Everything felt surreal. Dream-like. Bizarre.

He was walking, talking, taking orders…but it was like he wasn't truly there. He was on auto-pilot. Watching himself from the corner of the room. The past hour had taken centuries to cross. It had sent his mind reeling, had knocked the wind right out of him, had ripped his heart out and crushed it underneath the rubble of what was left of his life.

Buster didn't know how to feel. He didn't think an appropriate emotion existed.

He shadowed the three friends as they quickly prepared for the rescue, all remnants of the argument forgotten. Working like a well-oiled machine. He took in the amount of weaponry the trio gathered, the urgency in their voice as they discussed which ones would be helpful. Using words that would be mere gibberish to him if he had been listening. He mechanically loaded the ones handed to him into the large vehicle.

Finally finding himself buckled in, soaring through the sky, a slender gun strapped across his chest and a ray on his wrist, the fog in his mind cleared. The gravity of the situation settled.

If it were under any other circumstance, he would be absolutely ecstatic about the choice of transportation. It was something straight out of his wild day-dreams. The array of colourful buttons gleaming invitingly, enticing the childish part of his brain. However, there was no room for such thoughts in his head.

He glanced at the driver seat, Danny chattered away, giving orders while he skillfully maneuvered the plane-like vehicle. Sam was by his side nodding and giving her own input as Tucker tapped away on his laptop, commenting now and then with a determined scowl plastered on his face. These guys were professionals, he realized. They knew exactly what they were doing. He was in way over his head.

But he wasn't going to back out. His mother deserved as much. She died trying to bring their crimes to light, and he was going to make sure it wasn't in vain. Aliens or not, these guys were evil. The absolute scum of the earth. He wouldn't be surprised if they weren't human. They didn't exactly look it, they were all too eerily similar. They were probably evil robots sent to this planet programmed to destroy every ounce of joy left within the human race. He was going to put an end to it, if it was the last thing he did.

"Buster? Did you hear anything I said?" Danny's strangely authoritative voice called out, breaking him out of his little 'pep-talk'.

"Uh…no," Buster admitted sheepishly.

"If you're gonna help, you need to pay attention." Danny scolded lightly while watching him with sympathetic eyes. Buster bit his lip, feeling nervous under the intense look he was receiving. His mind unconsciously replacing the piercing blue with swirling green.

He wished Danny would stop being so nice. He wanted to stay mad. To believe he was a filthy liar. To believe that they were never really friends. This whole thing would be a lot easier if he could distance himself…at least then he would know how to feel.

He knew Danny didn't really want him there, he could sense the regret emanating from his entire being. He just didn't understand why Danny had given in so easily. Why he convinced Dash to let him come. Why he had entrusted Buster with weapons he had no business being around. Why he had fought ruthlessly with his best friends to let Buster get on the plane.

Why he had even started this whole fight, miles away from home, in the first place. Did Danny just go around looking for trouble?

Then it struck. Like the apple on Newton's head.

This whole thing, the whole battle… it was all because of him.

Danny had gone through hell and back…for him. For his mom. He had gone through days of torture. Shed pints of blood. For Buster. For Bitzi. For the thousands of victims. And now, he was willing to go through it all again, for Wes.

Buster had blamed him. Had yelled at him. Had almost hated him. Both sides of him.

And he just sat there and took it. Smiled and told him to stay safe. He protected him…he had always been protecting him.

A surge of guilt and regret mixed with something much stronger than determination washed over his body. A lump formed deep in his throat as a fresh wave of adrenaline coursed through his veins. He swallowed thickly, eyes trained outside the window, unable to meet the gaze of the heroic ghost he thought he'd known. Unable to accept the sympathy from the selfless boy he didn't understand. "Sorry, I'm listening."

"Alright, I'll give you a complete run through." Danny stated as he glided around a tall building. Buster nodded. "Sam is going to work from the Speeder, you, me and Tuck are going in."

Sam made a defiant sound, she wasn't too happy with the arrangement, but she didn't argue. They had probably been through that part already, by the looks on the boys' faces. Tucker seemed unsure of the plan as well, but he appeared to trust Danny's choices more than Sam did. Buster understood her completely, he would have argued if he were in her place. Bringing the untrained Buster in was more than a bit crazy, even if it was what he wanted.

"We're all going to be connected through the Fenton Phones, that's the bit in your ear." He reached up and touched the device, only now becoming aware of its presence. "You aren't going to leave my side, unless I say so…then you'll be with Tuck. Got it?" He said sternly.

Buster nodded. "Got it," more relieved by the order than he would like to admit.

"I'm not going ghost unless it's absolutely necessary or else our cover will be blown faster than you can count to three, so we're going to have to be strategic. I'll turn us invisible at point of entry, I don't think I'll be very detectable that way, but that's it. You'll have to remain hidden on your own terms at all times."

He gulped, unsure of his skills. Hide and seek had never been a strength in his book.

"We aren't sure how much personnel are present on site, but our goal is not to wipe them out. We are not trying to destroy them ourselves."

Buster turned his eyes sharply towards the guy, surprised. He had assumed that was what all the weaponry was for. The other three were loaded with shiny metal, even Sam who wasn't even going to step into the battle field. Danny carried the bulk of it, despite his natural abilities, his borrowed t-shirt was hardly visible underneath the straps around his torso, an additional gun secured along his leg.

Noticing the confusion on his face, Danny offered him a soft smile. "They're still human," he said before falling silent, taking a moment to concentrate on directions. Finally he cleared his throat and continued. "Our only mission is getting Wes out alive, and wiping all evidence of our involvement. The FBI will do the rest. I wouldn't be able to carry that many people to safety fast enough even if I were at a hundred percent."

By the way Danny had been acting, Buster had almost forgotten he was still injured. Either he made a miraculous recovery, or he was hiding the pain. His money was on the latter. His anxiety level skyrocketed, Danny was the core of their operation and they were going to go in while he was hurt. He knew Danny could defend himself if he needed to, but it still made the situation a lot more dangerous than it should be.

"Tuck will work on locating the holding rooms through the security cameras and wiping the tapes of my last break-in from the mainframe, Sam will keep watch from outside, inform us if we have any additional threats, and wait for our signal before calling this in. You are going to be my back up, you'll cover me while we look for Wes. Do not shoot anyone or anything unless you think it's your only option. Hopefully, it won't come to that. You've never used the gun before and we don't need anyone getting caught in the cross fire. We want to come away from this with our hands as clean as possible." If Buster had been drinking water, he would have spit it right out. He was going to do what now? Danny was insane. He had wanted to help, but he never expected to have Danny's life…err…afterlife? In his hands.

"As soon as we've got Wes, we'll raise the signal, grab Tuck, and evacuate."

He forced himself to calm down. Danny knew what he was doing, he probably didn't even need backup. He was just stringing Buster along. The plan was simple, he wasn't really supposed to do anything other than keep his eyes peeled. He had a rabbit's vision, that task was easy enough.

Danny flashed him a reassuring smile, probably sensing the panic, "Phantom will come back on his own to check on the aftermath and ensure the victims make it out once you're all safe, his involvement doesn't need to be secret." Tucker tore his gaze away from his screen at the words, mouth opening to protest. "He'll stay as out of sight and trouble as much as he can Tuck, promise."

Buster thought it was strange how Danny could talk about himself in third person. Perhaps it was a coping mechanism. Made it easier for him to live a double life. Or maybe he was doing it for his sake, so Buster was comfortable with the idea.

His mind buzzed when he thought about it. Phantom and Danny had been such opposite parts of his life. Literally night and day. Yet it was oddly easy to see the truth.

The wispy white hair was not much different than the unruly black. Their strange sense of humor were tragically identical, the laughter only distinguished by the slight echo. Phantom's incongruous humanity. Danny's unexplainable strength. Phantom's fights. Danny's bruises. Phantom's nightly soar across the sky. Danny's love for the stars.

Even now, Phantom's confidence was laced in Danny's orders. There was no way it wasn't true. Danny had accepted it himself. He had seen the impossible transformation for crying out loud. Wes had been trying to tell him all along. The entire universe had been trying to tell him.

But it was too bizarre of a conclusion for him to have ever even considered. Buster believed in weird things, but he had never thought it were possible for a dead kid to roam amongst the living. He'd never thought the life that he had been so worried about was gone long before he was a part of it. That the bleeding body sprawled on the ground was far beyond repair.

Danny said he wasn't dead though. He usually had no trouble believing things people told him. However, the line between life and death was a compelling boundary. An argument that the logical part of his brain could not lose. A living ghost was just too far off, even for Buster.

"We're here," Danny suddenly declared.

It had felt like they were only flying for ten minutes tops…but with one look at the digital clock, he realized it had almost been a two hour journey. Glancing out the window, his heart rate picked up. Memories of that night crashed into his consciousness, colliding with the brave face he had been trying to keep going. He avoided looking over towards the field, his throat constricting at even the thought of what it doubled as.

Danny unbuckled himself and stood by the window, placing a firm hand on Buster's shoulder, squeezing tightly but discreetly. Buster smiled sadly at the gesture. He had never asked Phantom to keep mother's death a secret, yet Danny somehow knew it was what he wanted. He didn't want the pity. He couldn't understand how Danny did that, he read him like an open book. Ever since the beginning. Nobody else, except Arthur, seemed to know him that well. Arthur had known him for years though…Danny was different. He just knew.

"Looks like there's only one air craft here, all the others probably turned back thanks to my little ice show," he chuckled softly but bitterly and stalked away, the limp still slightly visible. "That doesn't mean we can keep our guard down though…it's still working hours, the scientists and other personnel are probably still in."

Tucker shot out of his seat, slamming his laptop shut. "Alright Danny, the security is down. I made sure not to trip any alarms. But I can't keep it that way for too long so we need to hustle. They really upped their game after your first break in." The air around them charged with electric tension as everything became more real.

Danny straightened and instantly locked eyes with the girl still seated. "Okay, Sam keep the speeder invisible. Make up whatever excuse you can think up to get the FBI down here as fast as possible…local Police isn't enough."

She rolled her eyes but smiled confidently, "I know Danny, and I heard you the first ten times. I've got it under control, Just hurry."

He gave her a sheepish grin before turning towards Buster. "You ready?" he asked quietly.

Buster took a deep breath and nodded, "ready as I'll ever be."

"Hold on."

With his back pressed tightly against the wall of the vaguely familiar dark basement hallway, his heart pounding obnoxiously in his ears, he cautiously reached out and wrapped his fingers around the metal door handle. He watched as the bonds between the solid's particles faded, defying several laws of matter that he hadn't bothered to learn. They didn't apply to him anyway.

Danny swallowed, clearing his mind of the doubtful thoughts that threatened to talk him out of the mission. He had to do this, he had to save Wes. He was the only one who could. They were not going to get him this time. This time he was prepared. He was going to make it out alive. They all were.

He shifted his eyes to meet the small boy beside him and placed a finger against his lips with his free hand. Buster nodded nervously in understanding. Satisfied for the time being, Danny looked over at Tuck who was positioned similarly to him at the other side of the door, hand hovering over the ecto-blaster on his hip. No words were necessary, Tucker offered him a thumbs up as he mentally counted down from three, fully aware of what lay ahead behind the door.

So far, they had made it through the building with little incidence. The entrance guards were a little put off by the small spike of ecto-energy that Danny's human use of power elicited. Yet, their presence seemed to be dismissed as a fluke. These guys were dumber than he originally thought.

Gathering his confidence with that reassuring thought, he swiftly elbowed open the locked barrier and slithered in alone.

His eyes were hit with the blinding light of dozens of large monitors, forcing them shut for a split second with a small wince. Recovering quickly, berating himself for breaking his own rule, Danny opened his eyes only to be met with another barrier… of the human kind.

The relatively sloppy man slumped over in his torn chair, tiredly wiping a ketchup stain from his unkempt white uniform, let out a surprised yelp and instantly swiveled around. His weapon drawn within a nanosecond, glaring menacingly at the intruder. "How did you get in here punk?" he snarled. Taking in the features of the boy before him as Danny daringly stepped into the light, a smirk on his face, the guard's eyes flashed with recognition and confusion. Daniel Fenton was supposed to be dead. He reached up, expertly masking the panic from his face, fingers aiming for the emergency button on his communication device.

Danny had to give it to him, he was fast. But Danny, well he was faster. Before even his own mind could comprehend what had happened, the guard was down. Knocked unconscious, communication device sliding, inactivated, across the floor. Danny's hand was held out in front of him, straight and stiff. He stared at it and smiled smugly, brain catching up to his actions. He grabbed the man's limbs and roughly brought them together behind his back. "Tucker, rope." he commanded.

The two remaining boys entered the room, Tucker unhooked the desired item from his belt and tossed it over, wasting no time as he plopped into the torn seat in front of the high-tech system and began typing away. Danny proceeded to tie up the man, quietly and efficiently, tearing a sleeve off the guy's white jacket and using it as a makeshift gag.

As he dragged the guy over into the corner, his gaze fell on Buster. The boy stood in the doorway, staring at their hostage. "I thought we weren't targeting them" he said accusingly, a tinge of fear in his voice that Danny knew was directed towards him.

Danny inwardly grimaced, his relationship with Buster was going to come out of this more battered and bruised than when they got here. He could only hope he would be able to pick up the pieces. Looking away, he sighed, "Don't worry, I just knocked him out. He'll be fine in a couple of hours."

"Goth 1 to Clueless 1, how's the progress goin? Over," a voice crackled through, saving him from the awkward silence that was sure to fall.

"Clueless 1 to Goth 1, we've infiltrated the control room. About to initiate the rest of the plan. Over," he replied, straightening back up and walking away from the unconscious heap to look over Tucker's shoulder.

"Roger that, no suspicious activity out here. Keep me posted. Over."

He nodded his head curtly, despite the fact that Sam couldn't see him. "Will do. Over," and turned his attention onto the screens, scanning his eyes across them.

"Why are you clueless 1?" Buster asked curiously from behind them, apparently over the bout of distrust already. Danny turned to look at him, a light blush creeping onto his face as he scratched the back of his head. He opened his mouth to stammer out a plausible answer when Tucker beat him to it. "He doesn't know, hence the name," he chuckled evilly.

Danny scowled down at him before smacking him upside the head. Contrary to popular belief, Danny did know the origin to the name. He figured it out…eventually. However, it was old news by then. The name just stuck. Irritated by Tuck's childish humor at his expense, "Can we just focus?" he grumbled.

"Right, well you weren't kidding when you said this place was huge man. There's probably a bazillion cameras…." Tucker said, his voice suddenly serious, fidgeting with his glasses before typing away and changing the views on the screens a couple of times. "Oh here's a place that looks like a…um…jail. Maybe he's in there, the picture quality isn't all that great."

Danny looked at the image, he could make out bodies behind the metal bars, but no distinguishing features were visible. He swallowed dryly, they had cuffed him…a prison was a likely location. Closing his eyes, he steeled his nerves and stepped back.

"Okay, give me directions through the Fenton phones," he demanded and was met with an affirmative nod, he looked towards the kid who appeared completely out of place and smiled half-heartedly. "Let's go dude."

Buster sucked in a heavy breath as he wiped sweaty palms against his thighs. "Right behind you."

Danny hesitated, watching the nervous gesture. His mind instantly screamed that Buster should just stay here with Tuck…it was a lot safer. But he pushed the thought away. Buster was here to help and he needed all the help he could get.

Turning his head away, he stepped out of the open door and into the eerie expanse of the facility. He shifted his gaze around him, as if checking for traffic before crossing, and pulled out a blaster from the holster strapped around his leg. He held it out in front of him, feeling like a cop from one of those TV dramas during a raid. Buster got the message and followed his lead, covering him from the back.

Tucker, getting visual on them, began spouting out directions that he stealthily followed. Tip-toeing down the path, he forced his mind clear of any lingering distractions and concentrated on the sound of his friend's down-to-business voice. It wasn't close to the first time he heard Tucker sound that way, but it still unnerved him. It reminded him how dangerous their lives had become. How badly it could end. How much they were risking every day. How much they had already lost…

Suddenly, his body was overcome with a strong spell of anxiety. Something was wrong. He stopped abruptly in his tracks, Tucker's voice doing the same. It was kind of creepy how he knew exactly what to do without any bit of verbal communication. But, Tuck could see the urgency in Danny's change in posture, visual cues had become second nature by now.

Footsteps. Loud and Heavy. He could hear them approaching, there were only two pairs of them. They were too far away for a normal human to pick up, but he knew their paths would cross soon. He needed to make sure that didn't happen.

"Why'd you guys sto—" Buster tried to ask. Danny's eyes widened at the loudness of his whisper. Thinking fast, he wrapped his arm around from behind, muffling the question and pulling them both into a narrow dead-end hallway conveniently beside them. They ducked behind a large medical cart that hopefully was bulky enough the obscure any view of them through the shadows.

Buster seemed to understand, he made no further attempt to speak, yet Danny kept his hand over his mouth for good measure. The only sound among the three of them was their shallow breaths.

It took longer than he originally expected for the steps to come into audible range for regular human ability. He felt Buster tense and unconsciously back up closer to him as the menacing sound echoed around the empty path. Danny knew he couldn't turn them invisible or else he would just set off a blip on their devices, weak or not, they were better off relying on the medical cart.

There was a strange yet disturbingly familiar smell haunting the air around them. The longer they stayed huddled together, the surer he felt it was emanating from their hiding spot. He looked up, his breath catching in his throat when he realized what was on top of the metal cart. A long bulky black bag. A body bag.

The smell of death filled his nostrils. Contaminating them. But, that wasn't the worst part. There was a pungency, a tanginess, which he was painfully accustomed to. It was ectoplasm. Yet not really.

It smelled more like his ectoplasm. The ghostly smell mixed with human. Ectoplasm and blood.

He always hated that smell. His stomach churned, head swimming. They were behind a dead body. A dead experiment. A human tainted with ghost…what were these people trying to do? His mind blanked at the thought, not wanting to think about it.

He was pulled back to awareness when he felt Buster trying to wriggle out of his grip. He hadn't realized how strongly he was holding on. Listening, he found that the steps had already passed them. Mentally scolding himself for not paying attention, he released his hold and apologetically looked towards his comrade.

They stood, breathing quietly for a few moments longer until he was sure the agents were far enough away, with his eyes drawn towards the black bag. His skin crawled as he imagined what the poor soul had gone through. Maybe if he had been faster, if he hadn't waited for two days, they would still be alive.

Looking away, he swallowed back bile and pressed the button on the ear piece. "Go ahead Tuck, coast is clear," he whispered, voice raspy with unwelcome emotion. If Tucker heard it, he didn't comment. They continued, as if nothing had just happened. He couldn't tell if Buster had noticed the bag. He opted not to ask. Pretended like it was never there. Yet it plagued his mind. The smell taking residence within his nose.

"Alright, it's behind that wall. Just a heads up, there are a lot of cells…and they seem to be packed. But on the bright side, it doesn't look like there are any guards around." Tucker informed them. Danny stared ahead of him, wondering if Wes was waiting behind the thick wall. He hadn't been here for very long. He hoped he was alright. He would never forgive himself if anything bad happened to the guy.

"Be careful boys." Sam whispered quietly, he smiled. He had almost forgotten she'd been listening in.

"We'll do our best." Danny replied, gaining back the false confidence in his voice.

Buster scratched his head, "how are we supposed to get through? I don't see a door." he put his weapon back into the strap and looked around. Danny stayed put. Staring.

"It's on the other side, it's pretty far…" Tucker responded, apparently searching through the various views and estimating the distance. Danny sighed, "I can phase us through if there's no shield." He was reluctant to do so, however wasting time walking towards the door was riskier than a minimal amount of ghostly activity. "Yup, there doesn't seem to be one, makes sense. This wing is for the humans."

Danny shook his head. This wasn't the time or place to let his emotions get in the way. He was supposed to be the strong one. He was the superhero. He was Danny Phantom.

The acquainted mask carefully formed across his face, he took a deep breath, looked over at Buster and held out his hand. Buster glanced curiously at the smile on his face before placing his hand in Danny's offered one. A slight chill overtook them and within a flash, they were at the other side of the offending wall.

Danny took in their surroundings, it was considerably dark despite a couple of dim lights that were glowing uselessly from the high ceiling. However, he could make out the dozens of cells that lined the narrow hallway from both sides, and if Tucker wasn't exaggerating about its size, there were probably dozens of more halls like this one. "You take the left wall, I'll go right. It'll be faster that way…just don't go out of my sight." He instructed, pulling out his flashlight and tossing it towards the kid. Buster caught it, gulped audibly but nodded.

Danny held out his palm, formed a small orb of bright ectoplasm and looked back up. "Even if you think you feel like something's wrong, tell me."

"Okay."