Danny did as he was told as Valerie turned around. Shielding him with her body, she took another blast from the agent.
The students all screamed in amazement and shock and fear and confusion as her board constructed itself below her feet, and Valerie shot off toward the ceiling. A laser blasted out from the front of the board and smashed through one of the gym's large skylights, she and Danny followed quickly after.
She clung to him tightly as they approached the roof of her apartment complex, she set down as gently as possible before letting Danny go.
He stood steady, seemingly unshaken by the unexpected ride.
"Valerie." he whispered. "You-"
"I'm sorry." she pulled away from him, not meeting his eyes as her helmet retracted. "I should have told you, I'm sorry."
Tears slipped down her cheeks, it was over. Everyone knew her secret now, Danny knew she'd been lying to him, he knew it was her fault he'd been attacked that time with Technus, he knew-
She looked up sharply, confusion clouding her expression.
"You... knew?" she stared at him with wide eyes. "For how long?"
"...A while." he whispered, almost bashfully. "I'm sorry. You wouldn't have had to reveal your identity like that if you weren't trying to protect me. I didn't think I just..."
Valerie couldn't speak. He knew, all this time he knew, and he didn't hate her.
"You're not mad at me? For lying to you?" she asked in a fragile voice.
"Of course not." he said gently, his eyes sad.
"I don't understand how this even happened." Valerie sat on the ground by the building's rust stained air vents, gripping her head in her hands. "Why did their scanners work on me? I'm not a ghost. Was it the suit? Did it pick up the suit? But... why would it pick up my ghost hunting equipment and not their own?"
Danny sat down slowly beside her.
"When was the last time you were sick?" he asked. "Cold, flu, stomach bug, anything?"
Valerie looked up at him quizzically.
"What does that have to do with-"
"About a year right?" he answered for her. "And minor injuries, bruises, cuts, blemishes, you've had none of those either, right? And big injuries, ghost fighting injuries, they heal quickly? Too quickly?"
She stared at him, alarmed and confused.
"And you probably haven't felt cold in a long time, even when everyone else is. Sometimes you only put on a coat just to get people to stop asking if you're cold. You can hear things other people can't hear, like the electricity buzzing in the walls, and night time isn't as dark as it used to be, and-"
"Stop it!" Valerie hugged at her legs tightly. "You're freaking me out!"
"It's true right?" he stared at her, his blue eyes burning, intense. "Tell me I'm wrong."
"What's wrong with me?" she asked, her voice warbled barely above a whisper. "Am I sick? Am I really contaminated like they said?"
"...Yeah, you are." Danny answered quietly.
"Oh god." Valerie hung her head low as sobs began to tear their way out of her throat. "Am I dying? Oh god, how am I gonna tell my dad? How am I gonna..."
"No! No, not... not exactly. It's... it's complicated." Danny grimaced, wringing his hands anxiously. "Look, the Guys in White are trying to keep this under wraps but, everyone in town is ecto-contaminated. Everyone. My parents have to recalibrate their sensors every few months to accommodate the changes. For most people there aren't any real noticeable effects, but for people who've spent more time in ectoplasm rich environments... like the Ghost Zone... or constantly wearing ghost enhanced nano-tech armour..." Danny trailed off.
Valerie looked down at her arms, the red steel of her armour shining in the afternoon sun. Her stomach churned.
"So I have to take off the armour if I want to get better?" she asked. "If I want to be normal again?"
"Val," Danny gently placed his hand over her gloved one. "This isn't something you can undo."
"But the Guys in White said they can decontaminate people, maybe I could ask your parents to-"
"Val, you're contamination is molecular." Danny stressed, his hand clutching hers tight. "It's too late. Your body becomes reliant on the ectoplasm, even if they could decontaminate to that level, your cells would start to die... you would die."
Valerie looked at their linked hands, tears threatening to flow again, she blinked them back angrily.
"If I can't go back to normal, then if I take off the armour can I at least stop it from getting worse?"
"The armour is the main contaminant so, yeah. You could do that, is that what you want though?" Danny asked.
"Do I have a choice?" Valerie snapped. "I mean what if I just keep getting more and more ghostly, will I end up more ghost than human? Could I even still call myself alive after that?"
