So sorry that I wasn't able to update on Saturday as usual. I've been very sick this past week and hadn't had much energy to do anything, nevertheless the energy to actually focus and write. Anyway, please review! Per usual, due to the fact that the omakes/bonuses are relatively short (and this chapter is relatively short), another very important omake/bonus will be posted today as well.

~CWA


CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR


A Few Days Later

Hiro Hamada

I spin a bit on the chair in my room, my eyes cloud over with a thoughtful expression. My head hurts thinking about this. About everything. About Danny. About Tadashi. About ghosts and half ghosts and whatever. I let out a small frustrated groan. Danny's half dead. He's half ghost. Thinking about as half ghost helps numb the idea of him being half dead. And makes him sound more like a superhero than some walking corpse. A superhero. A small, half smile grows on my face at the thought of Danny being a superhero. He did say that he hunts ghosts and protected his town from them so it's actually pretty possible he really was a superhero. It's pretty obvious he has lots of powers, though I'm not entirely sure what they are. The idea of it makes me… excited. But the mental image of him in a skin-tight spandex suit makes me laugh.

A small light bulb goes off in my head as I spin to face my laptop, rapidly typing into the search bar. What did Danny say his town was called again? Amityville? Amity Horror? Amity… Park. Amity Park.

Search: Amity Park

Several websites come up, the first few pages are all about the 'gas leak.' The 'last survivors.' I briefly glance through a few, learning a bit on how long it took the government to help the city and just how quick the city itself was destroyed. City. Heh. According to Amity Park's official website – which described it as a great place to live – it was more of a town and even then it was just barely. A small population in the middle of nowhere. There's a conspiracy website that claims that there was no gas leak. That it was actually a battle between ghosts or aliens. I almost brush it off as nothing more than just paranoid alien conspirators until I remember that a battle of ghosts actually was possible… Wow never thought I'd say that.

Search: Amity Park, ghosts

More websites come up, some are also lesser known official websites of Amity Park. One is Amity Park's news website that includes a ghost report just beside the weather. Articles about various ghosts. Technus. Skulker. Ember. All of those are just a few of the names that come up, along with multiple ones about workers on docks and workers at warehouses complaining about something or someone called the Box Ghost. Some talk about a high school counselor named Penelope Spectra actually being a ghost. But it's one particular headline that catches my attention.

Ghost Boy Strikes Again

My eyes widen slightly as a picture of a familiar face comes up on the screen. Granted, it's blurred and instead of the blue-green eyes and the white-black hair, his eyes are just pure green and his hair is purer than snow… It's too blurred to make out too many details, even what's he's wearing, but there's no mistaking the slight white blurred glow around him. It's not the only article- this one names him as Danny Phantom, others name him Inviso-Bill which makes me smirk. But what's not funny is that some of the articles praise him as a hero, others as a villain. I don't understand why they'd call him a villain when it's clear he did his best to protect everything. Though the articles about him stealing and threatening the mayor are a bit harder to dismiss, I'm sure it was a misunderstanding or maybe he was framed.

But I'm right. Danny is, or was, a superhero in Amity Park. Not just a simple ghost hunter. He fought ghosts, trapped ghosts, saved people from ghosts, saved ghosts from people. He was a damn superhero. There's a part of my heart that swells with pride and for a brief moment, all I can think of is that's my big brother. He saved people. Before I can dwell too much on it, I finally come across a clear picture of Danny Phantom/Inviso-Bill. I blink for a moment in shock, almost stunned by his appearance. It looks nothing like the Danny I know today, not like I thought it would. Sure it's the same features. Same jawline. Same sharp cheekbones and slight, almost unnoticeable widow's peak. But he's fourteen and lacks the haunted look in his eyes as he stares in the camera with a carefree grin. He looks happy. Genuinely happy with no worries, no burdens.

Then I take in the fact that he's wearing a black spandex-like suit. I let out a booming laugh that shakes my shoulders as I clench my stomach. I don't even care that I fall out of my chair, almost knowing over the thin petri dish that contains the one mircobot that got saved from the fire.

"Ow," I wheeze through my laughter, still clenching my sides, "Spandex. He wore spandex. Oh my god."

I'm barely able to register the fact that my ow has granted Baymax's attention. The nursing robot, due to Danny's instruction, has been on all day, but up until now hasn't been too concerned with my presence. The white robot leers over me as I continue to laugh, staring curiously- if a robot could even be curse in the first place.

"I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion. I will scan you for injuries."

"D-Don't scan me," my protest doesn't sound very convincing through a serious of laughs as I pull myself up from the floor.

"Scan completed," Baymax announces, "You have sustained no injuries. However, your hormone and neuron transmitter levels indicate that you are experiencing mood swings, common in indolence. Diagnose: puberty."

That got me up pretty quick as my laughter dies down. I fight the blush that threatens to creep on my face,

"Wait- what," I stutter a bit as I shuffle a bit awkwardly, "O-kay, time to get you back-"

"-You should experience an increase in body hair," Baymax continues to speak as a diagram appears on his chest, "Especially on your face, chest, armpits and-"

"-Okay that's enough," I quickly cut him off and despite Danny's insistence on the robot to be turned on, Baymax has got to go now.

I try to shove him back into his red case, which doesn't work for obvious reasons though I end up climbing all over him as he continues to speak.

"You may experience new and powerful urges…", I urge him to get back into the case causing him to continue, "I cannot deactivate until you say that are you satisfied with your care."

"Okay," I almost have him pushed down into the case, "I'm satisfied with my-"

I fall off of him with a thud, or more like slide off of him before I get the chance to finish. I let out a disgruntled noise as I stand back onto my feet yet again and glance back toward Baymax. But a small chittering noise draws my attention toward my desk. I gently push by Baymax to see the microbot moving about rapidly in the petri dish, almost as if it wants to get away to get somewhere. I briefly pick the dish up and look it over,

"This doesn't make any sense," I mumble.

"Puberty can be a confusing time for an adolescent blooming into man hood," Baymax chimes, but I wave him off.

"No," I correct, "This. It's attracted to other micro bots but it's impossible… They were destroyed in the fire...Must be broken."

I hum a bit to myself, ignoring the small nagging feeling in my gut that tells me that something about this is wrong and set the dish back on the desk as I take my seat at the chair. From the corner of my eyes, I see Baymax look at the micro bot in the dish curiously,

"Your tiny robot is trying to go somewhere."

"Yeah? Well why don't you find out where," I mumble a bit sarcastically, a bit miffed from his diagnosis and unneeded explanation.

I know full well what puberty is. Tadashi explained it a lot more in depth than Baymax ever could and Aunt Cass explained it herself in the most embarrassing way possible. Actually, I'm not sure who was more embarrassed by that conversation- me or Aunt Cass. Then, of course, Danny actually gave me an explanation of it too. I actually liked his explanation a lot better. At least included jokes. Even if most of the jokes were at my expense.

"Would that help your prepubescent mood swings?"

"Uh-yeah, sure," I hum absently.

It takes me a moment to realize what the question was and another moment to realize that Baymax had disappeared. I look up to find him/it gone with no trace. Panic grips my heart as my eyes widen and I look around desperately for any signs of him as I call out his name. I rush to the window and glance out to see the familiar white blob roaming freely though the streets of the city, causing my breath to catch in my throat.

Shit.


I ended up chasing him all the way across town and straight to a warehouse. Or rather inside a warehouse as we both sneaked into it when I realized that Baymax was right (I say sneaked when in reality I sneaked, Baymax is not, by any means, made to be sneaky). My micro bot is trying to go somewhere so the real question is why, better yet where. There's something about this place though that I can't quite put my finger on. It's a sinking feeling in my gut. A bad feeling in the air. A thick tension. An underlining fear. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end as I move through the warehouse as carefully and stealthily as I possibly can. It feels like eyes are watching me where I go and no matter how hard I look, I can't spot the observer.

It's dark in here. Way too dark for the warehouse to be in use. So maybe we were worried about nothing. Maybe no one is in here at all and I'm just getting paranoid. But just when I believe that maybe we should head back, I see it. I see them. The bins full, absolutely full of my microbots. A machine nearby sits behind a curtain, copying more and more of the little robots with each passing second. Someone is using my microbots, I realize, fear and anger bubbling in my chest. But who would- my eyes harden as my breathing hitches- Vlad.

"The thing about Vlad is that he's manipulative- when he wants something, and for a long time, that something was me and my mom- he does anything to get it without a care for morals, humanity, or hell, even laws." That's what Danny said. That Vlad would do anything to get what he wants and he wanted my microbots. Is all of this his doing? Is it his fault for Callaghan's death? Is he why Tadashi had to fight for his life after the fire? Why Tadashi is still recovering from severe burns? Is he the reason my other brother is getting so angry and paranoid at everything, almost ignoring everything else?

My hands tighten into fists as my jaw clenches. I'm shaking in my spot, vividly with anger. I knew that Vlad was a bad guy. I knew that. But the idea that he would go to such lengths is...almost inhumane. I suck in a sharp breathe through my teeth before I'm shaken out of my thoughts by the ground, quite literally, shaking beneath my feet. My microbots. The microbots are quickly flooding out of their tubs and forming together, running along the runaway that Baymax and I stand on, causing my eyes to widen.

My attention briefly goes to the guy standing behind it all, raised on a platform of microbots with his hand outstretched. He wears dark attire, but the thing that stands out most is the mask on his face. Is that...Vlad? I yelp when I notice that I don't have time to think too much about it now. The microbots are quickly chasing after me and Baymax and the robot isn't exactly the fastest thing in the world.

I drag Baymax by his wrist, everywhere, in a vain effort to gain distance between us and the other little robots, but in the end, we barely make it out in time as the warehouse floods with the microbots. I don't look back to know that they're pouring through the windows like a black tidal wave. I keep running and running and…

I'm not even sure where I'm running to until we pass the police station. My chest rises and falls with rapid breaths, a bead of sweat dripping from my brow as I run to the front desk of the station. Words spill out of my mouth and I'm not even sure what I'm saying, just that I'm rambling, slurring words like microbots, neurotransmitter, kabuki mask, all together. Yet whenever I do finally stop rambling, I notice the cop doesn't seem convinced. He just raises an eyebrow at me, unimpressed and skeptical, though he does warily eye Baymax, whose using the masking tape to seal some holes that are rapidly causing him to loose air. The cop pushes the masking tape toward Baymax so it's easier to reach and sighs,

"Look, kid, why don't we just call your parents and-"

I'm out of there before he can even finish his sentence, taking Baymax (and the masking tape roll- but that was an accident since I didn't exactly notice that Baymax wasn't done patching itself up) with me and heading straight toward the cafe. My mind becomes a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions that I can't make any sense of. What am I supposed to do now? Do I tell Danny? Do I tell Tadashi? No. Danny deals with ghosts, but Vlad's a human. And if Danny was mad at Vlad before….. I'm almost scared at how mad he'll be if he knows about this. Besides if I tell them, they won't let me be a part of this. They won't let me fight. And this is my fight. He stole my mircro-bots…. And I want them back.