Chapter 10

Valerie was reeling from the revelation Dani had just presented. Danny Fenton was a halfa! Judging the context of the word halfa, it probably meant half ghost. If he's really like Dani then he's got a second form...

"Dani's ghost form is an inverse of her human form, so who has black hair, blue eyes and that hairstyle? Is… is Danny Fenton... Danny Phantom?" Valerie quietly inquires.

Dani stiffened, looked down and began to shuffle her feet while looking to all the world like a little kid that has just been caught in a lie.

"I'll take that as a yes" Valerie said dejectedly before slumping down on her hoverboard.

All this time she had been hunting Phantom, blaming him for her life, hating him. But Phantom was Fenton was Phantom, she knew Fenton, right?

"Hey Valerie are you all right?" Dani nervously approached.

"Yeah, this is all just a bit much to process… let's get back to tracking Nocturne. Come on, you can ride on my board." Valerie said quietly as she set her board to autotrakk Nocturne.

"N-no... I'm good. I can fly myself." Dani protested weakly.

Valerie looked down at Dani and said "Get on the board. You must be exhausted after that fall."

Dani, still a bit nervous, climbed onto Valerie's jet sled and they began to fly off. Once they were safely in the air, Valerie pulled up her file on Phantom, and began to sift through the video. She watched fight after fight looking for anything that could give her definitive evidence. In the back of her mind, she still kind of hoped she was right all along despite how twisted that was.

She had hated Phantom for so long and based so much of her identity around him being evil. She was the superhero fighting for justice and Truth, while Phantom was the conniving, manipulative ghost planning the destruction of the world. But, the more she watched the videos with the hatred that used to Cloud her mind cleared, the more she noticed Phantom pulling punches, always reluctant to attack, preferring to dodge or block even at the cost of his own body. A few hours passed in silence as Valerie reviewed her videos. Finally, as the sun set, Valerie broke the silence.

"I guess, I was the villain." Valerie mumbled to herself in resigned misery.

"No, you are not." Dani exclaimed.

"What?"

"You're not a villain"

"I don't think you understand Dani, I tried to… to kill, Danny Phan… Fenton, multiple times. Over and over I hunted him and he never once hit me hard enough to cause real injury. How could I not be the villain?"

"You didn't know. So what? You've made a mistake, You were being manipulated by Vlad and were willing to put aside your prejudice in order to help me. Heck, if you are villainous that I'm the devil." After she said this Valerie looked at her inquisitively. Then, Dani suddenly became very nervous, shifting her feet and looking down at the ground whizzing past thenm which Valerie now recognized as a nervous quirk.

"What have you done to think that about yourself. You're just a little girl?"

"Did I ever tell you about how me and Danny met?"

"I thought you two were cousins."

"That's not exactly true. Technically, I'm closer to his sister. Cloned to be exact."

Valerie stared dumb founded as Dani recanted the story of Vlad's deceit and Dani's continuing trust in him, despite Danny's pleas to recnsider.

The sun finally set as the story came to a close. "It finally took Vlad heartlessly vaporizing an unstable clone in pursuit of his goals to make me snap out of it. Now, after hearing this, which one of us do you think is more of a villain? The one who selfishly helped a mad man capture and torture someone, refusing to take action until she let somebody die in front of her? Or, The one who followed her heart and selflessly tried to protect an entire city from a perceived threat, even if she was misguided? Dani finished her story. Valerie sat contemplatively.

"That's... Heavy." Valerie finally replied.

" I... Have had a lot of time to meditate on who I am and what my past means, while I was on the road... and genetically unstable. Especially in relation to someone like Danny." A comfortable silence begin to stretch between them.

"Thank you for listening. It truly feels good to get that off my chest," Dani sid breaking the silence.

"No. Thank you for helping me see the truth and for helping me through that little crisis of identity… well, the computer says we're almost there." After she said this, Valerie yawned. She felt her eyelids getting heavy as sleep slowly pulled her under while she rode on her board. What she didn't notice was Dani doing the same thing. Quickly, both of them were fast asleep and did not notice a starry hand reaching down from the sky to envelope them.

C_

Danny, Sam, and Tucker sat together on the cot in the holding cell. After Danny returned, badly shaken, they had huddled together and quietly conversed. Slowly, they calmed Danny down until they had all fallen into a light slumber. Batman watched them until he was sure that they were asleep before returning to the Batcave to analyze all the information he had gotten from the 'interviews'. He had just entered the cave when a golden Ankh appeared in front of him.

"We need to talk" Doctor Fate declared.

Batman calmly walked over to his evidence room and motioned for Dr. Fate to follow. Once there, he began putting all of the files and evidence he had pertaining to Danny and Co away.

"First things first, who are the Observants and what did they want?" Batman boldly asks.

"The Observants act as interim rulers for the infinite realms. They, along with the ghost King, are also responsible for maintaining the borders between all realities in our microcosm. So long as no King sits upon the throne, the head Observant acts as King. He could deny me access to this, or any other realm he chose. My meeting with them resulted in some interesting information that you should know. One of their prisoners was Danny Phantom. He has proven himself very difficult for them to contain and the head Observant requested that the Justice League prepare to hold him instead. As for some other information, they presented me with a list of powers and artifacts that he has amassed."

Upon relaying his message, Doctor Fate summoned a large scroll and handed it to Batman.

"Thank you. Doctor Fate, you know of ectoplasm don't you? Mind sharing what you know of its properties?" Batman said as he was taking the scroll.

"Ectoplasm is a substance that Bridges the gap between magic and science. Using ectoplasm magic may manipulate, change, or even delete the laws of science and science can perform feats only magic is supposed to be able to do. However, it is extremely volatile, if improperly handled, it will explode, violently." After his explanation, Doctor Fate did not immediately vanish into an ankh.

"There's something else, isn't there?"

"The Observants were acting unusually erratic. In addition, they have lost the support of the master of time, a being which sees all possible timeline from all possible instances and actions and has the power to change events to coincide with the best outcome. The simple fact that this being is no longer with them indicates that something is going on in the infinite realms that I am unaware of. They told me to not underestimate Phantom. But, I shall tell you, do not trust the Observants. I will be on the lookout for oddities in the infinite realms." With that, Doctor Fate created an ankh in the air and vanished.

Batman turned towards an empty table in the batcave and unrolled the scroll that Doctor Fate had given him. Inside, there was a large list of powers and artifacts that Phantom supposedly had in his possession. As he was looking through, several powers caught his attention. Invisibility, intangibility, flight, cryokinesis, shapeshifting, and duplication. Batman had a hunch. So, he began to research Danny Fenton.

C_

"No!" The head Observant exclaimed slamming his fist on either side of a portal he was watching.

"Phantom! Get in here!" The head observant shouted into seemingly empty space.

Suddenly, a swirling portal appeared and out stepped Dan Phantom rubbing his ear as though a gnat had flown in it.

"Sheesh Broderick! No need to shout. I was just about to find Nocturne and-"

"There has been a change in plans. I'm going to need you to cement Phantom as a villain. We can kill two birds with one stone. Take out the Fenton parents... And I need you to make it public, with Danny's face, of course."

"Can I have fun with them." Dan said with a maniacal grin on his face.

"Certainly, just don't let them slip any information out. Oh yes… one more thing. We need to keep Danny Fenton out of the ghost zone for awhile longer. I figure, why not give him and his friends the credit they so deserve. Under his real name, of course. Upon saying this, the Observant flicks his wrist and a small flash drive appears in front of Dan.

"I don't think either request will be a problem. You know what they say... DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES. Hahahahah"

C_

Mr. Fenton was circling the mountain for the third time while Ms. Fenton was trying to get in touch with the Justice League to figure out what happened to Danny. Maddie began calling the Hall of Justice receptionist desk for the fifth time.

"Hello, you have reached the Hall of Justice. How can I help you?" a cheery voice replied from the other end of the phone.

"Get me in touch with someone in the league, Right, now! or at least tell me where they are keeping my son!" Maddie shouted into the receiver.

A dejected sigh came from the other end of the line, "I'm truly sorry ma'am but for the last time I don't know where your son is and neither do any of the league on call."

"I don't care if you have to patch me through to Batman! Just get me on the phone with someone who can take me to my boy!"

"... You know I can't do that. But I will call you as soon as I have any information regarding Danny Fenton." With that, the receptionist hung up, leaving Maddie to once again fume in the back of the Specter speeder. Finally, Jack spoke up.

"You know, Maddie. You should probably give it a rest. You've been calling that number for hours, we can't really do anything more than we already have. At least until we do know where Danny is. Besides, we caught that metal ghost!" Mr. Fenton said trying to lighten the mood as he held up a Fenton thermos and shook it eliciting a screech of indignation from the ghost, Skulker, within.

"I know, Jack. Oh! It's just that I've got a feeling like something big is happening with Danny, and I'm not there to help him through it. I've also got a nagging feeling in my gut that we're missing something."

"I know what you mean Mads. I've got something similar… oh hey look Maddie it's Mount Justice the League's old HQ. Maybe there's a direct line to a member in there. Let's go check it out."

"Oh no! I don't think you have any time for that." A voice called from behind the Fentons.

Quickly turning around, both Fenton saw the unmistakable logo of Danny Phantom. He was holding a strange medallion that looked like it was made of a gear with a stylized CW on it.

"YOU! Where is our son?!" The Fentons said in unison, as they pulled their weapons and leveled them at Phantom.

"That's a simple question. He's right here." As he said this, two blue beams fired from The Medallion hitting both Fentons in the head. Suddenly they remembered.

The test.

The nasty burger.

That Ghostly imposter.

Getting strapped to the boiler.

Danny Phantom fighting what looked like himself.

Danny Phantom winning.

Danny Phantom was Danny Fenton.

Their Death.

Dan Phantom laughed quietly to himself as he tied up both of the now unconscious Fentons with his Ecto rope. Taking up the disguise of Danny Phantom, he turned on a camera.

AN: Sorry for the long wait between chapters. I can't believe it's gotten as popular as it has. Thank you very much. Please leave a review they really help motivate me to continue writing.