I do not own Danny Phantom.

Agreements and Plotting

The silence stretched on for what seemed like forever. Finally Danny spoke, "You're out of your freaking mind."

"Daniel!"

"You are seriously telling us to stop saving people?" Danny could feel the rage boiling inside him. He would've burst if Sam hadn't put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"Daniel, you are just a teenager! Yes, a super-powered teenager, but a teenager nonetheless! And Samantha and Tucker, you have no excuse to stick around fighting dangerous and deadly ghosts!"

Sam glared at her English teacher. "We stick around to help Danny! We have his parents' ghost gear, we've had the training! We know what we're doing."

"I've been doing this for a long time," added Danny. "Do you not remember all the ghosts I've beaten?"

Lancer rubbed the bridge of his nose, taking deep breaths. "You may be trained. I've seen you in action, even if I didn't know it at the time. But if you don't promise me you'll stop ghost fighting, I'm going to call your parents. And I know you don't want that."

Danny could feel the pain, which had been searing earlier, now throb dully. But anger and panic overpowered the pain. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm very serious." Lancer crossed his arms. "I don't care how good of a job you've done so far. I'm not going to sit by and risk you getting severely injured."

The teen halfa pursed his lips. After a moment of thought he got up and brushed the grass from his pants, and jerked his head, indicating he wanted to talk to Sam and Tucker in private.

They walked a few feet from Lancer, who was eyeing them warily. Tucker, who had barely spoken, finally found his voice. "Well. I'm pretty sure it's illegal for a teacher to blackmail a student."

"It's not funny, Tuck! This is serious!" Sam snapped, glancing at Danny with worry.

"I know it is! But I don't know what to do!"

Danny frowned for a moment. "Alright. We're going to do what he says."

Sam gaped at him while Tucker shrieked, "Are you insane?! What about Val-"

Danny silenced Tucker for a second before removing his hand. "Quiet! Look, both portals are out of commission. She's stuck, hit a dead end. Until she figures out something else, we have time to find a way around Lancer's deal."

Sam snorted. "Like what? We can't ghost fight behind his back, sooner or later your face is going to end up in the papers or someone will spot us."

Danny shrugged helplessly. "I know. That's why I'll head into the one place where he'll have no idea what I do. The Ghost Zone."

"...you gonna tell us why?" Tucker asked after a beat of expectant silence.

"I'm going to give Clockwork a piece of mind and then beg for help. I'll blow up the Observants' HQ if I have to, just to eliminate their stupid rules."

Sam smirked. "I think they heard that."

Danny waved a hand dismissively and turned around, heading back to Lancer. "Relax. Dani will take care of the ghost fighting. That is, if I can find a way to contact her. Even if I can't, the ghosts tend to go after me anyway. If it comes down to it, Lancer can't say squat against me defending myself with my powers."

"What about what does on in the Zone?" asked Tucker. "You can't keep disappearing in there. He's bound to find out. He'll probably start making conversation with your parents on a daily basis just to keep tabs on you."

Danny wrinkled his nose at the very idea. "Frostbite will take care of business in the Ghost Zone," he muttered. "He's good at settling any disputes. All we have to do is keep an eye on Valerie. You still got a trace on her?"

"On ever electronic thing she owns," assured Tucker.

Danny nodded in satisfaction. "Good. I have a feeling she'll be striking soon."

And he was right.

Valerie studied her well-crafted plan, tapping a pencil against her chin. Her father was out, leaving her home alone. She sat at the kitchen counter, the dim light shining onto her crumpled notebook paper.

With the Spectre Deflector hidden in the back of her closet, it was exactly what she needed. In order to finally accomplish her goal to destroy the Ghost Zone and all ghosts, she had to destroy Phantom first. The infuriating ghost boy always seemed to be a step ahead of her, saving his ghostly pals and knocking her back. Getting rid of him was something that she seemed to have trouble doing.

But now she knew.

You simply couldn't blast the Phantom out of the sky. He was too smart and strong for that. In order to successfully bring him down, she had to disable him. Render him powerless And that is what the Spectre Deflector was for. All she had to do was slap that baby around his waist and he'd be paralyzed and weak, with no power to escape. She would then suck the pesky ghost into a Fenton Thermos and contain the thermos until she had executed her plan. That way, he wouldn't be able to stop her.

She could blow up the thermos, but that would be too quick for the ghost who had once ruined her life. No, she would send the thermos to the Guys in White. There they would do tests, dissect the Phantom and drug him until he wasted away to nothing.

Valerie wanted the Phantom to suffer. She wanted him to feel the torture. For him to pay for what he had done to her. He wasn't going to get off scot-free for the horrible period of poverty and humiliation he had caused her and her father.

She would get her ultimate revenge. And it would go down the next time the Phantom reared his ugly head.

...and after she lifted a Fenton Thermos off of Danny.