Thanks to Lexosaurus, Lighting Streak, Guest, and Anon for your reviews! Just a gentle reminder that any review, no matter how small, really makes my day, as well as let's me know I'm on the right track! Hope you enjoy!
"Okay, okay," Valerie said, still giggling, "Would you rather not have elbows or not have knees?"
"Knees." Danny answered immediately. Valerie burst into laughter anew at his speedy reply. Danny joined in a moment later, attempting to explain himself through his amusement. "They're overrated!"
Valerie grabbed at her stomach. "Not all of us have the option to have a ghostly tail!" She insisted.
"Don't laugh because I'm more evolved than you."
Valerie snorted, recovering slightly from her previous laughter. "You're so stupid Fenton." She glanced out the window, noting that it was already dark outside. She and Danny had been talking non-stop since she lost all her lives on Candy Crush. Conversation had flowed easily, and as much as she would love to continue, night fall meant the Box Ghost would be out sooner or later.
Danny followed her gaze to the warehouse. "You ready?" He asked, looking over at her.
Valerie met his gaze. "Always."
They both got out of the car, Valerie calling forth her suit and Danny changing into his ghost form. He glanced over to see Valerie was staring at him. "What?" He asked.
"Where's that catch phrase of yours?" She asked, lips twitching.
Danny rolled his eyes. "I stopped saying that by like… the end of sophomore year."
Valerie shrugged, still smirking. "Too bad. It was kind of cute."
Danny opened the door to the backseat and grabbed the Fenton Net Gun, slinging it over his shoulder so it rested across his back. He lifted off the ground. "Yeah, right." He rolled his eyes. "I'm going to go in from the top." Valerie handed him a Fenton earpiece that they had programmed earlier. He put it in his ear. "Is this thing working?"
Valerie nodded as she heard his words from the speakers in her helmet. "Crystal clear."
"Good. I'll let you know where he is so we can corner him before he even notices." He responded. When Valerie gave him a thumbs up, he flew over to the warehouse, going both intangible and invisible and flying through the roof.
He glanced around, noticing a faint glow on the far left side of the warehouse. He flew in a little closer, and sure enough it was the Box Ghost, mumbling to himself as he inspected a large stack of wooden crates. Danny was pleased to see that there was a window slightly right of the containers.
He floated higher and began whispering his plan to Valerie. "There's a window on the left facing side of the warehouse. The one closest to the back of the building is just right of where Boxy's at now." He relayed. "You bust in here and shake him up, and I'll tag him with some Fenton netting. Sound good?"
"Got it. Moving to position by the window." She replied. Danny grabbed the net gun from its place across his back and armed it quickly.
"On my count. Three, two, one."
Valerie burst through the glass on her hoverboard, gun in hand. Her command that he surrender peacefully was barely audible as he screamed in shock. Danny held back a laugh as he aimed and fired the net. Box Ghost hadn't even had a chance to look up and see Danny was there before he was pinned to the ground.
The net glowed green as the specialized fibers activated. The Box Ghost would not be escaping any time soon. Danny landed gracefully next to Valerie, who was smirking down at their captive.
"Easy, Boxy," She said, resting her rifle on her shoulder and cocking a hip, "We're not going to hurt you."
Danny bit his lip at her promise. "Actually, we need your help." He elaborated. Valerie gave him a look, but he ignored it and crouched down so he was a little closer to the ghost.
"The Box Ghost knows not what you want from him, but he is willing to offer it in exchange for his freedom." He voice was just as loud and obnoxious as ever.
Valerie frowned and crouched down next to Danny. "Sorry, but freedom isn't an option for you right now."
Danny grabbed her arm and glared at her. "Val!" He looked back down at the Box Ghost, whose eyes had grown wide at her words. "What she means is that the help we need from you means that you may be imprisoned for a little while." Valerie snatched her arm from his grip, giving him a glare of her own.
"And why would I help you when I have a family to take care of?" He asked, struggling slightly under the net. Valerie drew back at his words.
"Family?" She repeated, looking over at Danny who groaned and hid his face in his hands.
"Shit. I completely forgot about Box Lunch." His words were muffled, but Valerie still heard.
"I'm sorry, who?"
"The Box Ghost's daughter! The heir to his empire! A prodigy!"
Valerie balked. "His daughter!? He has a kid!?" She stood up.
Danny stood as well, crossing his arms. "Yup. Val, we can't send him in."
Valerie huffed. "I get that he's a parent and all, but he's perfect for what we need. Are you sure we can't just send him in anyway?"
Danny bit his lip before crouching down again. "Hey Boxy. You… You would do anything for your daughter, right? To keep her safe?"
"Of course I would."
"Right. Well, right now, your daughter isn't safe. No ghost is. But in order to make her safe, we have to send someone into the GiW's operation to see what's going on." Danny explained.
The Box Ghost was silent for a little while. "The Box Ghost will save her?" He asked finally.
Danny nodded, placing a hand on his back. "You'll be her hero. More than you already are."
"I'll do it. To protect my daughter."
Danny shared a look with Valerie and held his hand out to her. She grabbed the gun with the tracking fluid dart and placed it in his hand. Danny showed the gun to the Box Ghost.
"Alright Boxy," He explained, unloading the gun and showing the ghost the dart, "This is what we'll use to track you into the Guys in White facility. Wherever you go, we'll investigate. The second we figure out what they're doing and where they're doing it, we're going to get you out of there. Alright?"
The ghost was uncharacteristically silent as he nodded, never taking his eyes off the dart in Danny's hand. Danny stuck the dart into the ghost's arm and watched as the fluid within drained out. Once it was empty, he pulled it out.
"Thanks for this." He said, standing up so he and Valerie were both looking down at him.
"I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for my family."
Danny looked over at Valerie, whose face expression revealed her sympathy. She pulled the thermos from her belt and aimed it at the ghost before activating the beam and sucking him up. The duo stared down at the newly empty net on the floor.
"Danny," Valerie started, breaking the silence, "When did being a hero get so complicated?"
He shrugged in response. "I think it kind of always was."
Valerie hummed in thought before turning and making her way towards the exit.
Danny followed.
Something was up.
Valerie could tell from the moment she walked into the GiW building the next day. Everywhere she walked there were whispers and a general feeling of excitement. At first, she wondered if it was something she did. She ruled that out quickly, as she hadn't done anything particularly exciting all week, and certainly not this morning.
She and Danny had stayed out late, both of them too full of uncertainty to get any sleep. Even then they both ended up sleeping in that morning. Valerie offered to bring the Box Ghost in, and Danny agreed, mumbling about some other stuff he had to take care of anyway.
She hadn't questioned him about it, knowing he'd fill her in later if she asked. She grabbed the arm of the nearest employee as he rushed by. He blinked at her for a moment before recognition sparked in his eyes and he began speaking enthusiastically.
"Ms. Huntress! Can I help you with something?" He asked.
Valerie nodded. "Yeah. Why is everyone so… excited?"
He beamed at her. "You haven't heard? Oh wow! Hayes himself took out a ghost by himself this morning!"
Valerie's eyebrows shot up towards her hairline. "Hayes caught a ghost? There was an attack this morning?" It couldn't be possible. Between Danny's ghost sense and her multitude of scanners, there was no way they could have slept through a ghost attack.
She was supposed to be one of Amity's protectors. How many people had been hurt? Or worse? How could she live with herself knowing she let someone die because of her own carelessness?
"Oh, no. Hayes tracked it down and caught it before it could do anything!"
Valerie relaxed her grip in her relief. The man separated himself from her, and tried to be inconspicuous about straightening his uniform. "Where is Hayes now?" She asked. She held up the thermos in her hand. "I have more ghosts for him."
The man pointed towards the Holding Cells. "Last I saw him he was locking the ghost up." He gave her a smile. "I still can't believe it. I mean, he's so above hunting down his own prisoners, but he's still amazing at it."
Valerie had to put effort into not rolling her eyes. "Uh huh. Thanks." She began walking to the cells, halfway wondering if she had been granted clearance yet.
She wouldn't find out then though, it would seem, as Hayes was walking out of the restricted area. She walked up to him, question after question on the tip of her tongue. Instead, she held her thermos out to him.
"You're welcome."
He raised a brow at her for a moment before taking the thermos into his hand. "Why would I thank you for doing your job?" He asked.
Valerie shrugged. "I don't know. From what I heard you hardly need me."
He scoffed and began walking. Valerie fell into step beside him. "Everyone here seems to forget I was just a hunter once. It's always like this when I dust off my old hunting equipment."
"Who did you catch?" Valerie asked. They arrived at his office, and Hayes opened the door.
He turned to her, smirking. "Good work." He tilted the thermos in his hand. "I expect you to continue having success in all of your objectives." He shut the door behind him.
Valerie stared at the door, mouth agape. Hayes was bolder than he had ever been to her. Part of her was sure that it could be chalked up to a successful catch and leftover adrenaline.
The thought didn't help the uneasiness that settled into her gut.
Danny sort of liked the Ghost Zone.
For one thing, he could feel his core brighten immediately upon crossing the rift. This was obvious though, considering all of the ambient ectoplasm around him, replenishing his core instantaneously as he used his powers.
Even the darkness and lazily swirling ectoplasm was soothing in its own way.
Part of him hated how much he liked the ghostly dimension. It made him feel even stranger than he often did already. The greater majority of him, however, was kind of proud that he had finally developed a fondness for the place. It was always easier to fight for a place you cared about.
He found that his double life, or half – life, was a lot better when he simply accepted his ghostly half and stopped questioning his own mortality so much. There would always be new things to learn about himself. New sides to being a halfa. With something so fluid, he'd only stress himself out by worrying about it.
Clockwork's tower was in a sort of pocket within the dimension. There was no door that led to it, nor could the route be mapped out. When Danny wanted to speak to Clockwork, it was entirely up to the ghost who ruled time whether or not he'll be able to find the tower.
It used to feel strange, flying along aimlessly while waiting to see if he'd end up where he wanted, but now he found it sort of therapeutic. He could think about anything else he wanted while his subconscious led the way.
So he did. His thoughts drifted from reminding himself to call Sam and Tucker to see what the plan was for when they landed tomorrow to Jazz's text that morning letting him know she'd be back in town by 3 the next day to waking up on Valerie's couch and looking over to see that she had passed out still sitting up just as he had.
He didn't snap out of his reverie until he felt a chill run through his spine, a different feeling than his ghost sense. This was more like the feeling he got when he went into the Ghost Zone from the human world, and with that thought, he knew Clockwork had let him in. He simply flew straight ahead until the massive clock tower came into view, looming and ominous.
The large front double doors creaked inwards as he flew towards them, granting him entrance. They shut behind him as soon as he passed the threshold, plunging him into darkness, except for the soft glow from the main room ahead. Undeterred by the creepy atmosphere, Danny flew onwards.
The main area of the lair was as he remembered it, of course. Since it existed out of time, the only changes were a result of Clockwork himself. Said ghost didn't pause as he stared into a vison of another timeline at the sound of Danny's arrival.
"Hey Clockwork." Danny announced himself, though there wasn't any need for it.
Clockwork turned at the greeting, smiling and changing from a young child to an adult. "Daniel." He returned, a certain fondness in his tone.
Danny floated over to him, glancing around at the cogs and springs that flew by. "Love what you've done to the place." He commented, though he knew nothing had changed since the last time he was here.
"We both know you didn't seek me out to discuss my interior decorating prowess." Clockwork intoned, crossing his arms and assuming his elderly form.
Danny rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous chuckle. "Right." He straightened up. "I had this dream the other day, nothing to crazy right? But there was this gadget in my dream, one I've never heard of or seen before, and suddenly Valerie calls me the next day saying my parents just gave her that exact thing!" He shook his head. "I know it could be a coincidence but-"
"But you no longer believe in those, do you?" Clockwork asked, smirking. Danny simply nodded weakly in response. Clockwork hummed thoughtfully turning away as he resumed his adult form. "You do know I'm the ruler of time, not dreams?" He asked, calling forth a cog as he did so.
"I know," Danny flew up next to him, "But I thought maybe since the weapons lined up it was more like… a premonition."
Clockwork made a gesture and the inside of the cog swirled as a vision formed. "And you thought I may have sent it to you."
Danny shrugged. "I was kind of freaking out and it seemed like as good a theory as any." He explained. He watched as the image finished swirling and solidified into a clear picture. He immediately recognized the image from his dream. "That's… That's it!"
Clockwork morphed into his child form. "I know. This is an alternate reality. A timeline separate from your own. And your dream wasn't a dream or a premonition. It was a memory." He used his staff to point to the Danny in the vision. "His memory."
Danny blinked at the revelation. "Why did I get his memory?"
Clockwork gestured again, dispelling the image. "It happens, occasionally. That Daniel is still technically you, just under a very different set of circumstances." He began floating elsewhere, changing into an elderly man as he did so.
"So wait," Danny said, flying to catch up with him again, "That's it? It's not… It's not like a warning or something?"
Clockwork stopped, smirking over his shoulder at him. "Your timeline is as it should be, Daniel." He assured. "Now, if that's all you're here for…"He pointed his staff towards the exit.
"But…" He trailed off, already knowing that Clockwork had no intention of speaking on the matter further. With a sigh, he flew towards the exit. Just before he reached the hall that would lead him out of the lair, Clockwork spoke.
"It would do you well to enjoy the present and stop fearing so much for the future."
Danny froze at the words and looked back, but Clockwork had disappeared to somewhere else in the tower. That was awfully easy for him to say, since he already knew how everything played out. Danny huffed in frustration before flying out of the lair.
Valerie was already at Fenton Works when Danny returned from the Ghost Zone. He seemed a little surprised to see her in the lab, leaning against a table with her arms crossed.
"Val? What's up?" He asked her, going over to a panel to shut the portal doors behind him. His surprise left him almost as soon as it came. After all, this was Valerie; he should have expected she'd know he had gone to the Ghost Zone.
"Hayes caught a ghost this morning. And he's acting strange." She watched two rings form at Danny's waist and travel upwards, leaving him human once more.
"Strange as in this ghost may have done something to him?" He asked, already heading over to the computer where he kept his ghost database. He began pulling up profiles of ghosts he knew to have mind control abilities or have been known to be able to alter emotions.
Valerie walked over to him, looking over his shoulder as he worked. "No, not really. He seemed… Like he was really giddy about catching this ghost."
Danny stopped his search, glancing over his shoulder at her. "Maybe he was just excited about getting back out into the field." He reasoned, hopeful, but not entirely buying it himself.
Valerie huffed. "I know, I know. Maybe I'm just looking into things too much." She admitted.
Danny snorted at that. "You're not alone in that, trust me." He continued typing at the computer, switching from the profiles to the tracking program. "On the bright side, we officially have a tracker in Hayes's operation, so we won't be questioning things for too much longer."
Valerie watched as he activated the tracking. "What about you?" She asked. "Did your thing go well this morning?"
Danny sighed. "Depends on your definition. I think we're in the same spot in terms of overthinking."
"Who did you speak to?"
"Clockwork," He glanced over at her, "Do you remember him?"
"The one who saved us from that future where you become evil?" She asked.
Danny cringed and nodded. "The very same."
She crossed her arms. "I thought you said he was pretty much useless for gathering information? Between his duties and his affinity for being really cryptic?"
"Yup. And wouldn't you know, he hasn't changed a bit." He grumbled the last part. With a few more commands, the computer lit up, showing a map with a blinking dot. The exact longitude and latitude of the tracker was shown on the corner of the screen. "There we go. We'll keep an eye on this and check out every place he gets moved to."
Valerie hummed. "How are we going to check those places out, anyway? I can't get caught and you might be able to be invisible, but that building has thousands of scanners that would still be able to pick you up."
Danny shrugged, standing up and stretching. "Let me worry about that. I've been looking into it already."
Valerie crossed her arms. "Whatever you say." She was about to suggest they go get lunch before patrolling when Danny's cell phone rang.
He looked at the caller ID. "Hayes." He told Valerie before answering. "Hello?"
She watched as his whole demeanor changed at Hayes words. "Danny? What's going on?" She whispered. His eyes were wide as he listened.
"Um, yeah, of course." He responded into the phone.
Valerie nudged him. "What?" She asked again.
He shook his head and held up a finger to her. Valerie swatted it back down. "How many?" Danny asked. Valerie bit her lip when Hayes's unheard response caused Danny to visibly deflate. "Yeah, I can go get it today… Right… No problem… You're welcome." With that he hung up.
He tossed his phone onto the nearest lab table before burying his face in his hands.
"Danny, what's wrong? What's going on?" Valerie asked again, growing more impatient by the second.
He looked up at her, hands dropping to his sides. "Hayes needs me to pick up some ghosts."
Valerie blinked. "What? Now? That… that doesn't…"
"Make any sense? Yeah, I know." He put his hands on his hips, staring at the unmoving dot on the map before him. "There's no way he could have known what we were doing. Hell, there's no way he would even know we were suspicious of him."
Valerie followed his gaze. "Well, maybe this isn't all bad. I mean, if he releases Skulker, then we'll end up with more information than we started with."
Danny shook his head. "I don't know Val, I mean, he wouldn't release them if they could just run and tell me what's going on at the earliest convenience." He glanced over at her. "We could've been wrong about this whole thing. About him."
"Well," Valerie began, resting a hand on Danny's shoulder, "At this point there's only one way to find out what he's done to Skulker."
Danny nodded at her before turning the computer screen off. Valerie wasn't sure if they had been wrong about everything or the Guys had caught wind of them investigating and shut the operation down or what.
But they were going to find out.
So I just want to throw out that as I post this I'm currently actually writing the chapter where Sam and Tucker see Valerie again and I've been really toying with how I want it all to go down, so who knows when I'll finish that. Another note, i'm back in school and college is a bitch if you aren't at that point yet, so I ask that you're understanding of my less active posting.