Unexpected Help
Phic Phight 2025
Prompt: Danielle needs a place to crash and recover from Vlad’s latest attempt to turn her into goop and finds refuge with someone (human or ghost!) completely unexpected
Prompt by: @spacemomnephmoreau
Word Count: 3517
Read on Ao3
"Shit, shit, shit."
Danielle was crashing.
Denial about the fact, white lies she could tell herself about flying low to make herself less of a target, using the cityscape as cover, squashed as she blinked, and upon opening her eyes no longer saw the horizon in the distance but the ground, raising up to meet her as she rapidly lost altitude.
And then abruptly Danielle had crashed.
Impact rough, her destabilizing form refusing her attempts to brace for the collision she leaves a burning gash in the city park. Ignoring the burn in her arms, in her everything, Danielle props herself on one elbow, her knees collapse under her when she tries to stand, but she forces herself to move, crawling away from the glaring target that is the crater she was in.
Flying was out of the picture apparently.
She needed to get to Danny, needed to find cover, starts for the nearby pavilion, she needs to - fuck she was tired.
Vlad may have misjudged her ability to control her destabilizing form, allowing her to slip her binding, but she had misjudged how useful that would be if she couldn't get to Danny.
She feels her ghost sense rise in her chest, swallowing around it she forces a burst of speed and shoves herself under a playground structure hoping the shift of the pebble ground will cover any ecto she is dripping, while the climbing gym hides her from the air.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Danielle if you're longing for some Father/Daughter bonding you could have just said so, no need to make things difficult."
Why couldn't Vlad just leave her alone?
She tracks Vlad's movements as best she can while staying hidden herself, studying the graffiti above her head and littering the underside of the climbing ramp in a desperate bid not to panic, to not make any noise, her eyes lock onto a familiar logo, flaming 'D' with a break in the bottom, creating a 'P' in the negative space.
She sees the reflection of the flash from a transformation, and the itch in her ghost sense allowing her some idea of where her creator was vanished.
Straining to hear anything from a man as silent as the dead Danielle does not startle when a new voice calls out, but it's a near thing.
"Mayor Masters! Hello! What are you doing out here?"
"I'm on an evening walk young man, what are you doing out this late?"
"Free throw practice, sir, basketball season is starting soon."
"Of course, go ravens, might I suggest you call your practice early? I think there is a ghost in this area?"
"Oh that crash mark? That's from a fight from yesterday, your clean up program assessed it earlier, there's no damage to any of the piping stuff underground so it's not going to be fixed until Monday."
"Are you sure? It looks rather recent."
"I don't know man, ectoplasm makes shit act weird, but it was here when I got here and I've been here most of the afternoon. I'm just glad the programs you put in place are helping amity so much in the wake of all these ghost attacks."
"I'm so glad to see our young people so well apprised of the civil service programs, I certainly hope that support translates to your vote in a few years."
"I mean, who is going to run against you and be worth voting for? Jack Fenton?" The eyeroll is almost audible from where Dani is hiding. "I'll leave the park if a ghost does show up, but avoiding ghosts is the entire reason I'm practicing here and not at the school with most of the team, I do not understand most of the teams obsession with Phantom, and with him hanging out above the school he is sure to attract ghost trouble eventually."
"Above the school you say? I'll go contact some people, we can have clean up crews ready for assessment and reconstruction should he turn violent, or if any fight should breakout if another trouble making ghost find him."
"Thank you for all your hard work, Mayor Masters."
She didn't recognize the voice, or know why he had redirected the fucking fruitloop, there's no way anybody practicing in the park wouldn't know her crash was recent, but he had sent Vlad straight to Danny. Danny could handle him, right? Vlad wasn't trying to kill him, and if Vlad made it clear what, who, he was looking then Danny would know to look for her, so now she just had to hold out for him to find her first. If she could just close her eyes for a moment, catch her breath before finding Danny herself, she could manage. Why didn't she bother to learn the layout of Amity Park better? It wasn't a problem from the air, the ghost eye view meant she could see all of the landmarks easily, it wasn't like FentonWorks was hard to find, but even if flying were in option it'd be a bad idea with Vlad and his stupid vultures flying around.
"Hey do you need help?"
Dani froze.
The stranger did not go away.
"Look if you're weak enough to crash without a fight I don't think you used invisibility to sneak away while I was talking to Plasmius, but he flew away already, the coast is clear."
"You know Vlad Masters is Plasmius?"
He scoffs, "Yeah, his and Phantom's secret IDs kinda hinge on the fact that no one would assume someone alive is a ghost. If you're willing to look past that they're really not that sneaky."
"Why did you send him away if you knew he was looking for me?"
He sighs, "well I guess it seemed like the right thing to do, and I mean, it's not like I've done anything too dangerous yet, you really didn't damage any of the infrastructure, and he is real easy to lie to if you flatter his ego." Crouching more of him comes into view, unimpressed green eyes assess her goopy form. "But I've got a feeling the part about not doing anything too dangerous is about to change. Do you need- What do you need me to do to help?"
"I need medical attention."
"Yeah I kinda figured. Don't imagine I can take you to an urgent care though."
"No. I- Danny- I need my cousin. But you just sent Vlad to him and I'm in no state to join a fight, so I need to hide until they're done, Danny will look for me after he and Vlad fight, and he'll know what to do."
"Cousin is the story the two of you went with? Does Fenton even have living cousins or are you just cashing in on the family resemblance?"
"What does that matter when I'm known as Phantom's family, not Fenton's? Is that really what you're stuck on?"
"Right, not the priority, I've got some good news then," he offers her a hand, Dani takes it tentatively and he helps her out of her hiding spot, "I don't know where Danny is."
Dani stumbles as she rights herself, falling hard into her good Samaritan, who supports her easily despite his lanky form. "You, what?" She asks, question ending up more directed at his side and arm than face.
"I lied to Plasmius. Told you, flatter his ego and there's nothing easier, but then he may question you more than he does me. But that does mean he'll be back sooner than you're expecting, we've got to get you to cover, I don't think he'll believe me again, not with your uh, blood on me."
Was she getting blood on him? Blinking her eyes into focus she sees that, yup, small drops now, but growing as she leans on him. "Sorry."
He scoffs in response, guiding her away from the playground, "don't mention it, hey I don't know how long it'll take him to figure out there's no one at the school, can I carry you? I think it'll be faster…"
She nods, he turns away from her, crouching down he lays her against his back, picking her up in a piggy back, and he walks much faster than she could have kept up with through the park.
Danielle has the disconnected realization that it's her first piggy back ride. Instead of thinking about that, her 'childhood' with Vlad, or sporadic time with Danny she points out, "you've definitely got my blood on you now."
"If you can keep it on me and not the ground where it'll leave a trail that'd be great."
Her laugh startles her, but his deadpan attitude reminded her of Danny, and she clutches his shoulders tightly. "Where are we going?"
"Grounds-keeper's storage shed."
"What?"
"Well I took the bus here, so I don't have a fast way to get you out of the park, but you said Danny will be looking for you?"
"Of course he will!"
"Woah hey, I didn't mean to doubt you, I'm just not trying to get you away, there's no point, just better hidden to wait for him. I don't know your history with Masters, but I don't think I liked his tone when he was looking for you."
Dani doesn't respond.
"Right, well, do me a favor?" Dani tenses, tries not to knowing he would be able to feel it, wondering what he would ask for, Danny would help her if she ended up owing him a favor but- "pretend you didn't see this." He approaches the storage shed from the side, opening the cover on a lockbox built into the wall, inputting a code and taking a key out of the box.
Dani snickered, "I have intangibility, when I'm not dying I won't need a key."
"Well lucky you, I've got the key code from my summer job helping out, and I'd like for them to not feel the need to change the code."
The shed is dusty, motes hanging in the air that leave Dani thankful she doesn't need to breath as a ghost. He sets her on a folding chair, set up by a rickety desk, surrounded by lawn care tools and supplies she has no name for, Vlad thought that stuff was beneath him, and she didn't need to know this stuff to imitate Danny.
"Do you know one of team Phantom's phone number?"
"What"
"Danny's number? Jazz's? Sam or Tucker? Look I don't have any of their numbers, but here." He hands her his phone after messing with it. "I just turned off the password. Say you snatched it from my backpack while I was playing basketball, Danny or whoever feels like lying can give it back to me at school, 'I must have dropped it somewhere' or he can use intangibility to hide it in my locker, or something."
She stares at the blank phone in her hand before looking back to the teen.
"Who even are you?" It's a question she should have asked earlier. Probably would have if she had more experience with people.
"Wes. Says so on the homescreen, along with a 'please contact if found' note with my brother's number and my email. Figure with the ghosts attacks lowering the normal crime rate, most times I'll lose my phone are when I've misplaced it, so being able to know whose it is will make it easier to get back."
"I guess?"
"It's the only reason I've got enough plausible deniability for this to work, so say that with more confidence yeah?"
She smiles, as Wes digs through a storage container, swapping his stained shirt for a practice jersey, "not going to ask me my name too?"
Wes tenses, turned away from her. Sighing, he turns around slowly. "If it's all the same I'd like as much plausible deniability as we can manage, I don't really want to be involved in all the ghost business. Besides, I heard Plasmius call you Danielle when he caught up to you in the park."
"Oh, right. Well, I prefer Dani? With an 'i'?"
"With an 'i'. Gotcha."
Turning back to the phone in her hands, Dani turns the screen on, seeing the message on the home page for herself. "Wait, Wes Weston? Aren't you the guy who keeps trying to out Danny as Phantom?"
"Really? That's the reputation that precedes me?" Voice rising in incredulity Wes begins pacing the small space, "not that I distract Mr Lancer when he needs to leave, or did almost the entirety of our geography project by myself, noooooo I'm just the conspiracy therapist who can't keep his mouth shut. You know Danny is really lucky that people aren't going to look at a ghost and try and guess his living alter ego. I'm the reason there are theories that Phantom is Fenton's dead uncle! Did team phantom think to spread a rumor that not only ties into the Fenton parents obsession, explains the resemblance, and helps with the secret identity! No! It was me! I-"
Wes cuts himself off, catching sight of Dani's smile, eyes full of mischief and voice full of teasing, "oh now you sound like the stories I've heard, I can almost see the conspiracy board behind you, newspaper clippings and red strings and all."
"…It's green string."
"What?"
"It fits the aesthetic better! Actually, I don't need to explain myself to you, I'm helping you."
"And thank you for that. But, can I ask for an explanation? If you're trying to help why tell people that Danny is phantom? Isn't that still a risk?"
For a moment Wes looks defensive, and Dani thinks he won't answer her, but he cracks under her puppy eyes just like Danny would, patheticness helped by her sorry state.
He sighs, full body and resigned. "You know, Danny doesn't know this, but my parents also moved to Amity for it's weirdness, like his did. But instead of 'ectoscience' they are more… spiritual. Did a whole bunch of charts and readings when my brother and I were born and everything. Real believing that gut feelings are messages from the universe and all that type of people. Didn't give it much weight myself until we became ghost central, but my parents have always made a big deal that if I had been born a girl, they would have named me Cassandra."
Dani stares uncomprehending for a long moment, then all at once she is overcome with laughter, "the prophet who was cursed by Apollo to never be believed?"
"That's the bitch. I'll admit it was a bit of a risk leaning into that, but like. I mean it's working. His mom gave me a whole lecture about the appropriateness of school gossip a couple weeks ago sooo."
"Mrs Fenton gave you a lecture about the rumour?" Dani leans forward, giddiness evaporating as she overbalances, nearly falling out of the chair before Wes catches her.
"Kid-"
"Don't call me kid."
"Alright 'with an i', a chance to calm down seems to have helped, but you need to call Danny. Text if you think he won't answer an unknown number, and I need to get out of here."
"Why?"
"What do you mean why? 'With an i', you're literally coming apart in gooey pieces, I've got bits of you staining my shirt again-"
"No. Why leave? You helped me, you're smart, good with people, and-"
"And what the hell am I going to do if Plasmius decides to target me? Right now I'm just a kid with bad information, I doubt he even knows my name. How well do you really think I'd be able to handle getting swept up with Phantom? I will do what I can to help. Please don't ask me for more than that."
They hold eye contact, and Dani believes with every part of her, even the parts she has left on the park and on Wes, that if she asked him to, he would stay. She wouldn't have to be alone while she waited for Danny.
She wants to take advantage of that. Feels the urge to put all of the pleading and tears she can muster into a desperate 'stay?'
She doesn't.
Swiping to the keypad she inputs the number Danny had drilled her on, more memorized pattern than phone number. She doesn't look at Wes as she says, "if you want your plausible deniability you should leave now."
Danny picks up after three rings, a tired "hello?" Coming through the phone.
"Danny? It's me, your cousin?"
"Dani? What's up? What number are you calling from?"
Wes' hand lands on her head, she looks up startled as he ruffles her hair, he mouths 'good luck' before leaving, locking the door behind him.
"Dani? Dani are you there? Shit if you can hear me don't hang up, I can have Tucker track the call-"
"I'm fine. I mean I'm not fine, I need help. But I'm here. Vlad he, I'm in the park, hiding in a grounds-keepers shed. Stole the phone from someone playing basketball."
"I'm on my way, just-"
"Stay on the phone." Dani finishes with him. "You too."
~~~
The tardy bell rings.
Wes doesn't even pretend to be rushing, haven given up being on time when his brother 'forgot' to wake him as well this morning, despite Wes having made a point to ask last night, knowing he wouldn't have his phone as an alarm, but he couldn't explain that and now Coach Tetslaff would have him running laps for the next week for missing morning practice. But it's whatever.
"Hey Wes!"
Or it was whatever.
Should be whatever.
Wes takes a deep breath and braces himself as he closes his locker, "Fenton. Aren't you late for class?"
Danny scoffs, "I think you mean we're late for class. But I found something of yours on a walk last night." He holds out Wes' phone.
The exact lie he had told Dani to tell them to use, how unoriginal. Wes had kinda hoped Phantom would ignore that and use ghost powers to sneak it into his locker or backpack. Would have avoided whatever conversation Fenton looks like he wants to have.
"Oh thanks," Wes takes his phone, notes the full charge, and hopes Tucker didn't do anything weird to it, "I had assumed I'd left it in the Athletics locker room after practice, thanks for giving it back."
Fenton blinks at him blankly, oh come on dude it can't be that surprising that I lied, you are also lying, we are lying together, play along.
When Fenton doesn't say anything, Wes says, not at all awkwardly, "well. We're late for Geometry. So."
Fenton begins walking alongside him, and oh why did they need to be going to the same class, and finally speaks, "about that. I was actually wondering if you've got a partner for the egg drop project coming up?"
"Aren't you just going to make your little triumvirate with Sam and Tucker?"
"We could, but Mr. Warner says he would prefer pairs, and I think it'll be easy, so if you don't already have a partner?"
"Easy? If the egg breaks when we drop it it's an automatic fail on the project!"
"And if it doesn't it's an automatic 100, I know. And I think it'll be easy." It clicks for Wes as Danny continues, "but then there's an odd number of people in the class, Sam, Tuck, and I could probably get dibs on being the group of three-" The Fentons are a family of engineers.
"Deal. Yes. Do we need to strategize? Make blueprints?"
"Dude. You're overthinking it. We're just gonna hot glue a fuck ton of toothpicks into little 'x's and then combine them."
"And that will work?!"
Danny rolls his eyes. "Yes, it'll work. It's more of a physics project than a geometry project, really."
"We're not supposed to take physics until junior year?!"
Danny shrugs, "I don't know man, I think Mr Warner just wants something easy to grade for a project. But it's not like it's a trick question, it's just like, the crumple zones in cars? We're doing that with toothpicks for the egg."
Danny explains more in depth on their way to class, clearly understanding the topic but not explaining succinctly, when Wes is struck by another realization.
Oh God.
Wes is going to get dragged into Team Phantom.
This is exactly what he was trying to avoid.
He feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. Checking it without thinking he sees a contact he knows he did not make.
With an I: an offering for the oracle =P
A moment later a picture follows the text, Wes recognizes the desk in the grounds-keeper's storage shed, placed on the center of the desk is a large zip lock bag presumably filled with the legend of every Amity Park bake sale, Fenton Family Fudge. Sharpie swirls and stars decorate the bag, surrounding a label that reads Wes W.
Wes smiles, and decides to ignore all signs, and not speak into existence his 'theory'.
Hate to trigger Cassandra's Curse after all.
