Danny hovered outside the window that he and his friends had been lurking beneath earlier. He had made sure that he was invisible and the coast was clear before pushing himself through the brickwork. The room he found himself in was icy-cold and horribly bare. In the corner of the room, something of rust colour was chained to the wall, curled up in a ball of fur.
He hovered over to it, not wanting to make a sound and started pulling at the chains. The creature jumped to its feet in alarm at the unseen force.
"Vixey it's me, calm down, I'm getting you out of here." Danny whispered.
She widened her violet eyes towards the sound of his voice and relaxed slightly. The chain around her throat along with the collar-like pendant, pulling the chain would only make things worse and she would surely strangle herself if she tried to help in human form. He aimed his index finger at the chain and tried slicing through it with a beam of ghost energy, but the links held firm.
Vixey suddenly sprang to her paws once again, bright eyed and shifting uncomfortably. Danny put a hand gently on her back and whispered.
"We'll be out soon, calm down."
This only made her more jittery and agitated, she turned quickly bit at his fingers, making hum retract in shock. What was she doing? She turned again and was flicking her tail at something behind him.
"Trying to steal from me?" Danny was thrown out of his invisibility at the voice behind him, "Tut-tut, Danny."
The acid-green genie floated before him, a cruel smirk fixed into place.
"Alright Desiree, I'm here, what do you want with me?" he demanded, shielding Vixey from view.
"It's simple really…"
Desiree snapped her fingers. Two glowing chains shot out of the shadowed corners of the room. Before Danny could react, they had coiled around his body like snakes, securing his arms to his sides. The more he struggled, the tighter they became. He tried to pass through them but his powers weren't working. He sank to his knees and glared up at his captor.
"… I need you for a little experiment of mine. You see, I'm tired of granting wishes for everyone. So I figured, if I was human, I would be able to do what I wanted, no more trailing after idiotic wish after idiotic wish. Now, I'm not naïve, I know there is no coming back from the dead, but I can however, half come back."
"What're you talking about? Can't you just get someone to wish you human?"
She scoffed, "If it was that easy do you think you would be here? No, I can't."
"But what do you mean half come back? That makes no se…" he stopped and took a look at himself, "You mean half ghost, half human, don't you?"
She clapped her hands together sarcastically, "You got it ghost-boy. All I need to do is splice my DNA with some of yours, and there we go."
Danny allowed himself a smile, "Well if you need my DNA, why not just take some hair or something? Is there really any need for this?" he struggled in his bonds.
"I should have been more specific. I need to splice my DNA… with you. It's a little out of my style, but I'll be the talk of the Ghost Zone, imagine, Desiree: the one who got out and took down Danny Phantom along the way."
Danny struggled harder, the air being squeezed out of him, "Look, you've got me, so let Vixey go, you don't need her anymore!"
Desiree smirked and floated over to the quivering cub, lifting her up by the back of the neck. Vixey growled in pain and hatred, slashing her claws uselessly at her tormentor.
"That's where you're wrong again. You see, after I've dealt with you, I still need a human body of my own."
Danny clenched his jaw and fought against his bonds. No, he could let this happen. Wanting to become human, or even half-human was fair enough, but to kill people for it and pass off someone's body as their own was despicable. Suddenly, he had an idea. It was simple, but it had worked before. He just had to use it to his advantage. He stopped moving and glared into her crimson eyes in triumph.
"I wish you wouldn't do that and I wish you would go inside the thermos and I wish you would never come out!"
Desiree froze, dropping Vixey to the ground. She widened her eyes and cried out in rage and horror. Her body arched and warped as if something was pulling her away. There was a flash of light, blinding him. When he opened his eyes, she was gone. He grinned triumphantly at Vixey before looking down at himself. Hmm, he thought, I should have wished us free too. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Vixey flinch. He eyed her questioningly and then turned his head. Suddenly, he came nose to nose with a very smug, ruby-eyed face.
"Agh!" he jumped back in surprise.
"Did you honestly think it was going to be that easy?" asked the genie, folding her arms, "You tried to steal what was mine, remember? I don't owe you any wishes now. Plus, there's the little rule that you can't make the same wish twice. So I'm not going back into that thermos… ever!"
Danny glowered at her. He was sure that there wasn't many rules before, "Is there a hand-book or something to this?"
She smirked and turned away from him. The chain that was keeping Vixey fixed to the wall broke away and snakes itself around Desiree's wrist, like a leash. She gave it a sharp tug, forcing Vixey onto her feet. The little creature looked at Danny with sad, apologetic eyes and then lowered its head to look at the ground. She couldn't believe she had let this happen. Deep down she knew that there was nothing she could have done to prevent this, but that made it all the worse.
Danny felt the chains tighten around him as he was lifted into the air, floating a few feet behind Desiree. They were taken into another room that was completely white, so sterile that Danny could make out their reflections in the tiled walls. Against one wall were two metallic containment units with a glass window on the door of each. Producing from the top of the containers were tubes that connected at the ceiling and ran across to the other side of the room where there was a third unit.
Desiree snapped her fingers and the chain around Vixey vanished. In an instant, Vixey was swallowed by the rings of light and stood before them in her human form. Her violet eyes were puffed around the edges and a look of pure hatred was plastered across her face. She clenched her fists and lunged towards the genie. Desiree quickly avoided the attack and grabbed a handful of the girls copper hair, yanking her to the ground.
"Can't you just pass into me? You don't need him!" Vixey cried desperately.
She hated herself for this. Danny was an innocent person in all of this and she had dragged him along for the ride of hell. Now he was going to die because of her. If she knew his friends like she thought she did, it would be long before they went and got themselves killed too. Only this time, if Desiree succeeded, it would be at her hands. She couldn't let people get hurt because of her mistakes!
"Well I could, but that would be possession, and that's a temporary arrangement. I want this to be permanent!"
"You're pure evil!" she spat.
The genie smiled, "And you're my little helper."
Vixey struggled and kicked but Desiree allowed every attack to pass through her body without leaving a mark. She suddenly lifted Vixey into the air by her hair and threw her into the lone container, slamming the door shut. Vixey could be seen slamming her fists against the unmoving door and shouting in protest from behind the glass. However, no sound came out. The containers were totally sound proof and impenetrable. Danny gulped as Desiree started leading him towards one of the containers that were side by side.
"You see, you go in that one, and I in the other, our DNA will splice up there in the tubes and travel into her over there. Simple. Any last words, Danny Phantom?" she asked sweetly.
Danny smiled anxiously and hopefully, "I wish you wouldn't do this?"
"I'm going to miss that sense of humour of yours." She laughed as she closed the door on him.
Just then, the sound of breaking glass made them jump. The scarlet eyes narrowed as she turned to the source of the noise. Danny was surprised to discover that although no one could here him in there, he could hear everything that was going on outside his isolation.
"My bottle!" Desiree cried as she vanished into the previous room.
Danny pounded his fists against the door and pass through it, but nothing was working. He looked out across the room where his eyes met Vixey's. She was shaking her head and mouthing something that looked like an apology. He narrowed his eyes at her and shook his head, screaming out to her that she should feel guilty over this. That it wasn't her fault. Everything was going to be fine. She seemed to get the message and thanked him, pressing her hand against the glass. Danny returned the gesture and looked around his prison. There had to be some way out of here. Desiree returned to the sterile room, dragging two figures behind her.
The figure with the spectacles was pointing accusingly, "You won't get away with this, lady; I wish you back into the thermos! I wish -"
"Oh please, not this again…" the genie groaned, turning to explain that she doesn't grant the same wish twice or grant wishes to thieves.
"How convenient!" The gothic girl snapped.
Danny cried out from his prison, "Sam! Tuck! Get out of here!"
They couldn't hear him. All they saw was Danny struggling and screaming silently behind a door. Sam broke free from the ghosts grip and sprinted to the door, pulling with all her might, but it was no use. It was sealed tight.
"Let him out!" she caught sight of Vixey, "Let them go, now!"
"Yeah! And we didn't try and steal anything!" Tucker added, nodding for effect.
Desiree snapped her fingers, sending the two flying backwards and colliding harshly with the wall. They couldn't move, there were frozen in position, backs flat against the wall.
"Touch my bottle, and it's stealing. You don't touch the bottle, got it?" she leered at them.
Her eyes caught sight of the Fenton thermos slotted in the side of Tuckers belt. She sniggered and pulled it out, spinning it in her palm. She made a face that parents did to children when the child was in the wrong, but they were making it into a joke. The classic: 'Now that wasn't a good idea was it silly, now run off and play' kind of look.
She turned away from them and looked at Danny, then over to Vixey. A cold, wry smile spread across her mouth.
"I wish to be human…" she sighed, floating over to the empty containment unit, glancing at herself in the walls reflection and laughing manically, "So I have wished it, so it shall be!"