Chapter Seventy: Guys in White

"Nnngh!" Danny cringed in pain as he endured electrocution far stronger than the grapple did. His fists opened and closed and his eyes flashed green before returning to blue. He couldn't fight, couldn't escape on his own!

"Alright, that's enough." A man said, and the binds on his arms and legs released him, dropping him to the floor. "Yes, you seem to be handling things much better than before. Strange how you seem to be retaining your human traits even as a ghost. I wonder what your blood is like?"

Oh joy, he was going to be poked and prodded. He was told to lay down on a lab table and did so, lying perfectly still as they removed his bandages and discarded them. "Nothing underneath." He heard the man murmur. "Why do you keep the bandages?"

"Because when I died, I was still healing from when the psycho psychic clawed me? I have the bandages from Jack the Ripper the 58th too, wanna see them?" Danny asked, looking at the man.

"Hm, we might." The man picked up surgical scissors and started to cut up the front of Danny's shirt, exposing his pale chest.

Danny sighed, just letting them do it. They pulled his shirt off in pieces and then started to untie the bandages around his shoulder. "There's no wound." The man looked at him. "Why do you keep the bandages?"

"Because they're encoded into my DNA." Danny replied. "When a ghost dies, their outfit is what they last recall wearing. Since I didn't want to be in a hospital robe, I recalled wearing this. It keeps regenerating no matter how beat up it gets."

"Fascinating." The man scribbled something onto a clipboard. "We didn't know that about ghosts."

"Well, maybe if you would talk to them instead of cutting them open or shooting them all the time, you'd learn more about them." Danny looked at him. "Ghosts are just like humans. They love, they hate, they hurt, they heal, they're happy, they're sad, they get jealous, and they feel guilty…" He sighed. "And you don't know any of this stuff until you actually talk with them. I didn't know any of it until I became one of them, because I was raised that ghosts were bad and I felt I had to stop them, even to the point of entering the Ghost Zone and attacking them. I never actually talked to them."

"Hm." The man scribbled some more. "Well, we're just going to collect a sample of blood." He started to hook something up to Danny's arm.

"Uhm…" He looked at it. "What is that?"

"It's a machine used for donating blood." The man smiled. "Jack Fenton thought that ectoplasmic blood could make a human into a superhuman, if diluted just right to not make them half-ghost or get them sick."

"How much is 'a sample'?" Danny asked.

"How much do you usually give when donating blood?" The man asked pleasantly. "Not too much, and I'm sure you'll recover it just fine with some rest. Dr. Wilson observed that Phantom ate while he was here before, is that the same for you?"

"Yeah, I ate." Danny nodded. "Pretty hungry now, actually."

"Then once this is done, you'll have some food." The man nodded.

"Right. Uhm…what was your name?" Danny asked.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I am Dr. Claude Miller. You may call me 'Claude' if you would like." He smiled and then returned to the task of pricking Danny. "You'll find that not all scientists are cruel. Your father is the dangerous sort, if you ask me."

"Yeah, you're tellin' me." Danny huffed. "He's pretty two-faced."

'Danny?' He heard Phantom's voice in his head.

"I pity you for living with him for so long." Dr. Miller chuckled a bit.

"Yeah." Danny nodded distractedly. 'Phantom?'

'Thank goodness! I heard you were taken by the Guys in White?!'

'Me and Dani.' He thought, then winced. "Ouch!"

'"Ouch"? What happened?' He heard Dan ask.

'Sorry, didn't mean for you to hear that.' Danny thought. 'They're just taking a blood sample, the needle hurt at first.'

'As long as that's all.' Dan said warningly.

"Sorry, a little hard to find a ghost vein." Dr. Miller said, smiling apologetically. "We're lucky your skin isn't blue yet."

"Yeah, well, I hope it never is." Danny sighed. "I like my skin, thank-you-very-much."

Dr. Miller chuckled. "So, who was the ghost captured with you?"

"She's Danny Phantom's apprentice. Apparently she doesn't like ghosts going crazy, either." Danny chuckled. "She changed her image to look just like him but female, isn't that nutty?"

"Someone has a fangirl." Dr. Miller nodded, looking amused.

"Anyways, we were just hanging out and apparently got found by the Guys in White somehow." Danny said, nodding.

"You were flying over this location. They picked up on two ghosts and went to investigate what they thought was Phantom." Dr. Miller explained. "Don't worry; nothing bad will happen to your friend. She's mostly here now to keep you from running off, but you're being surprisingly compliant."

"Put me in front of Jack the Ripper again and I'll show you how 'complaint' I am." Danny scoffed.

'Do you know where you are?' Dan asked.

'Yeah, I'm in that arena-lab.' Danny thought. 'Dani's not hurt, and I'm cooperating so I'm not really hurt either.'

'You know, that doctor said he would call back. I'll wait for that. Hang in there, Danny.' Dan said encouragingly.

"Actually, they do want to see you against the ones you fought before." Dr. Miller said after being silent a while. "But, I thought I would hear your word on it. We violated your rights before, and it's only fair we try to make it up to you now."

Danny looked thoughtful. "…Will my powers be unlocked?"

"We'll have guards close by." He replied.

Danny grinned. "Sure, why not?"

"Just be careful not to kill our specimens." Dr. Miller said, nodding firmly.

"I have a 'no kill' policy." Danny assured him.

"Good to hear!" Dr. Miller smiled.

"Danny!" Dani ran up to him as he entered the room. "You were gone so long, I worried that—why are you grinning like that?"

"Payback." He punched his fist into his hand. "I lost badly to someone here before. I've just been given the chance to fight her again!"

Dani blinked, surprised. "So…you're okay?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "They'll be bringing food soon." He walked over and sat down on a plush chair in the room.

"Your shirt and bandages?" Dani walked over to him.

"They'll regenerate." He shrugged.

She sighed and sat on the chair with him, practically sitting in his lap. "How can you be so calm?"

"I'm not calm, I'm excited." Danny corrected her.

"We're imprisoned!" She huffed.

"You're safe, so long as I cooperate. And I can handle anything they dish out." He assured her. "Do you want to watch the fight?"

"Your eyes are green again. Why do they do that?" She asked.

"Dunno. But it seems to happen when I feel strong emotion." Danny said thoughtfully. "Anger, rage, sorrow...my blue eyes turn green. Maybe from my ectoplasm reacting to my emotions." He looked at his hand as the bandages started to appear and wrap around his arm again. "See? They're already coming back." He looked towards his shoulder, the bandages appearing there as well. The shirt regenerated shortly after, leaving him looking like he did when he arrived – aside from the green eyes.

Dani sighed. "To answer your question...yes. I do want to watch the fight."

He smiled. "They'll accommodate that."

They looked up as Dr. Miller came in with some food. "Here you are. I've sent my notes to the leader, so you should be sent to fight soon. I brought some for her as well." He smiled at Dani.

"Thank goodness, I'm starved!" She got up and to get her food.

"What's your name, by the way?"

"Dani, with an 'I'." She said, bringing Danny's food to him.

"Was that also something she changed because she's such a fan?" Dr. Miller looked amused.

"Yeah, she used to have another name but she insisted I call her 'Dani'." Danny chuckled a bit.

"Well, eat up. I'll be back in when it's time for the battle." He started to head out.

"Tell them Dani wants to watch." Danny said.

"Of course. How could I deprive her?" Dr. Miller smiled and walked out, the door sealing seamlessly again.

"What was that about?" Dani asked quietly.

"He asked why you looked like Phantom. I told him you're Danny Phantom's biggest fan and changed your appearance to match Phantom's." He replied quietly. "Just stick to it and they shouldn't ever question it."

"Right. Your biggest fan. I can do that." She nodded firmly.