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Miniseries Summary: Dan challenges Pariah Dark for the position of Ghost King and loses badly. As a result, Pariah Dark rips out Dan's power core, cuts out his tongue, and tortures him to make him an example for other enemies. He then throws a broken Dan to the resistance before claiming the human world as part of his empire. Valerie struggles with what to do regarding their strange prisoner and how to stop Pariah Dark before he destroys them all. Hurt!Dan.
Shot Summary: Karma Part 9: Dan, fearful that he is about to lose Valerie, follows her everywhere—right into trouble.
Deliverance
Shot 55: Karma Part 9
After Valerie admitted she could die in battle with Pariah Dark, Dan refused to leave her side. The healing ghost struggled off the infirmary bed to his feet. He held onto her arm tightly and gave a whine when she tried to leave.
"I can't stay here forever," she said, her rough voice soft.
Dan's bruised face tightened in fear. "Hmm," he said again sharply in disagreement.
"I have things to do." She tried to move away.
He moved with her.
Valerie's face twisted in half-amusement and exasperation. "Why won't you let me go? It's just to the other side of the building."
Dan shook his head and tightened his grip on her. The strength in his fingers had grown steadier and more solid, even over the last day. Deep inside of him, his body was beginning to more rapidly heal his wounds, which inspired his increasing disobedience.
Valerie searched his eyes, and she said more forcefully, "I can't take you with me. I have meetings. Paperwork."
"Hmm," he complained, his baritone voice a short rumble. He did not want her to leave him—to disappear into the oblivion, never to return.
"A lot of people don't want to see you here," Valerie said dryly.
A small spark of nervousness lit upon his face, but he pressed his lips together and still gave her an expectant stare. He knew Valerie would allow no harm to come to him.
She was beginning to take the hint that this healing Dan would be more difficult to handle. And yet, oddly enough, his obstinate behavior was out of anxiety for her. "You really want to go with me?"
He nodded.
At that time, Damon Gray was sitting at his desk, signing various papers to approve mobilization of forces into the Ghost Zone. A stress line was growing between his eyes as he signed paper after paper, realizing the full magnitude of what his only daughter was about to do—and just how terribly wrong everything could go.
But at that time, there was a knock at the door. "Come in," he called out distractedly.
"It's me," the muffled voice of Valerie came through. "And I have someone with me—just warning you ahead of time. You're not gonna like it."
He caught onto her rueful tone and immediately began to suspicion the worst. "Who?"
"Promise me you won't shoot."
That confirmed it. His blood pressure began to spike in odd ways as he recalled that for some ungodly reason, Valerie had an affinity for stray animals—which apparently now included Dan Phantom, or whatever remained of him. "Do not bring him into this office," he said shortly. "Take him back to the infirmary and keep him there, right now."
"Dad—"
"—I am serious," he interrupted, his one good eye narrowing as he watched the doorknob turn. "I don't want to see that—"
The door swung open fully with an irritated huff. "—He won't let me go anywhere without him." Valerie was no longer in her battle gear, instead boasting her regular army pants and white tank top, with Dan's hand tightly wrapped around her bare arm. Dan himself still wore his non-threatening flannel shirt and sweatpants, looking for all the world like an innocent, his red eyes darting back and forth in anticipation of an attack. His braid and somewhat hesitant angles of his body made him even less threatening than Damon Gray remembered.
For a time, there was an awkward silence between them all, with Damon gaping at the sight of Dan clinging closely to his daughter.
Then Valerie said, "I wasn't going to get anything done if I didn't bring him along. He'll be on his best behavior, I promise. Right?" She turned her sharp eyes to Dan.
The excursion was perhaps the greatest risk Dan had taken yet as a prisoner under Valerie Gray. But he knew she would not allow harm to come to him, and so he nodded curtly. He could feel her hot blood pump through her veins with how tightly he held onto her—a constant reminder of her living soul.
The father struggled for words at the sight. He'd known the extent to which Dan Phantom had attached to Valerie, but he hadn't known how well the ghost expressed that attachment. "What in the world is going on?" he demanded. "He's touching you."
"He's not happy that I'm going to lead the fight with Pariah Dark," she deadpanned.
Damon narrowed his good eye at the ghost. "That makes two of us," he said slowly. "But he's still touching you."
Dan stared back at him, searching his eyes. This man had obvious distaste for him, and yet this man had also agreed to help him escape if Valerie's plans failed. That made him an enigma—someone who was either terribly honorable or exceptionally interested in maintaining an asset.
The ghost could appreciate either quality.
He turned his red eyes away to instead respectfully focus on the decorations of the room. It was sparse and utilitarian, with only a few hanging metals and various pictures of Valerie. This father of Valerie, whom Dan had maimed permanently, was terribly similar to his daughter. Clean. Military. To the point.
Valerie dragged him along to sit down in the chairs on the side of her father's desk. "He still can't talk," she said.
Dan followed her willingly, although he eyed the chair with a bit of suspicion first, as if he worried it might bite him. With his free hand, he poked it. Then he primly sat down, and he began to stare straight at Damon, red eyes narrowed.
"Oh, he's talking alright," Damon muttered. He narrowed his good eye back at the ghost, not the least bit afraid. "Just in a different way."
Beneath the ledge of the desk, Valerie gently nudged Dan's foot, as if to say, Stop looking so suspicious.
Dan huffed a bit, his eyes sliding to Valerie to acknowledge her warning. Then he grabbed for a pad of paper on the desk and a pen, and he began to write a note to her father. Do not send her into battle. Then he turned the note around for Damon—and Valerie—to see.
Valerie huffed in irritation. "Is this why you wanted to come along with me? To complain to my dad?"
The father stared a bit wide-eyed at the note and its almost calligraphic configuration. He glanced back up at Dan, and this time, his voice carried an edge of surprise. "What makes you think I haven't begged her to stay?"
Valerie cut in, irritated. "I came here because I need the approved weapon's manifest for review."
Dan ignored her by writing a second note. She is too valuable. Send Dash instead.
"He would be dead in a second," Damon deadpanned. "But why do you think my daughter is so valuable, after you spent ten years trying to kill her?"
A green blush began to work its way along the ghost's high cheekbones and then to the tips of his ears. Flustered, he set down the pen and struggled to look Damon in the eye. The reminder of his past before Pariah Dark's intervention still bothered him. He could recall the pleasure from Valerie's pain in only a distant way—and it was enough to make him feel great shame for who he was.
"Dad," Valerie stressed, "the weapon's manifest. You can play tea time with Dan later."
"This isn't tea time," Damon retorted. "This is me attempting to evaluate the sanity in your decision to let him run loose."
"He's not running loose!" She raised her arm, where one of Dan's hand was still firmly attached around her forearm. "He's got this death grip on me. And come on, you know I wouldn't bring him if I thought he could hurt a fly."
Her father huffed and angled his chin to her still-injured hand from where Dan had bitten her. "So what do you count that as?"
"Something that wasn't entirely his fault," she deadpanned. "Now, weapon's manifest. Please?"
The old man gave her an enduring look, knowing that Valerie was as stubborn and one-track-minded as himself. "Alright, alright." Then he pulled out a black, plastic square from a drawer in his desk. The instant he touched it, the technology inside scanned his fingerprint and biometrics. "Read for Valerie Gray, please."
"Valerie Gray – acknowledged," came a robotic voice.
He passed it across the desk. "I'd ask that you take him right back to the infirmary, but I know you'll just ignore my advice."
Valerie grabbed onto the square disc and said, "I'm glad you know me so well."
"He's still dangerous," Damon warned. "He's not some injured, baby deer. And he doesn't look half as weak as you explained in your reports."
The ghost's face twitched as he looked up at the father in puzzlement. With his free hand, he grabbed onto the black cord around his neck, which held Valerie's call button. Did Damon not believe the extent of his injuries from Dash's beating?
Valerie rolled her eyes. "It's called healing, dad. He's getting better. We've expected this."
"And that's exactly why you should be worried. The weapons vault is completely off limits to him, do you understand? I don't want him going in there and getting ideas."
Dan then looked to Valerie, who pressed her lips tightly together. It appeared she could not argue with her father's logic. Eventually, she said, "I can't leave him standing outside by himself because he'll be a target. So…if you don't want him going into the vault, then I need you to watch him."
The father blinked. "What?"
"You heard me," Valerie deadpanned. There seemed to be a glint in her eye, as if she were enjoying her father's discomfort. She trusted him enough not to abuse Dan and figured that perhaps the exposure could soften her father to her perspective. "Come with us." She stood up, which prompted Dan to stand as well. He gave her an uncertain look.
Damon returned a similar glance at them both.
Dan still held on tightly to Valerie's forearm like a security blanket. If she deemed her father an appropriate supervisor, then it meant he was going to have to let go of her sooner or later. But that time hadn't come yet. He eyed the blaster stick out of Damon Gray's desk—something he knew could cause him significant pain.
"I still say it's a bad idea to let him loose." The father stood, grabbing the blaster. When he wrapped his hand around it, the technology began to hum at a low frequency and glowed orange. He held it tightly, as if it were his thread to reality. Then with a raised chin, he turned to Dan and said point-blank, "I don't trust you."
In return, Dan gave a hesitant nod. He could remember, in the back of his mind, shooting a building nearly ten years ago—its bricks falling back on one Damon Gray before Valerie could reach him. He could remember Valerie's cry of horror as she reached out her hand, forgetting about everything else as she watched her father disappear under the brick and mortar in a rain of dust.
"Oops," he could remember saying merrily. "Did I hear his bones crunch?"
Beneath her visor, Valerie's had eyes brightened with tears as she jumped off her sled and landed hard on her knees. Her battle armor strained as she dug her fingers into the bricks, pulling them off. "Oh my god," she'd whispered. "Oh my god. Daddy?" Her voice had broken with hysteria.
Dan had given her a good five seconds, watching as he saw Valerie's heart crack open. For the first time in several months, her diamond-hard exterior melted into the same panic as everyone else. Then, he blurred toward her, materializing behind her. "You shouldn't turn your back on me," he admonished in her ear.
That had been the day Valerie had beaten him out of Amity Park long enough to launch the Shield for the first time. She'd nearly gauged his eye out and shot off his arm.
Now, he found himself staring at Damon Gray, who was missing an eye and an arm.
Dan wondered how Valerie's father even managed to stand his presence.
Farther down the hall, a little girl had wiggled her way into one of the empty rooms, looking in interest for more pens and colored pencils. Nina had used up most of her supplies already for her various pictures to Dan Phantom, but now instead of guilt, she felt motivated by a simple desire to see him again.
The girl hummed, her brown eyes scanning through the office's desks. Her nimble fingers swept across one of the locks on the drawer. It shined silver with a configuration she knew. After a quick glance around, she pulled a small pin from her pocket and began to jockey it into the lock, narrowing her eyes in concentration.
"Well, well," came a nasally, male voice. It was derisive. Angered. Nina flinched at the sound. "If it isn't my little scout."
Coldness dropped into Nina's stomach. She hesitantly looked up as the lights flickered on. Her throat suddenly became dry. "L-lieutenant Dash," she stuttered.
From her perspective, Dash was a very tall man, his muscles rivaling those of what Dan Phantom's had been before his imprisonment. Some of the older girls in the Youth Ward had pictures of Dash hanging in their rooms and swooned over him.
Nina, on the other hand, simply knew the strength of his hands and how much he looked like he wanted to wring her neck.
The man entered the room and shut the door behind him. His purple eyes were dark, his sharp face tight with fury. "Scavenging for art supplies?"
Her hands slipped from the lock, beginning to shake at the tone of his voice. Her face had paled. "Um," she said. "Um—"
"—Save it," he snapped at her, walking toward her. "You little traitor."
The little girl stared up at Dash in a great terror, her brown eyes wide.
He leaned over the desk and grabbed her roughly by her thin arm. She inhaled sharply as he pulled her away from the desk. "You're working on another picture for that bastard, aren't you?" he said. His eyes scanned her, locking onto a white piece of paper in her pocket. He grabbed it and then let go of her, unfolding the paper. The design was an intricate mandala with many colors, but some of the ink looked faded, as if she'd run out. "And there it is."
Nina tried to stutter out a response, knowing that Dash could make things very difficult for her if she opposed him. "C-Commander Gray, she said we need him to—"
"—To what?" he hissed. "Save us, like we need his help?"
He suddenly crushed his hands into the picture, crinkling it up into a ball. Then twisted it into pieces. All of Nina's hard work became irreparably distorted at the sound of various tears.
She began to wilt where she stood, tears bubbling up into her eyes as she reached up. "Please, Lieutenant Dash—please don't—"
"—Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you got me into?" he snapped, his purple eyes on a fire. "I'm trying to save us, and you ruin it by babbling to Valerie."
The little girl was speechless. "She—I didn't! She came to me."
He grabbed onto her hair, and she cried out in pain. "Phantom killed your parents," Dash snarled quietly. "He slaughtered the love of my life. And here you are, betraying us all."
Tears bubbled into her eyes. "I'm just trying to help," she squeaked out in a cry. Her scalp was on fire with the pain of his strong fingers woven tightly into her locks. "P-please, I'm sorry, I'm—"
"—Do you know what we do to traitors here?" he snarled to her. "Execution by firing squad. You're just a kid, but that won't save you if Phantom turns on us."
By now, tears were streaming down her face. Her small body shook like a leaf. "No—no, I'm not—I didn't—!"
Dash cut her off, voice hot. "But you can still make up for what you've done," he said. "I want to know everything you see. Every move he makes. Everything Valerie does. And this time, you're gonna help me end that son of a bitch for good."
Dan walked beside Valerie, hesitantly gazing at the resistance building. All around were fliers of various events within Amity Park—symphonies, basketball games, club nights. It seemed the resistance ran as a military but kept their citizenry as well. Damon walked behind them as some kind of watch guard, apprehensively waiting for Dan to make one wrong move.
The ghost could almost feel the father's searing gaze focus right where he was holding onto Valerie. The woman had grown tired of Dan so tightly gripping her forearm and had grabbed onto his hand instead, leading him along.
His face had flushed green at the intertwining of their fingers, and then he had tightly gripped her hand back, coveting her calloused touch.
But Damon's eye of disproval—Dan could feel it even without turning around.
As they turned the bend, the ghost tried to ignore Damon by testing the limits of his senses. His hearing had begun to stretch beyond the limits of human capabilities once more. If he focused enough, he could hear the voices of various resistance members.
They ranged across the scale of the human voice, some laughing, others soft murmurs of questions—and others…in pain?
His elfin ears perked up.
"P-please," cried a familiar, high-pitched voice. "Stop, you're hurting me."
Instantly, Dan recognized the voice. It was Nina.
A second voice near her snarled, "Dammit, kid, when I give you an order, you follow it. Do you hear me?"
Dash.
For one second, Dan blinked at the sounds—of Nina's cries and Dash's violent demands. And then he exploded into rage. His red eyes lit with fire as he suddenly snatched his hand away from Valerie and launched forward. His white hair began to flicker up at the ends with the force of his emotions.
Valerie's sharp reflexes grabbed onto his sleeve as she cried out in surprise, "What the—?"
Bang. Dan bared his teeth in pain as he felt a powerful blast hit his shoulder, shredding into his clothes and his healing skin. Damon had shot his weapon.
"Stand down, ghost!" Damon demanded, shooting again. "Don't move!"
His sleeve ripped as he jerked forward in pain, feeling another blast pepper his back. It burned straight into his spine, and he snarled suddenly.
He continued to bolt, racing toward the sound of Nina's scared voice. He left behind a bewildered Valerie holding onto his flannel sleeve as she activated her battle suit, as well as an increasingly agitated Damon Gray.
"I told you!" the father's voice echoed in a boom of anger. Dan felt the wind off another blast. "We can't trust him—Everybody, red alert! Red alert! Prisoner is loose!"
Dan's bare feet grew surer with every step as he raced onward to a hallway with several doors, his movements streamlining so quickly that he began to lift off the ground just as he slammed through the door to a certain office. It swung open with enough force to crack the glass.
Inside, Dash had Nina by the hair, the girl's entire body shaking and arms red from where he'd grabbed her too hard. Just as Dash looked up in surprise of the sudden invasion, Dan lunged for him, seeing red. He grabbed onto Dash's collar with steel hands and wrenched him away from Nina. The lieutenant hit the wall in a crunch and cry of pain.
Dan's face shadowed as he bared his teeth again in a growl, his eyes lighting a hot orange as he moved in front of the little girl. He clenched his fist, and his knuckles cracked.
Dash, he had decided, was an insect. He'd disobeyed and insulted Valerie. He'd terrorized Nina. He was worthy of nothing—just like himself.
The lieutenant stumbled away from the wall, holding his shoulder in shock. His gaze was wild. "You."
The ghost's lip curled further in disgust, Dash's voice grating upon his ears.
Dash cracked his neck as he stiffened back up into a prideful stand, his eyes narrowing to slits. "Phantom," he said, this time his voice dropping from surprise to pure fury and hatred. He suddenly lunged forward.
The ghost quickly ducked away from Dash's punch and grabbed onto his arm, wrenching it back as hard as he could.
Dash hissed in pain as he stumbled again, this time taking Dan with him. They both hit the wall hard. He jammed his elbow into Dan's throat, who instinctively pushed Dash off of him, covering his neck as he wheezed.
A sweat had broken out along Dan's brow, his body ill-prepared for combat. His muscles twitched in odd ways, as if he had already used up his reserves.
Nina stood shaking in the corner of the room, brown eyes wide in shock. "Look out!"
Dan looked up, only for Dash to punch him solidly in the eye. His entire body jerked backward as he fell to the floor, an explosion of pain in his skull. Before he knew it, Dash had straddled him, his large hands clasping around his neck.
There was a demonic fury in Dash's body as he stared down, choking him. "You killed her," he rasped. "You killed her. And I'm gonna kill you for it."
Dan's mouth gaped open for air. He grabbed onto Dash's arm, desperately attempting to wrench him away. Then he jammed his thumb into Dash's eye, sinking his nail in hard.
The lieutenant yelped, his hands loosening. Dan took the opportunity to roll them, this time locking his shaking hands over Dash's throat, squeezing hard as he gasped. His fangs glinted in the fluorescent light as he managed a raspy growl, his eyes narrowing to slits as he recalled the pain in Nina's voice—
Familiar, armored fingers grabbed hard at his braid, yanking him back. "—Dammit, I said stop!" Valerie snarled. "Get off of him!"
Dan hissed in pain as he let go of Dash to reach for his pained head. Valerie was dragging him back, inch by inch, by his hair alone. In her other hand was a blaster she trained at both Dan, then Dash, who was still lying on the floor and gasping for air.
At that second, Damon appeared in the doorway, his blaster immediately aimed for Dan. He caught sight of the injured lieutenant on the floor and quickly moved in to stand between the fallen soldier and the half-sane Dan still being held back by Valerie.
Valerie stared at the scene with wide eyes. A kind of horror had come over her that Dan had gone insane again. "Don't move!" she demanded to both of them. "Or I'll shoot!"
By then, Dash was picking himself off the floor. "Of course you'd shoot me," he rasped, tentatively standing. His right eye was a bloody mess, his neck red with an ever-blooming bruise. His voice was hoarse. "Because you love him more, right?"
Damon eyed his daughter. "Get your prisoner under control," he demanded. "Immediately. That is an order."
But it seemed they weren't alone. Valerie's gaze then landed upon the shaking girl in the corner of the room, and her sculpted eyebrows angled further in surprise. "Nina?" she said incredulously. Around the girl were torn pieces of paper—what looked like a drawing.
Nina didn't dare to look up, still hiding her face in her hands in fear. She'd curled up in a ball in the corner. Tears leaked between her fingers as she struggled with something akin to an anxiety attack, her breath coming in short, shallow gasps.
Dan blinked several times as he locked in on the sight of the girl. "Hmm," he complained to Valerie, trying to pull away from her iron grasp. She tightened her grip on him, but in his struggles, her hand slid down his braid and remained on only the tie. He pulled free, his white hair unraveling from its braid as he surged forward to Nina.
Damon immediately shot his weapon, catching the ghost in the shoulder. Dan hissed at him. Valerie cried out, "Stop!"
But instead of attacking Valerie's father, the ghost seemed to allow the slight and returned his focus to Nina. He kneeled down beside the shaking, crying girl in the midst of her torn drawing. His red eyes scanned over her for injuries, then he reached out with a tentative hand. And then he placed it on her shoulder—the small, thin bones of her body like that of a bird's. She flinched at the gentle touch and looked up, her brown eyes a blur of water.
For a second or two, some kind of silent communication passed between them.
And then the little girl launched into him with a sob, squeezing her eyes shut as she wrapped her arms as far as they would go around him. Dan immediately pulled her in, wrapping his strong arms around her body and leaning his head against hers. The way he held her indicated he was acting as a shield against any other kind of harm that could come to her. He ran his long fingers down Nina's hair in the way Valerie had done for him, staring anxiously out at the world around him.
For a few brief seconds, everything was silent but for Nina's hiccupping sobs. She hid her face in Dan's flannel collar, and the little puffs of her breath were hot as she struggled to stop crying. He felt her warm tears soak into his shirt and loose hair.
Damon watched in consternation, his sharp eye missing nothing. He began to notice the girl's disheveled state and the red marks of fingerprints on her arms. He slowly lowered his blaster as he stared at the ghost. "What in god's name," he murmured in suspicion and confusion. He looked to Dash suddenly. "Did he attack her?"
Dash still seemed a bit stunned from his fight, holding his right eye in pain. "What?"
"Phantom—did he attack you or her first?"
The lieutenant stiffened a bit and said defensively, "Me, he attacked me."
"And why?" Damon snapped.
"Because Commander Valerie Gray didn't keep her pet chained," he snarled as he pulled his hand away from his face. The corner of his eye was bleeding. "Probably just getting started on his next massacre."
At the word pet, Dan stared at Dash and hissed, his red eyes darkening into molten blood. His hair seemed to lift on the ends, even as he pulled Nina closer to him protectively.
Valerie demanded to Dan, "Dammit, stop growling."
He sniffed, accepting his place as under Valerie's command. But he remained crouched around Nina as a guard dog would, eyeing Dash with great distrust, a snarl curling his lips to reveal shining fangs. This was the man who had challenged Valerie's authority. And anyone who challenged Valerie was an enemy of his.
And then Valerie glared hard at Dash and said, voice sharp, "We passed a ton of rooms with people, and he didn't do this. Something made him act out."
Dash popped his shoulder with a grimace. "He probably couldn't help it. He's a monster, you know."
"But he didn't attack Nina?"
"No?"
"So then why's she got bruises on her arms?" Valerie demanded. "And why's one of her drawings all torn up?"
Suddenly, Dash's slow mind began to catch up with where Valerie was going. His face flushed. "Your prisoner attacked me," he clarified. "I don't know what's wrong with her—I'm the victim here."
"Oh, sure," Valerie snapped. "Because that explains why he's trying to hide Nina from you?"
Damon looked back and forth between his daughter and the soldier. Something wasn't adding up. They had passed by the cafeteria with people milling about, and all Dan had done was lift his nose in the air in curiosity of the smell of food. Dash's suggestion of sudden bloodlust did not make sense with Dan's current behavior. Even stranger, Dan was continuing to hold onto Nina, who looked for all the world as if she wanted to be held by the ghost.
"Baxter," Damon barked, "get to the infirmary. Have Kwan fix you up, then report to my office for a debrief. Stat."
The younger man gave him a suspicious look, even as he stroked his neck in discomfort. "Yes, sir." He lingered for a bit, fearful that Valerie or Nina would poison her father against him.
"I said now, Baxter."
"Sir." And then, with a stiff walk, he limped out of the room, grumbling under his breath.
With a sigh, Damon turned to Valerie. "Don't leave yet. I'm not done with you."
Nina, by now, had fully accepted the safety of Dan's arms, her cries sated as she closed her eyes in exhaustion against him. Dan stared wearily at Valerie's father, half-expecting the man to shoot him again or worse. He tightened his hold on Nina in an embrace, then pulled away. If he were to draw punishment as a result of his actions, he did not want her to accidentally get hurt.
"Dad," Valerie cut in. Her voice was worried. "I know it looks bad, but—"
"—You said you had a handle on him," her father snapped. "A strong soldier's down for the count, a door is busted, and this room's got blood stains. I'm lucky that's the only damage." Before Valerie could speak again, he added to Dan, "And you."
The ghost swallowed hard. He knew Valerie could defy her father only so much, and if he tried to protect himself, then Damon would shoot him. Perhaps Damon would throw him back into their prison and take away all of his pictures and his clothes. He supposed that would be sufficient punishment.
Instead, the father asked, "Did you attack Dash to protect that girl?"
Dan blinked in surprise at the question.
"Answer me," Damon nodded. "Today."
The ghost then nodded.
"How did you know she was in trouble?"
He tentatively reached out and touched his elfin ear, to say, I could hear it. As he did so, his hand shook. His exhaustion, now that his adrenaline was gone, had begun to take over. His face hurt. His throat hurt. He was kneeling but sat back on the cold tiles because he could no longer hold himself up.
Nina tentatively stood, still shaken. "Lieutenant Dash," she said softly, "tore my drawing and pulled my hair."
Damon holstered his blaster in his belt, mostly so that he could rub his temples. "So it appears," he muttered under his breath. Nina's confession left him with an unsettling coldness—that perhaps Dan Phantom had acted out for good reason. Ever since the death of Paulina Sanchez, Dash had taken to drinking, his grief often affording him the depravity of a drunkard.
The father looked to the ghost, then said, "For all you've done, it makes Dash look like a saint, so don't expect sympathy or a thank you from me." And then he turned away entirely, waving off to Valerie. "You can take it from here. Get him back to someplace isolated, but wait until the coast is clear."
And then the Administrative Commander left in a cloud of turmoil. And Valerie breathed a sigh of relief, along with Dan, who'd been expecting to feel the sting of several shots in punishment.
But then Valerie turned to him, and her voice was a rasp of stressed irritation. "Can you, like, warn me next time? At least?"
Her sharp disapproval was enough to make his face twitch, which then reminded him that he'd been punched, and a small gasp of pain escaped him as he flinched. He placed a hand over his eye, which pulsed with raw nerves. He began to goose-bump again, and then slowly began to shiver as the healing threads of his power code struggled on.
"I'm sorry," Nina whispered quietly, her eyes still brimming with tears. "It's my fault—not his."
Valerie kneeled down beside them both. "No, it's not your fault either," she said. Then she retracted her armored gloves, her hands—one with a bandage from where Dan had bitten her—bare. Dan watched her as she gently reached out to him.
He allowed her to touch his aching face in want for her attention.
She frowned as she gently turned his chin to the side, inspecting his punched eye. "You were just starting to look normal again," she mourned. The skin around his eye was slightly puffed, his usual blue color now blossoming once more into a dark green. His throat carried the characteristic bruises of being choked.
He huffed at her, flushing in embarrassment even as he continued to shiver. He did not need reminders about the dismal state of his physical appearance.
She gave him a warning look, then turned to the little girl, eyeing the bruises on her arms. "Are you going to be ok?"
Nina sniffled a bit and then nodded. She tried to appear slightly more put together than before. A part of her was still dazed that simple pictures could inspire such hatred. She suddenly feared leaving Valerie and Dan—that perhaps everyone else thought the same of her as Dash did.
"You want to come with us?" Valerie asked softly. "I have to grab some ectoplasm for the idiot over here so he'll heal. You could braid his hair again after he eats. I think he'd like that."
The little girl hesitated, then nodded. "Ok," she whispered. For the first time since Dash had confronted her, she managed a weak smile.
A little later, Dan was sitting back in his infirmary room, his bruised face in a twist as he swirled a spoon within the bowl of ectoplasm. He wasn't so injured that he required an IV, so he was stuck with eating it—much to his displeasure.
With Valerie's help, he'd managed to shrug off his now-singed flannel shirt so she could view the damage of her father's various blasts. For as powerful as the weapon had been, it seemed Damon Gray had used a low power level—which Valerie had found significantly more merciful than she'd expected.
Now, Dan sat as a disgruntled mess, the burn marks on his naked shoulders and back slathered with some kind of ointment and bandaged up. He'd just gotten used to being covered again and mourned the loss of his warm, flannel shirt as he shivered. The cellular shreds of his power core were attempting to reactivate to heal him, dropping his core temperature by several degrees.
Standing by the bed was Nina, who was attempting to re-tape her drawing while she waited for Dan to finish eating. In front of him sat Valerie, watching him intently as he ate.
But this time, he felt a tinge of nervousness. He'd been avoiding her gaze in fear that she was angry with him. He did not regret protecting Nina, but he did not want to risk Valerie's ire. Especially not when her possible death was so near.
"Hey," she said. Her usual, snappy rasp was quiet. "You gonna look at me someday?"
His red eyes slid up to her, then flickered back down. He was anticipating a discipline of some kind from her.
"Look, I'm not mad about what you did," she said. "I think Dash deserved it—"
"—he did," cut in the little girl petulantly as she ripped off another piece of tape from the dispenser. By now, the red marks on her arms had become genuine bruises from Dash's fingers.
"—it's just that, you should've told me something was wrong, instead of running off like that." There was still a frazzled edge in Valerie's voice. "You're lucky you didn't get completely shot up. More people could've gotten hurt in all the crossfire."
Dan dared to look up at her now, his face tinging with a green blush of shame. His red eyes searched hers, trying to determine how far he might have fallen again in her eyes. In hindsight, he knew now he'd lost control, and that such loss was unacceptable. It seemed, for all the torture he'd endured, not even Pariah Dark had cured him of his violent, emotional outbursts.
Which meant something was still wrong with him, even when he was trying to do right.
Nina looked up at Valerie. "Is he gonna be in a lot of trouble?" she asked.
Valerie sighed. "I doubt it. Dash attacked you first. Even dad sees that."
Nina still looked wary but nodded, returning to her task of taping her picture. By now, all of the pieces were roughly connected back together. "I don't want him to get hurt because of me. Again."
"I know the feeling," Valerie said. Her lips almost twitched fondly as she watched Dan return to his ectoplasm soup, his flushed face once again twisting in disgust. With every tentative bite, the glow around him began to revitalize, the bruise around his eye and the burns upon his skin healing. Then he shivered again, nearly dropping the bowl.
Valerie reached out quickly to steady him. Her warm hands wrapped around his. "Take it easy, hot shot. Or you're gonna shake the bed across the room."
He looked back up at her. Her warmth began to slip under his skin as always, and he marveled at it. At her.
Do you still accept me? he seemed to ask.
Her eyes softened. Of course, you idiot.
A small smile lit his bruised face. He closing his abused eyes and soaked up her warmth. He was beginning to realize that his troubles, at the very least, meant Valerie would touch him.
He supposed that was not such a bad tradeoff.
A/N: Hey all, I'm so sorry that I was gone from this collection for like, 3 months. ;A; I didn't intend to stay away for so long, but life's gotten a little crazy with work, school, family, moving to another state, and trying to update other stories on my account. If you ever think I'm dead or something, feel free to PM me. I usually respond within a few days.
The good news is, I have several thousand more words written for future chapters of Aftermath, Karma, a sequel to the VALentine thread, and a new (somewhat experimental) human!Dan AU story that I'm really excited about. So I've not forgotten about Dark Gray during my hiatus and intend to try and commit to more of a "once a month" update. Special thanks to Lady Audentium for providing ideas for this latest chapter.
Thank you all so much for your reviews, supports, questions, requests, and ideas. I really appreciate you all and hope that you're still with me after all these months, haha.
Please review and let me know your thoughts on this latest chapter. Thanks!
