GLE – another update! Heh, this must be the fastest update since the first three chapters. Again, I don't really have anything to say right now, so go on and read it!

-(o)-

Do Superheroes Exist?

Chapter 9: Nightmare World

Danny was twitching uncomfortably in his sleep, so much so that he rolled into the wall and woke up. There were wireless and small electronic devices attached to him, around his head and chest to monitor his body during sleep, but he was practically unaware of them. He lit his hand to shed some light on the dark room and get his bearings, but almost immediately wished he hadn't because the ectoplasm in his blood began to burn.

Despite the pain, he decided to maintain the light for a little while. It was comforting. There was a noise somewhere nearby beyond the walls indicating morning's arrival, but he didn't really care. He felt very tired.

He remembered the ghostly wail. He had thought he was going to die. They'd succeeded in pushing him to survival mode. He'd collapsed and blacked out. When he had come to, he'd been in the Medical Center where they do the structure tests. They had been talking in serious voices but the words didn't make it to his ears and he'd passed out again. That must have been sometime last night. Now he was in his room and he had the grace of some alone time.

The thought crossed Danny's mind that he didn't have the energy anymore to resist. It had crossed his mind the previous day, but this time it was more pressing. He didn't want to give up, but he could already tell that it was getting harder to hold his resolve… and sanity.

Letting the painful light die from his hand, Danny once again slipped into darkness, awaiting the next round of torture.

Dr. T had wanted to push Danny psychologically. The sooner he breaks, the easier it'll be to test him. Hell, he still wanted to push him, but he had to hold back now, if even just a little bit. He hadn't expected the ghostly wail; no one had. If Danny had had enough strength after using it, if the boy had not waited to use it as a last resort, he could have escaped.

It was an amazing attack. Since they'd been monitoring him for the other test, they'd gotten readings on his ghostly wail. At present, they were not equipped to have it used again in the lab. It had an incredible power behind it and a lot of potential for future weapons, but that would have to wait.

Dr. T left his office, a syringe with anti-serum in hand, heading towards Danny's cell. It was time to wake his subject and begin testing again.

Mr. and Mrs. Foley, Mr. and Mrs. Manson, and Mr. and Mrs. Fenton sat in a waiting room of the police station that was local to the Guys in White's research base. They'd been contacted before dawn about the illegal breaking and entering their children had been up to last night, and had driven here as fast as they could. Only Mr. Gray was missing; he was just finishing up his shift now and would soon be discovering an unpleasant message on his answering machine when he arrived home.

The Fentons had fought the ghosts at City Hall, the previous evening, and had managed to drive them away, but they were unable to clear the city of the pesky things. They'd returned to the hotel to try to rest up for the next day, but didn't get much sleep, especially since the phone call about Jazz arrived in the dead of the night.

The Foleys and the Mansons had rushed home from the protest in a panic, trying to find sanctuary from the ghosts. The Foleys didn't notice until they called Tucker down for supper that their son was missing, and though slightly worried, they'd been more irritated that he'd gone out with his friends without telling them. They went to bed early and hoped that their son wouldn't stay out too late, especially with ghosts on the loose. The Mansons had been informed right away that their daughter had disappeared, and they feared the worst – that a ghost had kidnapped her. They spent a highly restless night stressing out, until the phone call came.

The four teens sat in lock-up. They hadn't gotten any sleep. They'd been escorted off the premises of the Guys in White's complex once they'd been handcuffed, and, one by one, they'd been interviewed throughout the rest of the night.

Operative B shook his head in discontent. He'd been the one on duty in the Communications Room during the break-in. The Communications Room had a large wall covered by monitors which corresponded to all the cameras in the complex. It also had several computers, one of which linked to the Ghost Tracking Devices (GTD) System. Since the successful capture of Danny Phantom, most of the operatives of the Guys in White had been ignoring this computer screen; they'd be picking up their regular ghost hunting duties again in a couple of weeks, and until then, give the lab operatives time to learn about the Ghost Boy, exponentially increasing the info the Guys in White had on ghosts.

The GTD system was the center for information gathered by wireless devices outside the complex, and it covered all the White-Ceivers and Fly-Tell devices that had been sent out to various Casper High families before the detainment of Danny Phantom, among other devices. Last night, Operative B had given a glance towards it during his shift and he'd noticed a Fly-Tell device seemed to be reacting to a ghostly presence. The location was from within the complex.

He'd shrugged it off as a malfunction of the machine, but after the commotion that resulted of the four teens' breaking and entering, he realized that one of them must be carrying the device unaware of it, and that it also confirmed the presence of a ghost aid. He'd seen enough when reviewing the security footage to report to his superiors that a ghost was helping them – the door to the Phantom Boy's room appeared to open of its own accord, the four teens popped out of nowhere when the alarms went off, one of them shot a portal-creation device towards thin air and it seemed to hit, and then the same girl tossed the weapon to the spot she'd fired at where it disappeared. He decided not to tell his boss that he'd seen the Fly-Tell device's signature.

Now he sat, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyed exhaustion, having been the operative sent to the police station with the delinquents. He'd spoken to each teen, one by one, throughout the remainder of the night, trying to get as much info out of them as he could. The foundation for the Guys in White felt vulnerable – four teens and a ghost had successfully infiltrated their security! Of course they'd turned off the ghost alarms, since they had a ghost within the complex who was using his powers in experiments. And they never expected anyone to break through the double shield that was the ghost shield and the outer electric fence around the complex.

His interviews with the high-schoolers led him practically nowhere. Manson wouldn't speak, at all. Gray wasn't much more useful. The boy, Foley, was the only one nervous enough to slip up, indirectly indicating the Fenton girl, sister to the Ghost Boy, as the leader of the operation. But when Operative B had questioned her, she denied it and claimed that the ghost with them had thought the plan through.

"Who was this ghost?" Operative B had demanded.

"I don't know," Jazz had replied. "It said it was an ally of Danny's. It was invisible the whole time. We only heard its voice and we decided to trust it."

In the end, Operative B had to concede that the children really were stupid enough to follow the ghost and take the fall for it. He didn't think they'd been bewitched or possessed, however. They all had reasons for wanting to kidnap the Ghost Boy. The ghost that had broken in with them, on the other hand, was incredibly intelligent, possibly very dangerous. It had successfully devised a plan to break into the base, guiding the group invisibly towards Phantom's room, probably using intangibility as well. It seemed to know the layout of the complex fairly well too, perhaps having gotten inside information about the Guys in White.

If Phantom had been in his room at that time, as originally planned, and not with the Guys down in the Medical Center, they may have actually accomplished the abduction of the Ghost Boy. But, of course, he'd been taken there right after using the ghostly wail and they'd kept him there late into the night, monitoring him. It was lucky that the culprits who'd broken in didn't realize that when the door was opened, it was expected that the boy's thermal imprint would be there after the door closed until the next time it was opened. That oversight was what set the alarms off and allowed them to be caught.

It would be really hard to track down the ghost who'd masterminded the break-in. There were no visuals of it anywhere, and even the children had no idea what it looked like. There was no evidence as to how powerful it actually was, and it could very well remain hidden in the vast Ghost Zone until long after it was forgotten. But, considering it tried to snatch the Ghost Boy from the Guys in White, it was likely that it would try again sometime in the near future.

It had probably contacted the Fenton girl first, and she'd been the one to rope the others into it. This ghost might try to contact her again, or perhaps it would choose a different group of Phantom supporters.

In any case, Operative B had different obligations to be concerned with at the moment. He stood up and headed out into the waiting room, ready to greet the parents of the felonious teens. Each child was being charged with breaking and entering. Since they hadn't technically assaulted the law or resisted arrest (they'd only fought with security and operatives of the Guys in White), and since they were all minors, that was all they were being charged with. He pressed onto the parents that they were lucky their children were not being charged with more, that the Guys in White were nice enough to let them off with only that.

The parents expressed their gratitude and paid for bail, and their children were released.

"Samantha!" exclaimed Pam Manson the moment her daughter appeared. "I can't believe you did such a reckless thing!"

Sam's face was set in a stony expression as she approached her mother.

"Come here," said Pam. And stepping forward to greet her daughter, she pulled her into a tender embrace. "I was so worried about you," she whispered sincerely.

Sam's surprise softened her stance, and she hugged her mother back. She'd expected to be berated about this and had prepared herself on the defensive. She didn't realize how concerned her parents would be. Reaching around with her right arm, she patted her mom awkwardly on the back. Human contact like this was still somewhat outside her comfort zone.

"We were worried, too, Tucker," stated Maurice Foley, giving his son a stern look. Then changing his expression, he said, "But punishing you can wait. Come on, let's go home. You must be as tired as we are."

The Foley family and the Manson family began to leave, their children glancing back briefly towards Jazz before exiting the building.

"Jazzypants!" Jack exclaimed. "Jazz, honey!" cried Maddie.

Jazz held up her hands for quiet. "I know, I'm in a lot of trouble. Mom, Dad… I'm sorry."

"We want him back as much as you do," said Maddie. "But breaking the law isn't the way to go about it. What were you planning to do after that?"

Jazz was at a loss for words.

"Did you at least give the Guys in White a good thrashing?" asked Jack in an audible whisper, unable to contain his dislike for the men who'd taken his son from him.

"Jack!" chastised Maddie.

Her husband grinned sheepishly.

"Mom, Dad," began Jazz. "I have a really big favour to ask. I know I'm really in no position to be saying this, but can I borrow some money? I promise I'll pay you back."

"Jazz! Whatever for?" asked Maddie incredulously.

"I want to pay the bail and the charges for Valerie. I feel like it's my fault she got into this mess, and well, her family isn't doing so well on the financial side of things."

Maddie considered this for a moment, then replied, "Alright, honey. We'll pay for Valerie. But, she'll be the one to pay us back, since she's old enough to think for herself and realize the trouble she was getting into. We'll consider this a loan."

"Thank you!" Jazz exclaimed happily, hugging her mother.

"Well, let's get Valerie out then and go home to Amity Park," said Maddie.

"Wait… you're not going to punish me?" wondered Jazz.

"I think you've learned your lesson," smiled Maddie. "And besides, Jack and I are thankful that you're alright."

Jack grinned. "And what your mother means to say is, we're glad you got to kick some Guys in White butt, even if you were unable to rescue Danny from them."

Maddie's eyes just twinkled as she headed towards the police reception to pay for Valerie's bail. Jazz proceeded to the phone to call Mr. Gray and inform him that they were returning with his daughter. Maddie would be driving Jazz's car, following Jack, who'd be driving the girls back to the Gray's residence. The Fentons were happy more than anything that they'd been reunited, however briefly, with one of their children.

It was lunchtime, but Danny didn't have enough energy to eat.

Two days had gone by… two days of hell… it felt like a week. He lay face down on the cold cement floor, unable to at least get up and go lie on his bed. His heart was beating – ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump. He was breathing – inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Tears of pain had stained and dried on his cheeks. His eyes remained unfocused in the dim lighting.

He was tired and so sore he was numb. Blurred memories crossed his mind; the torturous tests, faces of people he used to know, the feelings of loss and submission. There was nothing to look forward to. Burying his angst into the hard cement beneath him, he let it all slip away into a discontented sleep.

Early afternoon, Danny sat in the interview room with Dr. T, taking a break from the physical activities of the day for some psychological drilling. The questions the doctor asked him probed into more detail on specific ghosts. Danny, void of all enthusiasm, answered in monotone.

"Would you say that you have any allies among the ghosts?" asked Dr. T.

"Yes," replied Danny indifferently. "I have a few."

"Of those few, would any of them be willing to risk their life for you?"

"I dunno," said Danny. "You'd have to ask them."

"Well, how close would you say you are to them? Is there any one ghost whom you'd call a friend?"

Danny thought for a moment. Then, apathetically he answered, "Maybe."

"Ok," said Dr. T, doing his best to hide his displeasure. "Well, which of those use intangibility and invisibility?"

"Intangibility and invisibility?" repeated Danny flatly. "Intangibility and invisibility are basic ghost traits. Almost everyone can use those. I thought you knew that."

Dr. T grimaced. Clearly he wasn't getting anywhere with this line of questioning, but he wasn't going to tell his subject that some of his friends had broken in during the night, even if it might push the boy into identifying the ghost that had helped them. It was time to change the subject. Dr. T reflected on some questions that he had prepared, such as "Why do you hunt ghosts?", "Why don't you use your powers for other means?", "Why did you rob that bank?", "What about this time, or that time?", etc. Those questions would probe his personality and perhaps give Dr. T a better insight into how to control Danny. But before he started along this train of thought, a different question came to his lips that he thought the boy might be willing to answer now that his spirit seemed to be broken.

"How many ghosts do you know are more powerful than you are?" he asked.

"Um… I guess three. Maybe. Some days are worse than others."

"Three? Good," said Dr. T, happy to have gotten a substantial response. "What makes them more powerful than you?"

"They just are," stated Danny. "I've been lucky to defeat them in the past. Well, there's one that I'd never even try to go up against… not again, anyways…"

"Would you consider this one ghost to be a threat to humans?"

"No," Danny replied impassively. "He never leaves the Ghost Zone."

"And the other two? Am I assuming correctly that Pariah Dark is one of them?"

"Yes."

"Then the last one… is a danger to us?"

"…" Danny paused, then responded, "Sometimes."

"What is this ghost's name?" prompted Dr. T.

Danny shook his head. "I don't know his name," he declared, unmoved. "Some people call him the 'Wisconsin Ghost'." Danny wasn't sure why he was lying, especially since he could care less about Vlad, and he'd already lost a great part of his sense of self and pride. He just did it without thinking.

"Well, I think we'll wrap it up here today," announced Dr. T. "It's time for more ability tests. Stand. I'll escort you to the lab."

They left the room and walked down the hall. At the other end, Dr. T injected Danny with the anti-serum to cancel the effects of the serum and allow him to use his ghost abilities again. Danny proceeded into the lab alone and awaited instructions. Dr. T headed upstairs wondering to himself whether any of the progress he'd just made with the boy was valid. He was unable to tell whether Danny had been lying or holding back at all. While he'd gotten a lot more responses since the Ghost Boy's spirit broke, there was always a lingering possibility that the kid could be lying. He was half-human, after all.

Shaking his head, Dr. T resolved to ask all the questions again at a later date to see if there were any variations in the answers. Until then, he would take the boy at his word.

The spark was gone from Danny's eyes. He stood calmly waiting for the tests to begin, letting his mind drift of its own accord. It occurred to him in some distant part of his brain that he was determined to maintain lies to any questions that concerned or could lead to the knowledge of the existence of others like him. He'd probably have to protect Vlad's identity more often than Dani's, but he was going to do it anyways. He didn't know why. Maybe some part of him was still fighting. He was just too exhausted to look for it.

"Good afternoon!" exclaimed Tiffany Snow in a chippy, valleygirl voice. "Ghost attacks have increased exponentially overnight. Since yesterday's protests, Amity Park has been flooded by them! As people flee the city, ghosts are also expanding outwards. We have Lance Thunder on the scene. Lance?"

"Thanks, Tiff, uh – ow – ahem! I'm reporting to you from the outskirts of – ouch – Amity Park, where, as you can see, ghosts – ow, stop that – are running, I mean floating, rampant. I've gotten reports from neighbouring communities of the sudden ghost attacks. The citizens – ouch! Not the suit! NOT THE SUIT!"

"Oh? I'm back on?" asked Tiffany. "Right, then. I've just received a notice that our governor has declared our state to be in an emergency situation. The entire state is overrun by menacing ghosts. We'll keep you updated as more reports come in. This is Tiffany Snow in the Channel 4 News Room!"

As the station cut to ads, Tiffany leaned back in her chair and sighed. There's been a lot to report, this week. So many stories on ghosts! I've been doing a good job! She stood up and stretched a little, thinking about grabbing a drink on her next coffee break. The commercials were almost over and she sat back down, preparing for the next segment. A few ghosts flew through the studio, racing each other, but Tiffany seemed unaware of them and just chatted on about smaller news articles that were ghost-free in nature.

Meanwhile, the rest of the state really was in a panic about ghosts. In fact, a lot of states were being terrorized by the paranormal beings and soon, not only would the United States be haunted by them, but they'd become a threat to the whole world.

Danny's regular suspects were out and about; Skulker, the Box Ghost, Desiree, the Lunch Lady, Klemper, Ember, and even the Ghost Writer, among others, were establishing themselves in various places of the Real World and taking over. The most successful familiar haunter was the Fright Knight, whose thirst for creating nightmares affected everyone around him in a large radius that was growing steadily bigger.

By the end of the day, the press was calling this worldwide attack the beginning of a possible war between ghosts and humans. No army was equipped to fight against the ghosts (not even the American army, despite the hand that their higher-ups had in the experimentation on the hybrid, Danny Fenton/Phantom). Those who could fight ghosts, like the Guys in White, the Groovy Gang, and the Extreme Ghostbreakers, were barely making a dent in the massive throng of ectoplasmic entities. Some smaller governments felt compelled to negotiate with the paranormal terrorists, but soon discovered such negotiations were impossible – the ghosts' main intention was for reckless chaos. The human world plunged into a vulnerable state of darkness and no one felt safe in their own homes anymore.

Maddie and Jack were out of ammo, and lacking the proper equipment to build new ectoguns, they found themselves watching the devastation of their beloved Amity Park from their hotel window. It was one of the few times in Jack Fenton's life when he felt completely powerless to do anything. Both husband and wife comforted one another, not only because they felt incapable of taking any action, but also because, for the third time this week, they had had to see a child of theirs be taken away. Jazz was, of course, with the Grays once again. Maddie hoped she was safe.

The Fentons prepared for bed, methodically. Perhaps they'd be able to get some sleep tonight?

It happened when Jack was in the bathroom, brushing his teeth. Maddie was standing at the window, watching the ghosts in the distance zoom around the tops of buildings and cackle gleefully. She was frowning and then she froze, fear gripping her heart as a voice in the darkness beside her began to speak.

"Hello, Maddie," it said.

Trying to appear collected, Maddie responded to the invisible figure. "Who are you?" She knew full well there was a ghost in the room.

"Oh, just an old friend, just an old friend," it replied. She could hear the smile in its voice, but there was also something else… regret, perhaps?

"Why are you here?" demanded Maddie, her eyes still fixed on the window.

The ghost was silent before answering. "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately," it began in a serious tone. "I know I've done many foolish things in my life – I'd even include this conversation in that list. I've made a decision recently that goes a bit beyond my usual standards for a decision and well, I wanted to hear your thoughts before I acted upon it."

Caught by surprise in this statement, Maddie turned to fully face the voice of the invisible entity.

"What do you mean?" she asked, fixing her eyes at a point on the wall.

"Heh," the ghost chuckled. "Maybe the truth is that I just wanted to hear your voice. In any case, if I could help your son… would you want me to?"

Maddie's stomach dropped as she gasped. This ghost wanted to help her Danny? Didn't all the ghosts hate her son for continually beating them and sending them back to the Ghost Zone? What was the catch? She asked this last question out loud.

"Ho, ho!" the ghost laughed. "You know me too well!" it said. "I suppose the catch is that I'm hoping to make this situation benefit me. But, as I said, this decision doesn't fall under my usual standards. If it ends up benefiting me or not I probably won't know until years from now. Oh, you should hurry, Maddie; your husband sounds almost done."

Maddie startled. She'd completely forgotten where she was as the conversation with the ghost took place. In one faithful moment, she breathed, "Yes. If you can help Danny, I would be eternally grateful to you."

The ghost was quiet for so long she'd thought it had left, until it whispered its goodbye.

"I will save your son," it said, voice constricted with emotion.

Maddie felt a small gust of air and heard the whirl of a cape, and she knew for sure now that it was gone.

It was early Monday morning when a meeting was held between the heads of National Defense, the FBI, and a liason of the CIA, and a discussion took place on the future of the world as well as the future of a project that the three departments had teamed together to create. It was then decided that there was only one option to take and Elizabeth Medley decided to personally see it through.

She called up her contact in the Guys in White and instructed him to greet her at the main entrance to the Central Research Laboratories. She took a quick flight on a private jet (luckily not running into any ghost problems) and arrived at the location where Danny Phantom was being held and tested on.

Her contact escorted her inside and led her straight to the Medical Center, where Danny's daily structure tests were taking place. The men in the room stood en garde at seeing an unfamiliar and unauthorized presence within the complex, while Danny just stared blankly at the woman and Dr. T.

The doctor spoke first. "It's alright, men. She's my guest and she outranks all of us, so we'll let her do as she pleases. I would kindly ask if you could all take a break now and let us talk to the subject alone."

Hesitantly, the guys stopped what they were doing and semi-packed up, unhooking all machines and tubes that were connected to Danny. They left unsurely, curiosity and suspicion sitting plainly across their faces.

Once they were gone and the door was shut, Dr. T spoke again.

"Good morning, Danny," he said cheerfully.

Danny grunted a response and frowned. What more torture was this man planning?

The doctor ignored his subject's mood and lack of enthusiasm and continued, "This is my friend, Elizabeth Medley. She works for the CIA and she's come here to talk to you personally."

The woman stepped forward and began to speak.

"Hello, Danny," she stated. "I'll get right to the point. Since yesterday, the entire world has been invaded by ghosts. It is my understanding that a favourite pastime of yours is to get rid of these menaces. I come to you today, humbled and embarrassed that I am unable to protect the world from these terrorists. I only have one request; would you please help us to return the ghosts to the Ghost Zone? In exchange, I am willing… to grant your freedom."

Danny's green eyes bore into hers, dead, tinged with anger, as he replied, "No."

-(o)-

GLE – wee! Another chapter done! Heh, I hope this is as much fun for you readers as it is for me. I love the line: "He was half-human, after all." It cracked me up every time I had to read over this chapter while editing it, and it was one of those lines that just came out on the spur of the moment while I was writing that section.

Anyways, can you feel the climax coming? There are two more chapters left! Both are going to need some extra planning, but hopefully it won't take me too long to finish them. As I've said before, I really do need to have this done before June 30th. Well, please review; I love to hear your reactions on things and praise just makes me happy!