Chapter 38

Danny didn't make it back to school in time to make it to his final class. Lancer gave him that patented teacher glare of disapproval, which made Danny feel guilty about skipping out on the class, even more so because he really liked Lancer's class. Danny had to give a rather edited version of event to explain his absence, deciding not to out Valerie's role of what happened in the gym. It was no surprise that Lancer was not happy after hearing about what took place, but he said nothing more than that he was happy that Danny came back alive and well. Danny could see it in his green eyes, that fear his teacher had that one of the times Danny disappeared to fight viruses that he wouldn't come back. He felt bad about making his teacher worry like that.

Lancer told him about what was discussed in class that day and what his homework assignment was and offered him help with any of his homework if he needed it. That made Danny more appreciative of the man knowing his secret. After thanking his teacher, Danny headed back into the NetZone to check in with Vlad, who said he would need some time to decipher the coding and discover what it was meant to do to Danny. He still had a lot of training to do to become a better fighter.

When he came out of the NetZone again, it was already eleven in the morning. Danny rubbed at his aching neck as his digital form dissipated, leaving behind a tired teenager still wearing yesterday's clothing. He quickly changed into something clean before leaving his bedroom. Normally, he wouldn't have stayed so long at Vlad's domain, but since it was a Friday night, he decided it would be all right to get in an extra long training session. It was broken up a few times to let him rest, and Vlad actually offered help with his homework. When Vlad started talking math formulas, Danny thought he maybe, almost, sort of, kind of understood it. He didn't feel quite as overwhelmed about working on his math homework this weekend.

Danny jogged down the stairs and headed for the kitchen. While in the NetZone, he didn't even notice that he was hungry. It was like his body, his human body, was shut down while he was in digital form and hanging out on the NetZone. Things like eating, sleeping, going to the bathroom didn't register to him during his whole time with Vlad. As he opened the refrigerator to grab some breakfast, Danny wondered if Vlad even slept since confining himself to the NetZone. Or was he like the programs and viruses and never felt the need to sleep? If that was true, Danny had to wonder how the man stayed sane.

"And where have you been all night, young man?"

Danny tensed up when he heard his father's voice. Closing the refrigerator door, he turned around to face the large man. His father stared down his nose, blue eyes narrowing as he folded his arms over his bright orange jumpsuit. "Uh," he stalled, trying to think of a good excuse, "the library. Tons of homework, you know. Thought a nice quiet place like the library would help me get more work done. I was back before curfew."

"Then why didn't we see you come in?" Jack leaned down, squinting at his son in that way that suggested he suspected a lie.

"You were down in the lab." Danny hoped none of his panic slipped out for his father to notice.

Jack's eyes narrowed, if possible, another fraction before he stood up straight. "Sounds about right." He nodded and patted his son on the shoulder.

"Oh, you're here," Maddie said as she came up from the laboratory. "We're going down the mayor's office. Again." She frowned when she said it, clearly not happy that the mayor denied them permission to shut down the high school so that they could sweep it for viruses. "It's like the man doesn't understand what we say when we tell him there's a level nine contamination at Casper High. This might take us all day." She gave her son an embarrassing kiss on the side of the forehead before she left the kitchen with her husband.

Danny sighed out in relief after he heard the front door close. At least his father bought the lie about where he was all night. He returned to searching for a good breakfast because he was starving. He managed to scarf down scrambled eggs and toast, a sausage patty, a banana, and two blueberry muffins before his stomach started to feel like it would burst if he stuffed even a single bite more into his mouth. As he washed the dishes, he heard the doorbell ring. Sighing, he dried off his hands and headed for the front door.

"Sam, Tuck!" Danny blinked in surprise to see his friends on his doorstep so early in the morning. He winced internally when he realized it was close to noon by now. He also didn't miss that nervous glance Tucker gave Sam, who was oblivious to it. The look didn't make Danny feel very confident about the visit.

"Where'd you go after school?" Tucker asked as he and Sam entered the house. "I thought we could hang out for a while since someone," he nodded at Sam, "still had detention." Sam rolled her violet eyes at his comment.

"Library," Danny replied as he nodded. With his friends, the answer sounded even more ludicrous, and they gave him looks that clearly said they weren't buying his lie.

"Come on, Danny." Sam folded her arms as she frowned at him. "We're not your parents. You can tell us what you were really doing."

Danny caught Tucker's eye, and it took a moment before his friend realized why the lie was necessary. "I just had a lot of homework." He shrugged, and that part wasn't entirely a lie and Sam would know it to be true. She was always complaining that he and Tucker left homework to the last minute after all. "I just figured I could get more done at the library than at home. You know my parents." He rolled his eyes in an expression of exasperation. "They're always working on something, and the noise can be rather distracting."

Sam tilted her head, some of her hair spilling forward to drape over her shoulder. A scrutinizing look passed through her eyes, and Danny feared she would call him out on the obvious lie. "Speaking of your parents, I didn't see that monstrosity of an RV parked outside." A curious eyebrow lifted at him as a sly smirk tried to spread across her face.

"They left to see the mayor again," Danny answered slowly as he eyed her. "They're still trying to get permission to shut down the school."

"I certainly wouldn't mind a few days off of school." Tucker chuckled. "It would give me some extra time to catch up on my homework."

"And that's exactly why you shouldn't put off your homework," Sam said for what was probably the millionth time already.

"I'd have more time if you didn't keep insisting I try to locate Phantom," Tucker argued, and some tension ran through Danny at the name of his alter ego. Danny knew Sam still wanted to find Phantom, and her persistence worried him.

"A lot of good that's done." Sam frowned at Tucker. "I can't believe you lost that data. How could you let that happen?"

"A fluke accident!" Tucker shouted, and his green eyes just barely flicked toward Danny. "And anyway, I believe there was a reason you wanted to come over today."

"Well, first off," Sam said as she pulled her book bag around and unzipped it, "Paulina want me to make sure you had this." She pulled out the long ebony wig that was part of his costume for their play.

Danny groaned as he snatched it out her hand. "I can't believe you're actually taking part in this humiliation." It was nice that Sam and Paulina managed to get along together at lunch, but he wished they could have found another topic to bond over other than treating him like a dress up doll. "You know, it's bad enough Jazz used to do this to me without having my best friend doing it too."

"Well, Danny," Sam plucked the wig from his hands and draped it over his head, "it's not our fault you can pull off the look." She smiled when he glared at her blandly through the cascade of ebony hanging in front of his face.

"I guess that incident freshman year really didn't help." Tucker tried but failed not to snicker at his best friend.

"You know, Tuck," Danny turned to his friend with a slow smirk stretching across his face. "We are best friends, and we tend to share everything." He stepped closer to his friend as an eerie look entered his eyes. He placed his hands on Tucker's shoulders, watching the nervous bob of the Adam's apple when his friend gulped. "Don't you want to share this with me?"

Tucker laughed weakly. "What about Sam? She's your friend too."

"Yeah, but I already wear skirts and dresses," Sam pointed out smugly. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Wear pink," Tucker and Danny answered together as they turned a grin on her that made the color drain from Sam's face. While it was true she wore skirts and even dresses, it was always in dark colors, usually black. Sam would never be caught dead in something pink and frilly, though it would make her parents die from happiness.

The suggestion clearly horrified Sam, who was silent for several moments after their response. "I will if he does," she said at last, nodding her head toward Tucker, whose amusement over Sam's reaction quickly died.

Danny laughed at both of them. "I was only kidding." He grinned as he tugged the wig off his head. "You don't have to dress up." He turned to Sam. "Did Paulina give you what I'm supposed to wear on Monday?"

"I told her about that cute little baby blue skirt Jazz has, and Paulina agreed it would be perfect on you." Sam led the way up the stairs and down the hall to Jazz's room.

His mother went in it from time to time to clean so that the room didn't get all dusty for when Jazz returned for Christmas break. Thankfully, that wouldn't be for another two weeks, so he would avoid having his sister join in on his humiliation which seemed to be a source of entertainment for the women in his life, with the exception of his mother who was too busy with her work investigating viruses and creating new inventions.

After several minutes of searching through Jazz's drawers and closet, Sam located the skirt she mentioned. She held it up with a proud grin like it was long sought after treasure. Danny remembered the skirt because this wouldn't be his first time getting stuck in it. He took it unhappily from Sam and put it and the wig in his room. It was a wonder he didn't need some sort of therapy after things like this.

"Be sure to wear a cute shirt with it," Sam instructed as they walked back down to the first floor.

"I'm a guy," Danny pointed out, frowning at his friend. "I don't own cute things."

Sam's shoulders slumped as she rolled her eyes. "Then find something in Jazz's closet," she told him like that answer should be obvious. "Now," she clapped her hands with excitement in her eyes, "since your parents are gone, how about you show us the lab? We never got to see that Data Deraser thing you told us about."

He wanted to argue. He really wanted to argue. But Sam would never be convinced to do something else when her mind was made up on checking out his parents' inventions. Sighing tiredly, Danny led the way to the laboratory, glad at least that his parents would be gone for the day. He wouldn't have to worry about them suddenly coming down the stairs and demanding to know what they were doing in the laboratory. Or listen to his father blather on about a new invention.

The laboratory was, as usual, a mess. His eyes drifted toward the Material Portal, and the sight of it still unsettled him. Looking around the mess, he spotted the Data Deleter sitting on a weapons stand along with a number of other inventions. Most of them were old news by now, his parents having invented them over the last three years.

"Oh, it's the Thermos!" Sam picked up the sleek sliver cylindrical object that was sitting on the table. From the smile on her face, she looked like she thought she just came across an amazing find.

Danny frowned as he walked over to join her. "What's so great about it?" He eyed the invention that he remembered seeing blueprints for only a week ago. It still didn't look all that useful to him.

"Are you kidding?" Sam gaped at him. "Don't you ever pay attention to your parents' work?" She frowned when Danny merely shrugged. He would prefer if he didn't have to, but there were plenty of inventions that he knew were best to avoid. Especially for him. "Well," Sam said, holding up the Thermos as she placed her other hand on one hip, "if what your dad says is right, then this thing," she waved the Thermos, "should be able to capture and contain a virus."

"Yeah, but my parents' invention don't always work." Danny stared at the Thermos with more interest after hearing Sam's explanation of what it did. If it really could trap viruses, that might come in handy. "But containing a virus wouldn't destroy it," he mumbled with a frown.

"Well, I know that." Sam bopped him lightly on the head with the Thermos. "But at least it would stop the virus from running amok on the NetZone." She smirked, balancing the Thermos on one finger and spinning it around. "Think your parents would notice if I took it? If I ever manage to track down Phantom, I could give it to him."

"I don't know," Danny answered uncertainly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, they did just build it. And they didn't get to test it out at school. They might notice it's missing if you take it."

"Hey," Tucker called, pulling his friends' attention away from the Thermos. "Is this the Data Deraser?"

Danny glanced at his friend and immediately felt a sense of dread as Tucker lifted the latest in virus hunting weaponry from the stand. "Tuck, maybe you should put that-" He reacted without thinking, his arms moving to shove Sam out of the way the moment he heard the familiar whirl of a charging weapon. The sudden discharge of the weapon nailed him in the chest. He couldn't tell if he screamed or not as he slammed back into the wall. Every nerve ending felt like it was on fire, and for several long moments, he couldn't see or hear.

"Danny?" His friends' concerned voices reached through to him as the world slowly faded back into blurry view. One of them was shaking his shoulder, but he wasn't sure which one.

"What happened?" Danny's throat felt raw, and his voice sounded hoarse. They grabbed him under the arm and helped him to his feet. His head was throbbing, probably from hitting it against the wall, while his chest still felt it was slammed into by a battering ram.

"I'm so sorry!" Tucker said, panic in his voice. "I am so, so, so sorry!"

"This is exactly why you were forbidden from handling anything in the lab, Tucker," Sam said in annoyance before turning her concern back to Danny. "Are you okay?" Her hand absently brushed over where he was struck, and Danny cringed back with a hiss of pain. Sam winced, snapping her hand away. "Maybe we should take you to the hospital."

Danny shook his head. The hospital was certainly not an option. "I'll be fine. Their weapons are only meant to hurt viruses. It might sting a bit, but it shouldn't do any major harm to a human." He smiled at her in a show that he was okay, but inside, he was having a major freak out over the whole incident. The Data Deleter was meant to erase a virus down the very last nanobyte, according to his parents. How exactly would that affect him? Would that kill the Phantom side of him and leave him just plain Danny Fenton again? He could see the panic in Tucker's eyes. His friend knew the truth now, and clearly he understood the risk of Danny getting shot by anything sitting around in his parents' laboratory.

"Maybe that's enough looking around for today," Tucker said, wincing. "How about we go do something? I think they're showing some old horror movies at the Cineplex."

"Are you sure we shouldn't get that looked at?" Sam frowned, her violet gaze lingering on Danny's chest.

"It's fine," Danny insisted. "Just let me make a quick stop to the bathroom and we can go." He ushered his friends out of the laboratory before rushing to the bathroom. It was the only thing he could think to do at that moment. After closing the door, he switched immediately into his digital form, which felt normal enough. Looking himself over, nothing looked out of the ordinary. He opened a scanner screen like Vlad taught him and ran it over his body, searching out any sign of damage or infection, but everything looked perfectly normal.

Danny released a relieved sigh as he shifted back to human. Maybe the Data Deleter was another failed project. His parents would be disappointed when they found that out. Leaving the bathroom, he went to join up with his friends. A little time out of his day could be used for fun. His homework would still be waiting for him when he got home from the movies.

Mischievious Kiss27: She really has. =( Maybe things can start to get better for her. Thanks! =) I'm glad you like them.

DARKLOVEFORFANFICTION123: Haha, yeah. XD;; Val kind of does that, doesn't she? Just randomly starts to grow on you. Dresses~ 8) Thanks! =D I'm glad you like the way I write them! X3

Just Will: *squints into the distance* I swear the end is somewhere just up ahead. Maybe. XD Maybe when she gets a little older, she'll start to cool down that hot temper of hers. XD;; It was in that one episode with the Box Ghost. Uh... Boxed up Fury? It was at the end, and Danny's eating a sandwich with Pandora and he just uses telekinesis to pass the rake thing over to the Box Ghost. It was just so random and never came up again.

maltese: Woo long chapters! XD Ah, Valerie. Yeah, she can be pretty stubborn. For the longest time, I was worried Danny and Vlad would be butting heads for forever. XD;;

midnight: Haha! XD Wouldn't be surprising if he did, huh? Val and Paulina are besties for life. 8D

Sammi: Yes! I loved Pirate Radio and all the teens banding together to fight with Danny. It would have been awesome if things like that happened more often in the series. You know, showing that Danny doesn't always need to be Phantom to be a hero.