat?" he asked from his ghost mode.

"Who else?" A lamp spontaneously came on to reveal the ghost girl in normal clothes for once. It was strange to see considering her usual choice in fashion.

"I've been looking for you," Danny informed her after changing back. "Where've you been?"

"Oh, visiting Dad in jail. Again."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "He tried to frame you for those blackouts, and you still visit him in prison?"

"Of course," Kat replied as though he were being especially stupid. "He may be Technus, but he's still my dad. So, we are friends again, right?"

Danny looked down. "I should have trusted you," he began.

"Even though you had every reason not to? That was his plan, you know? Well, no, technically, I guess it was draining power for his setup, but making you chase after me was definitely in there somewhere." She smiled brightly. "I'm sure he would have announced that himself if he hadn't been busy dealing with us. Anyway, my temper sometimes gets the better of me. I won't apologize if you don't." She held out her hand; as Danny took it, he was once again shocked by the lack of warmth. She had never been that way before.

"Why are you so cold?" he felt compelled to ask.

Kat jerked her hand away, almost shameful. "Sorry. It's been a rough few days. The power fluctuations have thrown off my cohesion…" She trailed off and bit her lip.

Danny sighed. "Look, I trust you. Okay? I'm not going to make you tell me what's going on."

"Thanks, Phantom. That really means a lot. I'll tell you one of these days." She gave her usual goodbye and the light flickered out again. Danny smiled and lay back down. She was strange, and she was suspicious, but at least she was a friend.

A/N: And that's the story. Stay tuned tomorrow when Danny meets a pair of marids. /insert realy cool action sequence here/ Also while I explain it above, I'll make it more clear. Technus was draining power like he usually to power his host machinery. The fact that it caused a blackout was a pleasant little side effect that he decided to capitalize on to make Danny chase after Kat and distract him from what was actually going on. If you have any other clarifications I need to make, you can email me, or just review and I'll post the answers in my comments for Starcrossed.