Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, all rights belong to the writers and directors.
Recovery:
Those who were out at this early hour of the day would never have guessed how much these hours were going to change everything for Amity Park.
Or at least the family that lived in Fenton Works.
No one payed much attention this early in the morning, so no one noticed the white and black blur soaring through the sky, heading straight for that same house at the corner of the street. It seemed to be on a collision course with the building, but instead of crashing in it, the blur simply vanished through the walls, like nothing had happened.
Inside, this blur came to a quick stop right in the middle of the living room, almost leaving behind a trail on the floor. As what dust that had been kicked up settled, Danny and Sam became visible in the room. The goth quickly ran into the kitchen, reaching for the emergency first-aid kit. At the same time, the ghost boy hurried to the sofa, reluctantly putting the girl he had in his arms on the soft cushions. She groaned as the caring embrace vanished, leaving her vulnerable.
Sam was quick to the side of the girl, who was still in her ghost-form. She checked for any serious injuries, finding non. Then she started tending to the minor ones, assuring to be careful and soft in her handling.
Danny broke his gaze from the painful sight as the soft whimpers from the girl entered his ears. He had to focus, telling himself that it's not an enemy that's hurting his little girl. So, he starts with the only thing he can think of doing.
Pacing around until it was all over.
Sam paid no heed to her boyfriend, doing his usual pacing whenever he's really worried or nervous. Her focus was on her daughter, who was still slipping from conscious to unconscious and back. The whimpers whenever she touches a painful spot cut in her heart like daggers
Hard to think that this girl, twelve years old physically, was acting with full esteem yesterday. She didn't show any of these weaknesses, she never showed that someone or something got to her.
No, this was the weak and vulnerable state of Danielle Phantom that only her parents were allowed to see.
As she tends to the last of the girls cuts from being slammed into brick walls, her thoughts swerve back to what happened and how weak, how powerless Sam was in protecting her. She's Dani's mother, isn't she supposed to be the one protecting her? She had been so stupid to leave all her gear for fighting ghosts behind, but she wasn't even sure if it was smart to fight the 'secret' government organization that was armed with weapons that surely must be lethal for humans like they are for ghosts.
The goth shook those thoughts from her mind, putting them away so she could care for her little girl.
So hard to think that they only know she's their daughter since the day before yesterday.
It was midday, the moment where people who aren't working huddle together for the normal airing of Amity Report, the local news station.
But today would be a story to remember for all.
"Breaking news! During a ghost attack in the morning at Amity Park Mall, people find the ghost under attack not by our own ghost-hero Danny Phantom, but a little ghost-girl with striking resemblance to the ghost-teen."
"As she attempts to defeat the ghost, the little ghost-girl is defeated but swiftly saved by Danny Phantom, arriving on the scene for all to see. But people almost become scared of our own hero when he shows little of his normal mercy to the ghost, almost vaporizing his opponent before thinking twice."
"As they leave the scene, the not-so-secret government organization 'Guys in White' shows up, attacking our own hero before capturing the injured ghost-girl! In her failed attempts to escape, she screams for Danny Phantom, still knocked out cold. Only when she screams for her 'daddy', does the hero reacts."
"For all to see, he blows the GIW away and threatens them before declaring that he is the father of the ghost-girl! After saving the little girl from her predicament, he flies off with a citizen."
The whole ordeal is shown during the report, every detail clear for the viewers. Everything was recorded, leaving nothing for the imagination.
As people all through the town react in their own ways, it's the reaction of two parents and one young adult that really matters.
How Jack and Maddie Fenton react is hard to describe, but the speechless state of Jazz Fenton was already a good start.
The sun was already announcing afternoon when the Fenton RV stopped to a shrieking halt right in front of the Fenton Works. Two figures in jumpsuits rushed out of the vehicle, worried and angry expressions on their faces.
Inside the house, Sam was sitting on the sofa, Dani's head resting on her lap. She was absentmindedly brushing through the girl's white hair. It seemed a bit odd that she hadn't turned back into her human form yet, but it was a good thing in all, knowing that injuries heal faster with ghosts then with humans.
Danny was still pacing, although the franticness and worry in his step had vanished and was now only filled with concern and deep thought.
Neither were paying much attention, deep in their thoughts. So, to say that they were surprised when the front door was practically smashed open, and Danny's parents stormed in the house, would be an understatement.
"Daniel Fenton!" Maddie shouted with that motherly anger every parent knows. Jack was right beside her, a stern glare fixed on his face. Their eyes scanned the room until it fell on the two, scratch that, three figures in the room. Sam her head had darted up with surprise, her eyes now focused on the elder Fenton's standing in the opening. Dani had only stirred mildly in the goth's lap, her sleepy mind not paying much attention to her environment.
Danny though, his reaction was a surprise to everyone. His eyes shot up to face his parents, and his first reaction was a surprised snarl from his lips. He darted to stand between the two intruders and his precious girls. His hands were balled to fists at his side, hints of Ghost Energy flowing together in his palms. His eyes flashed a threatening acid-green as a throatily growl escaped him.
"Stop! Don't make it worse!" Sam warned the adults. Their expressions softened fast as they noticed the way their son was acting. It was like his every instinct was focused on protecting the two behind him, no exceptions made.
"Danny…" Maddie spoke with a much softer and motherly tone. She knew that whenever her kids were in danger she could react unusual, but the way her son was acting was even more so, almost like that of a cornered canine.
Jack only stared at the display, his head spinning a thousand miles per hour. He was still trying to wrap himself around the situation, so not even his positive mood was present.
After a few moments, Danny visibly relaxed, his tense shoulders slumping down as he starts to understand how he had reacted. He showed the reaction he wanted to give those Guys in White to his own parents. His expression softened and the anger in his eyes dissipated.
"…Sorry." He muttered as the white-haired boy allowed his stance to fall and he moved to get some space. He summoned the white ring without second thought, taking on his human form again, if only to keep his emotions in check. He breathed shakily, showing just how distressed he had been.
Sam held the concerned look on her face, her mind not in the mood to make any jokes or let her normally pessimistic line of thoughts show. Her eyes fell back to the girl sleeping on her lap, her hand putting a few strands of the little girl's ghostly white hair behind her ear.
"Can you explain to us what happened?" Maddie finally decides to ask with soft and caring tone when she deems the situation to be under control, if only for a little. Her boy gave a crude nod before sitting down next to Sam on the sofa, his eyes darting to his daughter, sleeping dreamlessly.
His parents took a seat opposite from him, and after a few calming breaths, he started telling the story.
"It all started four years ago…"
By the time the sun was starting to set, Jazz had arrived at the house as well. Receiving a condensed version of the story, she was quickly brought up to date with things. She seemed to understand her brother's predicament and didn't voice any concerns before leaving back to college.
Danny's parents were understanding, albeit cautious. Something about the fact the girl their son and his girlfriend called their daughter was a creation of Vlad made a chill roll down their spines. Nevertheless, they allowed her to live with them, but on the condition that they both take good care of her. That meant that Sam would have to tell her parents about Danielle for the days the girl would visit her mother, and the goth did not look forwards to that talk.
"I'll be there to keep an eye on them." Danny assured her when she voiced her concern with how her parents would react to the young halfa. Maddie and Jack nodded in agreement, finding that at least a good idea.
By the time that Tucker came by to suggest a patrol, Sam decided to put the girl in a comfortable bed instead of the mildly soft sofa. Danny quickly helped her move the resting hybrid before leaving. The hybrid boy asking for his parents to watch over her whilst they were patrolling. As much as they hated leaving her unprotected (by their believe), they still had a town to watch over.
The evening was calm and quiet, not a single ghost in sight. Tucker made a few pointed jokes about how Danny's reaction must have scared them off, but neither one of the couple enjoyed it much, the halfa groaning after the dozen or so jokes.
"Guys, I'm going to check the outskirts, okay?" Danny calls into his Fenton Phone. A few murmurs of agreement confirmed to him that they agreed, and he flew off to the outer edges of Amity Park.
The evening sky was colored beautifully, but this all fell away for the ghost-boy flying, his mind circling around Dani.
He was so deep in thought he almost missed out on himself flying to far and ending up at the edges of the forest. He stopped when he noticed the town no longer underneath him and trees starting to show. The halfa shook his head, muttering a few curses to himself for flying whilst thinking.
Just as he's about to fly away, he gasps when the chilly wisp leaves his mouth. His instincts kick in, the white-haired ghost taking on a defensive stance as he surveys the area.
He does a retake when he notices three green blurs in the distant sky above the woods. Taking no chances, he soundlessly flies closer. As he starts closing in on the three blurs, they become more shaped and renounced. He almost stops when he finds out who those three flying ghosts are.
The ghost vultures that worked for Vlad.
Now that his suspicions were really spiked, he started following them. They didn't seem to notice him, and he was glad they didn't.
After a few moments, they seemed to stop when hearing something, but they were too far off for Danny to hear anything. The trio swooped down into the forest below, leaving a confused ghost-boy hovering in the air.
He didn't want to lose them, though, so he quickly flew closer, going invisible to stay hidden. As he flies beneath the canopy of the trees, he finds the three flying around something. His curiosity getting the better of him, he gets closer so he can see what they're looking at.
Danny's eyes widen in shock at the sight. Ectopuses were holding a girl with black hair and purple eyes in their clutches. She seemed to be putting up a fight against the ghosts, a few tentacles letting go before trying to get a better grip.
"Let me go!" The girl yells with a hoarse voice, showing that she had been yelling and screaming for some time now.
"Be quiet, girly. Or should we start pecking again?" One of the vultures threatens, causing her to stop for a moment before she starts thrashing around wildly again.
"She's stubborn." Another one of the ghostly minions states. That earns him a slap against the back of his head from the third vulture.
"Be quiet. We don't want to end up in space like our master did, now do we?" The third one glares, the last part coming out as a joke. The three laugh a bit with that. But Danny only gets more confused. It takes a moment before he realizes that their talking about Vlad.
'But what are they doing here?' He thinks, trying to come up with a way to save the girl from the ghosts. Right when he thinks he's got something, a new figure enters the picture. The blood in his veins runs cold, his stomach drops and his heart starts to beat faster at the dark figure now appearing from the bushes.
Vlad Plasmius. Alive and breathing (maybe not the latter for his ghost-form).
'Oh no…'
"I must comment you on your stubborn behavior, like my minion noted. You really remind me of your predecessor. She was just as stubborn and equally difficult to handle." Vlad states with a dark underline to his words. That made the girl shut her mouth as she stares at the evil halfa with mixed feelings of concern, fear and rage.
"Nevertheless. I bet that this time I'll get what I want. The fact you've been out of your pod for at least three years without receiving anything stabilizing unlike Danielle shows how stable you really are. Maybe it's because you have more of your 'mother's' DNA then of Danny." Vlad muses out loud, not knowing that the very Phantom he's talking about is hearing every little thing.
"I bet he could be a better father than you ever have been!" The girl, who Danny realizes must be a 'clone' like Danielle, shouts with defiance. A dark smile appears on the blue-skinned ghost as he turns to face the eight-year old.
"If he even knows that you and Danielle are technically his daughters. Or that his girlfriend Samantha is your and hers mother! Oh, the irony of it all!"
He starts laughing maniacally, his minions joining him suite. After a few more struggles, the Ectopuses start to move her again, against her obvious will. Vlad leaves back into the woods and the vultures fly into the sky. After a few moments Danny hops down from his hiding spot, still invisible. He turns intangible as well and slowly creeps after the ectopuses through thick leaves, branches and bushes. As soon as he's close to them he notes the bag the girl is carrying. It's top was open, leaving him a place to hide something. Thinking quick, he grabs the Fenton Phone from his ear and throws it in the bag, getting his aim just right. None of the ghostly octopuses notices and he quickly dashes away, back into the woods. Even he knew that this was a fight he couldn't win.
Unknown to the ectopuses and Vlad, the device he had thrown in the girl's bag has a build-in tracker. Meaning that, as soon as Danny gets home, he can track the device and find out where Vlad is hiding.
And hopefully, save the girl who he can only assume must be his second daughter. Can Vlad make it any more complicated for the half-ghost?!
"What?!"
Sam's yell rang through the trio their ears. Danny had told her what he had heard and seen in the woods, and he told her the same thought.
That the girl was like Danielle: a supposed clone, but actually their biological daughter.
The idea that she didn't just have one, but two daughters was already a massive hit, but to realize that this means Danielle has a sister and Vlad had kept more secrets hidden then they all realized was far too overwhelming.
Danny rubbed his ears, getting the ring out of them. He had had the whole fly back to town and home to think, but even now his mind was still a bit numb after realization had hit him.
The goth started pacing, just like her boyfriend always did, mumbling a few curses and some incoherent words under her breath. Danny could only chuckle as his sensitive hearing picked up on some of her 'colorful' words.
"Way to have a dirty mouth, Sam."
She shot him a death glare that he swore could have been the end of his human half, before she starts pacing again. Tucker, obvious that he wasn't needed, excused himself before leaving the Fenton Residence. Neither of his friends payed him much heed, to his great relief.
Danny's parents were already in their bed, having left to sleep early so they were refreshed in the morning, and prepared for the long talk they would have with the couple. And the fact they were yet to really meet Danielle.
"I just,… Argh! When I see that crazy fruit loop, I'll show him some of my mind!"
"Yeah, wait in the line." Danny mutters, a few images of his revenge on the evil halfa already playing in his mind. After a few moments, the goth decides she has paced enough and she slums in the armchair, a deep and exhausted sigh escaping her. The past few days have been far too emotional for her comfort.
"Are your parents still away on their business trip?" Danny decides to ask, the half-ghost hoping to help her get some things of her mind. She nods, glad for the simple distraction.
"Yeah, they'll be gone for a few more days."
"Good."
A silence falls over the two as neither know what to say. The sudden chime of the clock in the house alerts them to the hour. It's already night, and the pair suddenly realizes how tired they really are.
"Let's rest and see tomorrow what to do." The hybrid boy suggest, a small sigh following. Sam nods, feeling how tired she really is. They don't even bother for a shower, just changing quickly into their nightwear before heading for their bed.
Danny's parents were at least considered enough to know that eighteen year old's appreciated their privacy, so the possibility to be caught sleeping in the same bed was small.
As long as they didn't do anything crazy, by Maddie's words.
Rosa really had hoped that she was somewhere else. Anywhere but here.
She tried to get the cuffs that were keeping her tied to the table to break, but they were made to be ghost-proof, and she didn't have the strength to break them.
A deep sigh leaves her throat as she looks at the bland medical ceiling.
Vlad his lab was hidden very well, inside an old military medic-facility. No one paid any attention to it, and she was sure the government must have already forgotten it even existed. A chill ran down her spine as she could hardly imagine what horrors must have passed through these halls.
She wouldn't have been surprised if some of the samples of ectoplasm and other creepy gatherings of ghost-remains on the shelfs were of ghosts who had once lived in this place.
The young halfa banged her head against the metal table, the one of many times she forgot how hard the thing was. She was sure that by now there must be a rather big bump on the back of her head.
The cuffs were very tight, the ones around her ankles actually cutting in her skin. She hissed when another pain sting ran up from her legs, the bruises of the harsh treatment by the ectopuses flaring up again.
'I really hope Danny finds me.' The half-ghost prays in her mind as she notices the stand with medical equipment, some adjusted and modifiedfor ghost-specific research.
Suddenly, the door leading into the room opens, and Vlad walks inside, a large smirk plastered on his face. He felt a satanic feeling of content with the way his creation was suffering, and she couldn't do anything about it.
"Enjoying your stay so far?" He quips, the smirk never leaving his face. She girl hisses at him, a display of anger and rage burning in her eyes. One simple flash of his own rage causes her to cower, that rage she showed turning to fear of own life.
'Like she'll have long to live.' He laughs in his mind, keeping his mask on outside.
The bag she had been carrying had been thrown into a corner, luckily not damaging the device inside, that neither knew was inside the item.
"Well then, shall we begin? What do you think first? A simple sampling of your ectoplasm, or a scan of your molecular structure? Or perhaps a test to see how stable you really are?"
That last one caused an involuntary chill to rock her body, the very thought of her body destabilizing and falling apart causing her to shiver heavily. This only played the big smile on the other halfa's face to grow, amusement shining in his evil eyes.
"How about a proper medical examination, first, huh? Just, more painful."
The ghostly minions cringed when the ear-shattering scream of a horribly terrified girl echoed through the halls of the abandoned facility. They could only pray that this fulfilled the dark desires of their master, so they wouldn't become his next experiment.
Author's note: I hope that I'm not being to overly dark-minded. These will be the hardest parts of the story as we go through the first arc.
Anyways, remember to review, fav and follow and I'll see ya'll soon!
Sam: Poor Rosa, Poor Danielle...
Danny: *growling in anger at the writer*
Me: I think I might have hit a nerve with the boy. (Help!)