Hey peeps, just thought I'd let you know that I am uploading another chapter to make up for being MIA for a while, also I was just hit with inspiration. Ooh, I would just like to add that I am listening (and dancing like a dork) to the Ghostbusters theme song to get myself in the Halloween mood. Happy Halloween, to all of you. Consider this chapter my treat to you
Chapter 18:
Tony POV-
After Pepper left, I went into Dani's room. She sat the desk in a comfortable-looking outfit, sketching in the margin of a sheet of notebook paper. I had fully intended to start off with that simple question and then bombard her with everything that I knew, or didn't know, about her. But, seeing her so terrified after I brought up the blue mist, I realized that I was far more likely to drive her into a panic than to actually get a confession out of her. So acting on an impulse, I stood up and made her follow me down to the lab.
The whole way down the hallway and then down the stairs I was battling with myself between continuing and turning back. But apparently, the logical part of my brain no longer had control over my legs, because they kept going. We reached the second door into the lab. Ghost followed silently behind us, his unusually quiet form adding to the overall suspense of our descent. He was so quiet, I doubt that dani even noticed the pup.
'Well, no turning back now,' I thought to myself as I pushed open the door.
As I suspected, Danielle was less than impressed with the lab, or at least a lot less impressed than she should have been, had this actually been the first time she had seen the lab.
"Well, Danielle," I said with a deep breath, "This is my lab, although I'm assuming you already know that."
That same look of fear flashed across her face again, before she masked it and turned to me with a, very, forced smile.
"Well, I could assume," she lied, well, I might add. If I didn't know any better, I might have believed her.
"But, like I said," I told her moving toward the switch that opened the wall of Iron Man suits, "I have something to show you. But" I hesitated, "if I show you this, you have to promise to start talking, and I mean everything." Dani gulped, but nodded after a second. I paused only a second over the switch before flipping it a minute. The wall, it seemed, wanted to hesitate for a second too, before it slid open, my shiny suits on display. Dani stared at the wall for a minute before it finally seemed to sink in for her. She tore her gaze away from the wall after a few seconds and stared at me, a look of pure surprise on her face.
"You…You're…" she stuttered.
I nodded with a smirk, "Pretty cool, huh?" I took a seat at my desk.
"Now, Dani," I told her with a stern gaze, "I think it's your turn." I pulled up another chair next to mine.
"Okay," she said, finally regaining her composure, "But first I want to know how?"
I sighed. "Okay. It started when I was in the Middle East. Long story short, I got blown up and captured, then…" I started to undo the top buttons of my shirt, "I had to have this put in my chest to keep me alive, now, I've added a few upgrades to it, but this is what helped me to escape and this is what powers the Iron Man suit. Now, it's your turn."
"You're telling me that you don't know everything already," she remarked sarcastically, crossing her arms at me.
"Well, I know, mostly, everything, but it would be nice for you to prove my theories," I told her, an equally smug look on my face, as I patted the chair behind me and buttoned up my shirt. Dani rolled her eyes, uncrossed her arms, and finally took the seat.
"Well, to know about me," she said, "You must first know about Danny. I assume you figured out that Danny Fenton is also Danny Phantom, right?" she asked.
"Well yeah, I'm surprised more people haven't figured it out," I grinned.
"So are we," she agreed before continuing the story, "Danny's parents are ghost hunters, which is why this secret cannot get out, among other reasons. But anyway, when he was 14 they built a portal to the ghost zone. It didn't work, so Danny went inside. It turns out his father put the 'on' switch on the inside and when Danny accidentally hit it, ghost DNA fused with his DNA, making him half ghost." On the floor, Ghost looked up every time his name was mentioned, cocking his head to the side.
"Then there's Vlad, who I'm sure you figured out is not actually my father. Vlad was made half-ghost in a lab accident while he was in college with Danny's parents, for that reason, he hates Danny's dad and wants to kill him in order to marry Danny's mom."
"Um…" I said, not quite sure what to think of that, although it only affirmed my idea that Vlad is insane.
"Wait, it gets weirder. Vlad found out Danny's secret while they were staying in Vlad's mansion during a class reunion. When Danny refused to side with Vlad in his evil plans, Vlad decided that there had to be other ways of getting the perfect half-ghost son. That's where I come in."
My eyes widened at what she was implying. "So you're saying that you're a…"
"Clone of Danny, yes, I am. But something must have gone wrong considering that I am twelve and a girl. Anyway, Vlad used me to try and get Danny's DNA because he convinced me that it would stabilize me. Long story short, Danny saved me, and when I started to destabilize, Danny saved me again. I didn't stay with Danny because that would mean explaining all of this to his parents, and I didn't want to run the risk of Danny getting disowned, dissected or in trouble because of me," she finished, exhaling a long breath.
"Oh...um…wow," I stuttered, not quite sure what to say.
"Anything else that you wanted to know?" she asked me.
"Um…no, I think you pretty well got it covered, thanks," I replied, "But, while we're confessing. I stole that ectopistol from your care package."
She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I kind of figured."
"But I did have a good reason," I said in defense, standing up and moving to another wall. I flipped another switch and revealed my final Iron Man suit, based off of the Fenton technology. This suit is still a work in progress, but it is silver and neon green, like the gun, "I made a ghost fighting Iron Man suit, so that could better protect you from Vlad. It's not done yet but—" I was cut off by Danielle giving me a hug.
"Thank you," she muttered. I was not used to this, but it wasn't bad. I awkwardly hugged her back.
"No problem, I just wanted to be able to help," I told her. She smiled at me gratefully, and I smiled back, "But like I said, it's not done yet. I could use some help on it though, maybe from a ghost, or half-ghost's, perspective." Her face lit up.
"Okay, but can we…not tell Pepper about this?" she asked tentatively.
"You read my mind, " I replied and handed her a hammer off of my workbench before we got to work.