Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman does. I would never dream of making money off his work, this is but one fanatic's homage. So please don't sic the rabid lawyer hordes upon me, there's not much for them to sue out of me.
Author's note: Wow, I didn't think I'd make my unofficial "one chapter per week" deadline this time around, given I was at Renfaire or working on costume stuff almost all weekend. You people had best be happy- I'm sacrificing perfectly good sleep for you people! I should give you fair warning, as Anime Expo gets closer, I'm going to have to update a little slower as my weekends are given over more to my homework and to working on costume stuff.
Seriously though, hope you like it. For those who have already read Jeremiad, this chapter of Anathema pretty much covers the same span of time as Chapter 3: Those Red Eyes, Chapter 4: Rampage and Indecision, and Chapter 5: No Redemption in Jeremiad. Reviews are always appreciated!
Chapter 4 - Encounter
"Danny, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have reacted like that, I'm so sorry, can you ever forgive me? I was so worried, I've been trying to find you for weeks! I was so worried something awful had happened because of me! I'm so sorry-!" Valerie babbled at me, her voice muffled slightly as she buried her face into my chest.
"Valerie-?" I hesitatingly returned the gesture, slightly dazed by the apparent change in the ghost hunter's attitude. I felt my anger rising as I held her. First she throws my old trust of her in my face, tries to kill me, and then expects stupid words to patch things up? My hug began to tighten as I considered what I could do to the girl, useless as she was with her crippling display of emotion.
"Yeah, Danny." She confirmed, still blathering. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean those things I said... I was just so shocked, I was stupid. I really-"
She fell silent as I shoved her to arm's distance, examining her tear-streaked face. I watched her eyes darting over my new features, saw the barest hint of worry and confusion flitting across her face as we drank in each other's appearance at that close range. I smiled then. She would pay for what she did. She was but one more reminder of a past I hated, that I wanted to eliminate. And I would enjoy every moment of that elimination, just as I had enjoyed ripping my own weakness apart.
"Danny, are you-?" She began to ask, the inquiry cut short as I tightened my grip on her shoulder, clenching my other hand into a fist that I quickly planted in her midsection. I smiled at the sensation against my hand of her ribs breaking, bones snapping like dry twigs. I didn't know the full measure of my strength just yet, but I was going to delight in discovering it. Valerie dropped like a stone, gaping up at me in shock. "D-danny? What are you doing?"
I stood over the fallen ghost hunter, felt my fangs against my lip as I smirked wickedly at her prone form. "What I should have done months ago."
"I-I know you're probably mad at me," Valerie stammered as she struggled back to her feet, seriously hampered by her ribs. "-but Danny, after you disappeared, I was so worried-"
"You had your chance, Valerie." I retorted coldly, twisting easily to slice at her with one foot that would likely have shattered her spine. Unfortunately, she staggered to the side and the kick only knocked her to the ground, likely bruising her shoulder. "We all did."
Indeed we all had our chances. She had ruined my last chance, the chance I gave her in my weakness, and I saw no reason to give her another one. She deserved to suffer as I had, she deserved every last ounce of agony I could give her. I knew there was a lot I could give her, too.
"What are you talking about? Danny, I didn't know... if I'd known, I'd never have done what I did before. I know you're upset-" Valerie pleaded as she clawed her way upright again. I cut her off yet again, charging a small quantity of ectoplasmic energy into my fist, striking her a third time and sending her again to the floor, grinning when I saw the blow was already raising a large bruise. "Danny... why are you doing this? I'm your friend!"
"I don't have any friends." I hissed, my delight at her pain momentarily depleted by the reminder of what my uselessness had taken from me. "Not anymore."
I felt my anger rising again, reaching new heights, a torrent that I simply had to release. While Valerie presented the nearest and best target, I wanted to make sure she knew, I wanted her to see my rage, to tremble and know what fear was. I wanted her to hurt, to feel the pain of betrayal she had given me. Half-turning to take aim and also keep an eye on the helpless ghost hunter, I raised one hand, smiling as the green blast of energy formed with such ease, so much power at my command. I delighted at the horrified expression on Valerie's face when I released the blast, watching it consume a car and everyone in it before moving on, a swath of destruction crashing explosively to a halt against a building several blocks away. It was pleasing, incredibly pleasing to see I was capable of such powerful blasts.
"Danny, stop it! You don't need to do this!" Valerie pleaded from where she had fallen, pale despite her dark complexion.
"I don't need to do this." I turned to face the girl, knowing my eyes were alight with my glee at the destruction. It simply felt so good to openly use my powers like that. I raised my other arm, pointing in Valerie's direction as I charged a blast slowly. I wanted to relish this. "I want to do this. Goodbye, Valerie."
I was stupid, and not paying attention. Otherwise I would have seen it coming, a brilliant pink energy beam that came blazing from somewhere beyond the girl. I yowled angrily at the scorching pain of an ecto-gunshot hitting me in the face, staggering backward from the force of it, my blast forgotten as I clutched at my aching face. I recovered quickly, glaring at Valerie first. She was normally the only person with those annoying weapons. But she lay still where she had fallen down, gawking at me, her hands empty.
"Get away from my daughter!"
"How quaint." I spat, looking past the girl at her father, standing protectively behind her, a beam gun in one hand, some sort of launcher in the other. "Family to the rescue, is it?"
"I don't know who you are, ghost-" Damon stepped forward, placing himself between me and my intended victim, glowering at me. "-but you're not touching Valerie if I can help it!"
And I'm sure that there's so much you can do to stop me. I thought to myself, smiling as I shifted my own stance. So I had to deal with this pleasant little diversion before I could take my revenge on Valerie. Indeed, killing her father right in front of her could become part of my revenge. Honestly, what did the man think he could do? I motioned at him to take the first shot, confident. "You first then, old man."
Damon shouted a wordless noise as he brought the beam gun to bear with more speed than I would have credited the security guard with. Of course, his aim was terrible, I simply sidestepped the volley of pink beams, approaching the man almost leisurely. He would be the perfect way to make Valerie suffer for what she'd done. She certainly didn't deserve to have any family, after all.
"My turn." I stated plainly once I was near enough. The stupid man didn't see it coming, a hard punch to the jaw that made him spin almost comically before he fell down. I raised one eyebrow with mild surprise and amusement as Damon stubbornly got back up, shrugging off the blow despite the ugly welt now decorating his face. I took aim for his shoulder and launched another punch, that would have shattered the man's collarbone and dislocated his shoulder.
"Valerie, snap out of it!" Damon jumped to one side, my attack missing him completely. I snarled as my momentum carried me past the stocky man. I felt my eyes widen in shock when I heard a loud click next to my ear right before something hit the back of my head and exploded, the impact sending me flying forward. It hurt, and I barely had time enough to turn intangible before I would have smacked into a building. He shot me! That stupid idiot shot me, in the back no less!
I recovered quickly, of course. The blast had hurt, being it was a ghost-hunting weapon, but I was now much stronger than before, and Valerie's weapons were meant for hunting my weaker self, now gone. I turned myself invisible and passed back outside, floating up behind Damon, who was wasting his effort looking around. The fool maimed himself nicely with that attack I noticed, silently taking stock of the man's bruises and scrapes. I raised an invisible hand, preparing to blast him at point-blank range as he had done to me.
"Hmph, shooting someone in the back. Hardly sporting." I scoffed, still invisible as I flung the blast. Damon spun at the sound, and I took great delight in his shocked expression the instant before the green ball of energy introduced itself to his face, sending him staggering backward. I reappeared then, chuckling at the carnage. "Oh, but I guess I'm not very sporting either, am I?"
I rather doubt the security guard heard my remark, he was too busy dropping the beam gun and clutching at the blasted side of his face, gasping in pain. I could have made it a killing blow, but this was just too much fun. Valerie was horrified, but too afraid to do anything about it, huddling where she had fallen and staring at the scene with wide eyes.
"Is that all?" Damon finally hissed through his pain, pulling himself back upright. I was honestly surprised at the man's endurance. I could see plain as day that he was effectively half-blinded from my last attack, his face had to be afire with pain. Yet he seemed determined to continue his futile efforts to protect his fool daughter.
"Look, this is really fun." I admitted, avoiding another ecto-grenade round that Damon fired, his aim worse with one eye burned away from my ectoplasmic blast. I laughed at the attempt, at this stupid pawn. "But do you really think you can stand up to me?"
To my annoyance, Damon refused to acknowledge my remarks, instead still addressing his useless daughter. "Valerie, run! Get out of here!"
I laughed when the ghost hunter tried to get back on her feet, only to fall back down with a pained cry. I would enjoy her reaction when her father was finished off. I suppose the glee about killing my enemy's father could be a holdover from Plasmius. In any event, I raised an energy barrier as Damon resumed his attack, resisting the urge to yawn mockingly. Really, Damon was no brighter than I had been in my weakness, and ran right into the shield with a yelp. I dropped my protective barrier after an instant, one hand shooting out to catch the tall man around that extremely vulnerable jugular.
"I think I'm done playing now." I smiled at Damon, tightening my grip and depriving the man of air. I had to float off the ground a little to hover eye-to-eye with the security guard, ignoring his hands franticly trying to break my grip. He might as well have been trying to break armor plate with his bare hands.
I ought to have been paying better attention to my real target while I was toying with Damon. Just because Valerie had been a whimpering useless waste of carbon so far had no bearing on her actions upon her father's imminent death. I was caught completely by surprise and slammed hard to the ground by the cold steel of Valerie's jet sled, my grip on Damon broken. I responded with a flurry of green blasts, trying to shoot the red-clad ghost hunter out of the air. She really did an admirable job of dodging and weaving through the storm of green energy before I finally landed a shot that sent her crashing gracelessly to the ground. I flew down where she had fallen, landing in front of her just as she got clumsily back to her feet, startled eyes locked onto my own.
"So you still have some fight left, Valerie?" I sneered at her, enjoying the conflicting looks of hatred and terror flitting across her dark face.
"D-danny-!" She backed away from me, apparently still incapable of actually fighting me.
"This is amusing. You really think I still care for you?" I stalked forward as she backed away. It was actually rather odd. I clearly remember having liked her, but none of that feeling remained but the memory. "That I still have feelings for you?"
"Danny, stop this, please!" Valerie pleaded, her voice coming out as a barely audible squeak from her fear.
"Why should I?" I snarled. Indeed, the people in Amity Park certainly never cared, branding me an enemy despite my efforts to save the town dozens of times over. No more, those sappy days were gone. "Why should I care about anything? About you, this town, about anything? I'm through with caring."
"Danny, stop-!" Valerie pleaded as I grabbed her by the front of her suit and yanked her forward. It pleased me, seeing her reduced virtually to begging. And she would receive every bit as much mercy as she had given me, when I pleaded so desperately for her acceptance.
"I'll stop when I'm ready to stop. I hate this place. I hate the Nasty Burger. I hate Casper High. I hate Vlad Masters, that stupid man. I hate FentonWorks. I hate this city." I hissed, watching the girl cringe at the sight of my fangs. Or perhaps that was about the green blast I was already forming in my free hand? "And I hateyou. When I stop, I won't have to look at any of it anymore. It will all be gone, and I'll never see any of it again."
I meant it, too. I was mildly surprised at the decision. Danny Phantom, alternately celebrated as a hero and reviled as a villain, responsible for the utter annihilation of Amity Park. It seemed right. Oh, in my weakness I would never have considered such an idea, being so dumbly focused on helping people and saving the town. But really, what's the point of having freakish powers from the netherworld if you don't show them off? I deserved better than what I had received from the people I wasted my time protecting, and I would make them know it.
"No, don't-!" Valerie yelped in pure terror, at Death itself staring her in the face. I suppose if I wanted to be particularly witty about it, I would have shaped the blast to resemble the Reaper's scythe.
"And goodbye." I declared in a flat tone, seeing no need for further dramatics as I raised my hand and prepared to end the stupid girl's life.
"VALERIE!"
Would that man never stay down? Damon came hurtling from where he had last fallen, putting his entire weight into ramming me aside and crashing into Valerie. Not one to waste a perfectly good blast, I launched it in the general direction of the pair. Surely one of them would get hit at that range. I was immediately rewarded with Damon's high-pitched scream and Valerie's startled yelp. Funny how enjoyable that sound was, a long agonized cry of pure pain.
Valerie made a surprisingly rapid recovery, calling that silly sled of hers back and flying between me and her gravely wounded father. I crossed my arms and simply stood there watching with a wicked grin as she collected the wounded man and fled. It would be so easy to pick them out of the air, just one well-placed shot and they would both be incinerated or splattered across the ground. I should have known better than to waste my time on such gloating, but at the time I was confident that the ghost hunter was no longer a threat, that I would have plenty of time to toy with her and extend her suffering.
Once she was out of sight, I turned my attention to other things, listening to the approaching sirens. I laughed, lifting into the air and flying to where it all ended. Or should I say, where it all began. I touched down before the ruin, glaring at it, hating it.
The Nasty Burger.
What remained of it, in any event. Portions of the walls still stood, surrounded already by reconstruction. I didn't need to look inside to know that there was an ash-covered crater where the sauce tanks used to be. The memory of the place right before it detonated will forever remain in my mind with unparalleled clarity. I wanted to destroy that image, make it go away. I smiled as the workers noticed me and began to flee in a panic, tools falling, the sound lost amid the chaos.
"GHOST!"
"Run for it!"
"Help! Help! It's a ghost!"
I charged another large blast, not unlike the one that I had used to destroy the cheesehead's castle. Let them run, there was no way they could outrun the shockwave as I launched the green sphere. I turned myself intangible as the thing detonated, the explosion tearing the ruins to bits and sending debris flying several blocks away. Almost unheard in the blast were the shrieks of terror, the workers who were quickly consumed by the explosion or sent flying, smashing into walls or to the ground from the shockwave.
"So much for the Nasty Burger." I mused aloud, surveying the damage. The sirens finally caught up to my location, easily half a dozen police cars squealing to a halt not far from where I hovered.
"Freeze, police!" In a moment, several dozen guns were leveled at me as the police surrounded me.
"Oh please." I sneered, floating a little higher into the air.
"Surrender ghost!" One of the officers commanded.
"Or what?" I retorted, forming several small green spheres in the air above one hand. "Or you'll shoot? I'd like to see you try."
I really should give them credit for trying. They couldn't touch me even when I was weak and stupid, did they honestly think they would fare any better now that I was free of my silly notions of justice? Gunshots filled the air but I simply turned intangible, laughing as the bullets passed harmlessly through my translucent form. During a relative lull in the hail of lead, I turned myself solid again, throwing the miniature ecto-blasts in a wide scattering pattern, like a ghostly cluster bomb. Many of the officers were caught directly by the explosions, others managed to flee or otherwise take cover. I laughed softly as the squad cars flipped over or ignited in brilliant fireballs of green and orange.
The police continued to oppose me throughout the day and well into the night. It was little more than a game to me, destroying the squad cars that approached, and then turning my attention to the surrounding buildings until the next batch arrived. I didn't have to venture far from where the Nasty Burger used to stand, perhaps only a few blocks away in a nearby residential neighborhood. Most of my efforts were focused on the buildings and the cars rather than the stupid people in them, though I'm sure several lives were lost in the explosions. Sure it wasn't helping anyone, but it helped me, on the inside. It was pure euphoria, transmuting my anger into action, into explosions that echoed for miles and sent tremors through the ground. Heh, even Vlad at his worst had never used his powers like this, that sentimental fruit loop.
By the time night fell, the police resistance had all but ceased entirely. I suppose the under funded public defenders were sorely outmatched. With that nuisance out of my way, I continued on through the night, delighting to myself in how limitless my stamina was. I no longer needed to worry about running out of power and turning back to my human form, so vulnerable and useless; food, water, and sleep were now worries of the past. I was free to do as I wished.
That night passed much as the day before, my path marked by demolition as smoke lit green blocked the sky. The police may have largely been wiped out, but there were still SWAT teams and the like that were attempting to stop me. Hah, as though a bunch of normal humans with no knowledge of ghosts could stop one! I toyed with them throughout the night and well into the following day, before I returned to the ruins of the Nasty Burger invisibly.
Stupid people, the city is a warzone, and who do I find in the thick of it? A news crew, a bunch of fools risking their lives for the scoop. I floated down behind the reporter, listening to him squeak out his report and utterly oblivious to the danger lurking invisibly behind him.
"This is Lance Thunder, who really wishes he'd taken that acting job in Los Angeles, reporting live from Amity Park as the city bunkers down for Ghost Watch, day 2. Yesterday afternoon, an unknown ghost began a rampage in the heart of the city, first demolishing the fast-food establishment you see behind me. Police attempted to stop the ghost, but as you can see, all attempts so far have failed. The mayor has urged all citizens to remain calm and indoors-" The man paused then, glancing at the destruction all around him, at the smoke hanging thick in the air, the green flames still burning in some of the debris. "Oh the heck with it. Get out while you still can!"
I withheld my laughter at the man's fear, allowing myself to become visible again, smiling widely as I leveled a blast at the camera. I suppose this would be where I would say something like those idiots on TV about "Hi, Mom!" or something stupid like that. I mused as I charged the blast.
"Lance-! Behind you!" The cameraman gasped, abandoning the camera and beginning to flee. The field reporter whirled around, his voice reaching a most effeminate pitch as I fired my blast, easily engulfing the man and leaving nothing recognizable. The cameraman didn't get very far either as the shot destroyed the camera and shortly thereafter caught him full in the backside. I laughed as I watched, two fools dying for their stupidity.
The day and the following night proceeded much along those lines, it seemed likely I would be able to eliminate all these unpleasant reminders of the past within a matter of days. I continued to pick on the SWAT teams and other remnants of the police throughout the day, as well as the media. Helicopters really are one of the most volatile items known to mankind; they explode so well with so little provocation.
I was actually mildly surprised. I know I should have been feeling remorse, or perhaps pity for the people that were being killed. I should have been horrified by my actions, disgusted at the violent crimes I was committing. Neither my weaker self nor the cheesehead had been murderers, but despite my efforts, I found no trace of hesitation. Truly, I had every reason to lash out at Valerie as I had, but I had no reason for blasting Joe Nobody to smithereens. Yet I did, and enjoyed it, enjoyed the power, the control. It was by my hand that these people would live or die, and I relished it. In my weakness, I had no control over fate. Now, my control over life and death was absolute.
It was when I was busy displaying this control that she decided to show up again. I was enjoying the display caused by lobbing an ectoplasmic blast at the gas tank of a large bus, watching the way the green fire of my blast set off the contents of the tank, consuming the thin metal hull of the vehicle and everything inside it in a violent blast of fire. She must have decided to go back to ghost hunting, for I didn't realize she was there until she'd shot me in the chest. I was caught by surprise and tumbled into a nearby wall before I could phase through it.
"So you finally crawled out of your hiding hole, Valerie?" I growled as I recovered, glaring at the girl as I lifted into the air. She couldn't possibly hope to put up much of a fight, I had a relatively good idea of how badly injured she was, just a foolish girl trying to do the impossible.
"You're goin' down ghost!" She retorted, firing wildly at me. Perhaps something in my stance scared her off, for shortly thereafter she turned and fled as fast as her jet sled could carry her.
"Yes, run!" I crowed as I gave chase. She stayed low, which annoyed me. Higher in the air, I would have easily been able to overtake her. Down amid the buildings however, she was still able to keep some distance, weaving wildly through the concrete and steel towers. "Just like before, only I'm not going to be so forgiving as to let you escape a second time!"
I fired blasts at her, of course, potent plumes of green energy, certainly enough to annihilate the girl if only they had hit her instead of the sides of buildings as we played our high-stakes game of tag through the streets. I knew I was steadily gaining on her despite her efforts to elude me, and I grinned. It was only a matter of time before I caught her and wiped that painful reminder of the past away.
"Too scared to fight me? Or are you still too caught up in how we feel for each other?" I snarled as I gained on her, near enough now that she could easily hear my angry shouts. "Hoping that I'll come to my senses and we can all live happily ever after!"
There could never be a "happily ever after" now. Mine had ended in a violent blast of volatile burger sauce, in a useless retreat from a once-trusted friend. I was alone and angry, and lashing out at the sources of my continued pain. Oh, I'm sure I may have come to a different conclusion had the circumstances been different. Perhaps if Vlad had waited longer before suggesting the operation, then maybe I would not have been so angry. Perhaps if Valerie had not been the first thing I saw when I returned, the sight kindling my sense of betrayal. So many possibilities, but only the one truth.
I chased Valerie around one final corner, realizing she had led me a stone's throw from my old home. I didn't have long to register the fact though, as I was knocked from the air to a crash landing against the unforgiving asphalt below. I cried out in surprise at the ambush, the cry turning into a sustained yowl of pain as dozens of blasts lashed out from the surrounding buildings. I lost sight of Valerie in the maelstrom, snarling as I got back to my feet, flinging powerful ecto-blasts indiscriminately at where I thought some of the shots had to be coming from. While I did blast out impressive chunks of buildings, it did little to ease the dense flurry of shots raining down.
"It's about time someone put up a barely capable defense!" I hissed through clenched teeth, grinning at the challenge. So she marshalled a defense force, did she? I thought angrily as I tried to dodge through the hailstorm. I could turn intangible to avoid the grenades and other solid weapons, but the energy guns hurt regardless of my physical state, and even I was unable to evade or block them all. I drifted nearer to the building, slowly whittling down the incoming fire with my own blasts. I was displeased to realize that the damage I was taking was beginning to limit the destructive power of my blasts.
I heard a shrill shout, I think it had to be some obscene phrase in Spanish, and I found myself knocked flat on my face by a powerful shot from behind. I got up quickly, and spun to face whoever had fired. I was momentarily startled when I saw who it was.
"Paulina-?" I yelped at the sight of the pretty cheerleader, bracing a large ecto-cannon against one shoulder and glaring daggers at me. So another girl I had liked was trying to kill me now? We glared at each other for a long moment, interrupted by the protective green dome of the FentonWorks ghost shield coming to life. "Well, this is amusing... the ghost shield to trap me? All I have to do to destroy the build-"
I didn't get the chance to finish the statement, interrupted by the girl leveling the weapon at me and firing a surprisingly accurate flurry of blasts at me.
"This is for killing Inviso-Bill!" She shrieked angrily as I dodged through the rain of blasts.
For what? I thought, momentarily confused by the cheerleader's battle cry.
"How do you kill a ghost?" I heard a second voice, one that was all too familiar and that I had longed to use my powers against for some time now. Dash Baxter, the star of the football team and notorious bully. I had despised him even before the operation, a hatred that burned brighter now that I was no longer inhibited in what I did with my powers.
"Don't just stand there! Shoot him!" Paulina yelled at the idiot jock.
"Oh, right!" Dash pointed a pair of small ecto-guns at me and started firing wildly. "Eat... whatever these things fire!"
His aim was terrible, though I hesitate to declare whether his aim was worse than my departed father's had been. I evaded the shots easily until a blast from Paulina's weapon caught me in the face and knocked me down. Why do they always aim for the face? It doesn't work, and all it ever succeeds in doing is making me more enraged.
"I've had enough of you and Dash." I growled as I got back up and turned intangible, letting myself sink into the ground. I could have just blasted them both to bits, but I couldn't quite bring myself to destroy the object of much of my former attention. Instead, I launched myself skyward, one fist catching Paulina hard in the face, tumbling her away. Her flawless skin was marred by several scrapes and bruises as she tumbled ungracefully to a halt several feet away, the thin girl easily knocked unconscious from the blow.
Dash stood his ground as I turned my attention to him. "Isn't this an ironic reversal?" I grinned wickedly as I prowled toward the terrified jock. I absentmindedly fired a large blast behind me, half-listening to the repeated reports of concrete slabs tearing loose and smashing into the crowd of fighters somewhere beyond the ghost shield. I was going to truly and completely enjoy this little encounter.
Dash retreated as I advanced, the dumb boy firing his weapons wildly. "Reverse this, loser!"
"'Loser', am I?" I chuckled, launching myself forward and grabbing the jock's wrists, gripping tight enough to make the bones creak painfully. Dash dropped the weapons, yelping at the pain as I glared at him eye-to-eye. "How appropriate, Dash. Do you know who I am?"
"N-no!" Dash whimpered as he squirmed and struggled to break my hold. "You're the ghost that... that killed Danny Phantom!"
"That's the story Valerie is spreading?" I laughed long and loud as it suddenly made sense. I whirled and flung Dash into a wall, immediately pouncing the jock and getting a good grip on his throat. It was annoying that he still had a couple of feet in height over me. "That's rich! I am Danny Phantom."
Oh, what a sight Dash's face was when I turned his understanding of the situation inside-out. "Th-that's impossible! He'd never do-"
I interrupted the struggling football star, thoroughly enjoying his helplessness. How many times had I been left helpless at his hands? How many times had I been beat on, threatened, stuffed into lockers and otherwise abused by this stupid child?
"Never do what? Stand up to you? Hurt you? Oh, wait. I forgot. Danny Fenton was the one that would sit back and take your juvenile abuse... despite having the power to put an end to your stupid antics months ago." I hissed, staring him right in the eyes. "But no, all he did was very rarely use his powers to embarrass you, to avoid your bullying. When he could just as easily have done this!"
Dash gaped at the energy blast I was forming, stunned by power and by the revelation that had gotten through even his idiot skull. "Y-you mean... Fenton... he's the... he's you!"
"Give the boy a prize! Though perhaps it would be more accurate to say he was me. I'm no longer that soft-hearted fool. I get rid of those who get in my way." I sneered at him, delighting in the way he stared and thrashed so uselessly.
"N-no! I'm sorry! I'll never do it again-! Please don't-!" He whimpered, begging and pleading for mercy. It amused me to see the proud bane of my high school existence reduced to such cowardly crying for leniency.
"I want you to know, Dash." I leaned in to whisper loudly to him, hearing him quivering in pure terror. "I'm going to enjoy this."
Dash screamed long and loud as he was surrounded by my powerful blast of ectoplasmic energy, a green inferno that burned away his flesh, searing the skin and powdering the bone. It had used up a substantial portion of my power, but it was worth it to finally pay the jock back for all the torment I had suffered by his hands. It felt so very good to dish out my own brand of justice like that. I laughed despite my somewhat weakened condition, laughing at Valerie, at what had to be her plan that had fallen apart. The ghost shield wouldn't trap me for long- I knew precisely how to shut the thing off.
I was surprised when something slim slammed into me, perfectly manicured nails digging into one shoulder as I was knocked to the ground. I heard an ecto-cannon charging slightly above me, too slow to completely avoid it.
"THIS IS FOR TAKING THE GHOST-BOY FROM ME!"
I hissed in pain as the blast struck me square in the back. I suppose I had largely found the limits of my power as I turned intangible and phased through the ground, propelled by the blast. With a grunt I slammed into the floor of my parents' lab, it took far longer than I would have liked to climb to my feet, my jumpsuit in tatters from the accumulated damage. As I got to my feet, I locked eyes with Valerie, the ghost hunter glaring down the barrel of some absurdly sized weapon at me.
"So this is it." I glared at her. We were both in rather poor shape, I was not well pleased with the situation. That gun would probably hurt a great deal, and I found myself unsure if I could finish off my opponent, given my weakened state.
"You got that right, Danny. Anything I might have felt for you... gone. You killed it, just like you killed all those people." Valerie snarled, the weapon in her hands charging up.
I stared at her impassively, not betraying any of my concern. I would not show her weakness, there had to be a way to turn the confrontation around. An idea started to form, and I crossed my arms over my wounded chest. "Amusing. I wonder, can you really shoot me, Valerie? Would you shoot your dear friend?"
The statement seemed to anger her, which suited me fine. "I wouldn't shoot my friend." She spat. "But that's not a problem. You're not him."
"Are you so certain of that?" I smirked. It took more concentration than I seem to recall it did prior to the operation, but I was pleased and annoyed that I was still able to transform myself after a fashion. The white rings whirled into being and passed over me, flaming white hair replaced with the careless black mop of my weakness, my suit replaced with the looser jeans and t-shirt I used to wear. I could feel it however, I had not truly transformed back into a weak human form, it felt as if I had donned an ill-fitting mask, a costume a few sizes too small for my strength. It was horribly uncomfortable, but it served its purpose well enough.
"D-danny!" Valerie gasped, her aim wavering as she stepped back in shock.
I took it as a good sign that I might yet turn the encounter back to my favor and stepped forward, smiling at the stupid girl. "That's right... you can't shoot little old me, right, Val? We're pals, aren't we?"
Just a few more steps and I would have been able to guarantee a fatal shot. But Valerie shook herself as if from a daze, staring hard at my eyes. She steeled herself again, raising that gun even as a round of tears oozed from from her bloodshot eyes.
"We were once, Danny. But not anymore. Not now. Goodbye, Danny." She stated quietly in a somber tone as she took aim and pulled the trigger.
I was about to say something else, but my ploy was cut off abruptly by that weapon spitting a massive pink beam of energy at me. At that close range I had no hope of evading it. I braced myself as best I could on the steel flooring, but I was unable to resist the impressive force of the blast. Howling with the discomfort and outright pain of the blow, I slipped and was flung backward. Only then did I realize what was going on, when I was surrounded momentarily by a flash of green light, the red beam disappearing.
That little witch had not been trying to kill me, but to get me through that blasted portal! I tumbled several times before I could regain control of my trajectory, just in time to watch the green vortex swirl shut. The portal hadn't simply been closed from the other side, I realized. It had been shut down entirely, Valerie had likely destroyed some of the equipment entirely, leaving me stranded in the Ghost Zone.
I floated there for several minutes, getting my bearings and contemplating my options. I had to find some other way out of the Ghost Zone, but how-? The thought came to me soon enough.
"Oh, duh. The cheesehead has a portal." I slapped myself on the forehead as I remembered that fact. I hovered in place, frowning as I tried to dredge up where the thing was. I should have known where it was, surely Plasmius had used it numerous times in the past before the operation. I could remember using the thing, hunting for the Skeleton Key, releasing Pariah Dark... but I could not remember where the portal was, a fact that was vastly displeasing. If I couldn't recall where the portal was, then I would have to look for it, or hope I could find a door connecting the real world to the Ghost Zone. I truly despised the idea of leaving my escape to such chance, but I had little choice.
I winced and prepared to fly off to begin my search when I was struck hard from behind and quickly felt my hands lashed together. Several more blows landed, worsening my already diverse assortment of injuries and clouding my vision, though I didn't quite black out. I heard a voice behind me, smug as I was being hauled off, catching glimpses of ghosts clad in riot gear, and of some sort of van with "GZPD" emblazoned on its sides.
"I've got you now, punk. Nobody escapes punishment for breaking the rules for long. You won't be breaking out of my prison again."