Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
A quick note: This story has been so much fun to write! I can't wait to finish it and start on the second one! Teehee!
Reviews: Lianna, LilacOcean, Phantom of a Rose, dessyweird51, Jenna Dax, inufan-308, darkbunny92, Demo the Bounding Jackalope, Lauren, Red's-Fury.
Chapter 4: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
Two months later...
The speeches were over, the diplomas were given, and nearly every teen tore off their graduation hat and threw it in the air. High school was finally over! They were free… Well, as free as a cat living in a house when it would rather be outside was. Danny had just finished taking a picture with the chess team when Maddie came up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Danny, sweetie, I'm so proud of you," she said before moving aside so Jazz could give her brother a hug.
"You looked so handsome up there!" Jazz said, grinning as Danny made a face.
"Uh, thanks, Jazz. I think…" He turned as someone touched his shoulder.
"I've got good news, Danny," Tucker said. "My uncle rented the place in the city. We're all set."
"You made it." Tucker turned at his uncle's voice, and Vlad stepped closer. "It's not the first time I've been proven wrong." He held out his hand, and nephew and uncle shook hands. "Congratulations."
"Thanks, Vlad."
The man then turned to the teen behind Tucker. "Danny, the science award! That's terrific."
Danny nodded. "Yeah…"
"I know this has been a difficult time for you," Vlad set his hand on Danny's shoulder, (Let him go, you greasy, nasty, slimy….) "but I want you to try and enjoy this day."
Tucker rolled his eyes and wandered away, managing to catch Sam breaking up with Dash.
"You're like a brother to Tucker," Vlad said. "That makes you family, and if you ever need anything just give me a call." Danny nodded, smiling a little.
Danny, Maddie, and Jazz returned home about half an hour later. Danny headed for the stairs as soon as he was in the door.
"Danny," he turned as his mom called his name, "can I get you something to eat?"
He smiled weakly. "No thanks." He turned and walked upstairs.
Maddie and Jazz both watched him, and Jazz rubbed her mom's back before walking off into the kitchen. Maddie continued to watch after her little boy, smiling sadly.
Danny sat on his bed, staring up at the darkened sky. Tears trailed down his face, and his shoulders shook as he struggled to control himself. Jazz's footsteps were heard as she moved toward his slightly ajar door. She moved past the door and sat beside her brother, hugging him. He leaned his head on her shoulder, wiping his eyes.
"I missed Dad a lot today," he whispered haltingly.
"I know," Jazz whispered. "I missed him too, but he was there." She kissed the top of her brother's head, ruffling his hair. "He was there."
That night, after everyone was asleep, Danny got out of bed and transformed into his ghostly half, gazing down at his white-gloved hands. "With great power comes great responsibility," his father's voice said in his head. "Remember that, Danny. Remember that." Unconsciously, his hands balled into fists as he raised his head to look out at the night sky. He understood what his purpose was and why he had been gifted with these powers.
Two Asian people hurriedly emptied the cash drawer of their small business on the main street, putting every last cent into the bag the man held out. "Hurry up!" he shouted, waving his gun at them.
He grabbed the bag once the drawer was empty, and his associate kept his rifle on them as he headed out. The other man grabbed a muffin and stuffed it in his pocket before following after his friend. A shadow flew down upon them, firing a strange glowing ray at them from his hand. Their weapons were blasted from their grasp, and they soon found themselves tied up in a glowing green rope made of ectoplasm. A figure threw the bag of money at the owner of the shop who caught it then looked at his wife in shock. A security camera caught only a shadow of something taking off from the front of the store.
That single appearance brought about tons of rumors. An Arabic man claimed that the figure wasn't a man but a bird, building a nest in the fountain in Amity Park. Another woman believed it could be a man or even a woman.
The next appearance of the strange apparition was at a would-be robbery of a jewelry store. The police drove up to the store to find the criminals already tied up in the same glowing green rope, dangling from a nearby lamp post. The jewels were in a bag on the floor. The two officers looked at each other then shrugged.
Some people would catch the figure flying over the city, zipping between buildings and street lights, and sometimes he would disappear into a building only to reappear on the other side. His shouts and whoops of absolute glee could be heard echoing in the alleys. Rumors began spreading about the glowing ray that passed from his hand and the rope he tied up the criminals with. A study had shown that it was ectoplasm, and only ghosts dealt with ectoplasm. Any sign of ectoplasm became his signature, and people knew that Danny Phantom had been there.
A woman was thrown onto the ground, a man kneeling over her with a gun held at her head. He grabbed her purse as she whimpered and didn't fight him. He started looking through her purse then held the gun to her head only to have it shot out of his hand by a Ghost Ray. He looked up in just enough time to see glowing green eyes before he was thrown off the woman and into a wall. The woman picked up her purse to find a note: Courtesy, Danny Phantom.
The goth community was in love with him. A dead guy turned ghost that was helping people? It was their kind of hero. Women swooned over him in his skin-tight jumper, and fans wrote a theme song for him. He was an apparition, a figment of people's imaginations; he was a hero.
A man sat at his desk, reading a copy of the newspaper he was in charge of. "Who is Danny Phantom? He's a criminal, that's who he is." He slammed the newspaper onto his desk revealing an older man with graying hair and beard and watchful, skeptical brown eyes. "A vigilante, a public menace. What's he doing on my front page?"
The secretary buzzed in, and he punched the button on the phone. "Mr. Jameson, your wife is on line one. She needs to know if—"
He picked up the phone then hung it up. A young man walked into the room, adding to the other two already in the room aside from Mr. Jameson himself. "Mr. Jameson, there's a page six problem."
"We have a page one problem. Shut up." He turned back to his main reporter. "Well?"
"He's news."
The young man entered the room again. "Th-they're really important clients. They can't wait."
"They're about to," Mr. Jameson snapped. The young man left again.
"He pulled six people off that subway car," the reporter said.
"Sure, from a wreck he probably caused. Something goes wrong, and this ghostly wacko is there. Look, he's fleeing the scene." Mr. Jameson pointed at the photo. "What's that tell you?"
The secretary knocked on the glass, motioning that his wife was still on line one. Mr. Jameson motioned that she should hang up.
"He's not fleeing. He's probably running off to save someone else," the reporter argued. "He's a hero!"
"Then why doesn't he tell us who he is?"
"She just wants to know which tile you want in the dining room," the secretary said, bursting in and setting coffee on her boss's desk.
"Whichever one's cheaper," he finally answered.
The young man with the page six problem entered again. "Mr. Jameson, we double-booked page six. Macy's and Conway have three quarters of the same page."
Mr. Jameson looked at the man and opened his mouth to answer him just as the reporter began to speak again. "We sold out four printings."
Mr. Jameson turned back to the reporter. "Sold out? Tomorrow morning, Danny Phantom page 1 with a decent picture this time." He pointed at the young man with the page six problem. "Move Conway to page seven."
"There's a problem with page seven."
"Then make it page eight and give them ten percent off. Ah, make it five percent."
"That can't be done—"
"Get out of here," Jameson shouted. The young man left again.
"The problem is, we don't have a decent picture," the reporter said. "Eddie's been on it for weeks. We can barely get a glimpse of him."
"Aw, what? Is he shy?" Jameson asked. "If we can get a picture of Julia Roberts in a thong, we can certainly get a picture of this weirdo." He stood and went to the window. "Put an ad on the front page: Cash money for a picture of Spiderman. He doesn't want to be famous? I'll make him infamous!"
Sam stormed out of the Moondance Diner, a long, black trench coat covering her waitress outfit. Danny stopped walking as she passed before turning around and running after her.
"Hey!"
"Buzz off," she muttered.
"Hey, Sam!" He caught up with her, tapping her arm to get her attention. "Hey, it's me, Danny."
She stopped, gasping. "Danny, hey!" She laughed, tucking her hair back behind her ear as he moved to stand in front of her. "What are you doing around here?"
"I'm, uh, out begging for a job." He held up the newspaper in his hand. "What about you?"
"I'm heading to an audition."
He smiled. "You're acting now?"
"Yeah, I work steady, and I actually just got off a job."
"That's great, Sam. You're doing it. You're living your dream."
"Hey, flower girl, your drawer was short six dollars! Next time I catch that, I'm taking it out of your check!" a fat man yelled at her from across the street. Danny didn't say anything as Sam ducked her head in shame, trying to ignore him. "Excuse me, Miss Manson, I'm talking to you!"
She turned to answer the man. "Yes, Mr. Ishiyama, I get you. Okay?" (Does the Principal have a husband? Oh, well, she does now…)
"It better not happen anymore. Don't roll your eyes at me."
She rolled her eyes as she turned back to Danny, opening her trench coat to reveal her tacky waitress uniform. "Some dream, huh?"
"You have a job. That's nothing to be embarrassed about," he said, smiling lightly.
"Don't tell Tucker."
He blinked, laughing a little. "Don't tell Tucker?"
"I thought you guys were living together. We're going out. He didn't tell you?"
He nodded, his eyes losing some of their sparkle. "Oh, yeah. Right…" He felt betrayed, but he didn't let it show.
"I think he'd think it's low or something, me waiting tables."
"That's not low. You at least have a job. No, Tuck'… He doesn't live on a place I like to call Earth."
She laughed. "No, I guess not." She brushed her hair back from her eyes. "Thanks, Danny. We should catch up sometime." Then she started to walk away.
Danny turned around to watch her. "I'll come by and have some of your Moondance coffee someday, and I won't tell Tucker."
"No, don't tell Tucker," she said, smiling.
"I won't!" he promised. She waved, and he waved back, his smile slipping from his face as she disappeared into the crowd. "I won't tell Tucker…"