Chapter 17: The Equator

Cecelia Hazel sat quietly in the center of her bedroom floor and meditated. She was trying hard but could not focus her mind. She took a few deep breaths and then let them out slowly. She looked so peaceful. She had taken the time to relax every muscle in her body. She meditated on her energy.

But something blocked her focus. Something tore her away from it all and she began to imagine what would happen when she and Danny destroyed the Equator.

"Cecelia, what's the password to the self-destruct?" Danny Phantom asked her.

"3414159."

Danny Phantom pressed a sequence of buttons on the Equator's command module control.

"DR. HAZEL, YOU HAVE INITIATED THE SELF-BREAKDOWN OF THE EQUATOR. YOU HAVE FIVE SECONDS TO CLEAR THE BUILDING." Rang an automated voice.

Several alarms began to sound and the Equator ticked away. Danny grabbed Cecelia's hand and made the two of them intangible. Danny closed his eyes, but he held onto her tight. Cecelia watched as her father's hard work imploded on itself and destroyed the entire building. All that remained was black ash and soot.

"Nooooo!" Cecelia cried. "My father and Garth and all the other technicians, they died! Noooo! I'm a murderer! I'm a muuurrrrdeeerrrrerrrr!"

Cecelia's eyes opened and then she remembered she was only meditating. "It's just my imagination." She said to herself. "It isn't real." But her voice was shaking and her body was trebling. There had to be another way!

Cecelia took another set of deep breaths—in and out over and over. She couldn't bear to close her eyes so she kept them open and looked down at her hands. She realized she had been holding onto her bedpost to keep from vibrating.

It was then that she got an idea. It was the only way that things could work out for the better of those around her. Cecelia was in debt to her friends, especially Danny—who saved her life—and Valerie—who is an exceptional friend—and Garth—who looked out for her—and Sam—who helped her be unique—and Tucker—who cheered her up. "I know what I have to do." Cecelia said.

She set aside all of her fears while also making the date—Dash's party. Everyone will be there. Dash wanted to go all out for his birthday so he invited the entirety of the Casper High student body over to his house.

And since December 3 was a holiday called "National Roof Over Your Head Day", all adults were off work and kids were off school.

That meant that nobody would be at the Government Guys in White lab.

Cecelia's father would be at home sleeping in.

Danny Phantom, Sam, Tucker, Dash, Paulina, Valerie, Danny Fenton, Garth, Star, Kwan, and everybody else would all be at the party which started at four.

Cecelia knew where she would be.

Hands clapped around the giant open facility of the Government Guys in White laboratory as Dr. Hazel proudly announced the completion of the Equator. The clapping echoed throughout the large open building. But Cecelia Hazel was not clapping.

Back in Dr. Hazel's office, Mr. Black and Mr. White had a special conference with him in which Cecelia listened in through the door.

"We'll be testing it tonight on those two vultures that Valerie brought us." Dr. Hazel said to his employers.

"Excellent work, Hazel." Said Mr. White.

"I'm glad we hired you after all." Said Mr. Black.

"According to my calculations, the energy from 1 vulture ghost will be able to power this entire facility for three hours." Dr. Hazel explained.

"Wow." Said Mr. Black and Mr. White in unison.

"I have no other choice but to promote you to a salary of $300,000 a year." Mr. White said.

"Thank you! I've only been working here for three months and you'll give me that sum as a year's wager?"

Mr. Black and Mr. White nodded. "You've earned it." They said together.

Cecelia's mouth was wide open. She was appalled. She scampered away from the door quietly, long enough for Mr. Black and Mr. White to leave.

Cecelia stood in a shadowed hall near the back of the giant lab. She'd been thinking. Hard. Her father had always told her she was strong. But Cecelia had been slowly realizing that true strength was not measured physically, but rather by humble moral standards.

Cecelia snuck down to a room in the lab that was supposed to be secret. It was the small dark excuse of a room that the vultures were kept in their cubicles.

There was the pair—all tired and dehydrated and hungry. They'd been crammed in there for days awaiting their doom.

"I suppose you've come to brag, little Hazel girl." One of the vultures said to Cecelia.

Cecelia silently looked at them. The other vulture moaned dramatically and it startled Cecelia a bit. The moaning got louder. "Hush!" Cecelia finally said and the moaning stopped. "I'll need a favor for you in exchange for your freedom." She whispered.

"Freedom? You helped catch us, remember!" One vulture staggered to the chipped talons he called feet.

Cecelia sighed. "Yes, and I'm sorry. But once I let you go, I'll need you to make sure my father stays away from this lab on December third, got it? Oh, and one more thing. You tell your master to leave Danny Phantom and his friends alone. Tell your master that I'm sending you as a token of my mercy."

"Wow. Didn't see that one coming." Said a vulture.

Cecelia squinted at them hard to show them she was not kidding. "I'm not like my father. I don't want to kill ghosts."

"Technically we're already dead." A vulture imputed.

"Do we have a deal?" Cecelia asked slowly.

The vultures looked at each other they were sweating. They could already taste their freedom. They hesitated in giving her an answer. She was still the daughter of the enemy. "We have a deal." They said together.

Cecelia picked up the yellow suit bracelet that was sitting on the nearby table. She put it on and with the press of a button she was wearing her yellow suit again. It felt good.

Cecelia walked over to a control panel where she entered a series of complicated command codes onto a computer. And then she pressed another combination of buttons, letters, and numbers and digits into another monitor. The vultures' cubicles released and they flew into the air.

"Thank you for setting us free, Hazel girl." One of the vultures said.

"As long as you keep your end, we won't have a problem." Cecelia looked at them with that same fierce determination that she always had. "But aside from that, don't mention it."

The vulture ghosts phased through the walls and flew far, far away from the Government lab. They might have even gone back home.

Cecelia couldn't resist letting a smile appear on her face now that the vulture ghosts had been set free. She knew they probably wouldn't keep up their end, so that's why she gave them a no-brainer job. Cecelia knew that the only thing her father ever did when he was off work would be to sleep in.

Cecelia put everything back the way it was before she came in—except for the vultures and the suit—and then Cecelia pressed the intangibility button and flew herself out of the lab so she could go enjoy herself once more.

As she flew around aimlessly on that hovering surfboard of hers, she closed her eyes and pretended for a moment that her life was allright. In truth, her life was on its way to being all right but it hadn't gotten their yet.

Suddenly there was a strange darkness that blocked the sun from meeting with Cecelia's closed eyelids. She opened them. There stood the very brown dragon Cecelia had met at homecoming. She stood upright and stared strangely at him. She couldn't figure him out. "How did you find me?" That was the only question she could ask.

"Oh, I have my ways." The dragon said. He neither smiled nor frowned, but only stared back at her.

She tried to figure him out, but he wasn't giving any hints. "Well…don't just stand there, ghost, tell me what you want."

"I want to tell you something but first I have to know that I can trust you."

"Very well then. You can trust me."

"It's not that easy. I know you let those two bird ghosts go but I can't imagine why. Could you perhaps tell me?"

"Well look who's a little nosy today. I've only met you once and you're already stalking me? That's a little odd don't you think?"

"Could you just answer my question?"

"I set them free because otherwise my father would have tortured them and converted them into electricity."

"It's a little late in the run to change the direction of your moral compass."

"Huh?"

"You're too late." The ghost raised an eyebrow.

"Too late for what?"

"Too late to make things change." He challenged her.

"No I'm not! I just saved their lives!"

"And what about Danny Phantom and me and all the other ghosts? Your father will capture a ghost sooner or later and he will use it."

"Are you asking me to hide you from him…or something?"

"No, no, no. You misunderstand. Helping others is not a one-time deal. Once you make a choice like this, you'll have to stick with it and face the consequences, whatever they may be. Personally, I think you're just going to run away like a scared little girl…"

"No! I won't run away! Never! I owe it to Danny Phantom and my other friends to do what needs to be done."

The dragon smiled. Now that he was convinced she was on the right side, he had a few things to tell her. "Follow me." He said kindly.

Cecelia, more puzzled than ever, followed the dragon to the very back of the giant lab where some old recycled papers were kept. "There's a blind spot in security cameras right here, so I'm going to tell you my secret—or better yet show you." the brown dragon shrunk down into a strange form, it began to get more recognizable.

"Garth?" Cecelia asked wide-eyed.

"I'll explain that later. But for now, I'm just grateful to know you're on the right side. And I know what you've been planning." Garth smiled at Cecelia mysteriously.

Cecelia got all shaky and nervous. "What? Whatever you're thinking, I'm sure you just misunderstood."

"No, I understand perfectly because I thought of the same thing. Only you're the only one with the means to do it. And we won't have to worry because I saw you turn your suit intangible, just like a ghost could do. Just like Danny Phantom would do if he came with you—because that's pretty much his only reason for coming. But he doesn't know you got the suit back. Personally I think your plan is much better."

Cecelia was quiet.

Garth hugged her as he would have hugged a sister if he had one. "No matter what happens, I'm glad to know you'll be doing the right thing." And with that, Garth went back to his shift and Cecelia flew home in her suit.

Thanksgiving break came very quickly. Some kids enjoyed the holiday. Others gorged themselves on fattening foods. Some slept it away. They slept and slept until their alarm clocks went off in their ears.

Is it Monday already?

Not a snowflake had fallen. This was the warmest winter ever. In fact, it was so warm that local teen superhero Danny Phantom flew to school—he was invisible of course. And he flew into the boys' bathroom where he transformed and then walked out of the stall and blended right into the average bunch of shuffling students.

In Mr. Lancer's class, Danny sat in between Tucker and Sam.

"Where is Cecelia? I haven't seen her since that meeting you invited her to." Sam asked Danny with a whisper.

Danny shrugged. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen her either."

"I hope she's okay." Sam said.

"Ms. Manson, since you'd rather listen to your own voice than this lesson, I'll have no choice but to put you in the back—with the other geeks that you don't talk to." Mr. Lancer said plainly.

Sam growled and she took her books with her and moved to the back.

"Hey Sam! I'm Mikey! We sat together in biology for half a semester in the tenth grade!"

"Shut it Mikey." Sam said through her clenched teeth.

The door opened and a girl stepped inside. It was Valerie. She was carrying only a backpack and a notebook. "I'm sorry I'm late, Mr. Lancer." She said and she filled the vacant seat Sam had left.

"Ms. Gray, how many times are you going to say "I'm sorry" about being late to class before you actually fix the problem? Not only am I going to talk to your father about this, but I'm going to give you a detention!"

"No." Valerie said to herself. She winced.

"December third, after school, you, me, and whatever other little teens who get themselves in trouble from here on out will spend two hours after school polishing lockers."

Valerie was sad. "Do I have to serve it on the day of the party?"

"Yes you do, Valerie. In the future, might I suggest you think about the consequences before you take action."

Valerie slumped in her chair. As much as her tempered nature would make her to argue with Lancer, Valerie knew he was right. She looked over at Danny who was smiling at her. She smiled back weakly. There was just something about that boy that allowed him to still remain happy regardless of the tragedy that was happening around him.

Valerie wished she had an attitude like his. Danny was always so much cooler than people at this school gave him credit for. Danny meant a lot to Valerie. Valerie wished that one day he would open up his eyes and want to see it.

After the school bell rang, Tucker approached Valerie. "Where is Cecelia?" He asked.

Valerie's smile disappeared. "I honestly don't know." And then she walked away coldly.

"Wait, Val!" Danny called to her. He followed her to their next class.

"What's Danny doing?" Sam asked Tucker.

Tucker sighed. "Just let them be."

"I've got a bad feeling about the day of the party."

"What do you mean?" Tucker inquired.

"I just don't think it'll end good, that's all. I'm afraid something bad will happen to Danny. And I'm also afraid about Danny and Cecelia going to destroy the Equator."

"Wait a minute Sam, they haven't even picked a date for that yet. For now, let's just enjoy the big Dash Bash we have ahead of us. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. You should ask Garth."

That got Sam's mind out of worrying real quick. "Garth? Why? Do you think I like him?" She rattled off.

"Do you like him?" Tucker smiled because he already knew the answer.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I'm not exactly sure."

Tucker laughed at the serious expression Sam had on her face. "You don't have to be exactly sure. You just have to admit to me that you like him."

"That is something I will not do." Sam said. She and Tucker took seats and Sam still looked at Danny.

"You've gotta be kidding. Really, Sam?" Tucker read her mind. "I'd hate to be straight up with ya but somebody's gotta tell you. He and Valerie are together now. That's one of the many reasons why you and Garth belong together."

Sam shook her head.

Up at the front of the classroom, Danny and Valerie sat next to each other holding hands.

"I have a surprise for you that I'll show you at Dash's party." Danny told Valerie.

Valerie giggled she could only wait and see, but she secretly hoped it would be something cheesy and romantic.