Chapter 4

Amity Park County Jail had expanded with a wing for civilians who disturbed the peace, on the request of the CGIA after a few repeat offenders, Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley, had led a protest against them.

Said protest had been nearly too effective, riling up Amity Park against Mayor Masters and those overseeing the containment of Danny Phantom. 

Suppressing them under punishingly long sentences and smearing them as unstable fans meant a return to stability—to the way things were meant to be, where Danny Phantom was a violent menace and the CGIA was Amity Park's fearless, blameless protector against threats.

"Tucker," an orange-clad Sam spoke into a battered walkie-talkie, voice low as she hid on the floor by her bunk to remain outside the view of cameras. Her voice was quiet and tense, her face gaunt with stress. "Is it working yet?"

It had taken them the better half of a year to sneak in technology and communication devices, so that they could coordinate from across the separated halls.

Tucker sighed over the walkie talkie. "Not yet. The CGIA has multiple security codes for any remotely accessible technology, and every single one is protected by a twelve-digit, random password. Anything to do with Phantom is even more secure. And this laptop isn't exactly a racehorse."

"Sorry, man," came the voice of Tucker's bunkmate, a fellow protester named Wes. "All I could get my hands on."

Sam made a face. "I got a bad feeling," she whispered in a strain. "We have to finish this tonight. He might not have any more time."

Tucker asked, voice distracted, "You having another one of those episodes, with the images?"

In the midst of the cellblock and the noisy air conditioner, Sam fell silent, swallowing hard. "Yeah," her quiet voice echoed in the darkness. "Another one today, but it was different."

"How?"

It had happened only a handful of times. In a split second, she would double over in pain that tore tears from her eyes. Flashes would appear in her mind. Gloved hands. Wires. Pain pain pain. And then it would cut off in a mental mid-sentence, as if it never happened.

The first year had been the worst, with the second year droning on in a muted endurance. As if it were expected now. Her voice caught with fear. "It all felt weaker, like...he doesn't have the power to reach out anymore. Like the connection is dying."

An image that had once flashed into her mind was of a white-tiled floor, splattered with ectoplasmic blood.

"Not good," Tucker said, the walkie talkie echoing with the faster clack of a keyboard. "I'm looking up any news articles on him. You know, updates from the CGIA on what they could be doing? But I'm not finding anything since they posted their statement against us."

Tears rose to her eyes. "It's the CGIA. As if they tell the truth on paper for any reason. I'm sure they're still telling people they just have him 'contained.' But you know they're hurting him. We know they are."

The walkie talkie trembled in her hand.

"We're gonna get him out, Sam. I got a good feeling about the plan this time."

She swallowed hard. "Please hurry."

"I'm giving it my best. But I need time. Just...a little more time."

...

Tension and fear rolled off Valerie in waves, suffocating the entire lab as she stared at Phantom.

At the humanity in his tired gaze.

"Valerie," he pleaded again, attempting to rein in his anger and frustration. "What I did to you, all those years ago it was an accident. I didn't mean to hurt you." His wires clinked as he leaned against one of the clear walls. 

"I didn't mean to ruin life or your stability." He swallowed hard, nodding. "I know what it's like now, to have everything taken away. Especially stability."

"You're not sorry," she snapped, but her voice was tired and worn. Her anger and injuries had taken their toll. "Ghosts don't have the ability to feel."

"I would love to not feel," he admitted. His eyes flashed. "To be heartless like you."

Despite the stronger reinforcements, flames had started to cut through the metal walling between cracks, where the foundations of the building had settled.

She crossed her arms, cradling her injured hand. "Everyone who's come in contact with you lost something valuable to them. Everything bad leads back to you."

"Oh, yeah? What else you wanna blame me for?" he challenged.

"How about ruining all of my friendships, huh? Even the one friend I had in high school disappeared because of you. And don't try to lie to me. I know you had something do with it."

"Who was it?"

She threw Phantom a sideways glance. "Danny Fenton." It was a touchy subject for her still. "Right around when I caught you, but police say he's probably dead by now."

"Danny Fenton?" the ghost repeated. His expression alternated with humor and fury. "Oh, yes. I remember him! The scrawny boy you wanted to date back in the day. Maybe he discovered how heartless you are, and he left to get away from you."

Valerie glared hard. "Don't you dare joke about him." Pain tightened her voice. "He had heart, and maybe he wasn't perfect, but there's no way he'd disappear and just let everyone think he was dead. He... 

got into some weird stuff once in a while, being seen with you sometimes, even."

Phantom's eyes narrowed in disbelief and pain. "What, you think I... I did something to him? That it's my fault Danny Fenton is gone?' He slammed the glass, and the sound echoed. 

"Dammit, Valerie. It's your fault if he's gone. It's your fault if he's dead now, because I don't know." An agony worked through him. "I don't know if Fenton is still even alive. I haven't seen him in years."

"Well, it was ghosts," she snapped. "Something with ghosts, I know it. He was a fanboy of yours as much as I told him not to be, and look where that got him."

Phantom's throat tightened up. His legs began to weaken once more, and he kneeled inside the cage. "You wouldn't believe me," he moaned.

Her fingers twitched on her blaster. "What, you actually know something?"

The fight bled out of him as he laughed, and it was an unsteady sound as it turned into a cry. He flicked one of the wires trailing from his side, and the sound made a sharp, warbling ping. "These keep my powers in a locked state. You would have to let me go, and then I could help you see your friend again."

Valerie's eyes hardened, and she lowered the blaster with disappointment. "You just want to get out. You don't know a damn thing about Danny Fenton, and you probably don't care about him either."

"If you'd really cared about him," Phantom challenged, "maybe you would more than you do."

Valerie slid down to sit on the tiles of the ground, her back propped against the cell. "Oh, shut up," she snapped, voice losing its steam. She continued to stare at the unsettling, glowing cords that trailed to the generator. 

"I had to give up all my relationships because of you and ghosts like you. I let Danny Fenton go because I had to hunt you to protect him."

The two enemies were back-to-back with only the thin wall to separate them. It was the closest they had ever been without weapons.

Phantoms' wires clinked as he said, voice trembling with great emotion, "Then why isn't he safe, I wonder, with me all tucked away and sucked dry here."

She did not answer him for a time, still cradling her injured hand. Something about Phantom's words left her feeling raw, as if he were insinuating that her life's work was useless. That it was her fault she was alone. It made her eyes burn, but this time not with anger.

"Maybe," Phantom said, voice turning with an unimpressed edge, "you just wanted the bounty money, and none of this was about Danny Fenton at all. How much was I worth to you, anyway?"

Valerie stared blearily at the door to the lab and whispered, "A hundred-thousand dollars." She stretched out her legs, staring down at her soot-streaked suit and the burns on her boots. "Felt like a lot at the time. Thought maybe I could...have a life for once, or go on a date in a nice dress."

The wires shifted again behind her. "Valerie," he said. "If you don't let me out, then you'll die here with me, and that bounty money will be for nothing. Do you hate me so much that you want to die over it?"

"They'll get the fire out soon," she said.

===================

Don't forget to throw some power Stones, to keep the story going.

...

if you want to support me or just to read ahead of the public release, you can join my p@treon :

p@treon.com/moolchoco