Splashing ice cold water on his face, Buster stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He hadn't slept a wink last night. Opting to stay away from the park, he lay awake staring at the ceiling for hours. The purple bags under his eyes were becoming a permanent fixture on his pale face. His cheeks looked slightly sunken in; he hadn't been eating as much lately. Sighing, he turned away and grabbed his towel.

He wished he didn't have to go to school. He never wanted to go there ever again, he just wanted to go back home and forget about this place. Forget about all the ghosts. Forget about Phantom. Forget about Danny.

He missed Arthur, they hadn't talked for a few days…he was probably worried. He wondered what it would take for his Dad to come and pick him up so they could visit Elwood city. If only for a while.

"Hon? You alright?" his aunt's voice asked gently, pulling him out of his thoughts. Looking around, he realized he had been loitering in the kitchen doorway like a creep. Shaking himself, he nodded with a small smile and took a seat at the breakfast table.

She seemed satisfied and continued bustling around, however, the same could not be said about a certain blond jock sitting across from him. The boy was staring intently at him, not even trying to hide it. Buster rolled his eyes and placed the cereal box between them to obscure Dash's view. It seemed to work as Dash got up a few minutes later, leaving him to finish his breakfast in peace.

Mechanically finishing up getting ready, he grabbed his backpack and walked out of the door. His eyes landed on his cousin, sitting on the hood of his car scrolling through his phone. At the sound of the door slamming shut, he looked up and smiled. "Need a ride?" he asked hopefully.

Buster shrugged, "I feel like walking actually," he said rudely and walked past the car towards the sidewalk, careful not to splash in the large puddle from last night's thunderstorm. He heard a sigh and wasn't surprised when heavy footsteps followed behind him. "I guess a little exercise wouldn't hurt" Dash supplied, trying a bit too hard to sound cheery.

Deciding against arguing, Buster retreated into himself, ignoring the ramblings of his cousin. He was kicking a small bottle cap he had found when a strange sound from above him caught his attention. Stopping, he shielded his eyes from the bright morning sun to see what was making the noise.

Three aircrafts hovered over the tops of Amity's highest buildings, seemingly scoping out the area. 'Day two of the search', he thought bitterly.

He just wished this whole thing would end, he didn't care how.

A small ball of guilt coiled in the pit of his stomach, he pushed it down and continued dragging his feet across the concrete.

"Do you think they really killed him?" Dash whispered, Buster only then noticed that the boy hadn't said anything for a while. Surprised, Buster turned to take in his cousin's appearance. He looked pretty distraught, his hands were balled up into tight fists. Knuckles completely white. If he looked closely, his eyes were red as if he hadn't slept all night either.

"Why would you say that?" he asked.

Dash shrugged his shoulders, "There's this rumor goin 'round, some guys overheard a few of the agents talking…they aren't even looking for Fenton anymore." Buster didn't respond, for all he knew they had killed the boy. He could have died any time after Buster left him. The thought made his blood run cold, but he hid the horror from his face, determined to hold onto his anger towards the guy.

"…I just can't believe he could be gone." Dash sighed, a faraway look in his eye.

Buster glanced at him curiously, "I don't get why you've always cared so much about him, it's not like you guys are friends."

Biting his lip, Dash darted his eyes away from him. "I've known him since we were kids…death is death Buster," he stated sadly, "I thought you'd be more upset about this."

Buster furrowed his brows, oh he was upset alright. "Well it's not like he's innocent, I should have listened to you in September and never become friends with him."

He sensed the older boy tense his muscles further. "How can you say that? The guy could be dead!" he scolded, his voice cracking just a bit.

Pulling his shoulders up in an attempt to shrink into himself. "Trust me, I know," he mumbled.

Dash ran a hand down his face, "what's wrong with you?" he asked but Buster ignored him. He didn't want to talk about this. They were almost at school anyway, a couple more blocks left. He started to count his breaths to distract himself. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…

"…I just can't bring myself to feel bad for a criminal, that's all," he admitted abruptly.

Dash stopped walking and turned to him, a brow raised. "How are you so sure he's a criminal all of a sudden?"

Reluctantly stopping as well, Buster looked up to the sky at the aircrafts which were visible again. "Why else would the government be after him."

"Look, I know what I've said before, and I still stand by it, but this is different. Phantom is involved." Dash said, as if it explained everything.

"Why does that make it any different for Danny?" he challenged.

"Because Doofus, Fenton was helping Phantom…duh."

Overnight, his anger for Danny had somehow transferred over to his ghostly friend. Phantom had helped Danny with whatever it was that he won't talk about. Whatever he was hiding from him. Phantom probably wasn't as trustworthy as he seemed either, Buster wasn't that great of a judge in character. "How would you even know that?"

Harshly stuffing his hands into his pockets, Dash starting walking once again. It was probably a good idea, it was getting pretty late. The bell was going to ring soon. "It just makes sense I guess." he shrugged, "Paulina had made the connection first…somehow Fenton has been friends with the ghost since freshman year. Obviously, Fentonio messed with the GIW for something Phantom needed…you know for hero stuff. It's something serious too because, usually, Phantom is seen fighting those guys off. He's much stronger and cooler than them…but he's missing too. He didn't even show up when a ghost attacked the mall yesterday."

Buster bit the inside of his cheek, knowing that Dash's words held truth. Exhaling through his nose, "So, Phantom could have done something wrong. He's not a saint."

Dash just shook his head, "He's a hero. There's no way," he said confidently, "Besides, the GIW are jerks…the whole thing is probably their fault." Then later as an afterthought, "I just can't believe he let Fenton die," he whispered.

Buster closed his eyes, Dash was right…he should trust Phantom, the ghost who saved humans, more than the GIW, the humans that didn't think twice about shooting other humans, shouldn't he?

Swallowing his anger, he sighed. It was all so tiring, but he knew he couldn't just ignore the situation like he wanted to. He had to go see Danny. He needed to apologize for yelling at him.

The school finally came into view, a GIW car parked out in front. The sight of it made him want to turn around and run back home. That wasn't really an option though... Dash would probably freak out, run after him and then he would have to explain. The boy was disturbed enough anyway.

Trying to smile reassuringly, he turned to Dash. "They're just rumors, he might still be alive. Danny wouldn't let go that easily."

The hazy cloud of his mind thinned slightly as he felt a sharp pinch in his arm. He wrinkled his nose, squishing his eyes shut tighter, he let out a small irritated sound. His body tensed out of habit, bringing his other arm up, he swatted at the source of the feeling.

There was a soft chuckle. A light weight on his forehead. His hair was gently brushed aside in a soothing motion in an obvious effort to calm him down, it felt nice. Probably his mom.

Smiling slightly, he allowed himself to lean into the touch. The fog gradually thickened as he relaxed, finding is way back into the comfort of unconsciousness.

Hours later, Danny groaned, lifting his arm to rub his sweaty face. Opening his eyes, he squinted around his room to take in the familiar surroundings. Except, they weren't familiar in the slightest. It wasn't his room. His mind went into overdrive as he immediately started to panic.

Where was he? Who had taken him? He remembered the pinch, had someone drugged him? Just when he was about to leap out of the strange bed, his eyes landed on someone across the room. Wes?

Then it all came crashing back.

He released the tension in the muscles, "What time is it?" he asked groggily as he dropped his head back onto the pillow.

"A quarter past two, I was beginning to think you were gonna sleep all day." The boy replied without turning around. He was sitting at his desk, typing away on his computer. Snacks were strewn all over the wooden surface as if he'd been there all day.

"You skipped school?" Danny asked, pushing the blanket away as he attempted to hoist himself into a sitting position. The task was surprisingly easier than he had thought.

"Didn't want a repeat of yesterday…so how are you feeling?" Wes said, closing something up and turning his chair to face him.

Danny looked down at himself, wiggled his toes and then his fingers. He took a deep breath, winced slightly, but it didn't really hurt as much as it should. "By golly I think I'm cured!" he joked, a goofy grin plastered on his face.

Wes rolled his eyes, but Danny could see the smile trying to break free. "Mayor Masters was here this morning…he injected you with something." the boy informed him. Danny nodded, Vlad came through after all. "The creep stayed and watched you sleep for like two hours," he added, popping a chip into his mouth.

Cringing inwardly as he realized who was stroking his hair this morning, Danny shrugged. "Well that's Vlad for you, creep of the year." Bringing his hand up, he brushed his hair back onto his forehead as a small act of defiance, he hated when Vlad tried to get all fatherly. However, he had to admit, he owed the man. "But he was probably making sure there were no side effects."

Wes nodded his head slowly, "I guess…it was still weird to watch though." Danny grinned at the boy who was openly admitting to watching Vlad staring at Danny for two hours and found nothing creepy about his own actions. Wes really was one of a kind.

Clueless to Danny mentally laughing at him, Wes set the bag of chips down and crossed his arms. "So…how come the Mayor knows about Phantom? I know he's not really related to you."

Rubbing the back of his neck, Danny bit his lip. He really didn't need to out Vlad, it wasn't his place to tell his secret. "It's not like I've got a deal with the city or anything, if that's what you're thinking. I knew and hated him before he was our Mayor, my parents were his best friends back in college. He ran to spite me actually."

Looking slightly confused, "why'd you tell him then?" Wes's eyes were calculating, as if he were trying to connect the dots. Danny shook his head, a little annoyed. "I didn't, I've never told anyone. He just found out… Why?"

Wes just shrugged, trying to appear casual. "Just curious…So how many people actually know?"

Breathing through his nose, Danny let his legs dangle over the edge of the bed and gingerly touched the floor. "Is this an interrogation? 'cause I'm really not in the mood," he said a bit angrily.

Huffing, "Fine…" Wes got up and walked over to him, offering him a hand that he gratefully accepted. His knee screamed in protest as soon as he applied pressure, but he could stand. He'd ran track around the football field in worse conditions before, he could handle a little pain. "The guy said you'd feel the full effects of the antidote in about 24 hours, it works faster if you are in your 'ghost form' but your healing power should have kicked in by now," he explained, letting go of Danny's arm to air quote Vlad's words.

He nodded in understanding, he could feel it. The power that coursed through his veins slowly building back up. It wasn't nearly as much as he was used to, but it was a start. Yesterday, he had almost run dry. It was the closest he's come to feeling completely human in a long time. Sadly, that wasn't a good thing anymore.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he steadied himself by grabbing the wall. "I always thought your room would be different," he remarked in an attempt to change the subject.

"Huh?"

He tilted his head playfully as he examined the various posters, "You know, I imagined elaborate bulletin boards, newspaper clippings, and a bunch of strings connecting them all. The usual set up for a stalker."

Wes narrowed his eyes, apparently not as amused as Danny. "I may follow you around Fenton, but I'm not bonkers. That's your department." With that he turned and headed for the bedroom door. Danny smirked, not finding any defense against his own sanity, he ran his fingers through his grimy locks.

Grimacing at how gross he felt with all the layers of sweat, blood, and a bit of mud from his fall, "I'm gonna go take a shower, if that's alright with you," he called out.

Already halfway down the stairs, "Be my guest, it's not like you haven't used everything else in this house. Uninvited." Wes grumbled back, loud enough for him to hear.

Danny's spirit slumped back down, a frown on his face. "Sorry."

Panting lightly, Danny gripped the counter as he watched Wes fry some eggs. He felt a little weak from the heat of the steamy shower he subjected himself to. His hair was still dripping, a towel slung around his neck.

Wes noticed his looming presence as he turned to place the slightly burnt eggs onto a plate. "You came down the stairs by yourself? You could've asked me…"

Danny waved his hand dismissively, restraining his arm from clutching his stomach due to the sporadic twinges of pain. He probably shouldn't have over-exerted himself as soon as he woke up. "Nah I'm good, really, don't worry." He said as he sat down at the small table, waiting for Wes to finish preparing the food.

Not feeling the need to argue further, the ginger shrugged.

"Did Vlad say anything about the rest of the deal we made?" Danny inquired curiously once they were both seated. The boy looked up from his plate while shoving a spoonful into his mouth. He nodded as he swallowed, "uh, yeah. He said everything was taken care of…the articles should be out tomorrow morning."

Danny let a small content smile grace his lips, everything was going to be okay. All those people would be free soon, hopefully no one else would give their lives for the GIW's sick research. Resting his cheek into his palm, he chewed slowly, lost in thought.

"What's the rest of the plan?" Wes asked after a few moments of silence between them. Danny looked towards him and shrugged. "…not much, Vlad kinda fast tracked it. We can sit back and let the authorities handle it now. Though, I need to leave an anonymous tip before the articles are published so they won't have time to move the abducted people and cover their tracks."

Wes eyed him critically, listening to Danny's explanation. "So I'll be free from you tomorrow?" he asked hopefully.

Chuckling, Danny leaned back into his chair and nodded. "If all goes as planned, yes."

Wes narrowed his eyes while scooping up the last spoonful, "You asked for three days. If tomorrow doesn't work out, you're still leaving." Danny looked away and sighed, still holding a weak smile on his lips. "Fair enough."

Pushing his chair out, Wes grabbed both their plates to head towards the sink.

"Let me do them this time," Danny protested, "believe it or not, I don't really like you doing all this stuff for me."

The boy turned, left eyebrow raised. "Who do you think I am? Your evil step-mother? I'm not gonna make you stand and wash dishes with a busted up knee, Fenton. Doesn't matter how much I hate you. Just go watch some TV and get out of my hair."

Without warning, a bright flash of white light bathed the room, reaching every last corner. A rush of energy coursed through his body as a cocky grin took its rightful place on his face. "Uh, I wouldn't worry about standing. I can float remember? Besides Vlad said I'd heal faster in ghost form," he reasoned, floating over to the boy and phasing the dishes out of his hands.

Wes scratched the back of his head, "Hm, I guess that would work with my conscience," he smirked, "It's all yours, the pan is still on the stove…. I haven't wiped down the counters for a while either, or mopped…"

"Watch it pal," Danny warned as he eyed Wes's snickering form retreat into the living room. Shaking his head, he smiled and turned towards the sink to get to work. It was the least he could do. His shoulder would be put under labour, but his ghost form made it a lot easier to handle.

As he scraped the burnt remains off the pan, his hands covered in suds, a nagging feeling tugged at the back of his mind. As if he was making a mistake. However, he couldn't put his finger on it. Deciding to ignore his instincts, he began to hum quietly along with the tune of the commercial that Wes was watching.

Later, Danny draped the washcloth over the sink, wiped the sweat off of his brow and began looking around for a mop when a booming knock on the front door echoed through the small house.

"You expecting anyone?" Wes called out in an annoyed tone.

Preoccupied by his search for a mop in the hall closet, "No," Danny distractedly replied. moving a couple of boxes aside to finally reveal the desired object, "eureka," he whispered to himself, smiling victoriously as he grabbed it and phased out of the dark closet.

Recalling the knock, he curiously looked over at his host, a question at the tip of his tongue. Wes was at the front door, peering through the peep hole. Danny's child-like smile instantly dropped as he took in his abnormal body language.

The boy was standing completely stiff, one leg backing up as if preparing to run, he was breathing as an alarmingly fast rate, loud enough for Danny to hear.

"Danny, I think you should hide." he whispered, panic evident in his voice. Danny wrinkled his forehead in confusion, fear slowly encompassing his body. "What are you talki—"

His unfinished question was rudely answered by the sound of the back wall caving in. Flinching at the sudden explosion, he froze, momentarily shocked as he took in the expression on Wes face.

A tirade of obnoxious crashes from behind him shook him out of his stupor. Time slowed down as he spun away from Wes and took in what was left of the kitchen he had so painstakingly cleaned. The table had been thrown aside, plates lay broken on the floor, and chunks of dry wall littered the entire area.

Danny's eyes widened, his mind struggling to process what had just happened. Before he had a chance to act, he felt a sharp pain between his eyes. Cool steel was held steadily against his forehead. "You've put us through a lot of trouble ghost," A deep menacing voice behind the metallic ecto-weapon growled. "I don't know how you managed to disappear off the radar…or survived that new trick of ours… but you're not escaping us now."

The fire behind his green eyes flared dangerously as he took in the situation, staring down the bald man before him. Gritting his teeth, he took a quick glance around, he was surrounded. The whirring of their advanced weaponry pointed his way was deafening, overwhelming his frazzled senses.

He kept his outer demeanor calm and confident; yet, internally he began to panic. He wasn't nearly strong enough to hold a fair fight. There were many more agents then he was used to, they looked prepared to bring down an entire army. He would have to strategize his attacks.

"Grab that kid, he's seen too much," the one in charge barked, not once breaking eye contact through his dark lenses. Danny's pulse picked up, lungs constricting painfully, his heart in his throat. He hadn't realized Wes would be in danger. Turning, he spotted two more bald men approach the teen through the broken down front door.

"No, stay away from him!" Danny snarled, finally finding his voice as he subtly tightening his grip around the mop still in his hands.

Wes ducked out of their grasp, skidding away behind a table. "Danny, leave me. RUN!" he screamed as he backed away, struggling to evade their attacks.

Making a split-second decision, Danny smiled up at his adversary. The agent briefly faltered, stepping slightly back at his eerie change in attitude. That was all he needed.

In a rapid sweeping motion he jabbed the mop handle into the man's gut, hard. The guy reeled back, shocked into temporary submission. Promptly pulling it back he cracked the makeshift weapon over his good knee, expertly wielding the handle to hold off and stun the hoard of attacking idiots.

He formed a spherical shield around himself to evade their onslaught of ecto-blasts, burning holes through the walls and furniture. Grinning, he took a deep breath, dropped the shield, and blew out a stream of icy breath as he spun around, freezing the weapons solid. Winking at a particularly fuming attacker, he promptly disappeared through the tiles.

Ignoring the string of profanities he could hear through the thin floor, he flew over and stuck his hands back through, based on estimation alone, and blindly pulled.

Wes stared back at him in the dark, wide eyed. His features only illuminated by the faint glow of Danny's eyes. The shock was gone in an instant, replaced with frustration. "What the hell are you doing? Get out of here you moron!"

Shaking his head stubbornly, Danny secured his grip on the boy, turning them both invisible he soared through the building, landing in the small and crowded attic. "I'm not letting them get you."

They could still clearly hear the racket below them, the agents searching through the small house. Danny knew the GIW had a ghost tracker, they didn't have much time. "They won't do anything to me, I'm not a ghost." Wes argued, pushing himself out of Danny's arms aggressively.

Anger flaring, Danny leaned in dangerously, pointing a stern finger at the ginger's thick skull. "Get this through your head, they kidnap and kill people too! They're trying to eliminate all evidence of their actions. Including witnesses. You aren't in any less danger then I am."

"Then what do we do! I can't believe you got me into this." Wes cried, pacing around the small area, head in his hands.

"I'm sorry alright," Danny whispered softly, controlling his misplaced anger to try and conjure up a plan. "Okay hold on tight, I'm gonna get us out of here."

Hesitantly, Wes stepped closer to him. Danny quickly closed the distance, attempting to grab the boy as fast as possible.

But he was too late.

An eruption of dust and debris through the floor blew the boys apart from each other, "AHH"

"WES!" Danny yelled, clutching his stomach, coughing violently as he squinted through the dust. His thoughts spun, ears ringing, throat burning.

"Watch out!" a faraway voice screamed, assuming it was directed at him, he instinctively rolled his body over. Narrowly avoiding a power blast. His heart pounded as he dumbly stared at the spot his head had been moments before. Scrambling to his knees he struggled to remember what his plan was.

Run. Take Wes and hide. That was all he could summon. It would have to do.

Loosing self-restraint, he fired full force, quickly depleting his energy reserves as he searched for his comrade. Finally locking eyes on his target, his stomach dropped at the scene before him. Wes was held against the floor, knee lodged in his spine, violently being cuffed as some sort of criminal.

The momentary distraction proved beneficial to his opponents, before Danny managed to shake the shock and blast that agent off of Wes, he was blind sighted. A warm rush of air flowed around his cheek before the hit, warning him of doom a millisecond too late. The energy was so great that he plummeted across the tiny room, landing head first into the wall.

His vision blurred, rapidly fading to black as the commotion settled down. The last thing he heard before slipping into unconsciousness chilled him to the bone. "Take them both to the facility, they might as well be of use to us. Especially our infamous ghost kid."