Disclaimer: Don't own DP.
Thanks to Invader Johnny, Cookieplzandthnx, lightshadow101, and Xand'r Coldhearted for reviewing last chapter! Currently compiling all of my one-shot requests, lol.
Summary Shot 7: Phantom challenges Pariah Dark for the position of Ghost King and loses. Badly. Dan!whump. Genre: Horror/Drama. Rating: T.
Deliverance
Shot 7: Karma
Valerie knew something was wrong. The Wastelands surrounding Amity Park had been silent for days—no sign of Phantom anywhere. She'd even scoped out far beyond the borders of the Midwest, wondering if perhaps Phantom had simply found a new haunt to torment.
Imagine her surprise when a full week passed by without even the slightest blip of his existence on her radar.
"I don't get it," she paced in the central headquarters of the resistance. A concerned Vlad and Damon Gray watched her. "He never goes this long without attacking."
"Maybe," Vlad suggested helplessly, "he's grown tired of us?"
"Maybe he knows not to mess with us," Damon suggested, giving an appreciative nod to his daughter.
Valerie huffed and waved off the silent compliment. "Or maybe he's gathering resources. Armies. Relics. Maybe that's why he's been gone."
"Then he can stay gone," Damon sat back in his seat. He rubbed the stump of his left arm—where he'd lost it in a building collapse from Phantom's trigger-happiness. It still tingled from time to time, even after years. "If we never saw him again, it'd be too soon."
The Red Huntress looked pained as she stared at her broken father. "Look, I want to believe he's gone too, but…" She shook her head. "This isn't his normal pattern. And whatever the reason is, it doesn't spell anything good for us. He's either getting ready for a planned strike, or something bigger than him took him out."
Her father furrowed his gray eyebrows. "Who's possibly stronger than Phantom?"
Their answer came nearly two weeks later, when the entire world suddenly darkened into a hazy, swirling green.
"Shields up!" Valerie cried into her comm, swooping on her jet sled to quickly check the shield towers protecting Amity Park. "Ghost invasion! We still need eyes on Tower 9, stat! And where the hell is my perimeter patrol?"
"Valerie," came Vlad's hesitant voice, "we need you back at base. We don't know exactly what—"
"—Are you kidding me?" she snapped. "I've seen this before. So have you. We're in the freakin' Ghost Zone. This is Pariah Dark's doing, I know it." She tried to hide the unsettling level of fear she felt. Pariah Dark had been a huge problem ten years ago; but that was when they had a much less malevolent Danny Phantom willing to fight on their side. "We gotta pull all the stops on this one, or we're gonna get our butts kicked."
"But we sealed Pariah Dark," Vlad's voice rose in worry in her ear. "How could he have possibly gotten out?"
"Probably Phantom," Valerie huffed, jumping off of her jet sled as she neared Ghost Tower 9. Her feet hit the metal floor, and she began to run. This tower was always the weakest link in the Shield. They could not afford weak links. "Some attempt at an alliance."
"But Phantom fights alone," Vlad stressed. "He always has."
"Yeah, well, maybe he doesn't anymore." She grimaced as she banged on the Tower's controls, trying to force the connections in the box to work. The small glitches in the lights cleared into straight beam. She eyed it suspiciously, daring it to fault in her presence.
"I'm afraid this situation is not what it seems, Valerie. We need to keep sharp watch. These ghosts may be fighting each other, and we cannot afford to get involved."
From the other side of the barrier, Valerie could see a dark form materializing in, along with several others. "We got a serious problem either way," she breathed. Her mind was racing. As long as that barrier held out, Amity Park would be safe.
But if Pariah Dark directed his power at them….She pushed a button on her suit's arm. Her dark red suit began to glow, and before her materialized a sleek, silver weapon. She grabbed onto the hilt and powered it up. The barrel of the small cannon began to glow. "We need our strike force around the perimeter, now. If the barrier drops, we're toast."
"We've already deployed forces," Vlad affirmed. "Your father is leading their efforts."
If Valerie squinted, she could see her fellow resistance members pouring from the heavy gates of the headquarters, marching with heavy assault weapons to the barrier's edge. "Okay," she breathed. She jumped back onto her jet sled. "Okay, we got this."
The entire world rumbled. Before her eyes materialized a very large ghost—the very one she had feared. His large, heavily muscled limbs cast dark shadows over Amity Park. "Puny humans!" boomed out the thundering voice of Pariah Dark, "I am here to speak to your leader. I demand that she face me beyond this putrid barrier. Now."
The entire city of Amity Park paused at his words. The mayor of Amity Park was not female.
Pariah noticed their hesitation, and he growled, "The one who challenges Phantom—I will speak to her. Is she not your leader?"
Valerie froze, her teal eyes narrowing in confusion. She was the one who challenged Phantom. "What the hell?" she whispered under her breath, her heart beginning to pound.
The resistance members along the perimeter looked up to her as she floated on her jet sled. She hesitated for only a second, knowing that she had a responsibility to protect Amity Park at all costs. Then she raised her arm cannon as she soared towards the barrier. She flew beyond it, praying that her comrades would be able to cover her if anything went wrong. "Yeah?" she called out, voice rough and snappish. "What do you want?"
The ghost before was impressively tall—massive from every angle. Valerie could almost smell the power that rolled off of him in waves. It was suffocating. It made her hands shake, even though she told herself she was not afraid. She hovered at eye-level, maintaining her gaze with his and trying not to feel like an insect.
He stared at her with his one, good eye. It was piercing. "As you may know, little human, I show no mercy to those who challenge me." He motioned behind him carelessly. Skeleton servants grimaced as they pulled a large, black box forward. "I come bearing a gift to celebrate my new reign."
"A gift," Valerie repeated, voice in disbelief. She eyed the box—it was metal, she realized in surprise. A cage.
"To reiterate my supremacy as King, I have defeated this world's greatest foe." A noise, like a chuckle, rose in his throat. Pariah Dark carelessly flipped the cage over. Its side split open under the pressure, and from the cage tumbled a blur.
A body slammed hard onto the ground with a strange crunch. "Behold," Pariah declared with a sneer, "the great and powerful Danny Phantom."
For a second, Valerie failed to connect Pariah's words with the sight before her. Then she stared in increasing horror at what had been her worst enemy. Dan Phantom was curled in on his side, his proud jumpsuit replaced with torn and threadbare pants that barely remained on his form. His blue skin was so pale, it was nearly white, his arms tied at the wrists.
He looked emaciated and weak, as if all the afterlife had been sucked out of him. His fire hair did not float about his face, but instead drooped into his eyes and down his shoulders, where it matted over a mess of crusted, green blood. He trembled on the ground, face twisted in an open expression of pain. He did not look aware of his own name, much less his surroundings.
"Do with him what you will," the Ghost King said. "I care not how you eliminate him, for he is no longer a threat to me."
"What did you do to him?" Valerie said, almost in awe. "How did you—?" she cut herself off, half-afraid of the answers.
"I ripped out his power core," said Pariah Dark with a self-satisfied tilt of his lips. "And then I revealed his own inferiority. I thought about sending you his head on a platter, but I knew that you would want the honors."
Valerie was beginning to understand. Pariah Dark had done them no favors. No, he had simply provided Amity Park with an example of his own power—by defeating the very enemy that Amity Park had believed was the most powerful.
Valerie's eyes darkened, realizing that she had no way to win against the Ghost King. She barely managed to fight off Phantom.
"Shall I provide a demonstration of how low I can bring my enemies?" Pariah asked. Before anyone could respond, he kicked Phantom with his boot. The beaten ghost flinched, a muffled sound strangling from out of his broken jaw. "Get up," the King snapped.
And slowly, without any hint of resistance, Phantom struggled to his hands and knees, limbs shaking. His head hung low, his white hair limp and matted. He looked strangely young and vulnerable.
"Now bow to the human insects," the Ghost King said gleefully. "Come on, little conqueror."
Phantom breathed hard. His limbs shook as he tried to lower himself. It was awkward for him, as his arms were tied to together, forcing him to mash his wrists at a painful angle on the ground. He took too long, because the King kicked him down with a heavy boot. He crashed back onto the ground.
"Again," Pariah said, enjoying Phantom's pain and the shocked faces of the humans. "Faster."
Phantom's face streaked with tears as he tried again, a muffled noise escaping from his throat. He raised his head as he forced his body to get back up to his hands and knees. This time, his movements were quicker. He who had once destroyed the world bowed low to Valerie and the resistance at Pariah's command. His matted hair fell about his trembling shoulders, blocking his face.
Valerie backed away on her jet sled, eyes uneasy. "What is this?" she demanded. "Some weird freak show? I don't get high off shit like this, ghost."
"Phantom is an example for you," called out Pariah Dark, and his voice echoed throughout the realm. "No one can stand against me! I destroy all. I conquer all and bend reality to my will. Nothing is impossible for me."
Then Pariah Dark reached out before him. His large hand touched the barrier around Amity Park, and it dissipated, breaking like glass under his touch. "This trick was interesting the first time," he hummed, "but it breeds too much resistance."
The glass shards shattered around them, forcing many to duck and cover.
"You are now all subjects of my reign. Kneel before your king."
Valerie stood frozen on her jet sled, eyes wide. This ghost was powerful—insanely so if he had managed to trash Phantom with such little effort and take down their barrier.
Pariah's lip curled downward. "I said, kneel!" He stomped his foot. Even the air rumbled in waves, knocking Valerie down. Her knee hit the base of her jet sled with a hard impact that made her wince, knocking her small arm cannon out of her grasp.
All of the other resistance members and citizens of Amity park stood little chance. Those who were not knocked down by the wave of power quickly fell to their knees, dropping their weapons. The buildings groaned and swayed.
Then all was silent.
"Better," Pariah sniffed, surveying his newly conquered city. "I shall return to your realm to collect tribute and tax as I expand my empire. Do not attempt to resist me, little humans."
Then a great cloud of green smoke surrounded the King, and he disappeared. Amity Park remained within the Ghost Zone. All fell silent but for the quick, wheezing gasps of one broken Danny Phantom, whose limbs relaxed into the dirt without the presence of the Ghost King.
"…Is he gone?" one of the resistance members whispered fearfully. They slowly began to rise up from their kneeling, arms over their heads in suspicious fear. A few grabbed onto their blasters, knuckles white.
Valerie grimaced as she stood, her knees still stinging from hitting the hard metal of her jet sled. "I think so," she said, looking down at the tracker on her suit. "I'm not picking up his signature anymore. But…" She looked down at Phantom, who was still skewed across the ground. "Looks like this one is staying behind." She lowered her jet sled down to the ground and stepped off, eyes hard with several different emotions.
She and a few others from the resistance crowded about the broken form of Phantom, and they fell into a disturbed silence, caught between shooting him and holding out their hands.
He was lying on his stomach, his red eyes distant and clouded as he gasped for air. He did not look up at them, his cheek resting against the ground, his trembling fingers holding tight to the loose dirt of the ground. Some of the scrapes down his back had cracked open and begun to bleed a sluggish green.
"Maybe we should just put him out of his misery," one of the resistance members said hesitantly. "You know? I mean, damn. Look at him."
No one moved for a minute, staring at Phantom in complete disbelief. The ghost did not react to their presence; he hardly moved.
Then Damon Gray trudged to the front of the crowd and said, "We need to take advantage of the opportunity and destroy him while we can." He handed his daughter a blaster, nodding hard. "If anyone deserves this," he said, "it's you."
Valerie's hand encircled the handle of the weapon. It was heavy and cold. All of the resistance members stared at her in silence, waiting for her to make the move to forever end Phantom.
She raised the blaster and leveled it at the back of Phantom's head. She put her finger on the trigger, steeling her heart.
Then her face twisted. She shoved her combat boot under him and forced him over. "Look at me," she demanded. "I want you to see me do this."
Phantom's entire body gave way with little resistance. His jutting ribs shuddered with breaths as he lay on his back, completely at Valerie's mercy. His eyes were squeezed shut, as if he knew more pain was coming.
"Look at me!" she said, voice raising in irritation—and maybe something else.
Dan Phantom slowly opened his eyes at her command,
She re-aimed the barrel to shoot between his eyes. "I've waited a long time for this," she said, forcing herself to remember every wrong he had ever committed. It wasn't hard. "I don't know what all Pariah Dark did to you, but I'm going to finish it. You hear? I'm going to kill you now."
His clouded eyes struggled to pinpoint the source of Valerie's voice, but he managed to turn his head her way. His gaunt face was so marred with defeat that she hesitated pulling the trigger. No recognition of any kind sparked in his soulless eyes. He did not see her as Valerie Gray, but simply as part of a faceless mass.
For some time, they stayed that way, Valerie aiming the gun, Phantom staring up at the barrel with little understanding.
Valerie's hand began to tremble. Her finger slipped from the trigger. Then, eventually, she lowered the gun with a pouty huff.
She said nothing more for a time, and no one forced her to. She tried to re-aim the gun, only to grimace and then forcibly shove it back into her father's hands.
"I can't do this," she admitted quickly, backing away. She swallowed hard. "I…He's not…himself. It doesn't feel right. Something about this is wrong."
Her father tried to intervene. "Valerie, we might not get another chance like this to—"
"—To what?" she snapped. "Shoot a cripple? Look at him! He's not registering anything. He barely even shows up on my radar." She loosed out a sigh that turned to a groan, and she ran her hands through her ringlet hair. "This is pathetic. I can't do it. Not like this. Not when he can't account for his crimes."
She didn't want to admit that she was weak. That she felt pity, staring into the broken face of Phantom.
And slowly, the leaders of the resistance nodded. It would not be satisfying to kick Phantom while he was down. "But what should we do with him?" one asked hesitantly.
Valerie inhaled a deep, shaky breath. "I don't know—I guess lock him up back at headquarters for now. Pariah Dark said he ripped out Phantom's power core. I don't think he'll give us trouble." She could feel a headache coming on. "Maybe we can interrogate him for information once he…wakes up."
The thought twisted her stomach the wrong way. She didn't want to think about why.
Despite the defeat of Phantom, the green glow of the Ghost Zone reminded them just how deep in danger they truly were.
A/N: I decided this collection had enough Valerie whump, but not enough Dan whump. This was the result. I can't say I've seen any other TUEDan!whump stories in the archive, but this is at least my own first try at it. Let me know if should I continue this thread.
Thanks for reading,
Lightning Streak
Please Review!
