(Disclaimer: Danny Phantom and all of its original characters are owned by Butch Hartman. The only thing the author of this story actually owns is the design for the older version of Danielle Phantom. Posted by on livevideo(dot)com))

Okay. Here's another part I had been panning out for a while. I don't really know what else to say other than to just read and enjoy.

Chapter 21: Substitution

Danielle sped through the air as fast as her plasma rocket could carry her as if desperately trying to escape something frightening: Like the memories of what had happened only a few seconds ago. She had only gone this fast with it once before and that was for the space mission for Axion Labs. She felt her own tears grow cold from the velocity she was going at and it stung her face.

It was only when she was above the Woods of Lake Eerie that she finally let off her plasma rocket. She was starting to get a bit tired anyway and she couldn't let herself lose too much power. She would turn back to her human form and start falling at least a hundred feet from the air. She had already experienced a fall like that and didn't want to have to do it again any time soon.

Breathing rather heavily and drying her eyes, she slowed to a stop, looking back in the direction of the town she had just escaped. Now that she had an overall view of it, she started to think that maybe she had stopped here, not because she was afraid of losing too much energy, but to take one last look at Amity Park. At this distance it was a large cluster of lights shining brightly in the night, making it an incredible view to behold in comparison to the wreck she had seen it in when she had first arrived there. It seemed that Danny's return to it after his ordeal with Freakshow had brightened it up exceedingly. And only Danny had the right to call it home.

Not only was she now leaving him and the other Fentons behind, but also the memories she had gained in being around them for so long, both good and bad. One particularly bad one was still fresh in her mind and she just couldn't escape it, no matter how fast or how far away she flew. She had just attacked the one person she had always looked up to. The one she had always turned to for help. The only one whom she felt had considered her family despite her origins.

Her eyes started to become cold and wet again when the image of Danny's face was appearing in her mind. She shut her eyes tight, as if trying to block it out, but the shocked look he had given her after she had hit him only seemed to plant itself more firmly in her head. As her cousin's expression showed itself clearer than ever, she was deeply regretting getting so angry with him. Since the first day she had met him, she never argued with him like that, if at all. And using her own power in such a cruel way, just to get him to let go of her arm? How could she have done such a thing? What had possibly gotten into her?

Danielle looked down at her hands. The hands that had just brought harm to the teenage boy whom she felt was the only one she could really trust. After what she had just done, how could he even trust her anymore? The only time she had ever deliberately attacked the boy before was back when she worked for Vlad Plasmius. Maybe Sam was right. What if Danielle really was evil? What if Vlad had done something to her that would make sure that she would somehow remain on his side? No that was ridiculous. She was a clone, not a robot.

Still, Danielle's head started ringing with the conversation she had just overheard back there. Especially the part about Sam referring to her as "an experiment-gone-wrong." Was that what Danny's family also thought of her as? A mistake? An accident that wasn't even supposed to happen? That she shouldn't even exist? The way Vlad had considered her to be?

And what of the people who didn't know she was a clone…yet? If they did gain that knowledge, Danielle just knew that they would be thinking about her the same. Even worse, if they knew the most evil ghost that ever lived had made her, they would certainly think that she was still on his side.

Maybe she still was. Maybe all this time, she had just been fooling herself into thinking that she would be able to defy the hands that had helped her to come to be. The hands she thought had cared for her, but had lied; the hands that threatened her and had nearly destroyed her; the hands of the one…who was the cause of her hollowness inside.

Vlad was gone, Danny's peers disapproved of her, the citizens of his hometown thought she was out to get their hero…in fact, had just shot him…

Danielle hid her face in her hands and started to cry even harder. She felt so sorry for what had just happened, but she couldn't find the right within her to even forgive herself. She could never return to Amity Park. What if something like that happened again? She couldn't let it. She couldn't let herself be the cause of Danny getting hurt. And at this point, it seemed that the best way to prevent that…was to stay as far away from him as possible.

I'm so sorry, Danny. She said apologetically in her head as if he could somehow hear her last, sorrowful apology, even from so far off.

She sorrowfully turned and was starting to fly away when all of a sudden, something flashed behind her and she cried out from feeling something painfully hit the back of her shoulder. "What the…" she agonizingly exclaimed, putting a hand where it now hurt and looking behind her to see what had just shot her.

As she saw something moving in the darkness towards her, she felt her heart starting to beat faster and flashes of her getting ambushed several months ago began to fly through her head. She instantly recognized a pair of white headlights that had just come on. The Guys in White were coming after her again.

She sped off in fear and heard the flying machine begin to pursue her. She knew she couldn't turn invisible, since the scanners seemed to be able to detect her anyway. She couldn't use her plasma rocket again just now either. She wouldn't be able to get far anyway after using a lot of energy to do it already. She looked behind her to see that the flying vehicle was getting closer. Wait. There was only one pair of lights. But weren't there two of them the first time? Where was the second one?

Her question was answered as another pair of headlights right in front of her suddenly blinded her. She halted in midair, shielding her eyes from the blast of bright light when she felt something knock her in the stomach. The force of it blew her back several feet and when she regained herself, she moaned in pain as the two sets of headlights rested on her.

"What?" She heard a surprised man's voice say from one of the flying machines. She squinted up at him through the blinding light at the African American man with a white suit and black sunglasses on: The one that had just shot her in the stomach. "The scanners indicate that this is the same specter we picked up months ago." He exclaimed to the man in the second vehicle.

The second man in a white suit was Caucasian and had a beard. He looked over a screen on his own flying machine. "But you're not Danny Phantom." He said to the girl, sounding confused. For the ectoplasmic-signature that showed on his screen was almost exactly like the ghost-hero's

At that moment, several flashes of green hit the aerial chasers, knocking The Guys in White away.

"Nope. I am." Said a younger voice that Danielle instantly recognized.

"Danny?" She said in surprise, seeing her half-ghost cousin, floating only a few yards away with his fists glowing with the green energy of his ecto-plasmic ray.

Danny smiled at her in response as the glow in his hands faded and he flew up in front of her, shielding her from the white clad ghost-hunters that had managed to keep control of their Aerial Chasers and were once again facing the ghostly teenagers as the older one of them said, "But you guys have seriously got to get out more if you haven't even heard of the Dani Phantom with an 'I.'"

The Guys in White had completely flabbergasted looks on their faces now in seeing the two teens, floating in the air together, almost looking exactly alike aside from their genders and different design concepts in their jumpsuits. Operative O, the bearded agent, looked down at the spectral-radar screen in front of him again. "But…your signature isn't even showing up on our scanners." He said, looking back up at the boy.

Danny folded his arms with a laugh. "Boy. My parents aren't as dumb as you think." He said in a cocky tone. He didn't say this, but secretly, he had a little device in the white belt of his jumpsuit that his parents had made for him. It scrambled his signature in ghost-hunter's scanners, making them think that he wasn't there at all. Only his parent's scanners worked on him because of this device and they only needed to use them on him whenever he got lost.

The Guys in White looked at each other for a second before turning back to the ghost-boy who continued to hover in front of his little cousin. Operative K now spoke as if just realizing something. "No wonder we haven't even gotten any warning notices from our sponsors. It wasn't you we picked up on our scanners those several months ago, it was her. You probably didn't even know we were still in business."

Danny let out another laugh. "Oho. Trust me. I already knew, long before you attacked Danielle here." Danny projected angrily, indicating the young ghost-girl who was floating just behind him, rubbing her shoulder where she still felt pain. "Why do you think my family and I moved? To see the sights? I knew you'd still be trying to waste me even after the entire ghost-zone came out to help save Earth."

"Perhaps." Operative K stated. "But why would all of the ghosts in that world want to help you in the first place if you weren't secretly on their side?" Just as he finished saying this, he fired beams of blue energy at Danny who successfully dodged by splitting himself into three and having the beams pass right between two of them while the third quickly pushed Danielle out of the way.

After the beams had passed, the two forward Danny's fired green beams of their own at the airborne vehicles, sending them spinning out of control once again. As the drivers fought to regain control, the three Danny duplicates merged back into one and turned to Danielle. "Dani, run! Or…fly…or…just…get out of here!" He stammered at first, but at least getting the point across.

Danielle didn't move. "But…" she started to argue.

"Now!" Danny yelled, turning her around and pushing her in Amity Park's direction as the Guys in White were starting to close in again. "Get back to Fenton Works and I'll take care of these guys."

Then he turned towards the ghost-hunters and as he flew off towards them, Danielle slowly started to float backwards in the direction of Amity Park, still looking at the ghost hero in concern before turning invisible.

The Guys in White started to fire there anti-ghost weapons at Danny who expertly maneuvered out of the way of each beam that came at him before he zoomed right between them at a high speed. The two vehicles turned around to follow and another chase was on: This time, for the correct target. They stayed right on his tail, keeping him within range of their lights. They couldn't lose. If they did, they wouldn't be able to pick him up on their scanners and who knew if they would be able to find him at all again.

The chase led further down, towards the canopy of the woods. Danny rolled over in the air as he flew and fired a series of plasma rays at the vehicles. Ghost-shields activated on the Aerial Chasers, reflecting the energy back at Danny, who cried out in surprise as it barely missed him.

Danny didn't dare to turn invisible to escape. It was clear that their scanners couldn't pinpoint him, but they could pinpoint Danielle. If they lost sight of their intended target, they would probably go after her again to make up for the loss. But as the two agent's vehicle s were starting to catch up with him, Danny was starting to get nervous about if he really would be able to fight them off. Every time he ran into these guys they seemed to always have more updated equipment and who knew what kind of gadgets they were able to get in the two years he had been able to avoid them.

But he got an idea. Unexpectedly, the ghost-boy stopped in mid-flight and the Guys in White tried to speed to their own halt as they accidentally zoomed right passed Danny. Danny made a dive towards the trees below, where he would be able to take better cover. But as his pursuers were slowing down, Operative K took a gun-like device from his jacket and shot it at the teenage ghost. A net made out of strings of blue energy came at Danny and before he could move out of the way of this one, he was caught in it.

Danny cried out as the net sent a painful jolt through him that suddenly made him lose touch with his powers. He felt himself begin to fall as his ability to fly became useless. Just as Danielle had done before him, he plummeted through the tops of the trees of the forest below. The Guys in White followed, determined not to lose sight of their target this time.

Danny's fall wasn't nearly as far as Danielle's was when the government ghost-hunting agency ambushed her, but he hit the forest floor hard, nonetheless. Danny moaned, getting to his hands and knees, still under the ghost-catching net and looked up as he saw the Aerial Chasers land their drivers a few yards in front of him. They dismounted their flying vehicles and took out dangerous looking devices, pointing them at the trapped teenager.

Danny glared at both of them under the net as they approached, and he tried to break free of it. But the jolt that it had sent through him before, seemed to cancel out his ghost-energy. He could keep his Phantom form, but he couldn't do anything else with his powers. It was like being in Freakshow's ghost trap again.

"You'll be coming with us now, Phantom." Operative O remarked.

"We have some research that we need some assistance with." Operative K added, with a rather evil smile creeping across his face. "And you are the one who can provide it."

"No!" A young and desperate sounding voice just blurted out. The two agents looked around, confused at who had made such a distressful sound until they saw the girl version of Danny Phantom suddenly fade out of invisibility, landing a short distance away from her look-alike. "Don't hurt him." She beseeched.

Danny looked up at his young clone, wondering what on earth she was still doing here. "Danielle, I told you to get back to the house." He said to her from under his entanglement in an urgent whisper as she stepped forward, ignoring him.

Danielle took a deep breath as if about to dare something she never thought she would. "If you want experiments…" She began before swallowing very hard "…Do them on me."

"What?' The Guys in White and Danny all replied in unison and disbelief.

"Danielle, what are you doing?" Danny demanded, in a desperate whisper, though it was certainly becoming obvious. And it was starting to scare him.

The Guys in White looked at the girl suspiciously as if thinking that this must be some sort of trick. Operative K was the one who finally replied. "Why would we want to substitute the ghost-hybrid we've been hunting for years for any other ghost?"

"Because…" Danielle began. Danny saw a flash of fear enter her eyes as she just stood there for a second. Then, as he had feared, but was surprised all the same, she did it. She changed back her human form. "I'm a hybrid too." She confirmed with the revealing of her human self.

Both the white suited men's eyes popped at what they had just witnesses. "Another, ghost-hybrid?" Operative K said, in utter bewilderment.

"Where the heck are these kids getting their powers from?" Operative O whispered to his partner, who simply shrugged in response.

Danielle was clearly frightened of what she was doing, but she stated bravely, "If you leave him alone, I'll come quietly."

In hearing this, Danny immediately objected from under the Guys in White's net. "Dani, no. That's suicide! They'll destroy you!"

"What else am I good for, Danny?" Danielle said quietly so that only he could hear. She looked down at the ground, choking back more tears. "The only thing I've ever been…that I ever will be…is an experiment."

As soon as this last hurtful word was said, Danny felt that sinking feeling again that had, by now, grown so deep it started to hurt inside. In fact, he could have sworn he was on the verge of his own tears as he saw all hope and will, leave the young girl's face completely. "Dani…" he said quietly, with his concern and sorrow for the heartbroken clone growing even more. "You're so much more than that, and you know it."

"Only to you, Danny." Danielle said, looking down at him, through the net as her tears once again escaped her eyes and began to stream down her cheeks. "Only to you."

Then she started to slowly walk forward, towards The Guys in White. "No. Dani, please." Danny begged as his clone strode passed him.

The Guys in White just stood there as if considering her for a moment. When she held out her wrists in surrender, they nodded to each other and Operative O put his weapon away, that he had been pointing at the trapped ghost hero, taking out a pair of spectral-cuffs. Just like the ones Freakshow had stolen from them to use on Danny.

The teenage boy desperately struggled to burst out of the net again as the Guys in White snapped the cuffs on both of the poor girl's wrists. Danny had been able to break out of every other net he was ever trapped in, but not this one. In this web of anti-spectral cords that these men had upgraded, he could only watch as his cousin was turning herself in to take his place as an experimental subject that she had always feared she would become again.

The bearded operative took both of Danielle's now cuffed wrists and locked them together, as the familiar, binding blue stand of electric energy, flashed into appearance between the two cuffs. Then he turned her around to face his partner as the African American agent reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a smaller, cylindrical device. Neither of the ghost-hybrids recognized it, but Danielle started looking at it in dread of what the man might be planning to do with it.

"What is that?" Danny demanded fearfully when he saw it, as well as his little cousin's terrified, and yet hopeless expression when she did.

The white-suited agent smiled. "Just an extra precaution." He said before moving it towards Danielle's neck. Danielle cringed in fright and once the device made contact with her skin, it made a hissing noise as she felt the end of the gadget sting her. Then she suddenly faded into unconscious.

Danny gasped when this happened and Operative O caught her from behind as she was beginning to collapse. The Caucasian agent, smiled evilly at Danny as he picked up the frail girl's seemingly lifeless form and set her in font of him as he straddled his Aerial-Chaser. Holding the girl steady against him with one arm, the white clothed agent used his free hand to power up the flying machine, which then started to rise into the air.

Operative K. turned to the boy who watched helplessly from his hands and knees under the net as his little cousin was being taken away. "If you guys hurt her…" Danny started to say warningly to the African American agent who just laughed at this vocal threat.

"You'll what? Report us to your little mayor friend?" He asked, mockingly, shaking his head. "Even the government has lost track of us by now. They won't even be able to find us. And we won't need any additional funding now that we have everything we need." Now Danny's own dread was starting to rise as he saw Operative K take the sedative he had just used on Danielle. "But just in case you're already starting to get ideas, we can't take any risk with you possibly following us."

Danny felt his own dread start to build, for both himself and his younger cousin who was about to be subject to a terrible fate, as he looked at the device the white-clothed man was approaching him with. Danny couldn't do anything to fight against it as the ghost-hunter used it on him the same way he had Danielle. The young boy cried out a bit in feeling a sharp sting it gave off as it made the hissing sound. An instant later, he felt himself grow weaker under the net and he collapsed to the ground entirely as his vision, as well as even his frailest hopes, went dark.

I thought this would be a lot shorter when I finished the first draft. But even if the ending result was going to be at least half this size I think I would still post it with it ending like this. Besides. Blackjay thought this was a good way to end the chapter. I hope you enjoy what's happened.

Hi! This is younger sister Blackjay who has unexpectedly taken over the keyboard with her fiendishly mad skills. (unknown by her older sister) A few words for you. NO DUH, I LIKED IT! INTENSE BEYOND ALL REASON! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Of coarse with her being my sister I know what's gonna happen next (haha! I know what's gonna happen! I know whats gonna happen! … And you don't) ehem…and I can tell you it is TOTALLY worth reading. And not to mention, I think it's a good way to end a chapter because in MY story half of the chapters end with someone passing out, therefore as we like to joke, his mind going black/a deep shade of aquamarine…or magenta…with silver polka dots…hehe…is a good end for her chapter. (I mention it cuz she was asking me about it) and now my random possession of the keyboard must end ^-^ Now I must evilly post it without permission! (And my evilly added out of nowhere addition to the authors note)^^ …bye!