Chapter 10

Danny slowly walked towards his destination. He wasn't in a rush, he wanted to sift through his thoughts. To decide on his course of actions, whether the conclusion is good or bad.

It's been a week since he had fought the undead wolves. For the most part, he was completely healed. His ribs only hurt a bit, not broken, but still bruised. His skin color in calf since that had the largest chunk ripped off, but slowly it was going away.

He had put this off for a week, and now just seemed like the right time. He had time to think, to mull over his thoughts, to decide just how angry he was.

The feeling of betrayal still felt raw. Danny hated being lied to, especially by his friends. He doesn't have many, so he always kept loyalty and honesty between them as a priority. And they threw that trust in the ground, then stomped on it when they didn't help him. Instead, they watched and gawked as he spewed blood onto his bullies new shoes. 'Heh, he deserved it.'

True, he concocted the whole scenario down to the letter, but it's the principal of the matter at hand. He may not have been in any real harm, danger, or pain, but they didn't that area still matched with how it felt. He had phantom pains in his legs, mainly his know that. From their perspective, if they truly cared as much as they've always said they have- then caught in the act be damned they should have helped him!

He palmed the flash drive in his hands, the evidence of their misdeeds.

That's, Danny reasoned, the true pit of his anger. The real origin point of it. They had lied, and instead of owning up to it and helping him, they watched him and did nothing.

Like a fucking bystander.

Danny could see Sam's house from here, he could also see that her parents were home. Great. Just what he wanted to deal with, Sam's parents. In the half-ghost's honest opinion, Pamela and Jeremy Manson were hands down, some of the snobbiest assholes he's ever met. They vehemently disapproved of his entire existence, much less his friendship with their daughter. Tucker barely got a pass, but Danny? Hah! No, not with his parents.

As Danny came up on the hundred foot marker, he could feel his anger rise. He was so angry, he felt childish- like he couldn't decide if he was being petty or not. Was this something to get that angry about? The question circled in his head over and over, and he just kept coming back to yes. It was. Honesty and loyalty are two of his most desired and admired characteristics. They allowed trust on a personal level, and that's what he wanted most.

So he was angry.

He thought that he had calmed down over the time he hasn't seen them, but that seems to be wrong. He just got distracted, and how could he not? He has bad-ass ghost powers that seem to grow by the day. He can fight monsters, win against them, and not die. It just wasn't on his mind for the most part, and the scarce few times it was, it was just a passing thought in a conversation. A momentary pause that was moved on from.

It simmered, boiled, and in a few minutes, depending on what they say, was going to explode. No, it was going to explode no matter what.

Danny stopped in front of the front door. He honestly debated just texting Sam to open the door for him, so he wouldn't have to deal with her parents, but that felt cowardly. Like an opt-out.

Danny knocked on the door. He waited one minute, two, three, and finally four before he quickly grew annoyed. He looked up at the camera and gave it a glare. It was obvious they were home, and these two snobby ass hats were being this childish. Honestly, pretending you're not home when both vehicles are in the front driveway- it's insulting.

Well, he could play that game too.

He rang the doorbell once, and then he waited. Two minutes pass before he pushes the doorbell twice. Sam should have heard it by now, and her parents too. He kept his glare leveled at the camera before pressing the device at least two dozen times.

He didn't have to wait long after that. The door slammed open to reveal Pamela Manson in all her preppy annoyance. It was funny how Sam could look so different compared to her parents. They both looked like they walked out of the sixties, and Sam was a goth, dark colors, vegan, poor taste in music and all. He idly wondered if she was adopted sometimes, but there were some similarities- actually, there aren't. Hair color, eye color, jaw line, facial structure, personality, morals they had none in common.

Danny straightened his posture and closed his legs together to stand straighter. He then put on his best smile, "Good morning, Mrs. Manson. How are you doing today?"

Mrs. Manson gave him one look and dismissed him with, if Danny had to guess, was disgust. 'The attitude of this bitch…' If she was trying to piss him off, then she was succeeding. It's like dealing with a fucking A-lister, but she's in her thirties, has a kid, and demands respect from everyone just because she has money.

Pamela hates him, and the feeling is very mutual.

"Ah… Daniel Fenton, to what do I owe this visit? I'm assuming you are here to see my Sammykins and her other friend… whatever his name is?" Really, they've been friends since second grade, there's no way she doesn't remember Tuckers name. What kind of passive aggressive psychobabble bullshit was this? Was she trying to rile him up by acting like she forgot Tuckers name? Well, too bad he's pissed at them at the moment- it's not very effective.

He kept the smile up though, he would beat her at her own game. He moved his hands behind his back to adjust his posture, his uncle had taught him a few things when dealing with the rich and arrogant. "You'd be correct, Mrs. Manson. May I come in? Sam and Tucker did invite me over after all."

Annoyance and anger briefly flashes over her face before she settles on contempt once again. Man, is this getting old.

"Hmm… let me think. No, she doesn't need to associate with freaks like your ilk. Please leave." She slams the door in his face, stunning him. Were they really back to this? It's like dealing with a thirty-five year old Paulina!

The sheer immaturity is astounding. He doesn't let this perturb him though, he came here for a purpose and he was going to see it through. So, he returns his finger to the doorbell and-

Promptly pushes it over thirty times.

Working as intended, Pamela Manson wrings the door back open and glares at the youngest Fenton. "What do you think you're doing? I said you're not welcome here!"

He returns back to that, oh so nice smile- "Good morning, Mrs. Manson. How are you doing today?"

Her eyes widen for the briefest of moments, befuddled for sure, before they narrow in anger again. Ah… smells like victory. "You have some ner-"

"Mom! What are you doing?!" Sam comes barreling down the stairs. With how much Danny had rung the doorbell, it was no surprise that she had heard it. Looking further up the stairs he could see Tucker watching on, and past the foyer he could see Jeremy watching in annoyance as well.

Danny turns to Sam and puts on an impassive mask, it wouldn't do well for him to show his anger now. It could wait till they got to Sam's room; a perk of being rich was that if she wanted something, she got it, that includes having a soundproofed room. It also helped that her parents didn't have to hear any of the music she liked.

"Hi Sam, thanks for inviting me over." His voice was blank and betrayed no emotion. Mrs. Manson wasn't happy to hear that, even if she knew that the only time Danny came over was when he was invited. The pompous bitch can stew in her annoyance and frustration, just like he's done for his entire time in public education.

Sam is momentarily startled by his lack of emotion. Well, at least it was obvious that he knew something. That wasn't comforting, however.

"Hey Danny," She sent him an apologetic smile, one he did not accept- "come on up to my room. We'll talk about this later mom." There was almost a mocking tone in her voice.

Danny nodded and walked by the matriarch of the Manson household without even glancing at her. It was disrespectful, impudent, and completely out of character for Danny. It left the parents of the household stunned at the sight, but he was up the stairs and out of sight before they could mutter a single complaint. Tucker gaped at what he saw, and Sam wasn't fairing much better. They had never seen their friend so… confident and defiant.

Danny walked into his friend's room and looked around. Same old, same old. Black walls all around, steps to walk down into the actual room from the door, high walls and ceiling, queen sized bed with curtains, a large flat screen TV that was at least over two-hundred inches. Her L-shaped computer desk in the corner was made of glass, and the actual computer on it was tall, fat, and most likely made his look like it still used floppy disks. Three monitors spread across the desk. The half-ghost made his way over towards one of the office chairs by the computer. He wheeled it around, slowly sat in it, and he waited.

Precisely seventy seconds later Sam and Tucker came in, both of whom were staring at Danny with incredulity and caution.

He was tapping his finger on the armrest with his left hand, and his right clenched and unclenched on the flash drive. The evidence. He stared at them, and emotions slowly returned to his face. His brows furrowed, a frown made its way onto his face, and he had to control himself from snarling. Too much was happening, emotionally wise, and he wasn't confident in keeping his fangs hidden.

Reel back.

An uncomfortable silence crept into the room as all three occupants tried to figure out where to start. Sam made her way to her personal office chair and Tucker took one of the Lazy-boys in front of the TV not far away.

Danny took a deep breath. Sitting in silence would get them nowhere, and he had other things to do today.

He went over one more time what he wanted. He didn't want this to ruin their friendship, but he didn't want to see them for the rest of the summer. Maybe when they were finally in high school, they could reconcile, but for now, with his emotions running dangerously high, he couldn't be near them. He needed to get a better control on his powers.

He repositioned the flash drive in his hand. He tapped it onto the metal of the armrest three times to get their attention. It worked, their eyes were drawn to the tiny device, and he threw it to Sam- she was nearest to the computer after all.

"Turn on your computer and open it." Danny commanded.

Sam and Tucker glanced at each other, this was not how they were expecting this to go. They expected yelling, accusations, maybe even having some stuff thrown around, but not this. This… creepy, passive malice. It wasn't like him, but maybe that was the point. This meant that it was different compared to the last time, that it was worse.

She complied and did as instructed. "Danny-"

He raised a hand and cut her off, "Bring up the files first." Sam bit her lip, but she did it anyway. Tucker stared at Danny, concerned with the way he was acting. He obviously knew, mostly likely everything. But what was the point of this?

It took less than twenty seconds to have the computer fully on and the files pulled up. There were two video files on the flash drive. Sam turned to Danny, "Click the left one first." Once again, she complied with a nod.

The video was shot from an overhead view, a security camera in the mall. The date and time was from a very familiar date.

Danny got up and turned the TV on. He changed the input to the CP setting and watched as the large wall sized TV became the new computer monitor. He walked back and gently sat back down into the same chair.

"Watch." It was more of an order than a request, but finally some emotion surfaced in his voice. Anger. They were getting somewhere.

And so they watched. Watched as Danny was approached by the A-listers. Watched as he was assaulted and vomited blood onto the floor and onto Dash. Watched as he was helped by the security guard. And they watched as he did something they hadn't noticed before: he pointed to the camera, and then to another.

"Now the other video." It was like reliving the moment. For Danny, it was a mix of humiliation, betrayal and anger. Even if he brought it upon himself as a means to an end, he hated seeing it. His grip tightened and the aluminum on the armrest bent under his enhanced strength. He didn't notice and neither did they.

For Sam and Tucker, it was shame that they felt. Guilt rolled through their bodies in waves at seeing their friend get hurt again, and their silence was all the admittance he needed. They knew they screwed up, and they had the decency to not follow through with a lie.

It's a good thing too, because the next video would have damned them if they had said anything to the contrary.

This video was from another angle. It showed the happening of their friend getting hit, but it also showed them something else. They paled as they watched themselves do nothing for their best friend. This was how he found out?

"It's not about the lie." he growls, startling the two as he gets up. "Okay, it is about the lie, so let's start with that."

"Danny, we-"

"Save it. I'm talking right now, and I'm furious." He got up and turned away from them. He could almost feel his eyes glowing with emotion, he reeled his power back in. Neon green turned back to baby blue as he forcibly calmed himself.

"You know how lying makes me feel, you two both know how much I hate it. We, meaning all three of us, don't have a lot of friends. We're on the bottom of the totem pole, so why would you risk our friendship by lying to me?! We don't have any other options when it comes to people to depend on!" Finally he exploded, glaring at both of his friends. It was just the tip of the iceberg, and the Titanic was miles from shore. "Trust isn't something that just comes back, damn it! My loyalty isn't so flimsy that I'd just brush this off!"

Tucker chose to say his piece, "Look man, we didn't- it wasn't- I don't know, man." He shook his head, "We were worried about how you would take it. We both got a date, and we didn't want you to feel like you were being left out I guess…"

Danny snarled at the response, "So, that's it? You thought I was, what? Too weak? To insecure that neither of you thought I could handle that my friends had a date? Wow. That's fucking insulting."

Sam got up out of her chair in a panic. "No! It's not that Danny, it's not! We just, I don't know, it was stupid, and we're sorry. We shouldn't have lied to you!"

Danny didn't drop it though, "Yeah, you shouldn't have. There's something else you should have done though." They flinch at that, good. They know exactly what's next. "So we got that out of the way, cool, really. Not really, I'm still royally pissed about that alone, now I have another question… why didn't you help me?" Danny pointed to the paused screen, depicting his friends watching as he wipes his mouth of blood.

"You did nothing!" Danny yells.

"Listen man," Tucker tries, "we… we were committed to the lie." He sounded ashamed, good, he should be, "It was dumb, it was stupid, but… we just were scared to confront you." The techno-geek looks down in guilt, unable to look his friend in the eye.

"That's it? That I spit blood should mean that I had an internal injury, something seri-fucking-ous! You guys did nothing! I'm your best friend! You should have dropped what you were doing- caught in the act be damned- and tried to help me! But you didn't! You FUCKING WATCHED!" His ears ring from his own tone.

Danny was breathing hard and his eyes were glowing a dull green. Small, barely noticeable sparks danced on his fingertips. It was the best he could do at the moment, he was too riled up to care if they noticed.

Danny straightens himself out and tries to regain control of his breathing. He rolled his neck and cracked his fingers with one hand as a way to distract himself.

"That… is what I'm truly mad about. Sam, Tucker, you two just watched me… you didn't try to help or anything. Some best friends you are." He spat.

Sam tries to get closer to Danny, inching forward just a bit by bit. His words hurt her, and her voice betrayed nothing of the way she felt. "Danny…" She reaches a hand out to him, but he pulls away. He stares at her, silent and angry, but listening to her.

Whatever excuse it may be.

She flinches when he pulls away, and she lets her hand fall to her side. She looks into his eyes and tries hard to get her sincerity across. "Look, what we did- it was really shitty. We shouldn't have just… left you there. We should have helped. I'm sorry, really I am."

Tucker stands up and walks over to him as well, "I'm sorry too, man. Really. It was low of us to do that."

Danny is silent. They said their piece, made their apologies, and it barely calmed him. Although lessened, the pain is still there. The anger and disappointment still raw. It still stings and looking at them still makes him angry, and frustrated, and hurt. He shakes his head.

It starts as a whisper, "I… don't want this to ruin our friendship. I don't want it too, but you guys fucked up. You fucked it up. It's strained, really badly." Danny looks between the two, watching their expressions. They seem relieved, but the nervousness is still there.

He drops the bomb. "I don't want to see you guys for the rest of the summer. I need time to think this through. Maybe when school starts, we can try again. But for now, being around you guys makes me too angry."

Their reaction is immediate. Tucker recoils in shock, maybe he expected that apology to clear things up more, to smooth everything out. Nope. Sam looks like she is ready to cry, her eyes are glossy and she's biting her lip a little too hard. In all his life, Danny can say he's only ever seen Sam cry maybe twice or thrice. He feels guilty that he might be the one to make her cry, but he squashes that feeling. They weren't the ones who were betrayed, they didn't get to make him feel like that. He turned away from them and decided now was as good as any, a time to leave.

Danny walked over in silence to the computer and yanked the flash drive out. He put the device's cap on it and walked to the door. He's stopped when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He grits his teeth, but turns around all the same. Tucker looks shocked for a moment, possibly catching a glance at his fangs, and Danny quickly realizes he might be showing more than he wants. He closes his mouth in a flat line, "What?"

"Well… we wanted to know if you were okay. You spit blood, dude. We're concerned." Danny eyes his friend, noting his hesitance, before shrugging off his hand from his shoulder.

"It was a lab accident." He makes to walk off again, but Sam stops him this time. He takes a deep breath, it's getting harder to control himself at the moment. He hates how much these powers seem connected to his emotions, because the emotional high they generate clouds his judgement and makes him do rash things. They make him view things differently, act differently.

"Danny, we want to know more than that, please. Even if you're pissed at us, at least tell us you're alright." Danny wants to bite back, lash out, but the concern in her voice does calm him slightly. They made a mistake, one they regretted, and he was going to kick them for it, but he didn't have to make them worry incessantly.

So when it's on the tip of his tongue that he's 'alright', he suddenly can't say it. As if true realization is only now dawning on him. That lab accident had killed him, he had repeated episodes of violent pain that lasted for hours. He had ghost powers, he could change forms, his heart didn't beat, he didn't need to breathe. For as awesome as these powers are, for as great as they made him feel, they affected him greatly. Yet, they came at a price, one he's only now realizing-

He's dead.

His stomach turns, his mind spins, and he can barely utter a response, relaying far more emotion than he wanted to. "I'm not." The sheer pain in his voice deafens the room. Danny doesn't pay attention to their shocked and scared expressions, they don't realize how bad it actually is- hell, he didn't even know quite how bad it was until now. His heart rings in his ears, pounding away to a headache.

This time, he's unobstructed when he walks out through the door. He passes by the Manson's on the way out, not even sparing them a glance, much to their annoyance. He's out of the large house-mansion in less than a minute, and to his ears, his feet almost echo on the empty street. He makes it down to the end of the block before he turns into an alley in between some houses. He has at least some presence of mind to look around for witnesses or cameras, and once satisfied that he's in the clear, Danny is in his other form in a heartbeat.

He takes off, flying at maximum speed towards the woods. He just needed to get away, to think. These powers, he really didn't give too great of an amount of contemplation on them, what they actually mean. His parents are ghost hunters, and ecto-biologists. They study the dead, reanimated in a form of intelligent supernatural energy capable of incredible and dangerous things. He had been calling himself a half-ghost, despite the ludicrosity of the term, but maybe there's more to it then he first gave it credit for.

He wasn't just hurt in that lab accident, he didn't just gain a cool set of ever-growing powers: he died.

Danny swallows hard, feeling a lump form in his throat.

Everything comes with a price.

Even if he lives, even if he breathes- he doesn't. He's dead, his life was the cost for these powers, and the weight of that realization only now is hitting him. Tears roll down his face; he had thought of it before, in a passing thought that he was dead, but it never meant so much as it did now.

Damn it, this wasn't how he was supposed to feel after laying into them. He was hoping to feel better, to have released some stress, to maybe have insight on what he should do. A direction. After holding onto that for almost a month, he would have figured that after finally saying his piece, he would feel at least some small amount of relief.

Instead, Danny feels like shit. He's dead, he's alive. Like some kind of cosmic fuck-up.

"I really am a freak now…"

If he knew he was going to have some kind of breakdown, he would have stayed in his room today. Not even flying makes him feel better right now.

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There's a horrible silence in the room. It's so thick it could be cut with a knife. Sam and Tucker have a hard time saying anything, every time it's there, ready to be said- they just can't. Sam sits on her bed, staring blankly at the floor. Tucker took his place back in his chair.

This whole thing had gone to shit. They had hoped to reconcile, to get back on track what their summer should have been. Instead, they were frayed and split, and if what Danny said was true, he was hurt.

"Sam… what do you think he meant?" Finally, the silence is gone from the room, like dust cleared by the wind.

The goth looks up from her hurt stupor, feeling more guilty and ashamed than she's ever been in her whole life. It wasn't the lie anymore, it was that she finally realized that there really was more to it than they thought. "He said, 'I'm not.' Tucker. It means we're horrible friends. We fucked up. "

Tucker flinches, regret fills him but they need to talk about this. "Sam- I- what do we do?" Danny said he didn't want to see them the rest of summer, and he couldn't blame him. They had left him in a time when he was really hurt, watched and did nothing, and he found out. Tucker was so… disappointed in himself.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

She shakes her head, "We can't do anything, Tuck. He made it clear: he doesn't want to… see us. At least for the rest of summer. I don't know if we can make this up to him either."

"Well, we gotta do something Sam. He said he wasn't fine! Whatever that was, it's still happening!" Tucker hesitated for just a brief moment, "Did you, uh, see anything strange about him?"

Sam looked at him for a moment, confusion and contemplation flashing across her face. "Yeah, he was acting really weird. I chalked it up to him being angry, but I've never seen him like that before. Although, the way he handled my mom was hilarious. Did you see her face? To die for."

Her mood lightened slightly, but it was still somber and depressing. Tucker shook his head, "That's not what I meant. I mean… when you looked into his eyes, did you see anything strange?" He wanted confirmation on this, Tucker could have sworn that his eyes were green for a moment. And his teeth, were his canines larger or was he imagining it?

Sam put her hand to her face and gently tapped her temple with her thin index finger. After a moment of thought she responded, "I don't think I saw anything, why? Admittedly, I was too ashamed to look in his eyes, but…" Her answer trailed off, she honestly didn't know. It was so recent, but a lot was going on and she was so distressed at the moment, she wasn't exactly looking for anything in his eyes.

Tucker shook his head, but decided to drop it. "Never mind, if you didn't see anything then it was probably nothing… what about his teeth?" Okay, maybe he would drop it after this last question.

The gothic teen raised an eyebrow, but the answer remained the same. "Nah, I still have no idea. What are you going on about?" These questions had to come from somewhere.

The dark skinned teen furrowed his brows. Was he just seeing things? He took off his beret and scratched his head, "I could have sworn his eyes were green Sam. Did you really not see it? Think, like, really think."

Green eyes? Danny had a pair of the bluest eyes she'd ever seen, they were striking. There was no need to even think about the answer, but she would indulge in his bizarre question. It was a good way to get her mind off her depressing thoughts, but no matter what she couldn't remember seeing green eyes.

"Are you sure Tucker? I really can't remember him having green eyes. He's always had blue eyes."

Tucker stared at her with a frown, but if she couldn't remember then maybe it was just a trick of the mind. She was normally the one who paid attention to detail more often. Unless it was tech, no one could beat him on that.

"It was nothing I guess. Never mind. Back to the topic at hand, what do we do?"

Sam looked down at her pale hands, "I don't know. Can we even do anything? He said he doesn't want to see us for the rest of summer. We have to try when school starts."

They had a little over a month and a half before school started on the fourth of September. They could think of something in that time, and hopefully he would be ready to build back their friendship.

Hopefully.

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High above the sky, Danny floated motionlessly. He stared into the sky while the clouds flew by far beneath him. Open space was right before him, obscured only by the pale sheen of the atmosphere.

It calmed him.

Danny had been brushing it off, looking at the bright side of things. He had powers, and they're wonderful! He could fly, shoot lasers and energy blasts, throw around electricity, and maybe one day make ice- he still couldn't figure out how to do that. Maybe freezing his kitchen was a one time thing.

That all came at a cost that he kept going around. Not minding it, or changing the subject, but he was only now realizing just how high of a price he had paid. He didn't want these powers, he liked them without a doubt, but it was an accident that gave them these. It was horribly painful… to die, and he still had seizures at least once a week where ectoplasm spilled out of every orifice on his body and he bled all over the place. These episodes caused him horrible pain, but still, they didn't last long, and they ruined his clothes.

But he had powers.

That he died for. Danny died at fourteen. For all the great they came with, it still left him as a corpse with a heartbeat. He would still age, right? He wouldn't be stuck at the age of fourteen forever, would he?

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, it was going to take a long time to get over it. He really wished that there was another ghost that he could talk to, assuming that there are, in fact, intelligent ghosts. There were a few notes on them in the lab, but it seems like his parents can't catch the smart ones. That was a relieving revelation, if other intelligent ghosts can get away from them, then he should have an advantage since he knows their tech.

Danny looked down at the clouds below. There was going to be a storm soon, it would be best if he left for home now. It would be for the best, but Danny keeps floating in the air. He didn't want to go home just yet.

The half-ghost took out his phone and checked the time. 2:50. Ten more minutes and he would leave. It's not like it would take long to get back home with his speed anyway.

The sound of thunder, closer than it has ever been before, startled Danny so greatly that he almost dropped his phone. He looks around and down at the storm clouds below. Maybe he should leave now instead. He had already been electrocuted from the portal when he died, he didn't need to feel lightning at the moment. He was in no hurry to compare the two anytime soon.

He made his way towards his house, his mind a confused mess. As a precaution he charged his body with ecto-electricity. On the off chance that his luck is so bad that he gets struck by lightning, he figured having his body accustomed to some level of current would be better than none. Plus, it gave him a tingling sensation that he rather enjoyed. It reminded him of one of those gag shock pens, which was ironic considering the damage he could do with his electrokinesis. He could fell trees and split rocks with his electricity, which meant either his body had a high tolerance for the currents that killed him, or he wasn't that affected by his own energy. He figured it's the latter, but the former would be appreciated.

His flight through the thunderclouds left him battling the wind and rain. It didn't look that bad from above, but clearly a birds eye view of a storm doesn't tell the whole story of its force. Then again, he's never flown through bad weather before, so this is a new experience.

Danny continues to fly at a diagonal towards his house, and he was really wishing he had watched the news. When he finally entered the city limits, he felt it again. From his stomach came a mist of blue, and he could feel a tugging in the direction of his house. That meant there was a ghost somewhere by his house, or along the way. Every time he's had this feeling, it's been a ghost. It's a convenient ability for sure, having a passive radar for supernatural undead monsters, but he's never had to deal with this in the city. His two fights so far have been out of the city limits, in the forest where nobody could get hurt.

Now though… now, the creature was near people, and so far none have shown that great of an attitude towards him. Concern flashes through Danny as he realizes that someone might very well die.

Danny stops mid-air and looks down at his hands. He's fought them before and won, but it always leaves him battered, bruised and bleeding. What if a normal person is attacked by something as simple as a paw swipe? They would die, hands down. The half-ghost is well aware at this point that he's sturdier than normal, but other people don't have that luxury. He crashed through trees and took energy attacks point blank and walked away to fight again, that would have left a normal person broken and burned.

Resolve trickles his way into his being as he resumes his flight. "I can do this." He whispers. The words come out with more confidence than he expected. Thoughts of his sister getting attacked, his parents being mauled, his friends running for their lives; they all fill his mind and it pushes him further with grim determination. He may be pissed at them, but he still cares for Sam and Tucker. His mother and father are completely incompetent when it comes to being parents, but they're still his parents and he loves them. Jazz, his sister, has always been there for him, supporting him, practically raising him. Could he just stand by and do nothing if they were in danger?

Hell no.

So, he would fight. Danny didn't want anyone getting hurt, even if he didn't particularly like a majority of the people in this town. As the half-ghost passed over his house, he could feel his… ghost sense pulling him towards the park, further ahead. He was actually pretty happy with the weather right now, it left the streets bare and unpopulated. No doubt the park is probably the same, that means less people, if any at all to get hurt. The ghost-teens heart lightened at that, it wouldn't be as bad as it could be.

When he arrives at the park, three hundred feet or so above the treeline, he can't find the ghost. Danny knows it's here, but his damn ghost sense gets rather vague the closer he gets. How inconvenient.

Looking around, he can spot signs of damage. Leading from a trail to the connected woodlands, there is damage to the trees. A couple toppled along the way and a swing set that's been… chewed on? Danny focuses his sight on the destroyed playground equipment, the slightly blurry image clears and enhances, like he's zooming in through a scope, and his eyes tingle in response to his actions. It's a little uncomfortable. Fine detail becomes apparent and he can see the damage better than before, the metal bars are crunched and covered in green slime. Danny grimaces when he sees that the slime is melting the weather protected steel.

Acid. "That's no bueno." How the fuck was he supposed to deal with acid? If he got hit once he'd melt!

Danny continues to follow the path of destruction. Benches crushed under strength, leaving splintered messes along its path. A water fountain was broken at the base, the exposed pipe spurting water onto the already wet ground. Even the public restroom had a hole in it- actually, it was more like half the building was swatted away.

Finally he spots it. "Why? Just, why?"

A giant, furry, ugly, nightmare inducing, glowing green and black spider. The horror. Now, Danny isn't scared of spiders, but no one wants to fight a giant fucking spider. Especially one that's the size of two SUV's! Plus, the damn thing just barrels through everything in its path. There is absolutely zero sign of intelligence, it just bites or swats away anything in its way.

When he takes a look in the direction the ghost is heading, it's towards his house. His eyes widen in confusion and fear. Why would it be heading that way? He turns around and lo and behold, there's a straight line coming from the forest, into the park, and the creature is already almost on the other side of the street.

Danny bites his bottom lip in frustration, this was almost an entire week after his last fight. He was mostly healed, but his ribs still stung. But that won't interfere in the coming fight. He could think about the whys later.

He has some information on his target this time. The spider, if he remembers correctly, resembles a Tarantula. They're not the fastest of spiders, but this is a ghost and it's damn big. He should be more agile and faster, but precautions would be wise. It can either spit acid, instead of poison, or its saliva is just that corrosive. Neither are comforting thoughts. What else?

"Think Fenton, think! Sam loves spiders, she's told you all about them multiple times! What else?!" Where is a spiders weak point? The abdomen houses the important organs in a living spider, but there's no guarantee that a ghost will even care that it's missing half of its body. But it's a target, and a pretty big one. What else is there to be wary of? The hairs. On a normal Tarantula, the hairs can cause irritation, there's no reason these oversized spikes can't cause harm. The damn thing is also incredibly stupid, not even using any of its ghost born abilities. No flight, intangibility, or invisibility. It slowly crawls along the ground with harsh steps that the crack the pavement. Wild attacks at trees and inanimate objects, there's no targets, just inane lashings that serve no purpose.

Danny grins, this might not be as hard as the wolves. It's not in a nest, so there's no webbing to obstruct him or alert the thing to the half-ghost's presence. Spiders are not pack hunters, they're solitary. That means there shouldn't be another, no interruptions and an almost guaranteed surprise attack. The eight eyes pose a problem, but if he's fast enough, it shouldn't matter.

Now, what's the best way to capitalize on this?

His mind wanders to his last tactic against the wolves. A dive bomb. "That could work…"

He has sufficiently more height than last time, it's not expecting an attack at all, and there's only one. He could get away without an injury. Danny glances at his house, did he have enough time to go and get some equipment just in case? Returning his focus to the ghost spider tells him, no, he does not. If it's just going to keep going in a straight line then it's going to blitz through the housing complexes in a matter of minutes. "Tsk." Without equipment once again.

Danny psyches himself up for the coming maneuver. If he misses, he's going to shatter his legs on the concrete. Spiders normally have a pretty thick exoskeleton, especially Tarantulas since they're hunters and not trappers. He's going to need speed and reinforcement. Danny coats his legs in ectoplasm, laying it on thicker than he's ever done before. His legs glow brightly in the stormy sky, and in a moment of clarity, he extends the infused ectoplasm up towards his back. The force is going to travel, and it would behoove him to reinforce his spine so he doesn't cripple himself in this reckless move.

With his entire lower body glowing in infused ectoplasm, Danny repositions himself above the ghost. It's not moving that fast, it's cumbersome figure proving his earlier thought that it might not be a terribly speedy creature. Danny takes a deep breath. Sweat rolls down his face in concentration, it's not exactly easy to coat himself in this much energy, but so far it's proving to be doable.

Then he drops.

The spider is nearing the end of the street when Danny starts rocketing downwards headfirst. He was around four-hundred feet in the air, and it takes him no time at all to reach a significant speed. The wind rushes by, deafening his ears and stinging his eyes, but he keeps them narrowed and open. He can't afford to miss. As an added measure, Danny lets electricity roll across his body so he can do even more damage if the curb stomp from the sky doesn't waste it on the first shot. Arcs of electricity fly off of him, lagging behind as his speed continues to increase.

Like a bolt of lightning, Danny strikes down on the unaware creatures carapace. He flips at the last second, allowing for both of his feet to meet its spiny back. He bends his legs to spread the inevitable recoil out. The ghost is instantly pushed into the ground, and the sheer force of the impact craters the street, shakes the earth for blocks, and spider cracks form across the asphalt in a circle fifty feet in diameter.

CRACK!

The sound comes a half second later, like thunder, and Danny thoroughly breaks through the carapace, destroying the spiders abdomen in one blow. Electricity races through the creatures already broken body and strikes around wildly in the air and innards of the arachnid. The spider lets out an echoed, hissing screech in pain and anger.

"HSSHHHHHRRRRAAA!"

The scream barely reaches his ears as his legs, still infused with ectoplasm, feel ready to break. Even with all the reinforcement, his speed let him splatter the spiders armored back end and he went right through to the concrete, further causing damage to the pavement.

But his legs don't break, a testament to his newfound endurance. His muscles protested violently, but they hold, barely. His bones creak and cry, and the excess force flows through his body, disrupting, disturbing, and debilitating every organ, bone, and blood vessels. There is no lasting damage though, it's all minor, his enhanced regeneration already repairing a large majority of the damage. In a few minutes it will be healed, and his legs will be good as new in a few hours.

He stumbles out of the creatures abdomen, now thoroughly caked in its ectoplasm and other gory spider bits. It was hissing weakly, the four back legs were blasted off of the destroyed abdomen. The four front crawlers were scraping the road weakly, still twitching from the shocks. Danny takes a few deep breaths, steadying himself from the impact. It hurt to walk and his legs were almost numb, but it was bearable. He's had worse not even a week ago.

Danny is surprised that his plan worked that well, but is grateful nonetheless. Even if it was rather brutal. He shakes his legs to get a little more feeling back into them and carefully walks around the spider in a wide berth. He gathers energy in his hands, preparing himself to end the creature from its pitiful state. So, he's surprised when he gets to the front of it and all eight of the ghost's eyes snap to him. It rears back on two functional legs and swings its front two legs down like hammers at Danny. The lunge surprises Danny, but he had enough distance to dodge it.

The half-ghost quickly fires both full powered blasts at the creature, burning the large hairs off and scorching the exoskeleton on its front legs. It's blown backwards, but rights itself before it tumbles onto its destroyed back. The spider drags its broken body towards Danny with hateful ferocity, once again startling the teenager. He would have figured that it would be nigh close to dead again, but despite the horrible injuries, all it wants is his head.

Danny fires two rays at the spiders face, intending to drill right through its head. Intangibility flickers on the ghost long enough for the rays to go through. Danny can say that he was genuinely surprised, once again, he didn't think the ghost had enough intelligence to use the ability, especially with how hurt it already is. But it's clear with all the damage the spider has sustained, it can't keep it up. The spider flickers briefly once the ray blast is over, before it returns to the realm of tangibility. It slumps down, clearly taxed and even more tired than before. That doesn't stop it from attempting to maul Danny again.

Taking to the air, out of its reach, Danny recharges an ecto-ray in each hand before firing again. The spider sprays burning ectoplasm towards Danny to combat the incoming lasers. The acidic green goo turns the rain in the air to steam, and collides with the rays. Conflicting powers clash in midair, and implode into each other. The resulting shockwave pushes Danny back in the air, but does little else to him. The sharp smell of burning vinegar and sulfur fills the air, and his nose, presumably from the acid.

Gross.

Deciding not to waste anymore energy, Danny charges electricity into his hands. The teenager looks down at the spider, specifically the puddle of ectoplasm and water that refuses to mix, right below it. He feels like slapping himself for not thinking of it earlier, water conducts electricity and so far that's one of his most potent powers yet. Well, pure water doesn't have much conductivity at all, but that water pooling below is anything but pure.

Ectoplasm infused electricity strikes the spider seconds later, grounding out below, and bouncing back and forth from the fluids on the ground and back into the belly of the beast. Danny doesn't relent, pumping more and more power into his electricity as he fries the ghost from the inside and out.

Hissing and screeches, along with the loud buzzing of galvanized energy echoes out in the street and down through the town for miles. People in their homes, not many, but the few who were watching the spectacle shiver at the unearthly sounds coming from the monster and teenager both. The drumming of rain and the rumbling of thunder drowns out most of the sounds, but those within a block radius are unable to block out the sound of a dead creature dying once again.

Five minutes of non-stop electrocution leaves Danny tired, but not out. The spider slumps to the ground, burned and brittle. The soaked half-ghost, out of breath and with singed fingertips, stares at his downed foe. Slowly, he lands on the ground. Arcs of electricity still run along the ground and from the dead-again beast.

Danny pats himself down, looking on his left and right. He cranes his head to look at his back, ghostly flexibility working as intended. His face soon blossoms into a smile, before he laughs. He raises his arms into the air, "YES!" He turns left and right, as if to proclaim his victory to some invisible spectators, "YES! YES! WOOO!"

"Uninjured! Not a scratch! YES!" Danny is beyond elated, besides some sore legs- courtesy of being a half human cannonball- he's completely uninjured. Tired, yes. Injured, no!

He quickly stops himself, realizing that he looks like an idiot. A green blush matches his face, but his mood is no longer dampened. He came out in one piece against this monstrosity, without getting melted, chewed on, or eaten. He didn't find out what acid feels like, he didn't die, and he came out with a little worse than a scratch!

"This is still gross though." It's not a pretty picture. When he looks around, the property damage suddenly becomes apparent. The road? Ruined. The park? Destroyed. Him? Covered in nasty undead spider gore. It doesn't smell great either, but that could be the acid still in the air.

Danny approaches the giant spider corpse. It's not very appealing to look at, his brutal carnage on the creature disturbs him slightly, but the feeling is lessened when he thinks about the people he's saved. It felt pretty good to… be a hero. He could see why other people do it.

Clearly, the core wasn't in its abdomen. It would have died then and there if it was. In living, normal, non-giantized spiders, all the important organs are in the abdomen. Clearly, that isn't the case with ghosts. Maybe humanoids, since his is right next to his heart, but insects and animals might be different. "Hmmmm." That's worth looking into.

If the core isn't in the abdomen, then that leaves either the head and the sternum. "Head?" This thing actually has a head? Normal Tarantulas don't have one, just a face on their bodies. If it wasn't obvious before, it is now. When an organism dies, and becomes a ghost, it's body is changed. The rat grew to the size of an SUV, but other than that there wasn't much else. The wolves were all horse sized, but some of them had larger than normal canines. The spider, it grew a head and was able to survive without its abdomen. Danny himself had his own canines replaced by larger ones, on the top and bottom of his mouth, like a vampire.

How far could these changes go?

Danny shakes his head, that was a problem that could be solved later. If he got the chance to. The body of the ghost was already starting to decompose into goo, shrinking into itself. The blown apart legs and abdomen were already puddles of ectoplasm, congregating back towards the main body. Danny pokes the head of the creature, just to be sure. It's brittle and ashy, indenting easily with just one finger. He punches his fist through the head, despite his mounting disgust, and searches around for the core. He's thoroughly glad that this forms comes pre-equipped with gloves. He may not like the outfit much, but there are worse things to die in, and he's thankful he doesn't have to physically feel the inside of the things head.

"Eughk- I'm gonna hurl."

It is, without a doubt, the nastiest thing he's ever had the displeasure of doing. It's cold, squishy, smells like dead bodies and oranges, and he can feel it between his fingers.

Revolting.

About a minute later he's rewarded with a golf ball sized green sphere. He quickly pulls it out of the corpse. The body parts already detached and spread around the area start to quickly dissolve and disintegrate. The full body, or what's left of it, melts even faster before, stretching itself towards the core in his hand.

Danny wants to investigate it, but before he has the chance to, the sounds of squealing tires rings out through the empty streets. Quickly turning around, Danny spots the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle racing towards him. Baffled and befuddled, Danny is barely left with any time to dodge when an ecto-laser pops up from the roof of the RV tank and fires in his direction. He quickly takes to the skies, having zero desire to fight or try to convince his parents that he means no harm. They're obviously in a 'shoot first, ask questions later' mood, and luckily the assault vehicle can't fly.

"Come back, you ectoplasmic scum!" Danny turns his head at the voice of his father over the vehicles megaphone. That particular sentence sounded… kind of racist. Did he seriously just say that out in public, with the volume that high? It wasn't very flattering towards their public image, especially since he just killed that monster and saved the neighborhood.

"Nah, I'm good!"

He keeps flying with his eyes on his parents. Both of them, in their usual orange and teal hazmat suits step out of the GAV, the top laser pointed at him in case he gets back within range. Both have large and bulky goggles on, and although Danny wishes they were there for the rain, he knows that his mother almost never removes them. Somehow, his father is more normal in that regard. They parked right next to the dead super spider. It's body is mostly dissolved already, only a small puddle remains.

He loses sight of them when he breaches into the storm cloud. That's not where the teenager wants to be, especially with the lightning that's been flashing recently, so he changes direction and heads back home. The flight back is short, he wasn't that far from home anyway, and he's relieved to see that they aren't home.

As he approaches his house he turns invisible to avoid detection, and when he turns intangible to go through his window, he's surprised when all the rainwater, ectoplasm and spider bits fall off. He lands back in his room and stares down at himself, now completely clean and dry. Both inside his suit, where there was a small amount of butchery, and outside where it was practically painted on, are clean and dry.

How convenient.

The change back to human brings more of his senses back, and while his legs hurt, he can walk on them just fine. Danny used up a decent amount of energy, but not enough to leave him exhausted. He could still go on for a while, but the day's run its course, he fought another ghost, and he really doesn't want to do anything else.

Danny walks over towards his desk and starts the computer. While it boots up, he opens up one of the drawers and pulls out a mason jar he got from Sam. He puts the spider core in it, and seals it back up. He could mess with it now, but his parents are going to be home soon, and he'd rather have the necessary equipment to do so.

As he waits, he thinks over the day. It's been a roller coaster of emotions, both up and down. It started nervous and angry, quickly went to just angry, next was furious, then depressed, now it's up there- somewhere in between pride and satisfaction.

The fight with the spider could have only turned out better if he killed it in one shot, and if his parents hadn't shown up. It's exceedingly concerning that they have that kind of attitude towards him, when they haven't even tried to talk to him yet. Danny never thought that they were so bigoted that they'd try and kill him on the spot. Hell, he had just killed the spider ghost! He did their job for them, they should have thanked him!

Also, he doesn't really look that different from his human form. He may be paler, have white hair and green eyes, but everything else is the same. Same hair length and style, facial structure, body height and build, even his voice is similar, just with a slight echo. And he's their son, most would think that the parents would recognize their own child, dead or alive, but apparently not.

When it comes to ghosts, it seems that to his parents, the only good ghost is a non-existing one. Maybe he can change their mind, but based off that first encounter, the odds aren't very likely. What does that do for him though? Will they really… hunt him? They shot at him, even if they missed, they had tried to kill him. Maybe they didn't get a good enough look? Surely, that's it. At least he keeps telling himself, it sounds hollow in his mind.

"What a downer." Danny groans.

Today has been so strange. He's had enough of this up and down shit.

----------------------------------------

"Were you able to get any samples honey?"

Jack looks to his wife behind him. She was the better shot, so she was securing the perimeter in case that ghost boy, or any ghost really, decided to stop by.

He shakes his head, "No, sorry Madz. Everything was already gone before I could contain it. It looks like he took the core- don't really know what he'd do with it though." Jack tilts his head to the side, in an attempt to process the why of that.

"Do you think he'd eat it? We've never really thought about cannibalization among ghosts." It's an odd thought, but ghosts are evil enough to do it. He couldn't see the purpose though, this town- or rather area- had enough ambient ectoplasm to sustain ghosts. For the most part. It's why they chose to live in this town all those years ago.

The most haunted city in America, did indeed, have some plausibility to it. It was the perfect place for their research.

"Hmm." She tilts her head to the side, tapping her finger to her lips, "I'm not sure. I don't think so, all these ghosts over the years- even the intelligent ones- never mentioned cannibalism." She waves her hand dismissively in front of her with a chuckle, "Not that we'd believe them anyway. I wouldn't put it past them though, dear. They're ghosts. If it's evil, they probably do it."

Jack laughs along, "Yeah, I guess we'll have to keep an eye out for that ghost boy. We can ask him when he's on the dissection table." If any normal person was around, they would have questioned the legitimacy of these two so called 'scientists'. The words they say, and the actions they take, leaning so heavily on one side. It's clearly biased, and it begs the question if they have actual proof of concept. Additionally, the way they speak so casually about dissecting a 'boy', whether ghost or not, would have many claiming them to be mental.

"Achoo!" Jack sniffles and rubs his nose. "This was a bust Madz, we should get out of here before we get sick." It's not often that Jack is the voice of reason.

Maddie squints her lips, but starts walking back towards the GAV anyway. She's not doubting her husband's words, she's just dissatisfied with the lack of results.

Jack nods and gets up from his crouch. He picks up his equipment and walks back with his wife. His large strides easily allow him to catch up. "If it wasn't the rainwater, it would have been the lack of a core." He shakes his head, "Nothing to be done about it. We got here too late."

Maddie sighs, but relents. They really did get here too late, they couldn't even take part in the action, much less the collection. Without a core, unless properly stabilized or contaminated into an object, ectoplasm from a formerly existing ghost tends to dissipate far too quickly. That's why they always go for capture. Along with studying the various anatomies of different dead, they can extract ectoplasm freely, without the worry of dissipation.

When they reach the door to their vehicle, Maddie turns and looks at the nearby housing complex. They heard some of the sounds from their house and along the way, there's no way this went unnoticed by the people living here. She glances at her husband, he's rubbing his nose as he gets into the vehicle. She's glad their jumpsuits are waterproof, but their heads aren't covered so water can leak in. There's only so much the suits can do before they actually get sick.

The rain is going to be heavy for the next few days if the news was anything to go by. Interviewing the residents can wait, it's not like they're going to be going anywhere anytime soon. Nor are they going to be forgetting recent events, they didn't know what kind of ghost was fought and ended here, but there is substantial property damage. It had to have been large.

And the ghost boy has to be powerful to be able to take it down. Bigger may not always mean better, but a lot of times, for ghosts, that does hold some truth. Larger bodies allows for more ectoplasm to flow through, which allows for faster more power. The big ones may not have that condensed of ectoplasm, most likely like the ghost boy- they really needed a name for him- but they still have a lot and almost all ghosts are capable of throwing that weight around, one way or another.

The GAV starts up and Maddie closes the door behind her. She would come back tomorrow, most likely without Jack if his sniffling was anything to go by.

"Jack-sweetie?" The man in question turns towards his wife, "Yeah Madz?"

"Make a detour to stop by a Walgreen's. It'd be best if we do something to nip your coming cold in the butt."

Jack sighs in defeat, "Yes dear." Good Lord, does he hate taking medicine. It just tastes so… gross. It's nothing like fudge.