I do not own Danny Phantom.
Valerie's Mistake and Dark Dan's Return
The sky was now black. The only light was the moon and the stars that hung in the sky. Sam and Tucker jogged down the dusty, abandoned road that led towards the old warehouse.
"Of course," said Tucker flatly. "Another warehouse."
They snuck along the sides of the decrepit building and crouched down. Sam motioned for Youngblood to skedaddle. "Just leave it to us, and for the love of all that is holy, stay in the flipping Ghost Zone."
Youngblood hovered for a moment, uncertain. Bones nudged his charge gently. "Come. Let's go."
"Okay," said Youngblood reluctantly. "You'll tell him I'm sorry, right? I didn't meant to cause trouble."
"Trust me, this would have happened with or without you," the Goth said. "We'll get him out. Don't worry about it."
Youngblood nodded and he followed his skeletal sidekick off into the night. Sam and Tucker stayed silent, listening intently.
"It's quiet," whispered Tucker.
"That worries me," said Sam grimly.
"So…what do we do?"
"Get him out of there."
"We can't exactly get spotted."
"We're going to have to stun her first or something," said Sam. "But no matter what it takes, we're getting Danny out of her hands."
"Of course," agreed Tucker. "How do we get in?"
His female friend scanned the building for a moment. She spotted a rusty old window off to the side. Tugging Tucker by the sleeve, she brought him over to it. She jimmied the lock with a bobby-pin from her hair and slipped inside.
Tucker bit his lip as he followed Sam. It had occurred to him that he had missed supper, and his parents would be freaking out. Soon they would call Sam's parents, then Danny's. Then a search would begin, and somehow Lancer would find out. He always did.
"We're missing curfew," he muttered.
Sam shot him an annoyed look. "That doesn't really matter right now, does it?"
"Not right now. But in a couple hours when our parents are frantic, then yes."
Knowing her friend had a point, she could only shrug. "This comes first. We'll worry about the rest later."
Tucker sighed. This most likely isn't going to end well, he thought wearily.
It was even darker in the warehouse than outside. But the red-clad Valerie stood out clear through the shadows. She had not noticed them. They quickly crouched behind a stack of metal bins. Sam peered between the cracks and widened her violet eyes. Danny lay on the floor, twitching, as shock waves travelled across his body. A glance at the green belt around his waist said why.
"Tuck! She's got the Spectre Deflector on him! He's already transforming!" she hissed.
Sure enough, two blue rings appeared and slowly started to move, first changing the boots to sneakers and travelled upwards. Valerie hadn't noticed. She aimed the thermos at Danny and cackled.
Tucker, thanks to his glasses, noticed the odd thing about the thermos right away. "Sam! It's-!"
But she quickly caught on. Sam jumped the barrels, screaming like her life depended on it and completely discarding their plan to be stealthy and unnoticed. "Val! Don't do it!"
Then everything happened at once.
Valerie pushed the button and the familiar blue light flashed before three pairs of eyes. But the button she had pushed had been the release button. As the dreaded evil laugh echoed across the metal walls, Danny completely transformed, turning him into Fenton. As she stood with her mouth open in shock and confusion, not able to believe she was just about to destroy one of her good friends, Danny woke up just in time to see Dan Phantom emerge from the Fenton Thermos.
"No!"
"Yes!" roared Dan triumphantly. He reared back and slugged Valerie, sending her sailing and crashing into the wall.
She slunk to the floor in a heap, now unconscious. Danny yelled in panic and Dan went for him. Tucker yanked the Blaster out of Sam's backpack and shot blindly. Please hit him, please hit him, he begged silently.
A great surge of relief struck him when one of his green blasts hit Dan square in the chest and sent him flying, through the roof and into the night sky. As the debris fell and the roof began caving in, Tucker grabbed Valerie while Sam helped Danny and they hightailed it out of there.
Tucker lay the still-but still breathing-girl onto the grass and Sam removed the belt from Danny. All three stared at each other, their faces mirroring the disbelief, fear, shock and confusion they all felt.
Noting Valerie was losing a lot of blood, Tucker mindlessly tore off the sleeves of his yellow sweater and wrapped them around her head, slowing the blood flow. Danny transformed into Phantom and flew them over to Amity Hospital.
As Tucker was the one who held her, it was him who brought her inside. Shaking, he closed his eyes and lugged Valerie through the emergency doors and handed her to a nurse without an explanation before darting out and joining Sam and Danny Phantom out front.
Not a word was spoken as they strained to hear the evil laughter, some sign of where Dark Dan had gone. But all was silent. Danny slowly turned his head upward, blinking at the starry night sky and trying to slow down his panicked heart.
No way was this happening. There was no way Valerie had seen him transform. There was no way Dan had come back. There was no way of knowing where he was, or what he was going to do. Although it was obvious he was heck-bent on revenge, considering the way he nearly knocked Valerie's head off and was about to do the same to him before Tucker blasted him.
He could see Sam gingerly holding the dented thermos in one hand, a Blaster in the other, a Fenton Jetpack strapped on. Tucker too had a Blaster and a jetpack strapped to his back. Each was waiting, waiting for his orders. Danny nodded curtly, and all three hovered into the sky and flew off.
But not before Danny spoke the first word since they left the warehouse.
"Clockwork!"