Chapter 3: Bring Me Home
..
I close my eyes and count to ten
The seconds turn to years and slowly
I've been recognizing everything
To an adolescent mind
It's so dark here
..
One second Valerie was busy being bored out of her mind in Algebra I, the next fire was raining from the sky down on Casper High. No one had any warning. Even Valerie who had a ghost tracker around her wrist barely got a ping before the firestorm suddenly hit.
She rocketed up the stairs on her hover board to get to the second floor. She could have gotten out almost immediately, her third period Algebra class being held on the ground floor, but she had to make sure all the kids on the second floor got out.
As soon as she flew past the second flight, a burning beam fell and blocked the stairs. She cursed. Well, there was no turning back now. Even if she wanted to.
As she entered the second floor hall proper, she noticed a huge burning hole in the roof, and various scraps of burning debris laying on the linoleum floor, mostly insulation and splintered wood.
A few of the sprinklers that were still operational sprayed water over the vermilion flames futility. Nothing seemed to stop the creep of the odd colored fire, Valerie guessed because it was probably supernatural by nature.
She really didn't have time to question that right now, however. She was sure she heard voices in one of the rooms.
She moved to inspect the voices when suddenly she felt hands gripping her under her shoulders. She was pulled out through the roof, phased through the skeletal remains of it. The cold pins and needles momentarily stole her breath, but she quickly found it again to scream as she felt the hands retract from underneath her arms.
Then the hands caught her again, nearly snapping her neck with the sudden halt. A young male voice chuckled darkly just above her. Her eyes widened. She knew that voice.
Then he let go of her again and caught her again, playing with her almost like a cat with a hapless little bird. Finally, he dropped her about ten feet off the ground and didn't make a move to catch her again. She braced herself, readying to try to minimize the impact, but even knowing that it would be a bad landing, she wasn't quite ready for the sudden, blinding pain that tore through her ankle and up her shin.
She let out a short cry and sprawled on the ground. She curled up on her side, gritted her teeth, and gripped her ankle.
"Oh, no, Valerie! Did you hurt yourself?" said Phantom mockingly.
She lifted her head and almost gasped when she saw him. He still had the same black and white theme he always wore, but almost everything else about him was different. His once almost human like complexion had become a sickly blue-green color, departing completely from humanity, and his eyes, once emerald green were now red like hot coals. His hair was still the same color, snowy white, but it moved and flickered like fire.
He smiled at her with a malicious grin, showing off sharp canines. "Valerie, you look like you've seen a ghost," he said with a dangerous tone in his voice. At least he had the same bad jokes.
"You—What happened to you?" Valerie stuttered. "You did this... You actually..."
"I actually what? Did something bad for once?" he said mockingly. "You thought I was some evil ghost menace before, but you had no idea what that even meant. I really was trying to help then, but that's over—"
Her hand suddenly shot to her holster drawing a gun. Phantom just as quickly blasted it out of her hand. She yelped and drew her burned hand close to her. He still held up his hand, glowing with energy ready to fire at her. He could kill her right then and there, but she wouldn't cower on the ground. She glared, her eyes daring him to make a move even as her heart beat a manic rhythm.
There was a moment when she thought he really would kill her. He still held the red fire in his hand aimed at her, his face a mask of hate. He looked like he was warring internally with himself. Then suddenly his face split into an almost sheepish looking smile. He let out a quiet chuckle and let the red energy disperse.
Running a hand through his fiery hair, he said, "I got monologuing didn't I? How cliché. Anyway, I gotta get going. I have a town to destroy."
He shot into the sky and disappeared. It took a second for Valerie to believe he was actually gone before she let herself take a breath. Her muscles began to tremble with the drain of adrenaline from her system. The ache up her leg intensified.
She heard the screech of sirens, and she began to feel hopeful that they would reach the school in time. But then a second later, she heard the boom of an explosion and the siren going quiet.
Tears sprung to her eyes. "What can I do? What am I going to do?" she said to herself through gritted teeth.
No, screw that. No crying. No complaining—only doing.
She blinked the tears out of her eyes and reached up to wipe them away only to be reminded that, oh yeah, she was wearing a mask. She spat out a curse and ripped it off.
She took another breath, and, steeling herself, she stood up. She had to bite her lip to keep herself from yelling. It was broken. Maybe not bad broken, but something was definitely broken.
She heard the quiet rumble of jets behind her and found her hover board waiting for her. She glared at the thing as if it could be intimidated by her look. "Oh, so now you show up?" She grumbled, the strain of pain in her voice. It was supposed to sense when she fell off the board, but maybe the AI wasn't smart enough to figure out what to do if a ghost grabbed her and lifted her off it.
"There needs to be a program for that," she mumbled to herself.
...
They stepped through the portal, and just as Clockwork said, she was back in her father's hospital room, time resumed.
As she went to her father's bedside she watched Dan out of the corner of her eye. He disregarded her and walked to the window, now dark as the night outside.
She let the tension out of her shoulders and focused on her dad. He still slept peacefully. She envied him a little bit, especially now that she had to babysit a destructive ghost. She retucked the sheets around him just to have something to do with her hands.
"There you go, Dad," she murmured mostly to herself.
A moment of silence lapsed until Dan said, "I look like a fucking Sailor Moon character."
Valerie shot him a frown. But now that he mentioned it she could see it, especially with the small red stone in the center of it. Her frown softened a bit and she snorted. "Sure, you even have a magical girl transformation and everything."
She looked back down at her father ignoring the furious look Dan sent her.
"I'm not going be the one to explain why I'm wearing a fucking tiara, if someone asks," he ground out.
She rolled her eyes. "Nobody'll see it. Clockwork said they're only visible to the wearers and other ghosts."
Dan was quiet for a moment then snorted. "Convenient."
"I think you have bigger problems than people looking at you funny, anyway," she said darkly.
"Like what? You using me as a puppet? Yeah, I already know about that."
Her jaw locked. She looked up at him with a livid glare. "No. You did this—" she spat and made a pointed nod towards her comatose father "—to just about the only person I have left."
He glanced at her dad in the hospital bed. "If it's any consolation, I wasn't aiming for him," he said dryly.
Her tone was cold and clipped as she said, "If he dies, I will kill you, no matter what Clockwork wants."
Which Clockwork probably knew, so that either meant that her dad would make it, or he didn't really care if Dan lived or not.
"I think I might know of a way to at least keep him alive," Dan said.
She raised an eyebrow. "How?"
"When a ghost overshadows a person, they can keep the human alive even when the host is otherwise fatally wounded," Dan said neutrally.
Valerie's eyes widened. "I'm not going to let you possess my father!" she hissed.
Dan rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. It's not like I'm going to make your father jump out of bed and do a little jig—not like you would let me do that anyway." He said the afterthought under his breath a little begrudgingly, like he would do such a thing if he could. "I'll just make a doppelgänger and let it, I don't know, keep him together until he heals enough on his own, or something."
Valerie glanced down at her dad. She had read about some interesting tests the Fentons had done with ectoplasm on living cells that came to light after they were gone. The results were split about fifty-fifty. In some cases the ectoplasm would kill the cells, but other times they would encourage regeneration as radical as growing entire limbs back on lab mice. Valerie probably should have known then that Danny was Phantom, but regardless—
The Militia's research and development department tried to recreate the results which was fairly simple, but there was no way to reliably implement the data. The project was scrapped of course. But it was scientific proof of beneficial interactions with ectoplasm and living organisms. And Valerie had never heard of someone dying of a possession, or being "overshadowed," directly.
"Well, I'm waiting," Dan said impatiently.
"I'm thinking," she shot back.
If she was being realistic, she knew that her dad's chances of survival were slim. She heard the whispers around the hospital, and saw the pitying looks some of the doctors and nurses gave her. And if he did recover it might not be in anyway meaningful.
She sighed and turned back to Dan. "Are you sure this will work?"
He shrugged. "I'm reasonably sure. I've seen overshadowed people do things that would kill them otherwise. And when I was still a half ghost I know I should have died many times if I were still completely human." He suddenly adopted a curious look on his face. "I suppose that presents an interesting relationship between ectoplasm and life energy."
Valerie ignored him and asked, "Why would you want to help me in the first place?"
Dan gave her a flat look. "Well, I don't really fancy the idea of being reduced to a smoldering pile of goo."
She drew in a deep breath. "Alright, but you don't control him at all. You're just a backseat passenger, you got it? And if he wakes up, you tell me immediately."
He gave her a lopsided, hollow smile, and said snidely, "Of course, mistress."
A shadow pealed off him and flew towards her father. It settled over his prone form before disappearing. Her father didn't stir.
"There, it's done."
She watched her dad closely for a moment, hardly daring to breath. She didn't know what she expected, but somehow she couldn't accept that Dan would help her father unconditionally.
"What, do you expect him to sit up and yell 'boo'?"
She rounded on Dan with a glare. She was about to make a retort when the nurse from earlier walked in.
"I'm sorry, but I really do need you to—" she started to say but stopped when she saw Dan. "You're not supposed to be in here, sir. It's family members only. How did you even get in here?"
"Sorry, we'll be going now," Valerie said, before Dan could speak up. "Just let me say goodbye to my dad."
The nurse gave a curt nod before stepping back out of the room.
Valerie leaned down and placed a kiss on her father's forehead. "See you later, Dad," she said quietly before straightening.
She turned back to Dan. "Let's go."
Only a few paces out of the room, Dan said from beside her, "You know, it's kind of like you kissed me too."
She sent him a scowl. "You better watch it."
"Valerie!" a familiar voice suddenly said behind them. She cringed and turned around to see Kwan, white coat over his shoulders, walking down the hall towards her. "Were you just visiting your father?"
"Yeah, I was," she said tightly.
He gave her a sympathetic look. "I heard you were here, and I was coming down to talk with you. Sorry again about your dad, but he does seem to be doing a little better. And we're doing all we can to keep him comfortable."
She lowered her gaze and nodded. "Yeah, I know he's in good hands with you here." She glanced up and gave him a small halfhearted smile.
Kwan returned her smile but then he looked to her left at Dan, who watched the exchange with a guarded expression. "Uh, hello," Kwan said in his usual friendly manner. "I don't think we've met."
"I'm...an old friend of Valerie's," he supplied, when Valerie herself didn't answer immediately.
"Oh, really? You didn't go to our high school, did you? What's your name? I'm Dr. Kwan Lee, by the way." Kwan held out his hand amicably.
Dan hesitated a second before taking the proffered appendage. "It's...Dean, and I only went to Casper Hight for the first half of Freshman year. I don't blame you for not remembering me."
"Oh, your hand's really cold," Kwan commented as he took his hand back.
"Well, you know what they say, cold hands warm heart," Dan said.
Valerie scoffed loudly. Kwan shot her a confused glance before directing his attention back to Dan. He tilted his head and frowned with genuine curiosity. "So, Dean Huh? Did your family move out of town—I mean are you from out of town? Since, well, the dome came down and Phantom disappeared we've been getting relief efforts from outside."
"Yeah, I am. I moved when things started getting weird."
Kwan chuckled a little nervously. "Smart."
"Uh, anyway," Valerie said cutting in, "we should get going. I need to take...Dean to the compound and get him settled, then I have to go do a patrol."
Kwan gave a small worried frown. "Okay, take care of yourself though. Don't run yourself ragged, you know?"
She shook her head and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about me. I've suffered worse."
He still looked unsure, but he gave her a small nod. "Alright, see you."
"See you," Valerie replied and turned, Dan following.
"Dean? Really?" she hissed once they were out of earshot.
"It was on the spot," he protested. "Besides, if you mess up, it'll be easier to recover from. Not like you would've done any better, anyway."
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"
"I told you a long time ago to not call me Danny Phantom anymore, and you just started calling me 'Dan'. Real original with that one, Valerie dear."
"That was mostly just to piss you off," Valerie said as they got to the elevators and she pressed the down button.
She leaned against the wall to wait for the elevator and aimed a pointed look at Dan. "Also, I think it's sort of weird that you claim you're still...him, and yet you don't even want to be referred to by the same name."
He shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. "Maybe I just thought 'Danny' was too childish."
"Anyway," he said suddenly changing the subject, "did you and Kwan get back together?"
Valerie narrowed her eyes. "Not that it's any of your fucking business, but yes. We're not still together, though," she spat.
She unconsciously pressed against the wall further and hunched her shoulders. Her and Kwan's past relationship wasn't something she liked to think about, and of course Dan had to bring it up. They had gotten back together for a short while a year or so after the Shield went up. She regretted that like she regretted most things—not that she didn't like Kwan, but she had to break up with him all over again when Phantom and the rest of the ghosts took up all of her time. She couldn't give him the time he deserved, and it was very likely that she would die out on the front line protecting small fringe towns from Phantom.
"Why the hell do you want to know anyway?"
He shrugged. "He just seemed awfully friendly—really, I just wanna know how things have changed since I've been gone." He paused for a second as the elevator arrived and a woman stepped out.
"What's this compound, by the way? It sounds...imposing."
She rolled her eyes and stepped into the elevator, Dan following.
"It's just the Militia headquarters," Valerie said as she pressed the button for the first floor. "It's where we keep recruits while they're on duty. Some of the people that lost their homes are also staying there for now." She sent him a dark look. "But there's still plenty of room in the sleeping quarters. It'll be easy to find you a place to stay."
He pouted dramatically. "Aww, we're sleeping in separate rooms? I really thought you'd make me sleep on the ground beside your bed or something. I had my heart set on it, in fact."
She made a disgusted sound. "You're fucked up."
"So? What's knew?"
"Do you even sleep? You're a ghost."
"Sometimes—usually when I'm bored."
Valerie glared. "I thought you destroyed things when you're bored."
"That too, but it gets old after a while. You tear down a building, people scream," he shrugged nonchalantly, making Valerie's blood boil, "it's the same every time. And the only thing I really wanted to destroy was this stupid town."
"Tell that to the twenty mile ring of destruction outside of Amity," Valerie spat. "People had to evacuate all the way in Springfield."
He let out a mocking chuckle and turned to her with a dangerous look in his eyes and a too-wide grin showing sharp canines. "I didn't have to stop there." He said in a patronizing tone, as if explaining something to a toddler. "I've done the math. I could have destroyed everything. Nobody could have stopped me. In fact, the world probably would have torn itself apart trying to. Instead, they were happy to sacrifice this town and the ones around it keep me quarantined."
She glared with a look of cold hate. "What do you want?" she said frigidly. "A medal for not being as bad as you could have? For not destroying the whole world?"
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, Valerie, don't be so melodramatic. I'm simply laying out the facts here."
She shook her head and turned away from him, looking up at the floor numbers just to look at something other than him. She still felt hot with anger, but she decided it would be best to simply cut off the conversation. If it went on any longer, she might actually kill him right then and there in the elevator.
...
As they got down to street level she hailed a cab.
"Don't you have a car?" Dan grumbled as the taxi pulled up to the sidewalk.
"Nope, never learned how to dive. Never had to. Mostly just used my hover board to get around," she said as she opened the cab door.
"Well, how about you call up your hover board, and I race you to the compound."
She glared up at him. "Get in the cab."
He gave her a dirty look before being forced to the other side of the car. He opened the door, got in, and slammed the door shut again with a huff.
Even as Valerie sent him a triumphant smirk, she felt a pinch of guilt. She didn't like treating him like a puppet, even if he deserved worse. It felt sick and wrong—like something he would do.
"Hey, would you mind not slamming my door, huh, wise guy?" the cab driver said in a comically thick Chicagoan accent, twisting around in his seat to shoot a glare at Dan.
His eyes then slid over to Valerie and widened. "Oh, my—you're Colonel Gray, the Red Huntress herself! Can I just say it is an honor to have you in my cab."
Valerie gave him a tight smile. "Yeah, thanks, uh, I just need you to drive us to the Militia compound."
"Sure, sure thing, Colonel. Name's Barry, by the way," he said, tapping his ID pinned to the dashboard.
He pulled away from the curb and started to drive.
"Wow, 'colonel', is that official?" Dan said wryly.
"No," she snapped quietly, "not now, but with the dome up... Well, the Militia was the most official thing we had, and being colonel along with it."
He hummed to himself in thought. "So if you're a colonel, is there a general?"
"My dad."
Dan raised an eyebrow. "What gave him that station?"
She shrugged. "He pretty much formed the Militia, helped design the Shield and most of my ghost weapons. He was the backbone of this city, not me—not really."
Dan looked like he wanted to say something, but thankfully kept his mouth shut.
...
They arrived at the compound and left the cabby with his fair, even though he tried to to tell Valerie that she didn't have to pay.
Dan was silent beside her on the sidewalk, looking up at the building. He seemed like he was thinking. Then he suddenly said, "This was where the school used to be."
"Yeah, it was. We thought it would be fitting to place our base of operations here."
"Why?" he asked, turning to her with narrowed eyes. "Just because I destroyed the school? I destroyed a lot of places. Why here specifically?"
"It was the first place you targeted," Valerie said solemnly. "And the students that died there were your first victims."
He held up a finger. "Wrong. Remember what I did in Masters' mansion?" Dan said almost cheerfully.
She gave him a venomous look. "I remember," she said coldly. "Now come on."
She walked to the door. Dan obediently followed. She swiped her keycard and entered.
"Hey, Val!" Paulina said from behind the front desk.
"Oh, god damnit," Valerie muttered under her breath.
Paulina wanted to help with the Militia, but Valerie wouldn't let her anywhere near combat. Working as a clerk in the offices at the compound was their compromise. The bad thing was, Valerie had forgotten that working the front desk Monday through Thursday was part of their deal (seeing as it was her job as a clerk)—and how much of of a flirt she was.
"Who's your friend?" Paulina asked fluttering her eyelashes at Dan.
"I'm Dean," Dan answered before Valerie could.
A sort of cheeky smile twisted Paulina's lips. "My name's Paulina. You're new here aren't you? 'Cause I know I wouldn't have forgotten you."
"Uh, yeah," Valerie finally cut in. "He needs a room. What dorms are open?"
Paulina turned back to Dan with bedroom eyes and a coy smile. "You need a room, huh? You're welcome to share mine."
Valerie's eyes widened. "Paulina!" she hissed through gritted teeth. She glanced at Dan, who wore a somewhat panicked look. It made him look younger.
Paulina snickered. "I'm just kidding. Hall E is basically empty, take your pick."
"Maybe somewhere closer to me," Valerie said. Paulina got a light in her eyes, making Valerie instantly regret her suggestion.
"Oh, I see now."
"No, no, you don't see shit," Valerie said covering her heating face.
Paulina chuckled again. "Okay, sure, chica. Whatever you say. But in seriousness, room A-10 is open. It's right down the hall from you." Her eyebrows pinched a bit, as if she was already apologizing for bringing it up.
Valerie dropped her gaze. "I almost forgot about that."
"Something wrong with A-10?" Dan said.
Valerie shot him a cold look, not caring if Paulina saw. "The guys that had the room before, Albert, and Dmitri, both died in Phantom's attack."
"How'd they die?" Dan asked with an unreadable expression.
"Dimitri died when his vehicle flipped several times," she said with clipped tones. "Then Albert died due to a direct hit from Phantom. He lived for about an hour before dying from the burns.
Dan though for a second then turned back to Paulina. "Is there another room?"
"No, you know what? That's good enough. Don't worry about looking it up, Paulina," Valerie cut in. Dan shot her an annoyed look.
The Latina raised an eyebrow. "Uh, okay, if you're sure."
"Yep," Valerie said popping the 'p'.
Paulina shrugged and went to grab the key card to the room.
She looked at Dan from the corner of her eye. He steadily glared at her. She smirked.
"What's the problem, Dean? Suddenly have some crisis of conscience? If not, I don't see why this should bother you."
"I don't give a shit about your dead friends. I just hate that you're controlling every aspect of my existence," he growled.
She snorted. "How does it feel to finally have the shit end of the stick?"
"My life was the shit end of the stick," he spat.
"I guess it's only right that you're death is too then." Valerie knew that was too mean, but for all the nasty barbs Dan spat at her, it felt good to jab back.
His eyes flared scarlet, but before he could do or say anything more, Paulina came back.
"Alright, here you go," she said holding out the card.
She gave Valerie a weird look as she took it. Valerie glanced at Dan and nodded towards the hall.
Dan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, looking for all the world like he was trying not to kill someone. But then he composed himself again and followed her.