Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom.

Note (7/18/2020): Yes! I'm glad I caught your interest with that little cliff hanger in the last chapter! I was a bit worried about some of the ideas I plan to use so I asked my best friend and former beta-reader for a second opinion and they seemed to approve so now you get to see some of that in action! Mind you, there's a lot of things to keep in mind from my theories about Valerie and her battle suit so if you haven't read them I'd recommend checking those out over on my tumblr account "The Soul's Pulse."

Ah and just a heads up, this chapter has a LOT of dialogue explaining a few important details so sorry if it gets a bit confusing. I tried to simplify my research as much as possible, but there's still a lot to keep in mind for later in the story. I hope you enjoy the twist though either way!

Chapter 8: Well, If You Want To Get All Technical...

Valerie's POV

"Dad? DAD! Would you please stop for a second?" I yelled a bit more hysterically than I meant to since he was too busy to acknowledge me at first after answering my call out of habit.

The higher pitch of my voice is what finally caught his attention because he instantly dropped whatever he was doing to actually look at the video screen and blinked, "Valerie? What's wrong? You sound-wait, are you using a computer right now?"

"No, I...actually before I say anything will you promise not to get mad?" I cringed then admitted, "See, I've been dealing with a weird problem all day where I've been zapping almost everything I touch with static electricity. And I mean everything from my locker to the fork I packed to eat lunch today. So um, since I was worried it had to do with my battle suit I...kinda just summoned it. That's how I called you. I'm actually wearing it again right now and using my communicator."

"What!? Valerie we still don't know what that suit is capable of or the extent of the damage! What if it self-destructs like the last one?!" my dad exclaimed.

Ignoring the fact that it sounded like he knew something I didn't I continued, "Dad, relax it's not gonna explode. If it's working well enough for me to summon at all I seriously doubt it. Besides, that's not what we should be worrying about right now. Don't you get it?

"This communicator was totally busted during my fight with Danny and his future evil self so how come it's suddenly working again? I was barely able to even send you an SOS with it last time! And that's not all, a bunch of other parts are fixed too, on their own, and I have no idea how that's possible since I haven't activated it since then! There's still some damaged parts but-OW!"

I hissed when I felt a sharp pain in my leg when the suit zapped me and then watched in amazement as it...slowly began knitting the hole together right before my eyes! Was this really why I've been feeling tingly in my hands all day? The suit was repairing itself and I could...feel it?

My dad was still talking to me but I was too out of it to really register any of it so I told him offhandedly, "Dad, I'm going to try something and if it works I'll be there in a few minutes."

Without waiting for an answer I ended the call by closing my communicator and reached for that familiar feeling to summon my hoverboard even though it SHOULD be nothing but scrap metal. And sure enough, as soon as I jumped up into the air a few seconds later there it was. I couldn't believe my eyes because I knew for a fact that it was completely destroyed during my battle with Danny! It shouldn't be here at all!

On closer inspection, I noticed there were some incomplete sections around the edges, but just like the big hole in the leg of my battle suit those were slowly fusing back together with some kind of electric pink energy. Either way, when I locked my feet in place as usual it felt steady enough to fly on so ignoring everything else I flew up into the air and b-lined for Axion Labs as fast as I dared to go without a helmet. My left leg still felt a bit sore were I was zapped by an actual volt of electricity but, for some reason being back in my battle suit again felt oddly liberating.

I didn't think it would ever feel the same wearing it honestly. I thought I would have felt awkward putting it on again knowing the actual history behind it since Vlad made it just for me to use against Danny, but instead, it felt like a second skin. Almost like it was part of me and I was relieved it was working again...

At least, working for the most part.

From what I could tell that weird feeling from earlier had migrated to my legs which is kind of unnerving given how I was so busy trying to keep myself steady enough to control my hoverboard and fly it in a straight line. I was nearly there when it suddenly started to flicker out of existence and I immediately flew down even lower so I wouldn't crash nearly as hard to the ground since there was no telling when it was going to vanish. Thankfully I made it to the employee's entrance before my board disappeared underneath me and I fell the last few feet.

And when I did I performed a clumsy summer-salt at the last second to soften the impact that ended with me tripping over my own feet and landing on my hands and knees. The crash rattled my teeth for sure but otherwise I wasn't hurt so with a sigh of relief I began pushing myself up when-

"Valerie!" Looking up I saw my dad rushing towards me while Vlad was standing behind him in the doorway wearing a deep frown and holding Danny back when he tried to help out too.

Seeing that really pissed me off for some reason so I glared venomously at Vlad, feeling a sudden rush of anger surge through me that caught me off guard and when my dad saw that look on my face he hesitated for a split second before finally reaching me. My eyes were still locked on Vlad and I felt this pure loathing for the man unlike anything I ever felt before and I had to resist the urge to attack him on sight. And it wasn't until my dad physically stood in my line of sight, blocking my view of Vlad that I snapped out of it.

Helping me off the ground my dad scolded, "Valerie, what on earth were you thinking? Do you have ANY idea how dangerous flying here on that unstable device could have been? What if you crashed along the way? You could have been killed!"

"It wasn't like I was flying THAT high, I'm not stupid..." I grumbled stubbornly under my breath, not meeting his gaze. "Besides, it would have taken too long for you to drive to school to get me and I panicked a little so...here I am."

"Don't you EVER scare me like that again," my dad growled in his booming no-nonsense voice before hugging me tightly and ignoring the fact that his boss was watching us. That's when it hit me that Danny was watching us too so I blushed bright red and pushed my dad away, insisting I was fine even though that was a lie and I was pretty sore from that rough landing...

Clearing my throat once I pried my dad off I asked, "Sorry for dropping in so suddenly like that, but since I'm already here can we please get this over with? Something weird is happening and I-"

Finally approaching us at a more casual pace with Danny practically glued to his side by the firm grip on his shoulder, Vlad raised his other hand to cut me off and said bluntly, "There's no need to point fingers, my dear, I already told you I will answer what questions I can and I shall endeavor to do so. But first I believe we need to address a more immediate issue. If you would be so kind, I insist that you dismiss your suit again for the time being before it causes any further discomfort while we discuss this matter in more detail. Especially if, as you say, it is 'acting strangely.'"

I opened my mouth to argue with him but then decided against it and reluctantly deactivated the suit again, and when I did, I shuttered because I hated the sudden feeling of being exposed and vulnerable without the suit's protection around Vlad knowing how powerful he is. And given how cold and indifferently Vlad was looking at me, he wasn't in the mood to deal with my bad attitude today, not even in front of Danny. So if I was hoping to get any special treatment even though he was going to tell us more about my suit as a sign of good faith or whatever, I was out of luck this time.

All I care about now is getting some answers before anything else weird happens...

Vlad's POV

Once Damon finished tending to the minor scraps on his daughter's hands and knees from that rather unceremonious crash landing, albeit with a fair bit of resistance on her part until he threatened to ground her for what happened earlier, we were finally able to address the reason I asked them to come here in the first place. Although in Valerie's defense I suppose I can understand why my ominous warning the day before made it difficult for her to 'keep her cool' in this situation as the kids say.

Truthfully it was never my intention to delay Damon for as long as I did today, however, from a business standpoint given what we were currently in the middle of upgrading the security of Axion Labs it was unavoidable I'm afraid. And on a side note I suppose I did get a little carried away while giving Daniel a tour of the laboratory behind the scenes because I was by no means idly passing through each division.

It was a good opportunity for me to show Daniel exactly what it was like to be in charge of such an important business, to be a leader, and I'll admit I relished the opportunity to show off in front of my little badger for the first time in months with no reservations about keeping our connection a secret from the public. My position demanded a certain level of fear and respect because my workers knew for a fact that they could be replaced at any time or blacklisted should they displease me severely enough. And yet I am also well-known to recognize extraordinary talent and good work when I see it which is often rewarded in a much higher payroll which is normally motivation enough to keep everyone in line...

But I digress.

To put it simply I was making the most of Damon's time to hopefully get the majority of the upgrades done as quickly and efficiently as possible before leaving most of the day to day affairs in his capable hands. I've already promoted him to executive supervisor so from now it will be his job on to directly oversee Daniel's parents and their work as well as direct Axion's efforts to develop what will hopefully one day become a full-scale ghost shield to encompass the entirety of Amity Park so our elite group of hunters would no longer be required.

As for his daughter becoming a special member of this ghost fighting team, well, that's what we were here to discuss although I must say I wasn't expecting Valerie to do something so reckless as activating her suit prematurely to fly all the way here straight from Casper High. I still needed to confirm a few details with Daniel and Valerie before sharing my theories but given what she told her father after that crash landing, I strongly believe my observations are correct.

And I must say, the more scientific part of me was eager to uncover the potential behind this unexpected development while the other was just as eager to give them this information and leave the rest up to Valerie and her father to deal with. I suppose either way I would soon find out whether or not we would be pulling the plug so to speak on Valerie's ghost hunting for her own safety, or if this would open new doors for the young ghost huntress and give her a chance to change in more ways than one.

"I see. And you've never experienced this strange phenomenon before correct?" I asked in an even tone while performing a few tests with her father's permission.

"I already told you! This is the first time my suit has ever been this badly damaged since I've never faced Danny at full power before let alone that Dan creep. The only other time my suit was damaged anywhere near this bad was after I saved you and Danny from the Ghost King and the Fright Knight. But I didn't feel anything weird back then with the old battle suit," Valerie answered with a slightly exasperated tone.

Glancing at Daniel, who seemed eager to say his piece to help Valerie escape from my seemingly endless stream of questions, I sighed and gave the lab's supercomputer the command to analyze the data I just collected not unlike when I was attempting to find the best way to treat Daniel's bullet wound. Then, while waiting for that, I began putting the rest of the testing equipment we had used away as I explained, "There's no need to get defensive my dear. I have a valid reason for asking all of this. But while we're on the subject there are a few things I would like to make perfectly clear..."

Resting my hands behind my back I adopted an air of professionalism once more and began evenly, "As you already know Valerie, I personally designed your previous battle suit to be durable to keep you as protected as humanly possible and provide ease of movement in combat. That particular skill set as I understand it was originally meant to only be used for self-defense since Damon never wanted you to find yourself defenseless should a situation arise at work. Although to be fair I highly doubt Damon ever imagined you would end up adapting those skills for ghost hunting of all things but moving on-"

Turning around to face both teenagers, I continued, "Back then, it was my intention to use the rivalry I discovered by chance growing between you and Daniel as Danny Phantom not only as a means to test him but to collect invaluable data on him and to keep him occupied so he was oblivious to my other plans. I'll leave it at that. As such what I am about to tell you is entirely on a need-to-know basis. In exchange, I will need both of you to fill in some gaps for me by answering a few simple questions. Although given what happened today it would seem I was correct in assuming there is more to your 'upgrade' than I originally accounted for when designing it."

"Vlad, is this really necessary?" Daniel asked, looking up at me, "There's no point in speculating when I can just tell you what happened and spare us all the headache. Besides, we both know you preoccupied anyway around that time so I doubt you even cared what she was up to anymore once you already got what you wanted. Let's just focus on the real issue here because she's right, whatever is going on with her battle suit isn't normal because it shouldn't be affecting her physically. Valerie's not half-ghost like we are."

Realizing he was indirectly eluding to my cloning experiments I inwardly cringed since Daniel made a valid point. Once I collected the information I wanted I stopped paying as close attention to Valerie after that and left her to her own devices. And then there was also the incident with Jasmine to consider when she supposedly ran away from home and declared that she wanted to live with me.

At the time, while torn between my feelings of outrage at being tricked in such a way and hurt by her betrayal so as a result, I devoted the rest of my time and energy into putting the information Valerie had gathered for me on Daniel's physiology to good use by moving forward with my cloning experiments. Therefore any footage I uploaded from Valerie's battle suit prior to this upgrade more than sufficed and gave me everything I needed aside from procuring a mid-morph DNA sample from Daniel. Therefore Daniel was correct in assuming I effectively ignored Valerie afterwards once she fulfilled that purpose.

Taking advantage of my momentary lapse in focus as I reminisced about the mistakes of the past, I was pulled back to the present when Daniel began his story and much to my embarrassment I had to ask him to start from the beginning again. And despite the delicate subject matter, it did not escape my notice when Valerie gave me this vindictive little smirk and I childishly rolled my eyes at her.

Well, she wouldn't be laughing for long now that Valerie knows Daniel is also Danny Phantom and they attacked someone who was trying earnestly to help them so it was bound to put her in an awkward position. And unfortunately, it wasn't long before Daniel found himself feeling a tad embarrassed himself while sharing the truth behind their brief dating experience since Technus apparently used his powers to purposefully push them both closer together by creating romantic settings and such meant only for them. But while everything that happened was too good to be true, Daniel confessed that regardless of that he enjoyed their time together.

Thankfully Damon interrupted before they could get too lost in memory lane as well and politely pointed out, "Ehem, I think we get the picture, Danny. Now, what were you saying about Valerie's upgrades...? And that ghost, Technus was it? He's the ghost you told us you were trying to stop that day in the lab, correct?"

Daniel nodded then looked to me helplessly and asked, "Yeah that's right. I know everything happened kinda fast for all of us, but you know what they say about seeing is believing so Vlad, do you think you could pull up the security tapes? Assuming Technus didn't mess up the recordings or something."

"Of course Daniel. I'll see what I can do," I nodded and logged into the lab's main database.

Thankfully while Technus had gained control over more of Axion's facilities than I care to admit, I'm glad he did not have the foresight to erase the evidence of his incursion so everything was still present and accounted for. Now we could closely examine the exact circumstances behind Valerie's upgrade with our own eyes. Just as Daniel pointed out though, everything happened very quickly and there was only video footage up until Valerie flew off into space to pursue Daniel since the original satellite in question had been destroyed. As such there was no footage from their battle in space for us to recover.

The fact that they had taken their battle out to the stars did pique my curiosity though so I turned to Valerie and mused with a raised eyebrow, "I can't believe you actually flew after Daniel into space without considering the dangers of doing so without knowing the full extent of the suit's abilities. My dear girl that was a very foolish thing to do because while I did install a feature to provide you with oxygen in the event that you ever found yourself battling a ghost or even Daniel himself underwater, your original suit was not designed to withstand the vacuum of space."

"Well no matter," I shrugged nonchalantly, "At least this proves that I was correct in thinking Technus WAS somehow involved. And this actually leads perfectly into why I believe you are displaying these odd symptoms."

Nodding to myself I turned to face the screen again and with one hand I manually rewound it to the instant Valerie was hit with that beam of light and explained, "It would seem that I wasn't the only one who saw you as a useful tool because Technus did something that ultimately has the potential of being turned against him if we can prevent him from undoing it. Observe."

After zooming in and enhancing the frozen image, as expected the three of them were completely shocked to discover that the ray they saw that day had in fact not been aimed at her battle suit at all, but rather Valerie herself. As such I explained that it could only mean one thing; since Technus used his powers on Valerie directly the only logical conclusion is that he granted her some of his power to manipulate technology, but only to the extent of her battle suit...

That's why her body was self-generating more electricity than your typical person normally does. In Valerie's case its not unlike when the body instinctively produces more white blood cells to help heal a wound and why Daniel and I generate our own ecto-energy to do very much the same thing to heal wounds overnight. However, since Valerie is not a hybrid like Daniel and I, her suit was only able to gradually repair itself over time by substituting ecto-energy with the excess electricity her body was now producing instead.

Displaying the results of the blood tests I took from her earlier to help prove my point I continued explaining slowly so Daniel and Valerie could follow along, "As you can see here, these energy readings prove that Valerie has essentially been given the power to generate enough electric energy to serve the same purpose as our ecto-energy to re-energize and or repairing her battle suit as needed. And when we look here at her brain waves you can see that she also as the power to telepathically summon or dismiss her battle suit at will along with a variety of weapons and her hoverboard. However, since the damage was so extensive this time it seems Valerie was unconsciously overcompensating and the resulting discharge is the reason why she built up so much of a static charge whenever she touched anything metal.

"To put it simply, while my original design had similar features such as the ability to repair itself through the power of nanobot technology and being activated with only a thought through the use of neural transmitters, THIS battle suit uses Valerie herself as a conduit and it forms around her much like my own uniform and Daniel's hazmat suit. Now before any of you panic, no, Valerie has not been given ghost powers..."

Turning to face them directly I concluded, "This upgrade has to all extents and purposes given her powers that are at least equivalent to what you might see in a futuristic Hollywood film where someone can communicate with their minds or set fire to something through the use of psychic powers or advanced technology. But again, this only pertains to her battle suit and gives Valerie greater control over it than the previous methods I used to accomplish most of this before. As such apart from occasionally building up more static than usual she should not be able to summon a bolt of lightning from her hands so there is nothing to be concerned about."

"Nothing to be concer-what?! Are you kidding me?!" Valerie blurted out, "Don't tell me this is all supposed to be normal! Then how do you explain why I wanted to rip your head off a second ago, huh? I know that's not just because I was freaking out and hate your guts. That ghost must've infected me or-"

Doing the smart thing and cutting herself off when what she said came across and incredibly insensitive, Valerie asked more timidly, "So what are we supposed to do now?"

Shutting down the computer before looking down at her again, seeing the fear and uncertainty in her eyes that almost made me feel sympathetic I finally replied with a knowing smile, "That depends on who you want to be. Do you want to go back to just being Valerie Gray? Or do you wish to continue helping Amity Park as the 'Red Huntress?' There is no wrong answer my dear because whichever you decide to be, Danny Phantom is no longer your priority either as a target or a rival and you must decide what your mission in life is meant to be, and what your future holds."