Consider the next five thousand words to be both an apology for taking so long, being away all last week, and compensation for the last few shorter chapters. :) I thought I only had 2 or so more chapters left in me, but I did want to make one hundred thousand words now that I'm so close, so maybe I can dredge up a few more…or they'll go towards the omake(s). We'll see.
That FOP one-shot is still getting pushed away. This scene took way longer than I expected…but it's a battle scene, so we can expect that, I guess. I hope it's at least half-believable.
Thanks luv2bamom, Crossover Fiend, shadow929, dPhantoMfreak, dArkliTe-sPirit, Lt. Commander Richie, Sweeteen19, Jimmy the Gothic Egg, dessyweird51, Flashx11, Phantom of a Rose, L'ange-Sans-Ailes (Plan? What plan? XP), passing4insane, Rift ('fraidnot, it's something that needs to be done from the inside), Anomaly25, HAlFa34, animeobsessed3191 (I suppose I will n.n), Jenna Dax, SilverstarsEbonyskies, and Alucard Hemlock for reviewing the last chapter! Thanks for sticking with me, guys, and we're almost to the end (but zomg don't stop reviewing just because we're getting close :O)
Estrelas
Chapter 24
by Shimegami-chan
"Danny! And Jasmine, too. How sweet of you to come!" Spectra said cheerfully, giving the newcomers a winning smile. "Your timing is as wonderful as ever, of course."
"Give it up," Danny said, a little too loudly, nervousness showing through in his voice. He's worried, Sam realized. We must actually be in trouble this time. But his expression was steadfast, his smile scornful, and both he and Jazz wore Hazmat suits and belts full of strange items. At least he looked ready for a fight, even if he didn't sound entirely confident. "It's four against one now."
"Only until I let Bertrand back out," Spectra said sweetly.
Tucker chose that moment to reach down and wipe some of the gook away from Sam's belt with the sleeve of his sweater. "Only if you're willing to go through the Specter Deflector. Sure would make it easy on us if we caught you the same way."
"Gee, Tuck, the element of surprise might have been useful there," Danny said, rolling his eyes.
"Uh...sorry."
Spectra, however, recognized the belt Sam wore and looked slightly winded, if only for a second. "Well then, I guess we'll have to do things the hard way."
And then, to the shock of all but Danny, Penelope transformed into her ghost form, the same shadowy, glowing visage Sam had met in the forest that morning. Her arms elongated and her legs lost their shape, melding together into a tail-like appendage unlike Danny's, jagged and dangerous-looking. Her eyes were crimson, and violet lips were pulled back to show off her wicked fangs. Tucker took an involuntary step back, but Sam held her ground. "Well, Danny? Shall we dance?" Spectra offered, holding out her clawed hand with a malicious smile.
"You're on," Danny spat, clenching his hands into fists. Sam thought for one horrified moment that he didn't have a plan, but then again took note of various cylindrical objects in holsters at his belt. Unfortunately, it was hard for her to be back-up when she wasn't entirely certain what his weapons were capable of.
Spectra just looked at Danny with interest. "This is new. You're not 'going ghost' today?"
"Not today or ever again," he affirmed with a grim smile. "I've been cured."
"Oooh." Spectra actually hung back for a moment, looking him up and down. "Really now. Only human, and you're still planning to fight me alone?"
"Four against one," Sam reminded her, drawing a glare from the ghost. She shook the Thermos that contained Bertrand for good measure.
"Two kids and two geezers. Should I be frightened?" Spectra let out a mocking laugh.
The Goth girl was about to reply with something insulting (she hadn't quite decided on what she'd say) when a metallic clunk resounded at Danny's feet, a sound that drew the attention of all present and cause Jazz to jump slightly. One of the objects that Danny had hung at his belt was lying on the driveway. Sam thought it might have been a smoke bomb or something similar, but Danny looked slightly embarrassed, indicating that he hadn't meant to drop the item or draw attention to the fact that they were arming themselves. He glanced at his sister instead, raising one eyebrow.
Jazz frowned and withdrew her hand from behind her back, holding a C-shaped device that looked like something out of a science-fiction movie. She thumbed one of the controls and immediately the weapon unfolded into a battle suit of sorts; a metallic second skin that covered her blue Hazmat from head to toe. Spectra scowled at this action, but didn't speak.
While Jazz was distracting them with her armour, Sam finally noticed, Danny had abandoned the silvery item and instead produced a pair of huge metal gloves from somewhere, which were snugly positioned over his hands before they caught the attention of the ghost. It took a moment for Spectra to observe these as well, and her frown deepened. "All right, that's enough playing around, I can see you actually intend to put up a fight. But don't count on an easy win!"
She dove at Danny, who awkwardly lurched out of the way. Sam realized with dread that he still was not used to being back in his human form, and was moving even slower than Jazz was in the battle suit. Maybe that was why he'd been so clumsy with the cylinder he'd dropped earlier. Luckily, the elder Fenton sibling knew how to handle the weapon she was fighting with, even if she hadn't had to use it in years, and easily compensated for Danny's loss of speed. Jazz landed a punch that sent Spectra reeling, needing to steady and compose herself several metres above Sam's head.
The Goth teen also prepared herself for a surprise attack, should the ghost decide to go after the more vulnerable targets instead, clenching her hands around the Thermos. Spectra seemed to recognize Sam's belt was going to make it hard to get to her or Tucker, though, and chose to outright ignore Jazz as well, keeping her eyes on Danny. "Ah, how the mighty have fallen! Can't even fight your own battles anymore, little guy?"
"My battles?" Danny said hotly. "Last time we fought, you tried to kill my sister. Now you're attacking Sam, too. Why's this all about me?"
"If it wasn't for you, I'd already have won," Spectra said reasonably.
The former halfa groaned. "Uh...right."
"So let's make this fair. One on one."
"Since when have you ever played fair?" Jazz demanded.
Danny, however, took the bait. "Back off, Jazz. I can handle her alone."
"Danny!"
"What did we talk about before we left the house?" The younger Fenton pinned his sister with a knowing stare. "I don't want you guys getting hurt. Let me do this, if she wants a fair fight."
"One on one isn't exactly even if it's a ghost versus a human," Tucker said cautiously. The Fenton Foamer still dangled from his right hand, pointed towards the ground. Its nozzle still dripped with green goo from its last use.
Danny simply fell into a battle stance, resting his weight on the balls of his feet, brandishing his gloved hands in front of him like weapons. "Don't you think I know that?"
Tucker didn't reply, simply watching Danny as he prepared for Spectra's approach - and then she dived, claws outstretched like a cat. He met her head-on, catching her wrists, and to Sam's shock the ghost didn't seem to be able to wrench free of his grip or phase through it. Instead she swung her tail-like appendage at Danny's legs, knocking him off his feet and then dragging him skyward when he was still scrambling for purchase. Now he was the one flailing, but had to hold fast to the ghost, or he would fall from ten metres up.
"Danny!" Sam screamed, unable to conceal her fright. She looked at Jazz, who was still wearing the Fenton Peeler armour, her face horrified behind the protective mask and her right hand shaking visibly. Still, the elder Fenton held her ground as promised, ready to jump in if needed.
"I can handle it!" Danny yelled needlessly, getting over his initial panic and instead trying to use the position to his advantage. Sam could only pray that Spectra's energy-draining powers were somehow impeded by the gloves he wore, judging from the way he kept his face far away from her grasp and was careful not to touch her with any other part of his body. Instead he began to pull her hands away from one another until they were extended as far away from her, spread-eagled, as they could get. Spectra growled and tried to break free of his grip, but Danny's hold was too strong.
"The Fenton Ghost Gloves," Tucker said eagerly. "Nothing can get through them. Too bad Danny doesn't have his hands free to land a punch or two."
Even Spectra seemed to realize that they were at a stalemate. She began to whirl around, and with Danny's inability to fly he was carried in her momentum, unable to hold steady even with the Gloves on. Spectra laughed and spoke loudly enough for all to hear. "We could do this all day, or maybe just until you get too tired to hold on, don't you think?"
Danny grunted in response and wrenched the spook's wrists across one another, causing her to slow and then abruptly stop. Somehow, even though Spectra was pulling away, Danny was not budging with her, and they hung motionless for several seconds, high over Jazz's head.
What happened next no one but the combatants could fully determine, because the ghost spoke so quietly that Sam couldn't hear over her own heartbeat, and Danny's reply was swallowed up by Spectra's laughter. Then, at the same time, all three people on the ground realized with horror that the spook had somehow gotten past Danny's guard and wrapped her wicked-looking tail around his legs.
"She's draining his energy," Sam whispered, unable to take her eyes off the scene unfolding in the air. Danny looked physically ill, but he held on, closing his eyes when Spectra finally started talking loud enough for all to hear.
"Isn't that sweet? He's fighting alone even when he feels ever so lonely!" she told them, locking eyes with Sam. "I don't think I've ever tasted misery this delicious before. Like a fine wine that's been sitting for sixty years!"
Danny's expression betrayed his turmoil, and it just egged Spectra on, widening her smile. "Doubt...hatred...oh, you know it, you know how much everyone hates you! How does that feel, to be thrown out of your own town, that you've practically given your life to protect? How's it feel, to regret your own existence? And there's something else, something new...regret? Why, Danny, it feels to me that you didn't want to be human after all!"
"Don't pretend that you can read what I'm thinking," Danny growled, trying with renewed energy to wrench away. Spectra's tail was wrapped too firmly around him to escape, though, and he only further ensnared himself in it.
That can't be true, Sam thought, willing herself to look at him instead of at the Thermos clutched in her hands. He said he wished for his humanity back...that he was afraid of what his ghost half was doing to him.
Or...was it that he hated what everyone else was doing to his ghost half? Sam wasn't really sure. She looked at him for confirmation, but Spectra had raised her own hands with Danny attached so that she could stare him in the face. "Then what's this I'm feeling in you, little boy? What's this fresh new regret, this new self-loathing, mixed in with all that irritating adulation? Shouldn't you be happy that you can live and love and die like the rest of those pathetic humans?"
"Not that I have to answer to you," Danny spat, "but my ghost powers would be a great help in putting you out of commission permanently."
"You're lying," Spectra said in a singsong voice, "but I don't care, because kiddo, your emotions are running wild. It's fantastic!"
"Shut up," Danny moaned, his struggles slowing until finally Spectra freed one of her hands and used it to capture his chin, then forcibly remove one of the Fenton Gloves, which she tossed over the wrought-iron fence that surrounded the Manson property..
"Fear makes it so much better," she told him with a smile. "How about we add a little pain?"
With that, she flung Danny into one of the huge oak trees on the lawn behind Sam. He disappeared into the foliage with a loud cry, and the leaves stilled, but he didn't fall to the ground below the tree or immediately appear. Sam prayed he hadn't broken his neck in the headfirst flight into its branches.
"Or, you could be dead already, it makes no difference to me either way," Spectra said with a shrug. "Just means I get my pick of a new victim quicker than expected."
"How's that a fair fight?" Tucker demanded angrily. "If you're going after us anyway, shouldn't we be fighting you off now?"
"I don't want to kill you first," Spectra said as though the answer was obvious. "You've got plenty of your own misery for me to feed off."
"I'm also not quite done yet," Danny said evenly, dropping to the ground from the branches of the oak tree. Miraculously, he didn't appear to have a scratch on him, though his expression was positively furious. Sam sighed in relief. Pure luck must have saved him there!
"You always were notoriously hard to kill," Spectra said in disgust. "Wonder what you can do without your gloves, though, hmm?"
"You act as though I only brought one weapon."
"But you're down two, butterfingers," Spectra pointing out, glancing at the cylinder Danny had dropped earlier, which was now in Jazz's hands. "I get the feeling that you're not in as good shape as you used to be."
"Who cares? I've got enough to beat you." Danny grabbed another silver tube from his belt and ran at the ghost, brandishing it menacingly. Spectra, looking mildly amused, actually stayed still long enough for him to utilize the item, a grappling-hook-like device that ensnared her in a glowing green net. Danny took one hand off the handle and reached for the Thermos slung over his back.
"Oh, please," Spectra drawled, tearing the net apart with her bare hands. "You really don't think those toys are going to work on me? We've evolved, Danny. Those weapons you're throwing around were made before I even died, and I'm not as young as I look."
"Danny," Jazz said uneasily, "are you sure you don't want help?" They were all acutely aware that Danny didn't have anything left to fight with except his fists and the Thermos. The Grappler was useless, Jazz had the Jack-o-Nine-Tails, and the Ghost Gloves had been put out of commission. If Danny had more weapons concealed, Sam couldn't see them, and unless they were under the skin-tight white Hazmat, it wasn't very likely. Obviously Jazz had been packing the heavy artillery, and they had effectively voted her out of the fight before it began.
Spectra didn't give Danny a chance to answer his sister or re-arm himself. One of her clawed hands shot out and grabbed him by the neck, pressing into it until she drew blood. "There...now you're feeling a little pain. How is it?" She glanced over her shoulder at Jazz. "Jasmine, your brother has a much better chance of living if you take that silly suit off. I hate having weapons at my back."
"And if I don't?"
"I slit his throat right now."
Jazz frowned behind the clear facemask and deactivated the armour without question. Spectra glared expectantly until she finally dropped the Fenton Peeler onto the grass, where it landed without a sound.
"There, that's better," Spectra cooed. "That little thing might have actually been a threat."
Danny just groaned in reply. His aura, or something very like it, was substantial in the air and curling around him and the ghost like a despondent black mist. Spectra breathed it in with glee, the glow around her black form doubling in intensity.
"And now, Danny, do you know what I'm going to do next?"
"No," he wheezed, staring her straight in the eye.
"I'm going to kill you," she said simply. "I'm going to kill you, and then your sister - but not until after I drain her dry, I'm sure an old maid like her has plenty of regrets - and then the old man."
"Hey!" Tucker cried. "Who are you calling old?"
"And then I'll leave Samantha alive," she continued with a vicious grin. "I figured it out, Danny, all that happiness floating around in your emotions - you're in love! And she has to be too, right? Won't it be nice when I kill you right in front of her eyes? Little Miss Samantha's parents already think she's crazy, so I've got the perfect defence, perfect plan, perfect everything. And you just strolled into my trap, you silly little freak!"
Danny's eyes were slitted, so angry they were practically glowing. "I won't let you lay a hand on her."
"Oh, please, more anger, more despair, Danny!" Spectra laughed murderously. "You've only got a few more seconds, so give me everything you've got!"
"Shut up!"
The ghost ignored him, and looked at Sam and Jazz in turn. "How are you girls feeling? It's almost your turn now. Any last words you want to say?"
Last words, Sam thought in horror, not wanting to steer down such a path of thought just yet. I can't say last words, because that's just like saying that I give up on him...
But what could Danny do? He was helpless, and any attack from her, Jazz or Tucker would end in Danny's abrupt death. Spectra could snap his neck in a second, if she wished it.
"Nothing? That makes things so much quicker," the ghost said sweetly. "I'll be honest with you, Danny, I don't really feel like making it quick and painless for you. Sorry, too much history. But don't worry, you'll be seeing your sister and your friend on the other side quickly enough!"
Spectra turned toward the guest house that sat on the edge of the property, near the ornate marble fountain Sam's parents had had installed for their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, and flew towards it with Danny dangling from her hands by his neck. He squirmed like a fish caught on a line. Shocked into immobility, Sam reached one hand out after them. "Wait! What are you doing?"
Ignoring Sam, Spectra went intangible and flew into the guest house. Three pairs of eyes stayed locked on the wall through which the ghost had disappeared for a long moment, holding their breath, unwilling to be the first to speak. And then, abruptly, Spectra rematerialized outside without Danny, her lips upturned in a smile.
"Where is he?" Jazz demanded, her eyes flickering down to the Fenton Peeler on the grass.
"He's a little tied up," Spectra mocked, following her glance and snatching up the weapon from where it lay. "Wouldn't want any of you to be caught up in the explosion, so won't you come this way?"
"What explosion?" Tucker asked suspiciously.
"Why, I'm so glad you asked!" The ghost smiled viciously and aimed one palm at the split-level house, firing a huge ball of energy at the roof. Both Jazz and Sam cried out and ran to stop her, but Spectra rose high into the air, out of their reach. "How do you like this? They'll never identify the body now - which pretty much puts me in the clear, ha ha! I couldn't have asked for a better place to fight!" She pumped another half-dozen blasts into it, cackling madly. The roof of the guest house began to crumble, and small fires broke out on the wooden siding, shooting like lightning across the outer walls.
Tucker had already taken aim at Spectra and fired, catching her in the back. She stumbled in the air and turned to sneer at him, tossing the Fenton Peeler out into the street before diving at the new enemy. Sam reacted quickly and intercepted the ghost before she could reach Tucker, however, and Spectra was forced to back off or risk getting caught in the same situation that had gotten Bertrand captured. Instead, she knocked the Fenton Foamer out of Tucker's hand with a well-aimed burst of energy, and turned her attention back to Jazz, who didn't have the protection of a Specter Deflector or the reflexes to take her out of harm's way.
A horrifying crash then resounded from the other side of the grounds, capturing the attention of all, including Spectra, who smiled at the sound. The roof of the guest house had already given way, and as they looked on, the second floor collapsed onto the first, what little had not already been consumed by the fire. Jazz let out a scream and her legs buckled, causing her to collapse onto the grass. "Danny!"
"Oh, that's a shame," Spectra frowned. "I was hoping I could get a little bit of energy while you were still hoping he'd survive. You can't just find that kind of terror everywhere."
"You're a monster," Sam said, her eyes brimming with tears. "Danny never should have agreed to a fair fight with you."
"He never was particularly smart," Spectra said loftily. "Only survived because he was a halfa. As a human, he had no chance."
Sam found that she didn't know what to say in reply. She shut her eyes tightly and tried to force away her shock and horror at Danny's certain death, knowing it was exactly what Spectra wanted. She wasn't going to let the ghost have her way without a fight.
But Jazz could not control her emotions so easily, not for the little brother she had valiantly protected for so long. Anguished sobs broke free of her throat and she pounded her fists against the grass, uprooting it in handfuls. Spectra took the opportunity to approach the jump suited woman and lay a hand on her shoulder, smirking as the energy transfer between them began. She spoke, taunting Jazz as she had with Danny, but with less malice and much more thinly-veiled glee. "There there, Jasmine, I know it's hard. Seems like you never were able to be there for Danny when you needed him, hmm?"
"No," Jazz sobbed, her voice finally breaking Sam's reverie. The Goth thrust the Thermos containing Bertrand into Tucker's hands and stormed towards the ghost and her victim, neither of whom seemed to register or care about her approaching presence.
"You were always so helpless, counting on him to save you. I heard plenty about it in the Ghost Zone, you know. Everyone was always going after you to get to Danny, and you couldn't do a thing except wait for him to show up. And you!" Spectra rounded on Sam before she could draw too close, keeping a hand on Jazz's trembling form. "It's your fault that he's dead."
"My fault?" Sam repeated incredulously. Hadn't Spectra already figured out that Sam wasn't going to fall for her tricks? "How do you figure that?"
"Of course," the ghost said smoothly. "Aren't you the one who brought him out of hiding? Aren't you the one who exposed his secret to the whole town? And who do you think he was coming to save when he came here to Whipstaff?"
Sam opened her mouth, but nothing came out of it. She didn't want to fall prey to Spectra's guilt trips...but now the monster was telling the truth. She was laying all of Sam's faults right out where everyone, including Sam herself, could not deny them.
"That's enough," said a familiar male voice, the speaker hidden until all eyes were pointed in his direction, less than a metre from where Jazz knelt in the grass. Danny Phantom materialized between Sam and Spectra with blinding speed, knocking the ghost's hand away from Jazz, who was gasping for breath.
Spectra heaved a sigh. "I guess I should have expected that to happen."
Danny's back was to Sam, but when his shoulders tensed she knew what Spectra had to mean. Surely Danny had died in there, under the rubble, and then he too had become a ghost. His clothing was an inversion of the white Hazmat suit he had worn to the fight, identical to what Phantom had been wearing for so many years. His hair was back to white, and though Sam couldn't see his face, she knew his eyes had reverted to that brilliant green.
Sam was immensely glad to see him again, but apprehensiveness dulled her relief. Was this truly the Danny of old, or would becoming a full ghost affect his personality? Had he died wishing for revenge, as so many of the wandering spirits in Legends of Amity Park done? She didn't have time to wonder. Sam backed away, conscious of the Specter Deflector's presence around her waist and the knowledge of what she might do to Danny if she accidentally touched him. Instead she kept her distance, returning to Tucker's side and wordlessly accepting the Thermos from him.
"So now you're going to be a challenge? That's kind of inconvenient." Spectra scowled. "At least tell me you're completely dead this time, I'm sick of playing around with you."
Danny snarled in response and dove at her, dragging the shapeless ghost into the air, away from Jazz. The elder Fenton refused to look up, though she'd clearly heard Danny's intervention, and continued to clutch at the grass, trembling with anger and sorrow. Danny stole one last look at his sister - even in daylight, Sam noticed, the frightful glow of his eyes was visible - before grabbing his opponent by the shoulders. Spectra did not look particularly intimidated at first, but then her eyes widened when she found she could not immediately break free.
Danny looked at her without remorse. "This ends now."
And it had to. The crash of the guest house falling apart had alerted someone, or everyone, in the mansion to the melee happening in their yard, and now sirens were screaming in the distance, approaching fast. Danny looked down at the three humans still on the ground. "Get out of here!" he ordered. "Hurry! Don't get caught!"
Tucker responded in a heartbeat, rushing to Jazz's side and helping her to her feet. He looked expectantly up at Danny, who still had an iron grip on the thrashing ghost. "Where should I take her?"
"Anywhere! Away!" Danny yelled, his mask of anger cracking slightly. He was scared too, Sam realized. Maybe he hadn't changed after all. "Take the Specter Speeder, and pick up the weapons we dropped!"
"Right!" Tucker half carried, half-dragged the semi-conscious Jazz through the gates that separated the Manson property from the rest of the town of Whipstaff. "Come on, Sam!"
The Goth ran forward after him, but less to follow than to intercept, her hands fumbling with the buckle on the Specter Deflector. "Wait, Tucker, take this. I'm staying here with Danny."
"You can't," he said disbelievingly. "You'll be caught."
"This is my house," she reminded him. "They'll wonder where I am, anyway." That wasn't all of her reason for staying behind, or for removing the belt, but Tucker had to accept it at face value and go while he and Jazz could still escape. She physically pushed him out the gate and closed it with a loud clang.
"Take care!" Tucker cried, his voice moving further away.
Sam nodded in response and turned her attention back to Danny, who was tussling with Spectra. He now had the other ghost's wrists trapped, and using her struggles as momentum, hurled her at the earth as hard as he was physically able. Dazed or simply confident, Spectra did not phase through the ground but slammed into it on her back, stopping to glare momentarily up at Danny before going on the offence once again.
Except Sam didn't give her the chance. She flung the cap off the Thermos in her hands and aimed it while the ghost's attention was still on her enemy in the sky, oblivious to the weapon's energy until it was encircling her, pulling her in. "What? Nooooooooo--"
And just like that, Penelope Spectra was out of the fight.
Sam dove for the Thermos cap and replaced it, casting around for other evidence that needed to be taken away, but Danny was one step ahead of her. He had retrieved the Jack-O-Nine-Tails he'd dropped earlier as well as the left Ghost Glove beside the oak tree, and the abandoned Fenton Grappler. Before Sam could turn around to look for Danny himself, the tingling feeling of invisibility swept through her like a cold tide, and he was standing behind her, whispering in her ear. "You shouldn't have stayed. But thank you."
"How could I have left?" Sam wondered aloud.
"Heh."
She swallowed nervously. A fire truck had pulled up outside the gate, and at least three police cars were joining it. "Now what?"
"Now? Well...I guess we run."
-to be continued…