Chapter 13

Retribution

Disclaimer: I own neither Danny Phantom nor Smallville

"Ectoplasmic trace 2.4, deteriorating." The bulky, white suited man said to his companion.

"Catalogued, residual energy wavelength compatible with Entity 2.0013." Came the sharp reply, followed by a sharp electronic beeping, the faint whirring of a computer and the tapping of keys as the burly man input data into his device.

Agents O and K of the Guys in White (GIW) had originally been assigned to Amity Park in the hunt for the Ectoplasmic Entity; 4.0046. However, they had been unable to detain or eliminate the threat of the subject during their year and a half tenure in Amity Park. They had lost several ranks with their many failed attempts, and the debacle involving the foreign student "Elliot" had nearly lost them their place at the GIW. It was not their fault that the entity was so elusive, nor that it was so manipulative. However the specter had grown while they had observed it. No other ectoplasmic entity had such phenomenal growth in its power levels.

The GIW identified ectoplasmic entities by two key components. First, there was its power level, rounded down to the nearest whole number. Thus a level 5.9 entity would have the first identifier as 5. The second component of the identification was the catalogue number, usually relating to when that entity was identified in relation to others of its class. Usually this was sufficient ectoplasmic entities had very slow power growth if any. However entity 4.0046 had been drastically different.

Entity 4.0046 was one of the strangest ectoplasmic entities the GIW had ever encountered. When they had first arrived in Amity Park it had been an energy level 4.7, thus the first identifier 4. Over the thirty years of the GIW agency's existence they had only observed 45 other class fours, and that was down to lucky coincidence. However, the strange thing about entity 4.0046 was that it changed. In fact at their last observation it was identified as entity 7.0046. Operatives O and K had been dumbfounded at the change.

Their observations of the entity had shown drastic changes, going so far as to have a complete "costume change". It was the strangest of all their subjects, and the most elusive. Over the last year they had managed only to see it six times with appropriate equipment available. All six times it had escaped them, defying their ability as Government Agents. It was only ever seen in association and conflict with other ectoplasmic entities, leading to speculation of a violent obsession or one based on proving dominance. The two agents had been observing the ectoplasmic collisions for signs of its weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

However, ectoplasmic activity in Amity Park had drastically reduced over summer, and had not picked up again in the cooler months. Instead the town had settled into the rigid normality expected in small towns. The ectoplasmic activity had reduced to the normal background radiation of level 1 un-manifested entities. Instead the activity seemed to migrate into the state of Kansas. There had been several reports of increased activity in the small town of Smallville; however red tape had kept the GIW Agents out until very recently.

Agents O and K had been reassigned to the Metropolis district after entity 2.0013 had been observed in the warehouse district. That particular entity was always seen in association with boxes, proclaiming itself the "Box Ghost". Names were irrelevant to the Agents. Ectoplasmic entities had no mind, no emotion. At best they were comparable to rabid dogs; fit only to be studied and eliminated. The agents knew on the field that the entity could be identified and even confused with using its "name" however such a label was arbitrary in the scientific field.

Thus the GIW agents were enthused when their device picked up a faint trace of a level 7.9 entity two days ago. The energy wavelength had decayed fast, but they had picked up entity 7.0046's signature in the bottom of an office building along with 2.0013's. A strange gleam had run through their eyes as they imagined the opportunity to finally run lots and lots of experiments on the annoyingly elusive Entity 7.0046, known to itself as Danny Phantom.

Line Break

Danny gasped; sweat pouring off his forehead as he jolted awake breathing heavily. Ever since the funeral he'd been having nightmares, or rather one nightmare. The day he watched his friends and family die at the Nasty Burger, and it was all his fault. But this time it was different. He couldn't save them, he couldn't touch them. It was as if he was intangible, but he couldn't become solid again. Shakily he stood up, but somehow it didn't seem the same. He couldn't feel his feet on the floor; this wasn't too unusual in itself. He often had to force himself to obey the laws of physics. Something was just off.

He made his way downstairs, hoping to make himself useful to the two mourning Kents. Clark was not coping well; he had descended into a passive aggressive phase which was making him very short tempered. Danny himself was lost, not only had he lost his family and friends, but within six months he'd lost his uncle as well. He felt ungrounded, like the world was moving around him, but he wasn't a part of it. The only way he was able to deal with anything himself was the fact that he knew the consequences of letting his emotions get the better of him.

He went to the cupboard to pull out a mixing bowl, but his hand went straight through the door. Danny frowned, concentrating on making his energy denser, closer to the physical spectrum. His hand still passed through the door. He spent five minutes trying to shift himself into the physical world, but there was nothing he could do. He heard the top stair groan and looked over to see his Aunt coming downstairs.

"What's wrong" she asked as soon as she saw his face. Danny blinked; he didn't want to burden her with anything more.

"Nothing" he replied, giving her a half hearted smile. He turned his attention back to the cupboard but realised there was nothing he could really do. He shook his head in annoyance, and to his surprise the cupboard door jumped open. Aunt Martha jumped back in surprise.

"What was that?" She gasped with a hand over her mouth.

Danny frowned. He had never really practiced his telekinesis. He had accidentally used it on occasion, but hadn't worked on it much. He'd never needed to. But maybe now was a good time to.

"Telekinesis, I think. Sorry, I'm just a little..." Danny began

"Out of it." Aunt Martha finished with a sad smile "We all are. It's hard, knowing that Jon isn't here anymore. But I know he would want us to move on, to keep going and be happy." Martha went to squeeze Danny's hand, only to have hers go straight through it. "Danny?" she questioned.

Danny sighed. He had no idea why it was happening, but he could explain what it was "I'm intangible. Stuck intangible. This morning I woke up and I can't touch anything, it's like I'm not here." Aunt Martha's eyes widened in sympathy, but Danny didn't want that. Hopefully this would be over in a couple of days. If not... well he could always go to Clockwork or maybe Frostbite. "It's nothing. Really."

Aunt Martha just raised an eyebrow at Danny. Danny shrunk back slightly; he hated to see everyone so miserable. He wanted to give her a hug, to promise her that somehow it would all be okay. Uncle Jon would have wanted them all happy, to not dwell too much and to remember him with pride, not pain. But he couldn't even manage that. Inwardly he growled in frustration, but kept his shy yet confident facade outside.

Danny went over to the counter and floated above the seat, giving the appearance that he was sitting. Aunt Martha looked at him questioningly, but he just gestured for her to take a seat.

"Aunt Martha" he began, fumbling for the right words. "I am fine. I may be intangible, but I'm still here for you and Clark. You don't need to worry about me. I'll manage. What's more important is to make sure that you and Clark are okay."

Martha smiled, going to give him a hug, but stopped herself in time. Meanwhile Danny mused over his current predicament. There was no way he could go to school like this. Instead of brooding he focused on an apple in the fruit bowl. He smiled when it rose up and floated over to him before dropping on the kitchen table with a thud. Danny definitely needed more practice.

"Did you do that?" Aunt Martha asked, bringing Danny back to the present. Danny just nodded. It was obvious that neither of them were ready to have a deep and meaningful conversation about Uncle Jon and how to cope now that he wasn't around. Danny had to force himself not to look up the stairs as he expected Jon to come down. Instead they decided to keep the conversation light.

"How about you sit, I'll make breakfast today" Aunt Martha offered, to which Danny silently agreed. It was hardly as though he was in a position to cook, let alone eat for that matter. Danny refocused his attention on the apple, trying to make it float back to the bowl with limited success. Ten minutes later Clark came downstairs and grabbed a piece of toast before marching out the door. At the moment Danny had no idea whether he should go talk to him or if he should give Clark some space.

Martha donned a jacket after calling up the school. She had reluctantly agreed that having an intangible child at the school was not going to help anyone in the slightest. Martha headed out the door, heading to the Talon for work. The bills still needed to be paid and all of them were looking for some form of distraction. Danny elected to go for a fly, switching into his Phantom form he floated up above the clouds, his legs disappearing into a trailing mist as he soared over the Smallville skyline.

He dipped into a cloud, the cool moist air seeping through him. He could almost feel it, but at the same time it wasn't substantial. Or was he just not substantial enough to feel it? He stopped in midair, looking at his tail. Absently he wove the wispy tip through his fingers as he brooded, floating above the cloud tops. So much had changed recently. Within six months he had lost not only his family and friends, but also his uncle who had helped him pick up the pieces of his tattered life.

Uncle Jon had helped encourage him, reminded Danny why he bothered fighting ghosts in the first place. The Kent Farm just wasn't the same without him there; all three of them were just waiting for him to come down the stairs or through the kitchen door with a huge smile and his warm laugh. That he wasn't there anymore was unsettling. Danny had never been good with change, even less so since he became half ghost.

He sighed, lying back on the cloud with his face to the heavens. That was another problem; his ghost half had been acting up lately. He just didn't have the same control he usually did on his basic powers, like his tangibility. This was the first time though that all of him had been stuck intangible for so long. He looked down at his spectral tail, the ultimate symbol of what he was. It wasn't normal for people to have legs change into a misty tail, but for him it was natural. Danny huffed and sank down through the cloud, enjoying the strange tingle of electrical static passing through his body.

Danny drifted down towards the earth; he had apparently drifted over to Metropolis as he floated above the clouds. That's what using the clouds as a reference point got him. Danny sunk lower, towards the LuthorCorp building rooftop before he changed directions, heading across to the clock tower. He floated invisible on the rooftop, listening to the soundscape of the city; sirens, cars, alarms, children screaming and people laughing. The world never stopped moving around him, but now he couldn't even touch it. His green eyes glittered in the sunlight. Danny had never felt so disconnected from reality. Never felt so apart from the world.

Danny had never felt so much like a ghost.

Line Break

One week. It had been one week since they had buried his dad. Ten days since he had been taken from them. Clark felt betrayed. How could his dad just leave them like that? How could Jor-El have stolen his Dad's life for Clark's? How could his mom not be hurt by all this? Everyone just carried on, like there was nothing wrong. They were all stuck in a world of make believe, but Clark saw through it all. His dad was gone, and it was Clark's own fault. They could all pretend that everything was okay, but Clark would not.

Clark spun the wrench around on the tyre bolt. The tractor needed a new tyre and really anything at the moment was better than thinking. He grunted as the metal in the wrench shattered in his hand. Frustrated he set it aside and pulled out another one as he moved to tighten another bolt. He chanced a look in the tractor's mirror and saw his mom come into the barn with a box in her hands. She looked lost, but Clark ignored it.

"You're home from school a little early." His mom commented softly.

"Yeah, well I sorta dropped out for the rest of semester" Clark replied. It wasn't as if he'd really focus on studying, there were more important things than university. The farm needed to be tended to, and it was his dad who had told him to go to university in the first place. Without him here there was no point going. Besides, if his dad saw fit to leave Clark when he needed him most there was no need for him to stay in school on his orders.

"Clark, how could you do that?" His mom asked in a disappointed tone. Clark didn't even bother to turn around. How could she not understand? There was no point in him staying in school.

"You need me here, there's too much work to be done." Clark coldly replied, as he finally looked to her.

"But Clark, I'm here, Danny's here..." His mom started, but Clark cut her off.

"Mom, it's done. Besides, the ghost is hardly around anyway." Clark said firmly, only briefly meeting her eyes before looking over into a darkened corner of the barn. His mom sighed and put the box aside, walking over to him. Clark absently retreated, putting the tractor in between them.

"The Governor's office wants to see me; something about your father's Senate Seat. It's the last place I want to be, but I have to go to Metropolis. While I'm there I... I thought I'd drop some of your father's clothes down at the homeless shelter. It's probably too soon, but I... it's so hard seeing them in the closet every day. I can still smell his aftershave on his shirts." His mom said. Clark couldn't really find it in himself to care. It hurt too much to even think about his dad.

"You should take a look; see if there's anything in there you want to keep." His mom offered, but Clark just shook his head.

"No" he replied, ignoring the emptiness in his own voice "I'm sure there's someone who can use it more than I can." Clark turned away to get back to work. He needed to finish the tractor, and then he needed to feed the cows. There were other things to do other than waste time here chatting about clothes.

"Oh" he heard his mom say "I think your father would have wanted you to have this." She pulled out his dad's old watch. Clark felt a painful pang rip through his heart. He couldn't wear that, it wasn't his. "I... I still remember the day he taught you how to tell the time with it."

"You should wear it" he replied, ignoring the slight cracking in his voice. He didn't want to do this, he couldn't do this. He shoved the pain away to the farthest recess of his mind and turned back to his work. "You should head to Metropolis now if you want to be there before it gets dark." Clark commanded distantly. He ignored his mom as she picked up the box and left the barn, focusing instead on tightening another bolt as he finished fastening the tyre in place.

He had work he needed to get done. His mom did a bit here and there, but Clark didn't want to think about Danny. The ghost boy had hardly reacted at all; he was the worst of them. It was as if Clark's Dad had meant nothing to him. Come to think of it, he'd hardly been any better when his own family had passed on. It was as if he didn't care. Red tinged Clark's vision as he thought that. For all he may say that he was different from ghosts he showed many of the same personality traits. Maybe that's all ghosts were; cold unfeeling masses of ectoplasm. Danny could act sympathetic all he wanted, but Clark no longer bought into it.

The tyre in place Clark walked over to the haystack, picking up a few bales to take out to the truck. He had actual work to do.

Line Break

Lana was worried. Not just her normal worry, but something deeper, edged with unsettling concern. After the funeral Clark had closed himself off to the world. She felt a twinge of guilt; just before Clark's father had died she had all but broken up with him. But no matter what she was there for Clark, she wanted him happy again, not the self loathing angry man that he had been the last time she had visited. She knew Jonathan Kent would never have wanted that for Clark. So Lana had resolved to try and pick Clark out of his self destructive circle, but so far she had not been having much success. If anything he was angrier, more distant every time she saw him.

Lana pulled her car up in front of the Kent house, moving around to the kitchen door. It seemed more appropriate to use the less formal entrance today. Idly she noticed that Martha's car was missing, and the only lights on in the house were in the kitchen. Clark must be home alone. Lana knocked lightly on the door before letting herself in.

"Hey, the muses weren't helping me with my astronomy paper so I thought I'd come by and talk you into a frothy cappuccino" Lana said to his back. Really she just wanted to get him out of the house, to stop brooding so much. It wasn't doing him any good to be like this.

"I was on my way to the hardware store. I gotta pick up supplies for tomorrow." Clark cut her off. Lana heard the emptiness in his voice. It was a weak excuse, Lana knew he didn't need to go, didn't need to be doing this, but he wouldn't stop punishing himself. Clark moved out of the kitchen and into the hallway.

"Clark are you sure it can't wait? Because I was really hoping we could talk" Lana moved in front of him, effectively cutting him off from his path out the door. Gently she laid a hand on his chest. "Clark, I understand. You and your Dad were really close." Clark looked down. Lana desperately wanted to help him, this attitude of his wasn't helping Clark at all.

"Lana, I..." Lana sighed and cut Clark off

"Look, you don't have to open up to me. You just can't keep bottling this up inside." She searched his eyes, hoping that he would take this as an opportunity to open up and trust her. This... phase was only hurting him and she needed him to see that.

"Thanks for coming by, I really have to go. The hardware store closes in half an hour". Clark said, ignoring the disappointed look in Lana's eye. Lana couldn't help the twinge of hurt as he pushed her away. But she wasn't going to give up on him that easily. This anger was only going to destroy him if he didn't let anyone help.

"No" She replied softly "You're angry, and you should be. But don't keep hiding behind it. Trust me, I've tried." Lana had lost her parents when she was young. She still felt the sting from knowing that she could never see them. It hurt to know that she'd never been given the chance to get the two people who cared about her most in the world. To lose a parent, to have them taken from you, it hurt, and the hurt never fully went away. You had to learn to move on, to live your life to make them proud. To realise that all they would have wanted for you was to see you happy. Clark needed that now.

"I know you're trying to help" Clark said dismissively, half-heartedly meeting her eyes. "And I appreciate it, but you don't have to worry about me. I'm fine." Clark made his way over towards the front door when the lock clicked.

Mrs Kent came in the door, carefully closing and locking it behind her. As she spun Lana saw a deep crimson bruise on her left cheek. She looked jumpy, like she was expecting someone to jump out and attack her. But the worst thing was the fearful lost look in her eyes. Lana had seen that look in the mirror after so many of the meteor freaks had come after her. To see it in Mrs Kent was unsettling.

"Mom? What happened? Oh my god" Clark demanded, brushing the backs of his fingers against the angry red swelling on her cheek. Lana grimaced, saddened that someone had hurt Martha at a time like this when the whole family was already hurting.

"I was dropping off the clothes and these two guys came out of nowhere" Clark's mom explained, her usually calm voice fearful.

"Are you hurt?" Clark asked, Lana hovering over his shoulder observed the elder woman. Aside from the red bruise on her cheek there were faint purple marks against her throat, as if someone had held her by the back of her neck.

"No, I'm fine" she replied, looking at her son "Clark, someone rescued me. But not before they... they took your father's watch." Lana flinched, there were so few things left of her parents and to have one of them taken away was painful. She could hardly imagine what it meant for Clark to hear that given his current emotional turmoil

"Who rescued you?" Lana asked, leading the three of them into the kitchen and making all three of them a hot cup of tea. Clark ignored his, but Martha picked hers up, staring into the steam as she grasped the mug with both hands. It was only then that she answered.

"I didn't get a good look, I was still dazed. But she wore a red top, long leather coat, almost like a cloak. She swooped down from nowhere, and drove the two men back." Mrs Kent explained, looking deeper into the mug.

"Anything else? Anything about the attackers?" Clark pressed, and Lana was shocked.

"Clark!" Lana admonished, he was being insensitive. His mom had just gone through a tough ordeal and should be given time to recover, not forced to relive it so soon.

"The man had a snake tattoo on his face but that's all I saw. It all passed so fast. And the woman, she wore a mask, I couldn't see her face. I couldn't even thank her; she jumped away, almost like she was gliding..." Clark's mom trailed off, staring at the bottom of her mug like it held answers. "Next thing I know the police are there, telling me that it will be alright." Clark let out a frustrated groan, and Lana instantly knew that he was going to go after his mom's muggers.

"I'm going to see Chloe" Clark said, standing up and shrugging his jacket on. Lana called out to his fleeting back. He shouldn't be going out like this; he was only going to end up hurting himself. But it was too late to stop him, and he was too stubborn anyway. Lana offered to close up the Talon for Martha, knowing that the best thing for her for now was to stay in the safety of her own home.

"Should I call Danny?" Lana offered, knowing that having someone else around to make the house feel safe would probably be helpful. Martha had a strange confused look in her eye, before a flash of realisation.

"Thank you, he'll be around eventually, he usually ignores his phone anyway." Martha replied. Lana frowned, but didn't look any further into it. She hadn't seen Danny since the funeral, but this all had to be hard on him too. He was still in mourning from the loss of his own family and now he had lost his uncle.

As Lana drove back into Smallville her heart went out to the boy, to the whole family. It wasn't fair on them for this to have happened. She only hoped she could be there for them, to make things easier and to help them through their grief. Martha seemed to be coping, but Clark was bottling up his pain. Lana had no idea how Danny was coping, but she hoped the younger boy would be alright.

She parked her car, easily finding way into the Talon. The motions were so familiar to her, since she had run the Talon herself for a good three years before Martha took over the manager's position. She worked steadily, putting all the chairs up and powering down the lights. She went over to the counter to browse over the records for the week. It would save Martha a job when she came back to work.

"I saw your car out front; looks like old habits die hard." Lana looked up to see Lex Luthor ambling in as if he owned the place, which he did. However his tone suggested a more caring and humble position. He stopped near one of the pillars, a good distance away.

"I'm closing up for the night for Mrs Kent. They're going through a lot right now." Lana said lightly. At the moment she wasn't sure where things stood with Lex. Last time she had seen him he had been the day Jonathan Kent died. He had kissed her, in a drunken haze and she had run. But then she had almost had a car crash and he had comforted her. At the moment Clark needed her more than Lex did, but it didn't change how complicated life was at the moment.

"Look" Lex began, but Lana cut him off, knowing what he was going to say.

"Lex, it's fine. You already said 'I'm sorry'" She replied, retreating absently back into her work.

"It means a lot more coming from someone who's not drunk." Lex retorted, but it was self directed anger that fuelled his remark. "You were pretty upset with Clark that night. Things better?" He asked and Lana looked away. As far as their relationship went the truth was things were exactly the same. But Clark needed her, as a friend, at least for now. And that was what mattered.

"None of that really matters anymore; I just want to be able to help him through this difficult time." Lana replied, and she meant it. It was sad in a way, but she didn't want to lose her friendship with Clark, and she didn't want to let him hurt himself with his grief either.

"How's he doing" Lex asked. There was a strange edge to his voice. As if he really cared, but was trying to sound like he didn't or as if he was completely uninterested, but acting as if he truly cared for her sake.

"Lex" Lana said looking up at him. "We both know what it's like to lose a parent, he's devastated."

"Yeah, I tried to get a hold of him, but he didn't want to see me." Lex coolly replied. Honestly Lana wasn't surprised. Clark barely wanted to see her, let alone Lex. While Lana had become friendlier and more accepting of the young billionaire, Clark had all but destroyed his friendship with the man and settling into an antagonistic, almost adversarial relationship. "And Danny?" Lex queried.

Lana creased her eyebrow, wondering what interest Lex had in Danny. It wasn't the first time he had asked her about him either. Lex seemed to have taken an interest in the young boy, even though they had only met in person a few times. It was strange, but Lana wasn't going to complain. If Lex took someone under his wing he was a fierce friend. "I haven't seen him since the funeral, but I think he's handling things better than Clark."

"It's hard when people won't let you in to help them." Lex sadly replied.

"Well as much as we both wanna help, there's nothing much we can do other than just be there for him." Lana answered, looking the younger Luthor in the eyes. Lex however looked away, dropping his gaze to the ground.

"He's... He's very lucky to have you in his life Lana." Lex murmured before looking up, his gait becoming stronger. "But when the time comes for you to lean on someone, know that I'm always here for you." Lana felt a crushing wave of guilt. She didn't know what to think, she had been angry with Clark, but he needed her now. Lex had... well he'd been a shoulder to cry on and a friend to talk to since even before this. She'd been confiding more and more in Lex since after Clark's miraculous recovery from the dead and now she was internally conflicted.

Lana didn't even notice Lex leaving her in the darkened Talon.

Line Break

"I just spent half the night down at Metropolis PD" Clark fumed as he walked through the Daily Planet next to Chloe. He had taken a detour to see if he could find any leads on snake tattooed criminals and red costumed women, but he'd had no success. That meant he had nothing further to give to Chloe. "There's not one person who can tell me anything about who mugged my mom."

"Now I've got that covered" Chloe said, taking the lead and gesturing with the piece of paper in her hand. "My mole at the precinct said he'd fax me the police report." Chloe paused a moment before spinning around and demanding "So your mom actually saw the vigilante."

"Barely, she left just before the police got there" Clark said, annoyed that Chloe had distracted herself on this tangent.

"There have been rumours about her flying around Suicide Slums for weeks." Chloe said, moving over to her news array board. "But I couldn't get a confirmed eyewitness until your mom." Chloe placed the final piece of paper onto the board, finishing off an array of sketches and articles about the vigilante. "Now, this had front page news written all over it. The vigilante is for real." She concluded proudly.

"That's great Chloe" Clark stated dryly as Chloe led him over to her desk, taking a seat at her computer. "I let my mom go into Suicide Slums alone, she gets mugged, and you're cashing in on it."

Chloe barely hid her hurt flinch "Clark, I was just trying to help, no need to bite my head off."

"I should have just accepted the watch like my dad would have wanted." Clark fumed, full of self loathing. "I couldn't even look at it. Now all I can think about is getting it back." He finished ruefully.

Clark took a step back from the desk and accidentally bumped into someone, sending her papers flying. Clark quickly squatted down to help her pick them up. The woman had dark brown hair tied up in a neat ponytail, her chocolate brown eyes were hidden behind a pair of glasses and she wore a pale lilac jumper that made her look far too innocent and bumbling to be in the bull pen of the Daily Planet. Clark had seen her around before, but she was never much of a presence.

"Sorry" they both said at the same time, frantically picking up the last of the spilled papers and standing up. Clark handed a stack back to her, and she handed half to Chloe saying they were today's obits. She slunk off after briefly looking at the fax of the police report that Chloe had been sent. Clark picked it up, looking at the full life sketch of the vigilante. At the moment she was the only lead that Clark had, and he had no idea how to find her.

"All right, this is what I need Clark; a catchy moniker for our new crime fighter" Chloe said as she stopped typing. Clark was still buried in the various pages of police reports. She certainly got around if the rumours were to be believed. "Miss Death-Wish... No that's lame. Crimson Combateur... no, that doesn't mean anything." There was a brief pause before "I got it! I got it Clark. Your mom said she swooped down from the heavens, so how about the 'Angel of Vengeance'"

Well, it was a better press name than 'Inviso-bill'. But it did nothing to help Clark find those muggers. "Chloe, police report" Clark said hoping to get her back on track.

"Sorry" Chloe said as she jumped slightly "Right, I'm sorry Clark. Once I go Woodward and Bernstein I get carried away." Chloe quickly flicked the page away from her unfinished article. "I'll go check the fax" she said, moving away from the computer and leaving Clark to mill through a dozen old reports of the vigilante.

Clark heard an unfamiliar voice coming from just outside. "I heard you were asking around about me. Something tells me that a front page story would be a little bad for my health. Let it go. Comprende?" the voice said in a dangerous whisper. Clark heard the muffled cry of Chloe's struggles to escape and raced out to help her.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Clark demanded as he raced out to see a leather clad woman basically suffocating Chloe. Before he even realised what was happening he was thrown back across the bull-pen, but then something stopped him, gently lowering him to the ground without causing any damage to the room. He looked back to see Phantom, one hand outstretched and looking over at Clark's assailant who had just swooped over to land on one of the desks.

"Stay out of my way, I'm one of the good guys." The leather clad woman demanded and in a second and a whooshing sound she was gone. Clark stood blinking as Chloe came back into the room, a look of fear on her face.

"Clark are you alright?" She asked and Clark simply nodded in the affirmative before turning his attention back on Phantom. He was about to demand what the halfa was doing there, but he vanished in a swirl of green mist. Clark groaned in frustration. Not only had he lost the vigilante, but now he had no ideas on a lead to find the muggers. Clark went back out to the fax machine to pick up the police report, hoping it would give him a lead.

"I guess round 1 goes to the X-chromosomes" Chloe commented lightly, snatching the report away from Clark and fetching herself a coffee from the machine. "And how about that costume, how cool was that?" Clark resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Chloe was too distracted this evening.

"A little over the top I reckon. Police reports?" Clark said and Chloe distractedly gave them back.

"Oh, yeah, of course." Chloe murmured slightly flustered as she took a sip of coffee. "You know, choke hold aside and everything I gotta give the girl props for patrolling the streets. I mean, Phantom's around, but he doesn't do the same job as the Angel. What was he doing here anyway?"

"I don't know." Clark quietly fumed. If he was so easily able to magically appear in the Planet when they needed help, the ghost-boy should have been able to save his mom. He should be able to help them find the muggers and bring them to justice. Instead he goes and vanishes on them. "Next time I see him I'm gonna talk to him though."

"Right." Chloe sarcastically remarked. "Moving on, I wonder if we're dealing with natural-born-ninja territory, or if she's just your garden variety meteor freak."

"Whatever she is, she's got issues" Clark said, still studying the report for anything helpful. There was nothing, it was starting to look like their best bet was to talk to this Angel, and there was no way to do that.

"Oh come on Clark, haven't you ever taken things a little bit too far to protect your identity?" Chloe demanded, incredulous. There had been a few situations where Clark may have been a bit over-zealous, but he had never threatened a bystander. At least he didn't think he had.

"Yeah, well it looks like I'm gonna have to know her a whole lot more than I wanted to." Clark replied, ignoring her question. "The Police reports have no leads; your Angel of Vengeance may be the only one who can ID the guys who mugged my mom."

"After the way she chop-socked you tonight I wouldn't wait for her to ask you out for tea." Chloe retorted. The main problem was how to find her. He thought for a moment, before a strange idea crossed his mind.

"We might not have to. Chloe, how about we lure the Angel of Vengeance to us?"

Line Break – One hour previous

Phantom soared over the Metropolis skyline invisible. He had passed most of the day on top of the clock tower, just observing and trying not to fall through the rooftop. It was strange to be intangible like this. Even when he'd first gotten his powers he'd never been stuck for longer than half an hour. Here he was fourteen hours later and he was still unable to touch anything in the Real World. There had only been two ghosts all day, and those had been happy to go through a portal to the Zone without being beaten up.

Danny had spent the day just listening. There was so much going on in Metropolis, happy people, sad people, people calling out for help and others laughing with their present company. It was all so busy. It was about 9pm when Phantom decided to take to the skies, but he hadn't gotten far. He was flying over the Daily Planet when he felt a major pull, demanding his attention, demanding he protect. Without a second thought he flew into the building towards the pull and saw Chloe running away from a leather Clad woman.

The woman turned to face Clark and physically punched him, throwing him across the office. Phantom teleported behind the Kryptonian and held out his hand, concentrating on slowing him down telekinetically. It took a lot of focus, but he was able to lower his cousin down safely without causing any damage to the Planet office. He turned to look at the assailant and felt a sudden wave of familiarity. He knew this woman, he recognised her aura.

"Stay out of my way, I'm one of the good guys." The leather clad woman demanded and vanished. But Phantom wasn't fooled, he felt her energy moving away, coming to rest on top of a nearby skyscraper. Without a second thought he teleported over to her.

She was tall, her brown hair swung loosely around her masked face, fluttering in the breeze. Despite the darkness Phantom recognised the rich chocolate brown colour of her eyes. She wore a long leather cloak, the inside was lined with red, perfectly matching her scarlet top. Tight fitting leather pants led down into knee high leather boots. Most interesting was the buckle on her belt. It was a large circle, encompassing a silver skull with two crossed blades beneath. She jumped at the sudden appearance of Phantom.

"Who are you?" She demanded, before managing to compose herself. Phantom sighed. Smallville may have embraced him, but Metropolis still had yet to accept the idea that ghosts were real. At least he wasn't stuck with bad publicity anymore.

"Phantom" He replied lightly, carefully studying her. He knew her, but he had never expected her to be like this. The woman worked at the Daily Planet. She was shy, one of the few people there who was never pushy; she was slightly klutzy, hiding behind her glasses, with a shy smile on her face. However she was meteor infected. Now he knew what her power was, and she had become enough of a threat to appeal to his obsession. "Andrea Rojas, I assume" Phantom said calmly, cutting straight to the point.

"How do you know that name?" She demanded, stepping up to him with a dagger drawn out. Phantom kept his face still. On a good day that would barely hurt him. Today, she wouldn't be able to touch him.

"How did you get into the Daily Planet?" Phantom replied rhetorically. This time of night the only access to the Planet was by employee key-card. He knew she wouldn't just run without finding out more, and hopefully he could talk her down from doing something stupid. The woman looked at him, but seemed to decide she didn't like that answer. She spun around to give him a kick in the abdomen, but lost her balance when her foot went right through his chest.

She almost fell backwards, but seemed to have some martial arts training and managed to keep her balance. "Okay, you have my attention." She slowly said meeting his eyes and taking a step back from him. "But that doesn't mean I'm gonna tell you all about me."

Phantom raised an eyebrow "Why did you attack Chloe Sullivan at the Planet?" he asked.

"She's been looking into me. I don't want my identity splashed all over the front cover of the newspaper." Andrea replied and Phantom fought to keep his head. She was being offered good publicity, and she almost killed Chloe to stop it. There was something wrong there.

"You could have found another way." Phantom replied coldly. "You could have hurt one of your Colleagues."

"I wouldn't have, I'm one of the good guys." She retorted almost too quickly. Now Phantom understood, she was a lot like Valerie. Right intentions, wrong motivations, and that could lead to innocent bystanders, and whoever got in the way being hurt.

Danny was momentarily distracted by the sounds of a mugging in the streets below, but it sounded suspiciously like Clark and Chloe. It also sounded horribly artificial. What were they playing at? "You know that's a fine line to walk." Phantom replied ruefully, drawing himself back into the current situation. "If you let yourself, those small choices can lead you down a bad path. One that's almost impossible to save yourself from."

"And I suppose you know that. You're what 15?" Andrea replied, attempting to regain her composure. Phantom inwardly bristled at the insinuation about his age. It wasn't his fault that half-dying seemed to have stunted his growth. However he wouldn't let himself fall into her distraction. He was a ghost, and had seen realities shift on a whim. He knew that particular line all too well.

"Yes" he replied simply "Andrea, you are a reporter. How much do you know of a little town in Colorado called Amity Park?" He hoped he could set her straight, if it meant sacrificing a little part of his own history it would be worth it. He hoped.

"The ghost town? It's a hoax though. The town probably made up the ghosts for the tourism. There's no such thing as ghosts. I mean, the main attraction is the ghost Danny Phantom..." She trailed off as Phantom bowed his head slightly in recognition of his name.

"Who am I to say whether ghosts exist? It's not like I'd know, seeing as I am one and all." Phantom replied with a knowing smirk. Andrea visibly backed away for a moment.

"So you're a ghost?" She asked. Phantom nodded and was about to answer when a more desperate cry for help pierced the night. Andrea looked between Phantom and the source of the noise before swooping off the building to the rescue. The problem with that, Phantom mused as he jumped off the edge of the building, was that it was only Chloe and Clark doing – whatever it was they were doing to attract attention.

Phantom landed before Andrea did; raising an eyebrow at the attempted 'mugging'. The two of them weren't particularly believable. But it was enough to convince Andrea who swooped down, coat flaring in the wind and she punched Clark away from Chloe.

"You again?" Andrea demanded, shoving Clark away from Chloe. Chloe ran over to stand next to Phantom.

"I don't wanna fight with you." Clark replied, grappling with her. Phantom rolled his eyes; really Clark had a poor way of initiating a friendly chat. It seemed Andrea agreed.

"Yeah, well I'm not wearing dance shoes." She elbowed Clark in the face, but he threw her off. Andrea stumbled into a pipe sending a spray of steam out in the cold night air. As the steam cleared she stepped forward, but her mask was gone. Phantom cringed as her identity was revealed to both Chloe and Clark. Without a second's hesitation she leaped forward, kicking Clark into an electrical generator, sending sparks flying. A second later she swooped away, scaling the building in a series of graceful jumps.

Phantom frowned as Clark sped off to meet her up top. This could go really badly if his own experiences were anything to go from. Phantom soared up to the top of the building to head them off, hoping to mediate the conflict.

Phantom paused when he got to the top of the building, waiting for the other two to appear. Andrea leapt up, her coat flaring as she came into land. Andrea seemed unsurprised that he was still around, but jumped when Clark blurred in apparently out of nowhere. Phantom stood his ground and Clark flinched slightly under his demanding glare. After all, despite her tough exterior, this situation would be overly intimidating for Andrea.

Phantom watched as Clark just stood, blankly staring at Andrea before she snapped to her senses. "You want a show-and-tell meathead, I suggest you go first." She spat, walking almost threateningly up to him. Phantom stepped between them, sensing Clark about to yell something stupid again.

"Calmly." Phantom said, holding out a hand to Clark. While he knew he probably couldn't touch him, the gesture meant the same. He took a step back when he saw Clark compose himself, letting the two meet each other's eyes.

"I don't know." Clark said, shaking his head slightly. Andrea moved to walk away, but paused when Clark continued "I was born this way."

"You're lucky. The worst part is remembering what it's like to be normal." She spat. Phantom felt a painful pang, knowing exactly how she felt. There were some days where he wished he was human, fully human. Or even fully ghost, rather than the painful line right between the two. He felt Clark's gaze land on him for just a moment before returning it to Andrea.

"But then how did you...?" Clark queried, but was cut off by Andrea

"Turn into a freak of nature?" Andrea looked down at the ground "When I got a heart transplant, six months ago."

"You're not a freak of nature." Phantom stated, diverting all attention to him. Andrea sent him a questioning glare. "You're still human, still you. Nobody can take that away from you."

"And what would you know?" Andrea demanded.

"I'm not. Not human, not living. You're not a freak of nature when you still have that, no matter what gifts you've been given." Phantom replied distantly. In a way he was envious of her, especially today when the gap between him and the Real World was so vast. He couldn't even stand on the building top; rather he was floating above it, creating the illusion of standing. If he lost concentration for even a second then the illusion would shatter.

"He's a ghost" Clark interjected bluntly by way of explanation.

"So how did you die?" Andrea asked softly, but it wasn't enough to quell the pain from the question. The bright "O" from the sign behind them shattered in his anger as he struggled to suppress it. He didn't like talking about how he died. No ghost did. Flashes of electrical pain as his molecular structure was rewritten passed in front of his mind as he recalled the day he became a halfa.

Clark had apparently seen this display and said "It's not smart to ask a ghost how they died" coolly, giving Phantom a chance to calm down slightly. Something in his tone told Phantom that something deeper was going on with Clark. Phantom closed his eyes for a moment as he composed himself.

"It hurt, a lot. That's all you need to know." Phantom said; his tone clipped. He took a moment more to settle himself before comforting her "Andrea, you still have your humanity, you've been given a second chance. You your gift won't take that from you."

"A girl dies in a meteor shower and I get a souped-up second chance. You have no idea what it's like to know that someone's life has been exchanged for yours." Phantom flinched; he knew that Clark blamed himself for his father's death because of exactly that. The deal with Jor-El had done that to him. "That's why I carry this." She continued, pulling out a locket. "So I'll never forget." She opened the locket to reveal a glowing meteor rock.

Clark stumbled back, the effects of the stone already hurting him. Phantom stayed back, the radiation didn't hurt him, but physical contact with the stone was painful. Andrea flicked it closed seeing this, and Clark caught his breath. "Sorry, I'm kinda allergic." He murmured, breathing deeply.

"To a rock? Okay, whatever." Andrea commented. "So, I guess you and Sullivan have all the dirt you need on me now to write your little article." She said, closing in on Clark.

"He won't" Phantom promised, and she snapped around to face him.

"I'm not gonna expose you." Clark repeated "I need your help." Phantom was intrigued he had no idea why Clark wanted with Andrea, so this was news to him. "You saved my mom earlier tonight. Some guys were trying to mug her outside the Eastside shelter. They took a watch." Phantom faltered. He'd failed to protect an innocent, Aunt Martha had been hurt because he wasn't there. A sharp ache swelled in his core, making it hard to focus. He just blankly watched the rest of the scene play out.

"I'm sorry, but there are people down here that need a lot more help than finding some missing Timex." Andrea spat, turning away.

"Belonged to my Dad" Clark murmured softly.

Andrea rounded on him, her eyes soft and understanding."You lost him, didn't you. And now you can't say goodbye." She replied softly.

"What makes you say that?" Clark demanded, but it was a weak threat.

"Because I've never been able to." Andrea answered. "My mom and I were coming home from my gymnastics meet when these two guys mugged us. I didn't even feel the knife go into my heart." She paused for a moment, blinking away a tear from her glittering eye. "When I looked up, I saw her lying there. And they walked away, laughing." She spat, venom entering her otherwise quiet voice.

"Is that why you do this?" Clark asked softly.

"She dedicated her life to this group, Acrata." Andrea explained, ruefully looking over the city rooftops. "They fought the gangs, the dealers, even the suits who wanted to tear down our homes. She was this... little woman, but she was a badass."

"It's not fair." Clark said; his voice cold "It's not fair to have someone like that just ripped out of your life."

"I can help you get the watch back. But that's not really what you're after, is it?" Andrea demanded a strange edge in her voice. "You want justice, just like me." Phantom blinked, he didn't think she wanted the right kind of justice. He felt a twinge in his core as he heard Clark's answer.

"Can you tell me where they are?" And in that it was obvious that he wanted more than justice, he wanted retribution.

"They're part of the Thirteenth Street Gang. But the guy you want has gone underground, and his gang's all packing 9 mils. But I'm in if you're in." Andrea answered keenly. She was operating from the same motivation as Clark. There was no way this could end well. Phantom steeled himself and followed the two of them to the Planet. He had no idea who needed protecting most, the gang or the 'heroes'.

Line Break – Thirty Minutes Before

Chloe stood in awe as she watched her colleague Andrea Rojas step out from the mist. Her jaw dropped in astonishment, her colleague was the Vigilante, the Angel of Vengeance. That was so amazing. She was leading a double life, saving people's lives and working at the Planet. Chloe saw her swoop away and couldn't help but feel that that was a pretty amazing power. Clark sped after her. Chloe turned to Phantom to ask why he was there to find he too had vanished.

Chloe shivered in the night air. Not knowing how long Clark would be distracted by Andrea and Phantom she decided to head back to the Planet where it was warm and they had a late night supply of coffee. Swiping her key-card she entered the building, stepping over the power cords as the cleaners vacuumed the foyer. It wasn't long before she was back on her computer, she no longer was interested in publicising the Angel of Vengeance since that would offend her colleague, but there was one question on her mind; how did Phantom know she needed help earlier.

She plugged in a search; most of the information readily available was the still open debates into Phantom's morality. Half the news articles were scientifically explaining why ghosts were all an elaborate hoax, so also useless. It was at the bottom of the fourth page that Chloe found a helpful resource; 'the Hunter's Almanac of Ghosts and Spirits'. The first half of the homepage was a large explanation of what ghosts were hypothesised to be, varying from a potent silicon based semi-conscious slime to pure energy. Scanning further most of the information was stated in the hypothetical.

Chloe was about to click off the page when she noticed a link to known 'entities'. There were several ghosts that had been in the paper in Amity Park, as well as a few that she didn't recognise. But the one with the most logged information was Inviso-Bill/Danny Phantom. Unfortunately the information was nearly nine months old, so Chloe wasn't sure of its accuracy.

Inviso-Bill (aka Danny Phantom/Ghost Kid/Whelp)

Level 7 ectoplasmic entity

First observed 1.2 years ago; physical assault of citizens with ecto-blasts, observed as Level 4.

Rapidly accelerating power levels; cause unknown – hypothesised unstable power source

Known to appear in Amity Park, usually in the company of additional ectoplasmic entities

Appearance

Appears as a young teenage boy; White Hair, Pale Skin (Unusually human tone), Glowing Green Eyes.

Originally observed wearing a black Hazmat Suit, White Gloves and Boots.

White "DP" Symbol on its chest appeared after 4th month of observation.

Appearance changed again after 16th month of observation. White Cloak, Black Tunic and Trousers, White Fingerless Gloves, Silver Boots. Occasionally bearing Silver and Green Sword.

Changed appearance hypothesised as related to power, also a potential ploy for sympathy, posing as a "white knight".

Abilities

Basic Ectoplasm Manipulation (Energy Blasts) – Standard

Paranormal Strength, Speed, Agility, and Durability – Standard

Flight – Standard

Intangibility – Standard

Invisibility – Standard

Overshadowing – Standard

Regeneration – Standard

Advanced Ectoplasm Manipulation (Inc. Projection, Shielding etc) – Particular

Bodily Manipulation (Inc. Flexibility, Mist Like "Spectral Tail" and Reshaping Own Body) – Particular

Duplication – Particular

Electrical Charge Generation – Particular

High Speed Flight (Observed at +250mph) – Particular

Sword – Particular

Rumoured Sonic Attack – Particular

Hypothesised Enhanced Senses – Standard

Hypothesised High Energy Manipulation (Pure Energy, not Ectoplasmic Energy) – Particular

Hypothesised Signature Concealment – Particular

Hypothesised High Intelligence (Comparable to Human IQ 145) – Particular

Hypothesised Precognition – Particular

Obsession (Unconfirmed)

Hypothesised Violence, Destruction, Power or Territorial Domination; Likely

Hypothesised Human Life, Living Relatives or Protection; Unlikely

Notes

Phantom is a dangerous entity; it causes great destruction with its obsession. Known to eliminate other ectoplasmic threats, it is unsafe to be near. Has been known to endanger civilians; reported to have released entities to endanger human life and property (see Axion Labs public data file 3976). Approach with caution; ectoplasmic being cannot easily be contained and there are no known captures.

Sources

Spectators/Civilians

Hunters Alliance Members: ID B15, F01, F02, G67, L08, Q12, R14, (J92)

Chloe frowned as she scanned over the information. It didn't paint Phantom in particularly good light, but it had the most information on his powers. It was written by ghost Hunters, so that obviously coloured how Phantom was received. She didn't want to believe Phantom was dangerous. She had spent all Christmas Eve with him and he'd been quite friendly. Although she was intrigued into the idea of his obsession; none of those listed fit with what she knew of the ghost, although the ones the hunters deemed unlikely actually seemed closer to the truth. Chloe printed off the page, maybe Danny Fenton could help; after all he had known Phantom in Amity Park and had Ghost Hunting Parents.

Chloe was walking back from the printer when she saw Mrs Kent cautiously walking through the Planet. "Mrs Kent, what are you doing here?" she asked curiously. Mrs Kent spun around quickly; it was obvious that her ordeal earlier this evening still had her on edge.

"Looking for Clark and Danny. Have you seen them?" Martha inquired, worry obvious in her voice.

"I haven't seen Danny, but Clark I saw an hour ago. He left me holding the bag, literally." Martha looked momentarily puzzled, but that melted into a deeper type of concern. Chloe paused for a moment before saying "Hey, I heard what happened to you, it's good to see you're okay. Don't worry about Clark, I'm sure he'll pop up soon, or blur in. Whatever it is he does. And I'm sure Danny's fine. He's probably back at home as we speak."

Martha looked sadly at Chloe "It's just, they've been gone all night. Clark's not answering his cell phone. It's not like him." Chloe frowned.

"There's a lot that's not like him lately." Chloe commented. Truth was she'd never seen Clark so volatile, and sometimes his anger scared her. But he always managed to rein it in.

Martha interrupted her train of thoughts, demanding "He's trying to find those guys, isn't he." She took a calming breath before continuing "Chloe, I know you have a lot of secrets to keep, but this isn't one of them." Chloe frowned, looking down guiltily. She didn't want to report on Clark to his mom, but she needed to know.

"He feels really guilty, about the watch" she explained sadly.

"And me" Martha added on dejectedly, looking down to the floor.

Chloe shrugged sadly, elaborating "Well, obviously he's willing to feel anything except the pain of saying goodbye." Martha sighed.

"But that doesn't keep it from being real. The more he refuses to go through this, the worse its gonna get." Martha voiced.

"I know. But, I think part of the problem is that he thinks he can't feel it, that he has to be strong. He never saw Danny in mourning, and thinks that means he can't either. I'm trying to do everything I can, but I don't think denial is that unusual." Chloe said. This was the first time she'd been able to voice her concerns. The truth was none of them had seen Danny in mourning; he seemed to move on remarkably quickly. For Clark that set a precedent, and so he was combining his own denial with a need to not show his loss like his cousin.

"But Clark is." Martha interrupted looking fearfully into Chloe's eyes. "He's gotta take those emotions out somewhere." Or on someone Chloe mentally added. "And when he does, I'm afraid of what he's gonna do. We both know what he's capable of." Martha finished with desperate worry in her eyes.

"Yeah, but Clark's always managed to keep things in perspective." Chloe said, trying to quell her own concerns.

Martha looked away, her eyes on a distant point "It's just that Jonathan was always there. He always knew what to say." She sighed deeply, her eyes glittering in the low lighting.

"Mrs Kent, I don't think that he was the only one." Chloe assured her, smiling softly at the elder woman.

"When he died" Martha said, meeting her eyes "I didn't know if I could keep the secrets by myself. I'm glad to know you're here Chloe. Thank you" Chloe found it strange that she hadn't mentioned Danny, but passed it off since he had a secret of his own. Sure meteor powers were more common than being from another planet, but it could still land Danny in a world of trouble if anyone found out. Chloe felt glad that Martha trusted her enough to confide in her.

"He's gonna be okay." Chloe consoled, thinking of Clark. At the moment he was the deepest concern. "We won't let anything happen to him." Chloe lent forward to give Martha Kent a hug. Martha seemed soothed by the physical contact. They broke off only when there was a slight cough from behind them.

"Phantom?" Chloe questioned, seeing the white glow of the ghost in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" Phantom looked briefly at Mrs Kent before replying.

"We're on the way back, I was sent to make sure the cleaners aren't here." He said with a slight shrug. Chloe didn't miss the confusion of the pronouns.

"You're helping him?" Martha demanded looking at him almost disappointedly.

"To a point. Clark isn't himself. He needs a buffer to help him take a step back. Chloe's helping, but..." Phantom paused for a moment and uncomfortably rubbed his hand through his white hair. "He can't lash out, and he's so close to it. Clark just needs to remind himself why he does what he does."

Martha nodded acceptance and left when Chloe suggested that Clark probably wouldn't want his mom to know. It was barely a minute after she left that a second Phantom floated in. There was a flash of blue as the two merged together, and that was enough time for Clark to blur in and for Andrea to swoop in, still decked out in her awesome costume. Chloe looked at the three heroes in front of her. Clark never went much bigger than Smallville, always staying the farm boy. Phantom was a ghost, always patrolling to prevent the invasion of ectoplasmic entities. Andrea though... she lived a double life, moonlighting as a vigilante protector of the people.

Andrea excused herself to get changed, Chloe watched as Clark stared at Phantom almost angrily for a moment. "Okay, what did I miss?" Chloe demanded.

"Andrea and I went to track down the mugger. Snake. But he wasn't there, he's gone underground." Clark began.

"And instead of cautiously inquiring, Clark tried to bully them into an answer." Phantom added, not even looking at the Kryptonian.

"Then all the gang went to pull out their guns and I backed down, but I was able to grab his phone." Clark finished, pulling out a silver flip-phone. Phantom stared incredulously at him for a moment.

"They only shot once at you." Clark retorted to Phantom's stare. "You phased through it. No harm done." There was a strange note of venom in Clark's voice. Phantom dropped out of the air, but didn't stop as his ankles fell through the floor. Chloe looked concernedly at Phantom. She'd never seen that happen before.

"Anyway" Clark said, as if he'd never spoken to Phantom "I was wondering if you can check the last number he dialled." And he handed the phone over to Chloe. Chloe shrugged his attitude off as a part of Clark's denial.

"Well, I guess my go-to status has been reinstated." Chloe joked, trying to lighten the mood. "For a while there I thought I'd been replaced by the leather clad version." Chloe heard as the Phone booth door snapped open. Andrea walked out in her civilian outfit. She looked so tame, like a sweet, innocent librarian. It was an enormous difference compared to the powerful persona that she presented as the Angel of Vengeance.

"Do you always change in a phone booth?" Clark asked sarcastically.

Andrea looked at him for a moment before shrugging "The Janitor was in the bathroom." She pulled out a box of contacts as she put her glasses on. Chloe was intrigued having originally believed that the glasses were fake; turned out that Andrea genuinely needed them. That said, the glasses were a simple but effective disguise. It was amazing how a slight change around the eyes completely concealed an identity.

"Those were some impressive moves you used to jack that phone." Andrea commented to Clark as she led the way back into the bull-pen. "I could use a sidekick more often"

"I'm not a sidekick." Clark hastily replied.

"What about you ghostie? That bullet sailed right through you." Andrea asked, and Chloe found it quite ironic that she was asking an established 'hero' to be her sidekick. Phantom scoffed.

"I'm not looking for a sidekick either."

"Hey!" she laughed at him, and Chloe smiled at his cheek.

"We should find a reverse call list." Clark suggested as the four of them made their way over to Andrea's desk.

"Yeah, and maybe we can just bypass the log on page." Chloe added, knowing that she could do it. She had in the past. From the corner of her eye she saw Phantom observing them, a rueful look on his face.

"Got it covered" Andrea interrupted, and Chloe watched as she quickly flicked through the motions of acquiring that call list.

"That's why you work here, isn't it. 'Cos nothing happens in Metropolis without coming through the Daily Planet." Chloe realised.

"Way to put the pieces together, Brenda Starr." Andrea commented with a smile in Chloe's direction. It was only a few seconds later that they found the phone's ownership details. "Unless Snake's name is Beatrice Krauss, I think he's using a stolen phone." Chloe mentally scoffed. Of course this wasn't going to be easy.

"Can you pull out the outgoing calls?" Clark suggested. A second later the record was pulled up. Of course one of the listings was for 'Fantasy Fone'. Chloe rolled her eyes at the misogynistic viewpoint.

"Looks like he's a fan of deep-dish Pizza" Clark commented darkly, pulling out the phone and calling the pizza place on the list. "Hello' I'd like to place an order for delivery. My number's 555 0138" Clark said into the phone. "1436 Stanton St. Yes, that's my address. Thank you." Clark said quickly shutting off the phone.

"Looks like it's time to call the police." Chloe said, skipping over to her own desk for the phone. She was silenced by two identical "No's" coming from Clark and Andrea.

"Clark, don't you think you're a little too close to this?" Phantom inquired carefully. Chloe silently agreed. Clark needed to take a step back from this.

"If I don't use my abilities to stop lowlifes like this, then what's the point of having them in the first place?" Clark demanded, snapping to face Phantom.

"You already have. You're letting emotion cloud your judgement; you need to leave this to the police." Phantom calmly replied. There was an authority in his voice that Chloe felt she would follow to the end. Unfortunately Clark was too stubborn.

"Leave it to the people who are supposed to do it? Do you have any idea how bad that sounds coming from you? My mom got mugged tonight Phantom. Mugged. And you didn't do a thing about it. She got hurt and you didn't protect her. She got hurt and you did nothing!" Clark spat venomously. Chloe was surprised at the anger in his voice. She watched Phantom, noticing that the white glow around him was fading with every sentence Clark said.

"Guess what Phantom, I'm not gonna risk losing my mom. I'm not gonna let those guys think they can just mug someone and get away with it." Clark continued his rant.

"Clark, you need to take a step back. You're letting your emotions get the better of you..." Phantom began, only to be cut off by Clark.

"At least I have emotions. You say you're different from all the other ghosts, but you don't care." Clark seethed "I bet you don't even have emotions. All you have is your stupid obsession and some useless powers." For a second Chloe blinked; did that mean Clark knew what Phantom's obsession was? But then the reality of what he'd said set in. Nobody wanted to be told they were emotionless, at least no human did.

Chloe gulped as she watched Phantom, a strange and threatening spark flickered in his emerald eyes. Both Chloe and Andrea jumped as the light above them exploded and a shower of glass fell down toward them, only to be encased in a faint green aura and joining every other loose item that was currently flying around the bull-pen. This was the first time that she had felt genuinely scared of Phantom, and Clark had set him off. Yet even under that dangerous green stare Clark didn't falter.

"Know what, I think the ghost hunters are right about you. You're nothing more than a sub-human manifestation of ectoplasm. You're nothing more than a ghost!" Clark spat. That was it; Chloe watched as the white aura that always surrounded Phantom vanished completely, everything in the room fell to the floor with a loud thump. That was horrible, it sounded like what the ghost hunters had written about ghosts, and here Clark was telling Phantom that he was sub-human. Chloe was disbelievingly disappointed in her friend. It horrified her to think he'd lash out like that.

"You know what else." Clark threatened "I'm gonna go and do what your stupid obsession couldn't. I'm actually going to help people." Clark finished. He blurred off, roughly shoving Phantom out of the way as he went.

Phantom looked confusedly after him for a moment, a strange strangulated noise escaping his throat before Phantom vanished in a swirl of green mist. Chloe stared bewildered at the scene in front of her. Somehow Andrea managed to pull herself out of it first.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on Clark" Andrea said, her voice darkly authoritative as she walked out the door.

Chloe was left alone in the Daily Planet with only a dishevelled bull pen and her worries for the two male heroes for company. She couldn't believe what Clark had said to Phantom. Even if he was a ghost he always seemed so human whenever Chloe had seen him. Clark had lashed out badly on Phantom who was only there to help. Chloe was seriously worried about the man who had actually hurt Martha Kent. Clark had been spiralling out of control all week, but this was the first time he'd really taken his anger out on anything. Chloe was surprised and horrified by the sheer amount of anger he had pooling inside. Chloe feared what would happen when he slowed down enough too take a step back and see what he'd done.

More than that, what would Phantom do? He'd been hurt badly by each of Clark's lashes. There had been so much pain in his eyes as Chloe watched him just take Clark's cruel words. He didn't even seem to realise that he was destroying the bull pen in his emotional outburst; everything had just leapt into the air violently as his emotions spiralled downwards. Where would he go? Where did ghosts go when they had been hurt like that? If he was a ghost was his family still alive, could he visit them? Had he watched them die of old age as he stayed forever young? Chloe's heart went out to the young ghost.

She took a sip of her coffee and sat back down at the computer looking over the destruction. One thing was for certain, it was going to be a long night.

AN: Another Cliffy...

This was one episode in the show, but again I had to split it to get the emotional interplay right. It corresponds with the episode Vengeance.

Hope the fight between Phantom and Clark worked. I wanted to do it from Chloe's perspective so you can see what she thinks of the hurtful things Clark says to Phantom. Especially since she believes Phantom is a full ghost.

Farewell 'till next time

Bluerose