A/N: Welcome back for another chapter! This one is special, because the notes for this chapter were the last ones I had finished before I published the first chapter! It's also the half-way point of season 1 of this story. No other notable things to mention right now, so just remember to comment and review!
Danny and Star were sitting in the park, watching the sunset. It was their first date alone since their bizarre relationship started, and Kim had encouraged Danny to take Star out solo, since she had a mission to go do; something about a billionaire destroying a secret club he got kicked out of.
"It's nice to just chill for a bit, it seems any time we manage to get alone together, there's either homework or ghost attacks to worry about." Star said, leaning her head against Danny's shoulder while they sat on the bench.
"Probably best not to jinx it, you've seen how bad some of their timing is." Danny said his head quickly scanning for any ghost activity. Star patted his head.
"You put the box ghost in the portal this morning. Even he doesn't usually show up more than once in a day." She said, laughing a bit. "Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and Technus are on call, if they run into something they can't handle they'll let you know, but that Fenton Peeler packs a serious punch, there's probably nothing to worry about."
"I know, but I can't help but worry. I'm the one with the powers, I hate that I even have to have you guys fight ghosts with me. You all should be enjoying your normal lives, not dealing with my stuff." Danny said, looking dejected.
Star stared at him for a moment, before laughing. "You think we'd rather be doing anything else? You don't make us fight ghosts Danny, we choose to do it. Hell, the only time you've ever even asked me to do any of the ghost fighting was asking me to hold down Spectra, and that was because Kim and I could get to her fast enough to hold her down. I'll admit I wasn't completely sure of everything when I started, but I know that Ghost fighting is important to you, and you're important to me. So therefore, ghost fighting is important to me. Besides, It's been great exercise! I'm not quite able to keep up with Kim yet, but I'm getting better all the time!"
Danny smiled a bit, reveling in her laughter. "I guess it's not all bad. I do like having you with me, and knowing you can take care of yourself during a ghost attack is nice."
"You bet! Maybe I should get a superhero name too, you're Phantom, maybe I could be like… Starshine!" Star said, twinkling her fingers as she said the word.
"Probably not necessary babe. Kim and Ron don't have superhero names afterall." Danny pointed out.
"I guess you're right… I'm surprised you told Ron about everything." Star said, leaning into him again.
"He… well he was bound to figure it out eventually. With me helping with their missions, and Kim dating me… it was just a matter of time before something happened that needed Phantom, and he would be there to see it. It's better to pull that band-aid off early I guess." Danny said, sighing.
"What about Valerie then?" Star asked. "She's my best friend, and I don't like that I have to lie to her. I know it's your secret, but… she's your friend too, and the only one who doesn't know already. Maybe we should tell her."
"I know, and I'm sorry you have to do that. It's just… I don't know Valerie as well as you do. Ron's been my friend since the beginning of the school year, and we've stopped bad guys together. Valerie and I have never had a conversation without you around, barring when she threatened me for cheating on you." Danny said.
"I know, and I'm not saying we have to do it immediately… just… soon? I know she can keep a secret, and she's getting increasingly used to the other superhero weirdness. She barely flinched when you jumped down that hole after Kim when Global Justice took you guys. I don't know if she'll be joining us on ghost fighting or anything, but she should know what the rest of us are doing." Star said.
"I will, you're right, she deserves to know, we just… have to find a way to break it to her easy. If we go about it wrong she might freak out or something. Ron freaked out a bit after all." Danny mentioned, thinking of Ron's reaction to the news.
"Ron freaks out about everything." Star pointed out, laughing at their blond friend.
"I guess he does." Danny chuckled.
The group found themselves at the Amity Park Mall the next day, Kim excitedly attending the grand reopening of Club Banana after it had been destroyed by Paulina during her dragon accident. Star and Valerie were both interested in finding some new clothes during the opening sale, and Danny, being a good boyfriend, offered to come carry their bags. Tucker had been dragged along as well, so he at least had company while the girls shopped.
"Dude, why'd you volunteer us for this? This place is packed!" Tucker complained, sitting on the edge of one of the mannequin platforms at the front of the store, Danny smiled, kneeling down next to him.
"Because volunteering us for it made them happier than if we came along begrudgingly. If we're nice, they might even let us see them model some of the clothes. If you're REALLY nice, you might even get to pick out something for Valerie." Danny said, a knowing smirk on his face. "You gotta take the good with the bad with a girlfriend Tuck. It's not all dates and make-out sessions. Sometimes it's waiting in a store that for some reason sprays banana scents every 20 minutes while your girlfriend picks out the same clothes she could buy at the store immediately next door for half the price." Danny said, taking a seat next to him.
"When did you become relationship savvy?" Tucker asked.
"Never did, I'm just doing my best here. Jazz is thankfully pulling some of the slack, and telling me how to handle dating." Danny said.
"But Jazz has never had a serious boyfriend." Tucker pointed out.
"She hasn't, but she is a teenage girl who knows what other teenage girls would like. Also, you've seen the guys who go to our school. Tell me a single one who you would even think would be a good date for her." Danny said, raising his eyebrow in challenge.
"That Spike guy she psychoanalyzes is decent. A little gloomy I guess." Tucker said.
"Spike's not bad, don't think Jazz is into him though. She's looking for someone… brighter, not in a smart sense, Spike's plenty smart, but in a personality sense. Jazz is decently doom and gloom on her own a lot of the time, she needs someone more upbeat." Danny said. "In a weird way, Ron would be perfect, but I don't want to think about Ron dating my sister."
Tucker shuddered at that. "Man, imagine the cold war between Jazz and Kim if they ever got into a fight."
"Casualties in the millions." Danny nodded, fearful of the situation. "As such, we never mention this to anyone ever again."
"Agreed." Tucker said, turning his attention back towards the store. "So how's the relationship with Kim and Star going?"
"Better than I could hope. We haven't managed to really do any dates on our own, besides Star and I on Saturday while Kim was on a mission, but that's a consequence of Kim and I balancing our time between Hero work and our regular lives. Kim's globetrotting just means there occasionally isn't time for us to do anything. We talk every night, there's a group chat with just the three of us in it that gets plenty of use. Once football season is over, and we don't have to spend every Friday night at a game things will calm down a bit probably, we can use that time to do something with just the three of us maybe." Danny said, smiling as he looked over at the girls who were chatting about something. He couldn't make it out over the bizarre tropical pop music that played through Club Banana, but their smiles at least indicated they were having fun.
A chill ran down Danny's spine, as a blue mist burst forth from his mouth. He turned to Tucker, who nodded. "I'll tell Kim and Star, we'll distract Valerie so she doesn't notice you're gone. Let us know if you need back-up."
Danny ducked into a clothing rack, before flying out invisibly as Phantom, taking to the skies above the mall as he glanced around for the ghost who he sensed. "Alright wiseguy, let's get this over quick, I've got a date to get back to!"
"Tally ho, then youngster, let's see if you can handle the aerial superiority of the Dead Baron then!" Came a voice Danny would swear was straight out of a 20s radio show, as he heard gatling guns spin up.
Danny took evasive maneuvers as he finally laid eyes on his target, a skeletal aviator driving a bi-plane riddled with bullet holes. The plane circled around, coming straight for Danny as the guns spun up again, ectoplasmic bullets flying through the air. Danny threw up an energy shield, catching the weaker shots as the plane flew towards him, before he was clotheslined with the wing.
"Get off of my plane you greasy dog!" The Dead Baron called out, spinning into an aileron roll to get Danny off of the wing, it worked, and Danny entered free fall for a moment before he caught himself. The plane circled again preparing for another run.
'Can't just let him keep shooting me, and I can't really dodge his bullets or someone else is gonna get caught by them. I'll have to lure him out of the center of town, somewhere more open.' Danny thought, as he cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey, you Howard Hughes wannabe, let's see if you're as superior in the air as you think you are! Try and keep up!" Danny shot off away from the town center, the Dead Baron on his tail.
"I won't be compared to that plucky upstart! I am the Dead Baron! Master of the skies!" The pilot said, pushing his plane onward.
Danny pulled him further and further from the city, and into the Polter Heights district, where there were far fewer people. Large lawns and golf-courses spread out, it wasn't perfect, but it was a damn sight better than the middle of a crowded city. Wheeling around to stand his ground, Danny threw up a shield, ready to catch the plane.
The Dead Baron's gatling guns fired up again, riddling the shield with round after round of ectoplasmic energy. Cracks began to form but Danny held tight to the shield, reinforcing it with his energy. He needed to get closer, to close the distance before this guy caused too much damage. Their little chase had taught Danny that despite his abilities, he still didn't have an amazing grasp of fighting in three dimensions. There were angles and avenues of attack he simply didn't consider, this guy though, knew exactly what he was doing.
As the distance closed, Danny dropped the shield, building up speed to try and clothesline the baron out of his plane. Danny hit the pilot without issue, but his skull simply popped off while the plane kept flying.
"Meh! This is an outrage! Put me down you rapscallion!" The Dead Baron's skull said as Danny held it in his hands.
"You know what? I don't think I will." Danny said, as he pulled out a thermos and sucked the skull into it. Danny then turned and started flying towards the plane, to suck the rest of the body into the thermos as well, when he recognized something.
Without the head to pilot it… the body couldn't control the plane… it was going down. Right onto someone's house!
Danny shot forward, with as much speed as he could muster, trying to beat the plane to the ground. He wasn't fast enough though, and the spectral biplane crashed through someone's house, leaving a massive hole in their living room, and destroying it. Danny set down, rushing to see if there was anyone inside the house. It was empty thankfully, and Danny sucked up the rest of the body into the Thermos, leaving just the ghostly biplane laying on the ground.
"I hope their insurance will cover this.. .whoever's house this is." Danny said, as he glanced around. A picture on the ground caught his attention, knocked over by the damage the bi-plane did to the house. Danny picked it up, before almost dropping it again. It was Valerie, as a little girl, standing alongside her father, and a woman who had to be her Mom. This wasn't just anyone's house the plane had crashed into. It was Valerie's.
The pit in Danny's stomach grew as he surveyed the damage. Two whole walls were knocked down, and the fireplace was completely destroyed, leaving the second story hanging on by barely a thread. Danny reached into his pocket and dialed Star, hoping she would pick up.
"Hey Danny, get lost on your way to get us those smoothies? You remembered Kim and I both wanted cherry-limeade right?" Star said, giving him a good idea of the cover story she had made. He could have guessed the flavors they would have wanted without it, both of them loved Cherry and Lime.
Danny sighed. "I'm not on speaker right?" Danny asked, which Star responded that only she could hear him.
"Just got finished with a ghost fight. I'm fine, but there's been some damage. Valerie's house got wrecked. I'm going to call from the house phone here to emergency services, but it's probably going to be better if I'm not here when they get here. I'll be on my way back soon." Danny said, before he hung up the phone. Sighing deeply, he made his way into the house and grabbed the landline that they still had, and once he heard the dial tone, called emergency services and explained the situation. Danny then flew off, making his way back to the mall.
Danny, Star, Kim, and Tucker went with Valerie to her home once the responders had called about the damage. Valerie surveyed the damage from a safe distance, but the anger, hurt, and confusion were all present on her face. Damon Gray hopped out of his car and ran over to Valerie. "Val! Honey are you alright? Were you here?" He asked, checking over her.
"I'm fine Dad, I wasn't home. I was with Tucker and Star at the Club Banana opening. I got the call from Emergency Services and ran straight over." Valerie said, looking at the house. "What are we going to do?"
"Insurance will cover the damage, we'll have to stay somewhere else while we get the rest of this fixed. It'll be okay darling." Damon said, hugging his daughter.
"The fireplace… mom was on the mantle." Valerie said, tears in her eyes.
Danny's heart sank even deeper. He knew Valerie had lost her mom a few years ago… and he had just destroyed one of the few remaining aspects of her in her life.
"I know sweetie… I know. We still have our memories, and we'll see if maybe we can save some of her." Damon said, petting her hair gently.
Danny just stood on the outside, feeling entirely unable to be of any support at all. This was his fault, he caused this. He took away Valerie's home, Valerie's mother's ashes… he was the reason they were all gone.
Star stepped up to Valerie, giving her a hug as well. "I'm here for you Val. I'll help you get through this. You and your dad can stay with me and Mom. I can call her right now."
"Thank you for the offer Star, but we'll probably have to go wherever the insurance offers to put us up. We couldn't impose on you and your mother like that anyway." Damon said, trying to regain control of the situation. "What matters is that we're safe. I'll get on the phone with the insurance right now and figure out what we're doing next. Valerie, why don't you go ahead and stay with Star for the night while I figure everything else out. I'll either get a hotel or stay with Gary. I'll call you tonight okay honeybun?"
"Okay Dad… come on Star, I don't really want to look at this anymore." Valerie said, turning her back to the wreckage. Star led her away, while Tucker took Valerie's hand and gently squeezed it, shooting her a reassuring smile.
"We've got Valerie. Danny and Kim, why don't you guys go and try and enjoy the rest of your evening? I don't think Val needs all of us smothering her for now." Star said, shooting Danny a knowing look. Val needed her support more than Danny did right now, but she knew Danny was going to beat himself up about this, so Kim had to make sure he didn't start into a depression spiral.
Danny and Kim said their goodbyes, letting Valerie know that they were only a phone call away if she needed them for anything. After they had walked off, and were sitting in one of the parks that the neighborhood had, Kim sat Danny on the bench and crouched down in front of him, staring him in the eyes.
"You're not blaming yourself for this." Kim said, her tone not intending to give him any room for argument.
"But it's my fault! If I hadn't knocked the guy out of his plane, he wouldn't have crashed into her house!" Danny said, dropping his face into his hands.
"No, instead a crazy ghost pilot would have been using his gatling guns in the middle of a populated area. You moved the fight to a less populated area to try and reduce collateral damage. You did everything you could to make sure as little damage was done as possible. Did you stop all of it? No, but there's no way you could have recognized what the specific consequences were going to be at that moment. We can learn to be better, but we can't dwell on mistakes. How much collateral damage do you think I make when I'm fighting supervillains? I can think of a couple million in property damage, but do you know who is liable for that? The villain, the bad guy I am stopping, not me for trying to stop him." Kim said. "I know it sucks, trust me, I was just like you the first time a bad guy did some serious damage that I might have been able to stop. It just taught me to pick my fight locations better. You started that, you recognized that the Mall was not a good starting place for a fight, you learned from the dragon incident the damage that can be done, so you moved it away. No one got hurt, and insurance is going to cover that damage. They'll be fine, that's what all of that is for. Now I need to make sure that Danny is fine."
"But… her mom's urn. That's not something insurance can replace." Danny said his voice empty.
"It's not, but Valerie's life wouldn't be replaced by insurance if you had kept the fight at the mall. You picked the best spot you could reasonably take him to given the circumstances. It's awful that this damage was done, but it's not the end of the world. Are you going to be okay Danny?" Kim asked, pulling Danny's eyes up to look at her.
"I hope so." Danny said, pulling her into a hug. "I just feel awful, trying to figure out other things I could have done."
"And you will, you'll always think about what else you can do, how you could be better. That's part of what being a hero is. The drive to constantly be better, to help more. It's just important to learn that you're more than just the hero. You might be Phantom, but you're also Danny Fenton. You can't let the hero work dictate your entire life, otherwise you'll forget why you're doing it." Kim said.
"You've thought about this a lot." Danny noticed, as Kim took her seat next to him.
"Ron did for me actually. You know how much he loves his comics and games and stuff. When we started being superheroes, he started noticing I was falling into the same traps fictional ones did. He forced me to sit down and watch Spider-Man 2, which shows what happens when you are a hero and give it up to focus on your personal life, you end up having so much guilt that you aren't doing anything that it tears you up, and then he had me watch a movie, Superman Red Son I think, where that version of Superman becomes so disconnected from the needs of his people that he starts viewing them as statistics. They didn't matter as individuals, just as metrics. It isn't the most applicable to someone like me, I can only do small scale saves, but the message came through pretty clear. We have the power to do great things, and because we can help people with them, it's our responsibility to. However, we are more than just the power. We save everyone we can, mourn the ones we can't, improve ourselves as much as we can, and remember why we save people." Kim said. "Come on, you're taking me out for ice cream."
"I don't get a say in it?" Danny asked.
"You get to decide what flavor you get." Kim said, pulling him along. Danny smiled, walking with her, hand in hand.
At school the next day, Valerie vented about what had happened. "The insurance agreed to pay for the damages, and are putting my dad and I up in a hotel on the other side of town while we get the house fixed. They don't think it'll take too long. They managed to find a lot of the pieces of mom's urn, so we're going to use the dust and debris from the fireplace as filler to put it together. Hopefully that'll mean enough of Mom is still in there for it to count. I'm just… so mad at that ghost! Why did it have to crash into my house? Why didn't Phantom stop it?"
"Well Valerie, that's good at least. I know what it's like when you're fighting bad guys. Sometimes things just happen, you're focusing on one thing while another thing is happening." Kim said, subtly squeezing Danny's hand under the table.
"Yeah, like, one time Dr. Drakken was trying to zap KP with a death ray, so I pushed it out of the way so she wouldn't get hurt, but it ended up blowing a hole in a load bearing wall that caused the entire place we were in to crumble. It sucks that that building got destroyed, but it was better than KP biting the dust." Ron said, trying to be supportive.
"I suppose you're right, I would rather it be just some stuff that got destroyed rather than someone getting hurt. I just… wish it hadn't been my mom's ashes." Valerie said, that tinge of anger still in her voice, but sadness overtaking it.
"I know that's not good. I remember when my grandma died, it seemed that that urn represented everything we had left of her. Dad helped Mom, Jazz, and I remember that while the urn was part of her, she still existed in the memories we had of her, she still existed in our hearts." Danny said. "I know that's not exactly the same, I'm sure losing a parent isn't like a grandparent, but the sentiment is the same. Those ashes weren't the only legacy of your mom. You are, and the memories you have of her. The photos that I'm sure you have plenty of. She's still there, Valerie. The urn was just one part."
"You're right. I guess I just wish I could do something about it." Valerie said, defeated. "I don't want anyone else to have to lose something because of a ghost like that again. I can't exactly just run out there and start fighting them though. I don't have any training, or powers like Phantom."
"Well, you could come to my parents lab. I could show you some of our ghost fighting equipment. I will say that you shouldn't start actively go hunting for ghosts, not all of them are bad, but if you wanted something to defend yourself in an attack, we could teach you." Danny suggested.
The others at the table took a furtive glance towards Danny as he suggested it. Was this a good idea?
"You know what, that actually sounds good. I don't want anyone else to deal with what I've had to deal with." Valerie said, determination shining through her previously saddened tone.
At Fenton Works, Danny set-up their targets in the basement, handing Valerie a basic blaster. "Thing you have to recognize about the blasters as compared to normal weapons, they shoot what are effectively lasers, so there's no recoil. This means that once you pull the trigger, you're firing something at relativistic speeds towards your target. There's no leading shots, because anything moving fast enough to dodge one of these is moving too fast for you to even aim." Danny said, taking a secondary blaster and firing a few shots in demonstration.
"How do you hit something moving so fast then?" Valerie asked.
"You don't, you hope Phantom shows up if something's moving that fast." Danny said. "Admittedly, while we have some theories that ghosts CAN move that fast, we've seen them dodge the blasts, it seems very rare for them to really move at those speeds. Reaction time is quick but movement speed is relatively slow. Admittedly, we've still clocked ghosts at over 100 miles an hour, and from what we've seen, that's a low end estimate of what they're capable of."
"How have you guys learned all of this?" Valerie asked, taking aim at a target and firing. She was off center by a foot or so.
"Technus, that tech ghost you've probably heard us talk about a few times, has been a big help. We work with Phantom when we can as well. Beyond that, we observe and take notes of fights that we have with ghosts, and ones Phantom has. We have the ghost zone portal here, and we're hoping to start doing some basic expeditions within to learn more." Danny said, dialing in her blaster a bit better.
"How do you know they aren't bad ghosts trying to just get on your good side?" Valerie asked.
"They've had plenty of opportunities to cause real havoc. Phantom showed up before we were anywhere near prepared to deal with him, but he's been stopping ghosts from messing up the town for a few months now. Technus actively asked to work with us, he thought the tech we were developing was really interesting. Mom and Dad have theories about how a ghost is defined by their obsession, how they are formed by a connection to it. There's a ghost we deal with often called the Box Ghost, he's obsessed with boxes, they think that's not a decision he made, he was created by his obsession. I disagree with that. My theory is that ghosts are formed, and then find a purpose, often connected to who they were before they died, if they were a person, and in pursuing that purpose find fulfillment and meaning, which increases their power." Danny said.
"Have any evidence to back that up?" Valerie asked, firing again. Three inches off target, not terrible in a real world scenario.
"Nothing concrete. Technus seems to have gotten stronger since he started helping us with tech, but that could be based on any number of factors, not the least of which being time and power use. Technus could be getting stronger because he's using his powers more, like using a muscle." Danny said, correcting Valerie's stance a bit.
"Wait, why haven't you told us any about this?" Ron asked to Danny.
"You've never asked about any of the ghost fighting stuff beyond the gadgets we make. I imagine Sam and Tucker have heard me babble through some theories, and Star and Kim surely got some of it when I was teaching them the basics of how to fight ghosts." Danny said.
"Star and Kim fight ghosts with you?" Valerie asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Kim's a hero, so I figured if she was around she'd be trying to help anyway, so I've been teaching her as much as I can. I know that the ghost weirdness tends to follow me, so I taught Star the basics so she wouldn't get hurt. Sam and Tucker have been here every step of the way, so they learned alongside me." Danny said, noticing as Valerie hit her first bulls-eye.
"Hey! I got it dead center." Valerie said, some pride in her voice.
"Good. Hit it a few more times then we'll start having the targets move. Ghosts aren't exactly going to sit still for you to zap them." Danny said, before firing up the testing rig. "Aim for the ones that light up. It's like a carnival game."
Valerie focused, taking her blaster and hitting the targets one by one as they lit up. A scoreboard game up, putting her in fifth place.
"Hey, you did better than Tucker." Danny said, pointing it out. "Go ahead and enter your name, then I'll start the moving ones."
"Why did you guys put a scoreboard in?" Kim asked, looking over at it.
"Competition made practice fun. It's our family's equivalent of a dartboard. If we're bored and not working on something, firing this up for some practice isn't too bad. Mom's still creaming us though." Danny said, pointing to Maddie's number one spot.
"So you're better than your dad?" Kim asked, checking the leaderboard.
"Not by a huge amount. I can point and shoot faster, our actual aim is more or less the same though." Danny said. "Jazz is catching up and improving. Sam hasn't given this a shot yet since we installed it, and Tucker hasn't had a ton of practice with it."
Valerie practiced for another hour while everyone else made small talk she still had a ways to go before she could consider herself a proper ghost hunter, but it was a solid day of progress.
As Valerie made it to the hotel she and her father were staying at, the front desk attendant said that a package had arrived for her. Valerie took the box to her room in the suite and opened it. Inside was a red bodysuit, alongside a hoverboard. A note was included, taped to the front of the instruction manual.
"I was recently made aware of the unfortunate incident you had involving the ghosts that seem to plague the city of Amity Park. Regardless of what the Fentons believe, all ghosts are malevolent, and merely biding their time before they can strike. I offer this gift, so that you may enact vengeance upon them in my stead. Study up young Valerie, the Red Huntress will be taking to the skies soon. Signed, A Benefactor."
Valerie flipped through the instruction manual, the suit was loaded with all kinds of gadgets and gizmos for ghost fighting, and the hoverboard contained even more. It was pretty phenomenal as a piece of tech, and must have cost more than her father made in a year. Who would give this up? Much less give it to some random teenager? Valerie knew in the grand scheme of things she wasn't too special. Her grades were good but not exceptional, she was decently athletic, but no superstar. Surely someone like Kim or Danny would be a much better fit for something like this.
In a moment of pure fantasy, Valerie slipped the suit on, admiring herself in the mirror. The face mask was opaque from the outside, but supposedly it would respond to her desires to make it transparent by thought alone. Sure enough, thinking it made it happen. Mental commands gave ways to all kinds of functions. Wrist lasers, light construct blades, even the hoverboard whirred on with just a thought, floating for her to step onto it.
Danny's words about not all ghosts being bad floated through her head. He was knowledgeable to be sure, she'd seen him interact with ghosts. She herself met Technus today… he was strange but seemed friendly. This note though, it said that he was just biding his time, waiting for his moment to strike. Who was right?
Valerie's head hurt as she thought about it. A ghost had destroyed her home, torn away one of the last things she had to remember her mother by. But from what had been seen, it had been a total accident, Phantom trying to lead a dangerous ghost away from a populated area. Polter Heights had big empty yards, a perfect place to minimize collateral damage in an area otherwise as densely packed as Silver County. She knew that academically.
She needed to talk to someone… and she knew just who to call. Picking up her phone, she scrolled through her contacts list, pressing a button. "Hey, Danny? I know I just left your place, is Star still there with you? Can you and her meet me in the park? The one that's not too far from Axiom? Thanks."
Danny and Star arrived at the park, the sun setting over the horizon. Something had to be going on for Valerie to call for them so soon after they had split up to go home. What they couldn't piece together though was why Danny was here. Star made sense, she was Valerie's best friend, they were close, so if Val had needed a friendly ear, Star would be an obvious first choice. Danny wasn't even number 3 on Valerie's friends list. Tucker was obviously second, he was her boyfriend after all, and Ron was everyone's friend. Danny might have been next, although it could just as easily be Kim.
Valerie walked up to them, a backpack slung over her shoulder as she waved. "Hey, sorry to call you guys so soon after we just separated, but when I got back to where we were staying, I got a weird package. I was hoping you two could help me make heads or tails of what's going on."
"Happy to help Val, although why'd you ask for Danny and me specifically?" Star asked.
"The package was ghost hunting equipment, and from the letter and manual, it's not Fenton tech." Valerie said, pulling out the suit and board. "Danny knows more about this than anyone but his parents, and you're my best friend Star. I want your opinion here too."
Danny examined the equipment, and flipped through the manual for a bit. "Impressive stuff, same underlying principles my parents' equipment uses, but without a lot of our signatures. We'd be routing these traces differently, and definitely wouldn't be using this powersource."
"What's it using?" Valerie asked.
"Our tech uses a specific Copper/Aluminum/Sulfur/Radium mixture that produces the green light energy that we charge with ectoplasm. This one seems to use a Lithium/Tungsten/Plutonium mixture. Same ectoplasmic charging, but the color of these beams would be pink or purple." Danny said. "This kinda research is… well it's weird that anyone but my parents would be doing it."
"So you have no idea who could have sent this to me?" Valerie asked.
"Not enough of a hunch to give you any concrete ideas. I'd really like to have Tucker, Wade, and Technus give this a thorough looking over, make sure everything's above board." Danny said.
"You'd let Technus handle something this dangerous?" Valerie asked.
"Yeah, he's had every opportunity to go rogue with some tech and never has. Even stuff technically more impressive than this. I trust Technus." Danny said.
"But how do you know that all ghosts aren't evil? What if he's just putting on an act?" Valerie asked.
Danny looked at Star who nodded at him, before sighing. "I'm going to tell you something Valerie. It's a big secret. You can't tell anyone. Okay?"
"What is it?" Valerie asked, looking at him strangely.
"I know all ghosts aren't evil, because I am one. Half of one anyway." Danny said.
"What do you mean you're a ghost? You're flesh and blood!" Valerie asked.
Danny transformed, the bars of light flashing over him, revealing his Phantom form. "Over the summer, there was an accident with my parent's ghost portal. Somehow, through some stroke of luck, it turned me into a Half-Ghost. I'm still alive and breathing, but I otherwise have all the abilities of a ghost. There have been other Half-ghosts in the past, but there are only two of us now."
"Who is the other one?" Valerie asked.
"Vlad Masters. That's a secret too." Danny said, a scowl on his face.
"The billionaire?" Valerie asked, in shock. "He owns Axiom, the company my dad works at."
"Didn't know that, but yeah. He's one too. His identity needs to stay secret as well, because the second it goes public, my life is ruined as well as his." Danny said.
"Why?" Valerie asked.
"All it takes is one sketchy group who wants to dissect us to create an army of half-ghost super soldiers." Danny said. "It's why I try to not tell anyone. It's one of the reasons I didn't even tell my parents at first. I thought THEY might try and dissect me. I met Vlad, and realized how messed up handling all of the issues of being a half-ghost alone made him. So I told my parents and Jazz. I told Kim and Star before we started dating, because I knew I couldn't keep it a secret from someone in a relationship. Ron found out because we slipped up, chatted a bit too openly about it when he was around. Sam and Tucker were there when I had the accident."
"Does anyone else know?" Valerie asked.
"Vlad, and Global Justice apparently, although they're supposedly keeping it on the down low. One of their top agents didn't know about it even though he had clearance. It seems it's exclusively on a need-to-know basis." Danny said, with a sigh. "It's more people than I would like, but it's unfortunately too late to do much about."
"Were you planning on telling me before all of this?" Valerie asked, a blank look on her face.
"Once Ron found out, we realized it was only fair for you to know too. Kim's best friend got to know, so Star's best friend would as well. It wasn't because it was you that you were kept in the dark, it was trying to keep as many people in the dark as possible." Danny said.
"I'm sorry I had to keep it from you Val, but it wasn't my secret to share." Star said, giving her friend a smile.
"No… this is big. I get it. Can you tell me what happened at my house then?" Val asked.
Danny sighed, recounting the story. "... I was doing everything I could think of to limit the damage, and when I realized his plane was going down, I flew as fast as I could, but it was just too far away. I was the one who called the emergency services. I tried to stop it… I really did. I'm so sorry Val."
"It's okay… I understand you were doing your best. You tried to limit casualties, you just couldn't stop it all. I won't tell anyone, I promise… I can't say I forgive you right now, it's fresh, it hurts. But I'm sure I will soon. I need time." Valerie said. "I'm going to use the suit, fight ghosts. I'll take your word if some are good and some are bad. Go ahead and have the nerd trio look over it."
"One of the nerd trio is your boyfriend." Danny pointed out.
"Just because he's my nerd doesn't make him not a nerd." Valerie said, and the three laughed.
Their friendship was strained, but there were no more secrets. Team Phantom-Possible had expanded by one member.