A/N: Grr, this chapter was giving me so much trouble. I may come back and re-edit it. :(. As always, if your character isn't the way you like them, don't be afraid to tell me. (politely please.)
Alex wasn't much of a morning person. So when the knock came at his door, he glared at the noise. "Hey, Ice Princess. It's time to wake up," Thalen's arrogant voice came from the other side of the door.
"Go away," Alex mumbled turning over and putting his pillow over his head to block out the other halfa.
"Come on sleeping beauty or I'm going to eat all of your breakfast," Thalen yelled again from the other side.
Alex groaned to himself briefly wondering if the other halfa enjoyed annoying everyone else. He got up slowly before opening the door to his room. "I'll be there in five minutes," Alex said coldly.
The taller halfa smirked, "Nice PJs." Thalen chuckled to himself before waving to Alex and retreating. Alex looked down at his sleepwear, but didn't see anything wrong with his attire. The teen closed his door. He changed into his normal outfit before heading to the kitchen.
He walked in and took note of everyone. Thalen was sitting beside Abigail. Alex narrowed his gaze at this. It was obvious that the thief liked the younger halfa and Alex felt oddly protective of the girl.
"Catalina, don't try to show off," Vlad's exasperated voice called out drawing Alex's attention to the two adults. Vlad was sitting at his usual spot at the head of the table watching the oldest halfa at the stove. Catalina held a pan in her hand giving the man a mischievous smile.
"But they want to see me flip it," Catalina said shaking the pan filled with what looked like a pancake.
"Do it, Cat," Thalen encouraged. Abigail gave the woman a nod. Catalina's gaze met Alex's as if to see if the teen agreed with the others. Alex shrugged as if he didn't care.
"Alright, here goes nothing," Catalina said putting one hand behind her back before jerking the pan in her hand. The pancake flew into the air and half of it landed in the pan the other half fell to the floor.
Thalen gave a full body laugh that was matched by Catalina's, Abigail giggled behind her hand, and even Vlad seemed amused. Alex smiled at the disappointed look on the woman's face. "Well, half of it is good," Catalina said with a shrug before turning back to the stove.
Alex took his seat across from Abigail. "Good morning," the girl greeted. Alex nodded his head in response. Catalina appeared beside the table balancing four plates in her arms. She passed out each to everyone before grabbing one for herself. Alex looked down at his plate of food. He wasn't quite used to this sort of 'family' meal time; most of the time back home he ate by himself.
"So important news everyone. Today, you are all staying here… unless you want to go home," Catalina said.
"Where are you going?" Abigail asked.
"I'm making a trip to Amity Park. Don't worry. Vlad will be here," Catalina answered.
"Amity Park? I have a friend that lives there," Abigail said excited. Thalen looked upset at the tone the girl used.
"Oh, what's their name? I could tell them you said hi," Catalina offered.
"Danny Fenton. I met him when my brother and I went to a ghost hunters convention. We decided to be penpals," Abigail explained. The girl didn't catch the fact that the woman choked on her food; Alex did and was a little concern until the woman composed herself quickly. The girl was still speaking about her friend. Alex caught the pointed looks the adults were giving each other; he couldn't read their expressions well enough to determine what they were trying to say to each other.
"I have bad news," Catalina began slowly, "…Vlad?"
The man narrowed his eyes at the woman, "Daniel Fenton is dead." The billionaire said the sentence without emotion, but Alex could tell that the man was upset with the fact. The pain was clear behind his dark blue eyes.
"How?" Abigail asked her blue eyes wide.
"That's a long story," Catalina said. "You see Danny's family and friends died in a terrible accident. Danny was a halfa like you are." The oldest halfa looked to Vlad.
"He came to live with me. I looked after him for a month before he came to me," Vlad stopped.
"Danny wanted to rid himself of his ghost half because he felt guilty that he couldn't save them," Catalina picked up where the man left off. Alex could understand Danny's pain, but couldn't fathom separating his human self from his ghost self. "Long story made short, Danny Phantom merged with Vlad Plasmius making Dan. Dan killed Danny Fenton."
The breakfast table became absolutely quiet. Alex looked at the two adults realizing that Dan was their fault. "How did you two make it out?" Abigail asked looking at the two adults.
"I teleported Vlad and myself out of there after a brief fight with Dan," Catalina said all the enthusiasm from before lost.
"You can teleport?" Thalen said impressed leaning over his food. Abigail smacked the thief on the forearm giving him a glare. Thalen as if intimidated by the smaller girl backed off.
"Yea, I can teleport. It's actually easy when you know what to do. But it's dangerous if you don't prepare yourself," Catalina answered in a tone that suggested that she didn't want any more questions. "I need to head out now before it gets too late." The woman stood up from the table before dropping her plate into the sink and leaving the kitchen.
Alex watched the woman leave wondering what she meant by teleportation being dangerous. "So what other tricks does she know?" Thalen asked the question directed to Vlad.
The man gave the teen a knowing smile, "You have to ask her that yourself. I'll be in the lab working. You can entertain yourself with whatever you find. Lunch will be at 12:30." With that Vlad left the table, washed his dish and left the kitchen.
The three teens looked at each other. "Maybe we should work on sensing ecto-energy like we did last night," Abigail suggested.
"Sure that sounds like a great idea," Thalen said. Alex shrugged, but otherwise agreed with the other two teen halfas.
DP~DP~DP
Leon phased through the door to the abandoned building. He ignored the blaring sign reading "Fenton Works". At one time, Leon would have avoided this place because of the ghost hunters that lived here; but now it was the perfect place to stay seeing that no other living creature wanted to come near the place. His ocean blue eyes looked toward the kitchen before he walked over there. He was pleased to see that no one else decided to take residence in the building. Leon ran his hand through his chestnut brown hair before heading toward the living room.
His enhanced hearing caught the sound of the front door opening. Leon glared in the direction as he heard light footsteps. A woman with black hair and white bangs came into view. "What are you doing here?" Leon asked harshly.
The woman smiled, "I could ask you the same question, but it doesn't matter I'll be out of your hair in a couple of minutes." She walked passed the teen. "The name's Catalina by the way. It was very nice to meet you," the woman stated as she walked away.
Leon followed after the woman not liking the fact she was imposing on his place. He watched as the woman walked to the lab in the building. Leon hurried faster to cut her off; the portal was his and he wasn't willing to share. He switched to his ghost form. Leon's brown hair changed to a vibrant blue and his blue eyes became an emerald green.
The woman if she noticed the teen following didn't mention it as she entered the lab. Catalina looked around before putting objects into the large duffle bag hanging off her shoulder. Leon watched as she put what looked like a belt into the bag which was quickly followed by a couple of gun looking devices and a thermos.
She seemed pleased with herself as she walked to the active ghost portal. "What are you doing?" Leon asked fists clenched.
The woman's brown eyes turned to meet his not at all surprised with seeing a ghost floating in front of her. "I'm destroying it, of course. You'll be glad that I did," she said with a smile before turning back to the portal.
Leon narrowed his eyes at the woman. "I want you to leave," Leon said stomping to the woman and grabbing her arm stopping her actions.
"I still have another hand," the woman said as if it was a joke waving it. Leon tightened his grasp on the woman's wrist. The woman narrowed her eyes at the taller halfa. "I really need to destroy this portal could you let me go?" she asked.
"No," Leon said bluntly before pulling the woman away from the portal.
"You know this is very rude," the woman said before Leon lost his grip on her wrist. Leon turned sharply to face the woman. He didn't take kindly to people who spoke negatively about him. He swung his right fist missing the woman as she darted back. Her eyes widened as the attack barely missed her.
She gave him a smirk before a bright pair of white rings traveled over her body. In the woman stead was a blue almost vampiric ghost. The ghost's fanged smile didn't break as a second ghost an exact duplicate to the first floated to the portal and started to push buttons on the portal.
Leon jetted to the duplicate his fists full of ecto-energy just to be stopped by a shimmering blue ecto-shield. Small cracks formed along the surface which caused the ghost woman's red eyes to widen. The shield was dropped as Leon swung his other fist just for the ghost woman to dodge the blow. Leon swung both fists trying to hit the woman who remained out of touch. Even with the short blasts of ecto-energy with each punch, the woman danced and weaved out of the way.
"Well, this has been very fun, ghosty. But I have to go. You understand, ghost shield being put up and all that," the woman said with a grin. Leon punched again; this time the blow was really close to the woman's ribs considering he felt the fabric of her dress across his knuckles. Leon smirked at his small improvement until he noticed the duplicate beside the woman point above his head. The teen looked up to see another shimmering shield before it shattered and ecto-energy shards fell around him.
They struck the ground before blue electricity sparked between them making an effective barrier. Leon looked at the sparks jump from shard to shard. "Pretty neat trick if I do so myself," the woman said with a grin as her duplicate merged with her. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. The electicity will die down after I leave, Ta," the woman said with a short wave before flying out of the lab leaving the teen halfa alone.
DP~DP~DP
Catalina shifted back to her human form as quickly as she could. She put a hand to her chest where her core was. She frowned at the burning sensation that always occurred briefly after using her more advance abilities. "You shouldn't have duplicated, Cat," she reprimanded herself. "You could have put the ghost kid in the thermos and then destroyed the portal. Oh wait what happened to that one kid that was in the living room? He could be hurt," the woman debated whether to turn around and head back to Fenton Works, but decided against it. During her brief encounter with the blue-haired ghost, she hadn't heard a heartbeat and therefore could assume that the teenage boy left the building.
She shrugged to herself. "Besides, I need to make sure that the base is still intact." With that the woman prepared to head back to Wisconsin.