Title: Cuffs

Characters: Danny, Valerie

Rating: K+

Word Count: 2,740

Genre: Suspense

Phantom's head lolled to his other shoulder. A few minutes later he tilted his head back a bit, the muscles around his eyes seeming to move. The poisonous green glow blinked out into the dim room as he began to open his eyes. He moved his arms a little and the chains that held them rattled. At this his eyes flew open and he lifted his head a little too quickly, his neck muscles seizing and causing him to groan in frustration. His head dropped back down and he peered up through his white bangs at Valerie.

"You?" he slurred. The sedative hadn't fully worn off yet but even still his green eyes were piercing in the darkness. She suppressed a shiver. Phantom rolled his head back and tested the chains on his hands. He found himself unable to phase through them and looked back at her with a languid smile. "Well. Handcuffed in a dark room with a pretty lady in spandex. It must be Saturday already."

"Can it, Phantom," she shot back, trying not to sigh. It'd been nearly a year since she'd had a conversation with him and quite a few months since she'd even seen him, and he hadn't changed one bit. But that was a lie – he'd definitely grown, something she didn't realize ghosts could do. She was surprised by how much taller he was as she brought him back to the containment room. He also looked more muscular but by her knowledge of ghosts, weak as it was, she doubted this was actually beneficial to him.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked in a stronger tone than before, clenching and opening his fists.

She drummed her fingers against her folded arms. "I changed my mind."

"About?"

"Our deal. About Dani."

Phantom tugged at the plasma cuffs holding him to the wall. "Oh. Right. Taking me as your prisoner so I can tell you all about ghosts and whatnot."

"It's not ghosts I'm worried about as much anymore," Valerie told him flatly. "I'm more interested in ghosts that are also humans."

Phantom's cocky look faltered. "You… mean Danielle?"

Valerie observed his hesitation. He had been so eager to get her to believe him about Plasmius last year, so he had no reason to be nervous. She felt a little flutter of triumph in her chest. She had to be right.

"Not just her. Vlad too. I saw him turn into the Wisconsin Ghost when I went back for him."

"My word wasn't good enough?" he asked with little humor in his tone. She gave him a sarcastic smirk in return.

Valerie pulled a little gun from the drawer beside her. It was a more refined version of the weapon she'd used against Phantom the last time she'd trapped him there. Not that she planned on using it, and perhaps Phantom would call her bluff once everything was out in the open, but it didn't hurt to have him a little scared.

And he did indeed eye the gun warily. "Does Vlad know you know?" Phantom asked without looking at her.

"No." She dragged a wooden chair into the single spotlight above Phantom. The light illuminated him normally but his shadow was faint. It was unnatural. He really did have all the characteristics of a ghost. She flipped the chair backwards and sat down, her arms folded over the top so that he could see the gun. He wasn't quite as interested in it anymore, turning his horrible gaze on her; he was starting to question why she hadn't shocked him yet. "I'm not as stupid as you seem to think," she said, ignoring the little tug of a smile he gave her. "The last person I want on my tail is someone who's simultaneously the mayor of the town I live in and one of the most powerful ghosts I've come across."

"I'm able to fend him off, aren't I?" asked Phantom with a smarmy grin, trying his best to flex his arms while they were shackled above his head.

"Yes you are," Valerie agreed lightly. "But then, Vlad's not a full ghost, now is he?"

Again, the bravado faltered. "Uh, no. He's not, he's like Danielle – a human and a ghost. But you figured this out on your own if anyone asks."

"Riddle me this, Phantom, how can anything be both alive and dead?" Valerie proposed, leaning the chair a little bit forward and tapping the gun against her arm.

"I don't know," he shot back with a weak shrug. "I just kind of… I mean, I don't ask questions. Damnit Jim, I'm a superhero, not a scientist." The smile was back but it was forced.

"And if Danielle's both a ghost and a human and she's your cousin, what does that make you?"

His smile melted into an intense look that Valerie had not yet seen on the boy's face before – but he wasn't quite a boy anymore, she wondered again. He was certainly older now than he was that night a year ago. "Alright, cut the crap," Phantom hissed, his bizarrely echoing voice now holding a growling undertone that made her skin prickle. "I'm dizzy and handcuffed to a chain in a shack in the middle of nowhere. I'm tired and aching all over from getting wailed on by three separate ghosts today. I don't have time for your little games so just come out and say what you're accusing me of."

"You're not a ghost either," Valerie said simply, keeping her face as unreadable as possible. "You're a human too."

He smiled but his darkened expression made it look more horrifying than cocky. Valerie dry-swallowed but kept her lips straight and thin. "Congratulations," he rasped, curling up into a more defensive position. "May I ask why it took you a year to figure this out?"

"I didn't even think about it back then, to be honest," she admitted with a controlled smile. "I should've right then, on that night. Danielle was your cousin, and she was a ghost and a human. I didn't think it was some kind of family mutation-" at this Phantom chuckled under his breath, "so I overlooked it. I figured it wasn't too improbable that her cousin really had died and was flying around destroying Amity Park.

But it was Vlad that got me. He had no relation to Danielle that I knew of - after all, Vlad Masters is an only child with no wife or kids. If he had this same… ability, it had to be something more than a few alleles making both him and Danielle a ghost-human hybrid."

Valerie had been allowing her gaze to travel leisurely around the room. It was mostly in shadows but the harsh light reflected the metal frame against the wall, the one Phantom was chained to. Her eyes travelled down his arms and locked on his eyes. He looked troubled. "And you, Danny Phantom," she said slowly, and he flinched. "Where did you fit into all of this? You, Danielle, and Vlad, all in one area on one night, and two of you were part human. That I knew of." She tapped her chin pensively. "You knew about Vlad and Danielle."

"For the record I never said Vlad was a ghost," Phantom interrupted with another attempt at a smile. "I just said he was evil. But those two words are synonymous to you, aren't they?"

"Of course they are," she snapped back. "You spent all this time trying to tell me you're a ghost who isn't evil, and now I find out you're not really a ghost. Your defense is even weaker now than it ever has been."

Valerie watched his facial muscles work as he searched the floor. "I've been doing this for two years now," he said finally. "I've met lots of ghosts. Some of them – most of them – are pretty nasty, I'll give you that. But they have some good traits sometimes, and some of them…" he broke off with a laugh and said in a thick accent, "some of them just want ta be left alone there, don't cha know?"

The speech did nothing to improve her mood. "I kept hunting," she continued. "Without Vlad's technology. I had to learn how to fight without it, how to make my own tech." Worry crossed his features and she snorted. "I'm not some helpless damsel, Phantom. I took care of myself. But I spent the last year digging, trying to find a way to undo Vlad once and for all."

"It's not as easy as it looks, is it?" Phantom quipped.

"It never looked easy to begin with," Valerie replied shortly. "I hunted down ghosts on the off chance I could get answers outta them. A lot of them knew about Vlad, had even worked under him at a point. Then I came across one ghost that knew quite a bit."

"Skulker," Phantom muttered, and Valerie smiled.

"Why, yes," she replied. "You remember the time he had us cuffed together, I'm sure." Phantom only nodded slightly. "I came across him at one point and tried the bad-cop bit on him. At that point I was starting to suspect you because of your connection to Vlad and Danielle, but it wasn't until Skulker that I really…" She trailed off and looked disinterestedly to the side. "He told me that he hunted you because you were the weaker halfa. That's what you all call yourself, isn't it?"

"It's what the ghosts call us," Phantom replied, then clamped his jaw shut.

"He wouldn't tell me who you were. As a human, that is. He said he wouldn't let me spoil his hunt and he was able to hold on no matter what I put him through. He's very dedicated."

"Hunting is his obsession." Phantom rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. By now the sedative was out of his system for sure, but the plasma cuffs would hold him. They held all ghosts. "If you don't know about obsessions by now you're a pretty piss-poor ghost hunter, huh?"

"I know plenty about them," she replied coolly. "It's the theme ghosts follow. It's what drives them, what keeps them here. Unfinished business, I believe it's called commercially." She flipped the chair around so it faced him and sat down again, crossing her legs neatly and leaning over her lap to stare at him. She was much closer to him now, enough that she could reach out with the gun and touch his foot. As if he realized his too, he tucked his feet up closer to him.

"Tell me, do halfas have obsessions?" she asked. "Or are you not ghost enough?"

The green light in his eyes blazed briefly. "If we let an obsession take us over, we become nothing better than a ghost. At least I still have enough humanity in me not to turn out like Vlad."

"He's a halfa whose obsession took over his life, then?" Valerie asked. She hadn't thought about obsessions, especially since she didn't think much of them in general. Of course, she never cared much about the inner mechanisms of a ghost's mind. She was more shoot first, shoot again if they were still moving. "What's his, then, power?"

Phantom laughed and started to say something but cut himself off and huffed "Yeah" hastily. Valerie ignored it. He glared at her again. "Okay. What exactly is it that you want, a confession on tape?"

"You've already confessed," she said. "I just wanted more info on halfas but you don't seem to know much yourself. I guess it wouldn't hurt to find out who you really are as a… contingency plan."

"In case I let my obsession take over?" Phantom's voice was thin. Valerie nodded and Phantom looked distressed. "I am never going to let that happen!" he yelled suddenly, startling her. She nearly dropped the gun as she held it out in front of her instinctively. He looked at it with wild eyes for a moment before he deflated. "I thought you wouldn't harm a human," he said with a weak laugh. She wasn't sure if he was referring to the gun or her "contingency plan" so she put the gun down.

"I will hurt a ghost if it's threatening the lives of normal people." Phantom looked hurt at the comment but turned his head away from her so she couldn't read his expression. "I don't understand any of this, I'm just trying to sort it out. For my safety and the safety of everyone in Amity."

"It wouldn't just be Amity," he mumbled so quietly she almost didn't hear it, but he began to shake his head. "I told you, I'm not letting that happen. I'd never hurt anyone. I… I know what would happen if I let my humanity go." His gaze lingered on her face for longer than she liked and she broke eye contact with him. "I can't let it happen. I have to protect everyone."

"Is that your obsession?" she asked quietly, and Phantom didn't answer. "Playing hero sounds like indulging in your obsession, doesn't it?"

"What choice do I have? It's like you said, normal people's lives are at stake." She looked over at him to see he was staring at the ground again. "Of all people…. I got these powers. I'm nobody. I'm just a loser who can barely handle the human world, and now all of a sudden I get these powers – these extraordinary powers – and just get thrown into a world of ghosts trying to kill me. Or… finish the job, anyway. What was I supposed to do?"

Valerie was shocked he was spilling out his guts to her like this, especially since she had him chained up and imprisoned. "Who are you, Phantom?" she asked softly.

He smiled helplessly at her. "Valerie, I can't let you know. You just have to trust me."

"If you really do want to protect these people than you need someone who can shut you down if you get out of control," Valerie told him firmly, leaning in closer. He didn't shift away this time.

"If I got out of control, you wouldn't be enough," he replied hoarsely.

"Why not? I've been able to fend you off." She flexed her free arm in an imitation of him but even this light-hearted gesture did not improve his mood.

"You would die," he said. It didn't sound like a threat. "Everyone would die. Mom and dad and-" he cut himself off and closed his eyes, taking in a breath. "But it's not going to happen. I'm not going to lose control. I've done everything I possibly can to ensure that. That's my obsession – to prevent it from ever happening. Maybe it makes a catch-22 of sorts but it's worked so far. As I am, I'm no threat to anyone except the buildings I get thrown into, and if you trust me at all you'll believe me."

Everything in her screamed to grab the gun. She had no idea what he was blathering on about but the idea of her father being killed was almost enough for her to blast him to bits right there, human or not. "And if you trust me at all," she countered tersely, "you'll know I won't hurt you unless I have to."

"Val, no," he almost pleaded.

"I know about Danielle and Vlad and you know about me," she forced out, but something about the way he'd said her name felt off. "It's only fair."

And then, looking into those wide green eyes, she could suddenly see it. Yes, that was why it had sounded strange when he said her name, and it had nothing to do with the echo.

He sounded just like Danny. Danny Fenton.

Her mouth dropped open and she stood up, knocking the chair back and tripping over it. She had her hand on the gun when she righted herself, only to have the room brighten exponentially. She could see the rusty equipment of the room glow with ethereal white light before fading back into darkness. When she sat up the chain swayed in the spotlight, but Phantom was gone.

After all, the cuffs only reacted to ghosts. They could not hold a human.

If she could even still call Danny a human.