A/N: LONG TIME NO SEE! *sheepish laugh* So, um...yeah…..I tell you to pester me if I don't update quickly enough. I've been working long days, but I have time to write...I just...get stuck...and while I understand where the story is going, I'll agonize over how to write the scene and then still not be happy with it. I'm just out of practice. Please pester me obnoxiously so I can get back into better shape. Remind me of my obligations to you!
Thank you, stormpix and Ashley Bolton, for reminding me to update!
Chapter 24: Run
He'd forgotten how loud battle was. How chaotic. When Blizzard had limped, near-dead, back into the Far Frozen this morning, he'd only returned with one critical piece of information.
Amity Park was the target.
Now, in the sky of the living world, the dead are at war.
He rips the skull off of a thrall, crushing it in one icy claw. His eyes scan the battlefield, keeping track of his fellow yeti. All around him, his brethren tangle with the enemy, a flurry of snow-white fur and bone. The air reeks of ectoplasm and singed fur. At the forefront of the battle, he can sense the struggling energies of the Great One and the Fright Knight, and hear the clashing of their blades.
"Keep these flies away from the Great One!" he roars over the din, "In the name of peace!"
They roar back in agreement, pushing back the thralls. He himself rams a shoulder into a tight cluster, their brittle bones fracturing beneath his strength.
"You cannot beat me with power while I have the Crown!" The Fright Knight shouts, unleashing a swathe of flame that engulfs skeleton and yeti alike. The Yeti King clings to his core, squeezing out as much energy as he can to form a solid wall of ice to shield his warriors.
Amidst the roaring flames, he hears another crossing of blades, and then a cry of pain. All falls silent and still. Beyond the army of thralls awaits a scene that chills the blood.
"Neither can a young upstart like you expect to beat me by the sword," The Fright Knight hisses, his own sword plunged deep into Danny Phantom's chest. Phantom's own sword is gone, knocked away in the fight. He grasps at his enemy, trying to summon a burst of energy, but it seems to drain away before he can catch it.
"The Eternal Realms will not fall to you," he gasps.
"It will with you gone," He rips his sword from the younger ghost's chest, "Halfling."
His green eyes slip closed, and he begins to fall, transforming into the all-too-fragile, all-too-human Danny Fenton, his all-too-crimson blood staining his shirt.
A roar of rage tears from the yeti king's lips, and he plunges into the remaining enemies, his claws slashing through and crushing bone, freezing ectoplasmic flame. Up ahead, his king, the Great One who saved them from Pariah's darkness, is slung between two thralls, marching him towards a murky portal.
"That will not do," The Fright Knight growls, the crown upon his head glowing brighter, "Make your choice, Yeti King," a malicious smile chases his words as fire gathers around his sword, "Choose. Your beloved 'Great One', or his precious humans?"
Down below, screams erupt as the thralls turn their attention to the humans trapped in traffic as they scramble out of their cars to the nearest shelter.
Not that it matters. Few buildings have yet installed ghost shields. The thralls can march right through the walls.
He looks down at them, and then at the beaten and battered Fenton. He knows what the Great One would say. He'd fly down to protect the humans without hesitation.
"That's the problem with your king," The Fright Knight mocks, "The living will always come first, Yeti King. Are you certain you will not change sides? Become a faithful servant of King Plasmius, the rightful king of the Infinite Realms! All you have to do is turn around and attack the humans down there to prove your loyalty, and I'll put in a good word for you with His Highness."
A blue beam of light flashes from down below, narrowly missing the Yeti's nose. The Guys in White swarm into position, their blasters charging with a high-pitched whine that hurts his ears.
"Then again, perhaps the humans will kill you first," he laughs darkly, disappearing into the portal behind his captured prey.
From the midst of the white-suited agents rises a figure, his face hidden by a visor. Surrounded in a faint green glow, he floats into the air and raises its gun, its sight trained on the yeti king.
"Hey! Frostbite!" A flash of red intercepts the blast, "Battlefield isn't a good place for a nap!"
"Huntress…"
"I'll handle these idiots - they'll be hesitant to harm a human. Fright Knight's already pulling his troops out - y'all better retreat and regroup yourselves!"
"But the Great One-"
"Plasmius will want him alive so he can gloat and grandstand. We can rescue him later! For now, retreat!"
Swallowing thickly, he raises his arm and signals a retreat.
ZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzBREAKzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZ
The room is dark, lit only by the monitors in front of them. Tucker frowns at a line of code, taking a bite of cold pizza that Burgess had ordered a couple days ago.
"Lockdown's tight," Burgess mutters.
"No kidding."
They type in near-silence, broken only by the occasional snort of triumph followed closely by a curse. Since being away at school, he hadn't had time to check up on Amity's systems, and it's become abundantly clear the the Guys in White had elected to take advantage of his absence.
"They were always trying to worm their way in here when I was mayor, but…" he sighs, massaging his temples, "I kept stonewalling them and booting them out of my system."
"They've really anchored themselves in here. I'd say they didn't like it when you were Mayor of Amity Park."
"They were pretty pissed when I made them clean up Mrs. Marigold's shop after they wrecked it chasing Johnny Thirteen," he snickers, "I wouldn't let them file a report or requisition for bleach until they finished getting their butts kicked by an old woman with a broom."
The slightest hint of a smile curls Burgess' lips, "When did that happen?"
"While you and your pals were trying to kill my best friends."
"Sell them."
They return to silence.
"Tuck, Fright Knight's here."
"Got it. Val...I'm going to see if I can crack through while they're distracted. With how many ghosts are about to pop up in Amity Park, they might call everyone to the field."
"Sounds good, Babe. I'm enough for both of us anyway."
"Ha. Ha."
"I'm a little worried about one thing. They keep talking about some sort of special weapon on their radio frequencies."
"Any details on it?"
"...It's apparently not working right. But based on the way they talk about this thing...if they get it responding...it'll be bad."
"I'll see if we can get any info on this thing. Secret weapon have a name?"
"They're calling it Changeling."
"I'll see what I can dig up. Keep me updated on the battle. If you need me-"
"-You won't get here in time...wait, are those…?" she groans, "You've gotta be kidding me. Cameramen?! Hey! Stupid! You're standing in a war zone!"
Burgess snorts, "You know, Amity Park seems to be a town where one is either a genius or irredeemably stupid."
"Stupid's better than a convict," he rebutts, listening to Valerie swear at the cameramen over the radio.
"You know what, Tuck? Just turn on the T.V. if you want to keep up with the fight! These fools are filming the whole darn thing!"
Burgess flicks it on before returning to his monitor, Tucker following suit. His fingers fly over the keyboard until the noise of the television begins to fade. From one code to another, slipping through the miniscule cracks in the security.
"Danny!"
He screeches to a halt, "Val, what's wrong?!"
"...Your friend isn't looking very good," Burgess nods to the screen.
His hands begin to shake, and his throat runs dry as his best friend begins to fall, exposing the truth on television. His vision swirls, remembering that day in the Infinite Realms, when he thought Danny had died.
He'll be okay, he'll be…
"I have to go," he whispers hoarsely, hand reaching for his blaster, "He needs our help-"
The blaster is knocked out of his reach, and he locks eyes with Burgess.
"Boss," he frowns, "We have a job to do. Let them handle their part."
"But, Danny-"
"You can't help him, but you can help Amity Park."
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"Val, you have to get out of there!"
"No time, Tuck. They know I'm friends with Danny and they aren't going to believe me if I say I didn't know that he was Phantom," she narrowly dodges a blast, using her sled to knock the shooter to the ground.
"Which is exactly why-"
"Tuck, I'm drawing their attention. You and Burgess are our best hope for breaking this quarantine. You need to shut down shop and vanish!" She leaps from her board, kicking an agent in the chest, "Set up where they can't track you!"
"Val, I'm not leaving you!"
"They aren't gonna kill me, Babe! Just...go before I hurt you myself!"
He curses, and the radio cuts off, leaving her alone.
She calls her board back and hops on, flying above the rabble to survey the scene. Agents O and K are furiously demanding that she submit to arrest. She sends them falling to the dirt with a weak blast that hardly singes their suits.
A small beeping in her ear tells her that something is rapidly approaching her from the back, and she swoops upward, narrowly dodging the helmeted man in white who had fired at Frostbite before. He stops to hover in the air, wordlessly staring her down somewhere beyond his opaque visor.
"Who...or what are you?" She asks, getting no response.
He raises his hand, the faint green glow around his body growing stronger with a strange hum.
Ectoplasm?!
She slices her board to the side, sweeping around to attack him from the side, but he vanishes from her sight. Her board rocks beneath her feet, bucking her into the ectoplasm-scorched air. Within moments, she's in a chokehold, still floating in the air above the agents.
"Well done, Changeling," Agent O nods, turning his gaze to the captive Huntress, "You knew?"
Changeling? It's...a person? "Knew what?"
"The identity of one Danny Phantom."
"Would you believe me if I said no?"
Silence.
"I figured," she rams her head back into Changeling's face, startling him enough to wrest herself from his grasp. Her board charges in, and she latches onto it as it passes by. She glances back to where changeling has lowered himself to the ground, his visor little more than spiderwebbed glass.
Should've made it more resilient than that, she snorts, taking a brief moment to appreciate her own shatter-resistant, bullet-proof mask.
Still...who is he?
ZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzBREAKzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZ
The air is still, stifling. Her chest feels tight, too constricted to breathe. Tears border on her eyes, a scream tearing from her lips as she watches the screen. Green ectoplasm turns into crimson blood, emerald to sapphire, snow to shadow.
Danny Phantom becomes Daniel Fenton.
All eyes slowly turn to her, fear, suspicion, shock, and hatred assaulting the ghostly side of her senses. The violent wave of emotion directed at her makes her a little dizzy, and she struggles to shut it out.
"Danny Fenton is…?" someone whispers hoarsely.
"Then...Destiny…?"
I have to go help Danny. He's hurt. Danny's hurt. I have to help him. I have to help Danny. Danny. Danny-!
She can't tear her eyes away from the screen. Two of the Fright Knight's thralls have caught Danny, their skeletal fingers digging into the halfa's skin. Frostbite roars, tearing his way through his enemy, determined to reach his friend.
Shouts filter in from the hallway, but she can't hear them over her pounding heartbeat. Agents stationed within the school have already made the connection as well, but are having difficulty getting past the doors Principal Lancer had smartly locked as soon he saw the broadcast.
"Mrs. Fenton-"
"Danielle!"
"Oh. My. Gosh," Carlita gasps, "I was kicked by a dead girl!"
"Did the Fentons…?" Connor stares, wide-eyed and pale, ready to pass out.
"Dani! Get ahold of yourself!"
Her eyes tear themselves away from the screen to meet Ashton's.
"Any minute, the agents are going to blast their way in here to arrest you. Then no one can help Danny," he says quietly, "You need to run."
"She's not going anywhere," Carlita sneers, "I am not becoming a known accomplice of a ghost!"
"She's been saving your lives," Ashton glares, "And Phantom's been doing it even longer. He saved the world as we know it. He's an international hero!" He glances around at his fellow classmates, who all stare at Dani in apprehension, "You're unbelievable."
"Ashton…" He's...not afraid?
"You should all be ashamed of yourselves."
Carlita's lips twist into a scowl, "They're the ones that lied to everyone!"
"You're the idiots who couldn't see what was right in front of you!"
"Oh, so you knew?"
"It's just a palette swap!"
"I'm terribly sorry to interrupt our little discussion, but I still believe that we have a bit of a problem," Lancer glances at the door, where flashes of blue light can be seen through the cracks.
The door blows open, and white-suited agents pour inside, their blasters trained on the halfa.
"Danielle Fenton, you are under suspicion of being a ghost, and are hereby under arrest. Come with us," one of them motions with his blaster.
"She's not going anywhere with you," Ashton steps in front of her.
"Uh, yes she is!" Carlita huffs, storming closer, "She's a nasty ghost!"
"The nasty one here is you."
"Excuse me?!"
"Your personality is entirely irredeemable."
"Say that again, you loser!"
"Step away from the suspect-"
"No."
"You are interfering with the arrest of a spectral spy-"
"She's no spy. She's a hero!"
"Step aside or we'll arrest you too," the agent growls.
"Go ahead. Dani, you need to run. Go help your cousin."
"She's not going anywhere!" Carlita latches onto the halfa's arm, "She'll be properly arrested-!"
"I'm not leaving you to the wolves, Ashton!" Dani grabs his arm and transforms, pouring power into both him and Carlita, "Let's get out of here!"
She pulls them both into the air, making a beeline for the walls.
"The Ghost Shield!" Carlita screams, seeing the faint green glow.
"The Fentons made it so it'll let Danny and I through-what are you still doing here?!"
"Making sure you don't escape!" she wails.
"Let go!"
"But we're so high up!"
They touch down in the local park, Danielle transforming back into a human and shoving her core as deep down as possible. It's strangely quiet, the sounds of battle somewhere in the distance, like thunder. Everything is falling apart, yet here in the park, the fountain is still splashing and bubbling, birds are still chirping, and she can hear the Town Hall's clock chime.
Thinking of what just happened, it's a little disorienting.
"Can you let go of me yet, Carlita?"
"Not until we're on the ground."
"Don't look down," Ashton gasps.
She glances down with a squeak.
"The ground is closer than you think."
She glares at him, loosening her deathgrip on the halfa's arm.
"So what's the plan, Dani?"
"What makes you think I have one?" she kicks a pebble, "I was never good at planning. But we'll need a plan to help Danny, so…" she rubs the back of her neck, a mirror image of her cousin, and looses a long breath, " We can't stay here for long. We'll need somewhere to lay down low for a second. Fentonworks is out. It's gotta be crawling with agents. School's also out."
"You can't run from the government, ghost-girl," Carlita pouts.
"You wanna bet?" Dani snorts, looking around, "I traveled the world for two years by myself!"
What would Danny do?
"When you don't know what do to, take a few steps back. Regroup. Granted, I'm not the best at it either!" Danny laughs, "But that's what Clockwork told me to do. It helps."
When she'd been traveling, she'd continually found a place to sleep in abandoned buildings, forgotten in a war of red tape and circumstances. Here in Amity Park, houses abandoned after a ghost attack aren't exactly few.
"You're free to get lost, Carlita," Dani waves, "We'll handle it from here."
"How am I supposed to get home? You dragged me all the way out here!"
"Walk. Find a bus or something."
"Nu-uh, not in these heels!"
"Then sit on a bench and whine."
"What if a ghost attacks!?"
"If you come with us, you'll be an accomplice, you know," Ashton smirks, "You don't want the G.I.W. to arrest you, do you?"
"They wouldn't," she gasps.
"They might. You went intangible with me. You're probably contaminated with ectoplasm. They'll lock you up in a lab and dissect you!" Dani jokes, ignoring the pit in her own stomach.
That's my fate if I'm caught, she swallows, "Anyway, we have to get going. Carlita...you in or out?"
She looses a frustrated groan and stomps along behind them.