Chapter 34
Commencement
Disclaimer: I own neither Danny Phantom nor Smallville
Danny Fenton shook his head distractedly, idly watching as the hay bale he'd just thrown landed firmly in the tray of the truck. It was early in the morning, the sun barely kissing over the horizon, but Danny was already up and getting some of the chores done. The tray fully loaded, he swung into the main cabin and set out towards the cattle field. Clark was sleeping in this morning, and Danny felt like getting most of the chores out of the way before the day got away from him. Time, lately, seemed to be playing tricks on him, passing him by in a dizzying blur that he'd barely been able to make out.
His seventeenth birthday had come and gone in a confusing haze of happiness and congratulations from friends and family. Lois had gifted him a 'Danny Phantom' t-shirt as an 'ironic statement', to which both Chloe and Clark had immediately cacked themselves laughing. Lex had stopped by when Danny was out in one of the fields and had presented Danny with a copy of 'The Art of War', although he still couldn't quite figure out why Lex would give him that particular title. And Ember had dropped by in the evening, inviting him to go to a rave in one of the Zone's more popular spots.
It had been a fun day, even if Danny himself had initially held it with a level of detachment. As a ghost, his human birthday held less sway on him, and as his first birthday since his family's death, he hadn't really felt much like celebrating. But everyone had come together to pull him out of his funk, making sure that he felt loved and supported in his new circle of family and friends. The day had turned out peaceful and enjoyable in a way that somehow was entirely normal.
Actually, that was probably the best way to describe the past month; peaceful. There had been relatively few ghost attacks, no meteor freaks had caused trouble, and Danny had even had time to get his mist form under control; if he limited it to very short bursts it was useful and he no longer involuntarily slipped into that enticing in between state. It was calm. And even whatever had happened to Lex that day with Brainiac hadn't had any visible effects. That wasn't to suggest that things hadn't been busy. In fact quite a bit had been happening between school and Martha's job as a senator. Just that everything had been peacefully normal.
Danny smiled and shook his head as he tossed the hay out for the cows. After all this time of living around him, the cattle on the farm seemed to have developed some immunity to his ghostly nature. He spent the early morning hour idly petting one of the cows' heads as she ate the golden hay. Beneath his hand the cow shifted restlessly, and Danny's eyebrow creased in confusion. Now that he thought about it there was a sort of anticipation in the air, like the world was standing on the edge of a precipice. But it didn't feel malicious, just expectant.
Releasing a slow breath, the raven-haired boy drove the truck back up towards the farmhouse and immediately proceeded into the upstairs bathroom. With everything going on around him he'd lost track of the time, the days seemed to have gotten away from him completely. But as he stepped under the running water he fully realised the date. He was graduating high school today. He was graduating, but he wasn't sure how he felt about it. Sure he'd been skipped ahead, but he was still at a loose end. He didn't know what was supposed to come next.
Danny stepped out of the shower, ruffling the towel through his hair as he went. His eyes fixed on the mirror, blue eyes meeting those of his reflection. As he stared, he remembered a day, three years before as he first walked up the steps to Casper High. He and Sam had been walking side by side, Tucker a few paces behind him. And he'd been so nervous, in retrospect it seemed foolish to be scared of something as mundane as school, but he had been. And the only thing that had gotten him through the day was Sam's promise.
'Four years time and we'll walk outta here. Whatever happens between now and then, we can handle.' Sam had said, slinging an arm around his shoulders and Tuck's as they paused on the top step.
'How do you think that?' Tuck had asked, briefly looking up from his PDA as he stared at the building.
''Cos no matter what, we've got each other.' Sam had replied, leaning slightly heavier on Danny's shoulder. 'Friends forever, right Danny?'
'Friends forever.' Danny had replied, offering her a bashful smile, even if he hadn't understood why at the time.
'Right, and when we get out of here, we're all gonna remember today and we're gonna laugh 'cos of how silly it was to be this stupid.' She concluded before breaking into a smile and dragging them through the khaki doors. 'Now hurry up, if we get there early we might luck out on locker assignments.'
Danny sighed, touching his fingers to Sam's ring as it hung on his necklace. "I wish you were here, Sam." He whispered, turning away from the mirror. Most days he could manage, the months in between losing his family and now having numbed his grieving to a bearable level. But days like this tripped him up. The fact that he was graduating a year early had little to do with it; it was the fact that he was there and they weren't that hurt the most.
He shook his head, knowing that today was going to be hard as he made his way down the stairs. His aunt was in the kitchen preparing breakfast, and the smell of butter pancakes drifted warmly up the stairs. She was coming today, as were Clark and Chloe. Danny had wanted to invite Ember, but the realisation that the media would likely follow his aunt around today put a slight damper on that plan. His aunt was coming to his graduation, but then was supposed to catch a plane to Washington for the national educational summit, so she was a person of interest at the moment.
That said; he still planned on visiting Ember later in the evening. She'd been wonderfully patient with him over the past few weeks, even supportive in her own way. But that didn't change the fact that he hadn't exactly gone out of his way to make time for her recently, and for all that she claimed that time meant nothing in the ghost zone, he knew that she felt like he'd been giving her the cold shoulder. He also knew that sitting through the two hour graduation ceremony wasn't exactly something the pop diva would call 'fun', it was just disappointing that he couldn't have someone he'd known for more than a year at the ceremony with him.
"Good morning Danny." His aunt smiled as she moved a pancake to the top of the golden stack.
"'Morning, Aunt Martha." Danny replied, putting on the kettle so his aunt could have a cup of coffee. "Is Clark up?"
"I haven't seen him, but I think he's out in the barn." His aunt answered, looking concernedly out towards the red building. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be." Danny answered, pouring the hot water into the coffee plunger.
"You know, my sister would have been so proud of you." Martha said; the faintest glimmer in her eyes as she blinked away.
Danny wasn't sure what to say. "Thanks" he murmured, carefully sitting at the table. "I hope so. I mean..." He sighed, shaking his head. "Things have worked out a lot different than when I first walked into Casper High."
"I felt that way too." Clark's voice added as the elder came through the door, idly rubbing the grease off his hands with a rag before taking a seat at the table himself. "My first day at Smallville, I still thought I was just a kid with weird powers, and that the closest I could ever get to someone like Lana was helping her pick up her books."
"The fact that she was dating Whitney Fordman had nothing to do with it, I'm sure." His aunt teased lightly as she put a cup of coffee down for her son.
Clark's emotional freeze was brief, if powerful enough to make Danny aware of it. But he continued on nonetheless. "That's sort of the point though. So much changed between then and when I graduated, but looking back I don't think I'd change any of it."
Danny let out a muffled laugh. It was hard to imagine exactly how much had changed for him in the past three years. Walking into Casper High he'd been the geeky kid of two harebrained Ghost Hunters. He'd been scared and so very... he'd been human; filled with the anxieties and insecurities that only a human could feel when faced with something big and unknown.
Since then he'd grown up a lot, become a being from a world he couldn't have believed existed. He'd faced creatures that some people considered gods and toppled kings. He'd learned hard lessons that many people would never have to face, and seen amazing things that no human could ever conceive. He'd walked in both the future and the past, and seen just how much people controlled their own destiny. He'd visited space and fulfilled that dream, had found out that not only did life exist on other planets, but had met an honest-to-goodness extra-terrestrial.
He wasn't the same kid that had walked up those grey cemented steps. He'd come into himself. And while people like Dash, or Paulina or even Lancer had left a lasting imprint on who he was, it was not them who he owed credit for who he was today. It was Clark and Chloe, his Aunt and even Lex. It was his Mom and Dad, Jazz and Tucker. Who'd guided him through the tough times and given him spirit to continue on. But most of all it was Sam, the dark haired girl who would always live in his heart. Who'd looked at him and seen not the human or the ghost, but who he really was, and loved him all the same. And while he could never be that same naïve child again, he felt that he'd changed for the better.
Danny smiled, picking up a pancake up from the plate. He was graduating from high school, yes; closing that chapter in his life. But he'd already seen that there was so much more out there than could be found within the walls of any high school. This wasn't a graduation so much as a commencement, opening to a clean new page in his life. And as he took a small sip of his hot chocolate, he couldn't help but think that he was more than ready to face whatever came his way.
Line Break
Lana sighed contentedly, feeling a soft breeze play across her shoulders. Lex's arms were wrapped around her, warm and comforting as she dozed in her half-sleepy state. Lex had invited her over for dinner the night before, and they'd ended up asleep together on the sofa in the sitting room in front of the fire. The breeze breathed over her once more, and absently she curled further into Lex's protective arms. She felt a small contented smile pull onto her lips, but she was too comfortable to think of anything more.
She felt the light flare over her shoulder, coming from the direction of the fireplace. And suddenly Lex was pulling back from her. Dazed, unseeing eyes met hers as the man stood up and backed away. His hands were pressed to his ears, as though he was hearing something painful. But the only sound in the room was Lex's agonised grunts. She tried to call out to him, to bring him back into the room. But he didn't seem to hear her.
Lex stumbled, and seemed to gain some form of direction because he was running out of the sitting room and down the corridor. His hands were fisted to his temples, and his movements were frantic. If Lana didn't know any better she would have guessed he was on some kind of drug trip. But he wasn't, he hadn't taken anything the night before. The man grunted in agony, his hands fisting to the side table where his car keys were kept, and suddenly he was out the door.
Lana chased after him, calling after him desperately. But he was already gone, and by the time she got to the garage his Porsche was already speeding away. Lana slid into the seat of her own car, quickly following the silver car down the driveway and out onto the highway. Lex's car was erratic, sliding all over the road at a speed too fast for Lana to even get close. Desperate she pulled out her phone, frantically hoping that the man would pick up.
"C'mon, Lex. Pick up." She murmured into the phone, quickly changing directions as he pulled into a side road. "Pick up!" But the phone was ignored, and Lana watched as once more the car in front of her swerved precariously across the road. Lex's car drove off the sealed road and onto a dirt track, Lana cursed as the phone diverted to message bank before slamming on the brakes. Lex had pulled up, diving out of the car and plunging into the overgrown forest she dimly recognised as the border of Maier's field.
Lana tossed her phone aside as she jerked out of her own car. Not even bothering to lock it, she chased Lex into the forest. He was already a way ahead, and all Lana could see was the flare of his black jacket against the undergrowth. Jagged twigs and clawing sticks grabbed against her as she tore through the woods. Lana ducked under a heavy branch just in time to watch Lex fumble through a small creek, panting in pain and rubbing his temples. She was gaining on him, but not enough.
Lex dove out of the forest and into a grassy field. Lana tore out just seconds behind her, the long dry grass crunching under her feet, but she only had eyes for Lex. The man had paused in the centre of the field, but was spinning around dazedly. He hunched over in pain before throwing his head back, hands pressed firmly against his temples as he sank deeper into his pained throes. Suddenly he stopped, and Lana continued her approach as soon as she saw the human reason come back into his eyes.
"Stay there!" The man barked, gesturing with a warning palm that made Lana freeze.
"What's happening?" She demanded, trying not to let her fear and confusion overwhelm her.
"I don't know!" Lex called back, and Lana heard the edge of fear in his usually controlled voice. That was enough to fill her with dread. Lex was always cool and controlled; it took a lot to scare him. And if he was scared...
Lana jerked back as the ground in front of her exploded. A cloud of dark dust leapt up into the air, blocking her sight of Lex off completely. Lana ducked her head back, trying to block the debris from her eyes. But she still saw too much. The earth around Lex was moving, throwing walls of dirt up around him nearly twenty feet into the air. It was as though the ground was being sliced by a violent golden light, hacked away by the strange electronic whirring noise that echoed around them.
It sounded like the earth was screaming, the noise a strange mix of a synthesised jet and the sucking of a straw. Lana couldn't describe it. It was completely foreign, completely alien. And as the noise stopped and the dust settled, she couldn't help but exchange a fearful look with Lex.
Wind suddenly tore around them, sending Lana's hair flying into her eyes. But she still saw the encroaching shadow, creeping up behind Lex like some horrific monolith. And Lana looked up, gasping as she recognised the ominous black shape floating in the sky above Lex's head. She took an involuntary step back, her eyes wide as she looked the same alien spaceship that had brought so much pain into her life ever since she first saw it.
She felt movement behind her and spun around to see the smirking face of Milton Fine. She heard Lex's demand for the man to stay away from her, but couldn't force back her own words. "What are you doing?" She asked, flinching as she heard the desperate fear in her own voice.
"I'm preparing him." Fine repeated, his face somehow betraying a smirk behind its neutrality.
Lana blinked and turned back to Lex, just as a strange bluish beam tore down from the sky to encircle Lex. Lex screamed in pain, and Lana felt herself screech as she jerked forwards, desperate to save Lex from whatever torture Fine intended. But she couldn't get there in time, the blue beam pulled away in a bright flash of light, leaving no trace of Lex. Like a twisted mimicry of a 'Star Trek' teleportation beam, Lex had vanished.
Lana heard herself screaming, barely audible over the bright flashes and whirring that permeated through the field. She turned around, hoping to face Fine, but he was already gone. And as the golden light settled she ran forwards to the exact spot where Lex had been standing just moments before. But he was gone, and now it was Lana who found herself spinning around hopelessly, Lex's physical pain taking residence in her heart as she realised she had no hope of finding him.
She sunk to her knees in the middle of the field, looking at the dark brown etching left in the field. Like some sick crop circle it stretched out around her, but it was far more jagged than a stereotypical crop circle. Dazedly she stood up, looking at the etching in the ground.
She was standing in the middle of a small diamond, but two of the edges pulled out further. Symmetrical around her were two bars, equidistant from the diagonal of the diamond. And near the tips of that were two large circles. Lana tried to picture it in her mind, to picture an aerial overview.
What she came up with didn't make sense. If she tried to scale it down, it seemed like she was standing in the middle of some sort of abstract letter 'Z'. But what that meant she had no idea. All she knew was that Lex was gone. And the aliens had taken him.
Line Break
Chloe smiled as she looked at the line of red robed seniors gathered at the back of the outdoor platform. It had been just under a year since her own high school graduation, and since the second meteor shower. This year the ceremony was being held a week earlier than the rest of the state – mainly in commemoration of the terrible events of the year before. But as she searched the crowd for Danny's signature ruffled dark locks she couldn't help but ponder over how much had changed.
Her graduation had been turned into a farce by the meteor shower, and the whole day had morphed into a melee of panic and adrenalin as the military invaded and had made the citizens retreat to safety. Lana hadn't even been there, the stage pointedly empty as her name was called. And everything had degenerated into horror as the day wore on. People were running, the streets blocked up as people tried to evacuate, hysteria overtook so many, and that was even before the meteors hit. It had been terrifying, and Chloe knew that a large part of the reason she'd survived that day was sitting right at her side.
Clark Kent sat tall in the white plastic beside her, and Chloe could see a glimmer of pride in her dark-haired friend's eyes. And Chloe knew it was well earned. The meteor strike was the reason that Danny had come to them, and the next week marked the one year anniversary of his friends and family's deaths. Yet despite that, despite probably suffering the largest individual cost caused by the meteor strike, he had endured. Chloe didn't know if it was due to his abilities or his own strong will, but Danny had kept going, hadn't let the pain drag him down.
Her eyes flicked back to the long line of seniors, finally seeing a familiar pair of blue eyes amongst the line up. She smiled at the boy, and got a wide beam in return. "He looks happy." She commented, nudging Clark beside her.
"He deserves it." Clark replied quietly.
"Has he made any plans for next year?" Chloe asked.
"Not that we know of." Clark replied. "I probably wasn't the best example, leaving CKU the way I did."
"I don't think that's why." Martha sighed from Clark's other side. Chloe hummed thoughtfully, leaning slightly forward over Clark to look the alder Kent in the eyes.
"How do you mean?" Chloe pressed curiously.
Martha sighed once more, shaking her head absently. "When he was little, Maddie used to write about how keen he was to go into astronomy; he wanted to join the space program." She paused briefly, her eyes flicking towards the stage as the headmaster stepped up to make a speech. They were seated towards the back, and fortunately the opportunistic press who often followed Martha around had been kept outside until the end of the ceremony. "But now I don't think he can justify to himself leaving long enough to go to college."
"Didn't you have that same problem, Clark?" Chloe asked in a whisper as the man spoke. It was almost the same speech as the year before, and Chloe wasn't overly keen on listening again.
"That was a factor, yeah." Clark admitted. "But it's different between Danny and me. I decided not to keep going after dad died; Danny is still getting an education, just outside the traditional system." Clark paused, his own eyes tracing to Danny in the crowd of seniors behind the stage. "Besides, destiny has more in store for him than a career he could find in any college."
Chloe frowned, studying the eyes of her oldest friend. "You know something, don't you?" She pressed, her eyes slightly narrowed as she tried to figure what was going through his head.
"Sort of." Clark replied. "But I've been told that Danny will find out when the time is right, and until then I think it's worth waiting for the surprise."
Chloe frowned but didn't speak as the first graduate was called out. She was puzzled by what Clark had just implied, but couldn't think of what he could mean. She'd always known she'd go to college, major in journalism and work at the Daily Planet. To not have a definitive plan wasn't something she could really understand. Then again... Danny often had very different ways of thinking, even for someone with special abilities. If she got him talking she'd often hear insights and perspectives that just didn't make sense from a human angle. Like the thing with the Turquoise, any human would just destroy it but instead Danny had insisted on preserving it.
So from that point of view maybe it made sense that Danny hadn't planned for college. Aside from the fact that he was graduating a year early, maybe there was something inbuilt to his powers that made it difficult to make plans in that way. Or maybe he already had a plan, and just hadn't told anyone about it. After all, despite having come clean to Chloe about the true source of his powers, there was a lot about ghosts, their nature, and the Ghost Zone itself that he was reticent to divulge.
Still, looking at him, in the red and yellow robes of Smallville High, she couldn't help but feel proud of him. Even if he sometimes acted a complete riddle, there was an air of innocent cluelessness about him that made him endearing. There weren't many people who could go through the absolute hell he'd been put through in recent months and still stay true to themself, rather than buckle under the pressure. There was just something about him that took adversity and just said 'give it your best shot'.
The line of seniors was gradually shortening, the students happily moving the tassel of their mortarboard as they took the certificate. The sun was out, casting warm rays over the graduating class. Chloe smiled as she watched her young friend walk up to the steps, and when the name 'Daniel Fenton' was finally called she joined in proudly with the polite applause that managed to carry throughout.
Danny crossed the stage easily, clearly foregoing his usual air of clumsiness for the day. Chloe caught his brief smile as he accepted the diploma before joining the mass of students on the other side. Her eyes stayed on him until the last name had been called, and as he walked over she was the first to offer him a congratulatory hug.
"I'm so proud of you." Martha commented as soon as Chloe had released him, and Chloe found herself smiling as Clark ruffled the younger boy's hair. It didn't matter that one boy was from another planet, and that the other was technically half dead, they were a family. And Chloe couldn't help but feel gladdened that she had been included in what to Danny was probably one of the most important days of his human life.
"So you're heading into the Zone?" Chloe asked when she had a minute. Danny had taken off the red robes and was once more in a plain white t-shirt. Although this time he'd layered a short red one over the white long sleeves.
"Yeah." Danny replied, his blue eyes sparkling happily. "I have a couple of friends who I haven't seen in a while, and Ember's on my butt for missing her gig at one of the café's a week ago."
Chloe's heart gave a brief uncomfortable flutter, but couldn't place why as she looked at the boy's buoyant smile. "Well I hope you have fun, and don't be too long. I heard Clark saying he wanted to take the two of us out for dinner in Metropolis to celebrate."
Danny smiled and pressed a hand to his chest. "I feel touched; a party in the Zone and dinner out with the two of you? I should graduate more often."
Chloe rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Get going you." She commanded, gently nudging him in the shoulder. "Unlike some people, I have some work to get done at the Planet. I'll see you later."
Danny smiled and sent her a two fingered salute before disappearing back off into the crowd. Chloe smiled, shaking her head fondly as she made her way back to her car. The plan was to split up for now; Martha had to get to her summit in Washington and was meeting Lois at the farm, and Clark had a couple of chores that needed to get done. Chloe herself had a couple of deadlines that she'd been pushing, but had decided that supporting Danny had come first.
An hour later she parked her car in the lot and took a brisk walk to the Planet. While she may have taken the morning off, she really doubted that her editor would be so forgiving if she pushed another deadline. Not slowing down she pushed open the doors and quickly took the staircase that led to her particular part of the Daily planet. She was just musing over the best opening line for an article about the rising homeless population when she saw a familiar figure walking dazedly through the bullpen.
Chloe's eyes creased in confusion. Of all times, why would Lana Lang choose now to come and visit her at work? She shook her head and grinned. If Lana was willing to talk to her, then Chloe was happy to listen. "Hey." She commented, smiling at Lana. "I was beginning to think I was living with a ghost." Chloe paused, reconsidering that statement. "Not that it would be the first time."
Chloe paused, realising that Lana wasn't smiling. In fact, as she studied her oldest female friend, Lana looked downright terrified. She was wearing a dark coat, her arms wrapped protectively around her chest. But perhaps the most concerning thing was the dazed fear floating through her watery brown eyes. "Lana, are you alright?" Chloe asked, trying to be as supportive as possible.
"I'm so scared, Chloe." Lana replied, her voice a weak whisper that left Chloe straining to hear. "I knew he was getting in too deep."
"Who?" Chloe asked, although she had a sinking suspicion already.
Lana shook her head fearfully before replying. "Lex." The brunette murmured. "They took him." If anyone else had said that to her, then Chloe probably would have written it off as a conspiracy theory. But Lana wouldn't lie, not about this. And in those four words she had just confirmed their greatest fears. Chloe shepherded Lana over to a more private area, inviting her to explain more. Chloe didn't know what to think, not with Lana as scared as she was acting.
"We were in a field." Lana murmured after a while, leaning forward conspirationally. But the underlying panic in her voice was only just off the border of hysteria, and Chloe knew that for now all she could do was listen. "An... and there was this flash of light and then Lex was taken."
"Taken where?" Chloe pressed.
"Into the black ship I saw in the meteor shower." Lana whispered fearfully. "It's back."
Chloe blinked. "Do you think Fine had something to do with this?" She asked, even if she already suspected the answer, she had to know. She had to know just how bad things were, how much worse they were likely to get.
"Fine was there." Lana replied firmly. And Chloe's stomach plummeted. They had hoped, after this long since Fine had injected Lex, that it hadn't worked and Fine was re-strategising. But this smelled too much like Fine was still on track. "He said that he was 'preparing him'" Lana finished, confirming Chloe's worst suspicions.
Chloe watched as Lana bit back a sob, pulling away and lifting her brown eyes to the ceiling. "I can't believe I let this happen."
"Lana, you can't blame yourself." Chloe reassured.
"It's my fault he was involved in the first place." Lana retorted, brown eyes begging for a comfort that Chloe didn't know how to give. "Chloe, what if he's dead?" The brunette asked hopelessly. And for once Chloe couldn't find the words to answer her.
Line Break
Phantom laughed as Ember cried in victory, whacking another mole on the head. Ember had decided that it would be fun to head to one of the Zone's biggest amusement parks for the afternoon, and he'd thought that would be a novel experience in itself. He knew theoretically that anyone could become a ghost, and he also knew that there was everything from viable ghost farmers to flourishing businessmen in the Zone. So it shouldn't have surprised him that there were amusement parks floating around. But neither his previous explorations, nor his studies with Clockwork had led him to believe that such a vibrant place existed in the Ghost Zone.
It was enthralling, pulsating with ghostly life. Splashes of vivid colour painted the stalls, and entrancing lights flashed overhead. The carnival grounds were lit with floating lanterns, glimmering in bright shades of yellow and red. At the far end of the promenade stood a Ferris Wheel, reaching tall into the Ghost Zone sky and flickering with effervescent lights. It was charming, an impossible blend between the late nineteenth century sideshow feeling, and the animated life of contemporary amusement parks. The whole place practically vibrated with the cheerful sounds of people laughing, of buzzers buzzing and of stall holders heckling potential customers for attention.
There were hundreds of ghosts milling around, all happily spending time in the bright lights of the carnival atmosphere. And the best part of it was that none of them really cared that he was there. He was just another ghost in the crowd and he loved it. Never before in the Zone had he been able to feel like a normal person, he was either the number one enemy, or the revered hero who'd saved them all from Pariah Dark. This bit of normalcy felt like home in a way that he couldn't accurately describe. Phantom chuckled once more as Ember hit the last mole, the buzzer at the top flashing as the game closed down.
"Who would've thought that all that practice hitting things with your guitar would pay off?" Phantom remarked as the stall holder handed over a prize – a small purple teddy bear with a guitar in its little paws.
"Well whaddya think it's for?" Ember snarked back, beaming.
"Oh I dunno, playing music?" Phantom replied, leading the two of them away from the 'Whack-a-Mole' booth to make room for the next players.
"Hey." Ember shrugged, a proud gleam glittering in her eyes. "When I'm slamming, I'm slamming. And if that involves giving a certain dipstick a good whack upside the head, well I'm not gonna complain."
Phantom just rolled his eyes, used to Ember's sense of humour. "You know, I'm surprised you thought of somewhere like this." He commented.
"What?" Ember asked, looking at him with big green eyes. "An amusement park? C'mon babypop, even kids on your side go to parks."
"Yeah." Phantom replied. "But I haven't done anything like this since... well, since before Sam and Tuck died."
Ember sighed, but didn't let the smile drop off her face. "Then take it as a good thing. Here you are, still able to enjoy existence and not letting that loss get you down. They loved you, Clockwork only knows half the Zone saw that, and they would've wanted to see you happy."
Phantom let a small smile cross his lips, she was right. Sam wouldn't have wanted him to wallow in misery for the rest of his life. And he got the feeling that she would be glad to see that he'd made friends and continued on the way he had. Just that morning he'd been missing her desperately, but here in the Zone with Ember, knowing that when he got back to Smallville Clark and Chloe were waiting, he couldn't help but feel that he was really and truly moving on.
"Ooh." Ember cried, tugging on his wrist as she caught sight of something. Suddenly Phantom found himself being tugged through a sea of ghosts as Ember dragged him through the crowds. "You are so doing this."
Phantom's eyes widened as he realised where she had stopped. A huge tank of water sloshed in front of them, spilling over as the large ghost sitting in the chair was dunked violently into the deep pool. The crowd clapped in amusement as the large blue furred ghost emerged from the soggy depths, long trails of glowing water rippling through sopping fur.
"Step up, step up, who's next to take the challenge?" The carnie ghost dared, his red eyes searching the crowd for the next victim. Phantom found himself being pushed to the front by a beaming Ember, and before he knew it he was sitting in the temperamental seat above the tepid tank of water.
"Roll up, roll up." The carnie called. "Once in an existence opportunity here, folks; take the chance to dunk a celebrity. Hero or villain, scourge or saviour, here for you today we have a real treat. Our own Danny Phantom!"
Phantom tuned out the rest of the ghost's collaring, instead sending a scowl towards the still beaming Ember. 'I hate you' he mouthed, earning him an even brighter grin as the blue haired ghost poked out her tongue cheekily. The first ghost took a chance, picking up one of the carnie ghost's glowing green balls. The amusing thing about a game like this was that it was open to all. Anyone could take a shot, but only one shot, and the booth owner was even allowing small ecto-blasts to the ghosts that could manage it.
The first ghost took a shot, but the ball went wide and the crown gave a sympathetic groan. Phantom laughed along with the carnie ghost, as half the crowd started cheering. It wasn't until after the fourth ghost had had a shot that he started playing along with the carnie's banter, rallying the crowd up just as much as the owner. He teased the challengers, finding himself having fun as both he and the carnie ghost built up something of a rhythm in their banter.
Around them the crowd grew, and he realised he was turning the booth into quite the attraction. Most of the patrons were smiling at him, laughing along with him as each ghost tried and failed to push the lever and dunk him in the tank. None of them were jeering at him, none of them hated him, and he felt truly happy to be a part of this world. It seemed most of the amusement park's patrons were enjoying the notion of dunking the boy who had saved them all from Pariah.
"Would the fair lady like a go?" The carnie asked Ember some twenty minutes later. By now the crowd had swelled to the point where Phantom could barely see over the enormous variety of ghosts that stood before him. And there were every sort; humanoid, animalistic, Phantom even thought he caught the flash of a bright gold phoenix. And they were all cheering in front of him, calling for the one ghost who could manage to dunk the famous Danny Phantom.
Ember grinned as she stepped forward, her green eyes flaring in a confident smirk. "C'mon Ember. Don't tell me that playing around with the guys in the band has ruined your aim." Phantom mocked jovially, smiling daringly down at Ember.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ember teased back. "Doesn't matter 'cos you're going down." Phantom laughed even as the crowd around them cried out 'Dunk! Dunk! Dunk! Dunk!'
"Wouldn't that be the day?"Phantom ribbed, a smug grin on his face as he taunted the blue haired ghost. And Ember beamed as a purple fireball charged in her hand. She tossed it idly between her two hands before jerking her hand forward. The whole crowd seemed to hold its breath as the fireball sailed through the air, and Phantom traced its movement as it rushed towards the inch wide lever with just enough velocity to set off the trigger.
Beneath him the seat collapsed, and he found himself falling the three feet into the water, cold liquid splashing around him as he tumbled into the soaking depths. He came up sputtering, feeling the water run through his white hair as he came up for breath. A smirking Ember raced up to him, laughing as she took the opportunity to ruffle his sopping hair. Phantom found himself grinning, shaking the excess water out of his hair as he pulled himself out of the tank.
Still laughing he shrugged off his cloak he wrapped the sopping fabric around Ember's shoulders in retribution. She pulled away, scowling at him briefly before the smile crept back onto her face. Phantom found himself still smiling ten minutes later as he bought a packet of caramel popcorn to share. He didn't know whether it was the company or the happiness of the day in general, but for once he felt completely at peace. And as he glanced at Ember's still smiling green eyes he couldn't help but feel a welcome feeling of contentment creep into his core.
Line Break
"What, do you mean 'taken'?" Clark demanded, staring searchingly at Chloe as he struggled to understand. After Danny's graduation ceremony he'd headed back to the farmhouse to get a few chores out of the way. The plan had been to meet up later in the evening in Metropolis so they could head out to dinner with Danny. But instead Chloe had driven back to the farmhouse, and immediately informed him that Lex had been taken.
"I mean, ripped from the earth and sucked into the sky." Chloe retorted exasperatedly. "His abductor did leave a calling card in the field. From Lana's description, it sounded a lot like Zod's symbol."
Clark frowned; setting aside the hay bale he'd been carrying to meet her in the eyes. "Lionel's drawings warned of Zod coming. Maybe it's actually happening."
"What is happening?" Chloe demanded, frustrated. "I don't get it. I thought that Zod was trapped in that Phantom-prism other-dimension thing."
"That's what I'm worried about." Clark replied. "Fine knows I wouldn't release Zod willingly. He's obviously changed strategies."
"Have you talked to Danny about it?" Chloe pressed, and Clark sighed.
"He's closed off again." Clark replied. "I think Fine must've done something to him but I don't know what." Chloe sent him a questioning glance, and Clark shook his head tiredly. "This last month he hasn't really spoken about Fine or Lex, usually he'd be spouting out theories, but he hasn't said anything."
"You think it's like what happened with Vlad?" Chloe asked and Clark frowned. He hadn't considered that, and after all what had happened to Danny had left some psychological scars. But at the same time this felt different.
"I don't think so." Clark replied. "I think whatever happened it's got Danny running scared, and he won't talk until he knows more about what Fine wants. Although I still can't help but wonder, of all people, why would Fine want Lex?"
Chloe's eyes creased in uncertainty. "Do you think Lex is part of plan B?" She questioned, her head cocked in consideration. Clark nodded slowly. That was the only thing they could all agree on, whatever Fine wanted it was circling around Lex. And whatever Fine had done to the man a month ago had only let them grow complacent about his motives.
Clark paused, his thoughts suddenly veering onto a different path. "Maybe. Which means Lana's in the middle." Clark realised, his eyes narrowing in self depreciation.
Chloe pressed a gentle hand to his shoulder. "I know what you're thinking. She used to come to you. That's different now. And you know what? That was your choice."
Clark sighed, leaning back against a support beam "I don't feel like I've made any of the right choices." He confessed. "I've been so angry with Jor-El; I didn't listen to his warnings."
"It seems every time you turn to Jor-El something bad happens." Chloe empathised.
"What if he's just trying to protect me?" Clark asked. "Danny's basically said as much. What if Jor-El's trying to protect all of us?"
"You'd need to talk to him." Chloe replied, her eyebrows raising in scepticism.
Clark scoffed. "And it comes back to how much I can afford to trust him."
"Is there any way to call Danny back early? He'd probably know what to do." Chloe suggested, but Clark was doubtful all the same. Danny did know a lot, and in many ways he was a safer source of Kryptonian knowledge than Clark himself. Usually Clark would prefer to talk to Danny first, but in this case there wasn't time to waste.
"No." Clark replied. "When he goes into the Ghost Zone I can't get in contact with him; all we can do is wait until he gets back."
"I don't think there's time for that." Chloe replied sadly, and Clark nodded.
"I know." He replied, his eyes flicking up to the loft where the key to the portal in the caves was kept. "You'll tell him when he gets back, right?"
Chloe nodded, offering him a brief hug before heading out the door. Her whispered "good luck" was almost drowned out by the sound of her car igniting. Clark let out a shaky breath as he mounted the steps, walking over to the bookcase and pulling out one of the books. Months ago he'd hollowed it out, leaving an octagonal shaped slot to hide the key in. It wasn't a perfect hiding place, not in comparison to Danny's hiding things inside the floor, but it was better than the toolbox where it had been kept.
The metal was cool in his hands, but Clark didn't let his mind focus on that as he made his way to the cave. He was deliberately not thinking about Lex or Lana, or his concerns for Danny and Chloe. Instead he was steeling himself for the discussion with his birth father. He couldn't afford for things to go wrong, not this time. Taking a deep breath he plunged the key into the key slot and was instantly transported in the ensuing flash of bright light.
"Hello, my son." Jor-El's powerful voice vibrated through the cavernous crystal walls of the Fortress.
"I had no other choice but to come here." Clark replied, letting the heat creep back into his voice. He walked through the crystal spirals to the main crystal console. The last time he'd been here was when he'd begged his birth father to save Lana. He hadn't known that that would be at the expense of his own dad. After that he had hoped never to need to talk to Jor-El ever again, but circumstances didn't even allow him that.
"I know you are still angered by the loss of Jonathan Kent." Jor-El replied, his voice ever emotionless.
Clark's response was dry. "He was my father."
"I am your father." Jor-El asserted quickly, and Clark could have sworn he heard a distressed edge to his birth father's potent voice. "Pain is part of life, Kal-El. But you cannot let it blind you."
"Fine has returned to release Zod." Clark said, knowing that he would get nowhere talking to Jor-El about his dad. His birth father just didn't understand human love, and Clark knew he would get no further on the issue without letting his own emotions control him. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Fine is merely an extension of the craft that can regenerate in any form." Jor-El explained.
"Danny said as much." Clark acknowledged. "If Fine is part of the ship, then who is controlling it?"
"It's not just a ship. It's the Brain InterActive Construct." Jor-El emphasised. "I believe your 'Danny' refers to it as Brainiac. It is an advanced technology that will stop at nothing until its master, Zod, has been released."
Clark's eyes widened, recalling a conversation so many months ago. Danny's eyes set on the fire as he recounted a story about how Brainiac came into being, and the fierce determination the man had in achieving his aims. "No, there's gotta be some way to stop him."
"There is one way." Jor-El replied, his stoic voice cold. "Zod was imprisoned in the Phantom Zone for crimes that led to the destruction of our planet."
"Zod killed you." Clark breathed, eyes creased in confusion. He almost wanted to feel sympathetic for his father, but he wasn't there yet.
"And your mother." Jor-El added blankly. "And our entire race. Just as he will do on Earth."
"I won't let that happen." Clark denied, squaring his shoulders in determination.
The air shifted, and Clark got the distinct impression of acknowledgement before his father's voice once more reverberated through the crystalline chamber. "Zod's physical body was destroyed to prevent him from escaping the Phantom Zone. He can be freed if he finds a body. A vessel to inhabit."
The voice paused as a one of the crystals separated out from the console. As it pulled away, Clark saw the silvery edge of a blade. Instinctively he grabbed it, plucking the weapon from the air as his hand clasped firmly around the crystal hilt. It looked like a dagger, but not a normal human one. Along the sides of the blade were Kryptonian glyphs, reading 'The strength of the House of El lies in your heart'. The blade was irregularly shaped, bulging similarly to an hourglass with a pointed end. Clark didn't know what to think of such a gift.
"You must find the human vessel and destroy it." Jor-El instructed, and perhaps this was the first time Clark found himself grateful for the stoicism of his birth father's voice. It made it easier to deal with the instruction, easier to pretend that his father wasn't telling him to go and kill a human. And in blank emphasis the voice continued, adding a disturbing weight to Clark's heart as his father finished his cold instruction. "No matter whom it may be."
Line Break
Phantom laughed as he floated out of the portal, still feeling bubbly after spending the afternoon with Ember. Looking back, it was hard to believe that they'd been enemies for so long. Beneath the crackly exterior she was a really good friend, and he found he couldn't imagine life in Smallville without her in it. He'd offered to her to come back with him and spend a couple of hours with his living friends, but she'd declined saying that she had a band practice back in her lair. But he had thoroughly enjoyed the few hours he got to spend with her, it was a welcome break in his normal routine and one he hadn't realised he'd needed.
He shifted back to his human form as he walked up the stairs. The storm shelter was still his safest bet when opening a portal into the Real World since only people he trusted ever went down there. Danny shook his head, noting the low angle of the sun as he emerged from the darkened cellar. He was maybe an hour later than he'd anticipated, but he felt it was worth it. Still smiling Danny made his way over to the house, hoping to have a quick shower before he headed into Metropolis to meet Chloe and Clark.
Twenty minutes later Danny stepped out of the shower, ruffling his hair in a half attempt at drying it before walking back to his bedroom. His eyes flicked idly over to the desk where his sketchpad was out. The previous night he'd gotten halfway through a sketch of Chloe and Ember back to back, but hadn't been able to add the colours in. Shrugging, Danny walked over to the drawers and pulled out a clean dark shirt and tugged it over his head. Fully dressed, he grabbed his cell phone, flipping it open to check the time.
There were seven missed calls; two from Clark and five from Chloe. Listening to the first few messages he frowned, each succeeding recording was more urgent than the last. Something must have happened while he was in the Zone. Not wasting another moment he teleported straight into Metropolis, hurrying down the steps to the basement bullpen at the Planet.
"Danny!" The blonde called as soon as she caught sight of him, a strange mix of anger and relief flitting through her eyes. "I've been trying to call you."
"Sorry" Danny replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as he met her eyes. "Cell phone coverage doesn't really reach the Zone. What's going on?"
Chloe's eyes narrowed as she poked him in the chest. "What's going on is that once again you weren't here and now things are going to hell."
Danny blinked. "Wait, what?" But instead of waiting for a reply he pulled her into the empty copy room. "What happened?"
Chloe released a long suffering sigh, blowing the lose strands of blonde hair out of her eyes. "Lex was abducted this morning."
"Something tells me you're not talking about run of the mill kidnappers." Danny murmured. "Brainiac...?"
"Was there." Chloe interrupted. "Lana saw the whole thing, if we didn't already know about Brainiac I would have said it was fake, but..." She sighed, shaking her head. "He left a symbol in Maier's Field. Probably you're the only one who'd be able to see it properly, but it sounded a lot like..."
"Zod's." Danny surmised, guessing by her harried tone as he leaned heavily against the wall. He should have known that Brainiac had something like this up his sleeve, but after so much time he'd grown complacent. They all had. "Where's Clark?"
"At the Fortress. He needed advice and you weren't there. Again." Her voice had picked up an underlying level of aggrievance.
"I'm sorry." Danny murmured questioningly, not fully comprehending the reason for her annoyance.
Chloe let out a sharp breath. "It's not the first time, Danny. I know... look, I get that you like being in the Zone but lately it's like whenever we need you you're always in your own little world."
He would have been indignant if he didn't know it was true. "I don't know what to say." He replied.
"Nor do I." She murmured. "It's been going on for weeks, and now we're paying for it. You know how much Clark hates going to Jor-El, but he didn't feel like he had a choice. And whatever Clark hears from Jor-El, you know it's not gonna be good."
"I'm sorry." Danny repeated. "But I don't know what I would have said even if I was there. Brainiac out strategized us, and I don't know how to counter that. I won't know until he's done whatever it is he plans to do to Lex."
"That's not the point." Chloe replied hotly. "The problem is that you weren't here. We needed you, and you weren't here. It's been going on ever since that thing with Maddie, you're either sick or missing."
"I get it." Danny replied as evenly as possible. "But half the time there's nothing I can do. I'm a ghost, not a god and I'm not omniscient."
"Where were you a month ago?" Chloe asked, randomly, if not for the underlying anger in her voice. "When Clark was told he had to kill Lionel?"
Danny sighed, shaking his head. "Brainiac." Danny replied slowly. "He's figured out who I am, if not understanding exactly what. And much as I try to deny it I have many of the same weaknesses all ghosts do." Danny paused, looking pleadingly into her eyes. He knew her anger was just coming from fear and confusion. That she was taking it out on him because she couldn't let herself do that to Clark. But it didn't stop the fact that the barbs hurt, especially considering the fact that they were grounded in truth.
He had been in the Ghost Zone when Clark had first met Maddie, and maybe things would've played out differently had he been there. And lately Clockwork had called him into the Zone for lectures so often he knew there were important things he'd missed. In all honesty it annoyed him as much as them that he was missing so much, that he was failing them like than when he knew he should have been there. But the thing with Brainiac was different, and it still scared him stiff to imagine what the man really wanted with him.
"He trapped me." Danny confessed listlessly. "Kryptonians developed some of their own ghost containing technology and he exploited that. He used their version of the Thermos and trapped me. And I hate that I don't know what he wants because I know he's factored me into his plans." He huffed, eyes firmly on the scuffed tile of the linoleum floor. "He wants a weapon, and Hecate knows that I'm about the biggest one there is."
He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up to a pair of sympathetic emerald eyes. She didn't ask for an explanation, and Danny was glad for it. Today was turning into more of an emotional rollercoaster than he could really manage, and he was just glad for the support. "It's okay." The blonde said softly. "Whatever it is we'll figure it out."
Danny nodded, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly as he pulled away from the wall. "Let's go over what we know." Danny suggested, setting his own emotions aside for the time being. It was easier to try and make a plan of attack than to try to deal with his own guilt. "You said Lex was abducted and Lana was there. Did she mention anything other than Zod's symbol?"
Chloe frowned, apparently seeing through his abrupt change in emotions, but she went along with it. "Apparently Brainiac is preparing Lex, what for, I don't know. But that's what she said."
"Preparing him." Danny repeated, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "What...? Brainiac said he was going to cleanse the Earth in 'preparation' but I still don't..." Danny paused, looking over at Chloe. "Brainiac wanted Clark as the vessel for Zod."
"But we stopped him then, Clark refused." Chloe replied, looking confusedly up at him.
"Right, so maybe he's looking for another way to force Clark's hand." Danny suggested.
"Or a contingency plan." Chloe returned. "What if that's what he meant by 'preparing him'?"
Danny shook his head. "Impossible, a human couldn't host a Kryptonian soul, let alone Zod's. The energies are incompatible. It'd be like using a piece of paper to contain a dam, he'd need..." Danny's eyes widened in realisation; his heart racing as he realised the extent of Brainiac's plan "The vaccine." He gasped, locking eyes with Chloe. "It was never about curing humanity, it was all about Lex. Brainiac needed a way to make a human host compatible with Zod. The vaccine isn't to protect him from a virus; it's to make sure he survives the preparations."
"But that means..." Chloe began, emerald eyes glittering worriedly.
"Lex is gonna come back different." Danny replied, nodding in acknowledgement. However, before he could expand on his thoughts he was overwhelmed by a rampaging torrent of emotion. Scorching sunlight burned against his ghostly senses as Clark's aura descended into the basement. One look at his cousin was all it took for Danny to realise that whatever Jor-El had asked of Clark, it was nothing good.
"Jor-El wants me to kill a human." Clark said bluntly as soon as he stepped into the copy room, and Danny bit back a gasp at the pain that dug into his core. Everything else was lost, the emotions and auras of everyone else around them completely drowned out by the rage and insecurity in Clark's wildly flaring solar aura.
"Why?" Danny couldn't help but ask, but seeing the grim set of Clark's eyes he knew that he was not going to like the answer. And his heart only sunk further as Clark explained what had transpired in the fortress. Every fibre of his being rebelled against the notion, he couldn't let Clark go ahead. In his mind he was already spinning out alternatives, but none of them could work. He core screamed in frustration, hating every minute that it was forced to circle something so repulsive.
"Wow." Chloe's voice murmured, breaking the silence that had built around them as Clark finished his recount. "I've heard of fathers demanding a lot of sons but asking you to commit murder? That goes way beyond domineering dad."
"Chloe, I'm not killing anyone." Clark was quick to reassure, sending a fleeting glance towards Danny. He saw the sympathy in his cousin's eyes, but somehow it rang hollow given the subject of their discussion. And Clark didn't even know who the vessel was.
Chloe just sighed, her head shaking sadly. "Well, I hate to say this, but disobeying Jor-El has always had grim consequences."
"There has to be another way." Danny interjected, hating the desperate edge that came into his voice. He couldn't let Clark kill Lex, but at the same time he couldn't let Zod escape. His core was already tingling with the need to protect, but he had no direction, and the knife edge they all sat on didn't yield any viable answers.
"Okay, well, what about...?" Chloe started before trailing off listlessly. "What about the vessel? I mean, why doesn't this Zod guy come fully composed?"
"All Jor-El told me was that Zod's spirit would possess a human." Clark replied.
"It's because of how he was incarcerated." Danny added in emotionlessly. "The Phantom Zone... it's for the worst of the worst. When Zod was thrown in, he was stripped of his corporeal body. He doesn't come 'fully composed' because he doesn't have a body anymore. That's why Brainiac wanted Clark in the first place; Zod needed a host."
"This is the Zod whose hobbies include mass destruction and world domination?" Chloe pressed, and Danny could feel the fear rippling through her aura. If he were like many of the other ghosts he'd be in heaven from the emotional tension in the room, but as it was he was starting to feel nauseated. There was more he could tell them, more that Clark probably deserved to know. But he couldn't bring himself to, not when Clark's predominant emotion was fear and Chloe was bordering terror. It was amazing that they were able to conceal it so well, but Danny could still tell, and he couldn't allow himself to make it worse.
Instead he just nodded sadly. "And if we're right about Lex..."
"You think Lex is the vessel?" Clark interjected, his voice a harsh mixture of surprise and anger.
Danny pressed his lips together before nodding once. "It fits. Brainiac injects Lex with a serum that gives his immune system a serious boost, and then lets us all get complacent before abducting him to 'prepare' him. Plus there's the fact that I know Brainiac wants a clean slate when Zod eventually arrives."
"That's probably why the ship took him." Chloe tacked on lethargically.
Clark frowned, and Danny could see that his cousin didn't want to believe what they were saying. Danny didn't want to believe it either, not when the consequences were so dire. "If that's right" Clark began, pausing as he struggled to keep his voice neutral. Danny felt Clark's cerulean eyes fall on his, looking forlornly between him and Chloe's emerald orbs. They all knew what he was going to say, and none of them want to hear it. "If that's right then I gotta kill Lex."
Line Break
Clark sighed, giving up on the notion of finishing his chores and instead headed up to the loft. He sent a fleeting glance out the window, looking out at the late morning sun. He'd spent the night plagued by the thought of having to kill, his mind conjuring up dark images of Lex falling back as blood pooled from his stomach. He had hardly slept, and he knew he wasn't the only one. His mom had been stressed because her plane had been first delayed and then cancelled, forcing both her and Lois to stay in Smallville for the extra night. And Danny hadn't come home all night, instead staying out on patrol between Smallville and Metropolis.
Clark's hands absently found their way to the drawer where he'd concealed the dagger, his fingers thumbing idly over the smooth surface of the blade. The more he looked at the thing the more he found himself doubting. He didn't want to have to do something like this, and this was just one more reason to despise his Kryptonian heritage. What sort of father told their kid to kill someone? His fingers found their way to the glyph of the House of El, tracing along the infinity like shape inside the pentagon. The blade was clearly his, but the duty he'd been given was something he didn't think he could handle.
"You know, Clark," The voice of Lionel Luthor intruded on the silence as the elder billionaire walked up the wooden staircase. "In certain cultures, when a father presents his son with a knife it represents a rite of passage."
"How do you know this is from Jor-El?" Clark questioned.
Lionel gestured towards the dagger. "The glyphs on the blade, they're Kryptonian." He replied before turning a critical eye towards Clark. "What does Jor-El want you to do with the dagger?"
Clark frowned, setting the Kryptonian dagger aside and crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Clark I came here to find you." Lionel reassured, digging around in his pocket until he found a folded piece of paper. "When I woke up this morning, I found this. Must have written it in my sleep. It's another warning from Jor-El?" Clark eyed the piece of paper as Lionel foisted it to him. "Tell me what it says." The grey haired man urged.
"'Sacrifice the vessel.'" Clark managed not to jump at the sudden appearance of Danny's voice beside him. Lionel was not so lucky, his usual unshakable exterior startling slightly at Danny's abrupt arrival. "He really wants you to do it."
"The vessel?" Lionel pressed, settling himself down quickly, despite sending a confused glance at Danny. "I don't understand."
Clark found himself frowning, his eyes stuck on the black glyphs on the white piece of paper. The words pounded against his mind, only adding to the tumult of his emotions as the morality taught by his dad battled with the demands of his birth father. "Let me help you." Lionel consoled. "Clark, please. You don't have to make this decision alone."
"No, he doesn't." Danny interjected, turning his attention to Clark. "It isn't just your decision to make."
"There's nothing you or anybody else can do." Clark replied, looking between the two of them. Danny's blue eyes were empathetic, and Lionel's were shadowed with determination. But neither of them could really understand what it was that Jor-El had asked.
"Don't underestimate me, son." Lionel urged.
"Jor-El wants me to kill the person who will be the vessel." Clark replied, his voice painfully blank. But when he couldn't finish Danny picked up his thought.
"Zod will possess a human form." He explained. "And then he will destroy Earth just like he did on Krypton."
"But I can't kill anyone." Clark added, shaking his head self depreciatively, sending a dark look towards Lionel. "You of all people should know that."
"Clark," Lionel said, laying a hand consolingly on his shoulder. "The real test of a hero is knowing when the greater good will be served by an evil act. To save the Earth the cost of one life is the price that must be paid."
"You're wrong." Danny retorted, blue eyes narrow as he stared at Lionel. "The test is in finding a solution without resorting to the simple choice."
"In this case, Daniel, there can be no other solution. Not in the face of such an alternative." Lionel replied calmly.
Danny cocked his head, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Then we haven't looked deep enough. I've lived through 'the simple choice' before, and I know that simply destroying a person is never the right solution." Clark just listened; it was simpler than trying to deal with what was going through his head. And in a way he hoped that Danny suggesting that there was another solution meant that he really could find one.
"You sound like Immanuel Kant, Daniel." Lionel interjected, spouting a name that Clark didn't recognise. "Preaching the idea of 'perfect moral duties'. But those rules aren't practical in the real world. A perfect duty to not kill fails when your inaction causes greater harm."
"I'm not saying don't act, I'm saying look for an alternative solution." Danny retorted, clearly following the argument more than Clark did. "Sacrificing one on behalf of the whole may be superficially better, but it's wrong. We can't just go around acting like we have the dispensation to decide what the lesser evil is; none of us have that right. Killing an innocent only goes to corrupt the whole, not make it stronger."
"Daniel, in most situations we're not facing a war criminal of this magnitude." Lionel answered calmly. "An innocent life the vessel may be, but for the safety of the rest of the Earth it is a sacrifice that must be made."
"Even if that life is your son?" Clark interjected, realising that neither was going to give ground. Each saw the world in different ways, and while Clark desperately hoped that there was another solution out there, he needed to hear what Lionel thought when it was Lex's life in question.
Lionel looked shocked, sitting weakly back against the trunk. Clark hated seeing the pained look that crossed into Lionel's eyes, but it did give an answer in itself. "Lex is the vessel of Zod." Clark expanded, noting the way the elder billionaire's shoulders slumped slightly. Lionel clearly didn't want to believe it, and the fact that it was his son who was the vessel seemed to change something in his eyes. "He was abducted yesterday morning. Out of Maier's field."
"Maier's field, you say?" Lionel pressed, looking up at Clark. There was a strange determination in his eyes, a fierce glint that Clark couldn't fully comprehend as he nodded emotionlessly in answer. Lionel looked briefly between Clark and his cousin, the evaluative glimmer never leaving his eyes before he left in an abrupt dismissal.
Beside him Danny sighed, switching into his ghost form just as Lionel's car pulled away. "You're following him?" Clark asked, raising an eyebrow towards the younger boy.
Phantom nodded quietly, green eyes dulled as they briefly fixed on the dagger. "I have to stop him from doing something stupid." The boy replied, his feet pulling away from the ground. "I don't think anyone should be near that field at the moment. And I really didn't like the look in his eyes."
"He's going to figure you out." Clark murmured in concern, and Phantom just sent him a grim smile. The boy pulled away and was floating halfway out the loft when Clark called him back. "We will find another solution, won't we?"
Phantom bowed his head briefly, white hair falling over closed eyes before the boy looked up again. "I promise Clark, come hell or high water, Lex will come out of this okay." Clark nodded, seeing the fierce determination that sparked the boy's glowing emerald eyes. And then the boy was gone, vanished in a pool of swirling green mist as the boy teleported to wherever Lionel was.
Clark sighed, rolling his head back before once more fixing his gaze on the dagger. An evil act was an evil act, and Clark could never allow himself to kill another man. Everything Lex had done, all the horrors the man had wrought; none of them were worth being murdered for. And Clark would not let himself become that person. Danny was right. An evil act was an evil act, whatever you labelled it as, and Clark would never allow himself to fall into that trap.
His hand fisted around the piece of paper, crumpled up in his hands. 'Sacrifice the vessel' the message read. But as Clark walked out of the barn and into the bright sunlight, he couldn't help but think 'Not today'.
Line Break
Phantom sighed, ruffling his hair as he floated above the field. Zod's symbol stood out, harsh brown against soft gold like an infected scar on the earth. It stood out more in daylight, the dark upturned soil etched into the jagged symbol of the house of Zod. Even from the air he could feel the residual energy traces radiating out from the centre, no doubt the exact point that Lex had been taken from nearly a day before.
He drifted invisibly, floating in the eddying currents of the light wind as he surveyed the field. He knew Lionel would be coming here; the glint in his eyes was too much like Vlad's when he got an idea stuck in his head. But what exactly the man intended, Phantom didn't know. Sure enough five minutes later the black car pulled up, stopping on the far edge of the field. Phantom watched as Lionel sat in the car, tension mounting as both of them waited.
Phantom felt it before he saw it, something akin to static electricity fed by striking vipers, sending a horrendous pressure pounding through his head and driving him down to the ground. There was a bright flash of light, followed by an electric sort of whooshing noise that accompanied a bright blue beam. And then it was gone, the pressure vanishing instantaneously as a figure stepped forwards out of a cloud of dust.
"Lex?" Lionel's voice called as the elder man stepped cautiously forward. "Lex? Son, are you alright?"
Lex was whirling around dazedly, his eyes a hazy wash of confusion. But Phantom's eyes widened and he had to stop himself from backing away. His aura was different. Completely different. It had become a messy integration between the normal subtlety of a human aura, and the potent power of Clark's solar Kryptonian aura. And the two aspects roiled against each other, making Phantom pull back as wave after wave of violent confusion emanated out and washed over him.
"Everything feels different." Lex gasped, dark eyes fixing on Lionel. Phantom took a steadying breath, trying to calm himself. He could feel Lionel's aura shifting, predominantly giving off fear. But the man had always been able to conceal that, and no doubt that same fear was going to turn into something damning if he was allowed to vocalise it.
"I imagine it does." Phantom interjected, letting his invisibility wash away. In front of him the two men jumped, Lex whirling to face him almost too quickly for a human. "But it can be alright."
"Phantom?" Both asked simultaneously, but it was Lex who continued. "You rescued me from the Lab."
Phantom nodded. "I did, you needed help."
"And what are you doing here now?" Lionel interrupted, his fear giving way to accusative anger in his confusion.
"I knew I was needed." Phantom replied. Normally he wouldn't pull the mysterious card, but between the two billionaires he'd be hard pressed to keep his identity intact if he didn't. "Were you hurt?" He asked, directing the question towards Lex.
Lex blinked, dazed eyes fixing once more on his father. "You tried to warn me about Fine, but I didn't listen."
"You never have." Lionel retorted, seemingly ignoring Phantom's presence. "No matter what I give you the things you've always wanted were beyond your grasp. This time you've overreached yourself."
"Did you come out here to lecture me or to help me?" Lex seethed, an almost betrayed look entering his eyes.
"It's too late to do either, isn't it?" Lionel retorted hotly, leaving no time for Phantom to dissolve the conflict. "You made a deal with the devil. He always comes to collect."
Seemingly without thinking Lex struck out, uncontrolled Kryptonian powers turning a mild slap on the cheek into a punch that threw Lionel nearly thirty feet towards his car. Without thinking Danny teleported, appearing just in time to catch the billionaire and set him down safely. There was little he could do for the broken nose, but at least Lionel wouldn't be hospitalised for a collision with his car.
"Stay quiet." Phantom commanded between slitted teeth. Lex raced over to them, overwhelming fear written on his face as he looked at the stunned form of his father.
"Dad, are you okay?" Lex asked beseechingly, genuine concern flickering through those fear filled eyes.
"What have they done to you, Lex?" Lionel spat, unheeding of Phantom's warning. "What have they turned you into?"
Lex sent his father a betrayed look, but it was too quick for the human eye to see as the man sped away. Phantom sighed, deciding that the bigger problem right now was Lex. He needed support, and if nothing else Phantom was able to offer him that.
He caught up to Lex halfway to the mansion, laying a comforting hand on the man's shoulders. Lex froze at the contact, slowing down from super speed to zero in an instant. "Your father is afraid and doesn't understand." Phantom said, looking the man in the eyes. "But you don't need to be."
"Did you see what just happened?" The man screeched. "I could have killed him."
"But you didn't." Phantom reassured. "What has happened to you is something you don't yet understand, but you will."
"You know what happened." Lex replied, eyes narrowing in suspicion as he threw Phantom's hand off his shoulder.
"I can feel it." Phantom said by way of answer. "Your energy is different than it was when I last saw you. The man you call Milton Fine has granted you access to powers a human cannot hope to understand."
"But you do?" Lex pressed, crossing his arms in front of him in suspicion.
"To an extent." Phantom replied before continuing. "I can still remember what it was to be human, unlike many of my kind." Phantom confessed, his shoulders loose as he looked at the man. He needed to try to reach out to Lex, to make sure that he didn't run away from what had happened to him. If he could keep Lex out of Fine's hands then maybe things would work out alright. It was the only thing he could think of, the only way to keep Clark from feeling the need to kill the man.
"I remember what it was like to wake up as you have, with the world feeling different and wrong for the change." Phantom paused, his green eyes meeting Lex's evenly. "I can help."
"You're not afraid of me?" Lex asked in clear confusion. And it was understandable; after all, there were few people in his life who accepted him for who he was, and this whole Kryptonian powers thing would only further isolate him.
Phantom offered a gentle smile before shaking his head. "Why should I be? You're not afraid of me for all that I'm a ghost, and despite what has happened, you're still you. And that's all that matters." Lex nodded once before offering his hand out. Phantom understood the gesture for what it was; a sign of faith. For whatever reason Lex was willing to trust him. And Phantom was not going to let that go to waste.
Phantom sent a fleeting glance in the direction of the Kent Farm. He knew Clark probably wanted him there with him, but right now Lex needed him more. He knew that none of this was as simple as it looked; that no doubt Brainiac was still working away with his machinations. But he had made his choice; Phantom was going to help Lex overcome this. And just as he had promised Clark earlier, he made the same promise to Lex.
"I promise, Lex, I'll help you get through this." Phantom swore, sending the man a determined smile. Clasping Lex's hand in his own and giving it a firm shake. It would be difficult, and he knew the path he was carving was far from the simplest one. But he felt in his core that it was the best way to save Lex, and he would do anything to ensure that everyone survived this. Phantom was committed to this, and there was nothing else to be said. "No matter what." He finished, letting determination flood through his bright green eyes.
Lex replied with a small smile, his blue eyes flashing. The man nodded, a small wave of happiness washing through his tumultuous aura. The two of them set off speeding through the forest as Lex led the way back to his mansion. And if there was a slight selfish edge to Les's blue eyes smile, well, Phantom chose to ignore it. He had to hope that, for once, Lex would choose to follow the right path.
AN: Hey, I had to do Danny's graduation, but I'll admit I did not find it easy. I think the American service is different to what I experienced here in Australia.
Kudos to anyone who gets the dunk tank reference, hope you enjoyed Danny's brief moment of peace. I wasn't planning on a carnival originally, but it just worked so well as a contrast to what was happening in the Real World.
The ethical argument between Lionel and Danny is mainly to emphasise that Danny does in fact think about right and wrong outside of his obsession. (For anyone interested it touches on the debate between deontological and consequentialist ethics, but primarily highlights the difference between Lionel and Danny's standpoints)
Okay, notes finished, I just need to say a cheerful thanks to everyone who's stuck with me for so long. I love you all, and I've thoroughly enjoyed hearing everything you have to say.
Grazie,
Bluerose