Danny spun in the air and flew at full speed back to Fentonworks, sneaking past the cop looking after the accident, and phasing through the wall before transforming. He didn't look to see if the woman was following him.

He knew he was in big trouble, and was probably going to be in even bigger shit once they found out he was Phantom. He heard voices from the living room and decided to call for backup. He sent a text to Tucker, Sam, and Jazz, just in case his parents took his phone.

He ignored the flash of light behind him as the woman followed him into the house, preferring to step out into the living room where his parents -

Vlad Masters was sitting on his sofa.

"Ah, there he is. Daniel, I was just telling your parents about how hard it was to finally come out about the fact that I am half ghost."

"You- I-" It was a trap. The birds were a distraction so Vlad could get the jump on him, not only removing Danny's chance of blackmail, but also gaining the ability to spin it the way he wanted. Why was Vlad always a step ahead?

"You too!" Mrs. Greene sounded unfortunately happy about this. Great, just great. Now Vlad had an ally. "Dr. Maria Greene" She said, shaking his hand. So she was a doctor. Oops.

"Vlad Masters, delighted." He flashed a too charming grin that looked more like a smirk when his eyes darted back to Danny.

"As fascinating as this is, why are you telling us now?" Danny was suddenly very proud of his mother. Hand it to her to not put up with Plasmius's bullshit.

"My dear Maddie" He put a hand on her shoulder, and left it there, even as she tried to shrug it off. "I was afraid of how you would react. Much like poor Danny, here. You mustn't blame him too much. All the talk about destroying ghosts, well, it wasn't until I found out you'd accepted another one that I managed to work up the courage... Especially after what happened at the reunion."

"You mean when you overshadowed Dad and wreaked havoc?" Danny didn't know why Vlad was willingly bringing that up, but he wasn't going to miss out on the opportunity to get his parents to turn on his arch-nemesis.

"Yes, not my fault, of course; I was being controlled. You should know Daniel, it happened to you when you went on that crime spree, did it not?"

"I-" Vlad didn't give him a chance to continue.

"Yes, and I'd just worked up the courage to tell you. All those years in the hospital, worried what you might think of me. And then ruined because of a ghost with a grudge! I was terrified you'd never forgive me!"

"You know I'd always accept you, Vladdy! You're my best friend!" Danny's dad was interjecting his way into the conversation, even though Vlad appeared to be talking exclusively to Danny's mom. Ick.

"You spent years in the hospital? You poor man!" Mrs- no, Doctor Greene, had evidently been taken in by Plasmius's sob story and elected to interject as well. Great.

"You're not honestly believing this are you? He tried to kill you. Several times. How do you think he got rich? How do you think he got elected mayor?"

"Honestly, I don't know where he gets these ideas. He's always going out and jumping to conclusions. Really it's all just a big misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding? Was that time you kidnapped me a misunderstanding? Or that time you set ghost animals to hunt me down? Or that time you set free Pariah Dark!?" Danny didn't know why he was getting so upset. It wasn't like this was anything new; his parents (or at least his dad) had always been blind to Vlad's faults. Maybe it was that he felt like he was already in trouble, and was falling even further out of favor... Like Vlad was trying to best him in his own house.

"Oh, teenagers, always so melodramatic. It's all coincidence and accidents, my boy. You've had accidents yourself. I seem to recall several buildings you brought down."

"He what?" Danny winced. It wasn't like he asked to get thrown into things...

"Oh, he didn't tell you? Your son here has been going around fighting ghosts as Danny Phantom. I've tried to protect him of course, but it's horribly danger-"

"Danny!"

"It's not that dangerous."

"You were just telling me how dangerous it was!" Dr. Greene had decided to jump in again.

"Yeah, for someone without experience!" He said turning to her, ready to start another argument.

"You have a lot of explaining to do young man!" He deflated, turning back to the much scarier form of his mother, ready to start-

"Oh, don't be too hard on him, my dear." Danny had to pick up his jaw off the floor. Was Vlad defending him? "He's been trying to go through this without guidance. I've tried to offer it to him, but you know teenagers; they never listen. He's always making rash decisions, getting himself in trouble- like a child."

"I am not a child." It came out more menacing than he intended, and, judging by the startled look on his parent's faces, his eyes were glowing. He tried to force them back. "And I don't fight ghosts everyday to be treated like one."

"Danny, you don't have to fight ghosts! That's our job! What were you thinking! You could get hurt!" Great, now he was getting the 'we're only concerned for your safety' shpeel.

"Then who is? You? I don't know if you've noticed, but you haven't caught a ghost higher than a level two."

"We know what we're do-"

"What you're doing!? Before today you didn't even know halfa's existed. You've never even been in the Ghost Zone! You call yourself hunters, but all you've done is run around chasing the one person who was trying to help: me!" Suddenly he was yelling. All of the frustration of not being taken seriously, of lying, of hiding, of pretending to be the kind of person who just stood there and let people hurt him.

"We didn't kno-"

"Didn't know? What kind of parents don't even notice when their son starts hunting the ghosts you were supposed to fight! I had to pick up your slack because people were getting hurt. Face it, you're lousy hunters and lousy parents!"

There was silence, in which Danny realized he probably shouldn't have gone so far. Mrs. Greene had taken several steps back, and judging by the looks on everyone's faces, she wasn't the only one who was frightened. Everyone except Vlad, who looked positively ecstatic.

Danny extinguished the ectoblast he'd unconciously started forming in his hand and concentrated on letting the temperature creep back up to normal levels.

"I can't believe you would talk to your parents that way, Daniel. Clearly you don't respect authority."

"But I-"

"Danny." Danny looked at his mom, who seemed to have partially recovered from her shock. "Go to your room."

He went.