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Dash flew the hallways of the GIW facility on his hoverboard. He had to find Phantom. He had to get him out of there.
Dash was wrong. He was wrong about everything.
His dad and the GIW tricked him. They made him think that Phantom was evil. That Phantom had hurt him on purpose. But those had just been lies.
Finally, Dash had come to the door where Phantom was being held. He jumped off his hoverboard and it disappeared as his feet hit the floor. He scanned the chip that was in the wrist of his suit and the door slid open. It was dark inside until Dash stepped in and then the lights turned on.
There Phantom was, sitting in the center of the containment device. He was curled up on his side. He didn’t move when the lights turned on or even as Dash walked up to the glass.
He tapped on it and Phantom groaned, his shoulders hiking up.
“Go eat dirt, you dry cleaning freaks.”
“Phantom.”
Phantom’s shoulders tensed up even more but he still didn’t turn around to look at Dash.
“Just what I needed.”
“I’m here to get you out.”
Phantom barked out a laugh and it startled Dash. “Don’t you remember you’re the reason I’m in here in the first place? This is all your fault. Why would you help me?”
“It is all my fault.”
Phantom finally turned around at that. He looked weak. He had burn marks across his suit and skin from whatever the latest experiments were that they were doing to him. Phantom just stared at him.
“They lied to me. All of them. Said you were dangerous and that you hurt me on purpose. But none of that was true, was it?”
Phantom shook his head.
“I’m here to get you out. And make things right.”
Dash pressed the big red button that would open the containment device Phantom was in. When he did so, the door hissed open but alarms also started blaring.
He quick hurried inside the containment device and helped Phantom up off the floor. When he turned around and stepped back out with Phantom’s arm around his shoulders, Dash’s dad was standing at the entrance of the room.
“You just had to press the big red button, didn't you?”
Dash glared at his dad as the alarms started sounding off inside the GIW facility. Phantom clung, injured, to Dash’s arm. Dash’s ghost hunting suit was torn in a couple different places where the GIW agents shot at him when he first entered the building.
“You lied to me.” Dash spit out. “You told me Phantom was evil. That he was manipulating everyone in town. That he was doing it for his own self gain. But I think you’re the manipulator.”
Dash’s grip around Phantom’s waist tightened in anger and he continued spitting words out at his dad.
“You got me to do your dirty work for you. You had me capture him instead of doing it yourself. You had to turn the admiration I had for him into hatred. He would never do that.”
His dad barked out a laugh at him. It was the most Dash had seen him emote in a long time.
“It’s a ghost! You think it’s actually doing anything out of the genuine kindness of its heart?” His dad looked down at him. “You’re pathetic.”
“Compassion isn’t pathetic.”
Dash looked at Phantom, surprised. He was glaring up at Dash’s dad.
His dad laughed again. “What, you think he has compassion?” He gestured at Dash. “Do you think you have compassion, ghost?”
“More than you.” Phantom spit out. “You can’t even begin to think that there can be good in ghosts. You can’t even listen to your son and trust him. All you want to do is hurt people.”
“You’re not a person.” Dash’s dad said in a low tone. “You’re a ghost.”
“Does it matter?” Phantom’s glare was piercing. “I’m still better than you are.”
His dad’s nostrils flared at that and he pulled out an ectogun and pointed it at them. Phantom’s hand flashed up and conjured a shield just as Dash’s dad pulled the trigger and a blast flashed towards them.
“Got any ideas on how to get us out, meat for brains?”
“We gotta get rid of him first.” Dash nodded at his dad. “Then we can figure out the rest of the plan.”
“You’d betray your own kind? Your own father?”
Dash flashed him a dark look. “I’m realizing you’ve never done anything good for me. You’ve had this coming for a long time.”
Phantom dropped his shield and Dash jumped forward at his dad.
Dash threw a punch at his dad and knocked his sunglasses off. His dad held a hand up to his head for a moment before he snapped his head to look back at them. He wore the scariest expression Dash has ever seen on him before.
“You’re a pathetic excuse of a son.” He ground out at him.
Dash took a step back when his dad went to raise his ectogun back up to him but Phantom was faster. He snuck up behind him and grabbed the gun out of his hand and lifted him up underneath his armpits.
“And you’re the worst excuse of a father I’ve ever seen.”
Phantom threw Dash’s dad into the containment device that had been holding Phantom for weeks now and closed the door. With the door shut, the alarms finally stopped blaring but Dash could still hear the ringing in his ears. His dad started pounding on the clear walls of the containment device.
“You won’t get away with this! We know everything about both of you! You’re my son! I can find you anywhere you go. And you.”
His dad’s gaze went to Phantom. He was getting shaky again as the adrenaline went away and Dash took a step towards him to help support him again.
“You’re Danny Fenton.”
Dash’s hands stopped just as they were about to touch Phantom. He took a step back and Phantom glanced at Dash, they were filled with fear, but they were calculated as they tried to gauge Dash’s reaction.
Phantom’s gaze turned back to his dad. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, you don’t, do you?” A truly evil smile crawled onto his dad’s face. “You got your powers when you turned fourteen. An unfortunate accident. Your parents don’t know your secret but your two friends, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, and your sister Jazz do.”
Phantom took a step back, clearly put off by his dad’s words.
“And you have a clone named Danielle who is currently traveling through Chicago on her way back to Amity Park.”
At that last bit of information, Phantom’s hands clenched into fists and they began smoking with ecto energy.
“You leave her alone.” Phantom’s voice was low.
“I can make the call and we will have her.” A smile crept onto his face. “What’ll it be?”
Dash stepped in between Phantom and his dad. “If that’s all true, they could capture her anyways. Why wouldn’t they have her already if they knew where she was?”
Dash could tell Phantom was thinking really hard about it. That he couldn’t stand knowing that this Danielle clone was in danger.
“You’re right.” Phantom said quietly. “When we leave we gotta find Wolf or someone that can easily get a hold of Dani. Or Frostbite. We could use the Infimap.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
Phantom grabbed onto Dash again and so Dash finally wrapped his arm back around his waist again. Pulling Phantom with him, Dash jumped into the air and conjured his hoverboard back out. He could hear his dad pounding on the glass behind them again, but they both ignored him.
“You’re both dead! You hear me? The GIW will find you!”
Dash flew out and shut the door behind them. It blocked the sound entirely and Dash felt like he could finally breathe again.
As he flew down the hallway, Dash could hear the pounding of feet as more agents grew closer. He got geared up to fight them right as he could feel a chill washing over him and he could no longer see the front of his hoverboard in front of him. The flew over the heads of the GIW agents with them being none the wiser. After scanning his wrist at a couple different doorways, they were finally out the main entrance and into the night time air.
Dash let out a deep breath and shut his eyes for a moment.
He got Phantom out.
He got Danny-
Dash turned to look back at Phantom. He could tell he was tired. He was resting his forehead on Dash’s back and his breathing was heavy. They needed to get him somewhere safe.
Dash started heading towards the Fenton’s house. He figured Danny would want some of his stuff and they could go right into the ghost zone after that.
“Are-” Dash stuttered. But he pushed forward. “Are you really Danny Fenton?”
He could feel Phantom’s forehead moving against his back as he nodded.
“Did you want to talk to your friends or family before we go into the ghost zone?”
Dash could feel Danny start to shake his head, but then he stopped.
“Jazz. I need to tell Jazz.”
It took a bit before they got to the Fenton’s. When they did, Danny pointed over Dash’s shoulder.
“Go in that window. That’s my room.”
“How am I-”
Dash’s question was interrupted by that ghostly chill filling his entire body again and he was able to pass seamlessly through Danny’s window. He deactivated his hoverboard and their feet hit the carpet quietly, but it must’ve been loud enough for someone to hear because he could hear someone shifting in the other room in a rush.
“Danny?! Is that you?”
Jazz burst into Danny’s room a moment later. Her eyes immediately locked onto Dash and her brows drew down and she glared at him. She held up what looked like a tube of lipstick and pointed it at him.
“What is he doing here with you?”
Danny lifted his hands up from Dash and held them up in a calming motion.
“He broke me out, it’s okay.”
“Is it? He’s the reason you went missing, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, but-”
Faster than Danny could even finish his sentence, Jazz reached forward and grabbed him by the wrist. She pulled him back towards her and he stumbled across the floor, nearly falling.
“You’re home now, so he can go.”
“Jazz! Would you listen to me?!”
She turned to look back at him. She still had a frown on her face.
“I just got my little brother back. I’m not letting him stay here for a second longer.”
“He needs to come with me!”
Her eyes widened and she looked at him confused. “What?”
Danny took a couple steps away from her and wrung his hands together nervously. He looked away from her and at the floor instead. “We can’t stay.”
“What are you talking about? Of course you can stay. We just have to-”
“No! The GIW know everything about me. They know about Dani. Dash’s dad works there. We can’t stay here. Not until they get disbanded or arrested or something.”
Tears burst into Jazz’s eyes. She covered her face.
Danny walked up to Jazz and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I need you to tell mom and dad. Tell them everything.”
“But you just came home. You’ve been missing for so long.”
“I know.” Danny wrapped his sister up in a hug and she cried into his shoulder.
They stood like that for a little bit and Dash shuffled behind them. He wasn’t sure what he should be doing.
They pulled away from each other and Jazz had a more resolved look on her face now. “Let me pack you guys up some food and water. You worry about getting your things from up here.”
Then Jazz left the room.
Danny quickly picked up his backpack and started shoving clothes into it. Dash stood and watched.
“Is there anything you want me to grab?”
Danny looked up at him and shook his head. “No. I just need some clothes and a first aid kit.”
Danny’s look softened just a little and he straightened up. “Is there anything you need to grab?”
Dash shook his head. “Nothing that’s worth risking going home. We’re already here, I don’t think we should make a trip across town and back.”
Danny nodded. “That makes sense. I can grab a couple spare jumpsuits so that you can change out of that one if you want.”
Dash stared down at his hand that was clothed in his ghost hunting suit. He wished he could tear it off and burn it but Dash knew that they would probably need the weapons and everything that the suit came with.
“Thanks.”
Soon they were making their way downstairs. Jazz had two gallons of water sitting on the counter and a small cooler of food.
“This won’t last you guys very long.” She handed each of them a gallon of water. “You should try to get to Frostbite as fast as you can.”
She grabbed the cooler off the counter and led the way to the stairs to the lab.
Jazz stopped a few feet away from the ghost portal and set the cooler down on the ground. She turned to look at Danny and he set the water and his backpack down as well.
They shared one last hug before pulling away.
“You two be careful in there.”
Danny nodded. “We’ll try.” He looked at Dash. “You ready?”
“You bet. Let’s find your clone before my dad does.”
Danny picked up his backpack and put it on before grabbing the water and cooler from the ground.
“Let’s go.”
Together they flew through the portal and into the ghost zone.