Bonjour, mes chers! This is going to be quick, but basically I'll be uploading and proofing the chapters I have for Substitute right now and writing/posting the last five tonight. Keep an eye on my tumblr because I'll be posting updates throughout the day as well as news for which story I'm going to be working on next!

Enjoy!

Chapter Sixty

::

"Alright, let me see if I understand this. A few years ago a man named Freakshow managed to reveal to the world who you were and sent you on a wild hunt for ancient ghostly artifacts that were made to control and alter reality and after defeating the man who controlled all of reality, you used the gauntlet to reverse time and wipe away the memories of everything that had happened."

"Sounds about right, yeah." Danny wouldn't lie. He was enjoying Randy's baffled look a little too much. It was just so difficult to confuse Randy that he had to enjoy it when he finally did manage it.

"You think he'd just steal GW," Tucker put in, glasses pushed up as far as he could go and three computer screens around him as he worked at his desk. Danny was surprised he was only on his third cup of coffee. "If he wanted to change reality, I mean."

"My powers are limited," Andrew said, startled as Sam and Tucker suddenly groaned. "Wha- What?"

"You used your teacher voice." Sam made a face, Danny choking on laughter. "Look, I like that you make Danny happy, but I don't want to be teached on my days off school." The look of pain on Andrew's face was so beautiful and Sam's smirk just made it perfect.

"Don't torment ghosts in my room." Ah, fourth cup of coffee. "Why can't we use your parents or Vlad's equipment to get in? I'm not running the best system here, Danny."

"Can't. Section 13 is probably watching our servers. They won't suspect an attack to come from you." Danny stood up and flew over to Tucker, wrapping his arms around him. "Plus you're the bestest-"

"Oh, get off me." Tucker halfheartedly shook him off, Danny laughing and moving back far enough to cool Tucker's coffee down with a flick to the side of the cup. "And that's why you're not kicked out, yet. Your boyfriends might have to go, though."

"Oh, yeah, threaten the ones with guns and knives," Randy muttered, stretched out over the floor and yawning. He looked like a lazy mutt. It wasn't made much better by the fact Andrew was propped up against him and grading homework. "We were deadly assassins, once-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, feared the world over, great to know. We've hunted ghosts for two years and I'm carrying at least two Fenton tech weapons and a thermos on me."

"Wait- What? You are?" Danny looked over at her, frowning as he looked from the tight black jeans to the high-waist purple sweater. "You're lying."

"She's not," Andrew and Randy chimed in, Danny frowning even further. "How are- No, don't wanna know. Don't use them on us."

"Why, Danny, I would never use them on you-"

"Or my mates."

"Or your bodyguards."

"Was that supposed to be an insult?"

"I suppose-"

"Oh, shut up." Tucker turned around to glare at all four of them, Danny shooting him a sunny smile. Tucker looked like he was trying not to laugh as he turned back to his screens. "Alright, I can't get into the deeper databases right now, but I got us into the mainframe."

"Impressive." Randy flit over to stand on Tucker's other side, leaning over to study the screen, frowning the more he and Tucker read before finally muttering a very nasty word in French.

"That bad, then," Sam said quietly, leaning back on Tucker's bed with a groan. "I don't want to have to save the town again. The town needs to stop needing to be saved."

"So eloquent in your papers and yet." Andrew grunted as a shoe him in his back, glaring as he turned to throw it back to her. "Randy?"

"Not good." Hovering in the air, Danny braced his hands on Tucker's shoulder as he leaned in closer, swearing himself. It looked like they had files on every ghost in Amity Park - recent files. Walker had been telling them a lot, it seemed. And there, top of the list, Public Enemy #1 - ugh - was him. Danny Fenton/Phantom.

"I'm screwed." If they ever found any proof - anything at all - then Danny was never going to have a normal life again. Clockwork couldn't just wind back time whenever Danny needed him to and Andrew couldn't change reality as a whole - not on a scale that large.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Looking to Tucker, Danny frowned at seeing him look deadly serious. "It might take me a few hours, but I can at least throw up a few roadblocks for them.

"Dude, I'm so glad we had to share a mat at nap time." There was a choked snort from Andrew, Danny frowning over at him. "Hey, it's not my fault Tucker spilled his juice on mine."

"Don't get them started," Sam sighed. "Otherwise they'll tell the Saga of the Swings." Grinning, Danny shook his head and oh, yeah, he had really lucked out when it came to the people in his life. He supposed that made everything else worth it.

"I'll resist the urge to comment further. There is one thing that's been bothering me, however." And Andrew being bothered never worked out well for them. "How have they been hiding from-"

"Blood blossoms," Randy hissed, saying the name like it was a curse. Danny was right there with him. He remembered how dangerous they felt. It felt like he had been trapped in the portal all over again. "They aren't just toxic to a ghost or form a barrier to keep them out. The reason they're so deadly is that they drain and suppress all ghostly energy." Drain and… Suppress. "Walker and Section 13 have to be using them to cloak themselves and the building."

"Fuck." Welp. When Andrew started swearing then they were indeed well and truly fucked. "There's no way for us to get into that building if they're using blood blossoms."

"And that's what you have us for." Sam scooted off the bed, standing up and dusting her hands together. "I need to get home for Mom's stupid dinner thing, but keep me up to date and let me know whenever we're going to launch our attack."

"We probably won't be that dramatic," Danny moved to hug her as she reached the door. "We have Mom, Dad, and Jazz, too." There were other ghost hunters that weren't- "Hey- Hey! What about Valerie? If we told her just what she needs to know-"

"No can do," Tucker interrupted, shaking his head. "Valerie's been pretty much awol since the second semester started. No one sees her besides in class. I think she quit her job at the Nasty Burger, too."

"Seriously?" That was weird. He knew her dad had gotten his old job back as security at Axion, but he thought she kept the job after that to keep some extra money coming in. "That doesn't sound right. Andy, does she have any of your classes?"

"I know she was in an English class near the beginning of the year." Andrew shuffled the papers together, looking to be thinking. "She doesn't have French or Creative Writing, as far as I know."

"She's been skipping out on lunches, too," Sam added, finally squirming out of Danny's hug. "Like Tuck said, she's gone awol."

"Vlad stopped seeing her, too. She stopped coming to him not long after Elle was all healed up." It didn't make sense. Why would Valerie just stop…

"Get out of this before you get hurt. You know it, don't you? The way you're going, you'll get caught in the crossfire that's about to happen and there will be no one to help to you once that happens."

"I…" That conversation they had when Spectra had still been screwing with him. Everything had been so scrambled then, but now that he was clear headed it was a different story. "I think she might have found out who me and Vlad are."

Ignoring the other's reactions, Danny thought back and it made sense, really. Not only that, but Valerie had been trying to protect him in her own way. Get out of this, she said. Out of what? Just what crossfire had she been talking about?

Fingers on his chin were tilting his head up, Danny blinking at Randy's steady look. "Things are building up, again," Danny explained quietly. It was the same feeling before he stepped into the portal. The same feeling from when Pariah Dark had shaken the world and the answers to the CAT had been in his hand.

Things were about to get bad again.

::

"There's gotta be another way." Danny was frantic, tearing through the information in front of him and trying to piece it all together into something that made sense. "There just has to be- This can't be all there is to it!"

"No one said state testing made sense." Andrew's tone was as bitter as his coffee and Danny groaned as he collapsed backward into a pile of papers. The three were in Vidya's gardens but Danny couldn't even enjoy it because he was trying to finish all his built up homework and also studying for the state testing that was coming up that made no sense.

"It doesn't seem that bad," Randy said, flicking through some papers. Danny had the urge to throw a rock at his head.

"We can't all have an eidetic memory." Eidetic- Oh, photographic. Wait.

"You have a photographic memory?" At Randy's nod, Danny frowned further. "That's so unfair." No wonder Randy was so dangerous. "It's still not fair that we have testing. They want us to conform!"

"Careful, mon cher, you're sounding dangerously close to quoting Samantha." Sticking his tongue out at Andrew, Danny huffed as the man rolled his eyes. "Be grateful that you don't have to worry about it from a teacher's perspective."

"You only have to worry about yourself failing," Randy laughed. "Andy here has to be concerned about his entire class."

"They're all idiots. I'm merely going to try and get them to pass with a C." Mm. "Da- Danny. I don't like that look."

"Mm." They were all fucked. "It's not fair that we have to worry about Section 13 and testing. Where's the fairness in that? Superman never had to deal with tests!"

"Superman didn't go to high school when he started his heroics," Randy shot back, helping Danny sit up out of his pile of papers. "Right now we can't focus on Section 13. There's nothing we can do until we get more information."

"That doesn't mean I can't be bitter about it." With that, Danny was falling back again and sending up another cloud of papers. "Look how many trees died for this. They didn't deserve it."

"I'll be sure to send them some apology letters." Not fighting as Randy linked their hands and pulled him up again, Danny sighed when he was sitting. "We'll be okay, Danny."

"Doesn't feel like it." Blinking at the kiss, Danny laughed between breaths before leaning back in for a moment longer. "You know what? You're right."

"He is? How much did I miss, then?" Ignoring Andrew, Danny gathered his worksheets with a firm nod.

"I can't just be sitting around here and moping when I've got work to do. So, yeah, these tests probably won't decide my life for me, but it's still something I can focus on!" Getting them all into a rough stack, Danny nodded to himself and yeah- Yeah! He could do this! "I'll pass these tests if it's the last thing I do or my name isn't Danny Riter!"

At first, Danny didn't realize anything was wrong. At first. It quickly changed because Randy started making a funny wheezing sound and Andrew was blushing bright enough to act as a night light if he wanted.

It was then Danny realized in perfect clarity just what it was he had said and idly wondered if he could convince Clockwork to make him disappear from both worlds for the rest of eternity. For now, he settled for quickly gathering his papers and running away as quick as he could.

Running away, of course, meant hiding under the covers in one of the guest rooms and wondering what cruel god had taken an interest in him. He didn't get to wonder too long as someone was pulling the covers back just enough to comb a hand through his hair and that was way too quick for his liking and Vidya was a traitor. "Kill me."

"Mm, no." Ugh, Andrew. Now there would be embarrassing talks and- "I'll forget for now if you do."

"Oh my god, I love you." Really, he loved Randy, too, but Randy was a dick and would hold this over him for years. "You know what would make me love you more?"

"Yes, Danny, I'll help you study." Pushing himself up, Danny tackled Andrew down into a bruising kiss that probably hurt more than anything. He couldn't bring himself to be too upset when Andrew was laughing and hugging him closely. "I love you, too."

Mm… Danny Riter, huh? It didn't have too bad of a ring to it.

::

"It seems that you lot have been finding out the same things we've been." Vlad was flipping through the research Tucker had managed to find and print out before he was forcibly ejected from the entire system, although he had wrecked a lot of shit on his way out. "Blood blossoms."

"Which means you can't get in anymore than we can. Not unless you know some super secret awesome ghost way-"

"I don't, I'm afraid to say." There was no need to laugh at him. "At least we know that they aren't doing anything drastic quite yet."

"Yeah, visiting at school and trying to have Andy turn in Phantom isn't drastic at all." That had Vlad swatting him with the papers he was holding, Danny sticking his tongue out. "I'm not wrong!"

"Have you noticed how ghostly this town is becoming?" Startled, Danny looked over to where Randy was sitting at the table, coat and guns shed and fingers tapping an absent rhythm into the wood of the table.

"What do you mean by ghostly?" Maddie set a cup of tea down in front of him, Randy sparing her a smile.

"It's… It's the way the energy of this town is, I suppose." Randy took a sip, seeming to think his words over. "With most human towns there's always this buzz of the living. It's something sharp and warm and almost overpowering. With Amity Park, though, I've noticed that it's not as… It feels like the Ghost Zone when I'm here, these days."

"I- Yeah, actually, I know what you mean." Danny flew over to sit on the edge of the table, Vlad giving him an odd look. Ah, probably because he was still in his 'human' form. "Even when I avoided the Ghost Zone I still felt super energized a lot of the time. Ghost are supposed to need ectoplasm or whatever, right?"

"Well, in a way." Vlad leaned against the counter, pushing his glasses up in a way that was so Andrew Danny had to slap a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. He still got a swat from Andrew, but worth it. "Maddie, do we still have that research?"

"Yes, Jack's been hoarding it." Looking between the three with a frown, Danny shared a look with an equally confused Randy and Andrew.

"Got it right here." Jack waved a sheath of papers, grin wide. "It's actually really interesting and I haven't had this much fun on a research project since college. Basically, Amity Park was filled with ghostly energy even before we opened that baby down in the basement."

"It was?" Andrew frowned, looking to Randy. "Was Amity Park a natural spot for portals forming?"

"I… The thing is, it actually was. It's been a steady spot for forming portals since I've been a ghost and a decade ago it got even crazier." Oh, jeez, Danny forgot how old these two were sometimes. Don't think about it, Fenton, don't think about it.

"It seems as if the whole town is on some sort of gateway between the worlds." That… That would make sense. Even when the ghosts got out of the Ghost Zone they always stuck around Amity Park and the truce Danny had made with them encouraged that. Andrew was now teaching at the school. So much had changed in just the few short years since the portal had opened. "The border between the worlds is thin, here."

"The veil thinning, then," Andrew snorted to himself, startled as Maddie pointed at him and had her 'scientist' look on.

"Actually, Andrew, the 'veil' was a rather late concept that originated in Victorian times."

"No- I know- I was making a joke-"

"The worlds of magical and reality have always been intertwined and while I don't believe in magic, we have proof of the worlds bleeding with what we're seeing here in Amity Park!"

As Jack and Vlad chimed in with educating Andrew, Danny could see the man was looking torn between being horrified and reaching for a notebook to start taking some notes down. Smile falling, Danny looked back to the papers they had brought on Section 13.

The worlds were bleeding and ghosts were happy here more than ever before, but with Section 13 running about with Vlad's stolen technology… It was starting to feel like the ghosts were running out of places to go.