Full summary: Danny has his life shaken up by a confrontation with Valerie when she informs him that not only does she know his secret but Vlad's, too, and calls a truce. Meanwhile, Vlad has a new, secret plan. Danny and co. team up with Valerie and find out that Vlad is searching for the mythical journal of a legendary ghost called Sojourn. Can they stop Vlad and convince other ghosts not to join his side? Regardless, choices will be made, revelations will occur, and there is no turning back.

Prologue

"Tell me, Valerie, what you hoped to accomplish tonight."

In hindsight, the answer to that question should have been nothing. No point trying to beat herself up over it. Not now.

Valerie sat, bound and chained to a chair, gazing up at her attempted target as he floated in the air of his lab. Her suit did not respond to her mental commands; he had disabled it somehow, which left an unsettling chill up her spine.

How had she never realized this man was evil? She decided she could be forgiven for not having made the connection between Plasmius and Masters (similar sounding voices wasn't enough to connect them when they looked different and had been seen in the same place at the same time), but Masters was someone she should have never trusted.

And yet he had all but told her already, hadn't he? Back when she had met him for the first time, he had insisted he was joking when he'd admitted that his behavior sounded like he was manipulating her. At the time she had laughed with him.

But now . . . It was so easy to lose herself in self-loathing. Did she deserve this, being his prisoner? Was being made into his pawn her punishment for having been such a stuck-up, spoiled brat?

She forced her chin up. "I wanted to shoot you in the face."

That had been exactly what she'd attempted when Masters had summoned her earlier. The message had come out of nowhere, considering she had heard nothing from him for the last week. Valerie had kept up her ghost hunting schedule, had even run into the ghost boy, Danny Phantom, just the other day. And yet her employer had remained silent.

Maybe this was why.

God, how had she thought she could get away with hunting him? When she'd declared that last week, she had felt full of confidence. No way that arrogant man would suspect her of having figured out his secret. Despite that, the moment she had arrived in his presence and had initiated an attack, he'd knocked her out like it was nothing.

She had woken up like this. To her relief, he told her she had only been out for half an hour. Losing time like that was part of why she just hated—and she meant hated—ghosts.

There were a lot of people Valerie didn't like. But ghosts were so much easier to despise. These days it had less to do with the dog and boy who'd destroyed her father's security system and more to do with their creepy overshadowing ability. Valerie still remembered how so many in the area had been taken over in the first real ghost invasion and no one had even realized until the ghosts were gone.

And Valerie remembered when she'd been with the ghost boy in that eerie place he called the Ghost Zone. She'd trusted him to get her back home, and he had, but she had no idea how he'd done it. One moment they had been on her hoverboard in that awful place, the next she'd woken up in her bed. Had he overshadowed her? The fact that she didn't know made her that much angrier. Not just because of his lack of warning—it figured a spook would think it was okay since he'd gotten her home, not considering her feelings—but even just knowing it was that easy to do. She had been in her suit, constantly on guard, and yet she'd lost time.

The man chuckled. "You certainly gave your best attempt. You know, I really do believe you're the best ghost hunter in Amity Park."

"Why? Because I was such a good pawn?"

"Well, I won't deny that that was part of it," he said, landing on the ground. "But haven't you wondered, Valerie, why I chose you? You don't think I just happened to find out about your ghost troubles, do you?"

Valerie felt her blood run cold. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I had been planning on buying Axion for some time. Imagine my surprise when I heard about what happened with your father. I had not originally planned on giving any children ghost hunting equipment, but I simply couldn't pass up such a marvelous opportunity."

"So you already knew about me?"

"Of course. Your father was the respected head of security and I knew you were a ninth degree blackbelt. I like performing background checks. It was so convenient that you ended up hating ghosts as much as you do."

"And you just prove that hatred right," she snarled.

He smirked. "Temper, temper. You remind me so much of Danny Phantom."

Valerie bristled at the comparison. "Why? Because he knows you're evil too?"

"No, because you're both young, easily enraged, and self-righteous. Valerie, I hoped that you could have been convinced to see the world in a less black and white manner but it seems I was mistaken."

"You used me! Why would I listen to anything you have to say?"

"Why, because I have you captured."

"You can't keep me here forever," she said. "My dad or someone from school or Phantom will notice."

"Oh, Valerie, I can do whatever I want. You wouldn't be the first young lady your age to go missing and never be found."

Valerie struggled to school her expression. She refused to let him manipulate her emotions like that.

She shrugged. "Even if you do get rid of me, who're you gonna have doing all your dirty work?"

"I would agree but with recent information," Masters said, "I do not think your services will be needed any longer."

"What?"

"You wouldn't understand, my dear. It's chess and I've just gained exactly what I need to make my next move. Of course what happened with Danielle was unfortunate but it was a minor setback, really."

"You tried to have her killed!"

"She was no longer of use to me," he said with a frown. "If you had simply followed my order and been a good girl, perhaps you wouldn't be sitting here and your family would not be stuck in that apartment."

Valerie felt the rage bubble up again. How dare this white man call her a "good girl," like she was some kind of pet. Good girl was what they told you when they wanted you to go along with injustice, like getting girls killed.

"I'll never be your good girl!" she shouted.

He sighed. "Very well. I suppose we'll have to do this the hard way. You may not care what I do with you, but what about your father, Valerie?"

"What are you going to do, kill him?"

"Oh, I don't think that will be necessary. As I'm sure you've learned over the last year or two, there are things that are much, much worse than death."

That sent another shiver up her spine.

"Besides, I am still his boss. I control your entire future. Let's make a deal, shall we? Don't tell him anything, continue to act as if you never knew I was part-ghost. You will no longer be in my employ but I may occasionally . . . check up on you."

"Personally?" She doubted that would be necessary. The man was the mayor. Surely he could have someone else watch her.

"Why, of course. I never like to part with my pawns. You may no longer be what I intended you to be, but I am proud of what you've accomplished."

"Nothing I have done is because of you!"

"Nothing? Who gave you your ghost hunting equipment?"

"I still had to get it working. And I saved you once. That was a mistake." Her tone rang with disgust. "I have no idea why the Fentons like you."

"Old college friends. Ah, Maddie. She is brilliant. And her son, Daniel, is I believe your friend?"

"Yes, he is." But they had not spoken much in the last few months.

It occurred to Valerie that Danny Fenton might actually be in grave danger even without her ghost hunting. She remembered seeing that incident on the news, when the mayor had accidently harmed the boy. She had tried to rationalize it away, since Vlad had been aiming for Plasmius (one of his duplicates?). Now, however . . . for all she knew, it'd been on purpose. He spoke with far too much interest in the woman and bitterness when using Danny's name.

What sort of history did those two have?

"Well, Valerie. Do we have a deal?"

She gritted her teeth. "Fine. Deal."

"Excellent." He smiled. "You better be getting home, then. You wouldn't want your father to wonder where you were."

He had her released and her suit went back online. She summoned the hoverboard and her helmet and went out the window, sweeping through the air as she felt her thoughts go a mile a minute.

There was something she was missing. Masters obviously had it out to get Danny Phantom—the two had been spotted fighting in public on multiple occasions, plus all the times he badmouthed him in statements to the press. The ghost kid had made it clear that they hated each other. And yet Vlad seemed to reserve the same special hatred for the Fentons' son. Why?

That was what she spent the next week agonizing over, after learning to get comfortable in her dad's presence, having to lie to keep him safe. She spoke with Danny a few times, asking him about nothing other than school. She was tempted to ask him if he knew that his parents' friend was some kind of half-ghost but even if he did, why would he tell her?

As far as she knew, he didn't hunt ghosts. And he didn't know she did.

So who could she go to with this information? On the one hand, there was the option of talking to the ghost boy. He had known for ages that Vlad Masters was a bad guy and certainly had already known that it was possible to be both a ghost and a human at the same time.

But she didn't trust him and not just for the obvious reasons. To defeat Plasmius, she was willing to put all that behind her but something about the ghost boy just didn't add up in her mind.

He had a cousin who was apparently some fusion of ghost and human—in Plasmius's words, part-ghost. And in their ghost forms they looked incredibly similar. And she had not spent much time in the girl's presence, but her human form had almost reminded her of—

No, it couldn't be true.

Danny wasn't a ghost. He couldn't be. Besides, Phantom and Danny had been seen in the same place at the same time.

Vlad could duplicate, a part of her mind reminded her.

But if Danny was the ghost boy . . . What, she thought, clenching her fists as she glided to school that morning, he would have told you? He wouldn't have outed her to her father? How would she know such a thing? She and Danny had hung out before but they weren't close like he was with Sam Manson and Tucker Foley. Besides, it wasn't like she'd told him about her ghost hunting. Heck, she'd broken up with him over it.

Looking back, he had seemed so shocked. If he really was Danny Phantom (and wow, how uncreative of him), that might have been why. He probably thought that with her suit destroyed, she wouldn't be able to hunt him anymore.

She genuinely wondered if he had really tried to kill her that day.

So much rage had been directed at him. She had shot at him so many times, had hurt him to try to use him for information. She had literally refused to believe him when he'd told her, so long ago, that not all ghosts were evil after helping her.

No, Valerie. She needed to stop entertaining the possibility. Danny wasn't a ghost. She was jumping to conclusions again.

Without meaning to, she found herself paying him extra attention. How had she never noticed that right before he ran out of a room, he'd shiver and his breath became visible? What even was that? She had seen it before but there'd been pretty intense air conditioning or it'd been winter. But now . . . She wondered.

She ran into the ghost kid again during patrol. She shot at him but decided to go easy on him for once, just to get a chance to observe him.

"Oh, come on!" He turned around to see her. "I'm not causing any trouble."

" 'Course not," she said bitterly. "You're just here to play hero."

"Uh, I'm not playing. I really have saved the city a bunch of times."

She resented that he was right.

"So, what, here to take me prisoner again?"

"No," she said. "I'm here for information. The ghost girl, your cousin? Is she the only one you know, who's like that? Ghost and human?"

His eyes darted through the air and he rubbed the back of his neck. (Another gesture like Danny's, she thought.) "No. But keep it quiet. It's not really common and the last thing someone like Danielle needs is for the Guys in White to learn it's possible to be both a human and a ghost."

"She's an American citizen, right? Surely her civil rights should keep them from coming after her?" Valerie had mixed feelings on the Guys in White. Sure, she was all about hunting down ghosts but how overzealous they were about it didn't appeal to her. Plus, they'd almost killed civilians a bunch of different times.

He snorted. "You think that matters? Congress has been pretty crazy lately. They passed all these stupid laws that mean anyone they say is a ghost can be taken away."

"Taken away?"

"For lots of painful experiments," he said with a grimace.

"Yikes."

"Right? So, please, I know you have issues with me but don't go blabbing about half-ghosts. Do it for Dani."

"I won't," she promised. Then she took off before she could make herself ask if he was half-ghost himself.

A few weeks passed and Valerie got the idea that Danny was avoiding her. She tried to write it off that he was just busy, that they weren't close enough for her to always be invited to hang out, especially since his friends didn't like her.

But she knew better.

One day, she got a message from Vlad Masters, daring her to interfere with his new plan.

Valerie had no idea if this was some reverse psychology nonsense or if he genuinely wanted her to try to stop him, but she felt dumbfounded all the same.

What could she do, anyway? The last time she'd gone after Vlad alone, she had been beaten with ease. She supposed she could go to the ghost boy, but would it even be enough at this point?

Valerie took a few days to admit to herself she never did things because they were plausible. Deep down, she'd always known that she became a ghost hunter not because she actually thought she stood a chance even with all the fancy anti-ghost weapons, but because she was willing to try. And this time she was letting her fear get in the way of that.

Fear of being worthless, weak. Fear of being nothing more than the pawn she'd been for so long unknowingly. Fear of being right.

Whether she liked it or not, there was only one person she could go see to talk about this. A person who had started avoiding her and now she had copied his behavior.

It was time to confront Danny, once and for all. If she was right, they had a lot to say to each other.

She was so scared of what might happen, what she might do, might find out. But if she didn't . . . Could she honestly let Vlad Masters just go on with his evil plans without at least trying?

Not without sacrificing everything she had ever stood for.

And so there she was that night, confronting Danny Phantom, who was thankfully alone again.

"No guns, this time?" he asked with a weak smile.

"Hi, Danny. No, no guns. Listen. I, uh—I know about you and I know Vlad's like Danielle."

Author's Note: So my thoughts on season 3 of Danny Phantom after my recent rewatch are pretty negative, though Valerie and Danielle's only spotlight episode was, of course, top tier. So like many fanfic writers, I just had to write something to make myself feel better. This plot has been in my head for a month and I just decided on a whim to give it a go. I've got it plotted and outlined but this will probably change a whole lot. Feel free to make suggestions on plot points or characterization or point out plot holes. I've never been a good plotter. I always appreciate constructive criticism.

This is a reveal fic but I wanted to get the Valerie reveal out of the way to focus more on plot stuff. As I've said before I'm not a big fan of Sam or Tucker so this fic after this prologue will be my best attempt to do them justice.

Here on FF (unlike AO3, on which I also post under this username), for those who want it, signed reviewers are offered the option of me PMing them my outline. (Also, if I ever abandon his, I'll probably post my outline as the last chapter.) Since unlike on A03 I can't just tag "gen," I will say this now: there will be no romantic pairings. Yeah, Danny/Sam was inevitable based on this point of season 3 but I'm not into writing shipping so for the most part, interactions between characters will remain platonic.

Also, I'm currently looking for a beta.