Ice Lightening

Chapter Eleven

Standing Against the Pain

"If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost."

~Zig Ziglar~

Danny slept peacefully on the corner of the couch while Richie was putting in another movie. He realized that Danny was sleeping though them a while ago, but he didn't have much else to do at the moment besides re-watch the Star Wars movies. That's when his dad had gotten home. He had just put in the third one when he walked in and asked to watch the news and who the kid was.

"He's a friend. I wanted him to stay," Richie informed with a grin. Sean nodded looking the teen over. "His name is Danny, and he's cool."

"He's in my spot," Sean informed glaring at the teen was sitting in his spot on the couch.

"He fell asleep," Richie smiled slightly. "He had a rough day."

"What? Messing around with you and Virgil?" Sean asked seeing his son give a small laugh. That's when he realized that the teen was more on the thinner side. The shirt he was wearing barely covered his body, but Sean could see a bit of his ribs. If he hadn't been wearing such a big shirt Sean wouldn't have said anything, but it was easy to see though a shirt that was obliviously too big for the teen.

"We did hang out, but he had some unwanted stress, and he'd been kind of on his toes the entire time," Richie covered knowing that it was weak. He really needed to think things though more.

"Does his parents know he's here?" Sean asked looking at his son knowing that the answer to that was probably no.

"Uhh…I'm sure they do. Danny said he told them," Richie lied. He was sure that Danny probably didn't care if he lied to cover their secret. He knew that Danny would probably do the same thing. Only chances are even better.

"I would like to talk to them," Sean stated as he looked at the teen. Richie stiffened thinking quickly. He needed a cover, and fast. That's when Maggie walked.

"The pizza's done, did he fall asleep?" she asked seeing that Danny was curled up on the couch. Richie nodded. "Who were you talking to before your father got home?"

"Myself," Richie answered with a grin. Danny groaned silently before shifting slightly on the couch. Sean walked up to him and gently shook the teen's shoulder. Richie reached out to stop him when Danny suddenly grabbed his arm and pinned him to the floor before anyone could react. Danny was breathing heavily while his eyes were wide and wild. "Whoa, Danny, it's okay." Danny blinked before getting off of him and wrapping his arms around himself.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "Just been on edge lately."

Sean got up and glared at the kid. The teen seemed stronger than he looked, and by how thin the teen looked, Sean suspected that the kid was a bang baby.

"Dad, don't be mad, he's just been stressed," Richie stated wishing that he told his dad that the kid doesn't do well around strangers. Maggie looked back and forth between her son, Danny, and her husband. Danny looked like a lost puppy who just made a mistake while Richie was standing in front of him protectively.

"He has a point," she stated looking at her husband. "Danny has been on edge since he got here."

"I want to talk to his parents," Sean informed glaring at the hybrid. Danny straightened up slightly at the mention of his parents.

"They don't exist," he whispered looking at him. "They were never my parents." Richie pushed him back.

"Yeah, he has parent issues…" Richie smiled slightly. He knew Danny had told himself that they weren't really his parents for the reason of how much it hurt him to know what they had done. He respected that Danny fooled himself into believing that he never had parents.

"Then where has he been staying?" Maggie asked suddenly realizing that the teen was probably a runaway, and her son was trying to help him stay away from them.

"With Virgil," Richie answered knowing that everything was beginning to fall apart. Danny sent a small glare at Richie.

"You're a horrible lair," he whispered wondering how in the world he had kept his secret from his parents for so long. Probably because he hung out with Virgil so much beforehand. It was sometimes the only thing that saved him at times back in Amity.

"Yeah, you were asleep," Richie smiled slightly as his mother looked pretty angry. "I'll call Virgil and tell him that Danny's going back."

"No, he's going home," Maggie stated before a green shield appeared around the phone.

"Alright, so we can't let anyone know where I am," Danny warned. "I'm dead according to anyone who cares…bad choice of words."

"Very bad," Richie stated realizing that Danny was forcing him to tell his parents about Gear. It would make it easier for them to know that Danny would be revealing his as well.

"I knew you were a bang baby," Sean growled. "What do you want?"

"To not have to run," Danny muttered. "To stop being hunted because of what I am." Sean relaxed slightly as pieces started going together. He ran away from his family because of being a bang baby.

"They hunted you for being a bang baby?" Maggie asked not sure about what to think about that. She would love Richie just as much even if he was a bang baby. Danny looked at Richie waiting for his go. He was going to let him tell his parents whatever. He didn't need to give them his secret; he had his way out if he wanted to continue his lie. He knew that in the end it would only make everything worse, and they would also know who Static was. Although they already liked him anyway.

"Well," Richie mumbled trying to think of what to say. He nodded to Danny to go ahead and tell them the truth.

"I wish I was. It would make it easy to get away," Danny whispered. He felt sadden as he had to explain everything again. "I have powers, and people are hunting me to…well…I'll leave that out and let you figure that out. It's not really that hard." Sean relaxed realizing what the teen was talking about. His parents probably sold him to some lab to see how his powers worked.

"How'd you end up with powers then?" Maggie asked wondering how a kid like him got powers.

"I…got into an accident in a lab," Danny whispered. Richie knew that he refused to say that it was his parents' lab.

"Who would let their kid play around in a lab?" Maggie asked looking frustrated. "I mean seriously, they should have known it was dangerous." Danny seemed to curled a little more into himself.

"I wasn't supposed to be down there, and it was my fault," he whispered making Richie slap the back of his head.

"Quit blaming yourself for everything before I tie you to a chair and make you watch every horrible movie I can find," Richie threatened making Danny smile a little. Maggie slowly walked up to the teen only to have Danny back away and against the wall.

"They should have kept it locked then or done something to prevent you from being able to just walk down there," she informed looking slightly angered still. Danny looked away from her for a moment before a small smile creep onto his face. "It's their fault for not making it more difficult."

"I…I ended up with some powers after a tried to get one of their inventions to work," Danny finished explaining. "Kept what happened a secret because of the fear of them turning me into a lab rat…and I had every right to fear that because once they learned…"

"They sold you to a lab," Sean finished wanting to find the boy's parents and give them a piece of his mind. That was just wrong.

"They gave me away to them," Danny whispered. "They made sure that everyone seen and knew too. They wanted to completely destroy me, but they couldn't with how many people believed me as the hero. They figured that…well…they thought I was killed and someone else took my place. They never listened to my side. They only believed in whatever…whatever they fooled themselves into."

"Then who are you?" Sean asked wondering what all his son had gotten into. Richie had been standing next to Danny looking slightly nervous. Danny seemed to look at him for permission more than anything else. Almost like Richie had been hiding something from them, and Danny didn't want to reveal it without him.

"All that's left of me is Danny Phantom," Danny whispered making Maggie gasp slightly and look at her son. She had seen the news about Phantom being with Static and Gear, but she couldn't think of how her son would know about where they were or anything. She didn't think her son would be in touch with those kind of people.

"Me and Virgil are trying to help him," Richie explained. "He's running because he doesn't want to go back to a lab." Richie knew about that since it was fairly easy to figure out from the hybrid. Sean looked at the ground.

"Amity Park's been burnt to the ground. What do you know about that?" Sean asked knowing that the entire blame was put on the kid. Richie seemed to stand in front of the hybrid at that moment. Danny shook his head.

"I know that a powerful organization was behind it and that they want me to be their weapon," Danny explained. "They tried to break me…and…and I'm not sure if they succeed in that or not." Richie looked at Danny with sad eyes. He wouldn't know entirely either. He never knew how Danny acted before.

All he could do was guess.

"Then Richie," Sean began. "When did you start being friends with the Dakota Duo?" Richie smiled slightly rubbing his hands together. Virgil's pops knew and he was okay with it. But would his parents feel the same way?

"I…I don't really know how to answer that," Richie muttered thinking it over. Danny gave him a small smile. They accepted a kid they didn't know as being a broken hero. Sean and Maggie both smiled at him trying to see if their guesses about him were correct.

"Come on," Danny whispered. Richie sighed before making BackPack come out of his room.

"I'm Gear," he smiled as the device crawled up to him and looked up at him awaiting orders. Sean pulled the boy into a hug as Maggie gently rested her hand on the teen's shoulder.

"I'm so proud of you," Sean whispered. "My little boy's a hero."

"Dad…you're squashing me," Richie gasped out pulling away. Both his parents laughed.

"That makes your friend Virgil Static then?" Sean asked seeing Richie hesitant.

"Yeah, but…well, whatever," Richie shrugged. "I'll blame it on Danny."

"Hey," Danny muttered crossing his arms. "Not cool."

"Yeah, but he won't yell at you and get mad as easy," Richie defended as Danny shook his head knowing that was true. Virgil tended not to get mad at him as easily as he would Richie.

"So, since you're staying here, I guess you need a place to sleep?" Sean stated. "We have a guest room you can stay in. You're welcome to it."

"Thanks, but I probably won't stay long," Danny stated. "I'm trying to keep them off my trail since they now know where I am. I can't stay in one place too long." Sean nodded knowing that he was only trying to keep them safe.

"Alright. We'll do what we can," he smiled making Danny completely relax.

Plasmius paced across the room. He knew where Daniel was hiding, but couldn't figure out where exactly he was at. Jazz had said that he was at the center where troubled teens went, but that was all. He didn't understand how the hybrid could keep himself hidden so well.

And they had been so close to breaking him and making him exactly what they needed to take over the world. He knew about the hybrid's future evil self. How powerful he was. He wanted that power. He wanted to use it to rule the world.

However, Phantom fought back every step of the way. He never told them what exactly happened and Jazz was pretty much useless since he never told her everything.

His friend's knew though. But they no longer were alive to tell them. He hoped the copies would get something, but nothing ever happened, and they went their own way. He needed more. He needed to get the hybrid to tell him how to acquire that power.

Or kill him trying. He was tired of waiting. He needed to make his move before the league could get the upper hand. He didn't realize how strong of a hold Phantom had on his hero complex. It was starting to get extremely close.

"Now, all I need is for my army," Plasmius whispered looking at the Ghost Portal in his lab. They were on the other side. "I believe that the time is right on the money for this to move forward.

J'onn looked at Batman and Superman as they discussed what to do about Phantom.

"We need him," Superman stated. "He had a point about fighting ghosts. We don't know how, and he could show us."

"I know," Batman stated. "There are still some things that we need to look into on what he has done."

"His entire family turned on him, and he's still willing to protect and play hero. He has a good heart, and I think we should give him a chance. You never know, he could become one of the bravest heroes."

"He said something about Masters having powers, and I looked into it," Batman stated pulling up some files. "Almost twenty three years ago, he was in an accident in college."

"You're new here?" Virgil asked seeing Lancer nod.

"Yeah, I wanted to start something fresh. Amity was…Amity was getting worse, and I couldn't be part of it anymore," he explained. "I have family here, and I wanted to be closer to them. But after what happened…I guess it's a good thing I got out when I did." Virgil nodded wondering if Danny knew who he was. If he ever met him or seen him. Maybe even saved him.

"What do you think happened?" Virgil dared to ask. He was glad that Danny was with Richie at the moment though. It meant avoiding any unwanted confrontation just in case they did know each other.

"In Amity," Lancer began looking down. "Well. I think you've heard of Phantom. He's shown up here." Lancer hoped to change the subject, but Virgil seemed more interested in what he thought happened in Amity. It made him think that maybe they already knew what happened to Phantom.

"And Amity?" Virgil pressed hoping that it didn't raise suspicion. Lancer shook his head.

"Amity has changed since he was captured. It fell apart, and pretty much went into a war against each other. They didn't realize that Phantom actually held everything together in Amity. Parents turned on children, children turned on parents. Friends became enemies, and Enemies ended up killing each other," Lancer explained. "After Phantom's capture, Amity killed any ghost hunters that were associated with the Guys In White. The Fentons had to move in order to remain safe. Their house was burned to the ground not a week later."

"Wow," Virgil whispered. He didn't realize how badly Amity truly needed their hero. He didn't think Dakota would be that bad, but maybe Phantom brought something to Amity. However, if Phantom were to ever leave Dakota, would the same thing happen here?

"I believe because Phantom kept the negative ghosts away most of the time, no one could truly start to turn against each other. He may have been hunted, but he knew how to calm people down. He knew how to help them," Lancer explained. His eyes glowed with happiness at talking about the young hero and all he had done. Virgil listened as the teacher told some of the stories about how the hero saved Amity from some of the most dangerous ghosts to the ones who half the time didn't even scare anyone after a while.

Virgil looked down and wondered what horrors happened behind the scenes. Up close to those fights. Most of those scars looked like they would come from not just experiments, but fighting. Danny hid it all from them trying to downplay it so they wouldn't press. They let him, but how many times a day did he get caught up in something so large that he desperately needed the help.

What all had the hybrid been forced into that he refused to tell anyone else? Virgil promised himself that no matter what happened, he was going to be there for the teen. He needed that support more than anything else.

Danny slowly woke up and looked at the back of the couch. It was the first time he really didn't have nightmares wake him up in the middle of the night. Sean was in the kitchen talking with Maggie, and he slowly let his powers take over so he could listen in.

"…disgusted. I mean the guys can't even keep up a good pace, and then they get so lazy," Sean stated as he placed a pan in the sink. Maggie smiled as her husband ranted. "They really need to either make them work better, or fire them and get better workers."

"You could ask Danny," she stated looking at him. "He could probably use some type of job so he's not doing nothing while Richie is at school." Sean smiled at her.

"How am I supposed to tell the workers that a sixteen year old is here to do a job they seem incapable of doing. He'll probably get it done faster by himself than any of them would, plus, I don't like him not being in school," Sean stated. "Do you think Virgil's dad knows about all this?"

"Danny was willing to go back if we didn't let him stay, so chances are he probably knows some of it, if not all of it," Maggie guessed looking at her husband. "What are you thinking?"

"If we forge papers, and completely erase his history, we could get him into school with them. Maybe even get him a place to call home," Sean stated. "Robert knows how the system works with troubled teens, and all he has to do is make it so Danny at least has a new identity."

"In the future when he waiting to go to college and whatever, he'll have troubles because he won't have a social security number or papers to help him. They'll track him though everything," Maggie stated. "You would have to lie about a lot of things, or get whatever he's wrapped in over with."

"I don't think he's planning that far ahead, Maggie," Sean informed. "He's just trying to survive as it is. I think for now, we should worry about getting him up to a normal weight and back with people." Danny slowly looked at the wall from the couch. "I think going to school will help with that. Besides, if he can't get into college or whatever, I'm sure I could pull a few strings and get him to work for me at the company."

"That's only if he's willing," Maggie reminded. "He may not even stay long enough. I'm afraid you're growing attached to him before anything really big happens." Sean shrugged.

"A kid who's entire town was destroyed because he wasn't there? One who's probably suffering more than anything. I may not know his entire story, but I've heard about how Phantom risked everything to protect those in Amity. I'm betting that he's a good kid that needs to be given that chance." Maggie smiled at her husband and pecked him on the cheek.

Danny let a small smile cross his face. Even people who didn't know him that well believed in him. Everything felt like it was finally putting itself back together. He had people who cared about him no matter what. They cared about both sides.

They supported him and what he believed in for they made the same choices, and it couldn't have been any better.

Danny slowly stood up and headed towards the bathroom. He stopped when he realized that he was in a bed and not on the couch anymore. The room was unfamiliar and he slowly started to panic. He looked at the three doors that were in the room. One was open to reveal a bathroom and the other was a closet. He slowly walked to the closed door and opened it to see a familiar hallway.

He was still in the Foley's home. They had just put him in the guest room that they had offered. He sighed and headed towards the bathroom that was in the room. He looked in the mirror and smiled at the reflection.

He couldn't believe it. He didn't look like hell anymore. He was still bad off, but he was getting better. He noticed that the dark lines that had plagued his face were starting to go away. He was filling out.

He finished his shower and headed downstairs where Maggie was cooking some breakfast. She sent him a small smile seeing that he was smiling. It was amazing seeing the change in the teen overnight.

He was much more relaxed than he was the night before and she had a feeling it was because he had a good night's rest before hand. He was so out of it that he didn't even wake when Sean had taken him into the guest room.

"Good morning, Danny," she greeted as he slowly sat down in one of the chairs at the table. Danny gave her a hesitant smile.

"Morning," he whispered looking down at his lap. Maggie slipped a plate in front of eggs and bacon.

"You could use it," she smiled. "You're looking a lot better. Richie and Sean and are still asleep."

"Thank you," Danny whispered picking at his food. He wasn't sure if he was hungry or not. It'd been so long since he was forced to eat so much. Three meals a day. He felt bad for the people who weren't able to have so much. He knew what it was like, but these people refused to let him.

He would take the help since it meant that there was still people willing to help out even in times of distress.

"You're welcome, Danny," Maggie smiled as footsteps were heard in the hall. Sean slowly walked in seeing Danny at the table slowly nibbling at his food while his wife was still cooking. He slipped over to her and kissed her cheek.

"Morning, honey," he whispered in her ear making her blush lightly. Danny gave a small smile remembering when his dad would do the same thing to his mom.

He knew they loved each other…but…he didn't know that they didn't love him.

And that fact crushed his heart.

Vlad paced his mansion. He finally got the oaf and Maddie to fight. It was almost impossible since they either agreed on everything or went and compromised. He was ready to just kill him and blame Phantom.

However, that would only hurt his chances of winning his love's heart. He needed both of them, but with the DNA and experiments preformed on Danny, he was able to make a possible clone of the boy.

All he needed was Maddie to believe that Phantom had taken her son and then Vlad saved him.

It was his plan in a nutshell at least. He knew that there were much smaller details that needed tending to, but he would get passed them later.

"Vlad," Maddie whispered from the doorway bringing the billionaire out of his musing.

"Yes, my dear," he grinned watching her slowly easy movements turn hard.

"Jack needs you in the lab. He wants to ask you something," she informed making Vlad stand up and nod. He really didn't want to go and see the oaf, but he had to remain in good terms for his plans. He headed towards the lab.

Maddie stayed and watched before glaring at him.

"Moron," she whispered slipping over to his desk and starting going though everything. That's when she seen that Phantom had been spotted in Dakota. The Guys in White were already hot on his trail there.

She needed to be there. She needed to save him before Vlad finished whatever he was planning.

Danny: Okay...so she likes Maddie...

Me: I can't use her as the bad guy...IT"S TOO HARD

Danny: Well...at least she's not dead...

Me: I'm surprised I still remember how to type without messing up too badly. It's been so long since I was actually on a computer...and typing like a normal person...

Danny: She's been really busy...her computer is also pissing her off...

Me: I can't find my mouse...it makes me sad...and that sucks...

review please...they tend to lift my spirits...

Danny: That's actually why you get this update...Her new story got such a good feedback that her self esteem is slowly rising...

Me: I love you guys.