Danny phantom what happened next By ~PrennCooder

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Chapter 10: Alterations

It was Monday and Cecelia was hanging out at the Government Guys in White lab after school like she usually did. With each passing day, her father was getting closer and closer to finishing the energy transfer machine which he had called the Equator.

Meanwhile. Cecelia was bored as could be and she had finished all her homework. She was not in the mood for martial arts practice. And to top it off, Valerie wasn't here because she was at Axiom labs.

So she sat at the front desk watching all the security cameras. And then Garth Lloyd walked in the front doors and it occurred to Cecelia that Garth had been absent several days in the past month. And the beginning of October isn't usually the time people get sick.

So Cecelia decided she would follow him until she learned why he was skipping work. Curiosity had been building in her for a long time, but she just now realized it. Cecelia was good at following people, so this could be fun. There was the constant feeling in the back of her throat where she feared being caught in the act. But that feeling only made her curiosity crescendo.

She kept a good safe distance behind him. And she watched him go to his locker and put on his lab coat. Garth was good at blending in and going about normal everyday activities subtly—like sneaking into a room with a private computer.

Garth left the door open just a crack so as not to appear too suspicious or obvious.

He's definitely up to no good, Cecelia thought; he's taking all the proper steps to cover his tracks. In a strange way, Cecelia admired him for doing it right.

And fortunately, the crack was just wide enough for Cecelia to see through. She watched Garth as he hacked into the master computer system from this junk heap of a computer.

It seemed like all he was doing was adjusting the days he was absent. It went from "eighteen" down to "seven".

Cecelia gasped. He's cheating? He's making sure he gets paid for days he isn't here. But where could he be? What's so important that he has to leave during work hours to do it?

And then she blinked and Garth was no longer sitting in the chair. It took a moment for her brain to think this through. But before she could complete her thoughts, she was yanked inside the room.

"Why are you following me?" Garth asked in a low tone.

"I just wanted to know why you haven't been reporting to work. You've obviously missed eighteen days this quarter, and who knows how many more." Cecelia tried to keep her cool.

Garth released her. "I've got a lot on my shoulders right now. I need this job. I need the money. But what I need even more than that is time. My fate is sealed. In two months, my life is over if I'm too slow, too weak, or too stupid. Just one little mistake and all hope is lost."

"What are you talking about?"

"This is why I haven't been training you like your father wanted me to—I've been training myself."

"I'm lost." Cecelia shook her head.

"I have to fight a very powerful enemy of mine." Garth confessed. "And if I lose—well, I, uh, I can't lose." Garth had a strong vibration of worry and determination struggling within him. It showed up on his face. Cecelia had never seen him this way. "Are you going to help me?"

"I suppose I can keep a little secret."

"And I suppose you're going to wonder what's in it for you?"

Cecelia just looked at him. "Train me. Teach me what you know. I want to be the best. And then maybe I can teach you some things too…"

"It's a deal." Garth agreed. "Come to my house with me tomorrow after school. I'll be there to pick you up and I'll arrange it all through a talk with your father."

Cecelia nodded and both of them walked out of the small room.

Cecelia took a left down the hallway to get to her father's office. There he was sitting at a desk in that giant laboratory of his. He was working on constructing some part of the Equator.

"Hi dad." Cecelia stepped in the room and shut the door behind her. "I was just wondering about the progress you are making."

"I'm afraid I'm not very far yet. I've just begun to change a few things because apparently some of my calculations were wrong. So I've been making alterations all over the place and basically redesigning the thing. It would take far too long to explain." Mortimer Hazel put his work down and faced his daughter. "I'm sorry we don't get to talk very much anymore."

"It's allright—I understand."

"So how have you been?"

"Oh, I've been doing okay."

"You're content with our life here?"

"Content? Sure, dad."

"And you don't want anything like cash or purses or cars?"

Cecelia chuckled at her father's attempt at a joke. "No dad. I like walking to school."

"How was the game on Saturday?"

Cecelia remembered Danny Phantom and the ghost he was fighting. She thought it was all some sort of a trick. The memory of him itched in the back of her mind and she wanted to take action but couldn't. She couldn't tell her dad either because she knew he didn't want her in any danger. And if he found out that she had been in danger, he'd pull the plug on the job he gave her. "I had a nice time with my friends Valerie and Paulina." Cecelia told a half-truth.

"Is that all?" Mortimer pried. "Did you meet a boy?"

"A boy?" Cecelia gasped nervously. "No. no! I don't even like any of the guys at our school." She admitted.

"Oh. Well if there's anything you want to tell me, please, feel free to tell me."

"Garth is going to train me after school tomorrow." Cecelia said.

"That's good. He was supposed to be training you anyways, but he never seems to be around, so I just let you go your own way."

"I'd like to make this a regular thing—going over to his house so he can teach me new moves."

"Well if it keeps you from being bored after school, then I'm all for it."

"Thanks, dad." Cecelia turned to leave.

"One more thing, Cecelia,"

Cecelia froze with her back to her father.

"When are you going to bring me a ghost? Damon Gray told me that a green tattooed ghost lady broke into Axiom labs last night. Luckily, she didn't take anything. The place was completely trashed, though. But the security cameras caught the whole thing—including the part where Danny Phantom was there."

"Why is it such a big deal that he was there too?"

"Because he is always there, Cecelia. He's there at every recent break-in and every attack on that place. It's as if he's guarding it for some peculiar reason. Damon doesn't want to take any chances, so he wants the ghost removed."

"Maybe he was trying to protect it." Cecelia theorized.

"Or maybe he has a plan of his own. Think, girl, which is more likely?"

"He's a ghost, and they only ever do bad things."

Cecelia's father nodded. "There's always a reason for everything they do. And it's never good. And think about Valerie. She must be pretty upset, too. I think that in no time you girls will have Danny Phantom caught and hopefully I'll be done with the Equator by then. I'll be able to test it on him and Damon won't have that menace floating around anymore. Promise me you'll do your part?"

"I won't let you down, dad." Cecelia walked out of the room. "Danny Phantom's going down." She said to herself and then flashed a devious smile.

It was the next day at school and Cecelia didn't get a chance to talk to her best friend Valerie yet because she'd been hanging out with Danny Fenton all day. They sat together at every class and they went to each other's lockers and even walked to class together.

Well, next was lunch so Cecelia figured Valerie would finally talk to her. But Cecelia was wrong. When Cecelia sat down with Paulina and Star, Dash and Kwan at the A-List table, Valerie sat with Danny over at his table. It was just the two of them sitting alone.

Cecelia tried to listen in on Paulina and Star's conversations, but they were just so pointless. She just nodded her head and pretended to listen. What dragged her out of it was when Tucker and Sam sat down across from her and away from the popular kids who did not even notice.

"What are you guys doing here?" Cecelia asked.

"You just looked kinda sad." Tucker said.

"And you're sorta our friend, so why not?" Sam smiled.

"Thanks. And you're right—I am sad. Valerie's been hanging out with Danny all day and she's been ignoring me."

"I know the feeling." Tucker said. "Danny hasn't talked to me either."

"She really cares about him, and I'm happy for her, but seriously, come on." Cecelia, Sam and Tucker looked across the lunchroom to see Valerie and Danny being all cute together and holding hands.

Sam looked away.

Tucker started eating his cheeseburger. Cecelia mixed ranch into her fruit salad and she noticed that Sam also had a salad. In fact, Sam always had a salad. "You really like your veggies, huh Sam?"

"I'm an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian."

"That's nice."

"And I'm an all-meat eater!" Tucker said proudly.

"You guys are strange. We should sit together more often." The three of them laughed.

Paulina just now noticed that they were sitting here. "Why are you two losers sitting here? Hello, this is for A-List kids only. And you're certainly not one and you never will be. You'll have to go over there." Paulina pointed to a vacant table.

Sam and Tucker reluctantly packed up their lunches onto their food trays.

"Wait, guys, don't go." Cecelia said and then turned to Paulina. "There's no reason they can't sit here for just one day, right?"

Paulina sighed. "I don't like it."

"Come on, they're my friends."

"You made friends with them?" Paulina was surprised. "Well, it's your choice I guess. But don't expect me to be friends with them."

"Hey, we're sitting right here!" Tucker said.

"I know." Paulina could be really snotty when she didn't like someone.

"Oh please, guys, can't we all just get along!" Cecelia said. "They aren't bothering anyone by sitting here."

"Allright, for your sake, Cecelia." Paulina agreed. She went back to her own conversation.

"Thanks, Cecelia." Tucker said.

"Yeah." Sam finished her salad.

"Is something bothering you, Sam?" Tucker asked.

"No. no I'm fine."

"Because if it's the same thing that was bothering you a few days ago I can—"

"I'm fine, Tucker. Just drop it." Sam really didn't want anyone digging into her past.

Cecelia looked at Sam strangely. And then she figured it out. "You're really still in love with him, aren't you?" She looked Sam square in the eye.

Sam didn't say a word. But her unsettling body language told it all.

"You never stopped caring about him." Cecelia acknowledged. "It all makes sense now."

Sam nodded slightly.

"Oh geez, I'm so sorry." Cecelia said.

"For what?"

"It was me who helped Valerie get together with him. I pushed her into it because she really loves him too. And now I feel bad. I completely understand if you hate me."

"I'm just a little upset right now, okay? That was the second relationship I had. And it was the happiest few months of my life."

"Well, I have some advice that might help."

"What?"

"Find someone else."

"How can you say that?"

"No, I didn't mean it in a bad way. I just meant that if you wanted to, you could fall in love with somebody else just as easily as you fell in love with him."

"I've known Danny since forever."

"And I'm sure he's not the only man in your life."

"Actually he kinda is. No offense, Tucker."

"None taken. I never felt that way about you." Tucker said.

"Well, just give it some thought. And…look around. I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for."

"Thanks." Sam said. Honestly, Sam appreciated the effort Cecelia was making here but still Sam was too hung up on Danny to even see anyone else. "Hey, are you talking from personal experience?"

"Well, I've never had a boyfriend but my friends back home did. And they got into a lot of messes there. I've always wanted a boyfriend though."

"Guys like girls who stand out. You need to be unique. I can definitely help you with that." Sam said.