Dp what happened next by PrennCooder

Chapter 16: DNA

"Chill. My mom's doing a special meeting with the mayor and dad, well, he's sleeping."

"The mayor? Hey that's my dad! By the way, my parents think I'm sleeping over here. I called them right after I faked sick to get out of the field trip early."

"Wow, you're so bad." Danielle started up the Speeder's engine and she and Tucker got inside. Danielle drove and turned the Speeder intangible when needed.

"Find Danny." Tucker commanded the Boo-merang. He threw it outside and it flew around in its own style. The Specter Speeder followed closely behind.

Meanwhile, it was Sam's mother who picked her up from school. "Hi, sweetycheeks!" Sam's mother waved to her.

Sam quickly got into the car and slammed the door. "Mother I need you to do something for me. See that girl over there in the yellow shirt? I need you to follow her!"

Sam's mother chuckled in her high-pitched way. "That's not very nice, honeybuns. You need to find other things do occupy your time like knitting or taking debutant lessons." Sam's mother chirped.

Sam groaned hopelessly and she dialed Tucker while mom droned on and on about debutants. "Tucker, I'm afraid I will be unable to complete the mission." She knew that the secret-agent talk would make him happy.

"Don't worry, Sam, we'll find Danny, eventually. I've got Danielle with me here and we're in the Specter Speeder. You just relax and let a man handle this. Over."

Sam laughed fakely. She knew he was just joking with her. "Goodbye."

Behind a building where nobody could see her, Valerie pressed a button and her suit appeared. She took out her tracker and turned it on so that it would be able to find Danny. But she didn't get the result she was expecting. Everywhere the Phantom kid had been, sat, eaten, drank, and even touched made the tracker go crazy. Apparently it reacted to wherever his DNA was, is, or had been.

"This is going to take forever." She muttered as she flew through the town. "It shouldn't be too hard to find the hardest concentration of his DNA, and then, I'll have him." Valerie looked around.

The ghost boy's DNA was literally almost everywhere in Amity Park from the streets to the sky to the Nasty Burger to the mayor's house to the suburbs. And the compass that was supposed to point the way to him was acting all wonky. Truthfully, Valerie didn't know which signal to follow.

Suddenly, the tracker had a beeping fit. "Uk, what's wrong with this thing!" Valerie hit it lightly a few times and then looked down. Below was the alleyway was where Valerie had found Cecelia earlier. It was also the place where Danny had escaped.

"RECENT DNA FOUND." An automated voice came from the tracker.

"Recent DNA, huh?" Valerie looked inside the dumpster and sure enough, there was ghost boy DNA written all over it. "I knew it! She did set him free!" in her anger, she let the dumpster lid fall and make a loud crashing sound. "She lied to me." Valerie walked a few feet and suddenly the compass was working, sort of. "He must have gone this way." she theorized.

For hours, Valerie followed the trail of the ghost boy. Night was nearing and she began to feel like she was following an endless maze. She was tired and hungry. She wanted to take a break. She wanted to give up an hour ago. But the thrill was just too great. "Cecelia would have loved this." Valerie reminded herself why she was doing this.

With every passing moment, Valerie kept trying to convince herself she was getting closer to finding Danny Phantom.

Through tunnels she flew, and over small rivers, past city houses and over tall building she went. The night had fully come and Valerie looked everywhere, and I mean everywhere, for her target. "Where is he?" She was growing angrier and angrier with frustration. She didn't want this to all be for nothing. She had already staked out three coffee shops and a Wal-Mart but Danny hadn't gone to either of those.

Eventually, Valerie found herself in her own neighborhood and it was there that she decided to call it a day. She took off her suit and went inside with the tracker. "I'll find you, tomorrow, Phantom." Valerie said to herself. She yawned and fell asleep at the dining room table.

Outside, Tucker and Danielle were not having much luck finding Danny either. "It shouldn't be taking this long." Tucker yawned. "And we're still in Amity Park, so Danny couldn't have gone far."

"I think we need to go home before my parents start to think something's up." Danielle suggested as she steered the Speeder back home after she retrieved the boomerang. "I don't get it." Danielle looked up into the sky. "Danny's still out there somewhere. I hope he's okay." Danny and Tucker slipped into the Fenton house quietly and luckily Jack and Maddie didn't notice they were gone for hours.

The next morning, Sam woke up rather early—even before her parents were up—and gave Tucker a call. "Did you find Danny last night?" she asked with worry in her voice.

The ringing of the phone had awakened Tucker from his good night's sleep. "What? Oh, no, Sam, we didn't find him. We followed that tracking device late in the night but it kept leading us in circles. I really don't know where he could be that it's not finding him."

Sam was silent for a moment. "Goodbye." She had lost all the hope that used to be in her gothic voice. She couldn't help but think of what might happen if her best friend didn't come back. "I'll arrange a meeting later." She idealized. She called Garth first and then explained the whole thing. Next, she called Tucker and told him to tell Danielle.

"Stop following me!" Cecelia walked forward but Danny Phantom blocked her way.

"I have to know why you set me free!" Danny was frustrated. "And I wasn't following you. I was trying to get away from your friend in the red suit. She's using the tracker to find me. And if I don't keep moving, she'll catch up to both of us. So tell me why you set me free and I'll go."

"I already told you I don't know! Now will you please leave me alone before I change my mind!" Cecelia turned the other direction, but Danny flew beside her.

"You can't capture me again because you got your suit taken away."

"How did you know that?"

"It's just a hunch. Your father was that mad, huh?"

"Well, I kind of disobeyed him. What I did wasn't right in his eyes." She sulked lowly.

"What do you think is right?"

"Stop asking me all these questions! I'll defeat you!" She assumed a defensive pose.

"You've been capable of hitting, kicking, and punching me all night and the most you've done is make threats. I think you want to tell me because you know there's something wrong with what your father's been doing." Danny said calmly.

Cecelia could see he was very much unafraid of her. Maybe he knew she wasn't going to hurt him. But how could he possibly tell? Was it a bluff?

"Look, ghost, if you really have to know that badly, I'll admit I was never crazy about my dad's Equator. As much as I love hunting ghosts and fighting them, I would never go so far as to torture and dissolve them into electricity. So, no, I'm not with my father on that one."

"Then why did you help him in the first place?" Danny asked calmly. He knew that anger would get him nowhere.

"Because he's my father! And in the beginning, I did believe all ghosts are evil."

"What changed your mind?"

"You. And that dragon ghost I met at homecoming."

Danny smiled. He knew exactly what she was talking about, even if she didn't know he knew. "Hey, how would you like to come to someplace where you'd be completely safe and you'd never be told to do something like that again?"

"What?"

"I have a team of humans and friendly ghosts who help me out when I'm in trouble. We fight bad ghosts too."

"I don't know…"

"Come on, It's a small group. I'll set up a meeting and we can go right now."

"But I have to go to school—"

"But we're off from school because of parent/teacher conferences."

"Oh, right, I forgot. Who's "we"?"

"Did I say "we"? I meant "you"." Danny chuckled nervously.

"Alright, I'll come." Cecelia agreed against better judgment.

"Great!" Danny said. He took her by the arms and turned them both intangible and he flew them rapidly to the bedroom of Sam's mansion.

"Danny!" She hugged him tightly. "You're okay!"

"We need to have a meeting," Danny and Sam looked at Cecelia, "With everybody."

"That's perfect because I already set one up! We'll all go down into the home theater. My parents are asleep so we won't have to worry about them. And my grandma went shopping. The team will be arriving any minute now." Sam led Danny and Cecelia downstairs to the home theater room. And then the doorbell rang and Sam got up to answer it. The first arrival was Garth.

It was only minutes later that Danielle arrived with Tucker because she had flown him here with her. They all went down to the theater room.

"Everybody, this is Cecelia. She's joining the team." Danny Phantom announced proudly.

"Danny!" Tucker gave him a hug.

"Bro, you're okay!" Danielle gave Danny a big hug too.

"Okay, okay we're down to this: the Equator is almost finished, and we need to know what to do about that." Danny spoke to the group.

"And Valerie." Tucker added.

"She's probably tracking me right now, but the paths I've flown in the past few hours will really keep her busy." Danny admitted, stifling a laugh or two.

"How did you know it was Valerie in the red suit?" Cecelia asked. Everybody stared at her silently.

"We have ways." Sam said somberly.

"So about the Equator. Anybody got any ideas?" Danny asked.

"I could destroy it." Cecelia spoke up. "I know all of my father's codes and I know exactly where it is and how to self-destruct it."

Once again, they all stared at her.

"That's a good idea, but I can't risk you getting hurt or killed. I'll have to be the one to do it. We'll have to set up a date and together we'll destroy it." Danny decided.

"Why together?"

"Because I can turn us intangible when it explodes and we won't get hurt."

"I'm in." Cecelia decided.

"Good."

"What do we do once Valerie does find you? And how are we going to convince her that you're not the bad guy?" Tucker asked Danny.

"At Dash's party, I'll have a talk with her."

"Are you sure she'll want to just…talk?" Sam asked.

"We'll all be there so we'll all need to help. If we all talk to her one at a time, maybe that'll help." Danielle suggested.

"No." Garth said somberly. "That won't work. Valerie's not a very trusting person. She'll need to be convinced. She'll need good, hard evidence that Danny's not a bad guy." Garth turned to Cecelia. "You know Valerie more than any of us. So tell us. What'll it take for her to believe?"

"I really don't know. She'll have to see something very special—something to throw off her strange sense of logic—something she can't explain."

"I know just the thing!" Danny said with a satisfied smile. "I think this actually might work!"

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"It's going to be a surprise." Danny said. "I'll let you know at Dash's party. But for now, the meeting is adjourned."

"Let's all go to the Nasty Burger." Tucker suggested. There were mixed reactions of agreement and they all walked outside.

"Actually I think I'll be going home now." Cecelia said. The five others waved goodbye to her and then she began her round towards home. All the way she thought about destroying the Equator it would be the only way possible to somehow justify all she had done to Danny. Even if he had forgiven her, she still wouldn't be able to forgive herself until the job was done.

Somehow, Cecelia just felt "good" about the way the meeting had gone. Sam, Tucker, and Garth were her friends and she trusted them. She trusted Danny Phantom now too. She didn't know the younger black-haired girl, but was sure she would turn out to be a good person too.

Cecelia had to admit to herself that she was surprised at how things turned out. She thought everything would be hopeless once she disobeyed her father.

But now the sun was coming up and everything was looking brighter and in a way Cecelia almost forgave her father to the point where she said "Hello" to him as she passed him on the way to her bedroom at home.

"Cecelia," he called her back, which she did not expect, "I've finished the Equator and I thought you should know."

Cecelia felt a brittle shiver climb up her spine. She walked onward and didn't dare look back because she was afraid of what she might see.

It was late in the Friday afternoon and Sam was writing in her story notebook by the window. She let the cold November air blow in and it pleased her. She looked outside when she saw something flying around out there. It was a girl in a red suit. Danny really wasn't kidding when he said Valerie would be busy for a while.

But then Sam realized that Danny had just flown past that spot only minutes ago. Sam quickly found her cell phone and called Danny. But he wasn't answering. "Ugh!" Sam exclaimed in frustration. "He always forgets to bring his phone when he goes ghost!"

Outside, Danny was taking a peaceful flight around town. The sun was beginning to set and the birds were starting to return to their nests. Danny waved to some small schoolchildren who were fans of his. Then Danny flew past the city sign. "Amity Park: A Nice Place To Live" was what the sign said.

There came a loud blast from behind and Danny dodged it just in time. He now faced the red-suited Valerie, who had been flying around trying to catch Danny for a long time.

"I'm glad you decided to come out and fly again. I had almost lost your trail." Valerie said triumphantly.

Danny flew away at top speed. But still Valerie followed him. And she matched his speed wherever he went. It was a long time before he gave up. "What do you want?" He asked her out of breath.

"I want all the robberies to stop and I want my father's lab to stop being the target for your ghostly mayhem." Valerie and Danny circled each other similar to what is done at a wrestling tournament.

"You don't understand. I was protecting your father's lab. If you let me go, I'll prove it to you by Dash's party."

"That's in less than a week!" Valerie exclaimed. She readied several weapon fires and aimed them all at Danny.

Danny put his hands in the air in surrender. "And if I don't meet up to your expectations, I'll turn myself in. and you know from what happened the last time that I keep my word."

Valerie slowly lowered her weapons. "I'll settle for no less then to have my mind blown. If your little "surprise" is anything less, you will regret it." and with that, Valerie flew away rapidly.

Danny drifted home. Once he was on solid ground, he changed back into Danny Fenton and went inside his house. He marched right up to his bedroom with a smile on his face.

Danielle followed him. "What are you so happy about?" She asked her brother.

"Oh…nothing that you need to worry about." he said smugly.

"Tell me! I need to know!" she pestered him.

"If you insist—"

"I do."

"Then I'll tell you. It's my plan. My plan's going perfectly! That's all I can tell you as of now, but at Dash's party you'll see it all come into place."

A frustrated Danielle walked out of Danny's bedroom and closed the door.

After Danielle was long gone, Danny picked up his cell phone and called Valerie. "Hey Val, it's your boyfriend."

Valerie giggled from the other end of the line. "Hey you."

"How would you like to go to Dash's party with me? I've been waiting for the perfect time to ask you and I think this is it."

"Of course I'd like to go with you!" Valerie chirped.

"I'll pick ya up at four."

"It's a date." Valerie squealed, delighted, as she hung up her phone.