Chapter 35:

Tony POV-

Danielle collapsed after the fight.

Of course, I was immediately concerned. I hadn't realized how much blood (or ectoplasm) she had been losing until she was lying in a pool of it. Fortunately, we were able to shield her before her secret could be exposed to the lingering students in the hallway as she transformed back.

Sam immediately pulled bandages out of her backpack.

'Wow, these kids really are prepared for anything,' I thought as she began to wrap up the gaping wound. With all the teachers and students out of view, I put up the Iron Man mask, so I could get a better view of Danielle's condition. Danny handed me the thermos so that he could give Sam the bandages as she needed them.

I dropped it on the ground, several times, upside, just for good measure. Probably not the best idea, but I was furious.

But I never took my eyes off of Danielle. Her breathing was slow but, at least it was still there. The bandages were stained, a now, reddish-green mixture within a matter of seconds, and Sam continued to put on more applying more pressure. Finally, the blood/ectoplasm mixture was no longer visible through what was probably the fifth layer of bandages.

As carefully as I could I handed Danny the thermos before I picked Danielle off of the ground and carried her out the way we had come in, trying not to disturb the bandages. I was focused on getting her home as quickly as possible so that she could receive better medical care, so focused, in fact that I barely heard her weak voice over the rush of the wind.

"Daddy?" she squeaked in a small voice. I was surprised, she had never called me that before. I smiled back down at her.

"Yeah, Dani, it's me. And we're going to get you fixed up," I told her. I saw a slight smile appear on her lips right before she passed out again.

I flew through the entrance to the lab, laying Danielle in one of the chairs, extending it out flat, and placing a pillow under her head.

"Jarvis, do something!" I demanded.

"Sir, what do you propose I do?" Jarvis asked.

"Hook her up to an IV, monitor her breathing and heart rate. And let me know how quickly she is recovering," I ordered. Taking off the Iron Man suit.

Jarvis didn't question me further, he just set to doing what I had told him.

"Sir, her heart rate is at 23 beats per minute," Jarvis informed me, "That is not much lower than her usual heart rate, but she runs the risk of it dropping lower, however, at the moment, it has not changed. She seems to be receiving more blood at about triple the average human production which is about 75 milliliters every six hours. But, even with that, she needs blood," Jarvis informed me.

I nodded. Danny was, obviously the only one who would actually be able to get her the blood she needed. I heard a thump upstairs. They were here, and we would have to get a blood transfusion immediately. Danny, Tucker, Sam, and Issa, lead by Ghost and followed by Pepper pounded the stairs, Ghost immediately rushing to Dani's side, laying his head on her chair and whimpering softly.

"How is she?" Pepper demanded instantly.

"She needs blood," I turned to Danny.

"Right, got it," he nodded, understanding. He sat down in the chair on the other side of the lab. Pepper inserted the needle into his arm and the red-green blood filled up the tube.

After about three minutes, Danny had given enough blood, which was put into Dani's bloodstream through the IV in her wrist.

Now we had to wait for the blood to take effect, which only took fifteen minutes, but it felt like forever.

"Sir," Jarvis said, "Her heart rate is rising." I breathed a sigh of relief, "I have also provided her with some pain medication, but with her metabolism it should burn off in about an hour. She should wake up in about fifteen minutes, but I recommend that she does not move or do anything strenuous for two to three days."

I was wrong, that fifteen minutes was even longer than the first.

Finally, her eyes fluttered open.

"Where am I?" she asked, blinking.

"Danielle, you're in the lab. Danny gave you some blood and you should recover soon. How are you feeling?" I asked her.

"Sore," she croaked with a weak smile, Ghost yipped happily and licked her fingers. She smiled at him, scratching behind his ears, it wasn't much, but I knew that she was going to be fine, "Did you get him?" she asked.

"Yep," Danny smiled, holding up the thermos. Danielle exhaled deeply, her shoulders finally releasing the tension she had been holding for weeks as she sunk into the chair.

It thirty minutes, and more pain medicine than Jarvis recommended, later, until Danielle, was finally able to move upstairs, with a little assistance of course.

What I didn't expect was to see two more kids in my living room. Danielle clearly didn't expect to see him either because her eyes widened as we lowered her onto the couch, propping her up in the cushioned corner. I recognized them both, one being Dani's friend Zeke, but the other was someone I really didn't want to have here, Scarlett, to whom Issa was giving a death glare, but surprisingly, she said nothing.

"What are you doing here?" Dani asked.

"Perhaps, we should leave them alone," Pepper 'suggested,' I say that in parenthesis because her suggestion involved shoving me, Danny, Tucker, and Sam, out of the room.

Scarlett POV-

I had seen it, I had seen everything. The whole seen was just replaying in a loop in my mind.

Working as an office aide, I had been on my way to deliver a note to some teacher, but, juts as I was about to round the corner of the wide corridor, I saw Danielle. She seemed to freeze at the same moment too. Thinking I had been spotted, I ducked behind the stone pillar. Suddenly, Danielle was across the hall, tangled in some kind of glowing net.

Then I heard a voice, one that I recognized as the voice of her father from the recording that I had seen on the news, but I saw no one. But suddenly, a glowing figure appeared out of thin air. That wasn't her father, at least, that was not the Vlad Masters I had seen on newspapers and magazines before.

He laughed darkly and taunted Danielle, to which she responded by spitting in his eye. So, she obviously knew him, and obviously had a personal problem with him, but that still did not explain who he was.

"Now, Danielle, I know I didn't raise you to act like that," he scolded in the condescending tone that I had grown so accustomed to when I was younger. Just the tone of his voice made me flinch involuntarily.

"You didn't raise me at all," Danielle growled back, venom lacing her words.

Wait, "raise"? So was he her dad after all?

Whoever he was pretended not to notice her and continued ranting, slamming everything about her and about Tony Stark who had adopted her. I saw her wince a little when he said that Tony had ignored her cry for help, but, she managed to cover it up, holding her strong façade. Then, I saw her eyes flicker past whatever his name was. I followed her gaze, noticing her friend Clarissa, with a (laser?) on her wrist.

She aimed it, and miss Mr. Bad Guy. She fired again, this time hitting him in the back. I stepped forward a little, hoping that I would be able to get close enough to help remove the net off of Danielle, but it turned out, that wasn't necessary, she burst out of her bindings, giving me time to duck behind the pillar again, and she leapt into the air. What I didn't expect was a complete makeover.

A blue light formed around her waist, spreading up and down giving her a whole new wardrobe of black and white and turning her black hair white and her blue eyes green. She also glowed.

Then she fired something out of her hand that kind of looked like the laser beam, hitting the bad guy dude. Then he actually flew through her!

Before I even knew what had happened, he had her by the throat. At which point Clarissa jumped out and pointed the laser again. The bad guy laughed, and Danielle ordered Clarissa to adjust the laser, which she finally did, hitting Mr. bad dude in the hand so that he dropped Danielle. Then he turned for Clarissa. That was bad, he looked like he wanted to kill her, and he probably would have if Danielle had not taken the blow for her. She started bleeding green.

The bad guy picked up Clarissa, hoisting her up so that she couldn't move no matter how hard she thrashed.

"Let her go!" Danielle exclaimed, through she was obviously still in immense pain.

The bad guy laughed, challenging her, and suddenly, they were not alone. Three teenagers, one who looked scary alike Danielle, with the white hair, and then the woman I recognized as Pepper, the woman who adopted Danielle, and Iron Man.

'Wow, nothing will be surprising after today,' I thought as Danielle and her new forces battled with the bad guy.

Finally, as the bad guy wearily stood up, he was sucked into a soup thermos, really?

Then Danielle collapsed at the teachers and students were sent away. I saw her change back to normal, and was quickly treated by the Goth girl who had arrived with the others. Then, Iron Man's mask went up, and I gasped, inaudibly except to me. It was Tony Stark. I would have never thought that the billionaire who had adopted Danielle could actually be such an awesome superhero, of course, I would have never pegged Danielle as one to have superpowers either. Iron man, I mean Tony, picked her up and carried her out, now that left the others, who began to walk in my direction. Before I had a chance to get away, Clarissa saw me.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I—I…um…" I stammered, unable to think of a legitimate excuse.

"How much did you see," the boy who looked like Danielle asked.

I looked down, "All of it," I said finally.

He sighed running a hand through his hair, "What should we do now?" he asked to the others.

"I have an idea, I could pound the snot out of her, and then she'll wake up tomorrow and think it was a dream," Clarissa suggested, grabbing the collar of my shirt. The boy seemed to consider this for a moment before shaking his head.

"I won't tell anyone, I swear!" I pleaded. He looked at me.

"It'll have to do for now, we need to get back. Dani lost a lot of blood," he sighed.

"Wait, can I come too," I asked, hesitantly.

"Why the hell do you want to come?" Clarissa demanded.

"I want to make sure she's all right. Plus, I think she deserves to know that I know about her," I said quietly. Clarissa looked to the boy and then to Pepper.

"Yeah, okay fine," the boy relented, throwing is hands up.

"One more minute," Clarissa added, releasing me, 'I have to get Zeke. He should be a part of this too." The boy sighed.

"Okay, fine, whatever. But make it fast. Dani could be in big trouble right now," Clarissa nodded before sprinting down the hallway.

Several minutes later we were in the car, with the white-haired boy flying over us "just in case," of what, I didn't know. Zeke seemed extremely confused about what was going on. I couldn't blame him, I was confused and I saw the whole thing.

Finally, after what seemed like forever we arrived at the Stark mansion and we all raced up to the front door and inside the house. Everybody raced in one direction, but when Zeke and I tried to follow. Pepper turned to us.

"I'm sorry, you have to stay here," she told us. I must admit I was disappointed, but Zeke seemed practically heartbroken as we went back to the couch, and waited.

After a full hour later, I heard voices and the whole group rounded the corner, except the white-haired boy now had black hair and blue eye like Danielle usually had. Danielle looked better, and needed only a little assistance into the living room.

But, she paled when she saw us. Especially me.

Dani POV-

Okay, seeing Zeke was a surprise, but seeing Scarlett? That was unfathomable. After everyone else had reluctantly left the room. I glared at Scarlett.

"What are you doing here?" I repeated, slowly and with more firmness than I had before.

"I know…" she said quietly, not meeting my eyes.

"What do you mean 'you know'?" I asked, suspicion rising.

"Um…" Scarlett hesitated, "I mean, I'm an office aide, I was running a note down the hall when I saw you, and then I saw him, and…well, I hid. But, I saw…everything," she told me, this time meeting my gaze. I saw the honesty in her eyes, something I was not used to, especially from Scarlett, and I froze. She wasn't lying, she had seen everything.

I cast a sideways glance at Zeke, who shrugged.

"I still have no idea what you guys are talking about, I was just told that you were hurt, and that I had to come here."

I sighed deeply, leaning my head on the pillow behind me, "Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag now…"

"I won't tell anyone, I swear! I know you have no reason to trust me after all the awful stuff I've said and done, but I mean it. And…I know how you feel, I was abused by my dad too, just not the same way you were," Scarlett told me, her voice dropping lower. This surprised me. Of course, my big secret would have been big gossip around school, but I looked at her again, she seemed to be completely sincere.

"Tell anyone WHAT!?" Zeke asked, throwing his hands up in exasperation. I sighed again, shakily getting to my feet.

"This," I said simply, closing my eyes and allowing myself to transform. I opened my eyes again. Zeke was gawking at me with his jaw down while Scarlett simply nodded, still not meeting my eyes.

"What—what, how? What are you?" Zeke stammered. I chuckled a little eat his reaction, as I changed back.

"I'm half ghost," I told them, sitting back down on the couch. Even Scarlett seemed confused by this.

"But how? Does that mean you're half dead or something?" Zeke asked.

I looked over to the hallway where I knew Danny was still invisibly snooping, silently asking if it was okay to give away the whole story. I heard a sigh and then he flew away. I guess I'll take that as a yes.

"Okay, here it goes," You'd think after all the times I've told this story, it would get easier, but it really doesn't, "My cousin Danny, became half ghost because of a portal accident in his parents lab. That made him the second half-ghost hybrid. The first being, my 'so-called father, Vlad.' When Vlad found out that Danny was also half ghost, he tried to get him to join him, so that he could have a perfect half-ghost son. Needless to say, Danny refused."

"So what does that have to do with you?" Zeke asked.

"I'm getting to that," I glared at him and he turned red, sinking back into the couch behind him, "Anyway, when Danny refused, Vlad decided that he would clone Danny to get a half-ghost son. But, well something must have gone wrong because obviously, I'm a girl, and like two years younger than he is."

"Wait a minute, you're a clone?" Zeke exclaimed in disbelief.

"The only successful one, actually. So then I escaped, but I wasn't really that stable, so, Vlad tried to capture me and melt me down to ectoplasm to find what had been stabilizing me as long as it had. Danny saved me, and stabilized me. Then I ran away. So, long story short, now I'm here," I finished.

"Wow," Zeke exclaimed his head falling back onto the cushions.

I turned to Scarlett.

"So what now?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

"I mean, what does this make us, friends? Acquaintances? Allies? What?" I wondered. Scarlett thought for a moment, like she didn't really know the answer either. Then she looked at me.

"Let's start over and be friends," she decided. I heard a muffled "Nooooooooo" from another room, which let me know that everybody was still eavesdropping. I rolled my eyes. And Scarlett extended her hand "Hi, I'm Scarlett."

"Hi, Scarlett, I'm Dani," I shook her hand.

That was when everybody else decided to come out.

"So, is everything, okay, now?" Pepper asked.

I scoffed, "Like you guys don't already know."

Scarlett looked around at the group. Issa was still staring daggers at her until I gave her the 'be-nice' look and she huffed, crossing her arms.

"You're lucky, you know," Scarlett said, finally, "Not, only do you get to live with people who love you. But you also get to have Iron Man as your dad." Now, it was Tony's turn to be surprised.

"Wait, what?" Zeke sprung up.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that. Yeah, Tony is Iron Man," I told him, nonchalantly.

"What? Lucky? You get to be a superhero, and your dad is one too?" he asked, dumbstruck.

I smiled to myself. Troubled past and internal bleeding aside, I was lucky. But it was more than that, I was blessed. And, as for my past, well, I decided, I wouldn't change a thing, after all, it was because of my past that I got to be here now, surrounded by the best family and friends a girl could ever ask for. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

Epilogue:

A full investigation was taken on Vlad's house, where his secret lab was discovered and investigated. He now has a warrant out for his arrest involving several counts of stalking and child abuse through the files found on his computer and the tools found in the lab. But, the real world arrest will have to wait because Vlad was also found guilty by the observers of kidnapping, child abuse, assault, stalking, and threatening to murder humans. Danny, Danielle, Walker, and even Tony (who was admitted into the Ghost Zone for the trial testified against him).

And, although neither prison will be able to hold him for long, he won't be bothering Danielle for a very long time.

The End.

For now at least. Like I said in one of the earlier chapters, there will be a sequel, one that will even involve the Avengers. I'm not sure when I'll get around to posting it (mostly because I don't know how to start), but be on the look out for a new story from me.

Thank you to all the fans who followed this story to the end. I really hoped you enjoyed it.