"This just...this...I don't even..." Jazz looked out the window scanning the area. She realized her parent's eyes were on her and they were waiting for some kind for explanation. Jazz didn't really have one. Danny didn't disappear like this, not unless there was some kind of...

"Ghost!" Jack cried and pointed toward the sky.

The three of them crowded the window frantically. In the distance they could just barely make out a black and white figure. Just as soon as he was seen he disappeared behind a building. "He got away," Maddie growled. "That has to be Inviso-Bill."

"Inviso-who?" Jazz asked suddenly.

"Inviso-Bill, he's the notorious ghost boy we've been trying to hunt down," Maddie explained as she patted her holster.

Jazz blinked. "Is he dangerous?"

Jack crossed his arms. "Extremely, we've never had to fight him ourselves but a few ghost hunters have told us he isn't a force to be taken lightly. We believe he has intentions to hurt humans due to an extreme envy of those who are still alive."

The young woman wrung her hands together nervously. "Is it possible he took Danny?" She couldn't bear the thought of her little brother being stolen from the sanctity of her home. But it wasn't possible that he had slipped out the window on his own. They weren't on the ground level and even if he had attempted to jump he would've broken something. It wasn't possible that he had left on his own unless he had suddenly gained the ability to fly. That wasn't possible either.

Maddie's eyes widened. "You did say ghosts had been after him because of his ecto-impurity, right?" Jazz nodded quickly. "Then he's our number one suspect."

"We better hurry then," Jack stated. "Saddle up the Fenton Assault Vehicle Maddie, we best hit the road."

"Hurry? How much danger is Danny in?" Jazz demanded fearfully. She called her parents to avoid this kind of thing from happening. Maybe she had waited too long to intervene. The ghosts had seemed to have become periodically more hostile toward her brother. Maybe this had been long-coming, she regretted doubting Danny in the first place. That had been the biggest mistake of her life and if she had endangered his, she would never forgive herself.

Maddie turned to her estranged daughter sympathetically. "Ghosts who envy life often take it in order to quell their feelings of injustice."

xxxxxxx

Danny capped the thermos happily and smiled. "Thanks for the save Sam." It hadn't been an extremely difficult ghost to fight but it had certainly been an ornery one. He'd left his thermos behind in the heat of the moment and the only way to stop the restless spirit was by capturing it. He really didn't have time to waste on such an obnoxious ghost. Calling Sam was always a last-ditch plan because he didn't like getting her involved. Sometimes it was necessary and she could be extremely helpful, especially in tight situations like this.

The girl smirked as he tossed it back to her. "Any time." She held the metal cylinder thoughtfully. "Are you sure you don't want this back?" she asked.

Danny shook his head. "No, you keep it. I want you to have it for protection." She rolled her eyes. "Seriously Sam, it's only a matter of time before these ghosts realize you're on my side. The last thing I want is for them to go after you."

She sighed in capitulation. "Alright, well I better go. My grandma thinks I went to the store to get some milk."

"Don't you hate milk?" Danny asked bemused.

"I know, so I better get the lead out before she gets really suspicious."

Danny smiled. "Sure you don't want a ride?" he asked jerking a thumb over his back.

"Tempting but no," she replied. Just as she did so they both heard a scream of panic. Danny sighed and Sam tensed. "I think that's your cue. You gonna be okay on your own?"

Danny laughed. "Sure, I mean I'm the one with ghosts powers. What's there to worry about?"

With a curt nod Sam took off down the street one way and Danny hurried off in the opposite direction. He'd been hoping he could get home before anyone noticed he was gone. He decided to make this quick, he'd show up, kick some butt, then sneak back home before anyone was any the wiser. He'd done it plenty of times before without getting caught. He figured this time couldn't be any different as long as he was careful. He was usually really careful.

There really wasn't anything to worry about.

He felt like an idiot, he stumbled right into her trap and now he was hoisted six feet in the air by his feet; this was embarrassing. If only he could avoid a scream for help, at least just this one time. He struggled against the bindings holding him in place. The bonds wrapped around his feet were ghost proofed, go figure. Whoever crafted this trap was no ghost, it had to be a human. "Damn it, what's this about?" Danny said aloud in a panic. "Making enemies is something I've never..." he paused and frowned, "well I guess I never really avoided it...But there's no reason for anyone to try to kill me!"

Finally light shone in through the empty warehouse of Axiom labs. He saw a bold feminine figure approaching in the stream of light. "Just what the hell is your grudge against me anyway?" Danny cried irately as he attempted to struggle free from her trap. He stared at her with a pounding headache, he may not have been in his human form but it still felt like all the blood, or ectoplasm, was running to his head.

The Red Huntress stepped forward, gun drawn with a purpose. "You think this is all about you?"

Danny squirmed aggressively. "Yes! Why do you hate me so much?"

"I hate all ghosts, Phantom," she growled.

He was surprised he didn't think Valerie could be capable of so much anger. She always seemed a little hot blooded but never murderous. Now that he was caught was she really going to kill him? He wondered frantically if he should give up and tell her now that he was a human so that she might spare his life. That was of course considering if she had the capacity to spare his life. He began to hyperventilate internally, he was going to die, she was going to murder him, he didn't want to die...he couldn't. Finally Danny reminded himself to calm down, he took in a forced breath of air and released it slowly; he had to stay calm. They were both humans, he could reason with her.

"Why?" The green-eyed ghost asked, his body twisting a bit at the mercy of gravity.

Her head snapped up. "Why what?" she spat as though she couldn't be bothered with such an inane question.

Danny cleared his throat to suppress the shiver up his spine. "Why do you hate ghosts?"

He could feel her eyes burning a hole through him even though he couldn't see them behind the visor. "Ghosts ruined my life." Venom was laced in each and every word.

"How?"

"Stop asking so many questions," the huntress barked. She unclipped a baton from her belt and stuck it in the ghost's side delivering a harsh shock to his incorporate body. She watched him sway back in forth in time to his twitching with a satisfied grin.

"But I didn't!" Danny cried knowing his resistance was apt to be punished.

"All ghosts are the same kind of scum that I'm trying to eliminate, and you are a ghost." Valerie was firm and confident. She didn't seem like the type of girl who wanted to be reasoned with. As far as he could tell she had already made up her mind about this subject a long time ago.

"I don't understand."

"Because of things like you, they took my father away from me. He lost his freedom because ghosts were destroying and stealing equipment and they blamed him. No one would believe him, no one would listen, but I did. Now they've got him locked away, they call him crazy." She turned and clenched her fists. "I won't rest until I capture and destroy every last one of you."

"That's not right, its not justice if you exact revenge on someone who had nothing to do with it." He screamed suddenly as she prodded his side harshly. He twisted frantically and recoiled as pain snaked throughout his body mercilessly. For a moment he nearly lost consciousness but fought the invading darkness with all of his will power.

"But you have everything to do with it," Valerie returned darkly. "You're the ghost that opened the portal."

Danny gasped, his eyes widened. It felt as though his skin had gone cold and that sensation of blood pooling in his frontal lobe dissipated. "W-what?" He trembled, was it possible she knew who he was? If she did then he really was going to die. She obviously didn't seem to care that he was as much Fenton as he was Phantom.

"All the ghosts say it the same way, the ghost-boy opened the portal." She tapped her fingers against the ecto-gun thoughtfully. "I've never seen this 'portal' but I understand it is the largest rift between this world and next." With a swift motion she brought her gun up and pressed it against his forehead, right between his eyes. "And you opened it!"

Stay in control, Danny thought as he felt the cool metal on his face. Don't freak out, she's upset but she won't kill you, he reasoned. Slowly Danny tried to process that he had a small window of time to convince her not to pull the trigger. He wondered if this kind of negotiating was anything like persuading the third shift nurse to let him have night access to the library. Well, he probably couldn't flirt his way out of this kind of situation.

"Wait you're not being fair." Not exactly persuasive. He guessed he wasn't very good at working under this kind of pressure.

"Fair? Fair? Who are you to tell me what's fair?" she shrieked as her trigger finger trembled. "You think I like having a mental patient as a father? You think I like living with my grandmother who can barely feed herself, let alone me? I didn't ask for this life, I don't deserve it. How is that fair?"

"Look...I-I'm sorry. Turn-err..." He bit his tongue for a moment; everyone knew Danny Fenton turned on a machine in his ghost hunting parents' lab. If she didn't know he was a half-ghost he didn't want to give her any reason to start thinking he might be. "Opening the portal was a mistake, it happened by accident. But it was my mistake and-and I'm trying to make things right." He looked at her sincerely but she didn't put down her weapon. "I'm not evil and I'm not trying to hurt anyone."

"How can I trust you?" she demanded sharply.

The ghost stared at her determinedly. "I know it's asking a lot but I want to help."

She sighed and loosened her shoulders. He expected her to begin the process of cutting him loose at this point but instead she sat cross-legged on the warehouse floor. With another sigh she rested her hand on her cheek and looked up at him through the tinted visor. Even though she was exhibiting the decorum of a teenage girl she was still intimidating. If only he could see her eyes and know she meant no harm. After all she had managed to do some serious damage and could do more if enticed. Right now he had her in a pretty good place considering the fact she didn't have a weapon aimed at him anymore.

"So, what are you going to do for me?" she asked calmly.

He thought for a minute and decided to suggest the best, and most do-able, thing he could do for her. After all, he was really sure if he could just close the portal. "I can get your dad out."

"No." She tensed. "That wouldn't fix anything. I want him out the proper way, not as an escapee."

"Well..." Danny began and twisted slowly in a half-turn. "I can be the proof that he isn't crazy."

Valerie tapped her chin thoughtfully while making a soft humming noise. For a moment the ghost boy felt a slight elation, she might be considering letting him go. "Can it really be that easy?" she reflected aside to herself. "I have captured you after all..."

"So why not make a big deal about it, get the whole press involved. Prove there are ghosts, call every scientist and show them what you've found."

Valerie let loose a laugh. "They'll have a freaking field day with this: real proof that ghosts exist." Then she got up slowly and stood a solid foot from the ghost. "But what could you possibly get out of this? You'd be a prime candidate for experimentation as soon as I expose you as captured. You don't really want that?"

"See this is where we make a deal; I let you show the world I exist and in return you have to release me right after. Because if you don't all those scientists will take me and they will kill me. So I'm going to trust that you won't let this happen."

Valerie turned away from him and began to pace with her back to the ghost. Danny swallowed, now that the idea was in her head there was no going back. If she didn't agree then he was beyond doomed. "I guess if I prove there are ghosts then I guess they have to let my dad go. I can make a solid case for him and we can be a family again," Valerie remarked suddenly after having deliberated on the deal. She spun on her heel and he could swear he could see her smile behind the mask. "I always think it's funny that you say you can be killed, like you don't remember you're dead."

Danny forced a chortle and a smile, like he wasn't terrified of being dead. "I guess I just don't want to remember..." he offered weakly.

Carefully Valerie walked behind Danny and examined her set up. She supposed if she was going to be keeping him captive then she might as well let him down. Leaving him dangling there was a little impractical. She slowly went about cutting away at the contraption that held the ghostly bindings to the ceiling. "So," she huffed and cut the last rope. With a sharp cry Danny went hurtling toward the ground and hit it with a loud thud. He moaned into the cold cement floor that his face had just made contact with. Leaping down from the chair Valerie gently pushed him over with her boot and stood over him with her hands on her hips. "How did it happen?"

"How did what happen?" Danny grumbled in return, shooting her a glare. She was really going to leave him hog-tied like an animal; for a teenage girl she wasn't very delicate.

"How did you die?"

Danny went silent for a moment and looked up at her with a starched expression. "What?"

"I get that it's "personal" and all but I mean what's the big secret? Should the dead really be so touchy?"

"You could be a little more sensitive..."

"Did it hurt?" Valerie asked suddenly in a gentle voice. "Dying I mean, does it...hurt?"

He had died inside the portal, he guessed that counted as his death even if it had been partial. Danny blinked for a moment and tried to remember the moments before he felt his body shut down. Sometimes he still had dreams about it, they were vague, but the basic concept was still there. The moments of sudden clarity had truly been more painful then the way his muscles had spasmed and cramped while his lungs tighten until no air could enter. The feeling that it was the end had been worse then when he had actually become aware that he would be unable to draw another breath. It had only been a mental shock because the adrenaline had dulled the physical pain of dying.

"Not really..." he answered cautiously. "I mean once you get over the initial realization that it's over it's all just goes fuzzy and you don't feel a thing."

"That's interesting," Valerie said softly, Danny was almost sure he heard her voice crack.

Danny frowned sympathetically. Her curiosity was humanizing in a way. He remembered she was just a girl his age and people his age were typically afraid of death. "You shouldn't feel sorry for me."

"Good thing I don't," she barked and suddenly he knew she was done being expressive. They were back to business and she was one tough customer. She couldn't let anyone think she was weak or God forbid, human, especially not her enemy. She looked down at him and replaced her hands on her hips again to show her aggression. "Hey, I want to tack on a little something more to our little deal." Danny groaned but looked to her submissively. "You destroy that portal and I won't destroy you."

"What?" Danny cried and pulled at his restraints. "No fair! You already promised my protection."

"Yeah," Valerie stated forcefully, "from others. I never said I wouldn't do it myself."

Danny glared at her in outrage. "You jerk! You were planning on killing me this whole time?"

"Like I said, I destroy ghosts."

Sorry guys, life's been rough. A friend of mine died in a car accident and I had to drop out of college due to financial issues. I've been having trouble writing but I haven't forgotten you guys. I'm trying to write as much as possible, so bear with me. And thank you for all the reviews.