Chapter Text
Danny jerks around, preparing himself for an attack, but only saw the dark sky and the empty yard surrounding Vlad Master’s mansion. He scanned the environment, but didn’t see anything. Everything was eerily still. No wind blowing through the trees, no birds or animals or people anywhere near him.
He knew what he had heard, though. Despite feeling as if he were alone, he was anything but. Not being able to see the threat made his stomach lurch. It has been a long time since he has felt like prey. When he had first become a ghost and hadn’t yet established his lair, Skulker had hunted him. Had chased him around the city, toying with him, while Danny had frantically tried to figure out how to be a ghost and how to escape. He hadn’t escaped. Instead, he had desperately turned to fight, only to realize how powerful he was. That fight had been terribly one sided, with the hunter being the one forced to turn and flee.
After that, ghosts from all over came to challenge him. To kill him. And he had won, despite the damages caused to the town he had taken a strong liking to. Soon after, he had claimed Amity for his own and decided to protect it seeing as he was powerful enough to do just that. Sure, he had been challenged by powerful ghosts, but the main threat was to the town, not to him. Nothing had ever really made him fear for his own well-being until he had sensed whatever the hell lived in this mansion. Whatever was currently hunting him.
Not seeing or sensing a ghost that he knew held power that rivaled, if not overshadowed his own… it was terrifying.
He tried to slowly drift backwards, through the bushes and tree trunks, raking his eyes desperately all around him to try and find the source of whatever had made that sound. Surely the ghost couldn’t see him, right? He was invisible and intangible. It shouldn’t be able to see or attack him.
But could it sense him? He couldn’t sense the other ghost, nor did he even know it was possible to mask your eco-signature. A trick like that drastically changed the playing-field. He felt a shiver run up his spine and backed away from the mansion.
If he fled, the ghost probably wouldn’t chase after him. If it wanted to guard its territory, then Danny could just leave but- but not with Valerie still inside. So instead, he took a deep breath and tried to sense for something around him.
“You’re rather inexperienced, aren’t you?” The voice whispered right next to Danny’s ear, startling him and making him lurch away, turning to look, but once more, only seeing an empty lawn. “You have no idea what you’re up against, ghost,” the voice said and Danny looked, not seeing anything but sure that the voice came from that direction.
He couldn’t sense anything or see anything. What if it was a speaker? What if this was some elaborate prank or Vlad and Valerie testing out some new equipment. If so, then this would be rather embarrassing. But still, Danny had an instinctual sense that something here was very, very wrong.
“Why did you come here, Phantom ?” the voice asked and Danny turned to face the voice in an entirely different direction. He couldn’t track where the thing was unless it was speaking. But it was circling him, speaking almost directly to him, as if it could see him.
He flew higher, backing away from the voice as best as he could and electing not to answer. It could be a bluff. Maybe the ghost was just trying to get Danny to speak to give away his own location. He couldn’t risk it. Besides, he’s not sure how his voice would hold up. His lungs felt frozen and stiff, as if he had something stuck in his throat. As if he were being strangled.
“Hmm, did you come here to protect that little friend of yours? Or perhaps to challenge me? Or maybe, you came to learn ,” the voice said, suddenly sounding as if it were coming from all around him, as if he had been surrounded. The thing's presence slowly trickled into Danny’s mind, growing steadily. It was as if the thing had finally allowed Danny to sense it.
He let his hand begin to burn with green fire, growing brighter as he tried to decide which voice to attack. Would attacking even be the right move? What if it angered the ghost? What if it enticed it into attacking not him, but Valerie?
“I could teach you, Phantom. I could teach you so much. About your powers, about your real enemies. About your past life ,” the voice said, echoing around him and Danny could do nothing other than spin, trying to face the direction of the voice and pin it down long enough to strike.
“Don’t you want to learn about your family? Your friends? Why you had to die?” The voice said and Danny fired with a yell, his fireball crashing into some strange purple shield before bouncing off and back at him. He ducked, flying closer to the ground as the voice laughed. “Don’t you want to know whose fault it was that you died? I could tell you. I could help you get revenge ,” the ghost said, presence steadily building and growing until it was overwhelming, making it difficult for Danny to even think straight.
He had been an idiot to come back here. He had been even more stupid for dragging Valerie with him.
“Join me, Phantom, and you’ll grow even stronger. Work for me and your town and the hunter you care for will never be harmed. You’d be powerful enough to protect them all ,” the ghost said, finally allowing itself to materialize, showcasing dozens upon dozens of the same ghost, all around him in a wide circle, a cruel grin on each and every one of their faces.
Danny gasped as he landed on the ground releasing his intangibility so he could stand, the ghosts landing as well, all of their eyes perfectly trained on him.
“Oh, don’t be afraid, ghost. You only feel this terror because for once, you’re encroaching on another ghost’s territory. Not many are powerful enough to have their territory in the human plane. But that, my friend, is where me and you are different from the other ghosts. I’m an older, more experienced, ghost quite similar to yourself. I could help you, if only you’ll let me,” the ghost said, one of them walking forwards and extending their hand.
Danny finally let his invisibility go, seeing as it wasn’t effective anyway. He looked at the ghost and at the offered hand, praying that his face didn’t display the terror he felt. He had seen Vlad Masters open the door and greet Valerie. So how was he here? Was Valerie okay? Had she been trapped or hurt?
“A-are you Vlad Masters? No, I mean- how are you Vlad Masters? A human, too?” Danny said, staring at the ghost that merely smiled down at him and reached to pat him on the head condescendingly.
“I will tell you everything, if you allow me to teach you. Take my hand, Phantom, and join me,” the ghost, no, Vlad said and Danny looked once more at the offered hand.
“Does Valerie know?” He finally asked and the ghost leaned down to be eye level with him, but didn’t speak.
Danny wanted answers. He wanted to know what the hell was going on. But he wasn’t stupid. This ghost felt dangerous . Unhinged. Evil.
He wanted this ghost gone. Nowhere near his town or his friend, Valerie. It needed to go away. Perhaps he was being too territorial. This ghost lived nowhere near Amity. But still, he didn’t want it to exist in the human plane at all . It needed to go back to the Ghost Zone. That, or it needed to die.
But how the hell was he to do that? He didn’t think he’d be able to take the ghost in a fight on an even playing field, but in its lair?
No way. But still, he wanted nothing to do with the ghost.
“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to decline. I’ll leave your territory, though. And I’ll leave you alone, if you swear not to hurt the hunter inside,” Danny said, backing away and flinching when the ghost’s presence turned dark with anger, making Danny want to do nothing more than flee.
“I will not take demands from a child , Phantom,” the ghost snapped, voice bitter and harsh. Danny backed away, glancing around to notice matching angry expressions on all of the dozens of ghosts surrounding him.
Okay, so perhaps angering the ghost hadn’t been the best idea.
He saw the ghosts’ hands glow purple, illuminating the circle surrounding him. “If you won’t join me willingly , then I guess I’ll have to take matters into my own hands,” the ghost threatened, extending his hands to fire.
Valerie was tired and desperately trying not to yawn in Vlad Master’s face. But, as she had figured, this was a massive waste of her time. His gear didn’t pick up on any ecto-signatures. None, other than Danny, of course. She looked down at her monitor, watching as the signature moved in a lazy arc around the house, as if he were scouting the place. He’d better not try anything. She swears if he starts snooping while she’s here and watching, she’ll chase him all the way back to Amity.
“So, the ghost you brought? Who is he?” Mr. Mastor’s questioned, sitting across from her and sipping on a cup of tea.
She shrugged. “Oh, Phantom? He’s the ghost from Amity that’s been protecting the city,” she said cooly, taking a sip from her own drink.
“Protecting the city, huh? Isn’t that what I pay you for?” Vlad asked and Valerie startled.
“Oh, uh, yes, of course. But he’s really not a threat. I looked into it. I know where his lair is and everything. His weaknesses, all of it. I swear, he’s less of a threat now then he was when we first met. I promise,” she said with an awkward smile, concerned that Vlad’s own expression was still serious and a tad upset.
“Oh, yes, of course. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m paying a ghost hunter to befriend the said ghosts and allow them to remain in a city I’m paying to keep ghost free,” Mr. Mastor’s said and Valerie felt herself pale.
“Oh, um-” Valerie started, only to be cut off as Mr. Master’s stood, setting his cup of tea down.
“No, Ms. Grey, I believe I made myself quite clear when I gifted you the thousands of dollars worth of equipment. I want all ghosts gone. Now, you said he was here, so let us remedy your mess up, alright?”
“W-what? No!” Valerie cries, nearly spilling her tea as she rushes to set it down and follow Mr. Masters. The man looks disappointed and angry as he presses a nondescript button and a hidden elevator reveals itself. “Mr. Masters, honestly, Phantom isn’t a threat! He’s always wanted to protect the city and -”
“And nothing!” Mr. Masters snaps, angry eyes falling on her for a moment before smoothing into a look of utter disappointment. “Ms. Gray, you didn’t think I gave you hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of weaponry for the likes of Skulker or the music one with the ponytail, o-or the crazy one obsessed with boxes, did you? No, my dear, I invested all of this equipment in you for the true threat to Amity. Phantom,” he says sadly, eyes pressing closed and lines of pain clear along his face.
Valerie remained quiet as the elevator descended.
“Valerie, I am an expert on ghosts, as you know. Do you know why Amity has had so many ghost attacks compared to its neighbors within the last few years?” Vlad said, gesturing for her to exit the elevator first once the doors began to open.
“No, I just figured they were drawn there. And the Fenton’s have that portal-” Valerie said, stopping when she saw the absolutely massive laboratory they were now in. Its walls were lined with a vast array of weaponry. There were crates full of the vials of plasma that served as ammunition. The work benches were slammed with different equipment and design plans.
There were a multitude of hoverboards similar to her current one. It was a beautiful yet haunting display of both Mr. Master’s intellect and his resources.
“The Fenton’s and their portal did attract some ghosts, but not enough for the general public to notice. No, Ms. Gray, your Phantom ,” he said, voice dripping with disdain at the name, “is the reason for the surplus of ghosts. He allows them to stay. The come to either join him, or challenge him. He has had many challengers. And the town suffers in the process.” Mr. Masters says as he begins pulling weaponry off of the wall and studying it.
“I paid you to rid Amity of all ghosts, Ms. Gray. Not to pick and chose which ones you like,” Mr. Masters says, holding a sleek rifle out to her.
Valerie thought about the time in which she had known Phantom. He did befriend ghosts. He allowed them residence in his territory. The forest in which he resides is infested with the wisps that chase at his heels. Rather large threats had passed through Amity, no, traveled to Amity intentionally just to challenge Phantom.
Phantom was kind. He was nice. But he was still a threat, wasn’t he? It pained her to even consider it. But it was what she had thought in the beginning wasn’t it?
He looked down to the weapon being offered to her, but still, she hesitated. She didn’t know whether she would be able to kill someone she considered as not just an ally, but as a friend.
Vlad sighed. “Ms. Gray, I sense that you have been around this ghost for quite some time. Rather than kill it, I would allow you to capture him instead. I don’t mind keeping him here or returning him to the ghost zone where he belongs,” Mr. Masters said, voice steady and kind.
Valerie felt her eyes water. How could she possibly turn her back on either of them? Phantom was a friend. One of her only friends. Mr. Masters had helped her in her lowest time. He had given her life direction when she was on the edge of despair.
She was terrified to disappoint either of them.
She was also worried that even if she did betray Phantom, could she possibly beat him? Maybe it was possible, since he was so far away from his lair.
Valerie slowly let her hand wrap around the barrel of the rifle.
Danny was not doing great. This ghost was immensely powerful. So powerful that just being this near the ghost made it feel like he was covered in static. Everything tingled and he was just waiting for the strike of lightening to consume him.
It terrified him.
For one, he couldn’t hide. The ghost seemed to sense him no matter where he went. And he could hardly run. The ghost was everywhere . Split into dozens of the same horrific creatures and Danny couldn’t see them . Not until they wanted him to, and by then he was right where they wanted him to be.
The ghosts were impossibly fast and near impossible to keep track of. So were their attacks. The pink plasma burned painfully and stunned him each and everytime it so much as grazed him. The ghosts where strong, too. He would stumble into an invisible one and be grabbed, frantically struggling agains the hold as they would laugh, mocking him in his panic. He didn’t escape from them until they decided to release him. To continue the chase.
When they did catch him, they hit hard enough for Danny to not want to get back up.
But what terrified him most was that he knew the ghost was holding back. It was just toying with him. It didn’t even really seem like it was trying to cause damage.
Danny didn’t know what to do. Nearly everything in him was screaming at him to flea. To fly as far away as possible in hopes that the ghost wouldn’t pursue him. He was fighting the urge to run every second he was in this thing’s presence. But he just couldn’t bring himself to leave Valerie. He clung to the hope that Vlad wouldn’t want to harm her, but with how suffocating it was to be near this thing, he wasn’t sure.
He swung a tight turn around the corner of the house, invisible and intangible as he ducked around the house before reaching a hand out to graze the brick wall.
Instead of his hand passing through like it would with any normal material, a fierce shock shot through his body, making him fall away from the house and lose altitude. His invisibility and intangibility faded as he fought to stop falling.
He bumped into something firm that he couldn’t see and he yelped, trying to dart away but felt a pressure wrap around his ankle before he was being pulled through the sky and thrown towards the ground.
He hit the ground with a loud thud, pain racking his body. He pushed himself upright, uselessly turning himself invisible. Laughter surrounded him, along with the image of dozens of the things surrounding him. And that was only the ones that he could see.
He remained in his spot on the ground, afraid to move for fear of them attacking. He didn’t really have organs anymore, but he could almost feel the echo of a pounding heart, the burn of lungs desperately trying to get air that for some reason he associated with fear.
The ghosts were all viciously smiling down at him before one by one, turning invisible.
Danny braced himself for an attack, but it didn’t come.
He stayed still for several long moments, eyes darting around at any slight sound to try and pick out where the other ghost was. He eventually moved to his feet, before cautiously hovering rather than standing.
When no attack came, Danny slowly rose higher. He couldn’t see the ghost, which wasn’t much of a surprise, but he did see Valerie coming towards him on her glider.
Danny couldn’t help the smile on his face as he flew towards her. He was grabbing her and they were flying back home as fast as Valerie’s hoverboard could manage.
He was so relieved to see her unharmed, that he almost didn’t notice that he wasn’t just looking at her coming towards him, but he was looking down the end of the barrel.
He saw the burning bright light of plasma heating in the muzzle of the gun and ducked just as a ray of heat washed over him just from being nearby what would have been a devastating shot.
He turned invisible and stopped, watching as her weird eyepiece thing popped across her mask allowing for her to still see him. He waited, in disbelief that she would try and shoot him again. His disbelief rapidly faded as the gun was swung in his direction. He dodged the shot and began to fly, but this time, he headed home.
Valerie had turned against him. There was no longer a reason to stay in this horrible domain any longer. So he fled, until he hit a wall. The shock of being stopped so suddenly stunned him and he let himself drop as he heard the whine of the gun right before it fired. He watched as the ray bounced off the wall much like he had.
It was a shield. An ectoplasma force field. He was trapped in this thing’s domain with a once trusted friend that was currently trying to kill him along with the ghost that he had no hope of overpowering. Danny fled as Valerie chased him, shots firing all around him.
“Valerie! What are you doing?!” He yelled, pained to get no response. “Why are you trying to kill me?!” His voice was filled with the fear and confusion he felt, but he couldn’t tell at all what Valerie was feeling or thinking due to her face being entirely hidden by her mask.
He twisted around trees and shot higher and higher, dismayed that Valerie was staying right on his tail. They had played tag all the time. Danny had always won because as soon as they hit a road or an open stretch of area, he could pour on as much speed as he wanted to. This area, however, was anything but in his favor. He climbed higher, before suddenly smacking into the force field again. He dropped, stunned and disoriented. The whine of the gun alerted him to the oncoming danger, but he was just a bit too slow at avoiding the full blast. It grazed his side, barely even touching him, yet he couldn’t hold back his scream as the pain tore through him.
His side felt as if it was on fire, he could feel green ectoplasma leaking from the injury as he dazedly backed away. He pressed his hand over the injury before looking up at where Valerie hovered a few feet in front of him. “W-why are you doing this?” He asked, his voice sounding much smaller than he had been expecting.
Valerie didn’t answer him, just aimed her rifle at him once more. The tip of the gun was shaking and Danny forced himself to look past it and at the girl holding it. She was shaking.
Whatever had happened in her few moments with Vlad, it was clear she had chosen the other over him.
“I’m sorry, Phantom,” she finally said, her own voice was melancholic and meek compared to her normal confidence. Danny felt as if her admission of guilt was also the door closing on whatever friendship they had managed to build. She knew what she was doing and was choosing to do it. It made him feel less confident that she had been possessed or was being controlled.
This was Valerie. And she was determined to kill him.
He was frozen in place as the gun whirred back to life. At the last second he dodged, and their chase continued. He darted back low to the ground and turned another sharp circle around the house. In such a confined area, he was screwed. He would tire faster than her. Hell, he was already exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to be back in his lair, resting. Just knowing how far away he was from his lair felt like a heavy weight settled on his shoulders, dragging him down and making him weary. There was no true open area large enough for him to gain a big enough distance to be out of range of her weapons. There was also nowhere to hide due to her technology of spotting ectoplasma whether he was invisible or not.
Not to mention that there was still the biggest threat to worry about. He had no idea where Vlad was or why he disappeared. Was his intention this whole time just to get Valerie to kill him? What would that accomplish? Vlad could have killed him easily on his own to achieve the same end goal.
Danny kept making circles around the house, frustrated that there wasn’t really another place to go where he wouldn’t be cornered by the force-field. Valeried chased him relentlessly, firing off shot after shot that Danny ducked and weaved for. When he was dodging like this, he couldn’t go as fast as he liked, nor would he be able to due to the cramped space. He couldn’t go in the house or very far away from it. He was stuck in a loop of running from Valerie until she inevitably hit him again, or he grew too tired to flee.
Was this how he would die? At the hands of his only friend? Alone and in a strange ghost’s territory? While he was scared and trying so hard to just run and leave everyone alone.
He didn’t want a fight. He just wanted Valerie to understand why he was scared of Vlad. He wanted to make sure that Vlad wouldn’t hurt his town. How stupid was that? Coming here to the territory of such a powerful being. If anything, this would irritate the other into attacking Amity. Even if Danny did escape, what’s to say Vlad wouldn’t just track him back down and hunt him in Amity?
Was Amity even going to welcome him? If Valerie openly hunted him, how many of his people would no longer trust him?
Suddenly, anger flooded him and he turned sharply and flew directly at Valerie. She got off a shot, and he dodged it before grabbing the end of the barrel and pulling her off her board by her rifle. He turned the gun intangible and let her fall to the ground, only a few feet worth of a drop, after she could no longer hold on to the gun.
As soon as she was on the ground, he melted the offending weapon with his own fiery plasma before turning on her. Before he was even on the ground, she had a different weapon aimed at him. He felt his frustration grow. She fired a round and Danny raised his hand, forming a shield of his own to reflect the attack back at her. She ducked and Danny took that distraction as his chance to attack her. He went for the eyepiece and ripped it clean off the suit before ducking away from her.
She turned, her pistol searching for its next victim, but he was already invisible, the remains of the eyepiece on the ground beside her.
She could no longer find him. Danny could just stay invisible and search for a way to escape, but that no longer seemed reasonable. Instead, he felt the cold sensation of ice building in his core. Soon, the ground around Valerie was frozen, making her attempted escape a slippery failure. When she fell, he raised his hands and encased her hands and wrists in ice.
He let himself be seen and her head immediately snapped towards him. “Let me go!” She screamed, anger painting her voice as well.
“Why are you trying to kill me? What did Vlad say to you?” He asked, letting himself drift back towards the ground and land gently in front of her.
“You’re a danger to Amity, Phantom. All those ghosts… they come because of you. You need to go back to the ghost zone. Please, I don’t want to kill you,” Valerie said and Danny scoffed.
He couldn’t meet her eyes. After all this, she still just saw him as a threat.
“Oh, is that what he wants, huh? Me to go back to the ghost zone? So he can take over Amity?” Danny said it out of frustration, but even as he said it he didn’t believe it. It made no sense for Vlad to want him in the ghost zone versus wanting him dead.
“Take over Am-” Valerie cuts herself off with a frustrated sigh. “Phantom, there is no other ghost here. Vlad showed me himself.”
Danny growled and waved his hand as if shooing away her absurd words. “Do you even hear yourself? I just fought like twenty something ghosts and I can tell you from experience, they were real! They were Vlad. He-he’s powerful Valerie. He’s dangerous. And we need to leave,” Danny said, finally relaxing and allowing for his ice to melt from where it was around her wrists.
Valerie was quiet for a moment, before finally standing and nodding to him. “Okay, Phantom. Then let’s leave.”
Danny smiled, excited once more at the prospect of escaping this horrid place. He would never leave his territory again, he thought. He held out his hand to help Valerie climb back to her feet on the ice. She stared at his hand for a moment before reaching up to grab his. It was too late that he felt the static coat his hand. He was too slow to pull away before he was overcome by the electricity coursing through him.
His gift to Valerie, something he had forced her to wear for her protection and for his piece of mind… the Fenton’s Specter Deflector.
He screamed, trying desperately to pull away, but Valerie had a vice like grip.
He frantically pulled, trying and failing to use his powers in any meaningful way. He whole body was spasming, out of control and wildly reacting to the sharp pain.
He grew tired quickly and his pulling and flailing faded into a weak tug against her and trying to keep his arms from giving out. Since when was he on his hands and knees. His vision was swimming in and out of focus and his teeth were clenched so hard he was afraid they would break.
He felt a massive tremor pass through his body and his arms gave out. Valerie released him, letting him fall uselessly to the ground. His limbs weren’t responding to him. Just uselessly twitching and spasming anytime he tried to get them to obey him. His vision was growing dark around the edges and he felt an awful ache throughout his entire body. His head was limp against the ground and he felt like he was melting into a puddle of goo as the aftershocks gradually began to fade.
He heard the steady trod of footsteps and forced his eyes to focus long enough to see an expensive pair of leather shoes standing less than a foot away from his face.
“Congratulations on a job well done, Ms. Gray. I’ll take it from here.”