Chapter 6

Danny watched as Spectra stumbled as fast and as far away as she could in her miserable state, her fear wafted off her retreating form like that of food from an expensive buffet. He couldn't help the smirk that twisted his features. He couldn't wait for her to fuck up again, he knew she would and he would savor breaking her. He would etch his hate deep into her body in a way that could never be erased before he finished her off for good.

He decided to make himself scarce, making his way through the shadows to find a place to shift into his human form only for his ears to catch a distressed squeak of yelp before it was silenced by a harsh-sounding smack and a snarl. He decided to make his way towards the noise source as he turned invisible to prevent anyone from seeing him.

As he continued to move, he saw the noise source, two men had a woman pinned against a wall, they were wearing a standard ghost-hunting outfit with cheap-looking equipment, which made Danny roll his eyes.

'Which is worse? The willfully stupid or the willfully evil?'

A scratchy tone rang out, "You should have accepted our proposal, Mrs. Artica."

She pressed her body further into the wall, "I already told you that I don't have any ghosts and I have no need for hunters to protect me or my home. I have no need for your services, please, please leave me alone."

"Oh no, that's not how it works," The other said in a slimy tone

The woman looked like she was trying to collapse as she clutched her shirt, trying her best not to pass out as she looked around at anything from the corner of her eyes to see a way out of this.

Then the slimy one grabbed her arms, pinning her painfully against the wall as the other tore open her shirt, which was enough for Danny to interfere.

He turned off his invisibility, appearing before the woman, much to her shock before he lashed out at the nearest ghost hunter, striking out with his fist sending them to the ground, clutching their jaw. The second one whirled around to see Danny kick his teeth in, sending him on his ass as well.

Danny cracked his knuckles, which echoed through the alley as he began to beat the miserable excuses of humans a foot away from death. Dislocated joints, broken bones, broken teeth, and bruised organs as the men couldn't even scream for help. The brutal beating was vile and spine-chilling. The woman could only stare in shock and light horror until Danny finally pulled away from them.

They were barely breathing and a foot away from death as the woman clutched the remains of her ruined shirt as she looked between both Danny and her downed attempted assaulters. He stripped them of their weapons before destroying them with his ice.

Before he could disappear, the woman softly said, "Um, excuse me?"

He turned back towards her with an eyebrow raised.

"Thank you."

He nodded in return before he flew away as she watched him disappear from her sight as she made her way home, leaving the ghost hunters to rot in the alley.

As Danny made his way into an alley that was near Tucker's house, he shifted into his human form in an alley, slumped down to rest his head between his knees as he slowly nodded off.

Within ten minutes, he snapped awake, showing a pair of blue eyes instead of an empty gold. He groaned as he rubbed the back his head, "God...What the hell happened?"

He got up and nearly stumbled to his knees as he felt his ribs ache as he tried to recall what happened before he passed out, but couldn't recall anything. He made to slowly walk back to Tucker's house, knocking twice before entering the house to see Angela who made her way over to greet him.

"Welcome back, Danny."

Maurice smiled from his newspaper, "Hey, Danny. It's been a while!"

"Hello, sir."

"You know you can always call me Maurice, Danny. Take a seat."

He did just that and slumped down on the couch as Angela looked at him, "Are you okay? You look ill?"

He gave her a smile, "Don't worry. I'm fine. Just a bit sore."

"Did you get into a fight."

"Not really? I just took a bad fall."

"Well, you can rest on the couch. I'll bring you your dinner so you can eat without having to move too much."

"Thank you."

She smiled and patted his head as Tucker came down to see him and sat beside him.

"Hey, man. What took you?"

"I got into another bad fall."

"Ah...your headaches came back, huh?"

Danny just gave a nod as Tucker looked at his hands seeing them all scrapped up and how he was sitting.

He silently knew that his ribs were bruised and he made to patch him up later.

"I see."

Dinner quickly passed and Tucker helped Danny to the bathroom to patch up his hands and his ribs, seeing bruises and the scars from his previous battles from all his enemies.

After a moment, Tucker softly asked, "Did you blackout again?"

He nodded, "With Spectra. She was attacking the town and she got me pinned. The next thing I know I wake up in an alley. God, I hope I didn't do it again."

Tucker had no words but could only offer his silent condolences as he helped him to his bedroom before he made his way to his own.

Danny sighed as he pulled out his phone and made to text his sister.

D: Hey.

J: Hey, are you okay?

D: Not really...

J: What happened? Another ghost attack? Your headaches? Jack and Maddie?

D: Yes to the ghost attack.

J: Who?

D: Spectra

J: Oh no...What happened?

D: That's the thing, I don't remember, I blacked out.

J: What's the last thing you remember?

D: I vaguely remember being in her grip and her using her powers on me before passing out. She would have either taken me with her or left me in the street if she won. But other than waking up in an alley, I don't remember anything else.

J: I see. I'll help you, Danny, but I think you need professional help, the constant headaches, the blackouts are not good, especially at your age. I don't think I would be able to cope if anything happened to you if you blacked out again.

D:...Okay. But I can't really go to just anyone considering my condition, you know?

J: Well, there are other cities you can go to. I'm looking up information for it, but they say, Gotham's doctors can help.

D: The criminal shithole...

J: Danny...

D: Sorry.

J: Yes, despite its' reputation, the doctors stationed there have very good doctors and well, you can easily protect yourself.

D: I'll check it out when summer hits. But enough about me, how are you doing?

J: I'm fine, I settled in easily.

D: And over there?

J: Still toxic city.

D: Ugh, I guess we need to detox all of our stuff huh?

J: Wouldn't surprise me.

D: Ugh. Moving on from them, I have some good news.

J: Which would be?

D: I have a date

J: REALLY! With who?

D: It was the new girl who transferred in and helped me out in the storm with her mom. Her name is Ray.

J: How nice. I can't wait to meet her in person. Tell me, how are things at school?

D: Things are a lot better than before. All the A-listers are now off their high horses and Dash is gone, Kwan is neutered and can't do anything without his fellow meathead, Paulina is now an outcast among the school population and Star has been brought down to orbit. Also, Lancer tried to punish me for kicking the shit out of Dash and what did to the other A-listers. I told him to piss off and I sort of threatened his job over his neglect of his responsibilities.

J: ...Well, I can only say that you did a good job. He was always a bit creepy and it's good that you knocked him off his high horse.

D: Has Dash or his parents contacted you?

J: His parents contacted me that he woke up, but that he will still be in the hospital for a bit. You really screwed him up.

D: He had it coming for years.

J: True and thanks for protecting me.

D: You may be older, but you are still my sister. Hell will freeze before I allow that fuck to do anything to you and you could do a million times better than him anyway.

J: Thanks for the vote of confidence. Take care, Danny. See you soon.

D: Later sis. Good night.

J: Good night.

He turned off his phone, placed it to be charged and slept.

As the hours ticked on, he found himself sitting on top of a golden lake. He touched the lake only to cause ripples to spread out from around him and then he felt every hair on his body stand on end.

He turned around to see a form wrapped in shadows leaving only a pair of empty golden eyes, staring back at him.

"Well, well, well, we meet again, you miserable sniveling little weakling."

Danny asked, "Who are you? What are you? Dan?"

The dark being gave a bit of laugh, "I'm not that miserable time ripoff who cheated on a test. I'm something much closer to you, but I had enough of being in the backseat. It's my turn to be on top and I'll get that by killing you."

Then the dark figure lashed out at him, tackling him before he began to wail on him with a force that trumped all of his battles he had experienced. The beating was relentless and cold, he couldn't even fight back, just cover himself in a vain hope of protecting himself. Each blow that landed felt like being hit with a cinderblock.

He didn't know how much longer he could last getting ass-whopped like this until everything faded to black until Danny was forced into reality, in a cold sweat. He stumbled out of bed, aching pain was etched into all of his nerves from the hellish nightmare he just experienced as he made his way out of the hall and into the nearest bathroom.

Danny then puked into a toilet, shaking and shuddering as he emptied the contents of his stomach as he tried to control his breathing. Then he heard a knock on the door before he felt a hand on his shoulder before he slowly pulled his head from the toilet bowl.

He tried to flush it only for Angela to do it for him as she had a wet cloth that she rested on his forehead and over his eyes. She held him until he stopped shaking as he could only whisper, "Thank you, thank you..."

She just smiled and made to comfort him until he regained his strength to the point that he could get up without help. He washed his face and when he finally lifted his head out of the sink, Angela handed him a glass of water.

"Don't hesitate to ask for anything, Danny. It must have been a hell of a nightmare."

He nodded as she smiled before giving him a hug as he tried not to flinch.

She gave him one more smile before she went back to bed as he turned in himself. He made his way to the cool side of his bed as he stayed turned on his side, the aches and pains followed him throughout the night, he couldn't sleep. He didn't want too.

'He wasn't Dan, but something much closer...I need to speak with Clockwork. Maybe he can help.'

He spent the rest of the night like that, hoping for the sun to come up and wash away the miserable feeling and phantom aches inside of him.

[Ghost Zone - Spectra's Lair]

Spectra was supported by Kitty and Johnny as Ember trailed behind them as Kitty and Ember got her out of her soiled clothes as they placed her on the couch. Johnny could only wince over how her body looked. Her body was still in its' youthful state, but it had jagged cracks mostly around her torso, down her arms and ended at her thighs.

Each breath sent a stab of pain through her body as she tried not to pass out.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"Phantom. He did this to me."

"Dipstick, did this? Really?"

Spectra slowly stated, "I began my attack on the town...only to be confronted by him. I had him pinned as my powers seemed to affect him more than usual before he passed out in my grip. Something that surprised me but before I could do anything else, he grabbed me by the throat and tossed me into a building. After I got out of the wreck, I told him that playing possum wasn't like him. He just cracked his neck in return. I made to attack him but he avoided everything and just pinned me. Then he showed me a pair of golden eyes."

"Golden eyes? Danny's eyes are green."

"They are, but not this time. They were gold and they were so cold. He told me that he would give me something else for me to feed on before...pain. It was so painful I can't put it into words. After that he let me go and told me if I decided to attack the town again he would break me in such a way that would make Walker shit himself."

Everyone was silent as they stared at Spectra who had her head down.

After several moments, Ember softly stated, "That doesn't sound like Danny."

"No, not at all," Johnny sighed

"It was terrifying. His eyes looked like they belonged to a demon from Hell itself. He could have skinned me and not even blinked."

Ember groaned, "Maybe I need to have a talk with him."

Kitty nearly tackled her to the floor, "You can't go confront him alone! What if he snaps at you?!"

She rolled her eyes, "He won't snap at me, Kitty."

Johnny stepped between them, "Look, Em, I know he's your friend and your special relationship with him, but you saw what he did to Skulker, not that the bastard didn't deserve it, and look what happened to Spec. I don't want to be that guy, but he snaps on you..."

She sighed as she ran a hand through her hair, "Fine, but stay out of sight."

Ember took a seat next to Spectra, "I'll reach out to him and see what's up. Something must have been building up with none of us noticing for him to just explode like this. When I talked to him last time he said he didn't remember attacking Skulker and he was surprised he saw what happened to him. Maybe something disconnected upstairs?"

Kitty shuddered, "Whatever it is, I hope he fixes it soon. Come on, let's change your bandages, Spec."

Spectra nodded as she was helped up by Johnny and Kitty as they made their way to the bathroom, leaving Ember alone. She bit her lower lip as she just slumped down on the couch.

'What happened to you, Danny?'

[With Ray]

She had just finished her homework and was reading a comic before her mom knocked on the door.

"Hey, sweetie. Are you busy?"

"No, come in, mom."

She entered carrying take-out and soda as she sat on her daughter's bed. She took the take-out bag and made to dig in as Robin asked, "Do you have anything planned this weekend?"

"I plan on going out with Danny."

"Oh really? Already?"

"Yeah. He showed me around the school and I want to pay him back. I wonder where I should take him?"

"Well, you can iron out the details later, just be safe."

"I will."

"I'll be in the living room, shout if you need anything."

She nodded as she ate her fries. When her mom left, she pulled out her phone and flipped through her contacts and found Tucker's number. She smiled before she flipped to Youtube and made to watch videos while she ate.

'His friend should know his favorite place to hang out and eat.'

[With Sam]

She changed into her pajamas and settled into bed. Her grandmother's words bounced around in her head.

She was right that what she was doing previously with Danny was not helping her case, but she couldn't help herself. She never wanted to let him go, she wanted to be right by him almost to the point of restraining him.

She didn't really know who to go to for insight as she pushed most of them away either through her looks, her personality or her want of Danny. Valerie was the only one she could go to for this, but she was offline and has been for days.

She couldn't go to her parents, especially her mom for this as they would coddle her and the last thing she needed right now was coddling. The mere thought of it made her want to hurl.

She didn't want to bother her Gran with this as she just talked to her.

A groan spilled from her lips as she clutched one of her pillows against her chest as she wondered how she was going to make amends with both Danny and Tucker. She knew that he was getting popular for bringing down Dash and the A-listers. People saw him in a new light and just made her blood boil that people saw him now that he took down Dash.

She nuzzled into her pillow as she just needed to think of something and soon.

Ending the chapter! I hope all of you like this chapter even though it's short, I needed to wrap up the previous chapter and hopefully, it will lead to more lengthy chapter. Take care, everyone!

Thank you for the reviews!

CSC3 - I'm glad you enjoy it and so do I. I always had a thing for characters fighting against bullshit and yeah, I wish they made it an episode as well or at least Danny being on the top of the high school hierarchy by bringing down Dash for an episode. I wish the show never ended, but they need the voice actor of Clockwork, a titular character so I can understand why they wrapped it up. Danny putting down Red Huntress is something I've been meaning to write for a while and his parents are digging their own graves where it concerns both Danny and Jazz. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

Pravus666 - Thank you and well, you will have to wait and see. Danny being on top will be better for the school, although a rapid monkey would be better than Dash at this point. And we will see about the building up of Team Phantom as Danny needs to work on his...current mental problem that wants the driver's seat. I hope you can update your other stories and thanks again.

devilzxknight86 - If you are going to go dark, why hold back?

dannyrockon122 - Pretty much and the dark side has such a wide variety, take your pick and join us. I'm glad you are enjoying the story.

Jerichoyuy - I'm glad you enjoy it to such an extent that you call it a masterpiece. Thank you.

Michael Bourne - In time, dear reader, in time. I'm glad you enjoy it and I'm going to update them, the muse is being catty now.

Greer123 - Thank you for reviewing.

(guest) Ultra X45 - That you will have to wait and see, but I leaning towards a yes. The dolls from street fighter, huh? We will see, I need to find a way to enter her into the story, but I will not pair her with Danny, but I could see them being friends down the line.

(guest) War Dragon - We will see, but I'm not making any promises. The muse comes and goes as it wants. But thank you for the idea.

(guest) Neo Fighter V - I'm glad you enjoyed it and I love Danny standing up for himself as well. I wish they showed something like that where Danny doesn't take any bullshit. Star will be on the back burner for now considering that Danny told her a brutal truth and she needs some time to think things through. Especially since she will be away from the toxic group, she will grow on her own and hopefully make amends for mistakes. Who knows? But she is the first and has to be put through tests to make sure Vlad's halfa process is stable and doesn't turn out like Dani where she was unstable. That depends on how I feel about it and it could be a possible future, but I make no promises. After all, this is a rewrite.

~Kourtney Uzu Yato