I do not own Danny Phantom.

A Discovered Loophole and Damage Control

Danny transformed into Fenton and watched Valerie walk off. All the ghosts were gone and Tucker closed the portal behind them. Sam had put all the weapons back in their rightful place and joined her friends outside as they surveyed the damage.

"Okay. Story time. What are we telling my parents?" Danny asked.

"Well, most of Amity Park is in the safe house. Tucker hacked into all the security cameras in the surrounding area and deleted footage of us fighting. So we're safe. But someone's going to say they didn't see us in the safe house."

Danny thought about this idea. "So, we are going with the ghost invasion story?"

"Sure. Phantom freaked when the ghosts came through the Fenton portal and put the Fentons in the attic for safety, turned the shield on and sent Danny and his two best friends to an old warehouse out of harm's way. There are a ton of warehouses around here, so we couldn't possible know which one Phantom took us to."

"But this is after we go to Danny's house," Sam reminded Tucker.

"Oh yeah. Lancer just happened to be walking by when Phantom spotted him and took him to safety," Tucker filled in the rest of the gaps.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "He took a walk at two in the morning?"

"Well, Sam's going to have to get Lancer out of there first."

Sam scratched her head. "How do we know Lancer didn't already tell Danny's parents?"

Tucker grinned. "I have a feeling he wants to chew us out first."

Danny thought for a moment. "All right. Story's believable enough. Phantom explained his story to us when taking us to the warehouse because he didn't know about the safe house. He spotted you guys walking home, picked you up, saved you from a ghost attack, and you begged him to come save me, the greatest guy of all time."

Sam and Tucker rolled their eyes. "All right. But Tucker, do not speak. We don't need another slipup," said Sam.

Danny cracked his knuckles. "Okay, here goes nothing. Tucker, disarm the shield. Sam, put on the most desperate expression you can muster. It's show time!"

Tucker tapped a few buttons on his P.D.A and winced at the crashes that sounded from inside. In seconds the anxious Fentons were upon their son, sobbing and squeezing the life out of him. Sam flinched under Lancer's murderous gaze, but he held back and stood simmering. Danny pried himself out of his parents grip. "What happened?"

"That nasty Phantom came and attacked us! He threw us in the attic! Mr. Lancer as well, but he's as clueless as we are on how he ended up in this mess." Maddie frowned.

Danny breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you're safe. Phantom took Sam, Tucker and I to an old warehouse somewhere-"

Maddie instantly searched her son for any injuries while Danny tried to assure her he was fine. Sam and Tucker exchanged a look. His super-healing healed most of the damage, but a few bruises were left over. Maddie noticed. "You're all bruised! When I get my hands on that ghost! Sam and Tucker, you're all scratched up! That Phantom is so-"

"Mom, it's cool. I tripped in the warehouse where he brought us and got these bruises myself. Sam and Tucker ran into a clump of barbed wire that was being stored there," Danny lied. He could hear Sam and Tucker snickering.

Jack scratched his head in confusion. "But why did Phantom take you kids there in the first place?"

"He explained that on the trip. An army of ghosts were using your Fenton Portal to enter our world. He spotted Lanc-I mean, Mr. Lancer walking by and he took him to the safety of your attic, where he had programmed a Ghost/Human Shield." Lancer snorted, but Sam ignored it and pressed on. "The rest of Amity Park took off when they saw the first wave of ghosts come out. Someone may want to tell them it's safe to come out."

"You're telling me Phantom fought those ghosts by himself?" Maddie asked dubiously.

"Well, he had some help. At least, that's what he told us," Tucker quickly added.

Maddie noticed for the first time the amount of damage caused. She shrieked in horror. Windows were smashed, the cars parked along the streets were totalled, and one building had completely collapsed, bricks and metal piping scattered in all directions. "That Phantom destroyed our town! Come on Jack. We might be able to catch him!"

Danny face-palmed when his parents bolted inside, straight for the Fenton lab. Sam and Tucker shook their heads. "You can never catch a break, can you?"

"Apparently not. Uh, oh. Get ready guys. Here come the fireworks." All three teens winced when Lancer stormed up to them.

"What did I tell you? I told you not to ghost hunt! And you did! Not just one ghost, but a whole ghost invasion! You could have been killed!" he hollered. "Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is in that attic? It was dusty and cramped! Why did you toss me in the attic anyway? I want the truth."

Danny shrugged. "Well, this ghost knew me personally, and he was going after my parents and then you. So I had to get you in a safe place that I trusted."

Lancer narrowed his eyes. It was tough when to tell when they were lying and when they were telling the truth. He turned on Sam next. "Samantha, you are in so much trouble! You nearly gave me a heart attack with that phone call!"

Danny cocked his head quizzically.

"I'll tell you later, Danny," she muttered. "Anyway, it was necessary, Mr. Lancer!" Sam widened her violet eyes and gave her most innocent look.

"Watch your blood pressure, Mr. L!" Tucker cautioned as he noted his teacher about to blow his top. "Hey, did you throw a shoe at me earlier?"

"Yes I did. I should have thrown something a lot heavier," Lancer growled. "You give me no choice. You broke your part of the deal, and now I have to tell your parents."

Danny paled. "Oh please don't! Mr. Lancer, I'll do detention for the rest of high school, I'll do community service! But you can't tell my parents!"

"Yeah, you can't! Amity Park needs Phantom!" Sam pleaded.

Lancer shook his head firmly. "I should have done this in the beginning. Three teens should not be out fighting ghosts and risking their lives when Danny's parents are more than capable."

Tucker snorted in disbelief. Lancer shot him a glare and stalked to the front door of Fenton Works.

"I don't think you have a right to tell Danny's parents, Mr. L."

Lancer froze, and turned around to see Tucker staring lazily at him. Sam and Danny widened their eyes, but they grinned in anticipation.

"You see, if you hadn't given us that first ghost assignment, we wouldn't have aroused suspicious in an effort to pass. A certain someone wouldn't have found out who kidnapped all the adults. After Danny saved said ghost, that certain someone snapped and went on a mission to destroy all ghosts. Then you found out we were ghost hunting and threatened us. Which is illegal, by the way.

"The entire ghost invasion would have been easily avoided if you hadn't told us to stop ghost hunting. Then we wouldn't have had to lie low. If we hadn't had to lie low, we would have been able to contain the certain someone's plans a bit more securely. We would have been able to watch their every move. But no. You had to stop us. Then you find out Danny is Phantom and threaten us again. Now we have to stop completely. Danny then gets ticked off at Clockwork because he didn't warn him that you would discover the secret. Danny blows off steam, and somehow the cursed thermos winds up in Danny's bag.

"The certain someone comes along and expects to steal an empty one, but she gets the cursed one. When that someone snuck into Casper High and pulled the alarm, Danny would have been able to catch that ghost. But you jumped on us and forced us into the school auditorium. That someone caught the ghost and created a trap. Danny was lured into that trap and that certain someone accidently released one of the most evil ghosts of all time. We then defeated it, and that brings us to where we are now. So you see Mr. Lancer, this is all your fault!"

Tucker pointed a finger at Lancer with a triumphant smirk on his face.

"Amen!" Danny and Sam cheered loudly. The three teens turned around and faces Lancer, arms crossed.

"Unless you want all of Amity Park to know you were the cause of the entire ghost invasion, I suggest you keep that secret locked up tight. And don't bother asking who that 'certain someone' is. We won't tell you." Sam smirked.

"And that you denied Amity Park its hero and savoir, and nearly let it get taken over," Danny added.

Lancer felt his head pound. Was he actually being blackmailed by his students? The blackmail being facts all twisted and turned to make it look like the whole thing was his fault! Glaring at the trio, he held a hand to his aching head. "All right, all right! I guess taking Phantom away from Amity wasn't the best idea. We'll talk about it more tomorrow. Right now, I need an aspirin." Groaning, he shook his head and headed to his car.

Danny and Sam high fived Tucker. "Nice one, Tuck!"

He grinned. "I try. So, now what?"

Danny thought for a moment. The past month had been crazy and hectic. All he wanted now was to relax and not have a care in the world. "You guys wanna go to Nasty Burger and grab something to eat? I'm sure it opened again. Then we can go play Doomed at Sam's."

"Sounds good. But we better tell our parents we're okay first." Tucker adjusted his beret and followed his friends. "Just think, this all started because Lancer assigned us homework!"

"Amen!"

Until next time,

AnimationNut out.

Peace!